Kate's Back!!

Kate is home from her week in Ottawa, and while we're trying to play it cool about how well we managed without her, let's be honest, we were all hanging on by very thin threads.

- I tried to get Jacob on-side Team England at the Euros, but he seemed more enamored of the ever-stylish Cristiano. Here's his artistic ode to Ronaldo, complete with the backwards #7 on the jersey.

- Zoë had her nursery school graduation party. We'll all miss Miss Laurie next year as Zoë is off to Montessori for a year.

- Here's a series of Zoë being a goofball on the dock

- It was a big week of graduation, as we had our last Chinese class of the year. Zoë will be moving on from parent & tot next year, freeing up me and Kate to take an adult class. Do you think Kate will be competitive about being in a Chinese class with me?

- And on Saturday afternoon, Jacob and I went to the Toronto FC game. The home team blew a 2-0 lead, but as you can see, that didn't affect our enthusiasm

New Playground

Just in time for summer, our new playground by the beach is open. We christened the park yesterday and it got three thumbs up from my little ones.

In other news, Kate is in Ottawa for 6 days at a conference.  Zoë cried herself to sleep the first night saying that she wanted to go with mama. But all has gone well since then. Tonight we even completed the back-to-back end-of-year school BBQ and soccer game. All in the crazy heat. The highlight of the former event was apparently seeing their principal get wet in the dunk tank. My highlight was hearing Zoë refer to said Principal as Mr. Alligator (it's Halliday). And then at the soccer, both twins got on the scoresheet (thankfully they don't actually keep score, or have goalies, and they play 3 or 4 a side) and were excited about it. Next week I'll try to capture video evidence of Jacob's goal celebration, whereby he sprints the length of the field pointing one, or both, elbows straight out in front of him. This will catch on.

It was also Zoë's last day of nursery school today, which means my allotment of weekly free time just vanished. But it's about to be replaced with daily excursions to the beach, so life is good.

Father's Day Cake

We're very responsive here at the Hazelblog. The Whites asked about the chocolate cake. So, here's a photo, with bonus coverage of me singing with a knife in my mouth, plus a Tinkerbell gift bag. Yes, it was a testosterone-filled Father's Day.

Kate's Photos

I finally uploaded all of Kate's photos off her phone. So here's a selection from the past few months...

- Starting with a video of Jacob and Paddington, two simpatico souls

- Zoë in her favourite local establishment. "We go bakery today?"

- Jacob in disguise

- Knights and Princesses. Possibly the upcoming birthday party theme.

- Zoë getting mucky at the Grove park in Toronto

- With big cousins Sean and Erin, who were in Toronto for a swim meet

 

- At Pearson, enroute to Thunder Bay

- Grandma's Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop

- Jacob driving the tractor with Papa

- My "before" marathon photo. Much better than the "after" photo, let me assure you

- Molly pondering the St. Lawrence

- Zoë pushing around my dad

- My two Spanish soccer superstars

- Zoë with her new haircut

- New arts & crafts cupboard

- Jacob watching the heron

Father's Day

We had a quiet Father's Day at home. The White's came over for part of the morning with their little sailboat. And there was some swimming and mostly hanging out. And a chocolate cake!

Here's a series of photos of my little fantasticos cuddling on the new deck furniture.

Out in the sun

Lots of outdoor play this week, with plenty of dips in the lake to keep out of the heat.

- Here's Zoë playing with baby Frida at soccer

- Jacob and Zoë working on their canal system

- The kids came home from their Art in the Park day at school, wanting to do more outdoor art

- On Friday I took the twins for a hike while Zoë was in nursery school

- And for those of you not on Facebook, the conversation over Molly's writing below went something like this.
Kate: Oh, Molly, whate did you write? More people like ... penises?
Molly: No mama (looking disgusted). Princesses. Princesses.