Our Family & Our Life

One of my last posts 10 years ago was about Isla's 3rd birthday: 3+10=13!!   Yikes, the quickest 10 years of my life.  When did my baby girl get so big? Truthfully, I feel like the teenage years have been upon us the last few months 😑😒 but she has always been such a source of joy in our lives from day one.     I - nitiative . Takes her work seriously and keeps her room tidy. S - illy . Always up for a game of laser tag with the cats. L - oving . Speaks kindly and willing to lend a hand. A - dds A LOT of laundry to the weekly load count 😆🧺   We’re so thankful for her. Love you Baby Girl 🎂 'Til next time, Colin, Heather & Isla

Has it really been 10 years since my last post? We all look a little bit older - one of us appreciates that more than the other two. It's hard to believe and so much has obviously happened. Colin showed me this little gem of a blog the other night and I quickly learned how much I missed it and what a great way to memorialize our family life.   Significantly, since the last post, Colin became a Canadian citizen  in 2014: Both he and Isla are dual citizens - British and Canadian. Why is this important?  If you read the first half of the blog, you will have noticed that Colin was gone, a lot, for 5 or 6 weeks at a time.  That was because he couldn't legally live or work in Canada.  God blessed him with his permanent residence in 2010 and as soon as he qualified for citizenship, he applied.  We have been together, all the time, for the last 10 years! I don't miss those days alone but it taught me many things like patience, trust and anything worth...

.... and this blog has gone fishing or should I say biking :-) I'm not sure when or even if I will continue blogging but I'll be thinking about it over the summer.. Enjoy & stay safe!

Isla doesn't watch alot of Barney but I like it when she does because they sing alot of the 'old' kid songs that I knew as a child. The one song she loves from Barney and that we've started singing every night before bed is the 'Barney Song'.  I don't know the real song name but that's what we call it. She sounds a bit gravelly as she's had a bad cold and cough for the last few weeks so trust me when I say it's not a Larne accent as so many Facebook tried to tell me!!  :-) She's our little performer and will never disappoint an audience!

Kaiaboa. It kinda sounds like a Hawaiian word. It's an Isla word. Don't ask me (or her) what it means.  It could be used a noun, verb, adjective.  It doesn't matter.  Use it whenever you want too. She started saying it about a month ago and it's been heard more frequently everday since.  She'll speak "Isla" when we're trying to have a conversation and then she'll say all this gobbli-gook with alot of 'kaiaboa's' mixed in.  She loves to have the last word.  I wonder where she gets it from. Colin. 

My 2nd blog post of the day! Our spring storm is still adding to the already 2 feet of snow that fell this morning.... Looks like another 2.5 hour drive home for Colin today!

As I write this, a spring snow storm is blowing outside.  It's hard to watch, I'm so tired of snow but in light of what is happening in Japan and other countries around the world, it's nothing.  Besides, it'll probably be gone tomorrow.  At least Isla was excited to see it this morning and has plans to go make snow angels this afternoon after her nap. Colin has started his new job. He works out of two locations which he wasn't counting on but so be it.  Despite the long commute it's a much better job than the first one.  Normally his drive is about 1 hr 10 mins. each way but the snow slowed even the hardiest Canadian drivers down this morning.  I think my longest commute was 3 hours when I lived in Waterdown and worked in Mississauga.  Overall he's adjusting and learning new things everyday.  The current manager is retiring in June and he'll be taking over so he has the responsibility of picking this guys brain before he leaves and do...

As I say, another year older, another year wiser, another year healthy and another year to be thankful! It's bittersweet for me to think that in three short years, Colin is taking me to Tahiti for my 40th!  Yeah, right, in my dreams but I keep reminding him just in case we win the lottery in the meantime.... Do you like Colin's birthday annoucement for the neighbourhood? It snowed again on Sunday (my birthday) so he was outside shovelling the driveway and sidewalks and found a bit of spare time to create this 'birthday cake'.  I didn't go out to see it until later that night because it was cold outside ... brrr... but my family came over in the evening for cake and coffee and kept talking about it so I had to go out and take a peek for myself... It was still cold btw...  What a sweet guy I have?!?  LOL Anyways, it wouldn'be a birthday without cake, right? Colin baked it and decorated it and Isla helped me blow out the candles as she is now a pro at it....

Our 'baby' turned 3 yesterday!  This is the first year she knew what it meant to have a birthday and wanted to wear her birthday hat.  She knew she was going to be 3 and knew her birthday was in February.  She really wanted..... ... a 'bue buttefly' birthday cake!  We celebrated on the 16th rather than the 17th as Colin wasn't going to be home yesterday.  He didn't get to see her until 10:00 pm when he came home and was able to give her a kiss on the cheek while she slept. We made our Wednesday coffee day into a little party for her  and she had such a good time there was no time to nap.  Oma with 'her birthday girl' A rare photo of me with 'my birthday girl' She loved blowing out candles!  I think we lit it and turned off the lights about eight times, literally.  More to come on Saturday when Aunt Lynne and Uncle Jim come to celebrate with us if she can hold out for 'bue buttefly' cake a bit longer. Happy Birth...