The 1st to Give Back!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Mason! Wow a year has flown by! In honour of Mason's 1st Birthday we did the same thing we did for James' 1st Birthday and decided to give back to the community, as we feel so blessed to have happy & healthy children. This was an idea of a friends sister years ago and I hope she knows the legacy she is leaving with my kids!

We donated over $200 worth of food, clothes, baby items & books to the Langley Food Bank! We celebrated his birthday on Sunday with a great party with friends and family! Thank you to everyone who made donations and who came by to celebrate our little guy! We are so lucky! We love you Bubs!

Here's Mason getting his one present, Elmo, so now he doesn't have to try to steal James' Cookie Monster! Lots of sweet hugs for Elmo!

This boy loved his cake!

Thanks Shel for taking these pics!

Here we are in the midst of making our donation!

Neither child looked at the camera for any of these photos! Doesn't matter, what matters is we gave back!!

Playing Catch Up

I've been either sick or busy lately to update the blog as much as I'd like - so I thought I would post a few random pics from the last few weeks, as I have the house to myself (yes!)

Our little cruiser - no more crawling for Mason...it's been a while, but it's still just so cute to see a person this little walking!

Dad throwing Mason up in the window) - yes, it's filthy, I know!

This little boy melts my heart! I can't believe he'll be one in a week!

We had a brief snowfall last week (it melted by the afternoon) so we bundled up and the boys wanted to get pulled up and down our street (5 times). 'Faster Mommy Faster' - I was in my t-shirt by the end! The cutest part was that I told James to make sure Mason didn't fall over and he held on to him the whole time - you can see his arm on his shoulder!

Our neighbours started a snowman, so we finished it off (I didn't have the energy to roll the base by myself after the haul above!)

James went a whole week on the potty and I told him if he filled up his sticker chart we would go on a special date, which we did today! We got sushi and bought new big boy underpants! Not to mention, we stopped by a friends house on the way home and got to go ATV'ing! That might have taken the cake, but he did choose sushi and underpants as his special date! We had a blast!

Great job Bud!

A recent trip to Victoria with the boys - here they are watching Lexi chase her ball when papa G got home from work!

Mason on the ferry slide...a little tentative but big smiles at the bottom! Loved it!

Watching Tika (my brother's dog) play in the snow on a walk & bile ride to the wharf

My happy guys playing Grandma and Papa G on their way to Palm Springs!

A video from a few weeks ago at Geoff's firehall

Hola & Adios

We recently returned home from a 12 day trip to Mexico! Mason & I were sick before we left and maybe moments, maybe an hour, after this picture was taken, James got sick too - all over just about everything you can imagine in our row. It was a tough few days, as both boys continued to vomit for the next 3 days....we wondered if we'd made a mistake going or should have delayed it, but we were there and tried to make the most of it. After they felt better, we could relax a little, knowing they were fine!

Mason's first go at the beach, not a huge fan on the sand...he was able to tolerate it by the end, but wasn't able to walk in it, which frustrated him I think...he's a mover! This was the lovely beach house we shared with Geoff's family for the first 9 days. It was in Playa Del Carmen...gorgeous!

Muscle man in the pool!

Splashing in the waves!

Sunset hammock snuggles...my favorite...he even snoozed on me a few times...the best!

Ariba! (View from our place was the best!)

More hammock snuggles

Playing on the grass...probably with bubbles...a favorite!

One afternoon all the cousins went ATV'ing...it was a little nerve racking for me, as it felt like rock climbing at times it was very rough terrain, but it was a blast and a nice break from the kids!

In a cave we got a tour of mid-ATV trip

Sunset from our roof balcony!

Family fun in the sand, building castles for Dora!

In the city of Playa del Carmen - Striding down the boardwalk!

This is the best squishy smile!

My little surfer dude!

Mason and James were playing peek-a-boo behind this tree and I caught jut the best smile!

Jumping in the pool with Dad, among the favorite activities!

James potty trained himself in Mexico and no, not on the grass - this was the only time he went on the grass because we couldn't make it to the potty!

The whole family on the beach the last day. Shortly after this, Kathy (Geoff's mom) joined us for a few extra days at an all-inclusive in Cancun.

Family fun on the beach!

Cute bum - Kathy and James spent alot of time holding hands on the shore having waves wash over them!

At our all-inclusive - James striding through the lobby...got a few looks to say the least!

Mini-golf at our place

At the airport...before the LONG journey home (which included a 5.5 hr delay on the tarmack...yes, we survived, barely!)

All in all, we were so lucky to have been able to share this holiday with our family and although we struggled alot with a new walker, illness and long waits - we did make some great family memories to cherish and can look back at the pictures in the years to come and laugh...we made it through two horrible flights and still managed to want to keep traveling with our kids...when they are much older of course!

Thank you Rob & Deb for your generosity - amazing!

Thank you Kathy (Grammy) for helping us out and giving us breaks on the beach while the kids napped...this got us through the trip...you have no idea!

10 on the 10th 2011 edition...

It's been a few months since I've had the time to update my 10 on the 10th feature...but I had a few moments tonight and it happens to be the 10th, so here goes in no particular order:

1. We had a great morning watching Geoff play in a Charity basketball game last week and the boys loved the bleachers, possibly more than the game!

2 Mason continues to close his eyes when the camera flashes, but not what this is about...he's got 8 teeth now, four on top and four on the bottom and his smile is to die for!

3. Here is James standing in front of a sign in Victoria that my Grandad carved. We drove by it on our way to a playdate on what would have been his birthday (Dec 23rd) and James just happened to have his touque that reminded me of him...so we had to take a pic! Love it!

4. James continues to love his bike and I love selling them - sold 55 now...lots of business before Christmas and hopefully picks up again in the spring!

5. We still go to Musikgarten every week and Mason is really starting to love it. The teacher, Ms. Donna, captivates him!

6. Gymnastics is where it's at for us! Best $5 we spend during the week! Mason is still free and gets just as much out of it as James. He loves to hang on the monkey bars, sit on the edge of the foam pit and bounce 'til he falls in and we always find him chewing on the disgusting foam pieces! James loves running off the long trampoline into the foam pit, climbing over the climbers wall and jumping on the trampolines!

7. Mason is so independent now that he walks. He can climb onto his riding toys and get off all by himself!

8. James new favorite toy is a hand-me-down vacuum from Geoff's co-worker. Many people pay good money for this type of cleaning service and we get it free everyday!

9. My mom gave James a Raffi CD and it gets played at least 5 times a day! Here I am pretending to be a horse in one of the songs while James is the cowboy! Giddy-up Mom!

10. I'll have to download the video soon, but don't have the time right now, but James does the cutest thing right now with Mason and I can see their relationship blossoming...it's very special! Mason crawls down the hall to him and James helps him up and walks him down the hall. At night he gets his bottle ready, gives him a head rub and hug, says 'I love Masin' (that's how it sounds) - it's adorable and fun to watch! Muah my boys! I love you guys!

Rollin' into 2011!

We had a low key night on New Years Eve this year (well when don't we?) - we had been sick all week and just got some energy back to decided to have a sushi party at home! James is a big fan and loves to watch them make it so I decided it was time to pull out my old rolling mat (it was moldy, so I bought new one) and we made sushi for Grammy and us! Dynamite rolls, cali rolls, yam tempura rolls, gyoza & edamame! It was a feast, so much fun and something we will do again for sure! James was a super big help, especially when it came time to making the yam tempura roll, he was so excited and couldn't wait to make it...until I realized that he just wanted to eat the tempura...luckily he only got one piece as I'm sure he would have devoured it all!

Getting our cooking clothes on!

Mid-Dyna rolling

Showing off the first roll!

End result! Delicious!

Dad starting off the New Year in a very cold way down at White Rock beach!

Happy New Year everyone!