Still not sure about this

I've been trying to get Simeon used to the idea of having a sister. We've given up on him being happy about it and are just working on acceptance. Last night around his bedtime she was very active and I thought it might help if he felt her kicking.
His response: "Can Simeon kick mommy now?".
It's a work in progress.

Teamwork

Our weekends have been busy lately, but they've been a lot of fun. In no particular order: we got to help some friends move and saw their beautiful new house, helped some other friends build a fence around their garden to keep the deer out, Camp Tulakadik Sunday was a blast, helped with cleanup at church, became members of our church and attended our first business meeting the next night. And this weekend Sean's helping build a "natural landscape" playground and then we're going to a birthday party and to the zoo the next day!

In between we've been doing some yardwork, assembled Simeon's new bunkbeds and a new (to us) crib for the baby and lots more. There were a few days there where everything seemed to be careening out of control as the weekends filled up (and all I could think of was my own to-do list) but I have such a sense of peace now. We've been able to spend time with so many of our friends that we haven't seen nearly as much as we'd like. It's really great when your priorities get straightened out - even when it's in spite of yourself.

The deer fence.

*Note: all these men have at least one university degree.

The two-four weekend

Let's hear it for Queen Victoria, that great lady who gave nearly the whole of Europe their monarchs and gave Canada an excuse to kick off the camping season in May.
Friends of ours asked Sean if he'd like to go tenting to celebrate his birthday (28 years young) and of course he jumped at the chance :)
We headed up to Fundy and had a blast! It was Simeon's first camping trip and he did really well in his sleeping bag - once he finally stopped pacing the tent and jumping on our friends' air mattress.

Just relaxing after setting up the biggest tent I've ever seen. Honestly, we could have hosted Cirque du Soleil. It was hilarious - but very comfy; car camping definitely has its perks.

Whoopie pies took the place of a cake this year. But I think a fireside celebration more than made up for it.

A little hike to see the sights.

On the way in - before I started huffing and puffing ;)

Beautiful photo-ops everywhere.

And the falls! Simeon had a great time throwing rocks in the pool and would have stayed the rest of the day if we'd let him. It was a fantastic weekend - hiking, a visit to Alma (where Sean insisted on some sticky buns from the bakery), browsing in a bookstore, playing at the playground, campfires and a quick visit to the beach. I don't think you could ask for much more out of a weekend. We were all sad to go.

But Simeon was the most vocal about it.

Easter, tantrums and child labour

Well, to continue bringing you up to speed- our spring was a lot of fun. I keep thinking that it's already summer because the weather's been so nice. With the exception of today.

At Easter Simeon and I decorated eggs for an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Sean also contributed by using his rotary tool to drill perfect holes in the eggs so the insides could be easily removed. I know it sounds a bit ridiculous (using a rotary tool), but I remember blowing the yolks out through tiny pinholes when I was a child and being certain that my ears were going to start bleeding from the pressure. And I had to walk uphill both ways through a blizzard to get those eggs too ;)

Anyway, he had a good time finding the eggs and it made me feel a little less guilty about giving a 2 year old a whole chocolate bunny. Although I think we ate quite a bit of it in the end.
I've been waiting for the "terrible twos" to arrive and I don't think we've hit it quite yet. Don't get me wrong; he certainly has his moments and he's definitely a lot more opinionated but it hasn't turned into a battle zone....yet. He has however learned how to go from zero to hissy fit in 3 seconds flat. His saving grace is that he'll usually get over it in the same time frame. Oh, and he's caught on that his mother doesn't care and lacks the capacity for compassion.
We couldn't resist capturing all the stages here:

"Hey, look pizza! That would really hit the spot right about now!"
"What do you mean I have to wait 3 minutes! This is what the apocalypse will be like! Ahhhh!"

"Stupid pizza. I'll show you 3 minutes.....*grumble, grumble*"

In other news, a friend of ours has started her own translation company and she's trying to find a loophole in child labour laws.

His typing speed is improving daily :)

Time flies

I can't believe we haven't posted since December! Whoops :) Anyway, since a picture is worth a thousand words I'll do an image summary rather than bore you with an essay.
We cut down our own tree again this year - on the coldest day in December I think- and Simeon seemed just as unimpressed as he did last year. But we were very happy with the end result and Simeon had a great time helping decorate.
He loved his presents and wanted to play with them straight away. Here he is mastering the art of finger painting. Or having fun trying.He's turning into quite a ham and keeps us well entertained.
We had a lot of fun outings - one of which was a trip to Camp Tulakadik. Here's my brother-in-law honing his goalkeeping skills.Sean and I tried out the new trails on our snowshoes.

In other news this winter; our well stop working. We were boiling down snow for about a week but it wasn't too bad. It sure makes you appreciate running water though.
And in his spare time Simeon caught up on a little light reading over those cold winter months.

We'll be posting regularly again - so keep checking back. Thanks for the patience.