Escaping the snow.

Our church had an event this past weekend called "Winter Breakout", and it was FANTASTIC! We had a swim at the aquatic centre, potluck back at the church and then a variety show to end the night. It was Felicity's first swim and she loved it. She even kicked her legs and splashed a bit.
Simeon enjoyed it so much that he had a meltdown at the end when it was time to leave. He was laid out flat on the pool deck, crying and refusing to go. I was so proud *eye roll*
Anyway, he even tried to swim a bit towards the end and has been talking about it ever since, so I think we'll go again during March break.
After a wonderful supper it was time for the variety show. It was a blast! There were skits, musical performances, lots of prizes and activities for the kids and some hilarious contests.
Simeon is opening up a lot and was eager to go on stage with the other kids; here he is doing the limbo. In his version you either walk under the bar or crawl under when it gets too low. Good thing the judges weren't too particular.And last, but not least: Sean playing "Minute to win it". Apparently this is a show where contestants do a task in a minute or less to advance to the next round. They turned it into a competition between our two teams. In the video Sean is trying to shake all the tic tacs out of the containers glued to each end of the stick in his mouth (without using his hands). Enjoy!

PS- I stopped the camera too soon, it looks like he lost but he then he grabbed his opponent's stick and shook out the remaining candies in her container. Yup, that's my hubby.

A new living room

Our living room is almost completed! We need a few pictures for the wall and maybe a rug and we'll be all set. But, since finishing touches take a while, I thought I'd share how things look so far. Just to refresh, here is a before picture:
And after:Sean had a friend help him lay the wood floor - Sean's work was interrupted by a nail through his thumb (that guy will do anything to get out of a job lol!). He painted the fake brick around the fireplace insert, tiled the hearth and built a bookshelf with a toy box on the bottom. Perfect for hiding all the kids toys when company comes over.
He also built this tv cabinet.
Mary thanks to John for the great idea of setting it into the wall. Our living room is very narrow and so saving 6 inches makes a big difference. The bench you see below the doors can be pulled out for extra seating and helps balance the look of the room.

Simeon has been lining up his "tools" on the hearth and telling us that we're not allowed to touch them. He learned that phrase well when our living room looked like this: He still made sure that the work was closely monitored though!