How can it be...

This week I am officially 32 weeks pregnant....wow how can that be?  Didn't we just have the positive pregnancy test yesterday?  Oie!  Wow is this pregnancy ever different then the twin pregnancy.  Yes I still get tired.....yes I'm not super comfortable....yes I'm starting to have trouble with my shoes....but by goly I'm 32 weeks....all those problems arose at like 24 last time hahaha.  Perhaps because we are crazy busy with the twins still that this pregnancy seems soooo much quicker.  It's hard to believe that the twins were born at 37 weeks....so this little guy could be coming to make his appearance soon!  I will say this little guy seems to be way more active in there....I remember feeling the boys all the time but man this guy sure is going to be a soccer player.....or perhaps we are doomed....the twins were such easy babies....happy....content....rarely cried....perhaps it's our turn to get a little crazy one :)

Beaver Camp

The boys have been having a great time at beaver's lately.  This weekend Jason and the boys set out for their first adventure together at Beaver Camp.  That's right....the boys are old enough to go to the Scouting camps now.  Jason is one of the leader's so of course he went.  All parents were invited but being 7 months pregnant I opted to stay home hahahaha.  The were so excited to set out....

and were even more excited to tell me all about it when they came home.  They were only gone one night...approximately 24 hours but they had an absolutely great time.  They played tons of games, hiked, made crafts and overall had a really fantastic time.  It's great to see the excitement about these types of events in your children's stories.  They even earned a badge that I will sew on their blankets next weekend!  Congrats boys on your first official Scouting camp.....and I'm so proud that Jason is the type of dad that likes to be there to participate with them! 

Our home...

If you come to our house you may need to occassionally step over toys....you may have to move the kids books off the chairs......there is always a lot of activity!  Some days you remember how easy it was to keep your house tidy before kids.....and yet our house is more of a home then it has ever been!  When you see little decorations around the house that were made by four precious tiny hands you realize that this house is now decorated with love by all four of us!

Mini Turkey's

On Saturday we hosted a turkey dinner at our house for my family.  Every year we celebrate my mom's (beginning of Oct) and the twins birthday's on thanksgiving.  The meal that we made turned out fantastic and I have to say that the little desserts that were turkey cupcakes looked so cute....were easy to make and added the special little touch to the thanksgiving meal!

A new development

After a scenic drive on Sunday we decided to stop at the green store to get some fudge.  The green store is a local store that has all the cutest nick knacks and accessories in the world that are just gorgeous....you know the type of store......you can just picture all the stuff in your house.....then you have kids and realize that in those store the aisles are way to close....there are a billion breakable things at arm height.....and your anxiety builds just thinking of bringing the kids in.  I can honestly say that I was worried heading in with the boys again especially since they were a little rambunctious on the way in but it was the first time every that I had to give very little reminders that we don't touch the stuff......they actually watched where they were going......talked about the things they liked instead of trying to touch them....and my anxiety level hardly rose.  Jason and I got to the truck and actually laughed about how much easier that had been then in the past and how it was actually enjoyable.....and then we laughed even harder because we said in a few short months with the new baby arriving we won't want to go in stores like that for awhile again hahahaha.  Oie!

They had great displays outdoors as well though!

Beavers

The boys recently joined Beavers.  There was one little boy who was kinda crazy but he has been away for a few weeks so it has been going fantastic.  They are starting to plan their apple selling day as well as their first Beaver's camp out.  The boys love outdoor stuff and learning about new things so we thought Beaver's would be a good fit for them.  Jason did Scouting when he was little and I did guiding and we both loved it.  After a few of their meetings I realize just how much fun we had doing that stuff when we were young.  They are learning all the sayings and songs.  You also forget how much fun it is to celebrate things like "International Pudding Day".  The entire group had a fantastic time making pudding in ziplock bags and then enjoy the snack of course.

Taking a minute to enjoy!

Oh I foresee a day not so long from now when we will look back and miss the days that you guys still rode in car seats and talked endlessly about dinosaurs!  For now we will treasure every precious conversation!

Forts

The boys love making forts all over the house lately.  They started making them in between the couches downstairs and then Jason helped them build a huge one that is still up in a third of the basement hahaha.  Recently they realized that the quickest place to make a fort is in their bunk beds.  There have been many evenings in the past month that you can hear giggles and laughing coming from their bedroom while they make a fort while I make dinner.  They even like to hang their stuffed animals from the top rungs to make "decorations". 

It makes their room look soooo messy but the good thing is it cleans up in two minutes.  Yeah to good old fashion kid fun!

School Open House

Last wednesday was the open house at the boys school.  They had been there already 1.5 weeks this year so it was nice to be able to see everything they had been telling me about.  They excitedly showed me their lockers, their desks, their spots on the carpet and all their work stations.  I got to meet their teacher (who they absolutely love) and was told they are both doing great this year phewff!  It was so cute for them to show me all the little work stations they work at each day.  We will definately make sure to start saving our recyclable materials for the craft station because all the kids are sooo excited about that one.  There was also a book fair in the library.  I must admit I loved the book fairs growing up and I am just as excited as the kids to let them look through all the books and decide which one they think they will like the best.  The boys thought it was hysterically funny that they can go in the boys bathroom at school now by themselves and I have to wait outside for them hahahaha  BOYS!!!

Homework

Last week the two boys had their turn with the "me" bag from school.  This is like the old fashion show and tell that we used to do in school but you have to bring 5 items.  It was nice to get one on one time with each of them to do something special just for them and help them pick out things they wanted to share with their class.

Zachary was first.  He takes soooo long to make a decision on anything so I tried my best not to rush rush his choices.  It took us almost 30 minutes to finally narrow it down to five items (the original was composed of about 50 items).

In Zach's me bag he put captain America, a monster truck, a transformer, his special baby dog and his stuffed Mario.  He did a presentation where he practiced what he would say in front of the class and man did he talk FOREVER about each of the items.  I.e.  He chose stuffed Mario because he and his brother love to play Mario and Luigi.  They play it on the wii and he is asking for a Nintendo DS for his birthday or christmas.  Mario can run and jump and hit his head on blocks etc.  Wow that boy sure has the gift of gab! 

Mathew had the "me" bag the following evening.  He made all his decisions in about 5 minutes and he raced around the house because he already knew what he wanted before he started to look for the items.  He decided on a Zamboni, a red hot wheels truck, his special stone from Afghanistan, a picture of Zach, Jason and him fishing and his stuffed Luigi.  When he presented to us he gave super short sentences so I told him to elaborate a bit more on each one.  Once he got into it he understood what I meant.  It was neat to see how different the items he chose were from Zachary's.  Zach's were all things he likes to play with but Mathew chose all things that had meaning behind them ie. he chose the Zamboni because he likes to play hockey, he chose the stone from Afghanistan because it's a special stone and every time you miss your family or friends you just rub it. 

Hmm...daddy said what

This was the conversation in the car last thursday as I drove the boys to school:

Me:  Are you guys excited to see your friends today?
Zachary:  Yeah and we get to eat in the gym at the big tables again
Mathew:  I eat beside K***** (a girl who's party he went to last year)
Me:  Oh that's nice. 
Mathew:  Yeah she helped me open my fruit cup yesterday.
Me:  Oh, you don't know how to open it?
Mathew:  Yeah I do but she wanted to open it so she could have a bite
Me:  Oh buddy you aren't supposed to share food at school remember
Mathew:  I told her that but she didn't have one, and she wants to start being my girlfriend
Me: oh
Mathew:  Yeah but I have lot's of girlfriends
Me:  Well that's okay, girls are fun to play with too
Mathew:  Yeah but Daddy told me not to get too many girlfriends because girls get crazy when they get older
Me:  Daddy told you that did he hahahaha Oie!

Bicycle Riding

Well a few weeks ago we finally had a few evenings that we were just home with no plans.  The boys decided that that was the day they wanted to ride two wheelers, so we loaded them up and went to a nearby park where they could practice on a softer surface.  To my amazement Zach took Jason stepping less then two feet beside him to take off and ride.....wth!!  For two weeks I had told him I wouldn't let him ride a two wheeler because I wasn't able to run and keep up with it right now and it only took him two steps!!  Mathew on the other hand was very fearful of falling....he did a few tries and then happily hoped on the other bike that still had training wheels and rode that.  The next night Mathew actually went around the entire circle on the two wheeler as long as Jason jogged beside him. 

School Days

This week the boys started Senior Kindergarden.  It was so nice to be able to drop them off at the school yard the first day.  It was great to see how happy they were to actually get to school and it was so nice to see how much fun they were already having with their classmates in the school yard before the bell even rang.  We are so lucky that our boys love school....they love everything about it.  They still proclaim that their favorite part of the school day is recess but hey who doesn't love running and playing with their friends.  This year they talked all about how they are "big" kids now because they have lockers, they eat their lunch in the gym with the other big kids and they get to use the "big" kids washroom.  They talk excitedly every night about all the work stations they did (today mathew brought me home a craft he made me at the craft station and Zachary said he had fun painting).  We talk about the books the teacher reads them and their favorites parts of the day.  They go to a different daycare this year so their bus ride is only about 15 minutes now in comparison to the 45-60 minutes it was last year.  Today it was so cute to see them board the bus....both the boys and their little friend all sit in one seat.....it makes me smile to think they are still so tiny that they fit three in a seat comfortably.  I hope the huge smiles and enthusiam continues because we try to always talk about how important the things we learn at school are.

Bags are all packed and ready to go!

Mathew first day of SK 2012

Zachary First Day of SK 2012

Second year of school already!

 

So nice to have your best friend with you all the time!

Me dropping off the boys!

Swinging

The boys have become great at swinging this summer.  They have always enjoyed riding on the swings but now they are proficient at getting on the swings, actually starting themselves and swinging high through the sky.  Jason and I were watching them swing last night and talking about how much fun swinging used to be as a child.  You would go as high as you possibly could, kick your shoes off and just soar through the air.  It's nice to see that something so simple brings so much joy to young kids.

We were also commenting how as adults if we swing for more then a few minutes we get motion sick....hahaha perhaps that is a special treat of fun reserved especially for childhood!

Feeling the Baby

The boys are ecstatic about the fact that we are going to have another baby.  They talk about it almost daily.  I think they will be quite dissapointed when he actually arrives and is not able to play soccer and games with them.  We have explained that when babies are small they only drink milk, cry and sleep.  The boys still seem excited about this. Zach is proud that he will be able to put the soother in the baby's mouth and Mathew looks forward to turning on the bouncing chairs and swings for him. 

The baby has started kicking much harder laterly.  While camping on the weekend, I was lying in Mathew's bed reading him a story when the baby kicked my stomach where Mathew was lying.  He asked what that was that he felt.  I explained that it was just the baby kicking.....a look of fear crossed his face and he ran to the living area to tell Jason to "come quick because that baby is trying to escape already".  Hahaha we explained the baby was just stretching his legs but Mathew still seems apprehensinve about the whole thing.

Well.....

School is sneaking up on us again

As most of you know I'm a huge planner.  I plan things months in advance and like to have everything organized and as ready to go as I can.  I know it's only August but I also know that my husband will be travelling for work 5 of the 6 next weeks which means I will have to look after all activities for the boys.....sign ups.....preparations etc.  So last week Jason and I went out and bought the boys their school bags and lunch containers for next year.  We let each of the boys pick their own.  Mathew was quick to make a decision on a Mario one (it was a decision between mickey mouse, batman and mario for him), Zachary on the other hand took at least 15 minutes looking at all the bags and finally came to the decision that he too wanted a Mario just slightly different.  I started to get the school supplies off their list and started organizing what else we need (labels, backpack tags, what clothes, shoes hats etc) and that's when it hit me.....the boys are starting the second year of school.  How can this be?  Are they not still babies??  They are growing so fast it feels like if you blink you miss it sometimes.  I'm happy that they are excited to return to school, it's great to see how much they are learning and how many friends they have made.  So I will continue to organize things, purchase items and get ready but it seems like just yesterday I was still preparing the diaper bag with soothers, diapers and extra clothes!

Here fishy fishy fishy

A favorite after dinner activity while we are camping is going down to the dock to catch rock base and sunfish.  I think the boys may know way way more then I do about the names of different fish and tackle and lures.  I thought it was all kinda the same but nope they have informed me that's it's imperative to talk about your tackle in your tackle box almost daily, look at it as often as possible and drool over new tackle at the stores.....wow sure glad Jason likes looking at that stuff cause this momma can only spend so long in the tackle isle talking about tackle.  They have fishing hats, rods and their own tackle boxes.  Every night they get so excited to head down to the dock.  I think we might actually catch the same fish every night (because we release them) but they don't seem to care and yell and scream with joy every time.  It's cute to see....and very relaxing just sitting there in the quite enjoying the calmness of the lake.

Learning how to put the worm on

Going on a lion hunt

Well I think this was the third or fourth time that we have taken the boys to the african lion safari and they have a great time every time!  Each year it's crazy to see how much they have grown from the previous year.  The first time we took them they barely spoke and made mostly animal sounds, the next few times they named the animals but this year they wanted to actually learn more about what the animals ate, where the lived etc.  It's great to be able to see their intellectual growth.  This year they loved helping to drive the truck again.  The animals did come right up to the truck as they always do but no monkey's climbed on the vehicle this year.  It was an extremely hot day so we also took advantage of the nice water area they have there for the kids.

They thought it was soo cool that that they didn't have to wear their seat belts and could help drive.

Splash Pad

While visiting my sister she told us about the splash pad that she thought we would enjoy during the hot days.  It's crazy that this is located just in their community park.  It was a scorching day and we had a nice little picnic and then enjoyed the splash pad for a bit.  I'll also admit that Jason and I both took a turn taking a little run through....sometimes you just kick off your flip flops and enjoy!

 

Relaxing

One of the nice things about camping is that there is no schedule....we get up when we want....eat when we want....don't have to be anywhere at any specific time....don't have any chores to do and do just about anything we want all day long.  Every once in awhile it's nice to just kick up your heals....read a book ....or just relax!