The Reynoldsezses

Hello my friends! Nothing new around the Mussellam Casa sooooo... here is what is happeniing with our good friends Eric, Anna, Haidyn and Athea. Grampa Ted was kind enough to fill us in on their goings ons. Michael and I have now completely turned green with envy and we wish we were there with them!

Anonymous said...
Since I don't have Anna's blog to leave comments I will leave you one. We received a E-mail from Anna on their adventures in So New Zealand. Here it is enjoy from Anna's Dad

"We camped 2 nights in Picton and drove about 2 hours West to Nelson...
Just set up camp again and will be here for 3 days...

We are playing cribbage and drinking beers and wish y'all were here soaking
up the summer sun.

It is beautiful here and the weather is a ton nicer than Wellington.. it
actually feels like SUMMER!!

So far just a little rain... but mostly sun!

I am emailing you from an internet cafe in Nelson.. Better go because the
girls are getting crazy.. lots of computers here just asking to have their
buttons pushed by 2 wee girls.

If I do not get back to this Cafe to check email for a couple days..

Happy New YEAR!!!"

6:19 PM, December 29, 2006

Christmas Part 2

Hello all of you non posters. Greedily checking and rechecking our blog and then rudely commenting how we are slow to post. Well, I have been to your blogs and I see nothing new! Harumph! YOu are lucky I am filled with good cheer! And Mimosas!!! Not to mention Bailey's and coffees!!!! so, it is the day after boxing day and we are slowly getting moving here. I thought you might like to see what our christmas dinner looked like. Politely disregard the fact that I am in my pjs! I wore them all day AND manage to pull off a mighty fine christmas dinner if you ask me! The only thing that sucked was my cranberry sauce. I think in future I will purchase it! I cant justify putting THAT much sugar in something.. but obviously they need that much or they wouldn't have tasted like extremely tart poo! Merry Hohohohohohoho and happy relaxing day!


Oh and here is a bonus one!



quite possibly the ugliest baby I have ever seen but Maeve absolutely adores it! The xmas morn video shown previously was funny because she pulled out the fork/spoon disney princess set and exclaimed, "from ASDA" which is the UK walmart! Not Santa, ASDA! hahahahahaha what a goof!

xmas morn part 1

listen closely to hear where the goods came from!

Xmas eve

Hello and Merry Christmas or Chris Ross!! Hope you have all had a wonderful xmas thus far! Here is a brief update on our xmas eve. We had our friends over Erica, Chay and baby Finn who was born Sept 25! He is so cute and HAHA I got to hold him. Only briefly mind you. Madigan screamed so loud and for so long that I had to give him over to his Mommy! I am assuming it was jealousy related screaming! Apparently there wont be a baby #3 for us!
We had lots of snacks and then ordered pizza for dinner!! Erica and co brought over some mulled wine. Michael and Chay seemed to like it.. maybe its a man thing! Erica and I had baileys and coffee! YUM! It was a really low key christmas eve but so so so wonderful! Maeve took all the pics that she wasn't in! So, the girls got to open 1 gift on xmas eve as is tradition in my family.. and... following said tradition the gift was pjs! I'm going to make Michael update for the christmas day festivities because I'm beat! So, here are is the tree after santa came but before the paper shredding!

Christmas Eve, Eve

Hiya gang.. sorry no post for a while we have been busy!! hhaha We have basically been under house arrest waiting for a package to arrive. To date... they are winning.. we have been homebound for 3 days! So far NOTHING! What a pain in the ass!! Oh well, what can you do! So, around here we have got the tree up, trimmed the tree, made stainglassed cookies and totally busted our the Boney M christmas. Here is a little treat for everyone... my apologies in advance for my nasally voice, my suhweet dance moves and my fat ass!! ! hahahhaha


Merry Chris Ross!!

happy

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO A LITTLE GIRL WE LOVE & TALK ABOUT ALL THE TIME!





sorry it is a small one, but its worth it!

Stained Glass Cookies take 2

hahaha well, the other day Maeve and I tried our hand at making stained glass cookies! Hahaha, Mommy doesn't read directions very well! Well, honestly it said, grease tray with fat. Seeing as butter is fat, I assumed it would be fine. NOPE! So, the first attempt at the treats were crappy, cracked, broken and mostly stuck to the burned on butter! Oh well.. the troopers we are, we decided to try again! We only had one cookie casualty and Maeve very helpfully destroyed the evidence!

Well yesterday we met up with our new friends Erica, Chay and their 12 week old son Finn. We went to Jephson Gardens to feed the poultry! Well, have a good look at the pictures because.. well, if you weren't giving them food they were going to take it! Poor Madigan. Look reeeeeally closely at the pictures! The movie included is our good ole ding donger! I've officially given my hat to Maeve because, it looks better on her, it fits her better and... well she has alot of fun in it! My apologies to you for the builders bum hanging out in the pic but it was all of us so i had to use it

trimmin the tree

Well, thats it.. the tree has been trimmed. All concentrated in one area and I wouldn't change it for a thing! Maeve did a great job hanging bulbs. Maeve also got to put the angel on the top. However freaky looking said angel is, please politely refrain from commenting on its freakishness! I got it for 1.99 GBP less 25%!
Our tree is tiny and was given to us by our neighbour! She also managed to snag us a set of lights for 1GBP! She sure knows how to grab a deal around here and seems to be always thinking of us. The other day amidst the vomiting and whatnot, she knocked on the door to drop off a BAG full of presents for the girls. I got her 8 GIANT chocolate bars! She weighs mayyybe 80lbs soaking wet but LOVES a good choccie bar! Some women aren't as good at putting on weight as I am.
On a side note, I may or may not have mentioned my new friend Erica from Michigan. She has a gorgeous 10 week old son named Finn. We met at the library a week or two ago. She is really nice and finds the same things about living here annoying! She is great partner in crime to vent with! Anyhoo, tonight we went out to see Happy Feet. hahaha I had zero expectations for it but it turned out quite nice and it was nice to be away from the fam for a bit! Her husband Chay that is (CH not SH) picked us up and drove me home! It was nice to not have to ride the giant pink double decker bus that may or may not pick me up for a change!
Well, its pancakes day tomorrow so I better get off to bed so I don't fall asleep in the batter! Love you all and miss you terribly. Specially my family who, with Auntie Erin, are celebrating Christmas this weekend. I would, in all honestly, give a kidney to be ther for it... but no one wants my damned kidney!!

Ok

So, I made some of you cry!!! That was totally not my intent! We are having a great time I think that maybe I'm just pregnant.


www.thepregnancytester.com





hahaha now I've made my mom cry twice! Michael is crying too because it turns out Boss Hogg is my baby Daddy

Ahhhh sisters

So we are all recovering nicely. The girls had a little down time on the dora couch yesterday! This have been ok here. I'm really beginning to feel the distance between me and all of you! I really wish we could come home from christmas. Or just come home!! Haha I don't know if it is age or what but I am a sappy crybaby these days. I feel HORRIBLE for taking the girls away from their family. It is such a great opportunity to be here but the ramifications of not being with friends and family at xmas was not expected to say the least! Every day package after package arrives for the girls. We are so lucky to have such understanding friends and family members. I keep thinking, well its just one year and they'll never know they missed one christmas with their family anyway. The only thought that makes it all tolerable is, they are just 3 and 1 so there will be lots and lots of christmases spent with their Primas and Primos! Must be the holiday season that makes me miss you all, even tho at the holidays someone usually gets their feelings hurt, someone gets too drunk, or there is some huge drama! Or more specifically some whacko in my family whips out the Dr. Ho's and affixes it in places probably not meant for it!
My College Instructors told me that at the 6month mark things were going to feel really tough and she was right! She made me promise to not quit and to really give things a chance here. So, here is to another happy and healthy 6 months at least! So hope the gear up to xmas eases up on me because I'm spending a fortune on tissue! haaha just kidding, you all know I use my sleeve!!

So the outfit is from Auntie Sara and we say from Maeve, "Merry ChristMOOSE"

All better

Well thats it. The last of us have given that tummy bug the boot! Erin et al, you will be happy to know my 7 year streak remains untouched! It was touch and go there for me for a bit but being the trooper I am.. well you get the idea! So we last left you with Maeve becoming horribly ill. Off and on all night she was sick. Tuesday was Michael's probationary review at Codemasters. Where was Michael you ask? Head in the toilet thats where! Poor Michael gets sick on his last day of probation! hahahhaha Poor guy. With Michael home I did take Madigan downtown to finish some errands. It was nice. We ate breakfast at McDonalds!!!!! I don't think we've eaten there in AGES! Just for the record it didn't taste right! It was nice to spend some one on one time with my littlest! Gave me a little prelude to what January might look like if Maeve does infact enjoy going to the preschool she is enrolled in! Today is house cleaning catchup day! Wahoooo! I've been doing nonstop laundry for the last week! Madigan is up having a nap and Maeve is playing happily with her old skook fisher price house. I love my family! Michael just called to give me the update. Turns out he had to fill in some paperwork for his sick day so with luck he may actually get paid since it was technically the last day of his probation! Nothing sucks more than being sick.. then being sick without pay! I've got a spot carved out in the living room for our xmas tree. Christmas is going to be great because of the girls but is also going to suck because everything here is so foreign!! Imagine a 3 foot fake xmas tree! how jolly,.... NOT! Oh well, the tree will certainly be eclipsed by all the prezzies under it! Stuff has been arriving almost every day! I'm so excited for the girls to open all this crap! Then find a home for it all... yee gads! Well, must start the cleanup catchup day!




Today's pic is one that Maeve took of her "octopus". It is great! She is so talented
All my love, Vashti

Feeling better

Well it turns out that Madigan is feeling better. She didn't upchuck much last night at all. Thank god. I did camp out in her room and I bet I got more bed than I would have sleeping with Maeve and Michael!!! She did chuck this morning and made me really worried. Applesauce and rice cereal to the rescue! I also tried tricking her into eating peppermint! hahah turns out I'm the sucker on that one! So this afternoon was ok, just booby juice, water and some movies. After nap turns out our little sickie sickerson was starving to death! Woke up and had dinner oh jeez.. as usual I've spoken too soon..


1 Hour later....

Maeve is up on the couch with me.. the rented couch as it were. She "burps" I knowing what is coming grab and run like hell to the kitchen.. yes.. the barf monster has gotten Maeve. She is bathed, barfed, and gravolled and now sleeping ... this is going to be another awesome night!


I forecast Michael getting it tomorrow... and me fighting it more today, tomorrow and the next day


boo!!

Sunday crappy sunday

Hello all, not a big blog today. Madigan has been barfing off and on all day. Poor thing. I was just talking to Anna this morning and she said her girls are sickie too. Who knew the sick bug could travel the world so fast. We are going to have an early night because it is going to be a long one. I think I'll camp in the girls room and Maeve and Daddy can have a nice good sleep. Poor Michael got upchucked on at the mall. Maeve seems to be doing well so that is good. Hopefully she'll get lots of good rest and she'll be able to resist this bug! On an upnote we did get to see Santa, mere moments before cookie tossing! Santa gave the girls a hedgehog stuffed animal who Madigan calls meow meow! Its cute. Well, off to scrape the barf out of my hair!! n Here is Maeve still managing to have a happy face through it all and poor sicky baby madigan snoozing in between barfing.


Lucky lucky bitches! Fil sent us the pics pre barffest! Here are the girls and good ole Father Christmas!

Christmas FUN

We have been having fun with this all morning. For whatever reason I can't get the link that has our pictures but I know you'll have fun playing with it too


http://www.elfyourself.com/


xo
v

if i somehow manage to get the links up you can see the Mussellam Dancing Elf Girls!

blustery day

We blew on into town today... RECORD winds for England. I heard some talk of tornadoes in London? I don't have a tv so I can't actually confirm that crazy ole lady's claims. We struck out with one stroller and one pedestrian. BAD MOVE!!! We were ok until we hit the bus stop and thats when it began to pour! All three of us huddled under the brolly and waited for the big black cloud to move so the nice blue patch of sky behind it would hit us! After the torrential rain stopped I let Maeve hold the umbrella... a giant gust of wind blew her and the umbrella over! Woops! After a good cuddle and wiping off some mud Maeve seemed to be allright. The reason it was tough with one walker and one lazing about in the stroller is that the walker complained of sore feet and wanted to be carried. You have GOT to be kidding me! Well we made it into town anyway and hit our favorite starbucks for some baby chinos and a muffin, then we were off to the ELC toy store! Fun fun fun and Madigan slept thru the whole toy fabulosity!


ok, for those of you who haven't made it out to visit us YET, michael would like me to ammend something here. The weather in England is a little bizarre. In 10 minutes will have had rain, sun, rain, sun, rain clouds, clear blue sky and then rain. The weather here moves so fast it is insane. Michael says it is because there are no mountains. I say this land is cuckoo cuckoo! (but with a posh british accent)

So they have done it,

Yes they left us. They haven't even been gone a full hour and I already miss them. Sara is a fantastic Mommy. Jacob is a fantastic baby. He is so loving and sweet and smart.. don't get me started about his gross motor skills! He isn't even 11 months yet and he walks, runs, plays soccer AND hockey... Madigan is 3 months older and he keeps right up hehe and sometimes surpasses her with his amazing skills! Anyhoo, we just sent them away in a taxi and they are on their way to London.
boohoo wahh wahh... seriously, I can't begin to thank those of you who have come all the way to London to visit us. I have adults that I talk to here and we go to stay''n'plays and fun stuff but no one can replace my family! Currently I'm trying to persuade Erin to take a 6 month leave of absence and come and live with us. She wont have to pay rent per se... heheheh lots of babysitting tho! Well, neice sitting.. actually I'd rather she didn't sit on them!
Today we are on mend and defend. We'll be kicking it at home while I try to do some of the stuff I totally neglected to do when we had guests! Sara did ALL the laundry while she was here and I"m so going to miss that... come to think of it, her and Michael did all the dishes too... hmmm what was I doing?
Yesterday, Michael took the day off and we went to Warick Castle. Yes yes, I bore you again with Castle pics! No laughing at my goofy hat, Michael says he likes it on me.



Safety first kids, here are Maeve and Madigan playing petshop friends on the fireplace with a picture of Ms Haidyn Reynoldzeses. I don't think you can see but the pic of Haidyn has allll her kitty friends and I think that is why Maeve likes to play with her petshop animals with the pic. For those of you who may be concerned. the fireplace is for decorative purposes only. If I want them to get burns I let them play with the radiator.. ha ha

Madigan's new trick

Ok, ok before I get started I know that every mother thinks their child is the smartest, funniest, most beautiful and wonderful. Michael and I are so lucky to have 2 very smart, funny, beautiful and wonderful girls! I find myself 'bragging' about how much more fantastic they are than other children we run into on the street. Michael is here to temper my bragiosity! So together you may get an accurate'ish idea of how very advanced we (I) feel our genius children are! (Michael says they are 'normal', I say brilliant). We've been trying to capture Madigan's awesome new trick on video for a few weeks and with Sara here we haven't been making any progress. The good news is with Sara and Jakers here there are more feet around for her to showcase her new talent! I wish I could video all Madigan's firsts, seconds and total funnyness but we don't always have the camera running. Because she is a very stubborn Finnerty girl, upon requesting her to repeat said funnyness the answer is no. So, we wait for the opportunity to present itself and pounce! Hope you like her trick!



***Update to all those who don't speak Madigan. The translation is, "STINKY FEET"

haha enjoy

Cousinpalooza

Hi gang! Well, here we all are in jolly old england. The weather has been really nice lately. Yesterday we walked into town in the afternoon looked around and then headed home. It was fishn'chips tuesday so Daddy picked up dinner! I love fishn'chip tuesday b3ecause I dont' have to cook! Tonight was bathnight and this is the result... too cute for words! We love Jacob Barry George Wingfield...oh and his Mommy is ok too

ahhh bimbling

This weekend, Sara met the infamous Fil. He lead us on a very.... exciting? bimble. It was a gorgeous day.. the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing and it was crisp. We ambled out with Jakers on Sara's back, Madigan on my back and Michael pushing Maeve in the all terrain buggy. Neil and Fil were left to carry their own sorry hides altho we did offer Neil a ride in the stroller! Well we walked and talked and had lots of fun until... duh duh duhhhhhhh our bimble home was obstructed by a 'creek' that has grown substantially thanks to all the rain. Fil lead us bravely to where there should have been some sort of bridge or safe crossing. Sadly, this was not to be. Much head scratching and plan making brought us to the new plan. New plan was to climb over crumbling fence surrounded by briars! Awesome you say? Why yes.. as Jakers and Maeve were asleep. I wish I had taken pictures of us unstrapping sleeping children, passing them over briar fence, then hauling our buns over with Fil to guide us/balance us across. Then of course there was the stroller.. ahh the joy.. Michael, Neil and Fil all took one for the team getting muddy and soggy to get that darned thing across! Merrily we sloshed through several farmer's penned in fields, scaled a few more fences and finally made it to the bridge to cross the torrent that was the creek! Home again home again jiggety jigg where many beers we did swigget swig.. well, the adults not the children!






Pics are from our day saturday wandering around Leamington Spa. I am aware that I put a less than flattering picture of myself on the blog with my eyes closed and looking very 'retired' as Borat would say, but pics of all of us as a fam are few and far between! I put the last one of Madigan in there to prove she isn't carried all the time!!!!

Big ups to our bloggmosphere

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of postings! We are all having so much fun we can't be bothered to be trolling the internet! The babies have stopped tag team crying! Sara and I always laugh because Madigan calls Jakers "baby".. he is only 4 months younger than her. Jakers calls Madigan 'baby' too so it all works out in the wash!
Danica, we love the snow writing! We loved the pics of baby Saige and Makadoodlenut! Love the halloween pics of the Bon but Uncle Jaycie should post more often! We LOOOVe all the aulstralian pics of Auntie Row and Uncle Tig. Mom has even wowed us with some postings! Our great friends Anna, Athea and Haidyn all look gorgeous and we love to read about their comings and goings. Not too far North of my Nanaimo kinfolk is a sweet little girl named Mhari, she is getting so big and we always read her adventures! Even further North is our sweet baby Charli. She is getting SOOOO big. Over on the sunny (HA)shine coast reside our clever pals Abbie, Emma and Magster. Maeve particularily liked the princess birthday party. Because I love Maeve, I censored the birthday cake pics Deb! We try to check Auntie Erin's blog but she doesn't update as much.. I'm sure she'll post now that she has been outed as a lagging blogger! We have to check up on our much loved Doucette boys at least once a day, we can't live without our Ronan and Liam. So all y'all out there blogging your lil tushies off we love it and thank you so much for letting the girls and I see you on a regular basis.. or semi regular! We love you all and keep on bloggin!

Sorry no pic today.. the cam is in use! We are currently trying to catch Madigan on vid with her awesome word du jour!

First post since Auntie's arrival

Here they are!!! INtroducing Auntie Sara and baby Jakers!


we love them and are SOOOOOOOO happy they are here! Now if the babies would stop tag team crying!

shake your dragon tail

Ok, well the crowds have it.. mooooore video!




Extremely irritating voice warning. My apologies

shanghaid in shanghai!

Swiper no swipin'! I totally robbed my Mom of these gem pics. Classic Maeve on the bus being quite gorgeous and Madigan who is also gorgeous, seemingly thrilled about books! We are all having fun round here still. I got to sleep in! Well, I was up at 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9! My Mom managed the girls for the last 3 hour naps! I am beat! Tomorrow I have a dentist appt and my Mama is going to watch the girls. I think I am going to see if I can get some sort of massage booked in too. I think I need a team of Swedish folk to pound all the aches out of my body! We are releasing my Mom back to the wilds of Canada on friday. She will be taking the train into London Solo. She will also be sightseeing all of London by her little ole self! I feel like a jerk for sending her off into London on her own, but we can't make it in with her this time! I wonder if she'll bring the roasting pan with her!!! I am very proud of my Mom for wanting to do it all for herself, if our positions were reversed I'm not sure I'd want to! We found a really great tour system here called Hop Off Hop On. Its an open air double decker bus that goes to all of the touristy sights. You can spend 5 mins at each or hours really. www.citysightseeing.co.uk It is pretty cool and if you come to visit us we might force you on one!

Happier times

Vintage Madigan pic today. Poor thing, got jabs in both legs. Boo.. She did really well and the nurse was both stunned and thrilled that Madigan still nurses. She said we were doing excellent and that it was great to see an older baby who still nurses. Needless to say, I was a little chuffed! So nice to have someone think I'm doing the right thing for a change!!! Everyone else here seems to think I"m a moron for letting my youngest a)go without a harness b)feed herself c) get down and walk around only occasionally snacking on the odd cigarette butt! I shouldn't complain as both Maeve and Madigan have now sampled cigarette butts. Most of the people around here feel that it is completely natural to lure their child into a push chair (stroller) with sugar dipped marshmallow whips.. even when the child says NO!!! Anyway, things could be worse than ciggy butts... Anna always has a story to put my gripes in perspective!!
Today Mom cracked out the maple syrup, brown sugar, butter and all the things that make wickid cinnamon buns. Maeve also got to participate. The buns are great but not the same.. boo.. but trust me, I'll eat almost all 50 of them myself! Tomorrow we are going to wait and see what the weather is like but I think we'll be heading in to Jephson Gardens and showing GrammaLuvvy the Baths that made Leamington the Spa it is today!

Hatton Farm take 2

Well we did it. We finally got out to Hatton farm again. The good news'ish is that I brought my camera. Ok, well honestly I forgot my camera but I did manage to have batteries in my camera phone! Mom has HUNDREDS of pics of the girls. Check her blog later. It was funny, Madigan who normally demands to walk, would NOT walk in the petting zoo area. Don't be alarmed, the animals to be petted were all safely gated off from the children! They were as safe from her as she was from then. She insisted on being carried. Maeve however, blasted past all goats, ponies, bunnies, baby chicks and piglets to the guinea pig village. It is pretty cute, albeit a lot smelly.. hundreds maybe even a thousand guinea pigs live at hatton farm. Madigan was also enamoured of the stinky little monsters. The bouncey castle was probably the most exciting for our day. Oh wait, we did get too much of a glimpse of nature. Mating donkeys anyone? All is good and well here. My mom is keeping Maeve at home today and Madigan and I are going to spend the day together. Well, until 3:30 when she will be rudely jabbed by the nurse at the medical center. boo.. oh well, I'm looking forward to some time with my baby!

Hola Primas

Much love to our favorite girlies!

surprise

Some guy named Bill

Stratford-On-Avon. Birthplace of William Shakespeare. Some guy, blah blah. What is really cool are scones and clotted cream, tea and tarot card readings! Today we took Mom to Stratford on the train. NIce place, lots of walking, window shopping. Hard to explain but really fun! Maeve found the biggest christmas stocking EVER! Madigan enjoyed walking on the cobblestoned streets. Mom and I enjoyed jacket potatoes and proper tea with scones! We saw a shop called "Fudgetastic" I decided we'll have to take Sara there when she arrives in 2.. yes thats right 2 weeks with our baby jakers!

Can't wait.

Oh ya, sorry to the random dude whose soul I totally stole by taking his picture without his permission. If anyone knows him or can identify him please send my apologies!

Bump'nBounce

Here are yesterday's pics of the bump'n'bounce. Fun was had, balls were thrown, slides were slid. For almost all parts and purposes a wonderful time. Oh, except for the 3 1/2 year old who, shrieked, fed Madigan, bossed my mother around and capped off a wonderful bump'n'bounce session by saying, "F@$% that" to his mother who for the FIRST time in an hour did something about his behaviour! Ahhhhh England!!

Oh, and to all mom's co workers. I'll get the pic of her and the roaster before she leaves.

So thanksgiving has been and gone but I'd really like to tell everyone what I am most thankful for. My family. I love each and every one of you and I am so lucky to have you in my life. Even if you are all far away! We talk about everyone, and in a good way not gossipy way every day! I am so lucky that Erin has already been to visit, my Mom is here now and Sara is going to be here on the 21 of Nov with baby jakers. I am so incredibly lucky that I have people that love us so much they are willing to spend thousands of dollars to fly thousands of miles to just be with us. Even though we are far away you are all such a huge part of our lives. So, for my big famdamily, I am thankful!