Chirstmas 2009

Another awesome, yet different Christmas for us. For the first time in 18 years, we had neither of the boys on Christmas morning. Kevin was with his mom and Brad with Rob so it was sad, but we made the best of it. The boys both arrived to us before noon, we had a great brunch with Paul's family and then a great dinner with the McCrea side. Lots of laughter and wonderful memories, looking forward to next Christmas in our new house (hopefully!) Hoping all of you had a fun and safe Christmas:)

Our Boy Becomes a Man (sniff sniff)

September 13, 2009 - Brad turned 18! Rob and Mike, Paul and I had a family party for him. Beautiful weather, great to see the Alexanders and McCreas together again. Brad is continuing with another semester of High School and will be off to University in Sept. 2o10. I too will be back at school then, although likely through "Distance Ed" working on my Bachelor of Social Work. Brad was a little concerned that we would be a school together...every young mans dream, right?

Annual McCrea Sisters Camping Extravaganza

The Clan (excluding Ted, Brad and Kevin) took on Presqui'lle Park over Labour Day weekend and had a blast! Great weather, nice campground, CLEAN BATHROOMS, lots of booze and amazing campfire building skills (sometimes).

Brad's Prom

Proud mama here! Brad attended his high school prom last Friday night. In true Brad fashion, he wanted to be different and chose to wear his dad's kilt etc...and looks very handsome if I do say so myself! (Brad does, not his dad...ew!) Brad applied to the Film program at Ryerson, but has been put on the "waiting list" for now. He has decided to return to high school for 1 more semester, improve his marks , get a full time for a few months and apply again next time. He is an incredibly talented film maker, you can see his work on youtube if you search "2:47 Westdale"...it's amazing!

Visite a Montreal

Just returning from a great weekend in Montreal visiting with our amazing friends, Steph and Ben. Steph and her daughter, Alexandra (now16), lived with Brad and I when we were both struggling single moms going to school, working and trying to get our lives back on track. Steph is from France and was a FANTASIC influence in Brad's life and a wonderful friend to me. I think that having Steph with us when Brad was so young, learning the basics of the French language was invaluable, she used to sing beautiful French songs to the kids, read French stories and speak to Brad (and Alex) in french all the time. Anyway, she's now married to Ben (funniest man alive!) and has 2 step children...great kids! Steph turned 40 a few days ago so Paul and I made the 6 hour trip on Friday to surpise her and celebrate, their 7 year anniversary and our 5 yr anniversary as well...we did LOTS of celebrating. Spent Saturday in Old Montreal...beautiful scenary and went to Kareoke (sp?) that night...Quebec Kareoke was quite and experience! Great weekend, loved every moment and I'm feeling very blessed to have such amazing friends!

Design Centre Worries

Well, one visit to the Mattamy Homes Design center and I can tell this new house is going to cost us much more that I thought! This is the kitchen design that we both really like, we actually AGREED on most of the design options...so far.


This the bathroom we could never afford, but it's GORGEOUS!

Paul enjoying the "staging" items, nice look! It was fun to go through all of the model homes and get some ideas but it's going to be very difficult to say "no" to the amazing upgrades available! The selling of our house is getting tiresome, tonnes of people through but no offers yet...fingers crossed. My job is AWESOME, I'm loving every minute of it! We have a busy weekend planned and another open house tomorrow:)

New House, New job...good month!

Introducing...our new home! Finally, after all this time we have found the right house for us in the right location with a double garage (a necessity for Paul), enough room to entertain and for the right price...what a great time to buy! The house will be built (we hope) in June of 2010 so we have some time to sell our home and prepare for the move. Our new home is 1979 sq feet and located in Ancaster, the town where Kevin spends about 75% of his time with his mom & family. We chose Ancaster in hopes that we will be able to have 1/2 time access with Kevin, something he's been asking about for quite some time and would LOVE. Brad may be off to University in September but will likely commute to Toronto from home.
I have also just been offered (and accepted) a permanent, full time position with The Children's Aid Society of Haldimand-Norfolk as a Child Protection Worker, a job I've dreamt about for years. It will be VERY difficult to leave my amazing friends and the 8 years of comfort I've had with Halton Region, but change is good and it's time for me to move on. My last day with Halton will my April 2nd. It's shaping up to be an exciting year!

X-mas 2008

My fav pic: Paige teaching her students how to operate her new camera...if only you could here her, it was hysterical!










Another wonderful Christmas for the Hils/McCrea/Alexander family! We received great gifts but Paul outdid us all with getting a new (to us) truck this year! Our lease was up on our van so we got a great deal on a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 P/U Truck. Horrible on gas, terrible for the environment, but a dream come true for Paul. Since I've been working 2 jobs, he and the boys have really picked up the slack so how could I say no? We're all very happy with it, especially Paul! The boys got a great "haul", video games, computer games, High Hats and symbols for Kev (alias John Bonham), an external hard drive for Brad so they are both very happy! I bought a new dress for our annual New Years Eve festivities and lots of other great additions to my wardrobe with many gift certificates. Brad is busy turning his bedroom into a swinging bachelor pad with a new wall mounted TV from his dad and an old leather couch that friends were throwing out. Not sure how much time he'll have for TV/Video games in September when he starts Post secondary! He has applied to Ryerson for Film, Radio and Television Arts (same course his idols Heather and Ted graduated from) and Queens for Film. Should find out in the spring where he's been excepted, we'll keep you posted. We are all very thankful at this time for our wonderful family and friends and look forward to an exciting New Year!