I Spiked it Up!

I took this picture while we were camping in Minot but the story is so cute I thought it deserved it's own post. Trevor and I weren't actually around until afterward but here is the story as told to us.



The kids were all playing outside the 5th Wheel with Grandma and Papa when Ethan decided to go inside. A few minutes later he came out and announced as proud as could be " I spiked it up!"

Yep - he had gone in and found the hair gel and done his hair. I think he may have used half the container but darn if he isn't cute even with half a jar of dippity do in his hair (okay we don't really have the actual brand - dippity do or I could spell it correctly but it was a more expensive version of the same stuff) Looks like I am going to have to start to budget early for hair products for Ethan. And I thought having at least one boy was saving me some money in toiletries

Camping with G & P

The weekend before July 1st we had a fantastic time camping with Grandma and Papa in Minot. Trevor and I were able to sneak away for a nice anniversary supper at Applebys before doing some on our own, childless shopping!

The kids had fun at the camp ground playing on the play structure, running around the site, playing in the tent and doing things in the camper. All was well until the middle of the night when with Ethan on one side of me, Megan on the other and G&P in the other part of the 5th wheel, Ethan began having a night terror. Crying and screaming ensued and nothing I said, promised or threatened stopped the onfolding nightmare of a scene. As I anticipated the crying woke up G & P (how could it not - It woke up Trevor in the tent 10 feet away!) and then it woke Megan. While I new that I could count on G & P to go back to sleep on their own , after Ethan settled down, Megan was wide awake and chatty. While it felt like hours it really only lasted one but in the middle of the night that is one more than I had hoped for. Next time I am sleeping in the tent!

After surviving our disrupted night we continued on with our plans for the day. What's a trip to Minot without a stop at the zoo. Ethan loves the animals and Megan didn't remember much from last year as she wasn't quite one. Against our better judgement to take kids out after little sleep we ventured to the zoo with our picnic lunch and our bathing suits for the pool after.

The zoo was fun but as expected tired kids = some miserableness at times. Difficulty in deciding which path to take was our first clue that the day may be a challenge!! Again we persevered. Led by Ethan and Sarah, at a speed walkers pace, we zipped through the exhibits to see the animals.

After the zoo we headed to the park next door for our picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day and somehow sandwiches etc just taste better when you are on a picnic. We were all having great fun until Ethan spotted a rabbit in the bushes beside us. As he watched it intently he accidentally backed himself right into a little pond. Yup ass first he landed up to his neck in water filled with some blue chemical to kill the algae. I would have loved to take a picture but he was so traumatized we had to scoop him out before we could get the camera out. The poor kid - of all the days to dump yourself into a duck pond, one where you were tired was not the best option. Dripping blue lake water and tears galore we expedited our trip to the pool in order to get him rinsed off.

Once at the pool we were happy to discover that it had a few water slides, a kiddie area, and lots of room to jump and swim. It will definitely be on our list to do again while in Minot!!

I have to include these last two pictures. A strange coincidence but we ended up at the zoo on the exact same day (our anniversary) as we had been their last year so I took the same sort of picture by the monkey cage for prosperity sake. Megan has changed the most as evident with the hair but Sarah definitely grew as did Ethan. Guess we will have to make this an anniversary tradition( hee hee -- sorry kids but not likely - by year 15 we had definitely better be someplace besides the Minot zoo)

The Children's Fesitval

Back again this year in Regina was the children's festival -- a four day event with lots of fun activities for the kids to do. Unfortunately for the new organizers it rained most of the week. I was supposed to be sitting at a foster parent exhibit however it was much to wet the day I signed up for to even go. Other co-workers ended up sitting in the drizzle for awhile but my idea of a nice day out of the office didn't happen. Darn!

Luckily for the kids though, Saturday ended up being really nice. Marnel and I had planned to take all the kids on Friday because I would be downtown after they got haircuts but with the bad weather we all opted to go Saturday instead. It was a bit muddy but hey that just adds to the fun right? The kids enjoyed all the activities but especially loved getting their face painted, playing drums on the stage and bouncing in the bouncers.

On our way

let me outta here

Hasn't your mother ever told you.....

that we eat our breakfast AT the table not on it.............Why in fact I have and I did once again this morning. Of course as the pictures suggest - Megan could have cared less about what I had to say. She had "doedurt" (yogurt) to eat and was quite content to eat it the way she had decided that morning. Too bad I don't have a nice picture of the temper tantrum that followed when I took her off the table.

20 extra minutes

As I have documented before, Ethan is our night owl. Most nights he can be heard talking to his multitude of stuffed animals or singing along to his bedtime CD. Very rarely does he get out of bed however one night he wandered downstairs and sat beside me on the couch. When I asked him what was wrong he said he "needed something to snuggle with". When I commented that his bed was full with animals and asked what else he could possibly want he sheepishly smiled and pointed to ME. Aww. Smart boy -- that bought him 20 extra minutes of staying up and snuggling with me and some books on the couch. I know I am creating a "momma's boy " but I just don't care! I LOVE IT!!!

That same night after putting Ethan to bed I decided to go to bed early and went into our room only to find Megan standing up in her crib NAKED. I guess she wanted 20 extra minutes too. Turkey! She was happy as could be but totally naked so I had to get her up and then she was wide awake. In the end she got many many extra minutes and I got very very tired. Too bad she couldn't have been this tired that night......

Bopper Ball

On most Tuesday and Thursday evenings in May and June if you were looking for us you would have found us at the soccer field watching Sarah and Ethan play community soccer. Luckily for us they played at the same time on the same night - different fields but at least at the same big park.

Both kids enjoyed it however I think it may be Ethan's thing more than Sarah's. He was super excited when he got a goal and would run over for a high five each time. Sarah was thrilled that one of her other teammates brought her cat in a shoulder bag so I'm thinkin'........ perhaps Sarah may be a fan next year!

Being that we both needed to be at the field (one with each kid) whenever we could make that happen Megan was also dragged along. She didn't seem to mind however as she always ran out of the van excitedly exclaiming " Bopper Ball, Bopper Ball". Even more fortunate for Megan (and for us) was that Presley was always there watching her sister Drew, and so she took Megan to the playground each night. (that's probably why Meg was always so excited to go - who wouldn't want one on one attention from a preteen who adores you). Even if it was one of us taking her she seemed to love it!

The final night I finally remembered to bring my camera. As I walked with Ethan to the field I told him I was going to be taking some pictures of him. His reply -- Why mom ? Because I am a soccer superstar?" Yep little man that's it!

Where did Spring Go?

Okay the last time I posted a story it was spring and now it is middle of August. Where did the time go? Once again the nice weather seems to fly by yet when we have cold weather it seems to last forever. Oh well. Guess we have to enjoy what we have or move and we have to much stuff to pack so .... here we will stay.
When looking back at the camera I guess it was the fact that we had something on almost every weekend and many week nights that seemed to steal away our spring. Here in a nutshell are some pics of what we did in the last few months.


NEIGHBOURHOOD BBQ



What's a great neighbourhood with out big BBQ's and fun gatherings. In May we hosted the gang for some food, fun, and frivolity. It was, as always, a great time and just reconfirmed that we live on the best block in town!

Presley and Sarah cooling off with a Popsicle treat

Drew as cute as always!

Emmett - the newest member of our block appeared a bit tired of the festivities. Perhaps next year will be more fun!

HMMM... Watermelon - definitely mommy's girl!

While I fully intended to try and get a little ball game going - the boys of the block had other ideas. Hockey was on the schedule and Ethan was right into that plan. Trevor graciously agreed to get geared up in Kale's goalie equipment to be the net minder. It appears to be just a tad bit too small.

SPRINKLER FUN

Ian was having so much fun with the sprinkler he didn't even have time to go home and get changed into a swimsuit

Christian or is it the Karate Kid?

Tomas was happy to just sit back and watch all the craziness

My handsome little man

MOSAIC
At the beginning of June Regina always has a multicultural festival called MOSAIC. We usually try and take the kids as it is fun to see the dancing of other cultures, sample the food and hear the music. This year we went to the Ukrainian Pavilion to see our neighbours Christian and Presley dance. I wasn't able to get any good shots of them dancing but I did manage to nab Presley after to take a picture of her beautiful outfit.

Before leaving the Ukrainian Pavilion all the kids were thrilled to get temporary spray on tattoos. Ethan took a long time to decide but finally picked the spider.

Next we went to the Caribbean Pavilion after and they kids enjoyed the dancers and banana ice cream (sounds gross to me but they all loved it)

SCIENCE CENTER WITH SARAH'S CLASS

One of Sarah's end of the year outings was to the science center. While I don't have the luxury of being able to pick her up at school each day I try to make every effort to go on the field trips as often as I can. The morning was great and well worth missing work for (okay pretty much anything is worth missing work for- this was just extra worth it because I got to see Sarah in a different element than I usually see here.)

LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN


Okay wasn't it just yesterday that I was posting Sarah's first day of Kindergarten pictures. Well she is officially a kindergarten graduate. She had a great year, did well in the class, made some new friends and loved her teacher Madame Turmel. She is looking forward to Grade one although I am not sure once she gets there and has homework how excited she is going to be then but only time will tell.

As was the case on the first day and many other days throughout the year (rain, snow, sleet or sunshine) Sarah choose her favorite yellow dress to wear. As well - as was the case on the first day of school, I picked her up on this last day of school and could not stop myself from tearing up the whole time. The teacher likely thought I was nuts (and that is likely true) but I was just so overwhelmed with the idea that she is getting so big and it is going by so fast. Hmmm - I wonder how I am going to handle her going to Grade 1 !