Party Time

Since Anthony's actual birthday was on a Wednesday, we had his friend party on the Saturday. Here are the pictures from that day. Anthony really really wanted a Superhero birthday party, so I had the kids come 'dressed as a superhero' (basically a cape).

Can you tell what he's feeling?!

Playing Pin the Mask on the Superhero

(ignore my artistic ability!) This would have been a great shot if I could have got everyone looking!!
Up the wall, down the slide, through the tunnel, ride the car, rock the horse and...
....fly like a superhero.

It was the Superhero Training Course!

I LOVE watching kids when there are presents involved! I'm not sure they could get any closer Monster Cupcakes


Maybe blue icing wasn't such a good idea....

I LOVE small community pools. I took Alexandra swimming again today and because I had the car so we could stock up the fridge and cupboards again, (it was starting to look a little like Ms. Hubbard's cupboards) Owen sat in his carseat at the edge of the pool and I got to play with my middle child. It was SUCH a blessing to me. 


It is rare that her and I get time together where it's just the two of us and we can play together. I left the pool so happy and content. It probably helped that when Owen woke and started to fuss, the lifegaurds took him out of the carseat and played with him (did I mention that Alexandra and I were the ONLY people in the pool?).


I love days that fill me up to overflowing. Even shopping was great. Today was filled to overflowing with little gifts af grace and I am one VERY thankful Mommy. Here's hoping that your days are filled up too.

Good Morning Sun....

Happy Morning Everyone!!

I hope that your days are starting off calmly and filled with love for the ones waking up around you this morning. Last night Troy and I went out to the Elk Dinner and had a fabulous evening of GREAT food, good conversation (no little people interjecting their 2 cents worth) AND we were even the highest bidders on one of the silent auction prizes!!! (and we NEVER win anything!) We are now the owners of 2 The Chill (a soccer team) seasons tickets and 2 The Chill hoodies. I was (unreasonably) happy after winning! Could have been that it was late and I was really tired by that point!!

The post is random and probably going to be all over the place so please bear with me. The following pictures are from Anthony's birthday. We celebrated as a family on his actual birthday (Sept 10) and that's when these pictures were from.

Anthony wanted a superhero birthday and requested a Batman cake.Opening presentsHis Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles playset.

Life has been happening quickly. There is (surprisingly) less than a month until I get to take the kids and visit my family in Toronto. SO excited. I will also get to see my bestfriend and her new little boy (well, by new I mean 2ish months). Well, kids are clammering for breakfast so I must go and feed the animals. There are some days when I am SURE that I am a keeper at the zoo!

Happy friday!!

Literally Hours of Fun

A little of everything...

Took Owen to the pool for the first time today. Boy oh boy, he did NOT like the little boat I took for him. Thankfully Alexandra is good enough in her water wings that I could hold Owen while playing with her. She was happy to slide down the little slide the whole time we were there so it made watching her easy!! And both the little ones fell asleep on the way home in the srtoller. Which, was sort of good but now it is nap time and Alexandra is watching (whatelse) Dora becauase she slept for an hour earlier. That's fine though. She is happy and content looking at Anthony's bible and watching t.v and I am (whatelse) blogging :)

This morning started off awful. I don't even know what has wrong but everything was just rubbing me the wrong way (the fact that it took Anthony 45 minutes to eat the breakfast that HE picked out, the fact that Alexandra INSISTED on uppies the entire time I was trying to get everyone ready and out the door for the school bus) but, thankfully the 30min walk to the pool was wonderful and I managed to put everything back into perspective and have actually found my happy side again (I'm sure my family will be THIRILLED to hear that)


Tonight Troy is meeting with our pastor to talk about leading a Bible study (or Grace Group as they are called at our church) and I think it will be a really really good thing for him. I know he is nervous and a little scared because it takes him outside of his comfort zone but I have found that God often calls us outside of our comfort zones so that we can be challenged and forced to rely on Him in ways that we haven't in the past. I am excited to see where this leads and am praying that Troy will actually decide to lead (or co-ead with a friend) the group despite feeling nervous about it.


Thursday Troy and I actually get to go out on a date! We are leaving all three kids at home (with a dear friend of mine and I will pay her back by watching her kids one tnight) and enjoying a nice dinner out. So happy about that as it is very much needed seeing as the last time we were out without kids was 3 days before Owen was born (We went to see Prince Caspin)

Anyway, I will leave you with a few pictures of Owen at almost 4 months:Yes, his eyes really are that blue

Gross!

The kids and I were baking a number of things the other day. I had turned around to the cupboards to pull something out that I had forgotten when I hear:

"Hey Mom! Where's a camera when you need it?"

(that could be a sign that I take too many pictures of my kids but.....), the camera happened to be sitting on the counter so I grabbed it and caught this....

What is this? This, would be my oldest SUCKING the left over butter off the foil wrapper.

He also tried it with the shortening after but didn't like it as much!

What WAS I Thinking?!

Oh yeah, I remember. I was thinking I wanted 10 minutes of peace. 10 minutes to do the dishes and whip up a batch of icing for the cupcakes and brownies we had made (together, least you think I am a 'bad' mother for ignoring my children!) earlier today, 10 minutes where I didn't have to listen to my darling oldest childern SCREAM (at the TOP of thier lungs) "ALL DONE MOMMY, NO NAP! ALL DONE!!" AND "BE QUIET SISTER!!! BE QUIET. IT IS NAPTIME SO BE QUIET!!!"

SO what did I do??? I sent them outside into the backyard (by themselves), made sure the gate latched behind them so I didn't have any little escapees on my hands, and told them that they were to "Play NICELY with eachother and Mommy will be out soon."

Well......soon (read 15 minutes) came and went and I didn't really hear much of anything from the backyard, just enough sound that I knew they hadn't climbed the fence (or attacked eachother)or anything crazy like that, so I continued to tidy up the kitchen, lay Owen down for a nap and tint the icing a nice shade of blue. And that's when I heard it (about 15 /20 minutes later).....

shrill giggles and screams and belly laughs.

What the heck is going on out there????!!!! SO I go to my bedroom window to see what EXACTLY my children were doing and what do I see?

This.....

this is what mischief personified had been doing for the past 40 mintues while Mommy was busy inside....... (but it was SO worth it and they were SO happy and I SO didn't even care!) And yes, they were DRENCHED (and they then proceeded to play in that puddle of water er, sand!)

Growing....

...by leaps and bounds!

Anthony's First Day

Seeing as this was Anthony's first 'offical' day, I thought I would post the pictures from last week when he got to go in.

Anthony was SO funy this morning, he gets all ready for the bus, opens the door and says:

"It's alright Mom, I don't need anyone to wait with me, I'm big now! I can wait all by myself."

Nice try kiddo!

I'm cool Mommy!
Here comes the bus!

The Bus driver is LAUGHING here because by this point,

I had asked him to turn around and wave about 10 times...

does it LOOK like he is listening??!!

Getting off the bus at school

The End of Summer

For the last two years, on Labour Day weekend, the kids and I (and this year Troy, he happened to not be working) head out to Hymers Fall Fair. They have a blast and start asking in about May if it is time for that fair yet (well, Anthony, seeing as Alexandra was too little last year to remember it), "you know the one mommy, where I had cotton candy and walked on stilts."

Hey, if that's what Anthony remembers, then that's what we will go back for (every year). I think traditions are really important for kids, it helps to create memories that they can remember as they grow, something for them to look forward to and, maybe one day, do with their own kids. Anthony surprised me this year, we walked into the fair and he immediately asked if he could get "a vegetable to paint mom, you know, like I painted black last year" Thankfully I knew he was talking about a gourd, so yes, we bought him a gourd to bring home and paint (this years looks MUCH nicer than last years black blob!) The stilts


Alexandra and Mikayla having tons of fun!
(yes, we do a lot with this family!)



Anthony had a wonderful birthday today. He was SO excited with the presents he got that he ACTUALLY spent close to 3 hours playing with them by himself. He was just so happy today, it was a very nice change from Monday where all of my wonderful children were well...they were driving me over the edge with their I don't know what it was! SO yesterday and today were MUCH MUCH better than Monday and I am so thankful for that.