Ski Bunnies

The girls went skiing for the 1st time ever and they had a total blast. We weren't sure how today was going to go but it went better than we imagined. I was totally nervous driving up thinking of all the horrible things that could go wrong...got in an argument with Papa over whether or not we should get a 'professional' to teach the girls instead of him and Silvano. But I should have had more faith in Papa/Silvano because they did so well teaching the girls. Their poor backs though were shot by the end of the day. The girls did not want to stop skiing. They are already asking when they can go back so that is a good sign. Papa and I love skiing but we haven't really gone in the last 5 years since the girls were born and we saw the possibility of getting back onto the ski hill once again...this time around as a family. Well for me I guess I'll have to wait until next year when I don't have a belly anymore. The girls are 'CRASHED OUT'. They fell asleep less than 5 minutes after we got into the car and are still sleeping right now at 5:20pm. Which is a good thing since it's New Year's Eve and we want them to stay up with us and watch the fireworks tonight at midnight to ring in this fabulous New Year. Happy New Year Everyone!

Christmas Day

I've become an expert plastic dis-assembler for all the toys and games that the girls got. Papa has become an expert set-er-upper. And the girls have played all afternoon long. Good times!

Our Christmas Eve

We had our good friends over for Christmas dinner last night. Although we really missed our families we really appreciate the friends that we have here that make our house feel like home. It was awesome celebrating Christmas Eve with the four kids. You could literally FEEL the excitement in the air from the kids. So the above photo is the whole gang.

We exchanged gifts and got to open it up last night which is exciting since it feels kind of like cheating (we usually only open 1 gift on Christmas Eve) but hey we were all together and it was fun.

And imagine that...all the mamas last night were preggers!!!!! Yes, so here are the three bellies in order. Lina is due in March, Angela in May and me in June. I think my belly looks bigger in this picture because I ate so much turkey and stuffing last night.

The kids were so excited opening their presents and yes, they were extremely spoiled.

And I had to add this picture because I think it is so sweet to see Silvano with kids. He is so excited about his upcoming baby and it shows when he interacts with the kids.

I hope everyone enjoyed themselves this holiday. I miss everyone out East like crazy. Miss you, miss you, miss you. I had the best Christmas that I have ever had in all my life. Hope you did too.

Yeah, it's officially Christmas Holidays now! Today was their last day of preschool and the parents were treated to a Christmas Celebration Show. The kids were absolutely adorable. Even Papa made it to the show. I was shocked to see him there. He stayed for about 1/2 of the concert and had to run back to work. He had left a patient in the chair!!!!! Yeah for living in a small town. He got to see the girls sing and more importantly they got to see their Papa in the audience.

This afternoon we are off to decorate Gingerbread cookies at our music teacher's home. I swear Christmas is a million time more enjoyable through the eyes and experiences of a 4 1/2 year old. Have a great day everyone.

What's in Your Oven?

Last week at the girls' preschool we baked Christmas cookies - complete with cream cheese icing and decorations. It was a blast. And the best part was that the girls were so excited that I was coming to help. From the evening before they kept talking about how mama was coming to school with them the next day and the first thing Rachel said when she woke up in the morning was....Mama you're coming to school today! And while I was in the kitchen with their classmates, Alex kept sneaking into the kitchen to say....I love you mama. Now that is the best feeling in the world.

I'm struggling to find a way to say something so I think I will just come out and say it. We're having a baby! Yes, it is crazy but yes it is wonderful. Crazy because I feel that this pregnancy has really thrown me for a loop. But I've come to accept that life has many unexpected twists and turns that it is really out of my control. Especially after a really emotional hard year with my dad being sick and then miraculously getting well. I feel that God is really the one orchestrating our lives. I mean I always knew this but now I really believe it. So yes, we are expecting a third baby sometime in June.

The pregnancy so far has been good. I wasn't feeling that great at first but now am feeling back to 'normal'. Except the fact that I'm really hungry (thinking that a large all dressed pizza at 9pm is a good idea), tired (caving in and giving the girls coloring books I bought them for Christmas to keep them busy so I can sneak a nap on the couch), and hormonal (oh the tears that have come flowin). So my days are filled with out of breath bouts when I run up the stairs, to excitement at the thought of a little baby joining our family to anxiety/worry about 'is everything going to be OK with the baby'. So I will keep you posted in the next months on the belly situation.

First Piano Christmas Concert

We had a very exciting afternoon today. The girls had their first piano concert. It was the perfect venue... a seniors' home. There were lots of people there, and lots of kids got to play their Christmas piece that they had been practicing. I didn't know how it would turn out...if they would be too shy to play...or what...but they did GREAT! I was so proud of them. And the best part is that Papa, Kaili and family got to come and watch too. The great photos were taken by Robin and the shaky video was taken by moi. Enjoy.

Our Afternoon

After music class this afternoon, all I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and take a nap but the girls had other things in mind...mainly go outside in the snow. So we got all dressed warm and headed out. The girls squealed, had fun and stayed toasty warm while I shivered and shoveled. Now at last I think its time for a little nap.

I miss my Tobi

Tobi has been staying at some friends' house since Monday afternoon. And I miss him like crazy. He's been my shadow for the last 8 1/2 years. My best companion. He honestly followed me around all the time and I never felt alone. And now that he is not right by my side it's killing me. I can just picture his goofy face looking up at me and wondering what we are going to do next. I know I'm whining but that's how I am feeling right now. And I have this feeling that it might be a permanent thing. You see, my Alex has asthma and coughs A LOT. We've always wondered if Tobi might be causing this but seeing that he doesn't shed we dismissed it. But she coughs all the time and the doctor prescribed her these drugs that she has to take daily - which we don't want her to take. We put Vicks vapor rub on her chest, back and feet when she coughs before bedtime and we use a cool humidifier in her room. We change her sheets often, got her a pillow that is hypo allergenic. We steam her mattress to get rid of dustmites. We've brought her to the Naturopath several times and have fed her all sorts of weird 'natural' remedies. But she always continued to cough. So we thought that we would experiment and give Tobi away for 2 months and see what happens. Well it's been 3 nights so far and....Alex hasn't coughed once. Incredible. We don't know if it's just a coincidence or what but we will see what happens. I know that this is the best for my daughter and that is what I obviously want. But I still can't help but miss my furry friend.

Happy Birthday Sister!

I decided a while back that I would no longer put up Birthday posts on my blog because with all the siblings, parents, nieces, nephews, friends, etc... it would be too much. But I HAVE to post for my sister, Susan's Birthday today because it is a big one! I wanted to plan a trip to Chicago with my sisters and my mom (just the girlies) to celebrate this birthday (and hopefully get to see Oprah at the same time). But none of my sistas were as excited about Chicago as me and well life has a way of setting it's own plans, so we didn't end up going. I wish I was there with you today to celebrate your day.


My sister is only a few years older than me but she has always been way more mature than me. I idolized her. I would literally follow her around. One day when she was walking to our neighbor's house for a birthday party (that I wasn't invited to) I followed her there and just kind of stood there while she shooed me away. So pathetic, eh? And if I actually saw her at recess or at lunch when we were at grade school I was so excited and proud. Happy Birthday Big Sister. Hope you have a Wonderful Day and your little sister is still thinking about you.

Halloween 2007

It's been a crazy day! The girls have been so excited since last night. What is it with Halloween and kids, eh? They just LOVE it. They have gone to so many Halloween/Pumpkin parties this year and have already dressed up several times (as princesses) so when it came time to choose what to wear for Halloween, Rachel changed it up a bit and wanted to go as a cat. Alex also wanted to go as a cat but changed her mind back at the last minute to Belle the princess. I think she loves that wig way too much. Kaili and family took the girls out around our house while I man the door. Boo hoo. But what can you do when Papa is working late. They are out right now as I write this and can't wait for them to come racing in with all their fun stories. Hope you guys had a busy fun Halloween too.

WIGS, WIGS, WIGS

A Very Late Thanksgiving Post

I know that Thanksgiving was a couple of weekends ago but I've wanted to post about all the things that I am thankful for. As always I'm thankful for my beautiful & goofy kids that make me feel so happy and blessed everyday. And for my husband (even if I like to complain about him) I wouldn't have these beautiful kids if he wasn't in my life. And thankful for health and a warm house to live in. And live in a peaceful place in the world where food is a plenty. Thanks for my family and friends that always support me no matter what. But the thing that I'm most thankful for this year is for my dad. That he is one of the few that has survived a ruptured brain aneurysm and is now thriving and living life with my mom back at home in Montreal. I never really believed in miracles and the power of prayer before this happened. But to see his recovery has been amazing. And those are a few of the things that I am thankful for.

Gewürztraminer

There is this guy named Stuart who worked really hard to finish our basement for us and has since become a friend of ours. So when he called last night to ask for help picking Gerwurtraminer grapes in his vineyard this morning I couldn't say no. I had no idea what was in store for us. All I knew was that we were to dress warm and show up at 8am. Silly me thought that I could bring along my camera and take pretty pictures. But no there was no time to take photos....it was real hard work. So all these pictures were taken by Alex and Rachel.

It was a beautiful crisp fall day. Perfect weather to put us to work. Stuart's wife gave me a pair of gloves and shears and it was off to picking grapes. They have 5 acres and after about an hour of pruning I was starting to get overwhelmed wondering when we were going to actually finish. But luckily they only have 1 acre planted in Gerwurt so the other 4 acres will have to wait for another visit. It was great to be out in the fresh air working while the girls ran around for the whole entire morning with some other kids that were there. It was fun except for all the earwigs that hung around the grapes. I tried hard not to be such a girly girl around all these 'farm' types. But it was hard to hide my reactions especially this one time when I picked off a huge bunch of grapes and had about 3 earwigs drop onto my glove. It took me a few seconds to recuperate from that incident but I carried on and ended up having a great morning.

School Field Trip to see the Kokanee Salmon Spawn

I picked up the girls from school and headed over to Kaili's place this afternoon. We decided to have lunch at a nearby little town. We ate then shopped in a fun toy store and spent a couple of minutes sitting by the lake. All the while trying to have a conversation with each other while making sure that our kids weren't going to walk into the lake or throw rocks at each other by mistake (instead of throwing them into the water). Now how can you beat an afternoon like that, eh? Doesn't Jaia look so cute?

It's been a while since I last posted so I thought I would upload a few photos of my girls. As you can see they still like to dress up like princesses....and eat really sweet cereal in the morning.

Oh, and I get spoiled every day with beautiful artwork from my girls. The first two paintings were done by Rachel and the last one was done by Alex. I LOVE them. They just gave me these paintings today when they got home from school.

It seems like time has flown by so incredibly quickly since we got back from Oregon. So what else is new with us?...hmmmm let me think.
The girls started Music classes recently. We've only been to 2 lessons so far but so far so good. The teacher is teaching them rhythm with some cool handheld instruments, the name of the notes (they have only learned Dino-"D" so far) , we sing songs and they are learning to place their hands on the piano. They are suppose to learn a song by Christmas time that they play on the piano. Then do a concert for a Retirement Home during the holidays. Now that will be fun times!

The girls have settled into their preschool. They know about 1/2 the kids there from last year and the rest are new friends. One of the girls in their class is Asian and it was interesting hearing Alex tell me,....Julia looks a lot like Rachel, doesn't she? So when I asked her why she thought so...she replied...they have the same hair. It's very interesting to me how kids perceive other races. There are kids aged 3 to 5 in the same classroom and my kids are not the youngest ones anymore. It's amazing how big my kids look next to the 3 year olds. It was only a year ago that I was dropping off the kids worried that they wouldn't know where to get their snacks or where to go to the washroom, etc.... And here they are now, veterans of preschool.

Sorry that this post is all over the place, I have to go and put my kids down for their nap. Yes, they are 4 and still napping once a day. I like my kids a lot better in the afternoon when they do have a nap. Everything seems to run a lot smoother - no meltdowns or anything - which is great. And I get to snuggle them at night and read them books and not have to hurry through the bedtime routine because I have 2 sleepy zombies beside me.

I just saw this on postsecret and it actually made me tear up. It's so true.

Homeward Bound...Yeah!

We have left the Oregon coast today...sniff, sniff. The time has gone by so incredibly quickly. We love Oregon. Not only for the beaches but for the Outlet Shopping Malls. There is NO TAX folks (No wonder you love Oregon Christina) !!!!! James googled Outlet malls and found this awesome one in Woodburn.
We went into the Gymboree Outlet and had such a good time. The girls were picking out dresses and some other back to school clothes and we went into the dressing room and tried the clothes on. It's the first time that they got excited shopping and trying stuff on. Fun! But then they lost enthusiasm when it was Mama's turn to look around. So the beauty of RVing is that they could go back to the RV with Papa and hang out! Then I returned and gave Papa a chance to shop shop shop (he likes to shop more than me if you can believe it). Anyhow I thought of my sisters when I saw all the beautiful stuff there and if I had a job then I would have bought you guys stuff. It's the thought that counts right?

It was lots of driving again today and we have ended up near Seattle for the night. We pulled into this amazing RV site (I thought they were pretty much all the same - WRONG!). This one is pretty expensive for the night...$52 US (the other sites were around $32 US). But it has an amazing playground for the kids, is super duper clean, and it includes a pancake breakfast. Now one less meal that I have to make and clean up in this RV is GREAT NEWS.

So as all good things must come to an end this vacation is winding down. Rachel and Alex are a bit sad to have left the beach but are excited to go back home and start preschool on Monday morning.

Day 4....

We are eating too much. We had made every single meal so far in the RV (really good meals I might add). But we thought we should head out and try one of the local restaurants today. We headed to the Chowder Bowl for lunch in Newport. It was highly recommended so we were quite excited (well not the kids...they just wanted to stay on the beach). The portions were HUGE. I ordered the Albacore Tuna special which came with a side bowl of clam chowder and garlic toast. I was totally full on the chowder and bread... but picked away at the tuna and fries. My pepsi (they didn't have coke) was gigantic. I mentioned to James that I didn't know anyone who would be able to finish that glass. He reminded me that we know of one individual (a certain someone who lives in Calgary :) )

Anyhow we rolled out of there and went for a stroll with the girls to look in the cute shops in a tiny town called Depoe Bay. We just bought some beautiful fancy looking shells for the girls and some salt water taffy. In James' description the whole shopping experience there was like a huge Dollar Store specializing in Pirate stuff.

The RV seems to be getting smaller as the days go by. It's still cozy but kind of cramped. It's weird to do everything that's needed in life (eating, sleeping, bathing not to mention driving) in this 20 foot space. Lets put it this way, we need to do lots of activites outside of the RV not to go crazy. It's so small that it always seems messy. Make one meal and we have used up every plate and fork we have. Come back from the beach and undress and the whole floor is filled with sand and dirty clothes. You get the picture. So today I did a clean up/tidy up of the place. I even cleaned our dirty clothes at the laundry facilities this afternoon. Funny how this one act made me feel very mature. It reminded me of my own mother. She always would do that for our family on holiday and now I am doing the same for my family.

Anyhow everyone is already asleep. Even James. I can't believe it but getting up early with the kids and walking on the beach and exploring really poops us out. Good night guys.

The Oregon coast is absolutely beautiful. Yesterday started off rainy so we decided to head over to the Aquarium in Newport. We didn't tell the girls where we were going. We just told them we had a huge surprise for them. So they were giddy with excitement getting there and had so much fun when we arrived. Our favorite exhibit was the Sea Otters. They are so cute, chubby, silly (they kind of reminded us of Tobi) and playful and great swimmers. Loved the Aquarium.
In the afternoon the sun came out so we headed back to the beach for more seashell hunting & sandcastle making.


























































We stopped off at the town of Newport on the way back from the Aquarium. Papa was craving all this fresh seafood. All these boats had signs that read fresh Tuna and Crab. And there were so many sea lions everywhere. But when we parked the RV we noticed that both girls were fast asleep...zonked from all the excitement. Oh well....so we didn't get a chance to explore yesterday but we are planning to go back there today.