September = Birthdays!

Someone turned 40 September 5. Give you a hint, its someone we all know and love!


Yes, Michael just got old! For his birthday we had a big BBQ out at his Mother's! All of his family came out to help us celebrate. It was really nice! For his birthday, I am taking him to the Dominican Republic for a week! A week! My mother is very...*very* kindly coming to watch the girls in Vancouver so they don't miss any school! How sweet is that?




Maeve turned 8 on Auntie Sara's 36th Birthday. I cannot believe I have an 8 year old! Maeve is growing up so fast it is making my head spin! Grade 3, knows everything (comes by that honestly), confident, talented and just generally wonderful this girl is!




This year we had an actual "birthday party". The kids all seemed to have a really good time, but I should have just had it here. We wound up doing all the work anyway! Maeve invited a few friends to make crafts at Michael's Craft store, have some cake and have their faces painted. It didn't ruin Maeve's party at all but it took an hour just to paint the faces of 5 kids! Maeve didn't even get hers done until 5mins after the party ended! Needless to say, I was a bit miffed. Meh.. it was all I could do not to take the facepaint stuff out of the girl's hands and do it myself. Not wanting to ruin the party, I just hung out with a few of my treasured Moms!



Thank you all for your gifts and calls. Maeve was a very happy girl on her 8th!

Next week, Madigan turns 6!

So last weekend we went canoodling with some friends. We drove out to Buntzen Lake in Port Moody ish area around 10 am and rented a Canoe!

Yes, we headed out all fed a healthy breakfast, with a prepared lunc.... ahh.. wooops, forgot the lunch. Once you get in to buntzen lake and the parking lot is full, they gate it off and you can't return. So we knew we were in it for the long haul..We were out on the lake for 6 hours with no food of our own but lots of water. Thankfully our friends shared their delightful picnic! I can't believe we were so dopey and didn't bring our lunch.



It was a GREAT day! The kids loved it, and although my arms hurt the next day I loved it too! I think we'll do it again! You can see in both pics "who" is paddling and "who" is taking pictures... ahuh.. same person.. Michael exerted alot of effort "steering".. right! OK ok, in both pictures neither of us are paddling!

Haha no just kidding! We did find out that Canoeing is a reflection of your life. If you haven't gone canoeing before you marry someone and have kids with them, you should. If you can survive a 6 hour trek while also keeping those aboard intact then you'll have many a happy years married!


**note to worried parent: all aboard did wear life jackets for the duration of the trip. these pictures were just as we started!
love you Mom