Garden, dog, kids, and a cake, oh my

Rob spent the day building my 4th and final raised bed in the front yard!  Thanks Rob!  After this pic was taken he also filled it with soil.  Well, Loic 'helped' him by throwing soil around and using his dump truck to move it around.

New bed is on the far right, and he fixed the blueberry bed by the brick fence so that I can plant all the way along now - I will put in another blueberry I think (the kids love them)

Last night I baked a cake!  This recipe is right from the Pioneer Woman's site and it turned out quite well:

Chocolate Nutella Strawberry cake with whipped cream.  Yes, it is very tasty.

Tyler is doing well!  We are doing long leash walks and some off leash time too.  We have been swimming a few times at Aquapaws, which he loves.  That is what we are doing for therapy now because he is ready for the next level.   He is also back to teaching with my on Thursday nights!

We also have two new family members:

Pancake and Thumper!

They are nice, nice bunnies from a co-worker.  They live in a cage in our bathroom, but, they spend as much time outside as possible - I think it is good for them.  We use the x-pen in the yard if we are gardening or on the deck if we are not in the garden.  They are only outside if we are home though.  Loic adores them and Toby ignores them but Tyler, oh Tyler, might want to eat them.  I let them out in the living room too after the kids go to bed.  They hop around for a bit then lounge in front of the TV :)

The kids and I had dinner with my folks tonight while Rob went to the hockey game.  We had a great time - Maelle did NOT want to get out of the wheelbarrow!  She kept saying "Again! Again!" while laughing hysterically.

This little miss is almost 2.   I can't quite believe it.  She got her hair cut last week and while she initially lost her mind, she recovered well:

We are all so glad that the weather is improving and that we can head to the park after work again!!

Yipee!  I am also glad to be able to start gardening after work a little bit after work again, with my bunny friends and the kids and the dogs :)

Coming up....a post about school!

E

So much to say

Wow, I haven't posted in a while.

First it was Christmas, which was lovely.  We hosted a big dinner here at our house again, which was nice, and then we visited with Rob's brother and his family.  The kids had a great time, Loic is starting to really understand what Santa is all about.  Maelle is still highly suspicious (meaning won't go near) Santa yet.

Then, we went to Hawaii for two weeks (I highly recommend it!).  We were there with my folks and my aunt and uncle.

The kids swam, laughed, played in the waves and ate chips and hot dogs for two weeks.  Oh, and drank enough POG (Pineapple-Orange-Guava) to meet their yearly sugar intake.  They don't drink juice at all at home (except for at Grandma and Grandpa's house) but drank juice every single day in Hawaii.  Ahhhh holidays.  Maelle would RUN full speed into the ocean while screaming with laughter; it was adorable.  Loic played so nicely with his surf board in the waves.  The whole group went whale watching - except for Maelle and me since I get so sea sick - and they had a great time watching the humpback whales.  

Then we came back home to rain/snow/cold.  Good times North Vancouver, good times.

A Tyler update: he is allowed to walk on-leash as much as we want AND he is now doing short stints off leash!  We still do massage and rehab appointments, but, he has come so far.  He still has an odd gait, but, is in no pain at all and is strong and muscled again.  Good, good dog.  We are going to start swimming next.

These two are still best friends.  I am not sure how they fit into that bed though!!

Last week, we ventured to Toronto to visit with Rob's mom and to see Rob's grandpa who suffered a bad fall just before Christmas.  The day before we left, Maelle was exposed to the stomach flu.  We debated going but decided to risk it.  We had a lovely first day in Toronto, visited with Rob's grandpa, then ventured out to visit Rob's aunt.  Promptly after dinner, Maelle vomited allllllll over Rob.  F*ck.  

She was only really ill for 12 hours, then woke up and demanded some oatmeal.  

The one plus was the time we got to spend with Rob's mom, which was just lovely.  I was a bit militant about hand washing/bleach/laundry in hot water but I was so worried Loic would get this bug while we were on the plane on our way home.  He didn't, but both Loic and myself got sick once we got home.  At least it wasn't on the plane!!  I cannot imagine a vomiting 4 year old on a plane...

While we were in Toronto, Loic and I spent a morning at the Royal Ontario Museum.  Hands down, one of the best times I have had with Loic.  We only looked at the animal and dinosaur exhibits - he was in his element!!  He impressed some of the staff with his knowledge - what other 4 year old knows about the tarantula hawk wasp and what they do??  It is an amazing place and I am so glad we got to see it.

We also had a lovely visit with Rob's aunt (a few days after the vomiting episode).   Come visit us in Vancouver next summer Aunt Tiny!

Loic and a T rex.  Enough said!

Loic chatting with Rob's 95 year old grandpa

Now we are home, and it is starting to snow again.  What is up with this weather?  Pretty sure I was planting peas around this time last year....

I will leave with another photo from Hawaii.  At night, after a full day in the sun and ocean, the kids basically put themselves to bed.  In this photo they had taken pillows of the couch and made a bed for themselves :)

I know it will change as they get older, but they sure do love each other a heck of a lot right now.

She adores him, and he thinks she is hilarious.  

-E