Their World, July 2014

And I thought that June was busy!

In July we:

• hosted a Canada Day party for 22 people
• enjoyed the last bit of our time with Nana and Papa
• had a packed 8 day visit from my sister and her family (geocaching, ice cream shoppe, the Ottawa Beer Market, a tour of the Cold War Museum at the Diefenbunker, the Science Museum, POUTINE, the Museum of History & Children's Museum, the Mosaika light show on Parliament Hill, along with park visits, bike rides... see? PACKED.)
• watched LOTS of soccer... so sad that Argentina lost.
• travelled down to Rochester, NY, to visit the Strong's Museum of Play, see a movie, do some shopping (including the Lego Store!), visit the Rochester Science Museum, and hit up a Wegman's to drool over their selection of gluten free foods
• spent three fun-filled days with Peter's brother and his family at our sister-in-law's family farm/pond, located right next to one of NY beautiful state parks 

We also swam with friends, went to parks/splash pads, had fun rock climbing and racing through bouncing houses/slides at les Jeux de la Francophonie Canadienne, climbed fences to watch trains go by, and cheered Peter on (from a distance) as he ran a 26km Spartan Race. In addition to that, I managed to squeeze in a family session, a maternity session, a full-day wedding, and potentially a birth if baby decides to come before the end of the month. In the month that I told myself I'd take off. HA.

And my birthday is July 31st!

(I decided to limit this to images of only my four kids, without any of their cousins... otherwise this post would have 53 images. No joke.)





02.July.2014 - with Nana and Papa (Peter's parents)

07.July.2014 - family shot at the Diefenbunker

14.July.2014 - picnic on our way down to NY, swimming & sundaes

15.July.2014 - The Strong's Museum of Play, the Lego Store

16.July.2014 - hurricane simulator at the Rochester Science Centre... and a little girl feeling left out

18.July.2014 - a little evening hike in the state park

24.July.2014 - inflatable fun at les jeux de la francophonie

25.July.2014 - traaaaaaain!!

I have so many other images to share from this month, but this will have to suffice. Next in the circle is Annie. Please click through and see what she was up to in July.

Their World, June 2014

June was full. Two birthdays, our 14th wedding anniversary, hot enough weather to finally be in the water, finishing our homeschool year, hours spent at various parks, a visit from Nana and Papa, and a big Spartan Race at the end of the month.

02.June.2014 - Liam opening his birthday presents. Eloise pouting because they weren't for her. *Excuse Andrew's dirty face.

09.June.2014 - Swimming next door. Our neighbours (a retired couple) are so good to us. They've given us a key to their pool and even bring out snacks for the kids every time we go to swim. Spoiled!

18.June.2014 - Liam's Nerf part with friends. I invited two (of my) friends, which meant 13 kids. They had a blast running around the park with a stockpile of 100+ bullets.

22.June.2014 - Trying out the pool at our friends' new home (they're all in there, I promise).

23.June.2014 - End of year homeschool picnic at a nearby lake.

26.June.2014 - Eloise opening her gifts from Nana and Papa and her brothers. We celebrated her birthday a bit late this year, which totally offended her brothers, but she didn't know the difference. She's in love with the 12 vintage Care Bear toys found on Kijiji.

28.June.2014 - Family pictures, post-Spartan Race. I should've had the boys all wear their Spartan shirts and medals, but no one was in the mood for wardrobe changes at this point, in the 40C degree humidity.

Next in the circle is Anika.

Their World, May 2014

The month of May brought warm weather. Finally. The kids are outside so much. Enjoying the yard, the two parks nearby, their bikes, their best-friends-who-will-soon-be-moving, and new neighbours RIGHTNEXTDOOR. Mother's Day was lovely, school is going well (and is almost done!!), and the garden is coming along. 

 11.May.2014 - Forced into taking Mother's Day pictures. Dirty socks, fingers in noses, and all.

12.May.2014 - A walk in a little ravine near our house. With sticks. Always with sticks.

19.May.2014 - Guest appearance from my older sister's kids during my sans-kids trip back to Regina.

20.May.2014 - I got to meet my new niece! And I hadn't seen my nephew since he was about 4 months old.

27.May.2014 - More fun at the park. I'm so, so, so glad the weather has warmed up.

From a bike ride later that same day. They're like a little gang.

It's not always easy to find the time (or the motivation) to pull out my camera and get some pictures of all four kids together. Especially when they seem to always have better things to do... and I always have loads of client work waiting for me on my computer. So I'm thankful to have a group of women pushing me forwards with this little project. 

If you'd like to see what some of the others were up to this month, then next in line is Annie.

My. Kid. Is. CUTE.

...if I do say so myself!

I love the soft, aged look of this edit. Very post-war, Depression-era don't you think?

And this? Well, cmon. He's just so cute I COULD EAT HIM WHOLE.

breastfriends *grin*

Last week was March Break for school kids here in Gatineau. My poor homeschooled boys still did school all week (since we take days off to go to the museum every few weeks), but we did take a break on Wednesday to have a play date with Liam's good friend, Lea, her two sisters and their mom, MY good friend, Valerie. Of all of Liam's schoolmates from last year, this is the only family that we've staying in close touch with. 

But this play date was special because we'd made plans to take some breastfeeding pictures of Valerie and la petite Marilou. So while the kids destroyed the basement played downstairs, I got to play with my camera upstairs.

I warmed up with a few shots of the always willing and always adorable Melo (there's another super cute picture of her here at Simon's birthday party).

I know this background fabric is a bit untraditional, but I lurve it. This baby girl is sweet enough on her own without needing to pose her with teddy bears and bunnies and flowers and other girly things. Besides, sugar skulls are flowery. Either way, this is some of my favourite fabric EVER... I only wish I'd had time to iron it (sorry, mom. *hangs head*).

The whole time I was taking those last pictures, Andrew was being forcibly restrained in Valerie's lap. Marilou kept gleefully pulling and kicking at the fabric and it was, clearly, too much for him to resist. I managed to take the following shot before we gave up and stripped him down to his diaper to join in the fun.

 

my favourite of him

I do have all of these next shots in full colour and in sepia, but I prefer them in black and white. They're more dramatic, but also seem more quiet and intimate. Wouldn't these four be nice in a black frame together? Except I'd flip the two on the right from top to bottom (I'm just too lazy to do it now... use your imagination).

      

      

It's been wonderful to make a bit of money with my photography lately, but it's times like this that I live for... being able to capture beautiful memories for a truly wonderful friend (there are a few more pictures over at Muddy Boots Photography. I love you, Val, and am so thankful for you and Martin and your girls.

(In this same photography vein, what do you think of having two of those widgets in the sidebar? Too much? Does it make you dizzy??)

the many faces of Rowan Theodore

Some more pictures from our time in Regina over Christmas... OVER TWO MONTHS AGO. (sigh) I'll get through them eventually.

These next few are of my nephew Rowan. HE. IS. A. HAM. At four years old, he is a devilishly angelic looking little boy. That's an oxymoron, I KNOW. He really is beautiful, almost cherub-looking. You might even be fooled into thinking he was cherubic... except for the wicked twinkle in his eyes and the fact that he's likely pointing his fingers-in-the-form-of-a-gun at you.

Cute, right? Right.

Proof that Simon and Rowan did get along at least some of the time.

And my sister and brother-in-law's Christmas tree. Although it looks like there was some sort of nuclear holocaust going on outside, it's really just the result of long-exposure photography. This picture was taken at around elven at night.

first snow play

 

  

For more Wordless Wednesdays, head over to 5 Minutes for Mom, 7 Clown Circus, and Wordless Wednesday.