I'm a fireman mommy!!

Every little boy's dream! Since I would rather not have water guns in the house, we bought the boys the "Fire Hose Hero" toy from Discovery Toys. It gets played with in the basement all the time.

He loves it!

Monkey is away camping so Big C is loving having full access to all of the toys. I'll post pictures of the camping trip as soon as they arrive by email. Dave left the camera here and another family took the photos.

I'm not tired

Big C has been integrating into his new day care for the last week. On Friday he was there all day and so he had a nap. That meant that rather than go to bed at his usual 6:30 of 7. He partied in his room until almost 9! He got up at 6:45 and was a bear. By the middle of lunch he wasn't even coping any more.

So I told him that he was getting a nap. Oh he whined and cried to tell me that he wasn't tired. He insisted through his tears that I had it all wrong.

5 minutes later, this was my sweet little bear. I think that I might have been right!

One bear tucked under each arm.
I let him have an hour or so and he went to sleep by 8 pm. Hopefully we can find a workable solution for this nap at day care thing. I am pretty sure that they will be tiring him out enough that he'll need it.

Mimi has a birthday in Canada

Mimi celebrated her birthday here in Canada. Of course, that means that we needed chocolate cake!! Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you...

Mmmmm, chocolate cake

Happy birthday Mimi! We hope that you have a wonderful year!!

The sweet taste of Victory

This post is in no way related to the Saltine post.

I looked over this evening and noticed Big C starting to make The Face.
Every parent knows The Face. I grab Big C and we head for the bathroom. I remind him that he would get a lollypop for a poop on the potty.

Up we raced. The diaper was empty. On he went.

Out it came. What is with the sock and the wand? An imaginary lollipop for the winner!!

Then, the victory!

Ahh, sweet victory.

DpoD August 25th - Monkey's Shiner

So Monkey got his first shiner at "bama and bampa's" house on Sunday. He was running around a corner and took a good header into the corner of the couch. Mommy was right on top of it and went straight to the kitchen claiming 'Oh, this is going to need some ice". We iced it there and on the way home. Here he is waking up the next morning in pretty good spirits about it.

Somehow we were able to convince him that it was a pretty cool thing. He even related to daddy that playing soccer involved hitting the ball with your head when you get bigger, so it seemed to relate to a rite of passage for him. When he found out it would change colours to yellow, maybe green and possibly blue, he was quite pleased.
And when mommy told him that we could colour his hair to match the colour of his eye, well he was game for sure!

Mommy's Birthday Dinner

The 2 of us (that's right, just the grown-ups) and a few couples that know got together Saturday to celebrate Saje's big day. We had a fabulous dinner at the Keg including a spectacular red wine and dessert. The company was great and there were lots of laughs around the table. Here are a few shots of the little celebration including the ones from the 'arm's length photo challenge' that Paul and I engaged in:
The birthday girl

Paul's arm length shot of the tableDave's arm length shot of the tableOur server's "professional" shot of the tableA shot of Shayla being Shayla

DPoD August 23rd - A busy day for Monkey and Big C

Monkey and Big C both had very busy days today. After breakfast with B family the boys all headed back to our place for a little playtime. The used the Kett cars in the driveway, which brought in one of the neighbour kids to drop by and play too. He just stopped in to play! The boys then headed off to the back yard since E-man had to go home for lunch. The new kid, we'll call him Bigger C, showed Monkey some new tricks, like how to use the splash rocket as an offensive soaking device as seen here.
Monkey then showed Bigger C how to use the Spiderman pool as a place to jump into on your knees. Here are the results before we had some lunch and the neighbour had to go home.

After this we met up with the B family at one of the nieghbourhood pools. It was phenomenal. The time in the pool that both boys had spent this week was really showing in their confidence in the water. Both boys could swim in a lifejacket confidently at about an arm's length.
Then they saw the line for the diving board.
How could I say no?
Both boys waited patiently in line with E-man's cousin while daddy went in the water below. After a few practice walks down to the end of the diving board, Monkey was game to go into the water. Then there was no holding him back.
Nor his brother. This little guy was fearless and walked to the end. Knowing that daddy was right below hw plunged in. He even did his little E-man dive with both hands behind his back.
After about 45 minutes we decided to make a last call since the wind was picking up and both boys were shivering in line. We'll be sure to return should the weather get warm enough again before school starts back up!




To see some the B family pics from the day out please go here

Our new guest has arrived

Our newest guest, or should we say family member for the next year, has arrived safe and sound. She pretty much spent 36 hours in transit to get here from Finland, including a 9-hour layover at London Heathrow, so she's sleeping it off for likely most of today. She's super excited to be here, as are we to have her in our home!

You'll be sure to see some photos of E once she's up and about.

DPoD August 21st - Big C and the Lollipop!

Big C did something today for the first time in my memory and earned himself a lollipop - any guesses as to what it was?

Please comment

This picture was taken here in Ottawa. I was able to resist buying a box.

DPoD August 19th - MMMMMini Muffins

Monkey made some mini-muiffins the last time that he wwent for a sleepover. Since then, he's been quite excited about making osme at home. Well,the local grocery sdtore had the mini tray on for half price, so that solved the problem of getting the tins.

We just needed a free moment to make them. Sunday afternoon quiet time provided the opportunity.

We made some banana-chomocolate chip muffins, both in adult and mini sizes. They were taken for a test qrive and met the Q A tester's standards. I think that tray will be getting lots of use in the coming weeks and months. Thanks for the help grandma!

Great Aunt Mary's Birthday

Great Aunt Mary turns "bleep" ixty this month and there was a huge party over the weekend to celebrate. The boys were mostly impressed with the house on the water where the party was taking place. They spent a good part of the party in the boats, while they were moored to the docks! This boat was getting moved from one dock to the next. That qualified as a boat ride in thier eyes!!
Wheeeee

DPoD August 18th - Monkey wraps up his soccer season

Monkey finished his soccer season on the weekend with a big tournament. He did really well and had a lot of fun. I must say that I was quite impressed with the coaches and the set up. It was well run and all of the kids showed a noticeable improvement in their skills from the beginning to the end.

Here's Monkey getting his medal and standing with his coach.

Here's another with his buddy E-man. They're just inseparable these 2.

A 20% discount at Mabel's Labels

Today we ordered tag mates on the advice of Mrs Bussey. They don't need any ironing and they just stick right on the tags in your kid's clothes. Sweet.

Plus, we figured out how to get 20% off at Mabel's Labels. When it asks you for the coupon code type in oops1 and you get 20% off your whole order. The iron on labels at Lovable Labels are still less expensive, even with the discount, than the iron ons at Mabels, but for the Tag Mates, this is a great price.

Reduce Reuse Recycle-a la WB

Big C has figured out how to break through our wall of tabletops and assorted crap that we've been using to keep him out of the back half of the basement. The back half is the part of the basement with the tools, the furnace, the storage...you get the idea.

Since he figured out how to get through I've been thinking that we need to build a half wall or something to keep him out more securely. Dave has not had a whole pile of time, so it hasn't happened yet.

A couple of days ago it was garbage day and I spotted and old crib that someone was throwing out. It seemed like the idel item for my little problem. It is essentially lots of long gates! Into the trunk she went. Now the crib was from 1990, so technically still safe to use as a crib. Someone had painted it, poorly with drip everywhere, a fushia/purple colour. No matter for me. The colour isn't important!!

I brought it home and put my idea into reality. I was so proud of myself for making it "Big C proof" that I took these pictures. Then I realised something that made me *think* of a swear word. Big C was right beside me, so I didn't say it. So I had to change it. What did I change? Put your answer in the comments section.

Bonus points for the person who can tell me why I had to change it!
Speaking of contests and awards. We've offered rewards before, many times. Yet I still have almost an ENTIRE bag of lollypops! So, have we actually been giving them out? Or is anyone still owed a lollypop? If so, let me know and I will make sure to give you double what you originally won, just to make it up to you.

BTW, lollypops travel by mail just fine. So our friend in Vienna...go right ahead. Spain, Japan, same thing!! Go ahead and guess away!

DPoD August 13th - A trip to the museum and lunch with E-Man

We had a great time today riding the rails and playing around the museum. Here are a few pictures of us in our matching shirts. The first is when we arrived (note the full-of-beans factor is high), while the second is near the end.

Here Big C shows the world that his aspiration in life is to become an astronaut.

In the middle, we rode the rails with E-man and his older cousin. Together they had a fabulous time!

We then went for lunch hat St. Hubert - where the kids meal comes in a little paper car! That and we had the table by the kiddie room. If he had more energy he'd have really loved it, though he did have a really good time. Thanks for the idea E-man's mommy. He ate well and even had the ice cream with the chocolate cone that came for dessert.