so true...

Watch your thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become actions.

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your habits, they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes ….

your destiny.

Pictures

As promised, here are some photos from the last few weeks.

Also, a quick update on Breanna: we had an appointment this afternoon at the Fracture Clinic at the hospital.  I had high hopes that we would go home with good news and that she would be out of her cast, especially since she's been back to her wild and crazy self the last 2 days with little to no regard for her casted arm.  But no such luck.  When the doctor removed her cast, we could see right away that her little elbow was still a bit swollen - and with that, Breanna was fitted with a bright pink fibreglass cast which she will be fashioning for the next 3 weeks.  My sweet girl was once again impressed the socks off of me.  I can't begin to tell you how excited I am for October 30th when Bree gets her cast off...just in time for Halloween! Phew.

Breanna and Daddy with her ER Plaster Cast on Friday....and Breanna with her new pink Fiberglass Cast and sling today

Breanna and Mommy enjoying the Jays Game...and Bree, Jr., and Kayla in Jose Bautista's locker :)

Junior and Bree have been bringing home some great artwork as of late. 

On the left is a piece from Daycare back in August.  Apparently, Junior loves to do crafts

On the right are some drawings from Bree.  You can make out a sun and the circle with 2 dots and a line are people!  Bree is holding a pencil nicely and just LOVES to draw and colour.  It's definitely her favourite thing as of late - - and she can still colour with one hand (luckily she's right handed!)

Below is a photo of Bree hard at work on her colouring...before her injury.  Love the smile!

Bree and Kayla. BFFs. 

Mr. Junior.  He's got style. 

I was so surprised that hat actually stayed on his head for half the evening before he ripped it off and threw it on the floor!

 Kim, Kate, Mom Law and me with Tracey Moore of Cityline!  We had a blast at the Fashion Friday taping and went out afterwards for a great Birthday lunch for Kim's 30th  :)

 Had to leave off this post with this SUPER CUTE drawing Bree did over the weekend.

She drew this on the sketch-a-doodle, showed it to me and said "this is you Mama".

Love it.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We have so much to be thankful for.

It's been insanely busy since my last post.  Where do I begin?!

I'll start with lil' Miss Breanna who fractured her elbow on Thursday at school. It happened on the playground about 20 minutes before I picked her up. Such an unfortunate accident.  She was such a trooper at the hospital that night. We were at Markham Stouffville Hospital for about 3 hours, where she had x-rays and an assessment, and it was determined that Bree had a small break in her elbow. She was fitted with a cast, which she'll need to wear for a week or so.  She slept well that night, but couldn't get out of bed in morning on her own due to the weight of the cast, so it was pretty cute and funny - but also sad. She was a bit hesitant to go to school, but with a little encouragement, she bravely headed off to school on Friday and made it through the entire day! Breanna has been quite resilient and I can't begin to express how proud I am at how she's handled this scary and painful situation. I almost cried when they told us she needed a cast, but then I realized - how can I cry when she wasn't even crying!  We've had a great weekend together and everyday she's adapting better and better with the cast and tomorrow, we are off to the Fracture Clinic at the hospital to see how her little elbow is healing.

Also....WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!...and, WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!

4 weeks ago, Keith and I saw a house, fell in love with this house, and ultimately bought this house.  We will be moving to Thornhill (Leslie & Bayview) at the end of November and will begin to build new roots in our dream home.  The house is 35 years old, a back-split, and has 5 levels of pure beauty.  It felt like home the second we walked in and has the most incredible homey-feel to it.  But what really sealed the deal was the backyard, which has beautiful trees and a big deck for summer BBQ's.  We can't wait to move in at the end of November!

We also sold our current house about 2 weeks ago.  Wow, it was quite the ordeal.  We packed, staged, moved out of our house and in with Keith's parents.  The house then went on the market, we encountered a bidding war for our house, and ended up selling it over-asking within 4 days of listing it.  We then un-staged, moved back in and we are currently enjoying our last weeks in this house before we move out.  A big part of me is so sad to leave this home that we've raised our kids in thus far.  I love this house and it will always hold special and fond memories for me.

There have also been lots of birthdays we've celebrated as of late: Happy Birthday to Kim, Jason and Rosemary!  Bree and Junior are so lucky to have Aunties and Uncles like you!  I also went to a taping of Cityline with Kate, Kim and Mom Law on September 21st and it was so much fun!  Plus, it was Fashion Friday, so we left with some great giveaways!  We also hit up Kids Day with the Blue Jays last Saturday.  I plan to post LOTS of new photos as soon as I hook up my Mac - which we packed away when we staged our house!

Other than Breanna's injury, the kids have been great.  We had a wonderful week living with Grandma and Grandpa when we were selling our house, where Breanna and Junior behaved well and slept like champs every night.  Junior is starting to talk a little more each day and he's becoming a trouble-maker.  He's been saying Dada, Mama, uh-oh and ball for awhile now, but his latest words are "bye-bye" while waving and "cheese" while smiling at the camera.  He's also very interested in climbing down the stairs (which is really nerve-racking), self-feeding himself with a fork and bowl (which is really messy), and pretty much following Breanna around and taking interest in EVERYTHING that she does.  Luckily, Breanna doesn't mind this for the most part, but of course there are moments when she's not happy about having a shadow.  Junior is also incredibly strong, so if he wants something, he will hold on for dear life.  This creates some interesting tug-of-war incidents and funny enough, it's about a 50/50 draw.  Considering Junior is only 17 months, I think Bree is going to be losing the wars a lot more in the near future!

This Thanksgiving, I would like to give thanks for the health and well-being of my family and friends.  I would like to give thanks for the love and support of my family and friends.  But most of all, I am thankful to be here, writing this and sharing life's great moments with my friends and family.  Thank you for taking the time to read  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Stay tuned for some fun pics from the last few weeks!

Last days of Summer

I couldn't think of a better way to close out summer than to spend 5 full days with my hubby and babies.  We went non-stop, all out, and pretty much exhausted ourselves - - but completely worth it!

It all started with a day of hair cuts for myself, Breanna and Barkley!  This was the first time going to a hairdresser for Bree, so I was curious to see how she was going to like it.  She faired well at the dentist, doctors and nail salon...but cutting her hair?!  Hmmm.... well, my little girl amazes me every time and LOVED the hairdresser.  My hairdresser, Henry, did a great job and made her feel at ease and Bree enjoyed every minute of her haircutting experience.  Now I just have to wait another 3 years for her hair to grow back to take her again  :P

The before and after shots of Bree's hair cut.  No matter what, my girl is always smiling!  :)

The following day, we decided to start the day with Dim Sum with family, then off to Angus Glen for a family swim.  Naps at home followed, and then we were all freshened up and ready for the CNE!!!  We met up with Kate, Steve, Kayla and Lauren for our annual trip to the CNE and we had so much fun that we stayed until almost midnight!  Yes, we were one of those families with our young children out at wee hours, but we were all having so much fun, we just went with it.  We ate, we played games, we ate, we did a little shopping, we ate some more, and played more games.  Junior loved all the lights, sounds and action, he's eyes were so big and he just looked around and around in awe.  Bree played games with Kayla and couldn't eat enough ice cream and cotton candy.  She was so hopped up on sugar, it was no wonder she was up until midnight!

Let's Go to the EX!  

Finally a shot with all 4 cousins together and almost all looking at the camera!

The kids playing games.  This is one of their favorites every year.

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!!!

Family shot with the CN Tower in the background.

We also hit up Kew Beach for a last sand and sun outing of the summer.  If there's one thing Keith and I love, it's the beach, and we are thrilled that our kids share our love of the beach.  We brought a bucket and a few shoves, some snacks and cold drinks - we were set for a wonderful, low-key afternoon at the beach.  Keith and I sat back and watched our babies play together in the sand and it was one of those moments I would love to freeze in time.  Junior was fascinated with the rocks on the beach, and loved dipping them in the bucket of water.  He was also a fan of digging with his shovel.  The one thing I noticed about Junior is how observant he is. He takes everything in and I love that he soaks in these special moments.  Breanna kept asking to go to the shoreline to throw rocks into the water.  At first, Keith didn't want to let her go without one of us going with her, but I told her she could go, as long as she waved to me once she got there, threw her rock into the water, and came running back.  She was so proud that she got to "go by herself" that she must've asked to go throw rocks about 10 times, but it was adorable to see her run 10 steps, look back and wave, throw her rock and come running back.  Truly a big girl growing up.  After the beach, we had dinner at one of our all-time favourite restaurants: Tulip.  The kids ate like little piggies, and Keith and I ate like big piggies!  The food at Tulip never disappoints. The perfect way to end the day.

Hello World!  Junior playing in the sand and giving us a friendly wave.

Our view of the lake, with our kiddies playing happily in front of us.

.Awesome.

 The rest of the weekend was spent with family.  Lots of quality time together, just enjoying each others company.  Junior running around, his little feet pitter-pattering along the floor.  Breanna sitting at her art table, drawing and colouring away.  The both of them sitting next to one another, watching Lion King (Breanna's favourite) and sharing a bowl of grapes.  It's moments like these that I savoury because time passes by so fast and my babies are growing up right before my eyes.

Today was Bree's first day back at school. She has graduated to Casa Two in her school and that means new teachers and some new friends.  We were interested to see how she would adjust to her new school environment, but the minute she saw one of her besties, Natasha, she was right at home and loving her new class.  She was all smiles when I left ...and she didn't even look back. *Sigh*

Bree and Junior getting ready for the day.  

Rain jackets, check!  Hoodies, check!

Sunscreen, check!  Hugs, check!  :)

Bree next to her "owl" name tag in her new classroom.

She had a great first day back and we are so proud of her!