SO busy...

Jeff carving a piece of wood at the beach with Olivia's name...
Olivia picks out some rocks to throw at the beach...
Sparkler time...
Happy little guy smiling at his big sister...
Briar in the stroller at the beach...
Olivia's new 'do'....

Hi everyone,
I am sorry if we haven't been in touch for awhile. I am feeling like my head is spinning with all the stuff we've been doing in the last while.
Jeff has finished both courses he was taking (Marine Stability and Mariner's First Aid). He found the traffic heading into Victoria crazy each morning and was late because of accidents. Pretty frustrating. He came in second in the class for the first aid course and had 100% on the final for the Stability. Yay!!
Olivia has started ballet lessons again as of today. She had a fabulous time and listened to the teacher SO well. I was really proud of my little peanut. She told me afterward that I am allowed to watch but "don't smile at me while I'm dancing, Mommy." It is hard not to smile when you see her dance, jump and spin. I love it!
Briar is his happy little self. He has decided that sleeping just isn't that important, unfortunately. Consequently, I am pretty pooped. He wants to get up at about 5 am for the day. I take him downstairs so we don't wake up Jeff and Olivia and play with him on the play mat. Occasionally, I wake up on the carpet beside him while he bats away at the toys and sings his baby songs.
I have had to drive into Victoria a bunch of times this week. Once in awhile is fine, but I find doing it a few days in a row is extremely tiring. I've had tonnes of errands and appointments and have had to cart Briar along to most of them. He is pretty patient but by the end of the day he's pretty owl-y.
Eli, my dog, has been quite ill and had to be taken up to the vet in Nanaimo last week to be checked out. Poor guy. He was acting really oddly and I thought maybe the bear was coming back for more plums. Instead, his tummy upset caused a few nights of cleaning floors in the middle of the night. It really freaks me out thinking about Eli's mortality. I've had him since I was 18 and I guess I have always felt like he'd be here forever. Anyhow, he is feeling better now but I was definitely worried there for a bit.
Jeff has introduced Olivia to sparklers. She loves to go out to the garage with him, turn off the lights and wave the sparklers all over. It's funny to watch. All you can see is this moving light and occasional flashes of Olivia's light face with a wide open toothy smile as the sparkle passes by. So cute.
Well, I want to go put my feet up and take a rest. Here are some pictures of the last week or so...