Come out come out where ever you are!

I added a new counter to my blog the other day (and broke my old one in the meantime). The old one is still there just VERY small now.

The new one shows where people are visiting my blog from. I am honored that so many people from so many different places have come to look.

PLEASE leave me some comments so I know who you are. I would love to hear from you and what you think!!!! I am going to print it out someday and save it for the kids as a keepsake and would love to have comments from people who visit.

Also wanted to share a hilarious video from youtube that a friend sent to me.

Pachelbel bedtime

Little fish

Caden can now swim accross the pool all by himself. He has been coming very close for a few weeks. Tonight he told me he was going to try and did it without problem. Then he repeated the feat about a million times. Each time telling me "one more time Mommy". He is very proud of himself and I couldn't be any happier.

Spencer's first homework

Here is Spencer's first homework assignment. He had to decorate his paper plate with things that make him and his family unique. Of course I had to help him, but he really did come up with the ideas and decide where to put the stuff.

He has a picture of himself with his missing tooth, he drew a picture of him with Mommy and Daddy, the lizard is becuase he likes to collect bugs and other critters ect. He had to take it to school and tell his class all about it. He was so proud of it.

Bus rider

I put Spencer on the school bus this morning for the first time and I am still traumatized. He was absolutely thrilled that I finally conceded and let him ride the bus to school.

He was just too cute waiting patiently and then getting on. I am sure I will not be able to take another picture though. lol

He had a huge smile getting off the bus this afternoon too. I asked him if he wanted to take the bus again or if he wanted me to drive him. He wants to be a bus rider EVERY day.

And yes, I did get on the bus and take his picture. He won't let me anywhere near the bus with my camera from now on I am sure. I wanted to take full advantage while I could.

My toothless baby

Well its happened..........Spencer has lost his first tooth. He lost it at school yesterday during lunch. He noticed blood on his sandwich and then couldn't find it. mmm mmm good.

He looks so cute with the little space too. He was very upset that he lost the tooth and was convinced the tooth fairy would not come now. I assured him that she knew it fell out. He drew a picture of his missing tooth and cut it out and then had to draw a picture of himself with all his teeth to make sure the tooth fairy knew it was his.

He carefully placed it under his pillow before he went to bed.

Being the obsessive Mom that I am, I had to search online for a tooth fairy certificate and gave him two five dollar bills and two quarters all covered in gold fairy dust and placed them under his pillow with the certificate. Bob was sure he was going to aspirate on the fairy dust.

He got up in the morning and came running in to my room telling me the tooth fairy had indeed not come!!!! We went back to his room and looked under his pillow and he was thrilled!!!

He wanted to know if she was going to bring him that much money for every tooth. I think the tooth fairy would have to mortgage her wand if she did.

Where is my baby?

Seems like just yesterday that Spencer was getting his first tooth, now I notice one is loose.
He is just growing up way too fast!!!!!!
I had to post my favorite baby picture of him when he was just one day old and then a couple of his cute little baby face - just for old times sake. You know I had to go back and reminisce and look at old pictures.
I wish there was a way to be able to freeze time and not have your kids get any older and grow up.

First day of preschool

The little ones had their first day of preschool today. They are all in the same class too. They are going to the YMCA two days a week. It will be great as I can work during the week now and we can all be off on weekends together. I have been working weekends FOREVER!!!

I knew the girls would like it, but was worried about Caden. He totally surprised me and just walked right in and was fine. You could tell he was a little nervous, but otherwise fine. I am so proud of them.

When I picked them up they had to show me the pictures they had colored. Sydney just looked and me and said she was not done yet and to wait.....too funny.

First day of kindergarten

Spencer went to his first day of school today. He goes to ALL DAY kindergarten. I am going to miss him so much. It was much more traumatic for Mommy than for him.
He was all excited and not nervous in the least. I did manage not to cry in front of him. He told me at breakfast that he was "stretched out"....meaning stressed out. (Only because he knew I was) He was surprised that it was still kind of dark when he had to get up at 6:45, but thrilled when we left and the sun had gotten up to go to school with him.
I walked him in to his classroom, he was embarassed about all the pictures I had taken so wasn't upset when it was time for me to go. When I picked him up I asked him what he learned and he told me they just told him rules all day.
He did tell me that he was NOT going back to school tomorrow if I was going to take anymore pictures.
He traced his hand and drew a heart in it today.

Waves anyone?

We took the kids to the beach today and they had a blast. The waves were great and they just loved getting them right in the face and knocked down. I don't think I will ever get the sand out of my bathing suit though!!!!

Meet the teacher

We went to meet Spencer's new kindergarten teacher this evening. I still can't believe my baby is ready to go to school. He is very excited and keeps asking me how many more nights does he have to sleep before he gets to go to school. His teacher is Leslie Torres and seems really nice, its her first year teaching so she is really excited and full of energy.

The school is beautiful, it was only built last year. This is their first year of all day kindergarten too.

They have 10 kindergarten classes!!!

We're back

We made it back safe and sound last night. Bob will not stop calling me "speed racer" as I got a $200 speeding ticket in Tennessee. I could not believe it!!! My friends have been telling me that its a good thing that I got the ticket and not Bob as I would have never let him live it down and implied that I would have ranted and raved forever. I can't imagine that, I would have been very sympathetic and reassured him that is was ok................NOT!!
Poor girls got bitten by fire ants at our first stop in Texas......welcome home. Peyton got it really bad and has about 30 bites on her hands and feet. Sydney just got a couple on one toe. The fact that they just stood in the ants screaming while they were being bitten did not help!!! Peyton was up whining most of the night that she was itchy. I slathered her in benadryl gel with little success.
We were looking forward to jumping in the pool today, but its a little murky from being neglected for three weeks. Makes me long for the clean ice cold pool water in Canada. ha

Wii

We stayed up until after 1am last night playing nintendo wii. Then we got up and had to start our drive home from Canada. We have played it a bunch while we've been home. I MUST have one of these. Its the coolest video game I have ever played. There is a game where you have to spin a cow around and throw him, its my all time favorite. Its called Rayman Raving Rabbids. There is even a mario board game you can play.

It is HILARIOUS to watch everyone play, I am sure I don't look like them though - I am much cooler. lol

I will spare you all the videos of us acting like morons.

I may have to buy a wii for Bob for Christmas. ha

Niagara Falls

Yesterday a bunch of us went to Niagara Falls. Its only about two hours from my Dad's and I have been tons of time. This was the first time for the kids though. We rode the Maid of the Mist and did Journey Behind the Falls too. It was great for me as kids 5 and under are FREE! Peyton didn't like getting her face wet on the Maid of the Mist and hid behind Erin, my nephew's girlfriend. Caden and Sydney just loved the water spraying in their faces and couldn't get enough. Spencer was worried that is clothes were going to get wet. Once I assured him that I am not a bad Mommy and brought him dry clothes he was ok with getting wet. The kids did great with all the walking, of course they got some help along the way. When do I get to take a break and have my nephews carry me on their shoulders???

We crossed the border into the States and had supper at a restaurant called Ponderosa. We used to do that all the time. Its a steak house with an all you can eat buffet included. Then after supper we went back to see the Falls at night. We left to come home about 1am, we didn't get the little ones home until about 3am.

Please click here to enjoy a photoshow of our adventure.

Guess who's coming for dinner?

My friend Elizabeth invited us, along with her entire family and my sister's family for dinner. We had a great time and ate tons. It was like all the holidays wrapped up into one meal.

Makes me miss being home even more when we all get together like this.

Where are my keys??

We went to Columbia Lake today to fly kites and feed the geese. It was pretty much a bust. The wind died down so the kites wouldn't stay in the air for long and the geese were afraid of us and ran away. Then when we were getting ready to leave my nephew Kevin and his friend Alexander locked the keys in my sister's car. Sharon was NOT happy. We called my friend Elizabeth who has CAA and she came to the rescue. We still managed to have a good time though, just nice to be home with family no matter where we go or what we do.

And this little piggy went to market

We went to the farmers market this morning to shop and look around. Apparently about 5 million other people had the exact same idea so we didn't stay too long. My sister says is ALWAYS this busy and crowded. We did stop to feed some goats and watch a train.

Fun and games

We played board games last night at my Dad's after the kids went to bed. We had a ball and I have no idea how we didn't wake up the kids. We played scene it and let's make a deal. Can you tell the girls won this game?

It really was a coincidence that we were all wearing green shirts.

Corn on the cob

You can get the best corn on the cob from the local farms back home. Its a yellow and white corn called peaches and cream.







Its the sweetest corn you will ever taste. The kids enjoyed helping Grandpa clean it, my least favorite thing. The girls liked it, the boys would not even try it. Bob still thinks its weird having just corn for supper, he keeps looking for the meat.

The big bathtub

We managed to get into my sister's pool and swim some while we were home. The water is a little cooler than we are used too. ha ha ha.

The kids favorite place to swim was their big "bathtub" aka the hot tub. The fact that its just a little warmer than our pool at home helped I am sure. ha

YUK

Peyton will eat or at least try anything to eat, she certainly doesn't get that from me. The other three are like their Mommy and very picky. She ate an entire bottle of pickled beets by herself while we were at Grandpa's house, she just loves them. The others wouldn't even try them.

I had to throw in the picture of Sydney dipping strawberries in chocolate, its just too cute.

Early Years Centre

We took the kids to a place called the Early Years Centre. What a great place for kids - and its FREE! We dropped in and did a class with singing and dancing and another exercise class. There are tons of toys and arts and crafts that the kids can play with too. Whats better than painting and playing with play dough and not having it all over your house! The only downside to it.........there is not one where we live :(