As per usual, we waited to have Cal's birthday party with his school friends until after all the hub bub of the holidays. So this past Saturday we trekked to the SPCA and spent some time with the animals...actually we spent a lot of time with animals the past few weeks. Cal's cake, though not my best work, was unusual to say the least. He informed me months ago that he wanted an "ocean theme" particularly "a shark biting a whale". I told him I'd do my best....
Pictures from google image I used to make the shark and whale in background
Ben with the chinchilla Max
Cal and Seth were brave enough to let the rat on their shoulders...and neck!It tickled!
The party was really cute. The kids got to play with some of the smaller animals in the birthday room - chinchilla, rats, hamster, rabbit, birds, etc. Then they took them on a tour of the SPCA where the adults went too. One of Cal's friends even went back and adopted a bulldog they saw on the tour! Yikes! I'm hoping the party wasn't directly responsible for this but I fear it was. Anyway, they went back to the birthday room for dog bingo, cake and presents!! Happy 6th Birthday Cal!
Ben went to one of his preschool friend's party where they also had animals from Wildlife Encounters. Yes, in the above picture Ben IS sniffing a skunk. We learned some pretty cool facts and got to see tiny tree frogs, a macaw, a skunk, a tarantula, a HUGE rabbit, a tortoise, an armadillo, among other things I can't even remember at this point in time.
Ben with the tortoise.
The holidays with family was fun as always. Great to be able to DO something on Christmas day since it was on a weekend and not in the middle of the week this year. Unfortunately, we caught the stomach bug that had Ben vomiting right before xmas and Cal ill on xmas eve. I heard when the boys went back to school that whole families were down and out so we were lucky to just have two of the kiddos get it.
We rang in the new year with the uneventful predictability of Olive Garden take out and not staying up until midnight. New Year's day was a little bit of a different story though. Eric decided to get the boys out of my hair so I could sleep in or do whatever I wanted for the first day of 2011...awww...way to start a year out right for me! So he took the boys out to breakfast at Friendly's and then downtown to walk around and check out the cool ice sculptures. From there they proceeded to their very favorite place - the McDonald's playplace. It kind of befuddles me why my children LOVE LOVE LOVE this place. Really it's just some stairs that lead into a not-so-intricate tunnel system and then they come down one of two slides. Really? It's THAT fun? Apparently it is because they'll spend hours there and they'd go every day if they could. So they get there and split a brownie melt and then come home later to go sledding. Once sledding is done, they come in for some hot chocolate and lunch. Promptly after lunch, Cal projectile vomits all over the bathroom. I'm told he tried to get it in the toilet but it literally projected over it. Too much junk food will do that to you. Anyway, so he's fine. Not sick, just too much gross food. Eric and I proceed to go out that night to see the movie The Fighter (very good by the way). We get home and the babysitter tells us that Cal was complaining that his finger hurt. The back story on his finger is that over winter break we had gone to Fun Zone, a bouncy house type place, and while going down a slide he jammed his finger. This had happened 3 days prior and his finger WAS still swollen so when he woke up at 10pm still saying it hurt I thought well, maybe he should go get it checked out at the ER. What made the decision for me was that the ER wait time was only 25 mins (you can check online!) and the fact that Cal was supposed to go skiing the next day and when I told him he wouldn't be able to if we went to the ER he said that that was ok. SO we spend a good hour and half total to get x-rays and find out it's a sprain. They send us home with a little tape on it. Nice. And that concluded our first day of the year!!
Here are some pictures of sledding in the snow! SNOW!! FINALLY. I think this was on December 23rd that we finally got to go out. It was our one day reprieve from sickness...I guess the universe felt bad since 1) it was the first snow and 2) the kids had been dying to go out in it so everyone was well THAT day. They had SOOO much fun.
Seth was probably most excited about the snow and the one that wanted to stay out the longest!
Nothing new with the dog...just a picture to show you that she is still alive and in fact, still living with us.YEAR IN REVIEW:
CAL: Kindergarten has been awesome for him this past year. He's making friends, learning, and having so much fun. He's resumed skiing this winter and still loves it. They now want to learn to ice skate! Bakugans and Legos are the newest craze and were the fav holiday gifts.
Famous Last Words: As I give a gift to my neighbor, "Mom, someone GAVE that to you and now you are just going to give it away?!" Note: I did NOT re-gift. And, crying, "No one thinks I'm funny anymore. You only laugh at Ben".
BEN: Admittedly, Ben HAS been rather funny lately. He comes up with the most random thoughts that he says out loud and has a funny little grin/giggle to go with it. You can't help but laugh! He can write most of his letters now and is on the fast-track to reading! He does so well building his little Lego house that I can't help but love those tiny pieces even though they are a logistical nightmare! I think it's been a great year for Ben to develop his own little personality not in the shadow of his brother. He's making strides at "trying" to play with Seth too. Ben, along with the other boys, is currently learning hip hop dance (at home from a video). I tried to upload the video of them dancing but it took too long. Soooo funny though.
Famous Last Words: When fighting with his brother, "Oh yeah, well I can ice skate on one foot!" He's never been ice skating before. That'll show him, huh?
SETH: He continues to be CRAZY. Found out this winter that he loves snow with a passion. He can go out there and plow through it (like a foot and a half of it!) like there was no tomorrow. He even climbed the front steps and jumped off the side into the snow...thought of it all by himself. He's not doing anything new, per say, just trying to keep up with his brothers.
Famous Last Words: We finally figured out that when he sings "Dieeeego" that it isn't some weird imitation of the Diego theme song but his version of "I throw my hands into the air sometimes saying A-O (Diego!)". And I think it's totally adorable that instead of saying mine, he says "this mys" with a lisp :)
Famous Last Words: We finally figured out that when he sings "Dieeeego" that it isn't some weird imitation of the Diego theme song but his version of "I throw my hands into the air sometimes saying A-O (Diego!)". And I think it's totally adorable that instead of saying mine, he says "this mys" with a lisp :)
KADY: What have I been up to?! Well, I checked and I read a respectable 31 books last year. That averages out to 2.5 a month, not bad! We probably averaged around 50ish movies last year too (thank you netflix). We already started 2011 off with movie theater frenzy and have seen The Fighter and Black Swan (weird but good!) at the box office. I forget how much I love the movies. Anyone remember Super Tuesdays in Marlboro???? We got to see a number of plays and concerts (Dan Zanes for the kids!) throughout the year and I'm hoping we get a good fix in 2011 too!!
In the next week or two we will conclude a major basement renovation. I really thought I had put a lot of time and effort into doing SO much before the project started. But alas, no, thing after thing "came up" and it sucked a lot of my "free/nap" time away. The good news is: It looks fantastic and was totally worth the effort (or at least I hope the guests that sleep down there think so!) and it's almost done. We decided to take a MAJOR break from any other renovations big or small for the next year so that comes as a relief! I'll post pics of the bedroom/bathroom soon. I wanted to wait for the carpet to be put in and the thunder grey toilet to be set :)
This October Eric and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage! Whew! We're hoping to plan a big trip if all the stars align so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
My Frivolous Goals/Resolutions for 2011 are:
- Read a ridiculous amount of books (more than 31)! Goal: 50
- Do some writing...I'm always chastising myself for making excuses...not this year?!??
- I have a little art hobby I'd like to start up (time o time, where for art thou, time?!)
- Play indoor soccer
- FINALLY start AND finish a recipe book that's been in the works, well in my head, and all over different torn out pages for perhaps years now?
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