Skating for the first time

As promised the very next weekend we took Owen and Brandon skating for the first time. As it worked out, it was Family Day weekend so we got an extra day of skating in. Saturday after gymnastics we headed to Servus Centre in St Albert to use their indoor skating pond. It was a great surface to start skating on – it was small, not too intimidating and there was lots of room to walk around (to practice getting use to those skates on our feet). Grandma K joined us on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed walking around with Owen and Brandon – helping them get use to their new skates.

There was a mad dash to get skates and helmets on and Daddy couldn’t go fast enough — of course Mommy was not much help (Mommy is not too familar with how tight to make the laces, how do you squeeze that helmet on without squishing the ears…). Finally everyone was all set. Look at those little skates all ready to start.

Brandon checks his helmet one last time.

A glance from Owen to the camera, no smiles, just on with the skating already!

Surprisingly, at least for me, Owen and Brandon enjoyed the skating. There were not tears or complaints, just big grins and shouts for more, more, more.

On Family Day Monday, we headed back to Servus Centre for another day of skating, we added some swimming into the mix as well. The boys love the swimming pool there, the water is warm, there are water slides and so much to see and do. Aunty Claudette joined us on Monday and the boys loved showing off to Aunty!

Puzzles and Pretend Play

Owen and Brandon are growing up too fast for me; while the things they are learning and how independent they are becoming is exciting, that baby / toddler stage is slowly slipping away and it’s a little sad.  Well, I’ll always have my pictures to look back on!

Owen really is enjoying puzzles right now; he always likes to have someone watch him butdon’t confuse this with helping him, Owen most definitely does not need or want help.  Aunty Claudette is the lucky one this day to watch Owen put together his new Valentines puzzle. I love that Owen loves to do puzzles; puzzles were and still are something I really enjoy too!

Brandon loves dress up and pretend play.  Some days he wears his backpack and pretends to go to work or daycare and some days he dresses up as a cowboy, fire fighter or train conductor; today as a police man.  This wonderful time right now with Brandon is all about goofy faces and big smiles and posing for the camera, he sure hams it up these days!

Oilers, skates and sea lions

Last weekend our neighbours had tickets to the Edmonton Oiler’s hockey game (Hockey Day in Canada); so Sean and Owen went to the game. Owen was very excited, he got to drive to the game in a pick up truck and then eat popcorn and wave a big foam hand around. Brandon was pretty upset, almost devastated, it took some persuadingbut I convinced Brandon that taking in the Sea Lion show at West Edmonton Mall would be equally cool! After some tears and hugs and then some “I stopped crying, can I got to hockey now” we made our way to the Sea Lion Show. I will admit I have never been, walked by numerous times but never stopped and paid for the show. I was very impressed, informative, fun and great for kids. Brandon was a little scared, as the sea lions got quite close, but by the end of the show he was clapping with everyone else.  At picture time, though, Brandon was adamant that the sea lion not kiss him on the head.

Owen made it through the whole hockey game, impressive! Owen and Brandon were so excited to see each other and tell each other about what they did, so cute!

Ever since the hockey game Owen has asked when he gets to skate like the hockey players do. So one night we went out and bought a pair of skates for Owen (Brandon could wear Owen’s from last year) and a helmet for Brandon (Owen’s helmet still fits from last year). They did very well, let the Sales guy help with the skates and stood and walked around. Each night after that they would try their skates and helmets on and ask when they could go skating.

The weekend, we told them, there would be time on the weekend. The weekend took forever to come….

Valentines Day

As for Valentines Day, we had a special evening planned for Owen and Brandon. Aunty Claudette came over with her waffle maker and made heart shaped waffles for dinner, followed up with valentines sugar cookies. Sugar rush! Owen and Brandon thoroughly enjoyed the waffles…homemade is always the best.

After waffles and cookies, Owen enjoyed putting together his new puzzle – 48 pieces, Toy Story!

Valentines weekend

Each holiday seems so much more fun now that there are kids involved. I bought some hearts and cupids, some door hangers and hearts for the windows and decorated the house. Owen and Brandon thought all the little details were so exciting.

The weekend of Valentines was filled with red, pink, hearts and lots of love. The weekend before Grandma K and I took the boys to the store to pick out their valentines day shirts. They picked the same shirt and loved that they had the same shirt. Their “rock star” shirts. Grandma and Grandpa H were so kind to babysit Owen and Brandon one afternoon / evening so Sean and I could have the time to each other — movie, dinner and shopping for the kids!

Grandpa and Grandma S came over for dinner one night so we could celebrate Grandpa’s birthday — lucky Grandpa to be born on Valentines Day!

Owen and Brandon really enjoyed playing with Grandpa…running by hoping and not hoping that Grandpa would reach out and catch them. Owen was more comfortable with being caught, Brandon, not so much. But he was the brave little brother and would run over to rescue Owen from Grandpa. I think everyone was very tired by the end of the night. Right Grandpa?!

as Sean put it….something strange in the neighbourhood, who you gonna call….

Daddy Time

So I have recently found, or made, a small piece of time each week for me. Yes all the books, magazine, etc talk about it all the time, but it’s easier said then done. It took me 3 1/2 years or so but I figure out what I wanted for me time and thankfully I was able to find a place that could offer it. I found Pilates. I have been wanting to get back into shape, lose that extra weight and firm up that mid-section for some time but I know myself and I know I need a class to do that. Now I need a class that is offered later in the evening, around the boys bedtime or after. Good luck with that — apparently places assume you either work out during the day (when do these people work) or at suppertime (when do these people eat). The Edmonton Pilates Centre offers classes at various times, times that really work. I found a class and time and day that works for me!  At the time of writing this I am about 5 classes into it….and I love it.  I love the stretching and feeling my muscles get the next day.

But enough about me.  My new exercise time has become noticed by Owen and Brandon and when story-time comes on my night out, the boys look at me and say Mommy you go exercise class, Daddy read to us.  Every other night Daddy and I share the story time and tucking into bed time but this one night a week is Daddy time.  Daddy gets to read stories and tuck them into bed, all on his own.  More little moments to treasure, as they will pass too quickly.

Owen, my helper

Owen is growing up, I say it all the time, but it’s true. Owen has taken on a new role in our home — Owen helps to get Kosmo his food. Owen has figured out if he uses his step stool he can reach into Kosmo’s dog food bin and fill the bowl up. He knows Kosmo gets two scoops and uses two hands to walk it back to Kosmo’s eating place in the kitchen. Then Owen calls Kosmo over, Kosmo your food is here. Eat. More often than not Kosmo obliges and eats up while Owen stands by beaming.

Owen is also getting himself ready more on his own when we are leaving the house — he can put his socks and boots on and has numerous “tricks” to getting his jacket on, but of course only Mommy’s and Daddy’s can zip jackets up….at least right now.

Owen’s new comment on everything is….that is for adults only and this is for kids. From toothpastes and toothbrushes to Mommy’s cream only, Daddy’s razor only and the oven is for adults to touch only. Mommy is a girl and only girls do that and Daddy is a boy, just like me! Owen really is listening to us!

A little Brandon time

We’ve had a busy few weeks, thus the lack of updates, sorry to all who follow.  I think of you daily but I have yet to figure out how to stretch the hours to fit everything in, plus maintain my sanity.

One very exciting event happened a few weeks ago…

A little background info first…Owen and Brandon’s most wonderful daycare does 1 hour of swimming with the kids each week. There are great volunteers that come each week to help out so there is the correct ratio of children to adults in the pool. With winter there are times when weather or sickness means the usual volunteers cannot make it out; in those times the daycare turns to the parents, aunts, uncles, caregivers to see if anyone can help out. This particular week, the daycare needed an extra volunteer for Brandon’s room. I thought about it and how much I would love to go, I checked my work schedule and it was an unusually quiet day. I took the 2 hours off and went swimming with Brandon and his friends. It was so much fun, the kids were great — they bobbed in their life jackets, floated on their tummies and rolled to their backs, they kicked their feet at the edge of the pool and make great big splashes and all the while Brandon had a HUGE grin on his face. This is my mommy that came to swim with us, my mommy is playing with me and my friends, I am sharing my mommy.

It was an awesome experience and made anything that happened the rest of the work day seem small. I will most definitely grab at this opportunity again when it comes!

I have no swimming pictures, but here are some cute ones of Brandon building with his Lego blocks. The sun was out, shining through the window behind him and cast wonderful color. And yes, Brandon is wearing his hat, Brandon loves hats!

Winter birthdays

Winter birthdays are always tough with the cold and the snow. Aunty Dar and Uncle Jim are lucky enough to have their birthday’s in January. Each year we plan to get together to celebrate and each year we have to rebook due to bad road conditions, piles of snow, wintery winds…you get the idea. After a few stumbles we finally found a weekend that everyone was free and that the weather was good enough….for January.

It had been a while since we were at Aunty Dar and Uncle Jim’s house. Owen and Brandon were excited for the unexpected and thought the drive to Leduc was fun — there was the North Saskatchewan River to drive over and the “bridges” or overpasses to drive under.

At the looks of things, it appears that Owen and GG came to some serious relevations…or maybe they were just enjoying the angel food cake.

Then there were some birthday hugs….

and high fives too!

Then lots of tickles, giggles and running around.

Taking some breaks from time to time….Aunty Dar and Uncle Jim have a great house for running around in.

Owen and Brandon enjoyed their visit to Aunty Dar and Uncle Jim’s house. They still talk about the BIG drive and how much fun they had.

The past week

It’s been a tough week. Owen and Brandon seem unusually tired and are rubbing their eyes at supper time; getting through bath time, snack time and story time were at times, rough. Owen’s potty training has stalled a bit this week; Mom and Dad are trying hard to keep their spirits up and keep encouraging Owen. Brandon had a cough and super-duper runny nose, which combined with being tired made manners, using big words and sharing really tough for him.

But there were glimmers of smiles and laughs through the week as well.

Brandon did really well with potty training at day care. He sang us songs he learned at Music and Me and before bed a few nights he would tell me which friends at day care he played with, talked to and scared with dinosaurs. These quiet times I cherish, if you know Brandon, you can picture him chatting to me, with his head tilted to one side and his hands moving up and down and his eyes twinkling.

Owen used his big words and big voice to tell us when he needed something, explain why he was upset or what Brandon was doing that was bugging him. Mom and Dad were lucky enough to watch Owen interact with some of his friends at day care and watch him look them in the eye and talk with them. Almost every night Owen wanted to do puzzles and my oh my is he good. We have 4 or 5 of varying difficulty and he worked through them all…on his own — Owen only wanted Mom or Dad to watch him. The most difficult of the puzzles is his favorite and he has put it together so many times that it is starting to wear! I am so proud of him.

And Mom has finally found time to do something for herself….Pilates. I am going once a week, this is week 3 and I love it. I am having fun, love how to feels to stretch and move and love how my muscles feel the next day. Brandon told me one night, Mom you need to go to excersie so Dad can read to us!  Thanks Dad for making this work for me, for us!