The Barry's

My wonderful friend and her two cute kids visited us over the weekend.  They live in Halifax, so we don't get to have them around very often.  But it sure was fun.  It is amazing how much the kids accepted each other- I wish they could be at our house more often!

 Alma had her first taste of whip cream at our house and she loved it!  She also had her first popsicle 2 years ago, and this past summer Elliott gave her her first lolipop.  We are gaining a bit of a reputation!

 We all loved baby Noah.  Elliott cried after he left, and then pretended he was baby Noah for about an hour.  Good thing he likes babies!

 Elli and Alma in the bath- nudie cuties!

 Noah's first swim.  He head-butted the water while I was holding him and didn't seem to mind the dunk!

Tricia and the kids swimming at the TCC.  See?  Whou wouldn't want these guys around a lot more?

Snow!

Like most parts of our province- heck country- it has been un-seasonably warm in Kamloops with very little snow this winter so far.  So we went up to Sun Peaks (only 45 min from our house) this Sunday and had lots of outdoors fun.  The last picture is of Elliott and his snow bunny- he cried all the way back to the car because he was so sad we couldn't take it home.  I am SURE next month I'll be cursing all the snow bunnies we are building out our front door.

next canuck

Elliott is a hockey lover and loved this hat when his bumpa got it for Christmas.  We found it in his size yesterday and he bought it with some money he had been given as a gift from his great-grandma P. 

 Here the boys are gearing up for hockey practice in the basement.  Elliott is trying to be a tough guy.  Wonder who tough him that....

More Christmas

A few more Christmas morning pictures!  Elli openned the cat's first.

 Looking at the stockings all full- Santa visited us!

 We have the most civilized gift openning after stocking and breakfast and showers (and this time Mommy had a nap too!).

 Elliott got some remote control cars- he has been wanting some since the summer.

 Merry Christmas from the Hayward- Cheethams.

Happy New Year!

We had a fun afternoon yesterday outside up in the hills.  Elliott got a new sled for Christmas and has been so excited to try it out.  It was a hit!

It was such a nice day- fresh but not cold.  Perfect for an afternoon of playing.

 Guess what Elliott was drinking?

 Glen pulled Elli all the way back to the car like this and finally in the last 5 minutes, Elliott fell asleep face down.

 Elli was in a real smootchy mood, so we shared a few kisses until I couldn't stop laughing.

Happy New Year to all and best wishes for a very great 2012.  We are looking forward to ours!

Chrismas 2011

We had an awesome Christmas together- we've all been off since the 24th. We spent a few days over xmas in Kelowna with my parents- very fun for Elliott (he LOVES my Dad) and nice for glen and I to have some alone, together and lots of relaxing time. I think we've been on a hike outside everyday this holiday, it has been very mild in Kamloops and downtown here we don't have any snow.

Glen's co-worker gave him a 'baby calendar' for xmas.  Elliott gets to open a door every week and learn something about the growing baby, and add a sticker of a baby animal to the picture.  He loves it and it has nicely replaced the advent calendar.

 Elliott spent a lot of time dancing at my parents.  He doesn't dance like this at home so it was quite fun.  He has regular dance parties at daycare, so he had all sorts of cool moves to show us.

 This is all of us at the table for Christmas dinner.  My mom made a delicious Greek dinner- very vegetarian friendly!

Elliott and glen skating outside in Kelowna at the rink.  My Dad is skating somewhere there too. 

 Elliott and Bumpa 'racing.'  My Dad is the best sport- he did running races with Elliott everyday. 

 We are luckly to regularily get tickets to see the Kamloops Blazers.  We went to a game the other night and have another one tonight.  Elliott flipping loves it and spends the whole time watching the game and asking pretty good questions about the play.

We went for a winter hike on Sunday- which despite all the encouragement we have to do, Elliott seems to like hiking.  He said he wants to have a break from hiking on Christmas (like we are drill sargents or something). 

We went to a fun Christmas party on Friday night, and though this isn't the greatest picture, I tried to capture the essence of the kid's engergy.  They ran around the circle of the house for a couple of hours after we jacked them up on sugar cookies.  And then told all the adults ghost stories and sang and few xmas carols.  Glen held baby Gloria the whole time and she munched on his finger.  Glen said "oh I can't wait to have one of these!"

Hot choco

Elliott had hot chocolate at Starbucks last week and for the first time he had whip cream on it.  He couldn't believe how delcious that was (or that it was an option)!

Israel!

I went to Vancouver in early December on my own for the weekend to spend some time with my friend Israel.  It was SO nice... we spent every moment possible talking.  And we ate such delicious food and walked to all sorts of great places downtown.  So great to have a break!

Holiday Greetings

Elliott and Glen made this cute holiday video.  It's pretty funny!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/dEdMSCjdbVAhpW9S

winter hike

We went on a beautiful hike at Paul Lake today and had a picnic at the bottom.  I think we might re-create it with a bonfire on New Years Eve. So nice to be enjoying winter.  Good idea to have a nap on the way home- we are going out to our amazing "Wild Lights" at the animal park tonight and might need a little extra energy. 

xmas party

Glen's work puts on an awesome Christmas party for staff's kids each year.  We certainly had fun this year- Elliott's bud was there and they were so excited to see Santa.

There was a clown who made awesome balloons too.  I am still really nauseated on and off, but trying to get back into the swing of things.  Enjoying the times I feel good anyway!  Last night glen and I went out for a delicious dinner at a nice restaurant and fortunately I felt good.  Ate enough to make up for some of the missed meals!

sharing good news

I'm kind of curious who reads my blog.  I can see that their are quite a few people who check it- but I don't know who they are.  So I thought I'd share some good news here for those that do.

After a very long, complicated decision making process, glen and I are very happy to say that Elliott is going to become a big brother in June (actually, likely one day after his birthday).  Very challenging last couple of months for me (hence no blogging!) but I think I am starting to see the end.  Elliott is really interested in the whole process and literally shudders with excitement when we talk about it.  I'll let you know if that is the case in July!

Yeah little family!

Reading

Elliott loves books and we read many each day (including 3 at bedtime).  He has been really sick with croup this last week and we are so glad that life is back to normal and he is a happy little guy again. 

We love the ocean

We had a very fun trip to Vancouver recently (minus the 8 hour drive and 3 hours not moving in a snow storm!!)  We saw all sorts of great family and friends.  AND I didn't take any photos.  Besides these two on our last morning- Elli and I were having a great time playing at the beach.  We need more ocean time.  May be a resolution.

kids and cake

We've been to a couple of birthday parties in the last week.  Kids love cake.  Change that- kids love icing.

Lovely Sunday

 Our little friend Gloria came over for a little babysit last Sunday.  Elliott was so sweet he brought he 100's of toys for her to look at, and lined them up all around her blanket.  She was so angry when I changed her that she just cried herself to sleep and had a nap on our bed.  What a cutie.

 We also went skating last Sunday with our neighbours.  Elli and glen are such awesome skaters together.  Maybe by the end of the winter glen won't have to hold Elli's hands at all.

My fav picture of all.  B wasn't so into skating.  He didn't like how slippery it was.  So here the kids and parents are chatting, and B is making a snow angel.  Awesome.

Happy Halloween

Elliott was a dragon for Halloween.  Slightly ironic, seeing that he is quite frightened by dragons.  But he had so much fun visiting houses and went with his pals.  They were certainly more excited about going house to house than all the candy that they got.

Elliott was dead set on going to visit his friends house so at some point Elliott and B got a stroller ride from Todd. 

The week before glen and I were at an integrated health conference in Vail Colorado.  It was entirely amazing, and so super packed with lectures and groups and meetings with professionals that would take over a year to get in Canada. We both come away with a lot learned.