Congrats Cameron-san!

Guess who is a yellow belt?? Well done Grasshopper, we are so very proud of you!! :o)

Cam passed his first belt grading 5/5/08!Proud boy!

Breaking out of Dad's choke hold...hehe!

Monday "hows" and "whys"...

I'm having a "how" & why" day! Mondays can do that to a person. ;o)

How did I end up 3rd or sometimes 4th in line for the shower in the morning???? Stinkin' kids! I'm soooo over lukewarm showers **grumble**. I guess this is why parents get up so early??

Why will my brain, especially on a Monday, not function normally until I have some caffeine on board??

How did it go from 25 degrees and glorious sunshine last week to 5 degrees and pissing down rain? It's cold outside!! (Oh yeah, it IS only April!) We cracked out our very fetching "English countryside" wear today. Wellies, anyone?? :o)

Why do worms suddenly appear in the rain and cover the roads and sidewalks? It was like a worm minefield on the way to school!!

Why is it that Tim feels the need to blast "Slipknot" on his 'puter in his office while I'm trying to finish up the taxes? Taxes make me feel homicidal enough and then when you throw in a little "Slipknot" I feel like bashing someone with a shovel and then cutting my wrists. Grrrrrrrrrrrr....

Why is it that when I take Oscar to the Vet to have his limpy, painful leg checked he bounces around like puppy? And how is it that said Vet can sleep at night after charging me $45.50 for 28 Tramadol?? (My guess would be on big piles of money...grrrrrrr!)

How does Delsin manage to hit that particular ear shattering, spine tingling, nerve jangling pitch when screaming? And why does Cameron still feel the need to play "let's wind up our little brother until he screams and gets told off by Mom"?? How can they want to spend that much time in their rooms, sitting on their beds?? (hehehe)

How is it that my five year old can play Guitar Hero III and kick some serious butt and I can't even follow the notes on the screen??

I'm sure there are more hows and whys but that's all for now. Tune in next week for another random collection of Monday ramblings! :o) For now I leave you with a few photos, shocking I know.

Happy Monday,
Laura :o)

My Guitar Heroes...Connor and Delsin!

"I ROCK!!!!"

Finally...Cam the karate-dude!Hiiiiiii-YA!Hooooo...WAH!Close-up of Delsin taken for my photography course...little darling.

Another shot for my class. Is that a gorgeous eye or what??

Happy 14th Birthday Connor-Fred!!

Two peas in an Aspie-pod. :o)

14. ACK! How did that happen?? Happy Birthday Fred, you make us so very proud and we love you bunches. Even if your feet are bigger than Mom's, you are almost taller than Mom and you eat us out of house and home. Still wouldn't trade you for the world. :o) Have a great day big guy, can't wait to eat some cake with you later! **smooch smooch** **hug hug**

Love from Mom, Dad, Cam, Mae, Del, Oscar, Schatje, & Bug.

Good morning 14-year-old!

Show me the money!
Thanks Nanna, Len & Rascal!

Birthday singing all the way from Thailand!
Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!
Nothing like a little birthday harassment from your pesky little brother!
Loser!Goofy group hug!Happy Birthday Bro!

Buh-bye Sens. Swept. **sob**

The Ottawa Citizen headline summed it up pretty well:

"Mercifully, it ends for the Sens."
(photo by Wayne Cuddington, The Ottawa Citizen)

Alfie said it all: "The way we played down the stretch, we just couldn't turn it around. We just didn't play well at all going in. Not much more I can say."

Sigh. Being swept is so not cool. Especially after last season. Blah.

Happy Golfing boys.

'Til next year.

Last snow on the block...

You can see our little blob of snow in the middle of the pic!

Our house has the last snow in Scugog me thinks!! We don't get very much sunlight on the front of our house, only a brief bit in the morning, and for some strange reason we seemed to get the largest dump of snow this winter!! Even the neighbours commented on how high our snowbanks were compared to everyone around us...weird! So there it clings, holding on, desperately. :o) The temps are supposed to keep climbing this week so I think the end is near for our little snow pile.

On the homefront, Tim's leg is infected...AGAIN...but he has now seen the infectious disease specialist who agrees that this has been going on for too long. An MRI has been scheduled in May and Tim is most likely looking at surgery again, poor guy. It's possible the pins in his ankle are causing trouble and may need to be removed but we won't know anything until they get a look inside. So to keep his spirits up he like to be a Rock Star ----->

The rock star family:
Featuring Delsin on drums...
Vocals by Tim (ACK)...
Yes honey, my ears really are bleeding...hehe...

It's been a typically busy time around here, work, school, activities, courses, etc. etc. This is such a hectic time in our lives but a very happy one too, the kids are growing and changing so much each day, the time seems to fly by! Here's a few pics of life around here over the past few weeks. You will notice the absence of any Cam pics, I've not managed to catch him unawares, he is too quick for me...haha! I promise to add a pic of him in his karate uniform soon, he is doing SUPER and has earned 3 stripes on his belt for learning his first 3 "katas" and once he memorizes his student "creed" he can try for his yellow belt! He started at the end of February and has picked it up really quickly, well done Cammy! :o)

Connor catching some zzzzz's in the car at the dentist..we were a bit early!
He is SUCH a teenager now...ACK
Guess who got a "big boy backpack"? It's almost as big as him when loaded...haha!
Mae in her ballet recital costume...doing some jumps for Mom!
Silly princess
Mae had another Winter Show at Dreamcrest on Sunday, April 13th
In the jumping arena
Over she goes!
1st place in Dressage and 2nd in Jumping!

And to end a couple of pics I took last Monday while taking Oscar for a walk downtown by Lake Scugog. I have been taking a photography course on Saturday mornings so I took my camera along to practice the "rule of thirds" (next lesson should be "overexposure of photos"...haha!) and was lucky enough to have this lovely pair of geese land on the ice right in front of me and Oscar.

And even luckier when they suddenly took flight and I got this shot:

Happy Tuesday and have a great week all.
Laura & the gang XO