all in a day...

I have a confession to make. I don't really like taking pictures. A big part is that we have an old camera and I find the pictures always turn out rather grainy, but another part is that sometimes it feels like, with a camera in hand, the moments of our lives become a little forced and artificial through a lens...that there is a sudden expectation to capture whimsical, thoughtful moments of our children or our lives, instead of just living that moment. Are we enjoying the moment so that we have great pictures to share with others later, to prove we've had good moments, or are we able to have enjoyable moments without any tangible memory of it? In reality, I do love pictures, to see those moments pause for a bit, and to look back and remember and cherish. And I also love carefree, camera-less days where the only pictures are in my memory.
Yesterday, however, was a camera day. So here we are, in a few photos, all in one day.
A trek through the Assiniboine Forest...building a bed...and boys taking pictures of knees and

throats and laughing uncontrollably...

Birthday boys

A glimpse at the boys' party today...the only thing missing were the two Krymusa boys, we missed you guys! It was a lovely afternoon, rain-free although for once it looked like it might actually rain, and a good time (I think?) was had by all.

Chalk craft and take home thing

Water bucket race

A couple of cutie pies

Cake ball, baby.




Cute hats made by the lovely Michelle Samanta

Sick dads


A cute conversation



Reversible!






Sorry for the mixed up order, supper is coming out of the oven in a minute so I have no time to make this pretty. This is mostly for you Krymusas, hope you enjoyed seeing the party! We look forward to partying with you soon.

Happy Birthday Super Sam!

I love this boy. Four years old today...and that goofy little smile is just exactly him. He keeps us laughing and makes us nuts, and we love him.

Four year old Sam... Three year old Sam...

Two year old Sam...

One year-old Sam...

My baby...

spring turns to summer

You know you're getting older when you constantly feel like commenting on how quickly the time is going...it's true, one minute it was spring and the next we're in a blistering hot, lovely Manitoban summer. I suppose the other truth is that I'm a lousy blogger so whenever I do blog much time really has elapsed and there's always a lot to catch up on. Regardless, here we are, or here we were, these last few weeks or so...
I did the relay again this year. It wasn't as exhilirating this year as last, probably because doing anything for the first time is always a bit thrilling and probably also because I had to wake up at 5am this year to do my part of the relay. Thankfully my marathon bus (Ellen et al) arrived to pick me up at 5:35am (amazingly they had only woken up minutes earlier and got 4 people out the door as well as a neighbour and to my house in about 10 min) and I was fortunate enough to have inspiring marathoners to chat with, as well as Ellen and her super runner kids so the waiting anxiety was at a minimum. Both Dale, Ellen's husband, and her neighbour Karen did the full marathon, and it was rather awe-inspiring to think about what they had to accomplish that day. My bit of the relay went pretty well, I always wish I somehow had more natural ability but my lovely mother was waiting for me at the exchange and I tried to look super athletic for her. She thought I was an absolute star and was so proud, probably because this is the first sporting event of mine she's ever attended. Never too late to start, right?!?



Happy to be done.
Other happenings around our house was the building of a play structure for the kids, which has been worth every cent. The kids love it, and have managed to scale every part of it, in ways that make grandparents shiver and get me running out the door from my sink full of dishes in full panic nearly daily. Samuel had the brilliant idea to walk above the swings one day, like a balance beam (at least that's how it looked to me) and another day I was inside, looked out and saw him lying on the ground, not moving. I ran outside thinking he had fallen and called his name, to which he calmly said, "hi mom! I was pretending I fell off the roof!" Good times!

Helper Luke

We hardly ever eat inside anymore.

This is where I found Sam one day during his quiet time. All the lights were on in the basement and here he was, totally out.

Sheri-Lee, whipping cream in our living room which Julio found amusing. We had a lovely supper with our whole small group that day...and this is the only picture he took.
Snake pits! Not as gross as I remembered from Grade 5! Woohoo!
The kiddos and me at the conservatory on a rainy morning, which turned into a great morning to check out the new Assiniboine Park Nature Playground. We were there on opening day, with lots of important looking people standing around watching kids play and being happy they liked it. Architects, etc. The area with the sand and water got mucky almost immediately (did they really think kids wouldn't think to put sand and water together?!?) and one guy commented, "trust boys to wreck it on the first day!" That's our boys' favorite spot.


Every parent in Winnipeg now has these exact same pictures.

So now it's summer and other happenings, undocumented by photography, include laser eye surgery for me this week. When I actually think about the surgery it still creeps me out a bit, even though it really didn't hurt, it was just really weird. So, although I'm still dealing with a bit of inflammation which causes my eyesight to be somewhat less than perfect, they say it will all be cleared up in a week or so and already my vision is really nearly perfect and I'm fairly ecstatic. And hooray for me, tonight I don't have to sleep with sunglasses on!