Spooky!

Happy Belated Halloween!!!  This has just been an insane time of year but we did get into some fun with the littles gearing up for Halloween.  We popped out and got ourselves a PUMPKIN family.  We named them all Daddy Pumpkin, Mommy Pumpkin, Gabriel Pumpkin, Magdalene Pumpkin.  You can see here that Gabriel is standing on my head.  What else is new?? 

They loved the whole idea of a pumpkin family and set about chucking them in the front yard.  Oops!  Sorry Maggie pumpkin!  They got a great laugh out of talking to their pumpkins.  Oh the imaginations!  

Under Daddy's supervision and direction, we carved the pumpkins the other night.  Admittedly, Halloween is not really my thing, but as a Dad, Jordan is finding his artistic side and taking on all sorts of these things, from creating dinosaurs out of watermelon, Lightening McQueen out of playdoh, a Paw Patrol lookout out of a few boxes of Raisin Bran and an empty roll of paper towel.  And he says he can't even draw his own name.  What do they say about children?  That they stretch you?

The littles have been pretty excited this year.  They have been talking about ghosts and pretending to be ghosts.  Magdalene's phrase of the past three weeks has been "Ohhhhhh!!!  Ghost!!!!  Scarrrry! Spooky"  And she does a mock shiver.  If I get a chance I hope to catch a little video of it to share with you.

They had so much fun digging around in the goopy pumpkins.  I do have a couple of cute videos of them that I will put up SOMEDAY.

And because celebrations are better spent with friends, we had our good friends Victoria, Jason and their littles over for chili and shinanigans.   Always drama and chaos and excitement here.  Although I won't go into great detail here....  Let's just say, when it's too quiet, something bad is going down.  A mother always knows.

We dressed up the table and had wine and at least pretended it was a sophisticated event.  Even if it really wasn't.

Finally it was a nice warm Halloween night and no rain.  The kids went totally nuts running from door to door with the realization that, yes, they actually got to ask for candy and get it from neighbors.  Today Gabriel said, "I know!!!!  Let's go trick or treat!!!  And get some candy."  Sadly, it doesn't work that way buddy.  Once a year.  But they were very polite.

It took me three weeks of looking around and taking Gabriel to various costume stores before I convinced him (after a number of complete and utter meltdowns) it just wasn't possible to be Lightening McQueen (the racecar) for Halloween.  I'm pretty sure that there is likely some way to make a costume, but admittedly I don't have it in me this year.  I'm apparently not the crafty one in the house.  Everyone knows if you want to build something, ask Dad.

And while we are on the topic of being "stretched" I would just like to mention that Daylight Savings.... is the worst invention ever.  After all that sugar and craziness, we got to wake up at 4:30 (Yes, thank you!)  to overtired and hungry (because they were too excited to actually eat a proper supper last night) toddlers.... 

But, you know, watching them run around so excited and spending time with friends celebrating is really making me start to like Halloween again.  I've really got to get my game on in the costume department for next year!

Sunshiney Thanksgiving!

This was a very quiet Thanksgiving in our house with all of our families either traveling or otherwise occupied--(selling the family home and moving).  Which, I for one, will not complain about.  Life can be hectic, so we were happy to stay put this year. 

Our weekend was filled with sunshine and warm sunny weather with a high of 22 degrees Celsius on Monday!  It practically felt like summer!  But the leaves told us otherwise.  We got out for a bike rides along the trails near our home and the leaves were stunning!  There were tons and tons of milling walking the trails with cameras in hand trying to snap photos and capture the firey orange-red beauty of the leaves skirting the waters' edge. 

Aside from all the "cliché" things that I am thankful for (a wonderful life, a supportive and happy marriage, my beautiful children and our good health) here are a few extra things I am thankful for this year:

1) The cousins who live in Toronto and descended upon our home for Thanksgiving dinner, arms laden with all sorts of delicious food, including a yummy often-made and often-favorited kale salad, homemade pies and the like.  Oh, and wine!  Lots of bottles of yummy wine.

2) Friends who live in Toronto, who had no family around and also crashed at our house!  And made the most amazing gravy I've ever had!

3) Five little ones who ran around the house adding a vibrant and lively tone to the celebrations--chanting for chocolate milk and pounded the table with their forks while calling joyfully for PUMP-KIN-PIE, PUMP-KIN-PIE!  I am always so happy to lean into the chaos that are our young excitable children.

4) Leftovers, and such lovely yummy leftovers!  (I know, it's the small things).

5) This incredible weather and vibrant leaves.  I just know it's going to be enough to get me through this long, dark winter.  

6)  The internet!  (Thanks to modern technology we got to skype and chat and see pictures of our families' thanksgivings).  So while it might seem a little frivolous and luxurious, I am very thankful for these abilities to connect with people all over the country when we can't be everywhere we want to be.

.... And thanks to the mountains of food, many family members and what felt like a million children (even if there were only five) I was way too in the moment to get ANY photographs.  Which, admittedly was a bit liberating, but now I am just a little bit sad we didn't capture any of those moment with the kids banging their forks on the table.  Or crawling all over Clifford's leg begging for chocolate milk, or Frankie covered in cranberry sauce leaving little adorable fingerprints on the white cotton tablecloth (which did come clean, btw).  Or the big beast of a 20 lb turkey....  These fond memories will just have to be written down rather than captured in a photograph. 

Hope your Thanksgiving was sunny and warm, if not outside, then in your homes!

Frolicking in Fall Leaves in James Gardens

Had a little bit of fun today in James Gardens with my kiddos.  Believe it or not, the fall leaves are very very behind here.  Here and there are some bright coloured trees.  But some of the major parks in this city still don't have many coloured leaves.  Let's hope that means an extended fall with beautiful golden light, crisp autumn air and a slow transition into a short winter! ;) 

We've never spent any time at James Gardens with my kids but it is such a beautiful spot with lots of lovely gardens and trails.  Many little bridges and ponds with ducks and geese.  The kids loved running through the trails, finding mucky puddles, climbing on the bridges, running through golden grasses, and throwing leaves around on the one small red leafed tree we found.  

We are still transitioning to life with only one toddler who naps.  This makes the days a little long and grumpy.  It seems impossible to get enough sleep to handle the hype of the day.  So these little morning adventures out are ways that we blow off some steam.  I always find my children are so much happier when they are outside running around freely.  And so am I.  Lately, I've just been turning off my phone while I am with them and just joining in all the little moments.   

Now that almost all my weekends are tied up with photoshoots, I am trying to make the most of our free weekdays to do things we might otherwise do on a weekend.  I am realizing how precious and limited my time with just them is.  My husband and I always talk about the fact that it won't be long before the kids will be off spending time with their friends--off to the park or a friend's house, or soccer practice, etc.   So as grumpy or tough as some moments, some days might be, we are trying to fill them up with lots of great memories and moments while I can.