Toronto Visit - Welcome Baby Owen!

I became an aunt again in September so Anna and I flew to Milton to join Mom and Dad in welcoming Baby Owen to the family! This trip closely coincided with Dad's birthday, so we all pitched in to get hockey tickets (Go Pens!) and Jersey Boys tickets for him. I was the lucky one to get to go to the events with Dad and we had a great day in the city! here's Dad outside of the Air Canada Centre.

Me just before the game started - we were in the "lower" upper bowl at centre ice...great seats!

Face-off - it was a great game - Crosby had 2 goals, Gonchor too, and Malkin had a couple assists I think. Good night to be a Pens fan :-) No pics from Jersey Boys, but it was fantastic!!

Mom, Dad, Anna, and I also had fun exploring Milton and hitting my favorite places. here's Anna at Kelso - we spent Thanksgiving 2007 at Kelso too :-) It was a beautiful day and we hiked to the top of the escarpement...too bad those pics are on Dad's camera...along with the Springridge Farm pictures - I must get copies!

Anyways, it was to spend time in Milton and downtown, and especially fun to meet....

Baby Owen!! What a little sweetheart he is - I can hardly wait to visit again!

Anna couldn't stop kissing him when Grampy was holding him...she wasn't as impressed when I was holding Owen :-)

Randoms...

The past couple months Anna has taken more interest in Riley...she loves to pat and hug him, but still does not like to be licked!

I brought a mini Crosby stick back with me from Toronto and Matthew just loved it! He refers to himself as Crosby when he's using it - proud Mom! I then order a Geno stick and a goalie stick (we say it's a Fluery stick) so that we could play hockey in the hallway. Once my Geno stick arrived, Matthew called me Geno for 4 straight days...

Sissy never wants to be left out :-)

Chad's birthday was mid-November, but with the family still getting over the battle with the flu, there was just a small celebration. Grammie and Grampy Smith were able to come in and brought delicious stew and cake!! High Five!

Halloween - Better Late Than Never!

We had a very busy fall full of busy work schedules and the swine flu, so I've been very behind on the blog. Halloween this year was very fun as Matthew was fully aware that it meant lots of treats! We spent Halloween in Middleton again this year so that we could visit family and go for a fire truck ride. First stop was Grammie and Grampy Barker...I think Matthew weasled some extra treats :-) He is not wearing his hood, but he is a monkey...or a monkey monster according to him!

On to visit Grammie Cole and Ed where boxes of the Cheerios as well as Halloween treats were waiting!

The fire truck ride was a highlight! Matthew and I went last year with Dad, but in the little truck, so this was his first year on the big truck! It was also Anna's (tigger) first fire truck ride. Here are the kids with Grampy (Nana was holding down the fort at home).

Me and Chad with the kids waiting for our turn to go up on the truck. The kids were surprisingly well behaved and had a lot of fun on the truck. I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Community Fall Fair

On Saturday we went to a community fall fair at a nearby church. We weren't sure what to expect and were really impressed. There were several kids games, bouncy slides/structures, food, and music. All for the low price of $1 for kids and cheap food!! Matthew climbed up this giant pirate ship slide with Chad, but then wanted to go down by himself - he just flew down as you can see!

Off to the games...here's Nana helping him with the kangaroo catapult.

Sissy was just chilling out with Grampy most of the time. We had her bundled...it was windy!

The fishing pond was exciting...plus Matthew got a prize!

And he was very interested in shooting the gun at the cans - he did pretty good too :-)

Daddy's turn with Sissy!

Another slide...

Grampy holding Matthew up for the ring toss.

The bean bags had velcrow to attach to an X-Os board. He got two to stick!

The magical whale and the babies. We'll be back to the fair next year for sure!

We've Got Top Soil!

We finally decided that we'd lay the sod this fall instead of next spring (tax credit incentive!). Chad rented a mini-excavator so that he could do most of the work himself. Between the weather and scheduling issues, he ended up calling up the troops (ie. Grandparents) to give a hand so that we could finish spreading top soil by Friday night. The troops had already spent time in Beaver Bank this week as Sissy spent most of the week home with the flu and then an eye infection...thank goodness for Grandparents! In any event, it all got done and we are anxious to lay the sod next Friday - thanks everyone!!

Terry Fox Run

This year the Smith family did the Terry Fox Run in Sackville, even though it was raining. I must say that I missed being at the Milton venue...it always had tasty treats, good music, and a community vibe. The Sackville site had three loop options, which was nice, but you felt a bit isolated from the event just walking along streets without a "central" gathering area. We still had a great time though - the kids were gems in the jogger and Nana and Grampy spontaneously decided to join us. Once again, Chad did the full 10 km on behalf of the family, while the rest of us enjoyed a leisurely walk and then a snack at the Sports Stadium.

Haircuts at Sharky's

Yesterday the kids got haircuts at Sharkey's. It was Anna's first time and I wasn't sure how well she would cooperate....

Sissy's before shot...not too impressed, but not fighting it either :-)

Matthew's before shot. He has a doggie on his cheek from the Beaver Bank Fall Fair :-)

Almost done...

Sissy's after shot - what a doll she is and she was soo good the whole time!

Cool dude all finished!