Tyler Says the Darndest Things

Tyler is in a phase where he's been asking what things are made of; everything from houses to cars to even light bulbs. Well, yesterday morning we were sitting down to a nice bowl of blueberries. Here is the conversation that took place soon after: Tyler: What's blueberries made of? Mommy: Vitamins Tyler: What's vitamins made of? Mommy: Good stuff that your body needs. Tyler: What's good stuff made of? (At this point, I have to pause and think of a good answer...LOL) Tyler: Is it made of Ketchup? Is it made of icing?

Just Ducky

Tyler was very proud of the scissor cutting he did today at the Read With Me program. After the children read the book '10 Rubber Ducks' by Eric Carle and sang 'Six Little Ducks', they made these cute little duck cutouts to go along with the song. Our take home book this week is another Eric Carle book called 'Do you want to be my friend?'. We just finished the book and we're excited to start our book review and activities associated with the book.

Doing Chores at Playgroup

Our Little Photographer

Steve gave Tyler a digital camera for Christmas last year. He is having a lot of fun with it. This afternoon, I decided to check out his photos. Here is a sample of what I found. In the fourth photo down, if you look closely you'll see his toe in the bottom right hand corner...too cute! LOL

A Walk on the Wild Side

This morning we went out to the wildlife park with Andrew and his parents, along with some of their friends from work. We couldn't have asked for a better day to visit the park; the weather was absolutely beautiful with warm temperatures of 17 degrees Celsius. Everyone had a lot of fun viewing the animals. Tyler said that his favourite was the black bears because they had big long tongues. The bears were tame enough to be fed by hand, although we didn't attempt it ourselves...LOL After a walk through the wildlife trail and the petting zoo, we headed over to the playground. Of course, all the children were quite excited about stopping there for awhile. Then everyone started to feel a little hungry, so we grabbed some lunch and ate it at the playground. It wasn't too long before we were back playing again. Tyler and Andrew liked this digger the best. Soon it was time to head home. However it wasn't long before Tyler and Andrew were together again. Andrew's mom came to the door and asked if we wanted to go outside and let the boys play again. It's so nice seeing Tyler and Andrew play together again. During the winter, the boys didn't get a chance to see much of each other. We are welcoming the warmer days to get them together. Happy 35th Birthday to our buddy, Richey, back home in Maryland. We hope you have a terrific day, though we heard your celebrating started a few days ago.

Today is a very special day for my grandmother. It is her 91st birthday! To help celebrate her birthday, a tea party was held in her honour. Nana, we love you very much and we hope you had a wonderful day. Sending lots of love and good wishes.

Our Get Away

With it being the first anniversary of my dad's passing, the day was definitely going to be a difficult one to get through. So yesterday, Mom, Tyler, and I packed the car up and decided to go somewhere overnight. We needed different surroundings to help get our minds off of the tragic event that happened a year ago. We made no reservations prior to this because we weren't expecting great traveling weather to be able to go very far. But once we were on the road for about 30 minutes, the heavy rains stopped and the sun came out. With this being said, we decided to make Port Hawkesbury our destination. For those who don't know, Port Hawkesbury is near the causeway linking the island to the mainland of Nova Scotia. The different surroundings gave us something different to talk about, however we still had our rough moments. It would have been much more difficult if we stayed home. Mom was excited to have Tyler as a little bed buddy during the night. I don't know how he slept through her loud snoring though! LOL It was such a terrible day when we started our journey, we didn't get to visit the grave. So this afternoon when we came home, we went out and placed flowers on my dad's and grampy's grave. My mom likes to bring my dad daisies because of the song "Daisy A Day". The chorus goes like this: "I'll give you a daisy a day dear I'll give you a daisy a day I'll love you until the rivers run still And the four winds have all blown away"

In Memoriam In loving memory of George Andrew Walker July 25, 1939-April 23, 2008. Our hearts are broken, our lives will never be the same without you, but we will go on with the good memories of when we were all together. Rest in Peace, Dear One. -Love you always and forever. (written by my mom and published in today's Cape Breton Post)

Shakin' and Readin'

The children at the Read With Me program today got to pick their own instruments that their coordinator provided. Tyler picked the wooded blocks. Then we sang a song and each child had a chance in the song to play their instrument. It was very loud, but so much fun for all of us. Then for their craft, the kids took an empty water bottle and glued tissue paper on the outside. The bottle was then filled with popcorn kernels, thus creating maracas. The take home book for this week is the well known "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss. We read it tonight before bedtime. This was actually our first time reading it and Tyler really liked it a lot. He'll no doubt have a good time doing the Cat in the Hat activities that we brought home to do from class.

Creepy Cache

Today marked my official day of getting back into caching after a long winter break. Rhonda and I found caches along a trail that was 2 kilometers long one way, we still had enough time to do one more before heading home for lunch. This cache turned out to be a lot more of an adventure than we ever expected. First of all, as we were walking towards the cache we thought we could hear a train getting close to us. However there were no signs of tracks anywhere. Then from out of nowhere comes a train! It scared us to death! We laughed so much afterward. I think we were expecting a ghost train because it just seemed so surreal to us. Then as if that wasn't creepy enough, the coordinates to the cache lead us to an old motel sign. This sign was basically in the middle of nowhere, but back in the day before the highway was built this was an old entrance to an existing motel. The sign was really old and it created a creepy feeling. This would be an ideal location for a scary movie. Anyway, this was a fun way to kick off the new season of caching. I can't wait until Steve gets home to join in the fun! As of today, he has 30 days until he returns back home. This definitely would have been a cache he would have enjoyed. I can just picture him trying to scare me all the way to the cache. LOL

A Greener Tomorrow

Since this Wednesday is Earth Day, the children made litter bugs from leftover paper found in the recycle bin at the center. Then they glued their bugs on papers with the caption "Don't be A Litter Bug, Save the Planet". Along with making the bugs, they also coloured a picture of the earth being held in the palms of hands with "Take Care of the Earth" written on it.

Bubble Talk

Famous Ferry

The other night I was reading Tyler his library books as I always do before bed and I got a little unexpected surprise in one of them. The book to which I'm referring to is titled 'Ferries' written by Lola M. Schaefer which is a basically a book about different kinds of ferries and how they operate. It is printed and written in the U.S. As I was reading it, one of the photos happened to catch my eye. It sort of looked familiar, and as I looked closer I was shocked to see it was indeed the little ferry that we have here operating in Englishtown! In fact, the ferry has been shown on this blog several times in the past. This is a photo Steve took last year on our trip to the Sea Parrot, the place Steve and I like to escape while visiting. The ferry is called the Angus MacAskill named after the giant who lived in the community in the 18oo's. You can visit his grave nearby. The ferry just retired last spring and was replaced by a new ferry named after Torquil MacLean, who operated the old ferry for over 50 years. It can hold 15 cars which is 2 more than the previous ferry. The ferry is the busiest of seven small ferries in Nova Scotia. Anyway, I just thought it was really neat that among the other ferries they had photos of from around the world, our little ferry would be included too.

Play date with Anna

How cute are they??!! Anna and Tyler had great fun today over at Anna's house. They play very well together. Meanwhile it gave us adults an opportunity to play catch up. Anna's grandma used to be our neighbour a long time ago. After the kids were finished destroying Anna's playroom, we had some lunch. When it was time to go that's when things got a little crazy. It all started when Tyler decided to wear the sunglasses that were in the treat bag that Anna gave him. Then Anna got on her sunglasses. The next thing I knew the grandmas were also wearing them. The end product was one cool looking bunch! Thanks so much to Anna and her grandmother for a wonderful time! We had a blast!

Read With Me

Today we started a new program and I am quite excited about it!!! It is called Read With Me and it is organized by the same people who organize our playgroups. The program is put together in such away to encourage reading and teaching with the children. As most of you know, Tyler adores books! Ever since he was a baby, we've been reading together each day. Not only are the children read to during the program, but they take home a book each week to read at home and to thoroughly discuss with the parent. They are given an activity booklet that is related to the book as well as a sheet of questions they have to answer. Yes, my boy has homework already!!! This week's book is called 'If You Give A Moose A Muffin' by Laura Joffe Numeroff. We only took the book home today, but so far Tyler and I have read it twice already. Tomorrow we are going to start our activity booklet, which also involves making moose track muffins! Tyler is really excited about that part as you might expect...LOL. After reading time today, the children took part in a craft. They each made a house and in each of the windows and the door they were required to draw a picture of each of their family members. Tyler drew himself on the top floor, me on the second, Daddy on the bottom left, Weegee on the bottom right, and Nanny in the door. I love this program a lot and I am really eager to get Tyler into his learning activities. This will be our last program before Daddy arrives home and I hope it will help make the last month go by faster.

Tyler Says the Darndest Things

Yesterday Tyler was sitting on my bed with me and as we were talking I noticed he kept sliding off the bed because he was sitting too close to the edge, despite my suggestion that he move closer to the wall. Finally after he climbed up for the third time he said, "Mommy, I don't think the bed wants me to sit on it because it keeps sliding me off!".

Easter Videos

The Easter Bunny Came!!!

What a blast we had this morning when we came out into the living room to see that the Easter Bunny came during the night! Of course, the first item Tyler finds is the one I thought he would have the most difficult job to find. You just can't trick that guy! Tyler received lots of goodies from the Easter Bunny. It was funny because as he found a few things, he said that the Easter Bunny got them at Wal-Mart...LOL! However, he was so thankful that he even said that he wanted to give the Easter Bunny a present on the Easter Bunny's birthday. One of the gifts that the Easter Bunny gave him was a stuffed bunny. Tyler told me that the bunny was sad because he missed his daddy. It was heartbreaking to hear this. We talked to Steve on the web cam and Tyler showed him everything the Easter Bunny brought him. We are getting closer to Steve's homecoming, thank goodness! Steve sent me some beautiful flowers along with a sweet note for Easter. This will be the last holiday that we'll be apart :) We went to an Easter Brunch where they had a huge buffet. Everything was delicious! And both Mom and I ate and ate and ate until we couldn't eat anymore. Of course, I ate mostly desserts which they had an excellent selection to choose from. When we made the reservations for the brunch, we had no idea that the restaurant was also holding an Easter egg hunt! They passed out bags to the children and let them have their fun finding lots of eggs. Tyler now has enough candy and chocolate to last him a very long time. Mrs Baillie even brought him up two specially filled Easter bags with some chocolates and fun Easter things to do. Thank you so much Mrs Baillie! Overall, we had a really nice Easter. The best part was watching Tyler going on his search and getting so excited when he would find the things the Easter Bunny left him. It is such a blessing being a parent! We are counting the days until Steve can come home to experience these joys again with us. Until then I am so thankful that we have modern technology so that we can share these special moments with him each day. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

In a Jiffy: Tyler's 1st Experience with Jiffy Pop

Eggstra Fun!

Charmaine and Kelly held a Easter egg hunt at their place today. This was the first time that Tyler and I had ever been on one and it was sooo much fun!!! It was also their first time holding a hunt and what a top notch job they did. There were over 400 eggs hidden around their property that is over 3 acres. They even provided Easter buckets to all the kids. Tyler found a whole bucket full of eggs. His geocaching experience paid off today! After all the eggs were collected, the kids went back inside to open their eggs to see what treasures were inside. Tyler got a lot of trinkets and chocolate. It was really cute to see how excited Tyler was to open each egg. Charmaine had a special prize for the kids who got a golden coin in their eggs. She hid 3 of these special eggs. Tyler was one of the lucky ones and he won a DVD! We all brought some food for brunch. It was wonderful getting together during Good Friday with our friends. We really had a fantastic time! Here is a video of part of the Easter egg hunt. Hope you enjoy!

Out For A Drive Today

Surprise Visit

This morning when I returned home from my trip to put in Tyler's order with the Easter Bunny, I noticed there was a vehicle in the driveway. Soon I discovered that it was our friend, Janice, and her granddaughter, Anna. It had been almost a year since we've seen Anna! We couldn't believe how much she has grown! Tyler and Anna were so cute together! They were dancing together in the first picture which was soooo funny! At one point they kept hugging each other. We almost died laughing. Tyler would hug Anna and then Anna would hug Tyler, and so on. It went on like this for a few minutes until they both fell over. LOL The fun continues next week when we go over their house for a play date. It should be a blast! LOL

Easter Egg Painting at Playgroup

With the Easter Bunny just around the corner, it was no surprise that the theme for today's playgroup was all about Easter. The craft for some of the older children was painting eggs, while the younger children made eggs out of construction paper. Tyler wanted to try painting an egg. This was his first time painting an Easter egg. He chose green as the base colour, then he painted over it with lots of Easter colours. The egg came out looking really nice! I enjoyed watching him paint the egg and he had a great time. We'll paint some more here at Nanny's house before the Easter Bunny comes; should be lots of fun!

Sunday Dinners

There was no shortage of laughter tonight while Sarah and Mark joined us for dinner. Tyler had all of us in stitches throughout the evening. Some of the things he was saying was hilarious! It felt great to have such a good laugh. We very much enjoyed Sarah and Mark's company and we have decided that we are going to make our Sunday dinners with them a weekly thing :) We can't wait to see them again next week!!!

Tyler DOES the Darnest Things

One day we were getting ready to go out. So Tyler, being Mr. Independent, offered to dress himself. I passed him a pair of Pull-ups while I went and got ready myself. He never had any problems putting on his cloth underwear or Pull-ups in the past, so I never had any doubt that he couldn't put them on all by himself. Soon Tyler came to me and excitedly said, "Mommy, I got my Pull-ups on!". I then looked at him and thought 'oh yeah, you got them on alright'...

Road Trip to St. Peter's

We woke up this morning to a beautiful day. The forecast said it was going to be 12 degrees Celsius. This was not a day to be wasted inside, so we decided we needed to get out. Mom suggested we go for a little drive. We ended up going on a road trip to St. Peter's. It's about an hour's drive. We managed to make a few stops along the way to take some photos and stretch our legs. We ate lunch in St. Peter's and then turned around to come home again. This was our first official road trip of the season. It was nice to get out after being cooped up inside all winter. I love Cape Breton because there are so many scenic places to drive to. We're looking forward to going on some more road trips throughout the Island before too long.

Rhonda's Movie Roundup

So last night, Rhonda asked me to go see a movie with her. Of course, I accepted her invitation; I am lucky to take full advantage of my mom's babysitting services to see some great movies that otherwise would have to wait and see until they came out on DVD. Somehow seeing them on DVD, just isn't quite the same as actually seeing them on the big screen with a room full of people munching on popcorn, laughing along with you. Rhonda works as a producer/DJ for one of our local radio stations and she has recently been asked to review movies for the listeners at home. Last night, we saw Monsters vs. Aliens, the 3D version. I'm not going to say what we thought of it, instead you can listen to her review tomorrow morning between 8:30 and 9am local time (between 7:30 and 8am Eastern for everyone else). You can listen online here. Rhonda's Movie Roundup is every Friday morning on MAX FM 98.3.

For My Fellow Capers Away

Captain Morgan gets an ark. Click here!