Well, in a few hours (hopefully) I should be an aunt yet again. Mark's sister Amanda is overdue and just got the e-mail she's on her way to the hospital! With Mark being 1 of 11 kids - there seems to always be new babies. It's great! Just wish we could be around more to love and spoil them.

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Madi and Eden went to Noah's birthday party on Sunday. It was bowling - my two uncoordinated girls won't be any bowling champs that's for sure! Madi and Noah are very cute together - Noah was so excited to see Madi! And they just loved being together. As Madi told Paige today "Noah is a kind boy, but really silly!" His mom, Lorri, sent a couple pics from the party - here they are:

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I have been really wanting to take Madi to a play - she puts on plays at home all the time but doesn't really "get" what a play is. So when I heard about a play for children's audience of Charlotte's Web for only $7 - I thought "perfect!" I took Madi and Paige and they couldn't have been cuter! Madi wanted to go to a "grown-up" restaurant for lunch instead of McDonald's and to wear a skirt. We went to Turtle Jacks (as I had a gift cert!) and they were great! Bubba Clinch was working - fun to see him. Then we went to the play. It was perfect for their age and they were both mesmerized. 5 minutes in, Paige leaned over and said "This is great! I like it." Madi didn't take her eyes off of the actors and afterwards announced that she liked plays better than movies. Yeah! Will have to find more for her to attend. I wonder if she's too young for Shakespeare in the Park in TO this summer - one of my faves!

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Played in the backyard yesterday with the girls. Thought we'd make a snowman - but with our little yard and short attention span we made mini snowmen instead. Here's our family.

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Soon it's March and then it's Vegas!! I can't wait! I'm going March 23-29 and I'm really, really excited! The conference looks amazing, but I'm also really excited about the three gals I'm going with. Good times! And the weekend before I think I will be flying to Thunder Bay to photograph clowns! It'll be SO nice to see my Grandma and aunts. Haven't decided if I'll take the girls or not.

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My neighbour just won an all-inclusive trip to CUba off the radio station. SO happy for them! Bob & Sarah Bourque are finally getting their boy! Sarah had her ultrasound and it's a boy! Hooray! So excited for them.

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It makes SUCH a huge difference with kids if you are in a hurry or if you can move at their pace. Let me explain - usually I avoid the mall/stores with the girls. But yesterday I had some returns to do and took Eden with me. We didn't have to rush as we lots of time to do our returns and get back to pick up Madi from school. So, instead of saying "hurry up! COme on let's go - we need to hurry....." I could let Eden pretend to be a kangaroo and hop through the mall. She "picked" bananas off of a billboard and "put them in her pouch". She could stop and talk to the mannequins. We rode the elevator "just because". She could run into the optometrist's office just to say "hi" to the waiting room and receptionist. We had fun! I laughed a lot and it was so much more enjoyable then rushing and getting frustrated. Same with lunch today with madi and Paige. I left us lots of time, we were there for an hour and a half at the restaurant. We played eye-spy, we coloured, we told ridiculous knock-knock jokes.... so much nicer than "you have 5 minutes to finish this bite..."  Why can't I always remember this lesson?

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Went to Aubrey's baby shower on Sunday and that was my first time seeing her. Holy crap she's CUTE! So much hair - and those cheeks! One perfect baby! After the shower Jordan (Aubrey's dad) gave Madi one of the helium balloons. When we left the wind stole her balloon. You should have heard her sad, sad cries! She insisted I should call the police and get them to chase her balloon down for her. She was devastated. That night when she was suppose to be asleep I heard her - went in to check on her and she was sitting in bed fuming. "I prayed to God to bring my balloon back and He didn't. Humph!"

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Thinking of cutting my hair. So sick of it. And besides needing a change - it is always tangled or stuck in my buttons and zipper - so frustrating!

As we all know, I'm not very domestic. But one thing I did pick up from my dad was this: food colour everything!

Growing up we'd eat purple spaghetti and green pancakes and so on. When we have pancakes, it's not "how many do you wnat?" it's "what colour do you wnat?"

So, on pancake Tuesday Madi wanted green, Eden wanted orange and I did blue for Mark and purple for me.

If your kids won't eat - try food colouring. Makes eveything more fun!!

Can someone tell us where to download Grey's Anatomy from? My sister taped last week's crucial episode for us (thanks!) but the tape has gone wonky. We need to see this! Trying to download but keep finding sites that will only allow US residents to downlaod and bloocks us. Help!

I was over at Carolynn's the other day and Carolynn's youngest, Chloe, was just loving the camera - and the feeling was mutual!

I'm sitting here waiting for a phone interview for what could be a great photography gig if I get it. I can't remember the last time I was interviewed for a job - 8 years ago? Yikes. Nervous.

So, to take my mind off of it I'll blog about my morning.

Today we had Madi's JK observation time. Mark was able to take the morning off of work to come - yeah! It helps so much to see the kids in the class and their routine. I've been fortunate to spend time in the class, but Mark hasn't - needless to say Madi was thrilled to have us both there.

First of all - Madi is in this whole love triangle business. Noah is in love with Madi and wants to marry her. Since almost day 1 she has been bringing love notes home from Noah and he has talked about how he's going to mary her. Well, now Ryley has moved in also. So, they're always fighting over who gets to sit beside Madi and shoving each other out of the way. Ryley was the special helper of the day so he got to pick someone to walk the attendance to the office with him - should have seen the look of victory on Ryley's face and defeat on poor Noah. Before coats were off this morning Madi was getting requests for her to sit with this boy or that boy at snack time. Funny. Then during the carpet time, another little boy got up walked over to Madi and squeezed right in between Madi and one of her beaus. Very funny to watch all the drama of kindergarten romance. Today she came home with a backpack full of love notes from Ryley.

Mark and I got to look through Madi's journals and books. There is one book where each month - starting from the time of their JK interview in early Sept - they draw a picture of themselves and it says "This is Me" and they trace or write their name. The first one the photo was a blob at best. She traced her name - but couldn't stay on the lines at all. The last one for Feb. she wrote her own name, wrote the sentence that says "This is Me" and had a picture you could tell was a person. It is absolutely incredible to see the difference of a few months. Her journal was funny - had sentences for the kids to finish (and the teacher writes their responses) Madi's answers were so "her":

I am thankful for.... dinosaurs.
WHen I grow up I want to be.... a zebra.
I love to... do my Madagascar play.

And on went her obsessions (Madagascar/zebras and dinosaurs).

Madi is good when I'm in the class, she isn't clingy like I had first thought she would be. She does her own thing and comes over time to time to check in with us or give a kissing hand or hug. At one point she had to go around the room and tell everyone that her dad is a nurse. Important for them all to know.

I love Madi's teacher. She is so good. She still laughs at the crazy antics of the kids, but is stern when needed. She works learning in to everything and does a great job. You can tell she loves kids. On Madi's form it had her strengths and areas to work on. Nothing really surprised us except it said she could only count orally 1-9. When we got in the van we asked Madi to count and she did to over 30. I think it's just her getting distracted and she needs 100% attention from her listener or she loses confidence. Just interesting is all.

The teacher did comment on Madi's love of books. She said fine motor skills (Madi's weakest) will come but you can not always teach a love for books. That is one thing I'm thrilled about is my girls are book obsessed. This morning I was busy getting ready and Mark was taking Eden over to Susan's, Madi sat and looked at books by herself for half an hour quite happily. We are on an audio book kick right now. The girls love listening in the van and now we're starting to listen at home too. In the last Scholastic order form I picked up Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with the CD - this audio CD is great! Ray Charles reads it twice (once with the noises to change pages, once without), then some kids read it with this great rhythm, then there's a song, then the author talks for abit and there's loads of goodies! Great buy for $5.99! I love Scholastic....

Today was also my day to volunteer, so Mark and I stayed the whole morning rather than just out hour. I love, love, love staying and interacting with the kids. I read them stories and help with puzzles and so on. Miss K knows I like the interaction, so she usually doesn't have me do much so I can be with the kids. It's sad - some of the kids are SO hungry for attention - specifically from an adult. They just want to tell you something, anything at all! And to be affirmed. I see that as my role while there - just to be an encouragement and cheerleader for the wee ones. They all need someone to listen - but Miss K can't listen to each "I have a cat. And I use to have a goldfish but it died. My brother plays the flute. My mom works a lot. My birthday is in the summer. I have long hair. My eyes are blue." (yes all in one breath and usually said as one VERY long run-on sentence.)

Anyhow, I think I've rambled long enough. My phone call should come anytime. Yikes!

Madi has made a wise choice. She loves sleeping with her toys but she has made a decision to only sleep with leaf eating dinosaurs - not meat eating dinosaurs. Good choice.

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Madi broke the news to Noah that there's another man in her life - Jacob. Supposedly Noah talked about it all weekend long.

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Tomorrow is Pancake Tuesday and Madi's school does a PJ day - all the kids get to wear PJ's. These kids have been talking about this for a month and a half! They're SO excited! 

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Eden wore underwear (as opposed to a diaper) out of the house for the first time today! Yikes! She did great - but I was a bundle of nerves!

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I just found out there is an Early Years Centre at Madi's school 3 days a week that runs the same time as Madi's class! So Eden & I can go there and hang out. Sweet!

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Madi's prayer tonight: "Jesus, thank you for everything you made. [this is her new catch-all phrase when she wants to speed up prayers] But you forgot to make me and Eden a baby brother." 

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We played "what would you do if you had lots and lots of money" tonight at supper. Madi said "I'd go to the pet store and buy two dogs. One black dog and one brown dog. I'd name them Dr. J and Clifford." Is there anything else you'd buy? "Yes, I'd buy them new bones and lots of dog food." Thanks for heaping the guilt on! Apparently she hasn't forgotten the dogs we gave away. 

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Had a really fun engagement shoot yesterday out in the snow - but at one point my fingers were so cold I kept missing the shutter button! Brrr.... (pics are on my photography blog)

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Madi and I had a mommy date on Saturday. Realized that she does Daddy dates, and Eden and I get our mornings together but I don't get alone time with her. I let her pick from a few options - she chose to take the city bus to the "real" library. The bus was crazy - packed to the max - on the way so not that fun for her. The library was also mayhem, but we got some books and grabbed lunch and then went to the Farmer's market. There is a stand there that takes Canadian Tire money!! Anyhow, the bus ride home was great - lots of room and she LOVED it! It was so fun hanging out with her.

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Friday night mark and I had a date night. Went to Turtle Jacks with a gift certificate we had - yummy food! mark gave me more Valentine's gifts - including the new Norah Jones! I LOVE her music.

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Dumb thing of the day for Friday. At my parents place, and I want to go out the garage so I thought I'd hit the garage door opener to close the doors and run and scoot under. Well, I'd get to the doors and they'd go back up. So I ran back, hit the button again, wait for them to get to the point they were at last time and then try again. They'd go back up. i was getting lower and lower trying - my sister is in the van laughing at me. I didn't realize there was sensors so that the doors don't close on you. Here I thought they were broken! Whoops!

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Finally have my new website up and running! I think I completely used up all of Nathan's  patience with my many Q's and changes. He's a saint - and a talented one! I'd love for you to take a look HERE and look thru the galleries in my portfolio and leave a comment in the new photography blog.  And as always - please pass the link along to your contacts!

Again - can I just say thanks to all of you. I can not believe how supportive friends & family have been in this business venture. THANK YOU!! 

So, I did up a bunch of photos for the girls for the main reason to send to their grandparents. Thought I'd mail them and surprise them and... theyr'e still sitting here. I didn't post them earlier because I was going to surprise them but.... here you go. Sorry for not mailing them, Mom & Ron! WIll mail something soon - really!

So the other day when we were housebound during the storm I found some old boxes and traced the kids. We cut out eyes and noses from magazines. Used our kiss lips bandages. Glued hair on. And dressed them up. They're pretty ugly and creepy but the girls like them. What creeps me out is when I came downstairs this morning groggy and the two dolls were sitting on the couch. Madi's doll had a backpack and necklace on also - guess she was getting ready for the day. Anyhow - here's a glimpse at the "fake kids"....