Happy Halloween!

Tigger = Natalie


Not so happy kitty cat = Rachel

(She was actually upset that I didn't take her picture with Natalie & the cow)
A happy cat!

Completely worn out Tigger

Playing outside before the trick or treating started

It really sucks that it is daylight for so long on Halloween now.

Hanging out on the front porch - waiting for it to get a bit darker

Time to go!

Quite happy & content to sit in the stroller...and eat some Cheesies (she loved them!)

Hope you had a safe & fun Halloween!

My girls

Wow - both looking at the camera and Rachel is smiling...Natalie isn't crying or trying to jump off the chair. Mission. Accomplished.

Playing in the snow

Rachel was very excited to show Natalie the snow. Natalie didn't care one way or the other - perhaps all she saw were the Halloween stickers on her window
Rachel wanted to go for a walk in the snow. Sorry kiddo - not this time!

Sitting pretty while watching Mommy shovel the driveway

She doesn't look too impressed, does she? ha ha

What a fantastic helper! Look at the excitement on her face!

Oh - and yes, I realize she's not wearing mittens. She wanted them off about 2 minutes after we got outside. Her hands were sweaty and they stayed warm the whole time we were outside; just like Mommy!

Yay - we got the driveway done!

Rachel figured that since Drew's truck was parked in our driveway, she should be able to play with her car out there. Drew drives down to Brantford everyday with Ron - he usually parks on the street but as you can see, it was a mess this morning. Probably safer to have his truck in our driveway anyway. Oh - and they made it to work today with no issues. Apparently the 401 (highway) was clear and there is no snow at all in Brantford.

Rachel's first snowman..."Chippy"

Let it snow...let it snow...

LET IT SNOW!!!!

Not a bad amount of snow for our first snowfall of the season! It's a very thick, heavy, wet snow and it's calling my name!!! I'm thrilled I don't have to drive in it and as I type this, I'm waiting to get a text message from Ron letting me know he got to work ok.

Time to go have a hot chocolate in front of the fire place...and watch some cartoons :)

Future Canadian Idol?

The quality isn't the best since I used our digital camera. It seems like every time I want to record something our video camera battery is dead so I end up using the digital camera since it's just sitting there :)

All Wiggled out

We had a great time last night at The Wiggles concert. Rachel is a very reserved child and it takes her awhile to warm up to new people & new things/surroundings, etc. She sat on our laps for most of the show and then finally got down to jump and dance...when there was about 20 minutes left. She still had fun; it's just too bad it takes her so long to get comfortable.

Here's some pictures from yesterday afternoon & evening

Eating Cheerios & deep in thought

"Hmmm...no one has done this to me yet today"

Waiting for Daddy to get home so we can go see The Wiggles

Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car...

Daddy & Rachel
Yummy french fries!
So excited to see The Wiggles

Rachel actually sat in her own seat for awhile. Thank goodness because it was hard juggling the drinks, fries and Rach all at the same time :)

Jumping and singing

One more shot of the cast

We're off to see The Wiggles

Third time in a year! :)

We are taking Natalie with us tonight - hopefully she will enjoy the show as much as Rachel has in the past. We don't have 'awesome' seats like we have had in the past but they are by no means 'bad seats' or in the 'nose bleed' section :) Kind of funny that we get a chance to see them in our Hometown and we don't get great seats. Yet when we went to Toronto and Detroit to see them, we had amazing seats. Oh well, whatever!

We have friends coming over for dinner tomorrow and then on Wednesday Oma is coming for a visit. Hopefully I'll be able to update the blog at some point this week :)

**Update**
Natalie didn't join us tonight after all. She wasn't feeling 100% - not sure if it's teething or if she's caught something. She was kind again and shared her dinner with us...all over the CLEAN carpet! lol So, she hung out with Grandma & Grandad while the 3 of us went to see The Wiggles. It was a good show. Rachel was dancing and singing; I think she enjoyed it.

What a weekend

We've had a very productive weekend - YAHOO! It's been nice that we haven't had to go anywhere (as in a road trip); it's amazing what you can get done :)

Friday night my Mom & I went to a craft show - it was a little on the pathetic side but she did buy me a really cool Birthday present (I'll post about that another time since my birthday isn't until December) After the craft show we went out for a bite to eat & a drink. It was nice to be 'out' :)

Saturday rolled around and we headed out to do some errands. We took our laptop in to get new hinges. The poor thing - wouldn't even stay open anymore because both sides were now broken. We also had a list of things we needed to get - Rachel needed new running shoes (AGAIN) and some winter boots (the ones from last year fit her right now but I have visions of them not fitting in December and then having a hard time finding some). Natalie needed some food (what else is new? lol) and we needed to get our rings inspected (in order to keep the lifetime warranty on the diamonds, we have to get them inspected every 6 months...a bit of a pain but I guess it's worth it). We had lunch at the mall and then headed for home. The girls fell asleep on the way home and we had no problem putting Natalie in her crib when we got home. Rachel though - that was a different story. She didn't want to sleep and she was having a major freak out. I thought she might just eventually give up and go to sleep. Not so much. She's stubborn (wonder where she gets that from ha ha). My friend Annette came over for a little while and Ron was busy vacuuming (good man). After that, we decided to clean the carpets. Well, Ron decided (I've been bugging him for weeks now though) and I was the lucky one who cleaned them. We dropped the girls off at my parents while we did this since it would have been a little crazy around here otherwise. All of our family room furniture was in the kitchen eating area and the toys that are usually in our living room were shoved to the foyer. No place for 2 little girls to hang out. Anyway, the carpets and our kitchen chairs, our couch cushions and Rachel's little chair are super clean now - I love it! Let's see how long it lasts :)

Rachel must have been excited about the clean carpet - she laid here for a few minutes this morning.

Do you see what's wrong with this picture? I'm convinced the reason why Ron dropped the eggs is because I washed the floor last night :)

Grandad & Natalie. She loves the 'water bed'

I love this picture of the girls reading a book

Playing together this afternoon. So cute!

I will apologize in advance if you don't see me on Facebook, or leaving comments on your blog, or even replying to email. We are using our desktop and while it's a great computer, it's not as convenient to use as the laptop :)

Here's hoping the original estimate of '2 weeks' to get our laptop back isn't true!!! :)

The new snow suit

Rachel got a new snow suit last week (thanks Grandma & Grandad) so she got to try it out last night. No, we don't have any snow but it was VERY cold last night and Rachel wanted to go outside since Ron was out there. It's that time of year when we have to put away our patio furniture and tidy things up so he was trying to do that after work yesterday.

Jumping with excitement that she gets to wear her snowpants!

We bought this hat for Rachel when she was just a baby because it was too cute & it's made by a Canadian company but it's still too big (says it's size 2 but I think it's more like a 3 or 4)

So we pulled the hat out that she wore last year and it still fits. Not sure for how much longer but it did the trick last night. And, it's pretty cute!

All ready to go!

Having one last swing before the snow falls

Rosy cheeks but the rest of her was nice & warm. Natalie is in the background (watching us from inside)

We were playing in the basement last night and Natalie was trying her hardest to get up on her own. Or maybe she was just trying to let Grandad know that she loves the chairs & table he made :)

Have a wonderful weekend - we're planning on having a low key one - maybe doing some cleaning. How exciting! :)

9 month check up

I took Natalie to the doctor yesterday for her "Well Baby" Check Up. She weighs 22lbs and is 26 3/4" in length. Needless to say she's in the 90th percentile for her weight and only the 25th percentile for her height :)

She's started pulling herself up on things but she's not quite there yet. She enjoys crawling backwards - well, more or less pushing herself backwards. She gets on her hands and knees but will not go forward - only backwards. She has figured out how to go into a sitting position - totally different than the way Rachel did it. When she started doing this about a month ago, I thought it was more of a fluke that she sat up on her own but over the past few weeks she has mastered the move. She has also mastered the 'high 5' and 'thumbs up'...it's not so much a 'thumbs sideways' move anymore. She is starting to give kisses - you know, those wonderful open mouth slobbery ones. I tried teaching her how to blow kisses instead but she doesn't like that. She just waves instead. When you ask her where her head is she puts both hands on her head and then runs her hands through her hair. She says 'Mama' and 'Dada' and a whole bunch of other sounds. She has recently rediscovered her tongue. It's funny to watch her try to grab her tongue or she'll just sit there and point at her tongue and smile. I really do wish I knew what she was thinking when she did this stuff. When we sing 'Old MacDonald' she claps and moves her body as if she's dancing. When we watch the Baby Einstein 'Old MacDonald' DVD and the song comes on, she gets VERY excited and her legs don't stop moving while she claps. I remember Rachel getting excited over little things when she was this age as well but I don't think she was ever quite like this. Perhaps it's because I was so sick when Rachel was this age (I was pregnant with Natalie and had "all day" sickness) and I've sort of blocked those days??? I am amazed though how different the two of them are. Rachel is a lot like Ron - very shy & reserved until she gets to know you. Then look out - she'll talk your ear off and won't leave you alone. Natalie is more like me - smiling all the time to everyone and anyone and on the go. Kind of nice we have one of each :)

We're going to try and get Natalie's legs good & strong so she can hold herself up while standing. I'd really like to see her take her first steps before I go back to work...less than 3 months now. I think she can do it!!!

Wow - what a random post. It's early in the morning and I wanted to make note of a few things here before I forget them so excuse my 'all over the place' post! :)

Have a great day!

Folding laundry

Rachel gets very excited when I do laundry. As soon as she hears the dryer 'buzz' (cute to hear her say that), she runs over to me and says 'Mommy fold! Mommy fold!' She sorts the laundry first into 2 piles - her clothes & Natalie's clothes. Then she starts folding...

Pretty good for a 2 year old, wouldn't you say???

It's wonderful having a little helper and I'm sure when I'm back to work in January I'll appreciate it even more!

Do their arms fall asleep?

I've often wondered if kids arms/legs fall asleep? I know if I slept like this mine would be asleep in no time...


I find it funny the way kids fall asleep...Natalie hardly ever sleeps length wise in her crib. I mean, why do you need all that extra space, right? ha ha

We used the bumper pads with Rachel and they were still in pristine shape when she moved to her 'big girl' bed. They've been on Natalie's crib for a couple of months and they are barely staying up anymore because she kicks them away to stick her feet out or she pulls them closer to her to cuddle with if her little bunny isn't around. I was going to take them right off but last night she kept bumping her head and would wake up crying so we're going to have to come up with another plan of attack. Any suggestions??

What's your 6th picture in your 6th folder?

I don't get involved with the 'tags' that go around in the blog world. I'm a simple person - I like to read blogs and keep mine updated. However, when I saw this on Annalee's blog I couldn't help but follow through with this one.

So now I'm passing this on to you...go to "My Pictures" and pull up your sixth folder and then look for the sixth picture in that folder. Post it and let me know so I can check them out :)

Here's mine...

A blast from the past

Let's go back to the 70's...

Yup - that's me in the carrier we used for Natalie back in July when we went to the cottage. I'm around 8 months old in that picture so this would have been in July 1974. Kind of cool that we used it 34 years later :)

Quite a few people say that the girls look like me. I'm about 8 months old in this picture as well - I'd say Natalie has my smile...and cheeks! :)

My Aunt & Uncle are visiting from the Napanee/Kingston area and God love my Aunt - she keeps calling Rachel "Julie". Rachel had her hair in pigtails the other day and my Aunt said she reminded her so much of when I was a little girl.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend! We're off to Clinton tomorrow for my nephew's Baptism and then we're heading to my parents for our turkey dinner. I can't wait!