BLOG MAY 2010

Sunday May 30th, 2010

So the girls woke up and decided they wanted to go on a quest (we've done one before). We took out a book last week from the library called "Sir Ryan's Quest". It's one we've taken out before and they had requested we do so again. So Saturday morning, there I am writing up a quest for each of them to do. As Rain recites it constantly "A knight must be brave!" I'll give you the run down of the quest along with photos as thy girls read and then completed each step of their quest.

Sir Rain's Quest



Sir Piper's Quest



The girls read their quest's to me. I drew out all the instructions so that they could read the stepswithout having to know all the words. They had no trouble figuring out what to do. Step 1 : Head down to the cave (aka the basement)



Step 2 : Rain has found all the items on her clothing list...helmet, cape, sword and necklace



Step 2 : Piper has found all the items on her clothing list...tiara, cape, wand and necklace



The knights return from the cave after finding all their required quest attire



Step 3 : Open the Secret Cold Chest



Step 3 : Rain's pours her magic rice milk potion



Step 3 : Piper washes her magic apple



Step 4 and 5 : Take the apple and the rice milk to the table. Drink the milk, eat the apple...







Step 5 : Fall Asleep





Congratulations your quest is done!

Friday May 28th, 2010

It's 4am and I'm awake. The baby gives me some interesting insomnia. On the upside I can get an update done unhindered by pre-schoolers. Wow...preschoolers is the correct term for their age but I have trouble beleiving that they start school this year. We have our school orientation next week...perhaps it will seem more real then.

We've had a super fun busy week. After a nice relaxing Victoria Day (we planted our vegetable garden though) we started Tuesday off with a trip to the zoo and then the library. Piper and I were reading some of the new books we borrowed on the grass outside under the tree when Rain squirted us (accidentally) with one of our water squirters, even after I had awrned her to be mindful of us. Shocked by the cold water I jumped up, Rain clamped her hands over her eyes, I took the squirters away and we went inside. She then apologized.

We then had our final ballet class on Wednesday and the parenst got to watch and take pictures. I of course snapped a few. Afterwards we went swimming. The girls love the water and it's been such a hot week it was really nice to be in the water (despite my belly sticking out of my suit so far)

Then today we spent most of it at a nice sandy beach, followed by some tubbing at a neighbours house. Lots of outings. It's so nice to be able to so all this during the week when it's not as busy as on weekends. I'm glad to be off while the kids are young.

Helping Daddy plant the vegetable garden



My wonderful family



Giggling, swinging and popsicles



Ballet recital - Piper



Ballet recital - Rain



At the beach



Tubbing

Monday May 24th, 2010

Happy Birthday Queen Victoria...yeah whatever. It's nice to have Daddy home for one more day.

The last couple of weeks the weatheR has turned from blustery late November wind, rain and cold to summer with humidity and heat and sun. To start this post I have to mention the beautiful roses Daddy got Mommy for their anniversary. He also got a single rose for each of the girls which they loved.

We've also had Southpaw (Auntie Mag's dog) stay with us a few days. He's a big cute 90 lbs dog with a one track mind when it comes to food. The girls love him but are not used to a dog who will eat anything you leave ungaurded for a second. Yesterday Rain was eating a piece of fruitcake with a cup of chcoclate rice milk and she stood up. Southpaw had the cake eaten in one bite and knocked the milk over into the garden where he proceeded to lick it up out of the dirt. This was all before we even had a chance to shout "NO!"

I found some Beatles figureines at the VV and picked them up for Rain and Piper. Piper only plays with George while Rain has claimed the other three. They love playing and acting out scenes from Yellow Submarine, or singing songs. The Beatles even come to eat dinner with us (alongside some princesses and a couple of ponies)

Rain has been saying some really strange things lately. The other day she told me "The Blob will blow everything up with a firecracker and the sky will be black." She had a couple of nightmares too, one where she told me she missed Pyro (our cat who was killed by a car almost three years ago) and one where someone was flushing her toys down the toilet. Piper sleeps like the dead and hardly ever wakes up through the night.

We were listening to the radio and the song "Video killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles came on. Rain really liked the song so I told who sang it and what it was about. A week or so later I had a doctor's appointment with the new OB and Rain asked me what her name was. When I repliedthat her name was Dr. Ruggles she replied, "Did she kill the radio star? Her reply has me in stitchs laughing.

The girls are both great at getting dressed themselves. One day Rain dressed herself and then went downstairs and got one of Daddy's ball caps. She told me that she was Daddy and now she could marry me. She's asked me to get married before and I always told her I can't because I'm already married to Daddy. So here is her loophole I guess.

Rain has also been singing songs out the window again. Usually she sings to whomever is on her mind. The last few days she been going to the window and singing songs to Nana before bed. The other night she sung a song called "Nana Doodle" (Yankee Doodle).

Lastly, Grandma and Grandpa came down for a visit and helped us trim the hedge next to our house in the frontyard. Rain was barking orders at everyone. "Grandpa...you rake those leaves, Grandma, pick up those sticks, Daddy tie up the branches..." She's a foreman at heart.

We also went to Sasha's birthday party this weekend. There was a water fight (neither of the girls like being squirted), crafts, hottubbing, fireworks and a pinata (Piper has a wicked swing). The kids had fun running around with the other kids. It was a long long day though and by 10pm the kids were zombies and ready for bed.

Update on the baby front. We're about 23 weeks now. Apparently the baby does not like curry because the last two time I've eaten anything with curry I've been sick as a dog for about 8 hours. Popcorn is also anothr no-no right now. My body is not my own when it comes to food and sleep. I can feel a lot of kicking though. This baby loves to kick.

The Beatles come to dinner.



Toys having a party.



Rain dressed up as daddy so she could marry Mommy.



Two ballerina's sharing a slush



The pirate sings "Yellow Submarine" on Beatles Rock Band - she got %31 too!



Ahhh...shoot the other way..not me not me!



"My suit has frills", "Mine is purple." "Mine has two pieces.." The kids comparing bath suits. It starts already?



Daddy and his girl



Watching fireworks

Monday May 10th, 2010

So we took the kids down to see Mommy and Daddy's work. Rain had her heart set on taking the train in but it wasn't practical given the time we had. First stop...getting Mommy's security photos done at Mommy's work so that she'll be able to get into the new building once we all get moved. The highlight was definately the YTV main hallway. It is painted green and done up to look like a submarine complete with pipes leaking slime. There are two big buttons, one that makes diving noises and makes the hall ways lights all flash and one that makes the sub rising sounds complete with dimming and the brightening lights. It is the coolest thing about Mommy's work. Too bad the new bulding won't have this. However, I am told there is a tube slide from the third floor down to the lobby. We also made a short stop a Mommy's building to meet Mommy's co-workers and collect some swag from the Co-Marketing Dept.

Then we popped over to Daddy's work to see Daddy's "friends at work", as the girls refer to them. I think they think Daddy goes to work to hang out with his friends. Money has nothing to do with it. We got to meet lots of Daddy's "friends" and go on a tour of the office while recieving swag from various people.

After that I took them to my first place of work (I haven't worked there in 10 years but still have many friends whom I visit every few years - how the place has grown and changed form when I worked there. I have lots of good memories.) The girls got to press some buttons in an edit suite and draw some pictures for my ex-co-workers.

Speaking of drawing...Rain's favourite thing to draw right now is a tidal wave washing people off a beach and sweeping a boat out to sea. I have NO idea where she came up with that one, but she has been drawing it for a number of weeks. Tsunamis and boats. It was only a few days ago that she started drawing teepees instead. Whew.

We were in a store the other day when Rain yells out "Look Mommy Hotwheels!" She's not a big car fan so I had no idea what she was looking at until I realized that the man next to us in the store had a shaved head and the Hotwheels logo tattoed on the back of his skull. I had to tell him that my daughter really liked his ink.

This past weekend was the girls birthday. We had their friend's party on the first weekend but went up to Grandma's to see the Grandfolks and Great Grandfolks and Aunt Heidi. The girls stayed overnight and did some movie watching and toe nail painting with the Aunt and a friend. We went back down to attend our neighbours 40th birthday bash. (She shares the birthday with Piper). It was a fun evening even though we mostly hid out in the basement playing Rock Band with anothr couple of neighbours. Good times! We gave Piper the choice to open present with Rain on her birthday or wait until the next day when it was technically her birthday. She chose to open them with Rain. When we got home from Grandma's she asked for her presents. When I said there were none since she opened her the day earlier with Rain she seemed confused and then angry. I think she thought that since she opened some on Rain's birthday, Rain would get to open some on hers. I'll have to keep this in mind for next year.

Today the kids were excellent. I am amazed at how well they get together some days...tickleing each other, playing games with each other, even helping each other out with the bathoom. It's such a contrast to the days when I feel like and NHL referee during playoffs in game seven. It was good timing because I was wiped and needed to lie down for a while.

Some photos from the past week. The submarine hallway at YTV



Outside Mommy's work...a super neat mural.



Coming home from Garndma and Grandpa's house on Sunday...yes in a snow storm. That white stuff in the fields...snow.



Grandma, Grandpa, Great Granny, Great Grandad, Aunt Heidi, Lacey and us...bring on the cupcakes!

Tuesday May 5th, 2010

"Mommy, the booby traps are crying!"

You might ask what booby traps are? I had to. Apparently the ferns are starting to come up in our garden and the girls call them booby traps (I think they just like the sound of that word instead of attaching it to the actual meaning). The booby traps both cry and laugh. I can't hear them but the girls tell me if they are happy or sad today. The dandelions are also friends of the girls , so they tell me. Tthey seem to be super popular with their friends as our lawn is covered with dandelions. They also travel with us when we go places and the girls exclaim "Look our dandelions friend srea coming with us", as we whizz past fields of them in the car.

Speaking of the car. The Red Ship Mommy Car as we refer to my Honda Civic is now an airplane. I make pilot-like announcements when we leave the driveway (Buckle up, tray tables closed, seat upright etc...) We then taxi along the streets like an airplane taxi's to the runway. The runway is the onramp to the highway. We blast off and take to the skies when we hit the speed maximum on the highway (The girls exclaim "Wow...we sure are high!") I make touch down announcements when we are approching our off ramp/destination. We only "fly" when we take the highway. Otherwise the car is just a car. I am a bit sad because come October the car will have to be upgraded to a van to accomodate us all...I will miss my little red roadster.

Yesterday we had one more fun trip with the cousins to the zoo. On the way Rain was telling me how Opa likes to pinch her bum and that a "caboose" is anothr word for bum. She then told me that when Opa tried to pinch her bum she will tell him "Opa! Hands off the caboose!" Then she told me Piper will smack Opa's hand away since Piper is a best hand smaker and should get a winner's ribbon for being the best hand smacker. Sometimes I'm in stitches laughing at what they say.

On Sunday the weatrher stayed nice so Nana and Opa brought the jumpy castle out to our place again so the kids could have a second time jumping before we had to return it. They had a blast. Jumping soon turned to tackling. Piper tackled Jack a couple of times (Daddy taught her a good football tackle last fall which she uses on her sister sometimes in the backyard)...the Piper tackled Rain. Jack tried taking out Mitchel to no avail. We had to put an end to the tackling since we had a couple of inncidents of tackling when someone unprepared or caught off guard. Then we played musical freeze tag. I'm not sure what the rules were but Rain never froze at any point suring the game. She's just gotta stay in motion.

Rain also got to try her new-used bike. It's green and white and she seems to like riding it. We'll have to get in lots of practice this summer so we can take the training wheels off next year perhaps.

Lastly I had another ultrasound this morning. All is great with the baby. The sonographer was teasing me about the gender since he knew I wanted to find out but Ben does not. I wouldn't be able to keep it a secret. I'll post the photos once I scan it in.

The girls mixing up their snacks from a selection of dried fruits, seeds and nuts I keep on hand. They love to pick what they want and mix up a little bowl of snacks.



The jumping castle.



Jumping in the jumpy castle.



Rain with one of her new hats on. When she wears it we have to bow down and say "Your majesty" Not sure what the pink John Lennon glasses are on for or the tiara on top of the crown.


Piper in a turle sheel at the zoo.



A baby Orangutan comes over to investigate the pack of kids at the window. The Mommy was sitting close by with a bucket of bubbly water busy washing the window. She stopped when the baby dumped the bucket on his head. He then took off climbing for the highest tower with mom in pursuit. They are not that different from humans Moms and kids.

Saturday May 1st 2010

I can't believe the girls are turning four!! Where does the time go? We had the girls birthday party (with all of their friends and cousins over) today. It was a zoo of about 15 kids, a jumpy castle (Rain's party request since last summer), food, food, food, play, play, play and then a small thunderstorm that sent everyone inside about halfway though the party. So Mother Nature didn't co-operate (the first birthday party since they were born that we had rain I think) but the kids all still had a ton of fun. It was a costume party and I think all the kids has fun dressing up in May instead of having to wait until October. Daddy borrowed a costume from a co-worker and dressed up as Spongebob Squarepant. Mommy used her cat costume and painted a huge grin on her face and went as the Cheshire Cat. Rain dna Piper went ad Cinderella and Sbow White.

Rain had a brief meltdown when she saw the jumpy castle packed up in the van. Her little heart was breaking. I think she thought that when we said we'd get the jumpy castle for her birthday it meant we buy one and permanently have one in our backyard. Not a bad idea really if we wanted to make some extra cash holding kids birthday parties all summer long (I think our neighbours might have complained after a while though about the noise and eyesore of a huge inflatable Tinkerbelle bouncer.

Later that night after dinner Rain went to our front window and sang a song that she made up called "Come back Everyone". She told me it was a song about how she wanted everyone from the party to come back to our house and continue playing and jumping. It was both cute and sad.

The girls got some nice presents from all. We had put out a request for contributions to our costume trunk and got some nifty items that will be enjoyed for years to come. Nana even made them superhero capes (which I personally love and think I should get Nana to make one for me - afterall I am SuperMom! - well maybe not all of the time.) The kids seemed to really like the Chinese PJ's they wer given by anothr set of twins that we called their Samuri Pie costumes (Samuri Pie is a Backyardigans episode they love)

On Thursday we went to the zoo with Jack and Julia who are in town for a few more days (they wer the reason we moved the birthday party up a week - we wanted the cousins to attend the party). Other than the fighting over the 1 two-seater wagon we had it was a great trip. Rain and Piper were acting as tour guides taking Jack and Julia from enclosure to enclosure telling them what animals lived inside and anything they new about those animals. At one point Rain was telling Jack at the snowy owl exhibit "This is an owl. He's sleeping because he's cnotural and it's daytime". At the huge fishtank she was showing them the fish and pointing out which ones were who's favourites "This is a triggerfish. It's Mommy's favourite fish." Jack told me his favourite fish was the Surgeon fish or as it's known to most kids, the Dori-fish. They had a ton of fun in the fake mountain sheep cave and getting towed around on the wagon draped across the sides like logs. Nana called it a log truck and all four kids were happy to pretend to be logs.

The kids went to Grandma and Grandpa's on Thursday night so Mommy could go to work. On Friday after work we did party prep. Piper managed to channel all four years of Rain's dangerous/clumsy side into 30 minutes. First off at dinner she was eating with her hands and manage to bite down hard enough on her thumb to break right through the skin and into the nail. It took us a while to get her patched up and calmed down in time for bath. In the tub Rain accidentally hit her in the mouth with ah toy and gave her a bloody lip. More tears. End of bath. While Daddy waited on Rain in the bath, Piper came to help Mommy in the kitchen with some more party prep. As she was standing on a stool being sad and still hurting from her last two unfortunate incidents, the stool somehow rolled over and she fell off forwards, smashing her head on the lip of the counter hard enough to give her a goose egg and a nasty bruise along her hairline. More tears. Time for bed. Like I said, for Rain this is a weekly event. Piper rarely had accidents but I guess it was bound to catch up to her one day.

We had Rain allergy/intolrance tested for foods a few weeks back and as it turns out she has high intolerances to wheat/gluten, eggs, dairy, peanuts, beans of all kinds and citrus. Sugar, soy, and yeast also come up as medium intolerances too. These intolerances, so I am told, is what is causing her to have a never ending cough which she has had since she was very little. Reducing the triggers and rotating her diet should help reduce those symptoms. So, since she doesn't like eating meat and pretty much everything else is made with something from the list of intolerances that leaves vegetables and non-citrus fruits. Quite the challenge. We've stared making some changes which so far have been going over ok. Cashew butter instead of peanut butter, rice pasta instead of wheat pasta, rice milk instead of cow's milks. It's challenging to say the least but it will be good to see if her coughing improves or even stops. Piper is quite helpful in that she loves to eat and will eat pretty much anything so she is quite content to eat anything we have made for Rain. Trying to figure out how to make a gluten/vegan/sugar free bread that still tastes good is probably the toughest party. Rain understands that we are changing her diet so her cough will get better and most days accepts the odd alternatives. Some days though you can see she gets sad when she know's can't have a buttered bagel for breakfast. My little troooper.

Last of all I should probably mention something about the baby bump. No, we don't know the gender. Yes, it is only one this time. We are almost 20 weeks along. The girls are super excited and often come over and kiss my belly or talk to the baby. They have been completely understanding over the last four months when I needed to go nap or lie down for a bit, or when I was sick and needed to sit down on the couch. Piper even got me the phone one day when I had a spell of vertigo coupled with the flu and needed to call in Nana for help. Rain's first name choice for the baby (which Piper agreed was a good name) was Baby Canada. Since then she has switched to preferring Baby Madeline. They know that have ot wait until the end of September to meet their new sybling...and that we don't know if it will be a baby brother or sister (Piper wants anothr sister and Rain wavers back on forth from day to day...brother one day , sister the next). Jack's mom (My sister-in-law) just had another baby boy (James Ian) a few weeks back and when Jack found out I had a baby in my belly he was truly unimpressed with the size of my belly. "It's not THAT big!"

Whew this post in getting long but as usual it needs some illustrating with photos from the last week.

Rain's row of puppies



Rain's Samuri Pie pose. Hiyah!!



Piper's Samuri Pie pose. Kia!!



The log truck at the zoo.