some pix

Happy Birthday

It was a day of birthdays on the 20th. Cole turned 8, so Happy Birthday Buddy!! I hope you had a fun day! There is something in the mail heading your way! It was also the day that Madalyn reached the 4 month mark! To celebrate we went to Grande Prairie. We had to take my computer to Future Shop to get it fixed and we had some Christmas gift certs to spend at Michaels and Zellers. We managed to get Madalyn a snowsuit for next year from Sears for only 20 bucks! We were pretty impressed with ourselves! Let's hope it fits her then!
The day was running perfectly. We got all the things accomplished that we wanted to and had fun doing it. On the way home we were talking about how wellbehaved Madalyn had been and how well behaved Scout had been. Of course, no trip is complete without some explosive diarrhea. That's right, you read that correctly. We were driving in the dark about 20 minutes from home when we heard a most disturbing sound. Oh how we wish it had been Madalyn, but no, alas, it was Scout!! We pulled over at the first available place (the top of the Taylor hill at the truck pulloff)to discover that Scout had hit the floor, the door the back of the seat and of course the blanket on the seat she had been sitting! What a mess!! We ending up wiping up what we could, and throwing out the blanket which was a lost cause. Luckily we had a second blanket we could cover the seat with so Scout could sit there until we got home without getting any more on her. Of course the sudden stop coupled with cold air from the doors opening (and I am sure the smell as well) caused Madalyn to wake up in an unhappy mood and she then cried for the last 15 minutes home!
It all ends well though. Madalyn calmed down as soon as we walked in the door and fed her and changed her. Scout had a bath as did the back of the car. The stains have come out and the smell has disappeared as well. So it all turned out fine in the end! From now on, I will not comment on good behaviour from either of them until we are home safe and sound!

Back to the Great White North

Well, we have all made it safely back to Fort St John. It did take us longer to get back than we had planned due to a blizzard, but it all worked out all right in the end.
Madalyn and Scout and I arrived in Grande Prairie on Tuesday afternoon and the pilot had mentioned, prior to landing, that it was -6 with a bit of snow. When we actually stepped out of the plane the snow was blowing and it seemed a lot colder than -6.
We met Chris inside the terminal where he told us a storm was coming so we had better head on the road for the two hour drive to FSJ. Originally we had planned to spend the afternoon in GP and get some shopping done, but we had to abandon that in hopes of beating the weather. We made it just past the half way point when we decided to give up because of white out conditions. For those of you who read the blog and do not live in snowy parts of the world, white out conditions are caused by blowing snow, where you can't see anything but white, so you suddenly lose any point of reference and have no idea what direction you're driving in or if you are still on the road. Very Scary!
So, we spent the night at the Super 8 in Dawson Creek. Madalyn seemed to take her first hotel stay in stride. She was just happy after a day of travelling to be able to stretch out and do some wiggling! She spent the night sharing a queen-sized bed with Scout! Here's a picture of her during her first hotel experience.

Baptism photos

Madalyn was baptized in Winnipeg on Thursday Decemeber 28th, and these are a couple of pictures that are just too cute to not share!

Happy New Year

We've ended offf 2006 by spending time with family and friends in Winnipeg and that is how we're starting 2007! I think we've got a good start to the year.
From Madalyn, Scout, Chris and me: Happy 2007!

Countdown!

Ten hours to go and we'll be in Winnipeg!

Hittin' the Jackpot in more ways than one

#1. Miss Madalyn has decided that it is now a good idea to sleep through the night! She has done it two nights in a row. What's funny is the panic it causes in us, when we both leap out of bed at 630 in the morning realizing she hasn't woken up in the night, and run to the crib to make sure she is still breathing! Hopefully we'll get used to the idea soon and relax!

#2. My work Christmas party was last night and Chris and I each won the two top prizes! I came away with a beautiful basket filled with wine, wine glasses, and some fancy wine accessories! Chris came away with printer that is also a copier and fax machine! It can also pring photos right from the camera card! We paid 15 bucks for one dinner ticket and came away with over 300 dollars worth of prizes. I'd say that's a pretty good deal!

In other news: We left Madalyn with a babysitter last night and had our first night out together without her. We had lots of fun while Madalyn had a good time with a friend's mum. Aside from everyone asking me how I was doing without her every five minutes it was a great night! For the record, I thought of her often throughout the night and did miss her, but I was not worried a bit about her!

Chris' work party is this afternoon and kids are going to this one, so I imagine it will be shorter than the one last night. We'll be having two turkey dinners in two days! I guess that is how you know Christmas is fast approaching!

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend!

The bravery of a scaredy-cat dog

So the weather has finally turned and we've gone from -40 to +5!!! Such a relief! Scout, Madalyn and I have been able to get back into our routine of daily walks, which have been real workouts since we have to trudge through heavy melting snow now! For anyone who has not met Scout, she is known to be one of the wussiest, most skittish dogs on the planet! She is such a chicken! Usually she is scared of anyone new and different, and if given the choice, would run the other way. This past week, though, she has decided that she is now a guard dog, and must protect her mummy and baby. Three times this week we have come across different people on our walk and each time they have come close to us and said something (usually "hi") Scout gets her heckles up and barks at them! I don't know where this timid creature has found these little moments of bravery, but it is a tad distressing! It would be one thing if it was some strange suspicious man and we were in a dark alley, but no, she seems to now do it at anyone who walks by. We'll now have to get her out of that habit!! The mail carrier tamed her today with a doggie treat on our walk. If only all non-threatening strangers carried dog treats!

More cuteness

Cute as a Button

So, we've been getting complaints about our lack of blogging in the last few weeks, so here's an update. We've been busy with visitors lately. Chris' friend Matt from Saskatoon came up for just shy of a week and then Allison and Sang arrived for four days. We enjoyed the company and had fun with everybody.
We've had bucket loads of snow up here and it has been pretty cold (between -10 and -25 for the past few weeks. It feels like the middle of January not November. It's a far cry from last November when there was no snow on the ground and it was above zero until after Christmas!!
Madalyn is becoming more and more interactive every day and therefore more and more fun! She's making all sorts of fun faces and really starting to enjoy looking at and touching her toys.
We're getting excited for our trip back to Winnipeg. I think we have 3 weeks and two days to go!

Getting Strong

Madalyn is getting better and better at holding up her head and keeping it up for quite some time.

Playtime

Madalyn and Scout spend part of every morning playing on the floor gym and they both love it. We've even caught Scout playing with it by herself! She loves to push the nose of the train so that it plays music!

Visitors

Allison and Sang came up for a visit a few weeks ago and we were very happy to see them. It was fun to hang out together and show off Madalyn. Madalyn enjoyed all the extra cuddles and they even had the patience to teach me and Chris canasta (I am terrible at card games.

Sweetpea

This is Madalyn a few days ago after a bath. Usually she is very calm and relaxed when she' in the tub, but she hates getting out and will scream until she is dry and dressed again! Well, the other night she only fussed for a couple of seconds when coming out of the tub and was quiet! Here she is all wrapped up in her towel looking like a little pea in a pod!

Trick or Treat!

This is Madalyn on her first Halloween. Since it seemed near impossible to find a Halloween costume to fit her, we decided to add some brown ears to a fleecy brown outfit she had for going outside in. She is supposed to be a little bear cub. So cute!! No trick or treating for her tonight although she did visit Mummy's work today and is helping Daddy hand out candy tonight. Hope everyone is having a safe and fun Halloween!

Sweet Smiles

Madalyn is down for her midday nap, so I thought I would take the time to do a little blogging. I don't think I've posted anything since she's been born!
She turned one month old last Friday and over the weekend she has begun to grace us with genuine smiles! She gets all excited and then gives a big smile that has a nice little cooing sound that goes along with it. The first time she gave me one she made me cry because it was just the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen! She loves giving smiles to Chris when he talks to her in funny voices. She's still quite the night owl, but getting a bit better.
In other news, Scout, Madalyn and I went for our daily walk yesterday (Chris was at home watching Sunday football)and we came across a group of deer. We were walking down the sidewalk and this deer came out of the bushes. She stood there looking at us, so we stopped and looked back. Then I thought, "Deer are harmless, right? I can walk towards it and past it." So I started walking towards it, and then it started to walk towards me, which made me think hat wasn't such a good idea. So we turned to walk back the way we had come and then the deer ran across the road. Two more deer jumped across the road after the first, and we then continued on our normal route. Scout was very interested in the deer. I'd love to know what she thinks of them. Does she think they are really big dogs, or other animals? It would be so interesting to get inside their heads and see what goes on in there.
Madalyn is starting to wake up, so that's my cue to sign off!

Wedding weekend

We made it through the weekend of wedding celebrations and had a wonderful time. The Canadian wedding was on Saturday and Allison looked beautiful in her dress. Mary, Christine and I had lots of fun being bridesmaids, and speeches seemed far less stressful this time around. They had an excellent venue for pictures and for dinner and great fun was had by all!
The next evening we had a Vietnamese celebration for Allison and Sang which was a fun and interesting expereience as well. We saw and tasted all sorts of foods we hadn't before and the explanations of how things were made was pretty interesting. Allison and Sang looked smashing again, but I am sure with this having been there second day of pictures that their face muscles must have been sore! We'll put up a few pictures when we get their permission, but right now they are off camping, so you'll have to wait a little bit for that.
Hope everyone else had a fun weekend too!

Wedding Bells

Today is Allison and Sang's big day and we are so happy that we were able to make it back to Winnipeg so that we could be a part of it. Baby is so far cooperating and showing no signs of making his/her appearance today so hopefully we will make it through the day! It's going to be lots of fun and we can't wait!! Weddings are always so much fun! I'm off to get my hair done now!