T-ball: First Game

Shaylah joined a t-ball team this year through the Hastings Little League.  Her team (The Rockies) have only had 2 practices so far.  The first practice only 3 kids showed up and the second practice was cancelled due to the rain.  I was a little worried the kids would end up running to third base instead of first, but they all did amazingly well.  This is Shaylah's first experience playing a team sport, she is by far the youngest on the team and she has never played baseball before.  She was fantastic though!  :)  Just look at her batting form!

 In this t-ball league, the first three balls are pitched to the player by their own coach.  If the ball is not hit, then the player gets to hit off the "T".

 She is such a good hitter, she made it to first base each time!  Look at how fast she runs. 

 They don't keep score in this game, but Shaylah was able to run all of the bases each time up to bat except for one.  Here she is touching home plate.

 Daddy was her first base coach.

 Ashlyn and Caelan can't wait until they get to play next year.

The Big Party

I have never had a party for any of my kids (I know I'm a bad mom!), but this year Shaylah decided that she really wanted a party with her friends.  She invited seven of her favorite classmates and one friend from church (plus their parents) to our house for a big celebration.  It was fun doing the planning with her....she knew exactly what she wanted and helped plan each activity.

First:  Lunch time.  We had hotdogs, fruit and veggie platters, chili, and chips.  Isn't that every 5 year old's dream lunch?
Craft:  The kids decorated Ikea frames with paint, glitter glue and gems/stickers.  It was amazing to see the creativity flowing!
Games:  They played "pin the jewel on the Barbie necklace".  Shaylah even played a second time without the blindfold so that her best friend who was home with the flu would win the game.  :)
Piniata:  The highlight of the afternoon!  Filled with stickers, toys, play jewelry and (of course!) candy.

The party was Barbie and Princess themed, but there were plenty of masculine touches so that the boys wouldn't feel left out.

Here are a few photos!

It must have been a good party, because this is what happened while I was cleaning everything up.  :)

My First Race

I know Johnny won't be pleased with this picture, but it is the only one I have.  This was taken just after I finished my very first running race!  It was only 8km, but you have to start somewhere, right?  It was pretty fun to be part of the crowd, even if the winner almost cut my time in half.  :)  Johnny was so nice to stay with me and cheer me on, even though he could have finished much closer to the front of the pack (thanks!  But officially in the standings I beat him by a few tenths of a second).  I am so thankful for a beautifully sunny day and the amazing scenery around Stanley Park and the Seawall.  Next goal.....a 10k race.  Also thanks to Johnny's family who sponsored our run in the hopes of getting rid of prostate cancer for good and the Cecil for babysitting!

Shaylah's 5th Birthday

Shaylah turned FIVE on March 18th.  It was a school day, so she wore her special "Birthday Girl" shirt and ribbon to school to make sure that everyone knew.  She said she definitely felt different and was quite excited to finally be big enough to chew gum and go down the waterslide at the pool.  After school, we went and picked out a special Hello Kitty birthday balloon and came home to have dinner with her Bridgewater cousins.

Dinner was at Shaylah's favorite restaurant, Boston Pizza, where she had Bugs'N'Cheese, green salad, chocolate milk and blue jello.  We came home to open presents (thanks everyone!) and had cupcakes for dessert.

Happy Birthday my sweet big girl.  We are so proud of you and are so excited to be allowed to watch you grow up!

Dora and Diego

We got to meet Dora and Diego at the mall this past Saturday.  Shaylah kept pretending she was too old, but I actually think she was the most excited of the three kids.  She wanted to let Dora and Diego know that her brother and sister were big fans.  :)

The Beluga whale from the Aquarium was also there to give out hugs.  Ashlyn, of course, was too shy to say "hello".

2010 in review

We are now well into January and I have not posted in quite a long time.  It is amazing how little time or energy I have for blogging in this stage of the kid's lives.  Everyday I think of something I should blog about...and then I let it time get too far ahead of me.  This is my attempt to try to capture the most important parts of 2010.

Shaylah:  She has turned into such a big girl this past year.  2010 was the year she turned 4 and started her second year of pre-school.  Shaylah continues to be the child that make friends easily and seems to be the centre of all activity amongst her friends.  This year she discovered birthday parties and cupcake cakes; nail-polish and lip-gloss; the boy she wants to marry when she gets older; and shower-baths.  She has become fearless in the water and has entered the much anticipated "sunfish" level for swimming, where she is learning to tread water and do the front crawl.  With Daddy being away during the week, she has also discovered that it is much more fun to sleep with Mommy than alone in her own bed, much to Daddy's dismay when he is home.  Shaylah continued on with her ballet lessons and has decided that the ballet bar is hard work!  She also learned how to pump her legs on a swing to keep it going and has mastered how to ride her bike (with training wheels) all by herself.  Shaylah's favorite color for the year is gold (to match Belle's dress), her favorite "food" is candy, although salmon, spaghetti and boiled eggs are also favorites, and she likes to wear dresses everyday.

Caelan:  Turned 3 this year and has been given a excellent report by the many specialists that are following his growth and development.  He officially gave up diapers, discovered hockey and finally agreed that clothes were OK to wear.  Caelan started pre-school and has a best friend (Jake), although he still relies heavily on his sisters for most of his social interactions.  Caelan started swimming lessons and has learned how to put his face under the water, although he still prefers to wear goggles when swimming for fun.  Caelan will eat anything given to him, his favorite color is blue and he loves Diego, Cars and Spiderman.  Caelan is a bit of a wild child and loves to make noise and silly sounds!  He has had to return to speech therapy to improve the pronounciation of his words, although it is not hard to hear him, since he only has one volume....LOUD!

Ashlyn:  She continues to be quiet and sweet one and was also given high praise by her developmental specialists.  Ashlyn also turned 3 this year and started pre-school with her brother.  She has two best friends (Abby and Alanah) at school and she loved school immediately.  Ahslyn has discovered a new love for ballet and will often be seen showing off her moves whenever and wherever there is music.  Ashlyn loves to be a princess and asks to wear a dress everyday, but mainly she just wants to be like her big sister.  She will only wear pink and makes it clear that pink is the only color that matters in life.  She was potty trained by the summer, developed a large vocabulary, learned how to run and jump and made huge gains in her confidence in the pool during her lessons.  Her favorite foods are cucumbers and mandarine oranges, often eating 4 or 5 oranges at a time.  She has not developed the sweet tooth of the rest of the family, chosing to eat her frutis and vegetables instead of sweets.  She continues to be on the smaller side, following the 5th to 10th percentile curve, but she makes her presence known with her sweet personality.

Marsalie:  Is very happy to be moving into 2011 without any children in diapers.  She continues to work 2 days a week at Sunny Hill and still loves the job.  At the end of 2010, she decided to join a gym and has begun a new adventure in running, hoping to run a 10km race in the very near future (thanks to Johnny for all the new running gadgets!).  She once again donated her hair to children with cancer and is sporting a new shorter hair-do.  Marsalie and Johnny managed to get away for one weekend this year without the kids and saw their first NFL football game in Seattle.

Johnny:  Johnny remains busy at work and continues to travel to Victoria most weeks.  He has joined Marsalie in her gym membership and is a great motivator on the treadmill when running beside her.  He hopes to beat his personal best at more than one half marathon this year, with the ultimate goal of completing his first marathon.  He is hands-on with the kids every moment he is home and loves to teach them about all of his favorite sports, read them stories before bed and take them to the playground.  He proudly sported a moustache for the month of November to raise awareness for prostate cancer during their "Movember" campaign.

Summer

The summer is officially over and it seems to have flown by so quickly.  There was a lot that happened, but I never seemed to have the time or energy to blog about it.  Here are some of the Highlights and Lowlights.

1.  Death of a Loved One:  My Granny (Dad's Mom) passed away on July 22 at the age of 90.  Her funeral happened to be on my 35th birthday, at a time when I was dealing with a lot of medical stuff myself.  I was scheduled for an emergency EMG at the hospital that day and was very sad not to be able to attend the funeral.  She was a special lady who loved her grandchildren.  She enjoyed spoiling us when we visited her in Agassiz, but took even greater pleasure in showing us off to her friends in the care home where she lived the last part of her life.  She will be missed!

As I mentioned, it was a rough time for me physically, but I was also having a rough time mentally this summer.  I have been missing my mom a lot these days and the death of another loved one always brings it that much closer to heart.  I was extremely saddened when my mom was not mentioned in my Granny's obituary with her other deceased loved one and it made me realize how quickly people are forgotten once they have passed away.  Maybe I am taking this too personally, but I still feel like my mom was a daughter to my Granny for 40 years and should not have so easily been left out!

2.  Hair Donation:  I decided to make another hair donation and cut off my long locks!  This time the donation was made to Angel Hair for Kids, a Canadian company who makes wigs for kids.  I was able to donate about 11 inches!

3.  Camping:  We had our first ever camping trip with the kids at Allouette Lake in Maple Ridge.  The kids LOVED sleeping in a tent with their new sleeping bags and drinking hot chocolate to keep warm.  It rained both nights we were there, but that didn't stop them from swimming in the lake or having lots of fun.  I hope this will be a new tradition that will help us make some great memories as the kids grow up.

 

4.  Family Time:  We did not do any big trips this year, but Johnny was home most of the summer so we were able to spend lots of quality family time together.  We had a few day trips the last week of August.  We get free tickets for living so close to the PNE, so I was able to take the kids over a total of 4 times to see different shows (twice all by myself!).  The highlights were definitely the Backyardigans and the Superdogs.  Johnny and I also splurged one day and bought the kids all day ride passes with their cousin Taylor.  Such joy!



We also went to the zoo, which is always a hit.  Here we are checking out the giraffes (my favorite).

4.  New Roof:  Johnny loves doing projects around the house.  His work does not afford him much time to do many of these projects, but this one was at the top of his list to get done before the rains came.  He and his dad re-did the roof on our garage and did a great job!

5.  Birch Bay:  During my summers growing up in Birch Bay, the C-Shop was a huge part of our lives.  It was such a treat to walk over to the candy shop and pick out something special to eat.  This year, we made our first trip to the C-Shop with the kids.  They each picked out some Jelly Bellies, candy sticks and salt-water taffy.  We had quite a feast!  I can't believe we waited so long to start this tradition.  :)

The summer is now over, the kids are back in school and have started their other activities.  We are back into a routine and I am already missing the lazy days of summer.  Until next year.....