Evergreen Brick Works… or as Aidan would call it- Sick Bricks

We woke up this morning with Kendall coughing pretty badly and me not feeling so well. I let Kendall sleep in a little bit so we didn't make it to church this morning :-(

Daddy still wanted us to go out as a family as it's the last long weekend until school starts on Tuesday. I suggested we go to Evergreen Brick Works.  I had heard about this place from my co-worker and she said it would be a great place to take the kids. I didn't think daddy would oblige as Evergreen Brick Works is close to downtown and he never likes going there. 

It was a scorcher of a day. I think it was close to 40°!

There was a beautiful pond at the Weston Quarry Garden where you and Kendall looked at turtles, tadpoles
and bugs. 

Lounging by the red Adirondack chairs by the pond.

You knew that these were lily pads. I don't know how you knew, but you were looking for frogs. Unfortunately
we didn't see any. 

The beautiful surroundings.

Everything is possible.

You and Kendall took turns watering the plants at The Children's Garden in Chimney Court.

You asked why it said 'Valley' and I said it's because we were by the Don Valley. I don't think you understood.

Inside the Young Welcome Centre. You and Kendall wanted to pose with your butts out. Aish!

The Kilns building. This was a really neat space where bricks were once fired. 

There were lots of graffiti on the walls and equipment. You said they weren't graffiti, but Pokemon designs.
Now that I see it, it does sort of look like Pokemon designs.

Kendall in front of the many graffiti signs at the Brickworks.

Daddy wanted you to pose in front of this cry baby photo. I asked you why daddy wanted you to and you said,
"It's because I'm a cry baby." True dat!

We went over to The Pavilion to check out the Farmer's Market and most importantly, to check out the food.
We got this pulled pork thing from Pimenton and it was delicious!

Fish tacos. This was okay. We also got Jamie Kennedy's infamous frites, beef dumplings, chorizo sausage
wrapped in pastry, fresh oysters and fresh squeezed lemonades. 

My family.

Enjoying the view. What a great day we had.

Polo girl

Your Vancouver grandma had asked me to take some pictures of you wearing this yellow and white Polo dress so that she can send the pictures to her friend that bought this dress for you. I wasn't sure if I would be able to capture any good shots because you are notorious for not staying still. I was pleasantly surprised when you actually posed for me. Mission accomplished!

This is what an S/K (Senior Kindergarten) looks like

How is it possible that you are entering Senior Kindergarten?? It seemed like yesterday when we were dropping you off for your first day of Junior Kindergarten. How time flies…

You were so excited to start school. Although you have been going to daycare every day in the Summer, I think you were bored. You really love learning so I think you were excited to finally start the school year. And now that kindergarten is full time, I imagine that you will learn so much.

So long Summer

I can't believe August is already over… And you start SK tomorrow! Where has the Summer gone?

I haven't taken photos of you too in so long so I busted out my camera and took some quick snapshots of you guys. Daddy wanted to get in on the action so he grabbed both of you and asked me to take one of you together. So cute, right?

I asked you to make your "Ee-pun-ee" face. It's translated from Korean as "pretty" face.
You are doing it right, but Kendall's is looking not so pretty… haha.

I die!

I took some portrait shots of you two. I can't believe how big you guys have grown. It boggles my mind…

Kendall is such a girly girl. I put her in an outfit I bought her a few weeks ago and she was walking around
like a little super model.

Trying to show me your coolest ninja moves. Lately you've been obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

This just made my day!

Today, your daycare class moved back into their regular space. The school has been renovating all summer so it was nice to finally get back to your original classrooms. Kendall has been adjusting really well at her new daycare (your current daycare). She cried for about a week straight so I was really worried, but for some reason something clicked and she was amazing this week. She even waved goodbye to me. I think it helped that I got you to hold Kendall's hand before entering the daycare. I think she is comforted that you are with her. What made it even better? I found these snapshots of you and Kendall taken at her new daycare in her cubby. It really looks like you guys love each other even though most of the time you guys want to claw each others eyes out!

"For the strong, silent type"

I have a weird obsession of loving watching kids eat french fries. I think it's the way their little hands hold the fries. Every time I watch you eating your fries when you are eating your Happy Meal, I pause and just stare. Am I a freak or what?

Maybe I started my obsession when I saw this 1987 McCain french fries commercial?

Today was Nate's birthday party. He turned 4 this year. We were invited for the celebration at 4pm so we decided to walk over. Too bad it poured as soon as we left the house and we got drenched!

Your cool rain gear outfit.

And guess who made a special appearance? Spiderman! 

Look how cute you guys are. I think you will be the best of friends when you are older.

Guess who's allergic to fish?

As if it couldn't get any worse, I discovered today that you are allergic to salmon and trout. The allergist said you may be allergic to white fish, but that I should still try giving it to you as the test results didn't come out 100% positive. On a positive note, you were actually amazing at the doctor's office today. You didn't cry and you were in such a good mood (as seen in the photos above). I also saw the most current issue of Best Health Magazine in the waiting room!

Mommy's magazine at the doctor's office.

I have a good system going

I was so fearful of doing the sole drop-offs in the morning. I was so used to dropping just Aidan off. And he was pretty easy. All I had to do was wake him up, brush his teeth, change him and turn on his morning show while I got ready. You, on the other hand, can't sit for long periods of time watching TV.  I worried that mornings were going to be absolute chaos and I would go to work frazzled and unkempt. It was definitely a looming task that I wasn't looking forward to.

To my delight, it's been actually pretty good. I even get to sleep in a bit later! I used to wake up at 6:10am when daddy dropped you off. I would first wake up, brush up and then I would wake you up around 6:35am after getting your daycare bag ready. You would have your morning milk and then I would send you off with daddy around 6:55am. Then I would wake Aidan up and get him ready, etc. etc. Now, I wake up at 6:35am. I still get myself ready before either of you wake up. Usually Aidan wakes up first around 7:15am. I sometimes brush him up first before I wake you up, but I find that you usually wake up around the same time that Aidan wakes up. After getting both of you ready, I bring you two downstairs and give you both milk and cheese (you guys usually have breakfast at daycare). Surprisingly, you will sit on the couch with Aidan while I go back upstairs to change and grab my bag. Then we head out. This photo is just before we headed out the door. 

What a sweet boy you are

There are moments when you are so sweet to me that it just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Tonight, just before bed, you declared how much you love me. I LOVE YOU TOO! You are my sunshine boy. Kiss, kiss, hug, hug.

Birthday boy

As I write this, I'm dead tired and basically running on adrenaline. I'm in the busiest time at work, but I've been staying up late every night to make Kendall and your loot bags for your daycare birthday parties. Never have kids with birthdays 1-day apart! #deadtired #whydoidothistomyself

Yes, I could have gone to the dollar store to pick up loot bag items in their party section and I did do that, but nothing was good enough for my taste. My occupation is a graphic designer/art director so I can't put my name on something that is not up to par for my liking. I decided that I would again, hand make something. Of course, once I start something I go all out. I hardly got any sleep this week, but it was all worth it. You were so excited to see the finished product and super excited to go to daycare this morning to give them all out to your friends.

It all started with me seeing something on my Instagram feed. I follow a crafter, Sharilyn Wright and she
posted something not too long ago of her handmade notebooks with washi tape spines. I thought that was
such a great idea. I modified the notebooks I made by adding the names of all the kids as well as some
more personal details that they could fill out at the bottom- age, birthday, favourite colour. Since your
writing skills have drastically improved as soon as you started junior kindergarten, I noticed you are always
drawing and writing. I figured a personalized notebook would be the perfect gift for all the kids. I scored
the cover stock a 1/4" on the left where the washi tape ends so that it would open easily. 

Just a close-up of some of the washi tape patterns. Aren't they pretty stacked like that?

Instead of just plain, blank pages, I printed grid paper and lined paper to give it more of a custom feel.
I also added a page at the beginning where it had a box that you had to draw a picture of your family. 

As well as the custom notebooks, I added a bag of flavoured popcorn- white cheddar popcorn or butter
popcorn to the loot bags. 

If I had more time, I would have added one more thing to the loot bags, but I didn't have anything left in
me to design something else.

I love the Ikea-brand ziplock bags (purple bag behind the notebook). I covered the Ikea logo with the
tags of all the names of the kids. This is your loot bag.

There were 26 kids in your class, so you can imaging just how many I had to do. And that's just for your
daycare. I worked on Kendall's daycare loot bags too. The Longo's bag on the bottom right had peanut-free
cupcakes to bring to your daycare this morning.

This was you after I picked you up around 3:30pm. You guys were all eating the cupcakes when I picked
you up. When you got the car, you declared that this year was the best birthday of all. 

Waiting on our front porch for daddy and Kendall to come home. BTW, since Kendall's birthday is on
Monday, I will be giving out Kendall's loot bags then. Yours falls on a Sunday this year, so I had to do your
birthday party today.

While we were waiting for daddy and Kendall, you enjoyed eating your popcorn.

Welcome home Kendall!

She had show and share day at daycare where she had to bring in a teddy bear so she brought Muk Muk,
one of her large entourage of stuffed animals that she carries around these days.

My cutie patootie.

Watching Aidan eat his popcorn.
"When can I have some???" —Kendall

I end this post off with a cute video I took of Kendall today. She is constantly saying no these days. 

But it's not just a short "no!" It's a long "Nnnnnnnnnnno!"