• Started your own blog
• Slept under the stars
• Played in a band
• Visited Hawaii
• Watched a meteor shower
• Given more than you can afford to charity
• Been to Disneyland
• Held a praying mantis
• Climbed a mountain
• Sang a solo
• Bungee jumpe
• Visited Paris
• Watched a lightning storm at sea
• Taught yourself an art from scratch
• Adopted a child
• Had food poisoning
• Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
• Grown your own vegetables
• Seen the Mona Lisa in France
• Slept on an overnight train
• Had a pillow fight
• Hitch hiked
• Taken a sick day when you're not ill
• Built a snow fort
• Held a lamb
• Gone skinny dipping
• Run a Marathon
• Ridden in a gondola in Venice
• Seen a total eclipse
• Watched a sunrise or sunset
• Hit a home run
• Been on a cruise
• Seen Niagara Falls in person
• Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
• Seen an Amish community
• Taught yourself a new language
• Had enough money to be truly satisfied
• Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
• Gone rock climbing
• Seen Michelangelos David
• Sung karaoke
• Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
• Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
• Visited Africa
• Walked on a beach by moonlight
• Been transported in an ambulance
• Had your portrait painted
• Gone deep sea fishing
• Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
• Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
• Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
• Kissed in the rain
• Played in the mud
• Gone to a drive-in theater
• Been in a movie
• Visited the Great Wall of China
• Started a business
• Taken a martial arts class
• Visited Russia
• Served at a soup kitchen
• Sold Girl Scout Cookies
• Gone whale watching
• Got flowers for no reason
• Donated blood, platelets or plasma
• Gone sky diving
• Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
• Bounced a cheque
• Flown in a helicopter
• Saved a favorite childhood toy
• Visited the Lincoln Memorial
• Eaten Caviar
• Pieced a quilt
• Stood in Times Square
• Toured the Everglades
• Been fired from a job
• Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
• Broken a bone
• Been on a speeding motorcycle
• Seen the Grand Canyon in person
• Published a book
• Visited the Vatican
• Bought a brand new car
• Walked in Jerusalem
• Had your picture in the newspaper
• Read the entire Bible
• Visited the White House
• Killed and prepared an animal for eating
• Had chickenpox
• Saved someone's life
• Sat on a jury
• Met someone famous
• Joined a book club
• Lost a loved one
• Had a baby
• Seen the Alamo in person
• Swam in the Great Salt Lake
• Been involved in a law suit
• Owned a cell phone
• Been stung by a bee
• Read an entire book in one day

I have looked far and wide for donations, including people I don't know.

I will post photos soon, don't worry.

Well, now Daniella is 18 months old...well...by the time I'm writing this post she's nearly 19 months but I'm pleading "super busy with moving" as my excuse this time.

At her 18 month check up we discovered that she is gaining some ground on her growing project. She is now 21.5 pounds (9.8 kg) which puts her in the 13th percentile for her age.

Her hair got lighter and lighter over the summer and people keep asking where she got the strawberry blonde? Apparently I had hair that color when I was wee too and my sister Jackie was the blonde sheep of our family until she was a teenager. My mum's hair has red in it and Erin has red hair from his grandmother Flemming. Who knows how long it will be that color but it sure is lovely for now. Her hair is so soft and curly too I just want to touch it all the time when she's near but she usually gets a bit fed up with me before I've had my fill.

So far she is still my little blue eyed suzy so it's likely that she will stay on the blued-eyed team (Colin, D, Nadine and I) to help us defeat the brown-eyeds (Erin, Mavis, Elise and Shaun) in all future clan Dalzell competitions although it may be that the card playing gene is attached to the brown eyes so she may be doomed when it comes to Hearts. I've heard of eyes changing to brown as late as age two so we'll still have to see I guess.

She is quite the monkey but I don't think she's as much trouble as people had me believing she would be. She has a very good nature a great sense of humour, determination and she knows what she wants so I think she is going to be a force to be reckoned with if we can keep her energy pointed in the right direction--she is very much like her Auntie Jackie in many ways.

She well exceeded the 18 month milestone of saying 6 words and I am sorry I haven't posted about this before because she learns new words every days so already I can't remember which were her very first. Here is my best recollection:

• yeah
• bye!
• Ees or Esie (Elise)
• Danda (Grandad)
• Nana
• Mam-ma (Grandma)
• Bampa (Grandpa)
• bapack (Backpack--Ahhh Dora)
• Du-dut (Duck)
• Bop (stop and also pop when there is toast involved)
• Mimo (her bunny)
• ditty (kitty which she said first pointing to a kitty on Elise's pjs)
• up
• bupabuv (up above)

Now she tries just about every word we ask her to so she's gaining vocabulary all the time.

Daniella has a great sense of humour. She makes Elise laugh all the time and quickly discovered it was a way to get Elise to play with her. She's also getting cuddlier which I love. She loves to read and watch tv but especially In the Night Garden (weirdest show ever but the girls LOVE it) and King George and the Duckie (Du-Dut). She also sings and I just have to tell you that there is a silly song in the middle of all the Veggie Tales movies and she particularly likes Barbara Manatee that she sings along with managing to get out Dadadeeeeeee for Manatee and Bupabaaaaa for Up above. It would take way to long to type it out so I did take a video of her singing it and I'll post it soon. It's just a riot!

My favourite thing she is doing right now is when I come in if I've been out in the evening when I walk in the door she calls out Mamaaaaaa! and runs and gets my pajamas for me. It's awesome! The other thing she does is when I'm cooking or something in the kitchen and she wants up she grabs my pant legs and physically turns me (like I said, determined) so I can't ignore her...not that I could, the little monkey!

I will be posting my clean-shaven picture later today, but please don't hesitate to donate! All money goes to Prostate Cancer research, which is a great cause.

So. A new plan have we. Erin is going to lose 10 lbs. Before I've said I would get in shape, but now I have a goal. Hopefully I can stick to this, unlike all my other promises.

Here's my complicated plan:

• less junk food (especially chips)
• less dessert
• more water
• exercise

I am pretty confident on the food side of things, but I am concerned I won't do the workouts. With two contracts, plus the family, plus the move, I always feel like I don't have enough time. However my health is quite important so I simply must make the time.

I have a radical plan on how to manufacture some time...quit wasting it. Christine and I have realized that most of the shows on TV are crap. Most of the shows we watch we download anyway, so why even have cable? Therefore we are going to reduce our package to just the basics, plus sports. We will watch less TV and our kids will watch less TV, which are both good things. The non-TV time will be reading time, exercising time, stretching time or working time.

Let's see how I do!

I am totally excited about our new house and we spend our free time on the computer looking at decorating ideas. We love Armstrong Flooring and Benjamin Moore sites that have interactive colour choosers where you can change the colours of walls, floors and cabinets and see how it looks in a room. I was planning to paint Elise and Daniella's room the same as it is here because I LOVE the colour scheme (white with a raspberry red accent wall) but Elise informs me that she wants a pink room. It's the Fairy Party vs Jaguar Party all over again. The room, I think, will be pink. sigh.

I had a dream last night that we took possession of the house but there was a computer glitch and the tenant hadn't been informed and was still living there. The funniest thing was that we walked in and started painting before we noticed all her furniture. I opened a closet and saw her coats in there (including a santa costume --WHAT???) then we looked around and all her furniture was there and everything. WHAT???? Too funny.

I'm looking forward to tearing down a few walls and gutting the two bathrooms. Erin had a great idea to make our small ensuite (not complaining about the size..it has a bathtub so it's not THAT small) into a wet room and I think that would be so a la mode! I had a funny idea when I woke up today (always get my best ideas in those first few minutes of peace) to have a 1980's themed house warming party. Everyone get out your leg warmers!