sixty candles

... would start a forest fire.  So - we had a make-your-own Sundae dessert table at Baba's birthday bash instead of cake.

What a party!!!  We camped at Lulu & Baba's for the weekend so that we could maximize visiting with friends and family, and so that we could help with the set up and clean up of the big event.  It was busy, and it was hard work, but it was all worth it.

Maklin spent most of his time cruising around on his bike; the whole acreage at his disposal and always someone around to have a chat with.

Mae was patient and amiable; she was passed around from stranger to stranger most of the evening while I was running around taking pictures, and she never once put up a fuss!  She did however, add a little extra event to my evening:  literally right when people were arriving, I went to peek in on her (she was napping).  Her diaper had ripped open, and there was poop everywhere.  All over her, all over the sheet ... When I first saw it I figured I'd just leave her and deal with it when she woke up.  But then I realized her face was pressed down right in the bulk of it; I had to wake her up.  Her eyebrows were caked, her nose was filled ... oh.  my.  She was very happy though - big smile on her face.  Big ole poopy smile!!  [yes -- I have pictures!!  but I decided to not post them!]


What a great group of people all getting together -- some coming long distances -- to celebrate an amazing man.  The whole Friesen clan was out the night before; we had a nice night visiting and being together before the craziness began.

And everyone pitched in.  There were people setting up chairs and tables, making coffee, cutting flowers, picking up guests at the airport, prepping the food, washing dishes, putting away dishes in places Lee might be looking for for weeks ... you name it!!  The entertainment was provided by a neighbor and his band Up the Creek; they were fantastic!!  Everyone was well fed with bbq and salads, topped off with a very extensive sundae-bar.  And, the subdivision hooligans were out in full force, laughing, carrying-on  ... and firing a potato gun.  Through the gap in the outhouse.  Obviously.

Thankfully, the weather held up.  It threatened rain for a bit ... getting windy and chilly.  There was a tent ready just in case, but it blew over, and the party continued.   A party that slowly faded away into small crowd gathered around the firepit ... and another snuggled up inside, feet up and shots of drambuie in hand.

It was absolutely a near perfect evening.  The main thing that would have tipped it off to perfection would have been having Robyn, Dallas, Sullivan, and River there to enjoy it with us.

After editing, I still had nearly 300 photos of the event.  To get a feel for the party, I put together this VIDEO.

POW April

How about that.  I really only managed to do Picture-of-the-Week assignments consistently for the first quarter of the year.

I'm still taking lots of pictures, and learning new things with my camera ... but I'm not officially doing to the Pictures of the Week anymore.  It got a bit difficult when the themes required heading downtown at 5am, etc.  Fun ... but not so fun if to do it you have to wake up a baby and a toddler to drag them along with you.  Perhaps I'll get back to it a bit later.

For now at least, here's the last formal POW.

Theme:  Easter

half-birthday

Little Maisy is 6 months old!  She's a very strong, and very happy girl.  Girl.  Not a wee babe.  Here's a quick recap of how she's changed:

And of course, Maeyer being 6 months old, means Maklin is 2 1/2!  

My little boy is very language oriented.  He is speaking well in long sentences; can follow a series of 3-4 instructions given at once (often even if they're unrelated); knows all the letters: including their order, matching uppercase and lowercase, the sounds they make, identifying what letter a word starts with by the sound, and is learning to sound out simple 3-4 letter words.  

We're still working on potty training.  He's a very sensitive little boy; accidents seem to be directly related to stress (and he sometimes gets stressed pretty easily - mostly related to the little girl of which the first half of this post recognize).  In the meantime - patience, patience, patience!!!

camping-at-home

Our weekly brunch date with Lulu and Baba was an outdoor extravaganza today.  Sadly, I forgot my camera at home!!!

Maklin played with trucks, puttered in the garden, drove the toy jeep, rode his bike, read stories and napped in the camping trailer, and played in the mud.  He also had his first ride on Baba's John Deer riding lawn mower (I'm sure this will not be the last!!)

Mae was escorted around in the stroller, napped outside, rolled around on the ground, had cuddle time with everyone, napped outside again, and played with her new socks that have bells sewn onto them (she thought they were very cool!).

Mae's big floppy sun hat all flipped up = Pirate Maeyer

We ate outside, had a fire, listened to the frogs, and watched the bunnies.

We talked politics and camping, and celebrated the new babies born this weekend to friends and family.

Then we quickly packed up and headed out the door to attempt to get the kids in bed somewhere near their bedtime, leaving the grandparents to clean up after us (again ... thank-you!!).

All the outside time made today's visit seem especially like it WAS a camping trip.  Normally, it just feels camping-eque due to the amount of stuff we pack into the truck and then cart home with us at the end of the day.

It was a good day.  A great day.  :)

pearly whites

Miss Maisy-Mae popped her first tooth!  The front bottom right tooth poked its way through this afternoon.  You can barely see it so far, but we need to enjoy the last of her adorable toothless grins!

Figures that she would start teething literally within a few weeks of Maklin's last two year molar arriving.  And here we go again ...

gravity check

Maklin has a pedal-less bicycle.  We pushed him around on it last summer, but his feet didn't touch the ground and he couldn't lift it up on his own.  He's gonna be cruisin' this summer!!  He's so proud to be able to ride a bike like Dadda's!!

"Guess what I just found??!!"

A highlight of the day - warranting it's own post:  on our way home from our Easter walk, Maklin found something.

To preface, we have been putting a lot of focus on potty time and potty related things as of late.  One of the books we've been reading is Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi.  On our walk we stopped to inspect rabbit poop, dog poop, and deer poop.

Just before we came in, Maklin found lumps of dirt/compost near the garden ... he picked one up and carried it over to us as fast as he could exclaiming, "Guess what I just found??!!" When we asked him what it was that he had, he nearly went out of his mind telling us:  ELEPHANT POOP!!!!!

[This photo in no way does justice to how excited/proud/in awe he was.  It was an absolutely priceless moment; I wish I would have had the sense to quickly flip the camera to video mode instead!]

unofficial spring solstice

Easter and spring go hand in hand.  We had a wonderful family day, including a long walk in the sunshine and a sleepover to stretch it out just a little bit more.

Mak started off the day with an Easter Egg hunt - 12 eggs hidden around the house with his favourite treats:  nuts, dried cranberries, cereal pieces, and cuz it's Easter, a chocolate chip.  Good thing he's mastered the no-hands-sippy cup.

Mak's Easter gift - a new Curious George story collection.

Mae's Easter gift: an adorable little bunny (which Mak also loved!)

Center-piece of tulips and decorated eggs

QT with Lulu & Baba

Yay for a beautiful spring day and outside play!

painting eggs

I thought Mak was big enough to enjoy colouring Easter eggs.  Maybe next year.  This year, he did colour one egg, but mostly just wanted to watch us do it ...

books-on-'tape'

For Maklin's first Christmas, he got one of the coolest gifts:  homemade "books-on-'tape'(s)".

There were three books, each with an accompanying CD of the book being read aloud by an aunt or a cousin.  We used them a bit when we first got them ... but he wasn't ready for them.  Then (oops), we forgot about them.  Pulled them out recently -- a HUGE hit.  Mak sat in the office chair and followed along in his book, casually reaching over from time to time to have a sip of tea.  Adorable.  Well done Auntie Robyn!!

vertical play

Mae is loving being able to sit.  She practices her form everyday, and is now striving to add other elements ... like sitting AND playing.

POW: March

March Picture of the Week Photo Assignments:

Composition: A Sense of Depth

This wasn't intentional -  I didn't find time for the assignment this week,
but this is a photo in that time frame that's somewhat applicable)

Lighting: One Light (Artificial)

Too much digital noise, but I didn't want to play too much with the kid sleeping.  Next time ...

Lighting:  Natural Window Light

Menu (3 selections from each column of a. color  b. composition  c. lighting)

a) monochromatic  b) odd numbers  c) natural window light

rice cereal

Miss Mae has been actively showing all the signs of being ready for solid food for literally a month and a half already.

Cuz I'm a stickler for "rules" - I had every intention of holding out until the 6mo mark.  But she broke me ... (20 days shy of 6mo)

"see I can feed myself Mama -- let's do this!"