5 years ago today...

Literally "Just Married"

One of our friends took this picture as we were greeting our guests after our ceremony.

Driving through town, on our way to have pictures taken

One of my favourite pictures from our special day.

Kissy Kissy in the '67 Dart (Ron's Mom's car)

I was a little lazy this morning so I just took pictures of our pictures from our wedding album instead of scanning them.

I think this is such a neat shot - we look super imposed or something. Our photographer was lying on the ground when she look the picture.

Awwww....

I can't believe these pictures were taken 5 years ago. It just doesn't seem possible!

First dance with lots of bubbles. I love how our photographer is standing on the chair (right hand side of the picture) - they'll do anything for a good shot :)

Cheers!!!!!

(Apple juice in my glass & champagne in Ron's - I'm a wimp and don't like wine or champagne! ha ha)

Wii Workout

We bought a Wii a couple of weeks ago. We're not big video game people but the Wii is very interactive so we thought we'd give it a shot. So far, we're having fun with it and even Rachel is getting into it...

On the balance board (with Wii Fit)

Guess she wasn't happy with her workout score but I love her face in this picture!
Dance Dance Revolution!

Good thing she's keeping hydrated while she's working out

Wow - two steps at once - way to go, Rach!

5 months old today!!

Is it Saturday yet?

Well, it's been another rough week around here. 2008 started out great (Natalie arrived in January) but since then, it's been going down hill and rather quickly. A friend from High School passed away last Friday so went to the funeral home on Monday night. Paul was an amazing man and very well respected in the school board (he taught science). Paul's parents and my parents are friends as well so needless to say, it's been really tough saying goodbye to such a great man who was only 34 years old.

Yesterday morning, my friend Brenda's Dad passed away. I picked up some food from M&M's, and a beautiful flower arrangement and headed out to Lucan last night to spend some time with her. She seems to be doing well and this was expected but not this soon. He had a stroke on Saturday night/Sunday morning and along with the throat/lung cancer he was fighting, he just couldn't do it. I think the saddest part of this story is that Brenda is getting married August 9th of this year. At least she got to say 'goodbye'. We will be going to the funeral home for him tomorrow night and then I'll be going to the funeral on Friday morning. The girls are going to stay at my parents over night on Thursday because otherwise my parents might as well stay here since they'll be watching them Thursday night and then again on Friday while I go to the funeral. I didn't get to go to Paul's funeral today because I didn't have anyone to watch the girls. My sister in law is due Friday with her 2nd child so my mother in law is on duty up there in case she goes in to labour and with us living an hour away from them, I just couldn't ask Ron's Mom to come here this morning so I could go to the funeral. I'm just glad we got to go to the funeral home and see the family. I think that's just as important, if not more so, than the funeral itself.

In the midst of all this grief, we managed to have a good weekend and week so far.

My little chunk doesn't even fit in the Bumbo

Rachel was telling Natalie 'one minute'

Ron & Natalie on Father's Day. Rachel wanted nothing to do with this picture.

We headed over to my parents on Sunday afternoon for dinner. Rachel was excited to help Grandad open his present. Natalie just hung out in her bouncy chair, as usual.

Tried to get a picture of Ron & Rachel but the little stinkers wouldn't look at the camera. At least my Mom looked!

Roaming through the gardens

"Hmmm, this is a pretty flower."

Grandad brought out a tricycle for Rachel to play with.

She wasn't sure about it at first...decided to step on the back and try to climb on the seat that way.

Her legs are still a little short but she didn't seem to mind.

She was content to just sit on it for awhile. I love how she has her ankles crossed.

Trying to put her feet on the pedals again.

"Maybe I'll just push it instead!"

On Monday we headed down to Harris Park where Daddy was working so we could have a picnic lunch with him. Soon he'll be working in Brantford again and we won't be able to do this anymore.

Would have been a great picture if Ron was smiling!

"mmmmm, I love bread & butter"

Natalie watching Rachel & Daddy.

What a wonderful big sister. Rachel loves to feed Natalie! Natalie looks pretty cozy, too - check out her one leg up on the couch! ha ha

Rachel & Daddy playing on Natalie's playmat when Daddy got home from work. Turned out to be a cute picture.

Rachel's first birthday party

I guess technically it's not her first birthday party because she went to her cousin Luke's 1st birthday last September. So it's her first birthday party outside of family :)

Our neighbours 2 doors down were having a birthday party today for their daughter Lauryn and Rachel was so excited to be invited!

Cooking up a storm in their playhouse.
Mmmmm...chips!

Trying with all her might to get the horn to make a noise. Finally she decided to just make her own noise while it was up to her mouth.

The 'Dragon Man' was there with some lizards, snakes and a tarantula. At first Rachel was more interested in a bowl of chips.

But then she got right into it.

Rocco & Rachel hanging out...watching the reptiles from a far.

Lauryn, the birthday girl, with Seth, the HUGE snake!

Rachel decided to get closer to Seth

And then she TOUCHED HIM! I couldn't believe it!!!

We had so much fun at the party - water balloons, pin the tail on the donkey (I'm quite positive they still use the same donkey from when I was a kid!), pizza, ice cream cake, the Dragon Man, and then a piñata - what more could you ask for?

Playing outside last night

Content to sit in her stroller for a little while - then it was time to swing!

Rachel LOVES this playhouse. She likes to serve 'ice cream' and will accept rocks/stones for payment. Our one neighbour, Teresa, pays with pennies :)

I wish you could hear Natalie laughing better...instead you hear me making the silly noises that make her laugh!

Our week in review...

As you can see from all the pictures, it's been a busy week!

Hanging out in the rocking chair, happy as can be!
I love the way Natalie looks at Rachel.

Painting butterflies with Auntie Linda

Pretending to mix paint

Showing me that she was going to paint a butterfly

So we put her to work

She did a pretty good job - most of the paint isn't near the butterfly but that's ok :)

Weekly cow picture

Rachel decided Natalie needed to have a drink while I was trying to take pictures

Grandma & Grandad bought the girls a play house - Rachel was SO excited. Now I can't wait until Christmas morning!!!

Rachel & Grandma having some 'tea'

Peek a boo

Grandad & Natalie hung out on the stairs

This picture makes me giggle. The girls were having so much fun sitting beside each other; they were both laughing. I'm so glad they are really close in age (17 months) because I think they're going to be best friends as they grow up!

Both looking at the camera for a change and of course that's when our camera decides to crap out on me. I'm so sick of that camera! UGH! Anyway, I tried to lighten the picture but now it's really grainy...still cute though.

I knew I kept those Avent bottles for a reason - now Rachel uses them to feed her baby. We have bottles for her dolls but she doesn't like to use them, she wanted a real bottle apparently.

Time to burp her baby (who is wearing one of Natalie's dresses)

I guess her baby made a mess while eating because the next thing I knew, Rachel was dragging out Natalie's bathtub.

Hmmm...look Mom, I can sit in here, too!

Natalie finally likes her swing again - she went through a phase where she would cry when we put her in it. I wanted to cry myself because Rachel loved that swing when she was a baby (well, who are we kidding - she still loves it!)

When you tell Rachel to 'smile', this is the face she makes. Cracks me up every time!

Look at that excitement in Natalie's face!

Rachel's new favourite thing to do - push Natalie in the swing! Works for me :)

So there you have it! We've had a great week, despite the weather. It's been crazy hot around here (35C and then add the humidex to that and you're looking at 40C at least - yuck!) and when it's not super hot, then it's raining. We do need the rain and I must say that our grass looks fantastic because of all the rain but I don't like being stuck indoors with this weather.

We went to Toronto on the weekend for a bbq at my Aunt's house. We had a great time although Natalie screamed anytime my Aunt Cathy would talk to her! On our drive home, we ran into some nasty rain storms - the kind where you need to slow down, put your 4 way flashers on, and really concentrate so you can keep the vehicle on the road. Ron had a few drinks so it was up to me to drive home. I don't mind because I'm comfortable driving in that type of weather; it's all the other idiots on the road that I worry about. We made it home safe & sound and actually in record time (could be the fact that I have a lead foot when the driving conditions are good).

Ron had to work some overtime last night because of all the storm damage. There were quite a few calls to take care of relating to trees down or just branches and what not. He was exhausted when he got home from working the extra couple of hours in addition to being in that horrible heat all day. Not sure I could do his job in that type of weather; having to wear chainsaw pants and long sleeves (he works around hydro). Then again, I'm not sure I could do his job on a good day - I can't even start his chainsaws :)

Have a wonderful week...