happy belated birthday to....

happy birthday! with the cake creation...

Two big birthdays have recently come and gone - my most fabulous partner in crime (and sleep deprivation) turned ... should I say? Yes - 37 years young... I can't believe it! (And I can't believe that I'm not too far behind - 37 sounds very much like a grown-up-age.) Our niece Lennon had her first birthday yesterday, and the kids had a great time sending her happy birthday vids. For Steve's birthday there was cake (lots of it), engineered and designed by Hendrik (it tasted good but it wasn't the most attractive thing I've ever put on a table), there were cupcakes (made by our most amazing neighbour Liz), and there was... what else was there? The lack of sleep is putting holes in my brain, I swear! No okay, I remember: Liz - best neighbour ever - came over to babysit at 7:45, and Steve and I walked to the neighbourhood pub (The Bungalow) for food and brew. We had a great time, a frosty walk, and a late and long night, just like all of the others these days, driven by the darn kids and their interrupted sleeps. Good thing they're so cute and loveable during the day, and here's an example that just about melted my heart: a few days ago Alana told me that when she's big like me, she wants to "do coaching too" - in her sweet little voice, those words were hers! Of course I know that she's not entirely sure what that means, but to hear her say that - and of course to say that about coaching, was the nines! Adorable. And now please, sleep through the night for once and make me love you more.

Other updates, in brief: Hendrik did two full days of school this week and somehow, in gaining the extra hours at school managed to lose some of the terribleness and terrible-tireds that accompanied the full days earlier in the school year. We're thinking we'll try two full days a week and keep the other three at half-days, since we know these times together - which we're lucky enough to have - aren't ones we'll see again. I also started full days at school, and I round out week one of classes tomorrow. So far so good - but I now that life is about to get crrrrrrazy busy.... but that's okay. I'll do my best, and hope that it's enough.

On a final note, I took Anita Silvey's Children's Book-a-Day Almanac out of the library a few days ago, a serendipitous find that is grrrrreat - if there were such a calendar (maybe there is!), I would buy it. For each day of the year there's a list of birthdays, significant events, etc, and suggested readings that tie in. Just in case you didn't know, today is National Hat Day (read Caps for Sale), the anniversary of the Boston Molasses Disaster (read The Great Molasses Flood), and the day that James Naismith published the rules of basketball 133 years ago. It's also Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (read Martin's Big Words), and that of Ernest J. Gaines (The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman). Last but not least, Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England on this day in 1559 - read Good Queen Bess by Diane Stanley. There aren't enough hours in the day.... to read! (Or exercise. Or sleep!)

the almanac is online HERE | january, in the calendar i did buy... so good and so bad at the same time!