All dressed up

Here's Mr. Sam on the weekend, all dressed up and ready for a birthday party.  And, I swear to you, this is as normal as I can make him look.  The "hint of maniac" you see is a permanent feature.

A very, very proud parenting moment

I won't lie to you... When Sam handed me these drawings tonight, I thought "I doing a great job!".

If you don't know what this is referencing, run (don't walk) to watch all the Studio Ghibli movies, such as My Neighbor Totoro.

5 years old and he already has great taste in film.  Sigh.  My heart swells.

A special nod to Martina, who knows exactly why this is just about the best thing ever.

You know who gets no love at all?

This furry mutt:

Kismet is 9 (!!!) years old now.  We got her from the humane society as a puppy.  She was neglected, matted, emaciated and had no idea how to be a dog. 

She has become the best dog anyone could ever hope for.  She's infinitely patient with kids.  She's not destructive or messy.  She's a great hot-water bottle alternative.  She's almost cute and not-quite smart, but oh-so loving.

I hope she lives for another healthful 9 years. 

Also, I'm now a mature woman.  The big 40 came and went last week.  I, frankly, am quite excited about a decade with no diapers, midnight feedings and toilet-training.  Bring it on!
My husband, who finds himself hilarious, put this in the local paper for me.  Such a comedian:

He's quite foolish, as his birthday is still months away and I am allll about the retaliation.  Heh heh heh

New York? Meet my kids.

This was, seriously, one of the best days ever.  I'll never forget acquainting these parties for the first time.

Can't wait for our next family trip to NYC. Ages 5 and 7 might be the golden age of children, people.  They are perfection right now.

Sam = 5, plus party shenanigans

Ooopsy!  I update on facebook so often, that sometimes I forget about the ol' blog for a while.  Sorry Sam!  It's not as though we forgot your birthday, just forgot about it on the blog.

The birthday week, from Charley's until this Sunday was a madhouse of cake and events and celebration.  They really can't complain that we don't do up boy birthdays around these parts.

Here are a few shots of my 5 year old baby and their super-fun LEGO party on the weekend.

 5 year olds are old enough to decorate their own cupcakes, I think!

 Don't ever try and get a cute, posed picture from this maniac.

 Lego cookies and Lego man pops for the party.

 Happy, happy birthday fun.

Can you feel the crazy in this room!?

Great times with the boys!  5 and 7 might be the perfect, portable kid age.  Lots of adventures planned for 2013.  Happy birthday Charley and Sam!

It's the most wonderful bowl of the year!

It's that wonderful, magical day when we all get to see how the little man has grown!  Yep, Charley's birthday is upon us again.  Number 7.  I can't begin to explain where the years have gone.

When I took the new pictures last night, I had the total realization that he is not a little kid anymore.  He looks like a big boy, with his big, big teeth.  It's happy and hard all at the same time when you realize that the little kid years are behind you.

As always, I'll start the photos with the shot from his first week, when he was actually using the bowl as a bath tub.  Hard to imagine, looking at him today.

Happy 7th birthday Charley!  As you like to tell us, we love you as big as Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun aaaaaaand Betelgeuse.

 

And now!  Preeee-senting!  A SEVEN YEAR OLD BOY!

Love that kid!  Now, only 7 days left until my wee baby Sam turns 5.  Seriously people!  How does this happen?!?!

Florida 2013

Our third trip to Little Gasparilla Island was just as dreamy at the last two.  I don't know why we only stay for a week each year!

We rented two houses, one for our family and one for Sarah's, a few houses apart.  It was magical, beautiful and brain-relaxing.  When there's nothing to do but dig, walk and search for shells for a week, it slows things down dramatically.  Namely blood-pressure.

We had 3 days in Tampa before heading down to the island to cover a few tourist basics with the kids.  We ended up with 2 extra days at the end there too, because Air Canada doesn't quite know how to manage after a snowstorm, despite being the airline for freeeakin' CANADA!

I matters not.  We had a great couple bonus days.

Here are some of my favourite shots from our trip. Between Sarah and I, we took over 2000 photos, so be glad I've edited them dramatically for you.

 I feel like this shot should be on the Busch Gardens brochure.  Happy kid watching the famous steam train go by, with the cable cars and roller coaster in the back ground.  I love a deserted theme park!

 The Florida Aquarium was really great.  The kids loved it and got to pet sting rays and bamboo shark in the touch tank.

 The Lowry Park Zoo, in Tampa, was the sleeper hit of the trip.  Affordable, super-fun and lots of opportunities for hands-on experiences with the animals, like in the above shot when Charley just about laughed himself inside-out feeding the Australian budgies.



Ahhh... and then we arrive at the island.  Per-fection.

Of course, a great deal of my time was eaten up (haha) looking for shark's teeth.  I thought that I might channel them by fashioning myself a set of chompers.  Classy!

A rare family portrait - Sunglasses style!

A super-bliss moment with my kiddo.  He is the best giggler in the world.

Another great trip that receded into memory about 12 hours after getting home.  With being delayed 2 days, we really hit the ground running once we were back, and haven't stopped yet.  How to manage a month of vacation?!  That would be about right.

Planning 2014's voyage already.  Can't, can't wait.