As a gift for Naomi’s 30th birthday, I wanted to give her some nice photographs of herself. So one day after work I dragged home a ton of lighting equipment and set up a studio in our living room after the kids went to bed.
My beautiful wife:
The next day I dug out the white paper background again to get some pics of the kids. It was a challenge getting the kids to sit still and smile, but we managed to get a few photos of the munchkins that are keepers.
The perfect family:
But of course, photographs lie.
The reality was more like this:
Squinty eyes, big eyes, bye byes.
“Enough of the cute stuff, I’m outta here!”
For this one I asked friends on facebook to come up with a caption.
My submission was “Why are girls so weird?”
A few others were:
Becky: “What are they so happy about?”
Nichole: “uh oh, my sisters have gone stepford!”
Adam: “There are two of them, and only one of me…this can’t be good.”
Scott: “Smile and wave… just smile and wave.”
Ellie
Adelaine
And Ethan Buddy
We got one of me too, trying not to look like my usual grumpy self.
This past week, Ellie’s preschool put on a Christmas concert. We didn’t know how Ellie would do.. would she just stand there or would she get into it and enjoy herself? Naomi and I were delighted to see that she participated with the singing and actions and really had a good time!
Ellie and crew singing about how grandpas sleep on Christmas day.
Adelaine watching her big sis.
Santa dropped by, and Ellie didn’t quite know what to think of him.
All the kids received a book, and Ellie was happy to share it with others.
Afterward, there were treats and desserts for everyone. Ellie, as usual, was the last one seated, still eating. Her teacher says that is the way it usually goes during snack time at school.
Her eyes were bigger than her stomach, and she took way too much. She also had an animated discussion about her tomato.
Ellie later told Naomi that she was amazed that everyone sat there quietly listening to them and no one told them to be quiet.
It was a really fun night for us, watching Ellie enjoy herself with her school friends. If you would like to watch I have included the Extended Grandmothers Cut Movie of Ellie’s musical debut.
Ellie had her first day at preschool this past week! She is attending a small preschool that focuses more on teaching social skills than learning the alphabet or counting.
Ellie was pretty excited, but then again, she is passionate about most things in life (like frost, for example). She was a little disappointed that she wasn’t riding on a school bus, as that has been a lifelong ambition for her, but then again, most things are a lifelong ambitions for Ellie (“Maybe someday I can clean the toilet mommy!” or “When I get big, maybe I’ll go to the moon.”).
Though I was sick that day, there was no way the Digital Dad was going to miss the big first day, so off to school we went.
Since Ellie had missed the first few weeks we wondered if she would have any problems adjusting or fitting in. We needn’t have worried. Before we left, she was walking around hand in hand with two other girls. Girls! Most of her friends are boys, so we were quite happy to see her meeting some girls to have fun with.
When your summer is as cool as this one has been, you have to cram in your summer activities whenever you can, and that was exactly what we did the first weekend of August!
We had been wanting to go camping with friends, but with daytime highs of 14C (mid 50s F) and lots of rain, camping would not be fun. That just isn’t right for the first week of August. Thankfully the forecast changed to something resembling summer and so we hastily made some plans. It was also rodeo weekend here in Olds, which we didn’t want to miss. So, we went to the parade and rodeo on Friday, and Saturday we headed east to Drumheller for our first big camping adventure.
At this age, the kids are pretty easy to entertain. Just give them a big enough area and they chase each other around. The campground we stayed at was pretty nice. All the individual camping spots were taken, so we ended up getting a “group” spot. For two families it worked out to be cheaper, plus we had a huge are for the kids to run with with grass (normal camping spots were pretty much empty of grass), and we were away from the crowded main area! The downside was the pool. We got in and it was a bit murky. I joked about how you couldn’t see your feet in the pool, then I stopped laughing when I looked down and realized it was actually true. Just before we got out I noticed this thick, slimy stuff floating in the corners. I pointed it out to Alan and made a comment about how it couldn’t really be more gross when we noticed Adelaine holding someone’s band-aid she had found in the pool. That was the final straw and I was desperate enough to overcome my cheapness and use the pay showers.
We had a nice fire and stayed out late talking to our friends quite late after the kids went to bed. The night was pretty cold (10C!) and Ethan and the girls woke up in the night, but isn’t that all part of camping?
Drumheller bills itself as the Dinosaur capital of Canada and the place had lots of dinosaur figures, paintings, stores, and activities around town. So after breaking camp in the morning we went off for lunch and then to Fossil World, a kids mini museum and activity place.
Nutty circle runners:
At Fossil World:
Before she stops jumping up and down, she is saying that she wants to take a picture. That is my girl!
It was a very busy weekend, but we loved it. Lots of fun with good friends outdoors. Ahhh.. a nice summer weekend.
Yesterday Naomi brought the kids by the office for lunch. There were some balloons from one of my coworker’s big 60 birthday left over from the previous day, so we hijacked them for some fun outdoors.
