JLZ : James Linda Zada

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

2009-12-30T22:36:00.004-05:00

We would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year - May 2010 be everything you hoped it would be and more. Don't forget to take the time to enjoy this year. Smell the roses, read a book and make sure you tell the people around you how much they mean to you! Also, try something new!!

Pictures below - Ice store and Christmas Day... Santa was super good to us!

Year End

2009-12-22T20:07:00.008-05:00

Somehow 2009 came and went. Now poof we're facing 2010. I have neglected our blog. Let me make some excuses, or rather fill you in on our happenings of '09.

Where to begin....Trips. If there is one thing we like to do it's take trips. This year we managed to make it to St. Louis twice; once in March for Zada's birthday and then again for Thanksgiving. We brought James' parents with us this past November. They experienced their very first American Thanksgiving and Black Friday. We spent a week in Collingwood, Ontario in July. It just so happened that the Elvis Festival was on the week that we were there, we had fun seeing all the followers. While there James, Ed and myself spent the day mountain biking and eventually making our way down a ski hill! Loads of fun! We did some swimming. However the water was not warm at all - but it's something as a August born warm-blooded Missourian I must learn to accept. We of course made a couple camping trips throughout the summer.

We did have a couple visitors this summer - My parents. They came in July/August for two weeks. What a great visit! Zada had a blast because she had Grandma and Papa all to herself while James and I worked. We did manage to get some little side trips in as well.

Zada finished up Grade 1 in June and traveled up to Grade 2. She was enrolled in Figure Skating at the beginning of the year but found skating wasn't really her thing. Over the summer she took gymnastics which she really enjoys and is always eager to go to class. She has recently expressed an interest in ballet. She graduated to Brownies this September, which she loves. She was just tested for her first interest badge before winter break. Her interest - woodworking! She made a treasure box and used a couple different tools and learn all about safety.

James and Zada visiting Ottawa Transportation.

James and I are doing great! I ran in my first 10km race in November.

What an amazing experience. I am still training and increasing my distance weekly. My goal is to run a half marathon in 2010. I am still happily employed at the same law firm and still enjoy going to work. James is still employed - making sure the Government's computer systems run smoothly. In January of this year I had the opportunity to head down to Parliament Hill (Canada's Government buildings) to see President Obama. Though I didn't get to see him up-close and personal I did get a chance to snap a few photos! Then just a week ago the Olympic flame traveled through Ottawa. We got to see it en-route to downtown. We stood next to one of the runner carrying the flame!

I'd say we have had a pretty fun year and look forward to an amazing 2010!

We'd like to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I plan to be much better at blogging!

Cheers!

James, Linda and Zada

Life and such.

2009-04-25T22:19:00.006-04:00

Wow first of all it's been quite a while since I blogged. I think winter happened oh yeah and life! I guess with work and school we got a little busy. Zada has been busy with Sparks (girl scouts) and I was busy with my sewing class.

During Zada's March break we made a visit to my parents house in Missouri. We had a wonderful time and did lots and lots of activities. It was great to see all of the people we got to visit with. We're looking forward to a return trip sometime later this year.

Work has been going quite well. I'm truly enjoying my job and the people I work with. I"m learning so much in the world of Patents...

We are finally entering Spring up here in the north. The tulips are finally blooming. Its nice to see the buds on trees and the green grass. I'm also happy to report I had my first set of Cardinals on my bird feeder last week!

I'm also happy to report that we have made a new addition to our family. No not a baby. A kitten. He is ever so cute with his 6 toes! He was born the day before Zada's birthday this year! We will always remember the kittens bday! We let Zada pick out the kitty..James and I got to pick the name. We settled for Little Darwin. He's a playful little kitty. Zada is over the moon to have a kitty that she can finally hold and squeeze and love!

Please enjoy the photos! More to come!

I will also hopefull get back to blogging. Sorry for the lack of post to anyone who has come here to read about our little life! Really you haven't missed a whole lot!! :)

We will miss you Black Cat......

2009-01-05T20:56:00.008-05:00

Most of you probably not aware but the week before Christmas Black Cat was diagnosed with lung cancer. It was spreading an a fast pace and there was absolutely nothing that could be done. We decided to bring her home where she could be surrounded by her family during her last days. She stopped eating two weeks ago and slowed down considerably. She was still herself - somewhat. She was pretty inactive but very alert and always excited to see us.

Last night she took a turn for the worse and her breathing because extremely labored.When we came home from work she was still gasping for a breath and we decided that enough was enough - she was suffering. So we made that rough journey and had her put to sleep.... and sleep is exactly what she did.

She will be missed a lot.

Our budding French Actress....

2008-12-17T21:59:00.002-05:00

Zada's School Play

Snow...Bus Strike...Broken Hot Water heater....

2008-12-10T22:54:00.003-05:00

This week could not end fast enough! Last weekend our hot water heater busted. We found out Monday it would be replaced on Thursday. Yippee a whole week with no water. Thankfully James' parents live fairly close so we could pop over there in the morning for a shower before work. However today was not the case. It snow Monday all day and Monday night/Tuesday morning. Alot. Enough to set record snow fall for the month of December - the 10th day of the month and we've already hit a record. I know what's in store for us this year. So we head over to the parents and we get stuck at the end of their street. We said screw it and went home. To shower in the cold. The very cold water that comes from our faucet. It sucks.

Long story short and getting stuck one more time we made it to work. I made it 45 mins late. Some people in my office took 3 hours to get to work. I was never so glad to be at work where I could wash my hands in warm water.

Workin 9-5....

2008-11-17T20:23:00.002-05:00

Hellow readers. I guess it's about time to let you all know that I'm working! I have actually started my third week and so far so good. So what am I doing? I work for a law firm that handles patents, copyrights and trademarks. So what am I doing? I'm an administrator in the Patent department, I basically handle all of the incoming mail/emails for certain professionals in my office.

A lot of what I'm doing reminds me alot of working at Citi only different content and a different company out look. So far I have really enjoyed my job (though I"m still in training) but everyone around me also seems pretty happy.

That being said - and if I havn't told you - we wont' be making it home for Thanksgiving this year. Due to starting work when I did I can't take vacation time for the first six months. We will however be making a trip as soon as we are able to. I'll keep you posted.

My company has a website and if you're interested in reading about it - email me and I"ll give you the website. :)

...one more way to waste your money....

2008-11-11T22:00:00.003-05:00

So we received this flyer in the mail. And yes I'm going to poke fun at it... and if you work for or use this service then I'm sorry and I'm sure you have a good reason to use it. OK... But seriously. Isn't part of hanging Christmas lights putting them up? Getting all frustrated when they are knotted up or even better when that one light bulb is burned out and you have to check each one to find it. Isn't that what decorating is all about!!!

I guess if my house were as big as the ones shown on the flyer I too would be able to afford paying someone to do it for me... I wonder when we'll get the flyer to have someone shop for our Christmas gifts... OH and bake...

Funny funny stuff...

Halloween

2008-11-05T22:16:00.004-05:00

The snow melted. Just. In the. Nick. Of. Time! Thank goodness. It made for a pleasant night to go trick-or-treating and hand out goodies. Zada had a fun party at school where they paraded around the school in their costumes. When we got home James and Zada carved our pumpkin. Our gi-normous pumpkin. Apparently because we had so much rain up here this summer the pumpkins looked like they were on steroids. James and I both commented on our pumpkin being the biggest one we've ever carved.

After dinner - force feeding Zada something that didn't include pounds of sugar - I know we're the meanest parents in the land. We headed out to fill her Dora pillowcase with goodies. After making the round on our street we went back to our house to dump the pillowcase and hand out some goodies to the ghosts and goblins that came to visit us. Zada and James then decided it was time to get some more goodies and headed to the street where her buddy lives. I stayed behind to hand out more candy. Only not too many kids rang our bell.

Once Zada was home she spent the next 30 minutes organizing and sorting her candy into sections on the kitchen floor. They were all separated into their own specific category. It was pretty cute how she talked her self through it and justified why the eye ball candy went into a certain group and the Reese's pieces went into another group.

Over all the night was pretty good. Candy was consumed. Costumes were worn. Pumpkins were carved. And now.... it's Christmas Season. (Well at least up here.) We went to the store on Saturday and it was like... Halloween what? Everything was gone and Christmas was staring back at us. Jolly. Simply Jolly.

...and it's not even Halloween yet.

2008-10-29T21:38:00.004-04:00

Conversation Monday after work:

Zada: Mom, it's going to snow tomorrow, I need to wear my snow pants to school.

Me: *rolls eyes* yeah ok... where'd you hear that?

Zada: Brigitte told me.

Me: (thinking) She must be watching her French news again - they always have different news. (love you B)

Me: (out loud) sure whatever.

Later on

James: So we're supposed to get like 15cm' s of snow tomorrow

Me: Yeah right you guys are crazy

Yesterday at work

Everyone in the office was chattering about snow... Then at lunch I read the news paper...sure enough snow. Fifteen cms... That's almost 6 inches of snow for all you people below the border.

It started snowing around 4pm I think or maybe 5pm.... and when we woke up this morning there was snow lots of snow... about 5 inches! In October. BEFORE Halloween!

What the heck. Does that mean we're in for it this year? It will soon be gone as it's supposed to get really warm on Friday *whew*. Needless to say Zada was so excited to wear snow suit, hat, scarf, boots and gloves to school. How how she's going to hate it around January. I cherish days like today!

I GOT IT!

2008-10-17T22:47:00.003-04:00

Welp. I'm employed. And, it was well worth the wait. I officially start on October 27th which is five days after my 3 year anniversary of moving to Ottawa! How exciting is that? I am looking forward to finally getting myself back out into the work force. It's going to be a huge change for all of us, but a very positive one.

There are a few things I will miss, here I'll list them for you in no particular order:

wearing pj's from 9am - 2:30pm
going to the gym in the middle of the afternoon
hanging out with Megan mid-afternoon
taking a nap if I want to
picking zada up from school and going to the park with all the other moms
volunteering at Zada's school

I'm sure I will find a ton more but there are a lot of positives with having a job most of them being financial gains. I think the one I'm happiest with is taking some of the stress off of James' shoulders. Oh my gosh and I'll get adult conversation during the day.

SO what's my job. Well I can give the gist of my job. My title, is Central Docket Administrator. What the heck is that? I'm working for a company that does copyrights, patents and trademarks. I will be working in the Patent department. I will be receiving incoming requests and mail that I will need to respond to and forward to the right person. Lots of data entry type stuff which I'm pretty used to and enjoy. I will be working right downtown! YAY! I will commute with James to work since I"m on the way to his work.

What's happening with Zada? Welp not a whole lot. We will be able to drop her off in the morning. She will go hang out with my friend Brigitte (I babysat her kids this past summer), now we trade. Zadas pretty happy about going to her buddy's house after school. Hopefully they won't get sick of each other.

I'd like to thank the ladies I used on my job references. It really meant a lot to be able to use you ladies. I appreciate everyone putting in a good word for me. SO thanks, you girls know who you are! :)

So that's it in a nutshell. I have one more week to relax and then it's hi-ho hi-ho off to work I go.

Colors....Colours....everywhere!

2008-10-11T22:13:00.004-04:00

Last weekend we decided to take a ride to Gatineau to check out the fall "colors". The park was completely packed which meant we couldn't get to the places we normally go. That turned out to be a bonus for us because we stumbled on a nice hiking trail.

When we first started out on our hike Zada was complaining that she was cold and she needed her hat but once we started on our hike she quickly forgot about being cold. The trail we chose was extremely hilly and tricky at times. We probably should have brought along a map or looked at the one at the beginning of the trial. Who needs directions anyway!

Not only did we not have a map we didn't have a watch to keep track of how long we had been walking. We decided that we would just keep going on our trail as it had to wrap around at some point. Plus Zada wasn't complaining about being cold or bored so we took advantage and kept going. It wasn't until we saw a sign pointing to our parking lot that said "3.5 KM"...that's about 2 miles for those who don't' know... we had already been walking a while so we weren't too happy about the extra... but we kept going and enjoying the scenery.

I was wearing a pedometer and when we finally got back to the car we estimated that we walked about 7-8km (4miles) that day....I was so impressed that Zada made it with minimal complaining. I didn't give her a piggy-back-ride the last km as she was moving slow and we were "pressed for time"....hockey game was on. Priorities! :)

We did enjoy many of the lookouts over Gatineau Park and looking into the city. Very colourful! I was able to go again last Wednesday and the colour was even more amazing! I however didn't bring a camera...silly silly me.

Happy Thanksgiving to All my Canadian Friends and Family! Gobble Gobble!

Stuff and Stuff

2008-09-29T08:46:00.005-04:00

Fall is here in full swing. Zada is getting a taste of her own medicine these days. In the store I often here "MOM! Look at this, MOM look at that!!" This weekend I found myself doing that, "ZADA! Look at that tree! ZADA!! Did you see that one!!" There are lots of reds and oranges right now and they look amazing! If the weather holds out for next weekend I am hoping to go for a hike in Gatineau Park to take some pictures.

The pictures below are from our last night in St.Louis...err Catawissa. Kyle and Zada are such good buddies and it warms my heart to know that they can live 1600 miles apart and see each other a couple times a year and play like they see each other all the time. It makes the distance seem not so bad.

Zada has picked up a new interest, fishing. She loves it. The day she insisted on fishing papa's pond was the day it was 950 degrees F outside. That was the day I remembered how humid St. Louis can get. It was so gross out. Poor thing never caught anything, she kept getting her line snagged or it would break. We all decided to give up and try another time.

Zada isn't really a dog person, most of the time up here she is afraid of them or admires them from afar. She got along well with her buddy KC. Sadly the Sunday after we were back in Ottawa, KC passed away. She had been fighting pneumonia and had a high fever for about 4 days. We haven't told Zada, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to. Zada is such an emotional kid.

I hope when I'm 90 (If I make it that far) I look and act as young as my Grandma. At 90 she has a better memory than I do at 29 (ok 31). My sister and mom had a special cake made, we call it the quilt cake. Some people were asking why we had a cake made too look like a bed. Grandma's love is quilting so it seemed appropriate to have a quilt cake. It turned out amazing!

2008-09-18T12:48:00.002-04:00

Last weekend me and the family went on a secret mission. We made a semi-surprise visit to Missouri. The mission - to surprise the heck out of Grandma. Mission - completed. My family decided that since grandma was turning the big 9 - 0 this year they should throw a huge shindig. When asked if we would be there we originally declined but decided we better go. Not many people make it that far in life - or that far in life and still have all their ducks in a row. I have to say grandma's ducks are pretty much in a row - I think her memory is way better than mine. My cousin Kim put together a slide show that was playing during the party. We of course asked grandma to retell some of the stories behind the pictures. There was one that stuck in my head as being funny and well cool.

The picture is of grandma sitting on the hood of a car. An old car. She's looking young and spunky. She's still looking young and spunky by the way. She explained to us; that car was the first car grandpa ever bought. He was drinking a beer, she even remembered the name of the beer : "Griesedieck". While he was drinking it he found a MOUSE inside the bottle. So they took it to the brewery where they gave him enough money for him to buy a new car. How lucky. What are the chances of that happening now.

I found a picture of one of the cans. http://www.breweriana.com/Beer-Cans/Flat-Tops-Non-OI/2339-Griesedieck-Bros.-Double-Mellow-Beer.html

Anyway. Our visit was great and lots of fun. Thanks mom and dad for letting us stay at your house and eat all of your food and drink your beer and wine! :)

Gymnastics

2008-09-10T08:44:00.003-04:00

This summer Zada joined a Gymnastics Club at a local community centre. She loved it! They did mostly floor and beam. She got very interested in it while the Olymics were on, after I told her someday she could be on tv. She said one night while we were watching the Olympics; "Mom, I bet they didn't come and video tape us at my gymnastics." She thought for sure she would be in this Olympics.

Last Wednesday was her last day so we got to watch what they have been doing.

Before she started Gymnastics she had problems doing a back bend (she's very unflexable like her mother) but by the last day as you can she was was doing great!! She has expressed a new interest in taking ballet.

My Free time

2008-09-08T14:23:00.005-04:00

So I have some free time on my hands now and I am getting a chance to play with some of my toys. My camera.

The video was taken the week we went to the cottage in July.

Please let me know if you find this video difficult to view... I'm still learning how to post videos here!

First Day of School (and week)

2008-09-06T16:22:00.003-04:00

Welp our grade 1er has completed her very first week of all day school. I myself was nervous because until last Sunday she was showing big signs of being a Kindergarten Drop-Out. We tried all the scare tactics, such as the police will come and take you to school and chain you to a desk to the more reasonable suggestions, you like dolls don't you? How do you think you'll be able to get a job to earn money to buy what you want? Finally on Sunday someone asked her if she was excited and out of no where she was super enthusiastic about going to school.

Tuesday morning came and she was very excited to be bringing a lunch and seeing her friends. We met up with her teacher in the school yard. Madam Beaubien (it sounds like this BO-BE-in) although the in part is pretty silent. Oh the joins of learning french!

For those of you who don't know Zada has been enrolled in the French Emerson program. What the heck is that? She will be learning all French until next year and then she'll be getting some English. The homework that she will be bringing home with her will be reading and math. Great. James gets the reading and I get the math. (He's heard me read french and well it's pretty terrible).

Tuesday when I picked her up from school we went straight to the park (it's on the way home). She opened her lunch box and to my surprise she hadn't eaten anything!!! I asked her why and because they have two nutrition breaks she wasn't sure what she was supposed to eat when. Poor kid. I have learned to label things with a 1 or a 2. Wednesday she ate almost everything. Tuesday night at dinner she ate sitting with her head propped up on her hand with her elbow in the table. Eyes very droopy!

She really enjoyed being in school and meeting new friends and playing with old friends at recess. I still can't believe she's in grade 1!

As for me. I'm applying for jobs in hopes to find something close to home. I'm also enjoying some free time to clean (or sleep). I'm also getting back into exercising since I didn't have time to do any of that this summer.

Slacker of all slacks

2008-08-20T21:10:00.006-04:00

Sorry sorry and Sorry.

I've slacked. It's not because we haven't been doing a single thing this summer it's that I guess we've been pretty busy. I believe we have had two weekends home this summer (and boy were they boring!). That's not true. We only had one weekend that was completely UNBOOKED. We are ever so popular that we are completely booked until October.

I will say one thing, I am so glad that the weddings and halted. We had five this summer and now all of our friends are married. However, I did mention that I have friends in St. Louis that are unwed. All I ask is that you spread them out. Ok thanks.

Our summer up here has been a pretty crappy one when it comes to Mother Nature. This will probably make my southern friends/family jealous but it's been chill and wet. Tuesday the kids insisted that we go to the pool (it closes Thursday). The problem was, it was cold. When we headed to the pool it was 56F. I was bundled up because my body temperature was all messed because the day before it was like 90F. So here I was sitting at the pool in pants and a hoodie and the kids were splashing around in the water. NUTS I SAY! They only lasted about 20 mins in the pool. It has been raining almost every day.

oh look the family at a wedding!!

that is me laying a bed of nails at Science North (museum in Sudbury) and yes it hurt.

My flower garden in the front of the house looks dreadful because of being so wet. I've had to take out a few plants because they got all gross and dead. My vegetable garden is doing pretty good. We have gotten one cucumber and a couple tomatoes and we're going to get at least 1 onion! The stupid groundhog ruined my pepper plants so I don't believe they will produce any thing. I'll take any advice on getting rid of mr. groundhog.

Zada is doing well and had a very fun and busy summer. She has been taking Gymnastics all summer and loves it. She was very excited to watch the gymnasts on the Olympics. However she seemed more excited about the Womans BMX race. Is that next? She had a few playdates at friends houses and birthday parties. So it was a very busy summer.

Zada is kicking our friend Damians behind in boxing on the Wii!

Don't worry grandparents it's only a BB gun and she was supervised by her responsible father.

The biggest fish in the lake...and she caught it... ok that was the biggest fish she caught the whole weekend! But she was proud so who cares!

Tibute to Aunt Jan

2008-07-14T22:11:00.004-04:00

This tribute is to my amazing Aunt Jan. She taught me everything there is to know about being on a beach. So the story goes a little something like this. A couple, ok several years ago when I was a youngin and before our lake was established with....water we used to visit a beach near our house. This was always a full family event, parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents. This particular day we had been working on building a mega sandcastle. When I say we it was mainly my sister and my Aunt Jan, I was a little young. I can remember this sandcastle being pretty big and if I remember correctly it even had a mote. Upon completion and being super excited about our creation some bratty kid came running through our kingdom and smashed it to smithereens. That's when Aunt Jan prevailed and yelled at the kid. I don't remember exactly how things went down but I do remember giving my Aunt a new name. She has been nicknamed, Aunt BOB. Bitch Of the Beach.

In following my Aunts footsteps I am proud to say that some little kid somewhere is probably calling me BOP. Bitch Of the Pool. Last Thursday Zada and I made our trip to the pool near our house. This was the third day that week we had been. It would haven't been fourth but the pool is closed on Mondays. It seems to me that there are a lot of older kids, 12 or 13 with nothing better to do than fool around at the pool. Normally I would be happy to see kids doing something constructive with their day than say, spray painting the local playground equipment or causing trouble among the neighborhood. However these kids are really rough and rude and disrespectful. After being there for three days and watching the lifeguards do more babysitting than watching to make sure my kid didn't drown I was fed up to say the least. I didn't mention that on Wednesday on of the boys got his face smashed in the side of the pool and had to go to the hospital.

On Thursday there seemed to be about 10 of these older boys in the deeper end (where I happened to be sitting on the side of the pool) playing rough and now allowing the younger ones around. Two of the boys were playing dodge ball with a soccer ball and one of them threw it and it went flying right past me. My knee jerk reaction was to yell "HEY WATCH IT!" Then they started a splashing war right in front of me. I had it and I told them to knock it off that was enough. They weren't too pleased with me but inside I was grinning because I knew exactly what Aunt Jan felt that day at the beach!

So cheers to BOB! Thanks for being an awesome role model!!!

2008-07-04T22:57:00.005-04:00

Happy Canada Day and Happy "4th" of July. I was watching the news this morning and I actually gave a little chuckle and then pondered what I just saw. I was watching our local news which I watch in sequence with The Today Show. I flip. I have about a 15 minute window in the morning in which I flood my brain with the news in the States and the News here. The newscaster made the comment about it being Independence Day, or as many of us Americans refer to as 4th of July. It does sound kind of funny. It's like we're celebrating the date only and not what it stands for... something to think about. Independence Day I suppose is a bit of a mouth full... funny stuff to think about.

Next year I have already informed my Canadian Friends that they will be invited to a "4th of July" party next year in which they will be required to wear RED WHITE _AND_ BLUE. On Canada Day (1st of July) several friends asked what I would be doing on the 4th of July. Well nothing. It's not like in the States. So I thought why not have a party! I think I should be celebrating these separate holidays if nothing else for Zada. She should know where she comes from and what these holidays mean.... that then means TWO THANKSGIVINGS !YES.. too bad there arn't two different Christmas'! That would rock...

Nothing exciting has really happened besides the holidays. Unless you consider me cornering a ground hog in the back yard. That was damn exciting but very anti climatic. Once you corner a groundhog what are you suppose to do with it ? Exactly - so get the heck out of dodge groundhog AND LEAVE MY VEGGIES ALONE ALREADY! I haven't seen that sucker back again! Job Done.

Speaking of garden...

I purchased and planted a black/violet pansy and I love it. When I mentioned it to Zada's teacher (from last year) she asked if I was feeling morbid. I always find black flowers kinda cool. How often do you see such things? I planted it right next to a very purple flower to add contrast. It's growing really well and is spreading. Check it out! Love that plant!

Here's a picture of Zada from the last day of school with her little buddy who showed up with the same swim suit. She has another friend (a third friend) with the same suit also! It's SOOO cute!!!!!

There are nice people out there!

2008-06-28T20:12:00.003-04:00

This afternoon we were all in the basement and the door bell rings. James and I kind of grumble because we know it's someone we don't know. Everyone else just walks in. Zada was on her way to her room when she yells "MOM ITS FOR YOU" so we know it isn't someone we know. Great. Someone trying to sell of crap we don't want. GO AWAY ITS SATURDAY!!!

I go to answer when I see two young guys soaked from the rain standing there patiently waiting for us to open the door.

"Hi, is James there?"

"Yeah - just a sec."

"JAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMESSS it's for youuu." To which he gives me that "I'm so sick of these people look." I tell him, they know your name.

So he goes to the door, "Hi"

"We found your wallet at the gas station."

"oh shit." (typical response from James)

Thankfully nothing was taken - it was clearly gone through but they didn't take any of the cards and good thing we're broke as James wasn't carrying any cash. We did however cancel our credit card just to make sure.

We were so thankful for these guys returning the wallet we gave them 20.00. They seemed pretty happy to get a reward, even as small as 20 bucks.

So thanks guys for being so thoughtful!!

Kick off to summer...

2008-06-25T08:29:00.010-04:00

We always know when summer starts because it seems that's when the weddings start as well. The last 4-5 years our summers have revolved around weddings. Not just one or two but three to five. We are just that popular. This past Friday was a special wedding because James and I were both in the wedding. I guess you could say this is our third "walk" down the isle! We love eachother THAT much! It was a very nice wedding and we had a load of fun! Congrats to the Groom and Bride!

The other kick off to summer is the end of school. Oh the end of school. Today is that special day in Ottawa where all schools are finished. Zada is moving on to Grade 1 French Emerson. All day French. I keep telling her it's a good thing because now she and James will be able to communicate behind my back - or better right in front of my face and I'll just smile and think how cute it is my little girl can speak another language.

What are our plans for summer vacation? Weddings, Camping...a couple more Weddings. We are going to be visiting my father-in-laws hope full cottage again. I am so looking forward to doing nothing.This will be my last summer off. It reminds of the summer right before I turned 16... that was the last summer before I started working. What about that summer I left university - in to the real work force of no summer at all. I have to say I am looking forward to working hopefully come September or October!

Pictures of Zada's last day soon to come!

Grub Buster Day

2008-05-21T17:39:00.003-04:00

A couple weeks ago we went to Ritchies Feed and Seed and picked up a few items. Our big ticket item were Grub Busters. We have a grub problem in our yard. It's gross. There's all these nasty looking white grubs. Besides the fact that they arn't pretty to look at they are destroying our grass. They need to go away. We didn't want to use any chemicals for obvious environmental reasons. Not to mention we have kids and animals. The animals being "goats" aka cats. So we purchased them and the lady told us to keep the in the refrigerator for at least a week and to only apply them when we knew it would be raining.

Today was the perfect day because the ground was wet and it was raining and we're supposed to get more rain tomorrow. So after I dropped the kiddies off to school I rolled up my sleeves screwed in my lawn sprayer and shot nematodes all over the lawn.

What exactly are nematodes? Well let me tell you. Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic, non-segmented worms that occur naturally in soil throughout the world. Once released, the nematodes seek out their host, enter through body openings, emit a toxin and death occurs within 48 hours. The little creatures are quite gross to look at. I guess we'll see how these guys work. I must say that I feel like have little micro organisms climbing all over me!

If you're interested check out their website!
http://www.environmentalfactor.com/html/nematode.html

2008-05-14T21:42:00.006-04:00

I have a cramp in my brain - I think they call it "writers block" or something to that effect. I wish I had some exciting story to tell. So instead I'll bore you with what we have been up to lately. Not much. We had those awesome warm weeks in April and then it got cold again. Our temps are finally climbing back up to where it needs to be. We've been doing small amounts of our door garden stuff. Like trying to grow grass in our yard. It doesn't seem to grow fast enough! I planted a few blubs and we are just waiting to pick up a few others to liven up our flower gardens. Exciting isn't it?

Mothers day was an interesting day. It was great because I got to spend it with my kiddo and my hubby. It started off a little rough as I got a call at 8am from my neighbor. She needed a babysitter for her daughter - she had to make a trip to the hospital with her son. So the little girl got to come over and have breakfast and hang out. In the afternoon we went Dows Lake to see some of the Tulip Festival and then to the inlaws for dinner.

Zada today just completed Swimmer 1 - she's been taking swimming lessons. She was the only one who was able to move onto Swimmer 2. Talk about proud mamma!

This weekend we are going to do our annual long weekend camp out. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us and we won't get R_ _ _ _D out. I'm not saying the word because ya know.

A couple nights ago we took some old uneated bread to feed the ducks along the river. It's always fun to watch the ducks this time of year because they are doing their "spring dance". The males are all territorial. It's fun to watch. James enjoys bringing his camera along to capture the wildlife.

Sorry for the lack of posting. I will try harder in the future to provide more exciting posts.

Warm APRIL day

2008-04-28T22:19:00.003-04:00

Two weekends ago we had a major "heatwave". Mid 70s. We literally went from really cold to extremely hot. It was quite a shock on the system. The kids as you can see felt it was necessary to fill up the swimming pool. This is actually taken the second day the pool sat in the sun. The first day the kiddos discovered that water from a hose is FREEZING COLD. Owen asked his mom to turn on the hot water! We both snickered. What you can't see in this photo is that there is actually a small pile of snow to the right still lingering! The snow has since left us. Green is also popping out. It's so nice to see the city in color instead of black white or grey!

already learning her Diva ways...

2008-04-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

Conversation between Zada and Thomas.
The setting, Zada playing with Lincoln Logs, Thomas decided to join Zada.

Zada: "Thomas, find me the small logs."
Thomas: "No. Why do I have to do everything for you?!"
Zada: Because. I. Need. Them.
Thomas: .....silence....

THE WEATHERMAN LIED.....

2008-04-04T15:49:00.002-04:00

So today was supposed to be a warm and wet and spring.... but oh nooo it was more like.. YAY IT"S CHRISTMAS MORNING!! All day.... On the way home from school I asked Zada how she liked her 3 days of summer because we're back to winter. It's not ending. Never.

FINALLY... Sping Sprung...

2008-04-03T21:07:00.002-04:00

This week has been amazing. The snow has reduced considerably. Some of which has made it's way to the basement - but it hasn't been horrible. We can finally see yard in the back as well as the little evergreen tree. We can also see the tree in the front yard. I never thought 45F or 35F was warm, until now. On Tuesday walking home from school Zada was fighting me trying to take off her light weight rain coat saying she was "SOOOOOOO HOT SHE WAS DYING!" This weekend is supposed to be warm and sunny with a large chance of MELTING SNOW!! WOHOO!!

The Jokes Over

2008-03-14T22:38:00.002-04:00

Spring has Sprung.... Somewhere... not Ottawa. The only spring I know about is the ones I hear about from my friends/family in Missouri. Today I was shoveling snow. The stupid thing is the stores all think that it's Spring. Hello what about the 15 feet of snow that blocks our views from making turns on to busy roads.

The Weed Man called me this week wanting to discuss my yard. Thanks Mr. Weed Man but I honestly haven't thought about my yard because it has 15 feet of snow sitting on it right now. I may feel differently about my weeds this year. They are green. And green is better than White. Right? Talk to me in August when I'm trying to remove the weeds from my yard.

So when is this snow going to end? Lets check the weather report.... Oh yeah three days of snow next week! I have taken the full blame for this winter. I said I wanted a real winter. Well I got it tenfold. I couldn't be happier. Although I'm ready for budding trees and bbq's and NO COATS.

We are supposed to be going camping on May long weekend - I have stood my ground in that if there is snow on the ground I will not be attending such event.

So there's my post for today and my rant.....

This better be the last of this white stuff.....

2008-03-11T21:12:00.004-04:00

Ok here we go... for those of you wondering - we got a foot and a half of snow last Saturday/Sunday. Lets just say - that's a lot. AND, we need a snow blower!

This is our back yard. If you look closely at the neighbors yard you'll see a huge mound. They shoveled their deck off and tossed it over the side. It is now piled as high as the sides of the deck!
This was the accumulation of the snow on the side part of our fence.
Our Street - barely plowed.
This is our house - our garage is the one open. Our "yard" aka snow pile is to the right of the picture.
That's our neighbors yard aka snow pile. Theirs is actually bigger than ours! If that's possible!
Zada's bedroom window is just right of the little triangle. No she can't see out of her window!
Our mound. And me!
Just to the right there was a tree... when I shoveled on Sunday morning there was so much snow it was hip deep!
I'd like to say that was the last snow fall. But it's not. There are about 5 more days showing snow. Tonight being one of them. I am hoping to NOT see MORE snow when I wake up tomorrow. Winter sure isn't over!

(to see the pictures in a larger format click on the photo)

snow.....again.....and still....

2008-03-05T20:45:00.003-05:00

This is the front walk of our house. There is a small tree beside me which is buried under snow!

This street sign is in front of our yard aka snow bank. I am waiting for it to be covered!

The snow bank from our driveway.

Zada's snowman we made last weekend. The snowman is now buried under a foot of snow - his head fell off too... poor guy!

It was reported today that today's 20cm of snow set the record books as being the second snowiest winter at 344 cm - which is 11 feet in total. We need 100cm more to hit the all time record. They closed one of the snow dumping lots today because it was full! All of my friends up here are blaming me for this snow - and all asking if I am finally happy with the snow fall!

Lets see how this works......

2008-03-04T10:21:00.002-05:00

....Spring......NOT!

2008-03-04T08:36:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was hot... So hot that Zada needed to take her coat off her arms because she was... HOT...it was around 45F... It was such a nice little taste of spring... of course while watching the news last night - we were disappointed to hear that tonight we would be getting around 5 more inches of snow and the weather is back below freezing so we're back to winter. Spring was nice while it lasted... maybe next year.

As many of you have noticed I have been slacking in my posts since being back from Mexico. I guess I've been a little busy - babysitting. I was able to pick up a little babysitting from my friends. Twin girls... who are every so funny and have given me a nickname (as they do everything). Kiki.... no that's not the name of a stripper at a local bar that is yours truly. Not sure how they came up with it but I'll go along with it. It could be a lot worse - like.. Hey Lady... or MEAN OLE BABYSITTER...

Zada is doing well.... she will be a big 6 year old next week! We're hosting a birthday party this weekend with all of her friends and then on her birthday we're going out to dinner --- of her choice -- of course her choice was McDonald's.... so we suggested highly that we go someplace else... OH Zada remember that place where you get free ice cream AND toys...never mind the good food! lol

Well I won't keep you all... I hear you Missouri folks might have some shoveling to do! For once we don't..

..back to Mexico....

2008-02-29T23:38:00.002-05:00

ok.... So I don't know how my people in STL are feeling about winter but up here we're pretty much tried of it. It's very cold and snowing almost every other day. Sometimes daily. The snow is not going anywhere! So the way I have been getting myself through these horrible cold days is gazing at our Mexico pictures weekly. I realized that I hadn't posted our vows. James and I decided we would write our own vows to make this ceremony even more special.... plus it's something I have always seen myself doing... that was until I had to actually write them... then it was all... Ok can we just do the til death do us part.... sure I'll honor and trust you or whatever.....

James is an excellent writer - which I knew going into this task; thus I told him that I did not want to go last when we had to do our vows. I wanted everyone to remember James' wonderful words vs. my run on sentences. As life often throws curve balls - James went first....

I had always hoped that I would marry my best friend.
Today that hope is once again realized as I give myself
to you in marriage. Linda, as we journey into the future
together, I promise to stand by your side, through the
good and the bad, and face as one, whatever life
presents us. I vow to honour and cherish you with
every ounce of my spirit, to catch you if you fall, to
comfort you when you cry, and to share your joy when
you laugh. I pledge to grow in my love for you each
and every day, and on that fateful day when my life on
this earth passes, I pledge then to love you even more,
with the purity and the wisdom of the stars.

...ok... dry your eyes... take a minute.... and then I said.....

James, you are my best friend and my lover. I remember when I first saw you at the airport sitting, waiting for me to arrive for the very first time. I knew from that moment I wanted you in my life. You have been my calming spirit. Zada said it best when said she was glad I married “this guy”. I feel the same way. I want you and everyone else to know that no matter where life takes us, we will always be together. Fate will guide us through sickness and health, sorrow and success. I love you and I give you everything in my heart forever and always.

James has posted more pictures on his flickr page.... check them out....

www.flickr.com/phuzz

Toboggoning....aka sledding....

2008-02-23T21:50:00.003-05:00

Today was picture perfect.... lots of snow, not freezing and very sunny! So to the hills we went...

Here we go........

The last run Zada and I did was pretty crazy - we hit two jumps and both times we got snow sprayed in our faces which made it hard to see where we were going... towards the end I noticed we were heading straight for a tree and boy did I do everything I could to make sure we didn't'! Now that last picture is not our doing... Always remember to BAIL before getting close to the water!!!

Back to winter....Winterlude

2008-02-23T21:40:00.003-05:00

Every year Ottawa has a winter festival that starts at the beginning of February. This is the coldest month - when you want to stay in by the fire and sip hot cocoa. Not here though; it's time to bundle up (add 4 more pairs of socks) and head out to the many Winterlude Sites. This year we decided to check out the Snow park located in Gatineau, Quebec which is just over the river from Ottawa. What's there you ask? Ice Slides, Ice Fishing, snow sculptures and more ice slides.

These are all made of snow. Next year I would like to actually watch them put these together because they are pretty amazing.

No we didn't shrink in the dryer the chair is that big!
Massive ice slides....
That's me and Zada getting ready to go down...
OMG this was fun! I was a little hesitant when I sat down but man it was fun!
This was actually the first ice slide we went down...
Zada at the bottom! WOW what fun!!!!

more photos....

2008-02-14T20:51:00.003-05:00

We're buried in snow and cold so I'm going to warm everyone up with more photos of our trip....

The Adult pool...
the resort as seen from Mom and Dads balcony
nightly sunset....

we'reeee baaaackkkk..... and oh how we didn't miss the snow.

2008-02-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

Well we're back... We actually got back Saturday morning but it has taken me this long to unburry myself from the mounds of laundry in our laundry room. What can I say about the trip:amazing! Thanks to all who went that made this event spectacular. To all those who couldn't make it - well we're kinda sorta planning a 2010 reunion trip. Same time same place. The wedding was everything I could have ever wanted. The weather was perfect the food was good and the "reception" in the Presidential Suite was amazing! James and I are collecting everyones picture and once we get them all he's going to post them onto Flikr. There are so many pictures we would love to share but not enough space on this blog, email, myspace or facebook. I will post a few to this blog so you can get an idea of what we were living with for a week. Once we get all the pictures posted I'll post the link...

Reasons to not move north....

2008-01-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

I found this article today that talks about our snow fall so far this year... It's very interesting and pretty crazy! (at least for this YANK as many of my Northern friends now call me)

Budget-breaking snowfalls could set Ottawa records
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 4:45 PM ET
CBC News
Ottawa snow removal crews cleared 63,000 truckloads this past November and December — enough to fill a dump-truck convoy stretching bumper-to-bumper from Ottawa to London, Ont., city staff reported Wednesday.
The two-month tally was more than crews cleared during all of last winter, John Manconi, director of the city's surface operations, told the city council's transportation committee.
With some winter months still to come, the cost of snow clearing and snow storage could continue to impose a big strain on budgets, he said.
"I think the key thing is you have two-thirds of winter left," Manconi said. "We're probably going to break some records this year."
Those records could come in the form of salt use and costly staff overtime.
"The melt that we had after the Christmas period helped us significantly," Manconi said. "I'm happy that our staff were able to get a very good rest last week for the first time in a month and a half. That was starting to be a major concern for us."He added that record amounts of snow have already been moved into the city's snow disposal facilities, although there is still room for more.
Manconi thanked council for the close to $3 million of extra funding his department got this year but predicted he will be over his $62-million budget for 2007. He will have to see how his $64.8 million budget for 2008, which includes $9 million for snow removal, will fare, he said.....

Support your Local.....everything!

2008-01-09T22:23:00.000-05:00

Today was "Library Day" today. Zada has joined a little reading group at our local library - it meets every Wednesday for about 30 mins. It's kind of nice because it gives me a chance to roam around. Today I checked out the DVD section - since there is absolutely nothing on TV due to the writers strike. In the last couple years (thanks to the hubby) I have really gotten interested in documentaries. I find them way more interesting than just movies. For those of you who have watched a movie with me know I usually fall asleep.

I started browsing hoping to find something to watch, I did find one on Mexico that looked really interesting - but it was all in French. I would have spent the whole movie asking James what they were talking about, NEXT. Then in big bold letters I see WALMART. I have been on the fence about Walmart since I moved to Ottawa. When I first moved to Ottawa I was frustrated because there wasn't a Walmart in close proximity to where we lived. In fact James said he absolutely never shopped there. It wasn't until we moved that we were close to a Walmart. I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've been in there. So this documentary. Everyone should see it. It's interesting. As I always say, documentaries are one sided so take it for what it is. But I found it eye-opening and you can bet I will think twice before actually going into a Walmart.

http://www.walmartmovie.com/

I'm lucky because where we live there are so many other places we can shop without ever having to visit a walmart. That being said. I'm did my part in spreading the "word."

Hope you enjoy the movie!

The Great Thaw of Ottawa....

2008-01-08T14:40:00.000-05:00

So the snow came, buried us and gave me my winter AND NOW... it's all making it's way to the Ottawa sewers. At first I was a little sad to see the snow go. However, it does make life a little easier and more manageable now that there isn't near the amount of snow.

Zada started back at school yesterday - so far so good. It's nice to be back into the "swing" of things. She did come home drenched. Well... that's because she has a new "baby" - a piece of ice we now keep in the freezer. She takes it out periodically throughout the day to check on it and carry it around. Then when it shows signs of THAW she puts it back in the freezer. She said it always cries when she has to put it back there. She apparently kept it in her BOOT while she was at school yesterday. Today when she put on her boot it was wet.... hmm.. wonder why. !

Snow....snow....snow.....and yes... snow

2008-01-04T23:13:00.000-05:00

Ok so I'm almost finished talking about that white stuff. Yes. Me. It's getting annoying because every single time it snows you must shovel. We should have shoveled today. But ya know. Forget it. Yesterday it was so cold kids were told to STAY INSIDE to play. That kinda cold where your nose freezes and your fingers hurt in 5 mins of being outside.

Wednesday I promised Zada we would go to this little tiny hill by our house to go tobaggoning (sledding). Yeah well the tobaggon was in the trunk of the car. Which was in Hull, Quebec at work with James. He secretly goes tobaggoning at work. So naturally being the mom that I am - I made that promise. I promised that as soon as James got home from work we would go. Ok yeah so I also forgot that it gets COLD and DARK at like 4:30pm. His arrival time. Plus I needed to run an errand before. SO being the mom that I am - I took Zada tobogganing. I could only handle 15 mins before my fingers and toes were hurting cold. Not freezing cold but hurting cold. The funny thing about this little excursion was where we went was has not been touched by another (nutty) human. The snow was above my knees. No lie. There were picnic benches and the snow was covering them, all you could see was the very top part of the back rest. It was NUTS!! ANd SOOOO COOL!

I asked my pop-in law to take/send some pictures of their back yard so you could all get an idea of just what kinda snow we're dealing with. I find it hard to really judge how much snow we've had so far. They have a picnic table in their back yard and you can really tell what kinda snow fall we've had.

ok I'm done talking about the white stuff... it's getting old.

Ps. since these picture have been taken we have gotten about 5 more inches of snow.

Up on the roof top.....it wasn't Ole St. Nick though..

2007-12-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

So as it goes up here in the North....When we get a boat load, scratch that, SHIP load of snow it's best to take some time out of your day and shovel your ROOF. Yes your roof. It isn't one of those mandatory things like shoveling your driveway but it does help prevent any cave-ins or leaks. James didn't do the whole roof because, well it's dangerous. But we did do some of it...

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-21T11:05:00.001-05:00

Hey I know it's a little early but I know some of my readers only read me during their work day. DOn't worry I won't tell your bosses! :) Anyway We would like to wish everyone reading this a very Merry Christmas! May you all enjoy your day with your families! Check back for some holiday pictures!

Much Love,
Linda, James and Zada

stuck and annoyed...

2007-12-19T17:46:00.001-05:00

I'd like to know just how many calories a person looses in 1 trip to the grocery store.

I go to the grocery today the trip started off as usual - not too crowed. All was well until I get the crappy cart. You know the kind where 1 wheel is wonky and you have to use a little effort. I didn't realize the cart was this bad until it was full... pulling was better than pushing. I wouldn't have been so annoyed if
this wasn't the 2nd or 3rd cart with "issues". I'm thinking maybe this grocery store should take a few Min's out of their day and FIX OR TOSS THESE CARTS!

The worst part is that it's been snowing all day... yes snowing. I think we got another inch or two... so here I am trying to push my broken cart in snow up an incline. By the time I got in the car I was sweating.

So I googled this....
Calories Burned for Activity: Food Shopping With or Without a Grocery Cart
Standing or Walking

161 calories per hour

So I'm gonna add another 100 calories for wearing a winter coat and the cart being broken! lol

YAY FOR CRAFTS!

2007-12-18T11:18:00.000-05:00

The remote was located in Zada's craft box.......

Have you Seen IT?

2007-12-17T20:12:00.000-05:00

The remote. It's gone missing. Our remote grew legs and walk straight out of our house yesterday - IN A SNOW STORM! I finally know what it was like back in the dark ages when our parents had to walk up hills both way to get to school AND get up to change the channel.

The Short One was the last to lay fingers on it. She informed us that the last time she saw it, it was in her hand. This could be like the key incident. For those that didn't hear about that OR remember: way back when we were living downtown in the apartment Zada put my keys somewhere. When asked where she put it she couldn't remember. I searched for those keys for days. The problem was I couldn't get back into the building with them, and worse yet - I couldn't do laundry *gasping* alas we found them tucked away in a laptop bag. To which Zada responded...OH YES I remember now!! Thanks.

We are kind of treating this the same way...I mean we have moved the couch chairs and everything else around in the tv room. Nothing.

So if anyone has any suggestions or ideas or can tell us where the darn remote please let me know!!!!!!

Snow....SNOW.... AND MORE SNOW!!

2007-12-12T22:04:00.000-05:00

I finally am getting my Canadian winter I have been waiting for...This is my 3rd winter here and boy it's a good one!!
This is Zada's little tree - what you can't see in this picture is the bottom branches are covered under snow!

The snow is pretty deep in the back yard.

The is the hill built by snow from our driveway... it's pretty deep. It stands taller than Zada!
This is along our side walk...again....deep....

Pictures pictures pictures!!

2007-12-12T21:31:00.001-05:00

I guess it's about time I share what we've been up to in the last month! Just so ya know - we uploaded over 200 pictures however, I'm only going to be able to show a few of the highlights!!

Zada making her build-a-bear

Thanksgiving - all of the cousins -minus Cody

Now this is a good lookin crew!

Princesses Zada and Shelby

Shelby, Zada and Sheila

Linda, Zada and Mom roasting marshmellows at the City Museum

Zada and Papa

That would be James climbing!

Zada going down the slide...ALONE!

Perfect Picture!!

Zada and Papa riding the tractor around Papa's pond

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree....

2007-12-10T15:50:00.000-05:00

No Pictures from our STL visit yet. Someday.

We decorated our Christmas Tree yesterday. There was more involved in just putting together our FAKE but lovely tree and tossing on some ornaments. We do everything the long way around. We moved our tv to the basement (where it will stay until the movers move or we die). Then we moved the couch and chairs around opening up the whole space. I LOVE IT. It looks so nice. So the tree.

Oh the tree. While James was assembling the tree, Zada looked at each and every ornament we have; asking what each one said, where each one came from
whose ornament was whose and where it came from. Sometimes we don't take the time too think about the ornaments we put on the tree. We get an ornament for Christmas send the thank you card and go on about our holiday. Not Zada. As annoyed as I was to have to explain each of the ornaments one by one I was also pleased that Zada took such interest in my memories. And now we are all ready for Christmas.

There will be pictures......eventually!

Home and Burried

2007-12-05T10:14:00.000-05:00

Hello readers!!
We're back! We made it back safe and sound.... for the most part anyway! We're still trying to get back in to the swing of things after being in the Lou for two weeks! Not to mention - we have a whole lot of snow!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone we got to see the last two weeks! It was so nice to play catch-up and hear about what everyone is doing these days! To all that I didn't get to see this visit - it's not the last visit and we'll see eachother again... I will post some pictures of our trip as soon as we find the camera which is probably burried in one of the many piles I haven't gone through yet!

2007-11-13T20:01:00.000-05:00

St. Louis here we come..... soon.

Saturday morning:
Zada: "Is this the day we leave for St. Louis? And Can I bring my swim suit?"

Mom: "umm....not THIS Saturday...you have 7 sleeps."

Zada: "OH MANNN!!!! That's too many sleeps!"

Sunday:
Zada: "Now how many sleeps until we leave?"

Mom: "Seriously? 6 sleeps."

Monday:
Zada: "So how many sleeps and should I pack?"

Mom: "5 sleeps. No packing."

Tuesday:
Zada: "Is this the day we're leaving mom?"

Mom: "nope, 4 sleeps. we leave Saturday today is Tuesday."

Guess what Zada will ask me tomorrow! hahaha

I think someone might be excited to visit!! I know I am... I kinda do the same thing with James only it's more adult like.... I think I have about 7 lists going of things I need to bring. I almost took out the suitcases
but I figured James would think I"m nuts.... so many tomorrow! :)

JLZ BREAKING NEWS

2007-11-08T12:45:00.000-05:00

This is a rant. Observation.

So I sit down to my computer after dropping Zada off to school and read various news websites to see what's happening in the world today. I check MSNBC, KSDK, Weather Channel and CNN. Sometimes I'll check CBC/Ottawa. Today I only got as far as CNN.com before I felt the need to rant... complain. The topics are kind of sad. They are as follows:

In the bar at the top of the page - the BREAKING NEWS - the THIS IS SO SERIOUSLY IMPORTANT WE MUST DISPLAY IN BRIGHT RED (or sometimes Yellow). "O.J. arrives at courthouse for hearing on robbery charges." Have we not given this man enough attention. Who cares about this guy, really? I find it sad that this is considered BREAKING NEWS. So down the line I go. What's next? "Grandpa gets wrong kid from school." I chuckle poor old guy. I check to make sure it's not my Dad or Father-in-law (j/k). Nope. Next. Oh what's this - "Don't panic! Your weird baby is likely normal." *PHEW* This has to be a relief to a lot of parents out there. I think
headline that made me start blogging and STOP reading the news/headlines was when I got to this one: "Priest accused of stalking Conan O'Brien." What's wrong with people today. I guess everyone tends to ask these questions at times.

At least the weather looks good for when we'll be in St. Louis!!! It's looking like we will be leaving Ottawa with snow flurries.

Sleeping Beauty

2007-11-05T22:18:00.000-05:00

So these are long awaited for I'm sure... Below are our Halloween Pictures.

The Sunday before Halloween we attended a Halloween Party at the Community Centre Near our house. It was so much fun. The gym was full of games and the kids got loot bags to collect candy. Some of the classrooms were transformed into a haunted house. Zada was less than pleased with that part of the day. Another classroom was turned into a craft room - they got to decorate a mask and cookies! It was so much fun... that was until the hunchback guy showed up. That pretty much ended our day. Thankfully it was just as we were getting our coats.

After the party we headed to a small little Pumpkin stand near our house. While we were there we got to watch some men launch Pumpkins WAYYYYY up into the air! It was so awesome!
Pumpkin carving Tuesday.

The pumpkin was supposed to look scarey!

AND NOW FOR HALLOWEEN DAY.........

Zada got to show off her costum at school with all of her friends. She even got to pose with her teacher, mme Rachel who wore a witch hat. The two black bags are full of candy.

Friday Morning

2007-10-26T21:25:00.001-04:00

We spent our brisk Friday morning doing some puzzles.

Reasons we have kids....

2007-10-18T23:16:00.000-04:00

So tonight we had a little outing to the shopping mall - Jame, Zada and myself. While in the car Zada was having a conversation with James - whom was being silly. Zada then replied; "Mom." With great interest as to what was going to be next - normally it's "I love you." This time however it was something I never really heard before. "I'm so glad you married that guy." Me too! Me too. What came next almost made me pee my pants. No lie. She said "well you married him because you didn't really have anybody else." I of course corrected her and said - I married him because I love him. She then giggled and said "You LOVEEEEEEEEEE him?!?!" hahah I only wish I could see what her little brain was thinking.

Playground Discussions

2007-10-17T22:25:00.000-04:00

Sucker or Lollipop?

That seemed to be the topic of discussion among the playground-goers today. There were two of the same conversations and completely different times. One was between Zada and another kid. She asked him quite frankly where he got his "sucker" from. He said, What's a Sucker? Zada being the kid of "always right" said That thing in your mouth. He thus informed her that it was not a so-called sucker but it was a Lollipop. I explained to her that they are one of the same. The more the kids said "sucker" the more horrible it sounded. Although I think any word you say repeatedly can sound a little bad or weird. I remember as a kid I would say words over and over in my head and kind of analyze the word. That word then seemed weird to me. Take the word anticipation for example - say it over and over in your head - put the emphasis on different parts of the syllables. Ok maybe I'm just strange. Words are funny. So back to the playground.

The sucker/lollipop discussion was between two moms. I didn't quite hear the whole thing but I heard one say - Yeah I'm from a small town I guess we just say "sucker". I must admit - Lollipop does sound a little nicer. Infact when I googled the word "sucker" searching for an image file to put up there I got pictures of fish, people SUCKing face, the first image file was of Bush. It wasn't until the fourth page did I get an image file of SUCKERS.

So Lollipop it is....yet another word I need instill in Zada's spounge brain. We are still working on the letter "ZED" and "Girl Guides" instead of Girl Scouts. That's more my fault than hers.

In retrospect....

2007-10-01T16:08:00.000-04:00

VIENNA, Austria - Austrian authorities said they arrested a man Monday after he tried to enter the U.S. Embassy in Vienna carrying a backpack with explosives. The man tried to flee after his backpack triggered metal detectors at the embassy entrance. He was arrested nearby and was being questioned.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21082350/

So I guess I'm pretty glad that I had to go through all the hassle to NOT bring my purse to the US Embassy.

Just one Wall

2007-09-29T22:12:00.000-04:00

So last weekend James and I decided to start working on our basement. We have been wanting to remove the bathroom in the basement since we moved it. Three people don't need four bathrooms. How lazy does one have to be to walk up 12 steps to go pee. Seriously. Not to mention I refused to clean that many bathrooms. We almost immediately turned the bathroom into a "storage closet" when we moved in. The shower was great for hiding unplayed-with toys and Christmas Presents. We eventually dismantled the sink and shower giving us more storage room.

Last week James said "We're ripping down that wall in the basement this weekend." YAY! We're finally going to work on the basement! These are our plans. Take out ONE wall, cap off some pluming pipes and add a couple pod lights. Oh yes and paint. Easy as pie. Our major goal for the basement is to make one area into Zada's play room and the other area into our TV room. It's in an L -shape if you can picture that.

So Saturday came and sure enough we took down the wall. Of course when you do that you have to take into count the pipes and what not. So far it was going pretty good. We even got our OMEN this week to finish up the basement. The Home Depot was running commercials on "BASEMENT RENOVATION WEEKEND." So we took full advantage and got everything we needed to FINISH the basement. NOT!

If there is one thing I have learned when doing projects on houses - it's A. Never simple B. you'll never get everything from Home Depot in one shopping trip. You will always go back at least twice to get everything!

As James started working on stuff this morning - mostly rewiring some switches and plugs we realized there was more to this project than 1 wall. We ended up having to take down half of the ceiling to figure out some wires and then realized the ceiling was actually starting to sag due to not enough support. I even pitched in and helped cut 2 X 4's with the electric saw! I am so proud of myself!

We are finally getting things figured out and hopefully by next weekend we'll get to the fun stuff and start painting! I'll be posting some before and after pictures when it's all finished. SO if you don't read anything in the next month you know we ran into more issues!

Zada has even been a big help - she enjoys using HER hammer to hammer in nails... AND she helps us UNSCREW screws when needed.

Formation

2007-09-27T12:59:00.000-04:00

The time has come. It's the time of year our feathered friends make their long journey south for the winter. Last night on our walk we saw a group of Canada Geese making their journey. We watched them put on a show for us - making their letter V. It's pretty neat to see.

Zada came blasting down the stairs as if the ice cream truck just delivered 10 Tons of ice cream on our doorstep she says "DID YOU HEAR THAT DID YOU HEAR THAT?" Startled by her excitement I stopped doing my domestic duties (drinking tea and watching tv).

What? I asked. What is outside? As she's putting on her shoes very frantically to go see she says... The geese are doing their dance in the sky!

So out we went and she was so excited to see that all the geese were in their "V" formation. Then she explains to me why they are doing that - they are going to go to the south to be warm.

So winter is on it's way! Winter. Is. On. It's. Way. I guess that's hard to imagine if you're in Missouri and still experiencing heat.

Below are some fun facts about Geese:

As each goose flaps its wings it creates an "uplift" for the birds that follow. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.

When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.

The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

When a goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.

Belated Birthday Pics...

2007-09-14T23:13:00.000-04:00

So ya know how life goes... Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes! It was a great one!






Tubs the Birthday Cat


Shirt made by my awesome niece and nephew! Thanks Guys I LOVE IT!!

Ready Set

2007-09-11T15:35:00.001-04:00

Ready Set
Originally uploaded by chiqy77

Trying out some new things with my Blog.

Here's a picture from WAY BACK in August while swimming at the cottage. That is Zada mid-air!

Practicing....

2007-09-06T22:35:00.000-04:00

OK this is a trial post... Here's a short video I took of Zada dancing around...

This is a pretty plain-jane video but we're learning.... I hope you enjoy it!

1st Day of School... SR.K

2007-09-06T20:22:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow will actually be the third day of school - I am still trying to get back into the swing of things. Zada is going to school in the afternoons again this year and it seems like our morning flies bye. Lunch has been super rushed. It's always my fault as I wait to the last minute to decide what I'm going to make - or what Zada will actually eat.

This year felt so different than last year. As we were walking to school Zada was so excited to be going, she couldn't wait to find out which friends would be in her class. We stopped off to pick up her buddy Thomas and the two of them marched to school as though we were escorting them to an amusement park. That's right - they were so thrilled to be GOING_TO_SCHOOL!!

She is in French Emerson this year and I think she's a bit intimidated by it as she isn't used to hearing it all the time. Time for mom to start learning a few things in French I think! Thomas' mom talks to Zada in French - the funny part is I usually repeat what she says to Zada in English. How I know what she is saying is beyond me! lol Anyway...

Zada seems to be ok with me not volunteering this year. James and I decided it would be best for everyone if Zada and I had some separation. She needs to have time on her own without mom's watchful eye always on her. It's very different - I'm used to knowing everything she does in school - not anymore.

After I picked Zada up from school I remembered to not ask too many questions about school. The information will leak out as the day goes on. All I asked was "did you have a good day at school?" In which she replied "I had the best time ever!" I asked her "So you're going to go again tomorrow?" And I got "MOMMMMM!!!" I think I also asked if she got to speak any French or if her teacher spoke to her in French. Apparently there hasn't been any French speaking going on as of yet.

I'd post a picture of Zada on her first day BUT can you believe that _I_ FORGOT to take one? So tomorrow I will take one and post it right on this page! So check back for her picture over the weekend!
***********
So! For my birthday I got a video camera!! This is so exciting because now I get to SHOW you all how our little one is growing up and what she sounds like! I am thrilled. I will be able to post small videos right here on my blog! How cool is that!! There's one catch - I just have to figure it all out. All in due time!

I know you have read this part a thousand times but Immigration is going very well. I'm not going to toss out any dates yet because I don't want to jinx myself. I will be going for an interview next week to "discuss" my permanent resident status. I have no clue what that all means but hey I'll be there!

2007-09-01T22:29:00.000-04:00

Long over due post... these things take time. This letter was written on August 17Th.

Dear Zada,

Today you lost your very first tooth. It took only six days and a lot of wiggling for it to finally fall out. You first noticed your wiggly tooth at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Toronto after a wedding. You were munching on strawberries when you felt as though something was caught between your teeth. I suggested you go to the bathroom with your toothbrush and see what you can do. Two minutes later you were rushing from the bathroom hysterical as if you saw the biggest spider in the world. You told me through your crying that your teeth were bleeding – it was gushing- I think is what you said.
My first thought was my goodness how hard were you brushing your teeth. Then you mentioned that your tooth was loose. You were so distraught at the thought of a loose tooth I had to help you back into the bathroom where I could inspect what exactly was happening. There is no way you have a loose tooth. You’re way too young! I had you rinse out your mouth with some cold water. You couldn’t believe there was BLOOD_COMING_FROM_YOUR_MOUTH! Sure enough – your very first loose tooth!
You managed to go an entire day of not eating. We even went to McDonalds for breakfast; I thought for sure that would cure the “pain”. You immediately said no to food. So we ordered you a blueberry muffin and an OJ despite your desire to eat. You took a nibble of the muffin; said it was too hard to eat and that was that. We tried all kinds of ideas to get you to eat but nothing was going to come near your mouth!
The following day was a totally different story. The bleeding stopped, the pain wasn'tt as bad and you got used to the idea of it wiggling. You managed to eat everything in sight! I think you ate four peaches in one day along with everything else that could be eaten from the side of your mouth! I hadn’t seen you eat like this before. You ate dinner with Dad and I and then you’d ate grandma and grandpas food, then desert, then something else and THEN you asked for a snack before bed. I suggested to Dad that maybe we should only feed you six days a week instead of seven. He reminded me that you had several more teeth to come out so it was bound to happen again.
As the week progressed the complaining discussion of your wiggly tooth subsided. I now know what I must have put your Grandma Jung through when my teeth were falling out. We of course assured you that we went through the same thing when our teeth fell out. You were pretty proud of your loose tooth after about the third day – you told anyone that would listen about it. You even mentioned to us several thousand times that your tooth was wiggly.
Today is Friday August 17th, 2007. When you woke this morning you made sure to show me just how loose your tooth was. (In your defense I asked you every morning this week if your tooth was still loose.) I think I’m just as excited about your tooth as you are, ok probably more!
We left for Ottawa today around noon – we stopped at Webbers for lunch. We ordered you a Hot dog and Fries. You mentioned that your tooth felt a little funny. I assured you that it would continue to get wigglier until it fell out. You took a huge bite of the hotdog and started to whimper saying your tooth didn’t feel right.

We thought maybe you were just being dramatic about your tooth. I looked in your mouth and sure enough it was bleeding again. What we should have done and what we did were both very different things; we SHOULD have gone and pulled it out and dealt with whatever screaming occurred from it. What we did instead was told you to continue eating. We’re kind of new at this “loosing teeth” as a parent stuff. You tried eating a French fries when you turned to me with deer-in-headlights look and said “my tooth is gone!” You swallowed your very first baby tooth. I don’t know if you were more upset that you swallowed your tooth and now you couldn’t brush it like you wanted to do or because you just lost your tooth and now you’re kind of freaking out. I tried to hide my disappointment – I too wanted to see your first tooth.

I walked you to the car like I had walked you to the bathroom on that first day and had you rinse out your mouth. You kept looking in the side mirror of the car and then you’d cry. Then you’d look again and then you’d cry. When we started driving again you mentioned that you had a hard time swallowing because now your tongue went through the hole!
We made a second stop about 15 minutes into our drive to look at a shop and by now you were pretty excited about your new smile. You bolted from the car and said “Grandma look at my new smile!” Grandpa Doyle was so excited he bought you a moose for loosing your tooth!
I caught you a few times looking into anything that would give a reflection to see your latest smile. You were happy when you realized you could eat normally again. Tomorrow we will write to the Tooth Fairy to let her know that your tooth has been swallowed. We’ll place it under your pillow just like we would if you had your tooth.

Love Mom and Dad

Grumpy Face Gallery

2007-08-26T00:25:00.001-04:00

So I was talking to my good friend Sheila on the phone today (Hi Sheila!) and she inspired me to write this particular blog. She mentioned today at how happy Zada looked. I laughed because James loves to capture as many shots as possible of Zada being grumpy. Not to be mean but because she has such an awesome grumpy face. From what he tells me I too have a pretty great grumpy face. I tend to not show off these pictures to people because I don't want everyone thinking that Zada is extremely unhappy. That being said. Please enjoy my gallery of grumpy faces.

Zada getting made because we wanted to take her picture in the kayak but she didn't feel like it. This was taken this summer just a few weeks ago.

This was last summer on our trip - James kept bugging her about who-knows-what and so he took her picture to further her anger.

I threw this one in there - a morning after picture while camping.

This picture was taken right after we moved into our house. I'm not sure why she has an angry face but it sure is cute!

This was taken this summer during the Dragon Boat Races in Ottawa. Grandpa Ed was involved in one of the teams - this is Zada happily posing for her picture.

I'm sure there are more but these are a few of my favorite moments! I hope you enjoyed them as well.

we're home., we're tan, we're ready for another vacation!

2007-08-17T22:27:00.000-04:00

Hello readers!!! I probably should have mentioned that I wouldn't be around blogging this week. The family went on holidays! It kicked off with a wedding in Toronto a week ago followed by a week at a cottage on Georgian Bay. Georgian Bay is on Lake Huron for those of you who don't know. Lets just say Lake Huron is MASSIVE. We only saw a "small" portion of this body of water but you'd think you were right on the ocean. The water by our cottage was great we could walk for what seemed like miles before even hitting deep water. There were no fish, no seaweed just pure (chilly) clean and clear water. Right near our cottage was a swimming pool - after swimming in the lake we headed up to the heated salt-water pool where we finished out our evening.


We made our way during the week to Wasaga Beach. The sand there is like nothing I have ever been on - well maybe in LA but it was pretty soft sand. Like our beach back at the cottage you had to walk pretty far to get into deep water. We waited for a really windy day to go to ensure we could catch some huge waves. Coming from Missouri where waves only come from boats they all seemed pretty huge to me! James and I spent over an hour playing in the waves - diving in them, getting knocked over. You name it! Zada wasn't too keen on the waves so she stayed at the beach with Grandma Linda and made sand castles. She even buried her noodle to make it look like a St. Louis Arch.

Another day we visited a little village that had these houses of The Three Bears, Mother Goose, Merlin's house, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and of course Hansel and Gretel's Candy House. Zada had a lot of fun peeking in the windows at all the characters.

Thursday we spent a lot of time in the water at the cottage. The waves were pretty huge so we did a bit of white water kayaking. It was a blast!!!! Ed got dumped a couple times, James and I managed to keep ourselves upright. Zada didn't care too much for the water at the lake. It was pretty cold - once you were in it it wasn't bad. It was actually warmer in the water than out! She saved up all of her swim time for the pool.



Zada doing her pose.

**JUNG FAMILY**
for all my Jung family - James captured a picture of Uncle Little Jimmy pig statue! I didn't even know until I was looking at the folder. It's like he KNEW about my long lost uncle. For those of you who don't get it. Family Joke.

How we spent our weekend in Ottawa.

2007-08-06T17:03:00.000-04:00

Friday night we made a return trip to visit our friends "in the country"; the ones with the Alpacas. We had a perfect summer dinner on their deck - sweet corn, chicken, potato salad, cole slaw and for desert - watermelon. It was great! Afterwards we took a little walk around their property to work off some of the food. James and I took a quick trip into the corn field - I felt like I was one of the "children" from the movie Children of the Corn. I was really terrified by that movie! If you look really closely you can seem me amongst the corn. James is somewhere in the second picture! James and I both commented on just how tall the corn stalks are when your standing next to them. From the road they sure don't look that huge! It was pretty cool to get sort of lost in the massive corn field!
Once the sun started to set we had a fire just in their back yard. Zada and Holden wrestled on the grass while we watched the sun set and drank a few beers. Holden absolutely adores Zada and tried to tackle her every chance he got! He managed to "pin" her a few times! Zada finally passed out by the fire in my lap around midnight! The girl is going to be a night owl!

Saturday I ran a few errands - one was to Walmart where I purchased Zada newest item. Goggles. She borrowed a pair of her friends at the pool a couple weeks ago and I just knew she would love her own. She took them to the pool on Saturday afternoon and then again in the bathtub Saturday night.

She is quite the little fish!

Sighs of relief....

2007-08-02T14:23:00.001-04:00

I made. Today I went to that big scary building downtown. Thanks to my friend Brigitte (whose name I cannot say properly in french) drove me down there - she even walked to me to the door to make sure I was greeted properly. Not with handcuffs or worse guns. In fact I was greeted by a very nice man who ask what my business was and allowed me. Then there was this nice lady who paid more attention to Zada than me who scanned my wallet. (I managed to smuggle that into the building.) Then this nice man opened the door for me (there are big signs on the doors that say STOP WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO OPEN THE DOOR FOR YOU) Americans are so into chivalry. Then the nice man that opened the door pointed me to the right place - the sign stated: US CITIZENS. There was this other line - so glad that wasn't my line. When I walked into the waiting room I was alone. The nice lady helped us and again paid more attention to Zada - she kept saying, I love her haircut it's so cute. Where did she go? Oh I also got asked the most asked question I have ever had "Are you related to the famous Carl Jung (pronounced Young) ? I laughed and said no.

After I was all finished talking to the nice people behind big glass windows we left. We awaited the nice man to open the door for us and said our good byes. I was ever so glad this was a good trip. It was refreshing to know that just because it looks all scarey the people inside were kind.

OH you know what I did see - Lots of WANTED: Terrorist; there was even one up there for Osama. Pretty crazy stuff.

Sleepless....

2007-08-01T13:29:00.000-04:00

I didn't sleep well last night. I should have - I spent a lot of time outside yesterday and I am still trying to catch up on sleep from the weekend. I guess you could say I'm a little stressed. Tomorrow I have to visit the US Embassy to turn in some paperwork. I know I should be comfortable with it.. I mean it is the US Embassy and I am an American. I was reading online yesterday to make certain I didn't have to make an appointment and I stumbled on the "rules"... I think that is what has made me on edge about visiting...

Security Notice to All Consular Visitors

Please note that all visitors must be screened prior to entry and are subject to inspection via a walk-through metal detector and with a hand-held metal detector. Carried personal items will undergo full inspection by use of an X-ray machine and other equipment.

Prohibited Items

Please note that the following items are prohibited inside the U.S. Embassy/Consulate and we have no facilities for storing these items, so please leave them at your home, your hotel, or in your vehicle:
food and beverages
weapons or tools
backpacks, luggage, or purses
electronic or recording equipment of any kind, including, but not limited to:
laptop computers
mobile phones
PDAs
cassette, CD, MP3 players
pagers
keyless remotes
and oversized strollers
Drivers, friends, and extra relatives must wait outside or return to meet the applicant after the interview has been completed - with the exception of applicants with children.

I can't bring my purse... I can't bring anyone with me... thank goodness Zada can come. Could you imagine, "no Zada I know you're only five but you can't come in... rules are rules..."

On top of the rules - the building itself isn't all that inviting. It has this huge fence that goes around it and I don't think you're even allowed to walk in front of the building. I feel bad for being scared to go into my own Embassy, infact I'm kind of upset that it is so uninviting! I guess it' s just different. Maybe tomorrow my feelings will be changed and I know 100% that it was just the silly fear of the unknown. I'd take pictures for you guys - but I can't bring my camera.

Us Embassy

.......I Do......

2007-07-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

Hello again! It's been awhile since I have sat down and blogged. I kind of miss it and I guess you could say I have had bloggers-block. Nothing over the top or exciting has been happening - or maybe we've just been so busy!!

This weekend was extremely busy as our good friends Kevin and Megan got married. This was our second wedding and third wedding reception so far of the summer. We still have two more to go! James was a groomsmen in the wedding this weekend and he looked so cute in a tux. I think he should wear suits more often....not happening. The whole celebration really started on Thursday afternoon as the guys got together for Kevin's bachelor party. It was golf and then bar. James said it was so much fun but extremely hot. It was sunny....hot...mixed with beer. All was well and I think they had a blast. Then comes Friday. The day before the wedding. I was not in the wedding but I have been helping Megan with small things since "her" girls all live in TO. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner then I spent the night with Megan and her girls at Meg's house (I got the boot from my house). The boys were staying at our house.

Saturday we were up at 7am - Megan excited for the special day. She and I went to Tim Hortons for coffee and donuts (in our pjs) and then we started getting things together. The weather - it was very good. The ceremony was to take place outside. It rained the entire day but cleared up just long enough for the ceremony! It
turned out to be a really great day.

Where was Zada in all of this chaos? She was with me some of the time and she was with Grandma and Grandpa some of the time - she did get to attend the wedding and had a blast. Oh and she caught the bouquet!! We took a fair amount of pictures so once we have time to go upload them and sort through them I'll post 'em!

Congrats Meg and Kev! Happy Honeymooning!

T-Ball

2007-07-12T21:32:00.000-04:00

T-Ball has now been over for almost a month and I'm just now getting around to posting some pictures. I sort of forgot about the pictures. They happened to be on James camera so it slipped my mind. I have yet to scan in the "professional" pictures of the team. I'll get them all scanned in eventually - it's tough being home all day. lol

Coach James, Coach Linda and outfielder Zada and a member of the "Green Team". Our main goal as coaches was to make sure no one started fighting over the ball. Most of the time it worked out alright.

There is Zada our very own slugger. You can tell she has St. Louis blood by the way she hits the ball. She could really get the ball out into the field!

There's coach James - he was our batting coach. I was the running coach.

Zada and her team mate discussing the plays about to happen. Something tells me Zada is probably lecturing him about something. I think he might have been frustrated because Zada got the ball before he did.

There she is on third base! Way to go! She looks happy to be playing doesn't she? It seems that about 30 Min's into playing all the kids start asking if that was the last bat and it would be over soon!

At the end of each game we got into a huddle and cheered for our team as well as the other team. During the hockey playoffs we also cheer for the SENS. This was our last cheer of the season!

School's out Pool's open.

2007-07-06T11:47:00.000-04:00

Thursday we made our way to the pool for some splashing fun. I love our little pool because it's just that - small. The deepest part is just under Zada's shoulders. That means I don't have to get in. I don't even have to wear a swim suit if I don't want to. Why would I not want to get into the water you ask? Since this pool is free and wide open in the public it is drained every night and filled every morning. The water never really gets to acceptable temperatures. Acceptable for adults anyway. Yesterday was a little cloudy and not exactly HOT but it was our pool day so we had to go. We met up with Zada's buddies Thomas and Evangeline (and Brigitte).

Conversation between Zada and Brigitte

"Your lips are blue, are you cold?"

"No, it's from the blue water."

I had major flashbacks from my lips being blue after swimming in sub-zero degree lake water.

Strawberry Shortcake Here We Come!

2007-06-30T22:51:00.000-04:00

Friday the family went strawberry picking just outside of the city. We met up with a couple friends for breakfast and headed to the fields. It was probably a great idea to fill up on food BEFORE heading to the strawberry patch. Although our friends son had no problem having "breakfast dessert" of strawberries. He was way more interested in eating rather than picking!

Zada on the other hand made sure we didn't eat ALL of the strawberries we picked. My grandmother used to tell us for every raspberry we picked we could eat I think she said three. So I made sure I followed those rules. Listen to your elders, right?

It felt good to be green for a day! We managed to pick 8 liters of strawberries and it didn't cost our life savings as it does when we buy in the store!

This morning at breakfast:

Zada: "I picked this one for sure!"
MOM: "Oh yeah? How do you know?"
Zada: "Cuz, it is the biggest one ever!"

Support your local farmers!

The Three Alpacas and a Llama

2007-06-25T22:00:00.000-04:00

Llama is in the back and the Alpacas are in front.

So our friends bought a farm not long ago and two weeks ago they purchases these four animals. All of which are preggo. Why an Alpaca? Their wool. It's very soft and is very expensive. These animals come from South Africa which is why their wool is rather pricey. What does the Llama have to do with it? The Llama provides as protection to the Alpacas. Apparently they will scare off any pr editors. The great thing about these animals is they are all very friendly and clean. Clean? What do you mean. Well not to be gross or anything but I was amazed to learn these animals go to the bathroom in one single spot EVERY TIME. It makes cleaning up very easy. The animals seemed to love kids. They are very curious about noises and people. While I was squatted down one of them came from behind me to smell my hair! Zada was a little intimidated by the girls. Do they make noise? Yes. They hum. It is so funny to hear them.

Me and Zenia the Llama - I was too afraid to get close. I didn't want to get SPAT on.

Next door visiting the Clydesdale's.

Picnic in the Park

2007-06-21T09:25:00.000-04:00

Tuesday was picnic in the park day at Zada's school - we had a blast! The park is right across from the school so we were able to walk over. They set up little areas to play horse shoes, soccer, tennis, badminton, jump rope, bubbles, face paint and tattoos. Their snack was freezies and chips.

When we left for school that morning it had just rained so we were a little worried it would get canceled. However it turned out to be a really sunny day AND very hot. The kids had a blast - so did I.

Horse shoes and ring toss

face painting parachute

streamers

Break time snack time

memories...

2007-06-18T21:15:00.000-04:00

As many of you already know - and those of you who don't - my parents are moving. The have begun the destruction. See - Mom and Dad aren't just MOVING - their house is being demolished. In place of their house with be trees? Hopefully.

I have been asked if I am sad. I should be - I am. Sort of. I mean this is my childhood home. The only HOME I have known, ever. I do know that I am so happy for my parents. Mom finally gets the kitchen she has been wanting for, how old am I again? And dad well he'll get his special space too. Less fixing up too!

So back to me being sad... I think maybe when I see it - or not see if for that matter - I might be. Mom sent me some pictures this weekend. One of them was a wall from my bedroom. I decided to display my artistic abilities (or lack thereof) on my wall. It was left unfinished. But it's there. Mom asked me if I wanted it and I just laughed. Yeah mom - I'd love a piece of wall. That conversation was before I saw MY WALL. I told James about the picture and he asked if my Dad was going to cut it out and frame it or something. I laughed but then thought. Ya know. That might be cool. Conversation piece that's for sure. So now. Do I have a piece of wall added to the pile of "STUFF" that my parents are putting in their new basement. (Thanks again Mom and Dad BTW). I don't have much more time to think about it. Maybe the picture will be just enough.

So again am I sad... I think I'm sad that The Hood is breaking up. There will never be neighbors like the ones my parents have/had.

Bittersweet.

The unfinished wall

Still learning the differences....

2007-06-17T21:20:00.000-04:00

ME "What was that - something small just scurried under that wood... It must have been a lizard."

ED "really?" *long pause* "We don't have lizards here, it was probably a mouse."

ME *laughing* "yes of course... no lizards!"

We finally learned!!

2007-06-16T13:04:00.000-04:00

This week has been a calender marking week! Zada has learned to ride her Princess Bike on TWO WHEELs. That's right no more training wheels!! I think it actually started when her little neighbor friend informed her that he could now ride on two wheels. This was exciting because we have only seen him on a bike 1 time since we've lived in our house.

Tuesday night we worked trying to get her on two wheels and after much frustration she gave up. We tried to get her buddy to show her his skills but he said he didn't feel like it. So Wednesday morning I decided to take her training wheels off her Princess Bike - less distance to fall than the other bike.

We started at the top of our yard (grass is softer than concrete) and a few pushes she got the feel of what she was suppose to do. So we moved to the street... needless to say after 1 short 30Min's we got the hang of it! Starts and Stops were rough but she got it!

We immediately called Dad and then Grandma and Papa in STL to share this excitement.

Since Wednesday she has become an excellent biker! Even her buddy has been outside daily biking. They do loops around the street! So exciting!!

I can't believe how much she has learned in the last few months!!! Oh and many of you are asking about school and summer. Zada will be out in 2 weeks! It seems late but she doesn't go back until September. So it's not too bad. We're just ready for the pool to open! It's hot here!!!

Zada and Dad

In action Battle Scares (there are 4 more band aids on the backs)

Resting

Fresh air NEEDED!

2007-06-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

So the weather has been weird up here in the great white north. No it isn't snowing. Yesterday felt as though it could possibly snow. We did however have FROST warnings two nights in a row. Last week we had our A/C running because it was SO hot. So humid. Just like I am hearing about the weather in Missouri. Hot. Humid. Yuk - I tried to move away from that but it followed me.

All week it's been raining. So we've been staying indoors except when we needed to go to school. Yesterday it didn't rain so we biked to the park. Oh. My. Goodness. It was so cold. Zada wore 1 t-shirt and 2 sweatshirts. Rediculous!

Today was (WAS) suppose to be sunny and moderatly warm. Sweet I can go for a long run. WRONG. It rained - it's STILL raining. I had my mind set to go running today. After walking Zada to school and remembering that I'm in a city that never stops. I decided to take my run (only my shorter route) in the rain. It was fun. I felt like a kid. Do you remember when your mom would say - "no you can't play outside it's raining!" That's what I felt like.

tee hee hee... I was playing in the rain!

Sens Mile

2007-06-05T21:22:00.000-04:00

As many of you know I have become a hockey fan. Zada has also become a hockey fan. It's hard not to be a fan in this house AND this city. It would be like being in St. Louis and NOT being a baseball fan. They just go hand in hand. Zada has even been caught yelling at the tv saying "GET THE PUCK OUT!"
Naturally we are very excited about the Sens being in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We arn't so happy they are playing a little sloppy. We'll see tomorrow.
Saturday night we went to a Sens Party at our friends house downtown. They live about a block or two away from Elgin Street. Elgin has been closed to cars for every Sens game - thus the name Sens Mile. After the game was over Saturday night and we WON! *GO SENS GO* We decided to check it out. We had a blast!!! It was nuts. Yes, we took Zada. She was such a sport. Mind you the game didn't end until midnight - so it was a late night. She thought it was cool that people honked at her - she would yell at them "GO SENS GO!!!" People would run up to her to give her high fives. She didn't complain one time!
Enjoy the photos!

Karen and Zada
group shot
Zada and Dad in their red and black

This was supposed to be girls night!
Street shot

The Scream that makes a mothers heart skip a beat.

2007-05-28T13:07:00.000-04:00

ME - "Zada get ready for school."

Zada - "Ok, I have to go to the bathroom."

ME - "ok."

**Door Locks**

Zada - "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETCHHHHHHHHHHHHH" (the kind of scream heard in many horror movies. The kind that makes your ears pop. The kind that makes your heart STOP.)

ME - "WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OK? WHAT HAPPENED? OMG UNLOCK THE DOOR!!!"

Zada - "MOOOOOOMMM, SCREEAMMMMMM"

ME - "ZADA U N L O C K THE DOOR NOW!!! WHAT IS WRONG"

**door unlocks, pants around ankles. no blood**

ME - "ok, what is wrong, are you hurt???"

Zada - "There's a mosquito on the mirror."

ME - *turns and walks away*

Zada - *standing there waiting for me to get my shot gun out to kill the mosquito* "Well arn't you going to do anything about it, like KILL IT?"

Me- "No."

Camping May 2-4 Weekend

2007-05-23T20:42:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was Canada's long weekend and to kick off the summer we went camping. It's been a tradition of James' group to go every year at this time. If you can recall last year we got majorly rained out. This year we came up with a back up plan IF and WHEN it rains. Thankfully we only got a little rain on Sunday. The nights were pretty cold but it wasn't nearly as bad as waking up to wetness inside the tent. Zada had a great time playing with our friends nephew on Friday and Saturday. James and our friend Adam from Toronto rented a couple lenses for their camera. I had to go through about 200 pictures before picking the perfect ones to toss up here. There were tons.

Catching Up.

2007-05-23T20:38:00.000-04:00

Hello my fellow readers! I'm back! As many of you know James and I made our way back to Sudbury a couple weeks ago for another wedding. It was pretty much a replica of the last wedding only a different groom and a different bride. It was fun fun fun! The wedding was really nice as well. Sudbury is a town you only really should visit once - we have gotten to go twice now and possibly a third time next summer! For guess what - another wedding - same group of people only different bride and different groom.

I took some pictures yesterday.

2007-05-11T08:58:00.000-04:00

I took some pictures yesterday of our back yard. Last weekend James and I bought some mulch to put towards the back of the fence since nothing will grow there, except for my ferns I inherited from our neighbor last year.

Zada got botox yesterday and wanted me to take her picture. JUST KIDDING.

Zada's new "I'm going to trip and scrape my knees 700 times this summer" flip flops.

Major Milestones

2007-05-09T21:52:00.000-04:00

I had hoped to get some pictures up here for you all but I failed... I always think about carrying the camera around with me but then I always seem to forget. Maybe it's because I don't usually carry a purse or bag and thus putting a camera around my neck would be very, I don't know touristy.

Zada has had two very major accomplishments in the last few weeks.

tying her shoe laces
mastering ALL monkey bars

Last summer I worked with Zada on tying - I showed her the basics and told her it would take a lot of practice. Last week she needed new shoes - the only shoes I have been able to find lately in her size are ones with laces. So we bought her shoes with laces but I explained to her she had to learn to tie them before she could wear them to school. After a huge blow out last Friday about shoes over the weekend she was determinded to learn to tie. By SATURDAY she was tying her shoes. No lie. Tying HER_OWN_SHOES_WITH_NO_HELP. It isn't always perfect all of the time but I'm a pretty proud Mom.

Also last summer Zada began trying out the monkey bars but only on a rare occasion did she make them all the way across with no help. A few Tuesdays ago, my day to stay at school, all of Zada's friends called me over to their monkey bars. LINDA LINDA LINDA they all said - ZADA HAS TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING. SO I went over and she made her way all the way across with no help. I'm guessing that they were all impressed because SHE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN DO THEM. HAHA So this weekend at the "Spray Park" There are three different sets of monkey bars. There are the curved ones, the swinging ones and the high mega zooloo ones. She can do all three of them! This is very exciting. She is learning about callused hands - do you remember those? I do. I think my hands are still callused from the monkey bars! What's terrible is when Zada asks me to do them - mommy is too week! lol

Hopefully pictures to come this week.

Our Happy Anniversary.....

2007-05-05T09:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our 1 year anniversary!!! We can't believe an entire year has gone by! We have put up with each other for a whole year... 365 days.... !

To celebrate this exciting occasion James treated me (us) to fancy dining! We went downtown on the market to a restaurant called 18 - Eighteen. It was so elegant and just the perfect atmosphere.

Here is what we indulged in -

James -
Appetizer - Vine-Ripened Tomato Salad
Micha goat cheese, XV OLIVE oil,
DRiED BLACK OLIVE

Dinner - Grilled Alberta12oz. Striploin
fresh peppercorn jus, with sweet potato fries

Desert - peanut butter cheese cake
raspberry core, banana anglaise

Linda -
Appetizer- Vine-Ripened Tomato Salad
Micha goat cheese, XV OLIVE oil,
DRiED BLACK OLIVE

Dinner -
Pan Roasted Heritage Salmon
Jerusalem artichoke puree,
white asparagus, mango chutney

Desert -
Pan Roasted Heritage Salmon
Jerusalem artichoke puree,
white asparagus, mango chutney

We also had coffee and wine and our waiter treated us to a chocolate martini for our anniversary. I would definitely go back!

http://www.restaurant18.com/default.aspx

Doing My Part....

2007-05-03T21:18:00.000-04:00

Today was grocery day. YIPPEEE. The grocery store we go to is selling these very stylish cloth grocery bags for .99 cents. I decided that we needed to pick up at least two of these neat bags especially after seeing them up close. Like most people we have an enormous mound of plastic bags building up. Sure we use them for our garbage cans in the bathrooms but I'm sure we currently have enough for the entire year. I know we will still get plastic bags but at least we will be getting LESS of them! The bags are quite big. They probably hold 5 bags each of groceries. It was nice to carry only a couple bags in tonight.

I personally think it's a really good idea global warming or not... Are you doing your part?

The Great Quest to find Black Cat

2007-05-01T19:32:00.000-04:00

Black Cat got out. She didn't sneak out of the house. I let her out. We kitty-escape proofed the back yard. Sort of. Apparently not well enough. Which is actually kind of funny because it isn't like "petite" Black Cat can get through just any spot. She needs a rather large area to get out. We don't like to discuss these things around Black because shes sensative about her weight. Back to the real story. Somehow she found a hole.

Zada and I were playing in the front yard when we decided it was time to go in (ok I decided it was time - Martha Stewart was on). I made my coffee and was getting settled down for my little tv break when I realized - OH! the Pussy Cats are outside!! When I went out there much to my susprise (not really) the cats were gone. G.O.N.E. I did my little kissy call and Orange came running back to our yard through the little hole they found under the fence. I could hear Black
Cat meowing. The kind of meow you hear when they are stuck in the closet for like nine hours before you finally realize you closed the door.

I went into our neighbors yard and saw that she had gone over the fence towards the back of our house. The only problem was she couldn't jump up onto the fence for me to get her and I couldn't get to her from where I was. She was too...large... to go under the fence. I went back and told Zada to get her shoes on we were going to hunt her down. We went around to see if we could find her but we couldn't really
see or hear her without going through peoples yards. SO we went back home hoping she found her way. Nope. There she was still crying and scared.

To make a long story short, it took me an hour, loosing her three times and going back to our house once to get the cat carrier to bring her home.

She is home and never to be let outside again. Ever. At least not until we dig seven feet under ground and put sheets of steal under the fence, then she will be allowed out. She thought James was going to allow her out - little did she know I phone him at work
to discuss her terrible behavior. She's grounded.

These pictures are post escape.

Well blow me down!

2007-04-26T07:49:00.000-04:00

Tuesday was the absolute windiest day I've seen in a long time! I think it has only been embedded in my memories as the windiest day because it was the day our fence got blown apart! The temperature was wonderful all day but the wind was crazy - I watched a seagull try to fly against the wind and he didn't make it too far!

Zada and I were in the family room watching TV when I heard a loud bang - I peaked outside and sure enough a panel of our fence broke to pieces. Zada and thought this was GREAT! as she and Matt could now see into each others yards. They were giggling and laughing. Apparently this happens often on windy days! After dinner James was able to nail it back together again - for now.

Broken pieces behind the BBQ - This was just before all the boards came apart!

What is she doing? She is holding the stick to the bubbles up to the fence so Matt can blow bubbles! It didn't work too well but when it did you could hear the kids squealing!

Pictures of our Saturday....22C (71F)

2007-04-21T16:33:00.000-04:00

Today we helped out friends out with their house... their front steps were falling apart and quite dangerous. Apparently the owners before hand decided to make make different steps and poured concrete over the previous steps and it was a disaster... anyway... We were there from about 10:30 until 3:30pm... in the sun... needless to say I'm (Linda) sun burned and wiped out! I won't complain though it was absolutly beautiful out!

We did manage to hang out at the park for a little while when the boys ran a few errands.

hahah Zada on the other hand is playing outside right now with her buddies!
I keep thinking all this fresh air will wear her out but it isn't happening!

Enjoy the pictures!

James playing with the Jack-hammer

Megan and Kevin

SPRING, SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!

2007-04-19T22:07:00.000-04:00

It's here, it is finally here! Yesterday and today the temps have been fantastic. Yesterday the high got to 13C.. 13C!!! That to my American friends and family is a whopping 55F... 55!! People were running around like it was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk! Driving home from the grocery store people were jogging wearing sleevless tops, shorts and kids were playing with no coats... hahah It was great!

Today was a high of 15C which is 59F... again it felt like summer! I had the back slidding door wide open to get some fresh air moving through our house. Zada and I have been battling a pretty strong cold the last couple of days so hopefully the CLEAN fresh air will get out! hehe

I am still weary of washing Zada's snow clothes - you never know - winter in May... I apparently wasn't the only Mom trying to wash away winter - one mom I spoke with today had put snow boots away and washed clothes, another mom had THROWN out her kids boots! hahahah I think we might be in the clear!

***immigration has moved to August 1st 2006*** What does that mean for me? We're looking at about 6-8 more weeks and hopefull we will have some definite answers!!! YAYAY!!!

Winter won't go away...

2007-04-16T09:19:00.000-04:00

I would just like to share with all of my friends and family what we woke up to here in Ottawa. Snow. This time not just a little dusting... This time we woke up to like 5 inches of snow if not more. I don't know if I'm more annoyed that there is snow on the ground in April or if I'm annoyed because I have once again washed all of the winter "stuff" in hopes to store it away for the winter. Just yesterday I took all of our scarfs, mitts, hats, snow pants and washed them. I have decided I will wash everything in August hopefully by then the snow will be a thing of the past - for a couple months anyway!

Enjoy the pics...

back yard

back yard

front yard

it's all worth it...

2007-04-12T21:12:00.000-04:00

So today was grocery day. Normally the whole family goes but this time James had a lot of stuff to get done tonight so just Zada and I went. As most parents know what it's like to take a child shopping well it can be a hair-raising experience. From "MOM, look at this" to "MOM, I NEED THESE OREO COOKIES." Or "Hey James where's Zada?". So on the way there I explained to Zada I really needed her to be my helper. I laid down the rules;

stay close to me
don't wander off
no begging
no running (she enjoys running up and down the isles touching every sign in sight.

We got through the fruit and veggie section and life was grand! Simply grand. She was being such a huge helper and a great listener. We got to the meat section I was looking for decent cuts of chicken breast and this gentelman started to talk with me; he said "Excuse me, I would just like to tell you that your daughter has wonderful manners as she passed me and said excuse me." He then went on to say "I just want to thank you for that." Wow. It's working. The pleases and the thank yous and the excuses... it's working. I dropped right to her level and told her how proud I was of her. She then informed me that she just didn't want to bump him as he was starting to back up on her!! WOW. That makes a mamma proud.

a five year old's perception...

2007-04-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

Today's weather was pretty nice today - the wind was a bit chilly but the sun was shinning and that right there speaks volumes. Before comming home we stopped off at the park to burn off some more winter energy for about an hour. I must say it's nice to be able to just walk home with out trying to rush to get into warmth - ahh Spring.

When we approached our street the kids were all out riding bikes and playing street hockey. As some of you may already know our street is mostly boys. Older boys. Boys that think girls are gross - except when the OTHER boys are busy - then girls are ok to play with. We all remember those days. One of Zada's little "boy friends" was riding his bike and there was another one trying to hide from Zada. From my take he was hiding because he wasn't wanting to play with a girl at that time... he was hanging with his BOY friends. He had even called out her name and she simply ignored him. She of course had no desire to play as there was chocolate waiting for her at the end of the long journey home. She saw the little boy "hiding" and she said... "Mom, I know why he's hiding from me." I said oh yeah? She said very seriously, "He must think I'm the Fairy Godmother because of that fairy outfit I bought last year." Just like that. Yes Zada that must be it.

Easter...

2007-04-10T20:27:00.000-04:00

Easter morning was very funny. The funny bunny as we like to call him in our house, decided to leave some chocolate eggs in front of Zada's door. *Rewind* When I was putting her to bed the Easter-eve she was SURE that the bunny couldn't get up the stairs so he would only be able to hide the eggs on the main floor of the house. *fastfwd* So Easter morning I hear "oh my goodness" then I hear "this cannot be happening". She was totally stumped as to how that bunny got up the stairs. Apparently he hopped and had fluffy feet so we couldn't hear him. James and I made her wait until we were up sort of awake.

She was excited to search for the eggs and her basket. The bunny hid her basket and gave her clues. (The bunny's hiding spot and clues weren't all that great, I think s(he) had a couple too many pina colada's the night before). She spotted the basket before the clues were read! hahah It was kind of funny to watch her look for the chocolate eggs - there was no rush. I can remember my sister and I hunting for eggs and it was a mad dash and a little fighting to get the most eggs. Not in our little single-child family. NO RUSH. Infact there was still 1 plastic egg leftover on Monday.



Sunday afternoon we went to the Agricultural Museum to look at the the baby animals. They also had an Easter Egg hunt in the horse stables. All the kids got 3 chocolate eggs a piece. She couldn't wait to get her eggs and get out of there. (see picture below).


From there we headed to James' parents for dinner. Food, Dessert, candy. It was Tastey!! Zada and I took a little walk after dinner, she called it a hunt for the Easter Bunny, I called it wear-off-the-chocolate-and sugar-before-bed walk.

Zada was asked by her teacher today what kind of goodies she got for Easter - her response. "not a lot of chocolate and some highlighters." HHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH She got a boat load of chocolate and 4 tiny highlighters! hahah

Let the "Reno's" Begin!

2007-04-09T14:30:00.000-04:00

As they say Spring has sprung - you wouldn't know it if you stepped outside. Or looked outside Easter morning and noticing the SNOW on the ground. We were laughing that we had more snow on Easter than we did on Christmas!

It seems that up here in the north when Easter Long Weekend hits so do the house projects. As some of you know we are refinishing out kitchen cabinets. If you also know it's been quite the process. (Pro-cess). Last summer when my parents were up, my dad (who has built, refinsihed, worked on, constructed and you name it with cabinets) gave James and I some ideas on products to use. Once the cold hit the cabinet working STOPPED. We had been working
in 0ur garage due the amount of sanding and dust and well frankly we got burned out.

Saturday we made a trip to Home-Depot, (You can do it, We can help!) along with everyone else! Not sure how it happened but the interest in finishing the cabinets became overwhelming to me. We picked up a different product as the one we were using was sold out and we also picked up some different scraping tools instead of steal wool.

I have been spending my day working on the last two doors on the finished side and I am so thrilled at our new products. It really seems to be working better. Learn as you go. My goal is to get the cabinet doors finished by the end of the summer. I'll keep you posted!

I haven't forgotten about Easter.. how could I with the amount of candy and easter grass laying everywhere in our living room! Oh and also that last plastic Egg the silly bunny hid that Zada can't seem to find! lol I will have new pictures up with an exciting story this week!

Bloggers-block

2007-04-05T19:53:00.000-04:00

Hello to all of my regular readers that have come back daily to see what exciting things have been happening in the world of JLZ. (That's J.L."ZED". btw). Nothing overly exciting has happened, well unless I tell you about the banana I tried to peel on Tuesday. It looked ripe to me but well it wasn't and when I finally cut the banan OUT of it's peel and took a bite it was NASTY. Have you ever eaten a not quite rip banana? DON'T.

I think my lack of "stuff" happening or lack of blogging is this terrible (GLOBAL WARMING) weather I'm just kind of stagnet. Today we woke up to snow on the ground. Not a lot just enough to annoy you and then like that it was gone. When James came down the stairs this morning he was singing a Christmas Jingle. So Spring WHERE ARE YOU????????

I realized that I hadn't posted any pictures of my little 5 year old...excuse me my OLD 5 year old since around her birthday and entire month ago!! You all must be wondering just how big she has gotten. HUGE. There are so many things she is able to do now that she if 5. It's cute whenever she accomplishes something that she hasn't been able to do before she says "well, I am five." And she says as if DUH why wouldn't she be able to do it. SHE _IS_ FIVE.

The Easter Bunnie stopped by Zada's classroom on Wednesday while they were playing dodge ball in the gym. The kids had dyed hollowed out REAL eggs last week and then we (myself and another mom) filled the eggs with chocolates and then hid them for the kiddos to find them. It was so much fun and of course I forgot my camera. Many of the children in Zada's classed didn't really know what an Easter Egg hunt was so it was fun to watch them!

I will have some more pictures I'm sure this weekend...We are all home Friday-Monday! Woho!

Zada and her "twins"

Shorts already?

2007-03-27T20:25:00.000-04:00

It occured to me today that I haven't posted anything in a couple days - ok I was informed that I needed to post. I find that I get writters block sometime, nothing to really discuss or nothing really interesting happens. I can only write about walking to school and walking home from school before you readers will get bored and stop comming by.

Today was awesome - the weather got to around 55F. That has maybe been the warmest day so far this Spring. Our cousin was in town from BC so the family all went out for dinner. I think half of Ottawa had the same idea - as we went to two different places and the waits were around 40 mins plus. SO we went to Elgin Street Diner. SO yummy.

What I found amusing and interesting were the people. Many of whom were wearing skirts - no tights, t-shirts, shorts, and oh my sleevless tops. Sure many of them were joggers. Some where not - and quite frankly 55F isn't THAT HOT. I guess that's what it is to be Canadian. I'm not there yet - I'm still wearing a coat.

When will it end?

2007-03-24T22:15:00.000-04:00

Today was a very eventfull day. Lately our Saturday's have consisted up drinking coffee, watching tv, watching more tv, and well watching more tv. Today was different - maybe because Spring is in the air. This morning after breakfast we went to Micheals for a free family event. Zada got to make a bird out of clay and feathers, a magnetic picture frame and this cute little paper lantern. Then we went shopping for a birthday present for our little friend Holden who is turning 2. Then we headed off to Holdens house for a little party.

Our friends just moved into a house with 8 achers 20 mins. from where we live. Their goal is to raise Alpacas. Their house is gigantic. Not in the ridiculous sense of 9 bedrooms but it's really long. When I walked into the house and looked to my left I saw the longest hallway I've ever seen! I think Aaron said it was like 70 ft long or something crazy! Lots of room!

While we were there it started to snow. It was the most beautiful snow I think we have had all winter. By the time we left the car was completely covered. (Why did we go to the car wash today?) As we were driving home all I could think and feel was - I can't wait to open Christmas gifts tomorrow. *ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR* (the sounds of squeeling tires) HOLD UP. It's March.... It's MARCH 24th.... This kind of snow is supposed to happen in December NOT MARCH. *RING RING* MOTHER NATURE SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE!

All I can think about now is it melting! lol