Tuesday, April 28, 2009

I changed my mind Kate...

Hey Kate, you asked me the other day if the jumping castle was a good investment and I said it's been OK, well, I changed my mind....it's fantastic! Riley and Simon jumped in it for an hour yesterday, I was able to nurse Cooper, wash my floors, nurse Cooper, weed a garden and nurse Cooper. AND after that they both crashed out for naps...Simon slept for three hours, I had to wake him up. You need one of these!!!! If only Cooper could jump in it, he just might nap.

Jumperoo

We broke out the Jumperoo for Coop, it was a hit!

Hair

Riley has decided that she wants to do her own hair now. She is four now you know. Here is the result...

Sunday, April 26, 2009

A Day With The Olijnyk Family

On Saturday good friends of ours Kate, Pete, Bree and Izzy came to visit us for the day. We had a wonderful day together out in the sunshine. The kids had a blast playing together and didn't stay still for a second...as you can tell from the photos. Simon had gone for his nap when I took the camera out, which is why he is in no photos. We look forward to our play dates in Toronto this summer.


Bree with Izzy and Riley with Cooper....an attempt to get them all looking.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Why????

Why? Why? Why? did we think it was a good idea to build a house on an acre of land? My hands and back are very angry at me right now for this decision. I started to work in our yard today...correction...I only made it through 3 gardens today...I have a ton more work to do. Nee Nee came up to play with the kids to allow me to work as uninterrupted as possible.

I dug up the veggie garden.



I weeded two of our front gardens. These two gardens still need work...planting, rocks etc...




I plan to create another garden or two this spring. Have trees to plant, grass to rake and seed etc.... Anyone up for a raking party?

Exersaucer

We tried Cooper in his exersaucer the other day to see how he would do....he did very well. What do you think?



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day

This morning during breakfast I explained to the kids that today is Earth Day. We talked about things we do and could do to help the earth. I then asked asked them what special project they wanted to do today to help. Riley asked if they could help the birds. We all loaded in the car and went on an adventure to find a bird feeder and bird seed.

When we got home the kids filled the feeder up.


Spent a lot of time watching out the window for some bird action.


They came slowly at first.



Then they came fast and furious. We had doves, robins, red-winged black birds, a blue jay and brown-head cowbirds (thanks to the Internet for the name of that last one).



Six hours later....their cupboards are bare.

Makeover...

In my spare time (insert evil laugh here) I have been giving our blog a makeover. Hopefully over the next few days...ok maybe weeks...we will have a new look. Some features I have added are links to our favourite things on the side bar as well as a list of our favourite books. We LOVE to read in this house so I am not sure how I will manage this section yet.....any tips would be great (hint, hint, Sharon).

Bathroom words...

Simon is a boy, the type of boy that us teachers go to inservices about how to educate because they are so "active." Active is the nice word for crazy, silly and sometimes inappropriate.
This morning he was being inappropriate and talking about "poo." I told him that we don't talk that way, "poo" is a bathroom word. So, he quickly ran into our bathroom, stood at the door and yelled "poo" over and over again. I said he was crazy, silly and inappropriate, I never said he wasn't clever;)

Cool Dude

Simon had a hair cut on Tuesday and announced to me "the cool dude is here."


Monday, April 20, 2009

Conversation

Nee Nee: Riley, what did you do today?

Riley: We went to church

Nee Nee: Did you see baby Jesus there?

Riley: Nope, he was just hanging out on the cross.

End of conversation.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend full of friends and fun outdoors....little of which I have pictures of.

Friday we went to our friends the Parkers for play time and lunch. It was a fun day and a yummy lunch. Thank you Christine, Drew, Lilly, Katie and Adam.

Saturday we went outside first thing in the morning in attempt to get some yard work done. Riley and Simon had a great time playing with all of the toys that had been put away all winter. Jason and I worked around the yard weeding and raking. We still have a ton of work to do but it was a good start. In the afternoon, Riley's friend Laurel and her mother Melanie came over for a play date. The girls had a blast together, they are two peas in a pod.

Sunday after church we spent more time outside enjoying the weather. The start of beach season starts tonight...or should I say the start of me becoming a single parent starts tonight. He has been volleyball free for about 5 weeks, it has been so nice, we love having him around. I am trying to brace myself for the next 4 1/2 months of craziness.

Here are the two photos I took of Riley and Simon outside this weekend.

Riley playing in the house.



Pirate Simon in his pirate ship.

Mustard

This is what Simon looks like after having a bite of mustard...


Too funny!!!

3 Months

Coop is 3 months old today. Time seems to be passing us by so quickly. He is a interactive little guy with all his smiles, coos and giggles. He is at his happiest when Riley is playing with him, he just adores her. He loves to try to sit up and even stand up. His two absolute favourite things to do are nurse and be awake...have you ever heard of a baby that only naps 20-30 minutes in a 12 hour period...and is NOT sleep through the night!!!!! He still wakes 3-6 times at night....it is a wee bit exhausting.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Becoming Greener...

We try our best in our home to reduce our carbon foot print. Having said that I think there is more we can do as a family, making these choices not only helps the environment but also is healthier for our family.

So far we...
1. Use cloth grocery bags
2. Have energy star appliances
3. About 50% of the food we eat is organic
4. Our cleaning supplies are organic
5. Use reusable travel mugs
6. We compost
7. Use low energy light bulbs
8. We recycle
9. We grow our own vegetable garden in the summer and do not use any chemicals in our gardens or on our lawn.

Our newest attempt at becoming greener includes;
1. No longer using paper towels - it has been 3 weeks and not one paper towel has been used
2. We are attempting to unplug some of our small appliances when not in use


We are open to any other suggestions on making our lives more green....I have even gone as far as suggesting the switch to cloth diapers but I do not Jason on board yet.....

Crib

Cooper has started to take his afternoon nap in his crib....when he has one. He is the only 2 1/2 month baby that I know that stays awake for 10 plus hours at a time. We also have been starting his nights there. After we wakes up for the first time I bring him back to our room....he is still waking every 2 hours of so.

Sleeping baby...yes, he is on his tummy,...judge if you will but it works for us:)

G.G. and G.G. 2

On Wednesday evening we went to visit G.G. and G.G. 2. It is wonderful to see our children with their great grandparents...not many people have this blessing and are thankful for it.

All dressed and ready to go.


Now that we are in our jammies let's take pictures.....bad planning on my part.





Standing

Well, Cooper isn't three months yet but he insists on standing. He is able to hold his entire weight it is amazing.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter Weekend - Monday

Sadly, Monday was our last day at the cottage:( We decided to make the most of it and leave in the evening. We went on another adventure in the morning to Magnetawan to check out the lock system.

Fun at the park.



Touring around the island.



Walking over the locks and getting a lesson on the locks from daddy.





An attempt to get a family shot using the camera timer.



It was a great weekend together. We had lots of time to relax, play and enjoy each others company. I even read an entire book!!!! We can not wait to get back up there.

Easter Weekend - Sunday

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny left the kids a trail in the cottage and eggs to hunt for outside.

Following the trail. Riley, Simon and Cooper each had their own trail.




Playing with some of their new toys.



I couldn't resist this shot.


We moved outside to find the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid.



We spent the rest of the day eating, relaxing and playing.



We finished off the night roasting marshmellows in the wood stove...a cottage tradition for us.