Birthdays! - Video

Birthdays are great! They make turning older bearable anyway:-) I got a few surprises, that are semi-birthday related -mostly it's all because of Brian's stolen tools and insurance (long story), but since it was all the week of my birthday, we'll call them my gifts-. So the most exciting one to me personally is MY NEW CAMERA! Wahoo. No more terrible grainy pictures! I basically got a Canon PowerShot, the same as my old one, only the new version, since I was so happy with the old one, and it really lasted so well. Another little bonus is something Brian has been lobbying for for awhile, I think we will count it as ALL of our birthday presents...a Wii! The kids have been having a blast with it!

My camera also takes video, and does a great job! Here is the very first video ever taken, just to test it out. I've Had the Time of My Life...appropriate song choice for my birthday celebration I suppose:-)

Brooks counting. We got him away from "free, four, five" but now it's "three, thor, thive". Haha!

Lauren found me some Canadian chocolate bars at the World Market! yummmmm, Aero.

Just look at all that airy, bubbly goodness. If you aren't from Canada, you should wish you were. The chocolate and candy there will rock your world. The American options are truly horrible by comparison (haha, ok, not HORRIBLE, but man, you really don't know what you are missing!)

Ewww and Owww

Because it's just been entirely too long since we've had a traumatic head injury a la Brian, I give you this:

No, *I* did not "give him this". A hammer did. But the good news is it only needed 3 stitches, and not more. The bad news is the Dr said he might want to shave his head, since it's back in his hairline. The joys of blue collar living! He's all stitched up here, but it randomly bleeds...kinda a lot still.

How To...

...get a 10 month old to give you a hand print. Do not attempt this unless you have:
1. lots of paper to spare
2. lots of patience
3. extreme physical strength
4. a lollipop

Basically it comes down to this: it is impossible to force a baby to open their hand. In the end we got one and only one good print!

It says "These {hands} will hold my {heart} forever". I did Kenna's left hand, since she's a leftie:-)

My Canadian Home - 2nd ed.

A few more late comers from another email...original post here

This is how it looked most of the 80's and early 90's before the addition.

We had a 30 ft dug well. This is the little house my Dad built to hide it. Sooo cute. After we got the drilled well, I wished they would have left it, it was so adorable.

Building the garage addition in 2000

Dad, Brent and Jared, working on what would be a stone walk and drive way. Super glad I didn't have to help with that. Hard work, and I am a weakling.

Groundhogs Day

Brian gave this little guy to me for my 25th birthday I think...since I was born on groundhogs day. And when do you ever see such a cute groundhog stuffed animal? Anyway, I believe he was up very early, and tried to see his shadow but was unable to wrangle himself out of the toybox, which was jailing him in. In any case, whatever the reason, no shadow = early spring! When trying to pick out my birthday cereal this week, after x'ing the chocolate and marshmallow choices the kids were making, they picked Strawberry Mini-Wheats. Brooks thought that would be healthy for my diet, and I conceded it was likely a better choice than peanut butter Cap'n Crunch. Boo. Getting old stinks. Getting fat stinks too, haha! Happy Birthday to me! Once I lose 15 lbs, I'll celebrate with some REAL (unhealthy) birthday cereal! Off to pickup my free birthday drink from Starbucks tonight before Awanas...and then we'll have a little get-together on the weekend. I didn't want to make a cake for my birthday (to limit my temptations on this dang diet!), but when there are lots of other people to eat it, there won't be any leftovers. Perfect. So we'll have something fun and sweet on Saturday. And there it goes...another year of my life..as my Dad pointed out...in only 20 more years, I will be the current age of my mom. Thanks Dad. (that's not to say I think you're old, Mom!). Somehow I am beginning to feel like I should be rapidly saving for my retirement or something!!

We won't mention my age, but I think my little groundhog is now 7 years old!

Spring or tease?

Feels like spring! So we're taking a little walk!

My Canadian Home

Recently I was asked a question that I get asked all the time...when people find out how many kids (11 of us) were in my family growing up..."What kind of house did you have?" This got me to reminiscing, so my mom sent on a bunch of pics for me to share! I lived in only one house my entire life, until I married Brian and moved to the US in June 2003. Later in 2003, my family also moved to Alberta, but still own the house. Lets take a trip down memory lane...

Dickson Hill, when it was purchased in 1977. It was previously the parsonage for the church next door. It looked like this when I was born in 1979. There were changes along the way, but no additions added until there were 6 kids!

Guess what went hand-in-hand in the good old 'one room schoolhouse' days? Churches and schools. This was the school that was on our property, beside the church, long before our home was built. Conflicting reports from the local old people...the school was either on our property or our neighbours. They used to slide down the hill in our backyard in the winter. Dickson's Hill School, Markham Township, York County, was moved to Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto, Ontario. You can go tour it!

The back of the house in the 1977-79 range. The "red deck" used to scare me. I was convinced I could fall through the cracks between the slats on the deck.

A "pink bathroom" remodel. This one is worth posting, solely because of that pic of my Dad!

In the 70's or 80's. Notice the cemetery off to the right. My Papie Kennedy (and now my Grandma K too), are buried there. We used to visit his grave all the time, and do other crazy things, like play tag in there. Needless to say, cemeteries do not spook me out:-) My very first paying job was to water the flowers on a new grave. I was 9 or 10 I think. I got enough money to buy Share Bear, my purple Care Bear. ALSO, notice the old ferris wheel, previously built by the pastor who had lived in the parsonage.

A backyard view in 2003. On a day with no clouds, you could see the CN Tower from our backyard (would be in the left corner of this pic). Notice the ferris wheel, rebuilt and operational. The stories about that thing could fill an entire post!

My very first bedroom. All ready for a girl or boy! I left this room when Brent was born, and was back into it when I was 10 years old for a few years. When my family moved in 2003, it was Kaden's room. This was the smallest room in the house. If it was yours, you didn't have to share!

Back view of house in 2010. The first addition (you can see here) put on was in about 1992 I think. It became very large! There are 7 bedrooms in this house, and a big rec room for our air hockey, pool table, and ping pong. Because of the finished basement, this house is much larger than it looks. We fit very comfortably! (approx 3600 sq ft)

Our kitchen. The house is currently being rented out (since my folks moved out west). This is not our table, we had a really big one! My Dad built our additions, and he also made all the cabinet doors, and all the trim you see throughout the house. He is very skilled! The other side of the kitchen is also completely full "floor to ceiling" cupboard doors...a large pantry!

Livingroom in 2010. (Again, renters furniture). You can see the red brick which used to be the exterior of the house...the Red Deck area! We left the brick inside 'cause it looked neat.

Entry way/mudroom in 2010. We needed lots of shoe and coat closets!

We used this area for music equipment, the renters use it as a dining area.

"Old" Livingroom in 1997, it was off the kitchen, but since the addition was built with the super large livingroom it didn't get used much.

Front of house in 2003. The 2 car garage addition (making it a 3 car garage) was added in 2000 I believe.

Back of house in 2003. The last bedroom I ever had in this house until I moved out in 2003 was the one that had those blue double doors (side of grey addition) going into it. I shared it with my sister Lauryn. The other walkout (Patio door), was coming from the rec room.

Front walkway leading to the old front door. You can see the church beyond in the background.

Side of garage and walkway into the main entrance in 2003.