Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you all have a great start to 2009.

It has been a busy year for us as I'm sure it has been for all of you. Katie, school, dogs, soccer and housework make each day action packed and sometimes I wish there were more hours in the day. Lately Katie has been sleeping better which has made life a whole lot easier, now I just need to make myself go to bed at a decent hour. Too bad I like watching Law and Order so much.

Katie continues to be the light of my life and is an extremely well adjusted and happy child if I do say so myself. She really enjoyed interacting with everyone over Christmas. Her talking has increased exponentially over the holiday and she's so proud of herself too. While before she was able to say quite a few words like Indy, more, uppy (up), and bo (bottle), mummy, bye-bye, hi, Oma, Opa, Harley now she says them confidently, frequently and with out prompting and she's added Irene, Grandad, Grandma, George, Molson, Anna, Jodi, Jeremy, Jeff, Catherine, please, thank you and so many more that I actually can't keep track. It's really fun to watch her. She brings joy to everyone around her.

I'm very lucky because Katie is very social and she loves spending time with the Hope family, Stuart family, Jackson family, Dressel family and all of my friends. She blossoms with their love and attention and although she brings me immense joy I really appreciate time away as well. Katie is in Gibsons tonight and so that is why I have the time and energy to write this post.

There is so much I want to write and say but I think that I will have to save it for the next post.
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well.
Kristina
(This post is in lieu of Christmas cards or Happy New Year cards because I didn't get organized enough to make them.)

Walking in June

Well its the end of the school year and here we are on Saturday going for a walk to the playground at Mundy Park. Katie really enjoyed the slide and the swings.

Uncle Bruce's Soccer Tournament

Gibson's Grandpa's Birthday

A Day In The Life Of Katie

Happy Easter!

I have more pictures on Jeff's camera but I wanted to post some of the ones on my camera. I hope you enjoy them!


We all went out to the farm for Easter and Katie and Auntie Catherine had fun finding easter eggs together.


Grandma and Katie went up and down the stairs a million times. I really need to get it on video because Katie can actually turn around and go down backwards on her own now. Of course someone has to be standing there just in case.


Jodie loves to make Katie laugh. She's a great cousin.


Marcus's parents came out to the farm in Mission to enjoy Easter Sunday too.


I think Papa Fritz had a good time.


This was taken just before Katie's other tooth came through.


Irene and Katie having a laugh.

Katie Plays with Michal

My friend Michal has been taking care of Katie on Wednesdays so I can go to Yoga. This is what the did last week. Isn't it so cute? I'm so impressed because she doesn't do this with me.

Triple the Fun

We've being going for walks with Natasha, Angus and Mark and now we've had a couple play dates. We all had a great time together although we also discovered I need to baby proof my house more.

Happy Birthday Opa!

Uncle Bruce's Visit

We had a lot of fun with Uncle Bruce this last weekend. We enjoyed watching the movie, "No Reservations". We had blueberry, buttermilk pancakes which were a major hit with Katie. Uncle Bruce also took care of Katie at soccer.
Thanks for the visit, Bruce.

Happy Valentine's Day

Well it's been a while since I've posted but I'm going to try and get back into it because Katie is so cute right now. We had a great Valentine's day with Ladybug Grandma and things are starting to seem a bit easier.

Down Memory Lane- A Slideshow

I'm moving this post to the top again because I don't think that everyone has seen it. It's the slideshow that Derrick made. Just click on the play button in the left corner.

A Great Dog

I'm very sad to tell you that my sister Catherine's dog Allie passed away. Allie was Catherine's companion and best friend for 14 years. She went with Catherine to Saskatchewan during Vet School. She was Catherine's little shadow and I believe known throughout the vet school for her well behaved manner, ability to guard the truck and interest in sticks. Yes, especially sticks. I remember my mum complaining after two trips to visit my sister that her arm was sore and she couldn't figure out why until she remembered how many times she threw the stick for Allie.

Allie then made the transition to Williams Lake where she kept her status as the house dog and became an awesome family dog. Everyone who knew Allie knows how much she loved walks up past Birch Lane and having the sticks or socks thrown for her. How she loved highchairs and most of all how she loved her family. She was the best companion my sister could ask for; loyal, always happy to see her, obedient, gentle..I could go on and on. Catherine says that she was always up for a car ride to the vet clinic and she'd keep Catherine's seat warm until she got back.

Over the years more dogs were included in the Stuart/Jackson household but somehow Allie always maintained her status as top dog. As Jeff said once, "She's was a benevolent dictator". She always kept the other dogs in line with a look or a firm reminder. They all just knew not to mess with Allie.

Then a few years ago Allie got cancer and had to have a lump removed. She lost some of her ear and we were all worried about her but Allie had plenty of life left in her and she made a miraculous recovery. She made the transition to Fort St. John where this photo was taken. Allie enjoyed Agility this last summer as Catherine taught classes. Allie will be missed by all but especially Catherine, Jeff, Jeremy, Anna, Jodi, Briar, Will, Dixie and Chaos.

Christmas Katie Strikes Again

Christmas Katie

Aloha!

Down Memory Lane

Derrick made another awesome slideshow of Marcus. Thank you Derrick and thank you Chris for helping me post it.

Thank you

It was nice to see so many friends and family members at the Memorial service. It felt good to know that Marcus touched so many lives and it was gratifying to see that everyone wanted to honour him. I wish I could have talked to everyone who came but unfortunately with around 300 people it wasn't possible to talk to everyone or to even talk to the people I did talk to for long enough. Thank you all for showing your support in so many different ways. They were all appreciated. Thank you to Craig and Barb for the fantastic speeches. I kept nodding and thinking how well each of you knew Marcus. Craig and family thank you for the amazing scrapbook for Katie. Carolynn and Chris thanks for many things including the gorgeous Memory box. There are so many other people to thank. Many of you contributed to Katie's RESP and that was greatly appreciated. Education was and is very important to Marcus and I and I know he would be pleased. Thank you very much.