TEN years

YUP, that's how old my boy is!

DOUBLE DIGITS :(

WHERE on earth did the last 10 years go?

Every year, at bedtime on his birthday, we tell Noah about the night he was born! 

Oh, and his dad gives him spankings for however old he is!

(personally, I think he likes MY tradition the best!!)

He loves hearing the story over every year. 

Every year, he asks the same questions.

Every year, he has a huge smile on his face.

And...every year, he goes to bed one year older and one happy boy!

This year, his 10th year of life, I have seen the biggest change of all the years until now.

I have enjoyed EVERY minute I get with him,

watching him grow, learning with him at school and helping his self esteem improve!

It's almost like over night my baby has vanished and become a young man over night!

I am so proud of the young man he is becoming. 

He is so funny.

He is compassionate.

He is a TOTAL exagerator.

He cares about other's feelings.

He is loud.

He puts others before himself (much more than other children his age).

He is sensitive.

He is argumentatiave (he would make a good lawyer).

He is so creative (loves building things).

He is impatient.

Yet, he loves baby's and is so patient with them.

I love you Noah more than you know!

Keep growing up and maturing as you have been and Mom will be SO happy!

I'm utterly proud of you!

Happy 10th Birthday!

10th Birthday Party, Numero Uno

April 16-17, 2011

For the past 3 years, we have given Noah a birthday budget.

Some may think this is odd, but it's been working out great. 

 It makes Noah think about how much it costs for items. 

Teaches him to budget and has saved us a bunch of money!

How it works?

Noah gets $100 for his birthday.

From this $100 he can:

#1 use ALL of it towards a present and none for a party

#2 use ALL of it towards a party and none of it for a present

or

#3 use some of it for a party and some of it for a present

The first year, he chose option #3. 

The second year, he chose option #2. 

This year, he chose option #1.

So he got $100 CASH from us to help him buy a TV for his bedroom and had a low key, sleepover with 2 friends for a 'party' with home made cupcakes!

VERY smart choice (I think)!!!

Sad part, one of his friends was sick the night of the sleepover and he couldn't make it :(

Happy part, the friend that was sick is coming over THIS weekend for a 'REparty'! 

SO...really, Noah gets TWO parties (in his mind) -

but really, it's just another sleepover (in our minds)!!!

What he doesn't know, won't hurt him!!!

The main point - is fun is had by all!

First Molar GONE

April 14, 2011

Considering he was LATE getting his first tooth (at 13 months), he was LATE losing his first tooth (7 years old) - it seems kind of odd that he is EARLY losing his first molar!

This tooth has been wiggly for MONTHS (since before Christmas)! 

We didn't think it would EVER fall out!

It all happened like this:

Noah - "Mom, feel how wiggly my tooth is now?"

Mom - "Wiggle, wiggle - YANK"

And voila - it was OUT!!!

Oooooh, that was mean of me! 

He was SO happy and we giggled for a while about it!

Bubble Gum FUN

I always love finding little activities in a box that Noah & I can do together!

This one, we found at a Chapter's store in Belleville.

SO much fun and something different to do!

BUBBLE GUM!

The instructions told us that we needed ALL the items found on our island.  BUT, once we got into making the gum, we didn't need ANY of them.

It was a fun (but VERY sour activity)!

We saved a bunch of gum for Jacques when he got home from work!

BUT...to our surprise, the cat and dog were in 'kahoots' in stealing the gum!  The cat jumped on the counter (GRRRR) to knock the containers off, then the dog so kindly chewed the gum (GRRRR)!

It was a good laugh at least!

Another road trip, too much

Mar 23 - Apr 3, 2011

Since finding out about our agencies fundraiser (in Toronto), I wanted to attend.

It seemed kind of impossible, considering we had already planned a trip to Ontario the month before the event.

The more involved I got, the more I wanted to go.

Always supporting me, Jacques said 'go'.

So, I did.

Noah & I packed up (including all his school work) and we headed out on a road trip

(which in the end, I discovered wasn't very well planned by me - or possibly a little too well planned out!)

Our sleeping schedule:

(and quite possibly why we were SO exhausted & sick when we got home)

Day 1 - hotel Belleville

Day 2 - friend's house in Toronto

Day 3 - Auntie Jay's

Day 4 - hotel in Toronto

(by day 4, I had clocked over 1800km's on the van)

Day 5 - Aunt Tricia's in Guelph

Day 6 - Mom's in Guelph

Day 7, 8 & 9 - Auntie Jay's

Day 10 - Aunt Kathy/Aunt Karen

Day 11 - hotel

Day 12 - HOME SWEET HOME

(when I arrived home, the odometer read 3198.9 total km's travelled)

Our trip was cut short and BOY, were Noah & I glad to come home!

This is how we (tried) to do school while we were gone!

In the end, I didn't end up doing much school because of our hectic schedule and Noah being sick!  It worked out in the end because I had messed up my planner (putting 2 weeks in a row of the same lessons)!

So we managed NOT to fall behind in the end!

I am SO proud of Noah's resilience and ability to conform to each set of rules, in each of the houses we were in over our trip!  He is so adaptable!  Way to GO, Noah!

I managed to give away some of my adult hat creations to my cousin and a friend!  Way to GO modelling them girls!

One of my highlights (even though you cant see the sign in the back) was our lunch at Chipotle's on Yonge St in Toronto!  Yumm. 

I introduced my cousin to the yumminess of this place and TRUST ME, when my family gets moved - this is going to be a place we visit as much as we can!

Totally picture worthy (me eating my Chipotle)!

Another highlight to my trip was a lunch date with 2 long time friends of mine!

Thankfully for facebook, we have found each other a few years ago!

Can't wait to move to be closer to them to surround myself with POSITIVE women like this!!

I LOVED our lunch date - in fact, I could have spent all day with them!

I also got to spend a night playing with 5 of the cutest boys I know!

I sent Jackie & Keith on a date and the boys and I stayed home and baked cupcakes!

BOY, is 5 boys ever A LOT busier than 1 boy!

OK...now I just HAD to take a photo of Mr. Iggy (aka Easton) and one of his several creations!!!  This kid LOVES tape MORE than Noah (and I didn't think that was possible).

I brought the boys lots of goodies including 5 pks that had 5 rolls in each pack of scotch tape & a tape dispenser.  Before we left, if I'm not mistaken, ALL THE TAPE WAS GONE!  Heck, half the time he didn't even take the time to put the roll of tape in the dispenser.  He'd just use it right off the roll!!!

What a bundle of creative joy he is!!!

This trip was a memorable trip, considering this will be our LAST time we take a road trip like this to Ontario before we move (aside from the trip we take to find a house)!  So, this will be the LAST time we house hop and have long extended visits with family.  Next time we visit, we will be living there and they can bless us with their company at OUR house!!!  YAHOO!

While driving home, we were NEVER so happy to see the signs: 


NEW BRUNSWICK 25

WELCOME TO NEW BRUNSWICK



Pen Pals

Mar 18, 2011

We've got ourselves some pen pals from England.

This family, is a homeschooling family who reached out to meet other families

(in the Toronto area)

 to have some contacts when they move here around this summer!

Ironically, this is exactly what we did too! 

We thought it would be cool to keep in touch...so we are.

This day, Noah & I sat down to write them a postcard each

(considering we had just done a lesson on letter writing and post card writing).

Even I got into it and wrote the family a post card! 

Fun, fun, fun!

New Me

March 17, 2011

Got me some new spectacles and a new 'do'...

I think I clean up pretty good!

Was happy to have my hair dresser style my hair, rather than just blow dry.

Luckily, that night I had a date with a sweet friend.

So when the hair dresser asked me if I wanted her to style my hair, I said 'suuuuure'!

It's not too often (being a stay at home/homeschooling mom) that I get 'dolled' up...

I thought it was picture worthy!

Family Game Night

Mar 13, 2011

Family Game night....

Playing Headbandz

and

teach Noah to play Texas Holdem Poker!

.

The little booger picked it up quickly.

Had we played the whole game through

(instead of taking off to go to the movies before the game was ended),

there was a good chance Noah would have won!

Public School March Break fun

Mar 10, 2011

Some March Break (for the Public School kids) fun!

Noah's cousins from Bathurst, came over for an afternoon of fun

while they were visiting on their March Break!

A little flower experiment.

Mar 7, 2011

WOW...has it been THAT long since I uploaded photos?

Do I even have any peeps left?

While learning about flowers and stems and roots in science, we did a little experiment with some carnations!

.

After 24 hours, the flowers had soaked up all the coloured water through their stems and VOILA, they were changed in colour!

COOL, or what?

Thankful

You know what I have realized over the past couple of years???

Travelling home to Ontario is getting more and more tiring and it takes me longer and longer to 'feel' back to normal after my visits home.

BUT...

...thankfully we are moving home to Ontario this year, so no more big trips!

Life has fully resumed and I'm back on my feet (trying to get caught back up now)

Can't be bothered...

These days, I just don't know what's wrong with me. 

I just can't be bothered with blog posts, or maybe I'm going inward from all that is going on...not sure.

But don't fret, we are all alive and kickin'...just kinda hiding out for a while, trying to get our house sold and get our move done.

That's all...hope all is well with the few blog peeps I may (or may not) have left!