sick

Willy has another ear infection and all he wanted to do was be snuggling with me.  He decided he really wanted me to play Mario Kart - I'm not sure what it is about that game that makes him want it so much when he's not feeling well.

I think I was on my second race when he passed out in my lap.  Poor dude.

Change

Northport is building a two-class addition in anticipation of full-day kindergarten in September.  

While I could lament about the yard being fenced off, accessibility to the doors/parking being an issue or the fact that they lost 2 sets of swings and a climber to the process, I will just say that Willy is enjoying watching the activity and big machines at work!

It will be fun to watch the changes take place over the next few months.

SPRING!

In the afternoon, while Willy was napping, Shaun was watching Star Wars movie #5 (The Empire Strikes Back) and I decided to clean out my front garden and rake.  Kathryn decided to join me and after we were done, I snapped this spring photos.

 Violets are always such a great reminder of spring.  As a child I used to look forward to seeing them in the grass after the snow melted and would pick a small bunch to bring inside.  I still have the small vase we would use to hold them.

 Happy Spring, Everyone!

McGreggor Park

We try to get to McGreggor park once during the winter to walk the boardwalk and feed the birds.

This year had been tricky - we didn't really have much winter!  Yesterday we decided to go anyway, despite the lack of snow.  It was warm enough for spring coats and we figured we'd walk, see the sights and play at the pirate park.

The kids were happy to go, especially William.  He loves to 'go go go'!

Walking the boardwalk

 We stopped at the turtle pond.  This is the most water I have ever seen in it!  Shaun even saw a turtle.  The kids were able to spot a couple of frogs too!

Too busy to pose

 It was an absolutely gorgeous day, warm and inviting.  The kids wanted to get in the water but discovered it was still very cold.

looking out at the water

 Kathryn just loves to pose.  I think Patrick humours me only.

 Our view from the park:

 Swinging on a gorgeous spring day:

 A great shot of the three kiddos together:

 Walking along the boardwalk:

We had a nice morning together!  It was very quiet at the park.  On our way back to the van we went past a bog area and were serenaded by frogs!  It was unreal - we thought it was a flock of birds it was so loud.

March Break, 2012!

We've had a great March Break!  It didn't hurt that the weather was absolutely spring/summer like!

On Monday we went to Jubulee Park in Southampton.  It was quiet until 10 am and then got very busy!  Kathryn is quite the spider monkey and made it up to the top and down many, many times:

 Patrick was content to swing, run around, and play on the "wave".

 Kathryn showing us she can still balance:

Willy was content to run around, use the slides, have swings and generally run away from me :)

On Tuesday, we had a home day.  It had rained during the night and everything was soaking wet.  There was rain in the forecast.  So, we played all over the house!  In the basement, I set up the car garage which everyone enjoyed.  Later, Patrick and Kathryn played Lego.  It was a very relaxing day.

Wednesday we packed up early and headed to Hanover to meet my parents for lunch at McDonalds.  This one has a playplace - they had lots of fun.  It was warm enough that morning that we only wore sweaters!

As soon as we got home, everyone wanted to be outside in the backyard and we stayed out until dinner time.  The kids swang, chalked, bubbled and played. Shaun set up the hoses for me so I was able to wash the outdoor toys.  We had BBQ supper too!

Thursday Shaun was home.  Kathryn went for a play date and we took the boys grocery shopping.  Willy had a hair cut (super traumatic with lots of crying!!!). Shaun got the kids bikes out and ready to ride and P&K practiced balancing on their's now that the training wheels are off.  We bought Willy a push-car (early birthday gift!) so we wouldn't break our backs pushing him around on the tricycle.  After supper, we met Shaun's parents at the park for some playtime.

Friday Shaun was home.  The weather was foggy and unpleasant.  Everything was wet from night rain.  Shaun did a dump run and lost a bucket (it ripped!).  We decided to spend the morning in Owen Sound and have lunch out.  Willy napped briefly on the way there.  We shopped and had lunch and ended our trip at the bulkbarn.  PKW ate graham crackers all the way home and Willy had a brief snooze.  Willy transferred to his bed and slept till 4 pm!  Kathryn went to G&Gs for some special time and Patrick played on his i-touch.  Patrick and I played catch outside and I did some raking.  After supper, we picked up this Kangaroo outfit for Ms. K.  She loves it!

Saturday morning we ran some errands and then Grampy came over to help Shaun put up the trampoline!  We spent most of the afternoon outside - the weather was summer-like!  I finished raking the backyard and Shaun got out some of the lawn furniture.  G&G & G&G N'oot came to visit briefly before supper with Abby.  The kids had a blast on the trampoline and in the sandbox.  Willy got very dirty and had a quick bath before supper.  Shaun had made chili earlier in the day - delicious but spicy!  The kids all had bread and Willy had sweet potatoes and shared my cabbage salad.
After supper we watched Happy Feet 2 - cute, but not as good as the first one. Willy was falling asleep and went to bed by 7.

Today we are going to take the kids for a walk at McGreggor park and play at the "Pirate Park".  Its supposed to rain this aft so during Willy's nap Shaun will watch the 4th Star Wars movie with P&K.

And that was our fun March break!  How was yours??

More Snow!

After a bit of rain and some gorgeous sunshine weather too, Old Man Winter decided to give us another dump of the white stuff.  Much to Kathryn's delight, it was packing snow!

While Willy was napping, we headed outside and built a rather large snowman. When he got up, and we were headed out to get Patrick from school, I snapped this picture.

And a good thing too!  By morning, the temperature had risen again and we had to go out and collect all his 'bits' because they'd fallen off.

By Thursday afternoon, he was melted entirely!

Old Man Winter and Mother Nature sure are having a nasty argument!

SNOW!

What a crazy winter we're having!  Mostly a non-snow one that is for sure.  But on Friday, Mother nature came to her senses and gave us a good dump of the white stuff.

Sunday afternoon was a lovely sunny day so after Willy's nap we all went into the backyard to play.

 Shaun got ambitious and collected the snow into one big pile to make a fort!
The kids enjoyed watching and swinging.

 The fort ended up being more like a little igloo:

And the kids took turns checking out what it was like inside:

 I love how poofy Willy looks in all his winter gear.  Its fun watching him waddle around in the snow!

 Shaun turned the igloo into a tunnel and the kids enjoyed crawling through it.

...and then they destroyed it!  SO much fun!!!

Valentines Day 2012

Our Valentines day was pretty low key.  Kathryn had a party on the 13th (Monday) at school and Patrick had his valentines day party on Tuesday.  I took P&K to Mommy group and someone brought delicious heart-shaped cookies for snacktime.  Shaun and I exchanged cards.

After supper, we gave the kids their Valentines chocolate - one big chocolate sucker each.

 They were ALL very excited and they disappeared very quickly!

 MmmMm Chocolate!

Hope you had a wonderful Lovey-Dovey Day!

Germs

 

2012 has been a bad year for germs in our household.  Willy started the year with a middle ear infection, followed by an external ear infection.  He's also had a tummy bug and a cold.  I've had a cold as well. 

But this past weekend knocked us all out.  All five of us had the barfy-flu.  It was awful.  It was awful watching the kids feel awful with it and it was awful feeling awful with it while cleaning up puky messes the kids had made.  

There was a lot of random napping.  Both the big kids shared the couch at one point (usually they bicker over foot space now that they're getting longer).  Everyone just wanted to be together, but not really.

Willy started and therefore recovered first, followed by Kathryn.  Shaun and I had a very quick and violent overtaking from it.  Poor Patrick was last.

The kids stayed home on Monday and Tuesday I kept Patrick home because overnight they'd developed coughs!  Willy's cough was the worst, a gross phlegm-y cough that caused him to throw up.

We are finally on the mend.  Shaun went back to work on Tuesday. Its Wednesday and Patrick and Kathryn are well enough to go to school.  Willy had another horrible night partly due to his cough and partly due to the fact that I have discontinued bottle service in the night.  He has figured out how to get the lids off and make a huge mess so it was definitively time... even though he was not ready or prepared.

I'm not sure why we've been bombarded with germs, but 2012 has no where go to but up.

Willy's first piano lesson

Willy had his first solo visit with Grandma and Grampy while we took Patrick and Kathryn to their swim lesson.  

He had a great time and had his first piano lesson with Grampy!

A maestro is born!

Willy's head wound

This picture was taken about 26 hours after the trauma.

Chicks dig scars, right?

Trauma

After all the icecream fun (below), Willy need a bath.  He was so enthusiastic in the tub that I got rather wet, so after he was dried and dressed, I went to my room to toss on my PJs quickly before we went back downstairs.

I get changed with Willy in the room almost daily, sometimes twice daily.  Usually he just wanders around taking the remotes or other miscellaneous stuff off Shaun's night table, or plays with our sound machine.

He was after the sound machine, but he must have tripped and his forehead landed in the corner of my cedar chest.  It bled (almost explosively) immediately.  It was very frightening.  I called for Shaun and whisked him to the bathroom where we cleaned him up and applied pressure, and a lot of paper towels, to slow and eventually stop the bleeding.

I called Shaun's parents and his mom was available to come with me.  We gave Willy a quick does of tylenol, because we were sure he'd have a headache, if nothing else, and then whisked him off the emergency room.

They were in no rush to see him.  He recovered pretty quickly and was wanting to run around.  Still, it was quite a head trauma for a little one so we waited.

Around 8 pm he fell asleep:

 and slept...

 And finally around 9 pm (he fell at 6)  we finally got a room and mom was able to put him down.  It was super hot in there and they were both roasting from the combined body heat.
Mom gingerly and slowly removed the bandage we had applied before leaving home and I thought I'd document the trauma:

 He actually looks very peaceful and cute asleep on the gurney:

By the time the Dr. came into see us, the wound had started to close on its own, so no stitches.  He's got 3 steri-strips and a bandage covering them which will stay on for almost a week.

I scream, you scream!

My parents brought Willy some Almond Dream Chocolate "ice cream".  I had completely forgotten about it being in my freezer until, after supper, I was craving some ice cream myself!

We did try dairy ice cream with Willy over Christmas and it was not good :( We were hopeful he would be just as enthusiastic about a substitute kind....

 ... and he was!  He thought it was awesome!

 But getting it on the spoon was a trick!  Slippery stuff!  Fingers were required.

More please!

Tea Party!

We've been at the clinic a LOT lately.  I am so glad we can go when we need to, without worry about $$.  We go when we need to, and we try to be respectful of not wasting anyone's time or money.

Anyway, I digress, here we are, again, at the clinic.  

 Willy just absolutely loves this tea set.  The last time we were here he HAD to take the teapot into his appointment, and was wary when I had him return it after our appointment was finished.

My little dude making us a cuppa tea.  And it was delicious!