Our Family & Our Life

Dear Diary, Yesterday was Colin's birthday and I think (I hope) he had a good day. When he got home from work, Isla and I gave him his presents and cake. He enjoyed it as much as 38 year old man enjoys it.. Afterwards we went our for sushi, Colin's choice, and while he enjoyed it, I opted for tempura instead. That was probably a big mistake as I was sick all night and felt pretty lousy today. It must've been a bit of food poisoning I guess. Onto Isla .... She's done this before but on Monday I was battling with her to keep her blankets, bed sheets etc. in her dresser. Thankfully this dresser is designed that only one drawer can open at a time so I now have a sock sticking out of the top drawer which prevents her from opening the bottom.... Onto the cats .... The little guy in the picture is a HUGE problem for two furry girls. He hangs out in the tree in front of the dining room window and comes to taunt them several times a day. It's funny to watch them sin

Dear Diary, My sweet Pearl would never do this, only Dixie, Colin's cat. Can you guess where she is? We must've had a rip under the box spring mattress (or she scratched it open) and the furry lady made herself comfortable in it for an afternoon nap... Did you forget we had cats?

Dear Diary, WHY do cats have to sleep on countertops? Do they know no boundaries?

Dear Diary, As I mentioned in yesterdays post, my furry lovelies have not made it to the blog lately. This leads me to a day in the life of Pearl and Dixie... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7:15 - wake up 7:16 - Where's breakfast? 8:00 - run around and a have a "moment" then beat up my sister. 8:30 - wow, that was alot of running and we're tired, time for a nap. 9:00 - we love the sun, time to work on the tan. 11:30 - stomach is growling, maybe time for a treat, or two, or three, whatever we can get. 12:00 - time for some fresh air, living in an apt. is tough, no grass = no bugs, how boring. 1:00 - yawnnn, been up for hours, no wonder I'm exhausted.... 5:00 - stomach is growling again, where's dinner? finally... 5:25 - I'm thirsty, please turn the tap on... 6:00 - He's home, let's play! 6:10 - catnip, YAY! 7:00 - What a busy day, I can't keep my eyes open, better go to bed - see you in the morning!

Dear Diary, First, thank you for the birthday wishes in the blog comments and on FB. In case you were wondering, I'm officially mid-30's... Also, without sounding too cryptic, we are in the middle of a visa drama. I can't say too much right now but we would grateful if you could pray that we get the visa's we need to stay here and in the alternative if it's not meant to be, He shows the way. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more about this in the near future. We haven't posted too many pics of the little lady since her birthday so here you go, Isla, 12.5 months: Don't worry, she's still adorable and happy. These were taken tonight quickly before she went to bed so nothing too great, just a few updates for her Opa and Oma (and everyone else of course). She was up at 8:30 this morning, really, she was! I'm glad she woke up when she did because we would've been late for church this morning and we had to make a side and main course for t

Dear Diary, There is nothing interesting going on over here. Colorado is great for winter. It's spring actually but I gotta admit I do miss the snow. We are getting a bit of snow tonight and later this week but basically it's brown and warm here. We are also getting ready for the big day next week Tuesday. I told her today it was her birthday next week and she clapped her hands so I think she's excited and I'll be sure to post lots of pics of her special day. I've been out shopping for little bits and pieces and we've decided on her present. We just have to go out and buy it on Monday when Colin is home (he's also home on Tuesday). Her daddy dressed her on Saturday but it's obvious he's colour blind or has really bad fashion sense or both. He calls this "rhubarb and custard". I call it ugly! He's not allowed to pick out her clothes anymore. We often go for walks along a pathway behind the apartment and I took a couple of p

Dear Diary, Although she is tolerated by Pearl.... .... Isla's love for the cats is not reciprocated by Dixie. Pearl, Isla & Dixie Sorry for the dark fuzzy photos but they looked much better on the camera after I took them!!!!

Dear Diary, Yesterday we had a really nice Thanksgiving lunch with Merlin and Janet Moore. We (Colin) cooked and they brought a delicious pumpkin pie for dessert. I could eat pumpkin pie all year long! This was Colin's first Thanksgiving ever since it is not celebrated in the UK and I think he enjoyed himself, even if it just meant getting a couple days off work. Nothing exciting has happened lately but we did finally get the van registered in Colorado. Out with the Ontario license plates and in with the Colorado plates. We went a few weeks ago to the DMV to get it done but we didn't get the right forms completed by Border Control when we crossed over in October. We had to go to a Border Services office near Denver airport for a VIN check and complete the importing forms. No hassle, no fee, no fuss ~ just the way I like it. Anyways, back to the DMV on Friday morning at 7:45 and we were out of there by 8 a.m. Now we have to work on our drivers licenses. I'm dreading this

Dear Diary, Two posts in one day, go figure but yet here I am. This morning after church we had the monthly fellowship meal followed by the second service before arriving home mid-afternoon. We fed Isla and hoped she would go back to sleep but no success until 25 minutes ago so here I am, dinner eaten, baby sleeping and I have free time to blog. First an update on our furry girls. When we drove back to Denver, we took them with us. Pearl was good but Dixie, well, let's just say she is not a travelling type of cat. At mom and dad's they were able to go outside most of the day if they wanted too but here they can't and they're both getting bored. My poor girls sit on the door mat leading outside and just look at me to let them out. As a consolation we let them on the balcony now again throughout the day and while we can trust Pearl not to jump we can't with Dixie, she is a bit more daring. Being on the third floor doesn't mean she won't try to jump and I certa

Dear Diary, I've missed posting on the blog but we've been busy... First of all, Isla turned 8 months on October 17, she had a baby wellness check up and she got another 3 teeth, all in one day (more about that later on in this post). Here she is on her 8th month birthday. Mom and I decided it would be nice to take her to the pumpkin farm and apple orchard down the road. She loves going for walks and "sings" while we walk... My little pumpkin in the pumpkin patch: With her mom: With her doting Oma: She loves animals whether it be cats or dogs, yes, even Tasha!! Before we left for Denver I took her to the dr. for a wellness check up. She is a peanut at 27 inches long and weighed 17.5 lbs ~ that is 1 stone 3.5 lbs. for those Brtis! She is right on track developmentally and is sitting quite comfortably but not crawling in the true form of crawling if you know what I mean. I wish I had a photo to post but the new thing is to go on all fours and "stand" on

Dear Diary, I am on my way back from England, however I have to go direct to Denver to help the guys out there until things settle down at Metro Taxis. They have been working 12 hour shifts recently. The system went live last Monday at 3.30am mountain time and since then Metro have done nearly 10,000 jobs on our system. Initally there were a few issues with people not really knowing what they were doing, but the more they use it the smoother it becomes. I hope to be able to fly up to Heather and Isla as soon as I can and then take a few days with them and drive back down to Denver in the Pontiac Montana van with some of our belongings and the 2 cats. That will be interesting getting over the border. Anyway the important thing is that I have my visa and I am on my way back to them. I do dearly miss them and when I call Heather I hear Isla in the background making all sorts of noises now. I guess she'll be saying 'mommy' soon.. Here is the picture that I had taken for the vis

Dear Diary, Well as I mentioned in my post yesterday, I was hoping to have some good news to report today. I do, sort of. Colin was in Dublin this morning for an interview at the American Embassy to get a 6 month business visa. He got it BUT since he was in the States for 3 months already they wouldn't issue it with a specific expiry date. That will be determined the next time we cross the border. It's not really what we wanted. We wanted the full 6 months and get back to a normal family life, some permanence in one location TOGETHER, just the three of us. We think they'll issue the visa for no more than three months as this visa is good for 6 months and we've used up 3 months but we won't know until then. It will take another 5 business days for Colin to get his passport with the visa back to him, then he'll fly back to Canada for Isla and myself and then we're thinking about driving to Denver. It's a 24 hour trip, without breaks, so it would tak

Dear Diary, I walked into the laundry room which is where the majority of our stuff is kept in boxes. The cats love to sit on the higher stacked boxes.... I wonder what is in the box? Shocking, it's Pearl!

Dear Diary, I came across this blog ... too cute... Oh come on, admit it, you laughed...

Dear Diary, As my sister says, I attract cats wherever I go and sure enough, I've done it again! Well, he isn't ours but he's ours until end of the month. Mittens is a very easy going, friendly cat. He's like "Bobby", Pearl and Dixie's friend in Larne and at times, that's what I call him. He loves Colin and has taken to lounging in the recliner. He's a man's cat. Don't worry Jennifer, he couldn't have settled in better than he has!!!

Dear Diary, After two-and-a-half weeks of marriage, our family has expanded. Colin and I have adopted twin girls, Pearl(lie-Mae) and Dixie (Chick). I spotted them on a animal rescue website just after we got home from our honeymoon and I knew we had to have them. Colin called the rescue shelter and they were available and unless they were monsters, we knew we would eventually take them home. They have settled in fine and they get a little bit crazier everyday. They do everything together, sleep, eat play and even use their litter boxes together. It's so cute to watch them and they don't just entertain each other, they also entertain Colin and I for hours too! Here a few photos... It's tough to get a photo of Dixie 'cause she can't sit still long enough for the camera to focus. Pearl Pearl & Dixie They were 12 weeks when we brought them home and they are now 16 weeks. I'll keep you posted on their progress.