Meeting Cousin Alexis

We ended our week of vacation by taking a trip to Ottawa to meet the newest addition to our family! sweet baby Alexis was born July 29th, and last week was the first time we got to meet her! Living so far away from family is difficult at times :(
Alexis was so good the entire time we were there, I wish I could say the same for my boys. The week of being off schedule and routine had finally taken it's toll and Owen had a huge melt down Saturday evening, lasted probably two hours. Lovely.

The first picture of the three of them together! Grandma will be so excited to have a picture of all of them.


Saturday we took the kids to the Children's Museum. Even the new parents and Alexis joined us at the museum. It was fantastic! we will definitely go again. The only problem was that it was really busy and loud with all of the kids there. There were so many things for the kids to play with and explore we could have spent the day there. Owen enjoyed the learn about construction exhibit the best. No surprise there! the crane kept him busy for the longest time and he waited patiently for his turn to operate the crane. I thought I would need to help him, but he operated the joy stick perfectly and moved the packages around no problem. He watched how the older kids did it and then showed mommy that he could "do it like a big boy".



If you look closely you can see wee baby Alexis propped up beside Noah, she wanted to be part of the fun as well.


Dressed up and ready to entertain!


Sweet baby girl. We miss her already. Hopefully it won't be too long until we visit again, she will have changed so much.

Camping

We had such a great time camping this year, it was much easier now that they are a little older and we didn't have to take all of the baby supplies with us. The kids love being outdoors they don't care that the only toys are water toys, a wagon, a ball and a couple of trucks,they'd prefer to play with rocks and sticks any day. Noah carried every stick he could find and would get so mad if he dropped one.

Rocks were a big hit as well :) of course Noah had to carry the biggest one he could find.


We set up the tent when we first arrived, had dinner and then headed to the beach for a short swim. We were surprised to find we were the only ones on the beach! it was really nice and so peaceful. What a great way to end the day!


I thought for sure that the boys splashing would scare off this family of ducks, but they weren't phased one bit.



This is how Noah looked most of the time - dirt smeared on his face.


Love the smile on my boys face! unless you capture him smiling naturally it's near impossible to get him to smile while looking at the camera! here he was spinning as fast as he could... remember there were limited toys.


The next morning we went for a hike on the look out trail. The trail is estimated at 2.6km but we cut off part of that by starting
at a different point. I have no idea how far we walked but Noah walked the entire thing! he climbed over rocks and tree roots and never took a tumble! he even managed the steep hill on the way to the look out no problem. I was sure his legs must have been burning by the time we reached the top - mine were. Owen was a little crankier not because of the walking but because his crocs were getting dirty :)


Time for a nap - just minutes from the camp site.


A little tree climbing



More beach fun



and of course we ended each night with yummy marshmallows.


What a great mini vacation! I imagine camping will be even more fun as they get a little older. Owen keeps telling us that he likes having fun camping.

I had been wanting to get the kids together with their cousin Kian before the summer was over, and Aunt Tirza suggested taking the kids to Whittamore's farm for the day. What a great idea it was! the kids had a fantastic time. Anytime the kids are outdoors, free to run around and there are tractors in sight makes for a great day in their opinion!. Luckily the weather was perfect and we could stay long enough to enjoy the activities and have a picnic lunch. Hopefully it won't be long until we get the boys together again. I just love seeing Kian take in all of the things that my slightly older boys do, I can see him planning his troublesome moves for the near future! hehe.

First stop was just inside the entrance! the kids spotted the sand pit and very familiar backyard toys and got busy playing. I thought we'd have to drag Owen away from this tractor, he could have sat on it all day I'm sure.



Just a little further the kids had fun riding on these outdoor tractors.






I'm not sure any of the kids actually ate any lunch, but they enjoyed hanging out together.


The kids liked the chicken show, complete with incredibly cheesy farm jokes.


Noah braved his first super slide! We were sure to catch him at the bottom, that slide was fast!


We tried (once again) to get a photo of the three of them. Adam and I hid behind the rock and made sure that no one toppled off.


There was a play yard with tire swings, tire climbers, and tire bouncy horses. I think that was everyones favourite part.




Owen tried out the duck race.




We also took the kids on a hay ride but unfortunately we don't have any pictures of that, next time we'll be sure to get some. We ended the day buying some fresh strawberries and the kids fell asleep in the car within minutes! It was a great day and hopefully we can do it again soon!

Soccer Season 2010

I'm so glad that Owen enjoyed playing soccer this year, he was always excited to go to his practices even though in the end most kids were running all over the place and not paying attention to the coach at all. Owen did really well and we could see improvement from his first game :)

Last week they had their picture day and then this week they received their medals. It was really cute and Grandma was happy that she could attend the final game.

Here's Owen receiving his first medal. He was really proud and excited about it.


Showing off his medal


Of course we had to stop at Dairy Queen on the way home, there were other kids from his team there as well. Owen enjoyed his "lizzard" hehe.


Soccer Video 2010



Today we attended the soccer clubs year end "fun day", both of the boys thought the petting zoo was great. Owen and Noah showed no fear of the animals, and fed the goats and sheep enough grass to last them the week I think.





It was a good idea to go early because then Owen and Noah could enjoy the jumping castles before they were crowded with older kids. We had a hard time getting Noah out of the jumping castles, Gavin had to go in after him!



Owen chose an elephant balloon animal and Noah got a dog balloon animal. They weren't too excited about the clown.



and of course we had to end the event with an ice cream cone.

While Owen plays soccer I chase Noah all over the open field! he is in all his glory being able to run free and giggling the entire time. There's a big hill that he loves to run down, usually toppling head over heals on the way down but he still laughs! Noah loves being able to take part on the soccer field with the other kids (younger siblings are allowed on the field at the same time) sometimes the coaches even give him stickers for his soccer ball! I love how he likes to be involved in everything and wants to have fun no matter where we are, he's such a fun loving boy!

3 Years Old

Suddenly the toddler days are far behind and we are full blown into the pre- school phase! my boy is so "kid" like when he plays now, using his imagination and running all over the place. He isn't "clumsy" anymore and he can climb up the climbers at the park no problem and without any assistance from mom! it causes me so much stress to see him climb so high out of reach, but I know it's just my own fear of heights creeping through. I'm really enjoying this age, I love to watch him explore new things so fearlessly and with determination, he is really learning so many things lately. I am so glad that I have this extra time with him before he goes off to kindergarten next year, watching him with the other kids and learn new things is slowly making some of my kindergarten fears disappear! luckily we still have another year before school starts and I think he will be more than ready and it will prove to be a good thing for him.

The week before his birthday he started calling us "mom" and "dad" more often than "mommy" and "daddy" definitely a sign of growing up! It makes me a little sad, but I also like to see him grow into a "big boy".

Owen plays really well with other kids his age and really enjoys playing with kids that are a little older than him. While at the park or community activity he often chooses to go and play with friends instead of being glued to mom and dad. His favourite activities include anything outdoors, swimming, soccer, baking, crafts, colouring and he still loves reading books, and of course anything related to trucks or tractors.





Owen has the most amazing memory and we often find ourselves surprised by what he knows and remembers. Many books are memorized not just the ones we read often, and not just rhyming ones either. He's known the alphabet for a long time, but now can identify letters, write "stick" letters like L, T, F, etc, knows numbers, and the months of the year. Recently he has started to draw pictures that are recognizable and has started to colour inside the lines. For a while I noticed he didn't really like colouring, but I think he saw how the older kids could colour during daycare, and until he tackled the "proper" way to do he didn't show any interest. Now he loves to colour and make crafts.



The difficult things about this age are that he always wants to be first, he's becoming argumentative, always wants his way and thinks he knows best, he realizes that he's older than some kids but doesn't realize that he's not as old as others :), and he has certainly developed an opinion, plus he can be a little bossy sometimes.

The fantastic things about this age are that he has developed a great sense of humor, he's very caring, sensitive, and still young enough to love snuggling, kisses and hugs, he's becoming a great big brother, he has less temper tantrums, he's helpful, and he's becoming more independent (he is potty trained...99% of the time, and can get himself dressed). Owen is very eager to please, extremely polite, and is a very happy and sweet boy.

Happy 3rd birthday Owen! mommy and daddy love you very much and life without you would not be as interesting or fun!