Halloween Fun!

We had a lot of fun with Halloween this year. We (and by we I mean Erick & the kids) carved 10 pumpkins to decorate the yard, along with a couple of gravestones, some spiders and some spooky glowing eyes in the shrubs leading up to the house.

We all dressed up as skeletons for the night as well. Erick dressed up so well that Keira refused to join him and Kian for trick or treating.

Long Awaited Photo Post

As promised, here are some photos of the family! These are all taken within the last 6 months.

At the 'crab beach' on the Vic West side of the Victoria harbour. If you lift up the rocks you can often find crabs hiding underneath. The kids get extremely excited when we find crabs. It also fun to watch the float planes and harbour hopper water taxis go by.

Tea time. Keira loves to put food on her little table and feed her dolls.

Potty training the teddy bear.

Reading books! We have to make frequent trips to pick up 'new' books at the thrift store so we don't get sick of the same stories, over and over and over and over and over again.

Kian played Blastball (t-ball) this spring. It was less like organized sport and more like loosely organized sporty chaos. We may even attempt to get him into soccer or something in the new year.

We love our new back yard and spent hours this summer in the kids pool, on the play structure, and at the water table.

We picked up a bigger kids pool this summer. There was enough room for all of us.

I have to say, the iPad is the most awesome travel accessory for keeping kids entertained ever! Nothing like sedating them with A Bugs Life for the bulk of a 2 and a half hour flight.

This was taken in the vacant lot at the end of the street. The kids love to go there and pick blackberries as often as we're willing to take them.

Sunny Summer Days

Well, it's been quite the spring and summer in the life of the Pay family.

Dirks Family Health Update:

My brief visit home in March was to visit mom in the hospital as she was undergoing chemo treatments for leukaemia, and also to visit my youngest brother Jay who had just had surgery to remove cancerous tumours from his brain.

A few months later, mom went into remission while doctors discovered more cancer in Jay's liver. Mom went home and Jay started his planned treatment. Sadly, the tumours returned in Jay's brain and were inoperable. In late August, I returned to Manitoba for Jay's funeral.

Pay Family Update:

We've been busy going to the beaches, the parks, picking and eating obscene amounts of blackberries, hanging out at the nearby playgrounds, and playing in our fabulous back yard this summer. We've gotten to know our neighbours and spent a lot of time with the kids on their bikes on our street. I think that's helped us meet the neighbours!

Erick's parents and sister (with kids) came out for a visit near the end of August. It was a fun full house for us and we can't wait to do it again. Most likely we'll pack everyone in at Christmas.

As the kids get older and more independent, our lives get just a little bit easier. As I write, Keira is having her first nap in her big girl bed. Maybe soon she'll be potty trained too! Kian is snacking away and watching the Incredibles for the 5 millianth time.

Sorry, no pictures this post, but I'll make my next post a photo extravaganza.

Summer is finally here!

I know, one post every 5 months or so is not really keeping anyone up-to-date on the Pay family happenings, but it's all I seem to have time for.

We are nicely settled into our house since the move in March. Erick built a play structure and put together a sand box for the kids in our awesome back yard. We've also set up a kiddie pool for the hot days and a water table on the deck for the not quite as hot days.

I'm still working over at the University of Victoria, although my term is now scheduled to end in February. We'll see what happens at that point as I'm working through some possibilities for future employment.

We've gotten to know many of our neighbours and have gotten together with the one family that lives on our street. We are very excited that their kids are similar ages to ours at 5 and 2 years. There's also another family with an almost 2 year old who live just around the corner.

Keira had her second birthday in April and we celebrated by sharing a gigantic cupcake between the four of us.

Kian had his fourth birthday in June and we celebrated by having a bunch of our neighbours over for a BBQ.

Erick had his "29th" birthday again in the end of June and we celebrated by going to a friends birthday party!

Our perfect Victoria summer weather has finally arrived and we're looking forward to the next month or 2 of sunny, warm days, and refreshing cool evenings. We'll probably spend most weekends at one beach or another, biking, splashing in the kids pool in the back yard, or climbing around one of the nearby playgrounds!

March Madness!

So this is going to be quite the month for us.

I am making a brief trip to Manitoba for 3 nights.

We take possession of our new home (rental) in the middle of the month (hopefully).

Erick starts his new job.

We have to pack up all of our belongings and be out of our current place by the end of the month.

It's like taking on a second full time job for the month!

In spite of the craziness of it all, we're very excited about moving and about Erick's new job. Here's a picture of our soon to be new home.

Winter pictures

Over the holidays we drove out to Fernie to spend time with family. It was so much fun seeing the kids with their little cousin. We had so much fun we completely forgot to pull out the camera so we have very few pictures of the trip!

This is the kids with the horses Erick made for them for Christmas.

After we got back to Victoria it actually snowed out here! It doesn't take much for the city to shut down in snowy weather. Of course, it does get pretty slippery on the hills and there isn't a budget for snow removal.

We had to put duct tape around the kids wrists and around Keira's ankles to keep boots and mittens on.

The daycare also had Christmas parties in each of the kids classes. Kian's class put on a show. All of the kids sang songs and Kian just stood there playing with his antlers. It was pretty hilarious.

Last week Erick finished up the last of his MBA assignments - the defence. So now it feels like we can get on with real life.