Snappy Happy and Walky Talky

Today Austin got the thought into his head to go and take some pictures... including of himself! I have to admit that he did a very good job of it!

Later in the afternoon, we took Gidget on a walk to a "dog-friendly" park. Austin enjoyed the natural setting and took advantage of every stick and rock outcropping he could find. Here's Austin being "King of the Castle". Of course, I had to take a picture of Emma as well who was sitting contentedly in the stroller. To tell the truth, I think she was fighting sleep about this time!

Rachel and the kids stopped by just before dinner and we had a fun night spending time together. The kids always love when we get together; it's hard to get them to leave. I think that Emma was still wound up a little later when I tried to get her ready for bed. Check her out in her "bedtime routine." Don't miss her "bye-bye" wave at the end!

Wacky Hair Day and a Loose Tooth

Today was a fun day for the kids. It started with a spirit day at school, "Wacky Hair Day" and ended with Abigail pulling out her loose tooth! This tooth has been poking it's way forward for a while now, due to the new tooth pushing it's way down and out. For some reason my kids seem to think that there's no rush when it comes to taking out their loose baby teeth and we've often had to resort to being the Teeth Pirates and take the looty by force. Today was no different... we had to pin Abigail down, force her mouth open and wiggle it partly free. The difference is that we let her go to the bathroom and check it out for herself. It took her awhile but she was very happy to report that she pulled her tooth out on her own! I guess she just had to work up the nerve to do it!

Tree-Huggers

On Saturday, the whole family participated in a tree planting activity in celebration of Earth week. Sponsored by CLOCA (Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority), their aim was to plant 3, 500 tree seedlings that will grow into a 7-acre mixed tree forest. It was nice to be given an opportunity to help in such a worthy cause. Abigail had been very "green" all week; writing out notes of things to do to help the environment (do not litter topping the list), so I was a little disappointed by the fact that she ended up getting a blister on the trek to where we were planting the trees. Suffice it to say that by the end of the activity, all the Bremners were happy!

Austin announced to the group that he found our perfect spot for a picnic next time we come....

Everyone's favourite part may have been the yummy food that was barbequed for us as participants of the activity. It's nice to have such sweet rewards for your service!

Splish Splash - Emma Had a Bath!

As soon as Naomi saw Emma in her hooded towel, she couldn't resist snapping away some pics of her!

A New Sister - "Just For One Day"

While preparing to go to Passover dinner yesterday at Rachel's, Abigail played hairdresser to Austin (looks like she really could've used another sister close to her age!). I suppose it was more of a makeover since make-up was also involved. Austin himself told us that he wanted to be a girl "just for one day." When we told him that he'd regret this in 5 years, his response was "I don't care." Oh, the innocence of babes!

Strike a Pose!

It's always more difficult than it looks to get the kids posed for a shot - not everyone wants to cooperate at the same time! Emma decided to stay awake for all of church today so she didn't have her first nap until church was over (@2:30). Hence, she posed as Sleeping Beauty!

From the Mouth of Babes

We all know that kids say the darndest things so I thought the kids should send along their congratulations to Sarah, Chris and Baby Parson. Here they are.....

On a Parsonal Note

Naomi and I thought we should also send along our well wishes so we made a special video for the Parson family too. Of course, ours is slightly embarrassing but we don't mind you having a laugh at our expense. It's the thought that counts, right?

It's So Easy!

Found a new video - this time Abigail's responsible for keeping Emma going. It's so cute how a certain phrase will keep babies entertained and happy! You never know what's going to get them started!

Nov./Dec. 2007

Dancing Machine!

Austin's a dancing machine - as evidenced by this video captured by Auntie Naomi! Check out how he's holding Gidget's leash the whole time he's dancing ("I've got you babe"). Guess it helped him get his groove!

This is from Apr. 12th as we're just about to leave for our weekend at the farm.

Sand in My Eye

This is a video from Labour Day weekend. We camped the weekend at Presqu'ile with the Stoklosas, the Harrisons and the Lynches. Mom and Dad came up on the Sunday for the day and then Shawn's parents joined us on Labour Day. Beautiful weekend; beautiful memories!

"Boo!"

Can you tell I'm having fun? LOL! While waiting for the last video to upload, I realized that months ago we tried to share a video with Sarah (we tried emailing it and I *think* we tried uploading it to smugmug) but were unsuccessful. Since this is so easy, I've been going through the picture folders and finding other videos that we've taken of the kids. Since the purpose of this blog is mostly for Sarah to "see" her precious nieces and nephews, I figured she wouldn't mind seeing what other videos I can hunt up. She's gonna love this one!

"Boo!"

The One and Only!

So while looking through the pics that I transferred from my camera to the computer today (the earliest ones were from Nov.), I came across this video that Shawn had taken of Austin and Emma. He's not sure when he took it but it has to be sometime in the fall (judging from the length of Austin's hair and the old tv unit that didn't fit the new tv). I have to say that I don't remember Emma *ever* watching tv either so this must have been the one and only time!

There's No Such Thing as a Coincidence

After Abigail "doodled" in my daytimer at church yesterday, Austin asked if he could. There was only a couple of minutes left in the meeting but I was happy to oblige him. :) After he handed the book back to me, telling me that he'd drawn a picture since Abigail had, I quickly flipped through the pages to find his pic. I couldn't believe what I found.... Look at the date of his happy face drawing. There is no such thing as a coincidence!

The Challenge

This is a work in progress but our family is learning the AOF. We started challenging one another a couple of weeks ago and it's really helped with our retention. I have to say that Abigail has especially taken the challenge to heart -- mommy and her are neck in neck in terms of our memorization. So far we have #1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 memorized. I'm amazed at how Abigail remembers which # is which! Yesterday at church I suggested she write out some of the AOF during sacrament. The proof is in the pudding:

She couldn't resist adding some personal artistry to the page!

Speaking of Ethan....

The proud winner!

I should let everyone know that Ethan won the Kub Kar Rally for all of Oshawa! It was a very exciting time for Ethan (and his partner in crime, aka Dad) who had a labour intensive week completing the car in order to have it in top form for the competition.

He just can't help himself.....

He's a Good Boy!

It's time to spread some Ethan love.... I just wanted to brag how great he is. He came home from school and planned out his night - homework, computer, and "the thing that Dad wanted him to do" (of course, the usual snack - a bowl full of cereal - goes without saying!). He set right to work and he is presently outside collecting the garbage off the yard. What a good boy!

Everyone at Easter

Eastertime means time for family pics. You can probably tell that it was hard to get a picture of everyone smiling *at the same time* in these pics.

Egg-citing Eastertime

The family enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend together with our families. We had the Carmichael Easter dinner on Good Friday (complete with our traditional Resurrection Rolls which Ethan and Abigail explained to the younger kids. Each one teach one.) and then spent the night. Shawn loves lazy days at the farm and Sat. was no exception. (How many naps did you enjoy, honey?) We watched Hairspray for the first time and everyone loved it.

Sunday was the Easter program at church and then a quiet family day at home. We pulled out the Resurrection Eggs after dinner and went over the Easter story. It's one of the kids favourite activities. I love the details they can remember of the significance of each object in the Easter story. Amazing.

On Monday we enjoyed dinner with the Bremners. It was nice because even Shawn's brother Jared joined us for the event. Even though he lives in TO, he doesn't manage to make it to all the family dinners though we've seen him more often of late.

These Boots Were Made for Walkin'

Emma is now officially on the go! As if her crawling at 6 mths wasn't bad enough, she's now decided that it's time for her to get up and go. (Daddy may have been slightly responsible for encouraging her in this regard - it's amazing what a little clapping can do!) She started taking her first steps at 9 mths and these pics are taken at 10 mths on Mar. 1st.

A funny story about the power of postive reinforcement. Our home teachers were over and Emma took this opportunity to perform all of her tricks: wave bye-bye, dance (swing head from side to side very fast)

and walk. We kept clapping and she kept performing. The funniest part was when she decided to do all 3 at the same time! Can someone say dizzy? Precious little performer.

Blog on the Brain

I told you that I've been meaning to start this blog since Easter so I thought I better do some recaps. I guess I better start with older news first and make my way up to more recent events. So here goes....

Emma started getting her first tooth in Feb. Here is a picture of one her last "toof-less" grins. It's taken on Feb. 25.

Better Late Than Never!

So, here I am sitting at my parents house writing my first post...which I've been meaning to do since at least Easter... though Sarah's been bugging me to do it probably longer than that! The impetus today has been two-fold. One, I'm sitting at my parents house and don't have as many "to-do" things as when I'm at home (though does stitching up the hole in Abigail's sweater and ironing the boys dress shirts for church tomorrow count?) and two, my dad actually mentioned that Rachel has a blog now too. Can you believe it? So, I'm officially jumping on the bandwagon. First, Facebook and now a blog. What's next?