Brooke & Bailey

Last weekend- not this one past, but the one before that- was Brooke & Bailey's birthday party. Their birthday is at Christmas & they are now at the age where they want to have their friends over for a party. Unfortunately Christmas is a very busy time & the feasibility of that is probably pretty tough. So, their mom planned a birthday party well in advance of their actual "day". I personally think this is a great idea. People who have their birthdays at Christmas or around Christmas must have years that they really feel they get the short end of the stick. I think last Sunday provided Brooke & Bailey the appropriate time to take centre stage.

Bailey

It was really neat to watch them interact with their friends. They are in different classes this year, so it appears that they have completely separate friends. Since they live north of Barrie, I don't get to see them very often & when I do see them they often stick pretty tight together. It was great to see them in an environment focused on them where they laughed & joked with their friends.

Brooke

The other part of the day that I really enjoyed was seeing Matthew & Brianna. I have not seen them since Craig & Lisa split up & it was amazing to see how they have grown up. It is amazing what 3 or 4 years will do in a young person's life. Matthew no longer has the little boy voice & Brianna is growing into a beautiful young lady.


The party was at a games/arcade type centre. I took the kids & Brad stayed behind to do some Christmas shopping. Given the fact that Jason couldn't play any of the games, he did really well at being 'entertained'. At lunch he got to sit at the table like a 'big kid' and he seemed pretty impressed by that. The boy beside him asked me to move him because he was scaring him. I told him that if a 'baby' scared him, then he had a pretty tough life ahead of him. Not sure if he appreciated that or not, but Brooke laughed. Sydney did pretty good at some of the carnival games. At one game she hit the bonus line so she got all these extra tickets- meaning she could at least pick a decent prize & not just junk that would be added to the landfill upon leaving. The rest of the time she usually got the maximum amount of tickets because of her timing. By the time she put the token in, stood up, and hit the button the line was almost always at the 9 or 10. She had the timing down. Me on the other hand, in trying to 'help' her only managed to score the maximum a couple of times. Most of the other times, I would only get 2 or 3. However, if I am honest with myself I wasn't trying to help her but to get rid of the tokens so that we could count up our tickets, collect our prize, and head home.

Daddy's Day

Our day care provider started her vacation today & the result is the juggling of our remaining vacation days without taking anything away from Christmas. She only gave us two weeks notice, which really sucked, but the good thing is that we too only need to provide two weeks notice when we don't plan to send the kids. That means we don't pay as long as we give her notice. Not many in-home daycares or commercial daycares around here that you have that flexibility.

Brad unfortunately is required to work Christmas & New Years Eve, so he had 2 extra days to work with. I think he would enjoy being off those two days much more than taking today & next Thursday off. I offered to switch my Friday next week so that he could have a long weekend, but he says he is getting out of a meeting anyway. I think it is really because he doesn't want to spend the bulk of Friday through Sunday alone with the kids. I leave next Saturday morning for a weekend of scrapbooking at the Tim Hortons camp! I am very excited!!!

All in all I think that their day went pretty good. They were good enough that he wasn't a grump when I got home, but challenging enough to know that getting dinner ready these days is not an easy or stress-free task.

Going away party

Last Friday we had our going away party- play date style- for Wendy, Ellie & Katie. To a three-year-old a party involves birthday cake or at least hats. So, trying to explain to Sydney that there are different types of parties was quite the experience. Thankfully Anna brought cupcakes, so there did end up being cake.

We did the morning thing: play, lunch & home for nap- of course Sydney didn't nap though. Emma has a large assortment of princess dresses, so each girl was wearing a dress. Jack was offered one- but he took a pass. Lunch was yummy and there was even entertainment with the kids dancing in the kitchen. Sydney however just sat with me in the other room. Not sure why, but based on how rosy her cheeks were I think she might have been pretty hot. Jason did something that was quite remarkable. He brought his diapers to me & started pulling at his jeans. The little guy was quite stinky, so he knew what to do. Pretty impressive for a kid that doesn't have words yet!

The time was fun & not emotional. I was good until I told Sydney to say goodbye to the kids. As soon as I started to say that to her a big lump formed in my throat & the tears started to fall when I hugged Wendy goodbye. It is tough to say goodbye when you don't know when the next time will be that you will see each other. However, we are hoping to do a "girls weekend" in Charlotte, NC in a few months!

That evening when Sydney was telling her Daddy about her day, she said that we went to a going away party - but Ellie didn't leave! I realized that since we left before Ellie did, Sydney didn't think that Ellie "went away". You have to love kids & how literal they take things.

Five Years

This weekend Brad & I celebrated our five year anniversary. We planned a weekend away for just the two of us to remember what it is like to be a couple outside of being parents. However, you can never walk away from being a parent. We had made arrangements for Sydney to stay with my sister & Jason was to stay with Brad's brother. However, we got a call first thing Friday morning to let us know that Max had pink eye. This then led to us scrambling to make alternate arrangements for Jason. My sister was willing to take him, but she already had a full house for the weekend. They had guests staying over on Saturday night- so their house was quite full.

A frantic call to my mom at work resulted in our Saviour. So, Jason got to bond with Nana for the weekend & he did well. I don't think he ate well for her- hopefully due to the cold that he cannot seem to shake. I am sure that when he was being picky she had thoughts that he is going to be picky just like his mom. Sydney on the other hand loved her weekend with her cousin & barely gave us a kiss & a hug before she took off. I think I missed her more than she missed me.

It was late by the time we finally made it to the resort we were staying at north of Huntsville. I could not wait to get in the tub & relax with a glass of wine. As a wedding gift, our friend Monica gave us 3 bottles of wine that she had collected during her summer in France. One was for our 1st anniversary, one for our 5th, and one for our 10th. I could not take the beautiful wine glasses that she gave us that are much more befitting the quality of the wine than the ones that we used- but I did enjoy the wine. My bubble bath on the other hand got a little out of hand. Combination of fast running water & water jets created a mass of bubbles- Brad had to turn the jets off to be sure that I didn't overflow the tub.

The rest of our time was spent eating out (because I am not cooking on my anniversary), shopping, & hiking. Here are some pictures of our time.

Bubbles, bubbles & more bubbles


Taking a snooze on our deck


The morning view of the lake from our cottage


Hiking in Algonquin Park

Remember this my friend

Wendy, the time has almost come for you & your family to leave us for a few years while you pursue your goals in "the South". Thankfully you will not be too far away & I am sure we can find ways to see each other over the next three years. I've enjoyed vacationing in South Carolina before & hope to do so again soon so that we can get together.

Until then, I thought you might like to reflect back on the time that we have spent together with our kids. Who knew that Parent Link would create such wonderful friendships?

First Playdate at the Park


Summer 2005

Remembrance Day 2005


New Years Eve 2005


"Gold Medal Game" 2006 Who else would host a party at 7am on a Sunday?


January 2006- Warm enough in January for an afternoon at the park


Summer 2006

September 2006

Halloween 2006

Katie's Birthday Party


Jason's First Kiss- January 2007


Winter & Spring 2007


Katie's First Time Without Mommy


Summer 2007


Sydney's Party, September 2007

Just Hanging Out