Candyland!

One of the joys of having children is getting to relive your childhood. That could also be worded as "forcing your children to play with your favourite toys". Hayden has been loving this game lately. The only problem is that you really can't "throw" the game and let them win. But then you just have to keep playing until they do win.

Who says Christmas is over?

And besides, if you take them down now, you're just going to have to put them up again in 8 months.
(P.S. Not our house)

If I was an entrepreneur

I would come up with ideas like this. Taken with my cell phone camera. I was.....well, I'm not sure if I was surprised, amused, or mostly grossed out. But apparently I missed out on the idea of picking up poop. That job has been taken.

Wonderful Wednesday!

I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about the hockey game last night. I really wasn't sure if Canada was going to pull it off. But then, Scott remembered something. Our Canada Tshirts! I can't believe I ever had enough spare time to work on such a frivolous project--but we made matching tshirts and hats for the big hockey game in the 2002 Olympics. I remember we went to a local restaurant/pub with a whole bunch of our friends and spent the afternoon there watching the game. We bought 2 grey tshirts and 2 grey bucket hats and decorated them ourselves with the red felt, LOL. We couldn't find the hats again, but the tshirts were resurrected! I'm pretty sure that's why Canada won the game, to be honest. Just a theory though.....

New chair

The big girl is pretty proud of herself. My friend Kerri gave Madeline one of those comfy foam chairs for her birthday. She LOVES it. So proud of herself whenever she sits in it. She's standing on her own quite a bit this week. Not trying to take steps, but just likes to let go and stand.

Little Jail Bird

Madeline's favourite activity now is climbing the stairs...almost to the exclusion of everything else. We finally brought out the gate because we were spending so much time behind her. So tonight she spent the better part of the evening trying to figure out how to break through and start the ascent again. These wee ones are sneaky ;)

Olympic Training

For the past week, Hayden had been pretty busy training in Speed Skating; doing laps around the main floor of the house with one arm swinging and the other behind his back. But why stop at just one event? Today it was skiing. Sometimes you don't have all the 'fancy' equipment, but that's when you improvise.

Bowling

We took bowling out of the virtual world today (the Wii) and Hayden tried "real" bowling for the first time. First of all, it was jam packed, and since when did bowling become the most popular activity for EVERYONE?! It was never like that when I went as a kid. Secondly, holy expensive! $18 for 3 of us to play a game? I thought it would be 3 bucks or something like that. Maybe it's because they sanitize the shoes now and have to pay for those hi tech aerosol cans? By the way, very much in favour of the sanitizing.

Anyway, Hayden loved it. It was fun. I lost. Hayden came second because it's not in a Dad's job description to lose on purpose. I think that's just something that a Mom does. The sad part is that I tried my best and still came last, LOL.

"Do I look pretty?"

Yes, Hayden got into my makeup. Yes, I admit that I didn't stop him. There are moments like these when I know I should intervene but I can't resist the humour of the situation. The way Scott kept rolling his eyes as he watched Hayden dabbing on the blush. He even had the eyelash curler out. He wanted to go out to the library like that, but had a change of heart at the last minute.

Oh the drama

So Madeline seems to be uncovering her inner drama queen already. It's quite funny though, because she is almost always so easy-going and happy. But just lately she seems to be learning how to really show it when she's upset or frustrated. She was fussing about something briefly this afternoon and then put her face down on the floor in complete despair, apparently. She definitely understands the word "no" now too and will give a disapproving yell right back. We have to turn away so she doesn't see us laugh.

I went to a psychic for the heck of it, about a year before Madeline was born. I remember the woman said that she saw a lot of girl energy around me and I was going to have a daughter. She also told me that my daughter was "going to teach me things." Not that I necessarily believe in psychics, but I never forget that she told me that. Because if Hayden hasn't already taught me things, I don't know what Madeline has in store for me :)


And then there was the Olympic hockey game tonight; couldn't miss that. It couldn't have been any more nerve-wracking to watch, either! (Note the finger prints on the left side of the screen. We never had a single sticky fingerprint here until Madeline came along, LOL)

Feeling the spirit

I caved on the weekend and decided to buy Olympic mittens. I figured it was the "Canadian" thing to do.

On an unrelated note, today was Madeline's one-year check up. She weighed in at a whopping 19lbs, which is heavier than I expected (her brother weighed more than that at 6months though!). She was none impressed with the needles. It was a very heart-broken cry. Afterwards, I could see her scanning the whole clinic as though to imprint every detail in her memory and never trust the place again.

Tonight I went grocery shopping. By myself. No kids. Nobody. Just me. It was almost exciting, and I felt like I was getting away with something. I never knew that grocery shopping could be so relaxing and therapeutic. At what point does grocery shopping become recreational? I'm feeling very old. It takes me back to the days when I worked at Valdi's and I would see some of my friends' mothers grocery shopping. On a Friday night of all things...and I couldn't understand why they seemed almost happy to be grocery shopping...?? Now I understand.

I stopped at the local convenience store on the way home to get some Halls. The owner is there 24/7. I don't know how he manages. I don't go there often, but he always asks me if I want to buy a lottery ticket. Someone always won several million from his store last week (Hey, I took Math, I know a bit about odds). I also always feel like I'm in the presence of organized crime for some reason.

Pancake Tuesday!

Today when I picked Hayden up from school, I told him that it was Pancake Tuesday and we would be having pancakes for dinner. Well, he didn't believe me. Stopped dead in his tracks and screwed up his face and insisted that I must be joking. We don't have pancakes for supper. He's right---I think we've missed it every other year, and we definitely joke with him enough that it's understandable that he would have doubts. But they were yummy! We had bacon too.....I can count on one hand the number of times Scott and I have bought bacon in the 13 years we've lived together. Two of those times have been in the past month, LOL.

Two of Hayden's cousins came over for a couple of hours tonight too.

So this is Hayden and his cousin Kaden, scarfing down their pancakes. Yes, Hayden and Kaden have rhyming names. They have the same last name too. Oh, and they were born 2 months apart. They've heard the story about their names too many times; Kaden was due in early May and his parents had his name picked out for months, but didn't tell anyone. Hayden wasn't supposed to be born until June 1st, but he arrived in March. We had NO name picked out and just happened to decide on Hayden a few days after he was born- It was the only name we both liked. Since we lived 3 hours away at the time, Scott's brother and sister-in-law decided that the similar name really wouldn't be that big a deal. Well, we screwed that one right up and decided to move back to the same city that same year. Oh well, they don't seem to notice :)

Kaden, dear, the fly is supposed to be in front.

Kyah is one of those 'little mothers'. She's so good with the little kids and Maddie and Hayden just love her :)

Family Day

I don't know why I thought we would be busy getting out and going places on Family Day. We spent the morning finishing the cleanup from the birthday party. Aside from that, we basically lounged at home all day. Nothing wrong with that, I guess :) My friend Kerri came over since I botched the birthday details and she missed out yesterday. Why do I continue to be so terrible at keeping any sort of reliable contact with people?! Thank God for friends that put up with it though:)

Happy Birthday!

I can't believe it's been a year already. It went too fast. Maddie woke up all smiles, as though she knew it was her day :) I actually remembered Valentine's Day for Hayden and her this year; poor Hayden got ripped off last year because I woke up with contractions and he got dropped off at Nana and Papa's shortly after!

We had family over for a little birthday party; by the time we got to the cake, she was really really tired, so there weren't many smiles, but she was still in a pretty good mood, considering. We really thought she would go nuts with the cake, but she wasn't all that impressed at all. She taste-tested the cake, but I think the icing was too sticky and it made her gag, LOL. Other than that, she didn't make much of a mess with it at all....are my kids the only ones who don't like cake??!

Happy Birthday, Maddie :)

A bag full of Valentines!

Hayden came home from school on Friday with a bag full of Valentines from his classmates. They each made their own little bag at school and then delivered the Valentines to each classmate. He was really excited to look through them all!

Those eyes....

The picture of Hayden is an old one that Scott took; I think he was about 15 months or so? I rediscovered it recently and decided to take the same picture of Madeline. I can't believe the difference between them....Hayden is sooooo fair (and almost always over-exposed!) and his eyes are the bluest I think I've ever seen. Madeline's complexion is much darker and her eyes are brownish, greenish, I can't quite figure out.

Another afternoon drive!

Striking a pose

Well, technically I should say she's striking an asana. This is Madeline doing her downward-facing dog. She's doing it a lot lately....even when she wants to reach a toy, she'll do this pose and then reach through her legs to grab it, with her head upside-down.

Tonight we made up the little treat bags for Hayden's class. They're having a Valentine's Day party on Friday. It seems to be our tradition now, whenever there is a holiday and he takes in a treat for the class. He counted out all the candies for each little bag- all 22 of them.

I'm finally starting to get out of "Auto" mode. I'm using a flash far less often too, but I still have to figure out all this exposure stuff. The afternoon drives are becoming a bit more interesting for me when I remember to bring the camera!

In the bottom picture, if you look to the right side of the horizon, it's faint, but you can see the CN Tower across the lake.

Valentine's Day is coming! Hayden wanted to pick out a few decorations to put up this year, and for Madeline's birthday, of course :)

We partied like it was 1989

Last night was a reunion of sorts. For the first time in quite a few years, the "original gang" was back together again. I can't remember the last time we were all together at once. Eleven girls (I think?) in their mid-30's, food, drinks, old pictures, and Rock Band. It couldn't have been better.

Laura rocked it out Beastie Boys style. It was almost like she was in the band.

I think old friends really are the best friends.

I think the power lines add a nice touch :)

Tractor Beam

I'm lacking ideas today, so it's pictures of kids again! This is about the only time you'll ever see Hayden with a quiet, distant stare like that. It's the television, of course...."Big & Small", I think it was. For the record, that show makes me laugh as much as it does Hayden. That poor boy needs a haircut, LOL.

It was a quiet day with Maddie at home. I had thought to go out and do some mock shopping with her, but there's a Murphy's Law that if I make a plan to do something, it won't work out. Today she decided to have one of her long naps. So we went out just long enough for me to get a coffee from Timmie's and then we walked to meet Hayden after school. I did go out *by myself* tonight for approximately 90 minutes and it was bliss! I felt a bit panicky at one point because I suddenly thought I'd been out for a really long time. Hadn't even been an hour yet! I don't know why I still don't manage to do this regularly, but wow, what a difference it makes to be on my own even just for an hour!

Now it's back to the resumes.....

Tomorrow I'll find something different to take pictures of!

We usually go to the library on Wednesdays, but we ended up a little off-schedule this week. So we went to the Dollar Store instead. Some silliness ensued.

(this was taken with my cell phone camera)

I'm sure it would seem like the smallest of details for a lot of people, but one of my favourite moments in the week is meeting Hayden at school and walking home together. I guess because I realize it's something I'm not going to be able to do once I go back to work (sigh). I remember when we first moved to this house, we thought it would be pretty short term. I wasn't sure how much we would like the school and whether we would stay in the area long. But now that Hayden has started, I find myself wanting to stay here just for the sake of the school and the neighbourhood. I love it.

Anyway, Hayden usually insists that he walk ahead of me and Madeline for some reason. Everything is a race when you're 4, I guess. It was such a nice day to be outside.

Monday was a bit of a write-off, so I needed some Happy Feet.