Shakespeare in the Park

We went to see Shakespeare in the Park last Thursday. They were doing the Merry Wives of Windsor this year. It is always a great event and well attended. The weather turned really cold after we got there and we watched the play huddled under the blankets we brought for the kids to sit on the ground. The kids did very well watching the play. I did not think it was the best one they have put on. They always set the plays in a different era to what they were written for and that is not my preference most of the time. This was set probably at the beginning of the 20th Century (as far as I could tell) and was way too overacted and campy for my tastes. They did say that they were doing Hamlet in space next year, not sure if they were joking or not, but that could be interesting!!!! We went with Jan & Julie and for some reason the kids decided they were going to jump around in the chair carrier and be jumping beans. They had a lot of fun doing that, they never run out of ideas.....

Changes around the house

We have changed a few things in our house in the past few days. We do this so rarely that I thought it was worthy of note. When I was looking for a birthday present for Maggie, I found some new sheets for Ben's bed, he badly needed them. Then, I found a cover set & cushion to match the sheets that had 50% off. Even though his old cover was fine (if you ignore all the marker on it), I could not resist it. I thought it fitted in well with him being a cub scout, although none of us are that keen on camping. We are always looking for people for Ben to camp out with, so feel free to volunteer......
We finally got the new dining chairs, they are quarter sawn oak and quite spectacular. They are Amish made, so they should last a long time. They will work better for the kids too because they are all wood and can be wiped easily. We don't use the dining room much right now as it's so much easier to eat in the kitchen, but hopefully one day that will change. To be quite honest, most of the time, I forget we have the part of the house that consists of the dining room & Sam's office, because I hardly ever go down there!!!!
Finally, we got a new picture for the wall, it's hanging above our TV. We have been looking for something to go on the wall & had almost bought something at the last Clayton Art Fair. This one isn't quite big enough, but it will do until we get something larger at a later date. The artist (remaining nameless) modeled the picture on Vincent's sunflowers. Since Vincent is one of my favourite artists, he couldn't really go wrong....

The best laid plans.....

Well, as we all know, things rarely go according to plan. I had my whole day mapped out today and was going to have a relaxing day to myself after taking Ben to the doctor and dropping him off at scout camp. However, we had a huge storm first thing in the morning and scout camp was canceled. This made Ben very happy & also freed Sam up for the day as he had been going to the camp with Ben. Sam cleaned all of our hardwood floors while we went to the doctors. Then, we went to St Charles to pick up my two new dining room chairs that I had ordered when Mum & Dad were here. I absolutely love them & they look great in our dining room. We ate lunch at the Trailhead Brewery, which is always a hit. I had pretty decent fish & chips for lunch (still nowhere as good as from the local chip shop back home though!!). Ben had to have a hamburger (not on the kid's menu) and ate his usual three bites before he was done-I suspect it will be a future lunch for Sam. I had been planning to go & get my feet done as a birthday treat and Ben insisted on coming with me. He loved sitting in the chair and getting his back massaged. He had his nails painted and sat with his hands under the dryer for ages. He picked this fluorescent yellow, you have to wonder if they keep these colours just for kids or if adults ever pick them!!!! We picked Maggie up on the way home and then we ate pizza and ice cream for dinner while watching Harry Potter. It was a great day!!!!

He's on the charts!!!!

I took Ben to the endocrinologist today. He has been on growth hormone for almost a year (he started on June 30th last year). He is now 47 1/2 lbs (10th percentile) and 46 1/2 inches tall. His height is now at the 3rd percentile, he is finally on the height chart!!!! He has grown 4 inches and put on 8 lbs in the past year. It is truly amazing. The doctor is very happy with his growth and expects him to keep catching up with his peers. They have increased his dose to account for his increased size.

bubbles, bubbles, bubbles

Since Maggie never really plays with toys, I went to Target at an utter loss as to what to get her for her birthday. I settled on getting her a bubble machine that's designed like a bbq grill. It was a huge hit, they played with it all day. I guess Mum isn't totally clueless after all.

My baby turns 5

The day finally arrived when Maggie is 5 years old (and can go to school in August!!). She was the first child up in the morning, and came to sit with me in the kitchen.
Me: Hi Maggie. How are you? Did you sleep well? What day is it today?
Maggie: Shrugs her shoulders
Me: Don't you remember what day it is today?
Maggie: Shrug
Me: Maggie, what day is it today? It's very special
Maggie: I'm trying to think
Me: What are those things over there on the counter?
Maggie: Presents
Me: What are they for?
Maggie: I don't know
Me: Maggie, they are for you it's your birthday
Maggie: Yeah, it's my birthday.
She completely ignored all of the presents until Ben got up and his enthusiasm rubbed off on her. Granted, he has enough for several children. They took the presents and put them on the floor and Maggie proceeded to open them while we tried to keep Ben away from "helping" too much. The hit of the day was the bubble machine that we bought her.

Another storm

We had a big storm come through our neighbourhood yesterday afternoon right after I got home with Ben. We were just walking out the door to go to the park and the wind came whipping down the opposite street, bringing large amounts of trash with it. We just closed the garage door & went back inside. Our power was off for about 6 hours, the kids just can't stand it when the power is out. Maggie goes around switching all the light switched on and off, she just can't understand it. Luckily, everything in the fridges and freezers should be safe and we even 'had' to go out and eat dinner!!!! Ben & I did go up to the park eventually and walked around the lake. There were a lot of trees down in the neighbourhood, one just missed the house down the road from us and another was right across our street so we can only get out one way right now. Ben and I spent the afternoon searching for Canada Goose feathers, he uses them to write with-must have been watching too much Harry Potter (can you ever really watch too much Harry Potter???!!!)