Sad Day for Ben

Poor Ben, his fish died last night and he is devistated. He told me how sad he was with big crocodile tears streaming down his face and explained to me that he needed to have a pet, he just couldn't live without a pet of his own. We had a little fishy toilet bowl cermony this morning to say good bye to "Thomas Fishy" Ben's Siamese Fighting Fish. Here's how the fish died...

We let the kids stay up a bit late last night to watch the movie "Bedtime Stories". It was really good. For whatever reason, Ben was wound up. When Chris and I went to bed at 10:30, he was still up and into mischief. Chris scolded him and went to tuck him in bed and found that Ben had somehow scooped the fish into a little wooden treasure box he had and placed him in bed with him so they could sleep together!! There was water everywhere and by the time Chris threw "Thomas Fishy" back into his bowl the damage was done. He lived a little while longer but died in the night. I tried to save him by changing his water so that there was more oxygen available to him and to get rid of any paint chemicals that may have been in the water from the painted wooden treasure box, but it didn't work.

We are not ready to get a dog yet - all children must be potty trained! But I am too scared to get a hamster, gerbil or guinea pig for fear of what he could possible do to it, or where it could end up (in the walls comes to mind). So for now, he knows that the fish has to stay in its own home, I think we will have to get another fish.

Flood waters in Winnipeg

They are saying this flood is ranked 2nd as the worst flood in 100 years, after the flood of 1997. I have only seen the Red River when I have been at school, it is pretty high. The river is the pictures below is Sturgeon Creek. It is not far from our house. It has flooded really badly, they have even closed a road because the river is up over the top of it.This photo is taken from Portage Ave of the old mill.
Here is another shot of the mill. Ben was standing by the left hanging branches of the tree in the winter when we were here checking the mill out.

This is Ness Rd. Chris usually crosses this bridge to get to work, now he has to drive further down Portage then up to the base. We live on the other side of this bridge and in another neighborhood.

The water is moving so fast it is creating foam. I wouldn't want to slip in here.

In case someone does fall in, there is a life ring nearby.

Looking up the swollen creek.

Finally!!!

Spring has sprung in Winnipeg...finally. After looking like this on April 1st (some joke), the snow has finally melted and we have begun to emerge from our hibernation mode and get into some outside activites. As of today, the snow you see in the pictures with the kids on their bikes is completely gone. It has been 15C here for the past 2 days!! BEAUTIFUL!!Our house after the dumping of snow on April 1st, 2009.

The snow was pretty much gone, until this last dumping of snow. How depressing! We were treated to nice weather the week before, and then this on April 1st, Ha Ha Ha!

But this past weekend we finally started seeing some nicer weather and the snow began to melt! Aidan finally got to test drive the new bike. He loves it!!

Ben is finally liking his little bike and will actually ride it for more than a few seconds, he is still a bit timid coming down the driveway, good thing for his breaks.

It was nice enough on Sunday that the Easter Bunny had hidden some eggs outside. The boys dawned rubber boots and spring coats to head out for the hunt!!

Beaver Swim-up

Aidan will be a cub next year and did his swimming up ceremony yesterday.Here he is, a beaver one last time.

He is swimming up to cubs.

Shaking hands with the cub leaders.

Aidan joining in the cub ceremonies. He told me afterward that he was so proud he almost cried!!

Ben's 4th BIrthday!

Ben is now 4!! Hard to believe. He is growing up so quickly! He enjoyed his "two" birthdays. On his actual birthday (Apr 3), we had a family party for him. This consisted of his choice for dinner - you can guess where we went - McDonald's, and then opeing presents from family. His "second" birthday was today at the house with a few friends and a guest of honor who can be seen in some later pictures.
He received a dinosaur Webkinz and a shirt from Uncle Joel and Aunt Natalie. He opened the shirt and proceeded to tell us the "loved the smell" of it!! He cracks me up!

Ben was very excited to have some more GeoTrax! This is the new Thomas in our house.

He was very excited to receive some Littelest Pet Shops from Kari and Grandma Ann. This is about as girlie as we can get with toys in this house. However he did want a Barbie "with a dog". I can't see that one getting by Chris.

This was a very cool gift from Mommy and Daddy. It is a police helmet with a handheld console that tells him what mission he is on. He loves it.

Sam loves it too!

Sharing some cupcakes.

Ben's Thomas cake. It survivde Chris' parenting skills of watching Sam, and Sam's love of cake! We learned our lesson and had the cake up high where Sam could not reach it. And Chris kept Sam locked in the basement with him while I was at physio this morning! It worked!

The Birthday Boy! (Ham)

Our special guest "Crackers" the clown and Ben the helper. She was fabulous. She did a few magic tricks which included adding real ingredients to a bowl and magically making it into a cupcake just for Ben. She also made some balloon animals and did some face painting. I hope he will remember it forever.

Ben and Crackers.

Aidan's Birthday - He's 7!!

It's hard to believe that Aidan is now 7!!!

Aidan's birthday this year was help at the Manitoba Museum, with a show in the Planetarium. Allison got to have a quick tour of the awesome Dinosaur exhibit while looking for run-away Ben. We only lost him twice, but he knew where he was the whole time. Aidan and Allison made a game for the kids to play while we waited for everyone to arrive and the Planetarium show to start. It was pin the tail on Picachu, a pokemon character. It was a big hit and Allison was surprised that she could draw Picachu!

These are Aidan's cakes that I made for his birthday party. They are called Pokeballs, these are where the Pokemon are kept until they are called to battle. These are the second cakes that had to be made because Sam just couldn't wait and dug into the first ones, so much for being prepared and ahead of schedule. Allison had to quickly make new ones 3 hrs before the party. Not fun.

Birthday Boy blowing out his candle (which Sam actually ate once we were home and he helped himself to this cake too!)


Aidan's friends and their "crazy" faces.

Ben and Aidan

Ben was only good for one smile apparently

His new Webkinz he named Chomper. Thank you Uncle Joel and Aunt Natalie.

Aidan and his new Star Wars sheets.

Aidan also got a new bike from all of his grandparents. No pictures of it yet. We did get a video of him sitting on it, but it's too long to post here. It is a priceless video, he sat on the bike with Chris holding him up and them slipped off the seat and forgot to put his feet down - he hit the bar!! No need to say more! Poor kid!

Aidan's Blog

This is me, Aidan.
"wuhuhuhuhoooo", said Mommy when I showed her my trophy.
"I wasn't really expecting this! Just wait until all my friends at school see this wonderful picture", I said.
I got this trophy at Beavers for the Beaver Buggy Races. That's my Beaver Buggy in my left hand. The trophy is for "Best in Show".