Bear Turns 5!

September 16, 2007 after 29 hours of labour we welcomed our beautiful 8lb 1oz baby boy into the world. Little did we know how much this child would teach us about ourselves and life. Life with Bear hasn't always been fun and easy, but I wouldn't trade a moment of it for anything. Birthday's are a big deal around here. When Bear was born, Dr's told us he was pretty sick. Luckily, when he was 3 weeks old we found out that they were wrong and he was a completely healthy, happy, baby. The thought of how quickly life could be different is never far for us. We always go all out on birthdays, not only are we celebrating another year older, but we're also celebrating another year that we're all here, together, and healthy!


Bear is BIG into cars right now! I found this cake on Pinterest and knew he had to have it! I emailed the picture to a neighbor of ours who is an amazing cake decorator! She nailed it! He had no idea what to expect for a cake, so he was completely shocked and ecstatic to see the cake!!!

And lastly here's a picture of him trying to blow out his sparkler candle! All in all it was a great day! I still find myself saying to the hubby can you believe we have a 5 year old!? I don't know, 5 just seems HUGE!

Monkey Starts Preschool!

It was a sad day in Mommyland! Our little Monkey started nursery school. He was so excited to go! As long as he can remember (and his whole little life for that matter) he's watched Bear truck off to preschool and then big boy school. Like any little brother he's always been wanting to go right along with Bear. Finally last Tuesday Monkey's day came! He's going to nursery school 2.5 hours a week for the time being. Last week he went right in and hung his backpack up like a big boy and then went in a played. This week, I wasn't so lucky :( As soon as we pulled into the parking lot he grabbed the buckle on his car seat and was saying no, no, no, no. As soon as I undid him he lost it! I had to leave him there screaming! And I mean SCREAMING! I could hear him outside when I was walking to the car! Just call me mother of the year :D Bear was home sick today, so I just keep telling myself that he wanted to stay at home with him, right?

Back to School!

 Well yesterday was a big day in Mommyland! Bear started Sr. Kindergarten! He was pretty excited when he woke up yesterday morning. I wanted to make an extra special lunch for him. I wasn't sure how his day would go, so I wanted to send a little smile for him in his lunch. Our school does a 'Balanced Day'. This means he has 2 nutrition breaks instead of the standard lunch break. So it may look like a lot of food for an almost 5 year old, but believe me, he eats it allll!

So to go along with with his last day of school, I had to make a first day of school sign. It worked out really well, not just for us but another little boy at our bus stop is in Bear's class. His mom was there taking pictures of him, so I offered her our sign. I mean we only have one day with it, might as well get the most of it!

Now don't get me wrong! I was beyond excited to have him go back to school. I do have mixed feelings about him going every day at such a young age. But he likes it and I know he can handle it, so I guess I'm okay with it. But yesterday morning when the boys were still in bed and I was gathering all the last minute stuff and getting things together for breakfast, I started to think about how 5 years ago I was pregnant waiting for the arrival of my sweet baby, and now I'm sending him off to school every day. I would be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear.

If you give a kid a camera...

You might end up with 20 pictures like this one! Bear has got into the habit of grabbing my phone and snapping pictures. Some are pretty good. The boys and I along with a friend of mine and her daughter went camping a few weeks back. There was a little petting farm in the campground. Bear took my phone and was going around snapping pictures of all the animals, except the ones that were too stinky in his opinion. It's cute to see things from their point of view and what they find interesting.

This on the other hand? Now I'm not going to confirm or deny which finger this is. I'm pretty sure it's not the 'bad' finger. This picture was taken inside the trailer. There's a series of fingers, then me changing Monkey's diaper, himself and of course, no photo shoot would be complete without the ever popular window shot!

Give your kids a camera and see what they take pictures of.

Last Week of Summer

Today kicks off the last week of Bear's summer vacation and the last 2 weeks before Monkey starts nursery school. It sort of makes me sad to think that my little baby will be going to nursery school two mornings a week. I'll have the house to myself 2 mornings a week! What ever will I do ;)

This past weekend we were spoiled with some beautiful weather! It's been pretty chilly here this past week, even dipping down to 7*C one night! BUURRR Not ready for that yet! Needless to to say when we hit 30*C this weekend it was very welcomed! Saturday Bear had his last baseball game. After ball we came back home and lounged around the pool all day!

And I mean all day! Here's Monkey eating a little spaghetti. I don't know if he ended up with more in his tummy or on his face. He's at such a cute independent age. It melts my heart to see him doing so much on his own. But at the same time hurts my heart a little. He's my baby, he isn't supposed to be so big.

Oh! And GREAT news! Our cat returned home! And when I say return I mean I found him on someone's front yard getting ready to fight another cat! I think he missed the memo that he's declawed. I don't think he had ate very much if anything at all the time he was out. He's pretty bony and ran right to the food bowl as soon as he came in. Here's hoping he's here to stay now!

Keeping Cool!

July brought some pretty high temps in our area. We had more heat advisory days in July then we had all last summer! We tend to stay in on those days, which can make for some long days for these guys! I had to get creative on different 'projects' for them to do. I decided that I had had enough of being stuck in the house, so I took a bunch of different Tupperware containers, filled then with water and food colouring and left them in the fridge for a few days. I waited for one of the cooler days, I put the boys in their swim suits and we went out to build! They loved these slippery building blocks. Not only were they building with them, but they were colouring on their tummies, legs, arms and of course each other with the coloured ice cubes It was only about 30 minutes before they were too melted or broken apart to play with, but it was the best 30 minutes of out day that day!

Summer 2012 Recap

So here's where our Summer started! June 28 was Bear's last day of Jr. Kindergarten. It's still hard to believe he has his first year of 'big boy' school under his belt! I'm so proud of how well he did his first year! He adjusted so well. And now here it is the end of August and we're heading into his second year! He's going to be going full time this year. Last year he went every other day, this year our school is starting Full Day Kindergarten. So Monday-Friday my biggest little man will be at school! I'm not going to lie, the past 2 months of no lunches, no really morning round ups has been bliss. I'm REALLY not looking forward to packing lunches again ;) 

As soon as he got off the bus that afternoon, we were loaded to go camping! This is one of our favorite family activities. We stayed 4 nights over Canada Day weekend. What long weekend would be complete without fireworks, campfires, and sparklers. It was a weekend full of red, white, and the maple leaf. We had great sites, right at the pool! We went with my parents, my sister and her family and one of my brothers and his family. The boys loved all the time with their cousins.

The middle of July brought a small day trip! I purchased tickets for 'A Day Out With Thomas'. This is something we did with Bear when he was almost 3. Monkey is BIG into Thomas and trains right now, so we knew they would love it. The best part is they had no idea where we were going until we got there! We woke them up bright and early and told them that we were going for a car ride. Monkey doesn't really say much, so he was just kind of along for the ride. When we got there and parked the car, we told them and you would have thought we told them we had won the lotto.

The end of July this Mommy packed her bags and went to Las Vegas! I met up with friend of mine who lives across the country. We took in as many sights as we could for the 4 days we were there. We went up the Eiffel Tower at Paris, watched the water show at Billagio, the volcanos at The Mirage, the pirate show at Treasure Island, plus all the people watching! We also saw some fantastic shows! Two Cirque shows; O and Love and also Donny and Marie! I sure hope my husband ages as well as Donny! WOWSER! If you've never been to Las Vegas it's one of those places that you need to see before you die. The people watching alone is worth it!

I always know summer's coming to an end when we celebrate my birthday. This year was my last 20th birthday. Bear and Monkey surprised me with a delicious chocolate fudge crunch ice cream cake from DQ and somg gift certificates to go shopping for myself!

Our summer has ended with some heart break though, our 7 year old cat ran away last Friday morning and we have yet to find him :( Monkey doesn't really understand, but comes out with us and yells for the cat. Bear gets a little sad at night. We do have the brother here and Bear keeps on telling him 'It's okay, I'll be your brother now' So heartwarming <3