We celebrated Owen's 4th birthday this past Sunday just after the Baptism. It was easiest to get everyone together on the one day, summer is such a busy time! We missed having Jeff, Theresa and the kids but hopefully we will be able to see them before too long.
Owen was really excited about his birthday he went to bed telling us that the next day would be an "exciting day" heh. He woke up at 5:45 am and wanted to get up because the sun was coming up and that meant it was his birthday party day! Usually he wakes up between 7:30 and 8 on weekends, so he was obviously too excited to sleep any longer.
We had a great day and Owen really enjoyed spending time with family, opening presents and of course eating cake!
For months Owen had been asking for a construction site cake. He had even been viewing some on-line and deciding what details he wanted on his cake. I made a smaller cake than had originally planned so some details didn't make the final cut, but I think the cake turned out just the way he wanted. The day I baked the cake it fell apart when I removed it from the pan, luckily construction sites don't need to be neat and tidy :)
We started Noah's Birthday party at Build-A-Bear and we had the best time! I highly recommend hosting a birthday party there, they were fantastic with the kids and everything ran smoothly! Both Noah and Owen chose the same dark brown bear so we decided to let them purchase outfits for their bear so we could tell them apart. Owen chose a soccer uniform for his bear and we helped Noah choose a birthday T-shirt for his. The kids were so well behaved and everyone had fun choosing, stuffing and washing their own teddy bear. Even the youngest of kids had a great time and participated as much as was expected :)
Here's Noah with his teddy waiting for it to be stuffed. Noah was quiet and shy for most of the time at build-a-bear, he preferred to hide behind mommy's legs and watch things from there.
Kian on his way home with his bear We were there for about an hour which was the perfect amount of time for the little ones. Afterwards, we headed back to our house for some pizza, cake and gifts.
Noah had mostly cheezies and chips for lunch, every time I looked for him he had his hand in the chip bowl, he even managed to score a juice box for lunch instead of water - apparently he was taking advantage of his special day :)
I'm not sure how the gift craziness started, all I know is that next year I'm handing the gifts to Noah one by one. Seriously in two minutes flat he and Owen had torn through every gift, it was total chaos before I even knew what was happening. In any case Noah really liked his gifts after we had the chance to check everything out once the party settled down. He even wore his new rain boots that Aunt Maegan and Uncle Bill bought from the time cake was served until he went to bed. The boy loves his boots!
Noah loves his new Rex - he can't get enough of anything Toy Story
Noah's Birthday Cake. I baked the cake thursday with the help of the daycare kids and then decorated it after my kids went to bed in the evening. I think the cake took about 3 hours to make including baking, making icing and decorating.
I think Noah enjoyed the ice cream more than his cake.
Thanks to everyone that helped us celebrate Noah's 2nd birthday! We had such a great time and I know that Noah enjoyed his day.
Noah turned 2 years old today so I guess that means he's no longer my little baby and is officially a toddler! He woke up this morning fairly cheerful but after a few rounds of "happy birthday" from all of us he said " No Burfday! No Two!" haha that's my grumpy boy :) Gavin joked that he wouldn't have a party but I'm not so sure the kids found that amusing.
I can hardly believe how much older Noah is acting lately. He still idolizes his big brother and acts like Owen's shadow following him everywhere, repeating everything Owen says and doing everything Owen does. Seriously we hear an echo all day long as he repeats everything these day!
I'm not sure how much Noah weighs, but I'll update once he's had his two year wellness check up next week. I'm thinking he's about 24lbs. There are times I look at him and am amazed at the things he can do, he still seems so small to me.
updated :stats: 25lbs (14th percentile), height 35 inches (63rd percentile), head circumference 18 inches (less than 3rd percentile) still my little boy! I thought he was on the lower end for weight but I'm surprised by how small his head is still!
I'll post more about Noah's birthday after his party on Saturday!
Happy Birthday Noah!
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
On Owen's birthday we took the kids to Canada's Wonderland for the day. It seems to be turning into a family tradition as the past three years we've gone on or near his birthday! This year was especially fun because we could all enjoy the rides in the kiddie section instead of having to take turns waiting with Noah (last year he was too young for the rides). We stayed from 10am until 8pm and both kids were really good. Owen wanted to walk the entire day, I think he was afraid that if he went in the stroller it would signal that it was time to leave, or he'd fall asleep. Noah slept for about an hour in the afternoon, then he was good to go again!
To get to the kids park you have to walk through the main ride section of Wonderland. Owen couldn't understand why he couldn't go on the big roller coasters and he started to get upset as we walked past the "bat" ride and he couldn't go on. Luckily he got over his disappointment fast and enjoyed himself.
The first ride of the day was the swans! There was only one adult allowed per swan so we had to split our small group :) I snapped this pic of Noah and daddy before one of the park employees told me that there were no cameras allowed on the rides. Gavin thought it was funny that we'd gotten in trouble just moments after arriving!
The boys met snoopy in "Planet Snoopy" neither of them were afraid of the characters, but Noah kept turning around to look at them and it made getting pictures of the kids difficult.
Here it looks like Noah is trying to snatch snoopy's cookie:)
While waiting in line for the "snoopy rocks on ice" show, Owen found some pine cones. Silly boys!
Meeting Charlie Brown
Noah on the train ride.
Owen on his first ride by himself! I made sure he understood that he was to remain seated and not try to get off the ride until the ride stopped and mommy came to get him off. He totally listened in fact he didn't move from this position the entire time :)
Playing "Lucky Ducky". Owen really wanted to play a game so we let the kids pick which one they wanted to play. For some reason Owen always wants to play the duck game. All of the games in the kids section are everyone's a winner games, so I'm not sure what the appeal is. It certainly wasn't the stuffed animal ducks they won as a prize. Noah kept tying to throw the "prize" out of the stroller and Owen shoved his duck under the stroller and I don't think he's looked at it since!
a match! winner!
On a ride with daddy. Noah sat this one out, it was a little too fast for him. We went on almost all of the rides in planet snoopy, I think we missed two of them. Owen noticed of course and didn't want to leave until we went on all of the rides. Noah was ready to leave though, so we were glad that Owen decided to "save those rides for next time".
Owen finally sat in the stroller on our way out of Wonderland. Both kids were asleep by the time we left the parking lot and we were even able to change them into their pajamas when we got home without them waking! What a great day we had and I can hardly wait until next year.
Owen had a blast celebrating his third birthday with family and friends! I was impressed by how willing he was to share his new toys with his friends and by how polite he was to everyone, he was even polite enough to wish Uncle Adam a happy birthday when he arrived even though Uncle Adam's birthday was last month!
We spent the morning in a scramble trying to get everything ready before guests arrived. Gavin was busy saturday morning and then it rained all afternoon so preparing the backyard for the party had to wait until sunday. The kids could sense the excitement and were so hyper and busy all morning, it made getting things ready even more difficult.
The theme of the birthday party was "sports" so Gavin spray painted a mini soccer field in the backyard. The grass grows really slowly in the backyard so I expect we will have the soccer field there for the rest of the summer! Luckily the weather co-operated and we had a great afternoon outdoors.
The kids decorated sun visors as a craft. Noah refused to put his on and I think Owen wore his for a few minutes. I had bought a few pink visors for some of our girl guests but wee cousin Kian thought he'd look good in pink. I'm guessing he doesn't see much pink in his day :) The little kids looked so cute working on their crafts. As expected Owen covered his sun visor with as many stickers as he could fit on it.
I baked Owen's birthday cake on friday and then spent the better part of the day saturday decorating it. I don't think you can tell but Owen had stuck his fingers into the side of the cake when I had my back turned for one second. I turned to see him licking the blue icing off his fingers and saying "I LOVE soccer ball cake!" I wasn't impressed that I had to try and fix the cake the best I could, but he didn't mean any harm and he was so pleased with his cake I couldn't really be mad for long.
I think eating cake is Owen's favourite part of any celebration. I'm sure he likes cake more than opening gifts.
Owen received many great gifts from his family and friends, he was spoiled again this year! Here he is posing with his Buzz and Woody interactive toys, a gift from Mommy, Daddy and Noah.
We couldn't have asked for a better day. Owen loves his family and friends and everyone came out to help him celebrate his special day! I just love seeing my boy so happy makes all of the planning and effort worth it. Owen turns three on July 31st and we are celebrating his birthday at his favourite place! Can't wait!
Noah's Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousin came over to help celebrate his first birthday today. We missed Derek and Kaila but understand that it is a far drive and we look forward to seeing them in a few weeks!. We had lots of fun opening gifts, eating great food and of course watching Noah try his first piece of cake! He didn't make nearly the same mess as Owen did, but he enjoyed his first taste of sweets for sure. He picked the icing off of his cupcake savoring every bit of it!
Happy Birthday Noah!
Papa and Jeff picked up the balloons we ordered the other night for Noah's party. Mommy and Daddy bought Noah a Xylophone/piano, he really likes it! Checking the bags for more gifts :) Kian and Owen helped Noah open his gifts. Noah and Kian were more interested in the wrapping paper and ribbons, Owen was in search of toys. We ordered pizza and pasta for lunch. Noah loved the pasta! Yesterday I spent the morning decorating Noah's birthday cupcakes. I realized then that it was the first time in over a year that I had the house to myself without the kids. Crazy. Here are the Cow and Chicken cupcakes. Pig and Lamb cupcakes. Noah's first taste of cake! This is about as messy as he got, little clean up for mom and dad :)
Happy Birthday Noah! yesterday I spent time thinking about when Noah was born. At lunch I was remembering contractions getting worse and the first trip to the hospital, at dinner I was thinking about the incredibly strong contractions I was having just moments after being sent home, in the evening I was thinking about telling Gavin we had to go back to the hospital NOW!. I thought I'd be awake in the middle of the night to reflect on Noah's actual birth but the little guy slept through the night! It must have been his birthday present to us :). We've had a fun 1st year with Noah and are looking forward to fun things to come!
I need to work on getting a better picture of Noah standing. He will stand alone & has even taken a few steps on his own! The most steps he has taken so far has been six. As soon as he gains a bit of confidence he'll be off! I expect he'll be walking by 13 months for sure. Go Noah Go! He is always missing one sock, usually the right one. The way he steps and cruises around furniture somehow causes his sock to fall off :) He loves his bath! it is his favourite time of the day I think. You should hear him yell and fuss when we take him out of the bath! the little guy has a good set of lungs and will really tell you off.
My guess is Noah is about 22lbs, I will know how much he weighs next week when we go for his twelve month check-up. He's been eating tons of food at meals, and isn't a picky eater. His least favourite food is potatoes, it doesn't matter how they are cooked. He will still eat them, but makes a funny face while doing it.
updated: I was way off on my guess for Noah's weight. He is still only 19.2 lbs.(about 10th percentile) I think he has gotten so much taller I thought he'd gotten heavier too! he is 76cm tall ( a little above the 50th percentile) and his head is growing a little too, thank goodness :) 45cm (about the 25th percentile).
Our boy is a boy of few words (mama, dada, baba), few teeth (he has 4), an explorer, curious about everything. He finds trouble everywhere, he's a climber, a risk taker, a yeller & screamer, a fighter and yet a total mamas boy! We love him so much, happy 1st birthday Noah!
We are having a family birthday party on sunday & will have pictures and video to share then of his birthday party.
A look back at Noah's first year January- 11 months old December - 10 months old November- 9 months old October- 8 months old September - 7 months old August- 6 months July - 5 months June- 4 months May- 3 months April - 2 months March - 1 month February - 1 week
