Catching Up...again

We have a lot to catch up on! Since Christmas, we have been busy with lots of things, sad and happy.

As you can see from these pics, Violet still loves to be in the kitchen - she 'cooks' something everyday. We had a system going for a while where she had her spices that she played with and that seemed to keep her happy but now it seems to take every messy ingredient in the kitchen to make her 'cooking' a success. She has started to wash all the vegetables for dinner - she will spend a good half an hour at the sink washing anything she can get her hands on.

Here is a picture from her first day at dance class - she LOVES it.



We celebrated the New Year with friends and Violet was the perfect party animal - stayed up past her bedtime eating junk food and dancing and collapsed in bed without any fuss when she was totally partied out. We were able to stay out past our bedtime too as she slept away in Matt and Liz's spare room until the pots and pans started banging at midnight (a west coast thing I think - everybody goes outside at midnight to bang on pots and pans and scream and shout!!??) when we bundled her up to take her home to her own bed.

Two of my pals from university came to Victoria for a visit in early January - Alicia was on one of her west coast adventures from Toronto and Renee, Jarod and Sam came to visit on their way back to White Rock from Tofino. It was a short but fun visit - the boys kindly went on a little pub crawl one night to give us girls some time on our own. Aren't they sweet :) Violet is a few months older than Sam - they are very cute together and have a lot of fun playing. She asked for baby Sam for a week after they left.



We had a lot of worry in the early days of the new year trying to get an understanding of dad's diagnosis and what it really meant. We thought we were just getting our heads around it when he was taken from us so suddenly. Everyone is doing ok I think. We miss dad terribly and worry about each other a lot. I don't think it is really real for anyone yet. Mom is coming for a visit next month which we are really looking forward to.

We had a pared down birthday for Violet this year, we were thinking of having a party for all her little friends at a rec centre but with all that we had on the go, we decided on a smaller gathering with a few people who spend the most time with Violet and would want to celebrate the day with her. Even though it was a pared down event, Violet had a fantastic time - a few friends, helium balloons and a cake totally make a party for a two year old!

Here is a link to some photos and videos from her birthday. Violets Birthday Album

Note the Elmo cake which was baked by her mother and decorated by her father - we are very proud and are already planning the cake for birthday #3... that plan involves ordering a cake from a bakery!

Here is Violet's big girl bed which she has been in for a couple of weeks now. She LOVES her bed and loves the freedom of getting up when she is ready too. We have had a lot of early mornings that started with a toddler staring us in the face - delighted to be waking us up in person.



This is Violet and her buddies TJ and Taite going for a ride in the wagon around the neighbourhood. They chatter away with each other - its very cute. This trip also included their favourite babies.


A little diddy that Violet put together for you all... You wouldn't know it from this video but her language skills have just exploded over the past weeks. Its really fun to see her experimenting with bigger, more challenging words and longer phrases. Some of her favourite things to say at the moment are... no (obviously - she is 2) but her no is usually in a phrase like 'no mommy I do it self' or 'no doggy no doggy'

A recent favourite of Jon's is 'I go upstairs wake up mommy now' (evil grin included)
A few other favs that she uses all the time are - 'no way dad', 'dink a waya (drink of water) pease', 'I done now' and of course "I wan watch (insert favourite show of the day - Elmo, A Aygo (Diego) or gabba gabba) now pease" - this one is often repeasted at increasing volume and pitch until her parents find a distraction or give in. Happily she has also started saying 'yes' instead of grunting 'em'....



Still writing... The last quick updates - we have had plans drawn up to add an extension to our house for a master suite - just finally deciding if we have to gumption to build it! Jon is doing lots of painting and really doing some beautiful work. Work is good for me - like most businesses, we have had some setbacks due to the economic times but are rallying and planning to be busy in 2009.

Love to all! (If there is still anyone out there... :)

Dearest Grampy

I've been trying to find the words to write about my dad. Every time I try I just can't seem to get further than a few sentences. I've decided today is the day and I am going to post whatever I can manage to get down and hope it does justice to the wonderful man that he was.

After a short battle with cancer, he died on January 11th. Dad was diagnosed just after Christmas and was only in the hospital for 2 weeks. He was so strong and positive about everything and he was so grateful for the good care that he received. I don't know how he found the strength to be so amazing as he was poked and prodded and on the receiving end of bad news on so many days. But he was and I was so incredibly proud of him for that.

I wish I could have been there while he was in hospital, to help take care of him. I would have been there if any of us had known that he would be taken so quickly. I am forever grateful to my brothers who were on the front lines of everything from receiving devastating news to taking care of any need Dad had to taking all the phone calls from concerned friends and family and making the final arrangements. And of course for being there now with Mom.

It still does not seem real and we are so heartbroken to have lost him at such a young age. He was only 60.

Violet's grampy is gone but will never be forgotten. The short time that Violet and grampy had together had a lasting impact and I truly hope we can help her remember him. He died exactly 2 years after Violet was born and now Grampy and Violet have a special date to share when we can celebrate both of them each year.

If you didn't know my dad you truly missed out. He was a special person who spent his life giving of himself to other people and because of that he had many, many friends. He was king of the pranks, he loved his family so much and was incredibly proud of his 3 grandchildren, he was my mom's love and friend for more than 35 years and he was a kid at heart.

Violet, Jon and I spent about a week in PEI with my family and have some wonderful memories of the time we all had together even though saying goodbye to my dad was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I know he is looking out for us now and he would have been amazed and proud to see the incredible turnout of 1300 people at his wake. He would have laughed and been delighted at seeing 3 of his pallbearers wearing their RCMP red serge and at the police escort for his funeral procession that stopped traffic.

There is so much more to say and I eventually hope to find the words to say it. We all miss you so much Dad.

Christmas 2008

Dinner with our friends


My gift to Daddy

Daddy got Rock Band!



Still catching up! Christmas seems like a long time ago but we still haven't posted any pics. Violet (and the rest of us) were very spoiled by our friends and family - thank you everyone!

Violet really 'got' christmas this year. When we talked about Santa and how he brings presents to good girls and boys she would point to herself and say "I too?!" We had a lot of fun decorating the tree, lots of Christmas music for Violet and Jon to dance to while mommy put the decorations on the tree - somehow Violet ended up being naked by the time we were ready for her to put the angel on the tree.

Violet had so many gifts to open that we had to stop and take a break for some breakfast - seems to be a tradition at our house :) We usually go for a christmas walk but our attempt at a walk didn't seem to fit with Violet's plans, even though we took her out in her new red wagon from santa! We had a wonderful dinner with our friends Elise, Travis, TJ and Taite - a rowdy and fun day it was!

It was our first white christmas in Victoria - turns out Violet loves the snow (especially to eat) but not the cold so much. Jon had a LOT of shoveling to do as he was helping out 3 neighbours and doing our driveway, walkway and sidewalk as well. All is green again and we are happy about that!

Catching up

Happy New Year! Anyone out there? Its been so long since we last posted any photos and updates I'm sure most of you have given up on us! :) Here are some pics from the last couple of months - another post to follow with some movies and xmas shots.

Violet and Mommy had a great visit to PEI at the beginning of December - she loved spending time with her family and REALLY hated all the extra attention! I have managed to lose all my photos and videos from the trip :( I am so disappointed but I have managed to steal a view pics from baby Haylee's blog - thanks LESA!

Violet got to experience her first snow in PEI and fell in love with Missy (my parent's shitzu) all over again. She also had loads of 'girly' fun with her cousin Jaiden who just turned 3 on Jan 1st and still asks where is baby Haylee on most days. We had a mostly relaxing visit and Violet proved she was a really great traveller...mostly.




We are thinking of you Dad!

Little helper

We still haven't figured out a halloween costume to Violet - I think its going to be of the animal variety. We visited Galey Farms last weekend to take a ride on their ghost train and check out the corn maze and take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

Not a lot of news since our last post - Violet is learning air guitar and loves to practice her dance moves. She is also queen helper we are constantly trying to find things that she can help with - she get so excited. The latest are feeding the dog, putting the tab in the dishwasher, baking, cooking and wiping up spills - can't wait till she can operate a vacuum!

We had some really yummy thai food from my thai cafe tonight - Violet's favourite is the tofu from the phad thai - go figure!

We have been having beautiful weather and getting outside as much as possible.

Here are a bunch of recent photos and a couple of videos.

Fall 08

Our busy gal is not slowing down to say the least! Its full steam ahead these days and we are having a great time (minus the temper tantrums of course!) rediscovering everything with Violet as she finds the most everyday things so interesting.

She has become a great little helper "I help" is very common to hear from her these days, tonight she helped me cook the chicken and broccoli stirfry - she poured the oil in the pan, removed the garlic cloves from the bulb and helped me squish them in the press, she stirred the marinade and passed me every implement in the kitchen (though truth be told I didn't need them all!). Its amazing to see her being so proud of herself for helping - she was so proud that she actually ate her dinner because she knew that she had helped to make it - our great eater is a little pickier these days.

V still has teething issues - 4 are coming in right now which is making for a little bit of a sleep issue but otherwise I think she is used the the whole teething thing and just puts up with it.

I'm including some picks from a recent trip to the beach at East Sooke Park. Its s bit of a hike which was interesting with our crew of 4 adults and 3 small kids but it was a lot of fun - in the end all the kids were naked and wading in the water - west coast kids I guess. We didn't bring swimwear 'cause we thought the pacific ocean might be a tad cold on a late september day - apparently not cold enough to keep children out of it!

Violet just had her last set of immuizations until school age - what a trooper she was! A very little cry and all was well. Glad to have those things over with for a while...

Not much else is new around these parts, lots of talking and playfulness. We have to decide what to dress Violet up as for Halloween, I think if she was to choose it might be something like a princess - her parents might disagree on this! perhaps our trip this coming weekend to the pumpkin patch (and petting zoo, train ride, hay ride, face painting etc. etc. ) will get us in the mood to decide on a costume...

Our girly girl

Our little gal is a budding artist - she wants to paint ALL the time but is happily satiated with crayons and her easel most of the time.

She is also really starting to enjoy pretending - all her teddy's like to have something to eat and drink and she has even delivered some medical treatment to Mr. Teddy as you will see in the video. She likes to "read" books to anyone, including teddy bears if they are willing to listen.

Though she is certainly outdoorsy and loves to get dirty and play outside her girly side is showing pretty clearly. The recent delivery of clothes from nanny and grampy ended in a fashion show that was initiated by one Violet Gleed. She also LOVES her shoes and has learned the tricks of putting each pair she has - she is often torn about which shoes she wants to wear but it usually ends up being the sparkly ones. :)