The "Littles"

Luke & Lydia's 1st B-day

2nd B-day

3rd B-day (not 33!!!)

3 candles to blow out.

Not only did Luke & Lydia turn 3... they also started preschool.

Lydia was all smiles when I left the preschool

Luke waving good-bye ~ with a big smile.

It was a busy week, full of changes and emotions, but we persevered and the second week of preschool is about to begin.  Luke & Lydia had fun at preschool and had no problem with me leaving them there.  Lydia thrives on structure and routine and Luke seemed to enjoy whatever was thrown his way... or whatever he threw their way!

A Good Day

Luke & Lydia had their 3rd birthday party at Centennial Beach this past Wednesday.  They turn three on September 13th.  I love having their birthday parties outside.

The cousins were in town and the sun was shining... couldn't have picked a better day!

We started with some fun at the playground.

We had some lunch and tried to get everyone to smile for a picture.

Waiting patiently for the cupcakes... Lydia wanted pink icing on her cupcake and the boys, of course, had blue.  There was a nice breeze which made it a little tricky to light the candles.

Luke's trying to blow out his candle... sometimes it's hard to navigate that tongue.  Thank goodness he's got two brothers and two sisters to "help"!

Yum.

They had fun opening their presents.  Lydia was quite methodical about it and Luke was mostly concerned about putting the paper back in the right bag!

Back to the playground... Luke going down the slide with his cousin, Adi.

Even the big boys got some play time!!!

Luke's waving good-bye... ready for the bike ride home with Daddy & Joel.

The rest of us stayed behind and spent some time on the beach.  It was low tide and the kids had a lot of fun swimming and digging.

It was a good day!

Front seat drivers.

It all started out with some brotherly love.

Note how well they're sharing...

Luke decides to take over the wheel...

Joel, the strong and silent type, shows what he thinks about that.

Look who's driving now.

It was short lived... big brother wins again.

Jump Around

Do you remember the song 'Jump Around' from the 90's???


Everytime Luke starts jumping on the trampoline, I feel like breaking out in song.


I came to get down
So get out your seats and jump around
Jump around Jump around Jump around
Jump up Jump up and get down.
Jump, Jump, Jump......

He could be a rock star!!!

The trampoline is time when Luke likes to be alone.  He jumps, runs , bum drops and...


takes a break.

What more can I say... he's dar-nnn cute.

I'm seeing plaid.

There are days when my five & I are out and about and someone kindly points out that at least two out of my five are dressed in similar colors or patterns.  Maybe I do it subconsciously, but it seems to happen quite often.

For example...

Bless His Heart

Caleb has always had a hard time falling asleep at night.  Once in a while he'll sneak downstairs and think of something to tell Andrew or myself.  One evening last week he came downstairs and I can't remember what we were talking about, but the conversation went something like this:

"Caleb, don't you want to get married and have your own home one day?"

"No... I want to take care of Lukie."

"Caleb, that's sweet, but you might have your own children one day."

"I want a kid with Down Syndrome."

 BLESS HIS HEART.

In Lydia's defense...

Lydia will go upstairs and play in her bedroom by herself during the day.  She's usually quite responsible.  She has emptied the occasional tube of toothpaste, she's torn apart a whole roll of paper towels, and she's been caught eating her sister's chocolates, but she's usually quite responsible.  Last week, she took our tube of sunscreen [which I thought was out of reach], went up to her bedroom and applied some onto her Super Babies.  In Lydia's defense... she did apply the sunscreen in all the right places!!!

These babies will most definitely not get a sunburn.

A Day in the Life

One of the books that I remember reading when I was younger was "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."

Last week I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I fully blame it on the fact that we ran out of coffee that morning.

Here's a part of the what my five were up to.

Full bowl of cheerios tipped onto the floor.
  Little boy on a big chair trying to drink the last cup of coffee.
    Tipped milk glass.
      Sunscreen on the Super Babies, on Lydia & on the carpet.
        Short naps.
          Poop in a swimmer diaper.
            Poop in another swimmer diaper.
              Poop, poop everywhere.
                Sunlight dish soap in the mouth.
                  First call ever to poison control centre.
                    Pee dribbles down the hallway.
                      Tired mama.

I love being at home with my five and at the end of the day this is a gentle reminder that tomorrow promises to be a new day.

They're Back

Hannah & Caleb are back from their trip to the Okanagan. They went with their Nana & Grandad and camped in their trailer, had a week of fun in the sun, and brought us back some freshly picked Okanagan cherries.

Yum.

It was quieter around here, but we missed them both.

Hannah has a habit of biting her nails... not sure where she gets that from... ahem... anyways... her Gramma promised her a manicure & pedicure if she stopped biting her nails. Hannah has stopped biting her nails ~ even while camping.

Promise kept.

If I remember correctly (which doesn't always happen these days), I was 26 when I had my first manicure and I was 29 when I had my first pedicure.  My daughter is ONLY eight.  At least at her age she can pull off the turquoise and purple!!!

Your love is better than ice cream

Better than anything else that I've tried

Lyrics by sarah macglachlin

Baby It's Hot Outside

It was so hot today.  We biked to the water park this morning and spent some time cooling off.  Gramma, Eli & Adi joined us at the water park, too.  We LOVE when our cousins visit from Calgary.  Unfortunately, Hannah & Caleb didn't get to come along because they're in Westbank camping with their Nana & Grandad.

Joel went over under the bridge.

Luke loves to put hats on & he loves to put them on all by himself.

Our beautiful twins.  Luke took a little coaxing to get comfortable with the spraying water, but he eventually joined in the fun.  Usually Lydia leads the way, but Luke was in the lead today.

Here they come... Luke, Lydia, Adi & Eli... having fun with the cousins.

Let summer begin...

Our five had a lot of fun at this  "unorganized" birthday party on the weekend.

Caleb liked to tumble instead of slide.

Joel loved every minute of it.

Happy Belated Canada Day!

It's the way things go in my life... I'm always a few days behind.

We didn't do much on Canada Day, but we are very proud to be Canadian!

Our five wore their Canada shirts...

And ate Canadian doughnuts from Tim Hortons (idea taken from a friend).

We were supposed to go to a BBQ, but it was cancelled because of the weather so we went for a bike ride instead.

Next year we're thinking of checking out the Steveston Salmon Festival . Looks like fun for the whole family.

... and a Happy Belated Fourth of July to our friends south of the border.