34 hours....

....that's how long we were in Regina for.  A whopping 34 hours.  We arrived at 8:30pm on Thursday and left at 6:30am on Saturday.  The reason for our quick little visit?  My brother's graduation from Police college.  It was a crazy whirlwind (had I known it was going to be so jam-packed, we would have planned things a little differently) but a wonderful whirlwind.  I am so glad that we went, and so glad that we brought the boys.

We met my parents at the airport at 5pm on Thursday and had some dinner at the little burger/pizza joint after we checked in (before we hit security).

Dinner date with Nana

Dinner date with Papa

After a quick trip through security (well, as quick as it could be) we made our way to the gate, where we saw our plane being loaded with bags....very exciting for the boys!  We bought smoothies and waited to board our plane.  We all ended up at the back of the plane with an extra seat between Nana and Papa and extra seats behind them.  It worked out well, as we were able to stretch out a bit.  There were TVs behind every chair, and treehouse was an available channel.....LOVE westjet!  The boys were kept happy between watching treehouse and playing with our iphones.  Drew slept for most of the flight, while Hunter stayed awake the entire time (amazing, since when we landed it was 10pm our time).

Once we arrived in Regina, we put Drew in Hunter's tiny stroller and went to claim our bags and get our cars.

He was exhausted

Hunter fell asleep as soon as we started driving in our van.  We found our hotel (the holiday inn) and quickly settled in.  It was a smooth transfer for both boys and both boys slept until 5am (Drew until 6) the next morning.  While the boys slept and I unpacked a bit, James ran out to pick up some milk/fruit and then headed to Jamie's rez to pick up some boxes that he wanted shipped to our aunt's house in Calgary (the next 4 weeks of training will be in Calgary for him.

Friday morning, we took Nana and Papa to McDonald's for breakfast and some playtime in the play-land and then we headed back to get ready for the first part of the graduation, the drill/fitness demonstration.  My brother was quite nervous about this part, as I guess he wasn't/isn't the best at keeping in step during the "drill" (marching).  I felt like he did a great job, and it was really neat to watch.  Hunter slept through a lot of the demonstration.

Drew had really wanted to stay at the hotel and go swimming.

I was a bit concerned as my brother seemed too far away, but all the corners were like that, so I suppose it was supposed to be like that.

My boys and their handsomeness

After this part of the grad, we left to go to UPS and ship those boxes for my brother.  We then headed back to our hotel for the boys to have a quick swim (Drew had been bugging me all morning, "when are we going to go swimming, mommy")  It was literally like a 20 minute swim.

We then had to rush back up to our room and get them ready to go to the actual ceremony, which started at 1:30.  We pull into the arts centre, where the ceremony was taking place and see all of the police getting out of their cars.  Drew says to me in a very concerned voice, "mommy, the police are here AGAIN" (he had some concern earlier in the day at the drill demo).  It was very cute, and funny that he hasn't really put it together that uncle Jamie is now one of them too!

The ceremony was great.  The boys weren't all that thrilled with it, so James took them out to the hall (where the rest of the kids were).  I really liked it though.  The speakers were really entertaining, and it went surprisingly quick (there were 40 graduates).

The "getting the certificate" part of the ceremony was a bit of a gong show.  They had roped off a section so that people could come up and take pictures when it was their family member/friend's turn.  They went in alphabetical order, to make it easier for people to know when their turn would be.  As soon as this was mentioned, EVERYONE with a camera ran up to the front.  This made it difficult for people to get a good photo (I had to throw a few elbows and still didn't get a good shot) and impossible for the people at the back to see what was happening (I had to show my mom the picture on the camera so she could get an idea).

The ceremony ended at around 3:30 and the boys had not had any lunch yet, so we headed to McDonald's where Hunter (and my dad) had quick naps.  Jamie texted us while we were there, asking us to bring an empty suitcase so that he could fill it up and send it home with my parents....my parents left to head back to the hotel to get it, then we all went over to the U of Regina to give the suitcase to Jamie, pick up a suitcase from him and take him to the dinner part of the day.

Everything started a bit late at this point.  Dinner was supposed to be at 6, but didn't start until after 7 and then speeches were after this.  My brother was giving a speech, so I really wanted to stick around to hear it.  The boys were spent though (it was approaching 11 our time) so James took them back to the hotel and I stayed on with my parents and went back with them.  Jamie did a great job with his speech, and even got an award......a funny award, made up by his peers, and probably not one that he would like the world to know about!  LOL

I am sooo tired.

Happy graduate!

Jamie giving his speech.

It was a great day.  We were all so proud of my brother for making it through, I'm sure it wasn't easy.  We were up early on saturday (4:30) to catch our 6:30am flight back home.  The flight went smoothly, with Hunter having a nap part-way through.  The plane was half-empty again, leaving us with 9 seats for the 6 of us at the back of the plane.....awesome!

Jamie flew home at 10 and is now home for a week before he flies to Calgary for the next part of his training.  After 4 weeks there, he will be starting his job in Golden, BC.

Congratulations, Jamie!  We are very proud of you!

Monday, Monday.....

Our water pump has been acting up.  It still worked, and pumped water through the house (at a lower pressure), but would not shut off...ever.  In the past, when this happened, it has meant that the water was low in the well or there was air in the line.  James checked and neither of these options was the problem...hmmm.  Dad came over and checked everything out as well.  We were under the impression that it was probably the pump itself that was the problem (it is over 30 years old) and when we called the dealer, were informed that a replacement would cost $700.00 (yikes!).  The man we spoke with though, talked us out of buying a new pump, saying that it was probably the jet that lies at the bottom of the well (a $100.00 fix).  So, yesterday, my dad came over and worked with James to see if they could fix our water situation.  It took all day, but they did it.  Our water is now working normally, we no longer have to go to the old basement to turn the pump on/off when we want to do laundry or flush the toilet.  Hurray!!

I was very helpful, taking pictures while the work was being done.

This was the difficult part, and had to be repeated many times, as the hoses kept rubbing up against the rocks in the well...

Papa down the well.

Earlier in the morning, I took Hunter to baby playgroup (Drew was in school).  We met at a friend's house and then all walked to the local park.  The kids had a great time.  I had forgotten our stroller, and was anticipating a nightmare of a walk home.  Sure enough, Hunter did not want to leave the park.  Thankfully, one of our friends had a wagon and offered H a ride home in that.  His mood quickly changed, and our walk back was actually fun!

That afternoon, I had an appt. with a specialist regarding my wisdom teeth.  He recommended I have the surgery to remove them all.  I booked a date, but I don't think I'll go through with it.  I'm only covered for half the cost, so even with the coverage, we'll still be out over $1000.00.  Hard to say....we'll see how bad they get, I guess.

After my appt. I came back home to pick H up and then off to the Glen we went to meet Drew after school and to have dinner with Nana and Papa.  James stayed back to fix some fence and get some other things done around the farm.

We are a family of cheepos.  I was at the grocery store after our park date and found this....couldn't resist.  We celebrated mother's day again with a yummy cake......tasted even better knowing it was half-price!

Happy Monday!

Mother's Day Weekend...

...did not start out on the best foot.  Drew came home from school and slept all afternoon.  He was warm and not feeling the greatest.  We were at nana's, so we woke him about 6 and then left for home at 7:30.    He was still kind of slow moving, but seemed to be feeling a bit better after his nap.  We were questioning whether we should head up to the cottage as originally planned, but decided to see how he felt in the morning.  I left for my walk with my friend Kelly (which was great) and then came home to Drew and James hanging out on the couch, Drew eating some vegetables (always a good sign).  He went to bed easily and James and I packed the van (only a few things, in case we decided not to go).

Once the boys awoke, we still weren't 100% sure if we should go.  Drew did eat breakfast, but didn't really seem himself.....we were all so excited to get back up to the cottage though, so we decided that the worst that could happen was that Drew would end up in bed up there all day.....at least we could look at the water.

Pizza and apples for breakfast???  Hell yes!!

The van was packed, and off we went.  Walmart was our first stop, to pick up some groceries and then we headed on to Ikea where we bought our new table for the cottage, along with hot dogs and ice cream for lunch.....yum!

Once we arrived there, the first thing on the agenda was cleaning and then fishing.  While I was cleaning, James took the boys down to the water to do some fishing.  This was the first time that Hunter had given it a try....he just batted the water with the rod, but seemed to be really excited to do this...hey, whatever works!

Next on the agenda was the assembly of the boys new climbing thingy.  We purchased this climber at Costco.ca and had it delivered to Tony's house, who then delivered it to our cottage.  It proved to be quite tedious to put together...but once done, the boys loved it!

I tried to keep Hunter away from the assembly.  There were many screws and things that he would lose.

Drew is old enough to help.

We made quite the Thomas track.  This track is a wee-bit annoying though, as it keeps falling apart.

Hunter reading a book on our bed.

The rest of the evening was wonderful.  Drew's friend Ryan came over and played with Drew for most of the evening, he even had some dinner with us (Drew was thrilled).  Hunter had a great time trying to keep up with the boys.

After dinner, there was a campfire at the fire pit, so James took the boys down while I did the dishes and tried to clean some more of the cottage.  Just as I was getting ready to head down to the fire, I heard a baby crying, which sounded like Hunter.  Sure enough, it was.  He was covered in blood.  Turns out he had tried to take off towards the water and slipped on some concrete steps, landing face first.  When he fell, he had bit his lip, really hard.  Poor little man had a pretty bad fat lip.

Drew was a great help.  "Mommy, he needs ice.  Let's get a freezie, that'll be like ice, and maybe I could have one too???"  Very cute, but a wonderful idea.  The freezie did act like an ice pack and I think eating the freezie helped Hunter calm down.

Bedtime was easy, as both boys were exhausted.  James and I watched a movie (I think it was called, "up in the air" on the computer, on the floor.  We had no furniture as we had taken the couch to the dump last fall, and our new table wasn't put together yet.

I woke up the next morning to big hugs from both my boys and these.....

I acted surprised for the boys' sake, but James and I snacked on them while watching the movie the night before.  They are buttertarts from "DooDoo's bakery" which is very close to the cottage and sells the best buttertarts ever.

And of course, the view was pretty great mother's day morning too!

James had made me a wonderful photo montage on the computer that brought tears to my eyes.  Once we'd had some buttertarts, and I had washed my face, we packed up and went into town.  James and I wanted to get some staples in the cottage so that we wouldn't have to bring so much stuff the next time we came.  We went to McDonald's first, to get some substantial breakfast into us, so there wouldn't be any freak-outs at the store due to low blood sugar ( I've been known to freak out on occasion).  The boys played a bit (this playplace is great as it has stairs for Hunter to climb up) and then we hit costco and loblaws.  Back to the cottage we went, where we all played and relaxed for a few hours before heading back to the Glen.  We had promised Nana we would be back for dinner to celebrate mother's day with her (and papa).

Traffic was brutal on the way home, took us over 3 hours to get to the Glen.  It proved to be worth it though, when we got there, Drew yells out, "Papa fixed the trampoline!!!"  This is the story that my parents have told the boys, that Papa was working very hard to fix the broken trampoline (that was destroyed by the wind).  In reality, they bought them another one, as the previous one was pretty messed up.  While James and Drew were walking out to use the trampoline for the first time, Drew spotted something else, which was in the cover-all.  It's so exciting to play at the Glen!  Nana took Drew on the new toy for ride...his night was made.

I ran out to pick up Swiss Chalet for our mother's day dinner.  We were originally planning on going to a restaurant, but decided against it as it would have been packed and the boys were kind of cranky and restless after being in a car for so long.

We headed home fairly early and all went to sleep fairly easily.  Cottage life is tiring!

Happy mother's day!!

We have found our love for gymnastics again! (I think)

Ever since Drew was 18 months old, I had him in gymnastics at Milton Springers gymnastics.  He loved it. Loved to run around, jump in the "pit" and swing on the bars.  Once Hunter became old enough, we enrolled him too (he loved it just as much).  Once Drew turn 4, he became too old to do "parent and tot" gymnastics and had to go into the class on his own.  At the Milton springers facility, parents have to watch behind a glass wall, and are discouraged from interacting with the gymnasts in any way, as it might distract them.  Drew was not cool with this.  He seemed to have fun during the class, but it was a gigantic fight to get him to class every week.  Finally, James and I just decided it wasn't worth it, and didn't enrol him again.
And then, I found cartwheels gymnastics.  This program is in Georgetown, is a smaller facility and the parents area is open and children are allowed to wave at their parents if they want to.  We took Drew and Hunter to their classes (which are held at the same time on tuesday mornings) and the whole way, Drew was telling us that he didn't want to go.  We then arrived and Drew said, "Hey, I've been here before" (in a really excited voice - we had been to drop-in there before) and then, he notices Larissa, a friend from his JK class!  He was THRILLED....awesome.
Hunter had a great time too, although he kept trying to go and do the things that his big brother was doing.

Another great thing about this centre is that there is a toy area for siblings to play in while the other is in class, or for them to play in after class....very thoughtful!

Nana and Papa came to watch their class, another reason why the class was so fun.  After gymnastics, we took the boys to McDonald's for lunch and a play (it was pouring rain).  Hunter fell asleep in the van on the way home and then Drew, James and I hung out quietly for the afternoon.  We ended up having to wake H up from his nap to take the boys to their doctor's appt.  Drew was getting his 3rd instalment of his Hepatitis shot and H had his 18 month check-up and needles (it's been put off for a few months because every time we make the appointment, he's too sick to get the shots).  Everything was all good at the appointments, both boys got suckers and neither cried!  Drew went first to, "show Hunty how to do it" and then he held Hunter's hand while he was getting his shots.  It was soooo cute!

Hunter getting weighed.

From there, James went in to work (a few hours late) and we drove up to the used children's store in the Moore park area of Georgetown as I'm looking for another stroller (didn't find a stroller, but found two identical trucks for the boys) and then we went on to Nana and Papa's for the evening.

Today started off as every other wednesday morning does, with me volunteering in Drew's class.  Larissa came bouncing in to class, so excited to tell Mrs. MacDonald that Drew was in her gymnastics class.  Fun!

Once I got home, James left for work and H and I hung out for the day.  He had a long nap (I had a little nap) and then we headed up to Nana and Papa's to pick Drew up.  It was a beautiful day, so we walked down to the park.  The boys had a great time (although Drew got a sippy cup to the mouth, he may have a fat lip tomorrow).

Papa brought the van to pick us up and then we spent the rest of the evening hanging out and eating dinner.  It was a quiet ride home, and bedtime went fairly easily...now I'm blogging and watching DVR'd TV.

Life is good!

And then there was the weekend....

It was a perfect weekend.  One filled with sunshine (ok, only for part of it, but still, it's a hint of what's to come, I hope), laughter and fun.

We started the weekend off with a good old fishing derby.  What could be better than that??  Honestly, I could think of a million things better than that, but I live with boys, so I have to go with the flow!

A quick stop at Canadian Tire to stock up on hooks and bait and off we went to the Mill pond in Milton.  The derby was for children 12 and under, although there seemed to be a lot of adults fishing.  Hunter and I walked around the Mill pond searching for James and Drew (we had stopped to register and get the tickets for the free hotdog and drink and managed to lose them).  While walking (H was in the stroller) the poor little guy fell asleep and missed the whole fishing part of the day!

Once I found my fishermen, I took Drew to get his hotdog.  He ate it, bun and all, for the first time!  He kept saying, "I love this place", followed by, "I love this hotdog".

YUM!

After a hotdog snack, we walked over to Rotary park and had quite a long play there.  There were a few other kids to play with and Drew did a great job sharing the tractors and trucks that we had brought...even though the other kids (and parents) did not follow the rules that James and I had set out for the toys...ahem, that's a whole other story!

Hunter finally woke up!!

Once the boys were played out, we walked over to the Ivy Arms and had lunch there.  It was delicious and both boys behaved fairly well.  It wasn't as busy as we thought it would be because it was a beautiful day and most people were sitting outside on the patio, leaving lots of room inside for us.

Drew had his haircut next, and then a quick stop at Walmart before we headed home.  Papa was there when we arrived, working on the International.  He managed to get it working, which means that once the land dries up a bit, the manure will be spread....woohoo!!

We all played outside for most of the afternoon/evening, and then had a yummy bbq dinner.  The boys were in bed fairly early and James and I watched a bit of tv and drank a bottle of wine....the signs of a good night!

Sunday morning found me up fairly early with the boys, so once James got up, I went back to bed...for 2 hours!!!  I must have been tired.  I got up to this scene....

I love my boys.

Upon James' instructions, we prepared to leave the house for the day.  This requires the chores to be done in the barn, food/milk to be prepared for the boys, the boys to be dressed, and both of us to be showered (although, that part doesn't always happen) and dressed.  We did it in record time, and off we went to Chuck E Cheese for the afternoon (my husband is the king of fun....seriously).

Hunter had his nap in his stroller, inside Chuck E Cheese.  He slept for a surprisingly long time, given how loud it was in there.  It was raining and a weekend, so I was expecting it to be jammed, but not so.

Drew had a blast, and so did James and I (and Hunter, once he woke up).  We ordered pizza, so we had lunch there.  Drew loves the pizza there, it is one of the few places that he will actually eat the pizza at.

On weekends, Chuck comes out, sings a song with the kids and then does a "scramble" for tickets.  It's amazing there aren't more fights over the tickets.....I've seen some parents get pretty aggressive!!

Hunter wasn't so happy when he woke up, but then settled in for some lunch and fun.

They love this basketball game.

Once both boys were awake, they played together for quite some time and then we were off to Toronto to celebrate Julia's 4th birthday at her party.

At one point, each of the kids was holding an IPAD and completely absorbed in what they were doing on it.  It seriously should have been a commercial for apple.

Lisa and her tray of toppings for her cupcakes.

Hunter loved the marshmallows, and would grab as many as he could from the bowl and shove them in his mouth before anyone could stop him.

Happy birthday, J!  We love you!!!  xoxoxo

At one point during the night, careers came up.  Katie has a "citibank" puzzle set from N's work.  When asked what his daddy does, Drew says, "my daddy goes and meets planes.  He gets the bad guys from the planes and stops them from coming to Canada.  He protects us".  So cute.

It was a really fun party, both boys had a great time....and not surprisingly, fell asleep on the way home.  Once we got them in bed, James and I watched "Date night".  I really liked the movie, although it did kind of upset me a bit.  The whole, "boring, married couple" that they were spoofing seemed to kinda be us......it rang a little too close to home.

More on that later....maybe.

On another note, today (May 2) Hunter peed on the potty twice!!!  He asked to go both times!!!  So proud of my little man!

That went fast!

Another week gone, where did the time go???

Wednesday

Drew is in school on Wednesdays, and I volunteer in his class every Wednesday morning.  This was the first day back after Easter weekend for his class, so the kids were a bit wild (a class with 9 boys and 4 girls, you can imagine).  Drew's teacher had gone to Jamaica for the weekend (must be nice!) and was telling the kids about her trip.  Drew put up his hand and told the class that he had gone to the "Dominican beach" over the weekend and was telling the kids all about it (all the details he was telling were true, they just all happened in January, not this past weekend!  Very confusing to be 4).

Once I returned from Pineview, James and I loaded Hunter up in the van and headed to Costco.  Hunter slept through the entire trip...we looked at a shed that we're probably going to get for the cottage (which we should be able to visit soon!) and then got a hotdog and ice cream for lunch, YUM!

Thursday

I worked at EW Foster in the morning and then met the boys at the Milton leisure centre.  James had taken the boys swimming (seriously super dad...not sure I would attempt taking them both swimming by myself!).  I got to watch them swim for a bit and then we all went to East Side Mario's for lunch.  I can't say enough about this restaurant normally, but today is was not good at all!  I had the Mario's trio (soup, salad and bread) and the soup was terrible.  Very watery, and not the same as usual at all.  We complained, so the girl brought me more salad (it was unlimited, so it's not like she really went above and beyond) and then charged me full price for my meal......essentially I got a "duo" for the "trio" price.  Not impressed, James e-mailed their owner, not sure if anything has come of it yet.
After lunch, we met our peeps at Skedaddle's to get some exercise and then we had to rush off to get home by 5.  Grandma and Grandpa were due at our house to babysit.  James and I were headed out for dinner at the Ivy Arms.....it was so much fun!!

Friday

Hunter was up at 6 so we settled in on the couch and watched the wedding of Wills and Kate.  It was a beautiful ceremony, with a beautiful couple....as was to be expected, it was a royal wedding after all!  I had tears in my eyes watching the ceremony, and I'm not really sure why.  Drew woke up at 7 and watched the end of the service with us.  He demanded that I dig out our wedding photos and show him what we looked like when we got married.  He recognized James, but not me....and was very curious to know why Katie, Julia, Hunter and himself were not invited to the wedding.

  Once James returned from dropping Drew off at school, I looked online and found that there was still a job posting for Robert Little for the day.  It was well past the start of school, so I wasn't sure if I should take it or not (would they think I was just really late?).  I took it anyways and called the school to tell them I was on my way.  They were thrilled that I took the job and I had an awesome day being the librarian (note to self, become qualified as a teacher-librarian in the next year!)

Hunter is up from his nap now, so that's where I'll leave this post...will recap the rest of the week in another post later tonight!  Stay tuned!