May Moments

I can't believe that May is nearing an end. The kids have been busy as usual and are growing up so fast. Kelsey is a non stop chatterbox. Her favourite sayings right now are:
"I do it myself!"
"I happy now!" This is usually said after some crazy and unnecessary outburst.
"I hit Gare. Sorry Gare."
She is still absolutely in love with her Giraffe and Teddy but has added to her list of favourite things. She will not go to sleep without Giraffe, Teddy, her blanket (large), her baby (with a huge hard plastic head), and a pewter rocking horse bank. It's crazy. It's darn near impossible to console her while she is holding all of these things and if that horse lands on my foot one more time I'm going to lose it.

Garrett loves imaginary play right now. We set up boats, forts, rocket ships, and picnics daily. I have sometimes eaten a pretend picnic, built a fort, and gone fishing in a boat full of all of his stuffed animals before 8 a.m. He's finally starting to play with Kelsey which is a real treat. I overheard this conversations this morning.
"I love you so so much Kelsey. Do you love me?"
"I love you Gare."
"I'm going to take care of you for ever. I'm going to teach you to say humpback whale. First you say hump and then whale."
"Humpback whale," replied Kelsey.
Less than 3 minutes later....."Mom!!!! Kelsey hit me!"
Sigh.....

My artists.

Listening to a little music.

Buying yet another monster truck.

Garrett loving his floor hockey.

Bag lady.

Hanging out in the fort.

Loving the Aquarium with Gran.

Science World fun.

Checking out some cool snakes.

Outdoor School Open House

We had a great day at Outdoor School in Paradise Valley today. The weather was perfect and the kids got to explore a fish hatchery, farm, and a Bighouse all in one afternoon.






The kids got to release salmon fry into a stream. Garrett even carried one down to the stream in his hands but the poor thing got dropped a few times so we felt the net was safer (the fish was fine and happily swam away).



Kelsey got a try too.

Kelsey loved the baby goats. This one was two weeks old.


You can't go to Outdoor School without visiting the ever so smelly pigs. Ick.

Garrett got to hold a baby chick in the farm lab. He took his job very seriously.

I'm not a fan of stuffed birds but thought this photo was cute.

We had to get a classic bighouse shot. The kids enjoyed the indoor fire but Cary and I couldn't get them out of there fast enough. Too many kids walking around with hot bannock on sticks.

As usual, the highlight was throwing rocks into the Cheakamus River.

Easter Weekend

Happy Easter! Phew...what a fun and busy few days. On Saturday we started the day off with an Easter egg hunt that turned out to be more of an Easter egg collection in West Vancouver.

Kelsey caught on pretty quickly. She loved helping herself to the eggs.

We then spent the afternoon setting up our new playhouse with Daddy and Uncle Dean. Garrett was a big help :)

The finished product. The house is awesome. Thanks for the help Uncle Dean!

We then had a delicious dinner at Grandma Debbie's and Michelle's. The cousins had a blast playing together.

Lots of laughs!

On Sunday the kids blessed us by sleeping in. We had to wake up Garrett before Kelsey dug into all of the Easter loot.

Garrett's face shows his excitement. "Look what the Easter bunny brought me!!"

Kelsey's first Easter egg find.

Examining their loot.

Getting ready to go to Gran and Grandpa Jerry's house for Easter egg hunt #2. Garrett carried this basket around all day. Cary took him out for some errands in the afternoon and he dragged the basket with him everywhere he went.

Looking for more treats. What lucky kids!

"Now where did those eggs go??"

Happy Easter!

Spring Break Cruise

Well another family vacation has come and gone. We flew to LA and took a four night cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. We're calling the vacation more of an adventure instead of a vacation as we met with a few challenges keeping the kids entertained on the cruise ship and sleeping in the same room with both kids coughing incessantly was a drag. We did have some fun though and here are a few of the highlights.

Here is one reason why we didn't spend a lot of time in the dining room.

Garrett loved the day at Catalina Island. He didn't want to leave the beach.

Playing hide and go seek on the top deck mini golf course. This was a highlight for me.

A little entertainment for the boat. Garrett walked around the cruiseship playing his drum and drew a lot of attention. So cute!

Walking around Ensenada. It looks relaxing but Kelsey insisted on touching everything and in Mexico you don't want to stop for a second or it looks like you want to buy something. She's definately going to be a shopper. Yippee!!!

A big highlight for the kids was the endless supply of ice cream. Messy but yummy.

Garrett was quite the golfer. He actually did one hole in 3 shots.

It Finally Snowed!!

Well it finally snowed. We skipped soccer this morning to get out and enjoy the weather in case it started to rain. The kids loved it. I thought Kelsey would wimp out but she was a trooper and we stayed out for about 1 1/2 hours. Garrett even went out for a second play later in the day.

Garrett loves his new snow shovel that Gran gave him for Christmas. He shoveled everything including much of Kilmarnock.

Kesley tried and tried to make a snowball but usually dropped whatever snow she managed to pick up before she stood up. I started to hand her snow so she could throw it at me.

Sledding down the back stairs. Seemed like a good idea until I got a huge load of snow down the back of my pants. Brrrrrrrrr...

You can't have a snow day without a snowball fight.

Kesley prefered biking the slippery driveway instead of struggling to walk in the snow.

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Grandpa Jerry, Gran, and Bella. Garrett got to try out his new snowshoes that Grandpa bought him for Christmas. They are so cool! He did very well but thought they were too heavy.

January 2011

Well I have to admit that I have had no energy at the end of a day to work on this blog. The problem is that if I wait too long it gets harder and harder to keep it up to date. So here it is... a quick summary of the past month.

Kelsey got close and personal with a "Moo".

Kelsey is a big fan of the farm. Unfortunately, she saw a horse poo and now you can't say farm or horse to her without her replying, "Neigh. Poo."

Kelsey and Garrett love racing up and down the hallway. Both are big cheaters and Kelsey usually trips after about 10 steps.

Garrett usually insists that he races wearing his soccer jersey. According to him he can't play soccer or race without a number on his back.

Garrett tried ice skating. He didn't really like using the bar but preferred Cary holding him up and pulling him around the ice.

Garrett turned 3! He had two birthday parties and had a great time at both.

Playing with the cousins.

Big dinner number two! Loving sitting with cousin Caige who he thinks is so cool.

Kelsey is in a big dress up phase. We can't keep her away from Garrett's swim stuff.

Bathtime at our house is anything but relaxing. Garrett and Kelsey end their baths by running around in either their shark or monster towels growling and screaming.

So cute!

Our kitchen floor has been undergoing $expensive$ renos for the past two weeks. Bob was great with the kids and this is Garrett learning to drill. It was really cute watching him help using all of his plastic tools.