It's OCTOBER!

Is it just me, or is this year flying by? We've enjoyed some nice sunny fall weather lately, and now that Finn is better we're back to playing outside and of course biking. Finn could definitely use a bigger bike, but on the other hand Lily on her balance bike can keep up quite nicely with him on his small bike.
After just a few days in Kindergarten Finn came down with a cold that turned into bronchitis and kept him home for almost 2 weeks. We narrowly escaped a round of antibiotics, which we were happy about. Hopefully he will stay healthy now for a while.

While cleaning up the other day I found this picture he drew some time ago (when he was still 4), and his drawing skills have definitely improved a lot in the past half year or so. He can finally get the stories that are in his head on paper. I don't remember everything he told me about this one, but it is a pirate ship with three blue cannons, the pirate captain (with the black hat) and his mate coming running through the woods, and the sharks jumping REALLY HIGH (obviously, ha ha) out of the water to catch the guy in the blue boat. Or something like that. Oh, and the flying M's are birds.

Last week we took Lenny and Blue to the vet's for their yearly shots. The kids were so upset, and a bit baffled that the cats did not cry. Not one bit. Imagine that. It's been half a year since the vet saw the cats and well, Blue gained some weight since then. British Shorthair are a big breed, and while Lenny weighed in at a lean 11 lbs (5.2kg) Blue tipped the scales at 15lbs (6.8kg). So, he's supposed to go on a diet. If you know our Blue you know that he is always hungry, in fact, he's STARVING most of the time. He just loves to eat. The thing is, he doesn't really get that much and we always make sure he won't steal Lenny's food (thus the always acting hungry). They get dry food and when I weighed his usual portion it was actually already the recommended amount for overweight cats supposed to lose weight. So now he gets even LESS than that. I went out and bought him some special food with more fiber that's supposed to fill him up more. Poor guy. He's just big boned, right!? :)

"Who? Me? Fat?! MAJESTIC, I call it! Oh, and Neil, what you said about a treadmill for cats - you were just kidding, right? RIGHT!?"

A weekend morning at our house. Lily up at the crack of dawn, and after a few minutes of cuddling in my bed ("Can we get up now? And now? How about NOW?") I take her downstairs where I try to wake up while she watches some cartoons on the laptop. A little while later she is joined by her brother and Lenny. While Lenny is more interested in watching the birds outside, Finn and Lily need to hold onto him so that the poor cat won't be scared by the dog in the movie.

When Lenny can't stand all the love a moment longer it's Blue's turn.


Meanwhile (and after at least one cup of coffee, better yet, two) I've been able to get off the couch and into the kitchen to make some pancake batter. Buttermilk pancakes with Canadian maple syrup are our special weekend breakfast treat. Finn loves to cook. This batch got a little dark, so: Quick, out of the pan with them!

Oops. (And guess who comes running :)

This is about the time Neil appears, at least 2 hours after all the fun started. (But he makes up for it by watching Finn and Lily in the afternoon so I can have a heavenly nap.)

Good pancakes, brother!

Enjoying time with daddy on the weekend

In other news, Lily got a hair cut last week. Exciting, I know. Considering that the last time she went was in January after Finn chopped her hair off, she did really well. But she kept saying she didn't "want them to do that to me, Mama!" I finally figured out what she meant. The lady beside her was getting highlights done, so her hair was getting covered in aluminum foil. Lily thought she was going to look like that too! :)

This is before:

And after. Now the back is ALMOST one length again, but a couple strands are still shorter. What Finn cut off the top and front is about 3-4 inches long now, so I can clip it away or braid it. It sure takes a long time growing back!

In still other news, Finn and Lily had their first dance class last Thursday. It was at my gym and is a 45min hip hop/street dance class for boys and girls. They enjoyed it so I'm thinking of enrolling them. With the cold and rainy season coming soon it's a good way for them to get some exercise (running, jumping, hopping on one leg, doing some dance moves, stretching etc) and the added bonus is that I can hop on the treadmill while they are having fun.