Spud turns ONE!

Well a year has now passed since Julean came into our family.  I don't know where it went or what we have to show for it but it has gone by!  Julean is now almost walking on his own, I'm thinking this might happen in the next few weeks, he is climbing stairs and has quite a little personality.  He seems to take most things in stride and understands that we mostly do what his brother wants to do, but he wants to be there with him.  Kian and Julean play together really well and Julean just idolizes his old brother.

We didn't have a huge party for Julean birthday, mostly because we are under some major renovations (still...) at the moment and unless everyone is in the kitchen there is now where else to go.  Yen, Manfred and the boys came over for brunch and we had a small celebration, although we didn't get to eat the cake because the birthday boy fell asleep before we got there.

He did get to eat his birthday cake the next day and waited patiently in the big boy chair to do so.

Waiting patiently.....

This is good stuff!

Stop it with the photos already!  I just want to eat my cake!

It snowed on Julean's birthday so we made a trip outside in the cold to go for a sled ride and build a snowman.  It was really hard to get Kian in but with the bribe of a special treat of hot chocolate and a cookie at the cafe we were finally able to go indoors.  

Loving the snow!

Also loving the snow!

Stand of trees

Of course we had to build a snowman!

Can he come home with us?

Giving my brother a ride

Three amigos in the snow

We are hoping the the renovations to the living room and the library are finished before the end of the month.  I would love to have living room for the holidays!  The temperature in those rooms alone is a significant improvement over last year.  Good thing the last two winters weren't all that cold.  This one is proving to be another matter!  The front door and laundry doors have been ordered and we are just waiting for them to come in.  I really hope it is this weekend.  I found out today that when you order a door you get the door and you get the glass but they do not necessarily come together.  I thought that would be understood, but apparently I don't know anything....  

A few more photos to enjoy.

We made a new friend at the duck pond - note the duck is eating out of Julean's hood

Noddles!

Shark in the herring tank...

A Very busy October!

Happy fall everyone!

I don't really know where to start.  As usual these blogs seem to be few and far between.  The month of October seems to have been insanely busy and I don't really know why.

The big news was that Kian broke his arm.  He was not doing anything really out of the ordinary but he fell off a riding toy at a strange angel and ended up breaking his arm.  That made sure that swimming was out for the rest of the session and that all the climbing activities had to be monitored closely because keeping him out of the trees, even with a broken arm was a challenge!  I was told by the preschool teachers that there was no question how he broke his arm it was how he didn't do it sooner!  October seemed to be full of doctor appointments to make sure the arm was healing properly.  The cast is now, thankfully, off and Kian seems to be back to his usual self.

The first cast....

Last day with the cast!  His favourite colour - orange.

Next was getting ready for Halloween.  We don't get kids at our place so I wasn't going to get candy or anything, god knows the kids were going to collect enough and they did!  Kian and Julean were at the pumpkin patch this year and Julean got to go on his first tractor ride out to the patch.  They had a great time and we met up with Kian's girlfriend, Carys and her brother Rhys.

Julean, Carys and Kian on the tractor to the pumpkin patch

First tractor ride

Wow!  Sure are a lot of pumpkins!

How about that one, Kian?

I think this is the one.

Then there was carving the pumpkin, of course.  Kian was prepared for the pumpkin to hit the fan!  Thankfully that didn't happen and we all seemed to be quite clean after the whole experience.  

Ready for muck!

Carving the pumpkin!

Kian was supposed to be a bacon this year and Julean the fried egg but after Kian saw Julean's costume he decided that he needed to be a fried egg too.  That was alright with me since I wasn't too sure how to do the bacon.  Mark and I were going to be the toasts but I ran out of time and so we just had two fried eggs.  I think they had a great time.  Julean started to catch on pretty darn quick that Kian was getting something at the door and was quite adamant that he was going to hold onto the candy bag and stand on the step by himself.  He had just started walking with the assistance of his little walker the night before.  He was also standing on his own that day.

Two fried eggs!

One fried egg!

Walking to Auntie Nee's house

Running away!

Fried eggs collecting candy

Trick or treat!

Bag is almost full!

Bums at the door

Kian at preschool now seems to make the weeks fly by and I don't really know what I have to show for it!  I'm hoping the lead up to Christmas and Julean's 1st (!) birthday isn't too quick because I need time to catch up!  I guess that might be a lost cause.  I can't believe that a year is almost over!  We have a lot of renos still to do before Christmas....

Some other random photos from the past month.  I hope to be able to update the blog a little more frequently this month!

At the fire station with dad (and the firemen of course!)!

A real fireman!

I think this one speaks for itself!

I got cake!!!!

Leaf pile!