A perfect night

On Friday night Chris met us at the splash-pad after work. We were feeling lazy, so we decided to head down under the bridges and have burgers and fries. Then we hit the playground and went for a walk by the river. We had to finish the night off with ice cream of course! It was such a perfect evening - we had so much fun with the kids and had a really nice time as a family.

On Saturday Chris and I went to a wedding - by ourselves! It was great to get away - if only for a night. We got to see a lot of old friends and got to see our friends Paul & Betsey get married. It was a beautiful and fun wedding.

On Sunday we just did our thing, but we had the sweetest thing ever happen at night. We went down to the pool and then we headed back home. Aidan was on his bike (a two-wheeler) and Quinn was on his (a two-wheeler with training wheels). Well, for the first time EVER, Quinn was able to bike up the driveway ALL BY HIMSELF!! Now, our driveway is not long or steep, but for some reason Quinn has never been able to bike up it - he always ends up rolling backwards. So we all cheered Quinn on, and when he got inside Aidan said: "Mummy - keep him down here." He went tearing up the stairs and came back down with one of his medals. Well, we stood Quinn up on the bench and and had a medal ceremony for him - Oh Canada and all. It was soooo... stinkin' cute, and Quinn was so proud of himself! A perfect end to a pretty perfect weekend!

Wordless Tuesday

Not much to report today, so I thought I'd post some pictures of my cuties:

Shannon in her party dress:


Sleeping baby:


Quinn reading with Daddy:



My boys relaxing:

Kee-YA!!!

This summer Quinn started his Lil' Ninjas karate class. It was a class for 3 - 5 year olds, and was his 'special' thing to do all by himself. He did so well, and loved the punching, kicking, and of course saying: "Ke-ya!!"

Here is a video of the little monkey doing the obstacle course. He was a very focused little boy!

Up, up and away!!

For those who don't know our house very well, we have a sunken family room off our kitchen. Lately this has been turned into Shannon's play area which is perfect because she is nicely contained and I can keep an eye on her. (can you see where this is going?!?) Well yesterday the little miss decided she wasn't satisfied just exploring the family room, so she decided to try climbing the step up to the kitchen. A couple scoots later and she was up over the step and crawling around the kitchen! Oh man - now the fun really starts!

Here are some pictures of the little monkey in action:

Quote of the moment

On Friday morning Aidan and I watched the Olympic opening ceremonies together. The child was totally enraptured by the show! That night, after he had his bath he came into our room and said: "Mummy, I don't care what's on Treehouse (which is the kids cartoon channel), I only want to watch the Olympics!"

That's my boy!!!

Relaxing at the cottage

Last weekend we took our annual hiatus to the Curtis cottage with my family. My brother and his family were there, my sister and her family were there, along with the Curtis'. The kids had so much fun playing "run around like mad-men", bouncing on the water trampoline, and going for lots of motor boat rides. The grown-ups meanwhile had a great time relaxing and chillin' on the dock and deck.

One of the funniest conversations of the weekend was between Aidan and Quinn as we were pulling into the cottage on Friday night.

Quinn: "I want to sleep with the grown-ups because there are monsters here."
Aidan: "No, there aren't any monsters at the cottage Quinn. There are foxes and werewolves, but no monsters."

OMG - Chris and I were just dying in the front seat! Nothing is better than the wisdom of the older brother!!

Here are some pictures:
Down the slide:


Aidan in the kayak:


My artsy shot, taken on my morning walk with Shannon (actually, she was just up bloody early, so I had to take her out so she wouldn't wake everyone up!):


Quinner in the rocket:


Shannon LOVIN' the water:

Ta Da!!!

The mud room is finished! What was once a cramped and cluttered mess, is now open and organized. Everything has it's place, and the kids know exactly where all their stuff goes. They can even hang up their own coats!! There is soooo.... much more room now. It is actually a mud ROOM, rather than a mud hallway.

Here is the before:



And now, the after:




Now I think we'll take a break from renovating for quite some time!!