Busy weekend!

Well, James' birthday celebrations are finally over! What a busy and fun weekend!

We started off on Friday evening by going to the Terrys' for pork ribs and, of course, cake. Gramma, Grampa, Aunty Laura, Jason and Aunty Gloria were there - Uncle Neil was still on his guys' vacation to Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

On Saturday morning, we had a surprise first birthday party for little Mary! My friend, Lesley, her husband, Rob, and their daughter, Mary, are visiting this week from Boston. So we had a house full of friends and enjoyed lots and lots of food - it felt like a daycare in here with six kids between the ages of 5 months and 3 years. It was so fun!

After everyone left, the boys promptly fell asleep and James and I got ready for our night on the town. We dropped the boys off at Gramma and Grampa's for their sleepover and went to our hotel downtown to check in. We had a gift card for the Keg that we needed to use so we went there for dinner and managed to spend all $100 on a very nice meal. Then we just wandered around downtown, because we rarely go down there, and headed back to the hotel for an early night. That was the biggest reason for our night out - to get a full night's sleep!

We slept in until 8:00am! I can't remember the last time we were able to do that! We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and headed back to pick up the boys before lunch. They had so much fun with Gramma and Grampa. They took a few walks to the playground, played with all their toys and had a good time.

Sunday evening, we headed back downtown to go to Auntie Lauren's for yet another birthday dinner. She made yummy butter chicken (chicken strips and Kraft Dinner for the boys and butter chickpeas for Lindsay) and blueberry coffee cake for dessert. We had a nice visit, James did very well gift-wise, and it was a nice ending to an exciting weekend.

This week is going to be quite busy, too, with lots of doctor's appointments, I'm going to a book party, James is going out with Tim, who is in town from Montreal. Then, on Saturday morning, we're heading up to Summerland to visit Grandma and Grandpa Rowe and all the great-grandparents. The fun continues!

Happy Birthday James!

Today is James' third annual 29th birthday! Happy Birthday to a great dad and husband!

I asked Daniel a few weeks ago what he wanted to give Daddy for his birthday and Daniel's response was, "Maybe he wants a robot." So we made him a robot. Daniel did most of it himself, with some help from Adam. I put the paper on the box and the face on the balloon head. But, otherwise, the present was completely from the boys.

(The candles were very strategically placed by the boys.)

Today was a pretty low-key birthday celebration with just cards and brownies. But James' birthday celebrations are going to last all weekend. Yesterday, he got cake at work to celebrate his (and a few other coworkers') birthdays. Tomorrow is dinner with the Terry family and more cake. Saturday, James and I are getting a date night! Gramma and Grampa are taking the boys for a sleepover and we're going downtown for dinner and then we're treating ourselves to a hotel for a full night's sleep and possibly even sleeping in! Then, on Sunday, we're going to Lauren's for yet another birthday dinner. James certainly knows how to celebrate a birthday! Supposedly, he gets that from (Great) Grandpa Rowe, who knows how to make his birthday last!

Silly kids!

Our kids certainly are goofballs! Here are two funny pictures from yesterday. Daniel helped me make a brownie for James' birthday and really enjoyed licking the spoon and the bowl. Adam's fashion sense may leave a bit to be desired. He had just gotten his diaper changed and decided he needed a little something to complete his look.

Amam and Neh Neh

Adam is finally starting to try to say some words! He doesn't really speak on his own, but he will repeat some of the words we say. He'll only do it, though, if we say, "Adam, say ____!"

His little list so far is:

mama
dada
Neh Neh (Daniel)
doh (go)
no
yeah
whoa

Before we know it, we'll have two chatterboxes in our house!

Happy (early) St. Patrick's Day!

Today was the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Vancouver. The rain seemed to be holding off this morning and the sun was trying to peek out so we packed ourselves into the van (with raincoats and umbrellas, just in case) and went to pick up Grampa. We got to the parade route with plenty of time, found a good spot for ourselves right on the curb and waited for the parade to start. Daniel was a little impatient and Adam was a little hungry, but some bunny crackers fixed that! Finally, the traffic police on motorcycles came and did their routine right in front of us. I don't think Adam ever blinked and you couldn't wipe the grin off of Daniel's face. They loved it! Soon, the parade started. There were a lot of pipes and drum bands, some Irish dancers, Scottish dancers, even Korean and Chinese dancers! The boys loved waving to everyone and dancing to all the music.

Then the rain started! And did it ever rain! We had our big golf umbrella, which the boys and I hid under, and a smaller umbrella. It was OK for a while. Auntie Lauren came by, since she lives not far from the parade route, and we watched the many dancers, musicians and people dressed in medieval Irish costumes. Daniel loved the knights and sword fighting! He also liked the free stuff people were going away - stickers, candy, Irish Spring body wash and even a stuffed parking attendant doll!

All was going well. We were a bit cold and wet but alright...until the snow started! The crowds dispersed pretty fast! We had been there for over two hours anyway, so we were ready to go. We stopped by Auntie Lauren's office for a bit to warm up and play some ping pong. Then we headed back to Grampa's for a hot dog lunch. Adam fell asleep the moment we started the van, so he missed out on lunch. Daniel managed to stay awake until we were about a block from Grampa's! But he woke up as soon as we mentioned hot dogs! He never did get his nap, so it should be an early night tonight!

It was a very fun and memorable day! Who would have thought we'd get snow five days before spring???

Sick again!

The poor boys are sick again! Adam caught the cold earlier in the week and Daniel got it a few days ago. Neither has been sleeping really well, because they're all stuffed up. Poor Adam's nose is quite gross and Daniel's got a nasty cough. I ended up keeping them home from daycare yesterday. Adam was definitely on the mend, but Daniel was coughing so much it was making him throw up. Plus, it was the last day of school before Spring Break, so I figured my class would be too excited to notice I wasn't there!

Luckily, Adam seems to be alright now. He's slept through the night two nights in a row now. It was getting a little much having him wake up, since he's usually such a great sleeper. Daniel is coughing less today and I think feels better. That's good, because the boys have a birthday party to go to this afternoon. Hopefully the rain will hold off, too - if they're feeling up to it and it's not raining, we're thinking of going to the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown. Gramma is out of town, so we'll invite Grampa to come along with us and have some green beer...and green juice?

Weird, weird weather!

What an interesting day we had on Sunday! In the morning, I decided to take the boys for a walk around the neighbourhood and down to the Fraser River. It was a cool, clear day and we had a lot of fun down in the mud flats. Boys and mud...What could be more fun???



After lunch, I had to go to my orchestra concert and James staryed home while the boys napped. When I came out of the theatre at 5:00, it was snowing! Snow in March! By about 7:00, James and the boys were out shovelling. What an unexpected surprise!


Monday was beautiful. It had warmed up quite a bit - perfect for a walk to the playground. The boys and I went up to our little park and had so much fun sliding down the slide. Between the fact that the slide was cold and wet and the boys were wearing snowpants, the slid really fast and flew off the bottom. They both loved it!

Just because I thought it was cute...

My two muscle men!