Sinterklaas with the Deters/Gales

For all of you non-Dutchies.....
Sinterklaas is a Dutch tradition not
far off from our very own Santa Claus.
Except instead of elves, Sinterklaas has a little
black dude (white guy covered in soot)
following him around instead of an elf.
And he fills wooden shoes instead of stockings.
And he throws candy at kids.
And if you are bad,
he takes you back to Spain in his bag....
Any questions? Ask Ralph.

On December 5th, we have a
secret gift exchange.
The unique and fabulous part about this
custom, is that you have to make something.
You write a rhyme about the person you have
picked, and you craft a 'surprise.'
You only spend $25 on the gift itself, which
can be hidden in the surprise,
or you can leave a clue as to its location.
So fun!!

Henk got his gift first...
a stick of dynamite for his short fuse...
filled with new PJ's!

Tessa got a Wonder Woman "barbie" doll....
'cause she does way too much.
Some slippers and bath stuff were inside
to help her relax!

I got my very own, custom made,
Louis Vuitton purse....
and inside were "Channel" earrings!

Eveline got a cast because she
had broken her foot,
and there was a mirror and a
garlic press inside!

Ralph got a whole wheel of Gouda cheese,
and inside were messy cheese buns
filled with clues.....
to find his new underwear!

Scott had a gooey, chocolatey, pizza delivery
that he had to dig through
for his clues....
to find his crisp white t-shirts!

You may be thinking that we are crazy....
but it really is a blast.
We need new recruits for next year
if anyone is interested....

The Deters family is growing......

December 9, 2007

Hayden was such a good boy on Sunday, (and
was a angel/trooper while Ralph and I
Christmas shopped for 5 hours,)
that we stopped by Petland on the way home.

Hayden LOVES animals so he runs
around the store like a wild-man
looking at all of the different breeds.
He likes to watch the birds, but
I am terrified of them.
Already have a giant horse/dog.
Already have a fat cat who eats for two.
Refuse to have rodent-like creatures in my house.
Fish. Hmmmmm.....low maitenance......
never had one......kinda' cute?!

Presenting Nemo......and Nemo
our new fishies!!
(Hayden named them all on his own!)

Hayden gets up on the footstool and
loves to watch Nemo and Nemo swim around.
He checks in on them at least 3-4 times a day,
always wants to feed them,
gives them kisses goodnight,
and wants to see them as soon as he gets up!

He rests his head on his arm and
watches his 2 new buddies.
(Mommy must admit,
she is kind of fascinated by them too!)

Santa vs. Hayden 2007......

The SNC Lavalin Kiddie Christmas Party
was on Sunday afternoon.....
Hayden had to wear his new sweater!

They had balloon animals and face painting....
(notice my child has neither.)
They had gingerbread men for the kids to decorate,
but Hayden preferred his 'au natural!'

Hayden wanted NO PART of sitting on
some strange man's lap, so Mommy had
to sit with him too!
Santa listened very carefully to Hayden's
list of requests and I told Santa
that I would like anything
with diamonds....

Hayden waited very patiently in the line-up,
tolerated a visit with Santa,
and was rewarded....

.....with a cute little Elmo for the tub
that came complete with soap crayons
for tubby art work!
Great job Santa, now I have to explain
why he can't color on the walls
outside of the tub!!

I'm 19 months old!!

November 20, 2007

Nemo Band-aids for sore thumbs......$3.99
Case of Minigo......$8.99
New big boy dishes and utensils.....$14.99
Dora the Explorer DVD......$22.99

My son and his sweet little face.......PRICELESS!

A few of my favorite things:

When I come home after working all day and Hayden runs at me
yelling "mommy!" as he jumps into my arms.

My heart swells every time I see him trying
new "big boy" things. Drinking from a glass,
helping mommy windex, and using the DVD player(eek!)

He tries to say new words every day.....now
we really need to watch what we say!
Ouwie, oh-no and toast are new.

I love that he points to my feet and
says "cold" if I don't have socks on.

I love that he is such an affectionate little boy.
He loves to give hugs and kisses....
to everyone and everything!

I love the way he runs around the house
like a wild man, giggling and squealing.....
and the next minute he's reading a book in your lap.

I love that he goes to get a tissue if he
needs to "blow" his nose. He holds the tissue,
sniffs, then throws it in the garbage.

I love his cute little facial expressions.
I love the way he raises his eyebrows and tilts his head
if he's checking something out, or he wants you
to check it out too.

I love that he points to the various parts
of his body and can name
an awful lot of them.....knee, cheek,
elbow, eye, nose, mouth, hair, ear.....
and the ever popular pee-pee!


Really, I just love all of him....period.
Even though there are times he makes me want to cry,
he mostly makes me laugh out loud.

He knows what he likes!

November 16, 2007

Most children like Cheerios for breakfast.
Or toast.
Not my child.
He had a smoothie......
and a pickle!!

Hayden walked to the fridge,
said "pickle?"
and opened the fridge door.
He took out the jar of pickles all by himself.

I love this face!!
He kind of tilts his head and raises
his eyebrows as if to say,
"you look pretty good and I'm going to
eat you now, okay?!"

How delicious!
I'm going to savor every bite!

"Want some?"
No thanks.
(The smell of garlic and dill
at 8AM is making me nauseous!)

No sour pucker,
just pickle juice all over his face,
his hair going every direction,
how can you help but fall even more in love?!

Our visit with Grandma & Grandpa!

Our trip to Saskatoon
November 4-8, 2007

Hayden and I re-packed our suitcases,
and went to see Grandma and Grandpa!

Hayden and Grandma having a snuggle...
while he is watching Dora.

Hayden also got to see his 2 Great-Grandmas!!

Grandma's glass tables took a beating.
Hayden thought he should take it upon himself
to clean off the fingerprints!

Hayden decide he should dine early.
Therefore, he ate alone.
It's a good thing the kitchen is always open!!

Hayden the helper.
Grandma's salad spinner also had a
round or two taken out of it!

Who knew cheese graters could be such fun?!
Maybe because there were
3 different sizes!

I'm not sure....
it just seemed like a cool place to take a rest?

Watching trucks with Grandpa!!

What a tough vacation.....
Hayden decided that he should nap in Mommy's bed!
And came walking out of the room
when his nap was finished!!
(So much for the pillow barricade!)

Grandma and Grandpa will only have a
month and a half to recover
until we visit again.
I guess it's pretty quiet
without Hayden around!

Trick or Treat!

October 31, 2007

Hayden's first Halloween...that he understands
the yummy concept of candy!
He quite enjoyed going from house
to house....and wouldn't let go
of his pail of treats!!
Mommy and Daddy, of course, ate his candy.
This is one of the fringe benefits of being a parent.

Family Vacation - Mexico 2007!

October 21-28, 2007
The Deters' Family vacation to Jalisco, Mexico!

I had my reservations.
I was pleasantly surprised by Hayden's ability to
sit still on an airplane. He did very well.
He decided he shouldn't nap in Mexico....there is too much to see!
Why sit through dinner? There are places to go!
Why sleep through the night....sleep is for the weak!
Why shouldn't I sleep with mommy and daddy? They are in the same room!
Why can't I have another Pina Colada?
Sand doesn't taste that great. Even on a cookie.


Hayden enjoyed the pool, with some coaxing.
He really appreciated it after a day in the hot sun!

The last night.
They made me do a shot of tequila.
I'm smiling 'cause I haven't done it yet!!

Hayden and Daddy building sandcastles.
Hayden was the wrecking crew.

....the view from the lobby bar.
Don't we look tanned!?
It was a beautiful resort!

Hayden loves animals. He took a shine to this friendly
little guy while we were having lunch in Bucerias.
He loved Hayden's cheerios.

Mmmmmmm.....mas margaritas, and
pina coladas por favor!!

One of Hayden's Puerto Vallarta market
purchases....his new soccer jersey.

Beach baby.

Cool dude.

Viva la Mexico!!
When is our next trip??

I'm 18 months old today!!

October 20, 2007
A year and a half......wow!
This spirited little monkey has changed our world,
and on some days has turned it upside down!
And in spite of it all, good and bad, the hugs and kisses
that I get from this blue-eyed sweetie,
make it all worth while....

Is this not the face of an angel??

In spite of the flu, he let me shove our new
camera in his face and capture this precious shot!

My child is a ham!!
He makes us laugh every day with all of his
funny facial expressions and his crazy antics....
and he is picking up new talents and
words every day!
Socks, shoes, coat, cold, bubble, no, door
turtle, knee, toe, one, beep, more
go, book, tree.....just to name a few!
He likes to "blow" his nose, back up into your lap
to read a book, climb on everything,
wants to "walk" up and down stairs, loves trucks,
loves puzzles, he rocks at his Leap Frog Fridge Farm,
and will hug and kiss EVERYTHING
that he is fond of!

.....he likes to sit, or play, on the stairs.
He knows what he wants, when he wants it!

.....and he is such a big boy that he can eat a
whole piece of pizza all by himself!!

You will notice I listed only his wonderful qualities.
His fiery little will of steel and his temper
cannot be excluded from this list....
both are a work in progress!

Wheeeeeee!

October 12, 2007
If all of our Fall days were as beautiful as this......
we would play outside
every day!!!

A boy and his mower...

October 6, 2007

Who says a guy can't mow the lawn in his jammies??
And he's totally looking at me
as if to say "I'm not changing, so don't ask!"
At least they were fuzzy footie jammies, and
he tires of doing chores quickly enough
that he didn't catch a chill.

Coming soon! Halloween 2007......

My son is going to be the CUTEST Elephant ever!!
stay tuned for photos....

....and if anyone needs a cute lion
costume (that was worn for 2 hours)
I would be happy to lend it out.
Size 12-18 months.

Run For The Cure 2007!

September 30, 2007
Here is Hayden at the meeting point for Team Steph
at 8AM (after Mommy woke him up at 6:30AM)
Happy camper, rearing to do his 5K walk,
and looking cute-as-can-be in his new pink shirt.....

This is Hayden AFTER the 5K walk.....
who knew it was this hard to be pushed in the
jogger, and then carried the last 2K???