First day of autumn!

fall tights!
Originally uploaded by the four mckays.

It's that time of year again - time to pull out the fall tights!!! We celebrated the 22nd of September by having a picnic lunch in Van Dusen Gardens with our friends Tash, Zach and Kieran, and then running around enjoying all the different flowers. I had images of collecting items for our nature table, to celebrate the changing season, but in reality it's not really fall yet here in Vancouver - the sun continues to shine, and barely a coloured leaf is to be found. Oh well, no complaints, we'll just truly celebrate fall in October!

I keep meaning to blog, but somehow the days fly by and I realize that it's been well over a week. Life has been good, just busy busy busy. Tiegan is loving preschool, and Kea and I are really enjoying the time alone together to read books together, learn how to knit and look up various questions on-line like "what eat octopuses?", "what are sea shells made from?" and "why is it so much harder to ride our bikes up a hill than down a hill?" Her brain is always going!!!

This morning I"m tackling the art room and getting rid of stuff (like all the loose glitter and markers that Tiegan goes CRAZY with), organizing it all and setting it up so they can just go out there and create art without creating a massive mess! And then we're off to a playgroup with friends in yet another day of gorgeous sunshine - and I'll try really hard to keep up some more with this blog! Hope you all have a great day!

ultrasound - 18 weeks

ultrasound - 18 weeks
Originally uploaded by the four mckays.

Okay, so we've finally added the photo we got from our ultrasound so I thought I'd share it with y'all - here's our newest little bean! As always, looking fairly alien-like when face on and a very active little bean with the cutest little feet! Once again we did not find the gender (though we were definitely more tempted this time for whatever reason!) but somehow the idea of a boy keeps coming up. We'll see!!!!

Tiegan's third birthday party!

Just wanted to write a quick post to add photos of Tiegan's third birthday party - we had a great time at the pool, and it was all about pirates for our "big boy" as she is constantly calling herself!!!!!! What a nutball!

Sept. 14, 2006

Sept. 14, 2006
Originally uploaded by the four mckays.

Finally getting around to posting this month's photo - I really feel like my belly has popped out these days, and I really have to wear loose pants, but I still constantly get comments about not looking pregnant! There's a baby in there, though, that's for sure - I feel movement all the time these days!!!!

Soon to come, photos from the ultrasound - we had it first thing this morning, and the technician says it all looks at it should, and my due date of Valentine's Day looks accurate! We got a great profile shot, but of course Jamie has to scan it in at work....Monday, I promise!

very first day of preschool

very first day of preschool
Originally uploaded by the four mckays.

So, yesterday was a big day for Tiegan - first of all, she turned three which seems so old to me! She woke up and helped her dad make her birthday pancakes, and then excitedly tore into her gifts. Kea was trying to teach her all she's learned about ettiquette, like 'read the card first' and 'say thank you' and 'don't rush it'! But Tiegs was having none of that, just like any other self-respecting three year old!

Then we all drove up to St. Giles for her very first day of preschool! She was so excited, packing up a little backpack and picking a special outfit. Of course, during the hour that she was there, she didn't talk to one other child and barely looked at Joan - pretty much clung to me the whole time. But she insists that she loved it - she liked playing with playdough, she liked painting, and she loves her teachers! We'll see how the rest of the week goes!

And then our good friend Steph made us a most delicious meal for Tiegan's birthday dinner, and made her cake with candles and everything - this was probably the best gift ever on such a busy day!!!!!!

The beginning of fall -

Today was a day of sorting through clothes, giving away ones that are too small and putting away many of the summer clothes that we won't be needing for half a year or so. Although it's not officially fall yet, there's definitely a shift in the temperatures and we're all leaning more towards long pants and long sleeved shirts. I'm kind of excited, as autumn is definitely one of my favourite seasons, and I'm feeling ready for a change from the chaos of summer!!!

In sorting out Kea's clothes, I also finally retired my most favourite of her pyjamas which also happened to be her LEAST favourite. They were thick and fuzzy, and best of all they had feet on the pants which kept her nice and warm when she (as always) kicked her blankets off in the middle of the night. However, when we were camping on Salt Spring Island, I overheard a conversation between Kea and Jasmine, lamenting the fact that mom had made her wear "these stupid pyjamas" that night. Jasmine responded with "oh, I know, I had a pair with feet once and they were the WORST" to which Kea added "and it's so dumb, you just keep sliding around the house when you try to walk in them" and Jasmine said "oh, and they just make you sweat all night" and Kea, "they make me feel like such a baby!" Fine fine - you don't have to wear them anymore!!!!! I guess I don't always know what's best, and just have to accept that my baby is growing up :-)

Speaking of babies growing up, Tiegan turns 3 tomorrow - I really can't believe it! And to celebrate, Jamie's taking the morning off work to make pancakes, open presents in bed and then we're all going with her for her very first day of preschool, sniff sniff (in a very happy sort of sad way!) Hard to believe that I was just feeling the early tinges of labour this time 3 years ago.....

A much needed weekend!

I learned two things on Friday. One was that if you pull up the hind legs of a dog, they release their jaws locked onto another dogs' neck. This I learned far too close for my comfort to a large group of kids celebrating our annual "not-back-to-school picnic" at Jericho Beach.....stupid pitbull owners with a new dog, choosing not to put the dog on a leash. Ugh. The second thing was that when my younger child, for no apparent reason except pure boredom, decides to bite her older sister in the back so hard that she breaks through the skin and then proceeds to laugh at the horrendous noise older sister is making, I do not react very well. At all. Double ugh. TGIF.

And it's been a great weekend, full of Jamie focusing a lot of attention on the kids, puttering around in the yard, and me getting some much-needed alone time! Kea and I spent a very lovely afternoon today, me sorting through photos (awwww, look how sweet they both were as babies!) and Kea practicing her sewing - she makes lines back and forth in hard paper, and has today mastered threading her own needle! Yay! Tonight, we're putting the girls to bed early, watching a movie and hopefully starting a much better week on Monday!

Kea's riding a two-wheeler!

Kea on a two-wheeler
Originally uploaded by the four mckays.

That's definitely the big news around here, so exciting! At the beginning of the summer we talked lots about how we were going to take her to the park and practice lots, yet by the end of the summer we realized that we hadn't gone once! So we decided to live up to our full yuppiness and enroll her in a week-long, urban kids learn how to ride a bike, thank you for all your money type camp. (Pedalheads) And you know what, it was freakin brilliant! I dropped Kea off and the first thing they did was take off her training wheels. By the end of that 2 1/2 hours she was officially riding a bike on her own. Then by the end of the week, she was starting on her own, riding distances and learning about braking! And then this weekend we went to Salt Spring Island with friends and decided to bring the bikes along, and it was so amazing to see how confident they got on riding tough terrain and by the end even riding over large-ish rocks! That's my girl!!!

As usual, if you click on the photo you can see a series of more photos, both of Kea riding her bike and then of Tiegan in all her cutenss!

We also had our second midwife appointment today, which was quite exciting! It's official - we finally heard a heartbeat and there's really a little baby growing in there! Kind of crazy :-) We're at 16 weeks and 6 days now, which means that in 23 more weeks we'll have a new little baby around - CRAZY!!!

It's bedtime in the McKay household, so gotta run - hope everyone is doing well and feel free to drop us a line!!!!!! xo