The Fourth

It is my goal to get caught up on my blogging this week so be prepared to get bombarded!! ;)
So straight from Penticton, we drove to Sandy Point in the States. Ted's brother has a beach house down there and it over looks the ocean. They have a nice big open lot with a side area to park the trailer so we went down and parked there for a few days. Ted's parents and brother and sister-in-law were there so it was a nice family affair!

We made it there just in time for the Fourth of July... and I don't know if any of you have been to the States on the Fourth... but they do it up right! Fireworks go off from morning to night and even days before and after. It's amazing really! We have gone down every year since the kids were born and we love it every time. Ash and Jake really have a great time and they're at the age now where they can have fun with sparklers!!

Busy Busy Busy....

Boy this summer has been fun filled!! I have soooo many things to blog about it's not even funny. With Ted being off this summer awaiting shoulder surgery, I decided to take about half the clients I normally do so we could go away. We wanted to make sure that we were getting use out of our trailer and I tell ya, it's the best thing we've ever bought! I am so happy with it and I'm so glad we have it... we've taken it on 5 hour trips to Penticton for 5 days and 20 minute trips to Maple Ridge for one night! It's definitely our home away from home. LOVE it!

I can't remember if I mentioned this yet, but I went and bought a point and shoot... I just found that I wasn't bringing my "big camera" along with me to places... and moments were flooding by and I was missing them. I think I just wanted to leave work at home. But with this point and shoot, memories can be saved by quick snapshots now and I still have them, no need to process every single image!

Anyways, where to start... yes, our Penticton trip... well, we headed up there for a few days with our great friends Leigh and Brian and their girls Emily and Michaela and our other friends Kim and Glen and their little boy. It was a great time and we did everything from swimming in the lake, to playing ping pong, to doing the channel (all 4 kids in tow!!) to swimming in the pool. Good times!

Jake is OBSESSED with coloring right now... and man he is GOOD at it for his age. He holds the crayon right and tries so hard to stay in the lines... all things that Ash didn't do until her second year of preschool! Here he is coloring in the trailer! :)



He LOVES jumping into the pool to me or Ted... I'll upload a video of it later.



Having fun in Skaha Lake!


"Cutie Ethan" as the kids call him was having a great time in his crab floatie!


Yeah.... this is Clark Griswald and his buddy walking down to the lake... we had to bring our truck... we had more floaties than people to float on them.




Can't wait till next year!!!

Our Maiden Voyage!!

Man have I been ignoring my poor family blog! Summer has been crazy busy so far with work and trips out of town and family outings. There's just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day!

But, Ted and I purchased a new (to us!) travel trailer a month or so ago and we absolutely adore it! Basically, when I'm at home, I'm working... or sleeping. And unless we're eating together or out somewhere, I don't get a whole lot of quality family time. We figured that getting this trailer would make it easier for us to just pick up and go. With Ted being off work waiting for shoulder surgery, we are pretty flexible on when we can leave.

It's been AWESOME! The kids love it, we love it... it's our home away from home!





Kids are LOVING being able to roast marshmellows this year!





It rained just about every day we were up at Rolley Lake for at least 15 minutes at a time... no worries... we just headed inside and had some lunch!



Our good friends Brian and Leigh (or our Trailer Buddies) as we like to call them bought their trailer quite a few months ago and it's awesome to have good friends to take off with!



Ahh.... pure relaxation! And yes, there is definitely Bailey's in that coffee right there! LOL







I bought myself a little point and shoot a couple months back so that I would start taking snapshots of the kids more... and not just the perfectly posed, perfectly composed shots, but the down dirty, au naturelle, shots. Love it!

FIVE. She's FIVE.

Tomorrow my baby girl turns FIVE. When did this happen?? I have no idea what happened to the last five years. I remember when we found out she was coming... I was 8.5 months pregnant, walking around 5cm dialated (for the past 2 weeks) and I was gardening in our old little rancher on the navy base. Ted was sitting on the step having a beer and our doc called us up at 2:00pm and said "Hey.... ya wanna have a baby today?". And that was it... we ran in the house, showered up, packed a bag and we were at the hospital to have my water broken by 3:00pm. Contractions started at 4:00pm and she was born at 6:32pm. Yep... it was quick!!!

And now here we are... FIVE.

She's THE SWEETEST little thing in the entire world. Always caring about others, she is the best big sister. She absolutely loves Jake and he loves her. It's awesome to watch them play together. She excels in school and in all the activities she takes part in. Her absolute favorite thing to do right now is go to swimming lessons or play Polly Pockets. And just recently, she's started carrying her baby doll, Rachel, around with her. Last night she cried because she'd been so busy playing with her new toys from her party that she had ignored Rachel.... she's such an emotional girl... but it's good... she cries hard but she loves hard and laughs hard.



On the weekend she had her very first slumber party and it went off without a hitch... 8 little girls all sleeping in a tent... no fights, no tears, nothing.



The whole group together after their make overs... they got their make up done complete with face jewels and pedicures... they got their goody bags at the beginning of the party because they had their jewelery and lipstick that they needed for the make overs. ;)



She had the PRETTIEST CAKE! I didn't make it this year... just not enough hours in the day lately... but it was still homemade by Shawna from www.cakesbyshawna.com and her cakes are just so beautiful!!


Ted set up the tent in the playroom and all the girls slept in there. They were all soooo good! I couldn't believe it!

And they were up at the crack of dawn eating strawberry and blueberry pancakes with whipping cream. I KNEW we bought that 9 piece dining room set for a reason!! ;)

Happy birthday my girl... I love you to bits and I just know it will be a blink of an eye and you'll be turning 15. Sigh.

Bring On Summer!!!

Well... we FINALLY bought a trailer! And we're SOOOOOO excited by it. We've got 10 camp trips planned this summer! We so need it cause when we're home, I'm in my office, glued to my computer screen, editing, responding to client emails and bookkeeping. So we NEED to get away. This will be such a great investment in our family and I can't wait.

Will be back with pics I'm sure!
YEY!!!

Dream

EDITED TO ADD: THE VIDEO IS NOW WORKING! TRY AGAIN! :)


I had some fun with Ash last week playing dress up... I think I may have a little angel on my hands.

Made a little movie... very rough draft... didn't even edit any pics.
Wanna see it? Here it goes!! :)

Click on this link to see it... and don't forget to click the little HD button to the right of the red scroll bar to watch it in a higher quality.

Ash's Dress Up Video

Quote of the Day

"I am just so happy with life... like soaking in the sun, soaking the Vitamin D, I'm soaking in Vitamin LOVE."
- Ted Kirby said right before talking about buying a trailer... AGAIN!