Sept pics of the boys

Here are the boys at Camryn's birthday party - they had such a blast!!
Our little Rider Fan (whether he's aware of the fact or not)





Landon has discovered the wondrous joy of the Sears Wish Book!! LOL He tore out his favourite stuff, slept with those pages for about 2 weeks, before the catalogue was so destroyed I needed to toss it. Maybe -- MAYBE -- we'll bring a new one home again in November :-D

More beach

We spent a couple of days on Juniper Beach in Kalamalka Provincial Park. The water was glorious, the beach smaller, and the water got deeper much quicker which meant we could really throw Landon high in the air (like dad's doing here). Landon thought that was fabulous, until he did a belly flop with mom!! lol















At first Landon only wanted to swim with "floaties" or water wings on (like in this pic with dad). But on the second day (which you see here in this smoky picture) he discovered that swimming with his life jacket was even better. He would even lay on his back "floating" ... told me he was sleeping there!
Despite the smoke, this picture is pretty nice and is making me miss the beach :-(

You can sort of see here the beautiful colour of the water through the trees. This was taken on the path walking to the beach and is of Jade Bay (the side of the point where boaters pull up, we didn't swim there due to that, preferring Juniper Bay as it's buoyed off for swimming).

misc holiday pics

Reading stories to the boys before bed. Landon slept in the top bunk almost every night (some nights he was so sleepy after stories that he'd stay on the bottom to go to sleep, we'd lift him up top after). Either John or I would sleep in the bottom bunk, then other in the 'master bedroom' with Arlan. Why? The master bed wasn't as comfy as the bunk bed, but the bunk bed was too hot for both of us to sleep. oh yeah, and John was snoring every night!
The boys playing piano together. Arlan loved the "demo" song on here, Landon would cover his ears. But they both enjoyed making noise ...er I mean music on it!
Mom and Arlan - as you can see here, he was fully recovered from his illness and being a stinker again!
Landon had fun spraying dad with the water gun. The weather was so gorgeous, even into the evening, that we didn't mind getting sprayed with water at all!

The view from the balcony of the house we stayed at on Friday July 23 in Fairmont. On the beautiful Fairmont golf course. Saturday morning I was awoken by a golf ball hitting the wall right beside the bedroom window!

And we're down to the wire...

Our last night on vacation in Vernon - it has been INCREDIBLE! We have absolutely loved this week, and are already planning to be back here for TWO weeks next summer! The boys had so much fun swimming and splashing, Landon went kayaking with dad one day and learned how fun boogie boards are today. The "weekend of sickness" is a distant memory given all the fun we've had since then - thank goodness!! Next year we will do more exploring through the Okanagan with 2 weeks to play with - we noticed today that the boys would benefit from a break from the beach. But with only a few days to hit the beach I didn't want to lose any of them!! We took a pile of pics, and I can't wait to go through them and post some for everyone to see.

So tomorrow is the trip home. I'm thinking it won't be as peaceful as the trip here when all three boys slept for most of it (2 due to illness, the 3rd exhaustion due to the first 2's illnesses!!). But we'll get up and hit the road as early as is possible for a family of non-morning-people, and we'll survive it.

That's the last post from Vernon...until next time...

Full-fledged stinkerdom

Yup - both boys are fully back! We've had a couple of days at the beach, having a blast. I'll have lots of pictures of wet boys dumping pails of water when I get home and upload them :-)
We've tried to convince Arlan to nap at the beach, but that doesn't pan out. So we spend a few hours and then come back for nap time (which is fine because usually John and I steal a few winks in there too). Then when Arlan gets up we head back to the beach. It's so beautiful, even until past 7 pm. The sun is "setting", sparkling waters, and happy boys make for a nice evening.
Landon's exhausted himself fully - he's still sleeping (at 11 am)! Which is fine with us - it's a long day when you fight any possibility of napping! lol
Today is a bit cloudier (hence my patience with sleeping in Landon ... that and the fact that I slept in until 10 am too :-D), but we will still hit the beach for awhile. In fact, Arlan's been up for 3.5 hours and is getting antsy to get going lol
Speaking of antsy - my only real pet peeve with this place is the ants - YUCK! I HATE ANTS! We placed some traps today, so hopefully that'll clean some of the little buggers up.

That's it for now - just wanted to let everyone know that both kids are just fine now, wouldn't even know they were puking-pooping-monsters last weekend. Until next time ... (I'm off to Davison Orchards today for corn on the cob too YUM!)

THAT's BETTER

Well, the boys are back to talking non-stop, picking on each other, fighting, and general other boy-ish type things (like marveling over bugs, picking their butts, and throwing things). So I guess I'd have to say..."theeeeey're baaaaack!"
I did take Arlan to the dr on Wed, as he was still having trouble keeping stuff down. The doc was good - let us know that Arlan was very well hydrated (we'd done a good job there), and telling us to keep it up, plus give him a Gravol suppository. I think Arlan was at the turn-around point already, or perhaps Gravol really is that incredible, but he only needed one. Since yesterday afternoon he's been on a big improvement. Today we spent most of the day at the beach, and Arlan had a blast. Mostly he enjoyed digging holes and dumping water into them. But he also "swam" and jumped, and played on the dock with mom - looking at ducks and fish (and lots of teen-agers!). So we are VERY happy to have him back!

Landon has been 'recovered' for a couple of days, and is LOVING the beach! He puts his water wings on and has a BLAST! The water is great because he can go for quite a ways and still touch. Plus with his water wings he does very well. He splashes, and pushes John around in the "boat" (one of those floatie thingies, whatever they're called). He even helps Arlan dump water in holes (otherwise known as castles). His favourite thing today was being tossed into the air (I remember Uncle Murray tossing me in the air as a kid - that WAS FUN!).

So we're so thrilled to have the kids back - amazing how little time it takes to start rolling your eyes at the incesant questions in the car, and scolding when they fight. Ahhhh ... normalcy! lol

Until next time...

Weekend photos

GOLF! Oh how I love to golf!
Here's a shot of my incredible form on follow-thru - HA! My score would not reflect that statement. Although I did have my first ever "pitch-in" from about 50 yards out :-D
John and I had to take a picture to commemorate, it's so seldom we get to golf together. In fact, only when Uncle Neville and Aunt Mary come it seems...













When we got back from golfing, we "discovered" Aunt Mary buying treats for Landon and Arlan from the ice cream truck. I guess Landon heard the truck and said "there's the ice cream truck." I don't think he realized you can BUY ice cream from it (until now!), because when Aunt Mary said "Yes! Let's go get you some ice cream!", he looked at her like she was nuts. He did not look at her that way after getting a treat - that's for sure! Lucky kid...
To top it off, Landon was looking ultra stylish in John's shirt and his rubber boots ... nice.

Pics of us together. Uncle Neville and the boys had SO much FUN! Like Arlan's underwear? He asked for undies, so we put them on over his diaper! Silly kid. He also has one of Landon's runners on, and one of his sandals (on the wrong foot). He's quite the character.

On Sunday we had a BBQ as some friends from John's high school were in town (Doug and Melissa on the right). So it was a mini-reunion with them and Brian & Patricia (who live in Calgary and John reconnected with when we moved here, after 15 years or so....). It was a fun house, with 6 kids and 6 adults (the kids were all older than our two, ranging from 10 - 14, so they entertained Landon and Arlan nicely). It was such a fun day - in fact an incredible weekend that will live in my memory for a long time just because it was so great!

Hail Storm moves through

We had hail fall for a minute or two tonight - just moved in and moved out. Left a lot of good sized stones around which the kids proceeded to eat for about an hour :-/

We also were given bubbles from a neighbour while out for a walk. Landon and Camryn loved blowing bubbles and Arlan was the chief bubble chaser!

I love the lighting after a storm moves through - all the colours are so vivid: blue sky, green grass, red shirt, and lots of fun!

Gettin' Ready...

We are getting ready to head out tomorrow for the long weekend. I just checked the forecast - 20 all weekend. So not super hot, which will likely be a blessing! I'm sure the boys will still have a blast at the beach :-) I'm not looking forward to packing - which will be all that I do tomorrow morning since I haven't even started yet.

We had a great day today though. I met a great gal at Coffee n Scream for a visit while the boys played. Then we met Mike & Kathleen (I used to work with Mike) and their kids at the zoo. It had been much longer than I realized since we were last at the zoo. Arlan was already sleepy when we got there, so he just hung out in the stroller. Landon whined because he was tired from Coffee N Scream and wanted to ride too (and I brought only the umbrella stroller!). But it all worked out, we wandered about, had some lunch, played, and then came home.

On the way home, I managed to catch the 'ground-breaking' for the new Coventry Hills Middle School - slated to open Sept 2012. This will be the school the boys attend for Grades 5 - 8. I hadn't been at one of these ceremonies before, so that was kind of neat.

Then we came home. Arlan had a good nap while Landon and I washed off the driveway and side of the house, and watered the flowers. I hooked up the new sprinkler I bought for the boys, which broke within 3 seconds (cheap Superstore junk!). Then Landon had a fit when Arlan woke up and was sent to his room where he promptly crashed. So he's still awake, of course! His schedule's definitely off-kilter for the past 10 days or so ... won't likely improve while we're gone. Maybe not all summer since he doesn't have to get up for preschool until Sept! Maybe I'll have to break down and be waking him up in the mornings ... he's been sleeping later and later ... he's so much like his mother!

Anyway, that's the news from here. Tomorrow will be rushing around and packing - we'll hopefully be on the road by 2. See you next month :-) Until next time...

Invermere - July 13

After John's gig in Panorama, we thought we'd just check out the town of Invermere -- take a quick drive. Well, we found this nice beach, and since it was such a nice day we grabbed a blanket and hung out here for about 3 hours. As you can see the kids were in heaven!! They even got themselves wet, despite the chill of the water! There was a great playground, all the kids were incredibly friendly, and we had such a nice relaxing time. We certainly didn't want to go, but Arlan got to the point where he NEEDED to have a nap so we got back in the car and came home.

BUT - we liked it so much, we've rented a condo and are headed back there for July long. We'll leave Wed, return Sunday. I'm very much looking forward to it. I know it won't be quite as idyllic as this impromptu stop (there will be so many more people this trip!), but I am still very much looking forward to getting out there again.

Panorama - June 11 - 12

John played a gig in Panorama on June 12, so all of us decided to head up there for the weekend. It was Landon's 1st time in the mountains that he even realized the mountains are big! lol Arlan realized it as well. Arlan likes to comment on the terrain we're driving on: "Going up-hill! Going down-hill!". So you can just imagine the entire drive out to Panorama! aiaiai
We arrived Friday night, just hung out. The pic of Landon in the car is him so excited to have arrived in Panorama!!

Then Saturday we "played" mini-golf, walked around, checked out the COLD water, ate lunch while the kids climbed the fence. Then Landon went with John for set-up while Arlan and mommy napped. We went swimming after that, had some supper and then the boys and I hung out while John had to go play. It was quite a nice Saturda - the boys sure enjoyed it and I liked getting away!

Hair Cuts!

The boys (finally) got hair cuts, and they look like such little men again! Landon's is buzzed quite short, and so is Arlan's but he has a bit more length on top. They are so sweet. Arlan looks even more like John, and I'm getting compliments all over the grocery store again because you can really see his eyes once more. They're just so big and blue :-D

I'm so excited as we have booked our summer vacation. Our first one as a family - just the 4 of us! We are off to Kalamalka Lake (Vernon, BC). We've rented a great cabin, just a short walk from the beach but with a fenced and private yard so the kids don't have to spend the entire week in life jackets! lol I am so pumped - I know we will all have a blast, especially the boys. Even John is pretty excited.

in addition to that, we are spending a week in Ontario with Liz & Rob and the kids, which will be incredible as well. Landon is so pumped to see Thomson and Isabel - he absolutely loves them! He was telling John and I tonight about how we have to fly on a plane to Toronto to see Thomson and Isabel. Then he went into some sort of gobbledy-gook that we have to drive a bus, and then a rocket ship, but at least he has the first part of the trip cased! lol

So we are excited to have some summer plans. Hopefully we get back to Sk sometime in there as well ... the summer has filled up incredibly quickly all of a sudden. *sigh*

That is, if summer ever arrives. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be as nice as they're promising (and that's only high teens, maybe 20! *shaking head*

Anyway, here's to nice weather tomorrow for some outside play-time! Until next time...

Life is...Life!

Isn't that song from the '80's?

Life is just a moving along here. Both boys are growing. Arlan imitates every single thing that Landon does - drives me insane. Landon is starting to calm down a bit more now though, which is a blessing. For example, I only had to yell at him once to slow down and come back to mommy while at the mall this morning. The rest of the time he walked beside me (and helped me to chase Arlan).

Today Landon asked me "Mommy, are all asses hard?" "ummm, not all of them Landon" "yeah right, some are fluffy!" What do you think of that! Wonder where he got the "hardass" idea in his head in the first place?? It was on the way back from the mall, which makes me wonder if he heard it there? it's not a term that's common to my vocabulary ...

Other than that, we're just waiting for the return of spring. The ground was covered with snow again this morning. That foggy winter (Jan through Mar) has certainly proven the saying true (that one about 90 days after frost there will be rain). Grandpa's going to be sowing rice in the fields soon, as he can't seed!!

Which reminds me - on the way to the mall, we pass an equipment dealer. Joyous. Today Landon was bawling he wants to buy a combine - a real one. I told him I'd have to sell him just to get the down payment! Maybe that's where he learned hardass....

until next time...

Almost an entire month has flown by...

What a fun, and busy month! I've been traveling a lot, busy with my wonderful business, and the boys are stinkers...what can I say!?

We are currently in Swift Current - Landon is having fun fighting with Ryder, Arlan's trying to keep up and is loving playing with the puppies and kitties. Landon loves Lulu so much -- she slept with us last night, and the first thing Landon said when he woke up was "where's lulu?" Then he told me it was too early for me to get up, I could stay in bed (YES!).
It was actually nice that we all slept in today. Arlan's been waking up ~5 or 6 am at Grandma and Grandpa's -- WAY too early for me! today he slept in until 10 am, SWEET! I like that much better. But of course he isn't wanting to nap now ... but that's ok.

So we are fine. The kids are trouble-makers. particularly Arlan. It's like he knows he'll get away with lots with those eyes...
We are in Swifty until Sunday, then up to Aunty's in Kyle, then to Med Hat for a night with Julie which I'm really looking forward to. Tuesday we'll be home again - which will be super nice for all of us!

That's the quick update for now...until next time.

Time goes by...

Not much happening here. We had a nice relaxing weekend. The Easter bunny brought chocolate for the boys, which they devoured. It was pretty cute to see Arlan running for the cupboard, arms stretched out, "choholah!!"
Landon's still riding his bike - has worn the rubber off the training wheels!! lol It's been really windy though, too windy for anyone to want to be outside. But the boys do spend some time in the backyard most days ... swinging and throwing sand around. I don't know if we'll have grass back there this year, or a beach.

Arlan had a fever tonight, pretty miserable. Sure hope he's not getting sick :-( We gave him some Motrin and put him to bed ... will have to see what the morning brings. I am worried that it's maybe his ears as we went swimming today and he seemed fine, then he slept for 3 hours when we came home, and woke up slightly fevered and VERY grumpy. He got worse as the evening progressed, refused to eat or have his bottle. So I think it's either his 2-year molars, or his ears. And if it's his ears, then to the doc we'll go tomorrow :-( Poor little stinker-pants.

Anyway, that's the news ... until next time. ...

Not much happenin'

We are enjoying some nice weather, despite the wind :-/ The boys are loving playing outside, and I'm happy that the backyard is getting more "playable". The sandbox is wide open now, so hopefully it'll dry out soon (the boys are playing in it anyway!).

Arlan continues to talk more and more. He's starting to say sentences, like "Landon sit now" and things like that. He definitely knows what he wants, and when he doesn't get it he shares his feelings. Usually by crying / screaming in your face. It's annoying, but mostly funny (unless you have a head ache or are on the phone ... not fun for people on the other end of the phone either!). The boys mostly fight all day, with brief periods of peaceful playing which I love. But they're fun.

Landon seems to be enjoying preschool more. He actually asked to go to preschool Monday morning, but he only goes Tues and Thurs mornings. And of course, now he doesn't have preschool until Apr 13!! Easter break. But at least he's enjoying it more.
Oh yeah, Landon's spring concert was at preschool last Thursday. I enjoyed it (Arlan loved playing with the toys there). Landon didn't squeak a single word, or participate in any way. He just sat there quite shy. But he didn't cry, so I was happy about that. Maybe next concert he'll find his voice.

Landon is getting better at controlling his strong emotions too. The other night he was so mad at John because John told him to quit hitting the window. He picked up the pillow, and you could see in every fibre of his body just how badly he wanted to throw that pillow at John. We just watched him with that "go ahead and try it" look in our eyes. He marched over to John with the pillow poised over his head, and put it on John's legs and stamped away. Much better - very impressive self-control I think. So it's an improvement. In fact, he's much less aggressive in many ways. I'm definitely seeing a pattern - Feb / Mar is an aggressive time for Landon, and I'm thinking maybe due to it being the end of winter and he's sick of being inside? But I distinctly recall us having some challenges right when he turned 2, then 3, and now at 4. So perhaps we'll be able to better manage that at 5? We'll see

Anyway, I'd better go, just thought I should put a note up. Until next time...

times, they be a-changin'

I did it, I left the kids in the car *gasp* for approximately 1 minute today while I dropped candles off. Bad mommy, I know. Arlan was asleep, Landon was enjoying his A&W bribery winnings. Then Landon walks up the stairs to get me. Yup, I forget, he's in his booster seat and can easily undo the buckle. Then he climbs over the seats to the front, as the back doors have the child-locks engaged. Gets out and comes on up to get me. Of course.

So, no need to scold me too much, it'll be the absolutely last time he's left in there at all (except maybe when I get the mail, maybe, he was half-way to the front seats today when I got the mail, ready to climb out the door after me ... to "help" of course). *sigh*

Arlan was oblivious to it all, drooling on his jacket. Poor kid. He was so grumpy all morning, so sleepy. He didn't even eat his A&W winnings, hamburger's in the fridge :-/ He's so cute, it's ridiculous really.

Landon also scared the pants off of me tonight. He's in bed, has been for 1.5 hours or so. It's quiet, I'm thinking he's asleep finally. I go there, no Landon. The mattress is off the bed, all the bedding strewn about the room, but no Landon. Then I pick the mattress up to put it on the bed, and Landon's been playing under it! Seriously. So, the long-time threat was followed through - all toys in Landon's room were boxed up and put in the garage where they will remain for 1 full week. That includes Thomas trains and trains, his hotwheels spinning fire-thingy, stuffed animals. Of course, while I took the first load down to the garage, I could hear him scampering about. I asked him what he was doing. "Just moving my favourite toys downstairs!" he tells me (so that they don't go out to the garage!). He was huffing and puffing like he'd run a marathon! So I gave him that one, smart little bugger; whatever toys he managed to salvage to the toybox downstairs did not put into the garage :-/

TOO SMART FOR HIS OWN GOOD!

That's the news from here...

Finally - PLAYING OUTSIDE!

I love when the boys can play outside. And not only outside, but in the backyard too! The sun is shining on more ground back there every day, so the snow is finally disappearing :-D Even Arlan was out there today ... although he fell on the icy parts and hurt his bottom, poor kid.

Landon actually spent the entire afternoon playing with Camryn from down the street. Firstly they played out front of our house for a bit, then at Camryn's, then back to our house and Caitlin came over too, then in the backyard. It was so nice to see him having so much fun with his friends. And of course Arlan loved every minute that he was awake for...

We also learned today that Landon's friend from preschool lives on our street too :-) So that should add to the play-time fun on the block! YAY

We haven't been doing too much besides playing with the kids. I've been busy with some Mia Bella fun. I'm just so glad the weather's getting nicer, my house is a bit muddier, but it's quieter for a good chunk of the day and that's good.

until next time...

Success - and Landon's FOUR

Landon's birthday party (and the entire weekend) was very successful! We had a great party - with no meltdowns or fights or anything (phew!). Landon had a blast with friends here and presents. He definitely has the idea of presents now - it's all he wanted to do was to open presents! LOL His favourite was his new two-wheeler (with training wheels), which he took to immediately. He can even leave "blackies" when he stops! I can hardly wait for warmer weather, he'll be riding his bike all the time I'm sure.
Present fave #2 was his first HotWheels set -- some monster truck slammin' jammin' fire shootin' thing a ma hooey. He plays with it non-stop.
We've also started a "chores" list for Landon. He gets stamps when he does his chores, and when he gets enough stamps he can have money and can buy what he wants (which fluctuates between more monster trucks, Frosters from Mac's - which he refers to as treats - and today he was going to buy a movie). He's quite proud when he gets to put stamps on the chart, as I haven't let him use my stamps before. And the chart is up high, we have to help him up there, so it's a big deal.

Arlan loved the weekend too. Grandma and Grandpa were here. He kept pointing to Grandpa and saying "Look! Grandpaaaaa!" with big grin on his face. He is talking more and more, now it's just to figure out what he's saying. "rhoni" means macaroni, got that one figured out tonight. He loved the toys and people and everything on the weekend as well. He didn't even make it through the party - he went to nap right after lunch and missed the present opening and everything! lol Last night both boys were snoozing early - Arlan didn't even want to hear all of his "tory".
Arlan LOVES stories at bedtime. All you have to do is mention story-time and he's burning up the stairs. I didn't know where he went the other night, I went upstairs and there's Arlan laying in the middle of Landon's bed, looking at me with bright eyes, "Tory!" Too funny! Landon quite tolerant of Arlan sharing story-time with him, thankfully. Although the past 2 nights he's taken to reading his own stories in mom's bed ... Dad changed that one up tonight though. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I have the camera and all the wonderful pictures sitting here. I have to upload and go through them and hope to be able to do that tomorrow night. The kids are much less tolerant of mommy on the computer these days - I really don't get much chance at all before they're in bed. And I certainly don't get blocks of time to get anything major, like pictures, accomplished throughout the day. So hopefully tomorrow evening...

Oh yeah - and Landon had his 4-year check up on Monday morning. He's just a smidgen under 40 pounds, and is 40.5" tall. 75th percentile for both height and weight, as he's always been. Everything else is great. He was a big boy too. I asked him to sit nicely beside mommy and show Arlan how a good boy waits patiently for the doctor. And he did it! For only about 45 seconds, but he did it!! lol Now to get that patience stretched out a bit further...

until next time...

Puddle jumping :-)

It's puddle season ... or laundry season, whichever way you choose to look at it. The boys both had a ton of fun playing in the puddles with all the neighbour kids today! Arlan is so funny when he gets around other kids - he's so happy and amazed and just wants to participate :-)

Arlan's very favourite new thing is story time before bed. I started including him in the stories in Landon's bed. Now when it's bed time he's laying in there, with his blankie, all ready and waiting!! So sweet! Now to get Landon that ready and willing...

Other than that, we've been hanging out at home. With this nice weather, neither kid wants to fall asleep at night. you'd think more fresh air would mean easier bedtimes, but nope! Not in our house... Of course with Arlan he did sleep late this morning, and have a nice long nap, so that may contribute as well.

We bought Landon's b'day gift today - a 2-wheeler bicycle. I think he'll love it. Hopefully this nice weather holds out so he can start learning to ride it right away. Now I just have to get his party planned....cake, guests invited, etc etc ...
We also bought Landon a booster seat today. He's 40 lbs, and I think he's ready to be in a big-boy seat. I'm sick of strapping him into the car seat too, the straps barely fit around him he's getting so big! It'll be nice to just use the seat belt - hopefully he'll be able to do it himself.

We got rid of a bunch of baby toys etc this weekend too. The neighbours are expecting, so we off-loaded a pile. If they throw it away, I'm ok with that, as long as I don't have to!!

Anyways, that's the news from here for today ... until next time!