happy 3rd!

Our big boy is THREE! It's one of those can't believe it things, but ... well... yeah, I can believe it - that three years have passed since he joined the party; so much has happened! And the fun keeps right on going. He was in fine form on Thursday, and over the moon that he woke up to a big special day complete with Grandparents Brinkman here to take him to preschool, and then presents and beef and rice and a cake covered with Smarties. All in all, it was a good one, and he was spoiled silly with gifts. Big hits for us are his new winter coat (it was -17 this morning, uggh!) and his tool table, made by none other than Grandpa Brinks - a favourite that he'd claim for his his own first. He also loooooves his new, very own flashlight, and then there are the blocks and books and magnets and play breakfast food and dino colouring pad and more more more. And I did remember - one day late awhoops - to record the birthday list (read last year's interview here), so here it is:

who is your best friend? "from Franklin?" he asked. "Snail."
what is your favourite thing to do? "go in my room and play"
what’s your favourite colour? "red and orange"
what’s your favourite food? "broccoli."
what do you like to do with mommy and daddy? "play volleyball"
what’s your favourite game? "soccer"
what do you want to be when you grow up? "a big boy"
what’s your favourite book? "Franklin books"
what’s your favourite number? "three"
what’s your favourite animal? "dog" (again!)

He was eating the Smarties and chocolate icing off of his square vanilla cake (as requested) as we conducted our b-day interview... and don't ask me where that broccoli answer came from - I was fully expecting chocolate, chocolate icing, cake or Smarties to be his answer!

And Alana enjoyed the big day too; the food and balloons and presents - she even had a little gifty of her own, another baby! This girl loves babies and lets everyone know, with her "baby bay-bee, bay-BEE" - I'd say it's a top word, rivaled only by cookie for top said-with-enthusiasm marks. Now, a few pictures of le birthday: it's bed early for me (I hope) tonight; I had a vb clinic this morning out in Nepean that started at 8:00, and that 6:45 alarm came way too soon. (That being said, our Miss slept through the night last night, and I am oh so thankful for that. Here's to another good night tonight...!)

opening presents

tools!

love this series of pics: Hendrik is mr. serious, and Alana is computing....

on the left, still serious; on the right "CAKE... NOW!!!!!"

blowin' out the candles.... the poor guy almost feel asleep eating cake he was so tired!

A big thanks to everyone near and far who made this day so special!

in short...

Is there such a thing as a kitchen table with built-in shopvac or mop-bot? I need one. Yesterday morning we (me and the kids) had a vacuum "party" and despite just a dry clean (no swiffer/mop business), the floor looked pretty good... until the next meal arrived. And silly me - I fed the kids quinoa for dinner, and what was the first thing - and I mean the very first thing - that Alana did when I put the goods on her tray? She splayed her hands back and forth and back and forth, sending quinoa flying ev-er-y-where. So, the floor stayed clean for five minutes, big deal. With our dark floors, food under the table is black-on-white visible which, whatever - if the mess is there I suppose it's nice to see it so it can be cleaned up instead of built-up / tracked anywhere and everywhere but... this means that I'm on my hands and knees wiping food off the floor after every meal. It could always be worse....

And recovery - is going very well. Hendrik was a bit out of sorts on Saturday morning, but other than that is and has been his normal self since Friday evening. Even though he doesn't think/feel like he should be taking it easy, we're trying to keep activities low key... but I'm not sure how long this will last, as we're all going a little stir crazy. I was away all day Saturday and Sunday shadowing a course, so Steve was cooped up - enforcing the stay-home watch-Franklin chill-out rules we were given by les docteurs. But now... three - four? - days later, we're all feeling like it's time to start getting out and doing things again - staying home is the easy thing, but without at least one out-of-the-house activity every day, I do feel a little cooped and crazy. Tonight is rec vball for me (yay!) and Grandma and Gramps B come tomorrow (yay!) and THEN it's Hendrik's third birthday on Thursday (yay yay yay!). We're going to try and see if Hendrik wants to take our two visitors to preschool on Thursday, as I'm sure everyone would enjoy seeing, exploring and showing this part of Hendrik's fall/winter routine.

Christmas baking is on my list of things to do, and with Alana napping and Steve and Hendrik on a park plus Canadian Tire snowpant search, that's just what I should be doing. Nanaimo bars are up first, YUM!

a big day..... (updated!)

And the weeks go by...

Big news of the day of the week is that Hendrik is having his second eye surgery today; he's at the hospital with Steve as I type, with one hour to go til operation time. I feel fine - but more importantly Hendrik felt fine this morning and was his usual chipper self, playing and pretending; he didn't even seem bothered by the no-breakfast rule. The boys should be home by early afternoon, so stay tuned - I'll try to post an update at the bottom of this entry.

I meant to get a quick blog up last night but time ran out... or ran into other things. I was all excited about putting together this advent calendar but got the red light when it all came out of the box: I need a glue gun to put the thing together, and approximately five hours to sand all pieces and get them perfectly in place. UGH. So I'm going to send it back and do something else. Mrrrrrr....

Alana's newest favourite word is COOKIE. It is also her second (or first?) favourite food (I'll just go ahead and speak for her); cheese still takes first place, but the gusto with which she belts out COO-KIE! is really something. Hendrik and I made a big batch of chocolate chippers a few days ago, and when she laid eyes on them all cooling off on the rack there in the kitchen she lost her mind and began belting out cookie cookie cookie! with some serious urgency (and crazy eyes). I kind of agree though... cookies are good!


Update!
Hendrik did so well with the surgery, and so far his recovery is much like April's round one, and I'm wondering if the guys hit the espresso bar on the way home from the hospital. After an hour of Franklin, Hendrik was back to his usual self running around and asking for someone to play volleyball and/or soccer with..... let's hope all mends well!

photo-flashback

November 17, 2011 | Trento (we were digging into some seriously delicious club sandwiches)

November 17, 2012 | Beijing

November 17, 2013 | Gatineau

November 17, 2013 | Gatineau

I'd have gone further back with the photos, but the pre-2011 organization levels are pretty paltry, and there's not much time (or patience) for searching and digging through folders for exact dates. I did dig up a few other gems that I'll share another time.

What've we been up to? Steve and Hendrik went "skating" this afternoon, and you can refer to the first two frames just above here to take a look at Steve's imitation of Hendrik's on-ice activities - he was statuesque. He acted like a frozen, immobile statue, both with and without a little push cart thing. I got the low down while Hendrik was passed out (see next frame) and then the first hand account from the boy himself when he woke up: "I walked this far. I didn't skate but I walked this far." Steve said it was painful.

We've been to the museum (of Science and Nature), downtown, to the park (it was super mild here this weekend), to a friend's house, and Steve and I even had a night out (just us!) - though our big date was to a fundraiser for Hendrik's preschool. Our babysitters (Duff and his girl) somehow managed to get both kids to sleep through the night - something that is becoming quite the rare occurrence (unfortunately). We've been enjoying egg nog lattes in the morning (homemade ones are SO much better than Starb's) and have Christmas and Christmas presents on the brain. Hendrik has his surgery coming up this Friday - but other than that, it's been life as usual around here. Steve heads back to training tomorrow - and we'll miss having him around all the time. Time to get going - books and lists await!

in short...

It has been feeling tres wintery here - the big coats are out for all. Yesterday's preschool was as routine as the week before: there were no tears, and this time Hendrik was in no hurry to find me when the parents started trickling in at closing time. After a month (ish, I think), it seems as though he's finally getting comfortable with the people and the place, so it's a bit of a shame that he'll miss 1-2 weeks after his eye surgery... ooooh well, he'll roll with it. This has to be short - Steve and I are going to watch a movie and there are few things calling my name. I just have to say that I bought these boots (after some hemming and hawing) and just applied for this mini job. I leave you with some multimedia - the kids were on fire last night!

15-minute day (yesterday) + a poop story

starting at 7:00
1. mama mama mama | hendrik in our big bed | getting breakfast together | eating
2. trying to get people dressed | hen watching franklin (b/c of a poop on the potty) | books | in the car on time!
3. driving to preschool | drop-off at 9:15 - no tears! (a first) | arriving a la grocery-store | shopping
4. checking out | driving to kiddie 2nd hand store | checking out the winter boots | playing with gloves in MEC

 

I missed a grocery store pic in the first series, so actually at 11:00 I was......
1. watching Alana play with gloves in MEC | arriving at preschool for pick-up | leaving | driving
2. schlepping (hendrik was asleep in the car | groceries away with A, H is passed out | Alana lunch | me lunch
3. playing (H still sleeping) | more playing | more playing | cleaning up
4. H is awake! and eating | Alana wants to eat more too | skype with Steve | skype with Steve

starting at 3:00
1. facebook | organizing books (A napping) | about to read books in newly minted fort | reading and picking :)
2. cake make | apple grate (recipe below) | dancing | I forget... Hen might be in the crib?
3. A is up and crying - post head butt from H | dinner on the go (leftovers) | reading and hiding (under red blanket) | dinner
4. a clean dessert bowl! | clean-up avec leech on leg | bath time | chaos (more on this below)

starting at 7:00
1. chaos | cuddles with A | reading A bedtime stories and H comes in with oven mitts on | A to bed (she's crying)
2. picking stories (A is still crying) | smiles! | Blueberries for Sal | hanging up diapers
3. something online | planning for vb clinic | planning for vb clinic... bed at 10:30

Two things happened while Alana was in the bath: 1. Hendrik put on a show (pictures just below) and there was poop and more poop and more poop.

I'm watching from the in front of the bathtub and he keeps coming back saying, "Tada!" and wearing a different getup. "You're funny!" I say, laughing laughing laughing. "Yeah, I am funny," he'd say. It was the sunshine before the poopstorm.

I have to preface this next part with a fact about our boy: he has a very, very, very sensitive nose - a keen sense of smell. Poop smells make him gag, and he's thrown up a few times as a result of a serious odorous offering (his own). And, you know, he's not too into seeing it either... but really, who is? So when Alana pooped in the bath with him in serious proximity, I immediately asked him to stay out stay out stay OUT! of the bathroom. "Why? Why mommy did Alana do a poop?" Yes, yes she sure did. I drained the bath and got her out and wiped off... and it wasn't as bad as I thought - I let her run off after her brother, and paper-toweled out the tub. I gave Hendrik the all clear (get in here!), and into the bathroom he comes with the black basket on his head... when I see Alana, in the hall (where Hendrik is standing in the above pictures) about to lose it all over the white pillow you see in the last frame. I somehow managed to get the pillow halfway out of the way, so it's a some-on-the-floor some-on-the-pillow type of situation. Until she steps in it. Meanwhile Hendrik is asking if Alana pooped again because I'm saying something like this: "oh Alana oh stop okay Alana Alana Hendrik don't look Hendrik just stay there Alana Alana" as I'm scooping her up and putting her back in the wiped-down tub. Hendrik declares that he'll just "hide in his shell" (the black basket) until it's all cleaned up, and I encourage him to do so. Meanwhile, I'm furiously scooping poop up off the floor and Alana is furiously smearing it all over her body (thankfully she left her face and hair alone). Hendrik is still hiding in his shell while I arms-length-scrunched-face helicopter her over to the shower - and she is trying to FLING it off her hands ... so shit is literally flying everywhere. Have I mentioned that Hendrik is gagging in his shell? And that we've just eaten dinner? This moment was the high? or low? point in the evening's poop saga. I hosed Alana down and then cleaned up flecks while she was sucking on a (closed) bottle of shampoo (water off). I immediately took her to her room (towel on) and put a diaper on. Only then, when we came back from a brief bathroom hiatus, did Hendrik ask if it was okay to come out of his shell: "no more poop?" No more poop.

Apple-pie cake recipe?
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp (heaping) cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup flour
2 1/2 cups shredded apple (3-5)
slurp of milk (2 tbsp-ish)
1 tsp vanilla
Bake in a greased pie plate at 350 for 45 minutes.

vids

halloween plus

Halloween was great - the kids were adorable in their costumes and there were no meltdowns despite the candy and chocolate bars at bedtime. Hendrik wasn't super into the trick or treating thing, but gladly answered the door at Zella's... and gladly sampled the candy too. Both costumes were outstanding - but the Franklin getup really takes the cake; with the exception of the hat, it was entirely Steve's creation, so the kudos go to him. We put our outfits together at the last minute, and managed to all seem Halloweeny for our mini tour to Vince's, Gavin's and Zella's - where, despite the three-stop-shop, we amassed a sizeable pile of candy and chocolate. Hendrik's favourites are the Swedish Berries, and I'm eating Coffee Crisp. Yum......

the first dress-up at halloween!

hey it's franklin :)

answering the door

Yesterday was the mildest of fall days, with temperatures in the mid-teens - it took me back to the fall that I like (no cold business). The wind was pretty strong, so leaves were whipping all over as we made our way through the park, back to the car post-Rockliffe Book Sale. We showed up not long after they opened the doors, and the line was just closing in on the gym; this means busy busy busy, and for me, with both kids (and book temptations evvvvverywhere) we couldn't stay too long. I found the Complete Adventures of the Mole Sisters (which I felt so-so about at first but now enjoy), and that made the trip and busy-ness worthwhile. Hendrik talked me into some Franklin books and another dinosaur book - at at 50 cents I couldn't say no. I loved the books, and as you can see, the kids loved being outside in the wind and woods....

fall and sunshine and wind and leaves and happy kids!

 And our girl... how cute is she?!

14 months

I love her!

Sleeping has been a bit of a mess lately: if one of the kids sleeps through the night, the other is up multiple times or for multiple hours, and it is getting painful. I was up FIVE times last night with Hendrik, and for two hours the night before with Alana. I know that it could always be worse... so I'd better can it and count my blessings. And go to bed early. Zip!

(I have to add this: Steve just got his itinerary for the team's trip to Mexico - they leave Monday (for six days I think), and he's shaking his head and laughing because of the messy, messy, messy job the Mexicans did of getting them flights down south. The team is not traveling together and they have a ridiculous number of connections ("I don't know why I'm laughing because it's going to be hell" he just said. Ottawa-Washington-Houston-Mexico City-Monterrey - that's his itinerary, and he's still laughing). Ugh. Still, whatever - he's going to Mexico to play volleyball. Oh, and I also have to add that Hendrik was not at all interested in staying at preschool by himself on Thursday; there were tears. We stayed and then stayed some more and then finally managed to get away for just over an hour. The report back from the teachers was that he was just fine while we were gone, as we knew he would be. That being said, I'm not looking forward to the teary eyes and quivery bottom lip on Tuesday, poor feller! And now, that's a wrap... zip zip!)