JAYS SNAP SHOTS...

When we were home visiting over the Christmas holiday mom (nana) had given Jay his very own digital camera. I wasn't sure how much he would really use it but to my surprise he is using it. Quite often he brings me his camera to show me the pictures he has been taking....most (all) of his pictures has been of the puppy! (Surprise, Surprise) Breigh found a new comfort spot on the back of Jays couch in his room when his blind is pulled open. Unfortunately for Breigh, we took the couch out yesterday to make room for a desk. Jay loves the new layout to his room and Breigh misses the couch :0(

When it comes right down to bonding....Jay and Breigh find time for the playstation LOL

(lesson #1....how to use the controller!)

Thanks, Nana for my camera! Jay

IT'S OFFICIAL......

MY NEW WHEELS!

2006 Pontiac Torrent

That is right! I got my new wheels around 5pm today :0) and it is now sitting in our driveway! It was a pretty long morning trying to make this decision but we got a great deal and lots of warranty (oh yeah and new tires)! Now hopefully things will get a bit easier around here with running around and maybe Matt will get to bed earlier now that he doesn't have to pick me up at 1am! The kids are excited especially Blake, now he doesn't have to worry about spending his time out shopping for cars LOL poor little guy but he was great and cooperated most of the time.

WHAT A DAY.......

.......AND IT'S NOT GETTING ANY BETTER.

Ok so again we spent the morning looking for a car/van/SUV, whatever, you get the point. We thought we had narrowed our choices down to getting another van the same as what we already have. We came across a 2008 burgundy van with pretty much the same features as our van only is it was only "fully loaded" not "fully spoiled" like our van. Anyway after taking it for a test drive we weren't overly happy with it, not that there was anything wrong with it, just that we kept comparing it to our van and it just didn't feel right to buy at the time. We took Blake to McDonald's for lunch (that is another story) while we talked over our options again and came to the decision (well at least for now) that since we are buying a second vehicle and already have enough space for everyone in the van, that we will reconsidering the Pontiac Torrent! Yes this is a good thing and we are now both happy to be looking into purchasing a vehicle once again. So hopefully things work out for us in the next couple of weeks and I get my new car, ok not brand new but new to me!

So that was a pretty stressful morning trying to make a pretty important decision. The weather is pretty nice here right now and not too cold so I took advantage of the sun and warmer temperature and cleaned out and vacuumed the van (it really needed it). When I went to the basement to get the shop vac to clean it out, I almost died, I'm not kidding here LOL ( ok I can laugh about it now) as I turned the corner in the dark basement there is was staring me in the face. Last night Matt had hung the life size skeleton from the ceiling. I was not impressed! Anyway I soon got over my scare and headed outside to get the cleaning done and as I reach my hand under the back row seats to clean out the garbage, what did I grab????????? Blake's toy snake. It looked and felt so real. Well that was it for me LOL I cleaned up my things and headed back into the house.

Now let's get back to the McDonald's story.....

Blake has been collecting the Happy Meal toys from "Hotel for Dogs" He HAD the dogs, Friday, Lenny and Juliet. Well Friday has gone missing (found pieces so we know that the dog ate it) and Lenny has run away (not sure it the dog got this one...no evidence to prove her guilty) and Juliet is safe on top of the TV (for now) Today he got Henry and Cooper. While having lunch at the play land McD's Blake was waiting for his lunch and was off playing, he was the only one there so things were quiet! Well what happened. He sent the dogs down the slide but only one came all the way down. When I sent him back through the play park to look for poor Henry he hit his forehead and took a tumble down some stairs. What a BUMP on his head, anyway he is ok now just a nasty goose egg. One of the workers had come in the room to check to make sure it was clean when she saw his head, we explained what had happened and took us to get him another dog. Well lucky for him it was a different dog "Shep" and after he got over the fear of going back into tunnels and slides he ended up finding "Henry" so he ended up with 3 dogs and a bump on the head. What a day!

I think that while the kids are quietly watching Iron Man I am going to stretch out on my bed and have a few minutes to myself before heading out to Trinity's dance class and on the bright side of things..........

I DON'T WORK TONIGHT!

The Results are....

Trinity returned home with her dance exam report tonight, we knew she did pretty good but were pleasently surprised by her mark as she skipped Junior 2 Jazz level and moved into Junior 3 with the older girls 9-12years old. Her marks came back as commended and actually only 1 student got a higher mark of commended+. She is very excited and relieved to have this behind her so she can focus on getting ready for her year end shows and competitions. We are expecting Kohl's exam results on Saturday...stay tuned!

A FULL AND BUSY SATURDAY!

Yesterday started off as our usually Saturday morning, Blake had dance class at 9:45am until 10:30 and this week Trinity took her junior 3 jazz exam at the same time, which was great because it saved us an extra trip. Blake had fun as usual and Trinity got through her dance exam( results should be in by thursday), I know she passed but not expecting the awesome mark that she got last year considering she skipped her level junior 2 exam, but she did great and I was told she had lots of spark!

After the morning run of dance, I then had to return with Kohl to do his regular dance classes from 11:30am until 1:00. Blake wanted to stay home with Jay and Trin so I gave him a chance to show that he could be well behaved to them, (which he was!) I got home with Kohl just in time to take Jay to his youth group bowling event, when we got there Mary Lynn the youth leader invited the other kids to stay for some fun and hotdogs and fun they had! We got home just in time to get Kohl ready and off to his dance exam. He took his junior 1 jazz and did great! Being the only boy yesterday taking a dance exam was pretty exciting for the examiner that we flew in from Toronto, Kohl should get his results later this week as well. Now I did have a moment of panic during the kids dance exams. When I walked through the door at 4:30 for Kohl's exam I see the other 3 little girls getting their hair put up into a bun, I stopped and froze for a moment thinking that as I rushed out of the house I forgot to do the bun........LOL then I quickly realized that I was there for Kohl not Trinity!

Ok so at this point my day is far from over.... I didn't get home until almost 6:30pm from Kohl's exam and I still had to make the kids supper and get Blake off to bed fast so that I could get to work considering I was suppose to be there at 4:30pm (they already knew that I would be late) Anyway I made it there for 8:30pm and it ended up that they really didn't need me there so I worked until Matt got off from work and headed home at 10pm. It wasn't long before I was off to bed!

Matt works again today and I will be going in for 5:30pm. Trinity has to be at her other dance school for 3:45pm to go over their troupe choreography with Mr. Foley (same gentleman from Toronto). So yes it's been a very busy weekend but it would have been a bit easier if my sitter was availble to babysit.....I think it's time to look into a back up sitter!

Well that's it for now, Hope you all had a great weekend :0)

A SNOW DAY FOR THE KIDS!

GETTING THE JOB DONE!

What a messy day we had! We woke up to a fair amount of snow which turned to heavy rain not long after we got up. The kids got the day off from school and had a very busy day. They went outside with Matt this morning (only had to be at work for noon) and helped shovel the driveway. It was heavy from all the rain but they got the job done. When they finished Matt took them (and the dog) to the backyard to work on their snow fort (the kids have been waiting for good packy snow!) They had a blast and got totally soaked :0) I got them to come in to dry off and warm up with some hot chocolate then Matt was off to work.

THE SNOW FORT!

We had a quiet afternoon with movies but then we were dressed and back outside! At least this time it wasn't raining :0) We got the walls to the snow fort finished and hoping that with the really cold temperatures ahead the walls will freeze and be good and strong! It is starting to get really cold and windy here now and the roads look like a sheet of ice :0( Matt should be home in a little bit , hopefully they get the roads salted in the meantime!

HUMMY, HOT CHOCOLATE!

BOWLING!

Sunday, Kohl went to his friend Jenah's birthday party! It was held at the bowling alley right up the street from us. Kohl was really excited to go, he has been wanting to go bowling for quite some time now and all he talked about from the day he got the invitation until Sunday afternoon as we were going out the door was this bowling party. He had a great time and turns out to be a pretty good little bowler!

Sorry Dear

One of the things we really wanted to get for Blake for Christmas was a tranformer chair for his bedroom. We found this at Sears but kept putting off ordering it for some reason, not sure why, anyway once we went to order it it was out of stock and they didn't think they would be getting any more in...very disapointed as we are re-doing his room to Transformers and he kept taking the catalogue out looking at the Transformer stuff. Every once in a while I would go back and check to see if by some chance it was back and by my surprise tonight I found it again on the website, I guessed it was out of stock but to my surprise it was available and yes dear I broke down and ordered it without checking with you first,( I guess you shouldn't have gone into work tonight, LOL ) it will be in on the 15th and Blake should be excited.
Matt

LOTS OF CATCHING UP TO DO....

I think we are finally getting things back on track and some what organized over the last week! The kids went back to school on Monday and Thursday had their first snow day off from school.

I still have lots of pictures to share from New Years so I may as well get them posted now that I have some time. Work is keeping us busy along with the dancing but that is to be expected :0)

NEW YEARS EVE!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD SMITH!

Grandpa and his 2 favorite puppies! Breigh is the pup up in Grandpa's face and Bel is curled up beside him!

Bel taking it easy...probably after her and Breigh were chasing each other around the house! It was great to see these two finally getting along.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN...

We spent New Year's Eve spending time with Matt's parents and friends. There was a good crowd of people and the kids were excited to be part of the celebration this year! We had three tables set up so there was a variety of things to do....Jay and Trin joined in at the Domino table with the adults, they weren't into playing cards at Grandpa's table and Matt and I entertained Kohl and Blake with some game that Grandma got Blake for Christmas. Everyone had fun, ate LOTS of food and celebrated the New Year together!

STORMED IN.... NEW YEARS DAY!

Late New Year's Eve we were visited by a blizzard which ended up keeping us stranded for an extra day in Amherst, not complaining any it was nice to be able to spend the extra day visiting with nowhere to go! The kids got out to play but it was cold and they had to face the blowing snow and snow drifts!

Breigh enjoyed being out in the snow, although she didn't stay out long until the kids went out to play! Poor little thing, I thought she was going to blow away LOL!

Blake and Breigh tackling the snow drift!!!!! Although I think it looks more like Breigh (puppy) tackling Blake! :0)

Jay, Trinity and Kohl took shelter from the wind along the side of Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Matt and Kohl digging shelter from the storm, Jay is out there someone probably hiding in his cave!

Blake had enough and came in shortly after going out!

PICTURES FROM TRINITY'S CAMERA!

Kohl and Trinity had show and tell this week at school so Kohl took in his big D-Rex dinosaur to show the class. Everyone loved it and couldn't wait to have their turn playing with it! Trinity of course took her new pink camera and got lots of pictures. I will share some of her pictures that she has taken over the Christmas Break!

Jay striking a pose LOL, what a kid!

Trinity and some of her friends from her class!

Trinity, Rebecca, Jessica and Allisa

Ignore the green eyes on Breigh, I didn't have time to fix them..... What a day we had with her on Wednesday. Everything was going wrong this day including sitter arrangements so that I could get to work on time. Anyway, this is some of the mess I found when I got back from picking the kids up at school. She had only been home alone for 30 minutes but she sure kept herself busy. She had garbage spread right through the house , what a mess but when I walked through the door I knew that something was up by her behaviour. She quickly ran and hid under the stool in the kitchen and wouldn't come out. Later she chewed a hole in Kohl's comforter, then "P'd" on the floor right by the door and the list goes on. Before I went to work at 8pm I had grounded the pup to her leash. She didn't complain and curled up and slept most of the night! I think maybe she learned a lesson. Yeah right, I think not!

That's it for now I have to go get Miss Trinity ready for another dance class. Yep a new class. This one is a lyrical production called "SEASONS" She is really excited!

THIS IS FOR GRANDPA!

To access the games try going into...

*the start menu

*then clicking on accessories

*then look for games, then click

If you can't find it then try...

*the start menu

*then clicking on programs

*then look for games, then click

If this doesn't work let me know and I will give you a call! Good luck! :0)

HOME AT LAST!

WINTER STORM...NEW YEAR'S DAY!

We finally made it home. The roads were snow covered so it was a long drive home but we made it home and that is all that matters. Matt dropped me and Trinity off to her fundraising event then he headed home with the boys and got things unpacked, showered,ready for work then dropped Blake off with me. It was a long afternoon and we finally returned home just before 8pm. The worst part was that I had to get up and go back into Sydney to pay our New York payment then Trinity ended doing another hour or so doing more fundraising then I had to be at work for 3:30pm, so needless to say I didn't get very much done around the house.

Today (Sunday, I have the day off from work, so we got groceries and picked up a few things at Home Depot....yep, that's right, we are slowly going to get a few more projects done around here!

Anyway must go for now, The kids have to get ready for school tomorrow and I have to find out when Jay is coming home from his friends house!

Keep in touch!

HEADING HOME!

We are well on our way home! The roads are snow covered and we've seen quite a few cars off the road. We have now made it as far as Antigonish for a bite to eat for lunch at McDonalds so I am taking advantage of the free wireless Internet!!!!! :0) There is flurries in the air but I checked the forecast for home and it looks good. Matt will take Trinity and I right to Sobeys for Trinity fundraising then pick up up in time for Matt to make it into work. Well for I now I must go quiet the kids and the dog but I will check in with everyone when we get home!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

CHRISTMAS EVE!

What a busy time it has been for all of us. We enjoyed our Christmas Eve this year with a family movie night at home along with some delicious donairs and garlic fingers. The kids got to open one gift before heading off to bed, leave milk and cookies for Santa then to sleep they went!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

As always the kids started their morning off reading the letter that Santa had left for them. Then it was off to open the stocking! To Jay's surprise he found his old "chocolate bear" (that he has had since he was 2 years old) sticking out of his stocking. This poor old bear had been sitting on the kitchen counter for almost 2 weeks waiting to have it's head stitched back onto its body. I guess Santa felt bad for his bear and got it all fixed up for him. Although Jay is 12 years old he was still pretty happy that he had his bear back!

LETTER FROM SANTA!

TIME FOR THE GIFTS!!!!

Ok so the kids got a good amount of gifts and I'm not going to list a picture of them all so I took one picture of each of the kids with most of their gifts......I know with everyone living long distance, no one was coming for a visit so this way you all can feel that you got to visit with us over Christmas and see the kids gifts!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE GIFTS!

LOVE FROM BLAKE

Blake got lots of new clothes, lots of goodies in his stocking, some treats, the Diego Dino rescue center with jeep that he really wanted! He also got lots of new movies, lots of games(and leapster games), he got a new fisher price camera, Transformer bedding from Grandma and Grandpa just to name a few things!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE GIFTS

LOVE FROM KOHL!

Kohl got lots of great gifts and pretty much got everything he was looking for under the tree~ Santa brought him his D-Rex Dinosaur (he is holding), we got him the v-smile motion with some games, he got his nerf gun that glows in the dark, lots of goodies and treats in his stocking, new clothes and pj's which he really needed! :0) he got a new DS case for his games, moon sand and lots of new movies! I'm sure when we get home he will have fun building with his new lego set!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE GIFTS

LOVE FROM TRINITY!

Trinity's picture looks filled with pink and purple....and I'm sure you see lots of Hannah Montana gifts! She got a hair coloring thingy and scrapbook kit from her Grandma and Grandpa, new dance bag from Nana and Papa, she got her pink camera from Santa, of course, lots of new clothes and pj's, goodies and treats in her stocking, lots of new movies, pet shops, bratz and of course I would have to say her favorite gift.......her purple laptop from mom and dad!

THANK YOU FOR THE GIFTS

LOVE FROM JAY!

Jay got the surprise of a life time. We got him a blue laptop and he wasn't even expecting it! I think it makes a gift that much better when the kids aren't asking and expecting it! Santa brought him a new stereo with CD, lots of new movies, PlayStation and Wii games. He got a nerf gun, DS case, lego, goodies and treats in his stocking, lots of new clothes and pj's, new fleece sheets from Nana and papa (super soft) and new bedding for his bedroom which will be done in army theme. He was one happy young man Christmas morning!

Breigh also got some gifts. A box full of treats, balls, new blanket (that she is curled up on) from nana and papa! She was great and stayed out of trouble while the gifts were being unwrapped. This blanket was her favorite spot Christmas day!

After all the hustle and bustle of opening the gifts We had to make some changes to our plans and get Christmas dinner ready earlier so that we could catch the movie at the theatre! All went well, dinner was great, the apple pie was delicious and everyone had a full belly. We relaxed (yeah right!!!!) The kids played with their toys while Matt and I cleaned up some of the mess and got ready and took the kids to see "BEDTIME STORIES" at the theatre. I was a good movie from beginning to the end and we all had a great time together and I don't remember how many times we refilled the popcorn bags but it was goooooooood LOL.

Boxing day was a day of cleaning for us as the kids continued playing with their toys / laptops! By the end of the day off the gifts were put into the kids room and the house was looking cleaning and somewhat organized! During the afternoon we took the kids back to the theatre to see another movie "MARLEY AND ME" which was also a good movie but had it's sad moments. We ended the night off by putting the kids to bed early and got some packing done for our trip home to be with family!

What an exciting end to Boxing Day! Kohl lost his first tooth and got it under his pillow just in time for his first visit from the tooth fairy!

We had a safe trip to be with my parents but the drive seemed to take forever, but we eventually made it! We got to see a lot of my family, Matt and I got out for a couple of hours for a Chinese feast MMMMM then back to my parents house. The time went by fast but at least we got to be together over the holiday! Our next stop is to visit with Matt's parents before heading back home!