Swimming

this past week Cole went to swimming lessons. A huge accomplishment for my MiniMan as he has long been terrified of the pool.  I was so proud that he stuck it out and attended every single lesson.  An added bonus was our instructor Andreas. He is our former next door neighbor and sitter. The boys adore him, and Cole instantly felt at ease knowing Andreas would be taking care of him.  Way to go Cole!!!

Cole's Surprise

Cole has always wanted dinosaur decorations in his room, and I have been looking for a LOOOOOOOONG time to find some that he would like.  I happened to be at Bibles for Missions a couple weeks ago and came across 2 rolls of wallpaper border in their $1 bin.  DINOSAURS!! YIPPEE!! I could not believe our luck!. Thankfully I was shopping alone and could keep it a secret from Cole :)  Yesterday while my loves were out I decided to get to work on MiniMan's room as an early birthday surprise...I was sad to see his old border go, but super excited to transform his space into a big boy place :)

Cole's old wallpaper border

Border off, waiting for dinos!!

 First wall started..oh boy dinosaurs!!!!

 close-up of the new border

 almost done all the walls ....

MiniMan's closet, all tidy (for 5 minutes hee hee)




This morning Cole was so stunned he literally stood in the middle of his room and silently stared ....it was so funny, and I teared up when he jumped up and down yelling "Yay me! My room rocks!". 

BusyBoys

Our crazy fun busy day started out with Smiley Breakfast.  The boys got a kick out of their Happy Face Plates and there was nary a crumb left!

 Chace was pleased to have caught 3 trout at the U-Catch farm. This time he even helped clean his catch!

 Cole, who doesn't usually like to fish without help (patience is not a strong virtue in my darling MiniMan), was super attentive and caught 2 without anyone helping him. He even yelled "FISH ON!!". Way to go Cole!!

 Cute shot of my Boys :)

 Our day's catch, being rinsed and prepped for cleaning....good thing Mommy's a Tomboy!

 Our afternoon/evening was spent at home playing in the pool and on the slip and slide with all our neighbors. It's sure nice to live in a complex full of young families and have built-in playmates for all the kids.

Our darling Cassy, with her much-loved, much-chewed stuffed kitty.

PlayBall!!

Cole and I faithfully went each day last week and watched our Chace play baseball. The coach was AWESOME and so patient with 12 little boys. Hahahah! We got him a Little gift at the end of the week. The guy deserved a medal :)   Afterwards we went out to Wendy's for lunch. The boys polished off their meals and ate some of mine...pretty soon I'm going to have to invest in a cow/dairy farm.

Bloom

A few months later, and I'm pleased to say that maybe I do kinda sorta have a shade of green thumb :D  The baskets we planted have bloomed and they are so pretty! These pink ones just bloomed a couple days ago and are sure colorful! the baskets also have blue, white and another shade of pink in them! Yay!

Buddies

My Men are getting so big, at times I find myself almost panicking wanting to slow down time.   They are now at the age where they are inseperable and it warms my heart to see them such good buddies.  Cole is happy to have Chace home now, and Chace is happy to be included in our daily activities. Even if it isn't anything exciting, he's said he is just glad not to be left out.  Too funny.  Chace is very patient  with his little brother and Cole beams when his big brother includes him in something that's in Chace's room.  This seems to be the ultimate pass into acceptance! 
With summer here, I've sure noticed just how different my 2 little guys' personalities are. Only 14 months apart, it might as well be 5 years.  I spend a lot of time watching and listening to these two people of mine, and I'm pretty darn proud of my sons. 

Chace is the sports fanatic in our house. He has so far gone to baseball camp this summer and will be going hockey camp in a couple weeks. Hockey is his obsession, and he wants to be a Canuck. 
 Cole is obsessed with soccer. He has gone to a mini Soccer sports clinic so far this summer, and will be attending a Soccer club in August. He also will be in swimming lessons and both boys are going to an all-day camp hosted by the rec centre, Science experiments! It's like a mini Magic School Bus episode. I even wanted to go, but didn't pass for 5/6yrs old. *sigh*. At the beginning of summer both boys went to VBS. It was wonderful. All week they learned about God, did crafts, sang, and made new friends. This was a double bonus for us. Both boys were still angry with Him for taking Grandpa...VBS taught them about His unconditional love and I am tearing up just typing this, but Cole decided that talking to God was better than ignoring Him. My baby boy gave his heart to Jesus. VBS helped me too. I went each day and stayed for a bit, and came early to pick them up. I had to admit I held some anger too. I realized then that I needed to resolve it. At the end of the week, VBS hosted a bbq for all the families and the children performed for us parents. I cried through the whole performance. Cole sang every song, and as shy as my little man is, he stood up in front on stage and beamed the whole time. A couple parents in the front row sang along and did the actions too. I'm proud to say I was one of those dancing Mamas.  We came at the end of the week with home made pillows and Bibles, and a lot of crafts. The pillows were super special, all the kids made them and if they wanted to they could sew onto the back who they wanted to reach...Cole put Grandpa, and cuddles each night with it.  I am so thankful for this wonderful camp. 

This fall we'll be in the same school, and I'm looking forward to all the "big boy" adventures heading our way.  Cole will be in kindergarten and Chace will be in Grade 1.  His teacher recommended he be in a gr. 1/gr.2 split and focus on some grade 2 work. I'm one proud Mama!! 
Camping is next on our "To do" list.  We haven't decided where yet, but our tent and fishing poles are ready when we do.   Othello Tunnels is another one we'd like to try. We haven't been there since Cole was in a Snuggly, I'm thinking it would be far more adventurous now :)

Fish BBQ

Our last salmon fillet, from Chace's catch...we're going to be fishing all summer to restock our freezer :)