Anatomy of a 7 year old's birthday!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Marlee,

Happy Birthday to you!

Love you Toodles!

So how do we execute a birthday party for an excited almost 7 year old?

First it starts with a plan (I have a spreadsheet to remind me all of the details to consider)...

Marlee had her pick for dinner - she chose Chinese food with the family.


Which then led to gift time... Marlee got some clothes, some crafts and lots of wonderful attention.

After she went to bed the real work began... decorating that is. Banners, balls and balloons, birthday card banner, and the table set for the morning.

And at the last minute (of course it was around midnight) I was inspired to add pictures of Marlee all over the house. I took out a pile of her photos from my card file (see Stacy Julian LOM) and a number of scrapbook pages I had made of her. I got to bed at 1:11.

In the morning Marlee awoke to the decorating - I think she LOVED the added photos.

She then had the requested Eggo waffles for breakfast.

And enlisted on the requested scavenger hunt which ended with her pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (she asked for money to go shopping with - together).

We got working on her party and set out all of the snacks.

When the guests arrived they started with some Wii dancing and then moved outside for some water slide play and some pool time (thank goodness it was warm enough)...

...some craft time (they made bracelets)...

We later moved inside for some ice cream cake and cupcakes that the kids decorated...

And finally some pinata time. We had purchased the filling earlier in the week and it was Marlee's favourite activity. It was filled with wrapped candy, granola bars, rice krispie squares, welch's fruit snacks and raisins. A little healthy but all wrapped. (We are still making some concessions regarding the environment).

The older boys were sequestered for the pinata time despite their protests.

The afternoon ended with some quality play time with some newly acquired toys.

She was very happy.

Drew and Matt had baseball practice so we went out and rented Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure
to finish off the evening. It was a hit.

All in all it was a fabulous birthday.

Now we just have to figure out when we will go shopping.

She is definitely eager to go ASAP.

Happy Birthday sweet 7 year old!

I'm so glad we could do this.

Similarities

I'm seeing some similarities between this little guy and a certain other someone.....

How about you?

17 months!

In honour of Bibiti's 17 month old birthday I created a list of 17 things at 17 months!

(in case you are having a hard time reading it, it says:

1. You weigh about 23 ½ lbs and are 30.5" tall
2. You say ma, da, ball, tsss, vrmmm
3. You prefer being nakey butt and free
4. You love playing in water, chasing balls and watching cars
5. You give great hugs and open mouth kisses
6. You can find your hat, shoes and blanket (and any ball) when asked
7. You help get yourself dressed and brush your own teeth
8. You can sign car/truck
9. You have 16 teeth
10. You are very easy going and happy-go-lucky
11. You love to be where the big kids are
12. You scream when you don’t get your own way but calm quickly
13. You can match puzzle pieces
14. You can make yourself pass out when you don’t get your own way
15. You have a wickedly adorable smile and laugh
16. You get knocked down but you get up again
17. You are loved beyond measure!

Out to a Movie

Ever since Spy Kids All the Time in the World in 4D came out, Matt has been wanting to see it. Obsessively so. We finally got the opportunity last night to use his Summer Bingo tickets and head out.

I have to say though, that we were a little disappointed. 4D does not mean 3D plus an extra sense! Well at least we didn't know that! There were no 3d glasses for us! There was an option at another theatre to see it in 3D but we thought this would be all inclusive. Oh well. I haven't seen a 3D movie since like forever - maybe childhood? I don't even know what that would have been either!

And to top it all off,

my scratch and sniff didn't work. I could only smell one of the 8 smells. Matthew's was similar. The rest smelled like paper. Otherwise the movie was great. It was very entertaining and certainly clean enough for Matt.

On out way home I started remembering all of the scratch and sniff stickers I had as a kid and shared those memories with Matt. They have there sillybandz, the bakugons, the polly pockets. We had friendship pins, scratch and sniff stickers and cabbage patch kids. Maybe stickers will be one of those things that "comes back"?

Remember these?

photo credit

But there was a bonus. I used my container to dump my popcorn in and used my own salt. I only had to get a disposable cup for my pop and the bag for the popcorn. 2 things saved.

Matt got the kids pack which was a box, a water bottle and a kinder surprise. We'll get him edumacated soon enough. Baby steps people. Next time if I'm not in such a rush I hope to bring my cup to ask if they can use it instead. I'm not hopeful though - they weren't willing to give Matt a bigger water from the fountain instead of a water bottle.

Ball

A quick layout I did about the Micho's latest obsesssion...

Deli and Meat counter success!

Today I was able to get deli cheese and meat for the first time without any extra packaging (well I had to get a sticker with the price on it).

I simply brought my containers, asked for the food to be put in it and they did it.

What was I afraid of?

A One Time Thing?

The kids had been in for a swim and then became "mud monsters" in the yard and of course needed to have a shower. I followed them upstairs with Mitchell (after he had been forced to have his shower in the laundry tub) to check on the progress. Mitchell was still nakey-butt. And....

He walked into our bathroom where Marlee was having a shower,

and

SAT

down

on the potty

and

peed!!!!!

All on his own accord!

This is a first and HOPEFULLY a sign of things to come?

[It would be so nice because frankly, to say that I have been a bit frustrated about this side of development would be saying it mildly. Typical from what I read but still, I have high aspirations.

We typically get his after sleep pees and a few throughout the day but we definitely aren't accomplishing what we had been. The poops are the most disappointing. It is SO much easier to clean a poop out of a potty than out of a diaper:( ]

Anyway, here's hoping, and I just had to share my JOY!

Life Up North

Life up North Summer Vacation Weeks 4 and 5

Life at the cottage (aka as camp to everyone else up here except for us because C gets it mixed up with "duck" camp) brings many stories and memories to be shared:

M3 is becoming quite the climber - easily scooting up on the coffee table.



The kids love riding the bike (we only have one at the moment) and the paths are great for doing it here. Unfortunately this one is getting a bit small but he doesn't care. Just previous to this photo the kids were fighting over who got to ride the one bike. It was typical for this day. lots of arguments and saucy talk. Even some tears.


M3 took a while but all of a sudden got VERY brave at swimming. He went from daddy's arms to the edge - to the ladder (it had to be the ladder) and literally got to be jumping in - going under as well.



Visiting with cousins is a highlight of our visits. M2 was particularly looking forward to swimming and visiting Karli. We spent the day by the pool visiting and snacking, and it was great.


I went out for a canoe ride with C and had a pretty good experience. I had kept putting it off as I was afraid we would get stranded with me not knowing how to guide us back. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I had imagined.

M2 enjoyed some wake-boarding.

M3 SQUEALED with delight when M2 showed him a baby frog. it was precious to witness.

On one of my walks I stopped to look at Little Lake. I was struck by the mid-morning beauty through the trees.

This was the year for fishing. Off the dock. Off the neighbours dock. From the canoe. He didn't have any luck but he sure had fun.

Football in the water - great fun diving for it!

M3 preferred the edge of the water and was content pouring and dumping. Pouring and dumping. Pouring and dumping.

M1 got the windsurfer board going and became quite proficient at using it. He went all around the bay on it.

I love seeing sharing like this!

At one point the kids wanted to play dogs. How appropriate that there was a cage to accomodate them. Hair and everything!

M2 enjoyed the swinging - just not the scraping against the trees.

M1 got M3 into some hitting practice. He actually hit it a few times!

Of course we had to have a checker game or tow. He beat me easily.

Sleeping is a different adventure up north too. It sometimes takes a longer to get to sleep but usually they are so tuckered out we don't have to say anything.

The boys enjoy a splash or two.

All in all life up north was excellent. The weather was great (One day of actual rain, one day of cooler temps), the water was awesome. We visited with fmaily and relaxed in a differnt sort of way. As usual, returning home was bittersweet. Another year done and more to look forward to.

July 2011 Recap

It’s that time again! Another month has passed us by and it is time for a recap. So why do I do this? First of all my memory is terrible and often find myself wondering when such and such happened. Second of all I love lists and information. Third of all I believe I am a type A personality. Enough said.

Here's a look at our month:
Entertainment – what we’re looking at , listening to and going to!
Books, Magazines, Blogs read:
A Secret Kept
Scrapbooks Etc
Regular Blogs as well as My Plastic Free Life
TV, Movies, Live Entertainment:
Yogi Bear movie (library DVD)
Ramona and Beezus (library DVD)
Fear (Netflix)
Hannah Montana (final season) (library DVD)
Bones (Season one Ep 1-5) (library DVD)
All Roads Lead Home (cottage DVD)
Life Size (cottage DVD)
A Cinderella Story (Cierra’s DVD)
It’s Complicated (Melissa’s DVD)
Nanny McPhee (library DVD)
Alice in Wonderland (2005) (cottage DVD)
Jonah (A Veggietales movie) (library DVD)
Free to Be You and Me (library DVD)
[A Kid in Alladin’s Palace] (Cierra’s DVD)
Revolutionary Road (library DVD)

Daily Happenings & Special Events:
Boating with H family for fireworks (1st)
Baseball tournaments Markham, Etobicoke,
Trampoline finished (1st)
Strawberry picking (1st)
Sarah and Macy here to visit! (July 13th -21st)
Church Camp – Pandamania (July 18th -22nd)
Sean and Family here to visit (17th)
TBay (July 23rd-August 5th)

Travel (1 hr plus):
TBay (July 23rd –August 5th)

Financial/ changes to the house etc.:(gifts, renos, big purchases, household purchases)
Marlee to bday party (littlest pet shop and books); Matt to birthday parties (nerf guns, gift card to Toys R’ US; gift card to National Sports)
First floor being painted
Laundry room door fell off

Health/Development/ Exercise/ Extra Curricular Activities:
Drew: Baseball; golf; mole removal acting up
Alison: *
Cierra: Still wearing air cast when appropriate; attended church camp
Matt: Baseball; golf camp (3 days); church camp
Marlee: Golf camp (3 days); church camp
Mitchell: 2 new teeth in July; EC same or worse – not much communication, still catching early morning but less during day; sleep schedule way off – shorter naps, 3 hours at a time at night; still happy-go-lucky; saying da (that and dad), mo (mom), ba (ball), tssss (animals in particular dogs and cats); eating well, still nursing on demand.

Accomplishments/ Disappointments (Goals - Gotta Do’s, Wanna do’s; OLW, projects):
New foods – Swiss chard from dad (not a major fan)(10th); New park (12th)All Around Us/

Other (News, Trends, Births, Deaths, World Events, City News Etc): n/a