A VERY Merry Christmas!

Well, this year there were lots of excited people here at The Smith house on Christmas morning. Everyone was very excited over the gifts they received---and I had my camera to capture the moments.
Here's mom opening a print that she forgot she loved---she told me about it a couple of months ago and then forgot about it...... Here's Dad ---he's been asking for a 37'' flat panel LCD TV for Christmas...I couldn't afford that so I got him the bracket to hang in on the wall. He was a bit pumped incase you can't tell!

Meagan finally got the bed in the bag from ROOTS that she's been wanting--check out those pearly whites! Me and my awesome new wool coat...I love it--the scarf was a nice touch too.
I got Mark a car starter and put it at the bottom of his stocking. He didn't really know what it was at first, but figured it out pretty quick. Miss Pearl got the shaft from Santa this year...look at her sitting between us, looking pretty sad!

Christmas Parties, Christmas Parties!!

Last weekend we had the staff Christmas Party. It was, as usual, a great time. My work has a very fun group of people, and at the top of that group is Stacy, Mario (Santa), and Anne. Without them there IS no party.
Everyone got a chance to sit on Santa's knee. I love this picture of Simone getting a kick out of her gift description. Ok, so here I am getting ready to leave, I laughed myself out the door---what a great time!!
I have become a slacker with my camera...BIG TIME! The night after my staff party my cousin Stacey had a house party and I didn't take one pic, except for these which were taken at the end of the night.

So, this weekend we went to 2 more Christmas Parties, Al & Monica's on Friday (small mansion they live in!), and Sindy's on Saturday. I forgot my camera both times--but Sindy's sending me some pics I think. Merry Christmas everyone!

So Long Pretty Bird:(

Well it's been a bit of a sad week for me. This decision has been looming over my head for months now. Pretty Bird spends 11 hours of the day completely alone. Being a flock animal, he hasn't been doing so well. When Mark and I would get home from work he would just SCREAM....almost in frustration. And when we were home on weekends, it was the same thing. I didn't want to just give him away, so I went through quite the time looking for the best place to rehome him. I wanted to make sure that wherever he went there were lots of other birds and that he'd get lots of time out of his cage. For those of you out there who think that a bird isn't smart and who cares where he goes, you really don't understand the brains these things have. ANYWAYS, I finally found this woman in Halifax who I asked about 800 questions before I agreed to drive to her house with the bird, and if I felt good about the home she had to offer him, than I would leave him with her. Many people I spoke to thought I was off my rocker for driving to Halifax---whatever. I love this little guy and had him for 4 years. I was making sure he was going to be happy and well taken care of. Man, I shed more tears over this little fella last week. But now I'm confidant that he is enjoying his life more now-with LOTS of company. No more long days sitting alone on a perch:)Here we are on the way over--fake smile, I was very sad and had to keep my shades on because I kept welling up:(K, I SO didn't take enough pictures of the whole room. But this gives an idea. Her house sounds like a pet store, and her birds are allowed to come out and play around all day long. She had 20 birds, including 4 cockatiels. The place was very clean and she is awesome. She is a true 'bird lady'. Walks around with lovebirds hanging off her. She's already emailed me three times. Here's Pretty Bird (on the right) with his new buddy Timmy. We kept them in the cages at first to get used to eachother. PB seemed so happy right away. Birds just like him all around. He was whistling and chirping, pretty excited.

AWWWW, this pic makes me sad:( Goodbye little guy--I'll be over to visit you in a couple months.

WAAAAAY Over Due Update

Well, I don't know if there is anyone left out there who even bothers to check my blog anymore because I am a major slacker. There has not been a whole lot to take pictures of. Here's Miss Pearl wearing a cone on her head--she's got some sort of infected cyst happenin on her paw. She hates the cone, but is getting used to it.




Mark went to Palm Dessert and Las Vegas for 10 days in November-first to visit his brother Craig, Kimm, and Cabot, and then to meet up with a bunch of friends in Vegas to gamble and see the sights. I don't really know what is up with the format of this blog right now, the pictures are all over the place. Anyways, here's a few from his trip.


Nice Mark....nice.