Pre-Easter Pics

We had a great first half of the Easter weekend at the lake at my parents' place. Now we're back home and into the second half with Daniel's family. We took some pictures of the kids before we left because we weren't sure whether we'd get another chance with them dressed up so nicely. So this was just in front of our house before we hit the road to Grandma and Grandpa's.


Maggie loved to twirl in her dress! It was so cute!





We took the kids for some Easter pictures last week. Once I figure out how to scan them and get them onto here I'll post them. Until then, these were the pictures we took outside of Superstore on a bench while we bribed them with marshmallow Easter bunnies.


I think the kids look so grown up in these pictures. It's happening way too fast!

Casey

Mitchell

There will be many more pictures to come, but it may take a while to get through them all!

We'll Miss You Amber!

We have been extremely lucky to have found such a great young girl to come into our home and care for our kids. Originally the plan was for Amber to be here the 3 days a week that I worked. Things changed a little for us right around the time that I went back to work when Daniel resigned from his job. He has since then been working from home in the office and Amber has been here with the kids.

However, we began to realize that his work was not as busy for him in the mornings when she was here, but rather later in the day when I was home from work. So we came to the decision that it would make the most sense for Daniel to just be here with the kids while I'm at work and then I will be home when he needs to do his work. We wrestled with the idea because Amber has been nothing but awesome with the kids and they just love her, but really it just came down to us wanting to spend as much time as possible with our kiddos because they are growing up so quickly.

Last Friday was Amber's last day with us so we all went out for lunch to Boston Pizza. The kids did relatively well, but sitting in a booth gives them a little too much freedom. Once the jello and whipped cream came though, they sure sat quietly!





She got the kids each a helmet which they have worn NON-STOP since then!


We'll miss you Amber, but we'll definitely see you at the soccer field this summer!

A few weeks ago Daniel was away for a couple of days and I had to work so the kids went to my parents. They found a Dora book that they loved and Grandma taught them about Swiper the fox, and they now tell us, "Swiper, no swiping!" I don't even know what that means.

I'm not sure what it is about stairs and snacks, but this is a popular spot at Grandma and Grandpa's too.

Casey was so tired one day at lunch he could barely keep his eyes open. Grandpa was trying to feed him grapes but he couldn't even get up the strength to open his mouth (which is very unlike him).


I think he could have asked for anything at that moment and Grandma would have given it to him.

Mitchell laid claim to Mr. Potato Head's teeth.


As always, outside at the lake is sooo much fun especially this time of year with all of the puddles!




The kids were so excited that there was a cat hanging around outside of the house.

Especially Casey!

Anytime Spring!

It has been an extremely looonnnggg winter! Any of you in Saskatchewan can attest to that. Last weekend was so beautiful, the snow had pretty much all melted and it was so nice to be outside with the kids. Now the past few days have been cold and snowy/rainy. But I guess it could be a lot worse, I shouldn't complain.

Anyways, I thought I'd just post a few last pictures of the kids out in the snow.


They LOVE to help daddy shovel!!!




The kids were eating their snacks on the steps the other day and they were using big kid spoons. A simple thing...yes, but this is actually exciting for them!


Maggie was all about posing this day.




We have very few pictures of Casey where he's not making this cheese face...

Pucker up!

Holy Moly!!!

One day as I was cleaning up breakfast the kids seemed very content to stay in the playroom and I could hear giggling and lots of chatter. I just assumed they were playing nicely, which I guess they were, but Casey was also piling every single toy in that room into the little house on top of Mitchell and Maggie and they were loving it.

Mitchell is saying "Holy moly!!"




I wish I could have gotten more of Casey on this video because you can just see the beginning and the end of one of his little "crazy fits". When he's in a silly mood he does the strangest things.



Mitchell and Maggie are watching, thinking..."He's lost it again!"

Mitchell has had some problems doing his business lately. Sometimes he's been in so much pain because he couldn't go that he would cry and cry. So we've been adding a lot more fibre to their diet, including Bran Buds. Of course the bowls with all of the tiny, tiny things got "accidentally" dumped, but luckily our little vacuum cleaners ate every last Bran Bud off the floor...probably hundreds of them!

Another Poor Animal

Last weekend it was a cat that our kids were obsessing over, this weekend it was a bird. We were out running some errands this morning and we stopped in at Petland to see some of the animals. The kids got to pet some of the puppies and hamsters but for a while they were going crazy over a $1,500 parrot. I don't mean to offend any bird people out there, but would someone seriously pay $1,500 for a bird?

Anyways, the poor thing seemed to be trying to escape from his 3 visitors.




Here is one of the cheaper birds. Seriously?!

Grandma and Grandpa Rauckman just got back from a holiday in the Virgin Islands. They brought the kids back some lounge wear and they were pretty proud to be wearing their outfits. They (the kids, not Grandma and Grandpa) look like they're ready for a retirement community, they just need their socks to go a little higher.




I think I see a little Steve Irwin, the Crocodile hunter, in Mitchell.