Let's see...What's new?

Well, there's not too much new going on around here really. The hype is for Halloween for sure since it's George's favourite holiday. He and Kyle have been making window decorations and having lots of fun. We went to see the Halloween train at the park tonight too, but certainly didn't go on since it's quite scary and way too much for Kyle! Heck, it scares me - the guy with the chainsaw is the worst!

Kyle has his costume all ready. Nana (my mum) made him a Thomas costume and he loves it. That was what he wanted, so that's what he got and mum did a fantastic job! I can't wait to take some pictures of Kyle in it. I should have been able to do that today since the kids were getting dressed up for Kyle's Kindermusik class, but the boys are both all sniffly again! I think I was more disappointed than he was since we didn't talk about it with him too much today to avoid too much disappointment.

Nathan's costume is one that we had given to us by Auntie Randi. It's a little bear costume and she gave it to Kyle because I used to call him my little cuddle bear. Unfortunately, by the time Halloween came along, it didn't fit, but it's perfect this year for Nathan!

We had nice visits with both sets of parents/grandparents today! Everyone needed their baby fix at the same time. Dad is going out of town for a week, so he wanted to see the boys before he left and George's parents hadn't seen the kids for about 2 weeks, so they popped over for a visit too. We did well in the food department as a result too because we met mum and dad at Tim Horton's and dad treated everyone and then George's mum brought us food too - as usual!

Nathan seems to be growing so much these days and doing new things all the time. He's figured out how to climb the 2 stairs to get out of our sunken living room now, so he has access to the whole house! He seems to quite like Kyle's room and it's soon to be his, so I guess that's good! He's also pulling himself up on everything. I went in to get him after his nap yesterday and he was standing in the crib for the first time. Busy, busy!

Oh, we have something to look forward to next weekend too. Scott and Toni (my uncle and aunt from San Francisco now) are coming up to see everyone. It's been far too long and we're really excited about visiting with them! Can't wait for them to meet Nathan and Sophia (Tracy and Brian are coming over for dinner too) as well as see Kyle again. They'd never recognize Kyle! Should be a wonderful visit!

Well, think that's about it for now. I should go get working on getting ready for my scrapbooking retreat. Yes, I said retreat! I'm going away in a few weeks with mum for the weekend to scrap and the boys get to stay home together! Looking forward to it, but I want to try and get organized before I go so that I can get lot accomplished while I'm there!

Better go do a few things before bed. Hey, I have an extra hour tonight with the time change! Yeah!

Cheers,
Colleen

Simple Pleasures

I was doing this scrapbook page today and thinking about the little things that we do as a family that make me (and I hope all of us!) so happy. One of them is what this layout was about - family outings. I love it that George loves to plan little outings on the weekend and surprise us with fun things to do. And when I say fun, I guess they're mostly fun because we're out doing something together: a walk, a picnic, a trip to the pumpkin patch. I hope that they're things Kyle and Nathan enjoy and will continue to as they get older.

As the quote on my page says "Nothing is worth more than this day."

Colleen

Book Boy

Yes, Kyle really does love his books. We have a bookshelf that while it's not completely full, has lots of choice! We read every night at bedtime and Kyle and I have also been trying to do it during the daytime a little when Nathan lays down for a nap. Kyle would sit and read for as long as you'll let him and will now also go in and read "to himself". He, of course, has no idea what's actually written in the books generally, but I'll hear him in there making up something. Sometimes it'll have a bit of the real story that he's remembered and then added to and sometimes it'll be completely his imagination at work.

George is also really good at making up stories and Kyle loves this. I do it, but not as often for sure simply because by the time bedtime comes, sometimes I'm just to tired to engage my brain! Kyle will often ask for this at bedtime now too along with reading books and singing songs. He also has to have both of us in to say nght, so this is not a short process!

When I walked by his room the other day, he was laying on the floor in front of his bookshelf with his headed propped up and his legs corssed with a book in front of him and he was rambling away. So, what does a good scrapbooking mum do? She goes and gets her camera!!



Cheers,
Colleen

{A Day at the Pumpkin Patch}

OK, now this feels like it's really fall - our trip to the pumpkin patch. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we tried to go on Tuesday and ran into problems with them suddenly deciding not to open. I still haven't heard anything after calling twice and I'm going to e-mail them, but we knew we'd be going because Kyle was really disappointed when it wasn't open.

We decided to head out this morning and be there when it opened to try and avoid some of the crowd. We were actually pretty surprised that it wasn't that bad, especially because they're calling for rain off and on this week. I wanted to go before the rain started because it was so mucky last year after it had rained for a few days.




After getting there, we decided we'd do the wagon trip out to the patch first and pick our pumpkins. Kyle loves the wagon ride and there are musicians that sing and play on all of them. We took the sling for Nathan so that I could walk around with him "attached" to me and he did pretty well. We took him out for some cute pictures too. Kyle had fun picking his pumpkin and he got one that's not too big. I picked a medium sized one and George had to have a bigger one of course! The only thing for him was that he has to carry all of them back, but at least they give you bags for them. With me carrying Nathan and holding Kyle's hand, I couldn't carry any!

We did the wagon trip back to the main area and decided to hang out there for a while. Kyle wanted to sit and listen to the band that was playing for a while. He also wanted to hug characters that they have: one dressed as a big pumpkin and the other as a big cob of corn.


We also went over to the play area with all the hay and I had my first heart pounding moment with Kyle. George was putting Nathan down in the hay for me to take a picture and I was watching Kyle. In the time it took me to look down at Nathan and take the picture, Kyle had turned around and headed behind us to where the music was. There were so many kids and when I looked up, I didn't see him. Panic set in quite quickly as George and I spent 30 or 45 second looking for him before I hear this "Mummy!" from behind me. Oh thank god! It wasn't very long, but it was long enough to get my heart rate up and felt like much longer! Needless to say, this is not like Kyle at all and we had another talk about this!!

There wasn't too much else for us to see, so we decided that we'd get some mini doughnuts on the way out and head for the car. As I was standing in line, Kyle decided he wanted to go say goodbye to one of the characters and by the time they came back, Kyle wanted to stay and listen to more music. We sat down with our snack and watched Kyle do a little dancing before heading home. Even without the rain we were all pretty dirty!

It was a really great day despite my little heart attack! It's just so much fun watching Kyle have fun!

Cheers,
Colleen

Keeping myself busy too!

I'm also scrapbooking at a fairly crazy pace these days and having tons of fun with it. I'm trying to get some memories into books for the boys as well as just scrapbooking some family outings and holidays. This is one I did recently of some pictures of Nathan and I after a nice walk a couple of weeks ago.


I love this hilarious picture of Kyle and his big Elmo all tucked in bed with him and even with his blankie!

I'm really looking forward to going to my scrapping weekend next month too. Mum and I have gone the last two years and George gets the boys for the weekend again this year! We go up Friday evening and come home Sunday after lots of scrapping, not much sleep and tons of food! A great weekend!!

Well, better go get a few other things done while the boys are still both napping!
Cheers,
Colleen

Where does the time go??

I just have no idea how it got to be almost the middle of October already! I see it been longer than I thought since I posted here - as usual!!

Let's see...what have we been up to? Well, the colds that are going around certainly have hit us in the last little bit. Both the boys have now had 2 colds fairly close together. I managed to miss the first one, but not so lucky the second time around. That meant that we spent the better part of last week at home trying to get all of us healthy again which was really too bad considering how gorgeous the weather has been.

Nathan seems to have been hit hardest by the bugs. Finally took him to the Dr last Friday after him just being sick for a while and seeming out of sorts. Good thing I did as I found out he had an ear infection. The Dr put him on antibiotics since he was all congested and had been sick for a while as well as having the ear infection. Well, I took him back again today since he didn't really seem much better and the Dr agreed. We're going to finish the course of antibiotics he's on as well as give him some Dimetapp and hope he gets better over the weekend. If not, we may have to try something else, but I don't want to give him another antibiotic if I can help it! Wait and see.


We had a busy long weekend last weekend with Thanksgiving. Kyle is still going to his music class so we did that on Saturday morning and did some picking up around here and getting ready for Monday. Sunday night we went out to mum and dad's and Tracy, Brian and Sophia were back from New Foundland in time to come too! It was great to get together and we had a little extra time to visit since mum and dad's oven wasn't cooperating and the turkey took a little longer than expected. Poor dad was stressing, but we all told him it wasn't a big deal and we weren't going anywhere!

Then, on Monday, we had all of George's family over here as well. There were 14 of us for dinner I think and we cooked the turkey and everything. George's mum did a ham too. George did the turkey on the barbeque and it was great! Just had lots of dishes to do afterwards!

George took Tuesday off as well because we wanted to take Kyle to the pumpkin patch, so we didn't have to do it on the weekend when it's crazy. We did it last year on a Saturday and it was nuts! Anyway, we get there and they're NOT OPEN!!! They said is was because they didn't have any groups booked, so they decided not to open.

I have called there twice now and they have someone calling me back because I'm MAD!! It's ridiculous when it says nothing to that effect on their website (like they may or may not be open depending on group numbers) and they advertise as being open!! I want free tickets considering we now have to go on the weekend when it's nuts. One of the girls said they'd had lots of complaints and I'm not surprised!

Poor Kyle was so disappointed he was crying when we left. We've been telling him for days we were going and he was so excited! I think we're going to try and go early tomorrow before the crowds and the rain that's forecast for later in the day.



So, Tuesday we ended up going over to George's parent's since they live not far from the barber that he goes to. Nathan and I stayed there while the Daddy and Kyle went and got their hair cut. We have to keep Kyle's short because he has a double crown and when it gets long at all, it sticks up like Alfalfa! We stopped to see Opi on the way home too.


I guess that's about it for us right now. Keeping ourselves busy for sure. And it's hard to believe that Nathan is 9 months old today! He's into everything these days and though he's not crawling, he gets around "commando style"! I'll have to get my monthly pictures of him taken today sometime and we're trying to get him into Sears for a few too.

Well, better run for now, but hope to have some good pumpkin patch pics to post this weekend with any luck!

Cheers,
Colleen

Snapshots of Summer

Just got this layout done of some pictures of Kyle at the water park recently. He'd be there all the time if we had his choice! He sure loves being outside.

We just got back from camping on Friday (2 days ago) though we should have been coming home today. Tracy and Brian took Sophia up yesterday and the plan was to all be there, but Nathan had other ideas. He just wasn't sleeping well and was having problems with teething. I was tired from getting up all the time at night too and trying to make sure he stayed relatively quick so as not to wake up everyone around us. We all had lots of fun while we were up there though.

The weather didn't really cooperate with us either though. We went us Tuesday to rain later in the day and ended up wet in the tent that night. Well, let me correct that, I was dry and George ended up wet! The next night we were both dry, but the rain sort of came on and off. Even when it wasn't raining, it didn't really clear up completely or get warm.

Poor Kyle! Mum and dad had told him they'd take him to the water park near the campsite because they went there last year. Every day we were there, he'd ask. We would tell him we'd take him when the sun came out. Dad took him for a walk down to the beach and the sun peeked through on their way back and he asked if he could go! The last day, the first thing he asked about when he woke up was the water park! We never did end up being able to take him with the weather being what it was, so mum and dad have promised to take him another time!

Well, I'd better be off for now, but will add some camping pictures later!

Colleen

Slow Saturday

It's one of those days when there's not really any urgency to do anything. I like days like this. I'm hoping to get the house a little more picked up today, but there's always tomorrow. I'd also like to do some scrapping, so I hope the boys nap at the same time.

We've been out already this morning though. Ran a few errands - Canadian Tire, Toys R US and Future Shop. George picked up the things he needs to work on his truck. He wants to fix it up before he goes up to Clinton next weekend for an SCA event. I'm going to stay at home with the boys as it's just too much this year for all of us to go. Maybe next year when Nathan is a little bigger. I picked up a birthday gift for a little boy that I goofed on. I bought him a game that I got him last year - DUH! Kept that one for Kyle and got another for the birthday gift. Also picked up more ink for the printer. Mundane things that need to be done, but nice that we can go out and do them all together.

We are planning on going camping soon though. We're going with mum and dad and hoping that Tracy, Brian and Sophia might be able to come up for the weekend too. That'll be fun with the kids. I know Kyle will love it!

I haven't been doing too much scrapping lately as I've been having this horrible allergic reaction to something that's making me itchy! We've been trying to figure out what it is and the only thing I can think it may be is a different kind of Tide we bought. I didn't think it would be the Tide as that's the only thing we buy, but it was a different kind of Tide. I'm now washing all my clothes twice (once without soap) and hoping that'll do the trick!

I did manage to scrap something earlier this week. Mum gave Tracy and I a bunch of pictures of when we were kids.

I love these pics and this one reminds me of family dinners when we used to get dressed up. I know Grandma always liked it when we were a little bit dressed up - at least no jeans!

Well, better be of to get a few things done!
Colleen

Hot Hot Days of Summer!!

WOW! I have to say that this heat and I simply do not get along! There's a reason that I came home from Japan before my contract was quite finished years ago - to avoid another hot summer! Sunshine is great, but let's dial down the heat!

With things being in the low to mid 30s here the last few days and it looks like for a couple more, we have been doing everything we can to try and beat the heat. We have a great little park near us that has a water park that Kyle loves, so we've headed down there more often lately!



Kyle loves it down there and I don't have to run around with him anymore. FOr the longest time, he wouldn't go run around by himself, but that's certainly not a problem these days. The hardest thing is getting him out of there sometimes!

Tracy has been down there with us a couple of time lately and she took the pictures. Mum was out visiting on Thursday/Friday too, so she came with us and we made it a family fun day! Kyle has lots of fun showing off and running around trying to soak not only himself, but any other kids he could soak too!


I may be the only one, but I'm looking forward to the called for lower temps and possible rain for Wednesday!! In the meantime, we have fans in every room and throw the kids in a cool bath when it just gets too warm and we want to keep them out of the sun!

Colleen

Give Me Strength

This is a layout that I managed to finish yesterday for Kyle's scrapbook and it's all about the little things that he's doing to drive me crazy these days. I want him to know that while he really is a good boy, there were days when he tried to drive me around the bend. His scrapbook makes him look like such a shining star! And he is most of the time!

The journaling on the layout reads:

It's amazing that this shining little face can be the cause of so much frustration and irritation some days. I really can't complain because most of the time you're really good, but I have to say that the phase you're going through right now can drive me pretty much crazy some days. I think Daddy wonders what's happened when he comes home and I pretty much run to the kitchen to make dinner if only to get a few minutes to myself.

I know this is good for you in the sense that you're fighting for your independence and trying to find your own way. I'm sure this is all part of the development of your personality too, but it makes it hard some days. You're famous these days for "I SAID"... and then repeating whatever it is that you want at the top of your lungs now when you don't get what you want. I have absolutely no idea where you heard this as it's not something Daddy or I say, but you sure know how to use it. The only thing you haven't figured out yet is that not only does it not get you what you want, but you get in trouble for talking to us like that. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough.

You also have this thing now of repeating the same thing a hundred times. I could answer the same way 99 times and you'd ask again. It's to the point sometimes that my response is "I don't know", but that doesn't even stop you most of the time. Your favourite question to repeat is "Mummy, what that sound?". It might be a car, a door, music, whatever, but you want to know. The funny thing is that most of the time when you ask, I'm pretty sure you know what it is before you ask the question.

We often spend time with Auntie Tracy and Sophia these days. It's really nice to be off on maternity leave at the same time and be able to get together as much as we do. You're really not very happy though some days if I tell you we're not going to see them. There was one day last week that you were incessant about asking to see them. We were all sort of sick and I had decided that maybe since we weren't going to see them that it would be a good day to just relax at home, but by late morning, I had to get out of the house because you just wouldn't stop. We headed up to London Drugs which is in the direction of their place, so I guess you figured somehow that even though I had told you a million times we weren't going there that we were. You asked another thousand times on the way up and back about going over there. It was to the point that I just stopped answering you at all on the way back. I was ever so grateful that day that you still nap because we came home and ate and then you went to bed. I'm glad that you love your Auntie and Sophia, but that was one day I'd rathered you'd just not loved them quite so much!

You've also started pinching and hitting a bit. Now, I can honestly say that these aren't big things in my opinion and certainly nothing that I worry about in terms of you really hurting someone, but we're still trying to teach you that it's not OK. Sometimes, you want to just play drums on my knees for example and it's fine when you start, but it gets harder and harder to the point that it hurts. I don't know how many times I've had to say "Gentle" to you when you're playing with Nathan. You just get so excited playing sometimes that I think you forget. The pinching is very recent and you don't do it often, but it's almost like you're checking for a reaction when you do it. It's like you're watching my face as you pinch to see what I'll say or do. Mostly I want you to learn that these things aren't OK so that you don't do it to another kid and end up paying for it.

All of these things are just part of you growing up, but they certainly do make some days hard. The best part for me though is that no matter what happens during the day, when it's time for bed, I can cuddle up with you for a few minutes and we can sing songs and talk and you'll always give me a big hug and kiss.

No matter what you say or do, I love you ever so much and I hope you always know that...


Colleen

Birthday haircut

We've had a full day today! Seems like this morning was a couple of days ago! I even managed to get mum's birthday gift almost finished this evening! *No hints here!*

The other thing we managed to get in was a haircut for Kyle. After Kyle woke up from his nap, I got him and Nathan organized and into the car to go and meet George at the mall after he got off work. The funny thing was we pulled into the parking lot at almost exactly the same time and he ended up parking beside me!





We went into the hair place and it wasn't busy, so she took Kyle right away. She asked what we'd like, so I told her and she showed me about how long and I said good and ran off to the toy store. I wanted to pick up this bubble making hand held machine thing for Kyle's birthday. When I got back, I was a little surprised because it was shorter than she had shown me. George wasn't bothered though and it does look cute - just short. I think part of it is that he always looks so much older to me after a haircut too! I also think he looks like Kevin and John now (the twins - our nephews).

Better go put the big boy to bed!
Colleen

Proud Auntie!

Kyle, Nathan and I got over to see Tracy and Sophia this morning. Poor Sophia has the cold that the rest of us have, so I hope it doesn't get too much worse for her (and Tracy's) sake. We watched "Winner" (aka The Price is Right) because Kyle is currently IN LOVE with game shows. Then we got out for a walk on this gorgeous day before heading home for lunch and naps.


Tracy also kindly gave me some pictures while I was there and I had asked her for a couple of Sophia and I when she was in the hospital. After getting the boys in bed, I quickly went and added the pictures to a layout that I had already started and then did the journaling for it. So cute! I get scrap in pink with flowers for a change!

Better go do a few things before the boys wake up since we're off to meet George in Richmond after work. Kyle really needs to get his hair cut and we'd like him to look less like a shaggy dog for pictures of his birthday party on Sunday! We're going to meet George at the mall, so I have some help if Kyle decides he's not happy about the electric razor and Nathan isn't very happy for some reason!

Colleen

Wiggley Morning already

Kyle is sitting here beside me this morning looking through the box that arrived yesterday for his birthday. I NEVER order online, but I made an exception for this box since we couldn't find anything in a Wiggles theme that he wanted for his birthday. The key thing was something to put on a cake and when I decided to order that, then I added a few other things too! He got party hats, plates, cups, napkins, stickers, and the cake topper. Yeah, I know, just a few things.

I was a little worried when it hadn't shown up on Wednesday and was going to call the company if it didn't show up yesterday, but it most certainly did and it made both Kyle and I happy! George now has something to put on the cake he's going to make! Save paying the outrageous price for a kid's cake and Kyle can have the fun of helping too!

We had another nice evening out at the park last night. George has taken the afternoon off since he had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. As Trace and I were walking back to the house with the kids in the morning after being at the park, George drove by on his way to the dentist and honked and waved. Kyle was soooooo upset that he didn't actually get to see George that I think he cried for about 15 minutes. I told Kyle that Daddy would take him to the park after dinner and since Nathan was up and it as so nice, we all decided to go up to the school. There were two little girls up there, so Kyle had lots of fun following them around though I don't know how much they liked it! George tried the kite again (another kite that he and Kyle went and got tonight), but the wind wasn't cooperating again.


I got some scrapping done again in the afternoon while the boys napped. Here is one of the two "works of art" that I created! I love this pictures and it sure doesn't seem that long ago, but Kyle sure looks different!

Better be off and go do a few things other than enjoy my coffee since Kyle has finished his breakfast!

Colleen

Another layout!

I've actually been managing to get quite a bit of scrapbooking done lately! I think it's just a matter of making it more important and realizing that it's a good release for me. Something fun and creative! This is the last one that I finished yesterday of the boys in the park in February.

I've been helping Tracy get some thing together for a book for Sophia too and I think we'll be able to get together and scrap once in a while too. I know when Kyle was about the age Nathan is now that I started going out once in a while to the scrapbook store on a Friday night to scrap. A good social thing and a chance to get out! My only problem now is that with all the stuff I have that it's easier to scrap at home! Just have to be more organized if I want to do that!

Colleen

A Beautiful Morning

Just popping in to see if I can get a few more pics uploaded here. It's a gorgeous morning and I've got a coffee already, so things are pretty good. Kyle is eating his breakfast after waking me up. OK, so he had to say "Get up Mummy" more than a couple of times, but I'm up! I think I was in some really deep part of a dream when he came in this morning. Nathan is sitting in his chair playing with some toys. Basically, all is good for about 5 minutes!

The first three pictures here are of a picnic we went on this past weekend at a local park. We've managed to find all kinds of wonderful parks around here and, of course, we also have Burns Bog. We love walking around on the trails in there and would love to see more of them though the main thing is to protect the wildlife in the bog!





These two pictures of Nathan are of the day he rolled over recently! I just think they're quite funny - almost as if he's like "WOW! What did I do?!"



Well, the boys won't hold out any longer, so I'm off!
Colleen

New pictures

OK, let's just say I'm swamped in pictures these days. Nathan is growing so quickly and Kyle is just plain funny all the time! I have more than enough to keep me busy scrapping for ages and that's fine by me!

I have to say that Kyle certainly makes me laugh these days, but there are days when I think "Give me strength!". He now has this habit of asking the same thing a hundred times and you could answer it the same way 99 times and he'd ask again! His favourite question these days seems to be "Mummy, what that sound?" and it's all the time let me tell you! His other favourite expression is "Just kidding". Like he starts to tell you something and then you ask something about it because you didn't understand and that's his response all the time.

The other thing Kyle does these days is "play guitar". He's very into music and loves to sing. When I was watching American Idol, he would pretend to rock out by sining into the drum stick he has. That same drumstick is used for a guitar that he plays all the time. Getting a birthday gift for him was easy - a kids guitar!

Anyway, thought I'd put up some new pictures as well. The first couple are just of my two boys sitting on the sofa.





Nathan was 5 months on the 13th and I take monthly pics, so this is one of those.




We had a nice evening! We're trying to "bribe" Kyle into trying new foods these days since he has his stnd-bys and that's about it. The deal is that if he tries whatever is on his plate (what we're eating!), then we'll go up to the local park for a bit after dinner and it seems to be working. Got some vegetables he hasn't tried and rice in him. That's not saying he'll like them right away, but he won't even know unless he tries!

Anyway, we all went up to the park and had a nice time! George took the kite, but there wasn't enough of a breeze tonight. Kyle was busy with his bucket and shovel in the sand. Nathan and I sat under a tree and played. Enjoyable!

I'll see if I can add a few more later since this thing doesn't seem to be liking me this evening!!
Colleen

More of Daddy's Day!

Can't believe I'm getting here to write two days in a row! It was a nice day here yesterday, so we managed to get out a bit in the evening. It was also thanks in large part to Kyle since he actually asked to go pee on the potty, we rewarded him with a trip to the park.

Yes, we are into the potty training and overall, he's really not doing too badly. Now, I can't say we've ventured out very far with just the underwear on, but he only wears a diaper at night and if we're going to be out for a while, we'll put on a Pull-up just in case. Though most of the time, he waits until we get home, the Pull-up thing is going to have to change because it's too easy for him.


Kyle and I made homemade pizza for George for dinner last night. Kyle is a great helper in the kitchen. He loves cooking these days and also like helping with the dishes. Well, OK, he likes playing in the water! After dinner, we packed ourselves up and headed out to the park with a stop at Dairy Queen first for a Daddy treat. Well, Kyle and I had a cone too!



We went to this park that is down on the Fraser sort of over where mum and dad used to live (that's so weird to think!). There were a lot of people out and we had a nice walk and Kyle and Nathan both got a swing. I'd like to go back and have a picnic there sometime.



Now if only Nathan had had a better night's sleep! He woke up at 3:30am to eat and that was fine, but the he decided he didn't want to go back to sleep, so I was up with him until 5:15 when he fell asleep. Thought I'd go back to bed after George got up for work at 5:30, but about 5 minutes after I got in bed, Kyle woke up! Let's just hoe they both nap at the same time this afternoon, so I can have one too!

Colleen

{Snapshot of Daddy's Day}

Well, once again, I haven't been great about posting here, but the truth is we seem to have been more than busy and more than a little sick these days. Kyle was sick for about 3 weeks and after 2 ended up with a chest infection. We treated that and thought he was better, but now he's got another cold. This time Nathan and I both got it too. I have to say that a 5 month old with a dry cough just sounds horrible. That's the worst part of what I've got left too - the dry cough.


Unfortunately for George, this has meant that we aren't doing too much for Father's Day, but he's getting a chance to do a few things he wants to do. The picture is of him using his Christmas and Father's Day presents (router for Christmas and router bits today) to work on the canvas tent he's building. I think he's hoping to get it done in the next few weeks because there's an SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) event coming up.

It hasn't been a very eventful day. We did our usual Sunday morning grocery shop, came home and had lunch and now both the boys are napping. I'm trying to get a few things done around here too. I sure wish those cleaning fairies would hurry up and get here!



Just thought I'd post a couple of other pictures that were taken recently too. The first is of our "little" boy Nathan in the Jolly Jumper - which he loves! And the other is of Sophia (my niece - Tracy's daughter) and Nathan together. It's great that Tracy and I are off on mat leave together as we see a lot of each other. Kyle love seeing her and Sophia these days and is quite upset if there's some reason we're not getting together with them during the week. Tracy and I even took Nathan and Sophia to a movie last week while Kyle was visiting his grandma and Opa.

I think I just heard Nathan waking up, so I'd better be off!
Cheers,
Colleen

Not enough hours in a day!

I can't believe it's been this long since I posted. I was at least getting here once a week with my {Snapshots of Saturday}, but then our digital camera has been out of commission for a few weeks and I've been using my 35mm. Love the pics, but not as easy to get up online! I hope to be back later with some pics to post if the boys cooperate and nap at the same time (though I always wish for this and it never quite seems to happen).

Things have been a bit crazy around here since both of the boys have been sick. Kyle has been sick for about 2 weeks and then suddenly developed a fever and bad cough in the last day or so. Took him to the Dr yesterday to find out he has a chest infection. I have to try and get this horrible antibiotic in him for 10 days 2X a day! Nothing like a little bribery! After the 10 days, we have to go back to the Dr to have him checked out again to make sure everything is out of his system. *fingers crossed*

Kyle hasn't been very happy with all this being sick because we've been missing his music class and his Multisport class. He just loves the other kids. Yesterday when I put him down for his nap (after the class would have already finished), he said to me "Mummy, after nap, gym class". I had to tell him once more that we wouldn't be going. Then when he woke up at the crack of dawn this morning he asked about going again and has asked about 3 or 4 times since. I should be thankful though because he's pretty good even when he's sick!

Well, better be off to do a few things before Nathan wakes up from his nap. Kyle is currently completely engrossed in his French toast that he helped make!

Cheers,
Colleen

{Snapshots of Saturday} - Vaisakhi Parade

It's been a great long weekend so far and thankfully the rain held off today for the Vaisakhi Parade that celebrates the birth of Sikhism. Of course, this area has a large Sikh community and they were out in full force for this celebration today! One guy that we were talking to said that there would probably be over 100,000 people out today for the Surrey parade and more than that again downtown for another parade.

It was an amazing celebration of religion and culture. There were people offering you unbelievable food every time you turned around. The very first plate I got I enjoyed the most and it was a chickpea curry and a flatbread to go with it. Delicious! The colours were amazing and orange seems to be the predominant colour though I'm honestly not sure of the reason. At one point during the parade someone came around with orange pieces of fabric and asked us to cover out heads and I think it was because of the religious aspect of the parade. The sights and sounds were fabulous!

At one point someone came up with a TV camera from the multicultural station to interview me. They just asked what we thought about the parade and how important it was for cultures to celebrate together. They asked if I thought the Indo-Canadian community participated enough in other types of celebrations as well. I think I said "It's great" about 4 times during the short interview, but it really was! A few people also filmed the boys, particularly Kyle, in the stroller watching the parade. It was great to be able to share in a different type of cultural celebration and people were very friendly stopping to explain things to us periodically and to give us food!



On our way home, I was really happy when George asked if I wanted to stop and get my new cell phone! We have been talking about it for a while and just haven't done it. We managed to get that in this afternoon ad I stopped for my Vanilla Latte at the Starbucks that was next door to the cell place!

The only thing I didn't get in today was a trip to the scrapbook store. I had a coupon and they have a scratch sale on today. Oh well, not the end of the world as I don't really need anything anyway.

We've got the boys sleeping for a bit and I'm making candied sweet potatoes for dinner at Tracy and Brian's tonight with mum and dad. We're making things easy and just getting a couple of bbq chickens and doing the extras. No turkey and that's fine by me! Too much work! Who am I kidding, we'll be doing turkey on Monday with George's family anyway! Better go do my sweet potatoes!

Colleen