This past weekend...

This Past Weekend ...

We enjoyed some all-too-rare grandparent time. My mom and dad are in town helping out while Kevin is away, but even though much of our time is spent just managing the day-to-day tasks of a busy household we've found a few opportunities to enjoyed ourselves.

We've ridden carousels...

And trains ...

And trains ...

... and more trains. (In case you haven't noticed, Colin really likes trains. I think it's a universal two-year-old-boy thing.)


And there has been lots and lots of baby-holding ...

... Which means I have finally found a few minutes to catch up on blogging and reading and relaxing. Heaven!

What did you do with your weekend?

This Past Weekend ...

... After what seemed like 40 days of rain, we enjoyed getting back out in the sun (or shade, for some of us).

... Colin kept finding new things to climb up ...

... and slide down. "This park is really nice, Mama," he said.

... And we had fun playing with friends.

... A lot of fun. Thank you, Jeff, Michelle, and Nora, for a great Canada Day!

This Past Weekend ...

... I enjoyed the last of my bearded irises. They were four feet tall and just glorious.

... We tried out our new fairy wings -- I mean, butterfly wings.

... In fact, we tried lots of new things -- and his mama is just so proud of him.

... We made it through the sleep deprivation with lots of babywearing--and strong drink (just kidding).

... Actually, we made it through the sleep deprivation thanks to the joy of baby smiles.

This Past Weekend ...

We went barefoot for the first time this year.


Even in places where we shouldn't.


Admired the world from new vantage points.


Invented new games, such as "fighting with sticks and leaves." Where *does* he get this?


And enjoyed a few moments of quiet relaxation.

At some point last Friday I started to make a list of all the things I needed to do this past weekend ... which I failed to finish. Perhaps this week I'll remember what was supposed to go on that list and maybe I'll finally "finish" it. Or maybe I'll just run around outside barefooted.

Weekending

This weekend I treated myself new pillows and slipcovers to replace the ones stained by breast milk and spit up (and these are washable!),

I practised the new baby massage skills I learned from a class taught by this woman,

I enjoyed this new stage of imaginative role play ...


and enjoyed watching him share it with his little brother.

I loved that I could get a whole set of cute finger puppets for five dollars at Ikea ...

as well as a cool tunnel to entertain my energetic toddler.

And now I'm feeling prepared to face another week!

Weekending

Unlike last weekend, this weekend we stuck closer to home and tried to catch up on all the chores we had neglected during the previous weekend's adventures: doing laundry, rearranging furniture, doing more laundry, gardening--and doing even more laundry. Turns out, trying to do any one of these things with two children in the house takes three times as long as with one child. Someone explain to me the math behind that.

Anyway, the trickiest part was the gardening. Our season here is so short that unless you get your garden planted by the May Long Weekend, you risk not having any harvest, and we were already a week behind. So all hands were needed in the fields--including Colin's. We thought we could interest him in picking up sticks and decapitating dandelions, but the only thing he wanted to do was use the push mower--and his father let him! "So what if he loses a couple of toes, if it keeps him occupied for half an hour"--was his defence. Needless to say, we gave up on "gardening as a family" after this.

Still, we had a few successes. The vegetables got planted before they wilted from neglect. The tomatoes did not get destroyed by last night's near-freezing temperatures. And we finally found a formula for getting Colin to go to bed without any fuss: We took him to the swimming pool for two hours in the morning and to the playground for two hours in the evening. Sadly, we never got both boys to sleep at the same time, so Kevin and I are as exhausted as ever. Any one know the magic formula for coordinating nap times?

This weekend I was loving:

My super-cute yard man, who mows and weeds and moves heavy things even though he hates gardening.

My impish two-year-old, even if he makes it a challenge to get both boys out of the house before noon.

Watching that two year old scale new mountains...

... then promptly falling asleep.

Waking up to the coos of Ian Archer and the birds outside my bedroom window--even if both start the day at 3:00 a.m.

The May Long Weekend

The Victoria Day Weekend--or "The May Long Weekend" as it is more commonly called--is the traditional start of Spring up here in the frozen North. The weather finally warms up to a balmy 70 degrees (20 C), and we can finally start planting out our gardens, grilling, and sitting out on the deck in the evenings with a tall cold one. It's a three-day weekend that everyone looks forward to--everyone, that is, except parents of young children. To us, a three-day weekend just means three whole days without childcare--and that can be a very long weekend, indeed. You can just think again if you think your toddler (or your newborn) is going to let you get any gardening done or even just sit down and relax with a tall cold one.

This past weekend, Kevin and I had one goal and one goal only: to keep Colin entertained while hopefully not exhausting ourselves. We watched movies, rode our tricycle dozens of times, and went on a picnic and outings to the bookstore, the flower nursery, and Fort Edmonton Park. All ended with us fleeing the scene with one--or both--children in tears. Outings for a family of four are proving to be much more difficult than for a family of three.

Our only real success this weekend was the trip to Fort Edmonton, where we just turn Colin loose for two-and-a-half hours. You want to run in the street? Sure, the choo-choo trains here generally stop for children. You want to skip lunch and eat chocolate chip cookies? Why not? You want to touch the horses, the chickens, the pigs and goats? You bet! You want to walk into strangers' houses and play with their toys? Mi casa es su casa. Turns out, the secret to success on an outing with a toddler is to find someplace where the word "no" doesn't exist for a few hours. I guess it's time we bought that Fort Edmonton family pass.

Scenes from our very long weekend:

Kevin pretends to enjoy our very windy picnic.

Colin doesn't even pretend--he just pouts under a chokecherry tree.

Our trip to the flower nursery ended when Colin pretended to be a "little worm" and started inching across the ground on his belly.

At least the tulips I planted last Fall were in bloom.

But at Fort Edmonton, Colin could ride the horse-drawn buggy ...

... and play with some other child's toys ...

... and pet the goats ...

... and chase the chickens.

And Ian Archer could enjoy it all from the comfort of his cozy sling. Thank God, for tiny blessings.

What did you do with your long weekend?