Mini Family Outing

Last Saturday we enjoyed a little outing at the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology (and I mean little because we were there for under an hour!). The Hamilton Public Library has a pass available for a family of 4 to go to various museums around the Hamilton area - so we decided to take advantage of that and see what the steam museum was all about. The nice thing about the tour we had was that we were the only ones there! So, the kids got all the attention and we had "front row seats" for looking at everything!

Outside of the Museum

Smoke Tower

Little door to get into the smoke tower...little meant that children (around the age of 12) were meant to do that work (cleaning the tower) - Esther was pretty impressed that this was the age of working (novelty...I'm sure all the 12 year olds that worked there weren't all that enthused!)

Part of the tunnel to get to the tower

Various steam machines

Caleb getting a close look at the steam machine

HUGE wheel for the steam engine

Back in the day it was manually started (all 20,000 pounds!) - the kids all got to give it a go - with a little help from the guide, they were able to turn the wheel

The "drip" hat - hot oil would land on the paper hat rather then the top of the workers' heads as they worked around the engine

Toys in the gift shop were a hit - hands on is always a good thing!

Mom #2

Anna is quite enjoying life at home now. It was a huge adjustment for her to have another sibling in the house - especially one who seems to take up all of Mom's attention!! But since things have settled down a bit, she really enjoys the days that Caleb is at school and it's just the "girls" at home. She likes to talk to Sara and is asking to hold her all the time (usually lasts a whole 30 seconds, but that's ok, it keeps Anna happy that she's involved with watching Sara too!). The other day Anna asked to carry Sara in the snuggli - unfortunately she's a tad short to be carrying her around in there...so she had to be happy with using a doll instead. She is becoming quite the little Mom around here :)

Big Brother

Caleb LOVES Sara.

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He constantly asks to kiss her and is always talking to her, telling her who he is and that he loves her.

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Considering he was ready to move out of this house if we had another girl - he's made a complete turn-around of how he feels ;)

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I was downstairs and put Sara on the floor for a few minutes - Caleb rushed down off the futon from watching t.v. to talk to her and keep her company - didn't want her to feel lonely on the floor!

What's New With Us?

Just a few new things to note around our household here....

Caleb has started kindergarten!! He was VERY excited to go - maybe even more so about being able to take the bus there (for a whole 5 minute drive in the morning!!). He had a great first day last week - and was enthusiastic today again for round 2!

On Caleb's days at school - Anna is the oldest child at home, and I'm pretty sure enjoys having the house to herself (besides Sara and I anyway!). She's taken quite a liking to books lately, just sitting quietly on her own and paging thru the pictures - hopefully we have another bookworm here, what a great way to spend their time!

Esther enjoyed a "fun-day" at her baseball park this past Saturday - they received their trophies (2nd place! ok...albeit there were only 2 teams...but she was quite impressed with the trophy none-the-less!). Esther also now has glasses - and is pretty excited about wearing them for the first time to school today. She picked out the frames herself, and we think she did a pretty good job with the style she chose.

Sara continues to grow - she's over 10 pounds now already and is filling in her cheeks quite nicely!

Just a "fun" picture of Anna today - enjoying a batch of grapes that she got out herself from the fridge...I'm pretty sure she couldn't fit anymore in the bowl!!

Oh - and I thought I'd post a t-shirt that Caleb got for his birthday from my parents....although Caleb doesn't understand it (he just likes the colour of the shirt) - we all think it's pretty funny in light of the fact that prior to Sara being born, he was convinced that he would be moving out if we had another girl....thankfully he's ok with Sara (and quite smitten with her now too) - and good thing he got a little tractor for his birthday - so no trading needed!

Sleepy Head

Sara fell into a very deep sleep the other afternoon - so I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of her around the house. Maybe she should learn to sleep with one eye open from now on ;)

Deep sleep only lasts so long...

Stretching feels soooo good!

Wide awake now - photo shoot is over!

Just a couple more pictures

Big sister = Big Helper

Shirt speaks for itself ;)

Trying to be creative...key word...trying!!

Love this outfit on Sara - gotta love that kitty butt!