The kids and I spent the afternoon downtown shopping, playing and visiting with Tita Becca.

Taking advantage of the nice weather before it gets too cold. We decided to go with Alexis and Anders to the Nature Playground at Assiniboine Park.

1. These slides are by far Milan's favourite activity at this park. 
2. A mini slide for wee ones.
3. Playing and drawing in the sand with sticks.
4. The kids chasing a squirrel into the woods. Julien was especially determined to catch it.
5. Getting soaking wet in the water. I can't get over how much my kids love playing in water.

Our walk with the kids yesterday.

New haircut.

Sarah and I took a walk with all the kids to a little salon in the area to get Julien's hair cut. The owner was amazing with him. She was so patient and loving with such a difficult and squirmy boy. And I am so grateful to her for not giving him a "bowl cut". I think we've found our regular hair dresser for the kids! And James has his own place that he likes to go to in The Exchange. I am so looking forward to never having to cut hair ever again! Now I just have to find the right place for myself.

火鍋 (Hot Pot) Sunday dinner.

An unplanned weekday family Date Night.

Dads are definitely good for a different kind of play than moms are. Here the kids are using James as a human play structure as they run around, climb, and tumble down him. This is something I don't think I would've been ok with pregnant or not. But I do admire the kids' creativity for coming up with this little game on their own. And I love James for sitting there and letting them have their fun (like any good dad would) as they did this over and over again.

Milan's very belated birthday get together.

 

Julien: "Mine!"

I understand that this is probably a survival thing for a younger sibling but he sure has been saying it a lot lately.

Milan is usually stellar at sharing with Julien and he is pretty good at taking turns. But Julien's stuff has mostly consisted of hand-me-downs, which makes me think that he probably knew that he had to wait for things since everything around him belonged to someone else first. This suddenly changed last night when we caved and bought him a toy car. Now his new thing will have to be learning how to share something that belongs to him with others. Good practice, I guess, for when a new little one joins our family.

Weekend at the cottage.

1. Reading and snuggling with the kids.

2. Strawberries and milk.

3. Disney movies galore.

4. It was such a windy day that we decided to set up in a spot protected by branches. We didn't end up staying long.

5. Sandy feet.

6. Saffies General Store.

7. Sunday breakfast at the kiddie table.

8. A better day at the beach. The water was cold but the kids were surprisingly ok with it.

9. Making drip castles.

Replacement birthday balloon.

On the second day Milan brought her birthday balloon around, the van doors were opened and the wind blew it out up into the sky. She had the saddest little face as she reached for it and watched it blow away. James picked her up and held her as she cried. A young couple came up to us and told us that they saw the whole thing, then wished us luck for the next few hours.

We felt torn as to what to do. We didn't want to spoil her but we also knew that she tried so hard to take care of her balloon. In the end, we figured she's so young. Why not fix as many wrongs as we can while we still can? So we searched for the right store and bought her another. She got to pick this one out herself. Now she tells us the story of her balloon that flew away and happily plays with the new one that's replaced it.