2008 Final Quarter in Pictures

It's been three months since my last blog so here they are in pictures.

This is the rabbit that comes into our yard to eat all the fallen crab apples. Even now with snow on the ground he still comes around. He is huge!!! These pictures don't do him justice.

We had fun at Halloween, even Enoch who at the first house decided it was too scary and wouldn't go. We finally were able to convince him and once he realize he could get candy did quite well. (For some reason we don't have a picture of Lauryn's costume. She was a cheetah.)

Here are our pumpkins. Designed by the kids and carved by me. Let me just say cleaning and then carving four pumpkins is really good exercise for your forearms.

The kids all got plenty of candy and even Paul got quite a haul. He even had his own bowl!

In October we also had the opportunity to visit Grani. We brought her some Halloween candy which she promptly fed to the kids.

Our most exciting adventure this quarter was Jeffrey's wedding. Here are some of our favorite memories of the weekend.

Check out the grin on Eva's face.

The madness that is being a part of a Salmon family picture session.

Aren't they cute!!

We couldn't forget about the "TAG PICTURE" If you look closely they all have their tags, even David and Enoch.

And of course the "We are A Family" chant picture. Check out Enoch and Anya. They have their fists ready to chant along too. Everyone else is either laughing hysterically, asleep or are slightly frightened by what has possessed their parents.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! (I'm not sure what is wrong with Lauryn and Enoch's necks. Apparently, this is how you pose for pictures.)

The kids all got to meet Santa at Paul's work party.

Even Reina was willing to sit on the big guy's lap but you will notice no picture of Enoch with Santa. That's because when he met Santa he was busy trying to bury himself into the photographer's neck, thus no picture.

Santa gave each of the kids an early Christmas present as well which they were quite excited about. They also received balloon characters from the entertainer at the party. Enoch's was a sword and helmet if you can't tell.

Just before Christmas, Reina got in a fight with the bunk bed and the bunk beds won. She had a real shiner that is still fading. This picture was the best of what we took but it still doesn't capture the full complexity of colour that she had for awhile.

Lauryn celebrated her 6th birthday on the 22nd and wanted a strawberry shortcake in the middle of December. Since she was the birthday girl we tried to accommodate, but frozen just ain't the same. She also lost her second front tooth just before Christmas so we were trying to get her to sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" She wasn't too impressed.

Of course we had the traditional nativity performance on Christmas Eve. What we lacked in numbers we made up for in hilarity.

Here are a few funny clips from the night. Keep a close watch on Lauryn.

She is the best Mary ever.

If you listen really carefully you might hear Reina say one of the few words that she can say, that are understandable.

Reina really loved Christmas morning once she got the hang of it. She had to hang onto every present she opened, so now she looks just like a typical mom. Stroller, baby, cellphone and although you can't see it in the picture, her water bottle. She loved all her new things especially the sippy cups. I'm not quite sure why those were the best but....

Eva also celebrated her birthday. She turned 9 on the 26th and wanted a Lemon Poppy Seed cake which Paul and I loved, but no one else was a fan, including the birthday girl.

Well, that's it for this quarter. Check again in three months because blogging more recently is NOT one of my resolutions for 2009 (because there is no way it would happen).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Fav. Pics from July, August and September

So here are the highlights and favorites from the past three months.

Paul made me my birthday cake this year. Since I usually do characters or something on his and the kids cakes he felt he should do the same for me. He asked me what I wanted but I didn't know so he surprised me.

Early in July we took the opportnity to travel to PEI.

This picture was hard to get because there were so many people always going in or posing for pictures.

Paul and kids being scary in the "Haunted Wood" behind Green Gables.

We thought this was amusing. Quite a few trees had names on them but since this was Green Gables I thought I would take a picture. (Unfortunately it was not "spelled with an 'e' ")

We also took the kids to the beach in PEI. It was Reina's first sand adventure. She did not like it and spent most of the day sitting in a beach chair forcing Paul to the towels.

Enoch tried to lay down like he had seen others do, but didn't realize you really DO need to lay on a towel.

We stopped for an emergency diaper change on the way home and the place had this happy blueberry statue. The kids were quite excited.

Just before we moved we travelled down to Lunenburg. While we were there we went to The Ovens. It is a series of caves that the ocean has carved out of the cliffs of the coast. They look like those old fashioned ovens people used to use to make bread, etc. hence the name.

Reina really liked the water and wanted to go in but it was quite cold and overcast, as well as quite a drop to the ocean.

One of my favorites.

We didn't know the Smurfs lived in Nova Scotia but Gargamel must have been busy as we didn't see any of them.

The kids also enjoyed a quick trip to the jail house...

where they joined Paul in jail.

Of course, while there, we saw the Bluenose II.

They were letting people on so we got to tour it a little.

Enoch was excited to try "driving the boat."

And Reina made plenty of fun discoveries.

Reina in front of the Halifax Temple just before we left.

She really wanted to play in this puddle. She kept checking to see if I was watching her, hoping she could sneek in.

Lauryn started Grade 1 once we arrived in Edmonton....

and Eva started Grade 3.

The kids have really been enjoying the new backyard and we are so glad to finally be mostly settled.

So that is basically our last three months.

No pictures of the move but that is probably a good thing. And here is another good thing. Thanks Jo. I love the hat but she would never leave it on. Eva is holding her hands down so we could record that at least she had it on for a few moments.

Hopefully it won't be another threee months before I post again.