Sisters

I'm very excited as my sister Jackie (on the far left) will be home in 3 days!!! She has been gone for 3 months and we really miss her. I think about how much Kai has changed since she's been gone and I'm excited to see their reunion! Not to be too cheesy but I am so thankful for my sisters. Four of us went out to lunch the other day, and it was so nice! It's so wonderful to just be yourself and laugh and know exactly where the other person is coming from. On Saturday, I went to Ikea with 2 of my sisters and it was really fun (I think Maria, who is 8+ months pregnant was sad that the line was too long to get another frozen yogurt!). We were not always close, especially Maria and I, as we would often beat eachother up physically and emotionally. For Maria and I, it was best when I went away to university and she was then the oldest and could take over that role in the family. We are all so different in the way we deal with stuff (stress, grief) and def. different in our taste in music, art, and movies, but there are some things that we are similar on; love for food, family, camping, hiking, and deals! Also, to all of us, a promise is a promise. If you really need us to tell the truth, ask us to promise because none of us have ever broken a promise. Back to Jackie, excited she is returning. When I was in Kenya, she wrote me a letter every week. I have not been so kind to her because she had daily email access!!! Really roughing in Jackie!! :) It is so awesome to have so many people nearby who love Kai. Even though they can't take the place of my mom, it really, really helps.

It's def. time for a new sisters photo as we haven't had one all together in a very long time!

All of us, with mom, up at Green Lake about 2.5 year ago.

Soggy Sunday at Crescent Beach

This morning Kai was `cooking' in his kitchen (putting cheerios in a casserole dish and shaking it up). Look at his `new' duds that I picked up at the swap meet yesterday. I went in the last hour and got everything super cheap. The plaid shirt and jacket were just $1.00 each, Dr. Scholl shoes $4).

We went to Crescent Beach in the crazy rain so that I could collect some seaweed for Biology 11. Kai loved it. Well, he loved certain parts which I'll get to. It was fun that he could use his new rain boots, jacket and pants.

Here I'm showing him some fun shells. He kept calling them `hats'. I guess that's what happens with a limited vocab. On the way home, he kept sucking the salt water off of them (we let him take two home) and then putting them on his head saying `hat, hat, hat' over and over.

Showing daddy his shell

He kept pointing to the buoy's and saying `ball, ball' over and over. That was def. his favourite part and slightly frustrating with him that we could not go play with them.

Did I mention that we won our football game again yesterday?! We are 7-0 for the season and playoffs are next Saturday. It was a good game as they changed up their defense since the last time we played them, but, we figured it out and worked around it (coachless and all!). Go us!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Isn't he so cute?! Unfortunately he learned how to stick his finger up his nostril this week and I don't know how to get him to stop! Do I ignore him? Tell him its yucky? It's a little bit funny but not really when we're in public. Oh, one other thing...we started praying with him at night and he loves holding his hands together and giggles when we say `Amen' and he will say his rendition of `amen'.

Tonight we went out for Chinese food, well, Western Chinese food. We go about 2x per year and all I want is the sweet and sour pork. I KNOW its bad for you but its just so good in a bad way. Each time we go, it reminds me of our honeymoon trip to Alaska where we ate out just a handful of times (we camped most of the way). One day, when we were in Ft. Nelson, we went out for Chinese food and stayed in a nice hotel due to the rain. It's always nice to eat out and and stay in a hotel after camping for a couple weeks! That was a great day. We saw some amazing things on our trip up to Alaska and if you ever go, Valdez was our favourite town ever. Unfortunately, our pictures were all deleted from our camera when we tried to upload them to the computer. One day, we may have to do the trip again....another highlight was Liard Hotsprings in Northeastern BC...oh ya, and all the buffalo and moose. Now, its time for Gary's homemade apple pie. I usually do the baking and he does the cooking but we switched it up a bit this week cuz we're fun like that:).

I will leave you with an old Chemistry joke that I told my class today. Some kids laughed.
Sodium and Chlorine were walking down the street.
Sodium: `Hey, you stole my electron!'
Chlorine: `Are you sure?'
Sodium: `I'm positive!'.

What's new?

Wow. Nothing. Really. I always like checking people's blogs so I know that new stuff is good stuff. Let's see....my dad is in Africa. I am so jealous. I cannot wait for the day that we, as a family, can go back. My sister Jackie (who is he visiting) will be home in a week! Wooohoo! In case you don't know, I have 4 sisters and we all live within 10 minutes of eachother and email daily so having Jackie gone for 3 months has been a bit sad. What else. I have my last regular season football game this weekend. Then, we have the playoffs. I love, love, love playing football on Saturdays as it puts me in `Louise' mode. I'm no longer a mom or wife, I'm just me. Love it.

What's new with Gary? He did the Golden Ears hike with the Outdoor Society at school. He was supposed to blog about it but I'm not going to bug him to do it. He had a great time and I'm a bit jealous that he got to hike and camp. I am also glad that Adam found our camera (which cost us a pretty penny) which popped off of Gary's pack and rolled down the ridge. Thanks Adam.

Kai can now crawl downstairs. Phew. He still has to be watched but now I feel a lot safer with him running around at 10 million miles an hour. He was also pulling Bubba (his stuffed beaver) around with a leash the other day, so cute:) I'm at home tomorrow so maybe I'll get some good pictures. For now, this is a picture-less post. Have a great night. I'm exhausted. Is it bedtime yet?

Our little pumpkin

Today we visited a pumpkin patch purely to let Kai play in a field of `apples' as he called them.




Please note that I also got my hair chopped off this weekend:)
He found a hole in one of the pumpkins and proceeded to take out a chunk and eat it. At least that is relatively healthy. I was not as impressed when he ate the chunk of manure filled dirt before that.

Loving tortellini:)

Pretend Play

Kai has been making me laugh a lot lately. He is making a lot more noise and saying funny things like `didderdidderdidder' etc. Lately, he has been doing `adult' things like grabbing my comb and trying to comb his hair. What else has he done?

He put Bubba on the potty (when Kai actually had to go)

He gets out all of the pots and pans and then gets a spatula and pretends to eat food out of them.

He pushes Bubba in the mini stroller

He keeps putting bowls on his head and saying `hat!'.
What a monkey. He got another tooth this week, I think we are up to 9 now. He also has something weird on his tongue but I think he must have just bit it really hard or something. I was trying to look in his mouth with a flashlight and he thought that was pretty fun.
I'm trying to get ahold of Passport Canada right now. I dropped of Kai's passport application mid June and we still don't have it! Have a great Wednesday.

Jan and Doug engagement photos

This afternoon I had a back massage at the spa (don't I sound all fancy) and then went for a fun lunch with my sisters. After that, we did a photo shoot for engagement shots of my sister Jantina and her fiance Doug. It was our first time doing engagement shots so it was a lot of fun...some of the pictures are below.

(I like the one above!)

Fall photos with the family

Today we took some fall photos because the rain was nowhere to be seen!

Not sure why I'm hunched over....

This one is my favourite

A better day

Today we had a car so we went shopping and I actually let him run around the mall. Obviously he was most interested in garbage cans. Then we went swimming this afternoon. It took him about 15 minutes to get used to it but then he was splashing his arms around and having a good time. I think getting out of the house (besides walking to Extra Foods) def. makes the day a little better!

Loving the box of cheerios that he found in the cupboard. At least he's offering one to me.

He's learned to point to eyes, nose and mouth. When he points to your eyes, beware! He pokes them VERY hard and says `Eye-t'. Not sure why he ends with `t'.

He was so huggy today! I love it!

14 months old!

His flirtatious head tilt (this is at daycare)

Getting ready to give the leaves to daddy

He now runs down the sidewalk and of course, in the opposite direction that I would like to go!

Opening the gate to Opi's house all by himself

Throwing the ball around in the leaves. I think we'll have to get some good photos this weekend in these leaves, they are beautiful!

This month seems to have flown by. I just read where he was at a month ago and it doesn't seem like much has changed but I'm seeing more and more of his character/silliness every month. He is currently 26.7lbs and I'm not sure if he's any taller but his shoes are finally fitting a little better so at least his feet have grown! Maybe I'll just go through some of his favourites:

Favourite book: Hop on Pop and Opposites (doggies on every page)

Favourite drink: MILK

Favourite food: bananas (he now can eat it without cutting it up, I just give him a huge chunk)

Favourite item in the world: blankie

Favourite time of day: bedtime!

Favourite toy: tough one...empty ketchup bottle or the potato masher

Favourite drawer in the house: tupperware!!!

Favourite thing to do that he's not allowed: unroll all the toilet paper and run around the house with it

Favourite thing to do at the park: put leaves in the pylon (or eat bark mulch still!!!)

Favourite word: daddy!

I guess I can think of a few changes for this month. He is now in daycare part time and doing wonderfully. I honestly don't worry about him the entire day because I know he's well cared for and having fun. Another change is that he now climbs the stairs. Fast. He's also a lot more cuddly! It's awesome, he'll actually want to lay on me and rest his head (sometimes)! The best way to get him to be cuddly is by making him jealous:) If Gary or I hug or kiss, he def. wants in on it!!! He is quite the delight and we are loving his little personality and spunk. He got 2 molars this month and seems to do okay with all the teething now. Oh ya, he got his first cold this month which really hasn't affected him except for a runny/stuffed nose. He keeps saying `ba-boo' and I don't know what it is but if I say it back to him, he thinks its the funniest thing ever. He never really caught on to the signing thing but its pretty easy to know what he wants so its okay so far.

I know this is Kai's 14 month old post but I did just want to add that I'm exhausted. Just with life. I feel like I need some rejuvination and I don't think I'm the only one. I think the craziness of September and the change in weather has been a transition for many. So, I'm hoping with a long weekend (filled with stuff) that there will be some time to relax and unwind and laugh. I just don't want to be a go, go, go person anymore (and I'm not even really anymore). I have a gift certificate from the spa that I got last Christmas, I should prob. use it soon:) I want to enjoy each day and look forward to it rather than going to sleep thinking `Oh good, got through another day...now just have to get through tomorrow', isn't that terrible?! I'm not depressed, I'm just transitioning into mother/teacher, hormonal, the weather is gloomy, and I don't want to spend 4 hours making nutrient agar plates with a 50 year old autoclave. I'm thinking this long weekend, with football and food, will be good. Tomorrow, a friend and I are taking our little guys swimming, should be fun! Take care all!