New Haircuts

Took the boys to have their hair cut last week. They now both look so much older!

Jacob

Logan looks strange with the sucker in his mouth.

Norah didn't get a haircut but she did get a sucker!

Yes. She is wearing a headband with a big bow. She also needs a haircut and this was the only way to tame her locks (kind of...) that night.

Sunday Best

Thanks for the skirt, Scott and Jamie!

The boys usually pick their own church clothes now. 

It's too bad Norah is blurry in this one, I love the boys' faces in it!

Poor Logan

Logan had a mild obsession with the Olympics. He was waking up early (like 5am early) daily to watch and get updates on the games. He cheered for Canada but after learning about Finland from my mom he also cheered for them. He knew the medal counts, he knew what we had medals in and he learned about a lot of new sports. He LOVED it.

This week at bedtime, he asked me when the next Olympics will be...when I told him, he cried. He is a sensitive sole but I do feel badly that he has to wait so long to watch again!

The End of Winter?

It's been a long, harsh winter. Colder than usual temperatures, lots of snow and lots of wind. We have unfortunately spent a lot of time indoors. But on those rare "warmer" days we've been trying to get out more. Earlier this week we spent some time outside after school. Norah still struggles to get around a bit in the snow and her snow suit, but she's getting better!

What's remaining of their snow fort.

Snow/grass/mud

Look closely! Daffodil buds!

Trying to move all the snow away from the bottom of the slide.

A serious climber.

Hope real spring arrives really soon!

Wordless Wednesday

She's Forward Facing!

There are lots of studies that show that it is safest for children to ride rear facing in their carseats as long as possible. According to law, you CAN turn your child forward facing once he she reaches 22lbs, is 1 year old AND is walking independently; again, the child must meet ALL three of these requirements.

We switched Logan shortly after he turned 1 but Jacob was very close to 2. I was hoping to keep Norah rear facing longer, until at least 2 years old but she just isn't a happy passenger, I hope that switching her will keep her happier for longer in the van.

So Scott switched her seat on the weekend.

Waiting to go out to see her "new" seat.

She doesn't seem too sure at first.

Ahh! She loves it!

Pretty happy to be able to see me.

What a big girl!

All three facing front now!

One thing I wasn't anticipating was Logan's reaction. He and Norah interacted a lot when she was facing him and now it's so different for him. He was pretty sad. :(

No longer do we have anyone rear facing...and never will we again! One of many "lasts" that we have been experiencing.

From My Phone...

I've been trying to use my phone less in an attempt to be a bit more "present" during the day (and in the evening). I've been carrying my camera more and using it rather than pulling out my phone all the time. However, here are a few pictures from the last week or so that did make it onto my phone.

Every morning after we get the boys on the bus, Norah wants to stay outside. If it isn't totally freezing out, we will stay out but it's hard because she doesn't get around well in her snowsuit and there just isn't a lot to do with all the snow and ice that's still around. Usually we walk up the street, but she has ventured to the backyard a couple of times.

This slide is actually frozen in this spot. 

Walking on top of the snow. In fact it's so packed down that even I can walk on it without sinking.

She still loves swinging!

First ride facing forward! (In grandma's car).

Wrestling/hugging

Ready for church!

With mommy!

Hanging out at Home

Yesterday morning, the boys had bowling and my mom took Logan to a KW Symphony concert in the afternoon. Exciting stuff, eh?

Working hard on homework.

Norah wants to help!

Jacob helped me make a lemon pie in the afternoon. 

Getting some exercise playing Wii.

The finished pie!

 After supper we decided to walk over to the mall to buy the movie Frozen. Scott took the boys to see it in theatre at Christmas time but I wanted to see it too! We thought it would be ok to walk but realized once we got out how cold it was!

A bad picture of Norah (she always squints her eyes when she says cheese).
I got this one piece rain suit for her to hopefully keep her a bit cleaner and drier at the bus stop!

It seemed to do the trick. (She picked her own hat).

"Warming up" in the bus shelter.

Strike a pose!

Crazy kid.

She got SO close!

So we have 3 cats, it's a lot. The cats have been through a lot with back to back to back babies and toddlers. They have faired ok, although admittedly probably don't get all the attention they want.

Peanut (in the pictures below) is the least tolerant of children. It is rare to see her out and about when there are children awake. And I've never seen her allow one to touch her.

Norah LOVES the cats. In fact, "titty" is one of her words in her very limited vocabulary. She will drop pretty much anything she is doing to run after them saying "Titty! Titty! Titty!" It's cute. But rarely does she make contact. Sigmund is the most tolerant.

However, earlier in the week, our chipmunk "friend" (he eats my plants, we aren't really friends) reappeared after the winter and Peanut was stuck watching him out the patio door as he ate up some dropped bird seed. Norah seized the opportunity and was successful!

It was only for a brief moment, but she made contact, she was SO happy!

March Break Round Up

 A few pictures of our crazy kids during March Break.

I just thought it was funny how they were a sitting there waiting to go somewhere. Obviously they weren't interested in getting their picture taken.

 Norah happy to have found an unguarded roll of paper towel.

 Norah and I visited her friend R who was born just a week after Norah. We haven't seen R in a while but the girls played well together. Sorry for the poor photos, taking pictures of TWO 21 month olds is hard.

The boys showing off their new shirts from Grandma and Grandpa's latest cruise.

We took the boys bowing and Jacob bowled his first 100 game! (His actual score is the one in the tenth frame, not the total).

A Visit to the Waterloo Region Museum

On Sunday we visited the Waterloo Region Museum. My mom bought us a membership that gets us into several buildings close to us (thanks Mom!) so we decided to start checking them out. There is currently a "Shipwrecked" exhibit on so I hoped that the boys attention would be grabbed by that too. 

We got a later start to the day and were out during Norah's typical nap time so it was a bit of a gamble but she was happy to wander about, we didn't even take the stroller in.

We went out for lunch first. Jacob wanted a picture of him in his vest. (Thanks for the vest, Heidi!)

At the museum, part of the floor hard railroad tracks that you could see underneath. Norah was totally freaked out. She kept getting down, trying to climb off and if you set her on her feet, she was very unsteady. When we were leaving, she took care to walk AROUND this part of the floor so she didn't have to go on it. 

Now that Logan can read, he wants to take his time and take everything in. It's a good change!

Seeing what's up ahead!

I have no idea what they saw through them...

Norah, just wandering.

They got to "build their own pirate".

Jacob too.

Trying to tie knots.

In some sort of wind tunnel. I think it was showing what it would be like to be out steering a ship in high winds. It went up to 78mph.

Trying to get in.

Norah got a turn too.

Steering the ship.

They were watching a screen and turning the wheel back and forth to go straight. 

She was all over the place.

Checking out some pirate swords.

When the lady handed them the guns so I could take a picture, they both put them up to their eye...they thought they were telescopes. They don't have much exposure to guns...

There's also a section of the museum about the region's history but it was a lot of reading and the kids were getting tired so we just walked around before heading home. We'll certainly go back again!