The 50th Birthday celebrations continue!

To celebrate our 50th birthdays (Gary's on the 27th and mine on May 6th) we decided to have a combined birthday bash. Our friends surprised us with this HUGE birthday cake with 50 candles on it. Brenton and Karlea had the job of lighting all the candles - quite a job! We happened to be under the smoke detector in the livingroom and, of course, when we blew out ALL those candles, the smoke detector went off. We all had a great time and we received many corny birthday cards - maybe 50 won't be so bad after all, eh Frank?

Another shot of the birthday boy.

Pretty Nifty - Look Who's Fifty!

Well it's the BIG DAY - Gary turned 50 today. Brenton and I couldn't resist putting sign and balloons out by the road to make the announcement. Gary tells me that what goes around, comes around and be prepared - my big day is coming up soon too!

Luca comes home from the hospital

Luca and Mama got out of the hospital this afternoon - about 36 hours after his birth. They arrived at our house to pick Aaron up so we took advantage of the opportunity to take a picture for our blog, of course! As you can see, everyone is happy - especially Aaron and Papa Manfred! Silvia is doing really well - considering she had a c-section. I can't believe how tiny Luca is - he makes this infant car seat look huge. Gary and I are not dressed up just for Luca's homecoming - we are off to a fundraiser dinner for the Historic Gardens in Annapolis Royal.

Introducing . . . .Luca Paul Jonitz!

Luca was born around 3:55 a.m. this morning by C-section . He weighs just under 7 lbs (3114 grams, I think). He has a full head of dark hair and looks very different than Aaron as a newborn. Mama Silvia is, of course, sore but doing well otherwise. They are hoping to get out of the hospital tomorrow as the cost of a hospital room is around $1700 a day - as they are not Canadian citizens. You could get a very posh hotel room for much less! Aaron is spending tonight at our house again as Papa, Manfred, went back to the hospital to spend time with Silvia and Luca after a shower and short nap at home.

The 'non-biological grandma' and proud big brother Aaron.

Luca's coming!

The phone rang this morning at 8:00 a.m. and a sweet little voice said "Luca's coming!" Aaron's Mama, Silvia, had been up since 3:00 a.m. with contractions. They dropped Aaron off at about 9:30 a.m. to head to Kentville for the birth. We haven't heard anything yet - and its now 11:30 p.m. Silvia had a C-section with Aaron but she was hoping for a natural birth this time. I guess we won't hear anything until tomorrow now and Aaron is happy to be spending the night "at Margaret's house!" Silvia had a very long and difficult labour with Aaron and then a C-section - we were hoping things would go quicker this time. Hopefully we'll have news and pics soon. In the meantime, its off to bed for me - hopefully Aaron will sleep through tonight!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from the newest baby bunnies at Upper Clements Cottages! They are too cute at this stage. Gary & Brenton managed to catch these 3 bunnies and we have them in a cage since something has been making our babies disappear lately - Pippin (our cat) swears it's not him and we're thinking maybe a weasel. I know these are more animal pictures, Jay, however, I thought my little great nieces and nephews would enjoy these pictures. The yellow bunny in the background is Aaron's - we're going to be seeing him later and giving him his Easter things.

Happy Easter!

How's this for an Easter basket?

Our happy little swinger! We are still on baby alert - Aaron's new little brother, Luca, was due on April 12th but has decided he's not ready to make his appearance yet. We stay close to the phone waiting for the call and, as Aaron says, "When Mama has the baby, Aaron goes to Margaret's house!" We are anxiously awaiting our 2nd non-biological grandchild and still waiting to see if Frank will grant me any points for non-biological grandchildren - he can afford to be generous - he's way ahead of me!

Aaron feeding 'Willow'. There are actually two goats here but 'Clementine' is hiding behind Willow.

A great day to play outside!

Well, Tuesday was 'Aaron day' and since it was such a nice spring day, we spent alot of time outdoors feeding the ducks, bunnies and goats, blowing bubbles, playing in the sandbox and swinging. As you can see, Aaron has no fear of the ducks. The white bunny in the cage is 'Lucy' who is a 1/2 Lop which means one ear is up and one kind of hangs down. We have breeded her with a full Lop in the hopes of having some baby Lops. 'Cadbury' is an all white bunny on the other half of Lucy's cage and obviously didn't want her picture taken so she hid in her house.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Yesterday (April 8th) was Jason's 25th birthday - Happy Birthday again Jay! Thinking about his birthday got me looking through some photos of him and reminiscing about when he was younger and I came upon this pic of his 9th birthday - probably one of his favorites because we left for Florida on his birthday. Quite a birthday present! Anyway, as Jason turns 25 I look ahead about a month and oh, what do I see - me turning the big 50 - yuck! This is the year Gary (April 27) and I turn 50 - or as Gary says, we'll be 100 years old together! So we'll be 50, Jason is 25, and Brenton is 15 - all nice, easy numbers for us oldies to remember! Anyway, again Jay - Happy Birthday and hope you got your icecream cake!