Giddy Up

When I was a little girl I had this great horse where I could bounce up and down and it was like I was galloping in the wind. My mom kept it and Brayden spotted it yesterday in the basement so she brought it up for the little kids. The only problem is that I'm a little too big for it now so I couldn't join in on the fun :(

Happy Halloween

This year for halloween my kids had these amazing costumes!! A friend of ours from the Philippines made these spectacular outfits for my kids. Her name is Maryanne Domingo and she just wipped these up with her sewing machine in a week. Soooo talented! Brayden was Batman and Sydney was a Fairy Princess. It was really difficult for me to get a decent picture of the two of them since they were so excited to finally be wearing them but I have more coming from Ryan's sister Jessica so you'll have to be patient:

Brrrrrr, so COLD!!!!

When we first arrived in Canada Brayden couldn't stop telling me that he was "freezin' cold!" As soon as we got off the plane and into the terminal it was like we had been hit with a big chill. I had dressed the kids in winter clothes but I don't think that we were prepared for how cold it actually was... the sad thing was that everyone kept saying how "nice" the weather was!
The first week that we had got home we took a trip out to Ryan's family's place and the kids made bird houses with their Aunt Jessica. My kids were outside looking for perches in their shirts, hoodies and winter jackets while their cousins were outside in JUST their hoodies!! It has been quite the adjustment for us to get used to the weather.

One of the best things about coming home was rediscovering all those winter clothes that have been hiding in boxes for the past year. I had forgot how "hot" some of my old clothes were... the sad thing was that when I put one these amazing pair of pants no one even noticed how great I looked!!! Makes me wonder how silly I must have looked most of time when I have to point out how crazy my pants are...

Another really great thing about being home is spending all that time with my family! It's been so difficult for me to be so far away and not be able to come home and visit. Also Brayden has been loving spending time with family. One day we were driving out to the farm to see Kaden, his cousin and Brayden told me that Kaden was his best friend and that he was excited to see him. Then while we were out there he told his other cousin Ben that he was "so happy to see him!" Then while we were driving back to my mom's house I told him that we were on our way to Nana's house and Brayden said "I'm so happy mom." It was really hard to make the decision to come home so much earlier then Ryan but after hearing how much Brayden seems to missing everyone too, it makes me feel like I had made the right choice to come home.

The first weekend that I spent in Lethbridge we celebrated Brian's (my step-dad) birthday along with an apple pie for my missed birthday!! Kait came down from Calgary and it was great...YUM. It seems that ever since we've been home we've been lucky enough to be celebrating birthdays! Making up for lost time I guess but last weekend we had yet another birthday party for Brayden with Ry's family which included angel food cake topped with whipped cream and delicious raspberries!!! Oh how i've missed you raspberries....

Happy 90th Birthday Nana

On the 20th of October my Nana turned 90 years old! Most of the family made it to Cranbrook for the celebration which was so great, there were people there that I hadn't seen in years and years!

O' Canada

On October 19th Ryan dropped Meg, Brayden and Sydney off at the international airport in Manila for the long journey back to Canada. The flight from Manila to Vancouver was 12 hours, very long, and quite the experience! The kids were extreamly well behaved except for the fact that they only slept for around 4 of those 12 hours! Thankfully while they were awake they were quiet and stayed in their seats so we weren't too much of a bother to the other people on the flight. At the end of the flight the real challenge started. I had to get the kids and I through customs, get our luggage and meet my sister in the waiting area. The customs line went rather quickly and with Sydney strapped into the stoller my only concern was keeping Brayden reasonably close to me. After a couple of suspisious questions from the lady at customs wondering why we travelling without Ryan we were on our way to the next challenge; luggage. Ryan had put a clip on the luggage so all I had to do was clip them together and it would be like one large piece. Unfortunately the clip didn't make it and so I struggled to handle the stroller, our 2 carry one pieces and 2 big pieces with Brayden. Finally we got it worked out so that Brayden, with much difficulty on the carpet, pushed Syd in the stroller while I carried the carry on and other luggages. This seemed to working fine for us until I hurried ahead a bit to get into the line out of the luggage claim. I heard laughing and when I looked back I found Brayden slowly pushing the stroller with his pants around his ankles! The belt on his pants had become loose and couldn't hold up his pants any longer, he looked so funny standing there in his underwear taking these mini steps so he wouldn't trip on the pants bunched up at his ankles. Finally we were able to spot Kait in the crowds of people in the waiting area. This also proved to be a bit of a challenge for me as I was expecting to find it easy to find a little white girl in a crowd. Unfortunately I forgot that I wasn't in the Philippines anymore and finding a white girl in a crowd wasn't as easy. We then made our way to the domestic departures to check in for our connecting flight to Calgary when Kait made the comment how we wouldn't have a problem fitting all our luggage into her car, well it dawned on me that I had forgot to claim our carseat when collecting the rest of my luggage!!!! SO, back to the luggage claim I went.... Finally at 9pm we arrived safely to Calgary. From start to finish the journey took us about 26 hours so were all exhausted and very excited to see a bed. The kids were amazing for me and on their best behavior the entire trip!