Sarah's 7 months old!

Look at this little chubster! Sarah's finally gaining weight and has made it onto the charts. Way to go, little girl!

Cold season isn't over yet

Over Easter, we all came down with some pretty nasty colds. About a week later, we were pretty much on the mend. But then, poor Adam and Sarah came down with it again! They've been pretty upbeat about it, but they've had constant runny noses. And it seems poor Sarah has inherited the runny, swollen red eye from me. I'm sorry, Sarah! It doesn't seem to be slowing her down, though.

Her big brother, Adam, takes good care of her.

And, even though she wasn't feeling the greatest, she managed to play a bit with Daniel on the playground in the mall.

Feel better soon, little Sarah!

Doing our part for Earth Day

Every year, for Earth Day, our neighbourhood community centre hosts a neighbourhood-wide cleanup, ending in a fun barbecue for all who helped. We've been participating every year since Daniel was a baby. It's a great way to help the kids feel responsible for their community - and they think it's really fun picking up garbage!

It was a cool, grey morning so we all bundled up and walked to the community centre, picking up garbage along the way. We managed to get an entire large garbage bag-full. Daniel had a great time but Adam wasn't as enthusiastic. Turns out, he was coming down with another cold, so he wasn't feeling his greatest. He spent most of the time hanging out in the wagon. Sarah was quite content being carried around and ended up falling asleep in the carrier.

Once we reached the community centre, we handed in our garbage (which was then sorted by volunteers into various piles - plastics, glass, reusables, paper, etc.) and we went to get our hot dog and Timbits! The boys love all the events at our community centre because Tim Horton's is always there giving out free Timbits!

We found a lot of garbage but it was pretty boring garbage. One lucky girl found a mannequin's leg, though! The boys thought it was hilarious that someone found a leg. Here are our goofballs posing with some of the odd things people found.

Inside the community centre, there were little booths set up with information about Earth Day, recycling, etc. There was also an indoor garage sale. And, to thank everyone, they gave out cake! I'm not really sure why the cake said Happy Birthday, though...

Sarah updates

Little Sarah is not so little anymore! It's hard to believe she's over 6 months old now. She's growing up too fast. She is the happiest little girl - that big smile never leaves her face. It's amazing how easy-going she is. She cries when she's tired and sometimes when she's hungry. Oh yeah, and she cries when her brothers get a little too rough! But, for the most part, she's pretty content.

Although she has a permanent smile on her face, she's still pretty quiet and rarely laughs. However, the one person who is always guaranteed a laugh is Daniel. He certainly knows how to get her to giggle. He pretends to hit himself in the head, falls on the floor and makes a goofy laugh and Sarah laughs and laughs. It's so funny to watch!

At her last doctor's appointment, about two weeks ago, Sarah weighed in at 11 pounds 3 ounces! The doctors are so happy - she's gaining weight much faster. She's still very underweight but she's not as far off the scales as she was before! She's still getting her fortified formula and has started solids. Usually her baby food is mixed with cereal, formula and canola oil. For a different flavour, she sometimes get butter in place of the oil. So far, she's tried apple, peach, banana, carrot, sweet potato and squash. She's loved all of it and cries so much when she's done that we have to give her seconds! She's a growing girl and she certainly likes her food.


Sarah's also very strong. She's sitting up really well now and rarely topples over. Usually, though, she'd prefer to stand instead of sit. She can almost stand up against furniture now. Who knows - she may be an early walker! Watch out, big brothers!


Sarah has started swimming! Daniel has lessons on Saturday and, before his lesson, we all go to public swim together. Sarah loves it! She doesn't mind the water and she's constantly looking around at everything going on in the pool. We even dunked her head last week and she didn't mind at all. She starts swimming lessons in May and I think she's going to really enjoy it.

Sarah loves to sit and play with her toys. Finally we have a child who is content to play by themselves for a while! If you set her up with a pile of toys and a pillow behind her, she's happy for up to half an hour. She loves to play with adults and her favourite brothers, too, but she really likes her alone time, too. It'll be really interesting to see what she's like as she gets older.

It's so fun watching Sarah grow and learn more and more every day. She really is a sweet baby. Her brothers absolutely adore her and she's never lacking in hugs and kisses!

Adam updates

Adam is quite the talker these days. He's talking in pretty much complete sentences these days and says the funniest things. He still mixes up some pronouns and forgets some verbs ("Me not how to read" instead of "I don't know how to read.") But, for the most part, he's pretty easy to understand. It's fun listening to him and Daniel have conversations now.

He's still working on potty training. He's a stubborn little guy! He will never go if someone asks him to - it has to be his idea. Today I asked him if he'd use the potty and he said, "No, later, on Friday." Bribes of chocolate and toys aren't working; peer pressure from his brother isn't working. He's just not going to do it until it's his own idea. I'd be lying if I said it's not a bit frustrating!

Adam is developing a funny sense of humour - he understands sarcasm and many of the things he says are followed with "me jokin'."

He's still quite fond of the princesses. He's always commenting on how pretty they are. I took the boys to buy new sunglasses the other day. Daniel picked some alien-type ones and Adam chose blue Barbie princess ones, complete with rhinestones on the arms. He was so proud of those sunglasses. Daniel found him some Cinderella ones, since Cinderella is Adam's favourite. But Adam said, "No, Findawewwa sunglasses pink. Pink for girls. Me like blue." So princesses are fine, as long as they're blue! Unfortunately, his love of princesses wasn't quite strong enough. At the last minute, he found some red Lightning McQueen ones and went with those instead!

He really likes colouring these days and will sit for at least half an hour at a time colouring in his colouring book. Supposedly, he's the most precise colourer out of all the other little boys at daycare. He's also quite proud of his artwork, showing it off and stating "me good colourer, right Mommy?" While he was working the other day, he started drawing on the newspaper meant to be protecting the carpet. There I saw one of his first people drawings. Pretty good, if you ask me!


Adam had a bit of a scare yesterday. He and Daniel were playing with a Spiderman that you pull back and it rolls across the ground. Spiderman rolled right under the fridge. Daniel tried to get it but his arm wouldn't reach. Adam, wanting to show up his big brother, managed to grab the Spiderman. As he was bragging to Daniel, he realized that his arm was stuck! I tried to get him out but he was really stuck and was starting to panic. I was afraid that something was pinning his arm down so I started to panic a little, too. Luckily, I knew our neighbours were working out in their front yard so I sent Daniel out to get them to help. It took both of them plus me to lift our fridge and free poor Adam. There wasn't a mark on his arm, though. I guess he was hanging onto Spiderman and therefore flexing his bicep. If I had thought to get him to let go, I probably would have gotten him free just fine. Luckily, there was no harm done. And I don't think Adam will be reaching under the fridge anytime soon!

Adam's our mischievous one. He's always climbing, hiding, does a great sulk when he's upset. But he's also our fun-loving, goofy little guy who's growing up way too fast!

Daniel updates

Daniel is still our crazy kid who's full of energy. But, lately, he's really enjoyed doing more quiet activities - drawing, colouring, crafts. He loves drawing aliens and working in his work books, practicing his letters and numbers. He's so ready for kindergarten! Here's an example of one of his many, many drawings.

Speaking of kindergarten, kindergarten orientation is on May 4! Daniel is very excited about going to "his school" and seeing what's going on there. We go about once a week already, to the StrongStart preschool program. Plus, Daniel will be going to the school that I teach at. So it already feels like his second home!

Daniel is certainly confident in his sense of style. He loves to do crazy and uniqe things when he's getting dressed. Lately, he's been choosing to wear two different socks or two different shoes. He's quite proud this. The other day, he decided to take it one step further and wear one sock and one mitten on his feet!

Ever since the Olympics, Daniel has discovered a new love of hockey. He loves to play street hockey by himself, with Adam or with his buddy, Carson. The funny thing is that Daniel prefers to be goalie. He's a pretty good one, too. He's got diving in front of the net down to an art! We're a little nervous about his teeth, though, since his Uncle Duncan had a run-in with a hockey stick. We may have to find Daniel a hockey face mask one of these days.

He's growing like a weed! None of Daniel's clothes fit anymore! I brought out all his summer clothes from last year and had to put them straight into Adam's dresser. Daniel went from a size 3 to a size 5 and doesn't fit anything in the toddler section anymore - he needs to shop in the big boys' section.

Lately, Daniel has been really interested in puzzles and Lego. He'll work for a long time putting things together. He's very good at it - he definitely gets it from his father and not his mother!

Daniel's growing up so fast. He also keeps us on our toes. He goes from being a doting and loving brother to running around the house like a crazy guy. Life is never boring when Daniel's around!

Easter Monday

The celebrations didn't end on Sunday! On Easter Monday, we piled into the minivan for the trip up to Squamish to Laura and Jason's house for dinner. We hadn't been up to Squamish in a long time. Hopefully, we'll be able to make more trips up there when the weather gets nicer and we can enjoy the beautiful scenery.



The kids were lucky and got another Easter egg hunt, which included some chocolate, cute monkey necklaces and, of course, Hot Wheel cars. Uncle Jason is famous for helping the boys expand their Hot Wheels collection. :) Laura made a delicious turkey dinner and we ended the evening as any great party should - a rip-roaring game of Scatterpillar Scramble and some catch in the living room. :)

Here are the boys in the midst of their Easter egg hunt:

Sarah was content with her Easter presents:

A sleepy Sarah looking pretty with Aunty Gloria's flower in her hair:

Daniel hanging out with Uncle Neil and Aunty Gloria:

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was a pretty busy day for our family! As usual, we were up bright and early, and headed downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny brought. The kids did quite well. The boys got some crafts (make your own pirate ship for Daniel and train for Adam) and some chocolate, of course. Sarah got a little book and some baby food, lucky girl! And all four of the Olympic mascots were waiting for them as well.

After a couple of treats, we headed over to Duncan and Lindsay's for Easter Brunch. The kids had a little Easter egg hunt and then we sat down for a yummy brunch of French toast, sausages and Schwartzy's hashbrowns. (I've yet to learn why they're named that but I don't really care - all I know is that they're really yummy!) And no trip to Uncle Duncan's would be complete without playing some Nintendo - the original one!

It was a quick visit, though, because we needed to drive out to White Rock to have Easter dinner with Leah's family. We saw very little of the boys because they were having a great time up in cousin Janice's attic with all the cool toys. Sarah was a hit visiting with all the aunts and uncles. We had a delicious potluck with way too much food and ended the evening with some visiting and a game of Guesstures.

Aquarium!

Grandma and Grandpa "in the mountains" (as Daniel and Adam loving refer to them, since we have to drive through the mountains to get to their house) came to visit us over Easter weekend. It was so nice to have a little visit with them. On the Saturday, we all, along with Auntie Lauren, went to the aquarium and had a lot of fun. The kids had a great time seeing the sharks and other underwater creatures inside the aquarium before heading outside to see the beluga whale show.



We went to see the 4D movie about life in the shallow waters. It was really cool! The fourth D is the sense of touch and feeling. Water sprayed at us as whales swam through the water, bubbles floated around in the air, air shot out at our feet as electric eels slithered by and we even got poked in the back a few times! I think we jumped a few times in surprise! And we all looked pretty cool in our 3D glasses.




We then went outside to see the beluga whale show and had a quick and chilly lunch outside. We went back to the rainforest room after that to warm up!


We enjoyed watching the dolphins playing around.


There was a bit of an "Easter egg hunt" where we had to collect clues. When the boys handed in their responses to the clues to Bebop the Beluga, they got a free ice cream. Daniel and Bebop became great friends! Unfortunately, the battery in our camera died before the kids got to meet Bebop but I think Grandma and Grandpa got a good picture. Maybe they can pass it along and I'll add it on here.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for suggesting we go to the aquarium and for taking us there. We all had a great time.