An Afternoon at the Zoo

My friend Rhonda and her family are heading back to Alberta in a couple days so this afternoon we took the kids to the zoo. Hannah and Hayley had lots of fun looking at all the animals and chasing each other around :)



We saw the lion and tiger feeding as well as the 'Birds of Prey' show. I don't really like birds all that much... they kinda freak me out. So when 'Hagrid' the owl flew right over us and his wing actually touched Hannah's head I was outta there! My heart was really racing... I thought it was going to attack Hannah or something! FYI: I took the owl's picture before he tried to eat us ;)



And of course we had to make sure we visited the Hippo's... they are Hannah's favourite :)



Victoria was so good... she just sat in the stroller the whole time and enjoyed looking around. Hardly a peep out of her all afternoon :)

Stairs!

I have been doing laundry all day today... it never ends! This afternoon while I was sorting laundry in the laundry room Victoria crawled up our stairs! I came out of the laundry room and I didn't see her anywhere... then I found her halfway up the stairs. Hannah was upstairs and I think Victoria was looking for her. It sure gave me a shock! She is having a week full of 'firsts' :)

SHOPPING!

My Aunty Sherry and my cousin Jaden are visiting this week from Alberta :) I haven't seen them since the girls and I flew to Alberta back in November so it is so nice to have them here for a week. Hannah is all over Jaden and just won't leave the poor girl alone... she wants Jaden to play with her constantly.

Aunty Sherry, Jaden, Brit and I all just got back tonight from a 2 day shopping extravaganza in the States. Hannah and Victoria stayed home and my Mom and Dad babysat while Dave was at work which allowed me some kid free shopping time :) Even though I knew my kids were at home every time I heard a child crying I had to look around and then remind myself that it wasn't one of my kids!

It was a long 2 days of shopping... I think there are a few pairs of sore feet to show for it :-) But us girls had a great time and found lots of bargains along the way. I stocked Hannah and Victoria up with their new spring wardrobes as well as a few new things for myself ;)



It is nice to be back at home... Hannah greeted me with a nice big hug but then ditched me right away for her buddy Jaden!



P.S. While I was away Victoria has started walking while pushing her toy walker AND she is starting to stand on her own without holding onto anything! I will try and snap some pictures of her in the next couple of days :)

HAPPY EASTER !

The Easter Bunny came by during the night and left some goodies for Hannah and Victoria! We all got up bright and early and the girls went downstairs to check and see if the Easter Bunny came. Hannah was pretty into it this year... she told Victoria that the Easter Bunny hopped down our chimney. The girls scored an art easel that folds into a desk as well as some new dresses and few chocolate treats :)

After a quick breakfast we went to church for 9am... I wasn't kidding when I said we were up bright and early! The girls wore their new Easter dresses... they looked pretty cute :)

We are heading over to my Mom and Dad's place for Easter dinner tonight....mmmm turkey :)

Saturday Night Out (No Kids!)

My friend Rhonda is in town visiting from Alberta and a bunch of us got together for drinks. It was fun to see some people again that I haven't seen in a long time and of course Tanya and Jeff who I see all the time :)


We went to Jimy Mac's pub... I can't remember the last time Dave and I went to a pub! It was probably the last time Rhonda was in town... we don't go out that often without the kids with us.



Rhonda, Murray and I... who would have guessed that Murray and I would ever get along?

Tanya & I enjoying a kid free evening :) & Jeff (aka Crusty Old Goat) just loves having his picture taken!

Tanya & Drina... it was almost a high school reunion :)

Stanley Park Train & Farm Yard

Today we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and do something fun outside :) We invited Tanya, Jeff, Tysen and Joshua to join us on a Miniature Train ride at Stanley Park. It was still a bit cool out but it wasn't raining! The kids had lots of fun riding the train... Hannah and Tysen sat together - they were having a 'date'.

After our train ride we visited the Farm Yard and the kids wandered around and got to pet lots of furry friends. Hannah and Victoria especially liked the baby bunnies :)

The Easter Bunny was there too! Hannah really likes the Easter Bunny... she told Tysen that if he doesn't listen to his Mommy that the Easter Bunny won't bring him anything! Now I wonder where she has heard that before??

Ducks!

We took the girls to feed the ducks after dinner tonight :) Apparently Hannah thinks that she can speak duck now... she was quacking at them and then trying to boss them around by ordering them to eat the bread she was throwing them. The ducks gobbled it up in no time at all and then high tailed it as far away from Hannah as possible :)

Tim Horton

This afternoon my Mom and Dad took Hannah to see the new kid's movie... Dr. Suess's "Horton Hears A Who!" They said she really enjoyed it and was well behaved. Although she did yell out 'Stop It!' a couple of times to the 'bad monkeys' in the movie :) When my mom told me about it all I could think is that is totally something Hannah would do!

I asked Hannah what movie she saw at the theater and she is adamant that the movie is called "Tim Horton's". I'm glad that my parent's took her to see it today because I had dentist appointment this morning and have had a bad headache ever since. So it was nice to have Hannah out of the house all afternoon so I could rest a little bit. Thanks Mom and Dad... she is pretty excited about the Tim Horton's movie :)

Also a BIG Happy Birthday to Daryl from All of Us!

He's REALLY old so I won't out him and say just how old he is today ;)

Why Am I Nervous??

For those of you who don't know... (or for those of you who have noticed the big ugly lump on my hand and are too nice to ask 'What the heck is that?') I ruptured a tendon in my right hand just over a year and a half ago. I have no idea exactly how it happened but I do remember picking Hannah up one day and my hand being really sore for several days afterwards and then about a week later this lump appeared. I saw my family Dr. about it and he sent me for x-rays and referred me to a specialist. By the time I got in to see the specialist I was already about 2 or 3 months pregnant with Victoria so he recommended that I come back and see him after the pregnancy since there wasn't anything they could do while I was still pregnant. So Tylenol and Advil would have to suffice in the meantime (which by the way doesn't provide any relief from the chronic discomfort!)

After Victoria was born and I finished nursing her I called the specialists office to set up my follow up appointment. I was informed that my referral had expired and I would need to be referred again! I was SO mad! So my new appointment was scheduled for August 19th 2008... exactly 2 years after the initial injury!

Last night the specialist's office called me and said that they had a cancellation for this morning at 10:20am. I told them that I would be there! Then I scrambled to find a babysitter for the kids... my dad is off this week and he came over to babysit. Thanks Dad!

So here is the low down... I go to see the specialist and he looks at my hand and takes all the measurements again. He bends my hand into all kinds of painful positions while asking me 'Does this hurt' etc. Then he confirms what I have known deep down all along... it isn't going to heal itself and I will require surgery on my hand. He goes into all kinds of graphic detail about how he will have to go inside the joint of my wrist to remove scar tissue, repair the tendon, reattach the muscles back to the bones etc. etc. Then I will be in a cast for 2 weeks post op and then a splint for 4 more weeks after that. In total I will be unable to use my right hand for about 6 weeks. I just hope they give me some good pain killers!

My surgery will be at a private surgical center in Abbotsford on May 22nd (going to the facility in Abbotsford will be faster than waiting for a surgical date at the hospital). I am starting to get nervous... I am right handed so this recovery is going to be very challenging.

Things that are racing through my head right now... I won't even be able to write my name! How am I going to change Victoria's diapers? Can you drive with only one hand? I won't be able to buckle the kid's car seats! How am I going to shop?!?! I can tell already I am in for a sleepless night....

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY LOGAN!

We miss you lots and hope to see you this summer :)

Tammy, Dave, Hannah, Victoria

Stallone, Abby & Pistol

Brooklynn's Birthday :)

Yee Haw! Today was Brooklynn's 3rd Birthday... it was a Cowgirl Birthday Party :)

Hannah borrowed a pair of pink Cowgirl boots and she paired them up with a cute denim skirt. Victoria wore a denim dress but we couldn't find any cowgirl boots to fit her so the dress just had to do.

Hannah enjoyed herself playing with the sand table and her personal favourite... play doh! I don't let her play with play doh at home because it is messy so when she gets to play with it she is always super thrilled :) There were a few sand throwing 'incidents' one of which ended Hannah in a time out. But overall I think she played nicely with the other kids (I hope).

Victoria and her buddy Natalie spent a good part of the party grazing on a bag of Cheerios. Victoria's stomach is like a bottomless pit... I think she must get that from Uncle Brad :P

Both girls were pretty tired by the time we got home... Victoria went straight to bed and Hannah was right behind her after she had a quick power bath to wash all the sand out of her hair!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY BROOKLYNN!

Hannah's Hair...

I'm still working on a hair style for Hannah's debut as a Flower Girl. Last night I rolled her hair up in some foam rollers that I bought to try out. It is a definite improvement over the rag / poodle look... I think. I am going to get some ideas from Aunty Sherry on some cute hair styles that might work for her hair as well. If anyone has any ideas please let me know!

Hannah's hair is really fine and really straight so it is hard to get her hair to hold a curl for any length of time. I curled her hair the other morning with a curling iron and within an hour it had all fallen out! It is a good thing she likes having her hair done because I have a feeling there may be alot of trial and error to come...

Here is her hair this morning after I removed the foam curlers...

Look Out... Victoria Is Crawling!!

Victoria is full blown crawling now... no more wiggling and rolling she is up and going! I have just discovered how NOT baby proof our house is. She is getting into EVERYTHING! It is a whole new world now... and I am so proud of her :)

Barenaked Ladies!

The Barenaked Ladies have a children's CD coming out in May and the band was performing some of their new kid's songs this morning at Chapters in Langley. We met up with Tanya, Jeff, Tysen and Joshua and we lined up for wristbands at 9:30am... the show was at 11am. As you can imagine waiting in line for that long with 2 pre-schoolers and 2 babies was a bit nuts at times but overall the kids did really well. We went through ALOT of snacks :)

The first 200 people received wristbands and a chance to meet the band afterwards for an autograph signing. We made it in by the skin of our teeth... there were only 4 or 5 people after us that got wristbands! We decided to only get wristbands for the adults and let the kids sit on our laps so that we wouldn't hog so many wristbands and take up extra seats... that way a few more kids would be able to get in. Hopefully that will bring us some good karma down the road somewhere :)



After we finally got seated Hannah tells me that she needs to go pee... of course. Since Dave was sitting on the end of the row and it was easiest for him to get out so he took Hannah to the bathroom. Good thing he took her because while they were in the bathroom they ran into Jim (the bass player from the band!) Dave and Hannah shook hands with him and he chatted to Hannah... she was SO excited. When Hannah got back to the seats she was jumping up and down and she blurted out "MOMMY! I saw a Naked Lady in the bathroom!" It was hilarious :)

Victoria slept through the whole show despite all the loud music and noise! That kid sleeps like Dave... never hears a thing.


After the show we got to meet the band and Hannah got all of their autographs on a CD we brought with us from home. Hannah was wearing her Dora t-shirt and when she met the singer Ed he asked her if she liked Dora to which Hannah responded "I love Dora!" Then he serenaded her with a little rendition of the "I'm the Map" song from Dora. Hannah thought he was great! Victoria was so interested she just kept staring at him and of course I couldn't get her to turn around for a photo :)

Of course now that the guy sang the Dora song for Hannah she thinks they are best friends and she starts chatting his ear off. Here is how the rest of their conversation went....

Hannah: I saw a naked lady in the bathroom!
Ed: Really... you saw a naked lady in the bathroom??
Hannah: Yes!
Ed: Why didn't you tell me that there was a naked lady in the bathroom??
Hannah: I went pee pee on the potty and then I saw a naked lady!!

This could have gone on all day so at this point I had to tell Hannah to say good bye and we split:)

Then we hit the Olive Garden for lunch and then home for naps... the girls both slept until 5pm! It was a long morning.

We have a Poodle...

Last night I rolled Hannah's hair up in 'rags' after her bath and then had her sleep with them in all night. I am trying out some new hairstyles to figure out what to do with Hannah's hair for the wedding she is in soon. Hannah is so good at sitting for having her hair done :) My cousin Dee (who is the one getting married) had suggested doing her hair in rags for the wedding.



Lets just say that it is a good thing I have a couple months to work on the 'ragging' technique. Clearly I rolled her hair WAY too tight.....



LOL! She looks like a cross between 'Annie' and a Poodle! I am definitely going to have to try this again or Dee is going to change her mind about including Hannah in the wedding!
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My Mom and I were going to take the girls to Chuck E Cheese on Saturday night when Dave, my Dad and Brad are at the hockey game but my mom has to work late now. So we decided to take them there for lunch today instead :) They both had lots of fun... Thanks Mom!







I still can't believe I actually took Hannah out of the house with her wild hair do!