Baker Boys

Last week was Don's birthday.  It was also my birthday.  Yeppers, we share the same birthday, though not the same birth year.  I will always be the younger gal in this relationship.  I thought it would be cool for the boys to have total control (yeah, this was hard for me because I like to help...too much) over making their dad a cake.  But bake they did and an awesome job too. 

Benny read the instructions and measured the ingrediants while Jack mixed it all up.  They were super thrilled with themselves.  The most exciting part I am sure was mixing up the frosting!

Once their creation was baked they set to work to carefully decorate it.  I had bought two containers of frosting so you can imagine just how much there was to get onto the cake.  But very carefully and with love they got it all on.  Most of it piled into the center of the cake (believe it or not there was a hole in the middle of that cake)!

The result was a fantastic gift for their dad.  Of course we all enjoyed eating it.  Well, except for Jack who is far too picky about his cake. 

Sleepover Time!

I love love love a good sleepover so we have lots of them!  I think Ben started having sleepovers when he was three years old.  On this night we planned a huge sleepover with kids from four different families.  The moms are my besties and everyday we collect in the cul de sac so the kids can play, dinners with each other, parties with each other.  All the good stuff besties bring.  In fact I love that saying "friends are family you choose" because these ladies and their children have really become more like family than anything else.

Anyhoo, on this night we had eight kids for a sleepover.  The boys and I prepared carefully.  the right snacks, entertainment and a craft of course.  I would say that we hit a home run with edible play dough. 

By the looks of it I would say we had just as much fun making it.  We made it the night before so it could harden in the fridge over night.

It looks kinda gross here but it was quite tasty.  Peanut butter, flour, corn syrup, and margarine made this dough both playable and eatable!

As the sleepover got underway there were of course kiddies running around everywhere but the play dough quickly became the center of attention.

There were oohs and ahhs as everyone realized that eating it was not only ok but encouraged.  These became even louder as they realized that it actually tasted good!

As the night wore on I put some movies on up in my room.  Due to the basement finishing underway there are two futons up in my room along with our king size bed so it only made sense to let all the kiddies take over my room.  They watched some Smokey and the Bandit and with minimal threats were all off to sleep by 11:30.  They had an awesome time.

And in the morning this was the sight on my couch.  Tired kids snuggling with me on the couch.  Successful mission and a wonderful memory for my boys!

Great Wolfe Lodge

This is the boy who fell asleep only one time ever before bedtime.  What could possibly make him sleep like this?

And this boy too???  How did we do it you ask?

Great Wolfe Lodge!  One Wednesday deep in the dark part of winter Don and I knew we needed to get out of our house.  we have wanted to go to Great Wolfe Lodge forever so we figured this was the perfect time.  We booked a room for the following night and the look on the boys faces when they learned where they were going was priceless.

We scurried around buying our supplies and getting ready to leave the next day.  While we did this Jackie decided to do some recreational chair jumping in his brother's room.  Unfortunately this resulted in a quick side trip to the ER.  That poor kid scraped most of the skin off his nose and it was swollen!  Luckily the ER doc assured us the chlorinated water would not affect his nose.  Thank goodness because we could cancel the room and the whole point of going there is for the huge indoor water park!  Disaster averted.

The hotel was totally amazing.  We spent our time going from the water slides to the gift shop where Jack built a teddy bear complete with karate suit and where Ben bought a huge cup full of candy (which would later give him a very sore belly).  In the evening we hit the arcade in the basement.

The arcade was perfect for them and for 40 bucks worth of tokens they each got to choose some army men to take back to the room with them.  It was a great trip and we all had a blast.  The water park was impressive, big enough that you had a hard time finding each other if you got split up (or if you left your glasses in the room-I wandered for a good 20 minutes at one point).

Ben set up his 'room' in the sitting area complete with cup o candy and movies on the laptop.  He actually ended up staying up after all of us went to sleep.  He was feeling pretty grown up that evening!

It was a great trip and we will be back next year.  It is a great way to get out of those winter blues!

Karate Grading

Benny is such an enthusiastic fellow.  I can't think of a time where I have suggested he try a new activity where he didn't jump up and say sure!  Right now he is enrolled in karate and soccer and he hopes  to give BMX biking a whirl this summer.  A natural born adventurer to be sure.

The karate class we attend is held in a community hall and the people who run it do it because they love it because at 20 bucks a month they sure aren't making any money!  It does take a bit longer for the kids to move through the belts but really Ben does it for the pleasure of participating not so much for the belts.  This has been a big year for Ben.  He has really matured and changed so much.  No longer is he the boy bouncing off walls, he has harnessed his energy and this was noticed in karate and so this winter he earned his yellow belt.  Proud boy?  You bet!  I think he knew that this recognition symbolized a new era for him.  A chance for him to be an example for the younger kids.

We were oh so proud on this evening.  So was Ben.  We celebrated with a stop at Tim Hortins on the way home.  A doughnut well earned.

Tears of GLEE!

Sadly this mother has been ignoring this little space where memories have begun to collect but I have promised myself that has to stop.  I am back!  Things have gotten a little nutty here because I just got a two month contract working at Queen's University.  Great because it will give us some summer fun moolah but it has made things a bit crazy around here!

Last week Benny told me that his class was doing a dance routine and that he wanted me to come and watch.  I was at his school working with the reading program so off to the gym I went to see what this dance was all about.  Turns out they were preforming a song from the television show Glee.  As soon as the music began so did my tears.  It was as if a tonne of bricks fell onto my heart because in that moment watching his class assume the roles usually played by high school students I knew, I mean really knew that one day very soon they would actually be high school students.

So I cried.  just a bit at first.  Easily hidden by pretending to wipe something from my eye but as each chorus sounded the tears came harder almost reaching the point where shoulders start shaking in the unmistakable way of all out sobbing.  Control was difficult and I was tempted to run out but I couldn't not watch.  So I did my best to mop up my tears lest I embarrass my child for years to come by being the Mom who cried.  I was rewarded by a truly spectacular performance.

Ben was in his element.  He had moves like I have never seen before.  You are a born performer Ben and you made my heart fly into outer space!