Cold Creek Conservation Area

Today we went for a family walk.

And it was AWESOME! 

(We saw tracks - deer, rabbit, squirrel, and dog, and we saw woodpecker holes.  Woodpecker morphed into ritz-cracker, care of Alice - from wood-cracker.  Kate walked the whole way without a single complaint, and Alice only fell apart about 5 minutes from the car and Ken was able to quickly bring her back to sanity.)

Fiona is Nine Months Old!

She's been out as long as she was in!  CRAZY!  I can't believe we're three months away from a whole year.  Miss Fiona has been busy this month.  She is now doing some cross crawling and some inch-worming.  She can pull herself to stand.  She can go from her tummy to a seated position and back down again to crawl. She's saying Ma-ma-ma-ma and Da-da-da-da, I think soon enough we'll be able to call one or both her first word.  She was sick for a week this past month and so not herself.  She really is a smiley happy girl, most of the time!  She loves her sisters and they love her.  I love my girls so much!  I am one blessed woman!

Oh and I almost forgot - peek-a-boo!  Fiona is now able to enjoy peek-a-boo.  I'm not sure which is cuter, when she does it, or when you do it to her!  Nine months is such a fun age.

A Birthday Party - Alice Style (Alice Day - Part TWO!)

I want things to be fair, and sometimes I think, oh no, it isn't the same... but I like the definition of fairness that goes like this; fairness isn't that everyone gets the same things, it's that everyone gets what they need. Kate is very particular about things.  Alice isn't.  Kate had a theme for her third birthday party.  Alice did not.  And that's okay!  (At least that's what I kept trying to tell myself!

The postcard invitations were fun.  Alice is fun.  But there was no theme...

I started thinking about games, but kept getting side-tracked by the fact that I had no theme.  Alice picked out Spiderman cupcake wrappers.  Kate was horribly offended by this.  I picked out random things for her loot bags.  I used random left over paper plates, cups and napkins.  Typing this is making me feel sad, but that is ridiculous.  We invited four friends - four families really, but only three were able to come, and then there was a last minute addition.  We had 15 people over, plus us.  The only organized activity was the pinata.  Alice picked pancakes for lunch.  It was random, kind of like our crazy, lovable Alice. And it was wonderful!  Alice had fun, and so did everyone else!

Ruth and Ava arrived first.  Alice started running laps around the main floor.  She was just so excited.  One by one everyone arrived and the kids played upstairs and downstairs.  Ken eventually took his place in the kitchen and started making pancakes, waffles, bacon and sausage.  Not to mention prepping all the fruit.  Sarah helped get the food out while I was putting Fiona down. (Thank you Sarah, and thank you Ken!) The kids ate, then the adults ate.

After lunch we brought out the pinata.  Alice helped me paint it last night.  She wanted it white and blue.  We didn't have time for a second coat of paint, so it looked a little rough, but really, it's for smashing so does it matter?!  We had the kids take turns whacking the pinata.  We went through the group, birthday girl first, and then from the youngest to the oldest. (Don't you just love Alice's sunglasses?!)  Several times Ken had to stop a child from completely destroying it, but it was perfect because everyone got a turn and the oldest child was able to finish the demolition.

After the pinata was smashed and the kids each had a bag of candy, we brought out the cupcakes.  I loved the look on Alice's face as everyone sang to her.  It is special to me to see her in the centre of so much love and attention.  This morning as Ken was icing the cupcakes I stopped him while he was icing the first one as he hadn't tinted the icing.  We called Alice in and she said she wanted vanilla, done.  That worked out well!

After we enjoyed the cupcakes Alice opened her presents.  I have felt funny about presents lately.  I feel like we have too many things.  Having three little friends bring gifts was perfect.  It wasn't too much.  I hope as the girls get older I can teach them about giving and charitable donations, but for now I'm conflicted about taking away their presents and teaching them things... Enough about that though!  Alice received some fun new markers - window markers, bath tub crayons and a lap doodle folder, as well as a Dora bath tub toy.

Thank you to the Tokarev, Lalonde and Beitz families, and to Ruth and Ava for making Alice's birthday such a special event!