Pictures we had done...

Okay so we had pictures done of the kids a while ago but didn't have the scanner set up until recently. So here they are....they are definitely not the best we have had taken. Why is it so hard for someone to push a button on the camera when kids are smiling and looking at them at the same time. The one of Bella turned out nicely but I mean, c'mon every picture we had to chose from of Ian he was looking up or down plus there were none of him with a real smile even though he was smiling in the studio....lets just say we walked out of there very frustrated. Oh well, now we know where not to go next time ;)

Being lazy ;)

So ya, I have been lazy lately and not posted much here. Now mind you we are not being lazy in life, if anything we are super busy. We started homeschooling this week!! Gabriella is LOVING it. Every morning I hear "Can we learn now?" or "Can we homeschool?". It is so nice to have such an eager learner. She is a workbook kind of girl. She would do pages and pages everyday if I let her.

Right now we are working on some math skills and writing and reading. She was able to print out pretty much every letter before starting so now we are working on keeping it all neat and trying to print within the lines and she is doing pretty good.

We are also reading a ton of books (thank goodness for the library). Both kids love listening to stories but we have added some question time after every story for Bella. I want to make sure she is listening and to make sure she understands the story.

Overall it is a lot of fun...just need to get used to doing it all and fitting it into our schedule...but I guess that is the great thing about homeschooling, you can do it whenever it works for your household. If you miss a day it isn't a big deal, you can always catch up the next day.

More Weekend getaway pics...

At African Lion Safari....

Weekend getaway pictures..

At the musuem....

Mini Vacation

Last weekend we had a little overnight getaway which turned out to be very fun :) We drove to Kitchener on Sunday and went to the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum. The kids had a blast there. Some of the stuff was a little too old for Gabriella to understand or really enjoy but overall it was a great time.
We then headed to our hotel to relax and eat (the food kind of sucked but what can you expect with a hotel restaurant). After dinner we did some swimming and met up with some friends who live up there (Hi Audra and Jay...it was great seeing you!)

On Monday we went to the African lion safari. I haven't been since I was a kid (probably close to Gabriella's age) That place is GREAT!! We took the bus through to see the animals since we couldn't take our van through due to a crack in our windshield (which was okay anyways since the baboons can get a little crazy and "steal" parts of your car) We saw so many animals and they were so up close it was pretty amazing. And oh my was it the year of new little babies! It seemed that every type of animal had a new little to join them this year.

After the bus ride we went for a walk to look around until it was time to see the elephant swim. They had 5 elephants which they led through the park to the big water hole and we watched them swim around.



After the elephant swim we went and had some lunch and then headed over to the train ride. There was also a boat ride we took around the "monkey island".


After all the rides and seeing all the animals we went to the splash pad. I think that was Bella's favourite part and Ian's most hated. Bella is quite the "fish" and would play in the water all day if we let her. Ian hates anything filled with water if it is bigger then a bath tub. So left Bella with daddy and I took Ian to the toddler play area where he fell in love with the ball pit. Overall we had a great time and will more then likely visit there again in future.

Big boy!

So it is official...Ian is walking. He has been now for about 2 weeks but he is getting better by the day. One of his favourite things to do is to chase and to be chased by Bella. Maybe one day I will be able to get some pictures of it happening.

The Great Outdoors!

So we decided to take advantage of our beautiful weather we are having and did a little bike riding. Now that Ian is mobile (YES he is walking!) it is so much easier to do stuff that involves cement....no more worries about him scraping up his knees.