April 29

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY PATRICK!

We measured Patrick this morning and he is 34 inches tall. He also weighs 29 lbs! Way to go Patrick!

Party Day!!

We had a big group of people over to celebrate Patrick's second birthday party - 20 in all! Here are some pictures from the event, with commentary, of course!

Kathryn with her aunties. Kathryn is Sara & Lisa's ONLY niece!

Grandma with Kathryn:
Great Grandma Ruby (Shaun's Mom's Mom) and Kathryn. Janae was giving her the teddy bear:
Ayla & Grandpa reading to Kathryn:

PRESENTS!

Patrick was completely spoiled! Here we are opening gifts together. P did get into the spirit a bit this year and tore away wrapping! He especially liked tissue paper in bags as it was easy to disassemble.

This is a table & chair set from Grampy & Grandma (Shaun's parents):
Opening gifts from Patrick's 3 cousins with Great Auntie Jay and Great Grandma H looking on. You can also see the truck that Patrick got from Auntie Jay, Uncle Ron, Tara & Domonique:

Patrick's immediate favourite was a book from Auntie Sara that had a button and lights!:
I was totally overwhelmed by everyone's generosity! Here I am getting the present from Auntie Boo and James unwrapped. Its a really cool NEMO bubble machine. In the back you can see the soccer/hockey net that was made for Patrick by Shaun's aunt and cousins:
Grampy and Grandma also gave Patrick a package of mini ice-cream cones. Here he is getting them open and then he ate one:
Auntie Brenda, Uncle Cal, Brody and Anthony MADE Patrick a mini soccer/hockey net. Pictured here is the ball they gave him with it. Its Scotland!
CAKE!

I made the cake - it was a double layer devil's food chocolate cake with homestyle vanilla frosting dyed blue and multi-coloured sprinkles on top! It was YUM YUM and everyone got blue teeth/lips from it.

Singing to Patrick as he sees the cake for the first time:

Patrick 'testing' the icing.


MmmmmM delicious cake!!
Contented cake face:

After everyone left, Shaun and I cleaned up, and Auntie Boo stayed to give P his bath. Then he had some fun playing with the laptop we gave him (its a toy that has a bunch of games on it) on his new table! Also pictured is the pirate ship he got from his Auntie Sara, Uncle Derek and cousins.

It was a great day! Super busy though!

Ok moms, this one is for you!

Do you hate labeling your kids' stuff??? I do. I used to use masking tape and a sharpie - but eventually the tape would rip, or roll, or worse, fall off! P's school requires that everything be labeled so it has to be done!

My MIL got me labels from Mabel - you can order them online. There are lots of styles and colours. There are iron-on labels, sticky labels and bag tags and more!

My favourite? The classic stickies! They stick to EVERYTHING - even the inside of shoes. Great also for labeling outdoor wear and sippie cups! Seriously.

Check it out. Its reasonable, its CANADIAN and shipping is free!

A trip to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather we had on Saturday & Sunday!

Kathryn swinging: she wasn't so sure about this kind of swing.

Patrick swinging: He LOVES to swing!
Swingin' sibs:
Patrick in the wagon with daddy (I had Kathryn in the single stroller):

Patrick is now 23.5 months old - I can't believe he'll be 2 in 2 weeks!

Kathryn is 3.5 months old here. She's turning into quite the chubby bunny! She's also more interactive now. She has lots of expressions and is starting to 'talk'. She loves to play on the floor although her favourite thing to do is watch her big brother! She loves Patrick.

Patrick had his first show of kindness towards his sister yesterday - I was so proud! He gave her her ballerina bunny while she was napping in the swing. It was so sweet.

Apparently I don't have enough stress in my life..
..so I have to create more for myself.

We went to playgroup this morning, and when I came out I realized I didn't have my car keys. I dug to the bottom of the diaper bag and hoped they were there! Deep down I figured I dropped them on the way in, and they were lying in the street or WORSE someone picked them up!!! ACK! They were no where to be found.... but they were safe... on the driver's seat of the van!!!

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Panic. 2 small kids. Shaun is working. Neighbour's don't have keys to my house to get the spare van key and even if they did, I would have no idea what their phone number was. More panic.

Fortunately, my friend Jen was there with her son Quinn. I gave her my house keys and sent her to get the spare! I'm so glad she actually had time to do this today!

While she was gone, Jodi took us back inside. K nursed and had a bum change. P had a bum change and drank his juice. We were good! I was still panicing.... I was SURE there was a spare and I even knew where it was... but what if it wasn't there? Then what?? Oh my goodness.

Fortunately it WAS there. She brought it down to me and I got the kids packed up... again. And we came home. So ya, it all worked out fine. But good grief!

Easter pics!
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Kathryn and Grandma M:
Kathryn having snuggle time with mommy (she then fell asleep)! Note the lovely drool puddle on my shoulder:
HAHAHAHA. Patrick thinks wearing Kathryn's hat is sooo funny:

What do we do when everyone is going stir crazy on a snowy April afternoon??? We read.

Our little fairy princess

Three months old today!! What a cutie pie in the outfit from her Grandma & Grandpa Al. She then had a big diaper blow out and completely soaked through it. But it looked nice briefly!

I'm such a bad parent. Here they are watching baby einstein together. What can I say? My kids like TV.

I'd also like to add that, despite how it looks, this is not a normal thing for them to do. P watches his Einstein a couple times a day, generally during snack-time, and K only watches very briefly (5 minutes).

Kathryn has amazing neck control. She could hold her own head up at birth!! Look how tall and pretty she is sitting in her bumbo. She is, however, quite tired and refused to smile for mommy and the camera.

Kathryn has started to interact with her toys. Besides LOVING her tigger mat where she grabs at the dangling toys, she also is starting to interact with this stuffed guy with 8 apendages. We call him 'spider'. He's got yummy feet.