3 days left

of my mat leave. I have been off for almost 13 months and I can honestly say, where the heck did the past 13 months go?!? Rob has the next two weeks off, so my back to work won't be as stressful for me, which is really nice. And nice for Lolo to have some daddy and baby time!

Party Pictures!

We had an awesome time last night celebrating Loic's birthday with friends and family. Here are a few shots from the evening!!

A new toy!

Sitting with Grandpa, waiting for the cake!

Dinosaur cake (amazing tasting and looking)

He liked the first bite, but wasn't into it after that, silly boy :)

My baby is One Year old today

Our little Lolo bean is one year old today!

Hard to imagine that a year ago he looked like this:

Happy 1st Birthday Loic!! We love you so much; you are the nicest, smartest, sweetest, cutest and busiest little boy!!

Oh Tyler

Our new house is two stories, and to get inside you have to walk up a flight of stairs and into the front door, where you walk down a short hallway and turn left into the kitchen. There is nowhere for Tyler to look out of, which is what he has to do to feel safe inside the house while we are gone. So, my clever black lab has taken it upon himself to use the front kitchen counter (where the sink is) to look out of because there is a window right there. How do I know he is doing this? Evidence! And the fact that when I look up as I drive away I can see his little grey muzzle...

Now, Rob and I have done a lot for this dog and have paid so much money to help him that even I don't want to add it up, so we have gone and bought a glass front door so that Tyler can look out while we are gone. We are going to put a dog bed in the hall and that is where he will stay while we are out.

He won't panic if he can see out and while I *hate* glass front doors, we have one so that Tyler is ok with life. The things we do for that dog!! :)

E

Living upstairs!

We have finally moved into our bedrooms upstairs! No more sleeping in the entryway for us!

We also rented out the suite, so the push is on to get it finished by August 1st. Rob and Dave are going to do some work down there a few evenings this week, and then next week we paint and should be good to go.

It will be nice to be finally done working on the house; Rob has been working like a mad man these past few weeks. Next up: Regan is coming back to paint the doors, moulding and base board that Rob has installed upstairs. We will need to paint the guest room and do those doors before October, when our German friends are coming to stay!

And next week is the big bash - Loic's first birthday! I ordered his cake today, dino themed :)

E

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary! 5 years ago today Rob and I got married on a very sunny beach in Tofino, surrounded by 42 of our closest friends and family. We have accomplished a heck of a lot in the past five years, including:

-Rob building a successful company from having two to 14 full time employees

-My graduation from UBC biology

-Buying our first home in MR

-Having Lolo! (The best thing that we have ever done, by far)

-Selling our first house

-Buying our second house in N.Van

-Adopting Toby and Arthur (adopting Arthur was maybe not the best thing that we ever did but even I can admit that I do love that slightly angry, annoying little dog a lot and he sure loves living with us)

Phew! That is a lot to do in 5 years, isn't it? And all along the way we do a hell of a lot of laughing ad we have obviously passed on our love of laughter to Lolo, the worlds happiest baby.

Now if only I can get Paris' (our new mantid, I changed her name from Kiwi to Paris because, well, she didn't exactly answer to it anyways and I think that all of my mantis are just going to be named Paris) crickets to stop singing!!!! She ate a lot of crickets yesterday so she must be full today...

Reno update: carpets are in! Doors are in! Now Rob needs to do baseboard and casings, and then the upstairs will be done, except for painting the trim. Yipee! Next up, finish the suite.

E

Reno Update

Things are trucking along here.

Our carpet is going to be installed tomorrow and will be done on Friday. In the mean time, Rob is going to be working on the suite installing the new washer and dryer we bought, installing the sink in the bathroom and new counter. I will need to paint the one bedroom and the bathroom down there. Then Rob will do baseboard and install a non see through bathroom door (whoever thought that a glass bathroom door was a good idea...).

Upstairs is ... a bit chaotic. We haven't been able to use any of the bedrooms or office yet, so we are pretty cramped in the living room/dining room. Lolo is sleeping in one of the suite's bedrooms and Rob and I are camped out in the entry way downstairs.

The fence is now done! We can send the dogs out to pee unassisted! Yipee!! It looks just lovely and gives us a sunny and very private patio now at the base of the deck stairs. I have a lovely little kids table and stools that I am going to set up down there tomorrow for Lolo :)

I primed the new wall in our bedroom (twice) and put up one coat of paint but ran out of paint. Tomorrow I will run out to get a can before the carpet guys get here so that I can finish off that wall without worrying about the new carpet. Then, my mom is going to take Lolo for me in the afternoon so that I can prime the entire guest bedroom...which I am NOT looking forward to. Oh well, it needs to be done. I am also going to weed wack at the barn in the am, something that I LOVE doing; especially with my brand spanking new gas weed eater named Wendi (she was named just for you Jody!!)

E