Grandpa's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Grandpa, we hope you had a great day, wish we were there.

ANOTHER BUSY WEEK!

Free Christmas Countdown

What a night it was, the winds were really high throughout the night and come morning they were even higher. It sounded really bad outside and I was scared to look out to see a big snow storm. Now usually I am waiting and wishing for a big storm but until my parents come to visit next weekend I don't want to see any snow! No snow just lots of rain and of course the winds, The trampoline stayed but this time and our lawn swing is still tied to the fence. I am hoping that it gets nice for this afternoons Santa Claus parade but I don't think it will. The rain has stopped but still very windy. If it is really miserable outside we can watch the parade from the upstairs bedroom window! :0)

Yesterday Jay's basketball team played the first game of the weekend tournament. This was also the first time I got to see the players on the team and two little guys I swear are no bigger than Kohl and the players on the other team were twice the size of Jay and at least a foot taller. So did they win their game. Not a chance that literally got their "rear end" whipped to put it nicely. The team had another game that started today at 12:30pm so I am hoping that they have better luck today. They got new uniforms this year being black and white with the top also reversible to white so that when they play against the navy teams it will be easier to tell the teams apart. This turned out to be a great idea and they did need to reverse their jerseys at yesterdays game. Oh and guess what number Jay is this year???? Of course his favorite number "6"!

Warm up before their first big game...

Uniform reversed...

Blake had dance this morning and did super as always and I am just getting ready to take Kohl this his classes. These two boys along with Miss Trinity are definitely the talk of the dance school. They are all doing really, really well so I guess it's worth every penny. Last week I took some videos of two of Kohl's dances...

KOHL--TAP--CROCODILE ROCK!

KOHL--BALLET--MUSIC BOX DANCER!

Breigh is finding more and more freedom everyday with roaming around the house. At nights we are still finding her curled up in one of the kids beds. Usually will be found with Blake because he is the closest to our room. Breigh and Trinity were curled up on the couch this afternoon while watching a movie and when it was time to pick Kohl up at dance class neither one of them wanted to move!

We finally found a tasty treat that Breigh enjoys. At least this one last a few hours and it's a lot better than her eating her blankets.

Blake enjoyed his morning out with us on Wednesday and we noticed that the kids happy meal toy was from Madagascar2 so we treated him to lunch at McDonald's for behaving so well while shopping. He even got an extra special surprise and got to play the air hockey table.

So I guess that is all the excitement for this week. Trinity is still under the weather and is trying to get over a bad cough but has been getting lots of rest and hopefully by Monday she will be feeling a lot better!

Free Christmas Countdown

I think it is going to start getting cold. Today was the first day that I told the kids to put on their winter jackets. It's after 9:00am and Trinity is still in bed sleeping. She has been complaining of a sore throat and she was up a few times last night. Her throat doesn't look too bad so I gave her some medicine and a throat lozenge and she went back to sleep. I told her to stay in bed and get some rest. The kids don't have school tomorrow due to parent teacher interviews so she will now have a four day weekend to get back on her feet. Unfortunately she has her 3 hour dance class tonight but we will wait to see how she feels. I don't expect her to dance but she will probably want to be there to learn the rest of the choreography.

Matt has his district manager in today so you can imagine how quickly he would like today to go by. I work tonight at 8pm then off again tomorrow and I am still waiting to hear if I got Saturday off (with pay :0) for Matt's staff party!

Well with things pretty quiet here in the house I think I will take advantage and get some house cleaning done then I might go lie down for a bit while Blake watches his movie.

I guess that is it for now, oh yeah and NO SNOW HERE....yet! Moncton I know that this morning you had snow down, I saw it Breakfast television :0) DRIVE SAFE!

MORE REPORT CARDS AND.....

.......LET THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUE.....

Trinity and Kohl brought home their report cards this afternoon. Well I must say that I am really surprised at how well Kohl did for this first term. He has adjusted great to grade 1 and he's doing well with his speech therapy (done through school), making good progress and now being able to pronounce his "s" sounds! So how did he do on his report card????Here it is! He got 7 "A's" and 2 "B's". Trinity's report card could have been better. She did well however I know how much better she can do. She got 2 "A's", 6 "B's", and 1 "C". For her social development and work habits she got too many "usually demonstrates" rather than her usual "consistently demonstrates". She knows what she can do at and will work harder and be less chatty during class time and knows to ask questions if she doesn't understand. Trinity found the transition to grade 3 harder for some reason but I'm sure she will do much better next term. So that is that until March!

Trinity had Dance Power tonight and for the first time they were taught step dancing for their dance choreography to "Dance of Call" I think that is the name of the song, something along that line. The steps are FAST but the dance is going to look great on stage. Their recital the end of May is going to be one that you won't want to miss. I will be ordering a video when the time comes,. look at me getting ahead of myself. LOL Anyway this is definitely and exciting dance year!

JAY'S REPORT CARD....

Jay has been working hard for his first term of Junior High School. I am so proud at all he has accomplished so far this year. He has great marks on top of his basketball, bowling, lego club and with me not being home in the evenings to help with homework. He has become a very responsible young man. I am proud of you Jay!

HONOR STUDENT

FRENCH 93 a pleasure to teach

MATH 93 excellent work habits

ENGLISH 95 pleasure to teach

ART 94 excellent student

S. STUDIES 93 excellent student

PHYS ED 99 pleasure to teach

HEALTH 90 excellent work habits

SCIENCE 85 talkative in class :0(

The countdown continues....I hope everyone is getting closer to being ready for Christmas????as you can see it is getting close!

I am hoping to get Saturday off for the Santa Claus parade with the kids then Matt's staff Christmas party. I am suppose to work 4:15-8:15pm but work owes me a day off with pay for working Remembrance day so I will see what happens?!

Well I guess that is it for now I have to go get ready for work. I have ANOTHER training class for ANOTHER account at 3:30.

The days are going by soooooo fast and we have lots of things to get done and shopping is one thing on the list. I'm not going to stress over it, I know it will get done. I just need some ideas for Mom and day W and Mom and dad S. Anything you need??? let us know :0)

My hours at work are slowly picking up and the last 2 weeks I have managed to pick up 5 extra hours! Every hour will help. No word yet on a permanent full time position but it's looking good and I feel confident that things will all work out. Saturday is Matt's staff Christmas party, I work but only until 8:00 so I will meet up with him after their dinner.

We made it through the high winds last night with a few things blown around the backyard and Jay's basketball net blew over...not sure how it was tied to the fence and well secured so we thought?????anyway lots to get cleaned up around the yard but it warm outside so it won't be that bad.

Trinity is doing great with selling chocolate bars for "DANCE POWER" She went to Zellers with Matt and sold 4 cases on Saturday then yesterday she spent the morning counting pop bottles. She has $27 so far from work, then our recycling totalling $55 and mom has $60 I believe from recycling in Moncton. Thank you everyone who is helping Trinity with her fundraising. It is very much appreciated! :0)

Matt and Trinity counting pop bottles (Moncton)

Yesterday, counting pop bottles from work!

This is where and how we have been finding Breigh lately, she loves to curl up and cuddle with everyone. When she goes missing at night we just have to check the kids beds...there she will be curled up with one of them. This picture was taken yesterday during our afternoon movie time while Matt and Trinity were off selling bars. Kohl loves it when Breigh cuddles with him. Best Buds!

And this is Breigh when she's on the go. Always getting into some kind of trouble. She is ALWAYS chewing on "HER" blankets or bed. She found herself in a bit of trouble last night night when she chewed a hole in her bed and then got stuck in the hole in the middle of it. LOL it was too funny. This is her bed from the time she was a tiny little puppy and believe it or not she will still curl up in it to sleep . What a big baby :0)

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN...

Yesterday we took the kids to see Madagascar 2 at the theatre! It was a great movie which had us laughing the whole time ;0) It was great to finally find some time together as a family but our time was short because I had to work at 3:30pm. Matt had the day off so he spent the rest of the evening with the kids then got them off to bed early!

Jay had basketball practice yesterday after supper and he seems to be enjoying himself, I will have to find out when his first game will be.

I have the day off and have lots of things to get ready for dance tonight. The cookie dough fundraising is now finished and will be turned in tonight! She did awesome with the cookie dough with selling over 50 tubs with a profit of $281 and I might still buy another one from her :0) then I will be picking up 10 cases of chocolate bars! I can't get over how great everyone at work is....my team have been giving me their empty pop bottles when I'm at work and when I'm off they save them for me for my next shift, well last night my supervisor came to me and told me that for the next 2 weeks I can take the pop bottles from the centers recycling bin to help Trinity! Now if the bags are as full as they were last night she will make some good money for her trip.

Work is going great and it is looking like I will be getting a permanent position with the company by Christmas time, Fingers crossed. Upsource is a great place to work and offer great incentives! Besides the extra $1 an hour for making all shifts they are really generous with handing out gift cards for hard work. Last Monday along with getting employee of the month I received $20 movie cards and $5 Tim Horton cert and then last night I was handed a $10 Sobeys card. What could be better than that...ok ok my permanent position, but it's coming!

well that's it for now, Matt should be back soon so I should go get ready!

HARD WORK PAYS OFF!

After a rough Thursday at work I was looking forward to my time off. I had a great 3 days off from work over the weekend and didn't have to go into work last night until 6:45pm for a 4 hour shift! As I was walking to my cubical all I kept hearing was "congratulations, way to go, here's your special leather computer chair.....etc...." I was puzzled and had no idea what was going on????? Then Travis took me over and showed me the certificate on the wall that said EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH! First of all this isn't something I would have expected because I had never heard of our team having this award, I mean a couple of weeks ago Joey got employee of the week! So I was shocked, surprised and proud of what I have accomplished in the first month since I have been working. I have gone through a lot of hard work and a lot of EXTRA training on other accounts and all the hard work paid off!

"Carrie is a Newbie to the team who has displayed excellence in her phone calls. She has excellent attendance and adheres to Upsource's policies. She is extremely helpful to her fellow employees and it is a pleasure to have her as part of our team!"

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY LAINEE!

LOOK WHO'S 4!

IT'S LAINEE

Lainee had her birthday party at the Super 8 Motel on Sunday with lots of fun in the pool with water slide. We were late as usual but when we are away it's hard to get anywhere on time LOL. The kids still had lots of time to join the party in the pool and everyone had lots of fun! I couldn't believe it when Blake went down the water slide! He is full of surprises lately, I guess that's all part of growing up ;0) After their swim Chad and Kerri had pizza and cake for the kids then they played with balloons before heading back to their house for the gifts. It was a busy day but I am glad we got to see Connor and Lainee before he headed home. It was a fun party!

POOL PARTY!

Trinity and cousin Lainee

Kohl and Jay

Blake...all smiles!

PIZZA PARTY AND CAKE

MMM

LAINEE WE HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LAINEE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

A ROUGH START TO THE WEEK....

A ROUGH START TO THE WEEK

OUCH....

Today when I picked Kohl up at school he didn't quit look himself. His big bright smile wasn't there today and as he gets into the van he says to me " Mom, do you see something different with me?" It took me a minute but as he moved to his seat in the back of the van I noticed the mark beside his eye. Apparently he took a tumble over his friends foot and the sneaker rubbed against his face. He's not looking too happy but he says he's fine, it only hurts when he blinks :0(

Hopefully his week will only get better.

I work tonight at 6:45pm and Matt will be putting the kids to bed early so hopefully everyone will get caught up on some sleep. I still have a lot of unpacking and cleaning to get done so I guess that's all for now!

WE MADE IT HOME SAFE......

......WITH LOTS OF UNEXPECTED SNOW.

After having a great supper with Grandma and Grandpa and having a little party for Blake, we got the kids changed into their pj's for our long drive home. We got on the road around 5pm, the kids were watching movies and cuddled in with their pillows and Breigh was curled up with her pillow bed sleeping. All was well then as it got dark I had noticed that there was snow on the ground, next thing I am seeing snow flakes in the light beams ahead. Nothing to worry about only a few flurries and it is only the first of November....right?! Well that all changed when we hit Cape Breton, we entered into a hail storm and I mean big hail balls pounding at the windshield, the roads were snow covered and very slippery and not long after we passed 2 cars that had gone off the side of the road with one car looking a bit wrecked, then just minutes later we approached another accident with 2 cars off the road. Well by this time we were a bit uncomfortable with the road conditions and were very cautious of the other cars. To make matters worse the van was out of windshield washer fluid so the windows were a mess :0(

Matt did stop at the first gas station to buy windshield washer !

The window does look worse in the picture....

By this time I had called dad to let him know what kind of mess we were in just in case they didn't here from us later that night. Do you think it ended there?...nope,

HIT OR MISS?

As we were driving (no double lane) we noticed a transport truck with a line of cars following, then the car in front of us put on it's signal light to pull off the road. (I don't know, could have been uneasy with the oncoming traffic?) As the car was pulling off the road we were getting ready to pass it then it swerved back onto the road, slipping and sliding in front of us. Luckily every kept control of the vehicles and we continued on our way but we left a lot of space between us and that car! By the time we got home the snow had stopped and the roads were clear. I tell you we were some glad to be home!

BIRTHDAY PARTY WITH GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!

MAKE A WISH!

Look at the excitement on his face! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for my new outfit and Wall-e leapter game :0)

Jay and Breigh

Grandpa and his puppies...
Breigh (left) and Bel ...mom(right)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE

I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S ALREADY 4!

PIZZA!

CAKE!

NOW THE GIFTS!

dinosaur from Destiny, Jazlyn and Alexis! Thanks

passing daddy a card...

optimus prime transformer from Aunt Judy! Thanks

Blakie says thank you to everyone who came to his party and thank you so much for the wonderful gifts!

It was a great party and I love having and seeing all the cousins and family together. Unfortunately it doesn't happen enough but it's hard with us living so far away. We make the most of it when we are home visiting. Thank you for sharing this day with us celebrating Blake's birthday!

Papa, Kohl and Blake spending some quality rough play time together while I was packing the van Sunday morning!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Friday we got up early, packed the van and headed to visit with our family for the weekend. We stopped in Amherst to have lunch with Grandma and Grandpa at McDonald's then it was back on the road. We got to Nana and Papa's house in time to carve the pumpkin then get dressed into costumes! The fun was about to begin.....

PUMPKIN CARVING!

Trin, Kohl and Blake were washing the pumpkin getting ready to carve the face. This year I passed along the job of designing the pumpkin face off to Jay. Now this will be his Halloween tradition to come up with a spookiest face for the pumpkin!

digging in and getting messy...

Great job Jay!

The pumpkin didn't get named this year but it turned out really good.

Great job kids!

NOW FOR THE COSTUMES!

Papa and Trinity getting ready. Love the yellow and green hair!

Matt dressed up and used Papa's yellow hair to go with his clown hair! I didn't dress up until later when I heard someone was giving out candy apples. I wasn't long turning into a green dinosaur! LOL

Jay (army dude), Kohl (cat in the hat), Matt (clown), Trinity (witch), Blake (optimus prime, transformer), and Robin (rock star)

VISITING THE HAUNTED HOUSE!

This was the first time that we had ever gone to this haunted house. My mom had told me about it last year and it sounded really neat so I made sure that we got the kids there to see it. Now I didn't know what to expect or how the kids would take it but they were great. Sure they were scared but still it was fun! Blake had the most fun of all! He made friends with each live creature there was and he had to be pulled away when it was time to go.

It was amazing to see all the work that had gone into this Haunted House!

There were monsters, skeletons, zombies, etc...walking around the yard and jumping out!

At first we just thought that the Hulk was decoration that he jumped up behind up as we were going up the walkway to the house. Blake was amazed with the Hulk. I would have to say he was Blake's favorite!

We were greeted as we entered through the front door!

This creature didn't move for the longest time...then when the kids turned around it would stand up. Blake finally caught onto this and started having fun with the creature. Anything for a can of pop LOL!

Ok. so he handled the spook of this creature pretty good but not Trinity. Before Blake caught onto what was happening Trinity got bored with the creature just sitting there and turned around to see how they had the piano decorated and when she turned around the creature was standing right there looking at her. well it didnt take her long to start crying!

She was ok, she didn't leave the haunted house!

Outside with Hulk is where we spent most of our time. Blake was having fun with Hulk. Blake thought that he had magic powers, everytime Blake made fist and punched his head, chest, knees, etc....the Hulk copied him. So too see if he (blake) really did have magic powers he started wiggling his butt to see if the Hulk would copy. Sure enough the Hulk copied. It was hilarious and we all had a great time watching but i'm sure the Hulk was glad to see us leave lol!

After trick or treating was over Jay went and spent the night at Bird's (my aunt), then the kids dumped out all the treats and sorted through them. They got 3 times less than last year but that is perfectly fine with me and we all had fun and that is all that matters!