Parker and Santa 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Tour of the Mint

The Week Candace Left (to go Back to Work)

Grandma's 91st Birthday Party!

July 6 was my Mom and Grandma's birthday. I won't divulge my Mom's age cause she would kill me! My Grandma, on the other hand, turned 91! Neither of them look their age at all! I must have some great anti-aging genes! To celebrate, we ate Chinese food and cake in my Grandma's back yard.

Canada Day at the Lake

Shawn, Parker and I spent my last few days of mat leave at the lake. The weather was perfect! To avoid Parker baking in the sun, we placed his baby pool in the veranda.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Parker's First Birthday - Party #2

What a difference a week makes. The weather for Parker's second birthday party on June 28, couldn't have been any different from the week before. It was windy, cloudy and downright cool.

Parker looked especially cute (if I don't say so myself :) ) in his bright red, long sleeved, cowboy shirt, jeans, plastic brown cowboy hat and belt with a huge, shiny, belt buckle made out of cardboard and covered with tin foil (thanks Jackie for the added belt buckle touch). He was dressed like this for his farm themed party.

The highlight of the party was that my sister, Cristen brought her minature horse, yes horse, so that Parker could "ride" him around my parent's backyard. The horse was named Frank, after its bright, blue eyes. Parker was skepical of the entire horse thing from the very start. In fact, Parker to this day is aprehensive about his own rocking horse we have in our basement that wiggles its nose and shakes its tail when you push a button the horses ear. Parker rode Frank for about one millisecond - and that was it. We also noticed that the horse wasn't too fond of Parker's red cowboy shirt. After we did a quick outfit change, Frank warmed up to Parker.

All in all it was an awesome day, my family who where in town for Vanessa's wedding on the Friday all came to Parker's party. Even my Grandma (who turned 91 on July 6) wearing Parker's cowboy hat, took Frank for a walk - too cute!

Parker is 1! Holy cow!

What a day we had yesterday - the weather was great (29.7 C) for an outdoor shindig! Parker was a little grouchy at first, but luckily he warmed up a little and had a great time!

The best part was when we placed a mini cake in front of Parker. He looked at it, then after I fed him a piece, he finally got the idea and started slathering his face in blue and white icing. When Sailor figured out what was going on, she stepped up on Parker's highchair and started licking the icing off Parker's face all the while Parker was giggling uncontrollably! It was too funny! When I find the camera - I am still trying to clean up -I will download some pictures!

Parker is turning 1!

Oh my, Parker is turning one tomorrow.

This afternoon, Ginger, and Lily came for Parker's second haircut. He was quite patient until the hair started accumulating on his face. He lost it after that - poor little guy, it must of been very itchy! He looks like a little boy now - not a baby, sniff, sniff!

Shawn, our friends, Ryan and Nicole and I spent this evening putting up streamers and blowing up balloons for Parker's first birthday party. Thanks to Shawn's aunt for the awesome frog cupcake cake, and the mini cake for just for Parker! Stay tuned for pictures from this event!

Summer Finally!

With the big countdown starting...sniff, sniff, three more weeks until I go back to work after maternity leave, Shawn, Parker and I, are at the lake. I say "summer finally" because it has been freakin' cold these past few weeks (for those folks who are not living in MB). It feels more like the beginning of October, than spring! Today the mercury hit 23 C! Whoohoo! I have to say the best thing about the weather being so cool, is that we have virtually NO mosquitoes! Hard to believe, I know!

Today, we bought Parker a small kiddie pool and filled it up in the veranda, so that Parker isn't baking in completely in the sun. So now we call it Parker's Pool and Spa. He tries to climb in on one side and out on the other but has trouble lifting his meaty leg high enough to clear the side of the pool.

Hey, did I mention Parker can walk?! OH MY GOD! The other day while grocery shopping in Kenora, I saw Shawn walking with Parker holding on to only ONE hand - I couldn't believe it! Parker had a humongous, toothy smile the entire time - he's quite proud of himself. Then two nights ago (June 10), Tracy had trouble catching up to Parker. He had a death grip on Tracy's finger meanwhile Parker was motoring in front of her...aka, Parker was not relying on Tracy for any support. He did numerous laps of the kitchen, and can surprisingly recover from small stumbles without face planting. He still prefers holding on to someones finger while he walks, even though, it has no purpose other than functioning as emotional support. The cutest thing is when Parker walks you can hear his little chubby feet slapping the floor.

One more announcement - Parker sprouted another tooth yesterday! He has 6 in total.

I just remembered, tomorrow is exactly one week until Parker's 1st birthday party - wow!

I love New Brunswick!

The Theme of our PEI leg was "Nothing is Open Yet!"

PEI was somewhat disappointing. When we got to the island, we headed directly to the visitor information centre only to be told repeatedly that "nothing was open yet". Oh boy, I couldn't wait to see this province!

Once there, a few things became apparent - holy cow the province is TINY! Yes, I know this is somewhat of an obvious statement for some, however I didn't realize until we drove around for a while how small it is. Literally if you blinked, you could miss a town.

While on PEI, we saw Anne of Green Gables...Shawn and I smooched at Lover's Lane, hehhehe. We also saw the "famous" red cliffs - What a joke that was. We drove all the way up to the North Cape, on the northwest tip of PEI because we were told we could see these "red cliffs". YOU CAN'T SEE THEM FROM THE SCENIC HIGHWAY! It wasn't until we pulled off the road to change Parker's diaper, that we saw some! How frustrating! The Confederation Bridge was totally cool! It took 14 mins, going 80km/hr to cross it, I thought it was never going to end!

We had a lovely, yet extremely overpriced, lobster dinner in Charlottetown (the lobster was $26/lb even though you could buy cooked lobster at any grocery store for $7.99/lb). I had a heart attack when Shawn ordered the 2lb lobster at the restaurant! Our bill was over $90 for two freakin' lobsters. Oh well, we made up for this on Mother's Day...Shawn and I headed to Superstore and bought four, cooked lobsters of $34, four potatoes, two cans of corn, a block of butter, and some pop and heated everything up in our hotel room microwave for us and Shawn's parents! A HA! How's that for being frugal!

I would move to the Maritimes for the food alone!

Our trip out East was amazing! We flew to Halifax then rented a mini-van and toured around PEI, New Brunswick and then back to Nova Scotia. Shawn's parents joined us for the first week, then flew out of Moncton. Shawn, Parker and I continued on our travels for another week.

Being a "vegetarian" who eats seafood, I thought I died and went to heaven - there was lobster on every menu from seafood chowder, lobster rolls, lobster BLTs - yummy!

Here was our itinerary of the major places we travelled to...we sure covered a lot of ground. We hit Halifax, Peggy's Cove, Stellarton (NS), Charlottetown, Cavendish (Anne of Green Gables area), Summerside (PEI), Moncton (NB), Hopewell Cape (Hopewell (flower pot) Rocks), Fredericton, Saint John (NB), Digby (NS), Yarmouth then back to Halifax.

Parker's First Birthday Invitation!

So Parker's first birthday is drawing near...in two weeks tomorrow to be exact. I can't believe it! I still remember thinking after he was born, "Now what I am going to do with this baby?!?!!"

Well, I have to say I really surprised myself. I survived the numerous, around-the-clock-feedings and months of sleepless nights! But above all, both Shawn and I have amazing memories of his first year. It is unbelievable in a few short months, Parker went from being what I call a "blob" that did nothing but sleep, poop and eat, to the cute little guy he is today! He scoots around the house, climbs up stairs, feeds himself...the list goes on and on! He's come along way, that's for sure! God, he's a cutie-pa-tootie!

Here's his first birthday invitation!

Make a Smilebox invite

We're Back!

I had to add more pictures! Parker and Jeffrey got along sooo well. I have the feeling Jeffrey can't wait for Parker to get a little bigger. Here is Parker attempting to wrestle with Jeffrey!

Parker is quickly racking up the frequent flyer points. Parker and I spent 5 days in Victoria in early April, and on May 19, Shawn, Parker and I got back from our two week trip in the Maritimes!

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Victoria!
(clockwise: 1) Me, Parker, my cousin Carolyn's husband, Kevin, and their kids, Claire and Jeff; 2) Me, Parker and Claire going for a stroll; 3) My Auntie Mar and Parker.)

Will Spring Ever Come???

What a LONG winter! Even though the calendar says it is spring, the view outdoors suggests otherwise. I know I joke about saying WINTERPEG, MANISNOWBA but this winter it was true. Just when I thought the snow was all going to finally melt away, we were hammered by, not one, but two snow storms! Ahhhhh! Today, I must admit it is good to see sidewalk pavement not covered by snow. C'mon, sun do your stuff and melt the dreaded stuff! Here are a few pictures of us "enjoying" the snow!

Parker's NEW front top chicklet(s)!

Awe, I am going to miss that adorable, gummy smile!



Parker has one, honkin' huge chicklet popping out of the right-side of his upper gums. The one beside it is coming along too. When I get a picture of the elusive teeth, I will post it! Parker has lips like a steel trap. If you come within a few millimeters of his mouth, he shuts his lips. It is like he knows you want to see his little chicklets, but he's not going to let you!

Parker's First Haircut (March 19, 09)

Parker got his first, and somewhat over do, haircut at the Hair-Do Zoo! He sat on a horse while the lady chopped away! At first he didn't mind because he was facinated by the pink hairclip the hairdresser gave him. Afterward, he caught on to what was going on, hence why the hair on one side of his head is ever so slightly longer. Overall, he looks so cute! Awe!

Thanks for the awesome soccer outfit for the Parkermeister!

Holy cow, what a cute little oufit! We tried staging the pictures however we only have a football and not a soccer ball. Zam , Hizee and Ziko, you guys have great taste! Those little white shorts are too cute especially when you see pudgy legs, complete with rolls sticking out of them!

Recognize the sweater Parker is wearing?!?. Ironically, last night, I found a picture of Zam wearing it!

UH OH...We're in TROUBLE!

Parker sure is a happy little guy! I love his little gummy smile and his adorable giggle!

Here he is riding on my shoulders while grabbing very tightly to my hair, ouch!

We bought Parker some foam lettters for the tub, however, Shawn appears to have more fun with them than Parker!

PARKER CAN CRAWL!

He mastered his crawling technique on Monday (March 9). Shawn placed Parker in the basement surrounded by his toys as per usual and the went to jump in the shower. Normally, Parker happily sits and plays with his toys...but before Shawn had time to jump in the shower, Parker was in the bathroom with him! For the last few weeks Parker had been scooting along on his butt...unfortunately, those days are gone. Awe nuts!

Parker also loves walking while holding on to someones hands. Here I naively thought he would be slow and uncoordinated - the little guy can sure motor! He's quick and determined to go where he wants, he doesn't fool around, that's for sure!