Birthday fun at Wonnemar

Neil got off work early on his birthday, and as everyone was reasonably healthy we took the kids on a long-promised trip to Wonnemar (the pool).

Which of us should go in first, octopus?

I vote for you!



Water rats:




Going down the baby slide with daddy:




Big boys go down all by themselves, naturally.

Hungry!

Claudia and Finn fearlessly climbing the stairs to the entrance of the "magic eye" slide, armed with an inner tube:

We made it all the way down (a few times), and it was so much fun!

Splish splash Lily

They slept very well that night. :)

Happy birthday to us :)

So, we're both getting older, there's no denying it! Believe it or not, we are both 34 now! Neil gave me a gift certificate for horse riding in Canada (I might look into leasing a horse at Maple Heights Arabians) - hence the Schleich animal horse parade on the table. Finn thinks I should choose a mammoth or giant squid instead, so he added those to the parade. Riding a horse - how boring! :)

Neil getting a birthday kiss from his little princess:

Blowing out the candles (I couldn't resist to rub it in :)

Neil's gift from Finn and Lily: a remote-controlled model airplane to fly outside, with them of course.

And here are Finn and Lily practicing "Happy Birthday" to sing to Neil

Some spring pics

Just chillin' in my rocking chair, or, as auntie Ulli likes to say: "Natural Born Chiller!"

Sometimes we actually love each other.

Really!


Saying hello to our big black friend Jimmy.


Giddy-up!



Look at all the pretty flowers, Lily!

Hi, Mama!

I found one! Here's another one! Think they're edible, Finn? Baloo eats ants!

All in a day's work

All right, it's MY turn to tell you a little bit about my daily life. Preschool, or Kindergarten, is keeping me quite busy these days. I have so much to do there I sometimes can't go home when Mama wants to pick me up! So she patiently waits until I'm done coloring or playing with Lego or going down the slide just one hundred more times. Mama took lots of pictures for you to look at. I hope you like them!

Your Finn.

Shortly before 8am. I just woke up and that little stinkbug Lily keeps turning on the lights. So I keep shouting "Turn them off! Turn them off!", but it doesn't do much good. Lily's been up for 2 hours already and I guess she missed me.

Time to wash up and get dressed. I like making waves in the sink that juuuust about reach the edge. Oops. "Mama, let's mop the floor, okay? Look, I already got it all wet to help you!"

A quick cup of juice. We're running late and I will eat my breakfast as soon as I get to Kindergarten.

Ready to roll! Mama puts my breakfast and my lunch in this nice bag. I wonder what she packed me today?

Quick, Lily! I can hear the churchbells, it must be 8:30! That's when they lock the doors, so we have to HUURRYY! It's a good thing the Kindergarten is right across the street from our house or we would never make it in time.

This is where I take my coat off and put my lunch bag. Sometimes Lily takes her jacket and boots off too and wants to come inside and play with us. Silly girl - she's too small still!

Phew, made it just in time for the morning circle. This is my group and one of my teachers. I'm in the front beside the girl in pink. Most of the kids are bigger than me, especially the older ones, but that never stops me from pestering them. The other day Mama told my teacher that I used to be a shy boy and the teacher laughed. I wonder why? And Papa said to me I can't push the other kids, so I told him "Okay, then I will just bump them." He didn't think that was nice either. Grownups always want us kids to "use our words", but don't they know I want to be a knight when I grow up? I gotta practice!

At 1:30pm Mama comes to pick me up. Today we stayed inside because the weather wasn't nice. I didn't want to go home and tried to hide in the ball pool, but Mama still found me.

So we went home, but first I had to pick up my big stick that I left by the door. Mama wouldn't let me take that inside.

At home I made sure all my animals were okay. This is Momo, my killer whale.





Then Mama said she had a surprise for me - a letter from my auntie Kristine from Canada! What could be inside?

Handpuppets for our collection! Two cute doggies! Thank you so much, Kristine!

And a nice letter to go with it. I can't wait to see Kristine in May!

Lily loved her doggie too! I gave it to her right after she woke up from her nap.

Then it was time to go shopping with Mama. We had made a nice shopping list together so I could help her. Lily was too busy climbing around in the cart to be of much help. Mama said one of these days she is going to have a heart attack and if having to get stitched up once already wasn't enough for Lily.

Here's my list. First I needed to find the toast.




Then we looked for milk and sour cream, and after we tipped over a big stack of empty boxes we found both right behind! What luck!





Mama said we did very well at the store, so she gave us a lollipop when we were done. I LIKE going shopping!






After we got home my silly little sister had lots of fun trying to walk around in Mama's shoes ...

... while I helped cook dinner!

As soon as Papa came home we sat down to eat. I didn't care for the steamed wheat so much, but I did like the chicken, and corn on the cob is one of my favourite foods! Lily loves it too, but we have to cut the corn off for her. Soon she'll be big enough to nibble it off just like me.

After dinner Papa put in my favourite Louis Armstrong CD so I could play my drum and dance. Then we all danced together, what fun! Mama couldn't take a picture because she was too busy dancing with Lily.

At around 7pm it's time for me to go upstairs and get ready for bed. I make sure my teeth are clean so they won't get cavities and fall out!

Then it's off to bed, but wait a second! There's something under my blanket!

I just knew it. It's that little sister of mine again! Out you go, this is MY bed!

Mama or Papa tell me a nice bedtime story and pray with me, and then it's time to drive off to la-la-land.

Good night, all. I wonder what fun things I will do tomorrow?

And for those of you who can view these, here are two little videos. In the first one I'm reading my shopping list to Papa so he knows what all I we bought today. The second one is for Uncle Karl. :-)

And we thought spring was here!

We are so ready for spring!


Last Sunday it was really nice out and we all went on a bike ride to Jana's house, about 3.5 km/2.2 miles. Finn biked all the way there on his little scoot-along bike, we were quite impressed! And a few days ago we (Finn, Lily and Claudia) spent hours at the playground, enjoying the mild weather and sunshine. Finn and Lily are excellent climbers, sliders, and pebble soup cooks. Not to speak of mudcake bakers and dog poop finders (eew!). When we're out for a walk Finn constantly picks up rocks of all sizes to put in his pockets and take home. Lily of course has to do the same. The other day I could stop her JUST in time before she picked up some dog poop for her treasure basket. :)



Now it's back to being cold and windy with a sleeting rain. Not exactly our favourite kind of weather. We're hoping for more outdoor fun soon!


Here are two March pictures of Lily, the only ones I've taken since our fingerpainting adventure. What a cutie she is (if I may say so myself :).