Birthday Wishes for Grandpa B!

The older I get the more I realize how lucky I feel to have my Dad in my life. He is one of those Dads that is always available and truly never lets you down. I really admire that about him. He may not always agree with my ways, and we can have differing opinions on certain subjects, but this never gets in the way of our father-daughter relationship. He definitely is always around to help out and offer advice... and that fact that he is interested and involved in my life is truly a special blessing.

I have always thought a lot of my dad, and now that I have boys of my own, that admiration has sky rocketed! I love to seem him interact with his grandchildren as I have such fond memories of my own grandfathers and I am so happy that my own boys will have the same opportunity to really know their grandfathers.

Thank you Dad for being you. Today on your birthday, I wish health and happiness, and all the good things that life has to offer a special Grandpa!

Much love today and always.
xoxo

 

Dramatic First Haircut!

My baby boy just sheded another layer of his baby days as we took him to get his very first haircut. If it were up to PC this haircut would have happened around the eight month mark, but in my books, it could not occur until after his first birthday.

Why?

Well, no concrete reason of course, but from my standpoint babies don't need haircuts, little boys do... and before turning one I still considered my boy a baby!

H did celebrate his first birthday back in December, but we just got around to scheduling the haircut (with our neighbour across the street) last week!

Prior to the haircut, H had some pretty cute little wings growing .... he was all business in the front, party in the back, but post hair cut he is looking a little more business all around.  I swear with every haircut that E gets, he ages just a little, and the same can be said for sweet baby boy now.  He's a little more of a boy and a less of a baby with this first milestone now under his belt.

The hair cut itself was high drama - you would think we were branding a suspecting cow! One look at the hairdresser - who we know quite well - and H was full of hysterics! He definitely felt the need to audition for the part of 'very upset baby' for the duration of the haircut, but in the end he was all smiles and happy to have a new 'do!

Of course, being the good Mother I am... I snapped a few photos as the drama unfolded. You can see for yourself just how good of a little actor we have on our hands!

 The 'BEFORE'

And let's begin... 

Tricked you... piece of cake!

 

That's stupid, your stupid - who's stupid now?

So... I knew it would happen, but I wasn't sure when. And then it happened, my son said 'stupid' followed by 'you're stupid Mommy'.

Last Saturday as we were getting ready for skating, E promptly told me 'I don't want to go to skating, I want to go for pancakes' (which is our Saturday morning tradition post skating lessons). The conversation went like this:

Me: You have to go to skating first, before we can go the restaurant.
E: No we don't.
Me: Yes, we do.

E: But I don't want to do that. I just want to go for pancakes.
Me: Well maybe next week we can go before skating, but this week, we are going aftewards.
E: (mumbling to himself) That's stupid.
E: (even quieter) Your stupid Mommy.

Me: (silently freaking out but acting cool) Excuse me Emery, would you like to repeat that over here in front of me?
E: (with a surprised look) No thank you, Mommy.

Me: I heard what you said Emery, and we don't use that word, it is not nice, and you can use other words if your upset instead of that one.
E: (with a look of horror) Okay Mommmmmmeeeeeeey
E: (on the verge of tears) But I'm sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry.

You can't win with this kid, he likes to assert himself at times, but the moment he thinks he's done something wrong, it turns to tears. He's a sensitive soul. Lately, we are in the battles of 'no I don't, yes you do' or 'yes I can, no you can't'. It's frustrating from a parenting perspective, but I can't help but remember my thirst for independence and defiance at a young age - he comes by that trait honestly!

Anyways... we had the mild discussion about stupid, and I mentioned it to PC just so he was aware of it. PC even reinforced not to talk like that... so we were all on the same page. I thought we moving on, until half an hour later, we are loaded and in the car for skating and driving to the rink. PC is in the front seat, and E is in the back with H. I am about to pull in the parking lot, when a van coming the other way decides to cross in front of me and beat me to the turn... PC is shaking his head but keeps his mouth shut, until this van decides to slam on its brakes to pull into a parking spot near the front door, but overshoots that turn, and has to reverse in front of us.  As this unfolds PC shakes his head in disgust and out flys  'what a stupid idiot'.

 Apple, tree... tree, apple.

And now we've introduced 'idiot' to the three-year old vocabulary list.

Awesome.  Totally awesome.

Happy LOVE Day!

I know this is a Hallmark inspired day, but I still think its important to take this day to give those special valentine's in your lives an extra hug or kiss.

I hope you each of you have great day... and find a special way to spread some love around in your lives.

Here are my two special hearts from my life!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fun on the Rideau Canal!

This past weekend, we took advantage of some mild winter weather in the nation's capital and took in a day of skating on the Rideau Canal.

I have come to love this annual outing, and this year was especially fun because E was all geared up to skate by himself for the first time.  Last year, E had his skates on and we held him to get the hang of it, but the whole skating experience was short lived as he was extremely intimidated by the number of people on the canal and of course his abilities weren't quite there yet.

Fast forward one year later, add in a baker's dozen worth of skating lessons, and you have a little boy who actually gets excited by the thought of doing it on his own!

The day seriously could not have been more perfect weather wise, the canal conditions were excellent. The sun was shining and the smell of BeaverTails filled the air. This year we packed both boys into the bike trailer and they were nice and cozy enjoying just shy of a 10 km skate.

Midway through our 3.5 hour outing on the canal, both boys decided the conditions were ideal for a little snooze.  PC and I took advantage of the quiet time to maximize our skate to both ends of the canal. We exerted just enough energy to earn ourselves a couple of BeaverTails and a hot chocolate - and the wafting of cinnamon and sugar brought the boys around just in time the best part of the whole experience.

This was H's first time trying the famous Canadian BeaverTail, and he definitely gave it his royal seal of approval.  He was extremely happy to see his big brother had leftovers he was willing to share. For E, it seems the BeaverTail and a shot hot chocolate was all he needed to demand he was ready to skate... so PC and I found a quieter path on the canal and let him go for it.

H was nearing the end of his 'fun' rope by the time we got E suited up, but we did manage to entertain him long enough to let E have a good experience skating on the canal all. by. himself.  I was loving E's enthusiam for the whole experience... it was definitely a highlight for him and so glad we closed out the day on a high.

All in all, it was a GREAT day - I love these unexpected family outings that come together with little planning (they are rare for us), when the stars align and everyone is able to enjoy themselves - I get a little giddy! This was one of those awesome days that I will log in our family memory book for many years to come.

Here are a few pics from the day ...  and a short video of E doing his thing!