happy 4th!

happy birthday! a morning breakfast with balloons, cards, stuffed animals and smiles

Hendrik turned four a few days ago, and we had an amazing day - with breakfast balloons, cards, presents, dinosaur cookies at school, Grandparents B arriving, more presents, a pizza party (complete with friends!), a dinosaur cake, more presents (dinosaurs dinosaurs dinosaurs) and lots and lots of love. It was great! Great. I'll let the photos tell the story - after staying up way too late reading The Rosie Effect, I need an early night. More soon!

some of many presents he enjoyed, most of which were dino-themed :)

dinosaur tails and toothbrushes - hot ticked items both!

family shot aver cake - made by Grandma B... a masterpiece!

it was the best!!! having kiddies around for a kiddy party - a first for all of us

books and babes

Books! Everywhere!. There is quite the library-pile - some from Hendrik's school (five Magic Schoolbus books - his obsession du jour), some from the London Public Library (including two Angus books, a nice little pile of John Goodall's wordless flap-books, a few Nancy Carlson books (Harriet and the Garden - a gem!) and a few Toon books (A Trip to the Bottom of the World). Oh, and then there are the for-school books (which I should return), and the books on hold at the library. AK! But really - why not use the library? It's amaze! And the kids love it too - we could hardly pry them away from the kiddie section yesterday afternoon; there are trains and pop-up books, toys and more toys and books and more books (and stickers)... pa-ra-dise!

Que mas? I am trying out an overnight breakfast slow-cooker meal that involves oats, apples, cinnamon and brown sugar - and lovely aromas sweeping us out of bed in the morning (yes?). Life is good, busy - with coaching, school, family, food, errands... you know, the usual. I have less than two weeks of school left and just TWO assignments, both of which I have yet to begin in earnest. Hendrik turns FOUR (!!) on Friday, and we're planning on a little pizza party complete with lots of yummy food and a few friends. We're loving belonging to the Y-M-C-A up at Stoney Creek, and swimming is a hit with both kidlets, and both of them are making big progress (Hendrik puts his face in the water now which is a big deal for him, and Alana loves pool noodles and kicking herself around the shallow pool). Not much else to say a le moment, except that I need to get some work done and get to bed... some time.

making faces (this was the "funny" face)

the butterfly face (!?)

snuggles with maman

winter

Winter is here! A week ago we had a balmy 16-degree day - but not today my friends, not today. It was blustery and awful this morning, and lows were -10ish (I believe)... not nice. The kids were fairly unphased, and Hendrik dragged me out to play for at least 45 minutes. Alana joined, took of her mitts, and then cried her eyes out because I told her it was mitts or inside - cruel! How cruel of me, right? I'm not too sure what else to write about - school is keeping me up late at night, and the kids pile in our bed earlier than we'd like, though when it's to snuggle and read Burnt Toast on Davenport Street (and other new-from-the-library books by Tim Egan) I accept morning less begrudgingly. Here are a few pictures (from le camera) taken over the course of the past week.

playing school - with crowns 

someone is pumped about wearing hand-me-down dino jammies :)

playing in the backyard with our neighbour - i love it here! (and so do the kids)

daddy build, we paint!

love these two

zero degrees feels better - first snow day! (a few days ago)

pic-post

I have been neglecting my camera, and it takes WAY better pictures than my phone. SO! Here's a resolution to use my camera more (a 15-minute post is on the horizon), and some pictures from the last import:

making faces!

kisses for me 

watching... hockey i think :)

there's an edmontosaurus in our living room - quick, feed it!

jellyfish, by h

it's a dino sign! with a stegosaurus on one side and writing on the other: "I can see dinosaurs but nobody else can." (I need a close-up of his almost-legible writing)

painting liz's birdhouse - big reveal tomorrow!

I have more pics - Remembrance Day ceremony, poppies for dinosaurs, at the park with Robyn Doggy (A's favourite stuffy) - but they're elsewhere AND it's late. And time for bed. Until next time!

eek, a week!

Another week is part of history, and what that week was made of I'm not entirely sure. I can tell you one thing - there was more than enough morning anxiety, trying to get Hendrik dressed and downstairs in any amount of time. This kid is a major dawdler, but only for us. We pick him up from school and he flops around on the coatroom floor and then takes 10 minutes to take off his left shoe and then 10 minutes to take off his right shoe and then fish-flops some more, all while his teacher notes, "he never does this for us." Right. We're going to get a timer and create some incentive for getting downstairs to the breakfast table in 15 minutes without whining for daddy to come and put on his socks and then NO MOMMY come and put on my socks and then NO DADDY! help me with my socks (avec tears, of course). Hopefully we can save some parental volcano eruption rumblings and lateness. I must be optimistic.

We went to our first Christmas bazaar of the season this afternoon, and doesn't it seem way too early for Christmas bazaars? Yes. But anyways, this was a Greek one with  Greek lunch and Greek pastries, and there is never a bad time for something like that. We ate pasticcio, salad, souvlaki, spanakopitas, tiropitas and then had coffee and baklava (and cookies) for dessert. The kids ran wild after one too many treats, and then passed out in the car as soon as we were in motion.

Other of-notes from today: I went to a fitness class at the YMCA (Group Power), and it was decent, but a little dinky (I felt my muscles working but came away with a dry shirt); I made banana muffins and butternut squash soup and biscuits for dinner, and then did a pile of dishes while Steve outfitted our bed with winter, flannel sheets. It's supposed to get into the negatives here pretty soon, and we're gearing up - with fleecy jammies (the kids), flannel sheets and new snowpants (Alana). We still need to locate some boots for the chillins, so that might the errand that drives this next week. That and the pounds and piles of homework that I need to do - and should do tonight, but with the tired factor sky-high, an early night might be more valuable than some progress in the school department. Can I do it? Actually go to bed early? I'll let you know....

halloween recap +

Halloween was so much fun! SO much fun - being in a neighbourhood with kids wandering, houses and people (kids, parents, and homeowners) dressed up, and especially: our two little creatures, all excited about candy and doing it all on their own. They were so cute, deciding where to go, walking the walk and talking the talk ("thank you and have a happy halloween!"), and debating whether or not to brave the houses that were donned up with gloom and gore (see above). It was the first year we've been able to really do the trick-or-treating thing, with both H and A aware of what they were doing and why (CANDY). We got home and the kids dumped out their goods and we let them have at it for a while - and then Steve unapologetically left to watch the men's volleyball team (at Western) go five sets against Waterloo. And the kids were on a su-gar high! Man, it sure did make me wonder how my parents handled kids who couldn't handle sugar TIMES FOUR! Yikes. No one was injured, and I just accepted that my little reptiles would be bonkers and go to bed late, and it was much better that way.

pumpkins, candy candy candy candy and loot bags from our neighbour liz - halloween is the best! (until Christmas)

We had a fair number of trick-or-treaters here too, and H and A were happy to take breaks from candy to dish out some more; thankfully we don't have too much left, but that's in large part due to our (me and Steve) efforts at reducing the pile. I'll likely put in some good work tonight and then hopefully be done with it - I'm like my parents, in thinking that the kids (and adults) can have a few days (maybe up to a week?) of candy free-for-all (more or less) and then it's back to normal... until Christmas.

loot bags! dino hockey and alana's zoo - proud creations

And it's November! And winter. There were flurries on Saturday afternoon, and it was -2 this morning when we woke up (sad face) and I'm going to have to get my big jacket out soon and stop dreaming of next summer and of Greece and really just change my attitude and embrace the season. Can I do it? I'll remain optimistic.

I sat on the bench on Saturday night for the first time (UWO Women's VB), and I tell you, that national anthem gets me every time; as an athlete, a coach, a spectator... hearing Oh Canada, especially when it's live, is the best. I'm loving being a part of this program, and sure wish I could be in the gym for every practice. If only ... I didn't have to sleep! I could just do homework and learn to sew and write letters (and blogs and make cards and read books) in the middle of the night. Tonight I'll really have to force myself to go to bed early; the kids had a super busy day (swimming at the Y this morning + play-gym rip-around, then hockey game for Steve and Hendrik (London Knights) and a tea party, colouring and jobs around the house for me and Alana) and with the time-change, they were asleep early... which likely means they'll be up early too. Who knows, maybe this means we'll actually be on time for school (for Hendrik)! A few photos to wrap-up, and then I'll hit the books. (Or should I eat candy and watch Seinfeld? Hmmm....)

happy guy! at school (wait, leaving school)

pumpkin heads :)

alana's masterpiece du jour