Budding Photographers

As mentioned last month, Owen and Brandon have shown interest in using Daddy’s “old” camera and taking pictures….just like Daddy does.  Well another photoshoot happened and well, of course I want to share their pictures. First it was Owen’s turn and he chose to take some portraits, Daddy and Grandma K were more than willing to sit for pictures.

Next was Mommy’s turn – with direction Owen told Mommy to smile big and look at the camera (so he really does listen to me!).

Then it was Brandon turn; Brandon was too concerned with what he was doing to look up, but I kind of like the end result Owen got.

And we can’t forget Kosmo; Kosmo waiting patiently through the photo shoot, hoping that maybe someone would throw his ring after?

Brandon took a quick turn with the camera, capturing Owen as a construction worker. As I said, Brandon only took one picture becuase once he saw his brother dressing up as a worker…well camera time was over and now it was dress up time!

Such Imagination

Owen and Brandon can think up a game with only the shirts off their back, literally, and play for hours.  One such day came along; we picked up swim shorts and swim shirts to get ready for our Gull Lake trip.  I needed Owen and Brandon to try everything on, so I would know if it fit or if I would need a different size.  They were more than happy to try their swim clothes on and everything fit well; the game came while they were pulling their swim shirts off.  As you may know, the swim shirts fit a little tighter than regular shirts and the material makes them a little more difficult to pull off.  As Owen and Brandon pulled their shirts off, they ended up inside out and stuck on their heads but instead of crying and getting frustrated….they took lemons and made lemonade….they created a game – silly hair.

They ran around the house with their shirts on their head screaming and laughing over their silly hair.

They laughed so hard and had such big smiles, you really couldn’t help but laugh along with them and get silly too.

All about Spiderman

These days it’s all about Spider-man, Batman, Superman, anything to do with superheros, so the day after the birthday party, Owen and Brandon were sporting their Spider-man masks and doing everything with them on — playing, eating, watching tv, anything and having a blast doing it!

Once they were done with that, it was time to play with the Bat-cave; it was quite the honor for Grandma K to be invited into the playgroup!

Owen is four years old now, where did all that time go?

The fourth birthday party

For Owen’s fourth birthday party we gave him a few options — gymnastics party, gymnasium party or a bouncy house party.  The decision was pretty easy — a bouncy house!  So the party would be as it was last year, at Aunty Claudette’s house with a bouncy house – this year, though, we hoped and hoped for sunny, hot weather where everyone could enjoy the big backyard and deck.  We upped the bouncy house to a bouncy house combo with a slide – this was a big hit.  The day started out dreary and cool but hour by hour the sun warmed things up that by 1:00, the weather was perfect.

Owen opened his gifts; the Bat-cave fit in nicely with his new interest in everything to do with Superheroes.

More dress up clothes, construction and doctor outfits. Brandon was all over the construction outfit — Bob the Builder of course!

And then there was the cake – Spider-man. Aunty Claudette did an excellent job decorating the cake; I was there to help coach her thought it, but she gets all the credit for the actual icing of the cake.

And after cake, there was the Spider-man pinata — what’s a party without a pinata!?

Finally after many whacks and a few power whacks from the parents, the pinata broke and down came the treats.

The end of another great birthday party – warm sunny weather, excellent moods by the kids, good food and another excellent birthday cake.

Owen’s Fourth Birthday

For Owen’s actual birthday, we had our families over for birthday dinner and cake.  Owen was very excited to open some of his birthday gifts that evening.

Then there was cake, Owen’s choice, Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake with Bumblebee (Transformers) on it. We all sang and this was Owen’s response to our singing…

And then there was the new bike and helmet – a 2 wheel bike with training wheels. Owen was so excited he wanted to ride it right now! It was cold and windy outside but Owen and Brandon just wanted to bike….so we did.

Brandon rode his tricycle; he still needs to practice on this one before he gets a “big” bike like his brother.

Happy 4th birthday Owen!

A budding photographer?

It was the Sunday before Owen’s birthday and I told Sean I would love to have a picture of Owen for his four year post; something that showed his personality, but a nice smile and eyes at the camera would be great — this was no small feat.  Owen loves the camera but as soon as it comes out, all he wants to do is horse around.  I convinced Brandon to join me in getting the groceries that morning and hoped that leaving Dad and Owen alone together would help in getting that special picture (as you know I got the picture, my blogging is sporatic and lagging these days – best of intentions though!).

I came home to a wonderful picture, a picture that was more than I expected and a little boy that wanted to show me all the pictures he took that morning, plus he wanted to take my picture.  Armed with Daddy’s “old” camera, he lugged it around and click, picture here and click, picture there and a Mommy smile, Mommy look!

Daddy taking a picture of Owen taking a picture of Daddy.

Owen checking out his picture; I think from that smile he is happy with the result.

Owen taking pictures…

And the end result, I got my picture, Owen at 4 yrs old.

Busy Workin’

The May long weekend is always a tough one to guess on how the weather will be….will it be cold and snow (yes it can and has snowed on the May long weekend), will it be hot and sunny, will it rain?  Lucky for us, this year the weekend was hot and sunny.  I had a chance to go out the Friday night and buy all my flowers and veggies for the year – this is my favorite thing to do.  I love picking out flowers and veggies that I will take care for the summer – is this a sign that I am a Mom or that I am getting old?  I use to smirk at “those” people that would fill their flat bed carts with flowers….now I grab a flat bed cart and fill it heaping!  Anyway, while I planted my marigolds, snap dragons, osteospermums, and other flowers that caught my eye, Owen and Brandon got to work as well.

We have some left over fence boards from when we built our fence a few years ago that we keep under our deck.  Owen and Brandon are still short enough to play under the deck without bumping their heads (okay I should explain, our deck is raised and so we have say 5 feet or so clearance under the deck).   Well Owen and Brandon came up with the idea that they should pull each board out and place it on the grass.

They worked together as a team, carrying the boards out, one-by-one. Owen didn’t need gloves, he told me. But Brandon NEEDED his working gloves.

And then they stood and beamed over their job well done.

They thought up some funny games and played on and around the boards for quite some time. And if you asked them what they were doing they would tell you….we’re busy workin’.

Swords and Boys

How to sword fight must be a boy thing, that they just know how to do.  I was always awkward at sword fighting, my poor brother had two sisters to teach and try to sword fight with and it always ended with him laughing at us and us leaving pouting because he was laughing at us.  But as I watch Owen and Brandon pick up two swords and “fight”, it’s like they are naturals, they know how to stand and move and jab at each other.

And it begins….en garde

And he’s down…

And he’s up and running, can’t catch me!

Pow and they are both down…

No one was hurt, laughter, squeals and and sweaty mess was all that ensued.  They live to fight another day.

Bathtime!

As of late, bath time has been interesting for Brandon.  He has gotten very upset about getting into and sitting in the tub for bath time.  Sean and I has been unsure as to why, first it seemed that he was scared of the shower head looming down over him (we moved that as far out of sight as we could), then it seemed the lint from between your toes was freaking him out (we wipe out feet clean before getting in the tub), then we gave hugs, reassured him, had Owen show him it wasn’t scary…all this and still he didn’t want to have a bath.  Brandon LOVED to sit by the tub and watch his brother play and splash and Brandon still loved free swim at daycare each week.  Sean and I were confused but kept at it each night, coaxing him into the tub, letting him sit on the edge with his toes in the water, having him put him bum in the water before he could climb out and then….one night….Brandon just slowly slid into the tub, on his own and started to play.  Sean and I looked at each other and smiles, stayed silent and took pictures!

They dumped a little more water than we usually allow out the tub, they got the mirror wet and we used a few extra towels to soak up the excess water, all the while Brandon was giggling and laughing with Owen…in the tub!

What can you say, maybe the consistency and reassurance helped, maybe not either way, Brandon got in the tub and started to love bath time again! High fives all around!

Happy Fourth Birthday, Zoe!

Happy 4th birthday Zoe!

Zoe’s fourth birthday was at the local recreation centre; we spent the first part in the gymnasium playing some different games. Being pulled around on scooters of sort was one of the favorites for Owen and Brandon.

The gym part ended with the parachute (this is my favorite part)!

After the parachute, we headed to a smaller room that we set up for snacks, birthday cake and presents! It was a nice open room, giving the kids room to run around and goof off. Aunty Colette made her now famous and most requested birthday cake – rainbow!

It was a great day and lots of fun! Hope you had a great day, Zoe!