Backyard fun!

Last weekend we had a great time playing outside in our newly fenced in backyard! Liam had tons of fun taking Lily for rides on his bike and pushing her in the swing - and I think Lily enjoyed it even more than he did! Excuse the kids' runny noses, we've all been battling colds here!

We like vests!

Cutie Pie

Kids rooms

And here are some pics of Liam and Lily's rooms - guess which is which! LOL!

Liam painted these pictures all by himself!!

The new house - before and after!

Here are some long overdue before and after pics of the new house. We are not quite done (we still have most of the kitchen to do) but we are happy with it!

We have not finished painting here yet, the far wall and the kitchen will be a brick red colour.

10 Month Lily

It seems like just a few days ago I was posting about Lily being 9 months...oh wait...

Yesterday Lily turned 10 months old! It hasn't been too long since the last update but we've had some big changes - Lily can now pull herself up and cruise around the furniture. She is not great at the cruising just yet, but it's coming! She's also finally figured out how to get herself into a sitting position, which is so much more comfortable for playing. In addition to all of this, I'm pretty sure she has one more word: teeth!

Moose Hug

The other day I was giving Liam a bath and he asked for a "Moose Hug". I had no idea what he was talking about! After a few minutes of talking to him about it, I still had no clue. Then, he filled me in: "You know, when you make my hair up with the shampoo??" Ah, a mohawk!! LOL!!

So here's Liam and his "moose hug":

We have pictures!!

Okay settle in! I finally got a new USB cord for the camera and was able to download some pictures. They go from recent to older!!

9 month Lily!!

Okay, so by this point we are getting closer to 9 1/2 months, but who's counting??

Lily had her well baby check last Thursday. She is 18 lbs and 28 inches (although I don't think this is right - Lily is pretty short!). She's our little girlie, that's for sure!

Just a week before she turned 9 months, Lily got her first two teeth - one right after the other. They are starting to show through now when she smiles, and it looks so cute!

Lily has recently decided that she wants little to do with baby food anymore. It can be a challenge to feed her anything out of a jar. If she doesn't want what we are trying to feed her, she just blows a big ol' raspberry and sends food flying! However, she is happy as a clam if she can feed herself - so we have been racking our brains for things we can give her as finger food. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

All signs are pointing to Lily being a great talker like her big brother. At nine months Lily says "DAD" (clear as day - no Dada for her!) and "Mum". I often think that she uses the Mum sound for Liam as well, and it makes sense! She also says "mmmm" when we are feeding her, and she mimics all sorts of noises! She makes buzzing noises when she hears the electric saw, will give fake coughs if she hears someone clearing their throat, and will whisper back if you whisper to her. She has even blown raspberries after hearing herself fart, and then laughs about it!

One of Lily's favourite things is playing Pat-a-cake. She claps her hands and her face breaks out into the hugest smile! It is the one thing we can count on to always put her in a good mood. In fact, we have spent the latter part of more than a few car trips singing Pat-a-cake just to keep her from screaming!

Lily loves to be on the go all day long. She does not crawl, per se, but she has a little scooch/commando crawl thing going on. She pushes with her toes and pulls with her elbows. It sounds so awkward, but boy can that girl go fast! I don't know if she will ever crawl properly because she gets around so well. Besides, she rarely pushes up onto her knees. The only time she does is when she is trying to climb over something - and boy does this girl love to climb! Piles of pillows or Liam's flip couch are some of her favourite playthings because she can climb all over them. Lily is also starting to want to stand up at the table to play. She does quite well and is getting quite steady. The only thing is, she can't pull herself up to the table because she won't push herself to her knees. It'll come though!!

Again, I can't find my camera cord or I would post a ton of pictures! I'll get it soon though and I promise you will get bombarded with pics of both the kids and of the new house!

We've been busy!!

I know that when anyone has an absence from blogging the first thing they say is "We've been busy!!", but we really have been!!

At the end of June we sold our house and went on the hunt for a new, slightly bigger one. We were very lucky and found one that would suit our needs within a week. The house was empty and the buyers of our old house were ready so we moved quickly! We took posession on July 7 and we got to work doing renovations! Now, we didn't do the renovations - I'll admit that we hired someone! We got new floors (laminate and tile), completely remodelled the bathroom (new everything!), took out a few walls, updated light fixtures, updated all the plumbing and painted, among lots of other things! It was a lot of work, and we were really afraid it wouldn't be done in time.

We moved in on July 21 to a partially finished house. The kids adjusted really well, and we are loving having three bedrooms instead of two! Now the kids actually sleep!

We still have quite a lot of work to do, and it seems our jack-of-all trades handyman has flaked on us. So I guess it will be up to us to finish the work! We still need to paint and put new hardware on the kitchen cupboards, and paint the kitchen. There is also small paint touch-ups to do upstairs. We are putting a fence up outside (in fact, Derek and Liam are working on it as I type) and we will eventually be finishing the entire basement. PHEW!

We also sustained some damage in one of the biggest hailstorms to ever hit Manitoba. We lost two windows, and the siding on the north side of the house is full of baseball sized holes. We need a new screen door, a new garage door, new eaves, and repairs to our roof - which was just replaced only a few days prior to the storm!! Luckily we were in Winnipeg at the time, so our van didn't get damaged. However, Derek's truck is a complete write off with huge dents and a broken windshield.

So in a nutshell, that is what we've been up to! No pictures for now, because the cord for my camera is currently buried in a box in the garage! I'm going to look for it later today, so hopefully I'll get some pics up soon. Also check back later for an update on the kids!!

First swim of the year!!

After many, many cool days we finally had a hot, sunny day today!! After afternoon naps, we took the kids to the wading pool at a local park. Lily loved her very first swim!! The water was cool, but she started smiling and giggling the moment her feet touched the water!

Fair 2007

Saturday we spent the afternoon at the fair. We had tons of fun - especially Liam! He LOVED riding on all the rides. He even went on the Ferris Wheel with his Mommy! The whole time he repeated "WOW! I see everything Mommy!" Mommy wasn't super thrilled (I hate heights) but I went anyway. Don't ever say I don't to anything for you, kid!!

Congrats Colby!

Last weekend my second youngest brother graduated from high school - congratulations Colby!! We drove down for the ceremony and stayed to visit for the weekend. We had a great time seeing everybody - it had been way too long since our last visit. Liam loved spending time with his uncles, and Lily thought they were pretty neat too. Lily also got to meet her Grandpa Terry for the very first time!