august thirtieth

new haircut

weekend loves:

• shopping at the farmer's market with my family - heirloom tomatoes, rosemary olive bread, balsamic reduction.... yum, yum, yum.
• monkeying around on the monkey bars at the playground with two of my favourite monkeys
• catching up with our long-distance family
• starting our minor home renovation project of shuffling around 3 bedrooms
• picking out paint swatches
• going for walks and picking blackberries along the way
• finding a few minutes to start a small knitting project
• managing to get out for a haircut - 2 hours of time for me!

It was a really.  good.  weekend.

two of my monkeys

august twenty-nine

this guy stands guard at our local school

august twenty-six

ten delicious kissable little toes

august seventeen

This year we treated ourselves to a membership at the Vancouver Aquarium.  So far we have been three times and love it each time we visit.  Our little guy is so thrilled with the marine life and talks about the fish and dolphins constantly - we also have a small aquarium of goldfish at home that we adopted from a neighbour who was moving to the other side of the country a few months back.

One of my favourite exhibits at the Vancouver Aquarium are these jelly fish - I think they are so beautiful and always seem to photograph well.  My absolute favourite though is the underwater dolphin tank.  I seem to gravitate to it when it is time to breastfeed my littlest man!

summer love

august twelve

A few things I'm loving right now:

• Fiestaware dishes in aqua and pale yellow
• Kitchenaid stand mixer in either ice or majestic yellow (do you see a theme developing here?)
• Socks the fox Blabla doll for my youngest son - my oldest has Andiamo the dog
• play-dates with friends
• walks to the park in the sunshine
• these Bravado nursing tanks
• these mini meatloaves we had for dinner last night - kid tested and approved!
• awesome baby giggles and smiles:

but who wouldn't love that smile?

• listening to our windchimes 
• newborn baby photos from our friends in Ontario
• checking out some other august break bloggers and discovering some amazing photos and women
• watching the boys discover the world around them a little more each day
• the smell of his baby wash - pure heaven!

august eleven

I'm so excited for the finale of So you think you can dance this week!  Who am I rooting for?  Here is a hint for all you fans:

august ten

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This photo makes me laugh every time I see it - I love how he wants to be such a big boy and his obsession with tools and things that go "bbrrrooom" (including his Papa's lawnmower).  He turned two just over two weeks ago and I find myself wondering where the time has gone.

Other wonderful things about our little man that make the "terrible twos" so worth it:

• he loves to dance - whether or not he hears music.  My favourite dance is what I call the "yum-yum dance", which is especially reserved for when he is eating something particularly delicious.
• he is such a cuddly, loving boy.  He loves giving hugs and kisses to everyone.  He even blows kisses goodbye to the grocery store check-out lady.  Of course he saves his most loving hugs and kisses for his baby brother.
• he has bead-head every morning without fail!  
• love how he takes people by the hand and leads them to where he wants to go - doesn't matter if he's known them forever or if he has just met them.
• his enthusiasm for everything he attempts and how he can see the humour in every situation.  (definitely something I can learn from)
• his fat little feet and his kissable toes, his very long eyelashes and his dimples when he smiles.
• he is incredibly observant - a trait he most certainly inherited from his dad.
• he is very persistent in getting what he wants, though I'm sure this has something to do with those "terrible twos".  It is still an admirable trait.
• his insatiable hunger for reading story books.  (something he got from his mom ;-)
• how he came into our lives and changed everything for the better - and continues to do so on a daily basis.

august break - day nine

I'm really missing the cottage already and we've only been home a few days.  We'd love to go back soon, but we live about 5,000 miles away...  unfortunately we only make it to the cottage once a year at best.  That leaves the rest of the year for going over photos and dreaming of the next visit!

One of the things I love to do at the cottage is putter around in the boat with the family and look at all the lovely boat houses (old and new).  I could literally hang out on the boat all day if given the chance.  Here are a few photos from the trip:

original boat house - Indian River, Muskoka (love the colour)

newer style boat house, Muskoka

love the unusual shape of this one - Lake Rosseau, Muskoka

For cottage design/decorating I love, love, love Sarah Richardson!  Check out Sarah's Cottage portfolio - so beautiful and dreamy!  I believe her cottage is on Georgian Bay not too far from our family's cottage which is in Port Carling, Ontario.

august eight

august break - days one through seven

We have just returned home from our two week summer vacation - wonderful spending time with family and old friends.  We were sad to leave all the Grandparents behind, however it is always nice to be home and to re-establish routines and a sense of normalcy for the kids.


As we were away for the first week of the August Break, I thought I'd share seven photos from early on in our vacation to catch up - enjoy!

the boys on the plane

and just like that - he's two

first swimming lesson

arriving at the boat launch

first canoe ride of the year

While we were away, I crossed a few items off my life list (which if you remember started off as a "summer list"):

1.  go canoeing

3.  BBQ kebobs

6.  swim in a lake (which we did daily!)

8.  eat fresh Ontario peaches 

10.  have a campfire

11.  sit on a dock in the sunshine

12.  go to the cottage

14.  see M & V

18.  have a lobster dinner

27.  do yoga on the dock at the cottage