Birthday Bash

We had Charlotte's birthday party yesterday. She requested a Go Diego Go party, with a Go Diego Go cake... so mommy HAD to deliver. So often the night before a party I wonder why we (Mike gets dragged into helping me clean, specifically ManVille downstairs) go through all this trouble. Then the next day I realize that kids really do love birthday parties and Charlotte was so excited! She got herself fully dressed for the party... she picked out her party dress, pink and orange socks, her ruby red slippers and some beads. She looked adorable, exactly how you would guess a 3 year old would dress for a party. The rest of the morning ran around with her Diego balloon, and continually opened the fridge door to look at the cake. I'm glad we decided on a morning party, because making her wait until the afternoon would have been torture for everyone.


Now, as is the custom for winter birthdays half of the guests were sick... this time 6 of the kids couldn't come because of illness or other commitments. Still you would never know since the house was packed. The kids played in the playroom, some dressed up, others fought over the police car, then we played Pass the Parcel. I first saw Pass the Parcel when we were in England but apparently only myself and my friend Sue had deprived childhoods as everyone else was familiar with this game. The kids didn't really know what was going on, but by the end they clued in that if they were allowed to open the parcel they got chocolate SO it wasn't too bad after all! Then I was shocked when all the kids spread out on the floor and started to colour Diego pictures. It was so quiet, you'd of never known there was a birthday party going on. Later we went upstairs for lunch, cake and presents. At which point it go loud! No doubt there was a party going on now. I admit, I love having running, screaming kids in the house. It makes me smile to see them chase eachother and squeal when they catch the target. Of course we had to put a stop to it, for fear that someone was going to get hurt, and besides Charlotte had to open her gifts. And did she ever get a haul. She got a little blender, coffee maker and mixer set, a Diego figurine (which she hasn't put down), books, puzzles, clothes (including princess PJ's that she just had to wear last night). All in all, it was a great day everyone was happy, excited and there were barely any tears!

Pass the Parcel

Colouring
The 'Boys', watching the cars. (Johnny, Robbie and Jonah)

The cake. This one was actually super easy to make.
We simply could not get a photo where Charlotte was smiling, or even looking at the camera. Too many other things to do, I guess. Yummmm! Cake!

Robbie was having a pretty good time too!

Opening presents!

Now I must switch gears from getting ready for the party to packing for a road trip. For any of you who are religious, please pray for us, as we travel with a 1 year old and a 3 year old for 2 days in the car! Mike as a team going to the Massachusetts area for a tournament, so we decided to tag along and visit Carol and Alan. We will be spending ALL of Wednesday in the car and part of Thursday. The hard part is that since we have to keep pace with the team bus, we won't be able to stop frequently to let the kids out for a run around. YIKES! This is going to be a tough trip, but once we get there it will be all worth it, I am sure.

Finally, here are a couple other photos from our week.

I watched Jonah on Friday. These two get along so well, now it is fabulous.

Robbie on the hill, I think he was trying to run after Charlotte and Jonah and fell. He followed them everywhere.

The loved the tire swing.

Robbie at some unbelievable hour in the morning. We take/hide him in the basement so he doesn't wake Charlotte. Look at that hair... I cna't keep it pinned down. Mike says his hair was like that, which probably means my little boy will only have hair for another 29 years.

Well Charlotte's, quiet time (no more naps for her) is over. I can hear her playing with her Diego figurine, which incidentally talks, trying to say the word Penquin. She always says Pengo, and must know that it doesn't sound like the way Diego says it, so she is practicing. Too Cute!

Skating - March 14, 2009

Today was our last day of skating lessons. Not that there really is much lesson with kids ranging from 2 to 4. Mostly it is the parents attempting to get the kids to do something that somewhat resembles what the instructor guided out. Regardless of the chaos, it is a pile of fun. This week the kids mainly got their certificates and the rest of the time was a family free skate. There were loads of older siblings dashing about and grandparents taking photo's. Here are my photo's and two videos (finally) of Lottie on Skates.


Getting her very first skating certificate.
She was very proud.

Mom and Lottie about to leave the ice... can't wait until next season.

I wish I had a before video, the difference is amazing! In the beginning she couldn't so much as stand up on the blades and now look at her. The first video is her demostrating her 'tricks' and the second is her going 'super fast'.

Finally, here is a blog post with photos!! But first I'll bore you with more of my ramblings. If you didn't read (or for some reason couldn't view) the latest blog post we found the camera charger. If you can believe it slipped behind the lining of my suitcase. You know the part that covers the metal bars so your clothes don't get creases on them. It wasn't until I shook the heck out the suitcase (purely out of frustration) that I heard something rattle. Then I pulled back the lining and revealed the charger... it was like I'd just found $1,000,000 stashed in my suitcase.

My mom left yesterday to head back to the Queen City. When grandma got out of the car and we started to pull away Charlotte said "I'm sad!". Of course I was sad too and I think we are all looking forward to the day when grandma moves here. I also feel bad for my mom as she has to return to the prairies during a cold snap. My aunt called one of the days and said that with the wind it was minus 44 degrees Celsius. Brrrrr! Here sprin is starting. The daffodils are rearing their heads and we managed to get the bikes out yesterday afternoon. There are also a few puddles kicking around so Charlotte and even Robbie are thrilled to bits to play in a muddy gunky puddle. Also during my mom's stay we had a mini birthday party for Charlotte. Mom and Charlotte decorated a cake, daddy bought balloons and I made a spaghetti supper with the requested "Cheesy Bread". From her parents Charlotte got the Tinker Belle movie, it is really sweet and she enjoyed it, but still says her favorite is Go Diego Go and Cinderella. From Grandma Charlotte got a Dora Backpack (which we've had to rename to Diego's Rescue Pack) a Little Mermaid Pajama's and a Digital Camera. Yes her very own camera. She is over the moon with all of them! She has taken photo's of Ugly Duckling, of her Balloons and even of her brother. I can even download her photo's onto the computer so I'll be sure to post some on the blog.

Lastly I went and go Charlotte's photo's. I get them done every year to see how she grows, and WOW has she ever grown when you compare photo's. In this year's photo she has the biggest grin and is in mid laugh... let me tell you why. Our princess can be a bit shy in public situations, and freezes when she is the focus of anything. This is why I put her in skating and she will start dance and swimming. She really needs to be socialized (without mom) a lot more and we are gradually working on it. Photo's was a prime example. Even though I was right in the room, she couldn't touch me and she froze. Head down, fingers in the mouth, and on the verge of tears. I tried everything even the act of bribing with candy! and nothing she would not sit infront of that camera. After 20 minutes of coaxing I had 2 choices leave, or ask the photographer to leave. I chose the latter assuming if I couldn't get Charlotte to cooperate without the photographer in the room we would then leave. I pulled up a stool that spins and started spinning Charlotte in a circle. Still nothing. So then I layed on the floor and spun her so I could se her face (it was still pointed to the ground) and she started to grin, then she started to kick me. This got her in hysterical laughter, the photographer slipped into the room and snapped a few shots. So if you ever get to see Charlotte's 3rd birthday photo (it isn't digital) she is laughing so hard because she is kicking me while I lay at her feet. The things parents do!

Okay here are the photo's that have been long over due (in reverse order as I forgot how to upload them the right way)

Charlotte on her bike yesterday afternoon.
Look mom "No Feet"

Bike riding with the big girls

We decided it might be safer to let Robbie run around with a helmet on.

Robbie bike riding.

Robbie Hopscotching (pre-helmet)

Spring means lots of time spent on James Street.
Decorating the birthday cake.

The backpack! and new pj's.

The camera

Robbie raiding Charlotte's panty drawer.

Back at the playground

Miss Mud Face
Splashing in a mud puddle



I made this train cake for my friend Kelly's little boy John Michael's 2nd birthday.

Caught by grandma.

Being chased by grandma

One of the first pictures I take now that I have my camera back, and Charlotte pulls her brothers hair!!!!

I took these two right before the camera died back in January.

Could Someone PLEASE find the lesson in all of this...

Here is a story... another truly great Hudson Story.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful little girl who somehow manged to grow into a clueless woman, her name was Cordele... okay maybe I won't start right back at the beginning, we can fast forward to January 2009.

So way back in January we came home from our trip in England. While unpacking I noticed that I couldn't find the battery charger. I searched every pocket of the suitcases 100 times. I could not find this thing! I was certain that I had packed it, but at the same time. I also was trying to pack after not sleeping for nearly 2 weeks; trying pack while I'd just spent the last day or so physically ill and slightly feverish; trying to pack while my kids repeatedly ran in and out of the smallest bedroom banging their heads on the door or dresser each time. Sooo, there was a good chance that I forgot it. Lord knows I have an excellent track record for forgetting things!

Mike called home to England to see if the charger was there, and YES! is was. Hooray! The charger has been found! No worries, pop it in the mail and it should be here in a few days. Whoops Mike's dad sent the mail and chose land, not air, so we waited and we waited and we waited. In the mean time we recieved (via airmail) other miscellaneous cords that could be the charger but still, the original package that was sent was missing. We waited for over 2 months.

Now, this clueless woman, was also a cheap skate and did not want to pay $60 for a new charger so we kept waiting. Finally we decided the charger surely must be lost and we should just bite the bullet and buy a new charger. After all we have a 3rd birthday approaching. First lets make one final attempt at the mail box. Whoo Hoo!!! You would never believe the package that finally arrived. Mike and I were litterally both grabbing at the package tossing aside clothes that have all since been outgrown and there it was....not the charger but some strange cord that could never in a 100 years be plugged into an electrical outlet on Canadian soil. For two months we waited for a cord that is designed for something over in England. Mike must have thought and told his parents it was a cord, since we seem to have 100 of them now that even if we wanted to we couldn't even use them on this side of the Atlantic. Then I explained that it isn't a cord it is a battery charger that plugs straight into the wall. Of course I attempted to blame him...."Remember the grey thing that sits in the outlet in the kitchen!!!". He of course attempted to blame me "Well if you didn't forget it in the first place", and "Are you sure you checked the suitcases" my response was something like "Of course I did. What do you think I'm clueless!" So we decided that since they were not there to defend themselves we'd blame his parents with "If they would have just sent it by air we would have know it was the wrong one months ago". (Sorry Tom and Margaret)

Do a little more fast forwarding to this afternoon, and after I got the kids in their room for quiet time I decided to go thru the suitcases again. I checked all the pockets and NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING. I turned them over, shook them up and down and around. (Okay this is going to be painful, bare with me while I flinch). Then I noticed that our suitcases have a lining in them that velcro off and on, pulled back the velcro and a wave of mixed emotions went through my body.
JOY- Yippee the charger has been found
FRUSTRATION - it was here all along
SHAME - embarrassed that I in the end was responsible for all of this!

Of course this was just dumb, rotten bad luck that it was the charger (and not a useless pair of socks) that somehow through our travels managed to slip into the back lining of a suitcase. URGH. URGH. URGH.

So if anyone can find a lesson in this besides to just be glad we have the charger and saved $60 I'd love to hear it because I feel a little bit like the present that Robbie presented to his grandma (refer to the previous post if you don't know what I'm refering to).

FYI: The battery is plugged into the charger which is plugged in to the outlet in the kitchen.

Welcome to March

Okay I've been a bit behind on updating the blog. But honestly half the fun of blogging is putting up photo's and since I am 100% sure the camera charger is lost and I am having troubles finding the right type of replacement charger I'm in a bit of a bind. It has been 2 months (did I just say 2 MONTHS) since I took a proper photo of my kids!

So the un-photographed update on us... is that my mom arrived for a visit last week. At first Charlotte was a bit confused as I think she was expecting her other grandma, of course she still remembered my mom and it took her only a few moments to get over the surprise. I giggled as her reaction reminded me of when you go to take a sip of water and end up with a mouth full of orange juice. Not that OJ is bad, but there is a moment when you don't know exactly what happened. Robbie however has still not quite adjusted to my mom. We think he's starting to make friends, but again the messages are mixed. Yesterday I was running the bath, and the kids (as per normal) were running around the house naked. Mom happened to be in the kitchen when Robbie walked in from the living room with both hands outstretched wanting to hand something to Grandma. Mom thought that he is finally warming up to her and took the object(s)... which happened to be... Poop! Oh the DRAMA that unfolded next!!!

But honestly both kids are having a great time with Grandma. We've been on the go shopping, swimming, skating and trying to make the best of Grandmas short visit. I have also gotten a little help and a night out which has been a treat. Last Saturday mom took me for supper and the Rankin concert as an early birthday present and if things go as planned Mike and I will go out on a date on Friday.

So that is what is going on here in Nova Scotia. We are starting to get anxious for spring to arrive so we can spend more time outside.