Happy Canada Day?

We attempted to do Canada Day on the Hill (not the whole day, just the early part, there was a concert by Carly Rae Jepsen (who the kids love) and an appearance by Commander Hadfield (who I love!). It was awful (not Carly Rae, or Cmdr Hadfield, they were awesome, what little of them we saw). The hill was crowded beyond even my wildest dreams, and security was ridiculous, a queue over a kilometre long to get to a security checkpoint manned by 3 police officers searching bags, etc, then 150 or so cops all along the perimeter of the hill who's sole job it appears was barking at little kids who wanted to climb up on the walls that hold the fencing so that they could see what was going on.

I understand the 'need' for security (I don't, but I'm trying to be magnanimous) but my tax dollars, and the tax dollars of the thousands of other people who simply didn't want to queue up for 2 hours in the heat to see a 15 minute show, pay for every aspect of this, the building, the 'security', the entertainment. And we're denied enjoyment of what we've funded. The bad guys have won.

(here's a cute picture, so that the entire post isn't a complete downer)

Double digits

His birthday fell during a sleepaway Cub camp. His birthday cake was delayed, which lead to sad boy, which lead to sad mama. This sweet, oh so sensitive boy, he's so much like me, that makes it awfully tough sometimes.

My last baby. He isn't a baby anymore...

Christmas 2012

The bits let us sleep in until 7am Christmas morning, which would have been a lovely treat had the biggest kid of them all not been bouncing on the bed at 6, anxious for the littles to wake up :)

We had a lovely, quiet morning and early afternoon at home, then headed into the city to have dinner at the sister-in-law's home with most of C's family. I took exactly zero pictures, even though the littles were surrounded by their cute cousins. I guess I was distracted by all of the yummy food!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours :)

Happy Hallowe'en

Ah Hallowe'en, not my favourite holiday but the kids love everything about it, the candy, the costumes, the running around after dark... and the candy. Oh the candy!

This year Katie decided to be a "50's girl", and Jonah was a cowboy. Except, because this is 2012 and they're 9 and 11, they had to be an undead 50's girl and an undead cowboy. Ahem. I made Katie's poodle skirt out of felt with a sequined border. Those sequins, ai yi yi, I couldn't glue them so I ended up stitching them all by hand, almost 3 yards.

Jonah's cowboy shirt came from Giant Tiger (you mean there are people who dress like this all of the time?), his boots were Katie's (now outgrown) and his hat was a most fortuitous Dollarama find, but his holster and guns, we went to multiple toy and department stores before finally finding this set at a costume shop (and overpriced at that). Crazy, I guess cowboys aren't popular any more. Pity.

The trick or treated with C for more than an hour (in lovely mild weather) and brought home heaps of candy and crap.

Thanksgiving camping trip

We decided to take a little camping trip for Thanksgiving, all 5 of us. We love camping, and we all have good quality warm sleeping bags so we weren't worried about being cold. We chose Cedar Point State Park, not too far away, and reasonably close to Watertown, where we could do a little shopping. Our site was right on the water, so we'd have nice views, maybe some pretty sunsets....

We arrived rather later than we'd hoped Friday and were a little disappointed with our site, it was on the water, sure, but it was at the edge of the park, there was a cottage right beside it (like RIGHT beside it) and it was flanked by giant campers (we were tent camping). Still, we were undeterred, set up the tents and stuff in the dark and settled in. The next morning we were surprised by the wind, a near constant wind that blew across the water, but we figured it was just a windy day.

The park had some family fun activities that morning - costumes, clowns, crafts and lots of snacks, the kids had a blast. In the afternoon we drove into Watertown, shopped, had dinner at Olive Garden (a total highlight!) and returned to the campground after dark.... to this.

The constant wind had strengthened and blown down both of our tents. C and James fought with them for a few minutes before realizing that the wind was just too strong, we wouldn't be able to keep them standing. Thankfully the park operators were completely understanding and switched us to a site further inland, away from the wind. Threw everything into the car and moved across the park, setting up the tents in the dark, again.

Sunday we did nothing! The new site was much better, no wind, no neighbours, lovely view of the sheltered marina. It was really cold Sunday, but with a fire blazing and sweaters on we huddled together, played cards and washers, drank, ate like pigs and relaxed. Sunday is the day I'll remember when I look back on this trip (hopefully I'll be laughing about the tents blowing down by then!) And yes, despite everything, I hope we go camping for Thanksgiving again next year. But next time we'll know which sites to choose...

A little Labour Day cottaging

Spent Labour Day weekend at the cottage. Hadn't been in more than a year! It was a quiet weekend, the wind was incredible, which made some amazing waves for my little boogie boarders.

Merry Christmas to all

and to all a good night...

Sniffing

Man the cats love the Christmas tree (and sniffing anything I put under it... and untying the tree skirt despite their lack of thumbs...)

Trick or Treat!

Hope you had a wonderful Hallowe'en! We sure did, mild weather and HUGE bags of candy :)

Not-so-little Vampiress

Katie went to a Hallowe'en dance at school this evening. Got her dressed in her costume, put on her wig and painted her face, then posed her for a few pictures before running out to the school. Looking at them now I'm blown away, that chubby cheeked toddler is all but gone, who is this gorgeous young woman in her place?

Thankfully she doesn't care much for makeup yet and washed most of this off while still at the dance. Don't grow up too quickly princess....

Cub Hallowe'en Party

Jonah loves these annual parties that bring together all sections of his scouting troop. I hate them, too loud, too crowded, too many kids hopped up on sugar and adrenaline. But he loves them, and that's what matters, right?

Spooooooky!

We were invited again this year to an adults-only Hallowe'en party, costumes mandatory. I'm not a big partier, but these are friends of ours and they always put on a good spread, so we called up the sitter, threw together some costumes and off we went.

C was this guy from the Saw movies. I made his little red bowtie, we found the mask at a costume shop and the shirt and jacket just came from his closet. I'm wearing a cheapy vampiress dress and the cape from Jonah's costume (hey, he doesn't need it until next week anyway!)

We had a good time though I must admit I was falling asleep by the time we left at a quarter past 11 :)

Funny Wookie

We're really enjoying having the pool in working order again, it's been HOT and we're on vacation :)

And later...

Fireworks at the community centre to end the day.

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day! It's perfect here, hot, sunny, low humidity. We spent part of the day at the community centre eating hamburgers and riding ponies. We'll head back there again soon for fireworks. Good times :)

Another birthday

Yup, little J was born 2 days after my birthday, it's kind of neat to 'share' a birthday with him (especially since I grew up 'sharing' my birthday with both of my parents, who were born 7 days before and 13 days after me)

My last baby is 8. That seems so old! We ceremonially threw away his car booster seat (8 years old is the magic number in Ontario), and we gave him an electronic drum kit and an MP3 player for his birthday - both awfully grown up gifts I must say!

Happy birthday Wookie!

Another trip around the sun

This year is a year that ends in a 9. I feel like I should be making a '40 things to do before I'm 40' list, but why set myself up for failure when the culmination of this year is likely to be depressing enough?

Mother's Day Mass

This year Katie both sang in the Mother's Day Mass at church, and did a reading. It was awfully sweet. She's an excellent speaker :)

Easter Cuties

They were up just before 6:30 to find everything the bunny left for them. Then we went to 9:00am Mass (oh my but that was early), then out for brunch with grandmaman and grandpapa, then home for a wonderful prime rib dinner.

What a wonderful Easter!

The big 1-0

My princess is 10. How did that happen? She's growing into a charming, intelligent, opinionated young woman, someone who I am proud to count as a friend, as well as a daughter.

I love you pretty princess.