Friday, January 30, 2015

Happy 5th Anniversary to us!

As cliche as it sounds - it seems like only yesterday…


Months after our wedding, when people would still say they had such a great time at our wedding
(and we did too),
we joked that maybe we could have another fabulous celebration at our 5 year anniversary
(which we thought would be held at our acreage...that we do not own at the moment...hahaha)
;-) 
Sadly there is no duplicate celebration planned…this year anyway.
Hopefully some year in the future!
I had actually forgotten about those discussions till now. 

Our very fun & hot looking wedding party! ;-)
Corey Smith, Janessa Ferry (my youngest sister), Peter Zolotas, Dino & I, Dina Marleau, Lawrence Barnett, Cora Matsikas (my middle sister)

our SURPRISE custom PEZ wedding cake - it was SO cool!
 (care of our very good friend Lory Volpi).
Good thing I got to see a photo of it, because the vultures flocked in minutes and it was gone! haha

Cheers to my husband and many many more
happy, fun and healthy years together!

Friday, January 16, 2015

my life is ruined

Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but ONLY a wee bit!
Seriously though - I am SO heartbroken and sad over the news...I might actually shed some tears.
Target is closing in Canada
:-(

This SUCKS! My favorite store is closing. Now what am I going to do? Nothing else really compares. 

Sure there is Superstore with great prices for diapers and all that, and Walmart for cheaper stuff, and Ikea for the really cheap stuff that will likely fall apart in a couple years,
but when you need to one-stop shop for little knick knacks for kids or birthday party accessories or different clothing for a reasonable price or home furnishings (thank gawd Homesense is still around - but it is hit or miss) or B brand kids toys…
Target is the place to go.

And it's the perfect place for Rhys and I to go shopping, cause the carts are good and we can shop for a bit and then stop into Starbucks and both have our snacks (and we have tested this routine out many times - it works well!).

And yes - I know - there was life before Target in Canada. I'm sure there will be life after. But I can't deal with that yet...

BOO-HOO!


K I'm done for now. Need to go drown my sorrows with chocolate or whatever I can find in the junk food cupboard.
Might be upgraded to wine later...

Friday, January 9, 2015

9 months old



Rhys is still doing a very fast army crawl mostly, but he has gotten up to his knees when he is on a floor where he can get grip (our tile floor is a tad slippery).  He makes his way all over the house and over any obstacle in his way (including the very bulky central vac hose). His favourite is when Skye is at the end of the hall in the bathroom sitting on the little potty - he will make a bee-line from the living room and race down the hall to see her.  She in turn screeches "AH - BABY RHYSEE IS COMING!" and slams the door in his face, for her privacy of course. Poor Rhys…


He is also standing up and holding onto everything.  In his crib (even during the night), holding on to the chairs, the couch, the toys, the MOVING toys - which is proving to be the start of some minor bumps and bruises.  He loves his little Fisher Price piano and Skye's bigger standing keyboard - which almost always topples on top of him. But he still goes to it all the time. And he likes to play the bass pedal on Skye's drum set - scares the hell out of me every time. Out of the blue "BOOM BOOM BOOM". 
A challenge to photograph him on the chair now!

Two more top teeth came thru on either side of the fronts, not long after my last post, as suspected. They sure bothered him this time. I think the pain was magnified by a joint cold, as he ran a high fever for about 4 days, along with sniffles, and was just not himself. 
The eating and sleeping (not great) are still about the same…we really need to sleep train soon…


Rhys is weighing in at 22.6 lbs and is 30.25" long. In comparison to Skye at this age, who was 18 lbs 12 oz and 29.5" long. And it's so funny to look back at photos of Skye and see HOW chunky she was all over, and yet she weighed less than Rhys!!? He is moving into the 18-24 month clothing here soon for most and about a 4 in shoe size, but not for long I think. 

He is such a sweet and happy boy, and a great snuggler - loves to be held (and rocked to sleep). As much as I want/need to sleep train him, I sure am going to miss the baby snuggles (big sob). He is growing way too fast!

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Christmas 2014

On December 16, we celebrated the Pezzente Christmas at Leo & Kerri's. It was nice that everyone could make it. Probably helped that there were yummy appetizers and Christmas baking present ;-)

 





















Then on the 23rd we travelled to Edmonton, to spend Christmas at my sister Cora & her husband Ted's house, along with the rest of my family. It was a great time and a nice change of scenery, since we usually go to the farm when it is the year for the "Oborowsky" Christmas. We got very spoiled by Cora's fabulous cooking and Cora & Ted's great hospitality, and of course, with gifts from all.

The morning of the 24th we drove out East of Edmonton about an hour and joined our collective families (the Oborowsky's, the Matsikas', the Ferry's) and many friends, for an old fashioned horse & sleigh ride. It was a bit brisk out because of a little wind, but we bundled under blankets and enjoyed the hour long ride (the babies were getting antsy by the end, but they did fairly well). Some homemade hot chocolate and Bailey's helped with the warming up! The drivers also had a few games/races planned for along the way to get the group moving.







Auntie Jess tuckering out the kids before bed
After the morning outside, we headed back to Cora's for mom's homemade chicken noodle soup to warm up. Actually, the rest had soup, while I went in search of a walk-in clinic. It turns out that all the late nights and germs finally got to me and I woke up that morning with a hellish sickness in my lungs that had me almost crying every time I barked out a cough…so I knew it wasn't good and that I couldn't leave it go till after Christmas. Drugs were a requirement! I spent 3 hours waiting to see a Doc, but all was not lost as I was able to wait in the truck and have a much needed nap! The rest of the evening was prepping for Christmas Day dinner and bed!
reading "The Night Before Christmas"

Christmas Day was chaos :-) It's a good thing Skye hasn't figured out yet that as soon as we wake up we COULD run to the tree and open presents. So we managed to get the little ones fed before we opened up some of the gifts. Skye's favourite gift from Santa was a huge carrier plane, "Cabbie" from the movie Planes, with 4 little smoke jumpers inside! :-) And Rhys got an adorable rocket ship, complete with astronauts, a space dog and an alien - all of which are CHEW friendly! From mommy & daddy, Skye got her very own homemade Doctor's kit (details to follow in a separate post) - which mommy is probably more excited over at the moment than Skye is. Actually it might be a little over her head for now (I may have went a TAD crazy with it…), but I KNOW she will love it in the near future! And Rhys got an adorable moose lunch kit & new sippy cup.


what little darlings in their Christmas pjs ;-)
Rhys, Aviana & Skye - they all look like deer caught in the headlights! haha
yum! a cupcake ornament
yum! new shoes



look Mama it flies
Cabbie the Airplane!

Rhys "tasting" Aviana's new walker - just to make sure it's safe!
Anyone know how this thing works?!
I think I figured it out!
Now if I could just fit thru here...
Grandma & Grandpa and Auntie Jess & crew came over for lunch and hauled over another truck full of presents to open. That was even more chaotic. Now there were 5 kids opening presents and they didn't know which way to turn - each present even more exciting than the others!

each grandkid got their very own cool
Christmas wooden music box from G&G






Grandpa & the kids playing Skye's new Dr. Seuss game













SIL (Ted's) Betsy & Kezia -
what a perfect little doll!!
Turkey dinner, with all the fixings, was delicious! Ted's family joined us for dinner as well, and it was great to visit with them, as always! The kids had lots of fun playing together too.
G&G with grandkids - L to R: Veda, Aviana, Skye, Vann & Rhys





















By the 26th we were ready for a day to just relax somewhat. Even though it was still a bit chilly out, Grandpa & Grandpa were determined to take Skye & Vann out back to the hill on the green space and go sledding! So they bundled up warm and went out for some snow fun. Auntie Jess went out to - to supervise! :-) The rest of us were lazy…


My cousin Kim & her daughter came over for a visit, so we had an excuse to stay indoors.








The rest of the night was trying to organize all the new loot and pack up. And Saturday morning, the 27th, we left for home before lunch. We sure missed Cora's cooking once we got home though and remembered the fridge was empty :-(


For the remainder of the holidays we laid low. Skye went for a 2 day sleepover to my cousin Niki's before New Year's (and had a ton of fun as usual), which gave me a small window to race around the house and remove all signs of Christmas. I REALLY did not have the energy to do it, but knew that it would be 10x worse to have Skye "helping" me, so I guess that was my only motivation ;-)
(okay, I did feel a wee bit guilty about not letting her help me…just a bit though)

Oliver, Mateo & Skye
We celebrated New Year's Eve by going out for Chinese food with Dino's family - his mom, his brother Leo & family, sister Claudia & the kids, and with our friends the Giorgi's. It was a nice dinner, and then we went back to Dino's moms for a little bit for more visiting. I did make it past midnight, if you count sitting up in bed and only half awake (with baby Rhys in my arms, and a husband snoring beside me). Cheers?!
Brooklyn, Matteo, Chris, Nicole, Rhys, Londyn & Ava




Zia Claudia & Skye
Dino, me, Leo, Kerri, Mom & Claudia