A Day in May

The longest winter of my life has finally gone.

The color green is exploding everywhere.

In the last two days the Silver Lace Vine in my backyard has exploded thanks to the glistening sun's rays aiming down on it.

This weather warms me inside and out.

Incredibly Unique

Every Tuesday, after dropping off James to preschool, Parker and I head for a walk. Parker in the last month has refused to go in the stroller. Our power walks are now slow, painfully slow.

I try to remember what my aunt once told me: "I remember walking with my son when he was little. I was impatient and would tell him to hurry up. He would stop and look at everything. Now that he is a man, his stride is much bigger than mine. I have to say, "Slow down."This pass Tuesday I took pictures during our walk. December 9th and no snow. Got to capture that! But by the weekend, snow arrived by the buckets. On Friday night, Parker bundled up like a marshmallow took a walk with mommy. Not used to walking in the snow our walk was at turtle speed. But it was beautiful night and my aunt's words stuck with me. Near the end of our walk Parker said, "I'm tuck! I'm tuck! (stuck)" I laughed. He got mad!

A year ago it was James first time to see snow. (Picture below, Dec 07) If I could have read his mind he was probably saying, "This is weird. You Canadians are crazy to live like this!" (Yes, we are!) Twelve months later he is getting more curious: Why is it snowing? Where is the snow going? Can I eat it? And he kicked into a real Canadian when he started making snow angels.
I'm not crazy about winter. I'm not keen about the mercury dropping below -10 Celsius. But having these boys helps me enjoy some great features of this season.

Seasonal Shift

Autumn has crept in, leaving summer in the dust.
The night crawls into day earlier and I hide the beach towels with hesitation - not totally ready to let go.
Luckily the world was designed to turn summer into autumn s l o w l y.
It would be dreadfully hard to fall into fall overnight! Don't you think?












The kokanee salmon at our city creek is the pivotal sign that the season has shifted. James joined his preschool on the Kokanee Field Trip.
All he wanted wanted to know was where the sharks where hiding!













Kid Rock says it the best in his song All Summer Long, " ...nothing seems as strange as when the leaves begin to change..."

Camping!

Our first camping weekend was so much fun that come Sunday we rather have stayed than pack up and go back home!

Say it isn't SNOW!

Last night we entertained a couple from Quebec who where happy to be away from all their snow back home. We were proud to say that snow just doesn't happen after March. I think by saying that so boastfully we jinxed it!!

Snow poured down from the Kelowna skies all morning. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! It has been such a long spring and now seeing this white stuff makes me really tired (or was that from the effects of last night!) and makes daddy act silly.


I know it's all about being Canadian to enjoy all sorts of random weather conditions but snow in April in the Okanagan is illegal!!! Just last weekend we enjoyed a warm day at the park!

I think mother nature is suffering with a bout of Global Warming! I do hope that our planet Earth gets well soon ~ buy green!

Spring in the Air?

Just when I thought spring has finally arrived I wake up at 2:00 this morning to snow and a crying Parker. After 2 hours of trying to sooth Parker I take off his boots and bars and bang he falls asleep. The little bum! Since being breast milk free Parker has not been wanting to be soothed by me. I wonder if this is his form of revenge? "Mommy doesn't want to nurse me. I'll show her!" Now that he is eating solids full time he wants to feed himself and will nod his head yes or no to which foods he likes and dislikes.

James is becoming quite the helper around the house. He brings his dirty clothes to the utility room to get washed, dresses himself and takes off his shoes and puts them away in a meticulous fashion. He loves to ride his 'motor bike' (tricycle) but can't seem to get the pedal movement mastered. He continues to be the life of the party and when he gets carried away he does 'time out'. Yesterday he had to do a Gap Timeout! There he sat on the floor at the Gap...too funny!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Parker is crawling at full speed to try and catch James who is running around the house while singing or talking. The words, "No, don't touch that." is frequently used and the boys seem oblivious to these words by day's end. Parker has 8 teeth now and loves Cheerios and won't bother eating baby food, which we don't blame him. Baby food isn't very tasty. He is a typical baby learning to eat by throwing his food on the floor!
We enjoyed a warm November and eagerly welcomed the snow that arrived last week to see James reaction to it. He liked that taste of it and loves to put his boots on to stomp on the snow. Now we'll need to show him how to make a snowman and a snowball. And most importantly we'll need to tell him the importance of not eating yellow snow!
It has been six months since James arrival and he is now above average in his weight! He eats like an adult: two toasts, a yogurt, an orange and a class of chocolate milk is his regular breakfast. His feet are so thick that we have trouble finding shoes that fit correctly! James loves going out and socializing. If we aren't out and about there is a restless boy in the house. If Parker grows to be as social we'll have quite the happening household! As for now Parker continues to be a quiet baby with great admiration for his big brother.