He's 5!!!

 Ethan celebrated his golden birthday on Thursday. Hard to believe that he is 5 already!

 Decorations and presents set out the night before

 He woke up early, got dressed and then sat at the table patiently waiting for everyone else to get up and ready so he could open his gifts

 His first Lego set

 Opening his gift from his brother

 I was the mom volunteer for the morning in Ethan's class, so it was special to spend part of his birthday at school with him, which included enjoying  cupcake at snack time. After school, Opa and Oma came for coffee/tea and to visit us all. Ethan forgot the birthday suitcase (special bag to take home in JK when its your birthday, which includes a birthday gift from the teacher). It was hand delivered from his teacher Mrs. Baker, on her way home from school. How sweet of her!! We enjoyed french fries, chicken nuggets and salad for supper and ice cream for dessert.

 After church this morning (Good Friday), we had a small family party with my family. We ate a dirt & worms cake and he opened some more gifts.

A special Happy Golden Birthday to you Ethan! We love you and you are very special to us all!

Organ concert

He was able to go

 to Andre Knevel's organ concert

last night with his dad

and he had so much fun!

It was a special time for father and son!

Our March break

We had a fabulous march break. My dear hubby was home for the week and that was so much fun to have him around!! The week went by very quickly with lots of things to do...like swimming at the YMCA, playing outside, going for walks and bike rides, going to the park, having some family over for a night, Seth went to 2 birthday parties, we celebrated my Mom's birthday as well. Paul and I were able to go on a one night getaway, just the 2 of us! It was about time since we haven't left Chloe yet and she's 1 1/2 years old already! We really enjoyed the beautiful weather we were blessed with! The week went by so fast. It was really enjoyable to relax and sleep in and just enjoy lots of family time! 

I should really say "don't ask" but maybe I should explain lol

They were getting ready to go to the YMCA to swim and this is how I found Ethan after he got into his bathing suit and was waiting to go. Only Ethan that's for sure!

Chloe was a little fussy a couple nights so the one night I took her out of bed and she enjoyed some snuggles and snacks with daddy!

 Her crazy bed head in the morning!

Ethan learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels and he was pretty excited about it! He's growing up for sure. Next week he turns 5. Crazy how the time goes!

 Seth had some fun trying to build something out back. He was trying to make a boat and was using tape to put it together, but he was able to use Paul's hammer and nails and enjoyed every minute of it!

Hope you all had a great March break and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Kids

Things are pretty good here in our home. We are keeping busy. The kids keep growing up so fast! Hard to believe in 6 weeks, Ethan will be turning 5. Wow!

Health wise, for the most part we are well. We've had colds, viruses & pink eye going on from person to person ever since the middle of December. We just can't seem to get rid of it! Chloe currently has pink eye. In the past 1.5 months she's seen the doctor 3 times. We've maybe had 2 days where no one had a cold or anything. I guess it could be worse, so we are thankful for our health and strength that we have been blessed with!!

 Seth made a Lego creation for a project for school

 Its a church and he was inspired by it one day after a drive around town and seeing some of the older church buildings with tall steeples

 This little girlie loves "playing" piano too!

 Who needs milk for making chocolate milk when you can drink the syrup straight from the bottle!

When the boys were small, I always had latches on the cupboard doors but in this house we never put them on. Some days I wish we did, especially on the days when I'm putting lots of canned goods, or potatoes and onions back in their proper spots.

 Chloe is trying to put her "boo-tas" on (her boots) and she likes putting her "coa-ta" on too (her coat)

love when little ones start talking/communicating

 Ethan just learned how to play the Wii, so he has a little fun playing Mario Kart and other games

Stay tuned for some more posts coming up soon!

piano

Seth has been doing piano lessons for a couple months now. Auntie Dani teaches him for the time being. We wanted him to learn the basics and to get an idea if he was really interested in it or just wanting lessons because others from school were taking them. December was our trial month and he did well and was enjoying it so we decided to continue. We ended up buying a keyboard off of kijiji and a little table/stand to put it on. Some days it is harder to get him to practice than others, but over all it is going well. I think the biggest temptation is the fact that is is a keyboard and there are at least 100 different tunes/songs it plays and different sound effects as well. It is more fun to play with that than to actually practice the songs.

He is learning and having fun so we shall keep on going for now. :) His goal is to be like the organist Andre Knevel. ;) If you don't know who that is, he is an organ player who does some concerts with choirs and a pan flutist. Seth calls him famous! Seth has a fascination for organs, organ music and even made a miniature pipe organ out of Lego. He is really hoping that his dad will take him to an upcoming concert of Andre Knevel one of these days!! It is neat to hear some music in our home, even if it is Mary had a Little Lamb and Ode to Joy and other songs like that. I enjoy it, especially since both Paul and I have never learned to play the piano. We keep telling him to do his best. And if he wants to be an organist someday, he needs to continue with piano lessons and all the practicing that goes along with it. Keep up the good work, Seth!

Valentines Day

Yesterday was valentines day. I went grocery shopping right after bringing the boys to school and found it interesting at the amount of men shopping for flowers, cards and candy for their significant others. Around here, we don't go with the flow of celebrating this special day. I know my hubby loves me and I love him so we don't need to do anything fancy about the day as society does. The kids still send valentines to their friends/teachers at school and receive lots of special cards and treats as well. And I made some special heart shaped cookies (as pictured above) and we enjoyed it as an after school snack. We also received a 'What I'll do for Love' coupon booklet from Seth. :)

One thing I really enjoy doing is making a special meal that we all enjoy, followed by a special dessert and eating by candle light. :) Last nights meal was homemade pizza, and then the kids had ice cream with berries and Paul and I had a homemade strawberry pie with whipping cream for dessert. I was going to serve grape juice in fancy cups, but I forgot. Oh well. It really didn't matter. We all enjoyed it the meal.

One special thing was hearing a prayer by one of our children after our meal..."Thank you God for this yummy supper, for full bellies, for the special treats, and for the nice candles we have get to have tonight". It's moments like these that make certain holidays special. Not the cards, candies and flowers, that can come anytime of the year. It's the spending time together and making memories with our kids! 

Mr.Smiley, potatoes, and family night

Meet Mr. Smiley!

The snowman that Paul and the boys made when we had a decent amount of snow fall.

although he melted not long after and went from being Mr. Smiley to Mr. Skeleton

 Yes, that is a potato she has in her hand!

Each day I find lots of potatoes, toilet paper rolls, and plastic containers all over my hallway, kitchen and living room. She loves to toss a potato on the floor and then walk over to it, pick it up and do it again. Such a fun game for her I guess.

 Friday night is junk food night and family night. It's our night to spend as a family either playing games or watching something and eating sweets and treats! This particular evening, the kids chose to watch a movie so they all got snuggly and cozy for the movie. Chloe was even loving it too! :)

 I'm totally loving all the curls she has!! And found out that putting a ponytail in her hair instead of clips or pins works well. She doesn't even try to take it out!

 I guess she wanted to pick a movie or two to watch as well ;)

He's 8!!

A couple weeks ago, Seth turned 8. His birthday was during the Christmas break from school, so it was nice to have him home on his special day! We got up in the morning, he opened his gifts of  a 1 year subscription of Club House magazine, a special Lego case to hold Lego men, and a bey blade stadium. He had 3 friends over to celebrate, we had cupcakes, hot dogs, chips, popcorn and ice tea. For supper, we went to McDonald's for supper. The boys had gift cards from my parents for Christmas so they used them for their meal. :)

After we got back we had a small surprise family party for him. All day long he kept asking if he was having a family party or not and he was really surprised in the end!

I can't believe that he is 8 already! He is growing up so very fast! And it's hard to believe we've been parents for 8 years. You think after 8 years of parenting and 3 kids that we would be pros by now, but it is still a learning process as each day goes by.

We love you Seth! Happy 8th birthday and God's blessings for many more years with us!!

 Ethan always has crazy faces for the camera

Ethan has a sweet heart and wanted to go buy something for Seth, so we took money out of his piggy bank and he picked out a hot wheels car for his brother

 Above: Seth opening the car Ethan gave

Below: the thank you hug!

 2 cakes since we had 2 parties!