Surprise Lunch With Santa

Noah's preschool had a lunch with Santa this past monday. We surprised Owen by taking him out of school early for the lunch & we didn't tell the boys that Santa would be there. As soon as Owen saw Santa he said " that's NOT the real Santa" I thought he'd start putting things together quickly since we've visited a couple of Santa's this year, but his comment caught me by surprise. We told him that this Santa must be one of Santa's helpers because Santa is so busy this time of year. I wonder how long it will be before he really starts to question things?

Grayson loved staring at Santa

The boys made more reindeer food - we have 4 bags to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve. I wonder if we'll remember to do it.

Grayson was fine to sit on Santa's knee & didn't cry. I asked Noah what he asked Santa for & he said "I already told Santa at the mall what i wanted!" so I guess Noah was playing shy for this Santa. Owen asked for a telescope & ride- on motorized car.

It was a fun way to surprise the kids!

In the afternoon we decorated a gingerbread house. It was pre-built (my kind of activity) & the kids had a great time putting on the candy decorations.

The finished product turned out well! maybe next year I'll purchase some houses & each can decorate their own. It had to be well monitored as to who's turn it was, who was putting on what candies etc. But in the end they had fun & are looking forward to breaking it & tasting it :)

16 Months Old

Well it seems I missed posting Grayson's 16 month update on the 12th. This month is just flying by & we've been so busy preparing for Christmas, I just haven't had much extra time to blog.

My youngest is learning so quickly from his big brothers! he follows them around like a lost puppy & plays everything they are playing. Just today, the kids were playing hide- & -seek & Grayson was looking for the kids & finding his own hiding spots. He loves playing ball & continues to throw anything across the room & say "ball" at the same time, doesn't matter what it is. today it happened to be a wooden train on the hardwood floor! we really need to work on that.

He's just recently started to hit out when he doesn't get his way & he never backs down when 'fighting' over a toy. I'm not sure how to reprimand the behaviour at his age besides redirection & trying to stop it before it happens? hopefully he outgrows this stage quickly.

Grayson's been climbing everything, I take him off of the coffee table, kitchen chairs, & even the kitchen table - more times than I can count. Yesterday, I seriously wanted to throw the kitchen chairs out the backdoor, he just would not stay off of them. 

Grayson's learned some new words lately including snack, treat, & he tries to say bubble guppies lol. We've done some Christmas baking & the container sits near his highchair (cruel I know) he often points to the container & says either "treat" or "please". 

The other day the boys taught Grayson to raise his hand when they ask him a question. For example, they'll say "who likes chocolate?" & he'll raise his hand. It's pretty cute. Tonight, he had some ice cream cake for dessert (it was Gavin's b-day) & Grayson raised his hand after he tasted it as if to say " I like this!" He also likes to high five. Grayson also has been giving us kisses and hugs lately - what could be better?

Thomas the train is a favourite around here & Grayson loves these jammies! he says "toot toot" for thomas. 

Grayson has two top molars & his two front top teeth are just about ready to come through. His gums are so bumpy & sore looking :( he might actually get his two front teeth for Christmas. No sign of any bottom teeth yet. I often wonder what he'll look like with teeth, he's been so long without any!

Happy 16 Months Grayson!

Christmas Season

It's been so long since my last post, I've been having trouble uploading photos to the blog. It appears that the web album limit for photos was exceeded, we've found a solution but our computer is in need of upgrading so things are taking forever to upload. Hopefully that gets taken care of soon & I'll be back to regular blogging. I'd hate to give it up, but I have to admit the thought has crossed my mind a few times lately.

We've been busy getting ready for Christmas. Gifts are mostly bought, baking started, crafts made, parades attended, Santa visited & the tree is decorated. The kids are getting excited as the big day nears & every morning they rush downstairs to see what mischief our elf 'frosted flake' has gotten into :)

Here are a few photos of the kids and some of our Christmas season fun.


We love going to a nearby town for their evening parade. It's usually less busy than out city's one & it's not as long. It snowed earlier in the day so it set the Christmas mood, but boy was it cold! the kids did great waiting to see Santa & enjoying the floats. I was very thankful we risked being late to pick up some hot chocolate.

Grayson love watching the lights on the floats. One of his new words is 'Santa' too cute!

We usually try to meet up with friends at the parade - it was great to see the kids hanging out together. Afterwards, we were invited back to their house for dinner & the kids could play together some more! Now that Grayson is older we aren't so tied to a schedule, we sure are enjoying that!

Santa looked right at the kids and waved :)

The next morning we were up early, we wanted to miss the lineup at the mall for Santa. There is a great setup where the kids can play & watch Christmas movies etc. while waiting their turn with Santa. We were early enough that we just had to wait for Santa to show up & then it was time for the boys to sit with Santa & take a photo.

They were excited this year (owen more so than the other boys ;) )

Santa asked the boys what they'd like for Christmas - Owen requested a telescope, Noah said he liked animals (he said it while petting the fur on Santa's coat, too funny! and the boys told Santa that Grayson liked playing with balls. Santa thought they gave him some great ideas for gifts. Grayson did great sitting on Santa's knee. I didn't expect he'd have any trouble with his brother's there with him.

Grayson was so grumpy with a cold the day we decorated the tree. Poor guy could hardly enjoy himself & pretty much cried most of day :( he was also cutting his 2nd top molar - poor baby.

Grayson thought the apple decoration looked good enough to eat :)

We are looking forward to some more Christmas time fun!

15 Months Old

 Grayson is now 15 months old! he has added a few new words to his vocabulary, he now says book, up & stuck :) He definitely has learned the daily routine & will automatically go over to his highchair at snack time etc. and will ask for his "baba" after we put the kids to bed at night. He has just completely weaned himself from nursing and while I'm a little sad that it's just another sign he's growing up, I also love that he gets so excited for his bottle and cuddles up to have his milk. Plus there's the added bonus that other people can feed him a bottle now & it frees up a bit of time for Mommy :)

Grayson learned how to climb up on the couch & chair last month & now he knows how to turn around to get down safely. It makes things so much easier now that I can let him sit on the chair without worrying about him toppling off.

Grayson started cutting this tooth last month but it still isn't all the way through! hopefully he starts getting the rest of them soon, I just pray they don't all come at once and cause him some serious pain :(

Grayson had a wellness checkup today and he is now 20.5 lbs (close to 15th percentile), his height is 82.5cm (85th percentile) and his head circumference is 44.5 cm (3rd percentile) the Doctor was surprised by his weight jump, but he has been eating solids more and is 100% on homogenized milk. His appetite has been much better the last couple of weeks and he is eating most food that we are.

Grayson's favourite foods are breads, fruit, yogurt and ice cream. His favourite toys are cars, trains, balls & he just started enjoying books. His all time favourite thing to do is dance :)

We get Grayson up at 6:45 during the week, so that he can have time to drink his morning bottle. Gavin usually gives him that bottle & Grayson always falls back asleep - he just sleeps a bit more on the floor until the boys come down just after 7am :) on weekends my little boy will sleep until 7:30 or 8am, it's so nice.

Happy 15 months Grayson!

Halloween Fun

We were away visiting family the weekend before Halloween, so that meant the boys were up late the night before carving pumpkins. Owen wanted to carve a scary face & Noah wanted a bat. Gavin suggested carving a bat signal & Noah loved the idea :) They dug right in & pretty much did all of the yucky work themselves. They needed a bit of help scraping the sides clean, but for the most part did it all. 

Silly boy wanted me to take a photo of him pretending to eat the goop. Yuck!

After carving the pumpkin, they gathered enough seeds & roasted them for a tasty treat :)

The finished pumpkins!

The kids were to wear black & orange at Owen's school on Halloween (they don't wear costumes to school) so I dressed them all in their Halloween shirts. Looking at the camera all at the same time is impossible for my guys.

Grayson's 1st Halloween trick-or-treating :) This monkey costume has made it through all 3 of the kids first Halloweens - I'm sad to say it will be moving on to a new family :( Look how adorable my little monkey is! he loved wearing it. He went to a few of the neighbours houses & then came back home to help me hand out candy. 

This year Owen wanted to be a witch. While shopping for costumes my little boy saw the witches broom & wanted me to buy it for him. I wasn't going to buy it just to have a broom & so owen decided that he would be a witch for Halloween. The evening of Halloween was wet & cold, last minute Owen thought it would be a good idea to leave the broom at home - so it wouldn't get wet & dirty ;) That's my boy! It was also windy & his hat kept blowing off so it was delivered back to the house & all he wore was the cape. I don't think anyone could tell he was a witch but it didn't seem to bother him.

Noah was the cutest clown ever! clown costumes aren't as popular as they used to be & it made me smile that he wanted to be a clown. 

Hannah and her Mom joined us for Halloween again this year & the kids enjoyed their evening together. Doesn't Hannah make a cute Cinderella?

I love this cute photo of them all waiting at the door

Grayson enjoyed his first treat - an Aero chocolate bar

Post chocolate daze

Owen & Noah dumped their candy out on the floor and sorted it all, Grayson thought he'd do the same with his candy :) soooo cute! he only had about four or five different things in his bucket, but I love how he wants to do everything his older brothers are doing :)

Happy Halloween!