Birthday girl!

Wow - our baby girl is 2! I can hardly believe it :) We had a chilled out morning on Wednesday opening presents and then had a party for her in the afternoon. Picture a lot of crazy kids running around like mad things followed by pizza, cake and more present opening! She was a very lucky girl and got lots of super gifts. Mummy and Daddy got her the trike you see above which she just loves but she probably loves her new babies and baby related toys even more! I think she has 5 different babies now along with a stroller, highchair, changing bag and accessories. What more could a girl want (or her big brother apparently!).

It has been a very big week for Emily as she started school on Tuesday. She will be going two mornings a week just like Oliver does. The first day she was tearful when I left her but did fine. On Thursday she cried a little when I left but when I picked her up she was happily reading a book and was right in the middle of the action!! I think she's going to love it and have so much fun.

This week we filled in all the paperwork for Oliver to go to a summer camp called Adventures Bound. It's aimed at children starting kindergarten in the fall and he said he really wanted to try this rather than staying at his school during the summer. So he will finish at Goddard on June 7th and then do this every Tuesday and Thursday during the summer break. It will be an all day thing so hopefully he will get used to that routine and he'll learn a little about what it's like to go to kindergarten. The only downside is that the camp will be at a different school to the one he will be going to but hopefully it won't confuse him too much!! He has been doing so well recently and is just full of questions and wanting to learn so much - we couldn't be more proud.

The weather has been just gorgeous. The huge pile of snow is long gone and we have been outside almost every day and needing sunscreen sometimes!! Crazy crazy weather but enjoying every minute!

Check out Oliver's singing and dancing videos - he wants to be a singer when he grows up (but only after he's been a firefighter).

Melting snow!!

BIG puddles!!

Some kids built a tunnel in the big pile of snow so Oliver took advantage

Emily got tired at a play date and snuggled with Casey - awww :))

My two monkeys!

Trying to figure out the remote

She likes to eat dirt apparently

Sunshine - yay!

Testing out the seesaw

Sitting on the toybox

New Hello Kitty sunglasses

Eating outside for the first time in 2012

They look like 2 old biddies sat there

Time for smores!

New butterfly tube to crawl through

Oliver snuggling up with Emily's bear

She's been eating dirt again and now playing with bubbles - lovely!

First day at school!

New castle to hide in!

Oliver trying out the "girl" glasses

Pizza time!

Yep, my own work again ;)

Slightly overwhelmed by the Happy Birthday thing!

But the cake tasted great!

New baby, new stroller - happy girl!

Testing the trike outside

Oliver mowing the lawn - one day this will be real!!

Emily got a new blanket to snuggle under at TV time!

Oliver and Emily ensuring all the babies are well cared for!

It snowed!

Yes - we finally had a snowstorm!!! I'm not sure how much we got in the end but it was enough for Jon's car to get stuck - twice. Thanks to a helpful neighbour we were able to get the car back on our driveway and then Jon was able to clear the snow to get back in the garage. Fun times!!

The snow came last Tuesday night into Wednesday which just happened to be Mikayla's 4th birthday! Thankfully we were able to make it through the snow to her party and both kids had a lot of fun. We had dinner with the family that evening and then more birthday cake back at Grandpa and Grandma's house afterwards. Safe to say Oliver is more than eager to go to Mikayla's house for a play date because she got the biggest train set he had ever seen :)

Emily is most definitely showing her girlie side at the moment. Both kids still had Christmas money to spend so we went to Toys r Us last week and she chose a new doll. Just a simple one that doesn't do anything but she thinks it's the best thing ever. It pretty much goes everywhere with her and she takes baby to bed every night. I should count the number of times she says baby each day (along with no......).

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Mall of America with some friends and Oliver went on some of the rides at the theme park for the first time. He had a really great time and I was surprised that he even went on the ferris wheel! I think Emily would have gone on everything in a heartbeat but she is still a couple of inches too small for most of the rides. Still, we found a couple of things she could do and she was very patient.

Last weekend we went bowling - another thing Oliver really enjoyed doing. He got very excited waiting for his turn and was telling everyone when it was their turn to go! Emily got to play as well. She was having a rough morning but liked pushing the ball down the ramp!!

We received a letter last week from kindergarten asking if we were enrolling Oliver in school for September. It has been sent back saying yes as we still really hope that he'll be ready. Our feelings sway back and forth between yes and no on an almost daily basis. As parents we don't want to do the wrong thing but it's not like anyone has a crystal ball! Today for instance, he befriended a girl at a play area who he'd never met before and was happily playing with her for a while. He was quite sad when she had to leave!! That sort of confidence is something he wouldn't have displayed a year or even 6 months ago. And his interest in learning is definitely increasing day by day which is wonderful to see. Anyway, several months to go before we need to make a final decision so let's see :)

Emily and her Valentine's bear

Oliver and his bendy banana - made me laugh anyway!

On the carousel

On the train with Celia and Nya

Emily on one of the smaller rides - she doesn't seem impressed

And on the little bus!

Oliver waving from the ferris wheel!

Emily "walking" in the snow

Oliver showing us a leaf and a piece of snow he thinks is shaped like a leaf :)

We go to a play time most Wednesday mornings where Oliver is obsessed about building a box he can sit in!

Happy girl at breakfast time!

My lovely kids (one to remind them of later....)

Oliver with his friend Maya and her new baby sister, Corinne

Emily catching up on the Sunday news

Bowling!!

It's even fun for the little ones!!

It's a sign of the future. Jon has even had Oliver playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Help me!!

Happy breakfast part 2. Different day, same pajamas!!

Oliver's family portraits: Mummy, Oliver, Emily and Daddy

The new baby!

Cheese :))

The night before around 9pm - freezing rain

Less than 12 hours later - yes, it's the same bush!!

Jon's car stranded on the driveway. The white car belonging to the neighbour had a broken axle after he reversed it off his driveway - ouch.

Playing at Mikayla's party

Pizza time!

The birthday princess :)

When we got home the snowplough had been and made this rather large pile in the middle of the cul de sac

We built a snow fort - well, kind of!

Birthday celebration part 2!

Oliver on top of the big pile!

Celia and Oliver having "coffee" together

Emily looking very cool wearing the builder's hat backwards.

Oliver took this nice picture of mummy and Emily :)

Emily knocked Oliver's hat and this is where it ended up - he thought it was pretty funny!!

"Touchdown - ah ooohhh!!!!"