Ethan's Birthday

The other day Ethan day said to me, "Mama, is my birthday finished now?" I think that's because it felt like he had a birthweek again this year. His real birthday was on Tuesday the 10th. We celebrated by doing our usual tradition of waking him with a special breakfast in bed. Well, he knew all about that by now, so he made sure not to come out of his room and into our bed in the morning. That day he got to eat all his meals on the 'birthday plate' and I let him have a candle with every meal to blow out.

Had to snap this photo quickly because the candle kept tipping over in the mac and cheese.

Although Tuesday was his actual birthday, he kept insisting that it wasn't his real birthday. In his mind his REAL birthday was going to be on Saturday the 14th when Gong Gong, Po Po, Oma and Opa came to have cake and presents. Oh the excitement!! I'm sure he  must have been slighted distracted sitting for 3 hours in Chinese school, but FINALLY the time had come for him. By the time my parents came we couldn't hold him back any longer. We dove right into opening presents and cake. The poor boy had been waiting close to 3 weeks for this.

 I just loved this moment. Maddy was so proud to give him her present. She made a car for him out of a yogurt container, "Because I know he really likes cars."

Ethan's expression as he opened the gift was like she'd just given him the world.

 He played for so long with both his tractor and garbage truck. He even went to sleep with them in his bed. It was 10pm before he finallly crashed. Actually his eyes were blood-shot and puffy he was so tired, but kept insisting he wasn't sleepy at all.

  He asked for a garbage truck cake this year. After a lot of Googling and both Josh and I working on it, this is what we came up with. 

It weighed a ton. Ethan was a bit sad to see that the back of the truck wasn't filled with actual garbage when we cut into it!

After cake and presents the kids were happily playing with the toys and the adults had a chance to chat. We had a nice dinner and then more cake before bed time. It was a lovely, stress-free birthday.

This past Tuesday we brought cupcakes to preschool to share with his new friends. Initially, I wasn't planning to do this since his birthday was before school even started, but I thought that just in case he refused to go to the new school, it would be handy to have the excuse of cupcakes to 'lure' him there. 

I love the serious look on his face. It's like he's willing himself to be taller.

We are now so 'done' with cake. Josh took so many little cupcakes to work, and I was still  throwing some out at home, along with a 1/2 eaten garbage truck. Though the excitement of his birthday is wearing off, he did ask me today in the car, "Mama, how many days until me next birthday."

Happy birthday Ethan!! We love you soooooo much. xoxo

Back to School

Aside from missing our relaxing summer routine, back to school this year was fantastic. I loved being able to just focus on the kids this year instead of rushing off to work and the kids loved doing homeschooling again. Many people ask if I still did any homeschooling during the summer and I'm so glad we didn't now. Having taken the break all summer long the kids and I are totally refreshed and ready to begin the new year.

I have to admit that on the Tuesday after Labour day I did feel a little sad about not returning to work. More just because I knew the first day would be about reconnecting with everyone at work and hearing about summer vacations. I'm glad to say that the sadness lasted only one day and I'm so happy to be home with the kids full time now. Our first week of school was mostly about getting into the routine of our homeschooling. We went to the the Not-Back-To-School picnic of the Lower Mainland homeschoolers, but other than that we just eased ourselves into the curriculum. We didn't have any extra-curriculars to go to yet. Since that first week, we've started choir, Chinese school and swimming lessons. Still waiting for Sparks and skating to start up so it's been a nice way to ease into the Fall routine as well.

 

Happy Back-to-School everyone!!

Ethan 4 year old

What a difference a year makes. In the last couple of weeks I have seen such a change in Ethan's confidence as he embarks on new situations. Last year the start of swimming lessons and preschool  brought about a great deal of stress. Both for him and for me. There were lots of tears and lots of convincing we had to do. This year he is moving to a new preschool (one that is just across the street from our house) and it's been awesome watching him transition into the new setting. In the summer he still kept insisting that he didn't want to go to his new school, but something in the last couple of weeks has just clicked and this new attitude has helped with not only preschool, but swimming lessons and Chinese school. He even confirmed with me tonight that he would like me to register him for skating lessons this fall instead of, "Maybe when me 5." (His usual answer to trying a new activity). So exciting!

 Since his 3 year old update, Ethan has changed in other ways too. He has definitely developed his own voice and it's so fun to see his cheeky side. Well, most of the time, it's fun to see this side. He is definitely coming to conclusions on his own now and seeing the look on his face when he puts 2 and 2 together is awesome. During play with Maddy he is now voicing his own thoughts and ideas instead of just following along with his sister. This does cause a bit more friction between the two of them, but it's nice to see him come up with ideas on his own too.

There are some areas that Ethan still likes to be just like Maddy. His favourite colours are still purple and pink. And he still claims that what he wants to be when he grows up is, "What Maddy is". At his last visit to the dentist, the hygeinist made a point to tell me, "Just so you know, Ethan chose this toothbrush himself." (She pointed to the pink coloured toothbrush) I had to laugh because as I looked at the toothbrush, all I could think was 'That's my Ethan!' I have to say that I haven't seen him come out of the playroom in the purple ballgown in a long while, so I think we are slowly moving in the right direction.

In the speech department, he is definitely using more complex patterns. He can really go into details while trying to explain something to me. Sometimes I still don't get it and I'll have to tell him so. This often makes him sad and he'll reply, "Yes, you do!" as though he can just will me into understanding. One speech pattern that I find really endearing is his use of the word 'actually'. He uses it all the time. "Achilly mama, I'm just getting woa woa cuz she crying for me" or "Mama, achilly I'm stwill, stwill hungry."

During playtime and especially when we play board games his sense of fair play is really improving. Tonight I was playing Candyland and the poor kid was sent backwards 3 different times when he pulled the Mr. Mint, the gum drop dude and the Lolly. He took it all in stride and just kept playing. Then we played Trouble and he sent me home 3 times. On the 4th time I pleaded with him to take a new man out (he rolled a 6) instead of knocking his poor mother out for the another time. He smiled a shy, sympathetic little smile as he said, "Don't worry mama, just a game."

HE LEARNED TO BLOW HIS NOSE!!! How could I forget. This just happened last week, but what a relief that he's finally figured it out. Oh the pride in his face (even though that face was now smeared in snot)...priceless. I'm thankful that he's learned how to blow his nose because he often gets what I think is seasonal allergies where he'll just sneeze and sneeze and get all stuffed up. Who knew teaching someone to blow their nose could take up to 4 years.

His other favourites right now include Mater and McQueen (We've finally seen both Cars and Cars 2 and he loves them), playing in the sand box, trying the monkey bars, building things with KEVA blocks, choosing his own clothes in the morning, peanut butter and jam on toast and cuddling with Mama or Papa in his new bed.

Big Boy Bed

Yay! I'm so happy to report that Ethan's big boy bedroom is finally done! We decided to give him his birthday present (the new room) early because the bed frame was in the middle of our school room and just plain in the way.

 We tried to add a drama to the whole unveiling of the room. He was pretty excited to take off the blindfold.

 I think he likes it!

 The three prints of Planes, Trains and Automoblies were the inspriation for the colours in the room.

 This is the nicest the room will ever look. E.V.E.R. 

All smiles from the birthday boy.

I'll be back later with a birthday/update post on Ethan at 4 years old. Right now, just savouring the fact that his room is done, and I have the school room back to normal in time for school.

Camping: Lake Wenatchee

When I think back on the memories of this trip, the part that will stick in my mind all happened before we even left home! This will forever be called "The Little Trip that Could". In the lead up to our camping trip we had to get the Westy insured. (We only keep it on storage insurance during the year when we don't drive it.) The first few tries to get insurance, Josh went back and forth because of things like lost registration papers and confusion about whether the papers were actually needed. Finally that was settled and he was told that the van was due for air care testing. So again, off he goes. This time, not so good news. It didn't pass! I thought the trip was doomed. You can't get insurance without passing air care. I almost called the Lows and Van Dops to cancel. Josh found a loop hole where you can get a 3 months temporary coverage, so yay! The trip was back on.

The fact that the van didn't pass air care bugged Josh and he thought that perhaps it was due to the fuel stabilizer that he put into the van for the long storage. He decided to change the oil just in case. Unfortunately, while doing so the thread to the oil plugged was stripped and so it would just leak oil everywhere. Again, trip cancelled? I thought so, for sure. Josh spent that night on the computer researching, went to Lordco to get all he needed and then woke at 6 am the next day to fix it. He got back home from work on Thursday evening and checked for any leaks. Yay! The trip was back on. That night he took the van for a long drive, he even drove up 'the cut' in North Vancouver to make sure everything was running smoothly. It was all good.

Friday morning: The kids are super excited, Josh is exhausted and I am just wanting to get going to beat the border line ups. We pack the van up and head out around 10:15. All was good until we tried to drive up Patterson hill. We were in first gear and going about 20 km/hr. NOT GOOD. This time I'm thinking we are definitely doomed and I even call the Lows to tell them the bad news. We get the car back home and Josh has a feeling it's the muffler, but it's too hot for him to take it off to check. The kids, (ever the optimists) decide that dad can for sure fix it and opt to stay buckled in their car seats. After about 30 mins. I suggest we walk to a nearby restaurant to get lunch. On the walk there, I prepare the kids for the fact that we may not be able to go. I told them the 3 scenarios:

1. Papa can fix it in the next couple of hours and we can still go.
2. Papa can fix it today/tonight and we can go tomorrow.
3. Papa can't fix it and we stay home, but have some super awesome, super-fun 'family days'.

Turns out we were super lucky it was scenario #1. The catalytic converter had disintegrated (that's why it didn't pass air care) and was blocking the muffler. He thinks that after the long drive the night before, more of it had crumbled. He had to take the muffler off and removed what was remaining of the catalytic converter. We were back on the road by about 1:30pm. CRAZY!!! The good news was the mid-day border traffic was way better and we only had a 1/2 hour wait.

The rest of the camping trip was smooth sailing. Poor Josh had to work his @ss off to get us there, but he got us there and back with no problems. You're the best babe!!!

Here are some pics of our trip.

 The Low/Blommestein site

 This trip I grabbed a journal to keep in the van. Here is Ethan writing his name in it.

 Beautiful Lake Wenatchee. It was super windy on this day, but the kids didn't care.

 Sophia liked spending so much time in her tent that the other kids wanted to check it out. They spent quite a bit of time hanging out in there.

 The girls

 

 On Sunday we made a trip to Leavenworth. Here we are at lunch. Lucky for us it started to rain on this day. I was

so happy to be inside eating yummy tacos instead in the rain at the campsite.

 Josh and Ed up to no good as they dare each other to taste the hottest hot sauce on Earth.

 Ice cream break, right after a visit to the Taffy shop. Treat all around!!!

Despite all the drama of getting there, the trip was a lot of fun. It's always great to get away and hang out with friends. Thanks to the Lows and Van Dops for another great camping trip!