So, Ryland has been pretty fussy for the last few days. I've been assuming it's because he is fighting off this horrid cold/flu thing that is consuming our lives. But this morning I had a peek into his mouth, and there is the beginnings of a molar popping through. Huh?!!! The poor guy is not even one yet and he's already working on those - ouch.

Getting ready for the Turks!

getting ready for the Turks!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Tiegan has been spending hours in the bath these days, diving underwater and imagining all the things she can see in the ocean. Hopefully this means she'll be more than ready for some snorkelling in the Turks!

We're still battling the nasty bugs here in the McKay household - as usual, Jamie seems to have gotten the worst of it and he spent much of today sleeping and drinking hot fluids, steaming in the shower and putting up with my lovely herbal concoctions! Apparently many many people in Vancouver are fighting the same battle, so we're not worried, it's just hard to feel like crap! But it's a great excuse to slow down our pace of life, read more, watch more videos, and have more hot baths...........and read up on guidebooks to the more tropical countries:-)

happy girl!

happy girl!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Today Tiegan is feeling MUCH better than she has over the past few days.....and since Jamie was up puking his guts out lastnight, and Kea today, I decided to take Tiegan and Ryland on a special date. We went to Kids Books to pick up some new reading material, went to Solly's to eat lunch and read some of our new books, and then we went to Tiegan's favourite place, the pink and sugary Cupcakes store! Enough to put huge smiles on her face!

I have to say, in some ways, this never being the one to get sick in the family kind of sucks. I always look forward to Fridays as then we enter a weekend of duo parenting, but this weekend, I'm doing loads of laundry galore, trying to take care of three whiny, clingy kids on my own and occasionally bringing Jamie a glass of water or asking if he's okay as he crawls out of the bathroom. Blah.

Tiegan hurt her wrist at the ball, and now refuses to use it OR let us even look at it.

Kea, usually our most easy-going child is very very very cranky today.

It turns out that Ryland can now reach the top of our dining room table, as witnessed by the smoothie now pouring all over everything.

I'm REALLY feeling the need for a holiday in the warm sun right about now.

Thank goodness for family in the Carribean:-) Counting down the sleeps until March when we're donning our snorkel gear and heading south. I tell you, the mere thought of it is getting me through the day today!

Harry Potter Ball

getting ready for the ball
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Well, I'd have to say, the Harry Potter ball was a smashing success. The kids had an absolute blast, and most of them woke up this morning asking us all when we were going to organize another one.....perhaps in another year or so! Phew, I'm exhausted - but I have to agree, it was a lot of fun! We had divination, quidditch practice, wand making and magic tricks. We had an incredible juice fountain, some elaborate wand practices and of course lots of dancing! There were 30 plus families there, most in costume and raring to dance. We started everyone off learning "The Time Warp", and now the kids want to do it again and again! A family tradition of sorts!

There's a few photos on our flickr account - we tried to take a bunch before it really started, but then all the lights were turned down and candles used - ambience and all that. Making the evening special but hard to photograph!!!! Anyways, enjoy......

I went to a great talk tonight by Gabor Mate. I love the book "Hold on to Your Kids", and was really interested in a couple of his other books. Tonight the talk was all about Conscious Parenting, and gave me a lot of food for thought. And reminded me once more to just enjoy the moment and not stress too much about the future. Hard to remember in the chaos of daily parenting, but so important as I can feel these years just slipping by!

Then I came home to discover that Tiegan has just thrown up numerous times all over herself and her bed. Fun. Looks like we're in for a long night. Now we're just REALLY crossing our fingers that we're either over it before the big ball on Thurs night, OR that Kea at the very least holds off on getting it until after the ball! Because that would REALLY suck if she has to miss the Harry Potter ball that she has been dreaming about and planning for at least a year! Cross your fingers for her!

Serious
Originally uploaded by pettipasnolan

Okay, you HAVE to check out just how fricken adorable our nephew Cameron is - don't you just want to eat him up?!! He's growing so quickly, already 6 months and sitting and eating and interacting with the world - we need to live a lot closer to this guy!

We're here, we're well, just not blogging a lot. Actually, I haven't really been on the computer much at all. Jamie has been in Toronto for work, the kids and I have been hanging out and enjoying a slower pace of life, and a lot of my free time has been spent organizing another ball at the Heritage Hall. If you're in town, come join us!

Playing Shadows in the Forest

Playing Shadows in the Forest
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

I know it's a blurry photo, but it was taken by the light of one tea-light, so what can I say?! Anyways, this is our new favourite game these days, even replacing Harry Potter Diagon Alley game. One person pushes a candle along, while all the other players hide gnomes behind trees and try not to get caught in the rays of light - very fun!

LIfe here is good. We're really actively trying to settle into a routine that works for everyone. Lots more boardgames in the evenings, reading books, and group clean-up sessions. Jamie is trying to figure out how to work less and be home more. And I have found childcare for days during the week which is HUGE for me!!!!! I can't believe it has taken me this long, but wow am I ever a patient mom when I get time on my own!!!!!!!! And the kids have a blast enjoying things like open gyms that I tend to avoid like the plague - win win all around!!!!

I've been playing around with a friends' lense as we try to figure out what we want to get - I've uploaded a bunch of photos on flickr. Since this is a portrait lense, you won't be surprised to see a bunch of portrait-style photos of the kids!!!!!

View from our bedroom today

View from our bedroom today
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Need I say more.....except, why in the world were we enjoying the view from our window (in fact, putting away laundry nonetheless!) instead of out there on our skis?!!!!

Living in the lap of luxury!

Jamie has an all-day meeting in Victoria tomorrow, starting at 7am so they paid for him to spend a night in a hotel instead of risking him arriving late. We decided to join him, and make it a fun adventure. Bring on the television, the room-service breakfast, the swimming pool - I could handle living like this all the time!!!! On someone else's bill, that is!

Hope you're all having a good night, I'm off to eat my mini chocolates and choose which one of 4 pillows I'd like to rest my head on!

Today started out to be such a crappy day - the kids were bickering and crying, Ryland was unsettled and I had this fleeting thought of "I should just stay in bed today." And it really continued all morning, my baking didn't work out, I couldn't get half of what I wanted done, Jamie and I were snapping at each other - and then we went for a walk to get a few groceries and wouldn't you know it, we were locked out of the house. UGH!

Of course, last time Jamie had locked himself out, he was able to jimmy the basement lock with a credit card. That was far too easy to get into the house, though, so he fixed that as soon as he got in. So this time he prowled around the house, and realized that he could get into the back patio doors. So after five minutes, when I was just beginning to contemplate which window to break, and Tiegan was sobbing because we were stuck outside forever and ever, Jamie came down and opened the door from the inside. "It was easy, I just realized that the lower lip wasn't on, so I took a board and a nail and shoved hard on the upper lip, and OF COURSE knew if I pulled it this way and that way then the lock would come open." Uh huh, of course. So, what is your day job REALLY??!!!

And aside from his Macguiver-like god status, he achieved sainthood by keeping his mouth remarkably shut when we found the keys we'd long ago hidden outside in MY jacket pocket after my outing the night before. Which is far more than I would have been able to do if the situation was reversed - especially after our 'lovely' morning!

Now, to go stash a few more sets of keys throughout our neighbourhood since Jamie has fixed up our patio doors to make them less easy to break into!!!!

sooooooo exciting!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Check it out.......Ryland's taking his first steps! He's definitely been practicing standing for a little while now, and more lately standing for a longer period of time and clapping his hands in excitement! Tonight he started taking steps towards Jamie - not quite two in a row, but very close!!!

Perhaps he'll really start walking when Aunty Clare and Uncle Alex are here tomorrow. They waited in the ferry line-up for a couple of hours tonight trying to catch the 9:00 ferry - only to be turned away because the winds are too high. How frustrating is that? But I'm cooking up a huge feast for tomorrow night, so hopefully it'll be well worth their effort in getting here!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone!

my workout up the hills!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Wow, and there went another year. They're just whipping by these days!!!

We spent yesterday up in the mountains, cross-country skiing and then our good friends Steph, Ollie and Emma (The Sangha's) came over for burgers, fries and video games! A good wholesome evening all around :-) My kids were absolutely thrilled at the chance to spend hours playing all games electronic, Ollie was shocked to see how good Tiegan was at Lego Star Wars, it was hard to take Jamie away from Hockey Night in Canada, and ultimately us adults enjoyed hours of uninterrupted time to play cards and drink lots of wine! It was a fun evening - and reiterated to us once more why we don't want to buy these games ourselves. But are glad to have some access to them!!!

Today is a day of hanging out, resting up and cleaning the house. Tomorrow Jamie goes back to work :-(

Our new years resolution this year is to quit work, sell it all and hit the road. We'll see if we can pull it off!!!!!!