Travels around Ottawa

The children and I went to the Papanack zoo two weekends ago. Grant was sleeping during the day cause he worked midnights and I thought I'd let him have some quite.

Papanack Zoo is about 30 mins from our house. It's quite a nice zoo with lots of animals. The day was really hot when we visited, so we only stayed for a little over an hour. Mason really liked the Arctic wolf and the Jaguar.

Grant took the children to Little Ray's Reptile Zoo. Mason let a tarantula walk on his hand. The zookeeper said that he was the bravest child. No other child has let the spider walk on his hand!

I am going to be taking them back there today. I am leaving work at 12:30. My babysitter has an important appt today and I had some vacation I could take!

pictures

Ok..here we go.
here are new pics

Still doing it

I am still nursing Eve! I thought I'd let it go when she turned 1 but I haven't. I had such a hard time first doing it, that I dont' want to give it up. I know I don't need to do it, but I think it's going to be time soon. I nurse her when I get home from work and during the night. Yes, she still wakes up at night to nurse. She is only doing this for comfort. I've got to find a way to make her sleep during the night. Maybe once I finish nursing, she won't get up at night because she know's she wont have it.

Well, I am proud of myself for doing it for a whole year and a bit!

weird

Grant's dad called on yesterday and told us that Grant made the front page of the Globe and Mail. There was a picture of a Canadian soldier working on a vehicle, and the name of the soldier is "grant wagar"
He is even a corporal, which is what Grants rank is in the navy. And the other Grant has a bald head even.
Crazy eh??? Grant got an email from a friend telling him to be safe while over there.
LOL.

2 weeks at lee valley

Wow, i've been there for two weeks already. I've been busy since day 1, so the time has gone fast.

I did notice a trend at work though. If anyone watches Seinfeld, they'll know what i'm talking about. We have cake for just about any occasion. LOL. On my first day, someone made pumpkin squares. On Wednesday, a girl i work with had her bday and they made a cake. Yesterday was another ladies last day and we had cake for her. Gosh, I'm gonna gain weight.

I am really enjoying working there. It's definilty different than what I'm used to. At my previous jobs, I was used to answering the phones every 5 mins. Now I maybe get 1 call a day, and it 's usually just from someone else in the company that I need to get some info from.

I havent bought anything yet from there..but gardening season is coming up and I want to garden!!!

happy bday Eve!

Eve is 1 today!! We are having a party for both of the kids tomorrow and my family will attend.

Unfortunately, I've gotta work today so I can't spend the day with Eve. But, I do love my job :)

Happy bday mason

Mason is 3 today!!!
I have to go to work unfortunately. Grant is taking the kids to Mc'ds to play in the play center.

3 years has flown by.

Two exciting events here...

Eve took her first steps unassisted today!!! She's been cruising around the furniture and has just recently been walking with her push toy. But today, she just started to wakl a few steps.

And Mason is pretty much potty trained when going Pee. He wears a pull up at night and he poops in the morning, so he hasn't had much lucky with going poo on a toilet. We went out and he picked Sponge bob underwear today!

We're so proud of our little monkeys.

Eating machine

Eve insists on feeding herself now. When we try to give her her baby food she turns her head to the side. This morning I tried to give her cereal but only got to give her about half before she started giving me trouble.
So I made her an egg and some toast, she ate it all up. Gave her some cheese and that's gone too!
She's got a great appetite.

I've made a decision and...

you're looking at the newest member of Lee Valley's customs team.
I was offered the job yesterday. The pay just a tiny bit less that what I'm making now, because I don't have all the experience that they want. But in six months time, if I'm doing well I'll get a pay raise!!

I don't start until March 19th. I told Livingston today and they want me to stay for the two weeks!!!

Lee Valley or Livingston?

Lee Valley seems like a neat place to work. They've got such a cool building. They have a showroom, a green house to test out products, a library! Comfy chairs and couches to sit on while you are on your break.

The job seems good too. I'll actually be doing stuff that I've learned. Currently, I'm just an admin clerk. I get papers from a couple of places around where I work, put a cover sheet on them and scan them into the computer. I have been doing a lot of faxing because I still don't have my user ID for the computer yet. But I've been ordering paper/supplies, getting mail ready. I haven't done much in the way of customs yet. My boss said because I do have experience that I'll move quicker and do more challenging things.....but.....I don't think I can do this for much longer.

My current work is 3 mins from me...Lee Valley would be 20. If Lee valley will offer what I'm getting from Livingston, I'm not sure if I should take it. I'll prolly end up spending more on gas. But, it's a much better job.

What would you do???

Expensive!

Mason and Eve need some new clothes so I visited the local Value Village lastnight. Well, let me tell you this, it definilty aint a "value" to go there.

I saw a turtleneck for Eve for $4.99. And they were selling a bucket of magnetic alphabets for $2, but I saw them at the dollar store for $1.

I did end up buying an almost new pair of pj's for Mason for $4.99 and a nice shirt for Eve for $2.99. I still need to go out today. I'll try the other two value villages and I'll go to the Salvation Army's.

First day of work

It went pretty good. But I did have an awful time leaving the kids behind.

I actually got a call from Lee Valley Tools...saying they have a traffic and customs clerk position open. I am going to see them on Wednesday!

Hi from Ottawa

Well, we are finally living in Ottawa. We were in a hotel from Monday Jan 29th to Feb 5th!
It took 6 days to get our furniture from Kingston to Ottawa. Crazy. Mason enjoyed the hotel here in Ottawa...it has a pool and we went in it every day.
We are still unpacking. Grant has to go back to work tomorrow, so I have to stay with the kids and unpack.

I have a job now. I actually had 2 jobs. I took the job with Livingston....It pays better, is 3 mins away from me and I have worked with them before..well I worked with PBB but it is merging with Livingston.

Our Ottawa Trip

The interview went well yesterday. I actually had to do a little test for them, and didn't do that great. I haven't looked at customs related stuff in about a year, I'm rusty. My interviewr understood that. I did get a couple of questions right that most ppl get wrong though. The position is for dealing with exports. I am an import kinda girl, but I have dabbled with exports and I want to learn. I'll learn my fate in a week. She is interviewing 2 more ppl.

The president of the company who interviewed me is really nice. The office seems nice too. It isn't too far from where we will be living as well.

I got an email from another company in Ottawa that I applied for. They want to set up an interview. The unfortunate thing is, is that I don't remember what job it was for :) We just got a new computer and my email is on the old one that I sent to them. I'll have to hook it up and see what i can find out.

We also looked at the house again. It isn't that bad. The bathroom and kitchen are the best things in the house.

Eve's doctors visit

We went in for our 9 month check up yesterday. Eve is 17.5lbs and 29 inches. The doctor is pleased with these stats. She is doing very well. I was concerned with how unstable Eve is when she sits but the doctor said not to worry. She was very impressed that Eve could stand up with just the support of one hand holding her. She was also impressed that Eve can do patty cake, wave bye bye and dance :)

Job situation

So we're moving to Ottawa at the end of the month. I've been looking for jobs down there. I "resigned" from my job at PBB, or so they say. I emailed my manager and said I won't be returning to the Lansdowne office but I'd like to get a transfer to the Ottawa office. There aren't any positions open in Ottawa so the company resigned me. I have an interview tomorrow with another customs broker and I did have my customs officer interview back in Dec. It went SO well, but I still can't take a job if offered to me.

I've applied to the Costco head office Customs Team, um..the Lee Valley Head Office, and I believe Giant Tiger.

so my mother, Eve and I will be travelling to Ottawa tomorrow. Grant and Mason will have a fun filled time at home together. I hope both are in one piece when we return.

New Years Resolutions

1. No more procrastinating. I have to put things away right NOW, not later. I've got to make calls NOW, not later. I've really been slacking.

2. Be more organized. Organize my scrapbooking stuff so I don't spend an hour looking for supplies for a page and than lose my creative mojo. Keep important papers in the files that we have set up.

3. No more clutter. This goes back to my no more procrastinating resolution. I can't just pile stuff on stuff. I'll put it away. And if I don't need it and haven't used it in a while, I'll freecycle it.

4. Remember ppl's bdays and try to send a card. I am not the only one in this house that forgets bday's. Grant is notorious for it. I have to get a day planner and put everyone's birtdays in it and look at the daily! Julie, I know your bday is coming up soon, (Jan 10th rings a bell) but if it has passed, happy belated bday.

5. Get out and exercise more often. If I can, I'll walk to work quite a bit. I have been so BLAH. I need to get more energy back and get the old Suzie back.

Well, I think that's about it for now.

Christmas Holiday

We had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas day here in Kingston and travelled up to Sarnia on the 27th. The trip there wasn't too great, as we stopped 5 times. Eve isn't a good traveller. Mason was carsick 10 mins before we hit Sarnia, so once we stopped I ran him in the house. Eve was bombarded with new faces and freaked out . She got over that quickly and was enjoying being held by everyone.
Mason had a great time with Connor, Garrett and his grandparents. Kids do say the funniest things. We were in Value Village and the cashier had a bit of acne on his face. Mason was saying "mommy look, lots of dots" .. I didn't understand him at first, but once I did I had a hard time containing my laughter. I distracted him with something until we got out of the store.

The trip back to Kingston was a lot better. We stopped once to eat and change diapers.

Grant was supposed to get his new computer yesterday but the store didn't have the ram he wanted so now he was to wait until Friday. He was really upset about that.

I made a scrapbooking page with all of the Christmas cards we recieved!