celebrating sunshine and a birthday!

enjoying the pool today

our outdoor setup... Steve has been working hard!

We are in the middle of a heat wave! After a drawn out dreary spring (after a long enough winter) we are enjoying warm weather. The pool has been very well used over the past few days, and we are so thankful to be here in this amazing house, using all of its spaces.

Even though it seems like the Coronavirus hype has died down a bit, we're living the same routines; we leave the property once a week for groceries, and once a week (or so) for other errands (garden centre, hardware store). Alana has just started having physically distanced playtime with our neighbour, and Hendrik had a friend over this afternoon for a physically distanced swim. They miss their friends, and we miss our friends! We celebrated Jordan's 4th birthday last Sunday with some cake on the front lawn with our neighbours from Grosvenor (Sandra and Bruce and Liz), but the weather wasn't great so it didn't last long. We had a great day though! He woke up nice and early and after presents and some time at home, we went for a nature walk in Arva and... what else did we do?! I'm sure there was some Paw Patrol. He's still loving that show, and has also latched onto a trains DVD we have from the library (which hasn't opened yet). I tried asking him the usual birthday questions (what is your favourite toy, food, etc.) but he wasn't interested. So, I'll answer them for him! His favourite foods are salami, mozzarella cheese, yogurt, toast with butter (or butter with toast), and guacamole. His best friend is probably Jack, but since school has been out we haven't been able to see him! He likes construction vehicles (toy diggers etc.), and helping around the house (yes, really). He has also just started swimming in the shallow end on his own without his puddle jumper, and he's doing so well! Yay. Fingers crossed that he's swimming confidently in the deep end by the end of the summer. For his birthday the big hit was a Paw Patrol watch (from Liz); other loot includes a Tippy Toe board (used by all), a baseball pitching thing (also used by all), new PJs (trucks), gardening tools and gloves, and books. It was a great day!

I'm still sewing items for Canada Sews, and have been working on a set of headbands for what feels like forever! It's tricky to find the time. I usually try to sit down when the kids are doing their schoolwork, but that's hit and miss; sometimes they constantly need my help and other times they let me work away. This morning I went for a run instead, and that felt great. The fact that I've found time to exercise during the pandemic is a positive, but since I only go every three days (or so), I never actually feel any better or more physically capable. Maybe one day? Anyways, I'll get some pictures up and get this posted while I can!