Lost the camera

We misplaced it over the weekend so we had to rely on a friend to get photos of Big C's final 'nastics class.





He had a great time and has really improved over the session. I don't know that we'll put him in again. At almost $20 per 45 minute session I am just not sure that we can keep it going. Plus, by the time he has swimming on one day and then 'nastics on the other, it really starts to eat into his weekend (and ours).

He and daddy had a good time at the final class.

The lights are here! The lights are here!

As many of you know the City of Ottawa will take strands of your old-school incandescent Christmas lights and replace them with new LED lights. Last year they were able to do a 1-for-1 exchange, however due to the popularity of the program last year, this year they are using a 2-for-1 system. I took a few sets of old lights into a nearby school, so that the school actually gets the proceeds from the recycled copper, and patiently awaited my new lights.

Today is the day!

Here's a picture of what the beautiful new lights will look like when illuminated!

Monkey will be soooo pleased at all the beautiful colours!

Christmas Wish List Time

Some people have started asking what the kids would like for Christmas.

The boys are VERY in to the Magic School bus right now. The thing is, they have pretty much ALL of the books and several of the DVDs. If there were age appropriate games I'm sure they would love them.

The boys are also into Franklin. We have most of the books (we have around 20 of them!) they have a couple of DVDs though I am sure there are many more. Again, they would likely enjoy a Franklin game.

You know, age appropriate games in general would be great. We have been spending a great deal of time sitting down together as a family and playing games together, it's been great. A wider variety of games though would certainly be fantastic! We currently have chutes and ladders, a Cars memory game, Craium Cariboo, and Cranium Hullabaloo.

Big C is really in to vehicles. He already owns just about every construction vehicle known to exist though! He would love a little road to drive his cars on. Scholars Choice sells some really neat ones that are designed to be pieced together and are $10 each or currently 3 for $20, though I'm sure there are lots of neat ones out there. The more intricate the roads, the better!!

Bic C is quite taken with emergency vehicles. He loves ambulances a LOT. Something that would be small enough to fit in his hands and very sturdy construction would be a hit. He is still pretty rough on stuff and tends to throw things when he is upset (which when you are 2 is often, sigh).

Monkey is getting really creative, though he needs to work on his fine motor skills. He would love puzzles and toys that would involve building. I think that he is almost old enough for Lego. He is currently using lots of Duplo.

Scholars Choice has a really neat gear toy that I think he would love. (pictured below)
Monkey is still really in to Lightning McQueen. He has most of the cars from the series but would probably love a sheet set, or other room accessories. He currently has the wall stick ons.

These are just a few ideas. Anything durable would be great!!

While the boys are away, the adults will play

I had a birthday several months ago and my parents offered to give us a weekend without the kids as a present. We booked a bunch of fun stuff for this weekend. Among those things was 4 wheeling in Mallorytown with http://www.vanridgeatvtrails.com/. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!! We went out for an hour with the friendliest guide I have ever met. His name is Paul and he was great.
Dave is in the blue jacket and I am in the teal green and purple jacket (that is so out of fashion that I think it might just be coming back in!!).
Dave's ATV got stuck in the muck twice. This time they had to use the winch to get him out-so cool!!!

Dave and I loved ripping around the backwoods on these things!!! If I didn't think that my neighbours would have kittens over the whole thing, I would get myself one!!

Helpful Older Brother

Monkey is a truly fantastic older brother. He likes to help Big C and Big C totally looks up to his big brother. The other day I sewed on the train badges that Grandpa scored for them at the train show. They both wear their vests almost daily so it made sense to put the badges there.

Once Big C's was done he wanted to put his vest on but he still can't zip it up on his own.

Enter Monkey, more than eagar to save the day. The vests are a HUGE hit. Thanks grandpa!!

SInging in the Rain

Yesterday Monkey suddenly came up to me and asked if he could go outside. It wasn't even pouring rain at the time, though that would come later, so the answer was a very quick 'of course!'. The boys suited up from head to toe and then were off. Monkey spent much of his time blowing his whistle and Big C was really interested in sweeping the rain from the bottom of the slide, but both had a great time.
Here are some shots of the shananigans:

The week that was

Wow - what a busy week. Well, more than a week actually. It was really rather a blur of days flying by.
Monkey has been doing really, really well. He had a 'perfect' week getting all 15 stickers and really impressing everyone in his life. This was certainly an outstanding accomplishment given that he was sick last weekend and mommy spent a lot of time and energy with him in recovery mode. Mommy's awesome that way. He's really a wonderful boy and I think that it took daddy staying with him all day Monday just hanging out with him to realize that he's a phenomenal little boy and a real pleasure be with.
Big C had an eventful week as well. We worked on a new plan in terms of his sleep - listening to the music CD's that used to put Monkey to sleep and having 15 minutes of playtime in his room before an official transition to sleep. It seems to have helped him turn a corner, or at least see the corner and get started towards it. Daddy realized that he needs to help his little guy out by being consistent and setting clear limits for his behaviour. He had a super time at pre-school on Camp Day - sleeping in a sleeping bag for naps and having Smores!
Mommy had a busy week at work. All is well and she should be proud of herself. I know that we all are.
Daddy had an outstanding leadership weekend. The kids were great. The organization flowed really smoothly. There were no big hiccups (there is usually at least one per year, if not 2 or 3). Everyone had a super time and the kids/staff are still talking about it in the hallways. It was nice to get some praise from the boss too.
Mimi had a good week at school with a couple of tests and lots of things on the go. She's really enjoying her dance class. She's also looking forward to the arrival of the Aussie's in the neighbourhood tonight. Our good friends will be hosting one of them, Penny, meaning that she'll have a teenager at hand everytime we get together with them.
We're all looking forward to a fun week ahead. I hope that it's a little less adventurous but just as much fun!

67's Game and the Car Wash Photos

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Arrgh. I'll try again later.

dog kisses-daily quote

Today we are over at a friend's house making cookies. They have a VERY friendly dog who likes the give out kisses, especially to children who are laying on the floor unable to defend themselves.

We got to the messy part of the cookie making and pulled off Monkey's shirt. I couldn't help myself with all of that skin, I just had to kiss him. He looked down and said "oh good, I'm glad you're not the dog"

Ottawa 67s Game

We all went to the Ottawa 67's game on the weekend to watch the Ottawa Mascots battle it out. Mimi had a lot of fun. I hear that there are car wash photos somewhere but I have not seen them...
Aunt Heather was Monkey's permanent seat.
Here's Mimi, still getting over the thrill of going through the car wash...
The mascots duelling it out. We have Dover Cat, the Killer Puck, the Ottawa Senators raccoon (???) and Gat the Cat

Big C peed on the potty to get popcorn
What would you guess was captivating this child's attention so completely? Hockey? Heck NO!
The intermissions have a ZAMBONI!!!!!

More smackdown...CHEO Bear was getting the Giant Tiger in the one while Gat lays it down on the killer puck.
And in the final Gat takes out CHEO Bear and a winner is declared!!

Hallowe'en Night Post

The boys had a phenomenal Halowee'en this year as both of them were totally into it. We grabbed some pizza with the Busseys and then got all dressed up. Mommy outdid herself this year and made a Ming-Ming costume for Monkey. We borrowed the Tuck costume for Big C, though he was assured that 'no mommy, I'm a turrrrtle.'. It was too cute.
Even Peanut got in on the dress-up action!
We boarded the flyboat for about a milisecond before the boys were all off like a flash. Monkey and E-man were literally running from house to house getting candy. Big C did his best to keep up and really enjoyed the evening. He and mommy went door to door slowly, visiting some of our friends on the old side the neighbourhood first, then hitting our neck of the woods. Mimi was right into it too, learning a lot about how we do Hallowe'en here.
All too soon Big C was done, so he headed back home to catch some well-deserved zzzz's. Monkey wasn't far behind as he was sitting in the flyboat by the time that mommy returned from dropping daddy and Big C off at home. The boys slept like rocks and are sure to be asking for their daily candy handout by about 6:02 every day.
It was a super Hallowe'en all around. Thanks mommy for all your hard work!
(Here is our little family of Jack O'Lanterns - boo!)