Brothers

So it all worked out, Owen and Brandon are the best of brothers and friends. It was a tough year and a half, maybe even two years but it is so worth it.  It is so much fun to watch them talk to each other and play together and then to see them show compassion and concern for each other.

They help each other in the kitchen reaching for their plates and cups for breakfast and then laughing at Mommy’s creative lunch making — hot dog octopuses with Kraft Dinner (Kraft Kitchens is wonderful for ideas).

Making funny faces for the camera, to each other and just because.

Choosing a movie to watch together or is it tug of war?

Learning together, teaching each other, daring each other to try new things…

When Mom and Dad are busy, Owen takes the lead and asks Brandon, Do you want me to read you a book? Brandon smiles and claps and grabs a book.

Boxes are much more fun that the contents and even more fun than all those wonderful Christmas gifts. Owen and Brandon loved filling those boxes up with their toys and pretending to be Santa. Then they would empty them and sit in them to hide and then jump out to scare you. Then garbage day came….and they helped Mommy break the boxes down for the garbage men.

If you ask them, they will tell you…he’s my brother and my friend.

Waterpark

So after many weekends of lead up and then let down (because of that darn snow), we found a Friday and decided to take the day off work and the day off daycare and spend it at West Edmonton Mall World Waterpark.  This was a first for Owen and Brandon and it had been a very very long time since Dad, Aunty Claudette and I had been.

Owen and Brandon were vibrating they were so excited.  They jumped through the mall and squealed at the window of the Waterpark and ran up and down the aisles in the changing room…and then we walked out into the water park and they froze.  It was loud and big and pretty overwhelming.  Owen immediately drew back and became quiet and unsure, Brandon wanted to be carried and watched Owen’s reactions.

We started at the Caribbean Cove, the kids part, it was a kind of spray park but indoors, the water spraying all over was too much for them.  There were a few smaller slides, in the past at Servus Centre and the Jamie Platz YMCA, the boys have loved going down the slides but not today.  So we moved onto the wave pool; the horn had just gone off and so the waves were starting, neither of them were overly crazy about the waves…Owen wanted to go to the hot tub and Brandon agreed.  We did the hot tub a couple times, Brandon braved some slides and the wave pool with Dad (while Owen sat on the chairs with Mom and Aunty) and then we left.  Better luck next time?

This was the best we could get for water park pictures, the boys being goofy with Dad’s goggles.


Galaxyland

Well it snowed again but since the roads were somewhat cleared the week following the latest dump of snow, we managed to brave the weather and head outside.  After gymnastics we headed to West Edmonton Mall Galaxyland for the boys’ special treat day.  Potty training has been going exceptionally well for both Owen and Brandon and so as we told them last week, we would do Galaxyland.  They were both very excited and we jumping up and down as we walked through the mall.  We found Aunty Claudette and stood in line for our tickets….so painfully slow.  Owen and Brandon went on a motorcycle ride, airplane ride and fire truck ride. 

Then there was the carousel, Owen was not interested but Brandon was enthralled with it (Mommy’s favorite ride when she was young).  Then it was onto the ball pit, tubes to climb through and mountains to walk around. 

Finally at the end we caught a ride on the train, or should I say space rocket.  I think this was the highlight of all the rides.

Lunch was chaotic, Owen and Brandon were famished and of course the line ups for food were too long; needless to say they filled up on snack I had packed and were full by the time lunch arrived. Brandon fell asleep before we left the parking lot.  Owen told us numerous times he was not tired and then zonked out half way home.

It was a lot of fun and we will definitely go back again!

Unexpected Snow Day

It was suppose to be a day at Galaxyland, a big reward for excellent potty training all week for Owen and Brandon. When they woke at 6:30 am all they could talk about was when they needed to get their boots and jackets on to go to Galaxyland. We opened the front door and boom there was snow, snow and more snow. The sidewalk, driveway and streets were full of snow and it was still snowing. Dad shoveled the driveway and then drove to Aunty Claudette’s to shovel her driveway (a surprise) but on the way to Aunty’s Dad got stuck and so Aunty had to help Dad get unstuck. So much for the surprise!

Dad got home and broke the news, there would be no Galaxyland today…we’d have to plan it for another day. To help improve the spirits we bundled the boys up and went outside. They helped Dad shovel, this was probably the 3rd or 4th shovel of the day, for a few minutes and then wanted to go inside.

As you can tell Owen looks pretty impressed; Brandon on the other hand was much more into the helping.

Heading inside, I asked them for one quick picture together…this was as close as they would get to each other!

After nap time, Dad had an idea, what if we had a movie night, complete with pj’s and popcorn. Owen and Brandon were very excited and immediately picked the bowls they would use for their popcorn.

We watched Toy Story 3, all sitting together on the couch in our pj’s with a bowl of popcorn in each lap.

Potty Training Treat

We are still diligently potty training Owen and have started training with Brandon even more. Both Owen and Brandon have been having many successes and Mom and Dad are very happy to see such progress. This week Owen took a huge step forward, each night after story time and hugs he calls us to say he needs to go potty. Each night he sits and sits until he is done, while at first it appeared to be a “stall tactic”, Dad and I quickly realized it wasn’t. Dad and I thought that Owen and Brandon deserved a really big reward for doing so well in their potty training and told them if they continued every day this week on Saturday we would go to Galaxyland. After explaining Galaxyland to Owen and Brandon — train ride, cars and helicopter rides, a ball pit and so much more — they were very excited. So excited that one day at day care Owen and Brandon both did outstanding with their potty training. We felt this deserved a special treat….we asked Owen and Brandon what they thought they should have so doing such a great job at daycare. Their answer….Slurpee’s!!

Yes that is right, middle of winter and we stopped at the Mac’s for Slurpee’s!

Way to go Owen and Brandon, keep up the great work!

Merry Christmas…2010

Merry Christmas!

We were especially lucky this year to have Uncle Derek, Aunty Colette, Zoe and Isaac here in Edmonton with us and Aunty Jodi staying at our home over the Christmas holidays. We were surrounded with family all through the holidays and while at times it was a little chaotic, a little busy, it was just so wonderful to have everyone here!

Christmas Eve morning Uncle Derek, Zoe, Owen, Brandon and I spent the morning at West Edmonton Mall — first we needed to pick out Aunty Jodi’s birthday balloons (Aunty Jodi’s birthday is December 30th, but since everyone was here, she wanted to celebrate early). While we were waiting for the store to open, the most wonderful thing happened…Santa Claus came walking down the mall. I pointed him out to the kids and they were wide eyed and amazed. Santa Claus came right over to us and talked to us and told us where to come see him. As Santa walked away, Owen looked up at me and said “Santa is not scary!”. I agreed with him and Owen then looked over at Brandon, wrapped around my leg with tears in his eyes, “Brandon, Santa is not scary.” Brandon said through his tears, “oh”. We walked over to see Santa and sit in Santa’s sleigh; Zoe and Brandon were content to sit in Santa’s sleigh, a safe distance from Santa, but Owen kept walking towards Santa and peeking at him. Finally Owen came over to me and said he wanted to sit on Santa’s knee. I was over-joyed, we got all the kids together walked over and only Owen sat on Santa’s knee. Owen was so proud sitting there, telling Santa what he wanted….if only Owen would have smiled at the camera!

Christmas morning, the boys slept in a little (6:45 am counts in our house as sleeping in) and were excited to head downstairs to see if Santa came. Yup, Santa ate the cookies and left toys filled in their stockings and a train table in the living room.

To my delight Owen and Brandon dressed in the shirt and tie (compromising with jeans) that I had bought especially for Christmas morning.

Uncle Derek, Aunty Colette, Zoe, Isaac, Grandma and Grandpa H and Aunty Jodi all came over Christmas morning. We ate breakfast first, with Owen, Brandon and Zoe eating at the red table, the very table Derek, Jodi and I use to eat at when we were small.

Then it was on to the presents…

Owen with a blue shopping cart (they don’t make blue strollers — but that is another story for another day)

And Brandon with a tool kit

Owen took a break and gave Isaac tickles with Grandma H. Once Owen got Isaac to smile, he sat and tickled Isaac over and over.

Brandon took a break and posed for Daddy.

And then Owen, Brandon, Zoe and Isaac all agreed to sit and smile for a group picture!

After naptime, Grandma K, GG, Aunty Dar and Uncle Jim came over for Christmas dinner and more presents. Owen and Brandon had lots of fun with Aunty Dar. Sharing coffee, zooming around in their new capes and showing off their beaver hats.

Just before dinner was served, our traditional family picture was taken, this year by Aunty Dar (Aunty Claudette and Uncle Phil were in Fort McMurray this year). Normally Daddy wears his apron when carving the turkey; this year Mommy, Owen and Brandon all got aprons as Christmas gifts — as we have all started to do more baking and cooking.

A couple more pictures of Owen and Brandon enjoying their new presents.

Boxing Day, Aunty Jodi and I did the crazy early morning Boxing Day shopping. Owen and Brandon were so exhausted from late nights, early mornings and just the excitement in the air that they had early naps (10 am) and slept almost all day (I woke them at 3 pm). We spent Boxing Day evening at Grandpa and Grandma S’ house; there was dinner and more presents.

We had one more Christmas to celebrate, the day after Boxing Day we had dinner and more presents with Aunty Claudette and Uncle Phil, GG and Grandma K. Sean and I put a few gifts away so that Aunty Claudette could enjoy the excitement of Owen and Brandon opening Christmas presents.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Gingerbread…train

Aunty Claudette asked, would Owen and Brandon prefer a gingerbread house or train? Hummm…that would be a tough question. Yeah right, a train of course! Aunty Claudette came over one night with a special craft to do with the boys. They were very excited to see a train and were as patient as they could be for 3 yrs and 2 yrs old.

Brandon ate more candies than he did putting them on the train and while Owen did a few candies, he preferred to tell Aunty where they should go.

Aunty Claudette did very well putting together the train (even though it did not turn out as perfect as she had hoped).

Christmas tree decorating

At about the end of November we started with the Christmas Tree decorating….there is Grandma K’s house, Aunty Claudette and Uncle Phil’s house, Grandma and Grandpa H’s house and then finally our house.  All these houses need Christmas trees and decorating and who better to help out then Owen and Brandon!

This was the first tree, as you can see Brandon needs a little practice with the garland.

Brandon getting a boost from Uncle Phil, to reach those high up spots!

Now it is Aunty Claudette’s turn with Owen.

Such concentration…

Working together as a team.

Now this is the way to do it, put as many decorations on one branch, beautiful!

And now for the angel…and of course Daddy needs help with that!

Now all the trees are done and time for Christmas music. Grandma K has this very cool house that plays Christmas music in addition to the music, little snowmen with instruments come out of the doors and windows in time to the music. Owen and Brandon thoroughly enjoy watching, waiting and squealing when a snowman pops out.

Being goofy

Owen and Brandon are quite comical most of the time.  Here is one such time…they decided it would be much more fun to feed each other doughnuts…

They were racing their horses one night.

There was a picnic one Saturday morning. All the food was placed out and arranged just so.

Owen and Brandon had a couple birthday parties in November.  One evening Sean and I took the boys to Toys R Us to pick out a gift for each party.  It lasted a few minutes before they wanted to touch and look at each toy.  Dad took them around to the toys and Mom ended up picked out the toys.  They thoroughly enjoyed the evening and talked about it at daycare the next day!  Later in November we took Owen and Brandon to see the movie Tangled.  Aunty Claudette and Uncle Phil and our friends Russ, Carrie and Nathan came too.  Nathan and Owen were excited to see each other and sit together to watch the movie — popcorn and all.  Brandon lasted through the whole movie this time, clapping and singing and bouncing in his seat to the music.  Sean and I spent more time laughing at Brandon than watching the movie!  We were so happy to see both Owen and Brandon enjoying their big screen movie experience.  Now every time we drive by Scotiabank Theater (formerly known as Silver City, WEM) Owen and Brandon point and tell us all about seeing the movie Tangled, who they say it with, what they ate and what the movie was about!  We saw a preview for Cars 2 coming out in the summer…we are looking forward to seeing that one in the theatre.

Two boys = hockey

It was inevitable, with two boys we knew hockey would enter the home soon….but already?!  The YMCA offers a floor hockey program once a week for children from 3 -5 yrs old.  It runs Saturday afternoon so it kind of interferes with nap time but Sean and I thought we’d take an chance and see what Owen thought of it.

Owen was a little shy at first but then soon was running with his stick and hockey ball like a pro!

One particular day Brandon got quite excited and did not want to nap, he wanted to come watch Owen play hockey.  We gave in.  Brandon was so excited and so wanted to be a part of the class…we gave him a hockey stick and let him play on the sidelines — he loved it.

Now Brandon asks all the time, “Am I big enough to play hockey with Owen?”  If we tell Brandon what a big boy he is for using his manners, going potty, using his words, the next thing out of his mouth is, “I am big for hockey now?” 

After a few sessions of floor hockey, we thought a net and sticks would be good to have a home for practice. It would help Owen feel more comfortable at floor hockey and would give Brandon a chance to play. Here they are deciding who would play in net.

Owen decides that it is time for stretches…at floor hockey they take mini-breaks to stretch but the stretches he did here are ones he learned from gymnastics. It was cute to see him showing Brandon how to do them.