Trick or Treat!

Eventhough this was Tyler's second Halloween, it really felt like his first because last year we were so new to our neighbourhood and he was so young still that we never bothered taking him out.

As you might imagine, we had so much fun picking out his costume. Tyler loves puppies, so as soon as I saw this costume in the store I just new he would love it. How cute he looked wearing it too. He kept making "woof woof" noises when we first put it on him. Just before dinner tonight, I took him out to get some photos of him wearing it. He had so much fun walking around in it and even more fun trying to pick things up wearing his "paws".

Once we were finished eating dinner, we were all set to go. Rhonda mentioned to me the last time I was with her that her and her mom wanted to see Tyler on Halloween, so since she lived one street over we decided to head over there first before it got dark and before the bigger kids came out.

We did a few houses on the way back, but we had to make a pit stop on the way back at Grammy's and Grampy's house because Tyler's pumpkin bucket couldn't fit anymore. In fact, one of the neighbour's had to give us another bag to put the overflow in. Everyone gave us at least two treats of each. I guess they figured I needed treats too. LOL

After our pit stop, we headed down to see Andrew. Mara and I had made plans to get the boys together for Halloween.

She mentioned that Andrew was going to be a monkey this year. I couldn't wait to see his costume! It was soooo cute!!! Andrew was definitely the cutest little monkey I have ever seen. We took the boys to a couple of the neighbour's houses with her dad.

After our trick or treating was finished, we went back to her parent's house and we let the boys play. They were relieved to get their costumes off as they were getting warm wearing them. Tyler and Andrew played with a train while we tried to snap some photos of them. As always it was nice to have the boys together. I really wished we got them together a lot more often during my three months here and eventhough they didn't get to see each other that often, I will miss their times together. I think it was really good for Tyler. We don't have any kids back home his age and Andrew is just 3 months younger.

My mom soon phoned and said that Marlene was up at the house waiting to see Tyler and I. Marlene and I go way back. I think we' ve known each other since grade 3 and we haven't seen each other since the wedding 5 years ago. Since then, she gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Tristen. Tristen is 2 years old and she is such a doll!

Tristen and Tyler hit it off. Actually Tristin took a big liking to Tyler. She gave him hugs and even gave him a kiss! Our son had his first kiss on Halloween night.

Marlene and I caught up and exchanged contact info, but soon it was time for them to leave as they were heading over to her brother's house for fireworks.

The fun wasn't over yet though. We have a tradition in our house that after trick or treating, we watch Halloween cartoons. So we all watched a Disney Halloween special they had on TV. It was neat to watch some of the old cartoons with Tyler that I used to watch when I was little. Tyler enjoyed watching them as he held on to the teddy bear that Mrs MacKenzie and Rhonda gave him for Halloween. They also gave him some books! Thank you so much!

Before we went to bed, I gave Tyler his pumpkin bucket to look through. He doesn't eat candy or chips, so he thought they were toys. I just let him shake the bags of chips. He did get some special treats that he was allowed to have. Andrew gave him a treat bag filled with all kinds of stuff he loves. He also got a Halloween sticker from our neighbour too!

Grampy asked if he could have one of Tyler's treats and Tyler got up and passed him one. Awww...how sweet! OK, Grampy one is enough. Remember your diet. We have to save the rest for Daddy. Daddy loves treats from Canada.

Overall, it was a great night filled with excitement and friends. Grammy, Grampy, and I had a lot of fun with Tyler tonight and it was so much fun seeing him go from door to door. He also liked seeing all the other kids come to the door. Of course, it would have been a lot better if Daddy was here to see our little puppy go trick or treating!

The Making of Jack

"Mommmy and I carved a pumpkin last night. It's for Halloween night. Mommy did most of the work, but I got to help out as well. It was a lot of fun! The first thing we did was cut a hole in the top. Mommy says it's so that we can scoop out the pulp inside."


"Then Mommy put the pumpkin on the floor, so I could see inside. It was gooey and slimy looking. She said we had to scrape all that stuff out! I was surprised!"

"I watched Mommy as she took her hand and put it inside the pumpkin! It looked like so much fun that I wanted to try it. I took some gooey stuff out as well as some pumpkin seeds."

"After a few minutes, we thought it would be much faster to use a spoon to scrape the pulp out instead. She was right, but it was more fun getting my hands all gooey."

"She let me scrape out some all by myself and then she joined in to help me. Cooperation!"

"Once we had all the pulp scooped out, it was then time to start carving. A knife had to be used, so Mommy had to do this part. She first cut out an eye. She let me play with it afterwards. I put the pumpkin eye on my eye and then on hers...tee hee."

"As she carved out more pieces, another eye and a nose, she let me play with the pumpkin parts!"

"Look here I am with the pumpkin's smile. I have more teeth than this guy has!"

"Then Grammy got some leaves to put under him and she added some ivy. The ivy actually came from Mommy's wedding bouquet that she kept and it grew lots. Then she added a lit candle. The candle was also from Mommy's and Daddy's wedding!"

"At last, we were all finished. Jack was born!"

Eggcellent Bus

It is garbage day today in Coxheath, so Mom was getting everything ready to go out to the curb. As she was getting the recycles ready, Tyler noticed the egg carton and said "Beep Beep" to Mom. Mom thought it would be cute if her and Tyler made a school bus out of the carton. Together they coloured the outside, drew windows and kids looking out of the windows, as well as wheels.

Once they were all finished, she gave Tyler the carton and he opened it up and put it on the floor. He then went and got his little pals and put them inside. Mom said "You need to drive the kids to school now, Tyler. " So she sat him on the carton and we made truck noises and he soon did the same. Imagination is so much fun!

Child Labour

As always Tyler always takes interest in what we are doing and wants to help out as much as he possible can. Yesterday was no exception when we were vacuuming the floors. At first, Grammy let him hold the handle with her, but it wasn't too long after that he wanted to try it all by himself. So we let him have the handle and he knew exactly what to do.

He vacuumed under the couch, all around the floors, on the mats, under the mats (we helped him with that), and all in the corners. Tyler did such a great job with the livingroom that we let him finish the rest of the rooms. I am so proud of what a great little helper he is becoming and you can tell that he really enjoys doing big boy stuff. It's hard to believe that a 20 month old would be interested in helping out with putting away the groceries, his clean clothes in drawers, and cleaning the table after he has eaten. Actually he has been doing this stuff for at least 6 months now and he is just as happy helping out as he is playing with his toys.

The Evidence is Clear: You've Got the Job!!!

Congratulations to Chellee, Steve's youngest sister in Florida, who accepted a position with the Police Department as an Evidence Technician. Prior to her joining the PD, she spent countless hours as a volunteer. Chellee's hard work and dedication sure paid off. You can learn more about her new position by reading her blog, The Taylor Family, on the right side of this page.

We wish you all the best, Chellee, in your new career!

P.S. hmm...you look kind of suspicious in this photo. Are you sure you passed the background check? (just kidding). Love you, girl!

Tyler's New Friend

We were just finishing dinner last evening when we heard a knock on the door. Who could it be? It was Mom's friend, Jenny, who used to live down the street. She moved into town awhile ago and so she thought she would pop by to say hi and to show her how much her little boy has grown since the last time they saw one another. Joshua is almost 18 months old and what a cutie he is!

Tyler immediately was interesting in getting to know Joshua. We put them on the floor together and watch them play. I was really surprised by how much Tyler took a liking to his new pal. Tyler just kept laughing and smiling at whatever Joshua was doing. He followed Joshua around everywhere and he wanted to play with him. We gave them the ball and showed them how to roll it back and forth to each other. They had fun with that for a few minutes and then the remainer of the time they chased each other around the house with the ball.

Tyler was just so happy with his new friend and Jenny and I certainly had fun watching them together and comparing notes on their growth. It ceratinly was a nice surprise visit that we really enjoyed.

Playing with Rocks

Just about every afternoon after his nap, Tyler goes outside to play with his rocks. The first thing he does when he wakes up and has his sippy cup is go to the front door. He will even get his shoes or boots out of the closet and passes them to me. Then he gets my sneakers, helps me put them on my feet, and then attempts to get my jacket off the hanger. Yes, you can say that he loves to go outside and play with his rocks.

The rocks are the ones that we collected from our beach days this year. Tyler will pick up each rock, hand them to me and as he says"Mommy" or "rock". He likes for me to describe what each rock looks like. We have speckled ones, flat ones, sparkling ones, and some that are very nice in colour. Another thing Tyler likes to do is stack the rocks on top of each other to make a tower. Tyler loves to play with his rocks and Mommy loves to play with Tyler playing with his rocks.

My Sister, Snuggles

This is my Snuggles. I think most of you know her, as we had her since she was just a few weeks ago and she is 15 years old now. She is my mom's cat, she is my sister :)

When Snuggly-pugs first came into our lives she wasn't in very good condition. Abandoned by her mom, she was very thin, tired and generally in poor shape. My friend found her in a ditch and since she already had a dog and a cat, and she knew that I lost my beloved cat, Patches just 6 months prior from cancer, she thought that I might be interested in adopting her. We brought her to the vet and the look on his face wasn't good. I really don't think he thought she was going to survive, but with lots of love and attention, she is still with us 15 years later.

Eventhough I come home once a year, as soon as I walk in the door the first time, she greets me with lots of love and purrs. She never forgets who her big sister is. I love my Snuggly-pugs!

Fall Fun

Yesterday Tyler and I helped rake up the leaves in Grammy and Grampy's yard. They certainly didn't have any kind of shortage of leaves this year, there were tons! When Tyler saw Mommy use the rake, he wanted to use the rake as well. So we ended up giving him a special "rake". This special rake was actually a broom, but it did the trick and most importantly made my little guy happy that he was helping his mum.

After awhile though, Tyler caught on that if you just pick up the leaves in your hand and take them to the pile, it was much faster and more fun.

Once we got a big pile of leaves, we put Tyler on top and watched him have some fun.

One time he laid down in the leaves and it looked like he was swimming in them. He had his legs kicking and arms going and he went from one end of the pile to the other!

Then I guess he saw that Mommy didn't have enough leaves on her, so he came over with piles of leaves in each hand and put them on my head! He went back and forth until Mommy was good and covered.

After we decided we had enough fun with the leaves, it was time to get back to work. Tyler saw Mommy put the leaves in the compost bin and started to do the same. What a good little helper!

No Longer in the Teens

That's right! Yesterday Tyler turned 20 months old! Can you believe it?! I certainly can't. Our little boy is getting to be so big these days! Just about everyday he says new words and eventhough they are the first time he says them, they are so plain to make out. He shocks us all the time with his new vocabulary! In fact, the other day he said "Heather", not once but twice, as he was passing something to me. I guess he has heard my parents call me by my name for awhile now and he caught on.

Tyler sure is growing fast and he is changing all the time, but some things have remained the same. He still has a sweet, lovable personality and he is always happy. Tyler's smile still melts my heart everyday! He is my little ray of sunshine straight from God. God Bless you, my little sweet angel boy!

Quiet Sunday Morning

I woke up early this morning to continue my "projects". I ran out for my coffee and when I returned I passed through the neighborhood. I stopped at this spot to get e few pictures.
I really miss Heather and Tyler. It is very quiet here at home. We always do everything together and I really miss that too. I can't wait until we are together again! I miss you guys! ~Steve

Fall in love with Cape Breton

Here are some photos I took early this morning; most of them are at Blackett's Lake, a few in the field behind my parent's house, and a couple in their backyard. Enjoy!