Halloween!

We started our Halloween fun by having Catherine and Hannah over for dinner. We served our usual halloween meal 'pumpkin spaghetti' the kids love it and it's easy to prepare ahead of time. This year the trick- or -treaters started arriving at the door at 6, and they came in big numbers! I was glad we made the last minute decision to pick up more candy "just in case". We had lots of candy left over, but I have no idea how many kids we got they came too fast to count!



Grayson dressed for the holiday by wearing a borrowed halloween sleeper :) super cute! Grayson and I stayed home to hand out candy, but we enjoyed watching the kids trick-or-treating-from the porch.


Our collection of mostly disney themed pumpkins. Catherine and Hannah carved mickey, and we carved goofy and "a ghost with flames" as per Owen's request.


Trick - or - Treat! Gavin said this year was much easier because the kids could go up to the houses on their own! no carrying any young kids up and down the stairs, next year he will have Grayson to carry around :)


It took Noah a few houses to figure out what was going on, but after he did he was so excited! he would run from house to house saying "candy! candy!" heh- I don't think he realized just how much candy he'd be given.




Thanks to Catherine she caught these videos of the kids :)


This spooky house set Owen off for the rest of the night. He wanted daddy to go up to the houses with him after that. He had wanted to come home but stuck it out for the love of candy :) I'm glad he mustered up enough bravery to finish the night and continue to have fun.





Pirate Owen!


Cutest little strawberry, dragon and pirate around! here they are enjoying a treat.


My three trick- or- treaters


My three cuties!


We checked the boys candy to make sure it was safe and took out the candy we don't like them to have (really hard candy and gumballs) then we helped ourselves to some of our favourites :) Grayson snatched this lollipop as if no one would notice, but I was sure to snatch it back just after I took the picture:)


Happy Halloween!

Thanksgiving monday turned out to be the perfect day for our annual trip to the pumpkin farm! just mentioning the word farm sends my kids into excitement mode:) The weather on monday was great and we were sure that everyone would have the same idea and the place would be packed. We went early to avoid most of the crowd and much to our surprise it wasn't really that busy!




























Again no photos of Grayson :( that boy slept the entire time we were there and I wasn't interested in waking him just for a photo op. Obviously sleep is very important to me these days :) The big boys had a great time and enjoyed the wagon ride, tractors, farm animals and searching for the biggest pumpkin in the field.

Last wednesday we took the kids to the CNE, I was worried about how Grayson would do but it turned out to be a great outing. We stopped by Gavin's work to show off the kids and to pick our tickets up :) and finally made it to the CNE by lunch. It started to rain just as we got there and Grayson also needed to be fed, so we waited out the rain while I fed him in the car :)

First stop was to get lunch. It seems that having another baby puts us behind schedule a little :) Then it was time for the kids to go on some rides. This year there were lots of rides that both kids could go on together so we didn't bother buying extra ride tickets for an adult to ride with them.

Owen and Noah loved this Mickey Mouse Bounce Castle


A favourite ride was the dump trucks - Owen took the job seriously while Noah sat casually with his arm out the window.




When asking for volunteers to be in the "backyard circus" both Owen and Noah put up their hands to volunteer. Owen didn't care what part he got chosen for and kept his hand up the entire time until he was finally chosen to play a tiger. Noah wasn't chosen because he was a little too young, but I think he would have done fine. At one point while they were choosing butterflies for the play Noah went up on stage. He was quickly booted off by the people organizing the play - but I think he would have been a great butterfly :)



After the play Noah was able to put on a tiger costume as well and pose for a picture.


Grayson was perfect the entire day! he woke to nurse and then went back to sleep. I was worried he wouldn't sleep that night but he slept as usual. I think the fresh air made him exhausted. Check out his cute little pose :)


Owen and Noah were so cute holding hands while waiting in line for a ride. The "love" didn't last long though, as soon as the ride was over Owen got himself off the ride and left Noah behind! Gavin was on his way to help the boys off of the ride but for a short while Noah looked pretty scared stuck on the ride by himself!


Owen was a little freaked out by the talking and walking tree.


Daddy caved and both boys were able to choose one treat before we went home. I think Owen was disappointed with his decision to buy a candy apple but he wouldn't admit it. Noah loved his huge lollipop and I couldn't believe how big of a mess he could make with it! This picture makes me laugh - so many photos of the two of them turn out like this :)

Soccer Fun Day

There was a year end fun day with the soccer club and the kids had such a great time last year that we wanted to make sure they went again this year. the weather wasn't the greatest so I stayed home with Grayson while Gavin took Owen and Noah. Owen remembered that there was a clown last year that made balloon animals and was disappointed there wasn't this time around.

The kids wanted popsicles even though it wasn't the warmest day :)


They always enjoy feeding the animals at the petting zoo


The only soccer game we missed was the last one - and the kids received their medals that week. We had just come home with Grayson the day before and decided not to go to the game. Owen was able to pick up his medal at the the fun day and I took his picture with it when he got home.


Next soccer season Noah will be able to play! I think he'll love it. He really enjoyed going to Owen's games to watch this year.

Bath time is a family affair around here! both boys wanted to help give Grayson his first bath at home. Owen and Noah did a good job helping bathe Grayson, but I think they expected it to be playtime like their bath usually is. Giving Grayson a bath has been on our "to do" list since monday and we finally got around to it today. That seems to be the way things are going lately and we are happy if we get anything accomplished these days. A very demanding feeding schedule, and trying to keep Owen and Noah entertained as much as possible is not leaving much time for anything else.






We have gotten out of the house a few times this week - if even for short walks around the block and to take the kids to the park. Today we ventured out on our first real "outing" since bringing Grayson home. We actually took the kids to the movies if! Gavin took Owen and Noah to see The Smurfs and Grayson and I went to see the Stars and Strollers movie The Help. We had a great time and I was a little worried about how Grayson would do while we were out and how I'd manage feeding him etc. but it worked out pretty well.

There's no photo of Grayson and I prior to our movie as were running late - but here is a pic of the other boys just before their movie:) apparently Noah loved the movie (no surprise) but Owen got a little bored half way through the movie.

Canada's Wonderland

We take the boys to Wonderland during the summer every year and we always have a blast! This time we decided to keep the day trip as a surprise because we thought if we told Owen beforehand he'd be too excited to fall asleep the night before :) Owen was really excited when we told him in the morning that we were taking them to Canada's Wonderland, Noah was excited too but I think he was just caught up in Owen's excitement.

We arrived at the park around 10am and didn't leave until 8:30pm. There is so much for them to see and do there, we never even left the kids park! and I think Owen made it on every ride this year. Noah went on most rides but also enjoyed just lounging in the stroller and watching everything around him. Even I went on some of the really tame rides like the swans and the train ride:)

Here are a few pictures from our day:

Water Lovin' Boys

Swim lessons this time around are going great, the boys are showing such confidence and truly love to be in the water! The difference a year has made in Owen's swimming is incredible. Last year he didn't like to get his entire face wet, he would blow bubbles in the water when asked but that would be about it. When jumping in the water he always tried to keep his head from going under, this year it's a different story! he has no problem jumping right in and will even go under the water to retrieve dive sticks from the bottom of the shallow end, he requires a bit of help to get to the bottom of the pool but we are so surprised he will even attempt to do that. We'll likely take a break from swim lessons during the summer months but plan to put Owen into his first non parented swim lessons in the fall.







Noah has the same instructor as Owen and they have their lessons back to back. He loves to be in the water and his favourite thing so far is to jump into the pool, whenever they are given a few minutes of free play Noah always chooses to practice jumping, most of the other kids want to play with the pool toys but not my boy! I love watching him count to three before he jumps in, he prefers someone to be holding his hands while he jump but has no problem with going under the water. One thing we find funny is that the boys have always practiced blowing bubbles in the bath tub so we know Noah can do it, but for some reason in the pool he tries to lick the water instead!