How Much Did You Miss Spring?

So, I know spring has been long in coming this year around here.  If you're from the area, did you miss it?  Were you waiting for it with bated breath?  If you know me, you know that I have been.  I've been ready to head out of town and find anywhere warm and spring-like just to be done with the eternal winter!  Well, today spring came...at least for a day.  I showed it just how much I missed it, too.  You know how?  Well, I took a deep breath and then bundled up not one, not two, not even three but FOUR boys to head out and play in the puddles.  Here is the photo (mostly) essay of our welcoming of spring...

On our way to the last known location of large puddles...ever welcome by teachers...the school yard!

There was a lovely, long puddle on the sidewalk, and you can see on Evan's face just how much he doesn't want to carpe diem.  I had to convince him that it was OK to get mud on him...that's what rubber boots and splash pants are for!

Even Bradley "played" in the water.

Xander: "You know what my favourite part about playing in this puddle is?  Throwing rocks."

Eventually, he did carpe the diem and we even got some smiles from him!

Jonathan's favourite part?  Splashing!!

Somebody's having fun!!

I wanted to get a photo of my four boys so I made the others come over to the stroller.  Jonathan wouldn't look at me.  Finally he tells me "it's too bright" and that he'd smile but only with his eyes closed.  I think they're all pretty cute, anyway.

No need for those silly vitamin D drops today...we got us some real sun!

Brothers...racing...as always.

Then, they hit the mother lode...the puddle mother lode, that is...big, deep and full of ice.  At least, when I was a kid, the icy puddles were always the best, especially when you had to break through the ice.  We got many a booter that way.

Truthfully, I think this entire puddle was deeper than Jonathan's boots but he seemed to be having fun in it.

Walkin' on that ice.

Taking a break and enjoying some of that sun.  It sure felt warmer than the 5 degrees Environment Canada said it was.

Look!  I was there, too.

This precipitated the end of our trip.  Jonathan fell (for about the third time) and then he couldn't get up.  I do not have rubber boots.  By the time I convinced Xander to help him and then convinced Jonathan to let Xander help him, Jonathan had been sitting in icy water for a little longer than I was comfortable with.  Time to go home and get warm!

Here's the water line...flooding was that high! :)

Well, at least only one boy needed Mom's jacket to keep him warm on the ride home.  Jammies, blankies, lunch and a show managed to warm him up, but boy, there was a LOT of water in his boots!  Check out that thrilled face...

Now, though it be warmer than this morning, the sun has gone and the clouds have come.  It does not feel like spring as the morning did and it is, once again, time to bury under the covers and wait for the warmth of Mr. Sun to shine down on us.  Maybe next time, he'll stay a bit longer and I can quit threatening to leave town.

Until next time...

The End of An Era

We have now moved from this...

to this...

Yes, that time came.  It was time for a new vehicle.  I was a little nostalgic as this progressed because I loved my Mazda (also, it's been paid off for a while).  In fact, it was my very first vehicle and it truly was MINE! :)  It was the car that I had seen in the European market and had waited for it to come to the North American market.  I was so fortunate that it came right when we decided to upgrade our car.  It was compact but with enough seats to make it useful (just not that much cargo space) and I would totally buy it again.  However, with 6 people filling the six seats, it was time to move on to a new era.  I'm sure I will love my van eventually because I like it now but I am still getting over my much loved car.  I did do some grocery shopping and that new vehicle has a FANTASTIC amount of cargo space but it's weird driving an automatic again.  My hand keeps twitching :).  It's a bit wider and a lot longer so I have to get used to that but it has some fun upgrades...like the power driver's seat, the backup camera and all the cup holders.  I'm sure that, in 10 or 15 years, I will be saying I'm sure sad to see this vehicle go, too.  So, such as it is...goodbye little Mazda and welcome to the family Honda...

Until next time...

One Month...

Well, this is the post that I intended to make almost a month ago.  Somehow life just gets in the way.  I got the photos all ready but never did get them up on the blog.  I haven't had nearly as much computer time as I'm used to.  Part of that is due to the chaos around here and another part due to trying to get some other projects done.  What I did have for computer time, I spent scrapping...I did 13 pages in 3 days!  That doubles my record for how many pages I've done in a weekend before.  If you're interested, you can check them out at my other blog here.

Anyway, here are some photos from Bradley's first month of life (most include him but some are just what's been going on around here).  I don't really think I've taken that many photos but this post will be long...sit back and enjoy the fact that it will be mostly photos!

Well, in his first month, he met a LOT of new people.  I even took photos of a bunch of them (other than Auntie Jodi, who probably held him the most but I either had a brain lapse or no camera around when she was around...sorry Jodes!).  Here they are, in no particular order...

Papa stopped by to see him shortly after he came home.

Uncle Rene was home from overseas and even managed to pop in for a visit before he had to head back.

Auntie Jen got to meet him in the hospital.

Auntie Colette got snuggles in while down for a retreat.

Grandpa was here for the same retreat and got to hang out with him, too.

Nana FINALLY got to meet him after she got out of the hospital from her surgery.

Cousin Emily got to meet him BEFORE her Mom & Dad and even before he was a month old!

Grandma got to meet him in the hospital, too.

Cousin Erin got to hold him for a little bit.

Cousin Bethany got in some snuggles, too.

There have been new outfits....

Courtesy of Nana

And Auntie Cindy (just to make sure Bradley got something that was just his!)

There have been the usual baby activities...

Sleeping...

And eating...

(including Bradley's very first Super Bowl evening)

And cake off of our new dining room set...

There has been much snow, as well...

...some of it fun, in backyard fort fashion...

...and some of it not so fun, in shed roof collapsing fashion...

Speaking of roofs, we did a ceiling remodel and maybe even discovered the source of our leak (ice dams...bah!)

Christmas finally left our house (only a month later!)....

And Valentine's came (his brothers do love him!)...

Technology was all the rage!  Some of it more high tech...

(Minecraft is the big fun...)

(At least they spent Family Day together :) ).

And some of it less high tech...

(Nana's reacher was a big hit with Jonathan who just had to figure out how it worked!)

We're making sure there's plenty of learning going on in the house.  They're never too young to learn to read!

Or compose...as Evan plays his very first composition.

We've even managed to make it back to "cware gwoup" as Jonathan calls it and he even got this adorable balloon mouse out of it!

There's been a lot of this position (Bradley's absolute favourite!)

And time spent with brothers (who just HAVE to see Bradley when they get home from school but here, Evan and Jonathan are watching TV...they just had to be right beside Bradley in order to do it).

But really, as you can see, there's mostly just been a whole lot of cuteness going on!

So, there's the post that I meant to write.  I guess it's better late than never!

Until next time...