Day 356.....Boxing Day

One of the best gifts of the day......matching Tshirts for Andrew and Kaden. "Tool" is how Kaden says 'cool'

Day 278....Sunday, October 18

It has been 2 whole days since I saw my granddaughter so I spent the afternoon and early evening at Michael and Victoria's.

Andrew came up to meet Ava as well, but first, Kaden wanted to show his uncle his new toy.....






Kaden satisfied, Andrew said hello to his newest niece....

She is so pretty.

Kaden found Ava's socks on Mommy and Daddy's bed and tried to put them on.....

Even holding Ava, Uncle Joo still played with Kaden......

Tickle Time over, Kaden requested to hold his baby sister.....

He is very gentle with her.

We had a nice visit, I had lots of cuddle time with Baby Ava, and we shared supper.....after Mike and Tor made 2 mattress sales - the customers coming to the house to pick up their new beds.

Mike will be home for the next few days.

Ava had a good night last night....hopefully she sleeps as well tonight.

Day 266 - Tuesday, October 6

Victoria had a doctor's appointment today (no surprise, since she is due tomorrow) so I went to Edmonton to sit with Kaden while she was gone.

Kaden was asleep when I got there and did not wake up until a few minutes before Tor got home so I did not have much time with him.

I did get to read for more than an hour, though - something I do not get to do often.

As I was sitting in Tor's rocker, reading my book, I heard sweet little baby talking from upstairs. I peeked in Kaden's bedroom and found him getting a book out of his bookcase.

"Book" he said with a big grin as he ran over to the crib and threw the book over the side before climbing in after it.










He looked for a long time at this page - about David and Goliath, pointing to the giant and saying something I did not understand.

When he finished reading his book to me, he started to do gymnastics for me.....

He actually completed 3 sommersaults in his crib before his mommy came in.

What a happy boy!

For more news (and photos) of the excitement of today, go to my other blog

Day 257 - Sunday, September 27

28 years ago today, our lives were blessed by the birth of our 2nd son...Michael Cameron. (To read my tribute to him, go to this link) The family gathered at Mike and Victoria's home to honor him and to celebrate.

Of course, some of my favorite subjects for photos are my grandbabies....

James Titus (aka Ty) is the epitome of cute little boy baby:

These are Victoria's 4 yr old twin brothers....Luke on the left and Joshua on the right. They are typical little boys - delightful.

My oldest grandbaby is not much of a baby anymore....she is growing up so fast - becoming prettier every day, it seems....

Elizabeth - whose newest nickname, bestowed by Seth, is "Bif" - makes a beautiful subject for photos:

Supper time, and some of the kids got their 'own' table.....Kaden was delighted to eat with his older cousins.

Mmmm.....Spaghetti and meat sauce.

Michael wisely removed Kaden's clothing before giving him a plate of spaghetti.

Kaden knows how to 'say cheese' for the camera - whether you ask him to or not.

Happy Birthday to you....Happy Birthday to you....Happy Birthday dear Michael....Happy Birthday to you......

Many of the gifts were wrapped in paper adorned with Santas, reigndeer, and SNOWFLAKES. We warned Victoria that if it snows in the next few days - we're blaming HER!

This could be the last photo of Ava inutero.....

I'm sure Victoria hopes so.

Day 245 - Tuesday, Sept. 15

Victoria needed to go to a doctor's appointment without Kaden this morning, so I drove to Edmonton to spend the day with them.

While Victoria was gone, Kaden and I cuddled in the big chair and read books. And I mean LOTS of books! We'd no sooner finish with one book, and he'd jump down and go get another.

I enjoyed some one on one time with this sweet boy and then had a nice time with my daughter, helping her to sort hand me down clothing she'd been given for Ava.

Kaden loves his 'puppy'.....sometimes more than Curly can appreciate.....

Later, when Tor and I were visiting, Kaden disappeared for awhile. He returned, 'pumping iron'.

Soon, he turned his barbell into a microphone and started to sing 'into' it. LOL

I returned home to find a door hung on the root cellar entry.

Dan was legitimately proud of himself.....he had never built a door frame before - never hung a door.

However, I think this door is nicer than the door we have for the garage - I'd like him to put this nice new door on the garage and put the old, used door on the root cellar.

A project for another day, I guess.

After supper, I was trying to load photos to my facebook albums (as I'd been trying to do for a couple days) I finally got a little frustrated and called Rob to see if I could come to his house to do it. I transferred my photos to a couple flash discs and off I went....

The girls were in bed when I got there - probably asleep, so I did not disturb them. Instead, I visited Lana and Titus while Rob watched the end of his hockey game on the computer.

Jim called while I was waiting to use the computer. After chatting with me, he asked for Rob....

Even with their high speed internet, the photos took a long time to load. At least, after waiting for half and hour, for each large file to load, the computer didn't tell me the upload had been unsuccessful. And, while waiting for the uploads, Rob, Lana, and I had a nice visit.

Day 233 - Thursday, Sept 3

Rob and Lana, Jim and I travelled with Vinj and Kath (and Taliah) to Edmonton to meet Mike and Victoria (and Kaden) for a business meeting. Of course, I took photos of my kids/grandkids.

Here is Taliah, travelling happily and quietly.....

When we got to our destination, Kath took some time in the van to feed Taliah....

Last night, Kaden fell onto the edge of the headboard of his parent's bed, gashing his head and necessitating a trip to the emergency ward at the Wetaskiwin hospital - resulting in 5 or so stitches. This event earned him the nickname "Crash" from his Papa.

After our meeting, we all went out for supper to the Olive Garden where we had a fun visit.

Daniel generously babysat the girls, Titus, and Seth. What a guy!

Day 236 Thurs 08-27

Our priority today was a visit to our accountant in Red Deer. His office has been moved to the 'Millenium Center' - or, what was ('in our day') the Hudson's Bay. We now park in the parking lot for what used to be the 'Uptown Theater'.

I most remember this theater for two movies..... First, "Walking Tall" (the original) because it was the first 'R' rated movie I went to - and I was not yet 18! Jim was, though, so I was very close to 18. The woman at the ticket window let me through because it was 'rated R for violence, not sex.' The second movie that I remember from this theater was "Star Wars" (the original). Jim and our friend, Kelly had already gone to the movie and were so excited by it that they wanted me to see it as well. They convinced me that I wanted to go - even though I was due to give birth to Robert any moment and I was very afraid that my water would break in a public place. We stood in a line that extended from inside the theater out to the middle of the parking lot in order to get in.

Here, Jim is walking across that same parking lot - only this time, he had to pay to park there....







We went home through Wetaskiwin because Robert had brought a paper home from the bank for Jim to sign. It was a good excuse to say hi to the kids!

At home, after supper, Michael and Victoria came out for a visit.

Daniel serenaded us with violin AND guitar music. It is nice to have live music in the house again.

Kaden rode the 'trike' around the living room until his mommy put him to bed.....

Day 226 Sun. 08-16-09

Mike called and invited Jim to go fishing with him this afternoon. Not one to pass up the opportunity to spend a few one on one hours with one of his boys, Jim accepted. I went along to spend some time with my Daughter at her 'lake home'. This meant that I was also able to visit with Jacqueline, Victoria's mother, since they live on the same lot as Mike and Tor (actually, it is Mike and Tor who live on the same lot as Kelly and Jacqueline, but we don't need to be technical, do we?)

Tor's little brother, Luke walked around almost all day with these goggles on.....he looked so cute, I had to take a photo of him.....

Jim caught the first fish - a fairly good size, too - but the decided they should throw it back and wait for a bigger catch. Turns out, that was the biggest fish of the day. LOL They caught 3 in total, I think.....just didn't keep any of them. Lots of bites, though.

Victoria's dad, Kelly, took the rest of us out for a boat ride later in the afternoon.

Here's Kaden, singing "This Little Light of Mine". Actually, he only sings the "NO" part on the verse that says 'Hide it under a bush...oh No'. LOL

Another photo of the fishermen - taken into the sun, making it look almost like a nighttime photo......

And, here's a 'lake bird'.......

We had a fun day, a great visit, and yummy supper. We came away with full stomachs, full hearts, and Jim also came away with a sore back from sitting in the bottom of the boat for several hours.