Winnipeg & Family

A few weeks ago we hit the road to 'One Great City' to take in the Canadian National Women's Soccer game against USA, and to have some family time.  Here are a few favourite shots.

So exciting.  Loved the sunset view, too!  It was a great game - we scored in the first half and the US didn't answer the goal until near the end of the game, making it a 1-1 tie.  US is ranked #1 in the world and we are ranked #7, so it was pretty impressive. 

My fam!!  We are the 3 in the first row, the 5 behind them & the 4 behind them.  My other 2 are off walking.

At the {brand new} park the next day.  We adults had slide races, and M got this shot of me and Mom - I see where I get my slide style from! Matchy matchy!! Ha ha.

 Follow the leader...

Apparently my brother has spent more time training his kids in this fine art than I have... I really did laugh out loud at this one, all by myself here.

 At Levi's rugby game.  Nolan had a great time exploring in the woods.

 Just loved this shot.

This is the boy who made me an aunt, way back almost 17 years ago.

Love this.

Go Pipers!  Back in the day I also played Piper rugby at John Taylor. (And we were Provincial winners, too!)  I'm sure he's not really scowling at me...

 My beauty.  She and the rugby player above are 3-months-apart twinsies.

So this was one of the funniest things ever.  Here is K, my lovely niece in her dance recital costume after the dress rehearsal.

Madeline posing with K...

 

And Z wanted to get in on the posing, too, of course.

Enter Nolan, with the instructions to "Put your hands on your hips!"  So he walks over and puts his hands on Z's.  I'm still laughing.  So funny.

 Almost...

Got it!

Sunday Afternoon

This past Sunday we went to the Waterfall Park to try a new (for Nolan) playground.  I took my camera...

getting ready to go

he loves slides

and i love seeing daddy slide with him

too old for this... until we ended up racing down the slides

on to the waterfall

hey, there's me!

my big and my little

So happy to have these shots.  I love my family and will treasure this capture of this moment in our lives.  Thanks for looking!

Photos

It's been a while since I've posted pictures because I got a new phone and have been taking most of my photos on that, and haven't got the system down for getting them on here yet. Glad to finally share these and give you a bit of a visual update on my awesome family.

Our biggest news this week is that M is now a glasses wearer!  She has always had 20/20 vision, but lately was having headaches, so we took her in to get tested and found she's farsighted.  So today is her first day off to school with this new look - hopefully she finds them easy to adjust to.  I think they make her look sharp.

Nolan had fun trying on the little glasses - he'd laugh and check himself out in the mirrors.

Here are Nolan's first paintings!  There is a new Early Years Family Center near us (a 12 minute stroller walk away!) that is full of neat stuff for him, it's open every morning and afternoon (M-F), and is free.  Beat that!  We went last week for the first time with friends, and yesterday afternoon walked over by ourselves.  An hour there sure went fast.

Some of Madeline's new talents - french braiding her own hair, and fish tail braiding.  She did a couple on me the other day, too - that's almost as good as a massage.  Apparently guitar is another new skill, but she just plays at school, so we are looking forward to getting her one at home so she can play more and we can hear her!

This is a typical morning in our house.  Madeline practicing, Nolan getting in her way, somewhere in between pjs and being dressed for the day, with his favorite thing to steal from the fridge - the mustard.

A new friend!  This cat has been hanging around for the last week or so, since I left a bag of garbage on the deck...  The kids both love her, and she's great with Nolan, but she's learned not to come meowing around at night...

Coffee.  Both our kids love coffee.  This one is empty, and decaf.  Should be safe.

This is another common sight.  I take Nolan swimming every couple of weeks, and Madeline has lessons Monday nights, which we all go to (as long as he's had a decent nap!)  At both pools he loves to play in the lockers.  Don't they all?

And snow.  It's going away, finally - from totally covering the swing last week, it's now down to the grass under the swing.  There are still a couple big piles, but I think spring has finally arrived.  Nolan loves being outside and doesn't mind the snow at all; it takes a lot for him to be too cold or tired enough to want to go in.

Have a great weekend!!

More about Nolan

He is disinclined to eat 'baby food' any more and waves his hands back and forth to say no while scrunching up his face.  That's to the boxed powdered cereals that I mix with the veggies I had pureed.  His yogurt and applesauces are still enjoyed, and for the most part he just eats what we're eating.  We never know until we sit down though what he will eat or not.  He likes perogies and sausages, but not the chicken out of the chicken pot pie last night.

Did I mention that he climbs?  Up on the rocking chair in his room and the dress up treasure chest, on the coffee table, and now, on the toilet, from which he can reach and turn on the (thankfully cold) tap.  He can now get on the couches, too.  He can get down from everything pretty good, too, even off our bed.  He has been climbing on and over his exersaucer, too; it's one that transforms into a play table when they outgrow the seat, but I think it's not quite up to his brand of abuse & will have to be retired soon.

He doesn't talk too much, but sometimes his mimicking is pretty understandable: "Where is it?"  We're still waiting for "Madeline"...  These last few days he's been saying "No, no, no" and "doe doe doe" - fun new sounds.  We don't say no a lot (more like 'please don't touch'), so I don't think he means no; sometimes he gets it in at the right time, though, and makes us laugh.

He can get more shapes in his shape sorter every time we get it out - the hand eye coordination and determination are progressing!

Enjoying a bowl of snow!

One of his favorite ways to play is to run around the basement with a sheet over his head.  He's done this with the twister game sheet and a bed sheet; most recently with a crib sheet he stole while I was folding laundry in the basement while he played.  It's so bizarre that he has no fear running and not being able to see...  We love the laughs it produces, though, and between the two of us keep him from running into things.

He's a snuggler, and I believe it's the highlight of all our days when he tucks his head in our necks for a cozy hug.  He's also quite attached, and if I have to go to an appointment, Sean needs to come along or else it doesn't go well... (Very sorry, Carla, for putting you through the screaming at the eye doctors.)  He does love his Daddy, and he very often prefers to be with him when he's home.

He loves being out in the snow, walking and tasting, and loves eating icicles.  So not his mama's boy in this temperature issue - he won't touch a warmed up magic bag, but he'll hold onto an icicle until he's eaten the whole thing and his hand is red.  Craziness.