Backyard Fun

I finally finished planting our little veggie garden a couple weeks ago.  We have lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, basil, parsley, strawberries, carrots, beans, and chives.  It's nice to go out to the garden for some fresh lettuce for sandwiches.  Can't wait for some of the other goodies to be ready too.

The other day the boys were playing at the neighbours while I watered and deadheaded the gardens.  When they came back we set up an outdoor kitchen using clippings from the garden and pots and  pans from their play kitchen.

And I actually got tot this for a few minutes while they made me flower soup. :)

Then it was time for some "real food" so we had a little picnic in the backyard.

Sometimes it's so nice to spend a sunny day at home in the backyard.

School's Out For The Summer!

Hurray for Casey and Liam!  Summer is here and they made it through their first year of preschool.  We couldn't be more proud of them. 

 We ran into some challenging times about half way through the year when they both decided they didn't like school and didn't want to go.  It took a lot of patience and thinking of different ways to get them to be ok with school...like stories and pictures about when mommy and daddy were little at school, sometimes staying for the first hour until they were comfortable with me leaving, and sometimes a promise to the candy store after school would do the trick.  It got to the point though that I was exhausted of battling and so I called their teacher and told her we were going to take them out of school.  She completely understood as she has twins herself but also tried to think of ways to help.  It turned out after making the call Liam decided he wanted to go.  So the next day Liam went to school and Casey stayed home as he was sick anyway.  When we picked Liam up from school that day Casey showed interest in going next time.  From then on it was smooth sailing for the most part.  

Crafts for Miss Carmen

They had a great end of school party at the park with a concert by their music teacher Miss Sue plus a bouncy castles, bubbles and face painting.  It was a great way to celebrate.

 

Congratulations boys!! :) 

Happy Summer Solstice

We welcomed the first day of summer with a little help from Jeremy Fisher, Elliott Brood and Corb Lund last weekend in Banff at the performance in the park.  So much fun with friends on a beautiful summer day in a beautiful setting.

Luckily Casey and Liam had their good buddy Ollie to keep each other entertained as well.

Couldn't leave without a little memento of Elliott Brood.

Happy solstice!

Dinosaur Provincial Park, Father's Day & 4th Birthdays

Last weekend the celebrations continued as we ventured into the badlands of Dinosaur Provinvial Park to celebrate Father's Day as well as Casey and Liam's 4th birthday.  We rented a beautiful canvas tent and enjoyed nature in comfort....

The canvas tent came equipped with everything we needed, all we had to bring was clothing and food...including cupcakes from communitea!

Make a wish!!

It rained that day before we arrived and a little in the evening which made for some slippery, muddy conditions on our after dinner hike...

On Father's Day the boys gave their Daddy some beautiful paintings and then we went exploring the area where dinosaurs once roamed...

And who knew you could find a cactus growing in Alberta? So cool!

Definitely a cool experience that I highly recommend if you're ever in the area.

The boys birthday was on a Monday so we had friends over for pizza and cake.  It was a busy day to get ready right after getting home from our weekend away but we managed to pull it off.

Their first day of being 4 years old started with birthday pancakes!  

Then we got the goody bags ready...

And having twins means baking two cakes...

Chocolate candy kachow cake for Liam 

And a pink "salmon" fish cake for Casey 

Our little blue house was soon filled with friends and laughter as we celebrated these two special boys...

  

   

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes and love!

Birthday Weekend

We're two down and two more to go for this little family of gemini's of ours.  We had some very special visitors here to help celebrate.  My parents, along with my Nana and Aunt Sue drove out in the RV from ontario.  We had a couple days to hang out in Canmore and then headed to Invermere BC for our first camping trip of the season where we got to sleep in a tipi!!

Fun was had by all.  Shopping, go karting, hot springs, camp fires and good company!

Casey and "The Birthday Girl" as he called me that day

Liam and Daddy

The boys doing their "work"

Ice cream after the hot springs

Birthday celebration for Rob, Myself, Nana G and the boys

Seconds after this birthday photo was taken the cake almost took a spill but thanks to my Mom's cat-like reflexes she caught it before it landed all over my Nana!

Sister's

The boys by the water testing out their new water squirters

 I got totally spoiled with a couple big surprises for my birthday.  A ukulele from my parents which I've been wanting for so long.  They've given me every instrument I own, there's nothing like the gift of music.  And Rob and the boys are getting me a new oven that I get to pick out (which I've also been wanting ever since we moved into our little blue house.)  So lucky and so thankful.

Our company continued on their journey to see more of BC on sunday and we headed back to Canmore after some time spent at the beach flying kites and playing in the sand.

Looking forward to our next adventure and more celebrations this weekend!  We're going to spend a night at Dinosaur Provincial Park and celebrate Father's Day and Casey Liam turning 4 years old! 

Have a great day everyone and thanks for all those birthday wishes! :)