Presents!

Macie did very good for her 1st time opening presents. She started right off ripping at the 1st present and was very surprised to find a cool ball toy inside....but that is where we lost her. She had no desire to open up any more presents. But with a little coaxing and Belle and Nathaniel doing most...okay all of the work, the rest of the presents were opened. She received Books from the Sketchleys, Clothes from Lolo, the Fishers, and Lola and Tita . Mom and Dad gave her a Megablocks Musical farm and From Belle, Nathaniel and Addie, Macie received a Giraffe ball toy. She really enjoyed the evening. Christmas morning is really going to be fun!

Lets Eat Cake

It was chocolate...icing and all. And it was nummy. Auntie Anne was a little....okay a lot worried that I was eating chocolate cake in my pretty pink dress. But mom was not worried....I had a bib. And I did really good considering. Mom did have to wash my dress because I got a little chocolate on the sleeve...but overall I did great. .....oh was it nummy!

Look Who's One!

My how things have changed in a year! She went from this sweet little new born to an active, bright eyed sweetheart. It was so much fun celebrating with her today. Check out the next couple of posts about today.

Can't forget Macie's 1st snow experience

This was yesterday afternoon just after the snow started. After her nap, Addie took and bundled Macie up to take her outside. She had a lot of fun looking out the window to watch Belle and Nathaniel playing in the snow, so out she went. I wasn't so much fun when she was out in the cold. So back in she came to watch out the window.

Let it Snow, Let It Snow...and snow and snow..........

It started snowing on Saturday morning and didn't stop! Not something too unusual unless you add the fact that this is the Lower Mainland and we are not suppose to get any snow let alone this much snow. By Sunday morning church was canceled and there was enough snow to make a family of snow men. Or as Belle and Nathaniel built...Daddy snowman, Mommy snowman, Nathaniel snowman and Addie snowman....then they got bored and started building snow forts. It was cute watching them build the mommy and the daddy as they were trying to get them to hold hands. But gave up when no matter how hard they tired they couldn't get the stick to reach and the snowball put between them to look like hands would not stay. The daddy snowman Ramon had to fix as it had no hair, so he dug in the snow and found some leaves and put them on the daddy snowman so he had some hair.
Addie popped out for a short snowball fight, until dad took and got her with a snow shovel of snow, then it wasn't so fun.
Ramon ended his time outside shoveling the driveway by dropping in the snow and making a snow angel. Gee, you would think that he never had snow growing up? hehehe
They all had a great day playing out in the snow, but it wont last as the Pineapple express is on its way and should be starting any time now, giving us about a 100mm of rain in a 24 hour block. so tomorrows post.....how we survived the flood!

Halloween Costumes

Tonight is Halloween.....and the kids were just too cute. They all picked there own costumes...except Macie. This year Belle and Nathaniel bought their own while we were in the states two weeks ago. Macie was Little Red Ridinghood. Nathaniel was Darth Vader. Isabella was a Pink Punk Pirate. Addie was "Hanna Montana"

1st Day Of School

September 4th marked the 1st day of School. Nathaniel started grade 2 and his teacher is Mrs. Taylor. Isabella is starting grade 3 and her teacher is Mrs. Halfnite. Addie is starting High School this year. She is in grade 8. Her 1st term is Math, Gym, Band (Flute), French with option rotation of fine arts which has classes of Choir, Art, Drama and info Tech.

The Hellavator

Yes........Ramon and Addie actually got on that thing. It is a ride that shoots you stories into the sky.....bounces you a couple of times.....hold you at the top for a few minutes......then sends you plunging to the ground and stopping you just before you hit.....Ramon's comment after was it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.....Addie's comment was......that was not scary at all.......I could have fallen asleep.....that girl is going to be the death of me......

The PNE and Playland

We took a break from moving and celebrated the last day of summer and went to the PNE and Playland......though we spent most of our time at Playland.....we just couldn't get the kids off of the rides. See the next post for a special report on Addie and Ramon's little ride......anyways. Everyone had a great time. Even Macie enjoyed her ride on the Merry-Go--Round. Belle got braver as the day went on.....even attempting going on the "Gladiator" Nathaniel was showing no fear....mom had to limit his thrills as this was his 1st year at the fair.

We Are Moved.......

.....sort of. We started the moving at 7:30 am on Saturday morning......by 6:00 pm we still had stuff to move. But we were all tired so we called it a day. We still have the old place for a month, so we will just get the rest out over the next week or two while we clean. Now we just need to unpack and find a place for everything. I've posted pictures of the house the morning after the move. Once we are settled I will post pictures of the finished product.

One week left

Today there is no picture...because we are busy with the packing.....we get the keys to our new home next Friday...........ya. Once we are settled we will get some pictures of the house with us in it. Hope everyone is enjoying the end of their summer.............

New Home

Well the subjects have been removed and now it is official....we have a new home! It is a 2200 sq foot home with a finished basement. The front yard is huge and so is the back. Each of the kids will get their own room. We have a cherry tree and a pear tree in the front and also a few different types of berries. The main floor has the original hard wood floor throughout. The kitchen and the bathroom have been updated. There are three bedrooms on the main floor. The basement is finished with two more bedrooms, raise laminate floors, kitchen and 2nd bathroom. We take possession on the 31st of Aug. with our big move on the Saturday! Now we are in the process of de-junking 7 years of stuff. Anyone want to come and help? Once we are in I will post more pictures of the inside.

The Concert

Well the day finally came...Aug. 3, 2007...the Hillary Duff Concert and were the girls ever excited. Addie has been waiting for three years to see her and now her chance was finally here. Though she almost didn't make it. The day before she went tubing with the youth group and received a very bad sun burn on her shoulders, back, legs and face, thus she was not feeling well. But she recovered in time. Belle was happy until she realized that there was a lot of waiting involved. Then she was not so happy! Because it was the start to a long weekend and the bridge traffic would be horrible, we left early, before the real bad traffic started. We got to the Pacific Colosseum at about 5:00 pm...after stopping for some dinner at McDonalds. Because the doors were not being opened until 6:30 pm, we had to wait out side for one and a half hours....we were 1st in our line though...... But the wait turned into a longer wait as they were having light trouble, so they didn't let us in until 6:45...then we had to wait for the start of the show...and then it wasn't Hillary...it was the opening act..DJ Superfly from the Beat radio station....he was only on for about 20 minutes....then we waited some more until 8:20 before Hillary came out. At about 8:10 Belle announced that she should have gone with Daddy and Nathaniel to see Underdog.....that would be more fun. But the concert finally started and it was a great show. Addie wants to see her again when she comes back. We did manage to see Isabella's friend Emma there. Their seats were about 4 sections to the right of us. After the show we walked to the parking with them. We would have had more pictures except the battery died just after we took this one of us heading into the PNE grounds.

Macie's 1st Chocolate Chip Cookie

Today Addie made homemade chocolate Chip cookies. They were really yummy. So Yummy that Macie wanted to try one, so we gave her a little peice, which turned into two, to three....ect. She had quite the look on her face when she tasted the chocolate...then this smile grew across her face......and another chocolate lover is born!

An Afternoon at the park

This afternoon the rain finally stopped so we decided to go out and play at the park and get some fresh air. We went to Hawthorn Park. there Macie got to have a swing ride...okay several, she loves the swing. Nathaniel had fun throwing the football around with his friends...man he can throw that ball. He almost hit me and I was a distance from him. He threw it hard and straight. In between swing rides Macie got to go on the wiggle turtle. She is getting better with her balance as she was able to hold on and not fall off all by her self....she was so proud of that...that she smiled for the camera (what else is new!) Then it was back to the swing...this time Isabella was pushing Macie. Addie had her just a giggling because she was making funny noises when she would swing close to her. Then, for fun, Addie decided to take Macie to the water park...just to see if she would cry at the water, but nope. She got some drops on her head and put her hand in the water and was laughing. Maybe I need to bath her at the water park. Well that was our afternoon.

Lori

As for me...I am the keeper of ZOO. A really big job. In my spare time I....what spare time come to think about it. Anyways....in addition to running the zoo I do before and after school care for about 4 kids....was 6 but two are old enough to take care of themselves. I work p/t at Tom's Sewing Machine doing odds and ends, right now I am working on up-dating their web-site klssewing.com .....I am a Stampin' Up demonstrator and I am currently preparing to be a partisipant in the 1st anuual BC Creative Expo in Nov. I will be having a booth and teaching about 5 classes on scrapbooking and card making. I will also have a class on how to get organized.....yes I can be organized...my family just works against me. I will get a link to the show web-site up soon so you can check things out. At church I am teaching 12/13 year old Sunday School and love it. I have a great group of kids. I also was just called a few months ago as a Cub leader.....the jury is still out on that one. Well that is all I can think about at this time, will add more as things come up.....yes I am still Blonde....Carma got a hold of my hair and a bottle of colouring.....hoping to fix the Blonde brain....no it didn't work, still Blonde as ever and Addie is following in my foot steps! I am so proud of her.

Ramon

Ramon, were to start? Well he is loving his job a JP Morgan Chase and has big plans of going far with the company. Most mornings he gets his exercise by running to work (we live about 6 miles from work). In his spare time he sometimes goes and helps a friend fix sewing machines...Ramon with tools.....he likes to play on the game cube, and his calling at church keeps him busy too. Not much else I can think about at this time.......and Addie says he is little weird. But then Nathaniel has to get it from somewhere.

Macie

On the 14 th of Dec....our little "surprise" was born. Miss Mercedes Concepcion Prince Bandong (Macie for short) was born at 7:45 am weighing 7lbs 11 oz. And what a blessing she has been. She has made her self at home the minute she was born, our world seams to revolve around her. She has a very quite spirit about her and is happy most of the time. Two weeks ago she got her 1st two teeth to add to that smile. Now she is working on crawling. She is not your usual filipina....as she was born with blonde hair and blue eyes. to date her hair is still blonde and her eyes still have a blue tinge to them. Her biggest dislike is water. We put her anywhere near water or a bath tub and she screams like she is being murdered. We took her to the beach and got her feet wet, she was surprisingly calm..so we thought maybe she might like ocean water.......nope the next time we tried she screamed until we moved her away from the water.......she is a land lover...unlike her older sisters who we can't keep away from the water.