Canada 2006

We took another family vacation, this time to Canada! We met up with our friends Jana & Scott in Niagara Falls and toured the area. Then we all traveled to Thamesford, Ontario to stay with our friends Jenn & Jeff at their house. We had a great time and even got to visit the Toronto Zoo. Another friend came to visit for lunch one day, so at one point there were 8 kids under the age of 4 in the house ... EEEK!

Here's a film loop of some of our pictures ...

Trip to North Carolina was awesome!

We had a great time in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina over the July 4th week! We rented a beach house & shared it with friends (Jenn & Jeff and Nicole & Mike) ... and it was right next door to our friends Jana & Scott :) The girls enjoyed the beach and the fireworks were awesome.

Rather than post a bunch of pictures, here is a film loop of our vacation ...

The Living Room (Pictures)

I just realized that I never posted before & after pictures of the living room!  The first pic is from Katie's birthday party, showing the paisley/floral wallpaper the previous owners had on the walls.  The second picture is DH decorating the Christmas tree this year with the new paint job :)

Mackenzie's First Catch

We were at a cookout over the Memorial Day weekend & a friend of ours was throwing a toy football to Mackenzie. It would hit her chest, bounce onto the ground, and she'd laugh like it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen! I attempted to capture this on video using my digital camera (sorry, no sound) and ended up getting her first catch on video!

Just click on the picture & it will take you to my photobucket site where you can click and view the video :)

Here are some more pictures from that cookout ...

Welcome to the world, Jackson Wayne!

My grand-nephew made his entrance into the world on Sunday afternoon, weighing in at 8lb 1oz and measuring 19" long. Congratulations to new mama and dad, Heather & Garrett.

Isn't he the cutest little thing???

Here is my niece Heather with her new Red Sox fan (see the hat? LOL) ...

And here is my brother, the proud new Grampa Wayne holding his namesake ...

Jackson is my third grand-nephew/niece (Cameron & Delaney are #1 and #2) ... and #4 is due in August, and #5 is due in October!! We just love babies in this family :)

Red Sox fans ...

Need I say more???

Off to the prom ...

Jake went to the Junior Prom with his girlfriend, and they had a great time! I can't believe my baby is old enough to go to a prom, but I have to get over it, right??? ACK! Here are some pictures, aren't they a great looking couple??

Easter Photos

We enjoyed celebrating Christ's resurrection at church service, then our church's Easter Egg hunt, then to Nana's house to visit for a little bit, then on to dinner with my family at my brother's house. That night DH and I went up to the cemetery to visit my Dad and plant some flowers at his grave site. All in all, a wonderful day!

Here are some Easter pictures ... first is of Mackenzie at the Easter Egg hunt after church service ...
Next is Katie hunting for eggs again at my brother's house ...
Here are both girls checking out their booty ...

Here is a picture of Katelyn pretending to be the Easter Bunny ...

Here are Mackenzie and my niece Holly (Kenzie has on a cute tiara that Holly bought for her) ...

Next is a pic of my Mom ...

Finally, my Mom's dog, Biscuit, dressed up like the Easter Bunny ...

Baby Explosion!!!

Two of my best friends just had babies ... *literally* ... Trish welcomed Zachary into the world on Monday ... Jana welcomed Brenna into the world on Tuesday!


McDaris Family Blog
Griffin Family Blog: Introducing Brenna Anne Griffin!!!

Then, to add to the excitment ... my niece Heather is due with her first baby in June, my nephew Michael is having his third child in August, and my nephew Paul is having his first baby in October!!!

Makes me feel much better about not having any more babies ... I can borrow so many now!!!!!

The living room is *finally* finished!

Since the day we moved into our house, I've been saying I'm going to rip down the wallpaper in the living room and paint ... well, it's finally finished!! Our living room had a striped wallpaper on the bottom half of the wall, a chair rail, then a floral/paisley wallpaper on the top half, and a coordinating floral/paisley border along the top of the chair rail. Needless to say, it was a bit on the busy side! One day about a month ago, I decided to just start ripping the paper down, figuring that way it *had* to get done! DH helped alot, and last night we put the final coat of "red gumball" paint on the walls! Tonight when I go home, I'll take some pictures and post them ... I'll also dig through my old photos and find some "before" pictures to post along with them. Can't wait for everyone to come over on Christmas Eve to see the transformation :)

Cinderella and the Great Pumpkin ...

Katelyn had a wonderful time on Halloween ... she actually got really good at the whole "trick or treat" thing this year! At one point when Daddy said, "Okay Cinderella, time to go to the next house ..." she replied, "Okay Daddy, but it's only make-believe, I'm really Katie!"



And here's a picture of the girls in front of our blow-up pumpkin in the front yard, and a few of the house all "dolled up" for Halloween ...

Random pictures ...

Wanted to share some pictures of the girls over the last few months ...
Gramma with her girls


The girls with Santa at First Baptist Church of Wollaston


The girls with Santa at Local 103's Christmas Party


Mackenzie and Daddy at the Commercial Club Christmas Party


Katelyn enjoying her "Dora Food Set" and Mackenzie looking over her new "Pop-Onz" toy at the Commercial Club

Neighborhood excitement ...

Last Friday the house across the street from us burned down. We were in the midst of a severe snow storm, complete with high winds, lightning, thunder, snow, etc. The power was out, and to boot Shawn had stripped all the remaining wallpaper off the living room walls earlier in the day ... so all our furniture was in the center of the room, the coffee table, couch table, and baby swing were in the kitchen waiting to go into the attic, and there were wallpaper strips all over the living room floor! We had the neighbors whose house was on fire in our living room, the family next door to them, the fire chief coming in and out, and the girls didn't even blink an eye. Katie was a wonderful host to the two little girls, and wasn't frightened at all with all the commotion. And in the midst of it all, she decides she needs to work on her potty training, announcing three times that she needs to potty and one time that she needs to poop! Ah, the impeccable timing of little girls LOL!

Meet my family ...

We were out Christmas shopping with the girls a few weeks ago. Katie wanders over to another family (a mother, father, and little girl a little younger than Katie) and introduces herself.

"Hi! My name is Katelyn Hope. What's your name?" The little girl is very shy and buries her head in her dad's shoulder. Katie tries again ...

"Hi! What's your name? I'm Katie. This is my Mommy (pointing to me), this is "trouble" (pointing to Mackenzie), and this is my daddy (pointint to Shawn)!"

Picture Katie trying to figure out why the other mother is laughing so hard tears are rolling down her cheeks, and why her own mother is blushing and saying to the other family, "I guess I say 'here comes trouble' a bit too much!"

"It's Daddy's fault!"

Katie is sitting on the couch with Daddy and announces, "Daddy, it's your fault." Daddy then replies, "What is my fault?" To which Katie says, "It's your fault!" After a few of these exchanges, Daddy switches tactics and asks, "Why is it my fault?" Katie's reply? (Picture the devilish grin that accompanies this ...) "Because it's not *my* fault!"

The flower girl was magnificent!

The wedding went off without a hitch, and Katie did *awesome* as the flower girl :) Here are some pictures ...

(from left to right) ... Bride's sisters Katie, Kara, Bride Kristy, Groom Paul, Best Man Matt, Bride's friend Kate, and standing in front, Flower Girl Katie and Ring Bearer Michael



Katie and Michael dancing at the reception



Katie with my Mom and Dad



Paul trying to feed Katie a piece of the wedding cake after she went running out upon hearing the DJ say that Paul and Kristy were cutting the cake ... Katie yelled, "Cake? I want cake, too!"



We all had a great time, and hope that Paul and Kristy have a wonderful time in Aruba!

Vermont Teddy Bear Factory

On the way home from our Kiwanis weekend in Burlington, we stopped at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and let Katie make her own Teddy Bear! She got to choose the color she wanted, what "type" of stuffing (she chose "giggle stuffing!"), and then got to make out the birth certificate and cut the "umbilical cord" after the girl finished sewing him together! Some pictures of that ...

Alpine slides are FUN!

We took the kids up to Burlington, VT, this past weekend for a Kiwanis convention. While we were there, we took a side trip to Stowe and did the alpine slide, bungee trampoline, rock climbing wall, and gondola ride. Katie had an absolute blast on the alpine slide, kept telling Shawn, "Faster, Daddy! FASTER!" She also loved the bungee trampoline. She wasn't heavy enough to get bouncing on her own, so the attendant had to pull on her harness to get her going. This girl has NO FEAR! Here are some assorted pictures ...

I guess I'm a good cook ...

Last week was really busy at work, so one night we had "breakfast" for dinner as I was simply too tired to cook anything more creative! I made an egg scramble with cut up ham, peppers, and onions, and fried up some mini potato pancakes. Katie was eating her dinner and said, "This is good. This is very good. This is delicious!"

She's figuring it out!

Mackenzie is now figuring out how her musical toys work! It's pretty amazing to watch her study the toy and push the correct button to make the sound come out. Definitely growing up way too fast.

Mackenzie's 6 month ped appointment

Mackenzie now weighs 13lb 4oz and is 25 1/2 inches long. That's a half inch *shorter* and almost a full pound lighter than Katie was at the same age! And we thought Katie was a peanut, LOL!

Katie was a doll at the appointment, and Dr. Rappo made sure the nurse brought in a sticker for her. She was watching very closely when Mackenzie got her shots. In the car on the way home we heard her telling Mackenzie, "It's ok, Kenzie. It stop hurting soon. I like the pop!"

So I read in a parenting magazine ...

that by the age of 3, toddlers should be able to put together 3-word sentences. Um, ok ...

Last week I was talking with Katie and asked her if she'd like to do something. Her reply? "Ok Mommy, that sounds like a good idea!" Yup, that's 8 words. Hmmmmmmm.