Easter

It has been a fun Easter weekend!! On Friday morning we went to a local egg hunt. It wasn't great but Oliver had fun despite the fact it was freezing!!! We went to a coffee shop afterwards to get warm :) On Saturday morning we went over to Grandpa Ray's and Grandma Sandy's. They set up a little egg hunt in their basement. Even Emily got the hang of picking the eggs up and putting them in her basket! The kids and Jon stayed there for lunch while I went off to work. Today the weather has been much better so we took Scoop to the off lead area for a run this morning and then had some time at the playground before dinner. We even managed to get a little weeding done in the garden :) The Easter bunny was very good to the kids and Oliver is loving all his chocolate and presents! Emily does not seem to be a fan of sweets of any kind but I'm sure she'll get some help eating them if needs be ;)

I went to Oliver's parent/teacher conference last week and he is doing really well. He seems to excel at maths and science activities which is great and a lot of the fears he used to have at home have gone or are going. He is a much more sociable child and enjoys his time at school.

We have had a rough week with Scoop being pretty sick. In the end she was diagnosed with pancreatitis which is a severe gastrointestinal illness. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink for 24 hours and we are now slowly building her food back up. She is doing better but still not quite herself and she seems to have some weird bumps all over her which may be an allergy - something I need to phone the vet about. We just hope she is well enough for her (and our) holiday - she is off to kennels on Friday whilst we are off to Buffalo, NY for a week. I will update again once we get back.

Popcorn!!!

At the Eagle's Nest for a birthday party

She just loves her books :)

I can be happy sometimes you know ;)

Oliver drew this self portrait at school!

Cheese!

Oliver at Friday's egg hunt - he had to borrow a hat and gloves from a friend. Oops, bad mummy!

Hanging out in the car waiting for Daddy and Oliver

Pretty Easter dress :)

Uh, what do I do with this???

Oh....now I get it!!

Checking out the loot from Grandpa and Grandma

"Driving" the school bus!

Mikayla, do you have to hug me?? And, mum, I'm trying to watch the TV!!!

Cousins hanging out!

Mum, help!!!!!!!

Sunday morning - checking out what the Easter bunny brought!

Oliver got Chuggington trains - he was so excited!!!

Emily on the slide this afternoon. She figured out how to get down it today - on her knees.....

Jon has no stamina and Oliver wants to climb again!

Outside!

We have enjoyed some wonderful spring weather over the past week so the kids have been playing outside quite a lot. I write this as the temperature is decidedly below average outside today and they are even talking about the dreaded "s" word making a brief return at the weekend. *Sigh*. This is why we try to make the most of the good weather while it's here :) Emily had a fantastic time crawling around on the driveway last week while Oliver was doing sidewalk chalk. They were both filthy but happy! And yesterday Emily had a go in the Little People car and Oliver was pushing her around - cute!

Emily is now sporting at least 3 of her first four molars! I had no idea until I managed to get a peek inside her mouth one day last week. Today she has been showing off by standing up unaided several times - she still needs to take the first step though. She is babbling away which is quite funny. I bought her a book while out shopping today and she was looking through it and talking away - another customer commented on how she was reading to herself :)

Oliver had a big breakthrough at school today - he actually sat and posed for his school photo!! This is the first time he's done it in almost 2 years of going to school which is amazing. He's coming on so well. He is getting very excited for our upcoming trip to Buffalo. Every day I have to show him on the calendar what day it is and what day we are going on the airplane. He thinks the airplane is going to be white and that we will pretty much land at Grandma Colleen's house!! I wish I was as excited about a plane trip with two young kids ;)

Grass!!! Yes, we have some :)

Playing catch

Our handsome young man

Emily and her friend Fiona on the swings - they could almost be sisters!!

Oliver on the balance beam

She's just posing - she's not quite ready to go down the slide on her own!

Oliver and Celia spinning around!

The fresh air is exhausting!!

See how high I can climb!!

Ice cream treats :)

Yum!!!!!

Say cheese :)

Emily loves this chair. And a photo of Oliver is not complete without bear and a toy!

There is a new coffee shop down the road from us called Bean Buddy - the owner gave the kids their own cuddly Bean Buddies (in Oliver's lap). Oliver loved the chairs - he said they were like cars!

Wanting to try out the ladder

Oliver enjoying the slide

Time to wash off all that outside dirt!!!

Ha! Invariably you will find Emily crawling around with a random toy in her mouth. This time is a "Little People" character :)

Crazy Oliver! They had mouth just eaten chocolate cornflake cakes which Oliver helped to make at the weekend.



Oliver has a wonderful memory for books and he knows them pretty much off by heart after 3 or 4 reads. Here is is "reading" one of his library books :)

Funny day!!

Oliver has just been cracking me up today so I thought I'd do a blog post :) He just comes out with some funny stuff. Jon and I were giggling at him at dinner time because he was being cute and he started crying :(( Obviously he doesn't like being made fun of - must remember to laugh at a different time!! I got a few videos of the kids being silly/cute today.

Emily's 12 month check went fine. She now weighs 23lbs 12oz (90th percentile) and is 30 1/4 inches tall (95th percentile). So she remains big but completely on track and in proportion :) She got three shots this time and obviously cried at the time but quickly got over it. Next visit is at 15 months. The poor thing had a crazy accident this morning though. We were in the bathroom and she was trying to pull herself up and she ended up cracking her chin on the toilet and cutting her tongue with her teeth :( Tongues bleed - A LOT!! Poor baby now has two perfect little teeth marks in the middle of her tongue but at least they will heal quickly.

The kids got their first visit to the playground in a while at the weekend. The weather is getting warmer - the vast majority of the snow has melted now but today it was really windy and bitter outside and we have rain forecast for the next week or so :( Spring is slow in bringing us some consistent sunshine. We can't wait to get outside more - Jon said that Emily enjoyed just sitting on the grass and playing with leaves!! And Oliver is keen to get back on his bike :)

OK, photo and video time!!

Emily loves to watch Sprout :)

And so does Oliver of course......

Book reading time (Oliver insisted Emily was tucked in as well!)

Who me?!

Yeah, I'm cute!!

Silly girl choosing to eat the bowl rather than her food ;)

Book reading time at the library with Celia

Aaaaaah!! Scary Oliver!!

BBQ in the snow :)

If you can't tell (which you can't!) Oliver is showing his Reese's bunny to the camera - before maliciously biting off his head!!

Emily trying to cover me in peanut butter

She does the shy look very well :)

Yep, we played this again today!! Oliver loves his board games and would play them all day if he had the choice.

One of Oliver's current favourites - Emily looks less than impressed though!

Whenever we get Emily from her room she says "hi" to us. Of course because I had the camera out she didn't but she was still being cute, especially with the stickers in her hair!!

Silly Oliver (and silly mummy......)