Early Birthday Celebration

Today Christine, Dash and I headed over to our good friends Maja and Erin's house for a playdate and early birthday celebration for the Dash Man. Erin (with Maja's help of course) made Dash some Happy Birthday Cupcakes spelling out his nickname and while we all enjoyed eating them, Dash also seemed to enjoy squishing them between his fingers.
Christine quietly sat in her chair methodically licking all the icing off the top of the cupcake before finally eating the cake part - and then the sugar rush began.
After the cupcakes were eaten the kids played together - lets see there was xylophone playing, dancing, singing, bobblehead playing, crying (Christine is now scared of Finding Nemo and broke out in tears when Erin suggested we watch it) and general running around, you got to love what a little sugar can do. Below is a shot of Maja showing us her tongue and shortly thereafter began to try to "catch" her tongue, apparently this is a favourite time-killer for Erin.
A big thank you to Maja, Erin and Marvin for the great gifts for our little boy - his hat is adorable and Dash and Christine have been "sharing" his toy post office all evening - thanks again for helping us celebrate his big day :)

Sleepovers, Tiptoe Dancing and the Dash Man

We've been spending a lot of time recently explaining the importance of sharing to Christine - and she's just about got it, although doesn't always apply her new skill. Here's a shot of Christine and Dash having a (pretend) sleepover on our living room floor and sharing the blanket - it only took us about 5 minutes to bully her into sharing with him, although you can see on the left that she had no problem sharing with her buddy Tyrone.
One of Christine's other new things is she has started "tiptoe dancing" around our house. She has pretend ballet shoes and I picked up a a ballet skirt for her as well - here she is posing for me last night, I love the serious expression on her face - like she's concentrating really hard on keeping the pose.

The Dash Man is gearing up for his first birthday this Saturday and just started taking some unassisted steps today. If his walking is anything like his cruising around furniture he will definitely be living up to his name as he is fast as lightening (and adorable to boot).

BFF Monthly Meeting Minutes - February 2008

The meeting was called to order at 11:15 am by President-for-life Christine, also in attendance were Vice-President Dashiell and Security Officer Molly.

A motion was brought forward by Security Officer Molly that all round ball-shaped objects be surrendered to her immediately for a thorough safety check, the motion was defeated 2-1. Security Officer Molly wanted it to be noted on the official minutes that in her opinion "the terrorists have already won".

A motion was brought forth that a scouting expedition be taken on to explore the current status of the BFF swingset and backyard, the motion was passed unanimously. The motion was immediately overturned by a parental tribunal due to current cold weather conditions. The BFF members began protesting this decision by yelling, crying and napping. The parental tribunal was forced into dispelling the protesting group by introducing cookies to the meeting, the protest quickly ended.

A new motion was brought forth to instead begin a scouting expedition to the kitchen for investigation into the cupboards for illicit pots and lost cheerios. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned.

Sadly during the kitchen scouting expedition Vice-President received a bruised noggin (technical term), the appropriate treatment (kisses) was applied and all was well again.

Happy Birthday Ben!

A very Happy Belated Birthday to our favourite all around guy - Ben...aka Daddy...aka Chief Snow Shoveller and taking care of business guy. His birthday was Friday and we spent the day with the kiddos hanging out and playing - Christine must have wished him a lispy Happy Birthday at least 15 times throughout the day. Christine also helped me bake a delicious birthday cake and assisted with blowing out the candles - what a gal! Then Friday night Ben and I managed to have a date night thanks to the babysitting duties of Amber and Luke (with help from Grandpa). So all in all I think Ben had a good day - I'm just glad that we're the same age again so that he can stop referring to me as his "old lady".

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

Ben is often told that Christine looks a lot like him, so much so that I am often jokingly asked if I am sure I am her mother. Occasionally people will say that she looks like me but usually these are people that don't know Ben very well (i.e my work colleagues). The jury is still out on the Dash man - thus far he's just an extra adorable kid who looks a little like both of us.

For comparison sake I've got some recent shots of the kids and some not-so recent shots of Ben and me as children - anybody got any strong opinions out there?

The Dash Man age 11 months laughing gleefully at me while jumping away.Christine age 2 - giving a disdainful wave for the camera as I tear her away from her favourite show.

Ben age 3 - showing off his Montreal Olympics Bear at his Grandparents' old house.

Me (Steph) age 2 - showing off my Christmas presents.

The Great Canadian Tradition of Tobogganing

Christine experienced another big first this past weekend when she got to go tobogganing for the first time. Last Christmas her Uncle Luke and Amber got her a toboggan for Christmas, but due to her littleness and other circumstances (such as the arrival of her little brother) we were unable to get sledding last year. This past Friday's big snow dump provided an excellent base for her big adventure and off Christine, Ben, Luke, Amber and Grandpa went (the Dash Man is sick so I stayed home to take care of him).Word on the street is that Christine may have been a little scared going down the hill but enjoyed being pull around on flat ground - I'm sure you'll be seeing her in the 2026 Winter Olympics as Captain of the brand new Canadian Women's Bobsled team.
As I said the Dash Man is sick (a double ear infection) but seems to be on the way to recovering finally - the rest of us are all battling colds as well. So we are stuck at home recuperating and getting a little antsy - to conquer the boredom we've been making up a bunch of new games. For example give Christine a bowl and wooden spoon and she'll be entertained for an hour "making" us food (her favourites are hotdogs, waffles and popcorn). Above you'll see a game we invented called "What happens we you put two kids in a box" Lots of fun I tell ya! (Can you tell I'm slowly going crazy?)
And just because he's so cute and he had to miss out on tobogganing here is a shot of our messy little man at dinner tonight - the menu of blueberry puree is clearly represented on his artistic masterpiece