Birthday Celebrations

The past week has been filled with various parties to celebrate Ethan's 4th birthday!!!

On his actual birthday, last Tuesday, we all went to the Great Wolf Lodge for the night. This resort has a huge waterpark, an arcade and a kids craft room. It was a lot of fun. Ethan and Olivia had a great time at the waterpark. Ethan, who has no fear, went on some of the big tube rides with Scott and Casey. Casey, Bailey, Ethan's friend, Jacob (and my friend Kathy), all joined us for the day. Later that night, Michelle came and we all went out to dinner.

Here is Troy in the waterpark. He went swimming as well but doesn't seem to like/not like it much either way.
Ethan, Casey and Bailey had fun painting Easter eggs in the craft room.

The arcade was a big hit with all the kids. They love winning the tickets from the various games. Of course $10.00 worth of games buy you a $.50 candy but they did not seem to notice!!!

Olivia had fun in the waterpark and the wave pool. She loves floating on her back and kicking around.

Last Sunday, we went to my friend Rebecca's for some afternoon birthday cake. Here is Harry, Ethan and Troy. The Topolski's were also there but Truman did not make entirely it into this picture (although you can see his body). We had a nice afternoon catching up and watching the kids play.

Troy is 6 months old today - I do not know where the time has gone. He is getting so big so fast. He continues to be such a sweetheart. He is very curious and loves to play with anything he can get his hands on. Everything of course usually ends up in his mouth. He can also sit up on his own which has given him a sense of independence!

On Friday he went to see the eye doctor. One of his eyelids is sometimes a little bit droppy. The doctor said it was not a problem (in a small number of cases it can be a sign of something series), it is just caused by an underdeveloped muscle and should resolve itself with time. You generally only notice it when he is tired, although it is noticeable in some pictures depending on the angle.

Last Saturday was Ethan's friend birthday party. He had 18 kids for a bowling party. It was pretty chaotic, especially because my mom, sister etc.. were all in Florida, but everyone seemed to have a good time. Ethan got a lot of "stuff" to add to his toy collection. Below are the before toy opening and after toy opening pictures, as well as some pictures from the party.

Last night, the celebrations continued with my family coming over for dinner. I have not downloaded the pictures yet but will for the next post. The kids had a great time and Ethan got some great presents. He really enjoys playing board games, including Dinosauer checkers, Sequence and Cariboo these days.

Kirk is coming over for dinner tonight, so I am off to figure out how to make a turkey...

Fun in the Snow

Ethan and I have spent a lot of time outside playing in the snowlately as the snow just does not seem to want to stop. Yesterday, we took Olivia with us. She had a lot of fun sliding down the snow banks with Ethan. She also enjoyed eating the snow - see pictures below.

Other than that, we have spent the past couple weekends at various birthday parties - a couple of friend parties and some family ones as well, including an early birthday party for Ethan at my mom's - as she (and most of my other family) will be in Florida for his birthday. We are having a bowling party for him on Saturday with at least 16 kids - it will no doubt be chaotic but hopefully fun too!!!

We are enjoying March Break this week. I am enjoying not having to shuttle Ethan and Olivia back and forth to school and activities. It is nice to relax at home. That being said, we have still managed to find some time for playdates and indoor playgrounds. I have also started going back to the gym (finally) and Ethan has been coming with me as well. It feels great going back to the gym...if I could only kick my chocolate habits I would be all set!

Here is Olivia enjoying one of her favourite foods - pasta. She is starting to get a bit of a belly - the girl likes to eat (and all healthy food). On Monday, we all went to Jack Astor's for dinner (the first time since Troy was born) and Olivia ate more than any of the rest of us. The dinner went remarkably smoothly- all three kids were very well behaved (of course having Paola there certainly helped). Speaking of healthy food, Ethan keeps telling us that he is going to start eating fruits and vegetables when he turns four (although now that the time is getting closer he is changing his story slightly - it is now sometime when he is four not as soon as he turns four).

My little buddy Troy....he is such a sweetie!! On Sunday Scott called me over to tell me how glad he is that we had Troy...I could not agree more. He is "talking" a ton and said "da da" the other day - just the sound but it was still great to hear. He is rolling over a ton and starting to briefly sit on his own. He is starting to eat cereal and is liking. It has not helped his sleeping though- he still wakes up at least 3-4 times a night!!!

Ethan is learning to read these days. He can read about 5-10 books. They are the simple kinds with lots of repetitive words. I think it is mostly from memorizing the words but it is great to have him read books to us!!!

Here is Olivia exploring my mom's new basement. She had a great time walking around in the big open space.

Here is Ethan and Olivia resting on the couch after deciding that they got up too early!!!

Ethan has had some funny questions lately - the first was how come the houses etc.. do not slide off the earth as it is round and the second was how did all the houses, people etc... get on earth before the first people were born. These are not the questions that I would expect for an almost four year old!!!

Here is Ethan at his early birthday celebration at my mom's before she left for Florida (for a whole month)!! We can't wait until she comes back.

Stay tuned...will report on Ethan's birthday party on Sunday!!