ezekiel's actual birthday

ezekiel's birthday began with the early arrival of the window renovation crew.

here is the large suite window before picture

the after picture of the same window

ezekiel loves watching people work so it was a fun birthday event. this man was cutting a square out of cement for a new window installation. we watched for awhile and then went out for breakfast.

some of my gorgeous family

after nap time, ezekiel opened his family gifts.

he was really happy about this dinosaur

he didnt quite know what this was, but once it got all put together he was LOVING it!

at dinner, he got some balloons, which he was obviously excited about! ha ha

then we went bowling

diedre gives it a good toss

very happy to be checking out the scoreboard.

well another year with ezekiel has flown by.

he is such a happy and thoughtful boy. he insists on being called a big boy.

he has become a great host and likes to share his snacks and even toys (impressive for a two-year-old!). he tries to do the same things his sister does (like open the fridge to get a yogurt or an apple, get spoons, cups, bowls for snacks, etc.). he can fully dress himself but i still pick his clothes out because i think he would make a big mess of them if i had them within reach. its very helpful that he can dress himself and get his shoes on the right feet!

he is also a sweet big brother and likes to hug and hold audrey. he's been sick, so i try not to let him kiss her too much, but he does like to do that too. he can be very gentle.

he is very daring and can jump off of things with great style, something i hope he keeps up so he can be a good snowboarder ha ha.

he is still a bit short compared to what diedre was around now, but weighs in at about 27 lbs. i measured his height and he is 2 ft 9 and 3/4 in. when the height of a boy at 2 years old is doubled, it supposedly gives the approximate height he will be when full-grown. so roughy, 5 ft 8 in. ezekiel actually grew 1 inch since November 2nd!

anyway, family life with three is going well especially when each child is so sweet! happy birthday buddy! you're awesome!

more pictures from his birthday

more reno info to come...

ezekiel's birthday party

the spread for our car themed party. we invited our favourite babysitter to come join us and help me get the party prepped and then to help watch the kids. it worked out really well.

the car cake (not a CARS cake, but a car cake. perhaps a 1979 volvo?). i was about to make a red car, like Lightning McQueen from CARS but i read on the internet that the red coloured icing is very hard to achieve without it looking pinky...so i decided to go with blue. later, some friends at the party commented that the red coloured dye is supposedly the worst for kids and if your kids are acting wacky, maybe its from having red dye. disaster averted. :D

about half of our guests :D it was a good turnout. we were definitely filled to the max. we threw the party in our empty suite downstairs. it worked perfectly as there was no clutter or extra items around. just the bare party-throwin' necessities! and there was a full kitchen to use for clean up!

the game: stick the "95" on Lightning McQueen

ezekiel was pointing to all his guests for who should go first. most of the kids went before he took his turn. i thought it was very sweet; both because he was letting other kids go first and also because he was observing how to play the game before taking his turn.

he did pretty well! you can see his "95" sticker that isnt totally stuck down yet, sideways right where it should go!

derek felt like santa ha ha

zeke made sure to say "Thank you!" after each gift and he seemed to try to make sure the person who gave it to him was paying attention. so cute!

blowing out the candles. i think i lit four or 5 of the "H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y" letter candles, but he blew them all out.

see many more birthday party pictures here

new heights, fun times, and baby sleep

yesterday was MOPS. it was ezekiel's first time in the 2-3 year class which is like preschool for 2 hours. it was great! i was so proud of him. the teacher did tell me that diedre was overly mothering him (smothering?) and kept trying to get him to sit on her lap or force him to sit beside her...the teacher told her firmly to leave him alone (which i was totally fine with). i guess my instructions to diedre to "take care of him, and help him feel comfortable in the class" were taken a little too far by our little mother hen.

my big boy learned to climb this yesterday following MOPS

he would slide his body onto the platform, jump up and yell "did it! did it!" Dora-and-Boots-style. it was so cute, but i couldnt get a picture of it. this lady standing there said "oh, you can never get a picture when you want to, isnt that just the way?" and i was thinking "no, i actually have about a gazillion pictures of my kids...probably way more than i need." ha ha but thats just the way when you are documenting their little lives i guess.

today there was another children's event at our local leisure centre. we arrived late and i met alot of people i knew leaving right then who said "oh you're lucky, its just calming down. it was CRAZY." so i guess in a way, God orchestrated the whole thing because my kids were not cooperating in a timely fashion and it took an extra hour to leave the house, but it worked out much better. i probably would have been very overwhelmed to have had this hassle of leaving the house and then to be met with hoards of people there...i knew i was taking a chance. phew.

ezekiel and diedre played really well in the bouncy castle and then we did some parachute games (after i rounded up some more kids and parents) and then managed to even get face/arm painting from the ever so talented SEASTARFACES.

then my friend Cyndi invited us over for lunch which was also lovely. quite a full half of the day :P

tonight we need to shop for a card for ezekiel, the food for the party, and then home in time for the office at 9pm ;D

i'm getting excited for his party and i'm so glad that our favourite babysitter is going to come and help out too! helps keep the kids under control and frees me up to host and get food out and such.

another note: audrey had her best sleep yet! she was very fussy last evening and finally i thought, maybe it was because i was trying to get her to sleep in a sleepsack instead of swaddling her. so finally, by 10.30pm i swaddled and nursed her to sleep. we slept together and she didnt wake up until 5am! woo hoo! but now, she's been sleeping since 11am and its nearly 4pm...this could be interesting...i dont mind if she's awake for all of our shopping, its more the crying carrides that aren't my fave.

b boy

ezekiel talking about being a big boy (note how he says "b boy" so cute!) nov 18 08


ezekiel sings his own version of happy birthday nov 18 08

cute family times

video of audrey talking on nov 16 08

goodbye gold pants, you've faired me well.

these gold pants first belonged to my friend joanna. i guess she wore them alot during her first pregnancy back in 2003/2004 so following the birth of her son, her husband definitely never wanted her to wear them again. so several of her friends have worn them and i have worn them through three pregnancies. they are definitely, finally, toast, and thus in the garbage.

ezekiel's hair was getting too long again, so after his bath i asked derek if i could cut his hair, he said "no!" so i grabbed the scissors and cut his hair ;P

looking good little man

ezekiel still loves to hold his little sister

they are both really good with baby audrey.

my girls :)

now, derek knows i detest the idea of having a dog on the couch, but since we are going to be throwing this couch out as soon as possible (one of the kittens peed on it, we flipped it over), i guess its okay.

i find it a little offensive that he takes more pictures of the pets than of me!

diedre is so good with her little hattie.

she can even dress her in baby clothes (poor kitten didnt seem to mind at all)

her cute sunday outfit that she pooped in right when it was time to go to church...the outfit didnt quite make it...


my parents came over to watch the big kids while we went birthday shopping for ezekiel.

cute ladies

up to six weeks

more november 2008 pictures

audrey: 6 weeks old

my mom and i and the kids went to crescent beach to meet up with my brother and give back his kids (who my mom had been watching for a couple days). i was nursing in the van (sorry for the dirty diaper in the background (eww)) while ezekiel was napping. so my mom took miles, diedre and poppy down to the beach while we waited for andrew to arrive with lunch.

a sly smile

a little crooked

her worried look

biiiig smile

she is cooing alot these days. its so precious! we love it. i'll try to take some time to upload video soon.

puddle jumping! they got so soaked they had water pouring out of their boots. they were soaked halfway up their bodies.

miles and diedre reading grafitti

around the six week mark she actually got fussy for a few days. not pleasant. but then she seemed to settle back into her usual sunny attitude.

ezekiel has been getting about one sticker a day on his potty learning chart. he insists that he is a "b boy" (big boy). i'm trying to give him opportunity to use the potty, but it works best when derek is around for it.

nov 3 to 9th 2008

i've been having a hard time updating my blog. i can update pics to facebook but cant seem to do a quick entry here...so there will be several updates flooding in today:

our tenants moved out and we happily started using the downstairs suite for the kids to ride bikes and play in.

it was so great on a rainy day or a day when i didnt have any other plans to just go down and let the kids burn some energy. i have felt energetic enough to host a few playdates and use the space.

diedre still seems to have peeing accidents here and there. this day i believe she was leaning against her bed and peed on the end of it (???HUH?) anyway, she needed a dry place to sleep so we put her in the extra bed in ezekiel's room (after he was already asleep, or i'm sure it would never work).

diedre's a little too used to a queen bed!

audrey has become even more alert lately and is really enjoying looking up at her froggy/rattle toy that i hung near her change station.

we wandered around Canadian Tire and derek started dressing the kids up in hockey gear. ezekiel actually toppled right over a couple times because of the weight of the gear, oops!

diedre has great form.

sunday morning derek had to work, so i decided to go back to our previous church in langley. its held in a community center and the kids are supposed to be quiet during the very long service, but they did quite well as far as i'm concerned, since they are totally not used to that. diedre said "where are the colouring sheets?" ha ha so i ran out to the van and got some of their books/toys to try to help keep them occupied.

audrey has continued to be an easy baby. she usually settles in for the night by 11pm and sleeps for 4 or 4.5 hours. its great! then she sleeps in until 9am so i have a few hours to get set up for the day and hang out with the big kids.