The House :)

I was warned by my mother to get some pics of the house on the blog!

And the first pic that I post is super dark! Sorry but I didn't really look at the pictures until I downloaded them and now I'm too lazy to start again. So, it will have to do for now. Maybe it will hide some of the mess! :) (you can click on the pic Mama if you want to make it bigger)

We finally moved into the house...the weekend of Nov 26. Thanks to everyone that helped us out. We appreciate it very much!

We're still unpacking and need a few things (like a dining set and a bed for downstairs) but we're getting there.

I didn't want to buy much until we were moved in, so I could be sure about sizes/colors/etc. And because we are now poor! :) We plan to slowly start to pick up things here and there.

Breagha's room is a little bit of everything at the moment! But, again, we still haven't decided what we want to buy for her room so we'll take our time. Right now it doesn't matter because she isn't really using her room!

She's sleeping in the bunk beds! She is very used to sleeping with Shamus so now he's in the top bunk and she's in the bottom. Not sure how long it will take before she'll sleep on her own.

We desperately need curtains but I haven't find anything I like yet. I don't like too fancy and I don't like too busy....and we need to paint our room. Not sure when the room will be complete!

We did get our tree up on the weekend. Very excited about that.! We really like it. Darryl picked up some cute new ornaments!! And we put some decorations up - inside and outside. We don't have a lot of stuff since we've bounced around the last few years but again, slowly but surely!

We're doing well with visitors already!

Our first weekend in the house we had Steve, Cari, and Jesse stay with us. Had a great time!!!! And then we had Jolyne, Eric, Suzy, and Marc come for dinner this past Saturday. Thanks guys! And next weekend the kids are having their first playdates with friends.

And we have lots of visitors coming for the holidays! The Purdy's are coming from Nova Scotia, my cousin, Amanda, and her new hubby, Myles are coming for New Year's. And my bro and his gang are planning a trip in! So, loving the company!

Wedding Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It all began with a girl, Amanda, and a boy, Myles.

And they lived happily ever after!

And we all loved the wedding celebration!

While we were home, we got to enjoy some wedding fun.

Just what we all needed!

The wedding took place down the road from my parents, up on the hill, in Myles' parents field, in front of lots of family and friends, surrounded by love.

It was a great day.

The kids had a blast being in Nova Scotia.

So relaxing. But lots of wedding preparations!! I'm sure more than Harry and Kate!

My favorite part - shopping for Breagha's shoes! She had a dress already - as it matched the wedding color theme - but we HAD to buy new shoes! Love them!

The hall was amazing. I thought Amanda was crazy a few times but I was super impressed! She didn't forget one detail. Lots of decorating!

And to ride to the wedding on Harley's? Yeap, that was super cool too!

Amanda with her Dad, Neil, on his Harley.

Friends for 35years.

Yes, we're getting old! But, that's a long time of friendship.

It's was hot that day. We needed to keep cool.

Just thought this was cute.

Can't remember which of the kids took the pic...can only assume it was them from the angle it was taken. :)

Me with my loving little girl. She's quite the lady.

The wedding location was perfect. Such a beautiful view.

Jenn and Aaron - thanks for the beer Aaron!

Ah, I think we clean up pretty good!

The boys were so cute in their suits. Handsome!!!!!

The band at the reception was awesome! Everyone danced all night.

Cousin Aaron (who also sang a few tunes at the wedding. Well done) and little Violet.

The kids danced and danced. Shamus was so sweaty! And Breagha LOVED the square set.

Oh yeah, she loves music from home!

And no wedding at home is complete without the fiddle.

The best part!

Thank you Amanda and Myles for such a wonderful day.

The Summer of 2011!!

Well, the summer is over, autumn is here (we're still enjoying beautiful weather so can't complain) and I haven't really posted any summer pics!

It's been very busy since May and sometimes it was hard to keep up let alone do a post! But, I want to keep our blog as a journal so I really need to get things updated. A couple of sad moments - We had the death of my Gramma Sadie and then my Gramma MacNeil 3 weeks later (I didn't even want to post about it as we've had a tough go with Grandparents. None left now which is very sad. But, my sister did a beautiful eulogy...it was perfect. Great memories). But we had some great times too. We went away with my brother and his family to "Logosland" and had the best time. A perfect family getaway if you want camping and water fun! We also had a family wedding which I was part of the wedding party....so lots and lots of fun. And a couple of weekends away for some much appreciated down time. :)

So, I'm going to post some pictures of Logosland and then in a few days hopefully I'll still be in full swing and post some pictures of the wedding/home.

The kids loved Logosland and I hope we can go again next year. The first night was all about the fire and roasting marshmallows! Yummy!!

Can't have a campground/waterpark without mini putt!

The water slides were a lot of fun but the red one definitely went the fastest! Shamus and Calli did great...flying down it...but Breagha was not ready for the challenge. Maybe next time!

She still loves to relax by the water and play in the sand. She is amazing at entertaining herself and happy with her own company. xoxo She rocks.

Breagha's other favorite part of the trip was the paddle boats! She loved them!!!

A little bit of everything at "Logosland".

Shamus' favorite part was the water trampoline. It was pretty cool.

My nephew, Alexander, was very good at bouncing off the trampoline.

We had a great set up: very close to everything. And great company.

My niece, Calli, is the perfect play mate for Shamus and Breagha. And very motherly to both although she is only a few months older than Shamus! Pretty cute.

And there was even a little farm!!

(and a golf course that the boys tried out one afternoon)

Miss B didn't want to leave the goats.

Shamus loves to be glued to HannaRose. I'm sure he must drive her crazy sometimes but she is very patient with him!

Shamus and Breagha adore their cousins and we are so thankful that we get to see them as much as we did. That was the big "bonus" to moving back to Montreal -having family in Ottawa!

Hmmm, that wasn't too long at all! Next time maybe even a couple of graduation pics (kindergarten and daycare:) and some soccer pics! They were pretty cute!

Hellooooo!

Yes, we are still around! Living our lives and updating about it - seems to be impossible since we moved back. I don't know if it's because the kids are more busy now or work/play, but the days are rolling by!

I do have lots to post. While we had some sad moments (I lost both my grandmothers within 3 weeks of each other) we also had some wonderful moments (family weddings are the best!) so I don't know where to start! I did say that I wanted to keep up with the blog until Breagha started school. So, I can't quit until I at least post some school pictures! So, stay tuned, I plan to post sometime this week. Hmmmm, that's the plan anyway! We'll see if it happens! :)

Gramma Sadie

The kids and I left for Montreal last Saturday and did the 14hour drive to Antigonish...Darryl's home town. We stayed the night with his parents and then headed to Mabou...my hometown...on Sunday morning. I was in a hurry to get home as my Gramma Sadie (turning 96 in September!)was going down hill quickly and I wanted see her. My Mom and I spent about 7hours with her on Sunday and she passed away Sunday night. I am so thankful that I had the chance to see her one more time. She was the glue that held my Mom's family together and she will be greatly missed by her 10 children, her 45 grandchildren, her 92 great grandchildren, and her 12 great great grandchildren. My sister wrote a little something that was posted at the wake and it was perfect:

Gramma Sadie

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  Thank you for our homemade mittens that all 45 grandchildren received each Christmas. You wrapped each pair with love and homemade tags. The day after Christmas you began the new mittens for the next years gifts.


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  Thanks for allowing us to play with your collection of buttons (and take some home) while you sewed on your fancy sewing machine that didn't need electricity. It was amazing to watch your fancy footwork keep that needle stitching.


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  Thanks for making each grandchild feel special by granting each of us a place of honour in your graduation "Hall of Fame". (once you graduated, your picture was put up on the wall. I couldn't wait to get on that wall!!)


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  Thank you for sharing your many talents with us. Many of us have mastered the "Scrabble" board and improved our playing skills simply from listening to you say, "Are you going to challenge me?" We all know that you secretly memorized the dictionary when nobody was around.


• 
  
  Thank you for the quilts you made. They will be treasured for years and generations to come.


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  Thank you for always being happy to see each and everyone of us when we frequented your doorway. You always made each of us feel welcomed!


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  Thank you for always being kind and open-minded. There was never any judgement.


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  Thank you for always making room for each of us at Christmas when everyone came to visit at the same time!


• 
  
  Thank you to you and Grampa Hughie for making all those blue eyes sparkle! We're all proud to carry on the blue eyes...those who didn't get them are probably just a little jealous! (which I am cause I didn't get them and they are beautiful!) :)

Having a family funeral and a family wedding a week a part isn't ideal but I think Gramma would want us all to have some fun. She was truly an amazing lady that loved life and loved everyone around her. She was always so happy and we will miss her so much. But, now she is at peace.

Love you.

Well hello folks... it has been a while since our last post. There are no excuses really. We have just been quite busy with work, kids activities and looking for a home. Also it seems that Montreal is not quite as exotic as Australia (some might say... sorry Montreal) so we have let the posting slide a little.

The good news is we have a few videos instead of pictures. Both Shamus and Breagha had small graduation celebrations and part of the festivities was having a little concert with the kids. We thought it was pretty cute! They both did a mixture of french and english songs. Check them out!

Shamus' class was so cute doing all the actions to the song. They put a lot of practice in for this concert.

Below is Breagha's first highland dancing appearance. She was a little nervous but everything went really well.

I love Breagha's solo in this. Stacey laughed at me because I watched it like six times. I was so amazed that she was really on beat! Time to hit the pageant circuit (ok maybe not) :)

P.S. the video quality is a little crappy... Breagha is the one in the black and white polka dots with pink belt.

I hope you enjoyed these!

It's Just a Blur!!

Hmmm, I started this post 2 weeks ago and can't seem to get it finished! So, I'll just have to give a brief update for now but we hope to post a video soon...Breagha was in her first concert! :)

Where did May go?? Where did June go? It truly feels like the days are flying by! And it is a blur!! We've been so busy that I don't know where to start! May had my birthday and Mothers Day - both wonderful. Especially my yummy lobster. And my Michael Kors. :) Thanks Baby. Darryl got to do his mountain biking at Mt. Bromont. Had his Fathers Day pampering. We also had trips into Ottawa for birthday fun. We went to the Eastern Townships with Mike, Mireille, and the boys. Love it there!!!!! It was so great to get away. I'd love to post some pics (our blog is my memory box:) someday soon!

And it's full swing of soccer season - Darryl and I are both coaching (assisting). Still have swimming lessons each week, karate class (taking July/Aug off), and Breagha is dancing in the Montreal Highland Games next month!! And between all this, Darryl has gone to Toronto twice and Vancouver for work, doing long days, and we've been squeezing in a new workout routine! I've also joined a hot yoga class with a friend so I rush out the door around 8pm to make the class. Plus, Breagha's preschool graduation, year end school parties (and you have to bake for everything), Breagha's daycare year end party, karate year end party, kid birthday parties (all the time!), and finalizing summer camp details (pay for pre/post camp, buy lunches?...)

This is why things are a blur at the moment! It can be overwhelming. I don't know how my brother and his family does this craziness for most of the year! I get up at 530am most days and our days are extremely busy...so going to bed late...not a lot of sleep.

I'm happy to say that I have a week off soon! I took next week off to celebrate Shamus finishing his first year of school! He's done very well and we're looking forward to the week off together. With Miss Breagha of course. We plan to have some fun outside the city and then we're going camping at a waterpark on the Thursday until Sunday. Darryl's coming along and my brother with his crew. It looks like lots of family fun. Thennnnn, on the way back from camping, we're dropping the kids off at my brothers for the week!! Eeeeeeek! I'm happy the kids will get a week with my brother and his family....and no summer camp...sleep in...but I'm a little freaked out too because we've never sent the kids off anywhere before. We've only been away from them when we went to NYC but Darryl's parents stayed with the kids at our house. Besides that, we've had a night to ourselves 2-3 times but never the kids off somewhere and we stay at home! I'm sure they'll be great and it will be nice for Darryl and I to be able to just go to work and not be rushed to drop off/pick up kids. Still a little freaky though!

So, we have lots of pictures to post but it's tough to get the time. Sitting at the computer at 9pm is the last thing I feel like doing! I'm sure most people understand that! ;) But, I will try to get pics posted because I do look at the blog as a "memory box" for us!

I hope everyone is enjoying the first day of summer! We've been getting wonderful weather so I hope it continues next week! Please be sunny on Canada Day weekend!