OVERHEARD...

I happened upon a hilarious conversation between Kieran and Quinn this morning.  The two of them were sitting at the table eating brunch together.  I was upstairs gathering this that and the other thing and as I came downstairs I overheard Kieran say to Quinn, "who do you think is smarter, mummy or daddy?"  Quinn quickly answered, "daddy".  Kieran's response to him was "I'd think harder about that if I were you.  I think mummy is smarter, after all, she's a teacher and daddy just tells people what to do in the school."  Quite a funny exchange to hear between a 7 & 8 year old.

HOW TO REALLY LOVE A CHILD

I saw this today and love the sentiment.  If you boys ever have kids of your own or enjoy spending time with others little ones, I encourage you to treat them with love, affection, silliness, laughter and joy. You are and always will be my greatest gift and joy in life.  Thank you for loving me as you do, you are both miraculous to me.  xo mum.

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13...

For the August long weekend Kelly and Darin hosted their wonderful friends Nancy and Dennis.  Nancy and Dennis are parents to four children.  With Kel and Darin's four kids, our two kids and Nancy and Dennis' four kiddos the adults were desperately out numbered on the island.  In total, we had 10 kids ages 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 years of age.  It was a fantastically fun weekend!

Lined up in order of their ages

Find a partner!

FOR THE LOVE OF FROGS

Kieran LOVES to catch frogs!  Scratch that, Kieran loves to catch frogs, snakes, chipmunks, pigeons whatever little animal he can chase down and pick up, he's in!  This little frog spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around with Mr. K.  Pure happiness!

GO JUMP IN THE LAKE!

The answer to almost every single question when we are at the cottage...

And more often than not, they do!

Nora, Kaitlyn and Kieran taking us up on our answer!

UNCLE CONNOR

Uncle Connor is one of the kindest, gentlest, softest, funniest, most adventuresome, tallest guys we know.  He isn't loud and he isn't all that talkative but there is something incredibly endearing about him that both children and adults appreciate and love.  He spent more time bouncing on the tramp with the kids, playing on the slack line that he set up, carrying little people around and allowing them to climb on him like a jungle gym than he did doing anything else.  Connor, I hope you know how much you are loved, admired and appreciated - life is just a little bit better with you around.

* I captured this photo as Con was leaving, the genuine love these little nuggets have for him is obvious.  All six kids jumped on, huddled around and hugged him just to have a little piece of him.  We tried to convince him to stay a little longer, but alas, life was calling him back to Ottawa.  We love you Connor!  Come and visit us in Toronto soon or better yet, lets meet at the cottage again.

Connor with six of eight nieces/nephews.

Quinn thinks he can practice gymnastics on Connor and hopes to be as tall as him one day...

Connor and his slack line minions

FIRST TOOTH GONE!

Day 2560 of Quinn's life and his first tooth fell out of his mouth!  A momentous occasion indeed!  Kieran was adorably and ridiculously excited for Quinny which made Q all the more excited! I am always amazed at how tiny those little baby teeth are. Naturally we found an antique laxative tin in the cottage to place the tooth in and put it under Q's pillow.  Thankfully, the tooth fairy was able to find us on the island in Muskoka, phew!

LOOK WHO IS 7

Remarkably, Quinn turned 7 on July 26th.  I am not sure where these past 7 years have flown off to, but here we are with a 7 & 8 year old in our house.  The ages and stages these boys are at are proving to be truly wonderful.  We are loving the endless summer days together.

Gone to sleep as a 6 year old, to awake to a decorated door and celebrated turning 7!

Post camp fire marshmallow happiness

Down the slide and just breaking the water

My paddleboard adventurer.  He paddled across the lake and back many times!