KIds Halloween Party 2010

We hosted out bi annual Halloween party this morning, what a RIOT!! The kids had a blast!! Monkey and I made this Frankenstein costume that he is THRILLED with.Big C chose to be a construction worker wearing a Wonder Pets cape...ummm, sure!
We split the older and younger kids up and decorated cupcakes.
This was a very popular activity!!!
We rounded the party out with some science magic tricks performed by Dave.
The boys had a fabulous time and their friends did too!

Raising 'em right

A fun quote from Monkey on the weekend...but first, some context.

The place that we frequent on the weekends for breakfast has about 800 televisions. It seems to be a common problem in local restaurants...but that is a rant for another day. This restaurant shows sports and sports highlights. So the end of the race is on and Monkey says:

Mommy, mommy, you need to watch this part

Why is that sweetie?

When they are up on stage like that they start spraying each other with bottles of Coke or something.

Love it!

A fall afternoon at grandma and grandpa's place

On Sunday afternoon the boys took in the cool autumn weather and the leaves in the backyard at grandma and grandpa's place. Here are the photos of the silliness:

The Basement Overhaul

On Monday and Tuesday night daddy got to putting Dricore into the basement. With an enormous amount of help from a neighbour down the street (and a bunch of his super useful tools), we changed the flooring in the basement from cold, damp concrete to dry, dehumidifying, floodproof Dricore. We lucked out in that the math worked out perfectly in a number of spots. Our sweat, hammering and tears turned our basement into something that mommy and the boys will be able to enjoy in the warm winter months.
There aren't any plans on drywall or proper flooring for a few more years, until the room becomes more of a hang-out than a play room.
Here are the shots of mid-way progress after 4 hours Monday night
and then the final product after 5 or so more on Tuesday night.

Fall in Ottawa

Here we are, we have been absolutely swamped lately! School, work, school...more school. Big C is struggling in school and day care...busy times. We'll try to be better about this blog, we will!!
A silly self portrait that Dave took with my phone on the weekend.


Silliness abounds 'round these parts!

Monkey's big walk

Grandma is SO-O proud of Monkey. Today, he completed a 5 km walk -- the farthest he has ever gone. Our team, Keeping Abreast IX, walked the CIBC Run for the Cure and Monkey's sign says he is walking for "Grandma." Yes, he got tired, but he knew he was helping me be brave and strong, so he decided he'd be brave and strong too. Thanks Monkey. You're the best company I could have had.

Mommy's Run

This time of year is rife with runs in the Ottawa area. Mommy and some friends decided to train for a 5K run a couple of weekends ago. The boys and their friends decided to come and cheer us on.

Grandma was waiting at the 3.3 Km point and the boys were waiting at the 4.5.
Mommy in the pink headband running by. After waving and smiling with everyone : ) I really, really needed them there as I was killing myself to do the race in less than 30 minutes.
The kids with the cowbells and noise makers cheering one EVERYONE that went by.

I nailed the race at less than 30 and was thrilled! Thanks to all for the amazing support!

While daddy is away....

...mommy will take the boys apple pickin'


Daddy had an all day soccer tournament on Saturday. Mommy leapt at the opportunity to take the boys to swimming and followed it up with some apple picking on the way home.
Here are the boys at the orchard.

I have yet to discuss it with mommy, but this series looks something like a race.

And here are the boys getting apples from the trees.



They had wonderful stories to tell me about picking the apples, hitting up the garage sales and spending some really great time together.

The Boys' first day of school

September has already proven to be a busy month. Back to school. Back to work. Back to the old routines, and some new ones.
Here are the boys on the front porch ready for the first day of school.
They're getting so big so fast.

the new day care

Big C is enjoying the new day care, especially his teacher Daphne. How do I know this? Here is a conversation that we shared yesterday...in front of Daphne.

Mommy, can Daphne come for a sleepover?

*laughing* no sweetie. Daphne can't come for a sleepover

Why not mommy?

Well...ummm...Daphne wont fit in your race car bed sweetie.

Mommy, she could sleep in your bed between you and daddy then.

A visit from Momo and T-Bear

Our boys had an afternoon visit from their favourite sisters earlier this week. We had a full afternoon of activities slated including making paper airplanes:
(here's our little hangar of planes in a row)
playing some dress-up (apparently Spiderman has some musical talents that never made the cartoons or the movies):
then playing in the pool in the backyard for about an hour and a half:
the kids were all fantastic and certainly enjoyed the summer heat!

Another numberically significant post - any guesses??

On the last Wednesday of the summer we hit up our favourite museum - for four hours!!
Here are the boys taking in their favourite activities, with a few special extras:
Checking out the caboose inside the train section - checking out the beds and the icebox:
Riding the steam train in the coupela:
Putting together the toy cars:A turn in the runnels:

Checking out a car/ motorcycle show that popped up in the back parking lot. We thought that this picture might garner some special attention from Grandpa:
The communications section - complete with noise and voice recording area:
Ummm....a section about electrical wiring and circuitry.....
Another ride in the coupela:
and then we were off to the pool for a few hours.
Thanks for such a fun day boys.