New Years 2011, a year in review

Looking back over the past 12 months, it would seem we had an extremely busy year. Its true, but it didn't seem so hectic while it was happening. So, to recap, here are some highlights from the King-Lackey family for 2011.

May:
Roxy turns 2. I took leave from work, anticipating I would have about a month to settle down and prepare for the arrival of Cadence. Well, a month turned into 10 days and then we had our little girl! She has been such a blessing to us, and we couldn't ask for a kid better suited to us. She's perfect. I missed celebrating mother's day by one day!

June:
Chris's birthday. Chris's first fathers day. Cadence meets Tim, Meme and some of my family for the first time.

July:
Emma turns 5. Our old place, while alright, became too small real quick once Cadence came home. 2 adults, 4 dogs, a cat and a baby were too many bodies for an average sized 2 bedroom apartment. So we looked online for a new place. I found this adorable old cottage style house not too far from where we were already living. After a lot of nagging and promise making, we got news that the house was ours. It is perfect for us, enough room to grow and a huge yard for the dogs (and maybe one day, a tree house).

August:
Oscar turns 6.Chris hires an employee. We learn quickly what a good employee would look like and he then drops his employee and hires a new one, Alan. Alan has been with CRL for awhile and he is working out awesomely. We also had our first set of family pictures taken. And we host a house warming BBQ that went really well.

October:
Cadence's first Thanksgiving. Jane retires. Cadence has her first Halloween dressed as a puppy/lamb/bunny (ambiguous costume). Emma got very, very sick. We were almost one dog down but she pulled through and is still with us, happy and healthy. I am forever thankful to have her here.

November:
My birthday. Completing Christmas shopping. I went back to work for one night, and survived to write about it.

December:
Paul turns 6. A bunch of holiday parties. Decorating the house for Christmas, wrapping presents and taking Cadence out to play in the snow. Cadence's first Christmas at home. Chris pops the question. And then tonight, her first new year celebration.

What does 2012 hold in store for us? Well, no one can predict the future, but what I'd like to see is an addition to our family (no, not a dog). I'll be going back to work. Cadence will start daycare. Her first birthday in May. Spending time at the cottage, spending time with friends and family.

So where ever you are, who ever you are with, and whatever you may be doing,hopefully you all have a pleasant and joyous new year's eve and a prosperous 2012. Enjoy the pic of our new year's baby haha.

King-Lackey Christmas 2011

Phew! The end of the Christmas holiday season is finally upon us. This year has been more hectic than most because everyone wants to see the baby! Its so odd to say baby, she's so big and near on crawling.

We've been to 5 parties so far this holiday season. Here is a break down of each party.


Party #1:
Chris and I hosted a dinner party at our house on the 11th. It was a more relaxed get together with Nancy and her kids coming over for a sit down dinner and gifts. Nancy was very generous with her gift giving, and they seemed to enjoy the gifts that we were giving as well. All in all it was a very nice night.



Party #2:
We went over to the Smaridge-Green family gathering on the 17th. This was a more informal get together with Jane's side of the family. I always enjoy seeing these people, they are so loud and boisterous its such a good time. We had good food, good company and good conversation. The highlight of the night for me was these rosemary shortbread cookies someone had set out. No one else was eating them so I ate them all. Mmmm, savoury cookies.



Party #3:
On the 18th we headed to Brockville to spend time with the Lackey family. This was the first time a lot of Bob's family had met the baby so for the bigger part of the night I didn't see Cadence at all. There was some difficulty getting her to take a nap, she was fighting sleep so hard! And then of course cranky because she was so tired. There were so many kids at this party, both older and younger, it was like being at my family party almost. We both really enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed spending time chatting with various people. The small set back here is that there are so many people that Chris wasn't able to chat with as many people as he had hoped.



Party #4:
In my family, we celebrate la reveillon which falls on the evening of the 24th. My whole family gets together in my memere's teeny tiny living room and we chat, eat snacks (sometimes) and eventually open presents. Its nice to catch up with some people I don't get to see as often. It was the first time a lot of my family have had the chance to meet Cadence as well, although I do post a few pictures of her online its just not the same. I really enjoyed seeing my memere and getting lots of pictures of her with the baby. And all the yummy food (mine especially :P)!



Party #5:
This was a split party, with the morning taking place at our home and then going over early afternoon to Bob and Jane's to open gifts and have lunch. Cadence got spoiled by both Chris and I, and his parents. We are drowning in toys and books! I am so thankful though, these are things Cadence will grow to use and will help in her development. It was a nice quiet day, for which I am very thankful.



Now we are all home, Chris has taken some vacation time and we are just relaxing, enjoying our presents and spending time with the monkey.

Last but not least of all though: the surprise present Chris got for me.



So if you hadn't heard the news yet, we are engaged! FINALLY haha. But thats another tale for another time. Happy holidays everyone!

Happy 88th birthday Meme!

Today is my memere's 88th birthday. She was born on Christmas day, and her parents named her Noella (very fitting). I love my memere more than anything (other than Cadence, of course).

A lot of people don't know this but my memere helped to raise me. My dad was always working strange hours so my memere stepped up and had my brother and I over all the time. She'd wake us up in the morning by singing and having the loudest alarm clock ever. Every Friday night she'd order Connie's pizza and we'd put our sleeping bags on the floor and watch "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" and other shows until 20/20 came on.

But most of all it was all the time she spent taking care of me, listening to me, teaching me and generally just being a kind and loving woman. And I think anyone who has met her would probably say the same.

So happy birthday Memere! I know you can't see this, but I hope I've made it clear to you how I feel about you.

Happy birthday!

Today is my brother Tim's 25th birthday! Happy birthday Timmy!

Here we are, with both Chris and I on the wrong side of 27. My birthday was pretty blah, which is to be expected for a Monday birthday. I went to work the Saturday night before which was way easier than I had anticipated. But Sunday I was a wreck sleeping all day, so Monday was spent playing catch up with chores and doing some running around. I also squeezed in a lunch date with Bob and Jane, I was trying to surprise Bob when he came out of work but he was already outside when we got there. Oh well!

I received some nice cards, calls and gifts from various people, which was all so appreciated. I hear from a lot of mom friends that once you have a baby, you cease to be of any importance and all focus switches over to the baby. By no means am I an attention seeking person but its nice that people continue to recognize me as a person and not just "the mom". I hope this stays true (for Chris as well).

Speaking of Chris, I have to take a minute to extol the virtue of this man. Not only is he the rock that keeps my dreamer side grounded, but he is also my kickstand that keeps me from falling over from being dead tired. He builds me up, helps me out, and comforts me when all else fails. He has really come through for me in the last couple of weeks while I've struggled with an ever frustrating bout of insomnia, colds, and migraines. He works 10-12 hour days and then puts on his "dad pants" when he gets home. I'd be lost without him.

Cadence is doing a phenomenal job of being awesome. Not only can she roll front to back and then back to front, in the last few days she's taken to sitting on her own for minutes at a time. If there is a toy she wants to play with and no on one distracts her, she will sit and play for up to 20 minutes at a time. This is awesome because we just had to switch her into the next size up for car seat which of course doesn't fit in her stroller! So now that she can sit on her own we can put her in a grocery cart. And high chairs! Its like a whole new world!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but we got a new SLR camera? Well Chris installed Adobe Light Room on my computer and I've been editing pics here and there. So here are some new pics of the family.

If anyone wants to know something about how we are doing, or the dogs, or plans for the holidays just leave me a comment and ask away!