Commercial

I should totally send this to Canon for an ad.  What a cutie.

Techies

Chloe has started a dance class at one of the rec centers here so during her class I have about an hour to kill with the two little kids. Lucky for me, there is an indoor playground there so that keeps them entertained for a while. Tati was in hog heaven because it is so big and she could just run around and climb and do whatever. It has been a nice break for her since we haven't been to a real park outside forever because it has been too cold. Anyway, I didn't take any good pictures except for this one so I need to make that a goal for next time. Anyway, as we were all playing, there was this little boy who was crying at his mom's feet because he didn't want to play in this amazing playground. He was throwing a fit because he wanted the ipod. THANKFULLY, the mom was telling him that he HAD to play. It blew my mind. What a weird world of technology we live in.

the Winter Blues

We've been on a blogging hiatus because we have been battling a bunch of sickness--mostly with the childrens. The two little kids both had full blown RSV which super sucked because they were coughing like crazy and then couldn't really ever sleep so they were cranky like crazy too. The RSV turned into ear infections for both of them and then I got a gross cold then Greg got a gross cold, then Tati got pink eye and then Gavin fell down the stairs (because he's little) and then Tati fell down the stairs (because she was playing) and now we're finally all feeling better. Chloe was the real trooper who never got anything. There might be some advantages to all the germs she encounters at school. Anyway, I knew Tati was finally back to herself when she and Chloe started playing "Vacation" where they either always go to California or Vancouver. This time it was a trip to Vancouver to catch some bad guys. So we'll start getting all our stuff updated. And I'm making a new header all inspired by a design on some black tights I wore to church a few weeks ago.

Cooperation

Hey Gavin, can Mommy take a picture of you?

I guess the answer was a no.  What would you say?

Growing UP

Good thing Gavin isn't dangerous or anything.

It's funny to hear people's reactions to all the barricades in our house when they come over. Yup, pretty much he'll climb or eat whatever he can find.

We don't stink on the rink!

Man, I love ice skating.

I was pregnant last year so I didn't get to do it at all and the kids didn't really know how. It has been really fun to see them progress. Tati can skate really well holding onto someone's hands or onto the stroller. Chloe weaned herself off of the stroller and can now skate by herself although she still steps instead of glides and still falls quite a bit. Hopefully wherever we move we'll still have access to ice at some point at some time of the year. Some of the rinks were really festive around Christmas too with lights and even Christmas music playing. Gavin is mostly patient strolling around in his stroller but we also let him ride around on a sled when he gets bored and he LOVES that.

Playing hockey is fun too until the 7 and 9 year olds are way better than you are.

Here's Chloe and her BFF! And here's an awesome video of them skating.

My ice babies. (The sun was super bright.)

I am going to miss having so many ice rinks around. Canadians really do know how to do winter.

Score; she's 4!

Tati just turned 4! It is unbelievable that she is so old. It is also unbelievable that we've lived here in Canadia for 4 years considering I was pregnant with her when we moved here. But anyway, I digress. She didn't have a friend party this year mostly because her favorite friend was in Argentina for a month but once we promised her an extra fun play date, she was fine. Besides, it was an awesome family day.

Here she is when she just woke up. (Side note: I love the way little kids look when they wake up. I love the puffy shadows under their eyes and how they are a little bit loopy.)

Tati had her best day. It was her choice to pick what we did all day and also what we ate. We went swimming early in the morning and then we spend the rest of the day just chilling and watching movies.

For breakfast, she wanted pancakes and orange juice. For lunch she had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and gold fish crackers and then for dinner we had cheese noodles (aka Kraft mac & cheese), veggies and dip. It was surprisingly yummy and white trash. I tried to convince her to have chicken or something with the cheese noodles, but she didn't want any. After dinner we had her cake. Greg and I worked hard on this cake. We got the idea from that cupcake book "What's New Cupcake?". That book is so misleading. They make everything look and sound super easy. We too, were fooled. Anyway, we couldn't for the life of us find Twinkies anywhere and later found out that they're banned in Canada. What? We had to settle for Zingers and they were almost $5 for 6 bars. Such a rip off.
Tati loved it. Her reaction made it all worth it.

Those are seagulls in case you can't recognize them and I cut up some sour patch kids into fish shapes. The frosting was gross. I made it. I don't understand how people say making frosting is so easy. It wasn't at all. 9 cups of powdered sugar?! Seriously? I refused to put more in after 6 and then it tasted so gross but we had no other choice and it was super late at night by the time we were putting this all together so we just ended up using it. The kids didn't mind but it dried kind of weird by the next day. To make the multiple colors, we started with white and then just kept adding more and more blue food coloring and putting spoonfuls of the different shades into a Ziploc to mix it up. It was supposed to look a little more like the ocean that way. If nothing else, it was fun bonding time for me and Greg to put it all together and laugh at how gross it looked. Then the next day when we saw it again it didn't seem as ugly and gross as it had the night before.

I will miss how easy it is to buy presents at this age because everything was pretty much from dollarama and that was still a big thrill.

She got some puzzles, some dress up shoes and some washable paint. (That was more for me but hey). She also got this dumb mermaid city that I was unaware was a giant bath toy. So that was stupid of us because our bathroom is tiny but she loves it and she has been playing with it outside of the tub too.

Her favorite present was a Beanie Boo. Chloe got one for her birthday and Tati has been pining over it. She was so excited, she almost peed her pants. It is a zebra named, "Zig Zag".


And to finish off this birthday post, here are 4 random facts about Tati:

1. Tati is actually a dog named Salmon. She can transform into her instantly. She does this high pitch bark that could probably break jewelry counters so she could be a good asset to some criminal somewhere.
2. Tati can walk around on the knuckles of her feet like a ballerina walks around on toe shoes. It is both gross and impressive simultaneously.
3. She loves to tell you that she loves you but she always does it in this bad news sort of way. "Mommy, I have some bad news. I love you!" Then she runs over to me and gives me lots of hugs and kisses. She'll often do this when the day seems to be going awry.
4. Tati loves veggies. She can eat carrots and cucumbers and red peppers until the cows come home. She also really loves broccoli and green beans. We often find ourselves telling her to eat her main dish of dinner and telling her that she isn't allowed any more veggies until she has a bite of her chicken, or noodles, etc. We always exchange weird glances at each other when we are saying stuff like this because we know that other parents are saying the absolute opposite of this to their kids.

We love this girlfriend. We cannot imagine our lives without her. She definitely adds that sassy spice to our family.