The Boys Wanted Crowns Too

After seeing the crowns that the girls got, the boys wanted crowns too...except not so girlie. So this is what I came up with for my lean and mean little Rider fans.

We are all getting geared up for Sunday's game. We'll be heading down to Belleville for the big game on Mark and Lorrie's big screen.

Bartering is Alive and Well

Why pay when you can do a favour back for someone? Erika, a good friend of mine in need of daycare two days per week, traded off some daycare time with me. She watched my kids for a few days over the last couple weeks, and now I am returning the favour. Melina is an excellent little girl and plays so well with both Fiona and Grace. It is really a joy to have her hang out with us. Here are some photos of their playtime outside today.



As well, it was my neighbour's, Kathryn, birthday today. I really didn't have time to get a card today, so here's what I came up with on my own. I plagerized a few ideas from my sister who actually has real talent in this department.

In the last photos, you will see my girls wearing crowns. Why should the boys have all the fun? While they went out to Beavers tonight, the girls and I made princess crowns.

Our Cool New Park

We got a cool new park in our area just the other day. Actually, it was always there but only had a play structure for small children. The city added a new play structure there that is ginormous. It is supposed to be for kids 5-12 years old but I couldn't keep the girls off of it. Here are some photos from our playtime at the new "Fort".



It's amazing how a regular weekend can turn out so great. We headed out to a small town about 30 mins from Kingston and hunted down a kitchen table. The table looks even better than it did in the ad so we are super pleased about it. Then, we took the kids skating...all of them. Skating was awesome. The boys are doing great, thanks to hockey. They can stop now, without using the boards and can skate backwards. The boys are getting so good that I think they'll out skate Grandma K. We'll find out in December. Grace is doing excellent as well. She is pretty much doing baby steps on the ice, with the odd glide here and there, but is very stable, hardly falls and absolutely loves it. As for Fiona, we strapped the bob skates onto her shoes. She loved it too and smiled the whole time. Next time we go skating, I will get some pictures of everyone skating around.

Hope everyone else's Saturday is going great, whether it's a regular day or something special is going on.

Beautiful Weather

We have had some beautiful weather lately. So, yesterday, after hockey practice, we took the crew for an awesome fall hike along the St. Lawrence waterfront on base in the wonderful 13 C sun. The kids loved it and Fiona did really well. Then, we played at the Pirate Park by the Yacht Club and headed home. After all that hiking, we needed to relax in the hot tub. Here are some pictures from yesterday and a few days earlier.

Where did October go?

Does anyone know? It seemed to be gone in a flash. Clay and I have been very busy but having fun with all of the kids activities.

The boys are LOVING hockey and excited everytime they get to scrimmage. Grace is LOVING her music lessons and doing very well at them. She knows where all the C,D,E,F, and G notes are on the keyboard and can play the C major scale up to G. The boys continue their music lessons and are doing great as well. I thought it would be so hard to motivate them to practice, but the songs they play are so fun and catchy, that they love to practice. Some days, Brodie even practices twice. Fiona is busy climbing everything. Her speaking is coming along and sometime she surprizes me. Today she asked me in the van, "Where Daddy go?" But, in general, she is more of a mover than a talker...and sometimes a bit of a screamer. We have to endure the odd temper tantrum here and there.

Clay is working on a paper from further research relating to his masters. He is hoping to go to a conference in Scotland next spring. I am working reservist military work, which involves every Thursday, every other weekend and every other Tuesday night for a few hours. I am also enjoying my contract work which I do in the evenings at home, for the most part. Otherwise, I am loving being at home with the kids during the day. It's the best decision we made for our family.

Here are a few photos from the month of October and a few more Halloween shots.

A "Star Wars" Halloween

As stated in the previous blog, the kids decided to dress up in Star Wars costumes for Halloween. Riley was Obi Wan Kenobe, Brodie the Emporer, Grace was Princess Leia, and Fiona an Ewok.


You will notice that Grace's costume looks nothing like princess Leia, who usually wore a lot of white. When Grace found it in the store,there was not leaving it behind and no convincing her otherwise. So, at least I did her hair up like P. Leia.
They had a great time, in spite of the horrible wind, and got lots of treats. Clay and I enjoyed touring them around the neighbourhood and visiting with neighbours. We just left our candy on our front porch with a sign that said, "Take a few". Either everyone was super honest or there weren't many kids because we had a lot of our own candy left.



As well, here is the link to the video I made of them. You should be able to just click on it to work.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/TGFmyLHKDCdJqhAk