Another birthday... time is flying!

And the little is another year older - not so much wiser, yet (I don't think). Here are a few pics from the big day and small party (our family + Liz):

We asked him the usual birthday questions, and he answered with specifics at first... but it soon evolved into "I like them all!" What's your favourite number? All the numbers! It was entertaining. 

What's your favourite colour? Orange
What's your favourite book? Any book (Though I'll say that he is loving Jerry Pallotta's Alphabet books right now... we have so many of them!)
Favourite TV show? Octonauts
Favourite movie? Trains (This is a DVD that he gets out of the library that shows different kids of trains moving across different landscapes - it's called Lots and Lots of Big Trains)
What's your favourite sport? every sport
Who's your best friend? Thomas 
What's your favourite candy? All the candy (OBVIOUSLY)
Favourite food? Waffles
What's your favourite toy / stuffy? Baby
What's your favourite video game? (Don't think we had this question for bigs at 5 years old)
Plants vs Zombies

We started the day with presents... yay! Hendrik gave him a pile of books (the Boy vs Beast series is a favourite - early chapter books, good for read alouds), Alana gave him an alphabet book and a bin of sea animals, we gave him a new two-wheel scooter with light up wheels and a Lego set (a hit), Grandma and Grandpa O gave him pool toys (fun for all) and Grandma and Gramps sent him playdoh and a set of walkie talkies (fun for everyone too!). After an early dinner (waffles and fruit salad with whipping cream and custard - !) Liz came over for cake and a backyard tour of all of the different gardens people have been (sort of) growing. She gave Jordan a gift that practically sent his eyeballs flying from their sockets - candy. He was so happy! He also received some great cards (including a multi-pager from Hendrik - see below) and gifts from extended family. I'm sure there's more to say about his day, but I'm drawing a blank. Bah!

We're hanging on to week-day routines of school and accountability and doing our best (- hanging on). There are only four more weeks of school and we're not quite in countdown mode yet, but we'll be there soon I'm sure. The kids have been great with online school, and most of my classes are still going well, though attendance is starting to thin out. It's all good! The kids have been loving the pool, Steve has been putting in some time to revamp the front hallway (it looks amazing), and we are really enjoying the warmer weather. There isn't much to say about the bigger renovation that is due to happen at some point in the near-ish future - we still have to figure out permits, finishes and a timeline with our contractor. It'll happen! I'm sure there's more to write about but I should get this posted! Happy almost summer...

It's MAAAaaaaay!

oh hi!

Even though we have no extra-curriculars and nothing to leave the house for after school / work every day, life feels busy (here in Ontario we're STILL in a stay at home order - until the 20th I think). There are very few spare moments of peaceful do-whatever-you-want - instead I'm on-call 24/7 for snacks, playtime, complaints, dispute resolution etc. But...there is some good in this! Working from home means more relaxed mornings, coffee and water whenever I want it, not wearing shoes, no yard duty (and recess fun with my own kids), and not dealing with swearing and throwing and behavioural challenges from grade 8s that don't want to learn French... this is good! But I don't love that my kids are parked in front of their computers for most of the school day every day, or that we're managing their schedules and ours (and Jordan's - his school is on hiatus too). More time together is good, but going to school in-person is better for everyone.

I need to post a "before" - and a before before!

what a nice tidy living room. this is real life!

In the last month we've had a few beautiful days, with warm temps giving me false hope of an early summer. Steve opened the pool, but with low lows at night we haven't fired up the heater - though the bigs did brave the cold water on one of those hot sunny days. We're trying to spend as much time as possible outside, playing hockey or basketball, jumping on the trampoline, walking the 'hood and playing random games across the street or on the trampoline ("blind old doggy" and "fetch doggy" have been some faves... I'll leave them up to your imagination, ha!). Another at-home challenge has been carving out time for Steve to tackle the front hall - he has done an incredible job transforming a smaller closet into a much bigger one with room for everyone's STUFF. We've been using the back door that comes into the kitchen, so there are piles of shoes and coats and masks all over the place... in the kitchen (which is obviously not ideal). And on these home notes, we are sort of making progress with the home reno. Steve submitted plans to the city last week and now we're waiting to hear back. We're thinking we'll have to submit a site plan of sorts (we don't have a survey), so that might set us back a little longer... not that we're in any rush! It will be nice to have a bigger kitchen and a functional bathroom on the second floor. I'm sure there's more to write about but I'm going to dig through my photos and get some of those posted too. Happy Spring everyone!

We've been doing LOTS of painting... fun :)

A helping with demo

I think they're bird-watching here... adorbs

H's turn to bust stuff up

When I see the three of them cooperating like this my heart wants to burst!! 

Before J fell in the river ... ha!

Steve also made this Murphy bed... he's amazing!!