Two one's

Last weekend my boy turned two years old, and if you ask him how old he is he'll proudly say "two one's".  This is something worth celebrating, and so we did. There was cake. There was laughter. There were plenty friends and family. It was one of those busy, action packed, wonderful weekends where all the finest things in life get wrapped up into two days.

I love my boy. I love that this was a baby hand picked for me, and no matter what our future holds Jakob will always hold a very special place in my heart because he was the little who made me a mama for the very first time. What a great gift he gave me.

The least I could do in return was make him a train cake for his birthday.

And oh how worth the effort it was to see his face light up when we brought it to him. 



I pause here to admit two things, one: the cake master in our family came up to the help me ice the darn thing the night before the party (no easy feat), and two: I pretty much copied the cake my mother-in-law made for my husband on his 4th birthday many, many years ago. She sent me a photo which I had up on the lap top as we decorated.

It is an easy cake to make in principle, it just takes a lot of putting together. I would do it again any day though. It was fun, and tasty, and most of all it was worth it.

Said cake-master at her craft.

At our house a two year old's birthday smorgasbord looks something like this:

There were a few impromptu balloon blowing lessons, and Jake's older cousin Oliver was most determined to get the hang of it.  Jake was a focused student...

But in the end Oliver was the only one who got it.

Sort of....

And if you are going to have a train themed party, you'd better have a pretty decent train network set up.

At one point there was about five kids nicely playing on these tracks.

The birthday extravaganza spanned two days. Day one was for friends and their parents. Day two saw all our nearby relatives in our cozy home, and a less extravagant cake. Plain - but delicious.

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing, an old fave.

This party might have seemed more subdued to the naked eye, what with all the calm story book readings and all.

Uncle Dave reading "On the day you were born"

But don't be fooled. Jake still got his Great Grandpa to play "snake attack" with him.

Yes, that is a stuffed snake around GG's neck.

How many Boyd's does it take to set up a Hot Wheels Car wash? One...and a couple of handy relatives.

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Since the birthday weekend, these Boyds have all come down with wicked colds. It hit us almost as soon as our last guest walked out the door, and just today did I see hope of recovery through the mounds of kleenex lying around this place.  It's not been a fun week, luckily we had plenty of Tylenol and memories of last weekend to get us through the worst of it.

He never got the hang of balloon blowing, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have fun trying.

 Happy Birthday Jakob,
 Mama loves you.

March Madness: birthday edition

The first half of March is already in the rear view, and I am sad to see it go. It's been 'good busy'. There was a trip to Vancouver Island that always boosts our end of winter spirits, and a great many birthdays to be celebrated.

Swinging in Uncle Jon's back yard - Beacon Hill Park

This is one of Jake's most favorite things: Grandpa's under ducks.

March is birthday month for us. It seems like all of Jake's little friends are March babies, along with cousins, aunties, and of course our favorite: daddy.

We ate cake, collected party favors, played games, and opened presents.  We celebrated the people we loved, and were grateful for them.

But the month ain't over yet, and a few more birthdays need to be checked off the list, including my boy's. 

This weekend my baby turns two.  It shocks me that two years have passed and yet it feels like I have been living this life forever. Sometimes I can barely recall my life before him. It's been good, it's been hard, I feel fulfilled.

 

With a multitude of birthday parties come bad eating habits, and my sensibilities were starting to be offended by how few vegetables my son has consumed over the past weeks.  So my husband came up with the brilliant solution of offering Jake smoothies to drink. I know this is not a new parenting idea, but it was a breakthrough for us.

And we should have started long ago because I don't think Jake has ingested more spinach in his life. Did you know that you can barely taste spinach in a smoothie if you add plenty of blueberries, raspberries and a banana?

You can't even see the green stuff.

And we aren't shy with the spinach either, I dump a lot in there.

See, that's like half the bag.

 And this is my nearly two year old drinking a cup of frozen spinach and loving it.  Am I cruel?

I think not...  I figure it balances out all that icing he's had over the last several weekends.

Yes, there's a hunk of it stuck in between his teeth.

Alright, I am off to craft up some birthday decorations for my boy!
....wish me luck.

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Happy Birthday  to all those March babies (young and old) who have brought such happiness to our lives. We love you.

Driving back home from Victoria, this was the view that greeted us.  It said: Welcome Home.

The Lost Days

I don't know where the time is going. I know it sounds ridiculously cliche, but time is really flying by me and these days I feel an acute sense of urgency to try and slow things down and absorb each moment for every last drop its worth.

Making Sunday morning pancakes.

Followed by Sunday dinners.

Maybe it is because my baby's second birthday approaching.  Maybe it's the craziness of our recent move. Maybe it's the fact that we are on a head on collision with Spring and despite the snow that's been dumping around here I still don't feel like we've had a proper winter. It's probably a mix of all that, but with March 1st just days away I am finding myself increasingly desperate to freeze frame all the tiny wonderful moments of these days and lock them up in my memory forever.

Jake has started playing this game where he pretends his stuffed snakes are attacking him. He takes a running leap onto them and yells "Oh no!"

It is so easy to get caught up, to lose myself in the routine of every day. My mind often just goes into auto drive while I am in the survival mode that pushes me through one day and into the next, and I miss all those small moments that create the big picture of our life as a family.

The Twins came to visit this weekend. We've missed them. We love them. And yes, that is Jake escaping upstairs.

Suddenly the weekend is over, and I remember just hours ago when I felt relieved that it was finally here.  But what did we do again? And what conversations did I have? What new things did Jake discover, do or say that I should have taken a photo of, or written down, or videoed?

Weekend aquarium visits.

As much as I want to pack into these days, I also need to find that balance that allows me to enjoy them, and I need to learn how to take the time out to stand back and appreciate the little things that make up our life.

If anyone has any techniques and suggestions on how to do this, I'm all ears.

In the meantime, welcome Spring.  She seems to be making herself known around here. 

Snowy Saturday Surprises

It snowed up on our little mountain today. It came completely unannounced, and just when I thought I could almost feel Spring in the air.  Lucky for me, I love snow and even luckier Jake seems to be warming up to it too.

Jake and dad taking in the new view outside our window.

By afternoon it fizzled off and we hit the side walk with a borrowed snow shovel in hand and clear our walk way.

He's over his fear of snow.

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Since we've moved in to our new home and neighborhood, I have been feeling like we are stuck in that limbo between trying to keep our old routine and attempting to find a new one in our new surroundings.  I know it will come with time and as we get better bearings, and discover all the nooks and crannies of our new area, but in the meantime Jake and I fill our days together spending time with my sister and her kids, and perusing the aisles of the local grocery shop.  Jakob loves pushing around the little "customer in training" shopping carts while we load in our selections.  Sometimes he takes deviating liberties from our shopping list. Like today for example, we were in the chip aisle and I was reviewing the selection of multigrain nacho chips, I make my pick, turn around and see that Jake is loading his shopping cart full of his preferred choice of snack.

Surprisingly it wasn't that bad convincing him that my bag of chips was the better treat and we soon moved on to the check out line. 

The only problem is that I know have this insatiable craving for sour cream 'n' onion chips....

Happy weekend everyone!