Face painting & our friends

One Sunday when we went grocery shopping they were offering free face painting from Dotsie the Clown so I left Avery there with Dotsie while got the groceries...when I returned to pick her up this is what she looked like and she loved the finished product.

The bottom two photos are Avery and Muddy with their good friends Molly and Ella during our Superbowl get together (party would be too strong a word)

Easter fun in Ancaster

We made the trek to Ancaster to join in the egg hunt fun. Our kids never turn down an opportunity to get their face painted. I miss Muddy's mohawk...

I love my cousin Finley

Avery is very confident in her mothering skills and never misses an opportunity to put them to good use when a baby is around.

Hard work in the kitchen

The kids loved baking PINK PIE with Grandma. It turned out great and I'm pretty sure that it is Avery's new favourite kind of pie......

Feeling the love for the cousins

Some other neat indoor moments captured:

Cute twosomes hanging out on the couch......

More hijinks at the Lake House

Of course, a visit with the cousins is not complete without a dance party or 12. This particular holiday also saw the addition of karaoke to the party! Maren and Avery especially enjoyed watching Callum's performance which made for a cute picture....

Mother Goose - the 2nd Generation

Part way through the vacation Grandpa went to the old Mother Goose book (a McGuire childhood staple) and read a few stories before bedtime. One of the poems in this book tickled the kids to no end. Each and every time grandpa read it (sometimes twice a night) they would be doubled over and/or throwing their heads back, giggling from the very depths of their stomachs to the point where they could barely catch their breath. Of course grandpa soaked this all in and became more animated with each telling of the story. It was a definite highlight of the whole vacation.....

Bath, stories and cards...

...what more do you need.










Due to the unexpectedly frigid weather conditions there was fun to be had indoors. Callum and Avery could be heard giggling and playing in the bath for at least an hour one evening, reminding me not to underestimate the entertainment value of a buddy and tub of water......




















We played Go Fish and not surprisingly, Avery won. After the game of Go Fish Callum tried to play the memory match-up game with her and got really frustrated that she kicked his butt every time. They didn't play too much after that..... inment value of a buddy and tub of water......

This is one way to celebrate Easter

We did lots of prep work for Easter. We made crafts (little foam animal puppets and decorated foam eggs) and easter tattoos were applied where ever the kids wanted them (the "FABULOUS vacation agenda" meant I could be flexible and open-minded about this). I am forwarding a few of my favourite tattoo pictures (guess which of the two bellies belong to Maren - she is channeling her often pregnant mother). The other belly belongs to Avery and Callum's......well......you'll figure it out.

Down time at the Lake House

The weather was so nice that Avery decided to play the leapster on the front porch for a while....you know, just hangin' at the cottage.

Another day, more cousins

In this batch of pictures.....

We had a nice visit with Paddy, Katie and Ellen during what would be the last day of fabulous weather (Day 3). The kids beat Paddy in a leaf fight and had a good time doing it. They also played hide and seek, during which time Maren formed an alliance with Katie.