Mikey

Dear Mikey,

I am thinking of you a lot today Mikey and wishing I could be celebrating your 25th birthday with you.  How you would have loved looking out the window this morning to see all this snow.  You would have, no doubt, had your snowmobile geared up and been out there making some tracks in this newly fallen snow by now.  How I wish you could be.  And then later tonight you would have happily joined our family to help you in celebrating this special day.  The jokes and stories you would have told would have brought smiles to everyone's faces as we gathered to celebrate you.  Instead today we think about you with both sadness for the time we will not get to spend with you but also with fondness and love for the time we did have together.  It was far too short but I am so thankful for every moment I got to spend with you.

Your brother wrote a wonderful memory to you on Facebook today.  I know your brother, sister-law and niece miss you so much and I am certain they are sharing wonderful memories about you with your nephew Owen.  It is such a shame that he will never have the chance to meet his amazing uncle.

Happy Birthday Mikey. We miss you soo much, I think about you all the time. Sometimes more than others like this morning with a fresh 8 inches of snow on your birthday. You would have been so happy. You wouldn't have been quite so happy yesterday when the snow was starting and people were having to learn how to drive in snow again. I can just imagine the stories you would have had about them today. Paige got her first new snowmobile helmet from Kurt at Tcona the other day, after she picked the one she wanted and we decided to get it she said "daddy now we can put a 22 on it for my uncle Mikey". I am so glad she has the memories of you that she does but am so pissed off and sad for you and her that you dont get to be a part of these times, she would have been so excited to show her uncle Mikey. I think about all the moments that we aren't going to have together and it makes me so sad, its so unfair. Everything that happens I think of you and miss you, when its good or bad I wish you were here with me. We are going for a atv ride today like we did on this day last year in honor of you. Owen looks exactly like you and I'm sure he will be ripping around the back yard on atv 's and snowmobiles just like you did. I don't know what to believe in but I hope you in some way get to watch your niece and nephew grow and be happy. I know I am a better person because I had you in my life I miss you and love you so much. R.I.P

-Bill Mooney

I had to laugh thinking about all those times you vented about those darn Winnipeg drivers and how it could be that so many people out there just 'did not know how to drive in this snow.  It's like none of them had ever seen a Winnipeg winter before.'  I never knew you to get mad or upset about anything except when it came to people's driving skills.  You always had a smile on your face and a positive outlook on life.  You were one of the happiest people I know and could bring a smile to anyone's face at any time.  You really did live every day as if it could be your last and enjoyed life to the fullest. I hope you knew how much you were loved and how many people cared so deeply for you.  You have touched so many lives and your memory will live on forever.

I love you so much and miss you more than words can say.

Love,

    Samantha

Double Birthday BBQ

Today we celebrated two birthdays at my place.  June 9th will be my Oma's birthday and June 7th is Kea's birthday.  We decided to have a BBQ at my place to celebrate both.  The weather seemed to be cooperating all day as we got ready for it, in spite of the 60% chance of rain/thundershowers being predicted but then just as the guests arrived so did some thunder and a bit of rain.  I was quite worried that the festivities would have to be moved inside but within 10 minutes the rain passed, the sun came out and the rest of the evening was absolutely beautiful, sunny and actually a bit hot.  Here are some pictures from the evening.

All of us enjoying my new deck.

Kea's Cookie Cake

Oma's Cake... Tuxedo Cake from Costco, my favourite!

The birthday boy and girl

The outfits were NOT planned!

Olena and Buddy

Kea on his new lamb pillow

My Sunday and My Family

I am combining My Sunday and My Family together for this My Life photo entry.  Tonight I got to celebrate Easter and several birthdays with my mom's family.  It was such a great time.  It was my second time getting to meet Owen James Michael, my cousin's new baby who was born on April Fool's Day.  Paige who is 3 just loves being a big sister.  Here are some photos from our evening together.

Paige cutting and pasting

Paige and Owen with their "Grandma Great" 

Owen with his mom and dad

A birthday message from Grandma

Owen and his proud Grandma

Beautiful Family

Paige and Owen with their Grandma and Papa

Olena, Leah and myself with Paige and Owen

Spring has Sprung

Spring has arrived early in Winnipeg.  This little guy has been hanging out a lot in my backyard.  He's been around all winter but I can tell he too is enjoying the warmer than usual spring.  

With spring comes Olena and Steve's birthdays.  I was able to celebrate Olena's birthday with her on her birthday weekend but Steve was unfortunately out of town for it.  He is also out of town next weekend for his birthday.  This past weekend ended up being the perfect time to celebrate both birthdays, right in between both of them.  Here are some pictures from our family celebration.


 My mom and I saw this cute cupcake holder a couple weeks ago and just had to get it.  It is super cute and I am sure we will get a lot of use out of it.

Every year my mom builds us a birthday present tower out of our gifts.  She tried to make sure both towers were the same height this year.  I think she did a pretty good job. The small stack of gifts off to each side were from me.

Buddy was really interested in opening the presents this year.  Or maybe he just liked how the boxes tasted.  He's never sat and chewed through the boxes before but take a look at some of the damage he did on the boxes below.

Olena, as usual, is quite the dog whisperer.  Both dogs love to cuddle with her.  Buddy was a bit jealous that evening and kept jumping up on Olena's lap every time Kea went over to say hi to her.  

Both dogs wore themselves out by the end of the night.

Amazing Weekend

I wish I had some pictures to share but unfortunately I did not take any pictures with my camera this weekend.  I will have to get some from my sister-in-law to share at a later date.  I just had an absolutely amazing weekend and I wanted to share.  Friday night was pretty quiet but I did get to go for a nice long walk with my roommate.  It's been a while since we've actually had a chance to spend some time together.  Funny how we can live in the same house, yet I feel like I barely get to see her.  Saturday the festivities began.  In honour of Olena's birthday we planned a full day of fun.  We started out by getting our nails done and then met up with some friends to paint pottery at Brushfire.  I painted a vase for my basement.  It needs to be fired in the kilm so I won't be able to pick it up for at least a week.  After that we went to Kawaii Crepes for dinner with some more friends. It was absolutely delicious and I will be going back there for sure.  I had a crepe with chicken and yams in it for supper and then a peanut butter and cheesecake crepe for dessert.  There were so many crepes to choose from it was hard to decide.  After dinner a few of us headed to the new country bar, The Ranch Saloon.  It was a lot of fun.  I went back to Olena's for the night and then she made me a wonderful breakfast.  I'm so lucky to have such an amazing sister.  On Sunday we went to a friend's baby shower and I got to spend some more time with my awesome friends and had some more delicious food.  By the time I got home on Sunday night I was exhausted, the good kind of exhausted though!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well.  The above average temperatures and the feeling that spring is already in the air, just added to the beauty of this weekend. :)

Strawberry Shortcake Party

Last night I got to attend a very special Strawberry Shortcake Party for my cousin's little girl.  She was as adorable as always and by the end of the night my cheeks were sore from laughing and smiling so much.  She is currently the only member of our family under the age of 18 so she is quite spoiled and gets a LOT of attention.  But she deserves every bit of it as she is the sweetest, smartest and most special little girl.  I can never get enough of her.  Here are some cute pictures and videos from the night.

Delicious cakes my cousin, Bill, decorated.  

Playing "Hide and Seek" on her bed

She loves Minnie Mouse, so much so that she is convinced her parents will let her name her new little sister Minnie.  When asked what they'll name it if it's a boy she responds with "I don't want a little brother, I'm going to have a little sister."  At one point she gave in and suggested that IF it is a boy, Goofy might be a good name.

How much presents do I got?

Showing off her gymnastic skills

Showing off her newest dance move taught to her by a 5 year old at her daycare.

Say Cheese!

She got this cool Minnie Mouse camera for her birthday and on the back is a screen that shows pictures of Minnie, Mickey and other disney characters. Every time you "snap a picture" a new image appears on the screen. As she took pictures of everyone at the party, she would look at the screen and if Minnie showed up in that picture she would declare "You look like a girl" or if Mickey was in that picture she would tell you "You look like a boy."   Her poor daddy was a girl every time. :)

Licking the cake off Strawberry Shortcake's feet

Happy 3rd Birthday Sweetie!