Birthday Pics

We had our private little party for Mack on the Sunday after his birthday basically just giving him our couple of presents and having a cupcake cake for him. He did nap most of the afternoon so really, our time was limited. hehe Here's some pics of him with his presents and his cake. :)

Here's his cupCake based on the book, "The Hungry Caterpillar"

He wasn't too sure about it....

Ok, now there's a bit of a smile.

From his sisters, a container of Snap Beads. He sure does like to pull these apart and carry them around a lot of the day.

Even with the big present sitting right there, he'd rather play with the flippy handle on the lid. LOL

Okay, now this is better.

=D

My Baby is growing Up!!

I can't believe it was a year ago today that I brought my little boy into this world. My last baby, never to be a baby again. It was a fairly easy labour as far as labours are concerned. Bearable contractions throughout the day with me walking to try to make them stronger and closer together. By 5 o'clock we were heading into the hospital to have our baby, and at 2:05 am, after a most wonderful epidural, he was born. I knew he was going to be a boy, no one actually told me so, but my mothers intuition did! Looking back I feel like it was an easy babyhood for him and us, I know we had our trials and tribulations but all in all it was pretty painless and definitely flew by!!! (Wow! Mommy memory sure fades fast!!)

Our little man is walking and nearly running now, getting into everything he can. If it's not locked, he'll open it. If it's not up high, he's playing with it. If it's small and important... he's hiding it!

He's got 8 teeth now, 4 on the top, 4 on the bottom. He's eating mostly solid foods, rejecting the standard baby food that was once so easy to get into him. So I must put my thinking cap back on and remember some of the things Daelyn used to like to eat at that age. He can eat pretty much everything we do but some things are challenging or just not appropriate yet.

He's sleeping about 11/12 hours at night, usually from 8:30 to 8:30 or so and napping 2.5 - 3 hours during the day in one long afternoon nap. It's great for some quiet time, but I do miss the pre supper nap in order to get that taken care of without a cling on attached to my leg! LOL

We aren't having a "party" so to say but rather a few small gatherings. We had one with my family at Thanksgiving, which was also my Nephews 4th birthday. We'll have another little gathering with the other side of the family when we get together for American Thanksgiving. This weekend we're having our own little gathering on Sunday, which will include dad, myself and the kids. Pretty small and definitely not fancy. Sorry boy, it's not that you're not loved..... you're the third child. LOL

My Big One Year Old!

Pumpkins of 2010

Okay, it seems as though I just can't decide what medium to use to share my photos and life happenings. I've been meaning to blog for the last little while just hadn't sat down to do it. Mackinley is starting to take one long afternoon nap vs. two shorter ones so maybe I'll be able to get more stuff done, including the odd blog post.

Last night was Pumpkin Carving. We always like to do this as a family with each child having their own pumpkin, and picking their own face design. It's a lot of fun, ending with roasting the seeds for a tasty treat! I have to admit I helped Mackinley with his, he spent most of the time just walking around. :)

Daelyn's is on the left, Hayley's in the middle, and Mack's on the right. For those that aren't sure what that face is, it's one of Hayley's favourite typing emotions that would sound something like, "Doh" on the Simpsons.

Foto Friday - Treehouse!!

Well it's done! for now.... I still want a walk up ramp for Mack for next year but that's something we can add next spring, hopefully. OR maybe I won't want an easy access for him after all... hmmmm, might have to think on that one.

Okay so he started off with this. Ummmm... Momma thinks this is too high for the little ones. So....

then it became this. Do you see the green crate on the other side? That's on a pully so you can get things up to the top. It was originally for tools etc, but as the adults seem to gather up there at get togethers, it's being used for other things as well. :D

And then we added the baby swing for the Mackster, and the railings for safety of course.

Somebody likes it!

Here's the trap door from the top level. The hubs took the picture as I don't venture up there. Never will!

And lastly came the landscaping around the bottom. Landscape fabric, edging and P. gravel. Oh and of course a slide!!

Kuddos to my man for a great summer project done and very much enjoyed! We're proud of you!!

Wordless Wednesday

Is this a face asking for trouble or what?!?!

Foto Friday

The Mackster at 8 Months old.

Again, I know I'm behind as he's actually 9 months now (as of yesterday) but this was taken a few weeks ago. He's had lots of changes this month. We've got 4 teeth now, he's started crawling (army style) as well as pulling up on the furniture, and he's finally taken to some finger foods like Baby Mum Mum's and Baby Digestive cookies. He's 21 lbs and getting terribly heavy on mom to carry around. Almost time for the bigger car seat but that also means carrying an unconfined and squirmy child. Eek!

August Long Weekend 2010

Our weekend was spent at a Cousins wedding about 5 hours from us but thankfully we stayed at my brother and sister inlaws in the city. They have a beautiful house that fits us all very comfortably. We went in Friday night and stayed until Sunday evening. Mattie stayed home and was carefully looked after by our wonderful friends. We were apprehensive but she did great! Our friends (two different couples) let her out many times a day and even took her for walks, something she hasn't gotten from us in a while. Oops!!

The wedding was outdoors in the bride and grooms yard in the country and was probably held on the hottest day of the year. I don't do well in the heat and it was all I could do to stay in the shade. The kids did wonderfully, I kept Mack on schedule as best I could, and Daelyn.... well she LOVED playing with all the kids. After the festivities finished and things started to cool off, I was a much happier person. It was a beautiful day for a wedding and I wish my cousin and her new husband all the best in their married life together!!

The Sunday was spent with my Mom, and Brother and his family. We went for breakfast at the Pancake House, (LOVE IT!) and then to the Children's Museum. Daelyn really enjoyed playing with all the things they had there and even got her face painted. After that we took some time to get some much needed shopping done before going back to the house for supper. We didn't start our journey home until after 8 and everyone was pretty tired. Mack slept most of the way, only waking for a bottle and going right back to sleep. Daelyn stayed awake watching a movie, as she had had a nap earlier in the day.

Of course here's some pics from the weekend.

Bubble are always a hit at weddings. With Dae anyway.

Giving Grandma a ticket for the train.

It was neat to see inside the old train and even what it looks like up in the engine.

My nephew getting his face painted like a tiger.

He ran around later scaring the girls. hehe Funny guy!!

My Brother and his wife.

Wordless Wednesday... Yikes!!!

8.5 months old!

First year of VBS, Good Times!!

I was so excited that this year Daelyn was old enough to go to VBS. It's held at the Church just down the street from us, from 9-12 for a week. Mon-Friday! She didn't really know what it was at first but after Monday she loved it. The theme was Egypt, Josephs journey from prison to palace. She came home the first day with a craft, and a music cd of all the music they were practicing that week. (with actions too) So she looked forward to going every day and even asked to go to bed early the first night. hehe LOVE IT! She biked, and I walked with Mack in his Moby Wrap there in the morning and I picked her up the same way at noon. Thankfully it only rained one day and I had to pick her up in the car. No biggy! So today was the last day. (so sad) The parents/grandparents etc were invited to come early this morning to pick up so we could see all the songs they were doing and then stay for a hot dog lunch. It was so fun to see all the kids doing their songs, Daelyn had an absolute blast! And as a bonus (actually the whole point of going) was that she learned about God too, something we don't expose her to much at home. No reason really, just doesn't happen much.

So anyway here are a couple of pics of her today, one before she went and one during the songs.

Her crafts were the Egyptian headband with beads, Collar, Necklace, and the Sarcophagus. Each day she got a coin with a Bible Verse on it to keep in there. Oh and every day was a different color representing a different animal from Egypt. This day was Brown for some kind of bettle (dang I can't remember the name) and they were to dress like and Egyption.
Here she is front row with the rest of her friends in her 5 year old class. They were the Rosetta Family, with the red sashes around their waists.

They also had their pictures taken and we were given them today at the end of the week. So cute. Sorry it's a bad copy, I just took a picture of the picture on my computer.

(Wow, no model-esque posing!)

LOL

It was such a wonderfully organized event and the work that was put into the week by the volunteers was AMAZING! Kudoos to Theresa, Dae's group teachers, and everyone that made this possible. You all Rock!

Swimming Lessons

Last week we packed up and headed off to G'ma and G'pas house to take swimming lessons.

Last year didn't go well as she didn't want to put her head under water, or jump in off the side off the pool. The floats and glides were met with resistance and groping hands/arms on the lifeguards/instructors. Heck, even the shower before you can get in the pool was a scary thing. LOL

This year, I had high hopes that something might have clicked over the winter and that we'd have greater success. The pre pool shower wasn't a problem anymore, (Yaaaaaa) and now it's time to jump in..... Not gonna happen. She "slips" in off the side. You know, where you get down and put one leg in at a time and kind of hop in. Ya okay, whatever works. Everything as a whole improved but yet not enough to earn her a pass. She ended up getting her head underwater on the last day, with some help, so that's a big success. I've even noticed in the bath she doesn't freak out anymore when she gets water on her eyes. So we're getting there. Maybe next year.

Does she know she didn't "pass"? Not really. Did she have fun? Most definitely!

Wordless Wednesday - 7 months

Well I'm a bit late on this one but this will have to do for his 7 month picture.