Sunday, January 25, 2009

Trouble

A little while ago we received a box of used clothes from a friend and in the box was this shirt. It's a few sizes to big for Matthew but given how PERFECT it is for him I just had to put it on and make sure I had a picture of him.

TROUBLE is Matthew's nickname, so this shirt could not be more ideal. He's had this nickname for ... well ... I'd say as long as I can remember, but I'm guessing it would be about the time he started being mobile and getting into TROUBLE all the time. Everyone in the house calls him Trouble about as much as they call him Matthew ... although recently we've been hearing the name Monkey about as much as Trouble now that he's become quite the expert on climbing and then therefore getting into ... you guessed it ... Trouble!

It's funny how all the kids pick up there own nicknames ... and pretty much from shortly after they're born. Marietta was always known as Sweetpea ... which as she became older turned into Sweetie. We don't call her either very often anymore. Rebecca was known as Turkey Lurkey or on even worse days TURKEY LURKEY ... this was due to her non-stop crying for almost her entire first year of life. We still call her this at times just to bug her, but mostly we use her other nickname which she also receive when she was a baby ... Boofy. I have no idea where this one came from, just one of those names that stuck. She isn't all that keen on being called this anymore, but we still do at times without even realizing it. James had two nicknames as well. One was Pooperoo due to his many dirty diapers in a day ... which unfortunately he never outgrew. The name we called him most was Bud. He was everyones little Buddy. I remember calling Matthew that a few times when he was little and always stopping as soon as I said it and thinking how I couldn't call him that name because it belonged to James. I definitely didn't call Matthew that anymore after Rebecca pointed out that "He's not Bud, that's James' name!" And so eventually Matthew earned his own nickname, I think it took him the longest of all the kids to receive one, but I'm sure that also has to do with the fact that his first five months we just weren't focusing on him ... we've definitely made up for lost time in that area, he's quite the spoiled little troublemaker now.
And just a few more photos.
One more shot of his shirt, and one of him pigging out, a sight we always enjoy. The old Matthew has been back the last month and so we've been somewhat discouraged again, but we sure enjoyed the month of December when we seen him stuffing his face like this all the time and playing so wonderfully. The last two days he's gone back to stuffing his face ... hopefully happy Matthew will come back also.













If it has wheels and moves, Matthew is determined to find a way to ride it.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Glaxal Base

Why it's not a good idea to let the girls watch Matthew while you go out to run some errands (with Rob downstairs studying).















Well at least he won't suffer from dry skin for a bit. Thankfully Glaxal Base is alot easier to clean up then zinc oxide. And now my dear hubby can shake his head and say "I told you to close the lid on the jar so Matthew doesn't get into it!!" So really ... it's my own fault!! :(

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Christmas Holidays

Well it's time to catch up again. Can't believe we're already half way through Januaray ... seems like we just finished having holidays and already next week the kids have a two-day break again.
I remember the holidays being very busy, especially the first week. Busy, but fun and relaxing. It was especially enjoyable to see Rob more and not just to see him, but to see him relaxed and involved in the day to day routine. The kids also very much enjoyed this and it took a bit for Matthew to adjust to everyone leaving again once school started. The first day he kept asking for daddy and everytime we would go downstairs he would say "Daddy, Daddy!?!?"

So after our croquette making day the girls went off for a visit at Uncle Nathan and Aunt Aileen's to play with their cousins. This meant the following day would be quiet day at home in which I hoped to do some much needed catch up on a few things and Rob would have a study day. It being my birthday we agreed to celebrate my birthday on the 24th instead so that girls could still have their fun and not miss out (not like there's much to celebrate, but you know, for kids this is an important thing). Well we didn't make it home that night, but after getting partway home realized the van was not in shape to go the rest of the way and so we turned around and returned to my parents. So my birthday was spent relaxing and extra snoozing at my parents while Rob spent the day using the shop and fixing up the van. We headed home after supper, picking up the girls along the way.

We spent Christmas at home this year ... can't remember the last time we've done nothing for Christmas ... I think it was probably the year James was born. It was a nice day. We just relaxed and spent some time together as a family. The girls spent some time decorating cookies and they were suppose to put together a gingerbread house with Rob's help ... but I think Rob was having so much fun that they were just allowed to be assistants ... putting on the candies where he specified :) And seeing as sugar is something a few of us need to stay away from here ... we weren't going to eat the thing so we brought it along the next day to our family get together (Rob's side of the family) where everyone ate the candies off it and picked a few corners of cookie off to eat.
























Boxing Day was spent in London as Rob's family got together for the day. It was especially exciting because John and Martha and family were able to make .... too bad Pete and Ingrid couldn't make it otherwise it would have been the first time since Pete and Ingrid's wedding (2002) that we've been together as a complete family ... we'll try again next year! :) I didn't go with skating this year, so no pictures of that, but here's Ike having a snuggle time with overtired Matthew.











The next day was more good eating ... this time with my family as we gathered at my parents. The girls had been looking forward to this because they wanted to go snowmobiling ... something they've never done before, pretty sad considering the snowmobiling family I come from. Unfortunately the weather had warmed up and it had been raining so that at the snow had all melted. But we still had a fun day. It's neat to see how the girls are getting older and can now participate in games etc. It's also nice to sit down with the whole family and play games together. I know the kids really enjoy this as I'm sure the adults do to. Here's mom and dad together as a team while we played the In-A-Box game (or the game of Things)










The girls ended up staying at my parents overnight and so Rob and I had a few quiet days without them. On Sunday night the girls moved from my parents place to Mark and Val's for a couple nights. Uncle Mark and Aunt Val spoiled the girls and took them to the Fallsview Indoor Waterpark in Niagara Falls. What a lot of fun they had there ... we sure heard about it for the next few days (and then some).

























Our original New Years Eve plans were cancelled due to sick kids at the hostess, so we ended up staying home and had Tim (Rob's classmate) and Linnet down for the evening to play a couple games and chat. The girls were also allowed to stay up till midnight this time, so we all enjoyed a lazy morning the next day, even Matthew slept in a little and then played nicely while Rob and I lazed in bed.

Upon finally getting up we decided to ring up my parents and see if they had gotten anymore snow then we had in the last day. Unfortunately they had not but there was still enough on the ground to at least do a short run on the snowmobile. So we headed off to their house again and the girls had a great time ... hopefully we'll get a chance to go a time or two again this winter.
Marietta and my dad on the first picture and Rebecca and Rob on the second






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When the girls came back in Matthew just had to try on the helmet. I had to be fast with the picture because as soon as I took my hand away his head would flop down from the weight of the helmet ... guess he's gonna need a few years before he can go out.













On Saturday we headed off to Dave and Ange's for a visit. The kids had been talking about going their again for New Years Eve because they wanted to go GTing (behind the 4-wheeler) again, so they were disappointed when the snow all melted and further disappointed when our plans were cancelled. But there was just enough snow on Saturday to go out for a bit and fill their desires ... until the GT broke! :(
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And then holidays were over and it was back to school again.