Birthday'd Out

With Keziah in preschool and ballet this year (and just generally "growing up") she has become much more well-connected with other little girls her age... Well, at least with girls whose birthdays all seem to fall in the month of May.

So, off we traipsed to 3 separate parties where we played games, caked it up and came home loaded down with candy and other goodies.

Birthday #1 - a Luau-Themed party - this Mama goes all out when it comes to party themes :)

Keziah came dressed in summer wear (including a coconut bra we brought back from Maui).

With her new grass skirt and lei - part of her take-home goodies...

Birthday #2 - Pony Rides at Matqui Stables...

For once it had an absolutely beautiful day here in Abbotsford - a perfect day to ride ponies!

I think Keziah and I got a little too much sun but it was worth it.

"Helping" the birthday girl with her presents.

Purple Pony Pinata (to go with the "pony" theme :)

Birthday #3 - Flower Garden Party

Unfortunately the rain kept us indoors for this one, but the girls had fun painting their flower pots and enjoying this amazing cake...

(Props to the cake decorator: Jaybird Creations)

All in all, good birthday fun had times three.

Now, though, for a bit of a birthday break.

A Walk to Remember

It was another week of adventure for our family that culminated with a very eventful walk in the park. I guess I wouldn't label it an adventure as much as a fearful-moment-in-motherhood-history, never-to-be-repeated-again kind of experience.

It started with a beautiful sunny morning. And a seemingly great idea to head to Fish Trap Creek for a walk with the kids. I foolishly thought to myself that I could get some exercise - Keziah on her bike, Silas in the stroller - so we should be able to move along at a relatively heart-rate-appropriate pace, right?

Wrong. It was more like, walk 10 feet, stop to look at ducks, walk 15 week, stop for Keziah to test her bike brakes, walk 6 feet, stop, look back and tell Keziah to keep peddling. Yes, honey, you actually have to keep your feet going round and round the whole time...

I quickly surrendered my need for a brisk walk and simply enjoyed the sunshine and fresh spring air. We even stopped at the big tree beside the big rock for a few pictures.

Hey, we even stopped for a little history lesson.

It was a little while later, when we were navigating the various little hills in the path, that I had the 'what-if' thought of Keziah steering herself off the path and down towards the water. She's a bit unsteady with her biking at this point and going up/down hills is not a strong point for her. The thought crossed my mind that, if she started going down while I was still pushing Silas, what would I do?

We rounded a few more corners and then Keziah steered herself off the curb a little too abruptly when a stroller was passing us. Her bike started toppling over and I let go of the stroller to catch it and console her after some minor leg scratches. I'm not sure how long it was before I thought to look over at the stroller, but by the time I did, it had slowly been rolling down a slight hill and heading off the path. I ran as fast as I could towards it but I knew I wouldn't catch it before it went off the trail and down the hill towards the water. I scrambled down after it, and managed to stop it (with the help of some nasty thorn-covered bushes that I am thanking God for!). Silas was obviously upset. Keziah was too - her own injuries quickly forgotten.

Now, my next challenge was getting Silas and the stroller back up the embankment. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to manage this. Thankfully a young couple rounded the corner in my moment of desperation. A tiny part of me felt embarrassed to be found in the ditch with my baby, but I was mostly just relieved. I passed Silas up first and then the stroller came up quite easily with the guy's help. The girl held Silas for another minute or two while I gathered up the items from my stroller that had been thrown out (including my camera).

Once I got back up to the path, took Silas in my arms and took a few steadying breaths, I thanked my helpers. They lingered for a moment - not sure how else to help me so I said something stupid like, "Ok, you're free to go!"

Silas was upset for a little while - understandably. His most-repeated phrases went something like this, "I go in the water sandals" (yes, I suppose it did seem as though he was rushing towards the water and about to go swimming fully-clothed) as well as, "People hold you!" (translation: he was more concerned about being held by strangers than the thrill ride down the hill).

Anyway. Heart-pounding stuff. Let's just say I will be MUCH more conscious about using my stroller brake from now on. And, for the rest of you stroller-pushers out there, consider this lesson learned. For all of us.

So then, about 5 minutes later, as we were headed towards the playground to redeem our very bad walk, my legs started stinging.

Like crazy.

It struck me how, in that moment, I didn't have to think about racing through those thorn-covered bushes with bare legs... Thankfully I had runners on, but I suspect that even if I was barefoot I wouldn't have hesitated. Amazing - those motherly instincts and the fact that I didn't feel the pain until the drama was over.

So, now... the aftermath.

I'm just hoping these scratches will heal up by the wedding in 2 weeks. Otherwise I'll be using make-up on more than just my face.

Safety First

Keziah got a new life jacket last week.

It's pink.

She figured she'd wear it for playing... you know, in case of a flash flood or something.

Always good to be prepared I guess.

And Micah got a new bike helmet.

It's a Batman one.

He barely took it off for an entire week.

Other than being asleep and being at school, the thing was on his head constantly.

To the point where the strap was all ketchup-stained from getting in the way at mealtime.

He even wore it during an entire play-date at his friend's farm one afternoon.

Let's just say, when it comes to safety, we've got our bases covered.

Notorious Napper Strikes Again

For as long as Keziah has been sleeping in a "big girl" bed, I've been posting pictures of her quirky sleeping positions. (See examples here and here)

And she just keeps the photo opps coming.

Case in point: today at 4:00 pm, I found her on the staircase like this.

And in case you haven't already seen this on my facebook page, this priceless photo was taken last week...

Can someone say future wedding slideshow??

Growing Up

I came across this picture the other day...

(spring 2008)

Which I then compared to these pictures...

(last week)

Seriously, where has the time gone??

Mother's Day Tea

Yesterday Keziah's preschool held their Mother's Day Tea and it was so, SO adorable. This was my first opportunity to "sit in" on a preschool morning with Keziah. I'm always very curious to know if she plays with the other kids, whether she's too shy to ask to go to the bathroom, and whether she even talks at all for that matter.

We had a few different stations to rotate through, like bracelet-making, and mother-child interviews (according to Keziah, I am 13 years old and my "job" is washing dishes), but her favourite was definitely the nail polish station.

Keziah was very shy and quiet and I didn't see her chatting with any other little friends, but when it came time to perform their Mother's Day songs, she came alive! She knew all the words and actions, and I could tell she was totally in her element.

And did I mention I got my nails painted too?

I know...

Soooo pretty.

Little Bit of Easter Fun

My time has been otherwise occupied lately (work, kids, life - yeah, nothing much) and I feel so sad when the blog gets left out :( So, here's a quick catch-up post with some shots from the Toews cousins Easter Egg hunt the other weekend.

Keziah sporting her Easter dress and showing off some good finds:

Grandma advising Caleb:

Silas' first time participating in Easter Egg hunting!

I like the flurry of activity in this picture:

Silas scoring some smarties - his favourite!

I know, taking pictures in front of a window was probably not the best idea (and I didn't have time to do any edits to lighten it up). Hopefully you can still see their cute little cherub faces... Or maybe it's better if you don't. Getting a good shot of 5 small cousins is nearly impossible...

Yay for chocolate!!

So Long #93

After a week of renovations and clean-up, we finally handed over the keys and signed the final papers. We are heaving a sigh of relief that this process is finally over!

Below are a couple of pictures of the work Erik did upstairs (as per our contract with the buyer) - replacing the old carpet with laminate in the hallway and bedrooms. I've always loved carpet in bedrooms because of how cozy it is, but the end result looked better than I imagined it would. It helps that he did all new thick door casings and baseboards with it - replacing the puny trim we had up there previously.

This was Silas' bedroom - for a point of reference click here to see how his room looked when we moved in 2 and a half years ago. We obviously painted over the original "peach vomit" colour, and then Erik did a simple trim around the windows a little while later. Now here it is with new laminate and thicker baseboards:

A final look at our kitchen - I've always been really happy with our how our renos turned out in this room. Click here to see how it looked when we first moved in.

The tall cabinet on the left was something we bought and added to the space when we moved in. It provided some much-needed extra storage for pantry items, colouring books, etc. The inside of its doors also became the place where we started marking the height measurements for our kids. When we put our place up for sale, we realized that potential buyers would likely want the cabinet to stay. So, the other day Erik transferred the measurements to an extra piece of laminate and then I tried using my Norwex cleaning paste on it. I quickly realized I would be scrubbing for quite awhile if I wanted it to come off, but we were running out of time. When our buyer came to pick up the keys I mentioned to her that I wasn't able to get the markings off. She quickly assured us that we could take the pantry with us and that she had something else to put there. So, I was really thankful the cleaning paste didn't work this time around :)

(I think she may be on her tippy toes here, but I'm amazed at how much Keziah has grown since her 4th birthday!)

Good-bye number 93!

Temporary Home

It's been one week since we moved out of our townhouse and in with Erik's parents. And so far, so good! The kids have adjusted quite well - it probably helps that Grandma's house is one of their favourite places to be :)

I had good intentions of snapping some photos of moving day, but the camera was quickly forgotten in the chaos of truck picking-up, children dropping-off, directing the flow of helpers and making sure that what needed to go to the house didn't get mixed up with what needed to go to the truck. In the end most of the stuff made it to the proper location. And we were very thankful for all the help: strong backs (and even the not-so-strong backs), childcare, yummy snacks, and company.

But I do have a few pictures of our last week in our house...

Like the random snowfall we had one morning. I woke up to Keziah whispering in my ear, "Mommy, is that hail or snow??" Surprise - April snowfall!

There was at least one little person in our house who was thrilled by this event:

Before we moved out, we had to leave our final mark on the place...

Erik set up this photo of the kids in his garage cabinets as he packed up all his tools out there. Looks more like a family mug shot to me.

Now onto our first week is our new "home"... The kids have enjoyed playing in their new space.

I came upstairs to this rare scene the other morning - Keziah had convinced her little brother to lie very still while she "doctored" him.

Silas enjoying a messy snack:

Fun in the front yard.

Enjoying a sunny afternoon on the deck with Grandpa.

Plant watering - this could keep Keziah occupied for hours.

Up in the treehouse that Daddy lovingly built about 3 years ago when we lived in the basement suite.

Pretend picnic.

Yep, that's a grass skirt he's wearing.

The boy wants to wear it. All. Day. Long.