Smiling Eyes

Check out my business blog to see what I'm up to now. :)

http://sandraregier.blogspot.com/2007/10/smiling-eyes.html

Pictures of the kids

So, I decided buying school photos is probably the silliest thing I could do. So instead after school on a good hair day we went outside and played in the back yard. These are some of my favourites.... I took over 200... crazy but true!

Bailey in Grade 7 - Rachael in Grade 5


Victor in JK - Warren in Grade 1

Caroline in Grade 4 - and of course Molly

Victor's First Day of School

I know I totally missed posting pictures of the kids first day of school. I took some no worries there, just haven't gotten around to doing anything with them. I figured today was a pretty big day and I really should blog about it. Today is the day I've been waiting for and dreading all at the same time. Victor - my baby - started school today. It's a very strange feeling seeing your youngest child, or any child for that matter, head off on their very own to go to school.... now in this case, Victor was anything but alone. He will always have his older sisters and brother to watch out for him and generally drive him crazy in the process. He had a good day at school. As you can see from the photos he wasn't looking back as he climbed on the school bus. He brought home a picture he painted, sang two new songs for me and told me all about his new friend that he has to invite to his birthday (in May) - Byron. Now for those of you who don't know Byron - he is actually Victor's second cousin - Karl Regier's son. I didn't bother to try and explain that to Victor just yet, but he'll figure it out eventually. Any rate, enough babbling... here are some photos from this morning.

VBS 2007

Well we made it. Another year of VBS has come to a close. We had over 250 children each morning, and we collected over $1500 for our mission project. We had a fun filled week sharing our faith with children of our community. Thanks to all the Mom's & Dad's who sent their kids and also came out to volunteer. It was awesome!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I believe I may be related to the next Jim Carey... his name is Andre Regier. He's my 6 year old nephew and he is one funny guy. I just had to post the story he told me today. I'm so glad I had my digital camera with me to catch it. The prelude to the story is that on Sunday we were all at the beach and Andre lost his new ring that he had just bought at the flee market. He was very upset. We looked for it for quite a while and finally gave up. About an hour later, my other nephew Kenny found it in the water. This is Andre's story of how it all happened.

Caroline's New Look

For quite some time now Caroline has been growing her hair long. She wanted hair just like her cousin Shannen. Well this week Shannen cut off 16" of hair.... yes you read that right, her hair used to go to her waist. Now Caroline hadn't gotten quite that far with her hair growing endeavor, but it was quite long, and hot, and always in her face. I think Shannen inspired her to lighten her hair load, and so lastnight when I was triming the boys hair, she asked if I'd cut hers. For 2 years I've had to badger her just to trim the ends, so I'm sure can imagine I was quite surprised by this request. I actually had to talk her into leaving it shoulder length. She wanted it SHORT. But I'm sure you can see by her smile below, she is quite thrilled with the outcome. Oh and we added one more thing, bangs.... she has never had any in her whole life, so it really made a big difference. Here she is:

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Canada's Wonderland

We had an absolutely fabulous time at Canada's Wonderland. We arrived there at about 10:30 in the morning and didn't leave until they shut the park at 8pm. Boy were we tired. The kids had so much fun on all of the rides... even Vic loved the rollercoasters. He was tall enough for the ghoster coaster and probably rode it no less than 20 times. Here are a few snapshots from our adventure. I had to take a couple on the White Water Canyon ride.... we waited 45 minutes for a 3 minute ride, poor Rachael felt totally ripped off, but refreshingly cool afterward.


Caroline was a little chilly after going directly underneath the waterfall.

The Tomb Raider Rollercoaster was Bailey's favourite - and I have to say it was pretty cool.

All in all we had a great time and will definately go back!

Can't Wait

Tomorrow we are taking a little holiday. We told the kids we are going on a road trip. What they don't know is that we are going to Canada's Wonderland. How cool is that. I can't wait to see their faces when we tell them where we are going. I'll try to make sure I have my camera turned on :) I'll post some pics next week!

Over it!

Well it goes without saying that my last post was on the beginning of a very very very long night. Vic didn't really go to sleep that night until about 4am. BUT the good news is that we are over the chicken pox, toilet training, and teething... woo hoo! Now if we can make it though the next 10 years with a house full of teenagers... I have a feeling the chicken pox will seem like a ride in the park :)

Poor Vic

Well it's 11:46 and Victor is up for the 4th time tonight. He's sooo itchy and hot and just miserable. He's trying to itch everywhere all at once. I even gave him Benadryl at bedtime hoping it would help, but no luck so far. The poor little guy. He's got about 4 times more chicken pox tonight than he had this morning. I've never seen a child with SO many chicken pox. Hopefully we get some sleep tonight.

Victor's Pox

Two weeks to the day after his big brother, Vic started to break out. He told me he really doesn't want to have the chicken pox, but needless to say, he has them anyway. I don't know if its the heat wave, but he has way more of them than Warren did.... especially on his cute little face. It' hard to see in the pictures but he has some wee tiny ones around his eyes and even some in his ears. Hopefully they don't get too itchy. I'm off to run the tub with more Aveeno oatmeal bath stuff!

All Better

Thank goodness Warren got his spots when he did! This past Thursday was his fieldtrip to African Lion Safari and he was all better and ready to go. It was great fun. There were only a few people at the 3:00 elephant show and so Warren was lucky enough to have the elephant hand him the toonie off the ground. He wasn't sure about it at all, but he really enjoyed seeing all the animals and petting the elephants.

He's not laughing today :(

Warren was feeling down and out last weekend. He just wasn't himself and he had no appetite. On Tuesday evening he started breaking out with spots.... lots of spots... the pictures don't hardly do it justice, but here they are just the same. All in all he's taking it pretty good. Last night was tough during the night as he was really itchy and just sick of having chicken pox. But today has been not bad. And yes, I do feed him, lots and lots and lots but he sure is skinny.

A sense of humour

It's always fun to watch the kids start to develop their own personality. Warren is just starting to really develop his sense of humour. The other day he was trying it out.... he said to me "See you later crocodile". So I tried to explain to him that he didn't quite have it right. I said "It's see you later alligator, In a while crocodile." He thought for a minute and then got a great big grin as he said, "see you later sweet potater".... I thought he was hilarious, and so did he. Keep those wheels turning Max!

Happy Birthday Victor!

Today my baby turned 4 years old. Time slips away! It's hard to believe he was so very tiny when he was born, only 6 lbs. By the time he was 3 weeks old he was only 5lbs 10 oz, so he had kind of slow start... but he certainly has made up for it in spades.

Funny kid too, yesterday he received a spiderman suitcase from his godparents, Uncle George & Aunt Joanne, and then lastnight my parents brought him spiderman pajamas. Mom told him now he has matching suitcase and jammies for when he goes on sleepovers. Apparently he took that as an invitation and he packed the rest of his bag, including jammies, his teddy bear, socks, pants, shirt and Caroline's mini-skirt.... not quite sure how that happened... anyway... thank goodness it suited for him to go along home to grandma's for a sleepover because he certainly had his little heart set on it.

Happy Birthday Vic, now please quit growing so fast :)

Busy busy

Surprise surprise, I've been a little busy and haven't updated my personal blog for a while. For those of you who know me... busy is a way of life. I get it honestly. I think for the most part it's a positive thing. Once in a while it can be a bit overwhelming. It's been quite some time since I updated you on our house. The bathroom is mostly put back together. We are waiting for a couple of cabinets that i just commissioned Dave Seibert to make. But otherwise it is mostly finished. The two bedrooms are also both primed and have the ceilings painted. I'm hoping to paint the walls this week. Then we will have to finish the floors. We sanded them down and just have to put the finish coats on them after the room is complete. Chris is talking about painting the first coat in Bailey & Caroline's room tonight. Things are moving along. I'll try to post some pictures soon!

Slideshows here we come!

Well after the quick response of many (THANKS!) I went ahead and bought the full version of the slideshow program.... I've put a new slideshow from Vegas on my work blog ----- www.sandraregier.blogspot.com Please check it out. Thanks again to all of you who read my blog and comment on it. I really appreciate all the feedback!

Trying something new

I have some new software I'm trying out... let me know what you think! :)

Bathroom Update

Sorry I've been so long between posts. If you want to hear more about Vegas check out my business blog here..

It would seem that my dream of having the bathroom done when I got home, was exactly that, a dream.... oh well. There seemed to be a miss communication about the exact location the drain pipes needed to come out of the wall for the vanity which meant there had to be some changes made to the plumbing inside the wall, so instead of ripping out the brand new drywall to fix the pipe location, Chris decided to gut the room next to the bathroom and access the pipes from the back side. I know I know, one step forward two steps back. By the time I returned home from Vegas the mess was cleaned up and most of the room was ready for drywall. Then with my encouragement he gutted the bedroom across from the bathroom.... may as well make the mess worthwhile :) So needless to say, the bathroom is almost ready to have the water turned on YEAH! Hopefully this weekend I can have a bath in my new tub! I still need to have a linen closet and medicine cabinet made by the cabinet maker, but that will come with time... perhaps lots of time as he just had knee surgery this week. Patience is a virtue they say.... maybe by the time our house is done I'll have some. I'll keep you posted on the progress of the bedrooms....

I'm sure my mother just about has a nervous breakdown every time she thinks of the dust and mess I'm putting up with, but I knew when we bought this house what I was in for, so I figure we may as well get it over with.

Today we had some exciting news... Chris's sister Loretta had a baby girl this morning. Gloria Marie made her entrance at about 6am weighing in at 7lbs 8oz. Both mom & baby are doing well and resting in Stratford Hospital. It will be fun to watch Loretta figure out the whole Mom thing. I just took this picture of her on Monday... nothing like cutting it close. Isn't she lovely!

Congratulations Retta & Derek! We can't wait to meet Gloria!

Grand is an Understatement

This was our first view of the Grand Canyon. Absolutely breathtaking. Standing at the edge you realize exactly how small you are in this world. The weather was sunny and gorgeous... a perfect day really. We drove out on Route 66... very cool... and spent about 5 hours taking photos, leaving only after the sun had set. What a fun day. I'd guess between the 4 of us we have well over 1000 pictures. It was awesome. These photos are from Krista's camera as I haven't uploaded mine yet... This is me on the side of route 66. And now we are back in the CRAZY city of Vegas and off to a trade show this afternoon.

Vegas - a whole nother world

Wow - what a culture shock. Fun but sometimes disturbing. It is absolutely amazing how many people are here. No matter when you go to the casino there are people gambling and drinking... it just seems weird at 7am when you are looking for toast and coffee and some one is wandering around with a beer in their hand. Across the street from our hotel you can get prime rib 24 hours a day for $16.95... prime rib at 7am.... YUCK. The sites and buildings are truly amazing. Here are a couple of shots from a short walk we took last night.




These were taken just outside our hotel. We are staying at Bally's which is connected to Paris. Very cool! The convention has been amazing. So much information. I hope my head doesn't explode this week.

My joke about the bathroom being done, may not be so far fetched. I got a phone call while I was still waiting at the airport to fly out of Buffalo that our vanity had arrived YEAH! I'm so excited, I absolutely can't wait to see it. Well I better go get ready for the day.... we've rented a car and are heading to the Grand Canyon to see what we can see. I'll keep you posted!

Leaving on A Jet Plane

Friday I am on my way to Vegas.... CAN'T WAIT. I have to take just a minute and tell you (whoever you are) about the amazing man I married. Let me start off by saying, I have great taste :)

Chris has always been supportive of my business endeavors. He has always told me I can do it, even when I sometimes think I can't. He doesn't mind that his Saturdays all summer long are spent playing with the kids while I'm at weddings. He takes them to the beach, plays in the yard and just generally spends time with them. Tomorrow he starts a week of holidays, so that I can take off with fellow photographers to a week long convention in Las Vegas. He's really an amazing man, a wonderful husband and a great dad.

So on that note, I will be trying to make a post or two while I'm away.... and if not I'll definately post something when I return. Perhaps the bathroom will even be put back together when I get home....... nothing wrong with wishful thinking is there? Regardless a big thank you goes out to my hubby for putting up with me and all my crazy ideas!

It pays to be a world traveller......

Well maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but Chris has travelled qutie a lot these last couple of years. It's always hard when he's away, but sometimes it has it's benefits... and this week we lucked out! He managed to score more of the same tiles at a Rona in Quebec.... and he managed to get them home via Westjet in one piece! Horray! Hopefully the rest of the tile will get done this weekend... cross your fingers for me :)

Tiling up a storm

If you are wondering why it's storming out, I think it's because we have been tiling up a storm on Blackbush Line! WHOO HOO.... here is picture of the tub wall. We actually have almost the entire floor down too... however, we need about 20 more tiles to finish... how sad is that! We seem to have picked a hard to find tile. Chris has been to every Rona from London to Kitchener to Toronto in search of more. We can get more of the same kind, but they are different dye lot and seem to be considerably more green than the ones we already have. Tomorrow he is headed to Montreal, and I'm quite certain he will be scouring every Rona he can find in search of tile. I'll let you know how he makes out. All of the tile will be finished with Mocha coloured grout... very sexy and virtually stain-proof... or atleast I hope so!

Happy Birthday Ezekial

Last Friday, Feb 16th was Ezekial's Birthday. Here is a shot of the kids skating outside/inside. Ron & Susan have a coverall building that they make into an arena every winter. It was great fun Thanks!

Decisions, Decisions!

I have the bathroom primed! For those of you who are too curious to wait for the final pictures, here are some colours for you to look at. First is the counter top, then the wall colour, and then the ceiling/trim colour. The actual vanity is a very dark stain on oak. Hopefully this weekend Chris can start tiling. I'll keep you posted.

Too cute not to mention....

I love the little bits of freedom I am gaining as my kids get older... but it sure is bitter sweet. Little boys can be so tender hearted. I hope they never out grow it. Warren often has questions about where I will be when he grows up. He seems quite worried about it at times. Two nights ago he was asking, "When I am a father, will you be dead?"... I assured him that when he is a father I will be a Grandma and it will all be swell. He seemed comforted by me being a grandma. Tonight at bedtime Victor was VERY VERY VERY tired, and suddenly burst into tears. I asked him what was wrong and his answer was "I don't want to get big, I just want to stay little." I couldn't agree with him more. If I could freeze him right where he is now, I think I would... except maybe at church :)

On a business note.....

For those of you who haven't heard yet (can't imagine who) I'm heading to Vegas in March for the Wedding Portrait Photographers International Convention. I can't wait. It should be wonderfully fun and I'm hoping to come home with tons of new ideas and energy for my business. I have almost completely booked every Saturday from April-October. I have a one or two left open, and I have booked several off to spend some time with my family as well. I can't believe how this has taken off, it's hard to believe that only 4 years ago I had never shot a wedding photo. Amazing! I have 20 bookings so far this year. Can't wait to see where the next 4 years takes me! :)

Getting there......

The mudding and tapping is started... with any luck I'll be painting within a week... which means I should probably work on choosing a colour. I also have to pick out and buy sink basins... decisions, decisions! I'm really looking forward to having a decent bathroom again! I'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday Rachael

On Thursday January 11, my fashion Diva Freddy a.k.a Rachael turned 10. Here she is in all of her fashion glory wearing her stripped tights and matching fingerless gloves. She has a style all her own, and although I wouldn't wear it, I love it! She is creative and doesn't care what everyone else is doing, she is going to be herself. Keep it up girlfriend!

Making Progress

Sorry I have no new pictures to show you, but honestly there isn't much to see at this point. The wiring is run and the new plumbing is in. What a big job the plumbing was. All the original pipes including the cast iron stack that went from the basement throught the attic had to be removed. It was a HUGE job. Thanks a bunch to my father-in-law and his brother Charlie for ALL their help. We went to Toronto on Friday and picked out our tile and taps and light fixtures. I've got a cabinet maker preparing a quote for the vanity that I want, and then we are off to the races! And the biggest news of the day..... for the first time since we moved ALL of the laundry is done, well atleast for the next couple of hours or so. It took two days and about 20 loads, but it is DONE! And so am I!