We’ve had a great week, mostly since Tim left for YK on Monday am. Kids have had lots of outdoor play and although it started raining today, they still had fun!

Monday, kids went to swimming lessons in the afternoon. Rohan is now putting his face in for his instructor and floats on his back with a noodle assisted. He’s having fun! They have a new playground at the entrance of the pool so we get there a little early to play and stay a little later so kids can play and eat their lunch there. My only complaint: bark mulch. Hate the stuff for playgrounds, have always hated it. Little itchy slivers get into your shoes all the time and I can’t wheel the stroller in. Had a playdate at Amanda’s afterwards and kids got to use their neighbours HUGE outdoor trampoline-they had lots of fun. SInce they didn’t nap, they went to sleep easily that night.

TODAY was the FIRST day that we’ve been able to hold Neve’s hands and walk her. She is amazingly stable, should be walking but won’t. The only reason she did it or started it today was because Edzea held her and tried it out. So the novelty of having Edzea play with her like that was motivating and then she let me hold her hands and I was surprised by how little I had to hold while she walked towards Rohan and Edzea as motivation. She should be walking soon! She stands on her own and lets go on her own…so not quite sure why she won’t walk when she will be able to quite easily. Anyways, we’re excited that she finally is letting us walk her!

Mitchell came and played with the kids yesterday and stayed for dinner. I asked him to call his Dad and then I spoke to his Dad. His Dad said it would actually help him as he had some things to get done. I said it helped me as the kids will play in the back yard forever with Mitchell around. Over dinner, it turns out that we were talking about Mitchell’s family background-his Dad grew up in Yellowknife!!!! Small world. I’ll have to mention it next time we chat on the phone!

Mason came over to play with the kids today. I let them skip their naps to be with him. He is such a nice kid and it gave his Dad( Dev’s husband, Steve) a break while Colby napped. While Neve napped, the kids played outside the whole time, even when it started to rain! They used the gazebo as a fort and set up blankets to “camp” in it. We made birdfeeders, kids did a scavenger hunt and then painted rocks. We dropped Mason off at about 4:30 and then dropped in to the new people’s house at 1 Links to drop off a birthday invite for the new 4 year old girl, 3 year old boy in the neighbourhood. Their house is almost the exact same layout as ours. Same facade exactly. Edzea seemed excited to meet a new girl in the neighbourhood who might be in her French immersion class at A.Lorne next year.

Here are some pics of the kids with Mason today.

I love birthday cake!

Neve is now babbling up a storm. We believe that these are the words she says now: and of course she understands so much more!

1. Aya-Edzea
2. Ra Ra-Rohan
3. Mama
4. Dada
5. Nana-for Nana and Banana
6. Hat
7. Up
8. Manda-Amanda
9. Bo-Book
10. Mi-Milk plus she signs it
11. Quack Quack
12. Signs: finished, more, eat
13. Talk
14. Cacka-Cracker
15. I for Hi
16. Tries to say diaper

And she is standing on her own off and on so walking is not far off.

Rohan had his first solo swimming lesson this week. I didn’t realize that he was worried about it until we were driving in. He says: I am NOT going to jump in the deep end Mommy. and then later: I am NOT going to float on my back with a noodle. So, Edzea and I quelled his fears and in the end, luckily, he had Edzea’s old teacher, Kyle, and he had a great time! Although he shivered through the entire lesson! So he will be wearing two wetsuits next week!

Rohan’s 3rd birthday in photos. It was fun and better because it was quieter than past parties so we enjoyed ourselves but still stressful to prep for.   I’m being very relaxed about Neve’s first birthday party this weekend!

Rohan and I went skiing for the first time together yesterday so he got on skis at 2 years old! (well one week short of 3 anyways!). He’s a natural. The instructors thought he’d been on the mountain many times before and I said…no just 15 minutes with me before the lesson. He has incredible balance. When Edzea heard all that he’d done on his first day she said, “Wow Rohan! You were better than me on my first day, I couldn’t do all of that!”

Too tired to write right now, been busy prepping for Rohan’s Firefighter party next week so I’ll just post the pics and write details later.

When I was grocery shopping solo this morning I came out to see a firetruck parked in the parking lot. Rohan would have flipped! Really too bad he wasn’t with me but I did talk to the firefighters and got some pictures.

Kids got their hair cut today after we watched Daddy in his playoff soccer game this afternoon (they lost but the kids enjoyed seeing Daddy play!).

So we all went to Eloisa’s 5th birthday party this afternoon. It was a princess-themed party. All of the kids were dropped off except for mine. So I got to chat with Susanna, Eloisa’s mom a little bit while things were going on. It was very low key. Relaxing party when you do it from 2:30-4:30. There was a few simple crafts for the kids to do and a very brief snack-juiceboxes, chips, strawberries and very neat princess hat cupcakes. That’s it! Talk about easy and stress free. No decorations of any kind. Edzea and Rohan AND Neve had a great time! My camera battery died at present time. Edzea had picked out the most god-awful princess bean bag chair for Eloisa at Toys R’Us. It was within our budget and she was determined to get it for her. Rohan picked her out a wind-up flashlight. Turns out she loved the chair the most!!! and her little brother couldn’t get his hands off of the flashlight! I added matching t-shirts and a sunhat for the girls-so they are planning on wearing their matching shirts tomorrow at school. They are really good little friends. They seem very like-minded so I’m glad that I like her Mom and the girls will be in school next year together too as Eloisa is going into French Immersion as well. So, we are going to start playdates with them.

Here are a few pics.

As an aside, her mom is a former aerospace engineer who was slated to go to Houston when she was 4 months pregnant to visit the Space Shuttle. She declined because she didn’t want to cause the baby stress. She has chosen staying at home with her kids over her career. I really like her!