Friday night - folk fest

Friday was our chance to be at the festival together for the full day/night before Dave leaves on the train
It took us a while to get out the door but we made it and we had a great time. spent most of the afternoon next to the kid's tent, enjoying the performers and watching the bigger kids play. we had a nice snack of watermelon and berries










on to the next tent where we ran into Mike and Kiri et al. Finn and his friends kicking a soccer ball next to large group of older kids playing a game of soccer. ambrose got his soccer ball and kicked it around a bit. we caught up with renee and a very pregnant meaghan (and friends) for a bit










we then set up for main stage with collin, natasha and luna. Sheryl, Derek, Eva and Mia found us and we had a great night. kd lang was my favourite of the evening
Sadly, my birks went missing. we are not sure how... I am hoping they will turn up :(

Thursday night - Winnipeg Folk Festival

 Ambrose's second Folk Festival. Thursday night. Met up with Renee, Dan and Andrew. Then Collin, Natasha and Luna.
Beautiful night. Looking forward to beautiful day and evening today, Friday.

Canada Day - Osborne street festival

Nana and papa streit's Canada day hat for Ambrose was a wee bit too small for this  baby's head

Canada day, street festival, hot summer weather. We spent the long weekend close to home.

Lots of walks and visits. And we battled our house, which right now is kicking our butts; the inside and the outside are conspiring to drive us crazy. The work is never-ending! It truly is a love-hate relationship.


Skateboards and skateboarders: Ambrose was mesmerized by boarders in front of Sheryl's house in Toronto, standing still, mouth agape. Back at home, Dave's work colleague popped by with a couple of friends in tow - all three on boards. They were rockin the heat and the festival with their shirts off. Ambrose joined in on the fun. Next night, lovely evening spent at Christy, Karel and Samuel's home. Karel gave Ambrose one of his old skateboards. Click here for more pics

Toronto visit

Ambrose and I headed to Toronto on June 17 and arrived home on the 22. Dave got off the train as we were leaving. It was a long 6 days for Dave to be away from us. I kindly left him a to do list entitled "David's home alone to do list" but he explained later he was too distraught to complete much of the tasks beyond yard work (which has now been made easier by our recent acquisition of second hand electric mower and weed whacker (whipper snipper?)

The Toronto visit was fantastic as I got to visit with my girlies. Tamara is in from St Maarten and got to see her everyday. We stayed with Sheryl and family and I got to finally meet Mia, their 5 month old. It was great to catch up. I was in Toronto to also attend a conference for work. Miss T generously booked time off work to care for Ambrose while I took in the sessions! My boss Lynn was excited to spend time with Mr A so we took him to the conference banquet!




On a much sober note, the weekend I was there was to be Alicia and Emad's wedding. Unfortunately, Alicia found out that she has breast cancer 6 months before her wedding date (she has jokingly stated that she plans to start buying lottery tickets as the odds of that happening are pretty slim).  She has already gone for surgery and will be starting chemo on July 11. She is such a strong woman and I admire her ability to keep her sense of humour through this ordeal. She has such a positive outlook and knows she will kick cancer's ass. Thankfully,  it was detected early and things looks very good for a full recovery.

long overdue post

Dave tells me we have received from complaints from our loyal blog readers.
It is true, since returning to work I have not been successful at adding "updating blog" to the top of the priority list. Perhaps I will try to go back and fill in the gaps since March...but please do not hold your breath.
So what is Ambrose up to? Well, he's busy...walking, running, climbing, exploring, playing, eating, sleeping, vocalizing and trying to say words....
He loves to eat, fruits are still his favourites (oranges, grapes, grapefruit, berries, bananas, apples...) but he also loves carrots, broccoli, cheese, toast and peanut butter, bread, hummus (by the spoonful), pasta, whole wheat fish crackers, cheerios, homemade baked goods (banana bread, muffins)
He eats what we eat.
He likes to blow on his food (he saw Dave do this once and incorporated this into this eating routine for a period of time)
He can feed himself with a spoon
he is aware that when one eats french fries one ought to dip them into ketchup

he has not progressed much with signing (more of a reflection of us than him) signs that are used often are: more, water, all done, puppy
he clearly communicates his likes (vocalizes a hmmm sound and points) and dislikes (will shake head and say what sounds like "no" and will give a big grin if you finally "get it"(it being whatever he wanted or wanted you to do)
Words: uh oh (and he uses this appropriately) and hi! of course kitties are greeted with meows and puppies with panting

He loves to be outside. He is able to find his shoes and bring them when asked (he is really good at following simple demands). He helps to get himself dressed (lifts leg to get in or out of pants or put on shoes, pushes arm through sleeves). He loves to pick up sticks or other similarly shaped items and will locate places to stick them (similar to the video of him removing and replacing the pin from the door hinge.
He has a wonderful sense of humour and it is hilarious to watch him play. He has certain funny ideas where to move certain items around the house. Unfortunately, he thinks it is neat to throw things into the furnace grate.

He loves spending time at my sisters and has no problems with me leaving. This makes me very happy and relieved; I can tell that he enjoys his time there.

ok, all for now. I will add another post and some picture galleries soon

Black Sheep kisses

Mom called the other night and said that she needed more.

this should do for a bit.

luna steals show

her mom is a dancer. so this is just the beginning. in the background you can hear parents.