Saturday, December 5, 2009

All I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth

Or, just one… Robynn lost her first tooth!

Here it is all gross and wiggly in her mouth on November 21st.

On November 28, it finally came out!

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When Robynn was born, yes – when she was born – my Step-Mum gave her a cute little bear that would hold her teeth to give to the tooth fairy. It’s very cute – in it’s own little, hand-painted box, on a cloud of stuffing… well, Robynn finally got to make use of this little guy. She was very excited.

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This was Robynn the next morning… I just love my sleeping angel.

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She was really excited to see what the Tooth Fairy had left her (by the way, the going rate for a small little tooth is $2!), and checking to see what she received got her out of bed quicker than most mornings!

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Happy Birthday Auntie Jessica

One of my best girlfriends – Jessica – has made the *crazy* move to the land of cold and snow (Montreal, Quebec – okay a little town just outside of Montreal – where they speak French no less!). “Hmm, does Auntie Jessica speak French Mommy?” “No, honey… but she might pick up a few words.”

Jessica moved to Quebec to be with the love of her life and his family – but he’s in the Navy (yup, Canada has a Navy – had to look that one up! – but you would think with all this water, that we’d hear a little more about it – I digress…), so they may be back in BC before you know it.

A few girls sent Jess off with a couple of drinks and lots of love the week before her departure.

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A couple of days before she left Lotus Land, Auntie Jessica had to come and see her girls. Here are some shots of that visit.

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Oh, and Happy Birthday Auntie Jessica. Here’s the video of Natasha scootching – just for you!

Love you!

D.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Blue eyes...


... Baby's got blue eyes (Elton John my friends).


I'm going through my photos (there's a lot I haven't even looked at since taking them!). And this one was too good not to share.


It was taken on November 10 - oh, I do make cute kids. Maybe I should make another one!

Santa photo!

We made the trek to see Santa this morning - it wasn't nearly as eventful as last year! Were were in and out in less time than it took to drive to Coquitlam Centre.





Robynn played shy. Natasha hammed it up. And we had a great shot.


This year Robynn wrote her first Santa letter. She dictated to me, and then copied what I printed out for her - here it is (typed) below:



Dear Santa,
Have a good time coming to our house. I am going to have cookies and milk for you. I have been a good girl. I help my Mommy and I take good care of my sister. Thank you for bringing me Petshop toys last year. This Christmas I don't want any toys I just want love.

Merry Christmas

Love Robynn

Yup, she just wants LOVE!!!!!!!!! Wow, I have the best kid in the world!!!!!! I even took her to Toys R Us for an hour browsing the aisles looking for what she'd want. At one point she was thinking she might ask for a red Christmas ornament, but she wasn't set on that. Robynn put a lot of thought into what she was going to ask for this Christmas. She wants love. I love her!

Now, if any of you have an idea how I can wrap up love, please let me know... I was thinking I might make her a scrapbook with her favourite pictures of family and friends. When she opens that, the charade of Santa may be up, but I'm ready for it.

Love.

Who could ask for anything more?

I give up...

Okay, I've been wanting my blog to go in chronological order, but that just means I'm getting further and further behind. A wise person told me to start where I am, and when time permits, fill in the gaps... So that is what I'm going to do.

Needless to say, the Reid household has been busy. And it's not likely to get any less so. I was asked by my principal if I'd be willing to work an extra day - that makes four days per week beginning in January. I did ask for this in the summer, so now that it's being offered, I can't turn it down. We are blessed to have grandparents willing to be with our girls for two of the four days I'll be at work, which makes it worth the effort.

Hmm, not much more to say for now. I'll keep you posted, and fill in the blanks from September to now along the way.

Blessings,
D.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Life Jacket Trials

And a good thing…

My Dad bought Natasha a present: a baby life jacket. These are relatively new, because nothing has been approved by the Canadian Coast Guard for babies. I’m not too sure that this one is, but it’s different from the regular jackets, because it’s supposed to keep babies up, even if they land on their front.

Well, I tossed my daughter into the pool a couple of times – she wasn’t very impressed with me that’s for sure! But I felt she was safer having done some basic trials on my own.

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Robynn’s making sure everything is okay with her baby sister too!

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I feel very confident with Robynn in the water when she’s wearing her vest. She has some fun too, because she get’s to go out a little further away from Mommy’s reach.

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The next day, we went out on the boat. We were hit by a storm that roared through (on it’s way east, it also struck at a Jamboree, where there were many injuries and one death). This was a big storm. We were moored in a little bay at the north end of Glennifer lake enjoying a snack after our swim when the storm hit us. We watched the storm come towards us, thinking we were safe and that it wasn’t too big. We were wrong. Heather and I took the girls down below in and secured them in their jackets. Dad manned the tiller and motor – he was trying to keep us stable and away from shore. While Rick (a good sailing buddy of my parents) was at the ready to help out where needed. We were tied to Rick’s boat, but had to let it go for fear it would drag us or that the boats would knock together too harshly. Poor Rick watched his boat sail away across the lake – okay the wall of rain only let him watch it for so long.

All in all, it wasn’t very long that we were in the storm, maybe 30 – 40 minutes. Dad asked me, later, how I was, and I told him, honestly, that I felt good about the situation. Heather and I had the girls, and Rick and he had the boat. Those men have a lot of sailing experience under their belts, and I felt who better then to weather a storm with than these two. Another reason I was assured was because Dad had purchased this life jacket for Natasha, and we had tested it out just the day before.

Finally, I was praying for all I was worth while I was down below with my girls – praying for my father to have the strength to continue what he was doing; praying for Rick to be the best support person he could be; thankful that Heather was entertaining Robynn (Robynn was never really aware of the danger we were in –for which I am ever grateful); thankful that I was able to attend to Natasha – and thankful for my father purchasing the jacket she was wearing; praying for the safety of the other boaters on the lake that day; and praying that God would see us safely through this storm. He did. He answered all of those prayers.

When the storm blew over, we retrieved Rick’s boat, and, thankfully, there was only a little cosmetic damage to the rudder. Then we made our way back to the trailer. We even made it out on the lake again later that week. We wanted there to be a very positive trip for Robynn (I think my Dad was more worried about me having a positive experience actually). I love my Dad, and I trust him and his sailing abilities. Was I scared, sure, but not really. Would I go out with my Dad again. You betcha! I’d even bring my girls on board.

My regret: not getting any pictures of the awesomeness of that storm. It was truly something powerful to watch.

AB 09 – A Long 1st Day

Every summer, I try to head out past the glorious Rocky Mountains, to the rolling hills of Alberta. The girls and I spend a little time visiting with my family in Calgary, Airdrie, and, of course, up at the Carefree Resort on Gleniffer Lake.

My Dad is a pretty good photographer, but every once in a while, he really nails the “money shot” – this one is it!

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And some shots are “memory shots.” These are both taken when the cousins, Hannah and Robynn, took Daddy/Uncle Mark and Grandpa Boat to the park.

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Of course the pool is always a big hit with Robynn – and we had the chance to introduce Natasha to the wonders of water while at Carefree!

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Robynn had to have a turn too!

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Of course, there is more water than just in the pool… We also have the makeshift bath:

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My little sister did it; I have to do it!!!

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Enjoying some time with Gpa Boat after a long first day in AB.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A New Path To Travel

Russell won't be taking the West Cost Express for much longer. He received the phone call we've been waiting for today - School District 42 has offered him a job in their IT department, and he's gladly accepted.

This will be a great move for our family, as Russ's commute will change from 3 hours daily to 30 minutes daily. Now he'll have more time for friends, family, and getting his own business up and running. (I'll let you know as soon as his web site is ready.)

Right now, he's completing Apple certification for the new job (they use Mac's - yucky!), and he begins Monday, November 23rd.

Leaving Harbour Air will be hard. They have been very good to Russ, and he's loved the people that he's met along the way. But this is a very good move for Russ and our family.

I'm very proud of my hubby!!! Congratulations Russ xo xo xo

I Have an Addiction

Yup, I'm addicted to photos of my girls!!! Especially professional ones...

Okay, you know the drill: Matt Kennedy's photography, go to the client page - password reid.

Halloween pics! Awesome!

D.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Water and Wine

Although this was a joint family vacation with the Lewis girls, we Reids spent a little time together bonding.

Our girls really enjoyed their time at the Wrights Campground pool and only kind of enjoyed our short (but not short enough) tour of the Naramata Bench Wineries.

Although the pool was the reason I chose this campground over any other, it didn't play as huge a role in our vacation as I thought it might. However, we did get to partake of it's cool waters on a couple of occasions...

We visited 3 wineries: Township 7, Red Rooster, and Lang. Of the 3, I was most impressed with Red Rooster– they’ve got a beautiful space, and their wines are very reasonably priced and tasty. However, my new favouritest wine is from Lang – their Grand Pinot – Yummy!

The garden outside Township 7 was beautiful!


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The inside wasn’t so bad either!!!


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Red Rooster had some interesting suitcase art around their grounds… hmmm…


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Robynn found the mermaid, well, ummm… I guess we’re not art connoisseurs.


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This is my favourite art!



The view from Lang Vineyards:





The last day – we packed up most of our stuff, and headed off to the public beach for a swim. We should have gone here earlier! The water was nice, the sand was comfortable (no big rocks to walk on), and it wasn’t crowded at all!


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See that slide waaaaaaayyyyy out there. Russ and Robynn swam out to that slide and, although it took her a couple of tries, she did go off...

Bye Bye Penticton - until we meet again.

A Windy Day at the Beach

Russ was the only man on our journey for most of the week, and one day we decided to test his limits by packing six girls and allllll their belongings, snacks, drinks, pack ‘n play, towel… you get the picture. Fun was had by all, and we all – those of us over the age of 4 - made it into the water… some more willingly than others!

You can hear the wind – Russ is a little far away, as I’m not quite sure I want to brave the water yet… Look how choppy the water was, Joelley almost lost her balance!

Okay, I jumped in – not very deep this lake!

We all impressed upon Mommy/Miss Auntie Lynda that she needed to go for a dip – she caved under the pressure!

Natasha and Susanna played comfortably in the pack ‘n play – shaded from the sun with a large beach towel and protected from the wind with a large beach umbrella.

Here’s some random video of the girls just enjoying their day at the beach:

The big girls playing in the sand.

Susanna playing in the sand.

Swim Dare Devils!

Our last weekend in Penticton was a little rainy. So what do you do when it rains on your vacation? Take the vacation indoors! We took all our girls to the Penticton Pool! Actually, this pool is really great for families. It has a little, very warm, pool that Natasha and Susanna enjoyed very much, but it also has the deeper pools – you know the ones with the high dive boards. Well, Joelle and Robynn thought it might be fun to go off of the high dive board! We convinced them to try the lower one first, but that was so easy, they just had to try the high dive! Wow! We, and many other spectator parents, were so impressed at these little girls’ fabulous feats!

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Look at the difference in leg action - Natasha thinks she's in a jolly jumper! Her legs didn't stop moving the whole time we were in the pool.

Here are the big girls...

3 Birthdays – 1 day

While in Penticton, we celebrated 3 very special birthdays! Susanna, Joelle, and Lynda all have their birthdays in August, so it was an awesome treat to share this time with the wonderful girls.

I had the privilege of taking my friend out for lunch to the bistro at Hillside Estate Winery. We had a wonderful time: sipping the delicious wines, savouring the spectacular food, enjoying the breathtaking views, and revelling in the quiet (we left ALL 4 girls with Russ!).

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We even went for a wine tasting down the road to Poplar Grove – okay, we really went for the cheese – yummmmmm. But the views were mind blowing!

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While we were enjoying 4 hours of freedom and tranquility, our girls were enjoying 4 hours of playtime with Daddy/Mr. Uncle Russ!

He cheated!

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The big girls had movie time while the little girls slept.

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Lots of tricks up his sleeve: special toys for the occasion…

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A walk to the park – that must have been fun: two big girls walking on their own, one little girl being pushed in a stroller, one little girl being carried in his arms… Wow – what a trooper. He really loves us a lot!

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I think Russ took this next video just to see if he could scare me a little.

That night, we celebrated with sugar and presents!

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The girls got to ice and decorate their own cupcakes (hmmm, I wonder where I got that idea from???).

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We love: Melissa and Doug wooden toys…

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Fancy Nancy books…

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… and anything red!

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Happy Birthday Lewis Girls!!!!