siblings

siblings
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Okay, and one more photo before I sign off for the night.....it's pretty rare to get a photo of all three of them, and when we do I'm constantly amazed by just how different they all are! It's so crazy to me to see the different combinations that Jamie and I create - almost makes you want to keep on having them just to see what else we'll come up with!!!! ALMOST. For now we're just really enjoying these three beauties :-)

clapping

clapping
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Check it out! Rye's a clapping machine these days - he has this one huge dimple on his left cheek that appears every time he flashes us a huge smile (very often!) and now he often adds clapping to it - what a character!

Happy Birthday Tiegan!

big four year old
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

So, here's an overly posed photo of our big four year old on the day of her birthday. We had a very full day on the 13th, and ended it with cake on the beach, watching the gorgeous sunset - a beautiful way to end the day, but unfortunately leaving the birthday girl far too tired!

I can't believe the changes in Tiegan already now that she's four. She's so much calmer and more enjoyable to parent. She doesn't freak out as much, lash out at her sister in frustration (as much!) or seem as irrational as she did at times during her third year. She is such a strong personality, which is fabulous and will take her far - I'm just thrilled to see that she's learning how to channel it healthily as she grows!

She really thrived during our time on Hornby - it was the ideal holiday for her, with lots of free time and free space. We would arrive at the beach for the day, and she would just take off and run and run and run, then plop herself down in a tidepool of warm ocean water and play independently for hours. You could tell she was so happy and contented, and I dreamed of a life where we could provide her with this outdoor space every day. That, and two parents at home together to meet everyone's needs, and nice, relaxed and happy themselves!

Anyways, I'm looking forward to year four with Tiegan. She brings such joy to our family, a love for all things sweet, an eager helping hand with whatever project we're tackling and challenges us to constantly grow as parents and as people. xoxoxoxo

Ryland - 6 months
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Just a recent photo of Ryland - I'm in the very slow process of uploading a bunch of our photos from the past month or so but it will probably take me a couple of days. But here's one to tide you over!!!

Life feels crazy busy these days after our idyllic 10 days relaxing on Hornby Island.....Tiegan had her first day of preschool today, Kea started up science classes and art classes, the girls have already had a couple of playdates with friends and Ryland is super active day and night right now, as he begins to crawl AND works on 4 new teeth! All super exciting, but also turning out to be exhausting. Thank goodness Jamie still has two more weeks of his paternity to help us all settle into our fall routine! Oct. 1st is going to be such a SHOCK for me!

helllooooooooooooooooo!

Just a quick note to say we're still here, still doing well, just spending lots of time traveling and not a lot of time blogging! However, we will be home soon and will have lots of photos to share of our adventures!

Right now we're on Hornby Island where the sun doesn't seem to stop shining and one can almost get sick of going to gorgeous beaches every day and swimming in the clear ocean waters :-) Ryland is currently working on three more teeth (he only teeths in threes, it seems - forget just doing one at a time!), Kea is becoming a pro-swimmer and beats us all at card games every day, and Tiegan is turning FOUR tomorrow! I can hardly believe it, she is growing up so much these days.

We have gotten into a great routine now that Jamie is off on paternity leave, and we're going to be in for a shock when he has to return to work on the 1st of October - but we have a couple more weeks until we have to think about that!

Hope everyone else is doing well....thanks for the birthday wishes, Ann - and for the teddy bears from Nova Scotia, the kids love playing with them! Maybe one day we'll make our way to the East Coast to visit with you.