Halloween Brunch

Yesterday Christine the Bumblebee held her first Annual Halloween Brunch with her good friends Jerry, Michele and their little son Truman (dressed as the cow), Myriah, Scott and their children Olivia (the flower) and Ethan (he was dressed as Buzz Lightyear but was asleep at the time of the picture, Tim and Katie, and Jamie and Erin. We all had a booooo-tiful time and watching the kids, run (Ethan), walk (Christine) and play (Olivia) was very entertaining, I can only imagine what next year will bring when all of them will be running around.


Christine's Grandpa and Grandma also stopped by to see all the kids in costume and enjoy some of the plentiful food. Tomorrow we plan to get Christine dressed up in her costume again for some trick or treating, a visit to my office and a visit to Grandpa's house, *sigh*, the life of a superstar is so hard :)

Christine the Big Sister

This past Friday Christine, Ben and I got to see Christine's little baby brother or sister on a ultrasound. Yes for those of you that don't know - Christine is going to be a big sister sometime in March 2007. Big news for all of us, although frankly Christine has no idea of what is going on and seemed most concerned during the ultrasound that she wasn't allowed to touch the computer, oh well, I'm sure she figure it out someday (maybe when she's 8 or 9). The picture above is from the ultrasound, in it you can make out the baby's head and torso, as we don't want to know the gender you can't see the bottom half of the baby - that's fine with us as long as know the baby has a bottom half :)

Other than the ultrasound for the baby it's been a quiet and rainy week. Due to the rain Christine spent a bunch of time indoors playing with her balloons, car, piano and pretty much anything not nailed down. She's getting quite sneaky and will quietly disappear to do things she's not supposed to - like putting her toys and hands in the toilet, more than once :) Also she continues to eat fuzzies the moment my back is turned - but wait, now I have photographic evidence of her fuzzy eating - see below. I'm sure this will stand up in court as evidence of her disobedience, although some children aid workers might wonder why I was busy taken her picture instead of getting the fuzzy out of her mouth.

Happy Dogaversary!

Well I had to go back to work - again this week and I think Christine missed me. I know she had lots of fun playing every day with Ben and a playdate with Aunt Boo but I think the highlight of her week may have been her and Molly's Dogaversary. (Dogaversary = Dog Anniversary, I just came up with the term and will be copyrighting it shortly so don't even try to use it without paying me a royalty).

Christine and Molly met last year on October 11th, her first day home from the hospital and as you all know they are BFF (best friends forever). They enjoy walks in the park together, sharing snacks (or stealing them if you are Molly) and a good game of chase. No matter how sad or grumpy Christine is a couple of laps around the house chasing Molly will guarantee a giggle out of her. So to celebrate their Dogaversary they has some nice cuddles on the couch (see above) and spent some time looking out the window (Christine was looking for me to come home, Molly was looking for squirrels). Here's hoping they have many more Dogaversaries together :)

Happy Birthday Christine part II

Yesterday was Christine's first birthday and we celebrated (again) in style with turkey, balloons, cake and Elmo. We went to Christine's Grandpa and Grandma's house for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner as well as her big birthday celebration. After a very yummy dinner Christine got to open her presents. From her Uncle Luke and Amber she got the very new and exciting Tickle-me-Elmo - it's crazy! Although I think right now Christine is a little intimidated by it's exuberance, I'm sure she find it as funny as us adults do shortly.

From her Uncle Pat she got a classic book by one of our favourite authors - Dr Seuss, Happy Birthday to You (how appropriate). And from the rest of the gang she got the Little Mermaid DVD (okay - maybe that's mostly for me) and a Finding Nemo "car" that she can ride on or push (to help with her walking).

All in all Christine had a very fun first birthday and says thank you to all of her wonderful family and friends for celebrating with her :)

Happy Birthday Christine Part I

Today Christine, Ben, Uncle Geof, Aunt Brenda, Nana & Papa (via the phone) and I all celebrated her first birthday and Thanksgiving together. We skipped the traditional turkey and feasted on Swiss Chalet and birthday cake and we were all stuffed at the end of the evening. Christine especially enjoyed the cake of course and needed a bath immediately after dinner to clean up the mess.

For her birthday - she first of all got some very pretty balloons delivered to her by her Grandpa and Grandma.

From Uncle Geof and Aunt Brenda she got a learn and play piano - it's awesome, I'm hoping to learn to piano as well from it :) From her Nana and Papa she got a wheeled suitcase to tote around her toys in and as well as to maybe to use on an adventure out west someday :) Aunt Brenda decided that Christine wanted to go inside the backpack for a roll around the living room - surprisingly she really enjoyed herself.

And from Ben and I she got a play set of alphabetical animals - Brenda and I had so much fun sorting them into teams for animal survivor, I guess Christine liked it as well :) All in all, a very fun day with lots of family, food and presents and lucky little girl that she is we get to do it all over again tomorrow, stayed tuned for Birthday Party/Thanksgiving part II.

Just Hanging Out

Christine, Ben and I have done a bunch of hanging out around the house for the last couple of weeks as I have been off work with extremely painful kidney stones (I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy, not even a bear, sorry Stephen Colbert). Here's a picture of Christine hanging out with me this afternoon enjoying one of her favorite pursuits - collecting fuzzies. For the record - I'm not that bad of housekeeper that I have little white fuzzies all around my house, Christine likes to remove them from one of our pillows on our couch. Molly the dog originally provided the hole to access the fuzzies/stuffing from and Christine thinks it's her mission to remove them from the pillow, carry them all around the house, then try to eat them when I'm not looking. I'm warning you kid - now that I'm a Mom I have the requisite eyes in the back of my head and I can see you putting them in your mouth everytime :)

Where did Summer go?

Here's a picture of Christine lamenting the fact that Summer has gone for good and fall is here to stay. And although she might enjoy playing in the leaves in our backyard, I don't particularily enjoy scooping pieces of leaf out of her mouth constantly :) Other than that Christine is anxiously awaiting her first birthday - only 6 more days to go.

Happy Trails to You

Howdy Partners! Here's a picture of Christine enjoying her very own pony that her Nana and Papa got for her before she was born. She loves rocking on it although she's still too little to be able to put her feet down so we have to hold on to her. Big plans for this afternoon - Christine, her trusty sidekick Molly and her pony Poe are going to go after the cattle rustlers last seen in the kitchen, good luck and god speed :)