Quote for the moment:

"We have at most ten years—not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions.” Jim Hansen, NASA.

....taken from the Flick Off website: www.flickoff.org

Cousin mayhem!

This past weekend we went to Dundas & Toronto to visit with the fam and celebrate Keiran's 5th birthday (Happy Birthday little K!). We had a great time visiting, and I know the boys absolutely LOVED spending time with their cousins. Even Quinn knows that when we say: "Tia Tusha and Uncle Dave", he's going to visit with Devin (or, as Quinn says: Bevin)

Sunday we were at Fantasy Fair for Keiran's party and the boys had a blast! Aidan's still talking about going in the Bumper Cars with Nannu, and Quinn even managed to ride in the bumper boats - all by himself!! The boys were so tuckered out afterwards, that they slept the whole drive home - they even slept through a torrential downpour, and a stop for gas.

Soccer Monster

We signed Aidan up for soccer this summer, and he was soooo..... excited to start playing. Last week was supposed to be our first game, but unfortunately the torrential rain, lightening and hail made us cancel the game. Aidan was beyond disappointed.

So yesterday we had a beautiful sunny day, and we were all set for soccer. Of course, Aidan was still wary about the weather, and kept asking: "Mummy, do you think it's going to rain tonight?"

Well 6:30 rolls around and there is not a cloud in the sky. Aidan had a great time practising and then playing an actual game. He couldn't quite understand why the kids on the other team kept trying to take the ball away from him though. I guess we'll have to work on that next week! He was exhausted at the end of the night - chasing the ball for twenty minutes will do that to you!

Here's a picture of our little soccer monster. Hopefully we'll get some more next week, but Chris was busy chasing after Quinn, and I was Coaching so we didn't have much opportunity for action shots.

Mass commercialization?

So we finally got a Starbucks. Yep, our little town has joined the ranks of the many who can proudly proclaim themselves as having Starbucks. When we moved here from Toronto almost 4 years ago (YIKES!) we couldn't believe that there was no Starbucks. What were we to do without our 2 Chai tea lattes, with a slice of lemon poppy-seed loaf and a muffin - all for $20? Luckliy, we converted to Tim Hortons, where you can get two medium coffees, a dozen donuts, and the kitchen sink for under $5.

Of course, I had to drop into this new Starbucks - just to 'try' the coffee. One tall breakfast blend, One tall Chai tea latte, and a slice of lemon-raspberry loaf (they were out of lemon poppyseed loaf) set me back a cool $7.81. Was it good? Meh.... I think we'll stick to the bargain basement Tim's!

So now we have a Starbucks and a Super Wal-Mart - what's next?!?!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there - especially to my Mom!

I had a great day, which started by waking up to Quinn saying: "Happy Mudda's Day Mummy", followed by Aidan barrelling in and saying: "Happy Mother's Day Mommy!!!!!". Apparently they were not coached, AT ALL by Chris. Uh huh... ;-)

We went out to brunch (my absolute favourite meal - bar none!) with the James clan, and I actually managed not to gorge so much that I felt sick afterwards. That, my friends, is a serious accomplishment for me, as will-power is not one of my strong suits!

We went to Chris' parents place for a bit, and then we went home. We spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out with the neighbours on their deck, drinking cocktails (all virgin - don't worry!) and having bruschetta, while Aidan played with their kids, and Quinn napped. It was really a pretty perfect afternoon.

Then we had a friend and her son over for dinner, and it was really neat to watch him play with the boys. He'll be 3 in August, so he's pretty much smack dab between our kids in terms of age. He took turns playing with Quinn, then Aidan, then Quinn, etc. The boys had a great time, and Chris the master bbq'r served up an awesome meal of beef kabobs and pork souvlaki with corn and baked potatos - yum!

The day ended with Aidan giving me a hug and saying: "Hope you had a great Mother's Day Mummy." And THAT, was totally unprompetd. How cute is that?

Yep, all in all a pretty perfect day!

Can it get any cuter than this?

Enough said.

Weekly goings on

So it would appear that I've been slacking a bit, and have only been doing weekly updates on the blog. Well - for me that's not too..... bad. But, I'll try to be more diligent!!

Yesterday was gardening day. Aidan and I went to a nursery to pick out some plants for two planters we're putting out front of the house. This is my first attempt at 'creating' planters so who knows what's going to happen! Aidan LOVED going to the nursery, and he got to pick out all the flowers (as long as they were planter friendly) and colours. I think the kid was in seventh heaven in there!

We got home, and he helped schlep the potting soil into the pots, and plant the flowers. Then he helped me plant two tomoato plants. Finally (and I think his favourite part of the day!), we pulled out the hose and watered the suckers. He came running into our bed this morning and said: "Mummy! None of the flowers died - they're still growing!!" Let's pray that those flowers hang on for a while!

Meanwhile, Quinn continues his obsession with 'nastics pants (gymnastics pants) and running shoes. He'll go into his room, pull of his pants (thankfully, he leaves the diaper on!) and sit there trying his hardest to put on some sweatpants or shorts. Of course, he gets very frustrated when he can't get the pants on, and then he toddles over to Chris or me demanding we put on his 'nastic pants.

On the ever growing belly front: things are looking good in baby bean land. I had a check-up on Friday, and the little monkey is doing well and growing. I finally gave up the battle and succumbed to maternity pants. I'm still managing to fit into regular tops, but I'm guessing that that's going to come to an end pretty quickly. I've now gotten to the point in the pregnancy (17 weeks) where I can feel the little guy/girl squirming around and kicking. You forget what a wierd and wonderful feeling that is!

That's it for now....

Zoo-landers

On Sunday we took a bit of a road trip and went to the Detroit Zoo. After getting stuck in perhaps THE slowest customs line EVER, we finally were off and managed to get there in just over an hour.

It's a great zoo, and is very walkable which is great for the kids. The exhibits are pretty wide open so you get a good view of the animals when they decide to cooperate. (the polar bears were too busy eating to swim over the tunnel!)

The kids loved it too, as they got a kick out of seeing the animals (they especially liked watching the penguins being fed), and then they got a chance to play, play, play on the fantastic playground they have in the zoo. It was a gorgeous day - I even got sunburned on my arms!! We ended up buying a membership, so we'll definitely be heading back again.

Here are some pictures from the day: