Yesterday we took the kids to Fairy Lake for the first time this year. They love to feed the wildlife (ducks, swans, turtles, muskrats, and very large fish) and walk around the lake. It was an absoultely gorgeous day and the perfect morning outing.

Feeding the fish bread:
Checking out the stream and looking for more fish:

Hiking along the path:

Patrick posing in a tree:

A huge tree stump:

Daddy and his kiddos:

Feeding the duck. There were more but they apparently weren't hungry!

Shaun got the camera happy and we finally uploaded some photos to the computer. I got them edited this morning, and here is a selection of pics over the last month... not many!

K grinning post-dentist and post-nap (which is why her piggies are askew). Please note the princess sticker - her reward for such a good dentist trip! Patrick talking to Daddy on the phone one morning.

Such a happy guy! Its so hard to get a good picture of him. He is distracted much too easily.

Snuggle time with Daddy. K is always very snuggly right after she wakes up. I do believe this was post-nap.

Goodness... its been almost a month, hasn't it?

Well, I'll be honest, we haven't taken many pictures of late. I didn't even upload many from P's birthday party because the editing software is v.e.r.y...s.l.o.w. and I get frustrated.

The kids continue to do very well at school. K is moving up to the next room, probably by July. She is more than ready. She is now the eldest in her class and she needs more stiumation. She is a very social creature and she will do well in a classroom of more advanced kiddos.

Patrick continues to make strides. Dare I say he is potty trained? He will sometimes tell us he has to go too, and has even taken himself without saying anything to us. He is very good about going when asked as well. He does still have accidents - generally at school - and probably due to being distracted with fun activities. He is dry ALL NIGHT which just constantly blows my mind. We put him to bed at 8 (sometimes 7:30!) and his pullup is dry when he gets up between 7 and 7:15 a.m. I can't even do that!! I wonder how many times I can re-use a night time dry pullup before its considered gross....

Kathryn is now on my potty training radar. But she is stubborn! I think we may have to go straight to undies with her. She tells us now when she's poopy or has peed so we'll change it... so she knows!! Probably just lazy like her older brother! Why bother with the potty when I can pee my pants and keep playing? We do have a good stock of undies for her. I think this week I may start putting undies over pullups, and maybe the week after we'll try just undies!

On the homefront, nothing much has changed. Shaun and I both have summer projects we're itching to complete. Shaun is putting the last section of pool fence in to replace the old metal fence. He's already put in 2 posts and we have the rest of the wood in the garage. My parents are coming for a week in July and Dad is going to help Shaun put the pergola together.

I'm taking 2 days off that week - Tuesday and Wednesday - and I took the kids out of school. I would like to take them (and my mom) to the Keady market that Tuesday and we'll think of something fun to do on the Wednesday too while the guys work outside. I hope it is nice weather that week!!

We opened the pool about a month ago. Unlike last year, it was crystal clean and only in need of a good vacuum and some leaf-removal. Its up to 19 degrees already! We do have a small leak near the skimmer, but we're having that fixed soon. This year, I have assembled a planter to go at the deep end of the pool in the space that the diving board would be attached. There are 3 spiked implanted in the concrete and I am constantly worried someone will step on them or stub their toe. We want to keep the spikes incase we want a diving board in the future. I put the orange life-saving ring around the spikes, and the planter sits just inside the spikes. It looks pretty nice - pictures will follow eventually.

My projects this summer include finishing up my garden extension and moving some plants in the garden and laying more mulch.

As well, I'm almost done with the renovations in the master closet. I took everything out, filled holes, and painted a fresh coat of white paint. I've ordered a tower to go in the middle for sweaters, hats, purses, etc. The old bar will go on top of that (spanning the entire width of the closet) and a shelf on top for long-term storage. Half way down the tower on either side will be another bar (for hanging pants) with a shelf on top as well. Shaun will have hooks on the inside wall on his side for ties and belts, and I will install a hook on my inside wall for long dresses (I only have 3). Currently, our clothes are in the spare room closet and its a tight fit!!

After that is done, I will be re-doing the spare closet in a similar fashion for Kathryn. After that, I'm going to prime the spare room in preparation for some electrical work that Shaun has to do. The paint in there is very old and oil-based and we figure the patch compound will stick better to new paint (transition paint) than the old stuff. In the fall, Shaun will get the electrical work done, and then we'll patch and sand, and then I can paint! We're painting that room a medium lavendar and then we'll move Ms. Kathryn in. We have purchased her a nice new white bookcase (which is assembled already in her room) and a dresser from IKEA which is in boxes in the garage. My sister gave me an oval mirror for over her dresser and we just got her new bedding. I can't wait to see the finished product! I am so glad she will have a bigger room so she can keep lots of her dolly stuff in there. She is quite the little 'mother'.

I'm also sanding and painting a bookcase for Patrick. This particular bookcase was one of my parent's first pieces of furnature! I can't wait to give him more storage space for his ever-expanding book collection.

After that, I'd like to tackle the front hall closet. I think I could re-work it better. But that will likely be a fall/winter project.

We are so incredibly proud of Patrick right now we could BURST!! Patrick is well on his way to being potty trained!

It started a couple of weeks ago when we decided to really tackle this Potty Training thing head on. Afterall, Patrick is 4 now and it was becoming quite obvious he would never ditch the pullups himself.

So, knowing that Patrick needs baby steps, decided to introduce him to underwear by having him start wearing them every day overtop of his pullup. And at first he DID resist, but he got used to wearing them overtop and even enjoyed picking out which one he would wear each day.

The next step (a week later) was to have him start wearing the undies UNDER the pullup. I didn't want to remove his 'safety net' too quickly. I was hoping that peeing into the undies and having them stay wet would help to remind him to pee in the toilet instead.

By Monday (we started on Fridays) of this undies-under-pullup I was getting tired of washing the undies! He was going thru 10 pair a day, and didn't seem to be making any headway. So... as a trial... I started putting him in undies as soon as he got up - no pullup. The first morning he didn't get very far... and he REALLY hated having his jammies wet. The second day he didn't have any accidents in the morning, so we took the plunge and sent him to school with a huge supply of pants and undies. That night, I washed 9 pair of undies but only 3 pair of pants. AMAZING! We were so pleased. Wednesday was even better, and Thursday better yet!

Today was the best day yet. Patrick had dry undies all day except for 2 small accidents (and 1 poopy one - but I am OK with that - poop training takes a lot longer) AND for the first time EVER he actually asked if he could go potty. Shaun and I just about fell over! He was even dry over 'nap time' and I had put a pullup on him just in case.

The BEST part is, when we send him to the bathroom it is exactly that. We send him. He does it ALL himself, including washing his hands. Its WONDERFUL!!

I hope I haven't jinxed things by sharing our joy but I think our little boy may actually, finally, be ready to be finished with pullups. HURRAH!!!

more pics from Patrik's 4th birthday party from my parents camera.

This is the fake cake I made for P to share with his class. Its a corningwear round dish filled with individually wrapped (and certified peanut free!) treats, covered with white paper and those are tooth-pick candles.
There was much confusion about this cake at school. Everyone thought it was 'real' which is a no-no. Parents cannot bring home-baked treats because of allergies and the fear of cross-contamination. At anyrate, it was a hit when everyone figured out it wasn't really a cake! And we only got 3 treats back out of the 46 I sent! I'd say that was success!

Homework with mommy:

We were talking about making a pattern with marker lines on the socks since the gummy bears wouldn't stick! But we have pictures to show we did patterning with gummies.

And yes. K has no shirt on. Why? I don't remember.

On April 20th we had a chance to go see Shaun's sister. By chance, her friend Rob (http://www.yourlifeinstills.com/) came by while we were on the way to the park. He is going to be the photographer for the wedding and as you can see below (and more on his website!) the pictures have amazing quality and feel to them.

K on the swing with Auntie Boo:
Mommy pushing K on the swing:

A little help up the steps:

K on the walk...:

Silly girl with her tongue out:

Those blue eyes!!

This is such a nice picture of Shaun and P:

Peek a boo!

Lets race!

I love how relaxed Shaun was in these pics. I was uptight - hadn't had a shower, wasn't dressed very nicely, etc.

Check out his website for bigger versions of the above! Look under "family" and then "family fun".

Ahh spring... when windows get opened and indoor cats finally get a chance to smell and hear the outside world.
We had some robins in our backyard - that is what drew the croud of 3 to the same window.
And apparently 1 took to flight! Hehehe.

We enrolled Patrick in a "Math and Me" program thru the Ontario Early Years Program here in town. He goes 1 night a week with one of us and everything is geared at math - estimating, counting, size comparisons, etc. He even has homework!
This is his first round of homework. He had to count smarties, put them into short and longer lines, draw some, and then walk around with his bear and talk about things that were smaller and bigger than the bear.

We had the pleasure and priveledge of visiting my friend Cathy at the hospital 2 days after the arrival of her little girl. It was wonderful to hold a wee one again, even briefly. I'd forgotten all those wonderful new baby noises!! She was a tad unhappy here as she was HUNGRY!!

But it was nice to have a quick snuggle.

Makes me think we should have another one!

Snuggling in the pull-out-couch bed while playing x-box: Snuggling with Daddy while he plays Peggle:

Easter fun

We celebrated Easter this year at my parent's house with a lovely BBQ lunch on Friday with my sister and her family too. We had a bit of an egg hunt for the kids. Patrick believes in the "find, unwrap, and eat" method while Sara's girls believe in the "collect and save for later" method: The girls had a bit of a playtime together on the floor:

Not sure what's up here with Sara.... is she dancing???

We got the girls little Easter presents - some goodies and a book. Our kids got gifts too!

Patrick got a K'Nex set that is a puppy dog. You can make him several different ways.

And Ms.Kathryn got a guitar! Too cool!

We also had cake. Chocolate cake. YUM!

Patrick got a lite brite from the Easter bunny and had a fun time putting all the pegs in. He did have a bit of help too.

Such a happy little guy!

Boo and James came for a little visit this past Saturday. It was great to see them. They don't live far, but, like everyone else, we're all busy and its hard to find time to get together.

Boo is looking AWESOME. I love her baby belly!! Pregnancy really suits her. She just glows.
Kathryn and I talk a lot about the baby in Auntie Boo's belly. Now that she has a nice baby belly, it gives Kathryn a bit of a visual.

I love this picture of K "listening" to the baby. The expression on her face is sooooo precious!

We can't wait to meet the little one! Boo is having an ultrasound on the 14th and we're all excited to (hopefully!) learn the gender!!

Potty Time!

We are now gung-ho on training these kids. I came up with an idea last week for a reward (aka a bribe) if they went on the toilet. I found some learn-to-tell time cards at the dollar store. P is obsessed with clocks and learning to tell time right now. The deal is that if he goes on the toilet (regardless of what is in the pullup) he gets a card. He's doing very well with it!! However, I don't know what we'll do when we run out of cards. I will think of something. There were 24 (hour and half hour ones). He has collected 14 so far.

I knew Kathryn wouldn't want to be left out so I got her some princess learn-to-count cards. She's doing fantastically!! She loves collecting her princesses. Infact, her set had 36 cards and she's already collected 20 (in 4 days). So I'll be hitting up the dollar store again today to get her some princess stickers. I haven't decided if she'll wear them on her shirt or if I'll make more cards with just princesses on them... we'll see. I'm going to get LOTS. I don't want to lose the momentum. It would be so nice to have one kid that is potty trained. I've only been doing potty stuff for... oh.. a year and a half *sigh*.

Kathryn insists on having her baby (this one she has named Mauve after a friend's daughter) go potty with her. It makes me cringe to have toys in the bathroom despite how clean I keep it. But she is good about giving the baby to me when she's done, and leaving it alone until after hands are washed. I guess I'd rather have a dolly in the bathroom then huge resistance about getting her on the toilet. I just wish this one was washable!!