The Sweetest thing....

I asked my son why he always brought home pictures of coloured Princesses from daycare.

His answer, "For you Mommy - you are my princess!"

Awww....can he teach some of his lines to his father?

Swiper No Swiping...in fact don't even visit our house!

My daughter loves the TV show Dora the Explorer. I cannot remember how this happened. I am a bit cynical that marketing companies have just done some research to find out what words are easiest for infants to spout out. I know both my kids were able to say "Elmo" and "Dora" before they could say "Grandma" or "Grandpa". Since we are so overjoyed that the babes are actually conversing that perhaps as new parents we actually think they know they want to watch this TV show or play with that toy. But I digress...
My daughter turned 2 and since the only thing she seems to be interested in is Dora we had a Dora themed party. Complete with a spanish menu. The party went well and my toddler seemed to love being surrounded by Dora.
For my son and the other 3-6 year old guests I had planned a treasure hunt. Since reading is not yet a skill that has been acquired by all of this preschool set I had taken pictures of places in the house where they would get their next clue. Keeping with the theme of the party the reason for the hunt was because the wily fox character aptly named "Swiper" had taken the game prize box. The kids liked the game and actually were disappointed when they found the treasure since they had liked the competitive nature of pushing each other to get the next "clue" (picture). Nothing seemed amiss - the party continued - gifts were opened - cake was enhaled.
Hours after the guests left I was tucking my 4 year old into bed. He was very serious. "Mommy is Swiper still in the house? I don't want him in our house""How did Swiper get those pictures? Why would he do that?". My son seemed quite perturbed. He wouldn't really listen when I explained that it was mommy who made the game and Swiper wasn't real.
The next day he was better. "Daddy - we really should have left Swiper one of the prizes"

Eviction of unpaying tenant(s)

Rewind to Friday, I was navigating the short 6am walk from the front door to the garage completely in the dark and completely from memory. This morning, with an accelerated heartrate, I made the short trek with lights a blazin'. Thank goodness the passage was uneventful. What changed?
I found out that the six of us (2 adults, 2 kids and 2 furbabies) are not the only tenants of our home. It all started in the summer when our new neighbours decided to blaze a trail through the wild undergrowth separating our 2 houses and build a walkway.
The stonework is beautiful and it looks great. Then on Sunday the dog disappeared for a good 10 minutes in the scrub on our side of the great divide. Upon closer inspection I found enormous (well I am exaggerating a tad) holes in the concrete under our front porch. The dog was going nuts for another 10 minutes until I smelled an altogether unwanted yet familiar odor. I grabbed the kids and ran. We all managed to come out of this event unscathed and odorless. Even the dog.
Not sure why I am upset because in hindsight I think Pepe has lived there for quite a few years. I remember on my first mat leave 4 years ago I saw a little striped monster venturing into the neighbours garbage. If the recent development of a paved walk had not come to fruition I probably would have been happily ignorant of our house guest for another couple of years.
What to do now? Our arsenal contains a bright overhead light (these critters are nocturnal and wouldn't appreciate new lighting installed by their landlords), used cat litter (I know ewww), ammonia etc.
We haven't done anything yet as hubby is still strategizing. In the meantime I am off to buy copious amounts of tomato juice just in case the canine wants to make anymore friendly overtures.

Bowling with Babes

Not sure where this idea came from but I thought it would be an adventure to take the family bowling. Not just everyday run-of-the-mill bowling but of course "Cosmic bowling"! (Essentially just glow in the dark bowling with loud top 40 music and lots of flashing lights.) My son embraced his inner Fred Flintstone and took to the game immediately. So much so that he didn't really appreciate Mom and Dad breaking his stride by taking their turns. I was afraid he was going to get a hernia because he insisted on lifting the balls himself.

He also sported some Bieber breakdancin' moves in the bowling alley in his cool rental shoes.

Than again some more moves in the party area...

Much to my surprise our 23 month old also enjoyed picking out the balls and pushing them down the kiddie ramp. Although her favourite part was the glow bracelets I gave them (such a girl)

Mom to a JKer!

So the day finally arrived... The day when pregnant or comforting my gassy little infant seemed eons away. It has been really eye opening to me how time has virtually gone on fast forward upon returning to work after my first mat leave.
Here I am...a mommy of a junior kindergartener. What!?!
I shouldn't really complain because being a February baby, he just missed being sent to JK last September. It seemed to go ok and he seems to really like his new teacher. He wasn't too keen for daddy to leave upon drop off but the teacher quickly got him interested in the cars.
When hubby went to pick him up he proudly showed him a tour of his new stompin' (learning) grounds.

Chi-town!

Chicago!
Thanks to awesome Grandparents hubby and I managed to fly away for 4 days to enjoy Chi-town. It was great to reconnect (and not have any little people interrupting our every conversation)!
The bike tours along the waterfront were awesome. I was also surprised to have enjoyed the architectural boat tour. It was really interesting and the weather was great.
The deep dish pizza was well worth the wait but it was definetly hard to move after. The Cubs game was a great party - I have never had so much fun at a game before!
The best part, of course, was the welcoming hugs and excited smiles of our babies when we got home:)

Millions of peaches....peaches for me!

We took four kids on little sleep to the Winona Peach festival on Sunday and I'm the only one that had a nap after the adventure!
Despite the exhaustion created by our hot hike and outing , it is super cute to see how excited 4 year olds get to go the midway rides (our son has a cousin that is the same age).*

At first they (and their Grandma) seemed apprehensive to go on the "flying dragons" but after a few spins around they were old pros. After that there was no stopping them (except for the fact they were too tall for the bouncy castles!?)

*Note - upon first arriving at the festival, they were also equally enthused by the port-a-potties.