Cherry Picking and a Swim

It's been awhile, so I figured I should post a few pictures.

Today my parents and I drove down towards Niagara Falls and dropped by our favorite vineyard to pick up some yummy fruit wines on the way to cherry picking with the kids.

Funny, the cherries I picked up from Costco the other day were much tastier (firm and sweet), while these were mushy and sweet. But, the kids had fun, so that's all that matters. Plus, we ended the day with a swim and dinner out with friends. The day couldn't have been more perfect! Ok, I lied. It would have been absolutely perfect if D could have joined us cherry picking. I know he would have loved it.

Mom and the not too happy kids after the "long" (for them) car ride to the cherry farm:

Picture with Santa

We took the kids to get their picture with Santa on Tuesday.

At first, Angelina didn't want to take a picture with Santa...that is until I told her, "Well, how is Santa going to know what you want for Christmas if you don't tell him?"

"Oh, ok, I guess I'll do it" she says.

They sit on his lap, and Angelina will not smile, so the picture turns out like this:

I tell her "Look Angelina, Santa has lollipops to give out to only the kids that smile."

So, out comes one small, but very forced smile.

What would the world be like without candy? I never want to find out.

We've done it!

What?!? Two posts in just a matter of days of each other?!? I know...I can hardly believe it. But, something monumental has happened that I'm dying to share with all two of you readers. ;)

We've finally done it! We've joined an elite group of fascinating individuals. We've talked about doing it on and off for a few years, and now, it's a done deal. We've joined...


























the rednecks a.k.a hillbillies! LOL

because we went and bought this


So, it's not exactly "stylin" but it is clean, and I think some updated curtains and covers for the mattresses, should make it look "classy" if you can even call a trailer that.

A friend of mine was selling it and D and I have been talking on and off for years about whether we should purchase one to go on regular camping trips during the summers. He had a motor caravan growing up, and my family had a camping van. Both of us have fond memories of all our travels.

The price was right and we knew it was in great condition, so we took the plunge! We just have to go out and get our SUV fitted for a hitch and then we can go and pick up this baby up.

Other not so good news....

It's been confirmed by our GP. Brad is definitely allergic to peanuts. The only positive thing is, it's a moderate and not a severe allergy like the allergist thought it might be. He is not allergic to cashews or hazelnuts (which are tree nuts). So, once his allergist is back from vacation, I will ask how/when we can test for all the other nuts. I am guessing that his last reaction he had was so severe because he had 4 peanuts, which must be a large amount when you're allergic.

Angelina is about to lose 2 more teeth! I can't believe how quickly my girl is growing up! Angelina's goldfish Goldie died a few weeks ago, so she just got a new albino angel fish she named Marshmallow. I am just grossed out with feeding this thing because it eats frozen blood worms - ICK!! I have to store this stuff in my freezer next to OUR food. Then after I chip a piece off with it's own dedicated worm spoon, Angelina feeds the fish and then I cringe at having to wash the spoon. If you haven't figured it out already, I am bug & worm-a-phobic. Although I have been getting better at killing bugs in the house. In the past, I was not be able to squish a spider. But now with a HUGE (I'm talking 1/4 roll) wad of toilet paper, I am able to successfully squish and flush those babies.

Here are a few recent pics of the kids. Taken by my friend when she and her friends came over for lunch and a swim.


Have to get lunch started and then run out and meet one of my girlfriends for our joint b-day lunch.

"Like Daddy"

Wow, has it been that long since I last posted?!?

Well, a lot has been happened since my last post. D got a new contract and took 1 week off. During that week, we went to a local fair twice (sorry, no pics! We tend to forget to bring the camera), an indoor play area, the Ontario Science Centre, swimming a few times, Chuck E. Cheese and bowling. We tried to do something fun with the kiddies each day when he was off. What a fun week it was!

Angelina has lost her first tooth!! The funny part is, she not only lost it from her mouth, but she really did LOSE it! She was so worried the tooth fairy wouldn't come without a tooth to put under her pillow. D wrote the tooth fairy a note saying she really did lose a tooth and to please leave her money. LOL Sure enough, the tooth fairy visited and left her $5. She woke up that night to go washroom and that is when we got her to check under her pillow. She was super thrilled and the look on her face was priceless. Another tooth is loose and she is eagerly waiting to lose it and get some more cash. Hee hee I asked her what she is going to buy with all her money. "CANDY!" she says. Of course! How silly of me to ask!

Brad is talking up a storm. I wanted to share this funny moment from a few days ago.

Brad: *fart*

Sonia: Brad!! What do you have to say? (I'm expecting to hear "excuse me")

Brad: Like Daddy!

Sonia: *laughing so hard I almost pee*

My jewellry collection is selling like hotcakes at the salon. I can hardly believe it!! In two weeks, I have had 3 orders from the owner. I'm a bit stressed, but I am liking the extra change in my wallet. What I don't like is the constant feeling of being behind on orders and having to pull all nighters to get the order done. UGH! I am getting too old to stay up all night. I'm sure it will eventually slow down...until then, I am just going for the ride.

I signed up for the next level jewellery course for Sept. Can't wait!!

Angelina has dance camp all next week. She's going to be learning ballet, jazz and hip hop. She's excited since she's been watching a little of So You Think You Can Dance with us when it was on.

I am finally getting Brad's allergy results this Wed. His allergist is on holiday, but our GP said he would tell us the results. It will be good to finally know what we are dealing with. I will LMAO if it comes back that he isn't allergic to peanuts. I hope that will be the case, but I'm not so sure.

Some excellent news!! My cousin and his wife are finally expecting!! They have been trying for over 2 years. She's in her 2nd trimester now and they are moving into their new home at the end of this month. Two reason for them to celebrate. :)

Here are some semi-recent pics of the kiddies. Sorry if some are blurry!


Angelina made some sweat bands for herself.

Here I am helping Brad put the ball on that thing that little kids use for bowling

Here's my hunny bowling. Nice butt, eh? ;)


I hope to post more frequently, but no promises. Haha

Tired

It's 4:11 am when I started this post, I am exhausted, so what am I still doing up?!?

The last 2 weeks have been SO crazy! Angelina had mini adventure camp all last week (she loved it!) and this week it has been mini soccer camp (she loves that too!). Throw in a very large jewellery wholesale order (which I have to finish) and 2 B&B wholesale orders (which I'm still working on), dad's appointments (one tomorrow morning and one the following Tuesday), Brad and my blood work this morning, Angelina's best friend's b-day party, my physical last week, a gas contractor guy to come by to fix our pool heater, vet app't for the cat last Fri, stamping night with some girlfriends and a fantasia party this past weekend. Whew, I am tired just from typing it all out! LOL

Oh and someone please remind me NOT to ever book afternoon camps. It's right smack in the middle of the day and leaves you with very little time in the morning and no time in the evening to do anything. UGH!

So yeah, I think once this week is over, I will veg. Seriously. I need some down time.

Looks like our cat Tigger won't be around much longer. I don't know whether to give someone a high five or cry. I generally love all animals, but have a love-hate relationship with our cat.

Growing up, we owned many cats, and I've loved each and everyone of them dearly. But, since the day we brought Tigger home (11-13 years ago as a stray), he has been the most destructive cat I have EVER met! He is currently using the bottom of our kitchen cabinets and the patio door frame as his personal scratching post. D was completely opposed to getting him de-clawed long ago, so he continues to be destructive with his claws. Mind you, this is AFTER he has completely destroyed our couches and arm chair. Next, his teeth. Tigger for some reason likes to chew.

Tigger also LOVES to chew curling ribbon, which the kids bring home whenever they get a helium balloon, or gifts. He's right in there chewing away. Then he leaves a nice pile of curling ribbon ensconced in cat bile, fur and spit. He has also chewed up many of our cables. Heck, I'm surprised he hasn't electrocuted himself already! If it was JUST the telephone cable (which he's gone through more than a few), that would be acceptable because they are cheap to replace. But nope, he's been chewing on computer cables (the main ones you can't replace), D's pant press cable, a small piece of wood at the bottom of a futon that holds the futon in an upright sitting position.

Another wonderful feature about our Tigger is he has no sense of when to stop eating. He will literally eat himself to death if we continually left food out for him. I guess that's the "stray cat" syndrome in him. Try to eat as much as you can when you can find it. So, he constantly meows for food around 1 1/2 hours before his morning and evening meals. Over the years, he's gotten better, but in the mornings, if he hears any indication that you've woken up, he will start meowing and not stop until you've fed him.

Oh yeah, and any live plant or flowers in the house gets taste tested by him. Then the pieces are brought up in nice warm piles of green plant matter, cat spit and bile all around our house. So, I usually tell all friends and family not to buy me plants or flowers. And what is with his urine?!? I swear it is the smelliest thing EVER!! Definitely the foulest smelling urine out of any cat we've owned or anyone I know has owned a cat. I have no clue why it's different, but it just wreaks! His fur sheds continually, which is typical of cats. But, when you love your cat, you don't mind. Even when I have JUST vacuumed, the cat fur tumbleweeds appear almost immediately in our hallway. ARGH!!

As you can probably tell, Tigger and his habits drive me up the wall. That being said, the kids love him and for some reason, they care more for him then the dog. I have no idea why, since Babu is SO much sweeter (well to me anyways) then the cat. I think they will be heartbroken when he is gone. So, I've slowly tried to prepare Angelina (Brad is still too young to understand) for the inevitable day that Tigger will have to cross to the rainbow bridge. I am definitely going to be sad for them...sad that they will be hurting. But, we'll see if I miss this damn cat...maybe just a little, who knows. Funny, because it's me that has to take him to the vet and comfort him while he's getting poked and prodded and in those moments, I genuinely feel something for this hairy beast of ours.

Ok, I have a bunch of orders to complete, so off I go to mix and package.

It's been a long time..

Sorry, it's been SO long since I've last posted. Not that there are *that* many of you reading my blog! LOL

Some major events have happened since I last posted. First off, my brother and SIL welcomed Sophia Isabella into the world on June 10th. She's was a whopping 8 lbs and 14 oz!! Doesn't she have the chubbiest cheeks for a newborn? What a sweetie pie!
I've been told she's a super sweet baby and the family (especially my twin nieces) are enjoying her immensely! Congrats to Jeriko and my SIL!! We can't wait to meet her!! Maybe in October?!? I'll try hard to push Jeriko into coming out to visit us! Not that I *really* want him to come, but if it means we get to see Sophia, the twins and my SIL, so be it.

Next big event....Angelina got her ears pierced!!! My little girl had been begging me for over a month to take her. But, each time I've told her we have to wait and go on a weekend when daddy can join us. He really likes to be part of these monumental moments in our kid's lives. So, she picked some nice red 14k studs, sat in the chair and waited patiently for her new earrings to be placed in her ears. To our disbelief, she didn't shed any tears! She didn't even flinch! Luckily, they had asked if we'd like to get her ears pierced at the same time...good idea! We took a bunch of photos, but I have no clue where D put the memory card with the photos. I'll post them soon when I get a hold of them.

So, D has finally flown from the nest. After over 5 years of working from home, he is commuting back and forth from downtown working from a client site. He hates the commute, but the work and pay is good, so it is well worth the effort. He is still on England time, which is 5 hours ahead (due to his recent trip back home to visit his family), but it is working out well for him. He needs to get up early to get ready for work, so he has been purposely trying to stay on this schedule. Great for him, absolutely horrible for "us". He goes to bed soon after the kids go to bed, so there is very little "us" time during the week. But, this contract is 7-9 weeks, so I'm just going to bear with it and know that in the end, this will help us dig out of the financial hole his last contract put us in.

Brad finally has his hearing test tomorrow after a 4 month waiting period. This is something that our doctor suggested we do before he goes for speech therapy (he is also on a 6 month waiting list for that!). We are almost certain there is nothing wrong with Brad's hearing. D has "tested" Brad's hearing numerous times, and everything seems good. Here is how D's simple test is done. Keep in mind that D is behind Brad when he asks this question.

D: Brad, do you want some candy?

B: *nodding his head yes vigorously*

D: See! His hearing is fine!

Good news is that Brad seems to be copying a lot of what we're saying to him in the last month or so. As suspected, the bugger is a slow starter or couldn't be bothered to try. LOL He is still having great difficulty with saying "s" sounds and doesn't even attempt words that start with "c" or "k". So, I am hoping that once speech therapy starts, he'll hopefully be speaking at the level he's suppose to be at, or he can get help with those sounds.

The bath and body business is doing *really* well. I feel blessed! Thanks to my wonderful sales lady (mom) and my online store, I am too busy.

My best friend Peppy just got married a few weekends ago..and while at the salon (of her choice) getting my hair and make up done, the salon owner asked what I did for a living. After telling her about my many businesses, she asked if I could meet to show her my jewellery pieces. So, an appointment was made, and she loves them! So, it looks like I will have some of my jewellery pieces at a salon. I was SO not trying to promote my business, but opportunity knocked when I least expected it, and now I'm kinda scared. Where the heck am I going to find the time to run all these businesses?!? So far, I've been managing by just dealing with orders as they come in. Even then, I was getting very little sleep! Oh well, I should just be thankful and try my best. No more complaining...for now.

I have also been taking a beginner's metal smithing course once a week in the evening. Our first project was a saw pierced ring. It turned out ok, and I'd love to be able to wear it proudly, but my mom declared it hers when she saw it. What am I suppose to say when she asks to keep it...and it was literally days before mother's day too. So, it sits happily on my mother's finger. LOL I was able to pry it off my mom's finger long enough to take a few pics of it.

Front view:
Side view:
The second project was to make something that required casting (using the lost wax method). So, being the rubber stamper that I am. I stamped an image of (what I think is) a lily and carved it out in wax. It took many hours of detailed work, but surprisingly was *very* similar to making dentures. So, it wasn't too difficult, but just very tedious since the wax is super hard, and much more grueling on your fingers then carving dentures out of soft wax.

I will post a picture when I can get D to set up his DSLR for me.

Ok, Brad needs to go for a nap and I have to fold the mountains of laundry waiting for me.

Kinkeys, Bum Bums and Bee Boos

So, as of the last 6 months, we've been pretty concerned with my son Brad's lack of speech. We have him scheduled for a hearing test and on a wait list for speech therapy. He tends to communicate with grunts, gibberish and pointing. It's funny how we understand pretty much everything he wants though. Maybe that is why he doesn't feel the need to learn how to talk. We do reinforce the words of what he wants hoping to help him learn them...but to no avail (or so we thought).

For quite awhile though Brad has been saying a few words. There are ones that he repeats constantly (because he knows he can get a kick out of his sister). These words are bum bum (no explanation necessary), kinkey (aka dinky) and bee boos (this is what Ava called my boobs and would say whenever she wanted to breastfeed). Brad though says these words anywhere and everywhere we go. I don't know how many people truly understand him, but WE know what he's saying so it can sometimes be quite embarrassing.

Well, lately, his new word is "big". He's been saying 2 word sentences now, using big in front. Big kinkey, big bum bum, and big bee boos. I died laughing the first time Brad pointed to his daddy's "area" and said, "big kinkey". You should have seen the look on D's face - priceless! He was SUCH a proud father - haha and told Brad "yes, you are very right son!"

Then we took Brad and Angelina to a park a few weeks ago. Brad loves picking up and collecting rocks and sticks..such a boy. Anyways, he always likes to show his mama what he's found. I asked him (as I usually do) what he's playing with and he points and says "rock". WHAT did he say?!? When was he practicing this word?!? We had never heard it before! So, I congratulate him and he is SO proud. So, I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask a little more. What is that I ask? "stick" he says. Like he's been saying it forever. OMG!! Wonderful!! My boy can speak!!

The next day, Brad is at home playing, and the topic of his face comes up. D asks him,

what's this?(pointing to his ears)

E-yah! (Both of us are looking at each other in shock)

and this? (pointing to his nose)

Noah!

and this? (pointing to his mouth)

Mau!

Sorry, if I'm boring you. This may sound trivial, but after not hearing our son say more then a few words for the first 2 years of his life, this is amazing to us. I had been told by many, that he is just slower because he's a boy (not all boys are slow of course, but in general, I've been told they are) and because he's a second child. Plus our GP never seemed too concerned when I pointed it out to him at every appointment we brought him in after 1 year of age. It didn't help either that Ava started speaking very early on and in full sentences at 14 months of age. But, he has now started to copy saying some words, which is wonderful to hear.

Some other news. We just found out Brad is severely allergic to peanuts. We are waiting until he's better from his cold to go and get blood work done to see what else he is allergic to. The allergist did not want to do the skin prick test since in a severely allergic person, it could cause an anaphylactic reaction.

Brad was with my parents when he had his first reaction a few weeks ago (they sensed something was wrong, but not until well after it had happened, so they didn't take him to the ER) and based on the symptoms he exhibited, the allergist said he was very close to death. Luckily he survived and miraculously he started getting better on his own. The thought scares me to no end. I almost lost my baby boy!

Looks like I have to go through all of our food and discard everything that may have come in contact with nuts. Not an enjoyable thing to do, but definitely necessary.

D left about 20 minutes ago for his 4 day camping trip with "the guys" that go every year. Both kids are sick and I have no car (he took mine and I am not able to drive his car since it's manual), so it's 4 days stuck at home. Wish me luck!