Thursday, May 31, 2012

Just Random

I have some pictures I want to post from the past few weeks but they don't shape up into a nice blog post so I am just going to post them. And they are in no particular order. Enjoy!

Our neighbour, Marielle, brought us some fresh eggs from her chickens earlier this week. I LOVE our neighbourhood. People are so friendly. Last week, Sam, Rachel and I had a playdate with Charlotte and her daughters, Eve and Hazel, from two doors down. Charlotte just randomly invited us over and it was great!

Last week at soccer Rachel went on the swings. We think this might have been the first time Rachel has ever been on a swing. Yes, she's a deprived child!

Speaking of soccer, Sam did okay yesterday but wasn't as enthused as the previous week. He participated in some of the warm up and enjoyed scoring two goals, but didn't want to play in the game at all. He is getting good at stopping the ball and has a fairly powerful kick!

I meant to do an entire post about the MCC Relief Sale in New Hamburg but I was too busy talking to people and eating food to take many pictures. Besides how exciting is it to see a lot of food and people we visited with? Sam decided to eat his hat instead of food while playing in the kids' area and Rachel went to town on extra strawberries from strawberry pie.

Sam really likes hanging out in our upstairs hallway. Again, as in Edmonton, it's not really a hallway but there is a lot more space than we had previously!

Rachel and Sam are really enjoying playing together lately. They've had lots of time together this week as Rachel, Sam and I have all been fighting colds so we haven't really gone anywhere this week. It's been a rough week for me since I often joke I'm a "stay-at-home mom who doesn't like to stay at home!"

Elhana and Aaron babysat Sam and Rachel for us on Saturday when Dave and I went to a party. It was the first time we ever had to pay for babysitting for our kids. We've been pretty spoiled!

Rachel is going down for nap and night with just a bottle of milk. And when there's just one person home to deal with the kids, she can even hold it herself in her crib. She's growing up.

So there are the random pictures from all over that I wanted to share with you.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Toonie Party -- The Gift

So for Sam's birthday we decided to do a Toonie Party. We asked everyone to bring two toonies -- one to donate to a charity of Sam's choice and the other to buy Sam a gift. I've already written about Sam's birthday donation so here is the post about his gift. A very delayed post.

Sam decided, after being steered a little, that he would buy a new duvet cover for his new big boy bed at IKEA. He also saw some number baskets and wanted those for his new room as well. So here is Sam with the duvet cover he chose and the number baskets.

And that is how Sam spent his birthday money. Thank you everyone who gave toonies to him!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Things That Grow In My Garden... Part 2

I was thinking in my original post that I would maybe try and update every month or so. But things have been growing so fast that I thought I would update today even though it's only been about two weeks.
So here are the planters on and around our front porch. You can see that the lettuce has been eaten so isn't looking as nice as last time. I didn't get an overall picture today. Sorry.

Since it has rained a bit today, some of the baskets which are sheltered on the porch are on the ground as I want them to get the advantage of the rain as well. And I moved the big planter to the side of the steps where it would be sitting on the cement instead of the lawn because the grass underneath wasn't looking so happy. Ooops :( The other thing I noticed about these planters this time is that they look a lot more alike because the white petunias are blooming!

The flowers in our bed are starting to look amazing -- especially the dianthus and the alyssum. The spotted green and white thing is disappointing me a bit. They haven't grown much, except in my "white plants" planter.

These are the planters on our upstairs porch. They are looking A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! If I do say so myself. The only one looking a little sad is the gerbera daisy and that is because some of the flowers are dying off to make room for new ones.

So this is what our "garden" looks like this week!

BBQ'd Burgers -- Possibly Better Than Dirt!

This evening was full of exciting gastronomic firsts. Dave was really excited about his first opportunity to BBQ burgers on his BBQ, in his own backyard. Thanks to mid-afternoon inspiration from Natasha, and some expert potato-grilling advice from Rob and Ellen in Saskatoon, Dave was able to make a very satisfying summer-time feast.

However, before said feast could be served, Rachel decided to have her own pre-dinner snack. And what, you might ask, did she choose to eat as an appetizer to the meal to come? Why, dirt, of course! Tasty, nourishing dirt!

From the photos below, she certainly seemed to enjoy her choice of snack! And sadly, these pictures were not actually taken when Rachel shoved a few handfuls of dirt into her mouth while Dave was BBQing the potatoes. These photos were from another dirt-eating episode earlier in the afternoon.

Once the pre-dinner festivities were out of the way, it was time for the main event.

On the left we have the table, all set with burgers, potatoes, fries and various condiments.
And, on the right, everyone has arrived and is ready to dig in. Enjoy!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Impatient Triplets

When Sam was born, a lot of our friends thought, "Wow! What a bit of an insane birth story!" which it was. But then Mike and Jen gave birth to Will (in the front seat of their car!) And then along came Rachel and now we just call these three kids "The Impatient Triplets" and leave it at that! and yesterday, for the first time ever, these three kids were all together and we got a picture of them. I commented that their three labours together were shorter than most people's regular labour for one baby. And that is a bit insane!

Of course, being The Impatient Triplets means that none of them actually wanted to pose for a picture so this was the best we could do!

Friday, May 25, 2012

What's Your Name?

For a baby gift for Rachel, and a big brother gift for Sam, Sheri, Naden and Tevan gave each kid wooden letters spelling out their names. We painted them last August but didn't get them varnished (or sprayed with clear coating to protect the paint) until about a week ago.

And then I hung them. I didn't realize until I saw these pictures how un-straight they are hung. They looked pretty good when I did it but now I see they slant slightly down. Oh well!

Anyways, you can tell each child is happy with their names and I LOVE them!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

"Can My Kid Be Friends With Your Kid?"

In the past few days we have gotten together with some friends who have had babies while we've been gone. In a few cases we've met our friends' kids before but our children haven't all met.

On Tuesday night, Sarah, Mathieu and Patrick came over. Patrick is about four months old and he sat in our exersaucer for the first time. Rachel was quite intrigued by this little person and all I can think of when I see these pictures is, "Sam looks soooo big!"


The title of this post is supposedly how I told my friend, Karen, that we were expecting Sam. They were also expecting and so it was a good way to tell them! Caleb is almost exactly six months older than Sam. The first time they met was in June 2009. Sam was almost three months and Caleb was nine months. He seemed like such an advanced super-baby because he was sitting up in a highchair eating solid foods!

Today was the first time all four of our kids were together. Sam and Caleb had a BLAST playing in the sandbox for about an hour. Then they played inside for another hour and a half. I think they will be good friends. Rachel and Nathan enjoyed watching each other and taking turns being gentle with each other! Ha ha ha!!!
It has been so much fun to get together with my friends who have kids around our kids' ages. It is a new aspect to our friendships -- being parents together -- and I am excited about many more fun playdates with these good friends.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

"Organized" Sports!

Last night our friends, Sarah and Mathieu, told us about an organized neighbourhood soccer practice. I e-mailed the person in charge this morning and found out that Sam could indeed participate. He was soooooo excited about it all day today. And so we went to the practice tonight (at a park a five minute walk away) and Sam had the time of his life. He was probably the youngest participant but also very enthusiastic. He learned how to stop the ball with his foot...

...scored two goals...

...and was the goalie for the younger kid game. Although Sam insisted he was "the net" and stood with his legs spread!

As you can see in the video it was pretty funny!

He did get distracted by the playground once in awhile but we managed to convince him to go back to the practice eventually. He can't wait for next week! And to celebrate Sam's first attempt at "organized" sports, we went out for ice cream and he ate an entire (mini) blizzard. And then some of Dave's too!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

More Splash Park Fun

Yesterday's post was already very long so I thought I would post some more pictures of our Victoria Day splash park experience at Victoria Park. Enjoy!