A little late......BUT still in the GAME!!

Our little Scarlett just turned 1! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by.....seems like just yesterday she was brand new. We have had a busy year, especially the last 6 months or so with packing up and moving to the other side of the world. Needless to say Scarlett has just recently started crawling!! I know it's late, however I feel like it's partially my fault. We have been so busy she has spent a lot of her "awake" time in a stroller or car seat or grocery cart or airplane. Not a lot of "alone sitting on the floor trying to figure out how to crawl" opportunity for her. She has been so happy and content to sit and chew on a cracker and watch everything that is going on around her. She is such a good little girl. Anyway her time FINALLY came and she is quite proud of herself and so are we! She is loving the new found freedom and spends all her time exploring! Isabelle is adjusting to it as well because now Scarlett can get to all Isabelle's toys and things......Here she is showing off her skills :) luv you baby girl!!

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Play Clay Anyone??

So Isabelle got a few books for Christmas before we moved over here to the Philippines. They are all good but one of her favorites is called "Mmmmm, Cookies!" by Robert Munsch.It is a story about a little boy who makes cookies out of play clay and tricks people into eating them! then he laughs and laughs.......So while we read this story Isabelle always asks me "What is play clay? I want to try playing with some...." We were out and about the other day and we found some!! YEAH! we rushed home and started the fun!!Brayden Beattie joined in for some of the fun too!! Hooray for Play Clay!

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Izzy Bizzy Belle!

The other morning I was up early with Scarlett and already downstairs feeding her "never ending" appetite! Isabelle woke up and came down to see us....
Me: "Good Morning Honey!"
IBB: "Morning mom, did I sleep in?"
Me: "Ya a little" (bending down to give her a morning hug)
IBB: (NOT hugging me back) "Be careful please mom.....I'm REALLY HUNGRY!!" That's My Issy!! Gotta luv her :)

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Mommy's? nope, Daddy's Girl!

Well just like with Isabelle, Lance has made Scarlett into a huge Daddy's girl! She light's up when he walks in the door! Squeeling and smiling till he starts playing with her. The other morning he put his hat on her head for the first time....she thought she was SOO cool! She just left it there for the longest time. she kept reaching up and feeling it with her hands then laughing!I can't blame her though.....Lance is pretty great ~ who wouldn't be excited to see him?!

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Temple Time!

So they just opened a new temple in Cebu. It's just the "open house" right now and we were very excited to be able to go through it with our kids. It's a small temple and very pretty! We will be going back over to Cebu in a few weeks for the Dedication which we were lucky enough to get tickets for. It's was so nice to be in the temple with Isabelle. She loved all the pretty things. I got so emotional while I was showing her the "Beautiful Brides Room" and explaining to her that one day she would be in here, putting on her very own princess dress, while her husband waited outside for her to get married! She looked around wide eyed and nodded while thinking hard about what I was saying! Ahhhh I am glad that day is still a LONG way off....I'm NOT ready to be thinking like that yet. It was a very nice morning we got to share together as a family!

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Continental EXTRAVAGANZZZZZA!

So the Hotel that we stayed at in Cebu (as previously mentioned) was really great in a lot of ways but one of the best things was the continental breakfast that was included in the price of the room.....$84 a night. I have stayed in quite a few hotels in my life and NEVER have a seen such a thing.....it was a giant buffet of food! Pancakes, waffles, cereal, toast, fruit, croissant, baguette, scrambled eggs, omelets, sausage, bacon, chicken, rice, fried rice, muffins, donuts, juices and MORE! It was this huge nice restaurant! All the food was great and we pigged out every morning and got nice and fat over the 5 days we were there. As much as I liked the food I enjoyed something else just as much..........the restaurant staff's UNIFORMS!! They were so hilarious and very entertaining..... I managed a few shots! Just couldn't resist :)

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The Getaway!!

This weekend we had the chance to get away for a while. We went over to the Island beside us called Cebu...it's not to far about a 5 hr trip. It's broken up by a 2 hr. ferry ride where you can walk around and get some eats and look at the ocean or whatever. The driving part takes you through the mountains of our Island. Very pretty and different not to see bare peeks covered in Ice and snow all year around. These mountains are lush and green right to the top and covered with palm trees! We saw some real mountain dwelling people. Living in the middle of nowhere with no electricity and only a small room for there family of like 12! I caught a picture of one of the huts they live in......The traveling part went fairly smoothly.....Scarlett did some sleeping....Isabelle LOVED the Ferry ride and watching the Ocean.....When we got to the hotel we were ecstatic! It was so nice and HUGE!It had a beautiful pool, which we spent a lot of time at........A BATH TUB! That might not mean a lot to some of you but to my kids, it was heaven! They quickly stripped down and jumped in, with only the hotel soaps to play with as tub toys. They had one every morning AND night for the whole 5 days we were there....they loved it!It also had a super nice gym and steam-room, sauna area. Lance and I were loving it there and took turns daily ~ sometimes twice ~ to go work out or have a steam-room...ahhh bliss!
There was a huge nice mall and we did a whole day of shopping our brains out! We ate at TGI Fridays.....a first for me, but very yummy the whole family loved it!We had a lot of down time as well to just hang out in the hotel room..........which was good concidering I was feeling so under the weather and had completely lost my voice. I think this made for a nice time for Lance, I was unable to bark orders out or boss everyone around...needless to say it was a fairly "quiet" weekend! haha We also took the girls to see the new shrek movie and they both loved it!

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Oh the HAIR!!

So Isabelle has some crazy hair.......She didn't really have any till she was about two and it is just that kind of hair that gets messed up so easily! Once it's gets all messy...it stays that way till it see's a water sprayer and a comb! If she's playing in pillows or a blanket or wears a toque or hat - bye bye hair.......however it's the worst in the morning and actually quite entertaining! I keep thinking sometime it'll just stop being so messy or she'll grow out of it. Here are a few pic's of it over the years....the last ones were taken here just the other day...still as messy as ever, gotta love it!

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Gotta love DATE NIGHT!!

So Lance and I are fortunate enough to be able to go out on a Date almost once a week. It's been so nice to be able to spend that time together as well as explore the new City we are living in. One thing we like to do sometimes is go for a couples Massage. It costs us about $10 total for 1 hour, full body....and that's for both of us! It's so nice and relaxing and aside from being a bit greasy after wards and we both feel great! One of my favorite things about date night is we get to take the motorbike and I absolutely LOVE it! It's so fun to ride on and it's quick to get around since the Philippino way of driving is a little less effective sometimes.....I tried to take a pic of us on the bike but this is the best I got and to tell you the truth it's a little concerning that lances eyes are closed, he's the one driving......?! (next time I will get someone else to take one of us)
Waiting for our turn for the Massage.....
They wash your feet for you first before you get undressed for the Massage to start.....
Anyway we had a blast.....Love you honey! Watch for more "DATE NIGHT" activities.....

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Cherry Flip ~ Recipe ~

Hello all......I had a few requests to post the Recipe from an earlier post about a Dessert called "CHERRY FLIP" so here it is......enjoy!

This is for and 8*8....double it for a 9*13.

Crust
1 1/2 c. Graham Crumbs
1/4 c. Butter
1/4 c. white sugar

Melt butter, mix together and press into pan.

Topping
1 pkg Cr. Cheese
1/2 - 1 Lg. Container of Cool Whip
1/2 c. Icing sugar
1 can of pie filling (any flavor)

- Cream together room temp Cr. Cheese and Icing sugar
- Stir in 1/2 to full container of Cool Whip (to taste)

Spread this filling on top of the already made crust. (It's kind of thick and a bit hard to spread)
Top off with your favorite flavor of pie filling!
Chill for a few hours and enjoy!!

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Isabelleism's.....as we like to call them!

So our little Isabelle is always coming up with these little whitty comments or funny ideas about things. They always make me laugh and I have no idea where she get's half of them from! I like to call them "ISABLELLEISM'S".....Here's one from this morning.....

Isabelle: "Hey mom when I grow up and have babies you can come to my house and snuggle them!"
Me: "Oh WOW I can't wait....how many babies are you going to have?"
Isabelle: "Well I'm not really sure...hmmm.......4 boys and 5 girls!"
Me:...."Yikes"

Love that girl!

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~ Two birds with one stone ~

Here is Lance with two of his loves.......not his only loves....but two important ones. They are:

• his baby girl, Scarlett

• his X Box

This is a little Video of him playing with both at the same time ~ killing two Birds with one stone~ It was so funny and Scarlett is having a BLAST!

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Sunrise....ahhhhhh

Woke up to this out my window this morning......by the time I got my camera out it had already changed but was still so beautiful!

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Showering in the GARDEN!

So we have learned that over here in the Philippines they have some different names for things......

There is a house across the street from us with two little kids. A girl and a boy. The girls name is Georgia and the boys name is Georgo and can you guess what the dads name is? YEP George! lol They, like any typical Philippino family, have "yaya's" or Nannie's for their kids. The one yaya is super nice to me. She is older and only has 1 tooth (total) on the bottom off to the right hand side. Isabelle, Sydney and Brayden  were running through our sprinkler outside the other day and I went over and asked the yaya if Georgia and Georgo wanted to come join in the fun! She shook her head and said "No, no they can't come shower in the garden today, Georgia has a cough!" What I learned?: Running through the sprinkler = Showering in the garden! Too Funny :-D

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The newest member of our family.....

Georgie!!
Our little Scarlett has quite the soft spot. She is so kind and sweet! She loves soft blankets and soft stuffed animals, pillows....basically anything she can cuddle with. So the other day we bought her a NEW stuffy a little Giraffe named Georgie! IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!

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Cherry Flip....STRAWBERRY STYLE!!

So the last time we were in Vanderhoof my mother in law, Orenda Jarman, shared one of Lances favorite "growing up recipes" with me CHERRY FLIP! It's a no bake cheesecake type of dessert dish. It's so yummy and one of our favorite to make and share with friends. Lance has always said he would love to try it made with strawberries.....however, after some extensive searching, I discovered that wouldn't be possible! They DO NOT make Strawberries pie filling anywhere in Canada. NOPE for real, Raspberry? Yes! Apple? Yes! Cherry? Yes! Blueberry? Yes! but no Strawberry =(
I was walking around in a grocery store here in the Philippines the other day and to what did my wondering eyes behold .......... a can of Strawberry pie FILLING?!?! Could it really be?....YES!
So I obviously bought it in a hurry and quickly searched the store for the rest of the ingredients. The funny thing is you can't actually by strawberries here! Not like in Canada where you can by a huge vat of them for $4. Anyway I thought that little fact was very ironic.So for mothers day I whipped up a batch of "CHERRY FLIP" but "STRAWBERRY STYLE" and it was scrumptious ~ if I do say so myself!!

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