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My weekend was a full one.  Friday night Brian watched both kids overnight for the first time while I went to Listowel to my cousin Dustin's buck and doe.  
Reportedly Brian and the kids did well.
Saturday I had brunch with my mom and brother followed by an afternoon visit with my dad, grandma and papa.  
That night the kids were SO HAPPY to see me.
Sunday morning I woke up to breakfast in bed with my plate decorated with forget-me-nots.  I was also gifted a card that had a decorated envelope with sparkled "mom" and heart stamps on it with a card that read " I love you to pieces".  Inside there were little pieces of paper glued inside a heart.  It also had the words: Love Hadley.   I love receiving her hand-made gifts.
This was followed by us purchasing a new pocket camera.  We had been saving for it and thought it was a great day to go get it.  It is the new Nikon Coolpix S9200. I am hopeful the quicker picture taking will be able to capture pictures of the kids that were seemingly difficult with my Nikon Coolpix p500.
it is quite sleek so it will take some getting used to.
The afternoon was spent up at the property planting some raspberry bushes and then dinner at Swiss Chalet and a DQ Dessert.
It was a beautiful day.  I love spending time with my family.

- Leanne Verkley

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Just a few things:
1. He now says baby.  Just started that today.  He picks up dolls around the house and says baby.  Tonight he also pointed to a baby while Hadley was at swimming lessons and tried the new word out.
2.  AGA is his word for Hadley.  If I am calling her he will sometimes chime in AGA, AGA.  So cute.
3.  He now says shhh and puts his finger up to his mouth.  Again... so cute.

I am pretty sure he needs a nap every other day but if he is in a car anywhere near 1pm... it is lights out and that will mean for a late night if it is on the day he wasn't supposed to have a nap.

There are tiny holes in the back top of his mouth where the two year old molors will be... so he is indeed working on them... now if they would only break through.

Easton loves to dig in the dirt, sand, rocks whatever.

He is getting better at waiting outside on the porch for me while I lock the door.  Hadley is a great help with this.

His favorite foods are still blueberries and balogna.

I am sure there is more but it is 12:30am and I just remembered these few things and thought I would jot them down.

- Leanne Verkley

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It was a surprise kind of vacation.  Brian confirmed that he needed to be in Orlando for work about a week before we left and with so much of the trip covered... Hotel, his flight, and car rental, we decided that since Easton was free for flight and park entrances that now would be a good time to take a trip.
We spent six days in Orlando.
We arrived Friday and by Saturday morning we were already at Magic Kingdom.  The kids were great as was the weather at 25 to 30 Celsius all week.
We were surprised that the princesses were so difficult to find but after a full day in the park, the parade and fireworks we managed to see Cinderella and Belle at the theatre by the entrance.  Hadley was awe struck as she spoke to the princesses.  She was rejuvenated with new found energy that 11pm and five year olds seldom have.  Only to find out that there was just enough time to also meet Mickey and Minnie!  What a great way to finish the night.
Next time I hope to plan the meal with the princesses.  I didn't know about it this time and there is much advance planning required for it.  Also there are little Mickey fingers on the map to show character meet up locations which we found out about really late in the day.

Sunday the kids were actually quite tired and we decided to stay at the hotel and enjoy the pool, kids maze area (which Easton found difficult at first but was soon enough navigating it just as well as his big sister), then that night we enjoyed a campfire on the beach.  

Monday through Wednesday Brian was working so we were on our own for the most part.  We decided to take Monday and walk around the hotel grounds, go to the kids areas again where Hadley easily made friends, make tie dye shirts in the activity centre and purchase and enjoy the s'mores by the campfire at night.  

Tuesday we were suppose to meet up with a friend who was also there with her husband but with my cell not working in the states this match up didn't happen despite my three hours of trying.  However, we enjoyed our day anyway.  We went to Sea World and it was lovely.  The kids walked a little then enjoyed a show, walked a little and enjoyed another show.  Add a little dippin dots ice cream into the mix, meals in whale trays, a kids play area and the day with the dolphins, and whales was a complete success.  Hadley and I even fed the dolphins which was REALLY cool!  She wanted me to pick up the sardines first but after I picked up the first one and fed the dolphin, she wanted to do the rest.  It really was cool.

Wednesday we headed to Animal Kingdom.  Here we saw many characters.  Chip, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and many more.  
Hadley loved the triceratops tops ride, and both kids enjoyed the dinosaur boneyard.  
They did a really good job with the Kilimanjaro Safari ride and we saw many animals.  It was like our safari in Africa only in about 20 minutes instead of days.
This park was one of the parks that closed early (7pm), so we decided that this day would be a good day for a park hopper pass.  As previously discussed with Brian in the morning.  So with that we were able to head back to Magic Kingdom to hopefully see the parade with a closer view (which we did), the fireworks again, and then head to see more princesses.  The good news is that we were surpised by Brian at the gate (with no cell phone this is no small feat), the bad news is that after he paid to go in at 8 pm, then watching the parade and fireworks the park closed.  (This was different from Saturday hours).  So, with no princess sitings this night I decided it would be worth asking if there was anything guest services could do to let us in on Thursday morning before we left just to see a princess or two.  And they were wonderful.  They gave us a full day pass!  (We could only use it until noon because of our flight but it was still awesome of them.  They even gave Hadley a Cinderella wand)!  We were able to see Princess Aurora (sleeping beauty),  Cinderella, and Belle, as well as Areil from The Little Mermaid.  
Plus we had enough time to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride for a second time which was a family favorite.  What a great end!
We flew in and out of Buffalo as there was considerable savings to flying out of toronto.  The flights were great, the kids were awesome and I am ever thankful for surprise vacations!  

- Leanne Verkley

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Hadley has learned about spheres, rectangular prisms, cylinders and other such shapes.  She even now calls rocks by such names depending on how they look.  
Accidentally I found out that she is learning about vowels.  We randomly talked about it on the way home from school one day.  If you say the vowels she can tell you they are vowels and she can almost list them on her own.  Still... I think it is cool as she is only in junior kindergarten.  
We have been working really hard to get her to draw her capital R's properly.  Up until recently she drew a circle and then put two sticks coming out the bottom.  However, now she loves to draw the R's properly.  We will worry about making the R in Verkley a lower case r later.

Easton is making great use of his sign language.  He says please, thank you, more, and he does his own really cute gentle rub on your face (if he can) to say sorry.
He loves to blink as it makes everyone around him smile.  If you show him a blink and then ask him to blink it is a fun game that makes everyone happy.
He has more independence as of late and sometimes shows his will to want to do things other than what we would like him to do.  
(tantrums at a year and a half, nothing too crazy bust still noticable)?
He has begun to sleep through the night for the most part which is awesome!  I still have to figure out how many naps he needs.  It seems he needs a nap every other day to every third day.  I am still experimenting with it.
Nursing is pretty much done now.  This is a welcomed freedom and a sad - my baby is growing up - moment.  

Cute moment of the day: we were at a clothing store and there was music playing and both kids broke out into dance.  Hadley asked the sales lady why she wasn't dancing.  Then everyone was dancing.  

I love having my kids in my life.  :)

- Leanne Verkley