Noah's Weekend Away

Again, a weekend behind... I will hope to get caught up this week!! 

 Last weekend Noah went to the lake for the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. He wasn't too sure of the idea at first, but once they showed up he perked up!!     
         

 

 As hard as it is to let him go, I know he was going to have a blast and that Grandma and Grandpa were just as excited as he was. Turned out to be a perfect weekend weather-wise!             

 Em was pretty grumpy with teething, but just like her brother, lying in Mom's bed made her happy. 

With Noah away, we decided to do the bedroom floors while he was gone, so we got started Friday shortly after her left!            

 

 It was a beautiful night, so I had invited over some friends for a bonfire, it quickly turned into a girls night. M took it in good humour, dressed himself up in dress shirt, pants and shoes, and made drinks and shots for us ladies all night - completely surprising me!!

It was a fun night, that ran early into the morning! But I did manage to sleep in on Saturday before we got started on the floors again!!  

 

 We worked away at the floors all while enjoying some one on one time with Miss Em!! While I was in the shower and Daddy was "watching" Em... this is the image I received on my phone.. 

Too funny!! 

 We loved getting updates on Noah!! Crazy how much we missed his crazy personality! 

 

 We managed to get the whole bedroom done and half of the walk in closet! 

Sunday morning we decided to go down to the lake and take advantage of another beautiful day!! We left a little later than planned, but it was super foggy at the lake, so it worked out fine. We loaded up the boat and were off for the day on the lake! It was a perfect day on the water! 

Heck even the dogs had fun! We taught Maggie how to climb the boat ladder,  but we are still working on teaching her how to jump in.     

Both kids napped well on the boat, including Daddy!! 

Overall, this guy had a fantastic weekend away!!! 

And apparently after separating the kids for the weekend, it made them closer because come Monday and Tuesday, they were the best of friends, with no typical sibling behaviour haha. 

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

 

It's hot and it's sunny out and we are taking full advantage of this weather while we can. We had one chilly week this month and I was sure it was here to stay, but it turned around and it's gorgeous!!   

Luckily we are still swimming with thanks to the pool heater. We have been keeping it around 87-90 degrees, running it only overnight utilizing the solar cover to help seal in the heat. Em is a jumping in machine and Noah is pretty much swimming without a swimming aid of any kind, we do have him wear his puddle jumper if we have friends over because it gets too chaotic with too many kids. But overall we are really impressed with how well Noah is doing.        

 

 He is enrolled in swimming lessons again right now on Tuesday mornings, while it's only been a week, he is loving it. That is all we have him enrolled in this fall. Unfortunately I couldn't get Emilya in to a swimming class, but chances are she wouldn't be a fan of it because she wants to swim on her own now with her puddle jumper and does not like being held -  she's Miss Independent.       

 We are in the process of coming up with some fall plans including going to my Dads for a weekend with kids, we have family photos booked, some fun day trip ideas, and just like the rest of this year, I have a feeling this fall will zoom on by!! I'm still wondering where summer went!!         

 

The good news is Maggie seems to be all healed up, just in time to chase leaves as they fall off the trees. I don't know if I mentioned it on here, or just on Instagram (that's where my daily posts went haha) but she had a front leg injury, that ended up needing anti-inflammatories and what turned out to be 1 week of strict rest and 2 more weeks of restricted activities. We are finally able to let the dogs outside to play together and get back to walking now at night. I'm not a fan with how early it is dark now and that's only going to get worse, so I got Maggie a light up dog collar so I can at least see her.        

 Here is to hoping we can fit in some more fall bonfires and swimming!!     

 Happy first day of fall friends!! 

Baseball Finally/ Zoo Trip

Somehow I'm a weekend behind... so I will quickly recap last weekend, not this past weekend.  

 Friday night M had his first ball game of the year-end tournament. I tried to get a babysitter, but she was busy, so I stayed home with the kiddos.  

 Saturday morning M had a few more games, so we took the kids to the first game and they both behaved soo well!! I actually got to watch some of the game!! Don't get me wrong, they were busy, but it was good!! A good way to end the season. I decided to take them home before the next game, which of course Noah didn't want to, but we didn't pack a lunch, so we went and picked up lunch. We came back home to eat it, and I managed to get the kids down before everyone arrived, as we were hosting the ball party. Unfortunately the weather was pretty cool, but we cranked the heat on the pool, so the kids could enjoy swimming.              

 It was nice to have everyone over and catch up with everyone, considering I don't make it to many games anymore. Both Noah and Emilya are pretty sure we need a bull dog puppy    
    

I mean it was super cute.... 

 I pretty much failed at taking pictures because it was soo busy. There may have been more kids than adults!! But everyone seemed to have fun. We had a steak supper. This little girl was exhausted by the end of the party!!

We let Noah stay up until everyone left which was 8:30, so past his bedtime, and he was tired, in fact all the boys were, considering this is what they looked like when we were saying goodbye:

   

 Sunday morning we decided we were going to hit up the Brantford Zoo. I love how small this zoo is, just perfect for the kids age!   The kids were pretty excited for another adventure family day!! 

 

There is a petting area right when you go in and this girl was a huge fan of the goats.... 

She hugged every single one...

 

 

We quickly learned that Em is like a little animal whisperer. We saw EVERY animal at the zoo, with the exception of the lynx. Even if animals were sleeping, they would wake up when she walked by and not because she was screaming either, she was soo happy!! 

 Noah wanted to feed the deer again:  

We were finished by 12:30, so we grabbed some lunch on the way home and did our best to keep the kids awake on the way home again, which meant M in the back with them and me driving. But it works. And it ensures down time for everyone if the kids don't skip their nap. We made it home with smiles:

Miss Em was pretty much smiling the whole day, she has such a personality and I love watching it come out more and more. 

After the kids nap we enjoyed a swim, despite the air being cooler. Crazy to think by now we would have our pool closed, but we have extended our swim season with the pool heater. 

It was a fun weekend!! 

Darian Lake/ Luke Bryan

A few weekends ago we took a one night getaway to Darian Lake.    

 Mike took the day off work on Friday and our plan was to leave by 8 AM, however Em ended up sleeping past 8, so leaving by 9, became the new goal, which we did! We had the longest wait at the border, in which we learned we could teach Noah to pee in a cup... and Em managed to have a 15 minute nap - that's it!!  

 

 We made it to the hotel by 2:00 and luckily I was ready! I just had to change my shirt! So we checked in and then hit up the amusement park with a very tired little girl and an excited little boy. My sister and her family were there as well. We did a few rides before the I had to meet my sister for the Luke Bryan concert. 

 

 We decided on VIP tickets this time, since it was our only concert this year. Well it was simply amazing. Aside from waiting in the wrong the line ups, we finally ended up where we needed to be. With VIP it gave us swag and a private concert.     

We had these shirts made:

 

 We got front row for the VIP concert and it was simply amazing!! I almost got an autograph! 

 

We had second row seating for the concert which was awesome as well!! We missed the first opener, but did get to see Brett Eldridge! 

And while we were at the concert, the boys and kids were off having fun of their own. I loved getting videos of them on rides and wasn't slightly jealous I wasn't with them. I pretty much wished I could be in both spots.... haha Both the kids seemed to really enjoy the rides!

After doing the rides in the kiddy area they went swimming back at the hotel and then hit up supper!! Em was fading fast... 

She didn't make it back awake. 

Both kids slept well in the hotel room which was good to see, because you just never know! 

 Saturday morning we had a quick breakfast before we packed up and hit the park up to do the Ferris wheel and a few more rides. It just wasn't warm enough to use the water park.

 

 

 

 

 

We left around 11 AM, hit up lunch and then TJ Max on the way home, we pushed our luck there and didn't make it to Target, as both kids were exhausted.

But I bought 2 pairs of jeans, we let the kids pick out a toy each... Em tried to convince us to take home this ginormous ugly lion, but we convinced her a giant teddy was a better idea? Apparently she is goes big when you let her pick. Noah had a very tough and rather humorous decision to make between a tractor and bruder dump truck/excavator. He ended up going with the Bruder, but was second guessing his decision. But he sure was excited to play with it when we got home. I also found Em's bedroom bedding. I'm in love with it: 

Part of me wants to kick her out of her crib just so I can do her room all up!! 

Sunday we had a much needed low key day. 

We hit up Home Depot to get some project supplies, they had long naps, we had a little swim and a little bike ride and off to bed. 

Overall it was an awesome weekend getaway. We all had fun and it has pretty much inspired us to do family adventures monthly!! Although September got 2 with Storybook Gardens and Brantford Zoo!! 

Noah's First Day of Preschool

Well it's official Noah is preschool for the whole school year this term. Right now he is going Thursday's, but I'm planning on having him go twice a week come the new year. The preschool he goes to is from 8:30-11:30, so he is home in the afternoon with us, which is great. The morning is totally enough for him right now!  

 

 Last spring we started him going when she had room, which I think was harder on him because it wasn't consistent, not to mention it was a big change for him. We did 4 weeks in the summer and he did great, had a lot of fun and was looking forward to going back. We were having issues with him not telling his teacher when he had to pee and he was having accidents. 

 

 Well yesterday rolled around and Noah was excited for his first day!! 

 

At drop off, I reminded him where the bathroom was, he gave me a few hugs, but was all smiles and no tears!! I will say it makes life  much easier when this is what happens Vs. the meltdowns. 

But I sure do miss him when he's gone and wonder what he's doing, if he's having a good time, is he being polite, is he missing me?

When I went to pick him up, he greeted me with a huge hug. His teacher said he had a great day! She said there were a few times when she saw him missing me and reminding himself that I was coming to pick him up (soo sweet), but he didn't cry.   

 When we got home he told me all about his day, gave me lots of snuggles and told his sister how much he missed her too. As hard as time is apart, it is soo sweet when we are back together!!  

 We have a busy weekly schedule now:

 Monday: Playgroup (if we go). I leave this optional because if our weekend is really busy, sometimes it is nice to stay home.

Tuesday: Grandma/Noah day, which will be changing a bit in a few weeks. Noah will be starting swimming on Tuesday mornings, so Em will hang out with Grandma, Noah and I will goto swimming and then swap back off with Grandma, so he still gets his time with Grandma and I get some one on one time with Em.  

Wednesday: Library program 

 Thursday: Noah has preschool and Em has her pre-school program as well with her teacher. He comes to the house and works with her every other week because of her hearing loss. 

 Friday: we have nothing.