Holidays

We started our week of summer vacation today.  Of course, Will was running a fever last night and this morning by supper time he seemed to be better.  We spent most of the day cleaning house and getting organized to head out to Grandpa Peter and Grandma Marie's where we will be meeting up with most of the cousins for swimming lessons.  Will is very excited to be heading to the farm to see his cousins and to have swimming lessons with Cameron.  I sure hope the weather is good this week!
We also set the pool up in the yard to play.  This is the first time Will and Madelyn played in the pool together.  Usually Madelyn finds Will a tad too crazy and just watches, today she was loving the pool, even when Will went sliding in down the slide.

We are looking forward to a week of fun out at the farm and at the swimming pool!

Getting ready for daycare

Will getting ready for daycare.

Loving the pool

Again the pool

Madelyn enjoying her bowl full of raspberries off our bushes in our garden. She loves her berries!

To close, Will has been big into knock knock jokes lately.  He has couple favourites:

W: Knock Knock
M: Who's there?
W: Ivan
M: Ivan who?
W: I've been working on the railroad.

W: Knock Knock
M: Who's there?
W: Boo
M: Boo who?
W: Don't cry it's just me.

W: Knock Knock
M: Who's there?
W: (insert any random thing here).
M: (random thing) who?
W: (random thing) in your face.

Will's fascination with knock knock jokes has rubbed off on Madelyn, here is her version.

Maddie: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Maddie: Daddy (usually Daddy but could be Mommy or Will)
Me: Daddy who?
Maddie: Daddy

Olympic opening ceremonies

I have to say kudos to the London Olympic organizers. The opening ceremonies have been very impressive. We enjoyed watching a bit of them with the kids. Will actually wanted to continue watching them and not one of his shows. He was glued to the dancers and was enjoying learning about what the Olympics are. We spent a bit of time explaining how people from all over the world come together and compete. He kept asking us when we can watch swimming, so we will have to tune in a few times this week and catch some of the events. We also spent some time talking about the Olympic rings. I love kids curiosity and eagernous to learn! Hope you get to enjoy some of the summer Olympics, I do prefer winter Olympics, however there are a few events at the summer I truly enjoy, diving probably being at the top of the list.

Will's first dentist visit

Yesterday I took Will to his first dentist visit. It went great! He sat nice, opened his mouth, did not bite the dentist and even sat long enough to let them polish his teeth.   The only comment the dentist had was how wiggly his tongue was, I can't imagine why, certainly not from all the exercise he gives it. Hahaha. I was told that his teeth looked good and outside of a few tough parts to brush he is doing a good job.  The dentist showed me those spots so we can try to help him out with them a bit.

Speaking of teeth Madelyn has a new tooth.  I do realise that most 18 month olds have a whole mouth full.  Madelyn now has the middle four on the top, middle bottom two and her top two molars have a point through (so I guess they are half out).  Everyone says late teether mean they will have better teeth as adults, I guess we will see because Maddie certainly is a late teether.  I have to say we have stopped looking for teeth in her mouth, so this molar could have been out for a few days, I think I did do a check on the weekend and it was not there.  I guess her teeth coming in must not be too traumatic.

Finally I will leave you with a couple of pictures from an activity the kids have really taken a liking too.  Don't be alarmed if you come to our house and see bodies traced on the sidewalk, it is not a murder scene, just me tracing the kids bodies with sidewalk chalk. Will then likes to draw his bones in it make a skeleton.

Maddie waiting to be traced

In action...

Finished product!

Starting Will...

Around we go, he looks very relaxed here

Will laying back on one of his skeletons, you can see some of the bones he has drawn in here.

Ice Treasure Hunt

What to do on a Monday night??

That's right, an ice treasure hunt.  This activity would probably have been a bit better on a very hot afternoon as the ice would have melted a bit  faster exposing the treasure quicker.  The kids still had a blast finding the treasures and chipping a way at it.  We ended up helping out a bit and turned the water on to speed up the process.  Overall a huge hit, Will asked me to make another treasure hunt, so I guess something we should repeat in the future.

Examining the treasure, trying to get at it.

More treasures....

Playing with the water, note all the treasures on the lawn.

Another busy weekend

Seems like every weekend we have a lot planned, i guess that is part of the joys of living in Saskatchewan and only having about 10 weekends in the summer. 

This weekend was filled with an exciting yard job and a visit from some friends in Saskatoon.  I have to say I have not been very diligent about taking pictures lately so I have a few pictures from the weekend, but not nearly enough.

Let's start with the yard. Since we moved in here we have wanted to spruce up the front yard. There is a big pine tree that for obvious reasons the grass does not grow under, just a few weeds and we had a few fern like trees at the front of the house that were starting to take over the house, to the point where it was hard to open up the windows in the kids room. So we chopped those shrubs down, bricked the flower bed and around the tree and the border between the rocks (where Chris parks truck) and the grass. Now I just need to decide on what type of shrubs to plant in the front.

Snacks while helping fixing front yard.  The kids were a huge help well working in the yard, well ok not huge help but they did not cause too many problems, listen when we told to stand back because Daddy was cutting brick, and neither of them ever made a break for the street! A huge success when working in the front yard all of Saturday morning.

Tree

We also had friends come and visit Saturday/Sunday.  The kids had a great time playing and the adults enjoyed an evening outside by the campfire once the little ones were sleeping.  Again I did not take too many pictures, just a few at the park when we went for a picnic.

My kiddos enjoying the swing together:)

Declan in the swing. I did not get one good picture of Keaton all weekend. Again terrible with the camera lately!

Dr. Seuss Cookies

We are beginning to prepare for swimming lessons the week before August long weekend.  So the kids and I have been making cookies to take along.

I have to make sure we make a bigger batch because every time we make cookies Will insists on taking some to share with his friends at daycare.  So cute how he want to share with all his friends and he is very proud of his cookies. 

I have to say that the Dr. Seuss cookies are a huge hit. They were easy to make and fun, and very hands on for the kids.  Most of all they are yummy! I mean how can you go wrong with sugar cookies.

The other thing I like about these cookies is they are probably the cleanest cookies for kids to eat.  No chocolate chips to melt all over the place and no icing to smear.  I mean I could potentially give these to the kids to eat in the car and not cringe at what it would look like after.

If anyone has some cool cookie ideas I would love to hear about them.

Just a basic sugar cookie recipe, we divided into 4 parts and added food colouring Will picked pink, green, blue and purple.

Make a small ball of each colour then you will roll these together to make one large ball.

Roll into a snake, then twist to make circles.

Voila, Dr. Seuss cookies. Why Dr. Seuss, because the colours are fun and exciting like Dr. Seuss books!

Finished product cooked.  Each cookie looks a bit different but that is part of the fun.  They are delicious.

Madelyn enjoying her cookie

Showing me her cookie

Will eating his cookie, yes he is soaking wet from swimming in the pool.

After Dr. Seuss cookies you can be assured that the bedtime story tonight was by Dr. Seuss "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish".

Happy one day until the weekend every one!

Hotel

This weekend we took a trip up to Saskatoon.  The whole purpose of the trip was to visit Mr.Baan, but or course we got to catch up with a few other friends and Grandma Marie and Grandpa Peter came too. 

Will was so excited to go to the hotel.  We were barely checked- in and  were down at the pool and water slide.  Then back up for pizza in the room and back down for more swimming.  Will was intrigued by the water slide but was not brave enough to go on it at the beginning.  I have to add the water slide here was completely closed in and fast so was a bit intimidating.  Finally Sunday morning he was brave enough to go down, then all he could say was "again, again". Don't worry even though we were not running up the slide all night Saturday, he had plenty of energy burnt off jumping into the pool, swimming and horsing around.  Madelyn also loved the pool, she too loves the water, playing chop, chop timber and most of all the hot tub!

Grandma Marie spent lots of time in the pool with the kids! At one point Grandma came over and said "do you realise that every time someone goes down the water slide and makes a splash your son splashed me".  Grandma did great swimming with the kids! Will is still talking about swimming with grandma!

The kids slept great in the hotel, we booked a suite, which is great, we were able to put kids to bed about 8:30 and visited in the 'living room'.  Then when we went to bed we just moved Will out on to the hide-a-bed.  Something wrong abut a 3 year old sleeping on a king sized bed for the night.

Overall, we had a great weekend and great visits with everyone we seen!

A Perfect Work Day.... If it Exists

If there is such things a perfect work day, today would have to be close.  Here is a recap of the day:

6:40 - Will woke up (this is actually sleeping in for our house). And yes this means I slept until 6:40. Chris was out of town so this sleep in was a welcomed treat!
6:50 - I get dressed, ready for work.
7:00 - Madelyn woke up and gets dressed.
7:05 - Will is dressed (I have to say Will dressing himself can save a few minutes in the morning, as long as he is not cooperating or it can takes twice as long!)
7:08 - Cinnamon toast is being consumed.
7:18 - We brush teeth.
7:20 - Vitamins consumed and shoes and hats installed on kids.
7:22 - Loading into the car to go to daycare.  Will is carrying his container of homemade Oreo cookies we made last night, as he was so excited to take them and share with his friends.  Apparently they were a hit.
7:33 - Arrive at daycare (early...gasp)
7:56 - Arrive at work (early...gasp)
4:30 - Leave work (I might add that my list of things to do was not longer then when I arrived, this equates to a good day!)
4:50 - Arrive at daycare, pick up kids.
5:03 - Arrive home to Chris having supper started.
5:25 - Eat supper.  Both kids ate good maybe because we had Grandpa Peter's sausage and noodles.
5:50 - Out the door to go swimming at the outdoor pool.
7:20 - Home from the pool for popcorn and milk
8:00 - 2 kids in bed.

Why was this close to a perfect work day. I had no issues in the morning with picking out clothes (sometimes Madelyn goes through multiple outfits before one is acceptable) or eating breakfast (kids generally eat good, but when you are in a rush always seems to backfire).  Kids had a good day at daycare and me at work. Then we ended the night having some summer fun.  Kids had an absolute blast swimming at the pool.  After about an hour poor Madelyn started turning blue and shaking so we knew it was time to head home.  We were trying out our waterproof camera, but the batteries died before we got too many shots, probably because we were recycling batteries out a remote for it.  Note to self: remember to buy AAA batteries.

Will trying to contain himself while we tried to get a picture of him jumping in!

The splash is from Will jumping in! Madelyn was waiting her turn and is now on her way!

18 Months

Madelyn is 18 months old today! Once again I am posting about where the time has gone... 

She has definitely moved out of babyhood and into toddler hood! Hard to believe our baby is not so much a baby anymore. 

A summary of Madelyn at 18 months:

• She has a mind of her own!
• She is stubborn! When she gets something into her head she will not let it go.  Will was always way easier to distract at this age, not Maddie! 
• Madelyn is definitely a Mommy's girl! She always wants Mommy right there and Mommy to help her.  If I am not around she is fine to let someone else but only if Mommy is no where to be found.
• She is a tease! Especially with Grandpa Peter. 
• She is generally a good eater.  She eats most foods.  She loves noodles or any form of noodles making spaghetti and meat sauce one of her favourite meals.  She loves watermelon, raspberries and blueberries.  Her favourite veggies are frozen peas, stir fried broccoli and cucumbers.
• Madelyn has 7 teeth. That right still only 7 teeth.  She is a late teether and slow teether.  Everyone tells me this is a good thing as she will have better teeth as an adult, I guess we will see.  Despite he lack of teeth she still eat everything including fruit leather, gummies, pieces of apple, so I think she is fine.
• She is starting to talk a lot! Just today she was saying 3 word sentences e.g. "Will dump out", "Mommy snack please".  I love listening to her chatter away, she is starting to sing as well for example she will sing the words "twinkle twinkle" or " Home, home-home, home" (for home on the range).
• She loves dogs! Big dogs, little dogs, in the house, outside, she loves them all.
• Although she does not have much interest in sitting and watching tv.  She know a lot of the shows that Will watches.  Her favourites are The Wiggles and Toodles (aka Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).  She is also a fan of Benjamin Bear, as this is what come on at 7:30 week nights and the show that is on before they go to bed.
• She is starting to get more efficient at walking (only been walking for about 6 weeks ).  She has no real interest in climbing things (e.g. on to the couch etc.) she would much rather let someone help her out.
• Madelyn loves to sit.  She can often be found sitting on the bottom stair watching Will run in circles drinking her water.
• She is a good sleeper, we rarely hear a peep out of her when we put her down for a nap or bed and generally sleeps 8-6:30 then an hour and half to two hour nap.  Her waking up times are often directly related to how loud her brother is!
• She loves her brother and is always taking him things, such as his water cup, a toy etc.  She needs to have whatever he has, this often ends up in a fight! Let's just say they have a typical sibling love-hate relationship.  Still you know they love each other as they are often found giving hugs and kisses.  If Will is not with her she is definitely asking for him and where he is.
• Madelyn likes to play with stickers, colour and play dough, although can often be found eating the latter two if unsupervised.
• She loves pretties in her hair (aka pony tails or pig tails) and will tell you if she wants one or two when you are putting them in. On a side note apparently hair is a Mommy job because the other day Madelyn come out of her room with pony holders going Mommy pretties.  Daddy had got her dressed but was not tackling the hair!
• Madelyn loves to pick out her own clothes.  If there are clothes out she will outfit change in the middle of the day.  Her favourite shirt has been a puppy shirt we got from cousin Grace, which is now stained and well worn.  After Fort McMurray the new pink dump truck shirt Uncle bought for her may become the new favourite! She would not let that shirt out of her sight after she got it!
• She has started to distinguish colours and definitely knows red and blue. She will pick up a red crayon and tell you red. She also says pink, purple, yellow, green but they are more so copying you when you tell her what colour they are. 
• She loves water, baths, swimming pools etc.

Madelyn has a cutest smile, with dimples and a giggle that can fill a room. 

Happy 18 month birthday baby girl!

Fort McMurray

We spent the weekend up in Fort McMurray visiting Uncle Bob and Auntie Beth.  It was great to see them and we had a great visit.  The kids enjoyed the plane rides and overall the weekend was a huge hit.  Will has been asking when we can go back and see Uncle Bob and Auntie Beth. 

We were terrible and kept forgetting our camera everywhere we went in Fort McMurray.  Here are a few pictures from the airport/plane and a couple Uncle Bob took. 

At Calgary airport.  Turns out it was Stampede weekend. To say the least Calgary airport was busy.

Will wanted a ride in the stroller, Madelyn did not want to share, we compromised!

Playing in the airport!

Snuggles on the plane

Uncle Bob and Maddie on the bulldozer.

Will in the big bucket.

The weather was hot when we were up there.  We spent most of our time either at the spray park, in the kiddie pool Bob and Beth bought for the kids in the yard or trying to escape the heat.  Hence a trip to the Oil Sand Discovery Center in AC and out for supper.

It was a great weekend!  I wonder how I could convince Bob and Beth to move to Regina?  It is always way too far between visits!

Three and one half

How did this happen? That right William is three and a half.
 

At three and a half what does Will like to do?

• Anything to do with machines from fire trucks to tractors to graders to rollers to combines to airplane to trains etc.
• Water, he loves to play in the sprinkler, the pool, any way he can get soaking wet, if you can add mud or sand to it, even better.
• He apparently loves watching Pink Panther. He was watching it at daycare today and said "I love this show". He has also been caught rolling on the floor while watching the road runner and willie-coyote. Of course classics like Mickey Mouse (old style and clubhouse) are hits, Little Einstein’s, Wiggles, Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs, Handy Manny are favourites as well. It is a long list, don't worry he does not watch TV all day. I guess bottom line is he is not really fussy about what he watches, although is not a fan of Strawberry Shortcake.
• He recognizes a few letters (W, M, D, X) and numbers (1-4).
• He knows how to count to 15 consistently, 20 sometimes.
• Knows his abc's.
• He knows his shapes.
• He likes to paint, cut, and glue things.
• He likes to help cook and bake in the kitchen.
• Latest song he has learnt is "O Canada". Favourite songs still include "Home on the Range", "Wheels on the Bus" and "You are my Sunshine" Please do not try to cut versus out of the these songs, he will call you on it and yes he sings them on his own too.
• He loves his sister and is her biggest fan. Congratulating her on things she does telling her she is such a big girl. He is also her biggest tormentor, stealing her toys, blanket, dolly, water cup, you get the point.
• He loves his daycare, and playing with his friends.
• He talks non stop... everyday, all day!
• Favourite foods are classic kid foods: hot dogs, noodles, pizza, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, grilled cheese, homemade mushroom soup, watermelon, strawberries, etc. Don't forget soft taco wrappers with taco meat, pork and beans cheese and sour cream this is probably his ultimate favourite!
• He has learnt to buckle up his own car seat, which can be frustrating because he has to do it himself but can take a long time.
• Will can dress himself; when he wants.
• Goes potty completely unassisted except for a bit of help to wipe bum.
• Generally he is very friendly, saying hi to everyone.
• He loves playing with other kids and is definitely a treat to be around!
• He still naps most days, ok 99% of the days, although I am thinking this may phase out over the next little while as bed time is getting pushed back a bit, generally he is not falling asleep until 8:30 or 9. However, when he does not nap he is barely functional by 6:30 so we will continue letting him nap for the now.  I am not ready to put him time bed at 7pm in the summer so for now naps remain, unless something extra cool is happening he can skip a day here or there. 

Most of all he is a constant source of entertainment! 

Happy 3 and ½ birthday William! (don’t worry we did not actually celebrate this ‘birthday’ just seems to be a milestone worth blogging!)

Weekend Pics

A few pictures from the weekend.



At Grandpa David and Grandma Linda's house.  A dog and a stick what else does a little boy need?

A stick and a mud puddle, what else does a little girl need?

Canoing with Grandpa and Auntie Jen.  The kids loved going out on the canoe.  At first Will was not sure he wanted to go but once he was out once we could not keep him out of the canoe.  He was leaning over splashing water and rocking the canoe.

Grenfell Canada Day Parade

Waiting for the parade



Playing dress-up and emergency

Firefighter

Somethings are just too cute not too post multiple poses

Finally here is a video of the kids playing ghost.  They love playing this game.  Often run into random things.  I believe Will's line was "I should be more careful".  For a while they were playing ghost under the same blanket which was not near as efficient as they often walked in opposite directions leaving the blanket laying on the floor.

http://youtu.be/xBBqXD-DGkk