Swinging in the Sun

Beautiful day for a swing in the park!

The Garden is Waking Up!

Little splashes of colour are slowly popping up in our gardens...especially when you look REALLY close!

Life is Good

The things that make a 1 year old happy :)

Memory Lane

I did take a picture today - but wasn't too happy with it (nothing too exciting).  So, I thought I'd go back a few years and post something from memory lane. 

Here's Caleb at 18 months (same age as Sara now) playing around with Alvar!  It's almost exactly 5 years ago to today's date.

Just Horsing Around

Windows

One of the "must haves" for when we were looking for a new house was to have the kitchen at the back with a window facing the backyard.  I never realized how WONDERFUL it is to have this - the kids are always in check and I no longer have to leave the kitchen to go to a bedroom every 5 minutes (like in our old house) to check on the kids!!

Tweet Tweet!

I've been noticing a large variety of birds in our backyard here in the new house.  We probably had all these birds at the old house too...but having my kitchen window facing the backyard makes for way more time bird-watching outside!  It's been great - the old owners of our house also left all their feeders (full) so there's been lots of visitors this spring!

Purple finch...why it's called this I have no idea...clearly looks red to me!

 

 Our robin friend (actually one of many....we must have a huge supply of worms in our backyard...they are always around!)

 A junco I think??

 All the other birds are busy getting food and finding twigs for their nests...the mourning dove is napping...continuously in the garden...lazy birds!!

 Fuzzy picture...but no mistaking the goldfinch here!

 Creepy eyes!!  This grackle is not impressed that I snapped his picture!

What's a backyard with out the sparrow!

Bumps and Bruises

 Anna took quite a tumble today...here she is with an icepack on her forehead

Despite a lovely goose-egg (picture doesn't do it justice...it is on her right side of her forehead) - she bounced back super quick for some smiles for the camera!  Nothing keeps this kid down for long!

Anna's 5 Today

Anna - today you turn 5 years old!  It's quite a milestone - you're no longer a "little" kid...you'll be going to camp this summer and starting school in September - all by yourself!  You're growing up so fast!

You are so full of JOY and you show 100% enthusiasm with EVERYTHING you do!

We pray that your LOVE for life never sizzles - it's such a breath of fresh air!  We LOVE you LOTS and LOTS and are so thankful to GOD for blessing us with YOU in our family !!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA!!! 

 

Anna displaying what she received from Opa and Grandma (they are in Florida at the moment!) - even a card and a pack of gum makes this girl smile from ear to ear!

Lion King!!

 On the way to Lion King in Toronto (we've been waiting since Christmas!!)

 Esther's picture of where we were going....

After a GREAT show -we headed home. The kids lasted till we got in van - needless to say it was a very quiet ride home!!

Birthday Party

Anna finally had her birthday party today - she's been waiting a whole year for this - and if she had her way, I think the whole house would have been full of people she's invited over the past year (oh...and if she had her way it would have been a hot tub party too!).  Thankfully she was very happy to have just a few of her friends over - and her Mom was happy to have some of her friends over too ;)

 5 candles was a MUST - so we squished them on her cupcake!

 Much to Anna's delight she received a number of little candy items with her gifts today - sometimes being more excited about that then the actual gift! (she is definitely her Mother's daughter with her love of candy!)

The afternoon was spent with Aunt Danielle and her playmobil set along with her other gifts...at some point the crocodile from the playmobil set ended up being dressed in a tutu from the polly pocket set!  Needless to say she was very happy with all her gifts - and the time spent playing with them all together!

Party Girl

Someone is ready to party - it's not for Sara (although she looks like she might)...but her older sister is definitely SUPER excited about tomorrow...I wonder if Anna will sleep at all tonight?

Lovely!

Breakfast in bed - I'm pretty sure I have the best husband in the world!

Thanks hun - what a great way to start the day!

Boots

It's not uncommon to find boots (or anything for the feet) lying around the house

 Sara LOVES putting them on and off and sometimes even more then one pair at a time!

 

But today was a little much... 

I should have realized that she was inspecting the bottom of these boots much too closely

Must have been something real tasty looking on the bottom of these boots.

Gross.

Chop Chop!!

Yeah!!!!  It's been at least 8 years since my hair has been this short...ahhhh...I'm so enjoying the short!!

How Warm Was It Today?

Apparently warm enough to be on the trampoline without shirts on (this is what happens when the adults are talking and not paying total attention to the kids outside!).

Oh boy...I'm a little bit concerned now what will they do in the summer time!!

Accessories

Sometimes I notice that my kids are more in style then I am - especially when it comes to purses.  They certainly didn't get it from me!

Waiting Patiently

Caleb is "ever-so-gently" touching Alvar's canoe...he can't wait to go out in it when the weather is good!

Beautiful Day!

Beautiful sunset!

Sleeping Attire

 Nothing like waking up Sunday morning - coming down in your pajamas....

and Sunday shoes.  Even better is that we found out that Anna slept with them on last night - I guess she was so excited to wear them to Church today that she gave herself a head start thru the night!

Fun

The kids enjoyed an afternoon at Fantasy Fair today.  They (and us) had a blast!

(just one picture for today - we've gone before (see here) and took lots of pictures then!)

Open Up!!

Sara's first time licking off the beater...she thoroughly enjoyed it!

Try, Try Again

At some point one of my "spring is coming" posts will actually NOT follow-up with a snow picture!

Here's to hoping!!

Yeah Anna!

Kicking habits are hard - Anna's trying one finger at a time to stop biting her nails...looking good Anna!!

Waste Not Want Not

 Anna got a hold of the tin foil I used to cover my cake this morning....

 Apparently it was very very good - from the first lick

To the last :)

Let's Go WWWaaayyyy Back...

The other day Esther and I were talking about being sick - and how many times Esther has stayed home from school.  We can probably count on one hand (and maybe half that hand!!) how many times she has gotten sick over the years.  I said that she probably got that from me as I remember not being very sick in gradeschool either.  In fact I remembered recieving "attendance" bars at the end of the year if I hadn't missed a single day of school.  I knew I had them somewhere...safely stuffed in a box somewhere in our basement.  Well, I found them, along with a whole bunch of ribbons from gradeschool (various events)...so it was a trip down memory lane for me this morning...kind of fun to reminis - but also make me feel old!!!

My"bars" from school...attendance, recorder club, choir, foot patrol, and for various sports.

Next are participation ribbons - these were for just "being there" at Field Day...I think the oldest one is from Kindergarten - 1984! 

These next two pictures of 3rd and 2nd place ribbons for Field Day

 

Then there are the 1st place ribbons. 

And next are the are Book Fair ribbons..some prizes and some for just participating again (I guess they really pushed the participation part of everything at school!!)

 

Here are the Kiwanis Music Festival ribbons - various schools in the area got together and competed in singing and playing musical instruments etc - we always looked forward to going (it was usually a whole day off from school!!).

A few of my Cross Country Ribbons...these were also competing with other schools...I wish I could run like that now (just running up and down the stairs in our house gets me out of breath!)

Then there was the Science and Hobby Fair - I have no idea what I got 1st prize in anymore...I wasn't very good at science in school...and I don't remember having any hobbies either ;)

And finally my prized Birthday Ribbon!!!  I believe I recieved this from my Kindgergarten teacher...Miss Visser - the writing is barely legible anymore - but I know what it was from - and I'm keeping forever!!

So what do I do with the rest of them now??