Splish Splash

This fine weather we've been having has made for lots of fun times splashing around outside. Some kids get a proper wading pool to play in, but poor neglected Evy just gets her old baby tub to play with. Lucky she's so small, because she still manages to have a lot of fun with it.



And then, usually, after a nice splash, we take a little walk around the pond. Gotta love the rubber boots and no pants combo. It's a good look.



And one of the main attractions on ye old pond has been the baby geese. They're now into their ugly teenager phase (they were much cuter a few weeks ago) but Evy still loves to walk over and yell 'hi baby ducks' at them. I've given up pointing out the difference between geese and ducks. Every bird, from a chickadee to a crow, is a 'duck' to Miss E. I'll sic Grandpa Jackson, former biology teacher, on her in a few years. He'll straighten her out.



So, as much as we need rain and my rainbarrel is almost empty, we surely are making the most of the sunshine!

At the park...

The teeter-totter is pretty darn popular these days...

Here is Miss Chimp, sporting an adorable dress that Auntie LeeLee made her and, of course, rocking the shades and hat.

The Fabulous Mr Quin

Those of you in the know are familiar the amount of love that Evy has for our neighbour, Maia. She sings her name at night before she goes to sleep, reserves toys for her (even when she's not here), and mentions her name about 2 dozen times a day. And it's quite understandable, 'cause after all, Maia's a whole year older than Evy, and is a pretty darn cool kid.

Here are the two little ladies at dinner tonight:

The handywomen. I love how Maia is rocking the 'winter on top,
summer on the bottom' look. Classic!

A table set for two tiny tots

And, the big news in Millbrook is that Maia has a new baby brother, Quin. He'll be 2 weeks old on Sunday, and I'm sure Evy will love him just as much as his big sister. (Hmmm.... Evy's first boyfriend maybe?). Here's the little (big) dude relaxin on the floor while we ate dinner (ah, 2nd babies... so easygoing - I know this because I am one!)

Strapping young Quin who weighs 10lb 10oz
(which is what Evy weighed at 4mo,1 week)

Hope everyone has a fabulous long weekend! Gotta go rest up and conserve my strength for some serious yard-saleing (sailing?) tomorrow. May the bargains be with you!

Frosty etc

Remember my last post? Where I hilariously jinxed myself by saying it was warm enough to plant my flowerboxes? Doh! This is the 3rd night running that I've had to tuck my wee flowers in at night. Getting seriously bored with this new chore! This morning there was proper icy frost when I woke up and I've already lost my two begonias. (Pausing here to reflect on when it was that I became a grumpy old man... not sure how that happened).

Other than the COLD temperatures, and our furnace running out of oil yesterday (soon remedied by fabulous handy husband-man), things are well. I had a lovely Mother's Day, even though I was missing my own mummy, who has taken off for the fresh New Brunswick air.

Here's miss E and I, lounging in our jammies, with bonus dress-up hats yesterday morning:



And the dress-up silliness continued. Miss E is quite partial to her new Value-Village fabulous fashions. Who doesn't love old-lady-church-hats?



And more photos from yesterday: Great Granny Barbara had complained that she didn't have any photos of Evy smiling, so we tried a mini photo shoot and managed to get a few good shots, including this one.



And amidst all the jolly times yesterday and smiley photo-shoots, poor Miss E was getting sicker by the minute with a doozy of a cold. The germfest culminated today with a serious barf-session at daycare. She seemed to be feeling better by the time I got her home. Or at least good enough to 'repair' the fridge with her drill set.



And that's your photo round-up. I'm looking forward to the weather getting better and to things (hopefully) calming down a bit at work. Otherwise, I may not be able to post again until closer to 2011! And hey, only 5 weeks until me and Miss E and Gr. Granny head to New Brunswick ourselves! Soo exciting! Happy Monday, all, and to all a good night.

Mayday May Day!

Happy May! Happy Anniversary to Al & Jim! Happy 22-month birthday to Evy!

Spring was in the air chez nous today. We hit the garden centre hard and bought up our annuals. I know it's early, but, I suspect that this whole global warming thing means that we don't need to wait until Victoria Day to plant anymore. So, I potted up our flowerboxes and planters and they are looking lovely. And we actually had a bit of rain today for the first time in weeks, so, hopefully that will help the new beauties grow.

And speaking of beauties growing, my special wee Tulip Tree has awoken from its winter slumber and is about to sprout. This type of tree is a species at risk in Ontario. We're a bit far north for it's normal range, but I'm hoping with lots of love and with the balmy Millbrook air it will thrive.

My special Tulip Tree bud
(Do you think mine will grow to be 190 feet tall?)

We also had a lot of play time outside include an excursion to the old cedar tree in the field next door. It's overlooking the pond and there's a nice bench there and we had a lovely rest while Evy climbed through the tree branches about 9,000 times. And her rubber boots got stuck between the branches about 8,999 times. Ahh Spring.

As opposed to 'deer caught in headlights' look,
this is 'boot caught in tree crotch' look.
(Similar but different.)

Note boot has actually fallen off in this photo.
Made for some wet socks.

Overexposed photo, but seriously cute nontheless.

Madam pauses long enough to have a roll around in the grass. Atchoo!

In other news, there is no other news. Just busy as usual, and loving life and having fun with our soon-to-be-two-year-old. Eeeps! Time sure flies. Am heading to Toronto tomorrow for a babyshower for our friend Ellen. VERY excited to see everyone and to celebrate the arrival of the wee man! Other than that, it's just back to the grinderoo as usual on Monday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!