If my week is anything like this I can't promise I won't eat all the ice cream

Phew that was a mouthful. Yesterday morning was crazy. We decided to head into Toronto to get my passport renewed. Ethan woke up at 5 am and wasn't going back to sleep. Ava was also woken up by his happy state. The rest of the morning was full loud regret of having woken up to early. The title, is the comment I made to Ant as we wrestled the bambino's out the door.
The rest of the day went rather smoothly, we made it to the passport office in only 4 hrs ( because some of my readers may not have caught the the tone, I should point out it only should have taken about 2 hrs). I miss placed my birth certificate, Ava needed a change of clothes due to the horrible diapers we switched to to save a little money, so not worth it, but that's another story. I could go on and on, but really I'd rather talk about the fun stuff. We went for a tour of the mall, there was a hot air balloon fountain that the Bambino's loved to watch. There was also a stop at Ikea, I love that place. We got something new to store the Bambino's toys. Not that the diaper boxes weren't working I thought that these might be a little more durable and suit the living room decor a little better. I went through all their toys today and wow this thing holds a lot. Ava really likes to stack the bins together, in the store she kept making piles with them. Ikea is a great place for kids to roam although Ethan just wanted to jump on all the beds. After getting through Ikea, we headed back to Ants hotel room to watch the planes fly over head. Ethan (and dad) kept jumping up and running to the window every time one went over head. We were right beside the airport so it was quite frequent. We chilled out for awhile waiting for the traffic to die down so the drive home would not be as long as our morning adventure. It was worth the wait we sailed all the way home.

Stung by a Bee

Ava is a trooper, we were all hanging out in the back yard. Ava started cringing and rubbing her hands together. I went to investigate, there was a honey bee in her wee hands. I tried to act calmly as I got the bee out of her tight grasp. I gave her a hug and off she went rubbing her hand. She hasn't really complained to much about it, but her fingers and hand are swelling something crazy. Poor Girl!

Happy Traveler

We took the dogs for a walk on Sat. This picture of Ava I took by reaching around the stroller so she didn't know I was going to take it. I know it's really blurry, but I had to share. Looks like she's really enjoying the walk doesn't it.......

Why I Love My Sister

I think this picture sums it up in a nutshell
We are friends, family and oh so crazy!
Hang in there babe
Love you like crazy!

21 Months

Personality at 21 months, so soon you will be two and then off to collage.
All I feel these days is that everything is flying by, I keep trying to just breath and slow down to watch you both. My camera seems stuck on the shelf as my hands are busy trying to catch up with all the destruction in your wake. Nothing in this house goes untouched, it is you play ground. Right now as I write I should be cleaning up the paper you've pulled out of the filing cabinet, closing all the cupboards and drawers in the house (they are all open), picking up all the toys all over the floor, but instead I'm writing this so I have something to look back on and say oh ya.....

Ava's doing.....

• dancing and sing, loves to play the piano
• can talk but would rather you just read her mind it's much easier that way
• still in love with juice
• Loves hanging out with our dog Penny in the back yard, follows her all around the yard talking and giggling away to her
• doesn't lose her temper very easily
• loves her books
  
• is super shy and any time she is scared she sticks her fingers in her ears

Ethan's doing....

• Moving, I don't think he stops while he is awake
• eating, loves food he's loke his dad and gets really grumpy when he isn't fed in 3 hr intervals
• getting into new things, no stone is left unturned. He must know what everything is and how it works. He's just figured out how to turn on and off our lamps and thinks it's the neatest thing since sliced bread (which he takes for granted)
• loves to talk, knows so many words although most people wouldn't be able to understand what he is saying.
• is learning patients although it is a ruff road
• as of yesterday his new favorite word "NO" so fun, but super cute right now

Happy Father's Day!

Wading Through Life

Sorry every one I've been feeling boring lately, so I don't post anything.... then your board because there is nothing to read.I guess I could tell you the Bambino's are testing boundaries. Hitting, throwing and screaming till they throw up, but some how I have created a bubble as to not remember any of these incidences with any clarity after the fact. Forget and move on.

I thought my camera was getting old, it was turning gray, turns out that it was just layers and layers of dust....... not really because I would never let dust actually touch my camera, but the situation called for a dramatic description and cobwebs come with spiders eww gross......

I made time to process last weekends pictures this morning.....

What's For Dinner

I'm so glad to have a stove/oven again and a full sized fridge. I'm actually cooking and Ant hasn't really complained to much about it :)
So tonight for the kids I cook up some leftovers in the microwave see I'm putting the stove to good use..... well with all that effort put forth I was expecting Bambinos to be all greatful and come running into the kitchen and gobble up all the food in sight..... what is that not realistic?
Once the shock wore off that this indeed was not what happened, Ethan on my lap whining with every bite and Ava running off in terror at the sight of a noodle. I peacefully pretended that all was going as planned for the evening and had my sister talk me through dinner so as not to have gone through it alone. Comfort in numbers right?
Ava seemingly content with passing up dinner hung out in the living room till Ethan was done. And when I reached her I knew why, apparently she had preempted this horrible dinner disaster by saving her sandwich from lunch somewhere so as to avoid a run in with such vile noodles and GREEN peas.

In other news we went to the local library today for the first time, the children's book selection was a little sad. I managed to find one that Ava seems to have fallen in love with. Go here if you want to check out her new favorite book. I think I read it over a hundred time today :)

She Held My Hand

A walk for miracles....
I will hold this memory in my heart forever.
On our walk Ava and I ended up on our own, she just couldn't keep up the pace. Ethan was in the stroller and Aunti Nikki, Mr. Chris and daddy had the advantage of longer legs. We watched as everyone got further away. It was one of those moments where everything becomes so clear, when all the baggage of life slips away and you are left only with what really matters. I felt her little hand gripping my finger, tears filled my eyes, tears of joy and of sadness. I got to walked on Sunday with my daughter, hand in hand, with her little heart beating. I am blessed, I felt in that moment for anyone not so lucky as us..... We almost reached our goal and next year plan to exceed it.
Thank You for all your support.

Our Day To Walk

We are up nice and early...... getting ready to leave for Ottawa. It is our time to show our support to the hospital and the great staff who saved Ava's life. I want to thank everyone for their pledges and if you haven't yet here is the link Walk for Miracles. Every penny counts so please help!

In the true spirit of travel Ethan was sick last night. I'm thinking coffee will be a friend of mine today. We have a 2 hour drive, I spent the hours up last night holding on to the idea I could sleep in the car only to realize this was just a dream (the sleeping in the car part not the being awake for hours :P). My sister and her husband are carless for the next couple of days so we are taking both of our cars today, it's all good though as I said coffee is a friend of mine. I'll try to take lots of pictures, have a great day!

A Breakfast Show

Ethan loves it when you say ewww gross. So this means his main goal in life right now is to gross us out. A favorite is running around with the toilet brush, because I can't help it I have to react. So he gets the reaction he's looking for every time. So with his Uncle Jon and Antie Amelia to witness his hilarious high jinx, he streaked through the kitchen as we ate our breakfast waving a wet toilet brush for all to see. And yes as always I reacted in disgust chasing a giggling little boy down the hall, leaving everyone else laughing in hes wake.

Over The Weekend

We are almost a week into June and all you've got to read about is Ants Birthday.

We have had lots of traffic in this house..... I'm slowly adjusting to this new pace, the bambino's however love all this attention. I don't think we've had more then a day go by without a guest or two. As you've noticed the blogging thing has slowed down(I heard somewhere it was rude to ignore guests, go figure) as well as the photography(which sucks cuz I was really enjoying all the pictures I was capturing in Thunder Bay).

Brian and Mel's Visit
We had a great week although Mels to do list did not get done. All the important stuff got done, a baby registry, some pics, and lots of laughs. I think she has evidential proof that I was singing about my ankles. Oh well....

The bambinos had a blast, it didn't take long for either of them to warm up to Mel (or Brian when he finally made it poor guy).

A Tiger Note
Ethan's new found love for Tiger......

Carrying him around and making sure everyone knew what a great bouncer he is. Did you know that's what tigers do best?

Last, but Least.....
I know this post is really long, but I just have to say I have the most beautiful friends......


Oh and Nik put in some over time on her home computer......

He he he

Happy Birthday Daddy

Happy Birthday Ant
Love you
Hope you had a great day