Happy Mothers Day

I know that I am a little bit biased, but I have two of the sweetest girls in the world.

I also know that I am (probably) too hard on both of them, and I know that I (probably) get mad at them way too often. But, when I look at the two pictures below they both look so sweet and loving!!

I just wish that they could play nicely all the time and listen to their Mom & Dad!

That's not asking too much is it??

Sometimes I see the two of them fighting or arguing and I think back to when I was growing up and wonder how my two sisters and I ever survived each other! I can remember tormenting my sisters the exact same way my girls torment each other. I understand completely why the oldest child thinks that they need to annoy and bother their younger sibling (s). I can't believe that it's taken me almost 30 years and becoming a dad myself to realize that it was NOT ok to bother and torment my younger sisters!!

Hearing the phrases "Daddy she's following me!" or "Mommy she's putting her germs on me!" brings back many (too many) childhood memories for me.

And, somehow with all that tormenting and bothering I did to them growing up, my sisters still grew up to be the beautiful, caring, nurturing mothers they are today!

....Maybe it does build character, but now that I am a father, I would have to say no it does not!

Happy Mothers Day to my Mom and to my Sisters!

Sorry for all the misguided attempts at character building as a child!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY AMANDA!

To celebrate Mothers Day, the girls and I bought Amanda an Autumn Blaze Maple Tree.

Here I am plating the tree in our backyard with the girls' help.

Only after we planted it, while doing a simple 'Google' search to see what an Autumn Blaze Maple tree usually looks like fully grown did I decide to replant the tree about ten feet further away from our house.

Apparently these trees typically grow 3-4 feet per year!

A VERY HAPPY EASTER WITH COUSINS & SCOOTERS!

First of all, Happy belated Easter to everybody! Here are some of the things we did last weekend:

We had two of the cousins over for a sleepover and the next day after lunch decided to take the kids for a drive. This allowed their mom & dad a well deserved 'break' as well as gave the kids (all four) time to have a nap in the car. Although, it was a very sunny day and we did drive to the beach the water would've been still too cold to swim in, plus everyone under the age of eight was fast asleep in the back of our van. On the way back from the beach, all of the kids started waking up so we took them all to see Jumbo the Elephant statue. Jumbo the Elephant was actually a real elephant that was killed by an on coming train over 100 years ago in St. Thomas, Ontario. This statue has become a regular stop for all visitors to our house.

Photographers note: The girl on the left in the green dress is not a family member but decided that our girls and the cousins were now her best friends.

The kids having lunch (hot dogs) and watching a movie.

Everyone had a chance to play outside in our backyard.

We all went for a walk around the block the evening of the sleepover.

Everyone IS happy! At least I think they ALL are happy, right Hannah??

EASTER MORNING: 2011

Without a gate blocking their way, the girls have to be very patient and wait before they can come downstairs.

Before opening their Easter baskets, we all went on an egg hunt. The Silly Billy Easter Bunny even hid chocolates ABOVE all the windows!! He must have hopped all the way up there!!

For any of you who have not seen the movie 'Hop' yet, I won't tell you how the Easter Bunny makes all of those Easter chocolate eggs!! Caitlyn or Hannah would be very eager to tell anybody who asked them though. They think it's hilarious!

The girls both got scooters, knee & elbow pads and gloves for Easter.

Hannah got a new helmet as well.

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYBODY!

Spending March Break 2011 in Winnipeg

A Busy Week for the Tooth Fairy!

This past Monday, we picked up our Big Girl from her caregivers (Before & After School Care) and were told that she had gone to the bathroom and came out with a tooth in her hand.

No tears, just a big smile as always!

That night, she left her tooth on her dresser and found out that the Tooth Fairy had visited her room that night because in place of her tooth was a big shiny Toonie!

Tuesday night, during soccer at the Y, we noticed that our Big Girl was playing with another tooth that she said was loose. At 1:30 am we woke up to our Big Girl saying "Mom, Mom!" from the bathroom. Since I don't respond too well in the middle of the night (and since I wasn't actually the one being called), I didn't actually get up to see what the matter was. Apparently, our Big Girl was in the bathroom with another tooth in her hand and a Big smile on her face.

Again, the tooth was left on her dresser that evening and when our Big Girl woke up there was $1.50 on her dresser!

A Disney Surprise

For all of you that think that South-Western Ontario doesn't get any snow, take a look at these pictures. The first one was taken from our front porch on Friday. It snowed quite a bit Saturday night, so at the moment there's actually more snow outside than this!

Downtown London, Ontario in front of the John Labatt Centre (JLC)

Check out the piles of snow!!

When our girls woke up, we told them that we had a surprise for them if they were good all day and if they had a nap at some point during the day. Well, they were good (actually cooperating together) and yes, they did have a nap. We finally told them at dinner time that we were going to see Disney On Ice that evening. This was definitely money well spent and a very nice preview of our vacation to Disney World this summer
Mickey and the Gang

Of course we bought each girl a $10 bucket of popcorn (plastic take home bucket with lid that says Disney and has Mickey, etc all over it) and a $10 Flounder (from Little Mermaid) cup Slush Drink.

Both girls were excited to see Ariel skating with Prince Eric!

Peter Pan and Captain Hook right before the alligator (background) eats the Captain.

Throughout the show there were skating segments based on Little Mermaid, Lilo & Stitch, Peter Pan & The Lion King. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy introduced each segment. The entire show ran approximately 1 1/2 hour which included a 10 minute intermission.

Today, we spent the morning playing in the snow in the backyard and then after lunch we all had a nice nap. This made for a fun and relaxing Sunday at home!