Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! 

Easter Egg hunt on Saturday organized by our good friends 

{I mean the Easter Bunny!}

It was our kiddos' first real egg hunt. They had so much fun!

Easter Sunday in Pictures

Started off with a chocolate egg hunt at home.

A day doing activities and playing.

And ended with a delish dinner at my parents' house.

A happy day indeed.

That's All Folks!!!

Happy Canada Day {Weekend}!!!

It's been a fun-filled one for us and the weather here has actually decided to cooperate. I think I actually got a little tan this weekend.

We also discovered this weekend that Maddie can officially swim on her own! She did really well in her last swimming class session but still used a floating aid for the majority of her swims.

But this weekend we headed out to the cottage. She started playing with a couple of other girls, a few years older than her, and they were all swimming together. Maddie had her life jacket on, but decided to take it off and just use a noodle. Well, the next step for her was to try to see if she could swim without the noodle. And she let it go. I did not witness this firsthand, but Ken says she was initially shocked and then started doggy paddling to save her life! All he could see was her little head sticking out of the water as she bobbed up and down for a few seconds! One of the other little girls gave her back her noodle and she grabbed on again. She said she was a bit scared, but now she knows she can actually stay afloat on her own!!! I am so excited! Now we can work on strengthening her swim and the length of time she can stay afloat. Today we went swimming at our friends' pool and she was able to swim alone again...back and forth between Ken and the ladder. I can't help but feels so proud of her! It's also weird though, it seems like just yesterday she was a little one year old in a parent n' tot class...now she's swimming on her own...

 {Discovering and working with clay}

 {Looking for fish}

 {Trying to keep up with the kiddos!}

 {Found a fish! It was actually a stick, but you know...}

 {Extremely pregnant...and I still have a few weeks to go!}

 {Maddie caught some tadpoles! Don't worry they were eventually returned :-) }

 {Looking for more tadpoles together}

{With Daddy and Auntie}

{Mr. Smiley Cloud face...at the end of a beautiful day!}

A {surprise} party

At some point in early December I began planning a party. For Ken's 30th birthday. I always knew I would make the big three oh special in some way. So I decided it would be a surprise party. I had no idea if it would work out, after all planning a party with a very perceptive 4 year old around who might spill the beans would be tricky.

I made the guest list.

I booked the restaurant {Ken's favorite}.

Ordered the cake.

And then waited.

Near the time some final details had to be arranged. The menu, the pickup of the cake. And I have to say that the owner of the restaurant is amazing and so accommodating, she even made us a special order of wheat free dishes. And the cake was divine, also wheat free.

Of course it wouldn't be truly exciting without snow. Yesterday morning it started snowing and it didn't stop. All day. I was at my course and I kept looking out the window and hoping for the best.

But us Maritimers don't get phased by snow.

Everyone was there despite the slush and ice and unplowed streets.

When we arrived Ken was genuinely surprised. He thought we would be going to dinner and just our families would be there. His friends were there too. And together it was a surprise indeed. And he got to laugh and talk and eat.

And now he is thirty. And I am so blessed to be in his life and able to wish him a

Happy Birthday!

Lost marbles...

Oh bother. I feel like such a dumb dumb. In the last couple of weeks I seem to have lost something. A marble or two perhaps?

I have worked the last few Fridays and every single shift, without fail, I make a mistake or many, on cash. Either ring in something as cash when it was debit or credit card...or can't remember the code for a product or a price or whatever. Foggy brain is the diagnosis.

Next...

I took the kiddos to have their holiday picture taken. It all went well, as well as could be expected with little Isaac. We got 3 decent pictures out of the whole shoot. 3. What do I go and do? Because I couldn't decide how many to get or what sizes I bought the copyright CD and paid $80 for THREE good pictures, that I then to pay extra to get developed.

OK well maybe the three pictures are worth it. I then check the pictures on my computer and send them off to get printed. It's not until I get them back that I realize one of them is blurry AND that I didn't get them in glossy print. They look OK, but I know they could look better. There goes another $10. I reordered them, in glossy this time, and hopefully they will look prettier. We shall see. In the meantime my holiday cards are delayed in getting mailed.

But the worst, must dumb dumb thing I have done so far is this.

On Saturday night I drove for half an hour to visit a good friend for her holiday party. I get there, park and then proceed to exit the car and shut the door. Leaving the keys safely on the passenger side seat where I left them while I grabbed my purse. What the hell!? Come on!

So I had to call our roadside assistance plan, but because I'm in the middle of nowhere {almost} they take a long time to get there and they charged me to break in to my car because it was outside the "service area". That pissed me off. The lovely visit with my friend was the only thing that helped me calm down. Sixty three dollars was worth it {that's what I keep telling myself!}.

Oh well.

The good things that are happening recently are many too...outweighing these blips.

We have our tree up. And it was magical to see the kiddos excited to decorate it and see it all finished.

I have officially decided that we are homeschooling and I am beyond excited for this. Maddie is responding so well and I am loving the approach we are taking {I will have more on this later, I promise}.

But just in case, I am going to look under the sofa to see if my lost marbles are there {it's the only place I haven't looked yet}.

Wordless Wednesday

 {My new gloves}

No more cold hands during computer time. Seriously this is a problem for me, and I can't use regular gloves because they get in the way and the buttons feel weird.

I, of course, also use them outside. 

I have already gotten several compliments on them.

P.S. These were knit for me by Steph over at Adventures in Babywearing.

Thanks Steph. I {Heart} Them!

Marvelous Mexico

Our trip to Mexico could not have been more perfect. The journey there {and back} went smoothly, even if we did have to wake up at 4am to get there! The kiddos did great on the plane. Our first day there was spent getting groceries and settling in to the villa. We did get to go in the pool though! During the week our routine became: wake up, eat breakfast, put swimsuits and sunscreen on, pack snacks and head to the beach! After a few hours there we would head home for lunch and then we all would have a glorious nap. The only days we didn't do that where they days we went to the Tulum Mayan ruins {and the Tulum beach...just awesome!} and to Yal-Ku lagoon. Both beautiful places.

While we adventured we got to see wild Sea Turtles, tons of fish and iguanas. The Sea Turtles were really the highlight though, they are so majestic. Even Maddie got to see them! Ken and I would take turns taking her out to where they were feeding and she used our masks to look into the water. She did so good at holding her breath and looking underwater! My friends' kiddos also got to see them, so everyone was very excited about that!

Every day we would take turns cooking and we made some delish meals. I am happy to report that we did not get sick, at all! That truly did make the vacation even more enjoyable.

In the evenings, after dinner, we would put Isaac to bed and then the rest of us would watch a movie, eat popcorn and then head to bed at the crazy late hour of no-later-than-9:30pm. Sun and sand really drain the energy out of a person; oh and so does chasing 4 kids around all day!

I am so happy we all went. Despite constantly being on parent duty, we had a great time. Would I do it again?

In a heartbeat.

Ole!

Can you guess what I'm doing?

I've got lots of sunscreen, hats and sunglasses and hot weather clothes!

We are going on vacation!

Mexico here we come!

It's going to be 3 adults and 4 kids...can you say a bit outnumbered? Our friend and her 2 kiddos are coming with us. We're going to have a blast!

I am so looking forward to lounging by the pool, eating lots of yummy food, laying on the sand, building sandcastles and plain old beach bumming without a care in the world.

What a way to end the summer!

Wedding Party

Wedding party pictures!

{Me and Andy, the beautiful bride}

{Maddie enjoying the swing}

{Isaac overcoming the obstacle in his way}

Playground Playdate

Today I got to meet one of the moms from the 'July 2009 Moms' group we both belong to.

We went to the playground in Hermann Park and had lots of fun. Isaac loved the swing and Maddie got to run around and burn some energy. She also happened to step on an ant hill and her feet got covered in tiny little ants. Needless to say it was not pleasant, but I managed to calm her down and we shook and shooed the ants off.

Here are some pics of our playdate...