Wish you were here...

For all of you up in the Okanagan (or up in the mountains, as Daniel describes it), here's what you missed when Lauren, Duncan and Lindsay came to celebrate James' birthday.

Uncle Duncan and Daniel hanging out before dinner.

Daddy and Daniel opening presents.

Awww! Hugs for the birthday dad!

Auntie Lauren gave Adam a play camera today that squirts water when you pretend to take a picture. He got such a kick out of that toy! But, later in the evening, he got hold of the real camera. Here's how he documented the evening.

Here's the photographer:

Uncle Duncan and Sarah.

Hi Auntie Lauren!

Being silly!

Nice look, Auntie Lindsay!

The birthday boy.

An artistic shot of Mommy and Sarah.

A future photographer, maybe?

Happy Birthday James!

Happy Birthday to the best husband and dad we could ask for!

Lucky James celebrated his birthday three times in the last three days - party #1 with Leah's family, party #2 with our little family at home

and party #3 with his siblings.

Happy Birthday James!

A sunny day

It looks like spring may be just around the corner. Let's hope so! For now, we're enjoying getting out in the sun, even if it is a little chilly at times. Sarah got to sit out in the sun for the first time, with a little help from some cushions. I think she liked sitting like a big girl - I tried the bouncy chair and first and she kept trying to flip herself out. But she didn't think much of the sun in her eyes.

While Sarah was suntanning, the boys were playing some hockey up on the deck. Daniel was "Canada" and Adam was "China" and they were playing for the gold medal. Here's Sidney Crosby winning his gold medal.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Sarah

While over at Gramma and Grampa's house today, Sarah tried out the Jolly Jumper. She loved it! She was so cute and totally reminded us of a teeny little Irish dancer. So, in honour of St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, here's our little leprechaun.

What a big girl!

A week away from turning 6 months old, Sarah has learned to sit! She still props herself up with her hands but she can do it on her own for at least a minute at a time. She's still pretty wobbly but so cute! It'll be so nice to be able to set her on the floor with some of her toys but I'm sure she'll need some pillows around her for a while, since I'm sure her brothers will occasionally knock her over!

Daniel the shutterbug

As we were coming home this evening, we drove through a huge rainstorm and then the sun came out. The boys were admiring the rainbow when we pulled in front of the house so I handed Daniel the camera and told him to take some pictures while I brought the groceries into the house. Here's what I found on the camera...

Planetarium

For his birthday, James wanted the kids to take him to the H.R. Macmillan Planetarium. So, on Sunday, we headed down to see what was happening there. James and I hadn't been to the planetarium since we were kids...and it looked pretty much the same as we remembered it! Not much has changed in the last 30 or so years. :) We first went into the theatre and saw "Harold" the star projector - the machine that shines all the constellations onto the planetarium ceiling. Unfortunately, the show was pretty boring and way above the boys' heads. About 30 minutes into the 40 minute show, Sarah started to cry. Within a minute, an employee was there with a flashlight, showing us the way to the exit! I guess we were disturbing the 15 other people in the theatre! We didn't mind missing the end of the show, though.

We then headed downstairs to the various space-related displays. The boys had fun trying out the interactive displays, enough if most of them didn't work! A highlight was the rocket presentation, where a "rocket scientist" taught the audience to make a bottle rocket. The boys (all three of them) thought it was super cool! Sarah wasn't impressed, though, so I had to take her out.

It was fun, but not really quite what we expected. I don't know if we'll be going back too soon - unless they update some of their displays!

Here are our little astronauts:

Sarah's first solid foods!

Today was a big day for Sarah! She started solid food today. She had her first taste of rice cereal, flavoured with formula and canola oil. Delicious! Well, she thought so! Here are a few pictures of how it went...

Patiently waiting for her food to arrive.


First taste.


Good stuff!

She ate it pretty well - spit it out a bit but got the hang of it quickly.

She loves it!

Yum!

Big brothers wanted to help, too. Daniel kept giggling as he was feeding Sarah.

Adam took his responsibility very seriously. He's been talking for weeks about helping Sarah eat her food. He always says, "Me hold...baby Fwawah...'poon." (It's hard to show in words the cute way Adam talks. Each word is a sentence on its own. He was saying he wanted to hold Sarah's spoon for her.)

Sarah got a little messy after big brother Adam fed her!

Success! That's the smile of a happy girl with a full tummy!

Our two little fish

Today was the last day of the boys' swimming lessons. We switched over to a newer pool with warmer water for this session, hoping that Adam wouldn't hate swimming quite so much. Well, it worked! Adam really enjoys the water now and usually doesn't want to leave at the end of the lesson. He can do most of the skills for his level but, being the stubborn 2 year old that he is, he doesn't always want to do them when his teacher asks. He wants to do it on his own time. Daniel was born to be in the water. You have never seen a smile so big as the one on his face while he's swimming. He doing so well, too - he can even swim a short distance underwater on his own! We're pretty proud of our two little fish!

Unfortunately, I forgot the camera this morning for their last lesson. No pictures, but I can share how they did on their report cards today.

Daniel was in the Salamander level. He can:

• kick on his front using a buoyant object for 2 metres
• distance swim for 2 metres
• open eyes underwater
• front and back float for 3 seconds
• front and back glide for 3 seconds (with the teacher but I think he can do it on his own, too)
• He has now passed into the Sunfish level! His teacher said, "Great work Daniel! It was fun having you in class. Remember to kick your legs with pointy toes and straight legs. Hope to see you in the pool again! Good luck."

Adam was in the Sea Turtle level. He can:

• kick on his front using a buoyant object for 2 metres (with help)
• get wet, put his face in the water (kind of)
• he's starting to be able to float on his front and back
• His teacher said, "Excellent progress Adam! You should be proud of how well you tried everything on your own! Your floats are looking very nice. Wait until you turn 3 years old to take lessons on your own. Until then, keep swimming and practicing the skills and songs you've learned. Good luck and have fun!"

Since Adam has reached the highest level he can before he turns 3, we've signed Daniel up for the next session, but not Adam. Instead, there is public swim from 8am-10am. We'll do that with both boys, Adam will get out at 10:00 and Daniel will go straight to his lesson, which starts at 10:00. We may even get Sarah to take a dip in the water. (If I can find a bathing suit and swim diapers small enough!) We've signed her up for lessons in May so this will be a good chance to get her used to the water. We'll see what she thinks!