Ethan's Test Drive

On Tuesday afternoon I was the helper at Sarah's preschool and Ethan was invited to come and test drive the class out as he will go there on Friday's next year. Well to say he fit right in is an understatement. He did AWESOME. He had sooo much fun and played so well - I was very impressed. For the first part of the class they have free play at all the different centers in the room. He went directly to the animals and barn (Surprise Surprise) and then it was off to inspect the dirt, live worms and fake bugs.

The class was learning about caterpillars and butterflies so he also got to see some real chrysalises and 2 of the butterflies were even out. All the kids got a turn to hold the butterfly on some part of their body.

While Ethan didn't want to hold the butterfly he was happy to dress up like one and fly around the room with the real one.

After free play we went into the story time room and he sat on the mat quietly next to Sarah. For being only 2 2/3 , I think he did really well. He listened to the stories and sang some of the songs even though he didn't know the words! At one point after snack Mrs. Dueck asked all the kids to return to the circle time carpet and Ethan was the only one who did!!

As long as we can get him potty trained by September I think he is GOOD TO GO!!!

Only for kids over 6? -- I strongly disagree!!

I was noticing the warnings on the trampoline and was surprised to read that it was only for kids over 6. Well, while I can understand the reasoning behind that, Megan strongly disagrees. She absolutely loves the trampoline. As soon as you mention it to her, she starts kicking her legs and bouncing in your arms. Once on it she sits and bounces on her bum with glee or stands up and walks around the edge pushing her face against the net. For her it is one big playground and for me it is one big playpen!!

We've been taken over by Trolls

On Sunday afternoon we had Kim, Dave and their two boys over for a play date however when they arrived there was no Evan or Andrew in sight. Instead Kim and Dave had brought Spiderman and a troll! Spiderman quickly ran off with Ethan so no pictures are available. Sarah however decided that she wanted to be a troll as well and off to the craft room she went with the troll to create her own troll mask. Although difficult to see in the picture much detail was taken in the making of the mask. While at first it looks just like Evan's you will notice if you look again that her troll has long eyelashes and wears earrings! Crazy kids! Wouldn't it be cute if they married down the road 20 years - we could show this picture at their wedding! hee hee.

I''ll just put my finger in- I promise.

Last weekend we excitedly packed up and went out to the lake for a few days of fun, relaxation and visiting with our friends Karen, Quinton and their daughter Lily. Saturday morning the boys went golfing with my dad and although they said they would only do nine holes they ended up staying for another round. We really couldn't blame them as the day was almost perfect. Karen and I decided to take the kids to the main beach to PLAY ON THE PLAY STRUCTURE. With Megan in the snugglie and Ethan and Lily being pushed by Sarah in the double bike stroller we were off on our adventure.

Once at the park the kids played a bit on the slide and the monkey bars.

Their attention was soon drawn to the beach and lake (or pool as Ethan likes to call it!). This is were our adventure really began. Lily asked if she could go up to the water. She assured Karen that she would "just put her finger in". Thinking that a finger or perhaps even a toe was harmless we agreed and off they went.

As Lily approached the edge of the water she stepped into some sand that can only be described as quicksand like. In an instant her shoes and ankles had sunk right in.

At this moment she was quite distraught but she quickly perked up and went back to the edge. Figuring that Lily's shoes were already dirty and my kids feet were already wet we again thought what can it hurt and agreed to let them test the waters again.

As the pictures will clearly show you it only got worse from here. First the toes, then the ankles, then the hands, and knees and soon the kids were emerged up to their thighs and beyond. The great part about it was that even though it was FREEZING they were having more fun than we could have ever created with toys or games. It was awesome. At one point they were cats crawling around the sand meowing. Crazy. Unfortunately (for them) a very nice couple brought their daughter down for a walk on the beach and our kids led her straight down the path of mud , dirt and destruction. Soon enough she too was as wet as our crew and crawling around with them. Oops!!

While this frivolity was going on Megan explored the sand and played in the stroller. I attempted to dip her feet in the water but as you can see she wanted nothing to do with that idea.

Following a rather chilly walk/ride home for the kids we striped them outside and tossed them in the tub. Lucky for them they came clean - I can't say the tub was so lucky. What a mess. (Don't worry mom I scrubbed it soon after). Following a snack we warmed up on the front patio and got these cute pictures of the kids picking ONE flower each!

After lunch, realizing that we had been stood up by the men, we again ventured to the main beach for some ice cream. Sarah enjoyed bubble gum filled ice cream (yuck) while Ethan stuck with the always popular Smarties ice cream. Even Megan was able to enjoy her first taste of vanilla ice cream. All in all we had a fabulous time. We can't wait to do it again soon.

The Highland Games

While Trevor was busy painting I was busy trying to keep the kids out of his way so while Megan slept I took Ethan and Sarah to the Highland Games that were held in town over the long weekend. I had never even heard of them before but essentially what they are are a multitude of different Scottish activities and displays. We have a babysitter for the kids, Josee, who we all adore and love. She was dancing in the Highland dancing competition so we thought we would go check it out. Sarah was enthralled, which is great as we are strongly considering signing her up for next year. She has always wanted to take dancing and I think this is a great way to mix dancing fun with a bit of culture. (and some good exercsie - man I was tired just watching those girls)

After we watched some dancing we wandered outside to see the Heavy events. What we saw was really large men ( and a couple of women) tossing huge timbers end over end. It was very interesting however Sarah was dying to get back to the dancing so we didn't last long out there. After a few more dances I tried to take Sarah and Ethan home but Sarah wanted to stay. Josee's mom Pam kindly offered to watch Sarah while I ran Ethan home. Sarah was thrilled. Not only did she get to watch more dancing but she got to hang out with Josee all day! Ever since Sarah has been showing everyone her version of Highland Dancing- it's great. This last picture was just the other day at her friend Grace's house.

Little Trouble or Future Picasso?

All right -- recall in the last post that I mentioned Sarah and Trevor had "little trouble" priming the room. Yeah "little Trouble" was Ethan !! Trevor got Ethan a regular kids paint brush so that he could "help out" and "help out" he did! If you look closely at the wall where Ethan was painting it was a bit of an abstract work of art. Freely swishing the brush up and down, side to side, here and there he managed to fling paint pretty much everywhere. His skill was appreciated but quickly diverted to the craft room where he could really let loose and paint to his hearts content. And paint he did. He finger painted for a long time, enjoying slapping his hands down on the paper and making a huge mess. He could have stayed there all day but we literally ran out of room for his papers to dry.

Later on in the afternoon Ethan asked Trevor if he could paint again in the room. Learning from the previous incident Trevor said no. I can only picture Ethan's distraught face with the long pouty lip as I was out with the girls. Much to Trevor's dismay a little while later Ethan came back to the room all covered in orange paint. Turns out he had gone back to the craft room while Trevor painted and decided he would paint on his own if daddy wouldn't let him paint with him. From the craft room he also visited the play room the laundry room, the bathroom downstairs and then up the stairs to the girls room. How do we know this ? There was little orange hand prints all over the basement!! Ahhh. Luckily it washed up fine. Poor guy -- all he wanted to do was paint!!

Trading Spaces

On a bit of a whim and due to bad weather on the long weekend we decided to move Sarah and Megan's room to where we were and move our room to theirs. After looking for forever for a quilt or comforter for Sarah I happened upon one at Winners that I liked. I picked one up for each of the girls and the hunt began to find paint that matches. For all of you who know me you know that picking paint is a painful process in our house. My type A personality NEEDS to find the PERFECT match thus leading in the past to the purchase of second cans of paint in just a shade off the original chosen. This time though there was going to be none of that. One chance was all I had and 10 minutes was what I got for that chance. Trevor and the kids sat in the car while I ran into the store to find the color I was searching for. After deliberating for 10 minutes between a few I finally picked one and we were on our way. Thinking I had done so well to be so quick I ran back to the car with my paint in hand. To my surprise Trevor was sitting there shaking his head, laughing in disbelief that it took so long!! I think his words were - "you go in, pick up a blue swatch, take it to the till and get it - how hard is that?" Hmm- men! Lucky for him I didn't pick out my husband that way!! Hee Hee.

Once the paint was picked the emptying of the rooms began. We were attempting to paint both rooms at the same time so we emptied our room into the living room and hallway. It made for some fun obstacles for Megan and the kids enjoyed playing and having story time on our bed in the living room. Saturday night the kids got to sleep in the same room and Megan slept on her mattress beside our bed

Sarah waited patiently (well - kind of) for the painting to begin because she loves to help out. She and her dad primed her entire room with little trouble. Sarah was thrilled. Anytime she can help fix something or paint she is happy. Ethan tried to help out but it didn't work out so great (more on that in the next posting)

In the end the rooms turned out great. It's hard to tell the exact color but three walls are apple green and one is a sky blue. Trevor put together the bunk beds which the kids loved. I believe Sarah's exact words were " This is just like a play structure". Trevor and I are now accepting bets on who will be to the emergency first, what it will be for and how soon that will be. Feel free to place your own wager in the comment section!

I appear to be in some TROUBLE

These days you can find Miss Maggie just about anywhere - in, on, under, over, or somewhere in between. She loves to climb the stairs, and play under the table. She got onto the dishwasher door yesterday when we were loading it. The other day she climbed into her bouncy chair on the floor. Yet another day I put her in her highchair so I could go make lunch. A few minutes later Sarah called for me to come and see her. She had turned herself around in the high chair, stood up and sat down on the highchair tray!! When I got there she was sitting smiling and I have to admit that if I had had the camera near I would have snapped a quick pic but it was downstairs at the time so I wasn't able to get one. Here are a few pictures of places she has visited recently!!

Gotta run she is on her way up the stairs AGAIN!