Saturday December 13th, 2014 - Alight at Night at Upper Canada Village

First time ever being at Upper Canada Village but this will definitely be a tradition.. I think Campbell thanked me 3 times while we were there and twice after for taking him there. It was crazy and awesome to here him have gratitude.. and even said "thank you for thinking about taking me here, this is the best surprise ever." It was cool and we all enjoyed it. Here are a couple of pictures but they don't do it justice.
Here is a picture of us with just a few of the trees and buildings all lite up in the background.. we are waiting in line for the ferris wheel..

 J and Campbell on the ferris wheel.. It was really neat to see the whole place from high up with all the lights.. just very magical.

 That is Miles and I going by onthe ferris wheel.

Campbell waiting for us to finish on the ferris wheel.. Excited to continue on.

They had the best victorian Santa I have ever seen. Neither of the boys wanted to sit with him or get a picture but I got these few of them talking to him.. It IS important that you talk to him and tell him what you are wishing for.

Miles outside the house that Santa was in..

 This is the house that Santa was in and every so often throughout the night they have a sound and light show.. it was pretty cute..

 They also had a life size toy train that was lite up and you could take a ride on.. We waited a nice while to get on it and then squat in and hoped to stay warm through it.. Here is the best selfie I could take of us all on the train.. the boys loved it.. Campbell said that it was his wish for a long time to have a ride on a train and then we went through a tunnel and that was another of his wishes.. It was super cute and they loved it.. Only about an hour drive from us which is nice. Will be thrilled to do this again next year.

Saturday Dec 6th and Sunday Dec 7th, 2014 - Christmas Parade and Decorating the Tree

The Manotick Santa Claus parade is a tradition in our house and we haven't missed one yet.. Campbell slept through his first one.. but since then has been able to be awake for them.. It is nice.. not to long and they give out a lot of treats for the kids.. They like it.. 

 They wore their hats to the parade..

Decorating the Christmas tree can not happen without a bit of silly..

 Everyone had to be involved in putting the star on the top..

 The boys in front of the decorated tree.. they did a great job and I only had to move a few ornaments due to over crowding.. a lot less than last year..

Sunday November 29, 2014 - First Christmas Baking with the Boys

We did our first Christmas Baking this afternoon with the boys.. J was working so it was just the 3 of us.. The boys had lots of fun and these are so yummy and the boys can do most of it all on their own.. They did such a great job.. 

Saturday November 28, 2014 - Miles Skating by Himself More.

Miles starting out not totally enjoying the skating.. he missed me or just didn't like to be out there on his own not being able to do it.. So he had some tears but his instructor is amazing.. Here he is doing so GREAT and no tears at all today.. YEAH!!

Saturday November 29, 2014 - Campbell Skating and Stopping

Campbell has gotten up more speed and more confidence and balance on the skates.. Here he is learning to skate and then stop.. He is the taller one on the right in the very beginning.. he is wearing his   Sens jersey and dark grey pants.

Friday November 28, 2014 - Campbell's Bear Song and Respect award at School

Sorry.. I did take a video of the Bear song but I took it the wrong way on my phone and when I downloaded it to the computer they all look really short and wide.. oh well.. 

They sang the song Danse l'ourson (in english Bear Dance) on stage in front of the school at the beginning of the Respect assembly. It was super cute.. They all wore their pjs and brought in a teddy bear from home. 

Here is Campbell receiving the Respect award for his class from his teacher. We are super proud of him.. Respect is an amazing character trait to have. :) 

 Here is Campbell with his award.. and his special Bear Hat that they each made for the song.

 Here is Campbell with the rest of the Respect award winners in the school, one per class.

Monday November 24, 2014 - Summer Returns!!!

Who would have ever said that after it being too cold on Saturday for the wagon ride that on Monday it would be 18 degrees or more and sunny.. We all loved the nice break in the weather.. Unreal how warm it felt. 

Saturday November 22, 2014 - PCL Kids Christmas Party!!

Today was the Kids Christmas Party that J's work puts off every year. It is always a great time and this year has to have been the best for us so far. Last year J was working so we had a good time but missed Daddy.. This year the kids just had a blast and Santa dropped by the night before and left LEGO kits for all the kids.. The boys were super excited.. Santa couldn't have picked better presents. 

Here are the boys and Daddy just after eating they went and got their Lego.. :) 

 Miles doing a colouring sheet sitting on Daddy's lap.

 Campbell working hard on a colouring sheet.

 The boys while they watched the magic show. This magician was awesome. :)

Then we had some fun at the photo booth.. Here is Daddy and Campbell having fun at the photobooth while Miles and I waited in the line up for him to get his facepainted..

 In the end the line up was too long for the facepainting so we all decided to have some fun at the photobooth.

 Finally got everyone to pick things that didn't totally cover their faces. ;) Cute Christmas family photo..

Then we ended the fun outside at the firepit having hot chocolate and marshmallows and running around.. We decided against the wagon ride this time as the wind was high and making it feel super cold.. And we had a long morning anyway.. YEAH!! what a great way to start the Christmas fun!! Thanks PCL!!

Sunday November 16, 2014 - The first bit of snow...

Makes for two excited kiddies.. They were so excited when they woke up and saw this.

There wasn't much snow but they had so much fun out in it. Sometimes it doesn't take too much.. :)

Saturday November 15, 2014 - Sid the Science Kid Show

As part of an early Christmas gift for the boys, Nannie bought tickets for us all to go and see Sid the Science Kid live show. The show was all about the 5 senses and the museum of Science and Technology had a free preshow with tables set up with little experiments based on each sense. The kids had fun checking these out and some were quite neat.
We got the kids t-shirts and fiber optic light up things. They were totally thrilled with and enjoyed the show.. These pictures are from the boys playing during the intermission.

They also had a free photobooth outside in the lobby complete with Sid the Science Kid type gear. Here is our family shot. A great time had by all. Thanks so much Nannie.

Friday November 7th, 2014 - Museum of Nature

So I was a bad Mommy (or was I).. I decided today to take Campbell out of school and Miles, Campbell and I went to the Museum of Nature. Campbell has been asking to go and they had a Bioluminescence exibit on that was ending that I thought he would really enjoy.. I must say that I think it was well worth taking him out of school, as both the boys are at better ages for getting more out of the museum.. We stayed there for just over 5 hours and they loved it. They were both interested in listening to the videos that they have throughout the museum to learn about the exhibits. It was quite an experience for me to see them getting so much out of it and learning from what they were telling me about what we were looking at.. It was GREAT!!

Here is Campbell in front of a leaf bug.. it was one of the not so yucko looking bugs.

Here are the boys in front of some bugs..

Miles watching something informative.

Campbell watching something informative..

The boys listening to a description of the mammals that made it through the dinosaur extinction. Campbell was pretty thrilled with learning that some mammals lived through that.

Campbell standing on the scale that tells you how many of the other animals you weigh. He weighs 3547 hummingbirds, 118 blue jays, 9 mallard ducks or 1 turkey.

Miles weighs 2069 hummingbirds, 69 blue jays, 5 mallard ducks or 1 turkey.. Needless to say that they don't have that it says a portion of a turkey.

The boys on the other side of one of the aquariums.

We had an amazing time and learnt a lot.. We stayed at the museum for over 5 hours and they were exhusted.. both fell asleep on the way home in the car.

Friday October 31, 2014 - Halloween!!!

It's finally here and the boys are super excited, needless to say.. 

Here is Campbell with his black mask painted on his face, because they aren't supposed to where masks at school and he is going to be Black Batman.. He needed a mask.. he was happy with it but I think I need some practise with this face painting stuff.. 

They were supposed to wear orange and black if they had it this morning and then they would be changing into their costumes at school around noon for the afternoon parties..
So I dug out these shirts for the boys to wear that I bought for them a while back but they were too big.. has their names on the back and the day of their birthday..
Campbell 04

 Miles 13

 At Campbell's school they have a parade, which is usually in the gym and each class takes a turn to head up on stage to show off their costumes to the rest of the school. It is super cute and all the kids love it. After Miles' school morning we both headed straight to Campbell's school to be there for the noon parade and luckily we just made it..
Here is Campbell's class on stage with his teachers.. His teachers were monters and Campbell is the second from the right in his Black Batman.

 Me and my Batmen before we head out trick or treating.. Unfortunately Campbell was starting to really lose his voice and I am not sure he was feeling very good but he was a trooper..

 The Batmen in the wagon all set to trick or treat..

Lots of fun, no rain or snow.. yeah!!