Swimming Lessons

Jayna and Kepler just finished a session of swimming lessons. It was Kepler's first time in swimming lessons, and his first time not just being a spectator to Jayna. He was so excited and loved it! He is not scared of the water and loves to jump in, do back floats and go under water.

Kepler in On my Own Sea Turtle

He really wanted a picture beside the water

Jayna was in Salamander and did really well this session. I think the magic combination was a great teacher and her goggles. We did a little extra practicing with her back float and it was worth it. She was so excited that she passed her level and will be a Sunfish next time!

The final countdown!

I'm 36 weeks and officially starting to count down until this baby gets here. I feel like I'm in the home stretch and the end (of being pregnant) is in sight! It's funny because even though we didn't find out what we're having this time I've never been more prepared. I thought I would be dying to know if it's a boy or girl, but I've been totally fine with it, until the last couple weeks. Now I'm just getting really impatient to know what it is. Jayna has totally switched from wanting a sister to wanting another brother. She's now completely sure it's a boy and when I tried to ask her why she thinks that she just says "Because I love having a brother, so I want another one!" Good enough for me. And so now of course Kepler thinks it's a boy and wants a brother too. At least I know that if Jayna is happy, Kepler will be too.

I've been going back and forth between thinking it's a girl or boy this whole time, but I think it's been about 60% boy and 40% girl. Gibb just says that every time he pictures the baby he pictures a boy.

There's not really much else I can do to prepare until the baby gets here, except try to keep my house clean. My mom gets here on Thursday and the kids finish swimming lessons on Friday. And then we all get to sit around and wait...I have a feeling this could be a long month. ;)

Here I am about a week ago at 35 weeks

Bunk Beds

3 months after ordering them we finally got the bunk beds in this week! This has been a highly anticipated event at our house, and one of the major things to check off the before baby comes to-do list. Kepler just turned 3 and was still sleeping in the crib. He was kind of attached to the crib so I wasn't sure how he would do, but once the bunk beds were up there was no looking back for him. He's so ready to be a big boy in his bed!
Jayna has been talking about sleeping on the top bunk since she got to sleep in the bunk beds last summer at the cabin.

Gibb being the handy man

Just a little bit excited...

The first couple of nights Kepler ended up back in the crib because he wouldn't stop singing/talking and keeping Jayna awake. Jayna is not into partying with Kepler at night before they fall asleep, she is all business and runs out to tell us if he makes one peep that he's keeping her up (party pooper!). Kepler quickly learned that talking means no bunks beds and so he's been quietly falling asleep ever since. At night he says to me "Mommy do I get to sleep in the bunk beds again? I promise I'll be quiet! No talking in the bunk beds, that's the rule." And he so desperately wants to sleep in the bunk beds that he's been following that rule.

Jayna still needs to get used to the fact that she shares a room and a bed now and that Kepler is allowed to come in whenever he wants to and play on the bunk beds too. But so far it's been a great transition and it's nice that the kids love going to bed, hopefully we can milk that one for a while! It's weird having an empty room though, I think it's going to take me a while to stop calling it Kepler's room.

Gregoire Lake

Gibb had an extra day off this week-end, so we went out to the beach at Gregoire Lake, which is only about 25 minutes away. It was really windy, but the kids still went in the water. They loved playing in the sand for so long, building sand castles and digging for treasure.
It was so nice for Gibb and I to be able to relax while the kids played. They're old enough now to be careful by the water and play together. We need to enjoy this for a few more weeks until we start all over again with a new baby!

Canada Day

It never really feels like summer to me until July 1. It seems like Canada Day always has great weather too. We went to the parade again this year, and the kids actually remembered it from last year.

Just to prove I was there!

My favourite "float"!
This Buffalo was in the parade last year, and I told the kids it would be here again, so glad Bailey Jr. didn't disappoint them. Only in Fort McMurray...

Kepler loved waving and yelling "Happy Canada Day!"

We ended off the day with a BBQ and finally going to see Cars 2

Kepler keeps telling me now that he wants to go back to Canada (meaning the parade), because he loves Canada so much! I tried to explain to him that we live in Canada, but that was way over his head. So now I just tell him we'll go back to Canada next year.

June

 Being sick is no fun! :(

Oh yes I am eating all that delicious food! I'm growing a baby!

My crafty girl

Cute sleeping pictures never get old

Fun with friends, Rylan Loose and Kate Beaulne

It's so exciting to see Jayna learning new things and wanting to practice her letters

These 2 cute boys are best buds, we are going to be SO sad when the move!!

Cooling off with popsicles, it's getting hot out!

What am I going to do without my other half?? One of the best friends I've ever had.

There is a neighbourhood cat that's been coming around our backyard for a while. Jayna and Kepler named him Wizzy and it took us a while to figure out that it was their variation of us saying "Where is he?". They love Wizzy and will be out there petting and playing with him for so long. 

Kepler got this really fun board game from Grandma Fitzner for his birthday called Diggity Dog. It's such a cute game and one of his favourite gifts, we've played it a lot already.

Meaghan Smith and her husband came and did a show in Fort McMurray, I was so excited I got to go see her, she's amazing!!

One last night out before Lindsay moves (sniff sniff) :(

Crafty Crafty

Jayna has been on a major craft kick this month. It started out with this mini whiteboard I got out and she would draw on it almost all day long.

Then when we were in Edmonton she couldn't get enough of this little paint set that Grandma Fitzner had.

So when we got home I bought her her own set from the dollar store. Best $1.50 I ever spent!

A couple weeks later I got out a bunch of random stuff from the craft cupboard and just let her go to town. This ended up taking over our table for a few days because it's all she wanted to do almost all day.

She made a fish hook and some fish for Kepler to play with. She came up with this all on her own, and Kepler loved it!

This masterpiece took her a few days to complete. She kept coming back to it and adding more and more details. It's a story for her to read to the baby when it's born.

It's been so nice having a break from Jayna begging to watch TV and movies all afternoon while Kepler is napping. Now I'm going to put it all away for another month and then bring it all out again after the baby is born and I really need a nap!

Happy Birthday to Kepler!

Kepler is 3! And he's pretty excited about it. He totally caught birthday fever from Jayna and has been waiting for his big day.

When he woke up Jayna wanted to go in and sing to him, so we did. But then he just wanted to eat his cake. I think he just associated his birthday with eating cake since that's all he really knows about birthdays. I would have just let him have a piece for breakfast, but it wasn't made yet, oops!
(Note to self, next year I will make his cake the night before instead of the day of his birthday)
Luckily I was able to keep him happy with monkey bread and smoothies for breakfast instead.
We met some friends at the park after that, but about an hour later it started to rain. Good thing we were only a couple blocks from my friend's house so we all headed over there to play instead.
When we came home for lunch Kepler just wanted his cake again. Poor guy! I promised him when he woke up from his nap it would be ready, so he was pretty excited to finally see his Thomas the Train cake!We had Kepler's best friend and family over for a BBQ that night.
Kepler's new soccer ball! Now he thinks he's a soccer player like Jayna!

Happy Birthday to Kepler!

Kepler's best friend Cohen!

We ended the night with Thomas treat bags. I don't think this little boy could have been any happier.

Birthday kisses for the birthday boy!

That night after the kids were in bed Gibb and I heard Kepler singing in his crib "Happy Birthday to Kepler!" hehe! I guess he wasn't done celebrating yet. The next morning when he woke up the first thing he said was "Mommy, am I still 3? That means I can run really, really, super fast now!!"
Oh man, I love this kid. 3 year olds are so fun, and Kepler always has us laughing, especially when we should really be disciplining.