HUMPH!

Okay - no pics - just venting . . .

Def'n of Navia - 3 years old terror!!! (said in love, of course)

Yesterday she dropped a lightbulb from upstairs through the bannister and it broke on the steps. Then, as I'm cleaning the broken glass up, she throws another one down, just missing my head and it crashes on the hardwood floor. More glass - everywhere!!!

Today when I go to the bus stop to get Kaleb (just a couple houses down from us) she eats the middle of the birthday cake that they were supposed to decorate today and then goes upstairs and takes all my FOLDED laundry that I was going to put away and throws all the clothes over the bannister. I come in the house to chocolate all over and a huge pile of clothes at the bottom of the stairs. Then I see her fingers - they're GREEN! She also got into Emma's green nailpolish (don't know how she found it yet) and painted her HANDS and a portion of Emma's carpet!!! I don't know how she was able to do so much in such a short time - I'm not at the bus stop for that long! Now I'm reaaly scared about how the rest of today is going to go . . .it's only 1:30pm!!! Where are the terrific threes that I've heard about - where are they!!!

Kaleb's 'Responsibility' Award

This morning Navia and I went to a Kindergarten Assembly that was celebrating the children in each class that demonstrated responsiblity.  This was a bit vague for Kaleb, but his teacher, Ms. Leguard, explained to him that it was about putting things away and helping others to, taking good care of his borrowing book and doing what he knew that he was supposed to be doing.  Kaleb liked that answer and has now informed us that he is "responsible"!

yep - VERY bad pic!

Kaleb and his classmate (and our neighbor) Kelly

The "Responsiblity" recipients in Kaleb's Senior Kindergarten class

Braden couldn't make it to the assembly, but Navia and I were there - both taking pictures!  Navia brought along her princess camera that was a gift from the St. Louis Bailey's a while ago and wouldn't stop taking pictures.  It was quite funny, as she'd squint her eye and point as she was taking the perfect picture - always telling me that she took another picture of Kaleb for me.  Yep, it was cute.

There is a very short clip of Kaleb receiving his award here or in the side youtube.com menu.

My Babies . . .

Okay, so I didn't birth them and I haven't met them yet, but here are a couple pictures of my new babies! I think that it is so cool that my sisters had their babies under 2 months apart. Those kids are going get into a lot of trouble together and always have a cousin to play with at family functions. Yep - they are two lucky babies!!!

I actually just got off the phone with Charlene and I still have tears in my eyes. Yep - I'm sad. I wish that I could give my new nephew and niece hugs and cuddles, and I'd even change a diaper or two just to be able to meet them. But, living a few provinces away means that it won't be until the summer that they get to meet their favorite auntie!!!

So, let me introduce you to my new babies - one girl, one boy . . .

Avery Jordyn Campbell

Born January 16, 2009

(with proud daddy, Aaron)

Riley James Larry Spratt

Born November 25, 2008
(with proud parents and sisters)

(taken at 6.5 weeks old)

Emma's Birthday Party - "Hip Hop Style"

For Emma's 8th Birthday party we went to Planet Dance for a Hip Hop Party. There were 2 instructors that showed the kids some dance moves and then the kids gave a performance of a Jonas Brothers song. It was so cute waching them and Emma, well, she loved it! It was a great idea and was also kinda nice not having to decorate, think of games to play, clean up, etc. All I had to do was order pizza, have Brade pick it up, bring loot bags and then watch the kids have fun - it was a good day. Then tonight Emma had 3 girls overnite. We made the music studio into a sleep-over place - moved the Wii, the dvd player and 4 "beds" down there. They had a blast - yep - a good 8th birthday party!

Look at my beautiful 8 year old daughter!!!

Emma dancing behind Victoria

Emma is the girl in the middle by the red balloon

Kaleb had a lot of fun too!

Navia liked the balloons the best ;)

8 Years Later . . .

Happy 8th Birthday

Emma Rayne!!!

Your daddy & I love you so very much!

This Saturday we're having a Hip Hop Dance Party for her at a local dance studio, which should be a lot of fun. She'll have all her friends there, learn a dance routine, perform for the parents at the end and then she'll have 3 of her friends stay overnight. Yep - it should be a good one (and easy this time!!!) Pictures will follow!

On each child's birthday they get to choose what they want to do for dinner. Emma, two years in a row, has now chosen East Side Mario's. These are a couple of pics from tonight.

Kissing the cheeks of the birthday girl!

Cheek to cheek ;)

a card that emma received online from gramma & grampa mcgifford - such cute pics of her with one of her favorite animals - even standing on ernie!!!

Pssst . . .

Happy 35th Birthday Braden!!!

(aww - so cute with your little brother - never thought he'd be the taller one, hey?!?!)

A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away . . .

Pretty much everyone knows where that line comes from . . . and our kids have played Lego Star Wars on the Wii so many times that Kaleb actually calls Star Wars 'Lego Star Wars' as if Lego is the creator of it - hehehe!   Well, yesterday when we picked up Braden from work the kids' eyes lit up and huge smiles spread across their faces.  Daddy was walking to the van with  a Star Wars Clone Wars AT-TE Vehicle!   

Wow!!!  The kids were soooo excited to go home and play Star Wars with this.  It seems that Daddy's work place has done some work for Lucas Films and this was a prop that was used and just sitting around the office so Brade brought it home for the kids to have.  Yep, there are a few perks to working there :)

Brade and the kids have started watching Star Wars Clone Wars with the kids (cartoon version of Star Wars, with Anakin Skywalker) and they are having a lot of fun with it.  Many times you can hear voices in Kaleb's room now, "I'm going to capture General Grievious" "Watch out Obi-Wan Kenobi!"  "I'm Ahsoka" "Here comes the Separatist Army!" and the names go on and on.  Daddy loves it because he remembers when he was their age and playing Star Wars so this takes him back.  

It doesn't hurt that Kaleb got Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsabre and a Clone Head/Mask for Christmas either!

Daddy is fighting off the Clone soldier with the Narnia sword - both the sword and lightsabre have sound effects so they love the "drama" that it brings to the "fights" :)

As an aside - notice the little girl on the ottaman . . .   I was getting supper ready and when I came out this is what I saw.  Navia was totally passed out while watching tv - sooooo cute!

Oh, and one more thing . . . We have a new addition in our house - an ice rink outside and an air hockey table downstairs!  The kids love it!  We took the big room downstairs, threw down some carpet, put sheets up to seperate it from the workshop area and ta-da - and air hockey area just for the kids! (okay, so Brade and I've been down there after they go to bed, but I have yet to win a game!)  They love it!  It was a great Christmas present!

Those two are pretty competitive - if I remember correctly I'm pretty sure they beat Daddy this game!

The Rink Saga - Skating!!!

This afternoon we went out to 'Play It Again Sports' and picked up 3 awesome deals on 3 pairs of skates for the kids.  I dropped off Braden with a friend from England that is staying at our house for a couple of days so they could hang out tonight and the kids and I came back home to - without B's knowledge - try the ice out for the first time!

I shovelled off the ice and set up the outside light while the kids were getting ready and then I tied up all their skates and we went out on the ice.  The kids had a BLAST!!!  Right away Emma went skating off, doing turns and not falling that much.  Kaleb, well, he kinda looked like a combination of a new calf learning to walk and a clown doing funny dances :)  It was hilarious to watch!  After a while he remembered how to skate and was off skating like a - okay, not like pro, but like a 5 year old boy who hasn't skated very often.  Navia - well - she's never been on skates before because last year she just wore bob-skates (you strap them on your boots and there are 2 blades on each boot).  She never gave up, never cried or whined because she was sitting/laying down more than standing up - she's a little trouper!  When she made it up you'd here a "I doing it!  I doing it!" and then a little humph and a "I not doing it", as she was on her hands and knees looking down at the ice.  It was so cute to watch.  Oh, and her "I doing it" that she was so proud of was really only moving about 1 - 2 inches at a time :)

Trying to stand still so that I could take the picture - take a guess what Kaleb's next pose was - yep - flat on his back!!!

Then, like a good wife, I called up Braden and told him what we did and his response was 2-fold.  The first was excited that the kids were skating and having fun and then next was a "thanks for waiting for me".  Oops - but he can wake up really early tomorrow with them and go skating for the first time in the daylight :)

A New Year's Day Find!!!

Last night Braden took the kids over to Mike and Cynthia's for a family New Year's Eve Party, which they LOVED!!!  I, well, I was at home by myself, coughing and coughing.  Not fun!  But, I was able to watch a movie all by myself with no children interrupting me - so that was kinda nice.

They all came home around 10:45pm and we told them that it was only 15 more minutes until the countdown and they were all excited (oh, except Navia, she was fast asleep in bed).  At the hour we went outside with sparklers and did a countdown with just our family.  Then Emma and Kaleb had a sleepover in Kaleb's room as a special thing to do for a special night.  

No, Kaleb's not crying, just making a weird face :)

Today we were to meet a guy about an antique sidetable and ended up at his friend's antique store (yes - it will be one that we return to - amazing finds there!!!)  The sidetable ended up being to yellow in color but I just happened to ask the owner if he might have some antique glass drawer pulls - and he did!!!  This is the last part to Emma's desk that we haven't been able to finish because I'm kinda picky (not wanting Home Depot ones).  The trip wasn't a total bust - not getting the sideboard - because finding these pulls make it definitely worth the trip!

Ta-da!!!  Emma's desk is finished now!  

Aren't they just gorgeous - and he only charged me $5.00/knob - truly a steal!!!  Now Emma can opened her drawers without hurting her fingers :)

The Rink Saga - and so it goes . . .

Well - we just might be skating this wknd!!!  YAY!!!  

Brade went out, bought ANOTHER lining, 'tuck' taped it together in the house, took it outside, screwed it onto the boards, filled up the rink with water (no leaks this time!) and then we watched the first layer of ice freeze!  

In the morning he realized that he'd have to build up the walls on the far side so that we could fill the shallow side with more water - so that's what he did today - built up the sides and filled it with more water!

So - if all goes well it will freeze tonight and tomorrow Brade can do a touch-up layer to smooth out everything and then - SKATING!!!  But, I shouldn't speak too soon, because this rink will probably throw him for another loop - it's good at it :)