bouncing, bouncing and more bouncing

A couple of neighbours bought trampolines this summer and one family in particular has opened it up to the neighbourhood. The kids ask daily to go bounce. I limit our visits a bit more than that, but we are still over there frequently bouncing away. It has been yet another way of bringing the kids of different ages in our neighbourhood together. "Aaron the neighour boy" as Sebastian called him for years, is 13 now and we didn't see much of him in the late spring and beginning of summer. He and Sebastian have spent many, many hours together over the last few years and I sadly thought that had finally ended this summer. Then the trampoline appeared and they had some common ground once more. Now that school has begun, we see him less again but they still have connected several times in the last two weeks. I love the relationship that Sebastian has with him and hope to see it continue in some form!

Ayla and Sebastian were bouncing away today so I took the camera over to take some pics. It began to rain so I told them to stay on the tramp and not hurt each other while I quickly took the camera home. Halfway back I heard Sebastian begin to wail. I ran the rest of the way and found him with blood pouring out of his nose and lip. He had managed to knee himself in the face and split his lip! He did this a week ago on our bed as well (I wonder if it has something to do with his legs getting all long and gangly :)

I love Ayla's hair in the last picture. If only my hair would bounce like that :)

Her own room

We have finally gotten around to setting up the spare room for Ayla. She is very excited about it and has been happy to make the switch. I still go to her when she wakes at night of course, and finish off the night in her room, but it has been so nice to finally be able to lay in bed with Oscar at night and actually talk to each other!

Ayla has been insistent on having pink and blue in her room and wasn't pleased when I told her that we wouldn't be painting the walls. Her reaction was nothing compared to the 10 min crying fit she had when I wouldn't cave to her demand to paint the living room pink!

I'm hoping to tie-dye a duvet cover for her soon and we need to put up some shelves but it is coming along nicely. We got a nice rug for her and some glowing stars and stick-ons for the wall. I found some beautiful felt decorations on line, thinking how nice it would be to have something natural on the walls instead of plastic. I then spent some time being realistic and admitted to myself that they are not really in our budget! She loves her baskets so we have been organizing some of her toys into them and moving them into the room for her. Now hopefully one day soon she will spend less time causing mischief in Sebastian's room! (yeah, I know, not likely :) )

Gymnastics

The kids have started another season of gymnastics. This is Ayla's first time going alone, I have to admit I was very nervous that it was not going to go well. I am happy to say that I was wrong. She handled herself wonderfully! It was incredibly busy and she seemed to love the energy. She bounced around (alot) but never ran off. She did manage to be first in line behind the teacher EVERY time they moved to a different station :)

Sebastian began his first session of boy's gymnastics. He had lots of chances to work on the handstands he's been practicing all summer. He also climbed all the way to the top of the very long rope. He was quite proud of himself for that, I think!

Oh, and the hairdo was all Ayla's idea! Something special for gymnastics :) She also decorated her legs with marker and insisted she leave it on so her teachers could see.

My lumberjack

Sebastian has decided to cut down one of our trees in the backyard (luckily one that is not very healthy and that Oscar is planning on taking down). He called me into the backyard one day and showed me this:
He then smiled and said, "I guess I got a bit carried away!" He then showed me the large pile of branches that he had also cut! Since then, he has cut down several more branches, all while perched high in the branches of a larger tree. One time I looked out of the bathroom window and saw that he was a good 2-3 metres higher than our roof. Had to close my eyes and repeat to myself a few times that he knows his own comfort zone and that he was safe. And then thankfully he soon came down!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Sebastian and Ayla were excited about their dad's birthday. Poor guy had to work, which meant Ayla wouldn't see him. So, they made him a cake and Sebastian also made him a special birthday chair. We celebrated the next morning with cake for breakfast! I have to say, he looks pretty good for 34!