Beauty and the Beast

My mother-in-law and I took Kathryn to see the highschool performance of Beauty and the Beast.  Because we had plans during the day of the matinee, I took her at night.  The performance went until almost 10 pm but she stayed awake and attentive thru it all.

There is a lot of tallent at our highschool. The acting, set design, cooreography and costumes were absolutely amazing.  A large portion of the town is involved as well, giving of their tallents to help pull it all together.

After the performance Kathryn was able to get her picture taken with the actress that played Belle.  She was very star-struck!!! And also a little bit shy.  

Here is our little "Belle" infront of a painting outside the auditorium before seeing the performance. 

Kathryn recieved lots of compliaments on her outfit and for dressing up as Belle. 

Fun without Power

Its been a fun (?) few days here in Port.  A wicked storm knocked out power to over 8000 people, including us.  There were over 100 power poles downed and the lines were all tangled.  Highway 21 was closed and still is days later.  Trees are down all over town - one street over a tree landed on a car and driving home from groceries today I saw an uprooted tree laying on what was a motorcycle in a driveway.  The town has been very busy cleaning up the streets and hauling away the brush.

We were without power for 19 hours.  The previous Saturday we were without power for 13 hours!  We know the crews are hard at work and are very thankful we now have power again.  There are still lots of country folk without power and we hope its on for everyone again soon. 

It was hard to keep the kids occupied.  It was a very hot and humid day and the house quickly warmed up.  The basement remained cold... but dark... we did spend over an hour down there int he afternoon telling spooky stories and chasing 'monsters' with flashlights.  We played lots of games, went for a short walk (it was so hot!) and spent time outside.  Shaun came home a bit early so he was able to join us outside.

Listening for updates

Playing with one of the fallen leaves - our tree lots quite a few leaves in the storm, but fortunately only one largeish branch.

Happy little boy!

Making a cake in the sandbox.

Swingin!

Pretend picnic.

The kids were really good about the lack of power.  They found it frustrating not to be able to eat what they usually do, or be able to use the TV.  The heat and humidity didn't help ... but I think we managed ok all things considered.  NOt that I wish to repeat it anytime soon. 

Sunshine & Blue Skies

We are really enjoying this outside weather!  

William is not a fan of his hat though.

Happy Kids!

Reverse play pen

Patrick really wanted to play with the marble race this afternoon after school so I brought up the bucket from the basement.  All the marbles are in a tupperware containor so I knew W wouldn't be able to get them.  Strict instructions to the kids about keeping the marbles away from the baby and if they let him have any, playtime would be over.  I figured William would enjoy chewing on some of the track pieces while P built and they could kind of play together, side by side. 

Thats how it started out anyway.  Patrick building a marble race, and W exploring the bin and pulling out random pieces. 

 Then Kathryn got in on the fun too, building her own marble race alongside the boys.

 Unfortunately from here it deteriorated.  William only wanted the pieces that Patrick was trying to work with and kept crawling thru the construction site.

So, I built P&K a "playpen" using the kitchen chairs.  I allowed William access to the box of pieces but not to their building area.

 It worked really well!  W enjoyed walking along the chair seats and watching P&K play.  I left a space by the buffett that they could exit from if they wanted to. 

P&K had a great time building uninterrupted, and eventually William lost interest. 

I was inspired to do this by a story from my Uncle John.  He told me Grandma would put him in the playpen so he could read without Uncle Bob interferring, while Uncle Bob wrecked havoc on the rest of the room.  And everyone was happy!

Cellery Kids

We eat a lot of cellery in this house - at least a bunch a week.  Kathryn and William really like cellery (Kathryn actually eats it, William more gnaws and chews it until its mushy).  I was cutting up and cleaning it when K asked if she could have some.  William noticed me handing her a piece and was trying to climb my leg to get some too.  

Random Shots

Had some fun taking pictures of William today.  He's becoming more photogenic although when he's happy he's constantly moving - so its hard to get a non-blurry picture of him.

Hi Mom!

Something was amusing!!

 William just loves the front hall.  He has a really big obsession with footwear.  Unfortunately, he likes to chew on it.  Icky!!  He has a random odd running shoe (a clean one) in his toy box.  Fun!

Someday I will figure out how to get out of here. 

Isn't she lovely?!  K is so super sweet the bugs just love her.  And she just can't keep her fingers away from any 'imperfection' or scab so we had to block her access because she kept causing them to bleed.

A visit in Orangeville

I was determined this visit to get a picture of my parents with the kids!

We took multiple shots - this was the best one!  Unfortunately, it is also the worst one of my Dad.  However, my awesome SIL is going to photoshop Dad's face from another picture onto this one so that everyone is eyes open and smiling together!

I will post the 'altered' picture when she's had a chance to play with it :)  Thanks again, Boo!!

Mom!

My Dad snapped these pics of me playing with my boys.

A visit with Anna

Had the pleasure of seeing Anna and her kids (Aaron, Liam and baby-in-belly Matthew) in Vaughn Mills.  It had been 4 years since we'd seen eachother!!

Anna had the foresight to bring a camera, and my Dad snapped this photo.

Thanks for the visit, Anna!  We'll have to get together again after little M is born. 

P&K Go Camping

Shaun's parents took Patrick and Kathryn camping for the weekend!  They were so excited to go, having talked about it for weeks with anticipation. 

We waited outside for the truck to arrive pulling the trailer.  

 So excited!  Loading their suitcases into the trailer.

 All buckled up and ready to roll!

They had a fantastic time with Grandma and Grampy and are looking forward to camping again.

Shaun's mom made us a DVD with some of the pictures and movies of their adventure which we have watched quite a few times already!

Roseola strikes again!

Poor little W... had had been miserable for almost a week with a fever that just wouln't stay away.  There didn't seem to be any real cause... he was eating and drinking and filling diapers as usual.  We thought perhaps since he was getting multiple teeth, this was how his body was dealing with the pain.

At one point I thought about Roseola... but I was certain we'd been down that road aready, including the resulting rash.

I guess it was something else before, because this was definetly Roseola.

I discovered the rash on his trunk and back while giving him a bath:

Its hard to see, but the pin-point red rash covered him from neck to waist on both sides. 

He was in good spirits though... which is typical of Roseola.  They're only miserable until the rash appears and then they're ok.

Playing Peek with Daddy

The rash lasted less than 24 hours and now he seems back to 'normal' except he's actually sleeping well.  Maybe that part will last!

Tooth # 6

Another tooth bites the dust!

Cousins!!

We had a lot of fun having Abby to play over the past day and night.  She's such a funny little girl and very easy going (as long as she's not overtired!)  The 4 kids had a really great time together, and I think William especially liked having her to play with.

Checking out the backyard - too wet to play :(

It was a wet and rainy weekend so we didn't get to play outside.  We had lots of fun inside though, and 4 of us had an afternoon snooze too! 

Snacks and "in the night garden" - Abby's fav - before bed

I will admit I was somewhat terrified of having another sweetie to look after, especially overnight, but everything went so amazingly well.  Infact, Abby ended up being the BEST sleeper of all 4 kids last night, waking only briefly at 4 am for her soother. 
We are looking forward to having another sleep over in the future!  When Abby is older, we'll let the two girls room-in together.  I can only imagine how much 'princess and barbie' fun they will have together.

Toothless

Patrick lost his first upper tooth!! 

That's tooth #5 now as the four middle bottom ones were gone first.  That other upper middle tooth is just hanging on by a little bit, so it will hopefully be out soon.

Its kind of strange when your son smiles and his big front tooth is outside of his lips!!

Happy 11 Months William!!!!!

11 Months already! Changes in William seem to be speeding up. He's now mastered crawling (both army style and 'regular' style), can pull himself to stand, can stand alone briefly, crawl with an object if he wants to, cruise along furnature and toys.... Mr. Mobility is very ready to walk.

He's been working on strengthening his legs.  He will stand for long periods of time playing with toys on the little table, or on the couch. 

There is a wider variety of foods he can feed himself, which he loves to do.  He really loves food!  So far, he's the best eater in our house!!

He's starting to communicate as well.  First 'words' were Ma-Ma and Mum Mum.  So far no luck with Da Da or Daddy (I've been trying though!).  He's learned to wave and say "Hi".  He has also said "night" and "bot" and "Kathryn".  He also said "tee tee" while mauling the kitty.  Lots of random 'words'... I can't wait to hear more!

In general, he is a happier kid than he was in the beginning.  I think the mobility aspect really improved his overall happiness.  The communication has really helped as well.  His face just lights right up when he can 'tell' us what he wants and we understand him.

One more month to go to the big "1 year" celebration!  This year has gone very slowly and very quickly at the same time.

Happy Mother's Day

First off, I'd like to wish my amazing Mom, Ellen, and my fantastic mother-in-law, Dorothy, a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!  I am very lucky to have 2 awesome moms in my life!!!

Yesterday as part of my gift, Shaun got up with the kids.  This was planned in advance but I think William overheard because he was up before 6.  This doesn't happen much anymore.  Poor Shaun - much too early for a Sunday but he didn't complain. 

When I did get up (it was 8 o'clock!) I was given these lovely gifts from the kids:

From Kathryn - a hand-made card and very sweet framed-art.

From Patrick:  Card with poem (and an awesome picture on the front!) and a stepping stone for the garden

From William:  Crinkle cutter (he does love crinkle carrots!) and a cook's corer - for hulling strawberries, etc.

From Shaun:  Just Dance 2 - its so much fun!!!  Difficult though... a challenge :)

William decided to have a long nap in the morning, so Shaun took P&K to the grocery store to get a few things we needed. 

In the afternoon, Shaun was exhausted and had a nap while I played in the backyard with the kids.  It was such a gorgeous day!  I picked up a blanket second-hand for the lawn for William and we played on the swings and trampoline. 

Shaun made french toast for dinner (yum!) and William had a much-needed spash in the tub.  He sure does love the water!  Can't wait to see how he likes the pool.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable mothers' day and felt loved and appreciated for your every-day efforts.

William "walking".

Sad kitties

Now that William is mobile, we have to keep the french doors to the living room closed as well as the gate to the kitchen.  This creates a 'zone' that is safe for William to explore....and keeps him comtained and away from the stairs.  It has the majority of his toys and we're extra dilligent to keep the area safe for him.

It has, however, created very sad kitties.  Ramses actually surprised us with remembering how to jump over the gate to get in or out of the kitchen.  We're actually pretty amazed that he can still do it considering his size. 

William does love Ramses a LOT and as a result, Ramses feels he should be on the OUTSIDE of the gate - he loses less fur that way.  It has made him pretty sad though.....

 

...and he spends a lot of time in this pathetic pose. 

Isis is skinny enough to get under the gate, however Anubis (who is about the same size as Ramses now... seriously... how do they gain weight on diet food that is portion controlled?!) cannot figure out how to get over the gate and he's very confused by the closed french doors.  He will sit on one side or the other and cry until someone lets him in... or he'll paw at the door creating a small rattle until he draws attention and someone lets him in. I've tried to teach him how to jump the gate using treats as bait... but, bless his poor pathetic soul... he's just not smart enough.

Patrick's bowling party

Patrick really wanted his 6th birthday party to be a bowling party with a Super Mario theme and I think we pulled it off pretty nicely.  The loot bags I made doubled as decorations and really set the scene.  They were also great for putting fnished colouring pages in, etc.  

 I was really glad we'd brought a bunch of helium balloons!  We brought the foil one as well as 8 #6 ones which kept the kids occupied between bowling turns.

 After everyone had arrived, we set up the games.  It went pretty good considering there were 6 6-year-olds!  Between turns they talked to eachother, played with balloons and worked on their colouring pages. 

 I think Patrick enjoyed the bowling most, but everyone did some bowling.  The girls were less into it than the boys so I had some extra turns but they all tried it at least and seemed to like it. 

After the game was 'finished' (everyone had had enough bowling) we ate pizza and then we had cake!  The cake was a big hit.  Patrick might not like fondant but the other kids sure did!  The stars were a HUGE hit.  If I had known that, I probably would have made more.  I'm just glad there were lots to share among them.

After everyone was all sugared up, we opened gifts.  Patrick got lots of cool stuff!  A fireman action-heros playset, mario shirt and cap, mario cars, a compass, sticker book, toy fishing rod, chalk, ball toss set, lego, and a cars puzzle. 

The kids then pretened to play with the arcade games, worked on more colouring or played with the balloons until parents came to pick-up.  I think they were happy they got to take a balloon home with them.