Sofia is 6!

Sofia turned 6 on January 12, 2010. We took her with her brother, sister, Tricia, and 12 little girls to Bounce House to celebrate. She couldn't have been happier! She had a blast on the inflatables and with the video games (which are all free!!). I got worn out on DDR and Sofia loved the Simpsons bowling game. Everyone had a great time. Afterwards, we went home and had ANOTHER party with the grandparents and even more friends. We are so lucky to have this sweet, adorable, bubbly, smart, dear girl in our lives.

The inflatable throne for the birthday girl.

Playing Ms. Packman with Elise.. the table version.. HA!

Sofia going headfirst down the giant slide... no joke, it was HUGE. Even I was scared at first.

Blowing out the candle on her cupcake.

Party #2 at home

Tadj and Natalie Celebrate 10 Years!

Yeah, so these pictures, well... suck. No matter how we adjusted the camera, we just could not get a good picture. We've decided that we'll buy a new camera soon. So anyway, these are supposed to be pictures of Niagara Falls (and they are the ONLY pictures we took because we were.. ahem... busy). Tadj and I went for our 10th anniversary on New Years Day and stayed for 2 nights. It was WONDERFUL!! Mom and Dad watched the kids while we relaxed, toured, and went to the spa. On Friday afternoon we checked in to the Fallsview Marriott with a BEAUTIFUL view of the falls from our room AND a jacuzzi tub (which we immediately made good use of). We then went straight down (through the snow) to the falls. It was FREEZING... but magnificent. We picked up some souvenirs for the kids and headed to dinner. Since we stayed in Canada everything was SUPER expensive (we won't go back... Canada did NOT leave a good impression on us) and the exchange rate almost everywhere was "at par" (yah... right). That night we watched fireworks over the falls from our room. On Saturday we got the cheapest (late, to avoid paying for lunch) breakfast we could find where they charged $5 for a glass of juice with no refills and NO tap water. Then we grumpily made our way to a currency exchange rip-off store where Tadj got in a big fight with the attendant who tried to steal our money. We got the money back, but not our faith in Canadian customer service. We then headed back to the hotel for a while and decided to get the car out of valet (which took 40 minutes!!) to drive around, get some famous Canadian chocolate, and play with the GPS system I got for Christmas. After we got back to the hotel we got changed and went down for our spa appointments. We each got a massage and I got a pedicure. Pure Heaven! Afterwards, we headed to a nice Italian Restaurant that our Concierge at the hotel recommended and made a reservation for our Anniversary dinner. The dinner was GREAT and the waitress surprised us with a free dessert that read "happy anniversary" in drizzled chocolate. It was the highlight of the evening. YUM! On Sunday we drove home through 2 snow storms (it snowed the entire time we were there), one of which closed the freeway 40 miles West of Sarnia. What an adventure. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to get away again!

Christmas 2009

LOTS of pictures here (I should probably figure out the whole slide show thing). We spent Christmas eve relaxing on our own at home after a yummy Chinese dinner out at Golden Chopsticks with Chris, Rachel, Amandine and Thierry. Tadj decided that with working 70 hour weeks 7 days a week leading up to Christmas he wanted to spend his time alone with me and the kids.
Christmas day we had the usual present opening, playtime, and naptime before we went to the Hemingways where we hung out with Grandma Gay, Grandpa George, Uncle Gus and Jess and the Mercados. We had a great time! So much fun in fact that although we packed both the video camera and regular camera we didn't use them AT ALL. I'm a bit upset about that now... oh well.
Here a pictures of Sofia opening up her treasure hunt gift. Her new skis were too large to wrap, so we hid them in the bathtub and sent her around the house looking for clues. She thought it was great.

Sofia got the ultimate Costco set of littlest Pet Shops, Grayson got the the monster Costco set of Thomas trains and buildings, and Scarlett the super-fab Costco baby set. THEY LOVED IT!



Grandma and Grandpa Hardie were in Hawaii for Christmas (lucky dogs!) so we celebrated Christmas a week later on New Year's Eve. The kids got to spend the night and Mom and Dad went home!! Here are the girls snuggling under Amandine's "Snuggie" she got from Grandma.
Scarlett got some cute stuff from Amandine and Grandma and Grandpa including a tiger growling flashlight... too cute!
Grayson got a Thomas Projector book which he immediately began using as a flashlight and wore out.
Sofia got a great Pixos set and the ever - coveted Zhu Zhu pet. Lucky girl!

I got a cute frame with the family name in it.

Tadj and Chris got "Touch and Brush"... though it was really more for the kids.

Oh Christmas Tree...

The tree was up for a week before Tadj was home to decorate it with us before bedtime. It is most definitely NOT a designer tree. Though I'm thinking after Christmas I'll buy some mini clearance trees so the kids can each have their own to decorate with their OWN ornaments next year. Anyway, Scarlett was THRILLED to be doing this and the look on her face here was the same look in EVERY picture. HA!

Sofia, always the poser.

Grayson became obsessed with the THOMAS ornament Afton gave him last year, but we did get hime to put some more on the tree.

All done... and ready for bed!

Scarlie Mo!

Ok, so she's just THE funniest kid ever, so I take a lot of random pictures of her doing funny stuff. Well, this one's not so much funny as clever. We are trying to rid her of this pacifier habit. She know the rule is that she can only have it in her bed. She's taken to climbing up onto her dresser to grab one down while we're not looking. Very sneaky!
She brought me her hat and mittens to put on for her. She just looked so cute I had to take a picture.
We made toaster waffles for breakfast. Scarlett wasn't interested in eating, so we gave up but never cleared her plate. 1/2 hour later I found her sitting right ON the table eating her unfinished plate.

Hanging with the kiddos...

This time of year is very busy for Tadj at work, and then he does his Ski Patrol shift on the weekend. Essentially, I'm a widow for a few months out of the year. So, the kids and I have been on our own for a bit and making our own fun. Here are my cuties sitting around on the couch.

And some self portraits...

Aren't they cute??!

Thanksgiving bowling

After Thanksgiving dinner this year, we got to load up all or desserts and head to Dad's bowling alley for a couple of games. It was SO fun. Not sure why Scarlie was crying here, but she sure was mad.

Sofia picked up her spare... and it looks like Grandma Hardie was well on her way too.

Grayson was thrilled his ball was going to know something over.

The kids just hanging out.

Afton with Amandine and Scarlett (her little buddy that night).

Sofia definitely had a blast!