Christine's Birthday Activities - Final Day!

Phew! I am glad that it's Monday morning. I am glad that the kids are still on Spring Break too! Never thought I'd hear myself say that but it was a busy weekend so knowing that this morning can be as un-rushed as we want it to be is awesome!

Yesterday we had the Day side over to celebrate LC's 3rd birthday. That meant Grandma and Grandpa Day, Aunty Christine, Uncle Aaron, Jasper, Griffin, Cousin James, Suzanne, Kieran and Zoe. Plus our 5 makes 15 people! It was a gorgeous day so when Jasper and Griffin arrived a bit early, Greg and his parents took all the kids to the park. Aunty Christine and I got to have a rare adult moment. What a concept!! (PS - she is now with Mom Inc Movement {remember that tradeshow I did last November?} and they have just gone live with their new website so please check them out at http://www.momincmovement.com/)

Once the James Days arrived and gang returned from the park, chaos ruled at Chez Day! Here's a look at some of the goings on.

Now that my kids are getting older we've started getting rid of toys that are appropriate for much younger children. Like little Zoe - 21 months old. But we found the girls' collection of Zoobles which created an impromptu Zoobles Party in the hall!

This is little Zoe. So cute. Here she is at the beginning of the afternoon - still in shy mode but happy to play with the Zoobles and drink juice.

It always turns into a kitchen party, doesn't it? 

Here's Zoe a short time later - getting more and more tired, cuddly and with a running tap for a nose. We found Marley's duck for her to cuddle along with her own bunny.

LC, Griffin (3 1/2) and Kieran (4 1/2) being silly on our rockin', reclinin' chair-o-fun!

Greg actually did the bar-be-queing yesterday - something he usually leaves up to me. But yesterday, after all the appies people brought, there was only 6 hot dogs to cook for the kids so he felt he could handle that. Still  had me check for done-ness though!!

Fun with sidewalk chalk! 

Action shot!

More fun with chalk.

Then it was time for cake! We've now got cake leftovers from two cakes! Sigh. So much for my (weak) attempts to eat less in anticipation of Disneyland!

After cake there were presents! More presents! Sheesh!!

As you may be able to tell from her expression, this was a huge hit! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Day!! This will be a lifesaver on the plane!!

Two games for the new Leapster from Jasper and Griffin.

And then the loud annoying toy courtesy of Kieran and Zoe! :) 

One final picture of Zoe. Poor kid! She went downhill fast! From the initial shyness and clinginess, to massive yawns, to a full on temperature and need for Children's Advil, to this final conk out. Hope you're feeling better today Zoe!!

Okay, that's it for birthday celebrations for LC. I hope! Time to get back to normal.

And start prepping for the next birthday party - Paige's. She'll be 6 in 3 weeks! Why oh why did we have these kids so close together?!?!?

PS - If you saw my Iron Stamper post and want to find out if I won and see more details of my projects, please check out my design blog. I'm running a series over there this week show casing my projects.

Christine's Birthday Activities - Take 2

Here are some snap shots of our day out in Abbotsford yesterday. Don and Ina have this great smooth, private, laneway behind their house so we tend to bring the girls' scooters and let them go wild on the road. But first, Poppa (Don) had to do some Scooter Surgery on Marley's scooter. Gotta love Handy Poppa!!

And then the fun of coming down their hill, at a rate of speed designed to stop a parents heart cold, started!!

Just to give you a bit of perspective on the grade of the hill. 

Paige and Marley tend to start up by that lamp post you can see in the back ground. Initially, Paige wasn't using her brake efficiently so she'd come screaming down and then jump off at the bottom to make a running stop. Totally an accident waiting to happen! 

Christine is not quite as confident on her scooter yet so doesn't go too fast and hardly ever glides on it. but she does love it!

This is Paige's "I know you're taking pictures of me and want me to smile so I'll half comply" face!

Marley can get up to some seriously scary speeds but she at least uses her brake properly!

Oh, and she also has one of those "hurry up and take a picture of me" faces!

Pretty soon it was lunch and present time. Christine got some much needed accessories for her scooter (you'll see them below).

And Ammee didn't leave the bigger kids out - there was a bag of new skipping ropes, balls and Mini Eggs for them!

Here she is. All kitted out with new knee and elbow pads plus gloves. All in Princess Pink of course!!

Testing out the new protective gear. It works!!

Paige took a tumble without pads though. Got a pretty decent sized road rash on her knee!

Poor Paige!

After dinner we had to have cake (of course!) 

It was very yummy - most of the kids had a second piece!! As the baker, that makes me very happy!

Well, that was yesterday. Fun, falls and festivities for all!

Today Grandma and Grandpa Day are coming over along with Greg's sister Christine, her family and Greg's cousin James and his family. The party just continues at our house!!

Hope you have a great Sunday everyone. I'll post some more pictures (must recharge my battery first!) soon. 

Christine's Birthday Activities

As promised, here are some pictures of how we spent the day yesterday - celebrating LC turning 3!

First up was the desperate need to test out the new Ariel bubble blower - which worked great for about 5 minutes and then started sounding a bit tired. (Then of course she left it on so the batteries needed changing only a few short hours after opening it up!! Sigh!)

Gotta love the finger - out ready to pop those bubbles!

She tried to get up close and personal with Ariel but I don't think the face full of bubbles was what she was expecting!!

After lunch we went to a Mini Golf course (see yesterday's post for the location and a clue to a serious discount!!) where I had a lesson in patience!! Eventually I just gave up on actually playing the holes as players were stacking up behind our slow moving group!

Christine was quite enthusiastic about it. She plays golf like I would play it. Hit the ball ...

... then pick it up and walk it to the hole! Oh, WITH a sucker in your mouth too! 

She was given the sucker at the front desk when they heard it was her birthday.

Poor Marley is about as good at mini golf as I am. No ability to control how strong or lightly you hit the ball and very little ability to control where it goes! She was pretty frustrated by the end of 18 holes! (Especially since Greg - the only golfer among us - kept trying to give her tips. NEVER give a perfectionist, "I must be good at everything the first time", tips!!)

Christine was more than happy to get tips from Greg though!

The gang.

This particular Art Knapps seems to sell everything under the sun! Plants, seeds and landscaping supplies obviously, but also train sets, Princess dresses, jewelry, home decor and THE largest collection of Crocs I have ever seen!! This sign may have to find its way into a paper crafting project to be hung up in the house!!

Oh, and here are a couple random pictures of spring finally making an appearance in our garden! The lilac tree is starting to bud.

And these flowers (name escapes me!) are coming up. The crocuses have been up for weeks and are starting to look a bit sorry now, but these are just starting to come out. The daffodils are also threatening to bloom soon!

Some trampoline time next door.

The off to McDonald's for dinner - Christine's choice!

There you are. Today we are off to Abbotsford for some fun with Ammee and Poppa and the Graham cousins. It looks like another gorgeous day so the girls are pulling out their summer things and we'll be loading the van with their scooters. Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy 3rd Birthday Christine!

It seems hard to believe that 3 years ago today LC came into our lives. Technically she's not 3 til 11:33PM tonight but ... who's counting?! After 9 months of feeling just about as awful as one possibly could, this little ray of sunshine fell on our family. All feelings of resentment I harboured during those nine months (wishing for a boy, wishing for a non-nauseous day, wishing I could walk without pain, etc) disappeared almost instantly when she was put into my arms. I say almost because there was still a great deal of pain to work through - pushing out a 9lb 8oz baby is NOT FUN!!!
She was such an easy baby - as long as you kept her from screaming. Boy, she had a set of lungs on her! Still does, mind you. Now her screams are of the 3 year old, over-dramatized, the-world's-gong-to-end-if-I-don't-get-what-I-want-right-now sort of screams! But she was a pretty good sleeper (none of my kids were too great) and has now got out of the phase of coming downstairs at 10PM for some late night party time with Mom and Dad! Her naps are almost a thing of the past so she is usually pretty happy to go to bed at 8PM and stay asleep til 7AM.
And her smile and her giggles ... the words "light up the room" just don't seem to do them justice. She has a way of taking all the bad mojo in a room or situation and making you forget it was ever there. Just with a giggle or a funny comment or - my personal favourite - a hug and an "I love you Mommy".

... for example ... oh, I don't know ... say your 3 girls decide to pain their nails and one of them (no one's admitting who) leaves the nail polish out on the side of your bath tub and the little one decides to REpaint her fingers and toes and in the process dumps half a bottle of your favourite Opi nail polish on your bathroom floor ...

Just sayin' ... she was lucky to even SEE 3 today!!

But then you look at her gorgeous face and ...

See? All bad feelings go 'poof'!

This is her this morning getting her "official 3 year old measurements" taken. By my count, she is now 3' 2.5" (or 98cm).

As you may be able to see through all the additional scribbles (grr!) she is taller than Paige was at 3 but not quite as tall as Marley was. Almost, but not quite! (Ignore the giant P with the red circle around it. That was one of the "additions"!)

Greg took a vacation day today to spend it with Christine so we had French Toast and birthday presents for breakfast - not necessarily in that order! Christine got a package the other day from my Aunt Moira which we most cruelly wouldn't let her open until today. Here she is sporting the apron that was in the package. Thank you Aunt Moira! She loves all the presents!!

I took this picture in the hopes that it would show how carefully and meticulously LC was opening her presents this morning. It was driving Marley nuts! So funny!!! I'm not sure where she gets this slow and careful side - it's not something we've noticed before. Usually she's racing headlong into danger!!

Funny story ... Greg and I were pretty much at a loss of what to get her this year. Being the 3rd daughter, whatever she she hasn't already been given has been handed down to her! Anyway, on Wednesday I took the girls to Toys 'R' Us to get several different birthday presents (Marley had 3 friends with birthdays soon!) with the plan of sneaking a present or two for Christine into the cart. Well, it must have worked because she showed nothing but surprise when she opened this one from the girls! Awesome!! Job well done, Mom!! 

That's all for now. We have big plans to play mini golf today (FYI - Art Knapps at King George and 44th on Surrey has mini golf for $0.99 a player!! Just go to BCDailyDeals.com!! Thanks Cheryl!!) and then a special McDonald's dinner tonight. I know, I know. Mcdonald's isn't so special but our tradition is that the Birthday boy or girl gets to choose where they want to go out for dinner. So ... to a 3 year old, McDonald's is pretty cool!

Have a great day everyone! I'll post more birthday pictures later.