And this is just one more reason that I LOVE our neighbourhood.

Daphne is an elderly neighbour who lives a few doors down from us. She has lived in her house a long time - she moved in when she first got married, she raised her children there, her grandchildren visited her there as they grew up and now her 5 great-grandchildren can be seen running around in her yard on a warm summery afternoon. She volunteers at the local health clinic during the infant drop-ins, and helped weigh both Tiegan and Ryland during the weekly meetings. She stops to chat with all of us as she walks to the store every day, and is always excited to keep up with what the kids are doing.

Yesterday was Daphne's birthday, and she turned 90. So all of the neighbours gathered together, made homemade cards and lit sparklers and stood on her front lawn to sing "Happy Birthday" and "For She's a Jolly Good Woman". Cheezy, I know - but it also felt so good, and well, neighbourly! And it brought tears to Daphne's eyes to see such a huge crowd of people celebrating her birthday. It really meant a lot to her on such a special day, and it definitely makes me feel better about living in such a community!

Ahhhhhhhhhh, life is good once more. Jamie arrived home safe and sound last night, and tonight I'm sipping some red wine, catching up on some emails and not worrying about putting my children to bed at all!!!!

We survived the last couple of days with no more head or other bodily injuries. I felt pretty insane waking them all up at 5am to catch a 5 hour bus to Princeton, but it was actually a great trip and really wonderful to see all the family again. I can't say that I'm raring to do the trip alone again, but it wasn't as bad as I had feared.

The sun is shining here in Vancouver, and I'm hoping it stays that way for at least a few more days so we can enjoy the beginning of this winter weather. One of these days I'll start taking photos again so I can post them - perhaps a trip up to the outdoor skating rink on Grouse Mountain will inspire that?!!!!!

I was trying to make dinner tonight, and the girls had all of their dolls lined up in a corner and were intensely playing a game. I told them that they had to take their game to a different room, and I got an exaggerated sigh and "but moooooooooooom, we were here first" in response. Uh, okay then, did you WANT dinner? To which Kea informed me that we should have known that this would be a problem when we decided to put put a blue floor in the kitchen and nowhere else, because what else could be their swimming pool or their skating rink?

As I was halfway through making dinner for a bunch of very hungry and cranky kids, I turned my back on Ryland who was sitting in his highchair fussing to get out, telling him I would only be a couple of more minutes. The next thing I know, Tiegan has proudly announced, "Look at what I did mom!" and I turn around in time to see that she has managed to undo the tray and has placed it on the floor, where Ryland is falling face first onto it. Ouch. I haven't felt that scared in a while - though luckily Ryland just has a bruise on his forehead to show for it and calmed down fairly quickly.

Jamie is out of town for a few days, this time in Toronto for meetings, and I have to say, I HATE evenings when I'm solo parenting all three of them. Luckily this is the last time for a while!!!

And tomorrow has to go better, no?!!!

We're still muddling our way through this brutal cold that the kids STILL seem to be hanging on to. The fevers and really bad congestion seem to be gone, but the energy levels are still low and the hacking cough attacks are still here. Ugh!

However, life goes on, and aside from more regular meltdowns by all, we're enjoying some none-rainy weather and fun playdates with friends. We've also discovered the joys of birding recently - we have a birdfeeder on our front window, Tiegan made a hanging one out of a milk jug this weekend and today we went to buy a hummingbird feeder as per Kea's request. We've checked out every book on birds that we can find in the library, and I spend my days reading fascinating facts about wing colours, downy feathers, migration patterns and favourite nesting spots. I wonder if I can sway their fascination into somehing *I'd* like to read more about?!!!

Tonight, as Kea was practicing violin (we've moved beyond Twinkle Twinkle and into Doe, A Deer!) Tiegan wanted to try her hand at it. She moved the bow along a few strings, put the violin down and announced, "Okay, now I've played violin. I don't need lessons for that" and walked off. Wow, raising this kid is going to be super cheap at this rate!!!

kitchen sink

kitchen sink
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Cameron

Cameron
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Cameron is SUCH a sweetheart! We've been having a blast getting to know him more over this past week, and we're going to be very sad to be saying goodbye to him and Meg tomorrow morning:-( I've uploaded a few more photos to our flickr account of this little cutie!!!!

Jamie is gone for 5 days to Greenbuild in Chicago. Can I just say, I REALLY do not enjoy single parenting 3 young ones. ESPECIALLY when Tiegan is feeling really run down and sick with a cold. The absolute worst is bedtime, what a circus that is! However, today I managed to have a shower so I'm feeling pretty on top of things - I set Kea up with her violin practice in the shower, sat Ryland down with dried pears to snack on and brought Tiegan in the shower for a steam for her lungs. And then speedily got myself clean enough!!!!! Oy.

Aunty Meg and Cameron arrive tomorrow and we're REALLY looking forward to seeing them again! And NOT just to have an extra adult around to help!!!!!!;) I'm sure we'll have a photo or two to share of our adorable little nephew/cousin - I'm sure he's changed a tonne since I last saw him.....at a few days old!

Ryland is napping and the girls are plugged into a video (the true key to my survival this week!) so I'm going to catch up on a couple of things before heading out to a friend's house for dinner. We've cleaned the bed off for Meg, and cleared a path to it, so we're now all set for Meg's arrival!!!!!!

Mr. Bones the Engineer

Mr. Bones the Engineer
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Oh, and here's a photo of Kea's drawing that Jamie took before he brought the picture to work to hang it up!!!!!

owly Ryland (with tree Dad behind)

owly Ryland (with tree Dad behind)
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

So, happy belated Halloween to everyone - hope you had a grande time! Here's a shot of Ryland on his very first halloween....he's meant to be an owl, but he refused to wear his eye mask AND refused to let me face paint him.....but he made a cute little bird nonetheless!!!!

We partied, trick-or-treated, watched fireworks and binged on candy, it was all good!!!!

And now we're suffering from sugar highs and needing to clean our house a bit before Aunty Meg comes to visit!!!!! Shhhhhhhhh, perhaps she'll think we always live with a clean, organized house?!!!!

bat sisters

bat sisters 2
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

vampire bat Kea

vampire bat Kea
Originally uploaded by the five mckays