Bye 2007!!!

Wow! I just can't believe that this year is over in 11 hours! It was filled with so many great memories but I know that so much more is to come.
Let's see....

My babies turned one year old and 3 years old (how crazy is that!?). Makes me kinda sad that we're done with that whole baby period in our lives but at the same time, I am so excited to move on and do things that you just can't do when you're tugging along baby gear, bottles, formula, and a baby. Still, every night I go into Jakey's room, and I watch him sleep for a few minutes cause in 2008 the crib will disappear and that's it! No more babies for Ted and I. Wow. Just crazy. It went so fast.

And of course!! I started my photography business that is thriving and doing wonderfully thanks to my amazing clients! Every day I thank god that I have such a supportive husband that has made my dream of photography and working for myself and staying home with my kids come true! Can't wait to see what 2008 will bring to Jillian Kirby Photography.

Oh! And we bought our first house! How proud are we?!?! This isn't it... we won't stay here forever. But its' just another stepping stone to get to where we want to be.

Ashleigh started school. That was a zinger. How on earth is my little girl old enough to go to school??? But she did and she's just excelling. We are just so proud of her!

Jakey learned to walk and a few months later had his first birthday in our new house. That was such a great party and I'm so glad so many people were here to share it with us.

Anyways, I know there's so much more but I don't want to drag it on! 2008 will bring more birthdays, more success and more happiness I know! We're looking forward to the birth of our second niece or nephew in 2008 (well, ya never know... there's still 11 hours left in 2007!!).

I sure hope that all of you have a wonderful 2008 and we hope to see you all very soon!

Happy 2008 Everyone,
Love,
The Kirby's

Introducing Ashleigh's New Blog!!!

My girl got a camera for Christmas... FINALLY! She has been asking for one for MONTHS (ever since she saw the commercial on treehouse). So we've decided to give Ash her own blog where she can upload her pictures and share them with everyone.

Be sure to check it out periodically and add it to your Favorites!

They're already pretty artsy if I do say so myself!! :)

www.ashleighkirby.blogspot.com

From our Family to Yours...

... The Kirby Family wishes you all a relaxing and wonderful Christmas and a prosperous 2008! We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!
Love,
Ted Jill Ashleigh and Jake

Our Santa Trip this Year!

.... enough said! ha ha!

Uncle Blair is Home! Uncle Blair is Home!!

Gee I wonder why Ash was so stoked that Uncle Blair was coming home?!?!



First was the game of ball with Jaker... of course, Jake is still feeling Uncle Blair out... he's still not too sure, but he's doing much better than we thought!



Then was the game of Barbie's with Ash... yes that's right!! My big little brother played BARBIE'S tonight!!! (As you can see it was in between watching the game! LoL)



And of course, had to finish off the night with a wrestling match!




In case you don't "get" this photo... he's trapping her up against the ceiling!! LOL




I'd say she's happy Uncle Blair is finally home!

MmmmMMMmmmm.....

A new fan of Nutella has just been born!! In case you don't know what it is... it's like peanut butter, but made with hazelnuts instead of peanuts and tastes more like chocolate than anything else. Oh yeah, it's GOOD!

Anyways, Ash is at school making gingerbread men today so I thought Jakey could have a treat: cinnamon raisin bagel with nutella on it.

I think he liked it...











... Down to the last drop!

Oooooh! Makes me want ANOTHER One!!

For those of you that don't check my photography blog regularly, I thought I'd post these few over here. She is Miss "S" and she's just a little doll! Her mom hired me to do her maternity shoot and then the newborn shoot and she was just so cute and sweet... I just wanted to steal her!!!!

Don't you just want to eat her up?!?!?!

I Love You Too!

Every night after my babies' are asleep, I go into their rooms, pull the covers over them, turn out the night lights and give them each kisses on their heads.... a ritual I LOVE and will surely miss when they're grown and gone.

Tonight, as I kissed Ash, I whispered in her ear, "Mommy loves you baby". And as I turned to walk back out of her room, I hear " I love you too mommy" in her sweet little tiny voice.

Best sound in the world. I have no idea how five little words can make you so happy to your core... but they do! :)

Christmas Tree Hunting

Off to Giesbrecht's we went, as we do every year! I thought I wanted another Noble... Ted insisted that last year I said I was going back to the Douglas... Of course, I thought I was right and we went with the Noble... he was right.
Ah well!! It still looks beautiful!



Here's Grandpa with his two biggest fans off to pick the perfect tree!




Jakey is such a Grandpa's Boy... he won't go to anyone else! Not even me!!





We ran into my mom Arif and Shakeel! What a coincedence!





SUCCESS!!! The first year that Ash hasn't been absolutely TERRIFIED of Santa... and this Santa was creepy to boot!!




And of course no photoshoot can go without one of Ash's gorgeous photos! Check out the chapped lips... ouch!





Here's THE ONE! We decorated it tonight and I didn't get any pictures... can you believe it?!?!? I plan on getting some shots tomorrow night with the kids thought. I think it was just too much in one day!

She's a GENIUS!!! (Warning: Mommy Brag Below)

Ok... maybe not a genius... but darn smart!! We had a parent teacher interview yesterday with Ashleigh's preschool teachers and they basically said that while she's only in 3 year old preschool, she is easily at a kindergarten level, almost grade one!! Her letter and number recognition, counting skills, shape recognition and preposition usage are highly above average!!

Even her social skills are excellent. She plays so well with other kids and always has friends around her.

She does need a little work with her fine motor skills (sissors, holding the pen, etc). She's just "on track" with that. But like Daddy says, if you're not first, you're last!! heehee!

YEY ASHLEIGH!!!! We're so proud of you baby!!

The Adventure of the Kirby Family Christmas Card

I have taken family photos for over 20 families in the past 2 months. I've done christmas cards for the majority of them and not to toot my own horn, but they looked pretty darn good.

This is THE BEST that I could get from my own kids. (And keep in mind, I said " THE BEST").

Ringing in the Holiday... Kirby STYLE!

Click on the link below!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1113033052

Let it SNOW!!!

It actually snowed!! And we got a TON of it!! Ted took the kids out and sledded and built snowmen! Jakey wasn't too fond of the cold and my camera wasn't too fond of the dark so only a few pics!!

Has it been THAT long?!?!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything substantial for two weeks!! Well I can't even tell you all how busy we've been! I've been crazy busy with shoots... the christmas rush is on and everyone wants their holiday family photos (so much fun!! I love it!). I also have term papers and finals due in school, christmas shopping and oh yeah... I have a family too!

In the midst of all this I had the HONOUR of photographing the birth of my client's daughter. It was truly an amazing experience and a true test of my abilities as a professional. All in all, I was with the family for 21 hours but they really are wonderful people! Go check out my photography blog for a peek at the pics.

In addition to the holiday family shoots, I've also done 6 maternity shoots in the last 4 weeks. I think all my moms are due in the next month so I'll be busy doing newborn shoots over Christmas and into the New Year (Can't wait!).

Ash is excelling in school. We have a parent teacher interview this week (I KNOW! CRAZY!) and I can't wait to hear how well she's doing. We also went to Princess's On Ice this week and she LOVED it! I'll have pics for that up in the next couple days.

Poor Jakey... all I have to say about this little guy is that he's got this awful rash that I just can't seem to figure out. Looks like I'm going to have to take him to see Dr. D. But he's just as happy and lovey as usual! LOVE THAT BOY!

Ted is busy busy busy... he's acting at work and doing his regular job. Plus he comes home and tows the line while I edit in my office. He's getting a little worn out I think, but I'll make it up to him! Have I mentioned he's the best husband/father in the world?!?!?

Blair's team that he coaches, the University of Manitoba Bisons, won the Vanier Cup this weekend in Toronto! Congrats Blair!!!! We miss him so much and can't wait to see him at Christmas. Love you Blair!!

Daddy got in a car accident last week that wrote off his truck... argh! He's sore (smashed the back window in his truck right out with the back of his head!). But on the bright side, he's getting a new vehicle so that will be nice for him.

As if I wasn't busy enough, Ted and I are hosting Christmas dinner for my dad's family this year. YIKES! I started freaking out cause I've never done a turkey dinner, let alone for 20 people. But a client of mine talked me down and said for my first dinner, I should just cheat. She gave me lots of tips!! Thanks Linda!!

So, what I'm trying to say is... life is crazy but I promise to start posting again very soon!!
Love you all!
J

Blogger's Anonymous

My name is Jillian and I am a blog stalker. So much so that I wish more of my friends/family blogged so that I would have more to read. At the moment I have about 5 that I like to read on a daily basis... but it's not enough! It's like a bad addiction... I just can't get enough of it! Help me! I need help! LOL

Really, what it comes down to, is that I just love to procrastinate and reading other people's blogs gives me an easy way to avoid editing/working. Ok... off I go to blog stalk... ur... I mean edit!!

Coloring fun!

So I decided to take a chance and let Jakey join Ash in some coloring. Ugh. Big mistake.



Oh isn't this cool, I can put a color on the page... look at it turn green.





Hmmm.... I wonder.....





.... I wonder if I put this in my mouth, if my TONGUE will turn green!?!?!





YES! YES IT WILL!! My tongue turns green!! Look Mom! Take a picture of THIS!!!!



Ugh. Boys!

Two More Halloween Pics!

Ted, in his usual father-of-the-year ways, rented a Shrek costume to surprise Ashleigh! He showed up on Halloween fully decked out. Freaked both Ash and Jake right out!! LOL

But Ashleigh warmed up to it VERY quickly and was so excited that her Princess Fiona costume was going to have a life size Shrek Prop. :)







They were a big hit with all the other parents and trick-or-treaters too! What a good dad!!

Jaker the Lion! Roar!

My little man did Halloween Lion style! He was the cutest Lion EVER!!!
Don't mind some of the pictures... I was walking backwards, laughing and trying to take pictures all at one time... NOT a good idea! LOL
You'll get the jist though! :)

My Little Princess Fiona!

So Ash decided to dress up as Princess Fiona from the Shrek movie for Halloween. She LOVES Princess Fiona... or maybe I should say she is OBSESSESED with Princess Fiona. Anyways, she was pretty excited to dress up like her (even though I bought her this ADORABLE ladybug costume MONTHS ago that I was excited to see her in... but ah well!). Here's some pics of my little Princess!







Oh that angel face!




She's getting pretty sick of the camera by now... can you tell?!?! lol




And I think I will get this one blown up for her princess room... too cute!
Thanks for looking!!

I'm baaaaa--aack!

Well I'm back online and have missed so much posting! So much to make up for!! So here's our trip to Grouse Mountain with our friends Jordan, Anne-Marie and Strachan! Believe it or not, I have never made it up there! So we took the gondola up and took in some of the scenery.



I should send this pic to Sunrype raisins as an advertisement! LOL





But what a sweetie! He's willing to share his raisins with his little buddy Jake.





Doesn't he have amazing eyes!?!





And here's my Jaker-man! He was loving every minute of being free to roam around.





My sweetie Ash is still not into me taking her pic... this is the best I could get!





Strachan just loves Jake... it's so cute!

My Laptop went KerPLOOSH. Argh.

So as the title says, my laptop conked out on me (or is about to)... it has an overheating issue and so I will be offline for the next couple weeks (I'm on my in-laws computer right now). It's very frustrating and I HAVE NO IDEA what I will do without it... it's is MY LIFE!!!

But, they tell me it could have caught on fire, so better safe than sorry.
Hope you all have a good Halloween, and rest assured I will DEFINITELY have costume pics of the kids to post when I get back!

The Pumpkin Patch

Ash and Jake's Grammie and Grandpa called and we took them and their cousin Erika on an impromptu trip to the pumpkin patch (much to Ted's dismay... he hates missing stuff!).
Here's the pics!


Can you tell they're only a month and a half apart in age?!? Talk about size difference!

Ash just adores her cousin Erika! They are bestest friends!!

Poor Jakey got the short end of the stick... he had to miss his nap and was so exhausted, but as usual, took one for the team and was a trooper through the whole thing!

Having trouble uploading pics this morning... will try and add more later!

I think I just may homeschool...

So off we went this morning to take Ash to school. The second I got out of class I was bombarded by irrate mothers who were absolutely out of their minds with what the school board has planned for Aldergrove.

Basically, they are proposing to implement a "middle school" within the high school. The grades will be grade k-5 in the elementary schools, grade 6-9 in the middle school and grade 10-12 in the high school. Now you can imagine the uproar and concern that grade sixers (10 year olds in some cases) will be put in the same school environment as grader twelvers (18 year olds in some cases). Realistically, there will be no middle school at all... it will be in name only. All the kids will be in the same building using the same facilities and hanging out in the same smoke pit. LOVELY.

I went to a meeting tonight to learn more about it (I know, I know, I have two years to worry about this... but I worry now!). To be honest with you, the school board bigwigs did nothing but makes us all worry more about this decision and confirm to the angry mob of parents that we have no say. Pretty much, it will be voted through in late October and implemented next year.

I won't have my children in this situation... and made my opinion QUITE clear at the meeting this evening. If they think my pretty little 11 year old will be in the same building as those horny 17 and 18 year olds, they've got another thing coming! And that is just the tip of the iceberg and the tip of my concerns.

I think I just may homeschool. UGH.

Edited to add: I'm not really considering home schooling for MANY reasons... I was just being silly. But you can bet we'll be looking into private school!!! With the waitlists in the district, we'll have to get on that soon.

My First Pic out of my new 40D!!!

My New Baby!

Today I got my new baby... the Canon 40D!!! I can't even tell you how excited I am to take advantage of this new technology! The 9 point auto focusing, the 6.5 fps, 10.1 megapixels, weatherproofing, and bigger, more solid body frame. There's other things that I'm so excited about too... these are just the tip of the iceberg with this camera.

I am soooooo excited!!! I'm going to be teaching Ted how to get a manual exposure on my old camera... so watch out... they'll be two of us now!! LOL