Balloons for Ben

It was Ben's birthday too over the past weekend. We of course, always think so much of him on the boys birthday as it was his as well! A lot of people don't know, or assume otherwise, but I did give birth to three babies that day. I very badly wish that I had three two year olds instead of two. And although we feel so lucky for what we DO have, it doesn't change the fact that we are missing someone very important.

As we did last year, we sent some balloons up to Heaven for little Ben. It's a small way to acknowledge him but it makes us happy and is age appropriate and fun for Rylen.  I hope in the coming years that Garrett and Rhys want to participate as well.

We blew up some balloons, wrote some messages and then off they went. It really is a cool sight to see them floating up up and away.

 

We love you Ben!
Miss you everyday. Happy Second Birthday in Heaven.

Two x Two!

The boys turned two! OMG, how did this happen?! Time is whizzing by so fast it's ridiculous.

Can't believe my little boys are so big now. Well, physically they aren't BIG per say, although they have certainly come along way from their three and four pound selves.  Garrett is a whopping 22 lbs (Tiny) and Rhys who we affectionately refer to as Tank or Moose is 27 lbs and although I think he's huge, he's actually only on the 10th percentile for his age on those silly growth charts. (Garrett doesn't even make it on the chart. Never really has, probably never will,  little guy)

Garrett has been earning a new nickname these days...or a new motto/mission statement maybe... "Little Man, BIG attitude" is something I say to him daily. That kid has a temper in him like you wouldn't believe. It's hard to believe someone so jolly can throw a wicked tantrum that goes on for 20, 30 minutes...but it's true! Think back arching, thrashing, legs kicking, blood curdling screaming.  Daycare doesn't believe me cause "he's so happy all the time". Well yeah, he's happy. Unless he's NOT. Then WATCH OUT! After his wild meltdowns he toddles over for a big hug and cuddle. Like he's saying "ahhhh....got THAT out of my system now I can move on with being cute and jolly".

 

Rhys is a little more even keel. But, he's sensitive. His version of a tantrum is somewhat sloth like. He very slowly, melts down (literally) to the floor and whimpers and cries with giant crocodile tears. Anything can set him off, but the worst is when someone ELSE sits on mommy's lap. How rude! According to Rhys, he should have full access to mommy 24/7 and does not want to share.

 

Rhys is funny, cause he can be so sweet, but he definitely thinks he's Alpha Baby. The viciousness in that kid that comes out when he gets territorial is hilarious/frightening. Hair pulling, hitting and pushing and eyeball clutching are all in his repertoire of fight skills and he does it all while making you think HE has been horribly offended by the person in question.

Never did I ever think I'd have to physically break up fights between two little two year olds. Crazy. And over stuff like a school bus toy or who goes down the stairs first. Ha!

But, they do actually love each other despite it all.  In the mornings they great each other with a smile and "good morning" and at night they sometimes hug and kiss but always say "good night". They sometimes have chats/babble to each other and copying each other is a common activity. They also like to chase each other down the hall and around our kitchen island.

They are learning to talk. "NO" is a favorite word around here. We've done sign language with them since babies and Rhys is an ASL whiz!!! He knows far more than I do from watching his Signing Time videos. He's like a machine, you can get him to sign a bazillion words in a row and he can even sign some letters!  They are now starting to say the words with the signs and their little voices are super cute. :-)

School buses and trucks are probably their favorite toys at the moment. But really, anything Rylen plays with is a hit. Trains and planes are big around here. Garrett has been learning from Rylen and can do a pretty good imitation of a train whistle.

Garrett continues to sleep with mommy at night. That little firecracker needs lots of snuggles. He often falls asleep holding hands with me and often right before, he grabs my face in his little chubby hands and brings it close to him. He really is the sweetest little guy.

Today, I caught Rhys singing "The Wheels on the Bus"in his little toddlery high pitched voice. I almost died from the cuteness. :-)

They are growing so fast. I wish time could slow down a bit. But on the other hand, I'm thankful that they are two. There were many moments that we weren't sure we'd ever make it here. We are so grateful and lucky and blessed.

In Memory of Sunshine and +25

Seeing how it's -38 with the wind chill and predicted to get even colder, I figured I'd finally upload my summer pics and share my faves.  Maybe the sheer memory of summer will keep me warm and happy :-)

So here they are, a tribute to warmer days, sand (everywhere!), sunshine, and soggy swim diapers: My fave pics of summer:

The first ladybug of the year...

Cuteness

More cuteness

And MORE cuteness :-)



That moment where you get permission to go crazy in the mud....



Our a Daddy-Son camping trip.

Trampoline hair!!!

Sand monster

Four year old  + Cotton Candy ice cream = true happiness!

+35 cool down!

Beach babe

:-)

I've learned to get over the craziness of the height. Mark does this all the time with the kids. It makes a super awesome photo and the kids LOVE it!

 

The following pictures were taken on our family vacation to a cabin at Victoria Beach in July. Where we learned that we are definitely "cottage people". BEST vacation ever!!! We have such great memories and finally we found a vacation that is fun and relaxing for everyone including Mom and Dad! We spent the mornings at the playground eating fresh bakery goodies, the afternoons and evenings at the beach. Kids slept GREAT and since there was no cleaning, laundry, chores, etc.... Mark and I actually got to watch a few movies (yes, ENTIRE movies, from start to finish!!! Miracle!) and relax together! We are definitely going back next year.

 

 

 

 

This may be my favorite picture of Rylen EVER

 

 

Sorry. It's funny. Sad? Yeah, but funny too. Poor Rhys

 

 

 

And to finish off.... my favorite "me" moments of summer:



The night a miracle occurred: 100% of kids AND hubby asleep at 7:30 while camping. Mommy had some me time! Turned out to be a crappy book, but the fire was great!

Driving home after our many day trips...kids all washed and pajama'd  and sleeping in the back, Mommy and Daddy with a hot coffee and quiet conversation. PEACEFUL. :-)



 

Wow, just posting these makes me want to start crossing off days on the calendar and starting a countdown to spring.

Dear Santa

This past weekend was the Santa Claus parade. Rylen wrote his letter to Santa so he could deliver it at the parade. I helped him by writing exactly what he told me to. It was seriously the funniest thing ever witnessing him think so hard about what he wanted to say. Here's the end result: 

My favourite part "I listen all around" :)

4 year olds are so cute and hilarious. 

2 years ago...

It was 2 years ago today we found out there were three babies, not just one. 

If there is any one day I could relive it would be this one. How lucky we were and we didn't even know it!!!

Love you to pieces Garrett, Benjamin and Rhys!! Thanks for making me a MoM!! ( mom of multiples)

Mr. Snuggles

20 months and he still wants to cuddle on my chest. And fall asleep there. One of the things that makes co-sleeping so lovely. 

Rhys and Garrett

My cheeky monkeys! 

20 months old. Love these guys!

No Training Wheels!

A monumental childhood milestone has been reached in our house: the training wheels are gone! Rylen can ride his bike!

I am pretty impressed with this feat, since he only turned four in April. But I have to give ALL the credit to his balance bike!

If you don't know, a balance bike is an extraordinarily expensive bike that doesn't have pedals. Yes, you read that right. You are paying for " a broken bike" as Mark said when I told him I wanted to buy one for Rylen. But the idea is that the kids propel themselves with their feet on the ground and then eventually pick up their feet and glide. The focus is on learning to balance, not pedal. They are pretty cool little inventions!

And they work!! Within weeks Rylen's balance was amazing and he was even going up and down hills and jumps at the bike park. He's enjoyed his balance bike all summer, but it recently became obvious that he was more than ready for a "big boy bike". 

It took a bit of convincing to get him on his real bike without training wheels, but Grandpa bribed him a bit and he eventually caved. 

We were shocked! There was literally no easing into it. Mark held onto his seat for like ten seconds and then let go.... And he was zooming away! It was as if he was secretly some expert bike rider and we didn't know!! But, because he had the balance part down pat, he just had to pedal at he same time. Easy! 

I am so proud of my little guy! 

First Movie!

Rylen saw his first ever movie in theatres last weekend: Planes! 

I purposely have waited to take him to the theatres ever since last year I saw the  preview for this movie. Rylen is in love with airplanes so I thought this would be a perfect choice for his first theatre experience!

We really hyped it up for him telling him how huge the "tv" was, and that he got to eat popcorn ( his fave snack). Needless to say he was pretty excited to go on a "date" with mom and dad to the movie. ( Grandma and Grandpa were watching G and R).

He was pretty overwhelmed at first, but settled in nicely when I bought him his popcorn. The first 30 minutes went great.  

Then, he had to pee. Over and over again. I think Mark took him three of four times! It was kinda funny although I'm sure the people sitting beside us didn't agree.

About midway through I burst out laughing cause Rylen whispered to me " I'm really tired. I wish this movie was over already". And then he had to pee again.

We had a great time on our "date" and I loved watching Rylen's reactions to the theatre and movie. I found the whole thing quite amusing although I think that our theatre experiences will be few and far between, cause who really needs to spend all that money just to go pee a million times? 

P.S. I think Dusty Crophopper has replaced Lightning McQueen in Rylen's books. He's a pretty cool plane. 

Rylen turns four... (several months ago)

Sigh.

I wish I could stay on top of this blogging thing. Believe it or not it was easier when the kids were up half the night, cause I'd just blog away while holding them or whatever....

Anyways, back in April, my oldest baby turned four!

He was super excited for his birthday this year. Being Four Years Old was going to be AWESOME!

I knew I was going to make him a birthday party with his little friends, but at the last second I decided to make it an airplane theme at the urging of my friend Lisa who claims "it's all about the theme".  So, literally the night before, I was texting her asking for airplane themed ideas.

We came up with: "Musical Runways", "Pin the Airplane on the Runway" and an airplane craft. I also was attempting to make Airplane Cake, the Sequel.

For Rylen's third birthday, I had a MAJOR lapse in judgement and decided to embark on an all-night marathon to make a three dimensional airplane cake. As if I wasn't getting enough sleep and didn't have enough on my plate. End result: Cruise Ship-like plane.

This year, I kept telling myself "Keep It Simple". So I made a classic slab cake and stuck one of his toys on top.  Done.

Smile from last year:

Smile from this year:

No diff right? In fact, this year's smile is bigger!!!
Lesson learned: kids couldn't care less about their cake. They just see that sugary goodness and wouldn't mind if it was in the shape of a piece of poo! (Actually, if you have a boy, they would probably LOVE a poo cake. I know Rylen would....anyways....)

However, I did get a bit carried away and enlisted Mark to make several miniature paper airplanes to adorn the top of my cupcakes. He was also SUPER excited about this idea, similar to how he might be super excited to stab himself in the eye with a fork.

 

Rylen had a great day. In the morning, he awoke to his display of presents, and lo and behold, he opened his much-begged-for garbage truck which met all his requirements for an awesome truck: green, with forks, with a black bin, and a blue bin just like "ours" and it has to be weally weally big.

 

He was a weally weally happy boy!

 

 

 

Later, his friends came over and we started our airplane themed party. The craft was a hit, the games not so much. Musical Runways was a bust. Four year olds don't like "losing" or being "out" so you can't really play by the rules or you end up with major preschooler meltdown.

We ran out of time before we could play "Pin the Airplane on the Runway" so I can't comment on that, but I'm hoping we can stick with the airplane theme for next year and try it out!

Rylen had a great time at his party, although the new garbage truck was the cause of several meltdowns and fights. He wanted to show it off, but did NOT want to share it. I will definitely remember this for future years: do not open a super new and fun toy hours before a party and then expect it to be put away for said party!

Later on, he opened another amazing present from Grandma and Grandpa: a HUGE airplane!!!!

He loved it so much he had to cuddle it at bedtime:

All in all it was a great day. I absolutely cannot believe my little man is four years old. He is so cute and smart and hilarious. I LOVE four year olds!!! I need to stay on top of blogging so I can later on remember all the cool things he does and says. He is really such a unique little boy and we love him to pieces.

I love you Rylen!!!