BabySzala

2009-09-01T15:11:00.004-04:00

Happy September 1st!

Sorry for the delay - life got busy! We moved, Mike had his surgery, I had a baby and now we can relax!

Jeremy Cooper Dean Szala arrived 15 days early on Wednesday August 12th at 20h06 weighing 9 pounds 5 oz. He is now nearly three weeks old. Lily is enjoying being a big sister and likes telling us when 'Jeremy' wants chocolate ice cream :-)

Mike is fully recovered from his surgery to correct his sleep apnea and we'll know in three weeks time how successful it was. Thus far, Mike is happy with the results.

As of today, I am a full time employee of the Thames Valley District School Board - on maternity leave until next August. Yippee!

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Blogger is actually not being very helpful, so it looks like we're a little short on pictures today, we'll try again later.

Cheers,
Pamela

2009-07-15T20:48:00.001-04:00

Tonight as I was cuddling with Lily at Bedtime I asked her what she'd like to name the baby.

Boy Names:
Ghana
Nick

Girl Names:
Ula

I am not kidding!

PPS

2009-07-13T20:22:00.007-04:00

Happy July 13th :-)

Tonight we headed over to the Hippo Park to do a wee bit of gardening and a whole lot of wading in the wading pool. Here's Lily and her Daddy enjoying their time! Enjoy PPS

Even with how cold it was, Mike still went in the water to be with Lily :-)

Mike has done an awesome job on our garden!

Here are some of the signs for our upcoming harvest :-)

2009-07-01T21:55:00.004-04:00

Happy Canada Day!

Pamela, Michael and 32 week Kung-Fo Baby
Pilon-Szala Family celebrating Canada Day!

Lily and I at Nana's

Jojo showing off his new costume.

Cora and Lily at Jojo's 4th birthday pa

Adorable Little Sarah

Before picture of our future living room
Before picture of our future bedroom - to the right is our 8 foot closet :-)

Lily and Mike on Father's Day

Lily and her Elmo sprinkler

Lily and her bubbles

2009-07-01T21:17:00.007-04:00

Welcome to Part II of the Canada Day post :-) Lily and I had a great time tonight at the Canada Day Celebrations. I decided to forgo the fireworks as they're not ready until 10 p.m. and Lily doesn't like the combination of dark and loud noises :-) Most of these pictures are from my recent trip with our grade 7 & 8 students to Quebec City.

Breakfast chez Paillard on our last morning in Quebec City.

The souvenir I really wanted to bring home for Lily!

Pamela at 29 weeks

On our last night there we were treated to dinner and a 'dance' at the Manior Montmerency. Lt - rt are Tom (7/8 Teacher), Meaghan (Teacher-Librarian) and I (gr 6/7 Teacher)

A fellow teacher and I - Meaghan
One of the most beautiful natural wonders in Quebec is Montmerency Falls. On the left are the falls, above it the suspension bridge and to the right the stairs that we walked down (me at 29 weeks pregnant ;-)

A close up of the suspension bridge.

The Stairs!

The home that inspired the "Adam's Family" house.

We visited the copper museum where I was able to create little something for Mike :-)

Once upon a time, there was no electricity so what they did was build these little cellars along the road to keep the food cold. We had my kids convinced for a while that they were hobbit homes.

At the Bee museum we got to get up close and personal with the bees - yikes!

Ste. Anne Basilica - just gorgeous!

If you look past all the lights, you can see the Chateau Frontenac - from my hotel room :-)

Jeannine and I met during my first exchange in 1994 - happy 15th Anniversary :-)

:-)

This mural represents almost 400 years of Quebec history - really cool!

The week we went to Quebec, Maclean's cited this restaurant as a great place to eat - this is where we had breakfast on our second day.

I'm hanging out on the Duffering Terrace, just at the base of the Chateau Frontenac

I LOVE the street art in Quebec - this is one of my favourite pieces :-)

Lily enjoys her roller blades - for about 40 seconds :-) I think she just enjoys wearing 'wheels' like her Daddy.

2009-07-01T16:49:00.006-04:00

It's odd that my 201st blog comes nearly 8 weeks after my last post!

Sorry for the delay, however, life has been busy. In a nutshell, in the past eight weeks;

I had my third Mother's Day :-)

We had a terrific weekend in Toronto where we were able to visit GREAT friends and have a really good time.
Mike had his 33rd Birthday
Mike had his 3rd Father's Day
I worked about 60-70 hours a week to get my Gr. 6 students ready for the provinical testing as well as all the other material they need to know
I went on the Gr. 7/8 class trip to Quebec City, including a rendez-vous with a woman I've been friends with for 15 years :-) (since my high school exchange to Rimouski, Quebec)
Mike has written five (5!) chapters of his thesis that he plans on submitting around August 1st
I have written 25 report cards (approx 15 hour adventure)
I have worked 40 hours (above my teaching job) to create a Facilitator Guide for the Job Readiness program for At Risk Student that I'm working this week at
We attended Jojo's 4th Birthday!
I have been offered (and accepted!) a full time job at Tollgate Central French Immersion as their grade 6/7 classroom Teacher
I have started the paperwork for my maternity leave (Aug 2009 - May 2010)
We have chosen July 25th/26th as our moving day

That's it in a nutshell :-) At 32 weeks of pregnancy, my body is demanding that I slow it down. Saturday is my first day of not working in a long time, so I'm getting a pedicure with the gift certificate a group of my awesome students gave me as a year end gift :-)

Lily and I are going out for some Canada Day celebrations, more photos to come.

In May we hung out with a former colleague/friend and his family.

Here's Mike planting my Mother's Day gifts :-)

Lily and Robin baking.

The Luther gang at their 15 year gathering.

Lily reading with Steph and Mike.

2009-05-10T10:22:00.014-04:00

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm having a restful morning that started with some books being 'read' to me by Lily followed by a terrific breakfast from Mike :-) They're at swimming so I've got some time to post some photos and to send out a great big Happy Mother's Day to all of the women who have made such an incredible impact on our world!

Life has been hectic in the Pilon-Szala household. Lily is in full potty training mode complete with two treats every time she uses the potty. At first I was against it, but I am now converted! She is doing really well with it and daycare has said that she is now ready for underwear (perhaps too much information for some of you, but you other Moms you know what a big milestone this is!). The pregnancy is going well. My students are very mindful about me being pregnant. I have one student that shouts out to the class 'Quite down, you're upsetting the baby' when the class gets too rowdy. They've already started to think up names for the baby :-)

I have accepted an offer with the Thames Valley District School Board for a full time teaching position starting September 1, 2009! It was a terrific feat as 65 of us interviewed and only 6 of us received offers in a year that the school board announced that there would be absolutely no hirings! A huge relief for our little family! I don't know where I'll be teaching but my students, principal and colleagues at my current school would like me to stay. Since I'll be on maternity leave for nine or ten months, it really doesn't matter, so long as I've got a class to go back to work in. I'm really enjoying working with the intermediate students so I'm hopeful that's where I'll get to stay.

For those who don't know, my younger sister Connie, aka Kid has been deployed and is now serving a tour in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Thanks to technology we get to hear from her and she still gets to see photos of family, especially her 4 year old Whalen and 2 year old Cora.

Enough with the writing and on with the photos!

Happy Mother's Day! I love flowering trees but they agrivate Mike's allergies so I just have to admire them from afar!
Mike and Lily tilling the garden.

Mike surveying our plot for our community garden.

While getting my garden ready for my Mother's Day Gift (Mike gave me a carte blanche to plant what ever I wanted in my five beds around the house, AND he'd plant it all :-) we uncovered an ant colony!

Lily is pretending that she is Mommy and she is seriously mocking me and the method that I need to employ to get myself out of these chairs! She's lucky she's cute!

Alex truly enjoying his Sunday afternoon - baby white donuts AND bubbles! What's a kid to do with so much excitement!?

Alex and Lily playing in Alex's water table.

I'm enjoying blowing bubbles for Alex. Lily has decided to run around Matt's yard like an ape!

Alex is enjoying his Babybel cheese :-)

As part of our fundraising efforts for my school's Grade 7/8 Trip to Québec I've mentored 7 students on how to make beaded jewelery. They made the necklaces over their lunch hours for the months of March and April. We then auctioned them off last Friday at the school's auction night. In total they raised over $230 :-)

Cora, Connie and Lily at Connie's Bon Voyage gathering

Cora is so much like Connie it is unreal!

What a handsome husband I have!!! :-)
Lily LOVES her 'Whalen-Guy'

Whalen is sitting and thinking....

Our lovely little girl and her awesome sunglasses!

Connie eating her 'bon voyage' cake. She left for for her tour in Afghanistan on April 28th.

Cora is very excited about the story she is reading to us.
I kind of think they look related!! Cora is on the left and she's four months younger than Lily, on the right.

Donna and I hanging out :-)

I think Whalen is trying to eat Connie's ear...

Family Photo.

Connie tried desperately to get a group photo of her, Ollie and the kids. This was three days before she left for Afghanistan and she really wanted a good photo.

Connie and I at the bowling alley.

Connie, Mike and Lily at bowling.

Lily giving Connie a Kiss Bye Bye.

2009-04-16T20:45:00.007-04:00

Great couple of weeks. One of the highlights was meeting baby Dylan (belongs to Chris & Miia of Halifax). The super duper little caper stole our hearts during his wee visit to London. Thank you Miia for doing the drive!

Kyle and Rebecca :-)

Mike reading to Lily and Dylan. Lily was quite patient with Dylan when he tried to eat her books.

Lily is all ready for her Easter Morning Egg Hunt. Connie set it up for the younger ones to be able to follow footsteps to eggs. Whalen found it too easy!

Lily and Cora comparing notes in the laundry room.

Lily and her super sonic puddles!

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I love this photo of Lyle. He's quietly surveying the yard to see what work needs to be done before he starts his new job next week.

At 21 weeks pregnant I'm beginning to take the shape of a pear :-)

For years we've been promising Uncle John that we'd go bowling with him, and we finally did this past Monday!

Uncle John and Lily setting the pins.

Yeah - the two year old kicked my butt! And yes, my husband got three strikes on his final frame to edge towards victory!

The Szala-Pilon-Vickers party

Seriously - I go bowling just for the shoes :-)

The Children's Museum is always a great place to go during a day off school. On Good Friday they offered cookie and egg decorating as well as a viewings of the Easter Bunny.

Lily's hair is getting seriously curly these days!

Lily and Mike decorating her cookie

Lily is wondering what all the fuss on the other side of the room is about. Yet another great example of her 'stink face'.

Lily enjoyed visiting with Baby Dylan from Halifax. She especially enjoyed rubbing his forehead and calling him Fuzzy.

Chris and Miia's love ~ Dylan

Lily would run up to Dylan and 'tickle' him and in response he would give her a great big giggle!

2009-04-04T21:06:00.009-04:00

Welcome back :-) I find it rather sad that it's been more than a month since my last blog. However, life has been hectic - in a good way :-)

We had March Break where we had my nephew Whalen, my niece Cora, their dad Anthony and his girlfriend Liz down for a visit. We also attended my cousin Diane's baby shower as well as a visit with our friends in Courtice. It's been rather hectic - but fun!

School is going well. I spent about 18 hours working on report cards at the end of March and have started my final term with my grade 6 and 7 students. I know that I'm a candidate to be hired by the School Board that I'm currently working for, but we haven't heard whether or not there is a job for me. We're still waiting....

Here are some pictures, in no particular order....

Karen and I smiling for the camera! It's been a year since we were in Teacher's College together!

Mike has started he seedlings in our basement. We're part of a community garden and he and Lily are already on top of things!

Lily and Mike at swimming lessons.

And she's off!!

Lily is checking out the ducks below the bridge.

Szala family photo at Gibbons Park in London.

Arden enjoying the spring.

The Baby Shower Crew - my cousin's 13 year old Dakota, my Aunt Chrissy, cousin Diane and the co-organizer Natalie.

A photo of the gift in better in light. I had fun making it for my cousin and her upcoming little boy.

An attempt at capturing the gift that I made for Dianne.

It's been almost ten years since we met and we still love each other :-)

Mike and Lily at the park. A few minutes after this Lily was watching a young boy on the teeter-tawter and got her nose bonked that resulted in her first ever nose bleed :-(

The baby shower wiped her out.

Lily is using the microscope at the Children's Museum.

Spring has Sprung!

Lily is trying to keep it all together!

Lily LOVES reading books and being read to.

Lily at the Take-out at the Mini-McDonald's at the Children's Museum.

Moving from the Native exhibit to the Pioneer exhibit.

Lily and her horses.

Lily and Whalen waiting for the horses.

Cora and Liz are involved with with system of maple syrup.

Get him, Cora!

Mike is explaining to Lily that maple syrup comes from trees :-)

Lily and Mike on a pony ride at the Maple Sugar Bush.

Lily enjoying her ice cream cone - I'm sure of it!

Pamela and Mike :-)

Pamela and Whalen.

Group photo at the Children's Museum ~ Cora, Pamela, Whalen, Lily, Mike, Liz and Antony.

On St. Patrick's Day, Lily and I hung out with Erin, Prue and Gigi at the Children's Museum. Erin and Prue attempting to make the balls bounce.

We hung out with Gigi on St. Patrick's Day :-)

2009-02-23T20:46:00.008-05:00

What a great month! Sorry for the delay but I'm in the final phases of my second semester and am working hard to make sure my students don't have projects due the same week that I have to have my marks in! I had an interview at the beginning of the month to be hired on as a full time teacher in French Immersion Elementary. I was told I had a very successful interview and they are now checking references. They interviewed about 60 people for six positions! I will know after March 15th if I have a full time job come September - yikes!

But between now and then I've got projects and assignments galore to create and mark - and so many photos to take :-)

Here are some photos from the past few weeks. Enjoy! PPS

Mike loves to BBQ. Here is a our pathetic little BBQ brush after a winter of use! We're eagerly awaiting the new stock of brushes to arrive at Canadian Tire.

Mike made five different types of wings for SuperBowl. He loves his wings!

For SuperBowl Mike made Lily and I deep pan pizza - yummmy!

I LOVE Mike's homemade pizza!

Lily and I on Feb 2nd - when Lily turned 2 1/2!

Lily and her Daddy

Smile for the camera, Lily :-)

Lily and I baking our chocolate chip cookies. Those on Facebook may recall my demise when I realized I used semi-sweet versus sweet chocolate chips. Mike and our friend David assure me that they were delicious!

Lily is trying to negotiate '8' cookies to snack on when they're cooked.

Lily is talking to Nana and telling her all about the cookies. She was successful in negotiating two cookies out of us :-)

Mom's stainglass workshop in her basement. She has designed and cut out my graduation gift. I'm looking forward to being able to hang it soon!

Lily is enthralled with books and puzzles! She enjoys playing with the ones in sets. She likes to line them up and count how many she got. She now counts up to about 20 without error and can count backwards from five using her fingers. She is a great kid!

2009-02-18T20:56:00.002-05:00

A month!? I can't believe it's been a month since I last blogged! Where'd all my time go?!

I only have one image to post this time (more to come this weekend, I promise!) and it's a scrapbooking page that my very talented cousin Leah did up. We got together over Christmas and she took this photo of Mike 'carrying' Lily and my cousin's son Joseph up the toboggan hill.

2009-01-18T21:13:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year!

We just had a wonderful weekend with my younger sister Connie and her boyfriend Olli and the three kids. I haven't uploaded the photos yet (approx 560) so I'm loading photos from the past two weeks.

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog - it mostly has to do with the FANTASTIC new camera that Mike and my in-laws got me for Christmas - now that I have a working camera I've managed to take over 1,500 photos in the past three weeks! Going through them has proven to be a chore!

The other challenge is that I'm back at school and have had to get caught up on the marking - in the past week I've marked 25 fractions tests, 25 geography assignments, 25 health assignments, 25 french assignments and am 'currently' marking 25 English essays that are designed to 'support or condemn 24601's (Jean Valjean from Les Miserables) actions. Valjean was sentenced to four years in jail for stealing a loaf of bread. It's rather quite incredible what my students deem acceptable and unacceptable behaviour ~ and more importantly, why. But enough about work, onto the photos!
Cribbs family celebrating Rebecca's 6th (!) Birthday!

Lily LOVES bathtime. She has discovered our Irish Spring soap and wants to use it. It's a riot!

We went skating at the outdoor rink in Victoria Park with a friend from work and his family. Here is a picture of Mike showing Lily how to get herself back up after she's fallen. This was her first time on skates - she was awesome!
Mike and Lily sitting on the bench waiting for the 'Zimpony' to do its work.

Lily was treated to a story by my friend Alicia who took the time to visit us on her recent visit home to Canada. Alicia is currently teaching music in Sweden.

Lily is a mastermind when it comes to Play-doh!

Szala family on January 1st, 2009! Lily didn't like being taken away from playing with her cousins Kyle & Rebecca.

To help make learning fractions more palatable, I made 5 trays of Rice Krispie Squares for my students. They worked in groups of 5 and had to decorate the tray of RK according to my directions. Any guesses what the directions were?

Lily loves her trains. This is her and her Daddy after they set up the train set that Lily got as a Christmas gift from her Grandmama.

Enjoy your week!

PPS

2009-01-07T20:37:00.003-05:00

Well said! ....

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Enjoy the ride; there is no return ticket....
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life !You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony.. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But! wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and make it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into ! your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3.Keep learning.! Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's family name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them , at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER :
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
And if you don't send this to at least 8 people - who cares? But do share this with someone. We all need to live life to its fullest each day!!

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting '...holy sh*t ...what a ride!'

2008-12-25T13:07:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I'm on dial-up at my Mom's so just a wee note to announce the newest addition to the Szala Family! Mike's sister Jennifer has delivered a beautiful Baby Girl ~ Aspyn Jade Martel! Apsyn was born on Tues Dec 23rd around 10 a.m. weighing in at 7lb 13oz!

Welcome to the family Baby Aspyn!

PPS

2008-12-15T22:49:00.001-05:00

Thank you to Leah for the BEAUTIFUL digital scrapbook page that she did up of Lily from this past weekend!

2008-12-14T21:33:00.003-05:00

A Great Big Hello to all out there in the Winter Wonderland!

We enjoyed some good times this past weekend at my Parents' place celebrating Christmas with the Russells. Thank you to cousin Leah for her photos (my camera is in a sad state :-( )

Cousin Leah

Three sisters...

Lizzie and her cheesy smile :-)

Mike 'rescuing' Joseph from the hills!
Lily enjoying the snowflakes...

Connie working hard on getting up the hill!

2008-12-01T22:00:00.007-05:00

What a month! Yes, we're all in good health! I have started a new term with my grade 6/7 French Immersion students. I did about 18 hours worth of report card writing and editing last week, over and above my time in class and prep after hours! Yikes! In any case, I'm now only working about 60 hours a week :-)

A few pictures from the past month :-)

Lily and Mike preparing dinner. They've got matching cheese graters...

I own(ed) one pair of jeans. Lily was having so much fun with them that she accidentally popped off its button!

This is basically how I spend most of my time.... This was especially true during report card season.
On November 19th Lily's daycare held an open house. We got to go and have dinner with her classmates and their families.

This past weekend we had our traditional Russell Tree Hunt! This year we had a few new additions as Connie brought her boyfriend Oliver (Oli) and his son Marshall (or, as Lily calls him, Marshmellow).

Oli and Cora.

The Tree Hunters...

Lily tasting the cookies that Nana made for the tree hunt.

Cora fell over and Lily leaned over to help her up but lost her footing!

Lily LOVES the snow! She is truly content to play in it regardless of the chill factor.

If you look closely, you'll see Mike holding a GIANT snowball chasing after Mackenzie!

Lily Szala at 27 months.

Andrea (my Godsister) and Lily

Mike and I for our 9th Christmas Tree Hunt together :-)

Cora and Lily walking with Nana.

I'm not sure what Lily is saying to her gingerbread man, but she is having a full conversation with it.

Hmmm.. I wonder what they're plotting!

Connie and Oliver

On Saturday we went to Coldwater (20 minutes north of Barrie) to help Liz and her family settle into their new home. Here is David and Lily playing dress up.

2008-11-20T20:32:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the World Baby Dylan!

We are excited to welcome to the world Dylan Mika Kevin Benautio born TODAY at 10 am to Chris and Miia in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dylan weighed 10lbs 7oz and measures 58cm!

Congratulations Chris & Miia on your new son!

xoxo Pamela, Mike & Lily

2008-11-02T14:54:00.003-05:00

Happy 'Mike's Favourite Day of the Year'! Hope everyone enjoyed the extra hour of sleep (those of us who do the time saving thing). We decided last night that Lily was likely going to get up early so we'd take advantage of the early morning and go shopping at the 24hr Wal-Mart. Lily got up at 6:45am! So we got a good start on the day :-)

Lily is down for her nap, Mike's gone to the garden to harvest the carrots and Jack is doing the dishes :-) My cousin Jack is staying with us while he goes to school to upgrade some marks so that he can get into college next Fall. He's been a great roomie and Lily ADORES him so all is good :-)

For Hallowe'en Lily dressed up as a cat - complete with purring without prompting! Enjoy the pictures :-) PPS

Here's a picture that I really like that was taken when we went apple picking with the Cribbs'.

Mike had fun working on this year's pumpkin! Lily, Jack, Pamela & Mike.

Lily for her third Hallowe'en!

Lily with her daycare teacher, Ryan, and friends Isabelle and Bella.

We went trick'or'treating in our neighbourhood and Lily got to see many ofher friends. Here is Lily showing Chris her candy and Chris is showing Lily where the candy goes.

Jack took care of our treats while we went out with Lily. Lily was great at saying 'Trick or Treat' and Thank you!

Lily chatting it up with her little friend Edie.

Szala family on Halloween.

Our pumpkin.

Lily giving candy out to Kyle and our neighbour Ty.

2008-10-23T23:02:00.005-04:00

Happy October!

Here are a few images from our Month :-)

Lily hanging out with Kaiden on our way to the park.

Lily playing in the music room at the Children's Museum.

Cora and Lily hanging out on Papa's tractor.

Lily enjoying every ounce of her soup! She even has a special 'soup bib'!

Lily was having an ice cream and I asked if I could have a bite and she said 'No, Mommy, No!" with such authority - along with her actually pulling the ice cream away from me :-)

Lily's little friend on our street is Christopher. Here they are with coordinating lawn mowers.

Lily's enjoying the cookies I baked (from scratch!)

A great big thanks out to Leeat and Heidi for doing such an AWESOME job on Thanksgiving!

Welcome to portable 6 at Tollgate French Immersion - my classroom!

We're doing a poetry lesson in our English class that I've called 'Popcorn Poetry'. Essentially the idea was to get the students to appreciate that poetry is the expression of one's senses through the use of words. So I brought in popcorn and the machine and had them record their 'senses' of the popcorn. It worked really well! Next week they'll be done their poetry anthologies and I'll be posting them on this board.

This is the south facing side of my portable.

Here is a look from the back of my classroom. I hang out a lot at the chalk board :-)

Yup - this is where I spend a load of time during the week!

My portable is the one on the left. Right across the 'street' are corn fields. Immediately behind the school are farmers' fields with crop and livestock - mostly cows :-)
Enjoy your weekend!

PPS

2008-10-20T22:45:00.003-04:00

In addition to Lily's 'directions' she is filled with hilarious quotes:

"Mommy, you no knock up Daddy in the car"
We were driving in the car, I was driving and Mike in the passenger seat when he said something that warranted a punch in the shoulder. Lily, sitting in the back, was a witness to this and, in her own words, asked me not to hit Daddy.

"Mommy, you go make some noise with Daddy"
I was putting Lily to bed while Mike was doing dishes when something made a loud noise in the kitchen. Lily asked what it was and I said it was Daddy making noise in the kitchen. She then instructed me to join him.

"Mommy me pick you up"
When Lily wants picked up she says "me pick you up", since that's what I say when I'm asking her if she'd like picked up - so she sees it as a command rather then a question.

Lily is SOOOO much fun to be with!

PPS

2008-10-20T21:52:00.002-04:00

Lily's taken a new direction these days: giving direction.

At the dinner table, I'm discussing the day with my lovely wife (for those of you who haven't clued in now, Pamela hasn't gone to the other side, it's Mike doing his once-a-year duties). Lily will pipe up: "Mom, Dad, you no talk now."

"But we'd like to talk to each other, dear."

"No. You no talk, Mommy no talk."

Or at bedtime, we've gotten into a bit of a routine where Lily tells Pamela how she'd like to be left alone. We give her the choice of leaving the door open or closed, and Pamela will lie down with her for a minute or two. And then recently, she got a: "Mommy, you go downstairs now."

Then there was the clincher tonight at supper. It was again around the whole "you no talk now" routine, which is pretty funny on most days, but today was about giving turns. "Daddy, you no talk now, Mommy talk. Go ahead, Mommy."

The concepts she understands these days are just phenomenal, aren't they?

And for those who aren't Facebookers, I've got to share the story about a new book we picked up at a bazaar this weekend, entitled "My Name is Bert." I was reading it to Lily last night, and Bert's telling us all about him, and we get to the page where he's talking about his favourite number, which is 4, because there are 4 letters in his name, and there are four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter, and he likes them all. I stop reading, I look up at Pamela, and I say, "This is wrong. Bert's favourite number is 6. 'Cos five is your fingers and your toes, and two's your eyes and one's your nose, but 6... my favourite number is 6..."

And the look on Pamela's face is somewhere in between "Where the f*^@ did I find this guy?" and "I love you so much it hurts." Truly one of the most incredible expressions I've ever come across.

And so to prove it to her, I had to find it on YouTube and show her, and we revelled in Bert's glory. See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKfY6kapyBY

And so I pledge to never read the offensive material again to my daughter. Somebody dropped the ball there bad.

MS

2008-10-08T22:39:00.000-04:00

I've got my own classroom!

I signed a contract today to fill in for a woman who went on maternity leave. I've been in the class since Monday and will be there until the end of September 2009 :-) There is a good chance that she'll want to come back in September, or she can also take an extended leave and not come back until January 2010!

It is in a French Immersion school in Woodstock, approx 50 km from our place. The commute is the ONLY downside to the gig. The 24 students are FANTASTIC and the school is small, with only 160 so you get to know all the kids and their parents. I'm teaching a split class - 7 grade 7s and 17 grade 6s.

I'm very much looking forward to it! I leave by 7:30 so I never get to see Lily in the A.M (okay, so that's the second sucky part about it) but when I get home around 5 pm she beams at me and says 'You at work, Mommy ?'.

I am in a portable that is surrounded by cornfields - I kid you not!

Mike has been 'asked' if he'd like to teach at the University of Guelph next semester too. Basically he needs to be sent a contract to make it 'official'.

So, if the blog seems like its lacking or you don't hear from us much, it's likely because I'm knee deep in grade 6 or grade 7 curriculum!

PPS

2008-09-29T22:09:00.011-04:00

What a great weekend! A great big thanks to Karen, Dave and Ava in Courtice and Karen from Oshawa for having us for the weekend! Enjoy the pictures!

Lily on a school bus - she's loving it!

Lily was fine to sit on the camel until she was informed that Daddy wasn't allowed to join her - she quickly decided to leave. But for the rest of our time at the Community Fair she wanted to see the camel. She knows what a camel is as we have a photo in her room of our friends Chris & Miia on the camel and she talks to the camel in the photo.

I actually think the camel is smiling for the picture!

Mike is showing Lily how a lion roars.

Lily getting her face painted like a lion.

Lily and Mike in a firetruck.

Lily finds buses to be fascinating. It was such a great adventure for her to check out a school bus with Ava.

Checking out the $500,000 infra-red light.
Lily is smitten with helicopters. It was a thrill for her to see one up close.

What a great day at the zoo! My friend from Teacher's College, Karen and her 20 month old Ava.

Ava and Lily hanging out with the python!

The lovely and amazing Karen!
Memories of September 2000 when Mike and I went to Niagara Falls and I took 300 photos (with film ~ not a digital camera!) of which nearly 150 were at the butterfly conservatory. I took over 500 photos this weekend - maybe that's why my camera is dying.....

Lily was completely oblivious (not a clue!) that the butterfly landed on her hat. Everyone around us was commenting on it!

Lily and the hippo.

Ava and Lily are checking out the hippo..

Mike and Lily were both deep in observation...

My monkeys :-)

Mommy - look at the kitty!

Yes - Lily is playing drums with my head!

The older primate took a running leap at the younger one - it was crazy!

Lily and the primate are face to face......
Mike and Lily enjoyed watching the elephants.

Ava riding the hippo!

Lily asking all sorts of questions about the kangaroos. She now likes to hop like them :-)

I think the Kangaroo Park was Mike's favourite part. We got to walk along the path and get to watch the kangaroos!

Toronto Metro Zoo is huge! So much walking, so little time!

Our Little Monkey..

I'm always impressed with the view of a Lion - what a majestic creature!

2008-09-26T10:46:00.004-04:00

An odd thing happened earlier this week. On Monday night, during my beading get-together, TVARRIS (the computer system responsible for assigning supply work) called and cancelled my supply job on Tuesday. I was disappointed because a)its a class I enjoy working for a teacher I like and b) it was pay! So on Tuesday Lily and I went to the Children's Museum to check out their new music exhibit. When I got home afterwards there was a message on my machine from the school wondering why I wasn't at the school!!! It turns out that the teacher had to adjust the job specs and the system cancelled the job. I've been in touch with both the teacher and the school and they were apologetic of the system malfunction. Fear not, I'm going to be doing another four days of supply work for this teacher in the next three weeks!

On the positive side, Lily and I had a blast at the Children's Museum! We got there before it opened so I was able to take some outside shots of Lily :-)

The ladies and their creations! Awesome work Ladies!

Lily is playing hide-and-seek with me :-)

Lily loves to run! The hat she is wearing was knitted for her by her Grandmama (Mike's grandma Wolfe in Regina)

The goal of the Children's Museum is to encourage exploration for children. The newest exhibit, Music for All, is a great place! Lily loves her music so it kept her busy for most of our visit!
When you petal the bike, the energy that it creates pushes its way through a set of pipes throughout the room and makes music!

Lily is giving me kisses :-)

Lily and I in front of the Children's Museum.

Lily sitting on a stump.

Yoda McDonald. :-)
Lily's grocery store.

The music exhibit. The large pipes reaching to the ceiling are connected to the bikes.

Lily likes the sounds that the guitars make. She

It took a while, but she figured out how to hold the guitar :-)

2008-09-26T10:30:00.007-04:00

Last weekend we got to hang out at Mom & Lyle's place. It was great to see Mom and Lyle working on the property. It's hard to believe that they broke ground a year ago and have been living in the house for nine months! The landscaping and basement are the last two things to finish up. For Lyle's Birthday we gave him a card calling him the Lawn Ranger. Despite his best efforts, grass will not grow for this man! We're really hoping that this yard treats him better!

Nana and Papa's place without the front grass.

Whalen and Nana's herb wheel outside the house.

Lily and I.

Lily's first time up the deer tower in Nana and Papa's back yard. They constructed this so that during hunting season, Papa can keep watch for deer and not be easily detected.

Nana and Lily walking in the woods.

Mike and Lily

Lily's famous 'stinky face' look.

Lily and Cora having a chat.

Nana, Cora and Lily enjoying their walk.

I'm not sure what the story is with Lily's tongue in this photo!

I love walking in Nana's backyard!

This is in Nana's 'back yard' Left to right: 2 year old Lily, 21 month old Cora, 4 year old Whalen, and my first cousins Blair, Chevy and Hana.

Whalen wants Papa to have grass so badly!

Lily walked around the 'yard' helping Papa pick up stones.

Cora love the camera :-)

Lily calls Lyle's ATV 'Papa's Jeep'. Here she is out front of Lyle's work shed.

This is the future home of Nana's rock garden. Lily is testing to make sure that she can still hop from rock to rock -)

Cora Patricia Spittachine at 21 months old. This is her first sporting of the piggy tails!

Lily's hair is wild!

Lily is enjoying riding Papa's tractor.

My cousins Hana and Blair. When it is bed time Lily often requests to see a picture of 'HanaBlair'.

2008-09-26T10:15:00.006-04:00

Greetings! Sorry for the delay, life got busy! I'm posting some photos from the past couple of weeks. Last weekend we went up to the lake for Whalen's Birthday (Mike and I escaped for a bit to see Russell Peters (comedian) in Kitchener). I'm getting in some time as a supply/substitute teacher. This upcoming week I'm teaching three days! On Wednesday I'm doing my follow up appointment with Dr. H (neurologist with an extremely long and complicated name!) to get the results from the tests last month.

Mamo Jeanne (Whalen's Dad (Anthony)'s Mom from Ottawa) and Cora. Lily also calls her Mamo Jeanne :-)

Here is a photo of 4 year old Whalen and his Mamo Jeanne.

Whalen (wearing his 'birthday boy hat'!) opening up his 'Walter the Farting Dog' books that we gave him for his birthday. Connie was impressed :-)

Lily is so my kid - she LOVES her cheesies!

Lily and I.

Cora and Lily watching the bigger kids take a swing at the pinata.
Connie - what a drama queen!

Cora and Mamo Jeanne.

Added to the cake that Mom made for Whalen's birthday, she had an order in for a wedding cake that she needed to have out on Saturday. It took us two hours to assemble the cakes! It really didn't help that they made us chance the location of the cakes and the the flowers on top had to be hand rolled to fit :-(

13 year old Donald and 10 year old Johnny :-)

Yes, that's Lily taking a swing at the pinata with a BBQ tool :-)

Mike and I at the lake

'Just one more bite, Nana' asks Whalen after his hundredth icing 'try'!

Lily is LOVING the icing!

Lily is enjoying being wing-man for Nana while she ices Whalen's cake.

This is the cake that mom made for Whalen. Sadly, no one got a photo of the completed product!

10 month old Sarah enjoying the blocks on the kitchen floor.

2008-09-15T20:32:00.004-04:00

Happy to report that I made it through my first supply gig ever with flying colours! It helped that it was a school where I was a student teacher and I had some of the students from my history class in the French class I was teaching. I'm at Pathways for two more days then it's up to word-of-mouth and some self-marketing to let teachers know I'm available to supply. I've got 8 days in the next four weeks - its at least a start!

Great and exciting news ~ Lily's shingles are almost all gone! Yippee! She was such a great little trooper through it all.

If only you could hear her giggle, too!

Lily is trying to pry Mike's mouth open and feed him her fingers.
Our Lily at 25 months old.
Roar ~ it's a scary monster jumping out from behind the tree!

Look at me, mommy!
This freaks me out ~ when Mike gives Lily an under-duck that causes her to become so close to upside down!

Lily loves her swings!

Lily was on her duck watching her dad act crazy on his elephant.

Lily and I hanging out at the swing part behind the townhouses.

Enjoy your week!

2008-09-02T21:54:00.006-04:00

Happy September! And for many of you, Happy 1st Day back to School! Sadly, I did not go back to school today, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that some teaching gigs come up soon! In the meantime, my summer employers, Pathways is keeping me on to finish my curriculum work and then for one week contracts to facilitate job readiness programs - the curriculum that I've spent the summer working on! They're great people there and I enjoy it, so it's great that this is working out. Mike starts teaching at Guelph on Thursday and is very much looking forward to it! The other news that we've got going on is that Lily has .... SHINGLES! Shingles is what presents when the victim/recipient has already has the chicken pox but gets the virus. She is in high spirits but is highly contagious so she is to be kept away from other kids until her sores crust over (!) which should be this Thursday or Friday. On a selfish note, we're really excited about spending time with her - she is such a great little person! Here are some photos from the past couple of weeks ~ enjoy! PPS

Other big news is that Lily is now in a BIG Girl bed! We set it up on Saturday and it is as though she has always been in a bed! It's funny 'cause in the morning she'll still call out for us to come and get her. I'm not really looking forward to the time when she realizes all that stops her from endless hours of reading and bedtime is her bedrail!

On Monday we took a family walk from our place near the University along the Thames River to downtown London.

Surprise, surprise... I stopped a passerby to take our family photo during our outing. Lily is adamant that when we go out for a walk, Mike and I are to wear hats too. :-)

Here is Mike and Lily at the fountains. The circular building in the background is Museum London.

Lily is checking out the playground....

The downtown park is filled with fun and beautiful flowers that I dragged Lily around to sniff :-)

Lily enjoyed her self so much running around the park!

Lily's new favourite hat (believe me when I say it was a big deal for anything to replace her Dora hat!) is a polka dot number from my sister that is pink with white polka dots - Lily loves it, and our biggest challenge is convincing her she does not need to wear the coat that goes with it!

This is a truly typical Lily face. It's when she's concentrating and squinting from the sun at the same time. Mike calls it her 'stinky face'. Sometimes she makes it when she is grinding her teeth!

Lily LOVES her buses! This is us taking the bus back from our downtown adventure. It was Mike's first time seeing Lily ride the bus.
Lily is so in her element when we're on the bus. We've taken this bus route so many times when she was at the downtown daycare. We'll pass buildings and identify them - when we pass the courthouse she says 'That's where Uncle David works' or when we go by our Doctor's it's awesome just how great her recall is!

There were some rowdy folks on the bus that Lily wasn't quite sure of...

Our niece Rebecca :-) We're pretty sure that Rebecca and Lily share the same grin - Lily just happens to have more teeth :-)

2008-08-25T07:29:00.003-04:00

This post will be brief - Lily is sitting on my lap 'helping'!

Lily's handprint at 2 years 3 weeks old in the Playdoh that my older sister Liz made for Lily for her birthday. No craft time is complete without it!

Yes - This is Lily drinking her apple juice in a fish cup cooler.

Lily's Great Grandma Wolfe 'Grandmama' made Lily this beautiful outfit. Thankfully, Lily was willing to take it off. Lily is known to wear Grandmama's knitted hats on June days!

Lily can ride her trike on her own!

Lily's first try at Twinnuts (a snack from France). From her face , you'd never know that she is addicted to them as we are. Merci Florence!

Mike, Lily and Lyle walking at the lake. Enjoy your week! I hope to have employment updates for myself in the next week. Mike starts his class at Guelph next week!

PPS

2008-08-11T23:46:00.002-04:00

Life is getting back on track. On July 15th I had what some (mainly Doctors) believe to be a transient ischaemic attack a.k.a. a mini-stroke. I have undergone many tests and have met some new doctors in the past four weeks. Other then the 25 minutes on the 15th where I endured slurred speech, fatigue, an inability to find my words and a slight headache, I have been healthy.

Today I had the final (at least for now) exploratory tests. I chose to share this one, 'cause its rather quite interesting!

Echo Bubble test

Patients suffering Transient Ischaemic attack, 'the bends' severe migraine with aura or Stroke, may have a 'hole in the heart' whereby blood clots or substances can pass from the right side of the heart (or low pressure system) to the brain without being filtered by the lungs. These defects can be small e.g. a 'patent foramen ovale' , or large - atrial septal defect. It is worth detecting these defects because they can now be closed without open heart surgery.

Description:

This test is designed to look for 'hole in the heart'. It is mildly invasive so the patient should give informed consent. A venflon cannula is placed in the right forearm. Three Ten mL syringes are filled with 0.9% normal saline. A fourth syringe containing 2 mL of air is used with a three way tap to agitate/mix the air into the saline in order to create a solution of micro bubbles that can be seen with ultrasound scanning. The patient is instructed to perform a valsalva procedure (nose closed, push down) and after practicing, lies in left lateral position so that the echo cardiographer can obtain a standard apical 4 chamber view of the heart.

10 mL of contrast is given to assess opacification of the right heart (while recording to video). 2 further shots are given during valsalva release (when the right atrial pressure rises above left atrial pressure). The amount of contrast passing into the left heart during this phase is recorded and classified as

0 - none
1- 0-15 per frame
2- 15-30 per frame
3 - >30

The venflon is then removed and patient can sit quietly for 10 minutes. Where large shunts occur, transient cerebral ischaemia have been reported occasionally.

The Dr. was able to tell me that I don't have this hole that 1 out of 5 Canadians do. Everyone is born with this hole, however 80% of us have it grow in during the first year of life, 20% don't!

For those of you wondering how I'm doing - mentally and physically I'm doing well. As one friend pointed out - I'm getting a physical that some Canadians don't enjoy until their 65! Another friend kindly states 'I, personally, think you'll be fine. I mean seriously, you're Pamela.'

Mike is getting used to the idea that there has been a bleep in my health. It has taken him a while.

I think it was just simply my reaction to turning 31 :-) In all seriousness, it could happen to a number of people, it just happened to happen to me. I take care in what I eat (chocolate IS a major food group), I take my Aspirin everyday, I hug Lily everyday and I kiss my husband. May you each hold your loved ones and let them know just how much they are loved.

PPS.

2008-08-10T23:05:00.001-04:00

When I get big I want to digital scrapbook like my cousin Leah! Check out what she did with the photos she took at Lily's party last weekend! You're a truly talented lady, Leah! xo

2008-08-06T00:15:00.003-04:00

Surrounded by friends and family, Lily celebrated her 2nd birthday at the lake. Mike also wants to point out that Lily got the short end of the stick since her champagne birthday is when she's 2! (Champagne birthday refers to the birthday that falls on your birthdate. Lily turns two on Aug 2/08. My champagne birthday was when I turned 16 on July 16th... )

Lily loves her puddles!

Lily is LOVING her wand from Johnny! I'm loving the fact that Johnny picked up the one that had lights and no sound :-)

8 1/2 month old Sarah...

Liz and Sarah winding up for the pinata.

2 year old Lily and 21 month old Cora are checking out Mike's bubbles!

We started the pinata with the youngest and worked our way up. Poor Johnny never got a chance!

The wicked awesome pinata that my lovely and generous niece made Lily for her birthday. She even filled it!

Lily with her BUS cake from Nana. No cake from Nana would be complete unless it were a money cake!

Whalen and Cora. Yes, Cora did give Whalen the black eye when he attempted to take the snack table from her, and she let it go!

2008-08-06T00:06:00.003-04:00

Lily is now 2! Wow, I seriously can't believe it! I'm still working on trimming down the 600 (seriously!) photos I took at her birthday to post. I'll be doing that next. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures from our long holiday weekend!

Szala Family :-)

Mom is convinced she wants a kayak. Aunt Kate and Aunt Heather told her she couldn't go around the lake with them until she tipped it. I told her to relax, my first kayak tipping was 12 years ago in the Bay of Fundy!

My new do. My younger sister, Connie, wants to know when it'll grow in :-) Gotta love siblings!

My cousin Hana loving the bubbles!

A sincere thank you to the folks who gave my daughter the ring that made her tongue green!

Lily, her Mom (31 yrs) and her Great Grandma Pilon (80 yrs)

'No, Mama, I see! ' Lily's subtle way of telling me its her turn to look at the photos.

Nana, her lilies and her Lily Pod.

Lily loves the lake. She enjoys being to investigate everything and to discover cool, and often gooey things.

Lily and her daddy at the lake..

2008-07-30T14:59:00.003-04:00

At LOOOOONG last, I have sent off chapters 1 through 4 to my supervisor for his consideration. This has been a long time coming, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this, and it looks much better than it did before. I can only hope that my supervisor feels the same way.

Sorry for the non-Lily programming, but Pamela deemed this to be "bloggable" material. I'll have another segment in the near future on medical information.

MS

2008-07-29T19:49:00.003-04:00

Happy almost Wednesday!

Just a few photos to post as its been hectic here and my camera is seriously dying! For my birthday Mike bought me a digital camera book so we can research to figure out what we really want!

Mike is finalizing his first four chapters to be sent off to his PhD adviser which is HUGE fun news! We'll be sure to keep you posted.

We had the great pleasure of being guests at a high school friend of Mike's, Darren Smart, this past weekend. Mike and I enjoyed beautiful food, music and company while Lily hung out at a B&B with my parents (thank you again for babysitting!

The countdown begins, Lily turns 2 on Saturday!

PPS

2008-07-16T21:49:00.005-04:00

What a great birthday! Mike took Lily and I to Delta Armouries for dinner tonight then we went to Marble Slab for ice cream! What a fantastic time! (and yes, I'm sporting a new hairdo and Mike shaved his beard!)

Lily enjoying her meal...

Here is the Delta in the background - Lily calls it the Castle :-)

Fantastic dinner finished off by Birthday mousse!

The staff were great and let Lily take over the floor!

Here were are in the middle of the dining room.

Lily giving her Daddy big hugs! I don't know if its the kid or the tie that 's cutting off the air!

Marble slab lets you add all types of goodies to your ice cream!

I love how Lily has Mike by the tie :-)

Lily telling her Daddy which ice cream cone she'd like :-)
All smiles :-)

Mighty big cone, Lily!

No, I do it Mom! (says Lily as I attempt to clean up the dripping sides)

2008-07-16T21:33:00.001-04:00

Images from last weekend at the lake!

My camera is driving me CRAZY!!!

2008-07-01T21:24:00.006-04:00

Happy 141st Birthday, Canada!

We've had a fantastic weekend! It started with staying at the Lake on Friday, followed by Katie's birthday party on Saturday, then hanging out at the Lake on Sunday with the grand finale of a day at Rondeau Park with Karen (friend from Teacher's College), Dave & Ava!

Ava giving her Mom, Karen, big hugs!

Lily loved playing with the rocks and in Lake Erie!

Ava and Lily playing in the sand!

Whalen's big catch!

Lily after she fell in the lake...
Katie, Mike and Papa playing Monopoly at Katie's 9th Birthday Party
Our baby monster

Katie invited her cousins to help blow out the candles on her cake..

Lily on Papa's boat
Lily and Mike after a dunk
The cousins...

Lily & I

2008-06-24T20:36:00.006-04:00

What a hectic couple of weeks! Now that the school year is winding down, Principals are sorting out what jobs they've got available so I've been going steady putting out job applications all over the place! On a similar note, we found out that Mike got a gig at Guelph for one class that he's very excited about! We also found out that Lily has been accepted into the childcare centre that is 200feet from where I went to school this past year (8 minute walk from home)! This means bye-bye 13 hours of driving a month (that's how long it takes us to drive Lily to her daycare that is south of downtown).

Every since she was little, her tongue would go to the side of her mouth anytime she was thinking.... Before...

After...

Our own little Lily Monkey!

We're counting down the days until this wading pools opens up at the Hippo Park!

Lily got a helmet and LOVES to wear her 'Tigger Helmit"

Lily is helping her Daddy weed...

Lily running towards her Daddy who is weeding in garden to tell him about the balloon in the sky.

Here I am sporting one of my newest necklaces :-) Mike bought these beads for me for Christmas pre-Lily and I just figured I should get some wear out of them.

Lily and I enjoying our first (of many, I'm sure!) craft session together. I showed her how to make a tulip using pipecleaner, egg carton and googly eyes :-) We're very much looking forward to heading up to the lake this weekend - yippeee!! We'll have some photos next week!

PPS

2008-06-15T22:50:00.010-04:00

We celebrated Father's Day by heading out to Storybook Gardens with Anthony, Whalen and Cora. We had a lot of fun!
Whalen and the whale :-)

Cora is loving the hat!

Lily enjoying her time!
Mike and Lily are making a run for it!

Whalen LOVED the splash pad!

These kids have some great balance!

Mike is explaining to Lily that the boy peacock is trying to 'get it on' with the girl peacock...

Whalen, Lily and Cora playing in the puddle...

Mike. Lily and the card I made him for Father's Day.
They ARE related!
Lily and her slide!
I like to reward myself with necklaces when I complete goals. This is a red coral design that I've been working on for the same amount of time as my degree in Education!

On Saturday we had a BBQ at the house and invited a few friends over to celebrate graduation. here is Cora counting the pebbles in the park.

I took my rented hood and gown to Victoria Park for some photos with the family!

Professor Smith presenting me with the Helen G. Mitchell Award (a.k.a. the French award) I received this award at the OMLTA conference in April but was recognized at the Awards Ceremony.

Karen and I with our flowers from our families!

This is a photo of Lyle taking a photo of Mike taking a photo of me being hooded during convocation. I received my Bachelor Degree in Education with Distinction on Friday.

2008-06-15T21:45:00.001-04:00

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-09T00:17:00.001-04:00

Happy 32nd Birthday, Michael! xoxo

2008-06-02T20:15:00.002-04:00

Lily is two months shy of being 2! Today is Lily's 22nd Monthery! It was a great evening out so we just went for a walk and hung out at the park. Enjoy the pictures!

2008-06-01T21:20:00.006-04:00

What a great weekend! Yesterday I facilitated my first Summer Revive! workshop. I had 35 youth that are going to school on Saturdays in June to get their cooperative education (co-op) hours in. They need to do co-op hours for four Saturdays then they have four weeks of on site training - paid! I had curriculum from last year that I spent about 15 hours after work this week to update then I had 7 in class hours yesterday with the teens. I've got about 5 hours of work to do on the curriculum this week then I have the teens next Saturday all the way up to June 21st. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to going back! Since I work on Saturdays until 3 that means I have to cram a lot of family time into Saturday afternoon and Sundays. This afternoon we went for a long family walk to the grocery store that is so not around the corner and listened as Lily identified buses (she lives to see buses! The days I pick her up and take her on the bus with me makes her day!) and then came home and hung out blowing bubbles (if Lily could blow bubbles and eat corn on a bus she'd be in heaven!)

This is a photo of Lily getting back from the walk. Although it was a balmy 16/17 outside Lily INSISTED that she wears 'GrandmaGrandma's" hat. Mike's grandmother (Grandmama) made them for Lily and she loves to wear the matching hat and sweater.

This is the result of someone's botched efforts to cut the bike cord that we used to lock up the bikes. Mike's theory was that since they were so close perhaps they were just trying to send us a message. We've since bought another bike lock.

Lily enjoys eating her Daddy's homemade calzones! (a pizza folded then cooked in half)

Lily is getting to learn how to regulate the breaths when she attempts to blow bubbles. She was successful in this picture - the bubble is the kidney shaped thing near the bottom of the photo!

Lily so does not enjoy it when i try to get a photo of the two of us :-)

I'm trying to get an arty photo of Lily blowing bubbles by using a bubble blower as a frame :-)

Our awesome kid - Lily!

'Cheese Mama' :-)

'Daddy's turn' Lily is all about equal opportunity :-)

It's hard to believe that only two months ago Lily was living with the shame of having a mullet!

Lily is so her father's daughter! She loves to garden and is getting rather good at evenly distributing the water amongst the flowers.

Enjoy your week! PPS

2008-05-29T20:12:00.004-04:00

Tonight we had a treat and ate wings from Ring-a-Wing. Lily took the opportunity to eat her wing like an ice cream :-) After dinner we played at the park and blew bubbles. Tonight was the first time Lily said her last name, Szala - which is no small feat! I wrote Szala on a ball we were taking outside to the park and she asked 'what doin'?" and I told her I was writing our last name on the ball and I said 'Szala' and she repeated it! So I got her on video saying her last name for the second time in her life! It's really neat to hear this soon to be 22 month old say her first and last name with such accuracy :-) PPS

Lily is getting set to run after the bubbles! It was about 24 degrees Celsius here today!

Our #1 Kid :-)

Lily hanging out on the whale at our park outside our front door.
My ice cream!

2008-05-25T21:28:00.003-04:00

What a great week!
Here is Lily's famous 'Grr' sound and hand gestures that she does when she wants to 'scare' us. It truly is adorable :-)

This past week Campus Police came to our neighbourhood for a BBQ and to register the kids' bikes. They brought the cruiser. Here is a picture of Kyle and Lily in the back of the police car!

This is the park right beside our community garden. So while Mike is weeding, Lily an I will likely be hanging out at this splashpad! Here is the garden that we share with Leeat's family. Thus far it's looking really good. So far Leeat's house has done the majority of the work, but with weeding coming up, we'll all pitch in! Mike is SOOOOO looking forward to being able to continue on the Szala tradition of making homemade salsa.
Here is a picture of Lily 'helping' Mike with our side flowerbed in our backyard.
Here is a view of our backyard complete with the patio set Mike bought me for Mother's Day/graduation :-)

Today we were blessed with BEAUTIFUL weather! Kyle and Rebecca came over and spent an hour blowing bubbles with Lily!

Kyle is so pleased with himself!

Rebecca is showing off her bubble :-)

Lily is desperately truly to replicate the efforts of her cousins, with no success!

2008-05-20T22:04:00.006-04:00

What a fantastic long weekend! We started off our 1,639 km road trip driving from London to Oshawa on Friday to have dinner with Karen. Then we drove the four hours from Oshawa to Ottawa to stay at Mamo Jeanne's and Donald's (they had gone camping but still found time to leave us chocolates on our pillows!) house. On Saturday morning we visited Parliament Hill, the hub of our national parliament in Ottawa. Lily loved walking around and looking at EVERYTHING! Then we drove the two hours from Ottawa to La Chute to check into our hotel before the wedding. We were on a budget so we stayed a budget place and got our budget worth out of it! It was the first hotel where I was nervous of the carpet and its inhabitants! However the fabulous wedding of Dean and Kelsey made the trip toLaChute well worth it! Dean and I have been friends for a dozen years having met in our first year of University. Dean is my frosh week story - I had to call his parents to come and get him after he was found table dancing :-) This is a far cry from the Dr. Dean that married a terrific Kelsey this weekend!
On Sunday we left LaChute and drove the 2 hours to Val des Monts to visit with our friends Krista and Ader. We played lots of Settlers, had LOTS to drink, great food and awesome company. And let's not forget the view!!!
Monday, after a quick trip to Costco so that Mike could buy his cheap beer :-) we headed home leaving time to drop in to see Karen back in Oshawa for another game of Settlers. Lily is a super traveler and enjoyed the visiting as well as seeing all of the buses! PPS

I wonder if this is an indication of what is in her future?!

Mike and Lily sitting in front of the Eternal Flame with the Parliament buildings in the back.

Lily LOVES horses. She met Shadow outside of the ParliamentBuildings in Ottawa.
A view from the north side of the Parliament buildings.

Lily really enjoyed circling this bell!

Mike and Lily checking out the scenery.

Daddy, what's that?!

Szala Family on Parliament Hill.

Pamela and Lily

The bride and groom: Kelsey and Dean!

My husband, Michael Szala , in a suit! Mike and Lily are checking out the wedding program.

Szala Family posing on the porch behind Krista & Ader's house. Yes, this is their backyard!

If you look just above Mike's head you can see their house.

Lily really enjoyed being in nature. Enough that she sat still for a moment for me to catch a photo!

Lily LOVES her apple juice. She calls every kind of juice apple juice. For example, Mango Juice is called 'Bingo Apple Juice' by Lily :-) Should have seen us explaining that one to daycare!

Our fantastic hosts, and Settlers Players extraordinaire, Ader & Krista.

Lily is watching her Dadddy fix her Sally doll.

Daddy and Lily are stirring the lake.

Szala family with a disgruntled Lily who just wants to play on the dock.

Lily is pointing out where the mosquito went that she just tortured. "It's down there, Dad-dy'.

2008-05-15T09:23:00.003-04:00

Lily has become a big fan of corn on the cob! Thus far her largest consumption of corn on the cob is four cobs - at one time. She just loves it! For Mother's Day we were at my Mom's place and were there with all of the nieces and nephews (8 in total) on my side. We all had a sleep over at Nana's! Here is a photo of Liz and her five month old, Sarah.

Here is a photo of Lily enjoying the puddles! She really likes it when she gets a big *splash* - which is rare 'cause she has yet to discover how to jump with both feet - what she does is very similar to a bunny hop :-) Mike is starting Lily's path to hockey already! Lily continues to love the park - swings, slide, climber doesn't matter so long as she is at a park. The photo of Mike holding Lily was taken this morning on her way to daycare. The photo of Lily using the shoehorn (she is her father's daugther!) was also taken this morning. We're off to a wedding in Quebec over the long weekend (yippee!! for Dean and Kelsey!!) so we'll be sure to have great photos next week!

2008-05-09T08:15:00.001-04:00

Happy Friday from Lily! We've got awesome plans for my second Mother's Day! My sisters and their families (less their husbands who are working) will be at my Mom's starting tonight where we're going to have a 14 person sleep over, then a Mother's day brunch tomorrow then we're off to my Grandma Pilon's to celebrate her 80th Birthday! Very much looking forward to the weekend! PPS

2008-05-07T07:51:00.001-04:00

2008-04-23T21:47:00.002-04:00

"The Trip Home"

We'll bring you some pictures and tales of our trip to Saskatchewan, but this story is too horrible and funny not to bring to you right away. For those of you who are wondering, this is now Mike's baby while Pamela's away in France. So be forewarned, there is a bit of colourful language, mostly to enhance the tale.

Also, thankfully, given the nature of the tale, there are no pictures. It is also quite long, but don't be discouraged, you will be rewarded. Let us begin (note, this is pasted from an email home asking "how the trip home went."

Lily had an EXCELLENT trip home. I, on the other hand, did not.

So the plane was at 6:45. I had 5 diapers (I did not know the exact number at the time). We got the airport, and Lily's diaper was full. So we go to the family bathroom on the first floor, and there are 5 police officers there, and they tell me they're the bomb squad, but not to worry, this was just a training run. REALLY, who has this happen to them? So, one diaper down.

We get on the plane, and it's full again. 2 diapers down. another one an hour later, 3 diapers down. Another one an hour later, 4 diapers down, and I've got 1-1/2 hours left on the plane, plus the baggage cluster-fuck that's awaiting me, I'm sure, plus a 2 hour drive.

With about an hour left on the flight, Lily's pretty full, but I'm gonna save it. I tuck it in the back of my pants, and wait. 15 minutes later, Lily's a bit antsy, and she wants a hug. She comes up to me a bit frantically, which I think is a bit odd, I hug her, and then she throws up down my back. A lot of apple juice, mostly, and I think a bit of lunch. Thankfully not very chunky at all, but still, I'm soaked, and I take off my shirt, and am sitting there in my "wife beater", not giving two shits at all about what anyone thinks I look like, because I just want Lily to be comfortable, and me not to be wearing puke. Lily, of course, is perfectly clean, albeit with a full diaper.

So I get some warm moist towelettes and a garbage bag, and we clean up, and after that, Lily's just fine. However, the diaper is totally soiled, and I toss it out, not realizing it's my last one. And Lily has now pooed. So I'm rifling through my two carry-on's, and there's nothing there at all, and I search for a good 10-15 minutes, willing there to be a diaper. So I ask the stewardess if they have anything on board, and they say they don't, and I'm the only one on board with a child. So I just try to keep Lily safe and comfortable, and she's more or less fine. she wants to move a bit more than she's allowed, as we're on our descent now, and I've got to keep her more or less "in position, as there's also a bit of turbulence. But she didn't cry, and she didn't fuss, nor did she sleep.

So we land, and I'm in a rush, because I want to go find Lily a diaper, knowing there isn't going to be a shop in the airport that's open, and no one's really likely to be able to help me with Lily, so I'll need to find a 24 hour Shoppers or something. I ask the people at the gate if they can find me a diaper somewhere, and no one's at customer service, and the security people haven't confiscated any diapers or anything (they looked at me really strangely there). I should be pointing out that at this point, Lily's seeping out and my shirt is getting stained, and my arms and hands are likely just poo-covered. and I really don't care -- amazing what parenthood can do to/for you.

So we go to get the luggage, and I make a bee-line to the baggage claim place to see if they've got the car seat and the booster seat. After about 15 minutes, we get to the room where they are, and they're both there, so I sigh a huge sigh of relief, and know that we're going to be on our way. I get directions to the Shoppers, and we go from there. I get my luggage, and then call the company we've parked our car with, and they tell us to meet go down one floor and go to "S3." So I find my way to an elevator, get in, and find that it has buttons for 1 and 2, and I'm on 1, so how the fuck can I get downstairs? Someone else in the elevator is going up, so I go up with them, and then come back down. I look across from me at another elevator (keep in mind that it's somewhere around 12 at this point, I'm shit-covered, quite tired, and my arms are falling off, and the car seat keeps falling off my trolley), and the sign above the elevator says "Terminal 3", whereas I'm supposed to be picked up at Terminal 1.

So I call the company up and tell them I must have given them the wrong terminal. They ask me who I flew with, I tell them Air Canada, and they tell me I'm at Terminal 1. I tell them I'm looking at a sign that says Terminal 3, and they say I'm at Terminal 1. So I ask someone, and they tell me I'm in Terminal 1. I then look more closely at the sign, and it has a picture of a bus on the sign, so it's saying "Take this elevator if you want to take a bus to Terminal 3." Obviously, my mind is gone at this point. I make it downstairs, and get to S3 where the pickup is. I then tell the driver I'm just going to change Lily and i'll be right with him. So I take out her pyjamas, an undershirt, and a long-sleeved shirt which I'm going to tie around her as a makeshift diaper. I lay her down on my leather jacket, and then proceed to look for the wipes, which should be in one of my two carry-on bags. I look and look and look, and Lily's quite content to be waiting for me, but I can't find them for the life of me. So I pick her back up, put her in the car seat, and we and five other people take off in the van to our cars.

I'm the last to be dropped off at the car, and thank the Lord, there are wipes in the trunk that were once frozen solid during the winter. The Lord works in mysterious ways -- we didn't move them from the car for that very reason. So I do my makeshift change of Lily, and she's very happy and cooperative. I should mention at this point that she would have every right to dump me right there and then, but she probably surmised from the situation that this was not the time to be grumpy. =) Anyways, now I try to put the car seat in securely, which is always a trial. Lily's amusing herself with TicTac containers, just shaking them, and I'm pushing and pulling, and finally it works. I put her in, and start to buckle her in, when I realize that the right shoulder strap has disengaged itself with the buckle in back, and it's just hanging there limply. Which, of course, means I have to disengage the whole blessed thing.

Ok, so I fix it and put it in, and it's secure, and we're on our way. Of course, now *I have to pee, and it'd probably be a good idea to go get some caffeine, and so we do that before we leave. At this point, I say forget the Shoppers, forget a motel, I just want to get home. I've got 1-1/2 boxes of size 5 diapers at home, and Lily's getting a bit big for them, so I'm not going to buy any more, and I'm not going to a motel without any diapers. It's only about 2 hours from the airport, and I've got music, I'll be fine. Lily's out immediately, and the trip is rather uneventful. I landed just after 11, and got home by 2:45. Lily was a bit wet, so I changed her into a real diaper and some new pyjamas and put her to bed, and I was out like a light. She decided to wake up at 7:15 despite only getting 6 hours of sleep, and we go about our days. Me, I get home at 9 after taking her to day care, and then pass out until 12:45, nice and refreshed.

At 7:00, about half an hour before I typically give her a bath, we're singing "Cookie song", I'm bouncing her up and down on my lap and singing as we read from the book, and she's nodding off. "Do you want a bath, Lily?" "Yeeeah." And so it was an early night for her.

So yeah, that's how the trip home went. =)

2008-04-22T13:36:00.002-04:00

Bonjour from France! For the time being I do not have photos but I will see what I can do in the near future! I am really enjoying Chateauroux as I am staying with really nice people and their dog and bunny! My mini-vacation in Paris with Patricia was exceptional and truly enjoyable! PPS

2008-04-14T20:29:00.004-04:00

We had a fun weekend hanging out in London resting up for our upcoming trips!

We did some housework - here is Lily 'helping' Mom make her bed. There there is Lily and her Dad right after bathtime :-)

PPS

2008-04-08T20:09:00.006-04:00

Check out the before and after!

What a great weekend! We were up before the sun on Saturday to get to Toronto in time for the 8 a.m. awards ceremony. I was awarded the Helen G. Mitchell Award from the Ontario Modern Language Teachers Assoctation (OMLTA/AOPLV) In total 11 Faculty of Education students were chosen for their competency in French or International Languages and must demonstrate leadership and great potential for making a difference in the languages field in Ontario schools. I was the recipient of the award for University of Western Ontario ~ a huge honour! So the three of us headed to Toronto, while I was getting my award, Mike and Lily hung out in the hotel's pool! Then Saturday morning we hung out at the St. Lawrence Market then spent the entire afternoon in the Beaches - what a great time. As you can tell from the 'before' and 'after' photos, Lily is now mullet free! She had her first haircut at 20 months old. Saturday night we spent time with Mike's good friend Stephanie and her fiance Robin in celebration of their upcoming wedding in Scotland! Sunday we went to Riverdale farms and Lily fell in LOVE with the horses - she loves horses! We also got to watch a cow being milked, walk with the chickens and talk to the goats!
One of the last photos is of Lily and her 'wounds' from her tumble from the sandbox today at daycare. It's hard to believe that the middle of April has arrived. I leave for France next week while Mike and Lily get to head west to spend time with Mike's family. It's going to be tough leaving Mike and Lily for 19 days, but at least we'll have the blog to keep in touch!

Enjoy your week! PPS

2008-04-02T22:12:00.004-04:00

Wishing Lily a wonderfully happy big 2*0 months!!

Lily had a great day celebrating her 20 months of being a Pilon Szala kid! She and Mike spent some time outside (I remained inside nursing a brutal sinus infection) then we got to colouring. I love watching Lily colour with her markers. She uses all of her might to get the cap off then she puts the cap on the end. I'd like to think its because she's super organized, but it comes from the fact she doesn't want our cat Heidi to chase the caps! Enjoy the pictures and have a great week. p.s. two more weeks until I fly to France!!

2008-03-29T21:09:00.010-04:00

March has been a great month! Sorry for the delay in posting photos - I've been knee deep in summer job applications and working on my practicum. I'm really enjoying teaching my LifeSkills class. I work with 9 developmental and behavioural students, two Educational Assistants, a service dog and a terrific associate teacher/mentor. The most challenging is the system - the education system has NO IDEA what it takes to educate the students in my class - they're clueless! But my associate teacher is showing me the ropes and it's going really well. It's sad, but two weeks down, only two left to go! Then I have two days off, then my flight to France! However, between now and then I need to get a summer job. Thus far the response has been 'we'd love to hire you, but you're too qualified for a summer job here' ARGH - I'll keep you posted!

Four month old Sarah

Nana and Lily saying the deer are 'all gone'
The deer we saw at Nana's

Lily's first Easter Egg hunt..

Papa and his granddaughters: 15 month old Cora, Four month old Sarah, 8 year old Katie and 19 month old Lily

Lily has discovered chocolate eggs!

My 10 year old nephew - Johnathan

What is this shiny thing....?

The crew during the Easter Egg hunt.

Cora is enthralled!

Two and a half year old Jojo
Four month old Sarah and her Nana

Four year old David wants to show us what he found!

Lily and her Daddy playing with her favourite toys - her farm puppets!

Lily and her Dad singing to French Songs

There are four months between the girls!

Baby Sarah is being loved by her Uncle Mike.
Lily discovered my scarf drawer and has decided she needs accessories for our outing!

2008-03-16T22:46:00.005-04:00

Ah, I wish you could hear the glee coming from Lily in these photos! She has never used a pacifier, however Cora left hers here at the house during her visit last weekend so Lily took it as fair game. I had Lily on my lap and was saying 'Lily, that's not yours ~ that's the baby's' all the while tickling her and she just giggled and giggled!

This past week we hung out a fair bit at home, but did get a chance to hang out at the Children's Museum with Matt and his son Alex.

And, yes I got a hair cut :-)

PPS

2008-03-16T22:44:00.003-04:00

Sigh... last night of March Break! I start my four week practicum teaching a Life Skills class at a local high school here in London. Fun group of students to be working with! Tonight I made a necklace to celebrate my March Break and to help me get ready for the road ahead...

Before.. In the midst of designing the necklace...

After......

!

2008-03-11T20:20:00.007-04:00

March Break! The first photo is the ocean of people who took the exam with me on Friday! School is done ~ until I start teaching on Monday!

Nana and Lily...

Cora at the Children's Museum while she's decorating a cookie...

Whalen talking to Tucker at the Sugar Shack...

Lily, Cora and Whalen on our walk at the Sugar Bush..

Connie showing Whalen how it all works...

Lily doing a tour...

Lily loves her horses!

Me, Lily, Whalen, Cora and Connie on our wagon ride...

I asked Whalen what he was doing and he said 'Having fun!'

Our view during our second horse ride...

Cora, Connie and Lily loving the sunshine...

Whalen is Loving riding shotgun!

2008-03-10T15:09:00.004-04:00

Happy March Break! Yippee!! Mom came down on Friday and stayed the weekend. Connie, Cora and Whalen arrived on Friday and leave tomorrow. The 30cm of snow we got over the weekend kept us from going too far so the kids spent about four hours in the snow on Saturday! Last night we went to a local pool that is shaped like a whale and has a three story waterslide! This morning we went to the Children's Museum! Lots of fun so far! Hmmm... Blogger.com is not letting me add more photos - I will attempt to do more this afternoon. PPS

2008-03-02T23:07:00.005-05:00

Happy March 2nd! Lily turned 19 months today! Just a few photos uploads tonight as I've got five more sleeps until the theoretical part of my studies are complete and I move onto my four week practicum. With the light at the end of the tunnel comes two exams, two projects and one presentation due this week :-) Next week is March Break so likely more time for photos! We've had fun this week. Lily lets us put pigtails in her hair. The funny part is that her hair is so fine that we need to use four elastics :-)

2008-02-24T10:17:00.008-05:00

Sorry for the long delay in getting some photos up! I've got two weeks left of classes, then March break, then four weeks of teaching at Montcalm, then three days off then two and a half weeks in France (!) then back home on May 5th to do something for a summer job! It's been hectic but in between school work, tests and assignments we've had some fun! Mom and Lyle came down last weekend to hang out with us. We went out for brunch at a great place called 'Cora's' then we went to the London Farmer's Market. We had a lot of fun! I love the photo of Lily's hand as it shows her itty bitty dimples :-) Lily loves to get dressed. Whether it is with her own clothes, her Dad's boots or my mitts, everything goes!

Lily loves to read her books and to play with puzzles. One of her greatest toys is a book that has puzzle type pieces! I find it so odd that Lily has such poker-straight thin hair considering mine is think and curly! Even brushing up against something, the static will take control of Lily's hair! Mike's grandma Wolfe knitted Lily a beautiful hat, mitt, booties and sweater set. Immediately Lily set about getting herself dressed!

We did a road trip to Newmarket on Friday to visit with Patricia and Ruddy. Lily saw Patricia at Christmas when she was home from France but hadn't seen Ruddy since she was 13 days old :-) She immediately warmed up to him and had him playing puzzles and reading books in no time! Yesterday we went to Ava's 1st birthday at the London Children's Museum. Ava is my school friend Karen's daughter. It's great that I'm such good friends with a woman who is in a similar situation that I'm in - balancing life, motherhood and full time studies! Yeah, it's been a balancing act! However, only two short weeks to go (two exams, two presentations and three assignments) and it's March Break! Hope you've enjoyed the photos! PPS

2008-02-11T23:11:00.000-05:00

Good day! Lily's rash is clearing up quickly and she is definately on the mend! I've got some photos from this past week to share....

Last weekend we visited Connie, Whalen, Cora, Anthony and their bearded Lizard Dippy. On Sunday we visited Nana and Papa. While at Nana's Mike and Lily went tobogganing and enjoyed themselves!

Lily LOVES shoes - mine, hers and her Daddy's big boots!

The lovely photo of Mike and I is from the 80s night at the campus pub in celebration of the upcoming production of FAME at school. It was a riot and Mike and his dancing was a HIT!!! Enjoy your week! PPS

2008-02-10T22:02:00.001-05:00

Please don't fret - at least that what the Drs at the hospital told us yesterday when we took Lily in to get her *rash* checked out. We're told that it is a simple case of a viral rash. It is Lily's reaction to having a viral infection, like her cold. Her temperament hasn't changed one bit and she is in great humour. She hasn't scratched at all to indicate she's itchy. It really does look worse then it is. In the past 30 hours the redness has gone down significantly and the rash is now down to red blotches. She missed swimming this morning, we just didn't feel like trying to explain to the oodles of other parents that she isn't contagious and that their kids would be fine. She did however make it to Owen's 2nd birthday party with her Dad while I finished my Standard First Aid training. I figured it would be a good thing to have as a teacher.
On the teacher front, I have an interview tomorrow with a School Board south west of London. I'll let you know how it goes :-) PPS

2008-01-30T17:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Wednesday out there! I'm in the midst of my hectic time for school (17 assignments between now and March 5th) so I thought of no better way to procrastinate then to update the blog! The itty bitty baby is Sarah, the youngest in our family (Liz's youngest), who was born November 24th. She's had a rough couple weeks with being quite sick but it looks like things are looking up for her!

The other photos are all of Lily! I can't believe how much she has become her own little person. If only you could have been there the day she decided to bust a move in the kitchen, jiving to the tunes from her barnyard buddies! Priceless!

I only had one or two photos of Lily sleeping so I snagged the opportunity to catch one while she was sleeping earlier this week. Sigh, what a doll!

Other photos are of her hanging out. The one where it looks like she is pledging allegiance is her showing us how to 'hug their dear' as it says in one of her books (for the parents out there, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom). The hysterical part is that she has a different book that has the picture of a deer and when we say 'deer' she hugs herself. It's funny :-)

I LOVE when Lily eats PB&J - it's such a tidy breakfast choice :-)

Sigh, school works calls. Hope you enjoy the photos! PPS

2008-01-27T20:46:00.001-05:00

Happy 8th (!) Birthday, Kyle!

Today we celebrated Kyle's upcoming birthday with a 'Mad Science' party! It was a lot of fun! We got to take part in different experiments and make our own bouncing ball! Lily enjoyed hanging out with all the big kids, but loved dipping her veggies more! She is quite the little person these days! Enjoy your week! PPS.