I don't have a picture for my post but I just had to share.

Today Jacob was playing with his cars and he was saying:

"OK, wanna go to Making Donald's? (McDonalds)..., Ok, let's go! Um, no we can't have french fries, those are garbage food...only yogurt and sometimes chicken, but that's garbage too. Wanna go to Pim Portons? Ok, but just yogurt not garbage food."

It is funny and encouraging to hear my little one starting to understand the does and don'ts of nutrition. Today all he wanted for lunch was brocoli and cawliflower. It is crazy but cool and I am so happy that he is finally starting to get away from all of the sugar that I so foolishly used to give him.

Around The House

Many of you have been asking for pictures of our house.
Well, it is not totally set up yet so I have not taken any of just the house. But here are a few shots of our life here so far....

Jacob has really taken to "helping" me in the kitchen. It makes everything take a lot longer, but it is a lot of fun. I love teaching him about food! He especially loves to look for the bubbles to appear in pancakes. In this picture he is making sugar free spice cookies. Jacob has been on a refined sugar free diet for about a month now and we have really seen an improvement in his ability to listen and concentrate. I feel like the more he knows about food and its preparation, the more able he will be to make positive food choices when we are not around to monitor.

Trains have become a very important part of our life since living here. Jacob has developed such a passion for everything and anything having to do with trains. From morning to night he watches trains on YouTube (yes, he actually watches real live trains) and plays trains with his set from the Mitchells and his new Thomas and Friends trains. He also continually asks to go to see the trains and cries when we drive by tracks with no trains. It is really interesting being the mom of a boy!

This is our back yard and deck. Our neighbours in the house that you can see in the background have the cutest Burmese Mountain dog name Tammy. She is the most child friendly dog that I have ever met and Jacob absolutely loves her. I even noticed him kissing her nose through the fence the other day. It was cute, but I obviously cautioned him against it.

Celeste really enjoys having her baths in the kitchen sink, and of course Jacob has to join her. It is really neat seeing the sibling relationship has is growing between them. Jacob really enjoys her and is always able to bring out one of her beautiful toothy smiles.

Dad and Wendy, I know that you will enjoy this one. Jacob loves to help Andrew mow our lawn. He copies Andrew's every move.

Celeste also enjoys "helping" me with my chores. She is at the age now where she enjoys playing with anything that she can manipulate. With her around even laundry is enjoyable...well, almost enjoyable!

Our New Town

Today was a really fun day.
Andrew had the morning off of work so we decided to set out on the town to enjoy what Brighton has to offer and to take a few pictures to share with everyone.

Jacob had a blast running around our little town center park. The gazebo below is pretty much where all of the town's celebrations happen. The other day a concert was held where all of the 80 and 8 year olds danced together under the stars to an Elvis lookalike. The leaves at this time of year are beautiful! Unfortunately, my camera is not working properly so I am not able to take the shots that I would like to. However, that has not stopped us from enjoying God's magnificent creativity that surrounds us. Jacob's favourite thing is to collect leaves while on our walks. I love seeing him enjoy nature.

Below is a picture of our down town area. Yes, that is pretty much it. There is not much to our little town, but it does have character. Last week the main street what shut down to accommodate Brighton's 36th annual Apple Fest. Our town goes from 4 to approximately 35 thousand during the festival. Celeste and I even made the front page of the paper! What can I say, we are already becoming town celebrities.

This is my new Starbucks. Actually it is better than Starbucks because it serves the most delicious apple butternut squash soup. I also met the owner and have joined a food co-op that she runs that offers very well priced organic whole foods that are difficult to come by in these parts. This is obviously a huge blessing to me!

I just had to include this picture of the little model turtle that Jacob found at the coffee house. He really took to it and named it Frog. I love the two year old mind!

Although we are really missing the Coast, Brighton has stared to really grow on us. It is small but quaint and I am discovering new little gifts that it has to offer pretty much every day that we are here.

Jacob had his first experience at a fair today and let me tell you, he doesn't take after me when it come to rides. When I had my first fair ride at the good old Edson Jamboree I screamed "I am going to throw up" so loud that they had to stop mid-ride to let me off.



So, needless to say, I was a little nervous about letting Jacob go on the swing ride which was (I have to add) located in the adult section. He is quite tall for his age and just made the height requirements for the ride thanks to his one inch tall sandals and big hairdo. Therefore, in my God given mothers logic, it was obvious to me that this was a clear sign that he was too young to ride. His Dad though felt differently. Andrew has no, and I mean, no fear! So my decision to not let Jacob ride was casually ignored.



As they entered the ride I figured the best thing to do was concentrate on taking pictures. This way I could zoom into his face too look for even the smallest inkling of fear and demand that they promptly STOP the ride. However, to my amazement, his face continually glowed with pure and utter joy. He loved it and only cried once ... when it was over.


My fear was quickly exchanged for pride, and all I could think of was what ride we could take him on next. Unfortunately though, we only had enough tickets for one more ride. He chose to go on the roller coaster and I, yes I, went with him! The fact that it was a kids ride didn't matter to me. I was still a little scared and quite proud of myself for being so brave!

In the end, I am happy to say that Jacob's first experience at a country fair was a huge success and I am looking forward to taking him again. Heck, perhaps Disney Land is not all that far off in our future - I am sure that the tea cups won't be too scary for me - as long as I have Jacob by my side!

If you can't beat them, join them!

My Mom once told me to never judge other people's parenting because whatever I judge will one day come back to me. Well Mom, you were right...like always, I should have listened to you.

I can remember seeing a two year old sucking on a soother in down town Vancouver and feeling sick. I actually remember making a comment about how inappropriate it was and how my children will NEVER have a soother past 6 months, if at all.

Well, Jacob is now over 2 1/2 and is absolutely addicted to his Suesue (soother). We have tried to limit it to his bed but there have been so many changes in our lives lately that we have often given it to him to provide the extra comfort that he so needed. I also have to admit that I am much softer when it come to the soother than Daddy is. One of the ongoing jokes in our home is "Bye bye Suesue, Daddy home!"



Today Jacob was feeling sick after swallowing too much pool water. So needless to say I became soft and gave him his most prized possession. As I lay beside him I decided to give it a go to see what all of the fuss was about. Jacob got quite a kick out of sharing his soother with me and became quite concerned when I didn't have it during a nap that I took awhile later. I have to admit that I can see how comforting it could be to a little guy. As soon as it enters his mouth he lets out the cutest sigh and you can see his whole body melt.

Although I still cringe at the thought of my two year old sucking on a soother I am not going to be hard on myself or Jacob. We will wean him of it when he is three, but until then I will let him have this sweet little indulgence. And the next time I see someone give me a judging eye, I will simply laugh to myself and know that they too will one day be swallowing their words.

I miss you all

I wanted to post some of the pictures that I took of you all during our final days in Comox.


Jacob loved his time with Uncle Jame (as he calls him) at the Kingfisher Resort. Jamey definitely has reached hero status as far as Jacob is concerned. Seeing my little brother with my son brings tears to my eyes.







My brother and his gorgeous girlfriend Heather. I feel like I got to know Heather a lot more during her visit. She is an amazing woman and I am so happy that Jamey has found her.














My little Celeste with her Auntie Celeste...my sister/best friend/ twin/.... only Celeste will find this amusing. I miss you so much my sister that my heart is aching. My time with you was one of the most memorable times in my life. We all miss you more than you could ever imagine!





















Have you ever seen a little guy so full of joy! Jacob was having so much fun with his Grandma and Grandpa here I will never forget it. It think both grandparents had to take a nap after this much exercise.

Well Mom, you have found your man and he is wonderful...a gift from the Lord! I am so happy for you both.

Thank you for making my mom so happy Morris...we love you!

Lets keep in touch

I thought that this would be a great way to keep in touch!
We are finally here in Ontario and it is bitter sweet. I am happy to not be driving anymore, but I am really finding it hard being away from my family - especially Auntie. I hope things will feel more settled once we move into our house.

Below are some pictures from our trip.
Andrew sitting in the huge water buckets line of fire that absolutely thrilled, and scared, Jacob.

I looked back and saw Jacob and Celeste holding hands. It was one of those very touching and memorable moments of motherhood.

Jacob is loving the potty,

Well, not his actually potty but everything else to do with it. We were at chapters today and all he wanted to do was read potty books. The one that he enjoyed the most was titled "Where is the Poop" The story consisted of numerous toddler aged animals who were pooping all by themselves in their potties (trees, bushes, behind rocks etc) and the final page was about a little boy who pooped in his potty. It was quite graphic - perfect for Jacob! I got a few looks by other shoppers, but hey, if it get the kid interested in pooping on the potty I would read it in Times Square.

Our house is coming along very well. I will try to take some pictures soon and post them so you all can see it. I am getting excited to move in and start "real life" again. Living in hotels is starting to get to me.