Fixes and Fun

What a FANTASTIC weekend! Saturday started early, Betty off to help a friend move, and Fred and BamBam stayed home to do some 'fix-it jobs' around the house. Top that off with a street party, and you've got a recipe for Saturday fun :)

First trip - Canadian Tire
BamBam & I went to Canadian tire (bright and early I may add, we were there at 8am!) to pick up some sleeping bags for next weekends camping Trip with BamBam's aunts. While we were there, he was enthralled with all the different kinds of camping equipment, and he REALLY wanted me to get some new flashlights, but I settled him down and we made it out of there with just the sleeping bags.

Of course, once we got home we had to play in the sleeping bags for a bit. Then I got ready to go help a friend move, and Fred & BamBam got ready for trip number 2 ...

Second trip - Home Depot
Fred and BamBam went to the neighborhood HomeDepot so Dad could show BamBam the difference between screws and nails, and they could pick up some supplies to do the few small jobs we had around the house. Fred was super impressed with BamBam's ability to use the screw driver - his hand-eye coordination has improved quite a bit this year! BamBam is also super interested in anything construction or just helping Daddy around the house. They have certainly found their niche :) So, now BamBam can now proudly say that our toilet paper roll holder is hanging as a result of his hard work - so if you ever come over, be sure to mention how sturdy it is ;)

Back Home - Time to (street) Party!
After a few more errands we met at home to prep for the 1st annual Neighborhood Street Party! As we watched the dark storm clouds moving in, we met up with the other kids on the street to hang decorations outside, setup tables and get ready keeping our fingers crossed that the storm would skip us over. Well, lucky for us it was windy until about supper time, then the winds stopped, the clouds cleared and the party started!

I wish I could put in words how much fun the kids all had. They played outside until 10:30, enjoying everything from Basketball, to hide-and-seek, to flashlight tag. And except for BamBam's fall on the pavement and resulting knee scrape (yes, he's still limping), he had nothing but good things to say about the party. In fact, he said he thinks we should have a Fall Street Party, so we can do it all again.

The adults had a blast at the party too - we had a few drinks and great conversation until about 1 in the morning. It was nice to sit with the neighbors we knew, and to finally put names to the faces of the ones we didn't. I can't stress enough how much of a difference it makes knowing you live in a community where you can trust that your neighbors know to slow down when they hit your street in case one of the kids runs out for a ball, or how great it is to know that there is someone with a bandaid for your little guys scraped knee when you've managed to misplace the entire box at your house.

We talk about moving all the time, but after such a great night you realize you don't get that feeling of safety and community everywhere ... I think we'll be staying put for a while!

We're Blogging Again!

So it's been a crazy year. We haven't blogged in a while because to be honest, it scared us to do so. I started an online design business and had most of my work 'lifted' and resold by another person. We know countless people who have had their online lives lifted including photos of their children and it made us nervous.

But we really enjoyed blogging the first years of BamBam's life - not so much for us, but to have a written record of his life that he can read back on. So we're back on board, but a little more cautiously and with some extra security built in (i.e. no names, addresses, dates and copyrights etc. will be built in.)

With all that done, we're looking forward to sharing life with you all!