May?

Whenever I think about updating our blog, I realize how quickly time flies. I had no idea that I haven't put anything up since March...and so much has happened. Snow has melted, returned and melted again! We have leaves on our trees now. Our cats don't hate each other anymore!

Well, perhaps our biggest endeavour to date has been our garden. It's not easy to garden with a three year old. Just two days ago, I was out digging up some grass, and Jaden was playing with the worms. When I looked over and saw him climbing his slide, I asked if he had a worm. He said "Well, I was only going to put it down the slide." . . . I feel bad for those poor worms. Today we'll go out and finish that garden - digging it up that is - and we'll stake out the next. We were supposed to do that yesterday, but someone (small, three feet tall, talkative) was having a bad day and such a project would surely have ended in tears.

We also just finished a visit from Linda, Don and Skip. It was such a short visit, that it flew by in no time. I hope that everyone had a good time - we were certainly very busy. Jaden had a heyday with his nana, papa Don and GG, and he told me he wishes they were still here.

So, the pictures I've picked out this time are mostly Jaden around the house - helping rake the yard (where he got "deliciously dirty" - his own words) , showing off his new ATV, in his cool shades, at the Explore and More hammering away and finally together at the botanical gardens, where we've been twice now. Most of these pictures were taken in April, though I realized we rakes our yard in March - can you believe that?!? Of course, it snowed after that, delaying our garden progress until now.

March and another new addition

Of the feline persuasion!! Here's some pictures of Percy, Jaden , and our newest addition, Fergus. We're enjoying having two cats, and thankfully they seem to be enjoying the company as well (after a couple of sketchy days)!

Please note, in the picture of Fergus and Jaden, those are not scratch marks on Jaden - it's washable marker that wouldn't wash off...
Jaden, Tyson and I have all gotten spring colds this last week (Tyson first...). So Jaden was able to have a popsicle last night. As you can see, it was grape flavour and went over very well.

Introducing....

Here is a picture of our new addition, little Percy. Named for a Thomas the Tank Engine character, his name was by far one of the better options Jaden came up with. Other contenders included "Lumpy" "Blah Blah" "Swiper" "Poop" and my favorite "Boots". Jaden finally decided on Percy (thank heavens for small miracles).



I've also posted a picture of Jaden with his snowman. It did have gumdrop eyes and a licorice mouth, but they disappeared fast...
And finally, Jaden reposing on his couch. He sure loves to recline on the couch.

Jaden's Birthday

Our little Jaden is finally three. Hard to believe how quickly time has flown (and how many places he's lived since he was born). While Shelley was here, we celebrated his birthday complete with a Bob the Builder cake, gifts, balloons and the whole nine yards. The next morning he asked if we could do it again - you know since the balloons were still up.
On his birthday proper, Jaden and I made some cupcakes, which we decorated once Tyson got home. Then supper and presents and getting to eat the cupcakes. We also went cat hunting since that was to be Jaden's birthday gift from us, but had no luck. It's very difficult to adopt a cat in New York!!! Instead we travelled over to Toys R Us for a tour, and I think that was just as much fun for Jaden.
Almost every morning Jaden asks me if he's still three, and when can he have another birthday. When I explain all the other holidays that have to happen he exclaims "Oh Good, I Love Halloween. Is it Halloween now?!?". Not quite what I had in mind. Anyway, here are a few pictures from his birthday.

I Just Noticed

I just noticed that I had some comments on the site! Thanks Serena and Carolyn :) Anyway, just wanted to say I finally saw the comments today. We have built a snowman in our backyard, there might be enough snow for a whole family of snowmen.


The move was really rather seamless, thanks to my sister and her family's help and things coming on different days. We have a lot left to do, but we can live in most spaces for now. Yay!

A Quick Look at the house

Well since everyone seems to be waiting for some pictures, I'll post some . . . BUT, I want it known that the house is still in a bit of rough shape, i.e. we have a lot of work to do! :)
At least you'll see our new furniture, the layout of the house, and I'll keep posting new pictures as I can. We have a lot we want to do, the first step being unpacking.

Also, our little Jaden turns three today. How time flies.

On a roll in February

Well, I am certainly on a roll with three posts in one month, complete with pictures.
This month has been a tad hectic what with the impending move, which is scheduled for this coming weekend.
Here's some pictures of highlights of the last month or so. We went to Disney on Ice with Jaden, and I must say he loved it. We bought him a pair of binoculars, as you can see, and he really enjoyed them. I think we'll take him to more events like this, pocketbook willing.
Another highlight of the month is definitely the sledding we've been trying to do as often as possible. Jaden really enjoys the snow, and adjusted much more quickly than the sand! Must be the Canadian in him.
And as a final note, we have not been hit too hard by Mother Nature, with the exception of the one snowstorm a couple weeks ago and a milder one now.

How Cruel Nature Can Be...

These easily earn their thousand words - Before and After. Mother Nature is a mean mean woman...

In truth, we love it and really enjoyed the snowstorm that dumped almost three feet of snow on us yesterday.

More on the Holidays!

Wow, two posts in as many days. I'm on a roll. I've decided today to post some pre-Christmas pictures. Yes, that is actually Jaden building a snowman back when we had some snow. He loved making the snowman, but was a little worried about whether or not a deer would come and eat the carrot. That snowman was melted by the next day, Jaden is still distraught over that.
Also, a couple of pictures of our Christmas tree. Tyson, Jaden and I all went out and cut the tree down. When it came time to decorate, Jaden was having a Superman evening and was using that towel as his cape. He had a blast decorating the tree, though if we let him have his way, all the decorations would have ended up on the bottom left of the tree.
And finally, Jaden helped me to bake Christmas cookies galore. He loves to bake, but probably even more so he enjoys cleaning off the beaters...

The Holidays

The holidays have come and gone, it's so hard to believe how quickly time can fly. I feel like just yesterday I was taking Jaden to see Santa in Winnipeg.
We officially kicked off the holidays with a visit to my sister, and went to get her Christmas tree. Getting to visit with family after being so secluded in Hawaii was so nice, although as most of you know it'll be awhile before I can cross the border again due to a slight hiccup with Border Patrol and Immigration....I guess someone was having a bad day.
At any rate, here's some pictures from our trip to get the Christmas tree with the Griffins. Notice the snow . . . it has been scarce this year.

Week One

Well, week one in Buffalo is well underway. In truth, we are in East Aurora, I'm not sure if people here really make the distinction? I think that's likely...kinda like "I'm from Lockport, not Winnipeg". East Aurora is a small village of 7000 people that is about 20 minutes away from Buffalo. I haven't explored too much yet since we only have the one car, but I can say it's a pretty town. People seem moderately friendly to maybe a bit unfriendly if you don't know them? Tyson's co-workers seem very nice, but the average person on the street is a bit...hmm, gruff maybe? Or maybe I just haven't met the right people yet.

Jaden likes his new home, but misses his friends in Hawaii, especially Haylie. I think he doesn't really understand what's happened with his toys yet - almost daily I am asked whether his toys are coming here or not. (Like he doesn't have enough with what he has here at the moment...)

Nothing too exciting to report right now really, except that we are here and settling in our new home. Jaden and I have been out walking/dawdling. It's one mile each way to the grocery store, but it's a pleasant walk and passes a lot of time (especially if Jaden walks himself).

More soon!

August through October . . . Yikes.

Alright, I'm officially bad at keeping up with this blog. Unreal how much time has passed. And so much has happened.

I'll start with the biggest news - we're leaving Hawaii. Due to circumstances beyond our control mostly, but also we had been thinking about leaving in the near-ish future. Tyson has a new job near Buffalo with Fisher Price. I don't know when we're moving yet, but it will be very soon! Yikes so much to do and so little time.

Hawaii has been a wonderful experience, and we've done so much since being here. We've been graced with so many visitors, and hopefully shown them all about where we live. Somehow I suspect we may have fewer visitors in Buffalo, especially in the winter months!
There will definitely be many things about Hawaii that I will miss - our new friends, snorkelling, good weather and wearing shorts year round (haven't lived here long enough to take that for granted yet), the beach and living so near the ocean. On the other hand, there are many things I just won't miss - earthquakes, traffic, how stinky it is often around our apartment, crowds.

Jaden seems excited, though he's wondering about Auntie Rosie a lot and how he's going to see her if we move. Thankfully, the current plan is for me to stay home for at least a few months until we get settled.

Now to think of a snappy new name for my blog.....

Halloween

Well, today we just returned from our three week vacation (two for Tyson). We had a wonderful trip, it was nice to see everyone again and of course, it was over far too quickly. It's always hard to come home again after seeing everyone . . . but once we're here, nice to get home and relax a bit.

At any rate, I just thought I'd post a quick note about a conversation I had with Jaden about a month ago now, but that we talked about today and I received the same response.

I was noticing how quickly time was flying by and thought it would be nice to get Halloween costumes ready early, so one day I asked Jaden what he thought we should all be. When I asked Jaden what he should be for Halloween, he said "a spider" - okay, a spider works for me and I thought up a few ideas how to make that work while he was thinking about what daddy should be. The final decision for Tyson, according to Jaden, was that daddy should be a pirate. In the spirit of Halloween, I'm sure Tyson would be more than happy to dress up as a pirate. Silly me, I asked Jaden next what I should be for Halloween . . . his response? "A water faucet." . . . A water faucet?!? How the heck am I going to do that?

I thought we could try again this week and maybe come up with something different . . . but nope. Jaden wants to be a spider, his dad should be a pirate and his mom....a water faucet.

Any ideas?

My Favourite Sign Ever

This was taken in a washroom on the top of Haleakala. It's a bit blurry, but definitely a keeper regardless. I couldn't resist going back in the washroom to take this picture - and believe me, going into the ladies room with a camera I got a few odd looks, but it was worth it.

Maui Pictures

Our trip to Maui at the end of May was great. We had a good time, and did as much as humanly possible in just four days.
Our highlights were snorkelling in Molokini (an old crater, loaded with fish and great visibility) - a trip to the top of Haleakala - Jaden's first boat ride on the "Reefdancer" - and an afternoon sail (which I've never done before ).
Here are some pictures (finally!)

These pictures are mostly from the top of Haleakala - a 10 000 foot elevation mountain on Maui where you literally drive through the clouds. They warned up to take a lot of warm clouds - clearly "they" were not from Canada, it wasn't so bad.
The sunset was taken at Whaler's Village just after dinner. Jaden was playing in the sand, charming all the young ladies and admiring dogs having a shower. I don't think he enjoyed the sunset nearly as much as Tyson, Linda, Don and myself.
Jaden in a towel was taken on our last day, after his first water slide. He accidently went under for a moment after a trip down, came up sputtering and exclaiming "more slide now". His expression on the way down the slide was truly a mix of sheer terror and pure pleasure. Clearly he is a water child!

Want My Monster Truck

Well, I can scarecely believe two months have passed since my last update. My how time flies. A quick update and then some pictures soon, I promise.

The highlight of the last couple of months has definitely been Linda and Don's visit - a stay with us and then a big trip to Maui. Jaden had a blast with "Nana and Papa Don". The Maui trip will have a post of its own (I promise!!)

In other news, we had Jaden's hearing tested in April, followed up by a speech evaluataion in late May. We were getting concerned with his speech development, and so the doctor recommended this course of action. Needless to say, the minute we started making appointments Jaden's speech became clearer and clearer. The trouble was never a lack for words, only difficulty in understanding him. Now he's a little chatterbox, constantly saying "I don't want to", or "want some milk...now". Oh well, manners next I guess (though he does say please and thank you, I guess he's found 'now' much more effective).

Caramel Apples and Rain

Well, it seems as though my blog has gone from weekly updates to monthly. Not sure how that happened except to say that everything seems really busy over the last few months. I'm not sure how I was fitting it all in before, but I'm sure it's just re-establishing a routine.

At any rate, the last month has not really marked anything new in our family. The highlights of the month, at least in my mind are in the title.
Yesterday and today marked the first sunny days we've had in nearly a month and a half (oh wait, it did rain today). I'm starting to wonder where the arc is and if there's room for me, Tyson and Jaden. We got to the park yesterday for the first time in over a month.

The other highlight mentioned is caramel apples - we made some over this past weekend and it was hilarious. I have a picture I'll post that I'm sure everyone will enjoy. Jaden loved the apples, and we were all a mess by the time it was all said and done. Thankfully it was right before Jaden's bath time.

Some More Pictures

Well, the pictures are not as easy to get up in the order I'd like....but I'm sure you can figure out what's what. At any rate, here are some more.

Birthday Pictures

It's going to take a couple of postings to get all these pictures in, but here are some from Jaden's birthday at Build-A-Bear, and the zoo.