Just one Easter Picture

Not only were they sharing a seat, they were sharing chocolate! Sebastian needs to do everything Matthew does. This goes right down to the silly face when the camera comes out. Look at how hard he's trying to make the same face! These are our boys!

Spring

I love spring! I know, it's early; we could still get snow. For now, I'm enjoying warm weather and the smell of things growing. Bittersweet is the fact that our children are part of the things growing. Time is flying at an alarming rate and we're trying to enjoy every minute.

One of my favourite things about spring is rain. Seriously. I get so excited to see the kids playing in puddles. Only little kids can enjoy water this much! They don't mind when water pours into (and out of!) their boots. They love worms. Nothing is so satisfying as that one big jump, the HUGE splash and the head-to-toe laugh.
Happy Spring!

More of Our Trip

Well, at least the weather was more promising. Was I worried about Matthew falling into the ocean? Does a bear....nevermind.

He got to meet Theodore. Then he wondered why Theodore was not pulling boats. "Shouldn't he be working?" I wonder if my brother has had an influence on him.
The backyard of our new house. Picture taken while being called a "Dirty Rascal" by the King himself.
While filling in time, Matthew and I went to a science centre. There was a fantastic Lego display. Matthew got to sit in (and "drive") this car made ENTIRELY out of Lego.

You have no idea how excited I was to see how excited my son was in science. I keep telling my kids I'll be happy whatever career path they choose (except if they choose UFC), but I really would love it if one of them wanted to do something scientific.
Like learn about Bernouli's Principles.

Or want to learn about things microscopic.
I guess the Macro is okay, too.
Okay, so I digress. We had a great time. At the end of the trip, we went out for dinner, then for a walk along the harbour. (Read: hAAAARBer). I wanted to take Matthew's picture incessantly, so he decided it was his turn to try. This is his first attempt:

All he had to do was turn the camera around to get this shot. Note, Rob and I are killing ourselves laughing at the first attempt.
We had a great trip. We're excited to go, but a little sad to leave. Hopefully now that the house is sold, I'll be able to work a little harder on the blog. For you, faithful reader (did I steal that from Stephen King? Do you think he's got copyright?).

Sorry faithful Reader(s)

So, we're moving. Again. Not just down the street, across the country. But we'll have an ocean. The people seem really nice so far. They like beer. 'Nuff said.
I took Matthew out to visit Rob (who's already out there, missing his family like crazy). It was his first time on a plane. Of course, the first thing he had to check out was the bathroom at the airport. Is this just a male thing, or a 4.5 year-old thing?

Then he saw the airplanes.

The excitement of a first plane ride is truly, priceless.

And overwhelming.

Christmas Card Chaos

Oh, the annual Christmas card. You buy the pajamas WAY in advance. You set up the Christmas decorations in early November in anticipation of the first photo session not going just right. You get yourself psyched up. You get the kids dressed and bring out the props. You try your very best to get the kids to cooperate. Invariably, you end up in tears.

Here's the very first attempt. Not bad, but maybe we can get one of them looking at the camera?

Is it even possible to get a four year old to smile normally for a picture?Maybe a change of venue will do the trick.

Or not.
Here they pause to get the fur out of their mouths (this is Sherwood's chair).

Let's try upstairs by the tree. That sounds like a good idea, right?

Even the dog is frustrated.

Usually I'm the first one to cry.

And the winner is....(note this is NOT in the pajamas and is, in fact, taken one morning before school. Not fantastic, but hell, we got it done).

Maybe next year I should leave it up to the professionals. Or start trying in July.

We hope everyone's Christmas was merry and 2010 brings you everything you're wishing for.

Sebastian's 2nd Birthday

Wow. Sebastian is 2: crazy. Him, not the fact that time is flying by faster than lightning. He's a spirited little man who lives to drive his older brother nuts. We had terrible 2 moments with Matthew for sure, but there are days when we wonder what we did as children to deserve Sebastian as adults! To call it "terrible" is probably (apt) not fair, but "trying" doesn't seem to cover it some days!

That being said, he's absolutely adorable. His smile melts even the angriest heart, and makes time outs especially difficult. He's really good at squeezing out one giant tear to hang just so on his VERY long eyelashes. As a result, all he has to do is say sorry and you're hugging him to the point of squishing! His personality is so big and he's such a goof. Always trying to make people laugh, whether dancing up a storm at the first sound of music (he loves Lady Gaga!!!) or grabbing your hands for a spontaneous round of Ring Around the Rosy.

We celebrated his birthday with our families and some Sesame Street theme. Sebastian loves all things Elmo and Abby. Here's the cake I made for him. Luckily Sebastian didn't cry when we served up his nose to Grandma and Grandpa to eat!

Here we help Sebastian celebrate another milestone. Happy Birthday, Sebastian!

Just before the Snow Begins to Fly

We got our first snowfall of the season this morning. In honour of that, I thought I would post a few more pictures of the fall. You know, just in time for the Christmas pictures.

Unfortunately, this was one Saturday afternoon where Sebastian actually napped, so he missed out on the afternoon fun with leaves. The older kids got to enjoy the warm fall day as only a group of little kids can: with total reckless abandon.

Our neighbourhood is a fantastic place to play. Here the kids pose for a group raking picture. This was likely taken just before someone got poked with a rake.

Next, Tristan and Matthew thought it was a great idea to put each other inside the leaf bag. Fortunately, they got out before collection time.

As always, Matthew's way of playing involves diving face first into something. We ended the afternoon with Matthew exhausted and a little dirty. A perfect afternoon for a four year-old.