Dear Aaron

 

 

 

Thank you for being the world's best big brother.

 

Before Annie was even born, I knew you'd be an amazing big brother.

 

I knew this because of how you are with your other sister, Ava.

 

When Ava came along, you were still just a baby yourself.

 

But you loved her.

 

She made you giggle.  She was your very own personal audience to delight and entertain.

 

And she loved you back.

 

And yet somehow, I am still genuinely in awe at just how truly loving, tender, patient, playful and gentle you are with Annie.

 

You are no longer a baby anymore, but a brilliant and mature young man.

 

It is simply a beautiful dynamic to witness.

 

With love and pride,

 

Mom

 

 

 

 

Soccer: Part 2

And in our spare time....

HA!  Right--

Spare time is a divine rarity,

at least for these next two months.

Welcome to Spring Soccer, friends!

When Ava's not busy with The Bumblebee's,

{her soccer team}

we're off to the field to watch the dynamo known as, The Blue Dragons.



And I realize that after my previous post, this may come off as being somewhatborderlinebraggy...

But.

Aaron has also proven to have quite the talent for soccer as well.

Yup.  He's a champ :)



Excuse me while I have a mommy moment....

Aaron, all of two years old

I nearly melted into a warm gooey puddle of mommy-mush
when I stumbled across this photo today.

                                      Those golden curls get me everytime.

Knock Out

Big news--

Aaron finally lost his first tooth.

At nearly seven years old,

I was beginning to think it'd never happen.

His two bottom teeth were beginning to show signs of letting up--

Wiggly, but not quite ready to yank out.

                 Believe me-- I tried.

What more, two adult teeth had actually started sprouting up behind his bottom baby teeth,

......Kinda like a shark.

As for the events leading up to the tooth falling out,

I never actually got to witness first hand.

However, Aaron's recollection of it is rather epic.

His account of the story:

They were watching the movie 'The Lion King'.

Aaron was pretending to be Simba,

and Ava, Scar--

both reenacting the final battle scene.

One swift elbow to Aaron's grill, compliments of Ava, sorry, Scar....

and the tooth went flying.

He says 'it was like slow motion....'

He saw something white soar across his face.

His automatic response, to raise his fist and snag it mid-flight.

              Didn't.even.touch.the.ground.

Unbeknownst to him,

it was his precious chomper.

And then the hysterics began.

Cue: Enter mom...

What's For Lunch

(Aarbear & meself)

My first suggestion (re: today's lunch):

Lastnight's leftover pasta.

-- which I knew would not be well received as it's all 'whole-wheaty' with zucchini's and all things cringe worthy according to my children.

Therein, my other suggestion:

Beans on toast.

Aaron: 'Only cowboys eat that.'

Me: 'What?!  How do you know that?'

Aaron: 'I watch alotta cowboy stuff.'

So then,

I break into the ol'

'Beans, beans- the magical fruit.

The more you eat the more you toot' song,

.... which he does not appreciate.

But still, a small smile manages to escape him.

'For the pete's sakes', he says.

He informs me he has enough money to go buy himself some ravioli.

That, or I make pancakes for him.

He makes me laugh.

Fluttery heart, 'How did I get so lucky?', type of laughter.

Which, still, he does not appreciate

--as he does not see the humor in this at.all.

Unfortunately for him,

leftovers

it is.

Two S#@Ts

Recap: Aaron's beloved DS all of 4 months new old; bites the dust after being dropped.

Splintered screen.

Long story.

This past Tuesday:

Aaron: 'Hey Dad.  If I score a goal today at

 hockey, do ya think you could buy me a new

DS?'

James: 'Well, Aaron......'

(Me: Throwing James the hairy eyeball)

'If you score three goals, I'll buy you a new

DS.'

James: Feeling particularly confident as Aaron is on a 7 month long no-goal slump.

Me: Shaking my head.....

Early that evening:

(Aaron, yellow pinny, playing centre & taking the face-off......)

This being Aaron's second goal of the night, hence the

profanity escaping James' mouth. 

Yep.

Lesson learned.

Bribery is effective.

Also this past Tuesday:

Whilst merrily driving down my neighborhood street, minding my business....

Me: 'Oooh, lightening!'

2 seconds later/after brain fart....

'Aww, S#IT!!'


Photo Radar.

I'll be expecting my portrait in the mail.

It would appear summer decided to show her face again and finally bless us with some decently hot weather.

Maybe, just maybe,

we'll make it out to the lake sometime soon so we can really get to enjoy the heat.

A few important things from last week...

First, it was my niece Georgia and my mom's birthdays last week.

I come from a large family and married into a large family,

so you'll notice birthdays seem to pop-up nearly every week.

Birthday girly Georgia :)

Happy Birthday Mom (Grandma & Ava)!!

 And second.

I modeled last week.

And got paid for it.

James says that makes me a legitimate model.

I love how he humors me.

Take a sneak peek at the photos here.

Ava finished with her swimming lessons last week.

She'll be re-doing Sea Turtle.

....Until she can confidently fully dunk that little head of hers under water.

Aaron started his swim lessons this past Tuesday.

He said it was the best day of his life.

He says that a lot.

FYI- Last Friday was the worst day of his life no thanks to a stubbed and broken toenail.

I think I might start judging my days by best and worst ever...

It seems to make for good dramatic effect.

Took the kids to see Despicable Me.

I loved it.

Oh, and so did they.

It was our first time seeing a 3D movie.

Way cool.

Ava kept yelling 'It's BIG, it's BIG!!'.

I think that was her way of saying,


'holy moly, it's jumping out at me'.

I also went to see Inception on Tuesday.

With my brother Dustin, not the kids.

A real head scratcher that one.

I hate when they leave the ending up to your own deciphering.....

Can't you just tell me how it is?!

It was good though.

Real good.

And in closing...

Yesterday, I made Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting.

Cupcakes make me smile :)

10 Things from the Last 10 Days

1.  I was wrong about summer.  It's just as busy as any other time of the year.

2.  Aaron started summer hockey camp last Monday.  I was a smidgen concerned it might be over-kill considering he just finished inline 2 weeks ago, but the little guy was pumped to get on the ice.  Maybe it's the new skates?!

3.  Ava's got her own important schedule as well.  Swimming lessons began on Tuesday.  From what I gather, getting the kids to successfully dunk their heads under water without fear or hesitation is the main focus of the 'Sea Turtle' class.

Sounds advanced.

Maybe I  should have signed up too.....

(Yea, she's crazy like that.  Shera, Princess of Power!)

4.  Lessons have been going so well we decided to reward the kids with a night at the movies.  In hind sight, maybe a bad idea...

Warning to all parents:

Toy Story 3.

Great movie, however.....

During the movie, Ava broke into tears as the toys were seemingly coming to their (SPOILER ALERT) fire-y demise, stating 'I wanna go home and play with my toys!'?!
Weird.

She also commented, in a mildly uneasy manner, on 'Big Baby' looking oddly similar to her own baby.....

Resemblence?

Aaron kept us company in bed that same evening (the first in a long time) due to fear of the crazy-eyed, cymbal-bashing monkey.

'Do I frighten you?'

5.  It was my eldest neph-y poo, David Jr.'s 2nd birthday last week, as well as my niece Nevada's 8th.

Happy Birthday kiddos!

Nevada & Me, Kananaskis.  Luvs her :)

Baby Davey Jr.!

6.  James and I finally watched the season finale of LOST.

You Should Know- I'm ashamed to call myself a fan having waited this long to watch the last episode.

Bad fan!  Very bad fan!!

It was sad.  I was sad.

James was equally depressed,

stating he was not sure he'd be able to attend work on Monday.

RIP Jack Shephard.

7.  I received my Stella & Dot Soiree Earrings this week and they were just as lovely as a I had imagined...

SPARKLY :)

8.  We attended James' 10 year high school reunion.

Which made me wish I had attended my own reunion.

Which actually was cancelled due to lack of interest from a large number of my former classmates, including me (guilty),

......Which had me super relieved at the time.

I'm glad he/we went.  No one likes regrets :)

9.  Cray fishing is fun.

Until you fall in.

Just ask Aaron.

10.  I've been stumped as to what to blog about these last almost two weeks.

I assumed nothing all that interesting had gone on.

I think maybe I was wrong.     

De-Clutterize: Day 4

It never fails... the first day of summer (or any first day of the four seasons, maybe sans winter?) I go into junk disposal mode.  Maybe if there were more seasons this task would not always be so daunting?!

So yeah, I've been busy.

Not just with cleaning either.

Aaron had his last inline hockey game this past weekend, tournament actually.

So that's over.

Ava had her ballet recital, as well.

She loved it.  We loved it.

She wanted to get right back up on stage even after her group was finished performing.

No stage fright there.

We then celebrated with a visit to 'Hey Cupcake!'.

FYI- Cupcake of the month: Men are from Mars

Also, my cake pops were such a hit with Aaron's class last week that his teacher, the fantastic Mrs. S, ordered a batch from me for her daughters birthday this week.

Rainbow bit cake with pink vanilla chocolate.

Sounds girly good, doesn't it.

And still, the cake pop craze will continue as I'll be up to my eyeballs in cake and chocolate this afternoon making a batch for Kirsten's Stella & Dot Trunk Show this Saturday.

Pondering: How to make Cake Pops look fashionable?

My dearest long distance friends (you both know who you are), I do wish you were joining us :(

Professional Cake Pop Samplers.
They've got great taste!

Enjoyed a night out with the lovely LAC ladies (including Aaron's teacher) at the Marble Slab.

One last hoorah you could say, as the school year is now wrapped up.

That evening, Mrs. S told me I was a really good mom.

With a lump in my throat and a stinging in my eye, I told her,
I try really hard.

To which she responded, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Just enjoy the moments while your kids are still young.

Good advice, I think.

My last class of Buns & Bellies wrapped up.

Thank The Lord.

And finally, this morning my thursday girls will be over.

The kids will be so excited once they get their lazy summer bums out of bed.

I predict it's going to be a really great day :)

First strawberry of the year.

For whatever reason, it is tradition for Aaron to be the one who picks it.

You are most certainly right Mrs. S.

Perfection is not necessary.

Enjoying the moment, is.

Rainbow's End

Annnother field trip day!  And this time I wasn't even chosen to attend, but then one of the  moms couldn't make it and so I was called and yaddy-yadda, here we are: Rainbow's End Farm.

It rained.

All day.

Mud-hole is an understatement.

Thank heaven I borrowed grandma's rubber boots.

Best farm EVER!

It was totally hands-on.  You name it, we held it, chased it, fed it, walked it, snuggled it, etc.-- in brand-new baby form, I might add, as apparently many a farm animal is born this time of year.  Spring, ya know!?

 On the way home, I was surprised in discovering not only does Aaron want to be a bowling teacher when he grows up (?), but he also now wants a farm.

Second most interesting conversation of the day: Aaron and his pal Jack discussing the purpose of the ' hangy things' (Udders.  Do you still call them that on a goat??) on the goat.

 Alpaca X.

Baby ducks!

Chinchilla!

And goats.