Halloween

This year it was a bit warmer than last year but still rather chilly. We thought Evan would only go to a few houses but instead, he trick-or-treated the whole evening with Gwen! Gwen was a unicorn this year and Evan was a pumpkin. It was a fun night!

Gwen's First Day of Kindergarden!

Gwen had her first day of school on September 1st! She was really excited and had no problems at all. We drove to the Daniels' house (they live right by the school) and walked over with them, as it was Jordyn's first day too. The girls are not in the same class, but are at the same time (mornings). The first day was just an hour but at least they got to meet their teachers and see the classrooms. When I picked Gwen up she was happy and had a special cookie with her that they had decorated at school. She said to me that night, "I want to go back there". Well, she'll have to go everyday, so that's good! :) The second day was longer, 3.5hrs and she loved every minute again! Her teacher, Mrs. Barge is very nice and her class gets together with Jordyn's class everyday for storytime. So happy she loves school!

Heritage Day at Heritage Park

For the August long weekend we didn't do much but thought we would take the kids to Heritage Park. It was a great place for Evan to run free, although it was usually in the opposite direction of where we wanted him to go! I explained to Gwen that this was what things were like in the olden days. I think she liked it - especially the rides and candy shop. We took them on the train and the paddle steamer boat. It was a really hot day and the only relief was on the water. Gwen loved the old fashioned rides. I wouldn't go on the caterpillar with her (terrible, I know!) but Jamie did and she loved it. She also loved the Whip and merry-go-round and went on the kids ferris wheel all by herself. We spoiled them a bit and had cotton candy, cookies from the bakery as well as candy from the candy store. Jamie had too many sausage rolls to count. :0) Fun times!

Trip to Wales

Jamie's brother, Lee got married in July so we decided to go out to Wales for the wedding. Gwen was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid (flower girl)! It was Gwen's second time there but Evan's first. The flight was the part I dreaded - 9 hours with a little boy who NEVER sits still - yikes! It actually turned out not too bad. Both Gwen and Evan handled it quite well and the flight went by reasonably fast.

We had a great time on our trip. The wedding was lovely and miss Gwendolyn was a total pro bridesmaid. It was like she has done it a million times before! She even practiced her smile for all the photos :) The reception was at an old house in the country which was beautiful and really interesting. Gwen liked the old stairs and there was even a secret room in the floorboards which seemed right out of Harry Potter. During Lee's speech, he thanked the bridesmaids and held Gwen up for everyone to see. She told me later that was her favourite part.

We took the kids to Barry Island so see a real beach (first time for both!) and there was also rides for little kids and Gwen loved that. We had to take Gwen to at least one castle out there since she loves princesses and castles. I remembered one that Jamie had taken me to - Castle Coch. It is all decorated with furniture so I knew Gwen would like that one. We had a good visit with everyone - even got to see Jamie's Nan quite a few times.

Jamie's mom, Lesley, had gotten everything ready for our stay with her. Gwen had her own little room with a pink bed and a castle nightlight from Nigel's shop! She loved it. I wish I had taken a photo of her in her room :( Lesley even got a bike for Gwen - she had a great time on it and wanted to take it home!

It was a great trip - went by way too fast of course though.

Spruce Meadows - July 1, 2011

We had some guests stay with us in early July - Liz and Jed from Australia (Jamie's uncle). I had never met them before but we got along very well as they are great people! Anyway, we usually take guests to Spruce Meadows since it is so close and, of course, Jamie works there. We had a good day out - the kids even watched a bit of horse jumping. The only drawback: ice cream was nowhere to be found! Jed and Liz loved it and went back the next day to see some more.

Gwen's Graduation

Well, Gwen's first year at school is over! She loved pre-school and really couldn't wait to go every second day. I think the transition to going everyday will be pretty smooth. I took Gwen to get her hair cut in the morning - it was badly needing a trim and what a perfect day to have her hair done up nice! They had a little party for most of the time at pre-school and the last half hour the parents got to come and watch them get their certificates. Very cute. The teachers would shake their hands and say, "Congratulations" but most of the kids didn't really know what this meant!

The teachers had made up a special page for each of them with a photo of each kid at the beginning and end of school and also how they wrote their names on the first day of school as opposed to the last. What a huge difference! Gwen has learned so much this year: printing, counting higher and even some of the words she uses now are very grown up! We were waiting at the end of the day for Gwen to give her teachers one last hug before we left and then she just wanted to leave. As we were walking out, Mrs. Wynne stopped her to give her a hug and Gwen just started crying! She is really sad to leave her class and her school :( I told her we could go visit still and that her new school is really cool too. Not sure if she believes me! I will have to take her there and show her around. We did get the phone numbers of her school friends so that she can see them over the summer.

Spring 2011

Unfortunately, our spring weather has been terrible! So much rain, we really haven't been able to play outside too much at all. Gwen and Evan have been finding ways to have fun indoors. They discovered a little wagon in the basement which really isn't for kids to go in, but Gwen likes to pull Evan around! This was on one of the Saturdays when I was at work and Jamie was home with the kids. It worked quite well until Evan got dumped out the back!

Evan's Party

We had his party on Easter Sunday with just family and our closest friends, the Daniels'. It was a short little event but just fine for a one-year-old. Evan got some clothes and toys but was not too interested in any of it! He will appreciate his gifts though when he has nice new clothes to wear this summer and new fun toys to play with. He was, however, very interested in the food. His first taste of cake was just how we thought it would be - a face-stuffing free for all!! We ended up giving him a second cupcake as well since the first one was gone so fast. It was a fun party for all the kids, I think, and they all ended up playing ring-around-the-rosie.

Evan's First Birthday!

Our little boy has turned 1! That first year always goes by the fastest but with Evan it seemed to really fly by. He started his day off with a present from Jamie and I - while still in his jammies - and he even wore a birthday hat for about 10 seconds! Since it was also Good Friday, I had the day off work and we spent most of it at my Mom's house. It was a beautiful sunny day so we got to enjoy it outside - even though there is the odd pile of snow still lurking in the shadows.

Gwen's Spring Concert

Gwen has been preparing for her concert for quite some time now, and was thrilled that they day finally arrived. I had to take a day off work but it was worth it! I brought Grace along with me while Laura watched Evan - and we did the same switch for Grace's concert the day before. Gwen's class sang, "Welcome, Welcome", "Love Grows", "I am slowly Going Crazy" (thought that was a strange one for them to sing!) and a few others. They had little hand actions that went with each song and Gwen was right on queue. At her last concert (at Christmas) she was stuck between two boys who were total goofballs and just making faces the whole time! Hilarious! This time pretty much the whole class was doing what they should be. Oh, how they've grown since Christmas!

April 11

Fun weekend for the kids! Euan's birthday was on Saturday and Jordyn's was on Sunday. Gwen had a blast at both parties and Evan was happy with just the balloons :) Gwen got her face painted at Jordyn's party and she chose the "princess". You can see the crown painted on her forehead. Evan walks all the time now and is getting to be quite the little handful. He discovered how to get in the bottom kitchen drawer, just like Gwen used to at that age. He also eats just about anything we give him. Spaghetti with meat sauce is a new favourite - mostly because he gets so messy I think! He has lots of teeth now (6 maybe? It's hard to tell - he doesn't like you feeling around in there.)

Gwen is getting ready for her Spring Concert at school on Friday. She has been singing the songs to me and I think it will be a good show. I will get some good shots to post on here that day!

April 7th

Bad start to the day for Evan! He was standing by the shelf in his room and fell over - but hit his face on the way down. Ahh, he's tough though! Does he look worried?!

April 6, 2011

First blog entry!! Kinda new at this blogging thing, hopefully I'll get better at this... I think this is a great way to keep the Grandparents up-to-date with Gwen and Ev! Gwen has returned to pre-school after her week off for spring break. I think she was glad to go back and see her friends again - and of course her teachers too. She has no idea this will all end in June! Evan is walking more and more every day. He is pretty proud of himself and makes sure anyone in the room is clapping him on :) He is still getting up very early these days, and Jamie's alarm does not help! We can usually sleep through the radio for a bit but yesterday morning we woke up to Evan standing on our bed dancing to "Firework" by Katy Perry! It was pretty hilarious - not a bad way to wake up. J and N are at our house today. N likes to open the gate for the girls coming down the stairs and hold their hands as they go down the last step. Such a gentleman! Taking the girls to school soon...