:: Cole's 3rd Birthday ::

:: Back in November my "baby" turned three *insert soft sobbing now* --- We had a digger party at his request...so out comes all the diggers in yellow, a big 'ol digger cake and lots of family
::

:: Here is the cake, it turned out a little differently than I had originally planned, you see Cole wanted to help aka: destroy! My perfectionist tendencies had to go to the back burner for the happiness of the birthday boy ;) ::



:: He picked out this birthday banner, we have always used the same tacky banner over our fireplace, but he wanted two...so here is the second one along with some digger decor ::

:: Coles birthday candy bar ::

:: His birthday photo collage, one photo from each year of his life and two from the months just before he turned 3 ::

:: Traditional photo in front of the fireplace under the tacky birthday banner - ha! ::

:: Nana & Papa L came to celebrate too ::

:: As well as Uncle & Aunty {We're missing Coles other Aunts & Uncles and 4 cousins} ::

:: The birthday boy in all his glory! ::

:: Friend Madelyne & Emma enjoying their lasagna dinner ::

:: Grammie hanging at the men's table ::

:: This is a full set of photos from Cole & Mr. L --- I asked Cole to smile, so he frowned, nice! HA HA ::

:: Our big 3 year old boy and his cake & balloons ::

:: Family photo ::

:: Getting ready to hack into the cake ::

:: This was the first year Cole was really into his cards and unwrapping the presents, it was just pure joy seeing his face open all the gifts ::

:: Thank you to all of our family who came to celebrate with Coley -- to those who couldn't be there, we sure missed you! ::

:: We have already started planning his birthday theme for this upcoming November, it is a Pirate theme party & he gets to invite his school friends, exciting times people, very exciting! We picked up the invites on Tuesday when we were shopping, he is a planner just like his Mama ;) ::

:: Manic Wednesday ::

:: Well, it's turned out to be a beautiful Fall day here in Vancouver, I wouldn't have guessed it when I pulled out my {super cute} rain boots {that I just had to have!} ::

:: But by the time I was driving home today from picking up JJ from school, the sun was shining and has been ever since then. Made my cold that I woke up with this morning a little more tolerable ::

:: So this afternoon while the littlest boy napped we've played play foam, then the little man requested that he play with play dough and was saying he needed the "original play dough" - Ha! Then we coloured and counted, then we decided that one of the three cans of chick peas in our cupboards could be used for baking these delicious cookies ::

:: Now I've got a chicken roasting, here's to hoping it has enough time to roast before we need to eat it. I'm just finishing up a load of laundry and then I'm out the door to a PAC meeting ::

:: It's been a good day, and that sunshine sure made my day a little brighter! ::

:: Here's to the weekend being here sooner than later, and my cold being gone by then too! ::


~ The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 ~

:: Hawaii - O'ahu - Part 2 ::

:: On one of our last days we decided to take a catamaran ride right off Waikiki Beach ::

:: On one of our first days I had overheard a lady talk the man down from $20/person to $20 for a family of 4 -- I thought if we could swing it for $20 we would be in! ::


:: Paul went and spoke to Ezra {the guy that runs the boat} and he said he could swing us the same deal. So within two hours we were on the boat enjoying a water view of Waikiki Beach ::

:: See I was there ::

:: Poor Mr. JJ and his forced smile! ::

:: The boys hanging on the net ::

:: The sails full and pulling us along ::

:: Coley just taking it all in ::

:: This is our favorite spot to sit on Waikiki Beach, so it was fun to see it from a different point of view ::

:: We had a such a great time on our 1.5 hour ride on the boat. The boys loved the boat and are now asking us to take them on a cruise - Ha Ha Ha! ::

:: Such great memories made, just looking at the photos gives me warm fuzzies all over - we're so blessed! ::

:: Hope y'all have a great Monday --- I've got a full plate today, so hopefully I'll be back to update you on some fun events we did before we went away! ::

:: Hawaii - O'ahu - Part 1 ::

:: Here is a brief overview of our trip to Hawaii. We have so many pictures it's unbelievable. So here is just a little bit of what we did and where we spent a huge portion of October this year ::

:: We hung out here for two days, this is where JJ learned to swim without water wings. It's called Ko 'Olina and we came here for a three night stay on our honey moon. It was quite surreal to be there with our boys - Loved it! ::


:: Most days our boys were ready to have dinner by 5pm which meant we left the beach around 4pm as to avoid any meltdowns. Which meant that we missed one of the most beautiful times of the day; dusk. This day we stayed on through to 6pm. The boys had been given some surf boards from people that were leaving the island, within two hours each boy had been given their own board, by two different families....can you say blessed!?!?! Those boards were worth $20 a piece! It was so fun to have them for the few days we did! ::

:: Here are the photos Mr. L took while the boys were enjoying the surf on Waikiki beach ::






:: Cole holding up Diamond head on his board, this wasn't planned but Mr. L was fast at the draw with the camera! ::


:: We hit up the Army Museum @ Fort DeRussy - which the boys just got a kick out of! ::


:: Here is what our set up looked like every day we walked to the beach...we had quite the system for the poor little jogging stroller, it's supposed to be for just one babe, but we did fine fitting both of them into it ;) - plus the camera bag, cooler & beach bag on the back. I carried the floaties and surf boards ::


:: Lilly pads in the Hilton ponds ::


:: Since the boys needed to be home, bathed, fed and bedded before we were ready to settle in we sat on the lanai and watched the sun go down - this was our view from the Ilikai on the 20th floor ::


:: I'll be back with more photos, but really they are just repeats of the above photos, so just bear with me ;) ::

:: Happy Saturday Y'all - I'm off to make pavlova and get ready for an Indian feast tonight! ::

:: Coles First Field Trip ::

:: We came right off the plane, dropped Mr. L off to the office and headed home to G&G's place to drop JJ off and then Cole and I ran out the door to his very first field trip at the pumpkin patch ::

:: On our way out the door he was saying "I no like my frens no more - I want to go to our new tower and park Gramps' new Ford under the tower {aka: Hotel in Hawaii}" But I knew better, I knew that he would be so excited to see his teacher and to romp through the corn maze and pumpkin patch ::



:: Mama was right, he was super happy to be there and just got right into it! He picked about 30 million pumpkins before I told him it was enough and he just had to pick one...he just kept on saying "this is incredible!" Lord only knows where he's heard that! HA! ::



:: We took a wagon ride, which he loved and of course was the only one that didn't heed the teachers advice and stay sitting while the wagon was going, so typical ;) ::



:: Here we are fresh off the plane...I had left our gum boots and our warm clothes at my parents place before we left as I knew this was on the agenda, and I'm SO glad I did, it was a goopy mess that field! ::



:: A sunflower - Beautiful nature, ahh, I love Fall {not sure if I love it more than Hawaii though ;) } ::



:: My sweet pea and his pumpkin, he was so excited to show Mr. L when we got home later that day he said "Dada, look here's my punkin patch!" What a gem he is! ::

:: Well, I'm off to bed...We're almost settled into our normal routine again, hoping to finish up the laundry tomorrow, get a few fresh groceries as the liquid cucumbers that I came home to in my fridge really are no good to feed to my children - HaHa! ::

:: Here's to a great Thursday! ::

~ He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalms 91:1 ~

:: We Are Back ::

:: We have just returned from an epic family trip to Hawaii - on the island of Oahu, it was a fabulous trip filled with lots of sun, sand and family adventures...More on our trip once we get settled back into life on the mainland. Seems life on the Island is easy to get used to ;) ::

:: Welcome Paisley! ::

:: Before we left on our trip to Hawaii, there was a special delivery born. Sweet Paisley Joy was born on October 1st ::



:: When they said it was a girl I was SO surprised, since conception I thought it was a boy - B O Y all the way! Nope, she is a girl, I made sure they double checked ;) -- and a beautiful one at that! ::

:: My sister in law is a champ, she had a home birth and just rocked it! Way to go Christy and Congratulations to your little family. Can not wait to meet your precious little addition! ::

:: If you want to see more photos hop in over to my SILs blog here ::

:: First Day of School ::

:: WoW!!! I can't believe how quickly September, and now October has flown by! Geesh, what a whirlwind month around here! ::

:: Well, even though I'm behind on stuff from Summer -- I wanted to get up the photos of the boys first day of school, this year we had a couple weeks worth of graduated entry for our two preschool boys. So long it was almost painful, as of the end of September the boys were still fighting over whose 1st day it was, again! HA!!! ::

:: Here is our first 4 year old Preschooler...all ready for his first official day. Poor Cole was so upset that he didn't get to go too -- Made me think that maybe we should have put them in the split class together ::





:: The boys were in the mood for taking photos on Jacobs first day, of course, cause we were short on time that morning ;) ::



:: Here are the photos of Cole's first day of school. Once I got Cole to school on his first day I knew that we had made the right decision putting them in separate classes. Cole did famously well going in by himself. He did ask me to stay and I told him he didn't want me to, and he carried on like a champ ::





:: He was so cute when he met me after class, the first thing he said to me was "I didnint hit anyone Mama!" last year we had issue with Jacob hitting kids in his class and so Cole heard me asking JJ every day last year if he had been nice or if he had hit any of his friends...so I guess he assumed that it was important information to relay. He still tells me every day if he was nice or not. So cute! ::





:: Hoping to be back sooner than later with other updates on what me and the boys have been up to!

:: Jack Johnson ::

*I'm back dating this for blurb purposes ;)

:: On October 1st the day my niece was born -- we actually got the call that she arrived on our drive into the big city, we were on our way to dinner and the Jack Johnson concert with our friends M&L ::

:: This was the gift I got Paul for his birthday and it was a fabulous time! ::



:: We went to a stunning little restaurant in Gastown in the big city. It's called Chill Winston, and chill it was..ahh, the food was awesome and the atmosphere was just as good ::



:: Lisa and I enjoying our appy's and drinks ::






:: Here is M&L in Gastown ::



:: Here we are just outside the restaurant --- ahhhhhh, I love Gastown! ::



:: After dinner we headed straight to the concert - and what a concert it was! Honestly was the best concert I had ever been to, other than the horrible smoke from people around us - it was fabulous! ::



:: Perfect mix of songs and entertainment, the perfect start to our adventure {just after this concert we left for Hawaii} - Thanks to Aunty L for taking care of the boys for us, had no idea we could feed you in animal crackers ;) ::