Breakfast is Served!

Caitlin has been waking up early these days - sometimes at 7am. We don't have a lock on her door because she mostly just comes into our room and wakes us up. But this morning, she decided to do something special. She went downstairs and made breakfast for everyone!

Not only did she get the bread and peanut butter from the pantry, she attempted to cut the bread into diamonds (which didn't work out, so she ended up ripping it into pieces instead I suspect!).

It worked out perfect for Adam though, he requires bite-size chunks!

Here's the table all set. So sweet! Breakfast is ready!

Despicable Adam

Adam's favourite movie by far, is Despicable Me. It's the one movie he literally stops everything for in order to watch. I usually pull out these big guns when I need to make dinner and the kids are bouncing off the walls. But our little minion likes watching it really anytime.

Even at breakfast after french toast :)

Here Fishy Fishy Fish

We had planned to go north to the cottage this weekend, but with the crazy high winds, it knocked out power and it's been out up there since. So with a rainy day in store, Mike and I decided to take the kids to see the new aquarium, and I texted my brother and sister to see if they wanted to meet up while we were down in the city. Becky wasn't able to, but Graham met us, and thank goodness he did, the aquarium was INSANELY busy! The visit was a nice surprise but the extra pair of hands was paramount :)

Graham and I took turns looking after Caitlin as well as the stroller in the herd of people; Mike was of course on Adam patrol. This was one of the few smiles I got from him today... Adam pretty much threw a temper-tantrum the entire time we were there. All he wanted to do was to get down and run away into the dark mass of people - not so wise...

They sure loved looking at the big tanks though!

One really cool part of the aquarium is the section called the Dangerous Lagoon. It's a tunnel with a movator that you can stand on, and it slowly winds you through the long corridor.

You're essentially inside the big tank, all sort of fish, sharks and sting rays are swimming around and over top of you. Pack of sharks as 12 o'clock!

Big teeth. Scary!!

Lots of fish came up for some cameo pictures. Some small little pretty ones...

...and some gigantic ones that probably weighed about as much as Mike and I combined.

It was pretty dark inside, so it was hard to take nice pictures of the kids. Not that Adam was presenting a nice face (or attitude) for that matter. Even snacks didn't seem to entertain him.

I did manage to get one good picture of him and Mike though. Adam's new thing is to say 'Mile!' when we instruct him to smile for the camera :)

So. Many. Cool. Fish.

There was also this tunnel that was just big enough for kids to crawl through. This is Caitlin navigating it as a shark came to check her out. We didn't even bother allowing Adam to go, he would have never come out!

This was my absolute favourite part - the sting rays. They were so big yet so graceful. We sat on the floor and just watched them a while - quite mesmerizing.

Apparently we were early for the scheduled dive feed which would have been neat to see. Next time!

This one smiled at me.

Uncle Graham was sporting a mustache for Movember; he went for the Anchor Man look, except it turned out like more of a creeper look, so I promised him I wouldn't post any clear/decisive pictures of this face. Caitlin however did design a jellyfish that looked an awful lot like him.

Megalodon shark... Aaaah!

We parked a short walk away from the aquarium but it was so rainy and windy outside that we stopped for a coffee + tea on the way back... and hot chocolate for the kiddies :)

Delicious - hit the spot!

Uncle Graham got a nice family pic of us - too bad Mr. Tantrum-pants wasn't looking at the camera.

Little Boy Blue

While I washed dishes this morning, the kids coloured with a new set of washable Crayola markers. Adam usually uses crayons (for good reason) but I let him try these out for fun. He got my attention when he starting saying 'Mommy, eat! Mommy, eat!'. I came over and asked him why he ate the marker... he gave me a stone cold face that he didn't do it. Sure buddy.

Then I looked at the name of the marker and burst out laughing. He's my Little Boy Blue alright! Good artwork Picasso!

Whew... mommy's not mad, I can smile now!

Fall at the Cottage

Grandpa got a new toy to help plow the snow in the winter!

He hooked a wagon up to it to take the kids for a ride, but not before they pretended to drive.

And they each had a turn. Brrrrrbbb!!

Beep beep!

Uncle Graham took Caitlin on it first; I knew Adam was going to be a scaredy-cat and refuse to go, and exactly that came true. She was happy to have the extra space for herself anyway:

He walked beside me, but then chased after them, so we all thought he wanted to go.

When I picked him up, he kicked and screamed, but I thought maybe once he got over the hump of the initial fear, he'd enjoy it.

However the tears didn't stop! Poor little guy.

After a tractor ride (which was filled with both laughter and tears), I raked up a big pile of leaves for the kids to jump in. I told Caitlin to take a running start...

Weee!! Graham showed her how to toss a bunch of leaves in the air.

And that was most definitely the next order of business!

Even Adam joined in :)

Yay for pretty fall leaves!

The two of them asked to have me rake more...

...except they couldn't wait for more to rough-house!

Ahh :)

Guess who's naptime it is!

I brought him up to bed and we forgot baby bunny down in the main cottage, but he was quite happy to sleep with a fluffy moose - a special thing to do at the cottage I suppose :)

And just like clockwork, our little turkey woke up just in time for turkey dinner!

Fun Classes

Adam is really enjoying the Early Years class that I signed him up for. It took a while for him to understand the class routine (he was flitting about during the first class), but now when books are being read and songs are being sung, he'll sit and participate. So sweet!

Caitlin also brought home proof that she had a ball at school today too! Her backpack today contained a special turkey craft, a notification that someone in her class has lice (great...), as well as homework for the long weekend... yes, she IS in junior kindergarten!!

I actually wasn't sure how she was going to do today; earlier this week a boy in her class (who myself and another mom has pegged as a troublemaker) called Caitlin dumb during circle time, and all her friends heard. Based on what Caitlin reported back to me, the teacher handled it well, however she refused to go to school because she was hurt, and thought that all her friends thought she was dumb :(

I was able to convince her otherwise, and when we arrived, another little boy in her class gave her a great big hug; he remembered she had her feelings hurt last time and wanted to make her feel better. So kind! She had a much better day today :)

Forts

Daddy worked a very long, overnight shift last night, and when the kids got up, I brought them downstairs to keep them entertained while he slept. So we made forts!

Except all Adam wanted to do, was collapse the fort. And that quickly turned into them leaping from cushion to cushion.

We were TRYING to be quiet, I swear!

He's getting really good at somersaults :)

They were starting to get a bit loud and I really wanted Mike to sleep longer, so I busted out some puzzles. A perfect quiet activity... just wish the attention span would have lasted longer than 5 minutes on this...

Once Mike did wake, we took the kids out for a walk to get some fresh air. Look both ways before you cross the street!

Adam was a slow poke, so Caitlin and I waited for him to catch up. And when he did, there were big hugs between the two of them :)

They had good fun playing with each other today - as always :) They also goofed around again while I made dinner - running through the kitchen and climbing all over each other in the living room. I decided to break it up by plopping Adam in his high chair so I could finished cooking. Just as well, because I could tell by the over-hyperness that they were tired and needed some sort of a rest before I made them eat!

I flicked on a movie and emptied the dishwasher. I went to bring the plates for dinner over to the table, and guess who fell asleep sitting up?!

He was completely out cold! I tried to wake him because any short nap would ruin his sleep tonight, but he wanted nothing of it. He finally did come to, but kept his eyes sealed shut and swatted my caresses away with his hands while saying 'NO!'.

I'm surprised he actually fell asleep like this, as he never sleeps anywhere but his crib (car naps don't go so well), but also not surprised because he missed his nap today.

Early night for sure.