Crafty Girl

This past week Melissa & I have spent many hours together watercolor painting, playing with playdough & making different crafts. Melissa has grown into a decent attention span which makes it easier to really enjoy doing these sort of things together.

Some balloon guys that we made...



Fancy watercolor art...

A paste & stick train made at Pre-school Jr.


Hair-salon playdough



The many different do's we made!

Bowling

This weekend Melissa & Kiera experienced their first game of bowling at my childhood bowling alley.

Melissa ready to roll her first ball with her fans cheering her on!

Trying the 'between-the-legs' method, but from there on out it was just easier for her to roll it however was easiest (but certainly not fastest)! At times the balls would come to a stop on the lane, or they would go so slow that they didn't have any momentum to even knock over the pins!

Bowling with Dad's coaching...

An aerial view...

A new fad... well not really, just some really broken-in bowling shoes!

Watching their parents bowl from the sidelines.

Girls just wanna have fun... and they sure did!

Hi-five...!

A goodnight hug for these two inseparable buddies!

Cousin Luca's Halloween

Just had to post this video of Melissa's cousin Luca (3 yrs) who lives in Toronto. He was a Pirate this Halloween, and he got very into the part!

Trick or Treating

Last night was a fun evening... the McMillan family joined us trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood. We had anticipated hitting a few houses, but the girls got the hang of it and were having such a great time that we spent over an hour hitting houses up for candy!

The trick-or-treating gang.

Our sweet little cow...

and her 'construction worker' accomplice, knocking on doors...

charming the folks for candy!

Filling up at a 'self serve' station.

Mommy & her prize cow!

Taking inventory of her loot.

Trying on Kiera's tool belt & pink hard hat!


Even today Melissa keeps saying how she wants to go door to door again... she even resorted to dressing up in her cow costume saying she was ready to go again! She had a great time :)

Pumpkin Party

Yesterday we were invited over to Melissa's friend Milan's house for a 'Pumpkin Party'!

Each of the kids got to choose the perfect pumpkin from their pumpkin patch.

Then the parents carved the pumpkins which were to compete in the pumpkin carving contest!

Meanwhile... the little attention spans found more stimulating entertainment!

Melissa standing next to her pumpkin...

and the competition!

The whole pumpkin carving gang, and their masterpieces.

Luckily the judge realized that all of the pumpkins were special in their own way and each child received a prize book!

Next the festivities headed indoors where the kids played with Milan's cool toys and we sampled Michael's (Milan's dad) skills on their cappuccino machine.

Milan & Melissa...

The toy of the night was Milan's roller-coaster ride...

Weee, this lucky bunny got the ride of his life (over & over)!

Harvest Festival

Tonight we went as a family to our Church's Harvest Festival. Melissa was more than thrilled to finally get to wear her princess dress.

Her highness making a grand entrance...


One of the games Melissa played... the kids were given 15 seconds to put as much candy as they could into the bucket. (The older kids had their hands tied behind their back and had to use their mouths.) Melissa was so slow it was painful, by the end she had a managed to pick out only a few select pieces!

At the craft station Melissa (& I) decorated a clay pot which we later planted grass in (hopefully will it grow!)

At home again... the happy princess, her daddy and her orange balloon :)

Dumping out her bag of candies... she was speechless at first (as she didn't know that was what was in the bag)... then all she said was "Wow!" (two times). She then spent some time sorting and inspecting her loot asking what each one was.

Melissa & Pop

This past weekend Melissa had another sleep over at Nana & Pop Thomas' while we had a nice evening out. From the looks of the pictures and stories she tells, they had a great time too!


Melissa is quite the puzzle queen... she amazes us at how fast she can do her puzzles.

Cute Cousins

This Thanksgiving Melissa and cousin Xander had plenty of quality play time together... it's so neat to see them enjoy each other! Whenever Melissa would take a break from the intense playing they were doing... Xander would be on her to come and play!

A Blue Fire Truck

Today we lucked out being at Home Depot when they had a fire truck on display. They also had a craft for the kids to do, which was make-your-own-fire-truck-pencil-holder. So with the assistance of a helpful fireman, we built the truck, and then painted it (a very messy task). I didn't have my camera along with me, so I had to take these pics of a proud girl and her toy when we got back home.

Melissa wearing her cute Home Depot apron...


Posing with her little blue fire truck (its still wet... hence it staying on the ground)...

Our all blue fire truck (all the other colors were very messy, kids had mixed them together and the paint brushes had fallen in so we stuck with the one color!)

Running around in circles...

A little more posing for the camera...