Painting with water. We haven't done this in ages and K has never done it before! She did a fantastic job, as did Mr. P.

I ordered an eclectic set of tea-time dishes from Ebay. There were a lot of different items in the lot and of it, this is what I decided to keep! The rest is in a bag and ready to go to Sally Anne.
Here they are freshly scrubbed and cleaned.

I know Patrick and Kathryn will have a blast with these in the tub and in the pool!!

My daughter is a flirt!

My cousins and their sons came for a visit and Ms. K flirted shamelessly with Tyler the entire time. When he was out of her sight, she called for him, and when he was sitting on the floor she insisted on sitting in his lap.
Look at that grin!! She's just so happy to be with Tyler.

I don't think the feelings were entirely recrpirocated... I think Tyler is trying to sneek away in this picture:

I was taking some random shots of the cats, and Kathryn insisted on having her picture taken too. She's such a cutie-patootie with her big grin!!



She wasn't so happy when I put her back in the kitchen with Daddy while I ran down to do some laundry.
Yesterday, we took the kids to Fairy lake again. We had gone last week and had a great time feeding the ducks. This time I came prepared with some crackers that no one liked so we could feed them to the ducks.



When we arrived, there were no ducks to be seen, so we walked the path around the lake:
Finally, around the far side of the lake, we got close enough to the ducks and swans to feed them. Unfortunately, the ducks did not like the crackers, but the swans did!!
We walked around the the open area of the lake again, and fed the swans and some HUGE fish which Shaun says were Carp. They were eating crackers and bread that people were throwing in - I had no idea fish liked bread!!! It was quite the sight.

We took the kids to Story Book Park today. They had a BLAST and we had a nice time too.

The first thing we did was ride the "train" to take a tour of the park. Its small with everything very close together which is good when you have small children. Once you are inside, everything (except mini-golf) is free! There are parks and slides and swings, rides for younger ones and older ones and a small water park and wade pool. There are also free-use BBQs - just bring your own meat!

We took lots of pictures and a few movies too. We stayed about 4 hours and had a great time. We'll definetly go again next year.

On the "train" taking a tour of the park:

P and K riding their first ride:
P very excited about the park:
P exploring the tunnels:

P's favourite ride. He went on it 4 times! K went on with me once too and really enjoyed it:

We also went on the strawberries but weren't very fond of it at all. Patrick also went on 2 other rides with me but Shaun didn't take any pictures.
After lunch, we hit the water park. P in the wade pool checking out the frog that is spitting water, there was one on either side:
Now he's walking under the spray:
I had hoped K would nap in the stroller, but she really wanted to get into the water too:
Shaun helping her in:

P on the waterslide. He went down several times!! There were lifeguards at the top and bottom. We got a movie of it - check the bottom of the post:
Worlds scarriest creature:
The kids weren't interested, but I fed the Japanise Deer. They were cute and made really great noises that K thought were interesting:
More food please!

Yesterday morning we all went to Owen Sound to return the mirrors and shower curtain rod we'd purchased that didn't work with our new bathroom. We were able to get 1 medicine cabinet with mirror we liked, and my parents were willing to try and get us a second one at their nearest store before coming up to visit on Tuesday evening.

We also went to Walmart (surprise!) where we found this new toy for Patrick. I was negative about getting it at first - our kids are truly spoiled with toys already - but Patrick is definetly behind in creative play abilities, and since it was only $30 we thought we'd give it a go. As you can see, he LOVED it!! He really got into it - more creative play than I have ever seen before and he was chatting to himself and pretending the whole time. Definetly worth the investment. Kathryn likes it too! On the other side of the top (it flips over to convert from a mechanics work station to a carpentry work station) there are spots for 17 plastic nails that you can bang in and then remove with the hammer and she likes that!! The hooks are also shapes that only go into their specific shape spot in 2 locations, and there are screws and screwdrivers. There is a working drill (lights, movement and sound!) and there is also a table saw, and a grinder/sander that both work and have sound. In fact, there are over 60 pieces altogether!
After naptime, we took the kiddos into the pool again and Grampy and Gramma came over too. The kids had lots of fun riding in the pool lounger - they call it a 'boat'.
And Patrick had a blast just swimming around with his floaties and ring as well as with people. Here he is showing off his 'rocketship' - he learned that at swimming lessons as part of learning a front and back float.
Kathryn is really getting the hang of kicking her legs when she is swimming with us! And she loves the water. She also likes to sit on the edge and play, but yesterday she really wanted to be in the water with us which was nice.
Kathryn's turn: Here is a movie of Kathryn swimming with Shaun:

Its Potty Time!

I have been saying for a couple weeks now that once the bathroom is complete, I am going to attempt to potty train both kids at the same time. I am planning to make a routine of it - we all go pee on the potty when we get up, before nap, after nap, etc, etc but I was planning to start slow with one routine trip to the potty (when we get up) and add them slowly.

This morning, Kathryn's diaper was BONE DRY. This has never happened before! So I asked her if she would like to pee on the potty. Kathryn has actually peed on the potty before at my parents place, and has a real fascination with it right now. She's asked to go lots of times, but has only had that 1 success.

So off to the bathroom we went. I supported her while she sat on the big potty. She tried, but only tooted a few times. I asked her if she'd like to try her own potty and she agreed so I stood her on the tile and raced down to the living room to get the little potty. By the time I got back up, she'd already peed on the floor, but I put her on the little potty anyway. I didn't think anything was happening.... I asked her if she was done and she said no and then a few seconds later she stood up... and the potty was peed in!! And quite a lot too.

After I figured out how to take apart the potty to get the 'pot' out, we dumped it in the bit toilet and she flushed it away (and then I cleaned the floor!).

I'm so proud of my little girl! And its so nice to have her interested in using the potty!! We always joked she'd be trained first - and we just may have been right!!

A little humour....

A father came home and found his three children outside, still intheir pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.
The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.
Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.
In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon , and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.
In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor,a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand spread by the back door.
He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor.
Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel.
She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"
She again smiled and calmly answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?"
"Yessss..." was his incredulous reply.
She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."