Natalie doing 'patty cake'
Our little balerina Rachel
Rachel dancing to 'Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car'
Well what do ya know - my walkway AND flowerbed are all done. Yahoo!
Eating corn on the cob all by herself now. She did very well with it and ate quite a bitWe had an awesome day yesterday as we celebrated Rachel's 2nd birthday. Mother Nature was good to us and it was a beautiful sunny day. Here are some of the pictures from the celebration...
The cake my friend Linda & I made for Rachel
Rachel helped me blow up the balloons.
The cutest 2yr old sitting with some of her balloons
Hanging out with Natalie before the party started
Cha Cha, Grandad & Uncle Mark
Auntie Donna, Grandma with Rachel, Great Gramma Betty & Oma
Natalie & Great Gramma Betty
This is one of my favourite pictures from the day. We looked over and there was Rachel sitting at her little table with her doll having a drink.
I swear she was happy...just very serious in this picture
Time to open presents. This bubble machine is SO COOL!!! Just put the bubbles in the dispenser and turn it on...my kind of toy :)
She loved opening the presents. And check out that skirt - isn't that adorable with the ruffles? Only a 2 year old can pull that off! ha ha
"ohhh a doll!"
Pinata time - the kids & Cha Cha had fun getting the candy out of Elmo
Eating a candy necklace
Yummy!
The bubble machine in action - I told you it was coolWe had a fantastic time in Michigan yesterday. We went shopping at Great Lakes Crossing and then headed over to The Palace to see The Wiggles. After the show we went to The Olive Garden for dinner - it was soooo yummy! I'm still really sad they closed The Olive Garden in London - it was always so busy so I'm not sure why? Whatever! It was a nice treat yesterday!
Blogger is not cooperating with me so I can't upload pictures but you can take a look at them here
I think Rachel enjoyed herself yesterday. It was definitely a busy day but what better way to spend your birthday, right? :)
Funny thing - today I found out that The Wiggles are coming to the JLC right here in London in October!!! You can bet we'll be getting tickets for that show as well.
Lately, over the past few days, it has been VERY chilly around here. Long sleeves and jeans are more the 'norm' now instead of t-shirts and shorts. What happened to summer? I guess on the brighter side, it's nice to have the windows open and getting some fresh air instead of having the air conditioning running all of the time.
Rachel eating corn on the cob for the first time (she doesn't normally like corn)
Doing the 'monkey dance' on our way to Oma's on Saturday.
My cuties this morning before we went to the portrait studio.
This one is my favourite.Rachel is turning TWO on Tuesday! We are taking her to see The Wiggles in Detroit that day and I think she'll be pretty excited about that. Her actual birthday party will be next Saturday since we have a wedding today and a family picnic tomorrow. I put her birthday announcement in the local paper today...she looks pretty cute, doesn't she?
Have a good weekend!!
It's been a somewhat quiet week around here...well, in the sense that we haven't been doing a lot. Rachel & Natalie are both sick. It's just a cold but Natalie seems to be the lucky one and has it the worst. For the past 3 nights, I have had a total of 7 hours sleep. Last night was the worst so far - Natalie just wouldn't sleep. Finally at 4am, Ron came downstairs and said he would take care of her and he wanted me to go to bed. As much as I would have loved to have take him up on that offer, I just couldn't. He has to drive 45 minutes to work everyday on the 401/403 (busy highways here in Ontario) and on top of that, he works with chainsaws all day. The last thing we need is for him to get in an accident...either on his way to work or while at work. He held Natalie for a little while and she calmed right down - guess he has the magic touch and I've lost it? I finally got a brain wave and went out to the garage to get the infant car seat. I remembered when Rachel was really sick one time that she slept in that and it was a miracle chair. The same thing with Natalie. YAHOO - I slept from 4:30-6:45 when Rachel decided it was time to get up. Oh dear...how do women handle this on a regular basis? I never realized until now how lucky/spoiled I have been with babies who sleep through the night. Maybe it just makes this times tougher since I'm not used to it? I dunno. Thankfully this morning my parents came over for a few hours so I could get some rest and a much needed shower. I'm hoping that tonight will be a better night and Natalie will sleep.
At any rate, here are some pictures from this week...
I love Mommy/I love Mom pj's
What a sweetie
Standing on the ottoman - what a monkey! Glad Ron was there to help her get her balance.
Love those chubby legs
Poor Natalie - when we take her out of the Bumbo we have to shake it off her or get someone else to help remove it. Her legs get stuck :)
Love the way she's sleeping...and showing off her belly.
My cutie patootie all dressed up
Beautiful 62 Chrysler 300 (belongs to a family friend)
Ron was the lucky one who got to drive it!
'67 Dart convertible (my mother in laws car)
'68 Charger (belongs to an Aunt)
The 300 again
Ron & Julie...kid free
Mark & Ron - can you tell they're brothers?
Andrea & David
(looks like David is eating her flowers ha ha)
Ron toasting his Mom & step Dad, Sam in addition to his late father, Adrian. I was so proud of him for doing that toast!
A couple of drinks...getting ready to party!
Ron was obviously ready to party!
Can you tell we didn't have to worry about the kids?
Me & Michael (Ron's cousin)
Kissy Kissy - that's what happens when I drink. We all had a great time at the wedding and we didn't even have to spend a dime on drinks - Ron kept finding tickets - thanks Ron!!!
At the cottage....
Rachel was putting out peanuts for the Blue Jays and chipmunks
Eating chips with Mommy (who may have been feeling rough the next day ha ha)
Grandma & Natalie were playing peek a boo
Rachel thought Grandad needed some chips & dip. I didn't realize at the time that he was sleeping - I thought he was still reading. It was nice of her to leave a snack for when he woke up.
Oma & Natalie
Cha Cha & Natalie
Natalie chillaxin' on the deck
It was a little chilly
Rachel found Ron's shaver - let's hope she never needs one on her face :)
Natalie waving 'hi'
There always seems to be a lot of pictures of Rachel so I thought I'd include this one of Natalie as well. I like how the sun is shining on her.
The doll needed a shave as well.
One of my favourite pictures - Rachel & Grandad waiting for the sunset.
"Daddy - are you going to come see the sunset?"
There it is
Another shot later on
Yummy Oreo cookies!!!
The best big sister ever!
She was excited about something but I can't remember what it was now :(
Grandad, Grandma & Rachel at the beach. We were down there for quite awhile. I was bad again and just sat in the water and had some drinks. I haven't been able to drink the past 2 summers so I felt the need to make up for that I guess! I got a lovely sunburn as a result.
Rachel helping Grandad with the corn on the cob
Such a sweetie
Rachel can go down the stairs without help now!
Hanging out in Rachel's chair
Having a fire
The sunset on night 2
G'night Mr. Sun
Wake up, Daddy!!!!
Not a happy camper
After the cottage, we headed to Niagara Falls...
I don't think she could possibly put anything else on her lap!
At the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls
Waiting to see some butterflies
Having a snack
We weren't even in the actual conservatory for more than 5 minutes when a butterfly landed on Ron. They say if you wear bright colours they will more than likely land on you. I dressed Rachel in bright colours and they didn't go near her. They preferred Ron's boring grey shirt.
Yup...another one. You can see the one on his shoulder still.
checking things out
I love this butterfly - so pretty
Are you kidding me? A THIRD one????
Ron & the girls at the floral clock in Niagara
Who needs a double stroller? ha ha (Rachel is actually sitting where the cup holders are)
She decided it was time to take a little walk by herself. It wasn't busy at this point so I didn't mind too much.
Niagara Falls Canada
Love the rainbow
Me & the girls
Rachel loved being up so high (Ron is 6'4")
On to Toronto...
The CN Tower - I took this picture through our sunroof as we were driving on the highway. Not too shabby! That's the 'Rogers Centre' (used to be the Skydome) in the background on the left. 
Getting ready for a busy day at the zoo. We LOVED this stroller that we rented for Rachel. It was so awesome!
"El-fen"
Daddy & Rachel
'Heeee-po'
I don't even know how to type out how Rachel says zebra haha
The baby zebra is only 6 weeks old and it was her first day out
'Lie-yen'
'Geeeeee-raff'
Checking out more animals - The Metro Toronto Zoo is just amazing! We had so much fun even though there was a LOT of walking - it was worth it because Rachel quite enjoyed it. In addition to all of this, we ran into my friend Elizabeth & her son Calder. I met Elizabeth at the Todays Parent Forum when we were pregnant. We were both due at the same time - I think I was due one day earlier or something like that - so we chatted a lot and kept in touch. Rachel arrived 2 weeks early and Calder arrived right on time. With Elizabeth living in Ajax it's too far to have some 'play dates' with the kids so it was amazing to run into her at the Zoo. What a small world - and honestly, we couldn't have planned it any better. It was so great to finally 'meet' her face to face because we've shared so much over the past couple of years. We're going to try to get together next summer with the kids. It'll be fun I'm sure :) Maybe Calder will be a big brother by then :) What do ya think, Elizabeth? ha ha
Back at home...
Weekly COW picture (I got it right this time Kristi ha ha)
Yay - it's time for a big girl car seat. Bye Bye infant car seat....and back aches and shoulder aches! ha ha
When Ron was installing Natalie's new car seat, I asked him to take Rachel's out so I could clean everything...who knew that food could get UNDER those car seats? ha ha
Working on the walkway...thankfully it wasn't too hot today. There was a beautiful breeze, too.
Almost finished - just need to work on the flowers tomorrow. I'm so happy this is finally done - only been a year in the making! ha ha As you can see, it was an extremely busy week but it was so nice to spend time as a family. Ron hasn't been able to take vacation during the summer because he took a week off when Rachel was born and then last year, he had to save a week for when Natalie arrived this past January. It's hard to believe that he's back to work on Monday already. He has another vacation day on Rachel's birthday because we are going to Detroit to see The Wiggles...I'm sure Ron can't wait for that! ha ha
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
