Dad Days

Not a whole lot has happened in our little family over the last few days. Mostly, we've been doing our own routine and trying to get ready for Thanksgiving. I honestly cannot believe that it is already October and I'm going to have to start preparing for Eli's fourth birthday. Anyway I have managed to get a few good pictures of Bruce and the boys goofing around. I think that Eli's favourite thing in the world is to wrestle with his Daddy. This morning as he was drinking his milk he was telling me how he was going to be stronger than Daddy because he finished it all and he would win the wrestling. We also decided to start a new tradition for General Conference and so Bruce and Eli made us some delicious soft pretzels while we watched.

Wake up, Dad

Pretzel time

Brotherly love...

...sort of

Belated Birthday

Well I have finally gotten around to asking Bruce's mom to send me the pictures of Simon's birthday. I have no idea why I kept on forgetting to ask but I feel like my brain is a sieve lately. She got them all to me that very same day so I can finally share them with you! We had such a great time celebrating his birthday with family and the kids were so excited to see their Nana, Papa, Great Grandparents and Aunties. Simon got to do an awful lot of his most favourite thing... eating. To be honest I feel like I don't remember a whole ton of details from the actual day other than his birthday cake. I'm a terrible mom. Anyhow here of some of his birthday photos!

Delicious chocolate chip pancake breakfast!

Cake! And chubby fingers.

Guys, what are you doing?

Guys...

STAHP!

Oh never mind. Cake!

Summer in September

It is becoming pretty obvious that summer is starting to come to a close. The days are shorter, the nights are colder, and even some of the leaves on the trees are changing colour. Although, school still isn't in session here in BC, with Eli in preschool it still feels like fall. A couple of days ago we had a very beautiful and sunny day that happened to land on one of Bruce's days off. We got very lucky! We knew that we would have to take advantage of it because this week the rain is going to start and we won't see the sun for months. Off we went to the beach. The boys had so much fun digging in the sand and looking for seals out swimming among the sailboats. Eli decided it was his job to keep all the seagulls away from us because we packed a picnic lunch. The seagulls here are insane and if you aren't careful they will literally take food straight out of your hand. They are the rats of the sky. It really was a wonderful way to soak up the remaining rays of sunshine and hopefully they will sustain us!

Digging up dinosaur bones

Yummy sand!

Burying toes

To The Batcave!

So yesterday the power in our house went off at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and didn't end up coming back on until around one in the morning! How did I know that the power came on at that time you ask? Shouldn't I have been deep asleep? Yes, I probably should have been however, the moment that the power came on our landlord's house alarm starting blaring. I know it must have only taken them a moment or two to get the alarm turned off but for me it felt more like half an hour. Naturally, this woke up everyone in our household and the remainder of the night was pretty restless. That's enough of complaining about the power being out, there were some fun parts too!

I couldn't really make dinner so we all got to go to Fatburger! I haven't had Fatburger since we moved to BC and it was so yummy. Even Simon got a grilled cheese sandwich and Eli and I both got chocolate shakes. Delicious! When we got home from dinner and the power still was not on Bruce and I found the candles and some little LED lights that he had used for a project once. Basically the house had that awesome and mysterious feeling that only candles can provide. It was a very exciting little adventure for the kids. I even got to read Jane Eyre by candlelight after the kids went to bed. How gothic! 

Living in a basement suite means that even when the sun is shining you need almost every light in the house on to feel like a normal human being. So before we went to dinner and I was trying to occupy the kids for a little while we decided to make the most of the semi-darkness and our new couch. Thus, construction on the Batcave commenced! The boys had so much fun crawling around inside and eating a little snack in the different "rooms". When eventually I needed to get the cushions back in order they were both in tears. They cheered up though when I started tossing them back onto the couch. All in all the power outage wasn't so bad and Eli is still talking about it this morning.

The finished Batcave

Batface!

I'm sure I've given Eli the same look, Simon.

You're so funny

Batman and Robin

School Days and A Walker (not the zombie kind)

I cannot believe how quickly time goes. I feel like Eli was a little baby just yesterday but at the same time I can hardly remember it. I'm caught in an after-children time warp! Simon also had his first birthday in July! What?! I'll post pictures of his birthday but they all happen to be on his Nana's camera. Getting off topic.
So, Eli had his first day of preschool yesterday. I think that I may have been more nervous than he was. He seemed to be pretty excited that morning and was asking me every minute if it was time to go yet. As soon as we got to the classroom door however, he hoofed it in the other direction. It took some coaxing and some bribery with a lollipop but he made it there in the end. The parents were allowed to stay to make it a good transition for the kids and so the teachers could go over any questions with us and what not. He held my hand for a good part of it and wouldn't really go play with the other kids. Eventually, his lovely teachers got him to play with the playdoh while I just sat nearby. By the end he even went willingly into the little circle where they sit "criss cross applesauce".  All in all I think that he had a good experience and he told me later that he really liked school. Let's hope that holds up tomorrow when I have to drop him off and can't stay. Fingers crossed!

All smiles

So very proud of him!

Off we go

Lots of milestones lately! Our little Si-guy has finally starting walking on his own! He has been doing just a couple of steps for a while but since we went to Edmonton he has been able to pick it up and do it all by himself. He has been getting way too heavy to carry around so I am absolutely ecstatic that he is walking. He is pretty proud of himself too. There are still times when he walks around and he gets a surprised look on his face like he can't believe that he is doing it either. I also can't seem to get any pictures of the front of him while he is walking because he is always chasing after his big brother. I am going to have my hands full with two rambunctious boys running circles around my kitchen table but I am also so excited for them to be able to play more together.

Eli took this one

Trying to get in on wrestling

Sweet revenge!

Summer Time Fun

Well, I suppose that if my sister can find time to update her blog then I guess I don't have any excuses.  I'll try to upload all of our summer photos little by little so this post isn't a mile long. We had such a great time in Edmonton when we went. So much fun in fact, that we are going back again in just a few days! Unfortunately, Bruce won't be able to join us because he is swamped at work but his effort is being rewarded so hopefully he will have more down time in the winter months. After we got back our friend Ashley stayed with us for a while and we got to explore some of the places near Langley that we have not been to yet. Basically summer so far has been busy but very fun. We need to pack it all in before Eli starts preschool in the fall! What a big kid he is!

Sharing secrets

Hello from the tram

Ashley captured this gem

My sweet one

Post-splash park ice cream!

Everything is Batman

Well it seems I still have yet to take any pictures of our new place and at this rate it looks like it may never happen. I just forget and then it just doesn't seem like a priority, given the fact that I would feel the need to make sure the house was spotless before I took any pictures. Although, the basics can be pieced together from the background of my pictures of the boys. Sorry for being lazy.
For a while now Eli's dearest love has been Batman. Anyone who has seen the Halloween photos from last year will agree with me. Absolutely every game that we play ends up having something to do with Batman. If we are playing Lego then of course one of the little Lego men is Batman, if we are playing with his Hot Wheels then of course one of them has Batman driving inside, if I am telling a story about a shark who is trying to make some friends then of course Batman comes a cuts him in half and eats him. Here are a couple of my favourites from over the last little while. If you thought you couldn't play Batman and Joker with nail polish then you would be wrong.

Batman baby food

I think the purple one is Batman

Batman outside with straws

Practicing his moves on Daddy

Simon wisely stays out of the fray

Building a Batman "death trap" (his words, not mine)
for his Sesame Street toys out of floss

It is so much fun to just sit back and watch his imagination work and listen to the funny dialogue that he makes up for all the characters. We are all getting so very excited to go to Edmonton and see everybody and to meet Eli and Simon's new baby cousin. It is less than a month away now and every day Eli asks me if we are going on a plane today. Pretty soon I will be able to say yes!

Just Simon being cute