The Taylor Nine at Pigeon Lake

Last summer we talked with Robb & Michele about going away together for a vacation next summer. We agreed that we would rent a cottage at a housekeeping resort together for a week & have a family vacation. This plan of course was made before they got pregnant & gave birth to twins. But, we went ahead as planned. When we first arrived & I saw the cottage I was worried that I would be out of my mind within 48 hours, but things went surprisingly well. Everyone got along really well & the kids had a blast. Robb had to work on the Friday so the Taylor 5 headed out on Thursday. Although we were sad they had to go, I was secretly hoping that my two children would sleep better without so much activity around.

My most memorable moment for Sydney was on the Wednesday when she informed us in a very cross voice that "I don't like being 3!" This of course was prompted by our request (requirement) that she take a nap. She was hitting a wall- staying up too late & getting up too early. Sydney was getting up in the morning as soon as she heard us get up with Jason (which was a much too early hour of 6:30am). I think she was afraid she was missing something because she could hear us talking with Michele who was also up with one of the twins. Max on the other hand we had to wake up every morning. She also saw some kids riding their bikes without training wheels & also decided that this was another reason she doesn't like being 3- she wants to ride her bike like a big kid.

Jason's most memorable moment was related to his new saying "All done". The cottage did not have a bath- only a shower. Jason has showers often, but this shower had really high pressure, but only came out in little fine sprays so it was like a needle hitting your back. Each night trying to shower Jason he would say in a very fast, panicked voice "All done, all done, all done..." until the shower was over. It is kind of cruel to be laughing about his "torture", but his voice was so cute during each episode. He also woke us up one morning with "all done" and he has also taken an aversion to teeth brushing which is often done to a chorus of "all done". He still doesn't have a lot of intelligible words, but there is no mistaking this phrase!

Here are some shots with some further commentary.

Bonding with (Grinny) Grace and (Mad) Maddie
Jason LOVED holding the twins. Maddie gets a bad rap for being the more difficult one, but she gets a special place in my heart because she reminds me of Jason (i.e. has no problem telling you what she wants or doesn't want).


Lots of time to play

Jason's in back yelling, "I'm open!"

Happy kids make happy parents

The big kids head off to the park
The best part was we could watch them right from our cottage

X
"I don't want to take a nap!"

Looks like Mom & Dad knew best

Rub-a-dub-dub

Gracie's in the...sink

Time at the beach

A trampoline in the water- pretty cool

Date Night

Part of the plan of spending a week together was also the trade off of babysitting services. So, Brad & I had all 5 kids from 4pm to 11pm. Since Maddie had given Michele 2 nights in a row where she did not go to sleep until 1am, it was my goal to have both girls in bed before they got home. I am happy to say that I did succeed, but I am very thankful that I never had twins. These two do not work together...when one falls asleep, the other wakes up. They rarely are asleep at the same time so it is VERY busy with them during the day. Hats off to you Robb & Michele!

Finger paint helps them not to miss Max

Finger painting lasts 15 minutes

Monster hands lasts 5 minutes

Clean up lasts about 45 minutes

Last night at the cottage


Peterborough Zoo before heading home

If you are ever in Peterborough, check out the park it is great. There is a zoo, playground & splashpad that are all free!

The train costs a dollar.

Mmm, Mmm Ice Cream

This is from last week, but it still makes me laugh so I need to share with you! Brad cannot believe that I want to post it, but I think it is priceless.

Happy Birthday Canada

Today we had a great day, but unfortunately it will be a short "holiday". Tomorrow is back to work. We went to Webster's Falls where they had some activities for the kids, some music & some dancers. It was nice to picnic with the kids & see them enjoy themselves.

Sydney got her face painted & thankfully left it on her face since it was a long wait to get it. Jason was troubled for awhile that we tied his balloon to his shorts, but then he just went with it. He spent the day running around.


Both kids crashed on the way home & Jason went right to bed when we got home. I knew Sydney would not go back to sleep if we got her out of the car & she needed a nap too. So, Sydney slept in the car & I just waited in the garage while she slept. We are those crazy people who have a Lazyboy in our garage- but in our defense it is only a temporary stop on its way to somewhere else. Although its presence in the garage allowed me to catnap while I waited for Sydney to wake up. Maybe we don't need to get rid of it until the fall??? Surely a kid heading to college might pick it up off the curb if we were to put it out?

June in Review

I can't believe I went a whole month without blogging- bad me. There are many things that I thought about blogging, but at night once all that needs to get done gets done- I have been beat. June was a busy month with lots of things to do. Here are some of the highlights:

Jason's First Haircut

No he didn't really need one, but he had a tuft of hair on top of his head that was driving me crazy. So I got the clippers out & shaved his head- he really liked it & last time I cut Brad's again- Jason came running. He patted his head & said "hair, hair", so he technically got 2 haircuts in June. I am sure that every three weeks when I am cutting Brad's, Jason's will get done too. Hopefully it with generate some real growth!


Mom's Birthday/Retirement/Moving Party

The time finally came for mom to retire & with this change in life she embraced another- moving to a new city. So we hosted a party to celebrate these changes in her life & a lot of family and many friends came to celebrate. I know it meant a lot to Mom to see everyone there- even though she told us the last thing she wanted was a party. Just shows that not even Moms always know what they want- sometimes kids can know best.


Father's Day

It is terrible that I didn't even blog on Father's Day, but in my defense I didn't blog on Mother's Day either (although I was only a day late). But you know, fathers do deserve a very honourable mention. Especially the father of my children for all that he has put up with during our renovation when the project isn't something he wanted to do in the first place. So I thank him for being not only a great dad, but a very involved one too. Jason is definitely beginning to see that his dad is a pretty cool guy & fun to play with. Unfortunately for Brad, Jason seems to most often want him when Brad is trying to read the paper. Sydney of course has always loved her dad & continues to be a Daddy's girl.



Ellie's Party

Sydney's friend Ellie moved to North Carolina in November & this month she came home for a visit. Since this month is also Ellie's birthday, Kate organized a surprise birthday party for her. Ellie was thrilled!!! Wendy (Ellie's mom) thinks that it was the best day of Ellie's life so far.

Sydney had to scoot off from Ellie's party to go to Max's party, which apparently was quite fun. I missed it because I was heading up to Stratford. Ellie's party ended with rain, so our clean-up was quite rushed, but I did discover that Jason loves to play in the rain. It was so cute to see him running around in the rain & spinning in circles.


The Move

With Mom's planning to move to Burlington everything went pretty smoothly. She found an apartment that she really liked, her house sold quickly for what she wanted, she got rid of a lot of stuff so that she didn't have to move it & the movers she hired did a good job. Before she left Stratford I went up with Jason to say my goodbye to the house. Although I really only lived there for a few months, I always loved that house & continued to call it home until Brad & I got married. Jason as you will see below came to help pack boxes.

Mom is settling into the apartment well & we are working on getting some window coverings up so that she is not a free show to her neighbours. The whole length of the apartment is windows, which is great most of the time- except when you don't have blinds or curtains. This week that should all change.


Summer Fun

June had some really hot days & A LOT OF RAINING DAYS! I cannot remember the last summer with so many thunderstorms- & we are only starting July! Since I love thunderstorms I was not too bothered by the weather, but I am hoping that it is over now since we are heading out on holidays in a couple of weeks. I don't mind the rain at home, but I don't want to be stuck too long in a cottage with Max, Sydney, Jason, Grace & Maddie! Especially now that Sydney says, "I'm bored". I have figured out that this is her code for "Mommy, I want to watch t.v.".

But for the hot days we hit the pool next door, which resulted in Sydney going commando since her bathing suit bottoms kept coming off when she was trying to swim & jump in. Check out Jason's UV floatation suit- definitely looks like a linebacker!


I also introduced them to the novelty of running through the sprinkler. As you can see, Sydney loved it. Jason...well he took awhile to warm up. Not surprising though, he is like that for most things (& people). He eventually did tolerate it, but I don't think he will jump up and down with excitement when we do it again.



Being the "older" one

Sydney is truly a great big sister. Now that Jason is trying harder to say words, she really encourages him. The other day she was so proud that she taught him how to get on the horse & how to get off. It was so cute, she loves to show him how to do things & they really do seem to love being together- lets hope it continues.


Now we have 2 new little ones in the mix & both Sydney & Jason are adapting well to them. We are constantly amazed at Jason's interest in them. We babysat them for a few hours last weekend & Jason wanted to get right down on the floor & play with him. But we need to remind him to be gentle! When we go away on vacation with them, we will really need to keep our eyes on him.

I think I may have scarred her...

Yesterday at Wingfest Sydney "won" a blow-up dolphin. It is strange the way kids will attach themselves to something. She had to hold onto it the whole way home which was a problem whenever "Squeak" got too close to Jason & the squeaking noise all the way home was a little tiresome. But while I was out yesterday Brad said Sydney sat with "Squeak" & read her magazine to it. Then last night when I went in to check on her before I went to bed, I was greeted by this very cute site.

Squeak wasn't in her bed at the start of the night, but apparently someone was lonely. This morning Sydney asked me if I was the one who opened her blinds last night- I guess she did sort of wake up to the flash.

In addition to all of this, Sydney has told me repeatedly that she will never sell Squeak. She didn't seem to mind the stuff being out at the garage sale last weekend, but maybe the experience scarred her without me realizing.

You know, Hamilton does have pretty parts too

Although we are technically part of Hamilton, I never refer to myself as a Hamiltonian. But today I was reminded that I am often too hard on Hamilton. Like any other city it has its nice areas & its not so nice areas. This weekend is (the first annual?) Wingfest & we headed down there after Jason's swimming lessons. Sydney wanted to watch Jason's lessons & since today's was the last one the outing was a family affair. Apparently the spectators were marvelling at how he will jump in the pool all by himself (over & over again).

Anyway, back to why I am too hard on Hamilton. The event was held at Pier 8, which I had never been to & was really quite nice. There is a nice Williams Coffee Pub down there with a really nice patio (who knew?). Also, the kids loved to look at all the boats and the Canada Geese. I noted that there was a little trolley tour and a boat tour, both of which Sydney asked if we could do some day. Jason was not ready to leave watching the boats, but we did head down there to sample some wings. I'm not a big chicken wing person, but the [something] and Bulldog had some really good ones.

There was also rides & games for the kids so although it was a quite costly couple of hours, the kids had fun. Jason got to go on his first "big kid ride" and it was quite cute. He looked pretty unsure while he was on, but he didn't really want to get off. I seem to remember Sydney being exactly the same way. I'd love to share a picture, but apparently I need Bluetooth to get the pictures from my phone to my computer & that isn't happening right now.

So instead here is a picture of Sydney & I at Mom's last weekend. One thing Hamilton doesn't have is this family showing up at your garage sale. Sydney was in awe at how big the horses were.

Still not finished, but getting closer (we hope)

The kitchen still is not done, but at least our house around the kitchen is starting to come back to order. We are still waiting for the custom cabinet to arrive, so we are in waiting mode until it does. We cannot put in the rest of the lighting until the cabinets are done, nor can we get the backsplash done. However, over the weekend we did put more stuff away, put furniture & pictures where they belonged, & for the first time in 3 WEEKS! had a functioning sink in the kitchen. It may seem silly to take a picture of your sink, but I was so grateful to have it again that I had to capture the moment.

Although the kitchen is not "done" I am already loving the end result. When in the kitchen getting things ready for dinner or cleaning up- I can still be part of the action. I don't usually mind the prep, but when there is action going on I resent not being able to be part of it. Or when Brad is doing any of these things, I can watch, talk (& direct) as needed. The kids are liking it too because they can both be up with me helping & not get in each others way or my way. It is great. I'm not sure how "happy" Brad is about the whole result- I think he likes it, but he liked it well enough before. Maybe I should have made him do more of the cooking so that I would fully realize the benefit of the new experience.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was great...Sydney slept in & Jason was quiet meaning that I got to sleep until almost 8am. It was wonderful!!! Then I was treated to breakfast made by Sydney & Brad, cleaned the house up a bit then headed out the door to meet Mom, Craig & Tyler in Kitchener for lunch. After that we headed back home to then welcome Brad's family to our home. All in all, it was a great day.

Sydney & Jason making their cards for GG, Nana, & Grandma.

Wild hair chef

Brunch with Nana

Cute cut

On Thursday I took Sydney to Cuts for Kids & 'treated' her to a haircut. I say treat because she sat in a Jeep & watched TV while getting her hair cut & then they paint their nails afterward. Although, I must say it looks pretty cute- especially when she lets me put the pigtails in that just end up curling like crazy.

She turned the car away from the TV for the picture, Sydney obviously wasn't impressed with the interruption.

Jason liked hanging out in the plane, but wanted in the Jeep as soon as Sydney was done. He still has awhile before he's going to need a haircut.

The end result (with curly tails!)

Mr. Serious is starting to smile more

He doesn't only smile, but poses for the camera!

My Heart Melts

There are many reasons that I had kids, but these pictures capture some of the moments of parenthood that truly capture my heart.

Cute things from this week

Part of the purpose of keeping this journal is to keep track of the cute things that kids say. Well, I have fallen off of that mark lately. I know that Sydney said a couple of things this week that now for the life of me I can't remember. Hopefully it will come to me later.

On Friday we took Jason for his speech assessment & I took Sydney with me. Although we had the talk before we went in that Mommy needed to talk to this woman & Sydney would need to play on her own, she kept asking me over & over to read a Curious George book. I felt so bad for saying 'no' and we never got a chance to read it when the session was over either.

As for Jason, he did pretty good showing her what he was supposed to show her. I was fearful that we would go in & he would just sit beside me the whole time. Fortunately she had some pretty good toys. She noted that he doesn't have very many different sounds, which makes it difficult to have a lot of words. She said his comprehension is very good, so good that we will need to be careful that we work hard to break our speech down into short phrases. Talking in normal sentences with him does not give him the chance to model words back to us. So, if you are around us & you hear us saying the same thing to Jason over & over again, you will know why. She also stated that his personality (stubborn) will make it even more difficult to see changes. He will do things in his own time- don't we know it!!!

So, Brad & I will be taking a Parent Course that will give us tools to help him & have a few sessions to monitor his progress. Let's just hope the time they call us for the group will work!

This weekend we are kid-free. Sydney & Jason are with Aunt Kim, Uncle Peter, Nana & Regan while Brad & I are putting the kitchen floor down & painting- will update you on that later.

Grace & Maddie Stolen Image

Robb & Michele have their own site for Grace & Maddie- not blogger mind you. Brad told me to check it out this morning for updates & saw this picture, so I had to steal it. I requested the video, but will have to see if they will give it to me (Grace is sucking on Maddie's head). It really is too cute not to share & the site they chose will not post videos (I will link to the site in the future if they say it is OK).