Pretty kitty

Binou, age 3. She's a sweetie.

Siblings

These guys fight, a lot. Certainly more than I fought with my own brother when we were their ages. It grates on my nerves, and it can get terribly disheartening. But underneath it all they truly love each other. They are best friends. favourite playmates, a team. I'm glad I have this picture to remember that when the bickering threatens to drive me over the edge :)

Shrimp Tempura!

Took the bits for sushi (along with James and Chris - James' idea of course, he loooooves sushi!), wasn't sure how they'd react but I was pleasantly surprised at how many things they tried. Wookie was a tempura eating machine, Katie chowed down on dumplings, calamari and miso soup, among other things. I don't think I'll take them for sushi very often but I do like to expand their horizons when I can, even if only a little.

Fundraising Already

Can't believe we're fundraising for the school already!!!

(Took this picture to armtwist the grandparents into buying ;) )

McMaze

We had a Groupon, so we decided to check out the corn maze and other attractions at McMaze. In addition to a LARGE corn maze there was animals, a playground, lots of fun exhibits, a barn full of cats to cuddle, home made ice cream and tons more. We'll definitely go back!

Back to the lanes

Another season of YBC bowling begins....

(We started a day late, but fortunately not a dollar short)

Princess in the back country

Princess and Papa took an overnight canoe camping trip together, to Joeperry Lake at Bon Echo Provincial Park. By all accounts they had a wonderful time together, paddling, tenting, cooking over a fire and playing yahtzee. I have a feeling this is the beginning of a tradition :)

My Charming Dinner Companion

While Papa and Katie are away camping Wookie and I are spending some quality time together. After a movie (Spy Kids in 4D, which means there was a scratch and sniff card to go along with the movie, ay yi yi) we had a lovely dinner together at East Side Mario's. Jonah ordered a Shirley Temple which came with a little poof of cotton candy. You can guess what happened when it inevitably fell into the glass! :) It was a lovely evening though, the kids are so different one on one. I really enjoy hanging out with them.

Back to school 2011

First day of 3rd grade and 5th grade for the bits. I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by! And look at how they've grown! 2010, 2009, 2008 (and here as well), and 2007

Small chef

We signed little J up for a half day children's cooking school, which was yesterday. My cell phone was dead and I didn't bring my camera, so no pictures of him looking adorable in his apron and paper hat. He really enjoyed it though, the whole process, and the autonomy of learning these new skills without me hovering over him and without his sister bossing him around. The instructors let him chop vegetables with a knife, roll out pasta, mix, measure, stir, etc. They sent him home with a sampling of things he made (cookies and no-bake 'truffles', but not the home made pasta and sauce, the kids ate all of that while the cookies were baking) as well as a sheet of recipes.

So today he decided to make something from that recipe sheet - oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. He did it almost entirely by himself, the only thing I did was put the cookie sheets into the oven and take them out again.



I could get used to having another cook in the house...

Mmmm

Summer in a bowl - vanilla yogurt, granola and sweet berries!

A little roadside humour

There's a film crew setting up downtown (Ottawa, on Queen St between Metcalfe and Elgin if you're local). I think someone in the production crew has an, uhm, interesting sense of humour...

PS - the crew turned out to be filming an episode of Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays, which according to Wiki hasn't debuted yet. Which explains why I'd never heard of it...)

Treasure

Awww - the rainbow ends at my Princess :)

One of my fave restaurants...

Lone Star fajitas! Enjoying a lovely lunch with Aunt Bonnie and Chris before they head back to Oshawa...

Toothless Wonder

That's baby tooth #7 gone. Slow down Wookie!

Hog's Back Falls

Enjoying a stroll around Hog's Back and Dow's Lake with Aunt Bonnie and Chris as they visit with us for a few days. This is one of my favourite places to take people, it's not touristy at all, probably doesn't show up on anyone's list of things to see and do in Ottawa but it's beautiful!

Flying free

We bought a trampoline :)

(On sale at Canadian Tire this week!)

Ahhhh Summer

He gets braver and braver every day, in fact almost by the hour. He seems to really benefit from having other kids here swimming and jumping off the board (we've had cousins and friends nearly every day this week), he emulates them and becomes more and more confident. It makes all of those long hours of lessons in Satan's pool worthwhile.

Funny Wookie

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

First block with the new toy

Playing with my new drunkard's path die. Clearly I need a lot of practice sewing curves, but how fun!

Woo-hoo!

I won a giveaway on the delightful Katy's blog- an Accuquilt GO baby! And 3 dies! And it came today! And I'm freaking out a little 'cause it's sooooo cool!

I'm going to dig through my scrap bins and play :)

A new quilt

I put together a simple little stacked coins lap quilt, 52" x 62", made from a couple of packs of charm squares from connecting threads and a few coordinating scraps from my stash.

It's very lightly quilted with 'organic' wavy lines, so it's squishy and cuddly :) I think this will live on our family room couch.

Pool time!

Kids were soooo glad to return from camp and find the pool fixed and opened!

This one is a daredevil...

I never expected I'd see this one jumping off the diving board without a floatie or life jacket! My how he's grown...

Date Night #4

Date Night #4 at Jean Albert's Soul Food, in Ottawa. Yummy! C has been dying to try this place for a loooong time, and it was definitely worth the wait. Fun, laid back, down-home atmosphere; friendly, attentive service; and super delicious food. What could be better?


(Our appetizers: "Chik-n-waffle", perfect chicken breast piece on a stick, battered in waffle batter, deep fried and served with table syrup. Yummmmmmmm!)

New pool liner

Yes, it's finally done. The new liner is a grey pebble print, the pool guy tells us it will get 3+ degrees warmer from the sun than the royal blue we had before. I also gives the water a turquoise-y look which is a bit strange to get used to :) It took 8 hours to empty, remove, replace and refill, way longer than pool guy was anticipating. But it's done.

Straight out of the truck the water is a 'balmy' 68F, Brrrrrrrrr! Hopefully it'll warm up quickly...

Date Night #2

Dinner at Mongolian Hot Pot. Broth fondue with all of the ingredients buffet style in large coolers lining one wall. We talked and ate and talked and ate, and I was SO FULL afterwards (but we were there nearly 2 hours so no wonder!). No one played with the burner controls on the table. No one had to go potty 15 times. No one whined 'I don't like that'. No one spilled anything (though in the interest of full disclosure I somehow managed to splash myself in the eye with the broth. The little Chinese waiter was horrified. Can't take me anywhere). Another fabulous date night! I'm enjoying this!

Date Night #1

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In 3D! With popcorn! No one talked at us through the movie, no one needed to go potty 15 times, no one spilled anything. Perfect date night!

Camp bound

My babies are off to sleepaway camp, both of them! Oh my, 5 whole days of no children in the house... whatever will we do with ourselves??? ;)

They're actually booked for 2 weeks, but they spend the weekends at home (they get on the bus Sunday and come home Friday). We have to squeeze all of our 'date nights' into the first week because I'm just not 100% sure that Jonah will make it both weeks (or even this entire week frankly, I'm holding my breath and panicking when the phone rings....)