Fall pics

Aunt Danielle found this crazy hat at Ikea, and Peter was okay with
wearing it until he saw it off his head... those horns are a little freaky!
Two soothies should help overcome the fear, though

Look who's sitting up all by himself! (still with pillow insurance though!)

So, sometimes Peter gets jealous of Aaron's toys - the exersaucer,
the jolly jumper, the pack-and-play, the Bumbo, and the carseat -
strangely enough, all items in which he is physically contained.
Maybe nice for Mom but it's a little odd that he enjoys them so muchEnjoying a beautiful fall day playing in a pile of leaves"Hey Aaron, did you know you look silly with a leaf on your head?"

Mid-October

Halfway into October, and time certainly is not moving any slower. We are in the middle of sharing the flu with everyone here at home - last week Mike was home sick for a day, and soon enough everybody got sick. No fun, especially for the little guys, since this seems to be a lingering flu. We're past the fevers now (we hope) but the loss of appetites, sore throats, coughs, and runny noses continue. Joy oh joy, winter is on its way! (Blah)
Aaron is now 6 MONTHS, how did that happen? Half a year has flown by, and he's now sitting up on his own (a little tippy still but he can sit for quite a while if he feels like it). When he's healthy, he's got a fantastic laugh that melts your heart, and he's such a happy kid - even now after a coughing fit, where I can tell his throat is so sore, sometimes he'll look up at me and give me a half-hearted little smile. What a little trooper!
Peter is one month shy of 2 YEARS - woah. He's learning so much, so fast, and it is quite exciting for us all. His mind is a little sponge (oh, a sponge with a mind of its own sometimes) and he catches us by surprise all the time by what he knows. He knows how to count 1-10, and a few random numbers higher than that, except he almost always skips '6'. Our mealtime prayers for a few days were: "Lord, thank-you four 5 6 7 8 9 10 this food and drink four 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jesus' sake Amen". It's kind of hard to keep the smile off your face...
I've got a few new pictures to share. I've been shrinking the photos before uploading them to shorten the time it takes, so if you would like a good-quality picture please let me know and I can email it to you. Enjoy!

Always on the hunt to find a good picture of the two boys together...Peter looking like a bit of a goofAaah, love this smileJust chillin' in my rocking chair, MomTwo boys looking spiffy for churchHugs outside on a fall dayHanging out with MomOne of my new favourite pictures :)And another favourite, a boy and his truckPeter's current favourite book is Curious George

We have had an abundant harvest out of our little garden, and

with limited freezer space, I tried out canning this year. A few
batches of salsa, some crushed tomatoes, blueberry pie filling,
lots of peaches, and some peach jam. I'm sure we'll enjoy
these in the coming months! Looks like another batch of salsa is on the schedule...homegrown
tomatoes, onions, green peppers and jalapenos, and garlic cloves from
the neighbour next door. The only thing I didn't grow was the vinegar :)

Peter loves to "help" me pick the vegetables, especially the cherry
tomatoes. I usually end up with a good number of small, green tomatoes
and little marigold buds in my basket. No worries, there are lots to spare
It's so nice having a park so close! We've enjoyed it a lot this summer.
This is Aaron's first time in the swing, and he really liked it
Peter enjoying the swing (as long as Aaron was also swinging beside him!)
Glee!!!It takes a few more than one picture to get a good shot of a child in a moving swingHaving fun with Mommy at the park

Bathroom Renovations

After a few weeks of long days, lots of work, lots of mess and lots of cleaning, our bathroom is finally back on-line and functioning. As I mentioned before, there was no ventilation fan in there when we moved in, and although we had installed one, there was still water damage and mould issues in there which needed to be addressed. We took some pictures along the way, and I kick myself for not taking better "before" pictures, but these will have to do...

This is the bathroom as it was when we first saw the house, a few
days before we bought it. Cozy enough I guess, but it was missing
a fan, was much lacking in storage, had some nasty paint finishes,
was hiding some water damage, and had stick-on vinyl tiles that
were shifting and not looking all that great. This is move-in day, with Lauren adding in some of our bathroom
stuff to make it feel more like home. We left that wicker unit in
there for convenient storage but never really liked it. We did
replace that toilet seat, but never did any painting in there until now.
And the tearing out begins! We did this for a few days before moving to my parents... it's not exactly the most convenient thing having one bathroom and renovating it. We were very thankful to be able to stay with my Mom and Dad! My Dad also trucked back and forth to St. Catharines with Mike helping him with all the work, which was greatly appreciated.
Our home was built in 1934, and you can tell the house is old by the way it was constructed. No drywall here! It was all plaster, with mortar and lathing behind. If you look carefully at the mortar you can see horse hair in it to keep it together. And of course, no insulation anywhere.
We discovered this lovely paint colour behind the shelving unit by the tub. Sick! Probably also lead paint, so it was high time that the kids and I got out of there, and we purchased some good dust masks and filters. I think it was first painted this colour, then pink (which the bathtub also was painted at some point), then blue (which the front, visible part of the bathtub was painted) with sponge paint and very thick wallpaper. The windows were all replaced before we bought the house, but we
found four of these old window weights in the wall beside the new window.There are only two closets in our house, one in the laundry/entrance room and the other in Peter and Aaron's bedroom. Both of these jut into the bathroom... and don't go all the way to the ceiling, leaving some empty, unused space. Space = storage! We claimed these spaces for the bathroom, and it will be nice to have some extra storage in there, albeit a little inconvenient. I'll have to find a step stool. Down to the bare bones! The walls are down to the studs, the floor
tiles are off, and we're ready for the expensive stage of rebuilding. Ex-bathroom material makes a big pile of garbage outsideNew insulation was installed on the exterior wall of the bathroomMildew-resistant drywall goes up, a lovely shade of blue. Dave came to help out Mike with the work and helped
install the wainscoting and a few other thingsWainscoting installed and walls almost done mudding
Oh, my house was such a disaster! Dust on every possible
surface throughout the whole place... it took a lot of
cleaning to get it back to live-able
Dad Vander Deen came to help Mike cut and install the porcelain tiles
I came the next day to help grout the tiles and paint the bathtub
and trim. It's a little nerve-wracking to watch the grout
drying on the tile surface while it sets but we didn't have a
problem getting it off againNewly tiled and grouted floor, all cleaned up.
We are so happy with how it turned out!
The bottom of the tub, which probably won't be seen again for
a very long time. It was made in Toronto on June 10, 1930
and weighs an awful lot. It waited in the kitchen during the
renovations and got a new coat of paint.Bathroom walls and ceiling painted, a fresh cool blue colour on the walls
Oops! Mike, you forgot to put the shower curtain back up...and
do you always shower with your clothes on? There were very
few complications putting the fixtures back in, for which we were
thankful. Mike's a pretty good impromptu plumber!
Bathroom just about finished!
Medicine cabinet and shelf underneath is installed... this is how
it is now. The over-cupboard storage still needs to be finished off,
and a cabinet needs to be built for behind the tub. New medicine cabinet and sink area