Reflections in a Bubble

The kids were having a blast playing with Bekah's new bubble blower and I was able to focus on this bubble as it flew past. It turned out so well, you can see the trees in our yard in the reflections! Quinn's colourful shirt as the background really makes it pop.

Random Pictures from this week

My mums backyard is a wonderful place to be when there are no kids and dogs making noise.
Since her house backs onto a beautiful forest area there are tonnes of birds and insects to take pictures of. Today I was able to see capture a pair of yellow finches, gathering food and nesting material. The male is the bird with the black above his beak. The female is getting some nesting material from the caterpillar nest in one of the trees.

Mum has a quince tree that seems to have a new bush sharing its growing space. The white blooms are from something like a bridal wreath and the pink are the quince blossoms. The two look absolutely gorgeous together blooming. This is one of the shots I got of it today.

Liz's cat basil as he was wandering the yard and eating catnip.

The Bushes are great attractors of bumblee bees. This guy was so busy today going from flower to flower pollinating as he went. I really wanted him in the pink blossoms but he always went into those at the back of the bushes.
Little miss Bekah who I can't beliebe will be 4 in a weeks time (ahhhh where did the time go!!) Found some stickers on mothers day and decided to add them to her face. I snapped this shot as she was being silly with the camera. For once her eyes remained open :)

This is a glimpse into the world that I live it lately...kids and anything else I can take a picture of.

Hand in Hand

Together we can!

Bekah wanted desperately to ride bikes with her friend Molly. When we got home from groceries, Nana was over. Bekah visited patienly with Nana and then said okay Mummy time for bikes.

I walked her over to Molly's. The entire Allen famiy was outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Bekah took her "big bike" to ride like Molly's. She had a hard time getting going on it. (her first time on it) Molly was an excellent friend and took her by the hand or handlebar and helped her along. She gave Bekah a couple good shoves from behind as well :)

This is the end product of my learning to digitally scrapbook. I happened to log on to a word art blog and the saying was the one of the day. It went perfectly with what I was doing :)

Hand in Hand together we can!

A Great Day for Picnic

After Quinn's swimming lesson yesterday, the kids played outside at the park before it was time to head home. On the way home I suggested that we go for a picnic at the park and have some more play time. They thought it was a great idea.
I ran in the house and phoned Shannon to see what she was up to for the day. Emma had a PD day so they were free for anything.
I told them to get moving and get their butts to Cambridge for a picnic at the park. It was a great idea as Gerben was not feeling well at all :( ! I stopped at Zehrs and picked up some picnic foods and water and met Shannon at the park. The weather was just beautiful. At 11 am it was already 24 degrees out!

The Kids played so well together each keeping an eye out for another! After eating our yummy strawberries, veggies and lunchables we packed up and went for a walk along the trails. We saw lots of interesting things in Nature and the kids did so well.

Here are some pictures from the walks along the trails. Bekah and Natalia had a fun time playing in the leaves on the sides of the trails. Emma and Quinn just walked along side by side in their own little world. It was a wonderful to watch their friendship blossom.

Around 3pm it was time to head back home and wait for the other kids to get home from school and get a nice COLD drink and some freezies. Emma was eager to play on the trampoline with Quinn and Bekah. Shannon and I decided to hop onto the tramp with the kids and have some fun. Eric and Heather had fun playing with camera's taking some nice shots :)
After a long fun filled day in the beautiful 25 degree weather, the kids were tired and filthy! Shannon took the girls home for a nice bath and bed.
It was a excellent day and I hope we can do it again. Thanks Shannon for coming and spending the day with us!

Great time Outdoors

It has been a busy couple of weeks since my last post. Mum and Liz were off to England for 2 weeks and had a blast! Welcome home guys.
The first weekend Mum and liz wer gone, we went to the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival. It was a great day for it. The kids waited patiently in a long line for pancakes. Unfortunately I didn't get my camera out to take pictures of us eating them. It was so busy and crowded.



















After we left the Elmira Syrup Festival, we heading to mums house to get to work on her Bedroom. The paint was already bought and there waiting for us. Eric, the kids and I took to priming the walls. It didn't take long at all. We left the doors and windows open and it was soon dry. We were able to put the top coat on later that afternoon. On Wednesday Megan and I went and painted the trim and did some touch up work. We hung a valance and put it up as well. I think mum was surprised and pleased when I brought her home!














After spending Saturday afternoon painting, I decided on Sunday to take the kids on a nature walk. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon in the nice weather we were having. We went to Riverside Park in Preston and walked the boardwalk and the trails. We so some really neat things and got a bit wet in the flooded areas. After the walk we ventured over to the playground and spent some time running around on the creative and swimgs.

Out and about

Today after taking Bekah to school, Megan, Quinn and I went out looking for birds to take pictures of. We ended up at a spot that Quinn and I love to go to. With my new lense equipped (first time I have really got to play with it) we set out down the path. It was very very icy so we ended up staying near the jeep. Quinn has a very hard time keeping still so I had Megan stand with her hand up holding some seed. The birds responded well. In a matter of minutes we had a choir of bird calls all around. Cardinals, bluejays, Chickadees, Red Wing Blackbirds and some crows.

It didnt' take long for Megan to have a chickadee land on her hand. They would land and stare at her and then steal a seed or two. I think in totaly she had 3 or 4 different chickadees land on her.

Quinn was being very patient with us and decided to lean on the gate and just be quiet while we tried to capture some shots. It looked so cute I just had to take a picture of him. It is a classic Quinn shot.

Enjoy!

Happy Easter

As soon as the sun was up this morning, Bekah woke me up and said "Mummy its EASTER NOW!" I told her that we needed to wake up Daddy, Madison, Alexander and Quinn before we went downstairs.

The livingroom had some nice surprises in it when the kids walked in. The Easter Bunny had filled up their baskets with some chocolate eggs, and some outside toys, art supplies etc. Quinn was very happy with his new Phantom of the Opera CD (original Toronto Cast version) Ever since we watched the movie with him he has fallen in love with the songs. He also got a baseball bat and ball for when the weather gets better.

Bekah got some cheerleading accessories. Pom poms, baton hair pieces etc. She also got her very first hoola hoop!

Madison got a basket filled with dog art supplies. It came with an artbook, markers and a stuffed dog.

Alexander got a nascar basket. (a bit young for him :( ) but last week the kids were given an xbox with the game Rockband. It is a great family game, we can all play and have fun with and its excellent because there is no killing, fighting etc. Its all about music. We have 2 guitars, vocals and drums. Madison loves to sing, Xander likes the guitar, and sings as well. Bekah has learned a couple songs by memory and can score a 75% singing on her own (she amazes me with her pitch!) Quinn is trying to figure out the drums and he likes to sing as well!

Each basket had a coloured plastic egg in it, which let them know what colour eggs they each had to find on the egg hunt in the house. (too much snow outside still to do one there :( )

The kids moved to fast for me to get some shots of them looking for the eggs, but they sure had fun!

Bekah sat down to open hers up and find the treasures inside.

Quinn started sneaking a few before we stopped him for breakfast.

Here are a few photos from this morning.