Happy Halloween!!!

This year we bought Mikayla an Ariel princess dress to wear for Halloween. Ariel is her absolute favourite princess and as soon as she saw the dress it was an easy choice for her. Mikayla really scored this year and had 3 parties to go to along with a halloween dance a thon as a fundraiser at her school.. She had a party with the kids in my moms co-op, 1 at her daycare and 1 with her JK class. She wore her Ariel dress to all of these parties and brought her little Flounder stuffed animal along for the ride. Tonight right before we headed out to trick or treat she had a change of heart. She decided to wear her monkey costume from last year's halloween and thankfully it still fit! She said she just wanted to show all her school friends that she was a real princess but her monkey costume was still her favourite. She got lots of compliments on the monkey costume. It is really cute:) She had a great time tonight as she chanted at every door " Trick or treat, smell my feet give me something good to eat"

Messed Up Family Secrets!!!

So last night I had the "pleasure" of finding out a deep dark family secret. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it. Nick has heard my many thoughts and comments on the issue...and suggested I blog about it. So here it goes. Pay attention closely because I am going to try and make this as unconfusing as possible...if it is possible. lol
So while talking to my Mom last night and about wedding plans...we got on the topic of me walking down the aisle. Now most of you know that my Dad passed almost 2 years ago and as much as I wish he was here to do so, its just not the case. I was debating with the idea of walking down alone, or having my Grandad (my Dad's dad) walk me down the aisle. Well it was at this time that my mom said..."there's something I have to tell you before you go on any further" I told her to continue...and it was then that she let me know that the man I have always known as Grandad...is not technically my Grandfather. So let me try and break this down for you. My Grandad(well who I know as Grandad), his name is Larry Oliver. He met my Grandmother Muriel (my Dad's mom) during World War II and they were married shortly after. They had a mutual friend from the war name Walt Donkin who was going through a rough patch in his life, so they offered to have him stay at their house. Now my Dad has 2 brothers(both older) and 2 sisters (1 older, and 1 younger) who all grew up knowing this man as Uncle Walt because he was such a close family friend. Once my grandparents divorced...my Grandmother remarried "Uncle Walt" and Uncle Walt now because my dad and his sibling's step father. And to us grandkids he was known as Grandpa Waltie, but he never took the place of our Grandad. Now Grandpa Waltie passed away when I was 2...and my loving Grandad is still kicking at 89. Ok so theres some background info for ya. But back to the story. Well the beans were spilled to my Dad about who his father was well he was also discussing wedding information with his family. While discussing invitations and how it would read "son of Larry Oliver" good old Auntie Jean piped up and said..."well you can't have that on the invitations...Larry isn't your father, Walt is". After my Dad had punched a few holes in the wall the news settled with him and he got the full scoop. Larry Oliver who I know as Grandad and my dad grew up knowing (and thinking) was his dad is the father of my uncle Iain and aunt Carolyn. And "uncle Walt" or who we knew as Grandpa Waltie is the father of my Uncle Brian, Auntie Sandy and my Dad. Which leaves Grandpa Waltie as my biological Grandfather....talk about messed up! This post sounds like one big Maury episode. My Dad never acknowledge Walt as his dad...and Larry remained his father figure and who he referred to as Dad. My Dad never wanted to share any of this with us kids...so we were the last to find out in the family. Some of the questions that I have drew up in my head are:
1) My family isnt really as big as I think it is
2) My last name really shouldn't be Oliver---and were fooling everyone at the big reunions lol
3) I lied on all my family history reports--and my family medical history
4) Thank god my las name isnt Donkin! LOL
I like to think I have a good attitude with all this drama I just found out. Because either way...Grandad IS my Grandad, My Uncle is STILL my uncle, My Aunt is STILL my Aunt and my cousins will ALWAYS be my cousins...and I love them all dearly!Regardless!!

The Ball is Rolling!

So I just wanted to let everyone know that our wedding plans are starting to come together and we have set a date. We will be getting married May 1st 2010 at the Manor in Kettleby. May 2010 does seem pretty far but they were offering an amazing package and May 1st was the last available date for this promotion...they were booked solid. It also gives us lots of time to plan. So both the ceremony and reception will be held here. This is the only picture that they would let me take from the website so to get a better idea you can check it out at http://www.bypeterandpauls.com/themanor/index.php

Its beautiful there:) Im so excited and just can't wait for the day to come!!

Wonderland!

On Saturday, Nick and I met up with Thomas and Megan for a day of fun at Wonderland. The weather didn't look promising but the rain held out until we left. We were there for a good 4 hrs or so and manage to get in lots of rides because the lines were so short. We even rode the Behemoth! I must say that I wasn't scared until we actually started to go up the hill...its a lot taller than it looks! But by the end of it, it turned out to be my favourite ride and I'm sure Nick would agree. I would ride it over and over again if I could. Thomas might not feel the same way though. I think it was the mighty Behemoth that set off his motion sickness. He was a trooper though, and still went on a few rides afterwards even though he felt pretty crappy. We then hit up the game stands. Nick of course wanted to show off and play the game where you hit the huge sledgehammer on the target, and if you light up the tower and reach 100 at the top, you win a prize. Well of course with all his gym training this was easy for him and he took home the prize no problem. His prize was a 6ft tall stuffed Batman!! This guy is huge, and just happens to be one of Mikayla's favourite superheroes. We then headed over to ring toss. Nick and Thomas bought 40 rings for 5 bucks...and he was nice enough to let me toss a few. Somehow a managed to get a ring on the bottle with the my last toss. Complete fluke, I didn't even look where I was throwing so it took a while for me to clue in that I won. This prize was a 7ft long stuffed clown fish. Nick got the job of carrying him back out to the van...he said he weighed a good 10-15 pounds. So Mikayla scored on Saturday that's for sure! We couldn't wait to see her reaction when we picked her up from my mom's place...we kept it a complete surprise and even buckled Batman into the seat beside hers. The 4 of us then headed out for a great dinner at Kelsey! What an awesome end, to an awesome day!We all agreed we have to do this more often:)

Where did the time go?

Yesterday was Mikayla's first day of junior kindergarten and it is still so hard to believe!

Mikayla was soo excited, but I was dreading the day. She only had to attend in the afternoon so she could get to know the routines, classmates and her teacher before her first full day which is Sept 8th. So in the morning Mikayla packed up her backpack which consisted of Ickie (her favourite stuffed toy), and her lunch bag (which was empty, but she managed to fill the space with 3 old cell phones). She also picked out her clothes and spent most of the morning looking in the mirror. Once everything was set and ready to go, Mikayla and I went out for lunch. After lunch we started to walk towards her school. I would find myself looking down at her with her little backpack skipping along, and my eyes would fill with tears. It seemed like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. On the way to school my mom had phoned to wish Mikayla luck on her first day. Mikayla's response was " I can't talk Nanny, I'm going to kindergarten and I'm going to be late" and she hung up the phone. Once the school was insight, Mikayla automatically let go of my hand. This crushed me! She wouldn't let me take any pictures of her before she went into class but I managed to snap a few after class. When we got into the kindergarten drop off and pick up area, she left my side and made sure there was atleast 10 feet inbetween us. Her teacher then came out to greet everyone and round up the class....she grabbed her teacher's hand and not once did she look back. Once she was out of sight, I began to shed some tears....I can't believe how time just blows by! And Mikayla not needing me by her side didn't help the situation.

"So next time I'll just ask first?"

On Monday, I was home for the day with Mikayla. It was an average day, full of energy and refusing to nap. In the afternoon after giving up on the nap situation, Mikayla nicely said to me that she was just going to quietly play in her room. I thought this was a little strange seeing she will rarely play on her own if she has one on one time with either Nick or myself, but I took advantage of the situation and got some housework done while Mikayla quietly played. Mikayla usually snacks on some dry cereal in her room before bed so I had to enter her room and interrupt her play to get her dishes. I grab her bowl only to find a handful of beautiful blonde curls inside...no wondering she wanted to play quietly. She was obviously up to no good. I asked Mikayla for an explanation. "I was just playing Bessy" she said. Mikayla was just at the hairdressers 4 days prior and her hairdressers name is Bessy. I am really picky with Mikayla's hair so needless to say I wasn't too happy. However Mikayla had no idea why I was soo mad. Her only response was "So next time I'll just ask first?" Hopefully there wont be a next time as at the moment she is banned from her craft scissors. She did quite the number on her hair though, she took of a good 6 inches or so. I have to arrange another appointment with Bessy and hopefully she can fix our little disaster.

Not Your Average Day At Wonderland!

Thursday I had the day off, so Nick and I headed off to Wonderland. It had been so long since the 2 of us had gone together, probably about 5 years ago or so. While standing at the gates to get in, Nick insisted that we go on the rollercoaster Top Gun as our first ride, so thats where we headed first. After waiting about 30 min or so, we finally loaded onto the coaster. I was alittle nervous because it had been quite sometime since I had been on a rollercoaster...but Nick seemed alittle more nervous than I did. While approaching the first hill, Nick popped the question. I was completely shocked and couldn't believe what was happening that my initial reaction was " Are you serious?". After a few seconds went by and I realized what was going on, I of course said yes! And finished it off with the thrill of Top Gun. It turns out that now wonderland records your ride instead of snapping the one picture, so the proposal is all recorded! We then enjoyed a bunch more rides before heading out to dinner to celebrate! Not your everyday trip to wonderland, or proposal for that matter but it sure was perfect:)

What A Great Weekend!

This weekend Nick, Mikayla, Melissa, Andrew and myself headed up to Algonquin Park to do some camping at Canis Bay campground. While listening to the Moose 95 on the way up (one of the only stations that comes in) the weather man was calling for severe thunderstorms all weekend with the chance of hail on Friday night. Well he was WAY off as we had beautiful weather all weekend. Hot and sunny and not a cloud in the sky...shows what he knows! We spent our weekend hiking, hitting up the beach and playing lots of games with Mikayla. We all had a great time...and Mikayla didnt get a single bite, which is a plus. Here are some pics from the weekend....I always seem to snap and post some interesting pics of Andrew....and this weekend was no exception LOL.

Another Bite!

This weekend Nick and I went with another couple up to Bon Echo park for a weekend of camping. It was absolutely beautiful! The best campground we have ever been to. When I get all of the pics from the couple we went with, Ill be sure to post them. We were thinking of just the two of us going and bringing Mikayla along but decided not to take the risk with the mosquitoes. As most of you know, Mikayla is allergic to mosquito's and reacts pretty severely when she gets bitten. We have had to make a few hospital visits due to the bites after finding out she was allergic last summer. So Mikayla stayed in Newmarket with my mom for the weekend where we thought she would be safer. Turns out there was no hiding from the mosquitoes as she was bitten on the face at some point on Friday. My mom noticed a bit of swelling Friday night and by Saturday morning her eye was swollen shut. After a trip to the doctor, Mikayla is now on a strong antibiotic and the usual Benadryl. Whenever Mikayla has been bitten on the face, she is always placed on a strong antibiotic just to be safe from any infection. At one of her hospital visits last year the doctor explained to us that the face is the only area we have to be extremely careful about. Behind our eye socket we have water sacs that swell and fill with fluid to protect the brain. But if there is too much swelling pressure is put on the brain which can be a serious matter...and an infection on top of the swelling would only worsen the situation. So were going to keep a close watch on Mikayla and stick with the medication and hopefully things will clear up quickly. Her eye is looking better already and not once has she complained about it. Here is a picture of her eye tonight (Sunday). It looks great considering it was closed shut yesterday morning.

African Lion Safari

Yesterday we went to the African Lion Safari with Auntie Mouse (Melissa) and Uncle Andrew. Nick, Melissa and I had been before, but this was Mikayla's and Andrew's first time there. We had a great time. We drove through the Safari in the Marlymobile that John and Cheryl had let us borrow for the adventure. The baboons were the best part by far! We actually drove through a second time just to see the baboons again. They played with the wipers and jumped from car to car but the loved Lobby the lobster. Lobby is a little bobble head lobster that Mikayla brought back from out east last summer. Lobby has manage to travel on many road trips with us. After the first drive through of the safari we had some lunch, fed some goats, got some air brush tattoos and Mikayla went on a pony ride. We all ended up getting these little airbrushed tattoos and the girl working there must of thought we were crazy. It started out with just Mikayla getting a pink unicorn and then Nick and Andrew decided they would get tattoos too. The deal was that they would pick out each others tattoo and the colours they were airbrushed in. Nick ended up with a black and pink tattoo on his forearm that said "playgirl" and Andrew ended up with pink and purple tattoo in the same spot that said "babe". Melissa and I felt left out so we jumped on board. Melissa got a little red turtle and I ended up with a purple pig. We then hit up the gift store where Mikayla got a tiger mask hoping that she could scare the animals on the safari on our second drive through. I'm not too sure if it work but she sure did try. She even wore the mask out for breakfast this morning.

Here are some pictures from the day...

Some Cheetahs wrestling

Baboon on the windshield

They found Lobby!

The babies were so cute!

The 1st timers! Andrew looks more into it than Mikayla does!haha

Mikayla on her pony ride, she loved it!

I love this picture! While feeding the goats, she would laugh til the point of falling over!

Tough little girl..

My little tiger...

Tired after a long, fun day!:)

Seneca Graduation

So today was the big day...my graduation. The ceremony was really nice and it was great to officially be done! No more assignments, essays or exams!! I'm just glad I didn't fall on my face while receiving my diploma, that was my biggest fear...especially because I was wearing heels and I have enough trouble walking in bare feet as is. Over all it was a great day! We celebrated with my closest friends from school with a nice lunch afterwards. Also after the ceremony, while walking to the parking lot Safehaven called to offer me a position as a Residential Support Worker. Safehaven is a residential home just up the road from us for kids with severe disabilities and complex medical needs. I meet with my supervisor tomorrow to review and sign my contract and once that is done I can begin my training. Perfect timing! I can't wait to start:)

Here are some pictures from today...

Waiting to get gowned by our professor before receiving my diploma on stage

With a few friends from school after the ceremony


Some with Mikayla


...and my Mom and Nick

Mikayla's Birthday Weekend

Our little Mikayla will be 4 on the 10th and its so hard to believe!! But we sure did have a good time celebrating:)

On Friday Nick, Mikayla and I headed up to Algonquin for a night of camping. We had planned on spending 2 nights but we didn't get off to a great start and Mikayla wanted to come home because of the unbarable blackfies. As most of you know Mikayla is highly allergic to misquitos and blackflies. So bad that after a weekend of camping for her 3rd birthday, her eyes swelled shut and she spent some of it in the hospital causing her to be late for her own borthday party. It was then that we discovered the allergic reaction. So this time we went prepared! We had a full bug suit that Granny bought her, benadryl (stick and liquid) and a cream my doctor gaave me to put on instantly in case of a bite. But the buggers still managed to get into the suit. She only got a few bites, and luckily not near her face. However the bites she did get seemed to swell quite abit but nothing like last year. We also got hit by the worst storm I've ever seen!!It started out as what seemed to be heat lightning in the distance but out of no where we got pounded!! The ground shook with thunder as it started to pour. The brand new tent Nick had just bought was missing pieces so it leaked all night and we ended up soaked! AND THEN to top it all off, me being the moron I am...locked the keys in the truck...along with everything we packed. Dry clothes, our food, cells etc. We woke up in the morning wet, hungry and with no phone to call a tow truck. So Nick headed to the ranger station to find out that the power was out so we were stranded! Luckily the gave him a coathanger and after 5 hrs of trying, he got the door open. We then changed, packed up and headed home. Aside from the bad start, we ended up having an awesome weekend! We spent Saturday Go Karting, at Chuckie Cheese and at Mikayla's favourite park in Aurora. Sunday followed with a suprise birthday party at Granny's. It was an awesome day:) Thanks to everyone who came and to Cheryl and John for throwing it!!It was a blast!! Here are some pics from the party.