I LIKE

A few random things I saw this week and really liked:

I love this journal. The 365 daily entries appear 5 times on each page. I miss writing daily in a journal.

And a book specifically for me to write more lists in! I just saw this at Indigo Books. They have a kids version too.

How cool would this be? I really like homes designed with children in mind. I mean, a couch is so much more than a place to sit. It is also a fort, a boat, a trampoline, a comfy place to eat a bowl of cereal, a soft place to land when practicing flips...

I would really like to have some pretty Japanese paper tape! So much nicer than scotch tape. You can buy it here:

INSTANT FRIENDS

Last week I took the boys to a friend's house. This was the conversation Sam had with her boy:

Sam: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Her boy: A race car driver

Sam: Me too!! (looking at me in disbelief and awe)

Her boy: What team do you want to be on?

Sam: The fast one

Her boy: I want to be on the Ferrari team

Sam: Which one is the fastest one?

Her boy: The ferrari team

Sam: I want to be on that team too!

They were instant friends.

Notice Sam in his jammies. He takes after his mom. He would prefer to wear jammies over any other clothes:

A few other pictures from our lovely morning together. She has almost one year old twins! I was a bit obsessed checking out how it all works (having 2 kids exactly the same age).

TOO CUTE

I love toddler kissing pictures:

From January, 2010

Our au pair arrives from France tonight! Clara and I are going to pick her up from the airport at 8:55pm.

I'm feeling:

• nervous
• excited
• curious
• relieved
• guilty

If anything, having someone come to live with you is an amazing way to get your house cleaned up and organized. I have:

• hung the pictures that have been laying against the wall for 2 years
• dusted the window sills
• patched and touched up the walls with paint (Jake did this)
• purged!
• packed up Will's 0-24 month clothes that were on the floor in his closet
• moved furniture
• took down the last of the Christmas lights

I did not do any landscaping, the tupperware drawer, nor did I make it to the basement of horror, but I suppose that is part of the reason why we are getting some help...to make a wee bit of time to get some things done.

Here is her room, all ready to go (it's amazing what you can find in the basement to furnish and decorate a room with). Kirby will have to find a new spot to lay and gaze out the window.

And here is Will in his new bunk bed. Him and Sam just discovered that a bunk bed can make a terrific fort!

I hope C (what I'm calling the au pair until she tells me I can use her name) will like it here! I took these out my car window while driving through the city the other day (kind of dangerous, but I was at a red light). Vancouver really is so beautiful. And I am loving Michael Lin's hand painted mural covering the Art Gallery right now:

PARTY DEBRIEF

We celebrated Sam's 5th birthday on Saturday. Normally I like having the parties at our home, but I came to my senses this year and decided that Jump Gymnastics would be the perfect venue for 13 kids (predominately 4-5 year old boys).

The perks of not having a party at our house:

Didn't get all crazy trying to clean my house before the party started

Didn't get all crazy decorating my house

Didn't get all crazy making food

Didn't get all crazy making sure everything was just perfect

Didn't get all crazy cleaning up the mess

Actually, I still got a bit crazy about 2 hours before the party started. I can't help it.

Got a few pictures. I'm starting to think I should buy a flash.

Here's my boy, taking a break from the jumping and having some refreshing orangina (his favourite)

The girls listening to the instructor and then taking turns on the obstacle course. Not, what the boys were doing. The other instructor gave up on the boys and decided they could have free play.

My mom's awesome rocket cake (I always make her make the cakes. I think she secretly likes it)

Post party...waiting to go home

NEW ADDITION

No, the new addition is not a new baby!

Although after taking some pictures of a yummy new baby this past weekend, and then going through some old photos of my kids, I miss the big eyes and squishy cheeks and warm cuddles and sweet breath...

I wish life would slow down a bit!

I found this picture of Sam when he was 1o months old. He is so squishy. Unlike tonight, when he kicked me in the shins after I told him it was time to go to bed.

So, the first new addition is a bunk bed for my boys (currently in pieces in the garage). They are going to shack up together and Clara is going to move back in to Will's room. Sam is as excited to sleep on the top bunk as he was about Christmas. Hopefully there will be no trips to Emergency. Sam seems to think a bunk bed is a launching pad (see below):

We are making a room for our au pair who arrives in 8 sleeps! This is the other new addition to our family. Like any new thing, I am nervous, curious and excited. I wonder if I can show up for breakfast in my undies? And will she mind waffles for dinner? Will she be horrified when Sam shows her his butt? Will she sit with us on the couch at night and watch So You Think You Can Dance? What will it be like to share our home and our day with another person?

We shall see.

Some things we accomplished this past weekend:

• a movie in bed
• a visit and almost a sleepover with my nephew
• a sleep in
• a boat made of blankets and pillows spanning the entire first floor of our house
• a visit with the George gong
• a swim
• a birthday party
• a newborn photo session (my first, but hopefully not last)
• a 2010 debut at our Church
• lots of Wii
• a pirate ship battle in the bath
• a birthday dinner for Uncle Darren
• a shelf moved upstairs in preparation for some changes (more on that tomorrow)

Some pictures from the George visit:

And one of Sam and his cousin playing some Wii. The love of the Wii is still going strong!

SAM'S DAY

Birthdays are a YES day in our house. I say yes to almost anything.

This is what Sam wanted to do on his birthday: have bacon and eggs and gingerale for breakfast, go to Go Bananas with some friends, have Mr. Noodle for lunch, skip school, play UNO, watch Monster House, go for a bike ride, have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, play Wii, play chase.

We accomplished everything! And we still have a party to go to next week...

Yay for me, for getting his invitation done. I tried out my new gouache paints.

FIVE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM

We are so thankful God chose us to be your parents.

We love you so much.

XO mommy & daddy

IN SEARCH OF SNOW:PART II

SKIING AT WHISTER

by Clara

Daddy took us skiing. We went up to the top of the hill in a chairlift. It was a long way up. We skiied down and it didn't go very well. Mommy came and walked halfway up the hill. When we got to the bottom, Daddy took me up by myself, and we got off the chairlift and I didn't even fall and I skiied all the way down without going in Daddy's legs. And then it was Sam's turn and I had hot chocolate and listened to some crazy songs and watched Will dance.

And I had cookie dough ice cream when I went home.

We went tubing too. It cost us $11 per run, but for Sam, it was worth it!

I went once and it was terrifying. The rest of the time I hung out with this guy at the bottom:

THE END

IN SEARCH OF SNOW

We drove an hour and half north and found some snow this weekend! We skied, tubed, threw snowballs, drank hot chocolate and Will even tried this...

(that would be his tongue on a pole).

Lots more pictures tomorrow!

SAM AT SCHOOL

I'm really love my new lens (thank you mom and dad and Jake). It has been on my camera since Christmas Eve and sometimes I just like to go over to my desk and look at it. I thought I might tackle a 52 weeks project (a photo each week for the year), but then I realized I already take at least a photo each day!

I brought my camera with me to pick Sam up from preschool. Here are some of his little buddies. He is the oldest in his school and I think he might also be the coolest. Apparently, in school, he talks a lot about boats, spicy food, cars and asks his classmates how many motors are in their car? We have 5. More motors=faster car.

Each day at pick up he runs out, hugs my leg and asks me whose house he can go to, and then takes off down to the Playground to play "Drownders" (Grounders). I'm not sure if anyone else is familiar with this game but it really is crazy and completely unsafe. The person who is "it" has to close their eyes on the play structure and try to tag someone. If they call "grounders" while someone is on the ground then that person becomes it.

Sometimes, I'm surprised that Sam survives the day.