Children's Museum

We visited the new Children's Museum the other day. It was interesting, loud, and chaotic, just like any good kid's day should be, I suppose. It had been years since I'd been to the Children's Museum. It was really fun for the kids.
Once the big kids finished hogging all the building blocks, I managed to snag a few for G to build a tower.

The funniest/worst moment was when G decided that this little gap in the wall was meant to be a door. He kept just trying to squeeze through and would cry when he didn't fit.

Although the train is now equipped with all kinds of fancy lights, the conductor's chair was still intact.

I greatly missed the giant tree, but Chelsea thought crawling in the giant lasagna playstructure was fun.

The water station was a hit - again once we were able to steal one ball away from the bigger kids. Seriously - where are all the parents??

I always feel leftout when I look at pictures and see none of me, but all our pictures always wind up looking the same.

The cow station was kind of cool. It was a wall of vaccuum tubes that you stuffed these fluffy balls into. The kids had fun, again when the big kids were told to share.

And the tunnel of illusion was disappointing, but alas, the kids had fun.

It was really a fun day. I hope to make a few more memories like this during the summer.

Backyard paradise

Love it!! Waterbill is through the roof, I'm sure - but well worth it!

Lovely Summer

I vowed to make the most of this summer with my kids and I think we're doing a pretty good job.

We go and hang out at various parks. We pick flowers and count them, over and over. And then, we just hang out. Here, we take great joy in dead-heading my flower.
And, well, I was washing the cars. They were my little helpers.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as I am!

And the winner is....

Jennifer from Do it like the Duecks!

You are the winner of a sugar-free hazelnut DaVinci syrup and pump. I'll message you about dropping it off soon!

Thanks everyone!

Amanda

17 days later...

Before you start reading, let me just warn you. I'm well aware this is one of those "mom-posting-pictures-of-her-kids-because-she-thinks-they-are-the-cutest-ever" kind of posts. I realize that, with the exception of my mom and sister, this will probably not get comments, and I'm okay with that.

You know why?

Because my kids are THE CUTEST EVER.

(Just kidding.)

I now present Canada Day 2011, 17 days late.

The fire hose is always a huge hit, for about 7 seconds. Then we move on.

The petting zoo would have occupied my children for 73 and a half hours. We had to drag them away twice, only to go back once more. I wish I could say that no animals were harmed during these photos, but I'm pretty sure I'd be lying. A huge highlight for us was definitely the "mini drumsticks" from the Iceburg's tent. Mini? hose things were huge! It was nice to find a quiet spot to cool off and get re-energized.

Although they look less than thrilled, they really were excited to be in the animal train. It's just that this is the 7th attempt at a photo getting them both to look at the camera, so by now, they are done with me and my lack of photoskills.

And that, dear readers, is Canada Day 2011.

G-man

Seriously love for this guy. He's only recently allowed me to take pictures of him again. I love it!

A clever title?

- Blogger keeps doing weird things to the spacing on my posts, so please forgive me.
- Yesterday was the obligatory "once a year, whether he needs it or not" shopping trip for my husband. He HATES shopping. This year, I managed to get him to shop in American Eagle (2 pairs of jeans!) and all the rest was Old Navy (where 98% of his clothes come from). Babysteps. Babysteps.
- I managed to sneak into lulu and bought myself a couple of tank tops. I am back into running and working out and I was tired of my plain black tops. I start another round of bootcamp this week and I'm excited to see my changes.

- We bought a pool! It's a 16' by 42". It's big enough that I can float the summer away on a dingy in the middle. :) Seriously, we may never leave our backyard this summer.

- We use a lot of sidewalk chalk in this house. I'm forever drawing hopscotches for the kids. Gavin loves numbers. LOVES. He adores counting. The other morning, I was working in my flower gardens and I went to see how the drawing was going and I found this!

Chelsea had drawn Gavin a hopscotch, all the way from 1-10!

We could even recognize most of the numbers!

- This is a crazy week in our household. Well, mostly for me. School is done for the year, but with that comes year end reports (which are almost done). Then, foolishly, I agreed a long time ago to do two wedding cakes for this weekend - both are fairly complicated. This should be an interesting week!

- Can't wait for summer holidays. First on my list? Redoing our master bedroom! Second? Finishing off under the deck. Third? Finishing the office/bathroom downstairs. I love projects!And, just because I finally got a somewhat decent picture of my baby, I'm posting it.

- Hope you all have a fantastic, sunshiney week filled with love and goodness!

The post in which I mock my past..

Thirty-ish years ago, a baby girl was born. She had a mother who loved panelling on the walls, big glasses, and floral patterns on her couch, pillows and clothing.

That little girl, although she had an older sister and one would expect girlie hand-me-downs, was often seen running around in boy's clothing. Check out that hair! Oh and that TV! I am sure that was the latest and greatest model. Awesome!!

My love of cake was evident from very early on. I'm just pleased to be dressed like a girl (or a picnic table)! :D

This next photo is my mom's favourite photo of me as a child. Now I understand why Gavin insists on pulling his socks up to his knees - it's apparently a genetic trait.
And since we are on the topic of fashion-faux-pas... I think these matching outfits might double as lederhosen. (Sorry Jen - you had to know you might be dragged into this.)

And the matching outfits continued. Growing up, my sister usually got the purple and I got the pink version. McRaine - let these photos be a lesson to you. Dressing your girls the same once is okay, twice is allowed, but more than that - embarrassing! And what childhood would be complete without an awkward family photo (no doubt taken at Woolworth) ? So many things I could say about this picture. My dress isn't even that bad, but Jen? Woah. Is it any wonder you don't like dresses?? And Ryan's expression is priceless.

I've always been a bookworm. I loved to read and write. However, in this photo, I'd like you to just concentrate on this hairdo. My mom wasn't great at braiding, so 90% of the time my hair just had a whole bunch of ponytail holders. Yep - the hair is getting longer in every photo. It gets better, don't you worry. I will not disappoint.

Another sibling family photo, this time including our beloved popples. Now check out this hair. See those waves? That's what happens when you remove the above mentioned ponytail holders. Beautiful, cascading hair, higlighted gracefully with a ginormous bow right smack dab on the top of my head.

And the hair continued to grow. By now, you can tell we are entering the late 80s, early 90s. The padded headband, side part, black and pink spandex shorts and the shirt proudly declaring "Jamaica" even though I've never been there. (Please note - didn't even comment on the sunglasses - you know you had a pair.)

The following photo will forever haunt my dreams. Seriously - so many things going on in this photo. It's like a magic eye image. The longer you stare at it, the more you see. Let's start at the top, shall we? The padded head band, permed bangs and straight hair. The glasses (my mom always stressed that the top of the frames had to be level with your eyebrows). Oh, and let's not forget the pink sweatshirt with the kitten on it. If you look closely, you'll see that the kitty is perched in a mailbox. How adorable!

Seriously though - I think this was grade 7. What on earth did the rest of my wardrobe look like if the pink kitty shirt was the BEST choice to wear for picture day!?

Well, I suppose it could have been worse. Yup - I could have worn this dress for photo day.

By now, you can see that I've fully embraced the perm. No longer was I just perming my bangs for a little extra volume. Now it was a full on spiral perm. And, if you look closely, I'm finally wearing makeup. Nothing makes you prettier than some bright pink blush and blue eyeshadow!

That's it for this installment of embarrassing childhood photos. Stay tuned. I may move onto some good ones from highschool.

Dear lady at Superstore with a lack of personal space,

I get that you think I'm a terrible mom because my son was screaming. I realize it might have annoyed you. I understand that you think you are some kind of baby-whisperer who can soothe all crying toddlers. I heard you all three times you told me that your son would never dream of throwing a fit in the store. I saw the looks of judgement that you cast upon me.

HOWEVER, having a stranger all up in my son's face will not get him to stop screaming. He doesn't like being sang to by random people. He wasn't calming down because of your voice.

He was learning a life lesson - that mama means it when she tells him to sit in the cart. Unfortunately, because I had to pick him up and snuggle him because he was afraid of you, reinforced his way of thinking that screaming equals getting what he wants.

Love, the "bad" mama