Dear Santa

Yes we went to see the Big guy! The kids did not even hesitate to my surprise. Little Olivia went right to him first. She was pretty forward and right away she said she wants a horsey! Julien was all talk. He wants a rocket, a jet and a pilot suit! We had a good time and it was cute to see them. Ohhh to be young and so innocent again!

Life is...

not easy at times but still so beautiful andI was reminded of that this week!

This week I was playing outside with my children at the end of the day and taking a few pictures. When I said it is time to go in I looked up in the sky and this is what I saw. This beautiful colored sky with pink and purple. It took my breath away and reminded me that even tough we struggles and have difficult times we have beautiful things around us that we cannot neglect. It truly made my day and I was thankful for my family and Friends and all things in my life, a shelter above my head, food, health....

Just thought I would share!

fall pictures

We went to take some fall photos by a beautiful fall afternoon this week. I realised that I had not yet capture the beauty of this season on pictures. Fall is one of my favorite season, and I always love to see my kids enjoy the leaves, the walks and the changes in nature. We went to a new site right by our house and the children enjoyed exploring their new surroundings. We took some nice picture by an old barn and by some pretty colorful trees. We played in leaves and as the sun was setting we made our way back home. So here are my favorites shots of my clan, as Julien was pleasantly posing and Olivia was running all over the place and trying to escape the lens!

I am still scrapping!

Here are 3 pages started about a month ago that I finished last evening. I had a large project that kept me from getting them done. The first is from a picture that I love of Olivia. So decided to just have fun with it. The second page is Olivia and ant Patsy in January of 05. I love the colors of it. The last is of the 4th month of Olivia to go in the baby book!
thanks for looking

cherish

a cute page of my mom and Olivia when she came to visit when Olivia was born.

a quick page of Julien and his ant Patsy! Had fun doing this fun page and I am almost done with my pictures of 2005!

4 years old

Yes already Julien is 4! It seems to that just yesterday we were bringing home our little 8 pounds bundle. But no it's already been 4 years now. Julien has grown and mature a lot over the summer. He is more polite and is starting to use his manners, thinks about others, he is developing an funny sense of humor and loves attention. He has not lost his bundle of energy and his love for books.

For his birthday I was going to organise a little party with a few of his friends but since Julien has a love and passion for jets, helicopters, and airplane I asked him if he wanted a birthday party of go to the Airzoo in Kalamazoo. He chose to go to the airzoo. We left Monday morning and did not get back until 5pm. There was a little boy who's eyes were so busy taking it all in. It was the best to see him so happy. I enjoyed myself to being among those large airplanes, jets and old aircraft. I have to learn to know what he is talking about now!

On his actual birthday, Tuesday Julien had his first day of school and he had a great time. In the evening we had dinner with friends and we enjoyed a great ice cream cake from Captain Sunday.

sweet girl

I just love this picture I took of Olivia on the spur of the moment. She was not cooperating as I was trying to take pictures of her and then I saw her going up a sand dunes and I had my camera ready and this is what I got from it. She is just full of life and she makes me happy when I see her on the go like this I just wish I could always capture those moments. So here is at least one of them.

lessons

Julien will be starting his first violin classes on Wednesday. And it will be every Wednesday until may and at the end he will have his first recital to which you are all invited!.

We went to get his violin yesterday and already his is trying to play it. I have to say that he seems pretty comfortable with this instrument already which to me seems very intimidating. I am not musical.

He has already played us a few tunes and we were treated to a few new pieces that he composed for us right on the spot! I think this will be a good thing for him to try to concentrate on one thing and to be discipline to do it everyday.

8 scrapbooking pages

Here is what I did in the last week and a half, while we had many rainy afternoons and evenings. I am so behind but that is ok as long as I am having fun making them I am getting somewhere!

first haircut

for Olivia was last week. She was a pro and so proud to be sitting on that chair. She did not move a bit. So finally we made an appointment that I held until the day of it. This was my fourth attempt but kept cancelling because I felt she was to young or did not need it. Well she did not get much cut, just about 1/2 inch of hair off but it looks cleaner and it is easier to manage. I guess I was just scarred to let go of my baby since she is growing up so fast, she is already two and that is hard for me! She is my baby still. Anyway she did awesome and still talks about it!

We're back

Finally after a week back from camp I can say we are back.

-Back on track

-Back into the routine

-Back to normal bedtime

-Back to cooking :-0

-Back to cleaning :-(

-Back to ironing :-/

-Back to running the fort

-Back to scrapbook :-)

But beyond that we had an awesome vacation. A lot of good family time, time to talk, especially during the long ride there (16 hrs).

We went to Camp Cherokee in the Adirondack. It was beautiful there, the weather was great, the speaker wonderful and the food, well no need to say I was relived and happy not to have to worry about planning or making it and for a bonus it was excellent.

It was good to see this place 15 yrs later. It hasn't changed much and I have good memories of it, which made it even better. I saw beautiful sunrise, sunsets, mountains, lakes, and wild life. So I can say it was the best and a good way to get resource.

So here are a few photos of our time there!

Hopefully I will be keeping this blog more updated now that our big vacations and trips are over for the rest of the summer.