Most Dedicated!

Owen received an award yesterday for 'Most Dedicated' on his hockey team! We are soooo proud of his achievement :) he worked hard all year long and really tried his best each and every game or practice. I was happy to see that the coaches thought he did a great job as well! It was a well deserved award.

There was a year end hockey party at a gymnastics club and there were 3 awards to be given out. The awards were for most dedicated, most improvement, and most sportsmanlike. Owen's name was called first to receive his award & Gavin said he could tell that Owen was so proud to be called! he had a big smile on his face.

Way to go Owen!!

Video of Grayson Talking -20 Months Old

I found this old video of Grayson on Gavin's phone!. Grayson was about 20 months old at the time and it's a reminder of how silly he was.  Ignore the spaghetti face mess, and the fact that we all were sick with colds etc. it's a cute video of my Grayson repeating his 'words'. I remember that Owen and Noah would get a kick out of having Grayson say silly words :)

growing up so fast - now he can easily say any word and he is still a parrot, repeating absolutely everything he hears!

Noah's Learn to Skate

We signed Noah up for a 'learn to skate' program that is offered in our area. I wasn't sure how he'd like it as the class is for kids age 5-11 and he wasn't quite five at the time. I was wondering if maybe he'd get frustrated easily and want to give up, but he surprised me (as he usually does) and did quite well.

Here is a video of his very first time on skates. We have a great little pond not too far from our place, he tried his skates out there just before his lessons.

Some photos from his skating lessons. Noah looked so tiny compared to some of the older kids on the ice! what a cutie!

Noah gained lot's of confidence over the eight or so weeks. I was very proud of how well he did. Here is a video of his learn to skate lessons. I love how he gets distracted by the camera and stops skating lol. I also love how he'd skate around a bit, stop and wave. He is so sweet :) The beginning of the video is his first lesson & the end of the video is one of his last lessons.

                                                                               

Noah's 5th Birthday

How is my little guy 5 already?? still so itty bitty at less than the 10th percentile in weight (32lbs),50th percentile for height, but man is he tough! I'm not sure if it's because he's the 'middle child' but he doesn't back down to his big bro anymore :) I'm proud to say he is getting a mind of his own these days. People have also mentioned lately that he doesn't seem as shy, & is more social with friends etc.

Noah has become quite the artist lately. He has always loved colouring, and he does a great job at it, he pretty much stays in the lines and really enjoys it. Just recently though, he's taken to drawing & he actually seems to have a talent for it...If I do say so myself. Must get that creative side from his daddy :)

Here is a recent photo of a race car he drew - not too bad for just turning 5.

This year the party of choice was Beyblades. His party was held February 16th, but I'm just now finding the time to finish up some posts. It was the first year he really 'chose' the theme of the party & he was really excited about it! he wanted some of his friends from school to be invited as well as his cousins.

We planned a beyblade tournament but the kids had so much fun with the practice run that we just went with that. No 'losing' beybladers and everyone was happy. Every kid got to take home the beyblade they used at the party as well as a few other little trinkets in their goodie bags :) I happened to find beyblades on clearance at our local grocery store and cleared the shelf of them! gotta love a sale, especially with 12 kids at the party. 

we had 3 arenas so all the kids could play at once. 

There was a craft station and the kids made their own beyblade for the craft. I'd cut a paper plates in beyblade shape and cut a variety of shapes to glue on top. They could decorate with stickers etc. at the end. Easy & it was all organized and labeled 'step 1' etc. no help needed by the parents. perfect :)

The beyblade cake! I really wanted to make an arena cake but those lovely ones on pinterest really seemed a little out of my league! instead I cheated a bit & bought a 10" round chocolate cake from the grocery store, covered it in fondant and added the fondant detail :) it turned out well & much less stress for me. In the past round cakes and I don't seem to get along. I was happy with how this cake turned out! looks sort of beybladish I think. 

Gifts! we bought Noah the skylanders swap force starter pack. He's loved playing it.

Lot's and lot's of lego this year from his little friends. Must have gotten 5 lego sets to add to his growing collection. He sure loves lego!

Noah has such a great little group of friends! four out of five of his friends from class live in the neighborhood within walking distance! so nice to have gotten to know the kids a bit better :) I missed getting a photo of his friends together. I really must get better at remembering to do things like that :( 

Immediately after his 'friends' party we continued partying with our family. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles and more cousins arrived to celebrate! we missed a few friends and family due to illness, but caught up with them the next weekend. Thanks to everyone for helping make Noah's 5th birthday so much fun! What a great day.

We sang 'Happy Birthday' twice to Noah that day. Once with his friends, he blew the candles out on his cake & then we served cupcakes. The cake was saved for the family party.

Happy 5th birthday Noah! Mommy sure loves you!