How Much Cake Can One Week Have?

October 23 - first big snow of the year!  Winter is now here!

Cara's Birthday morning started out with pancakes and bacon.  Her fav breakfast foods!

 After her birthday supper (spaghetti & meatballs!) it was cake time!  She blew out the candles like a champ.  Then she was officially 4 years old :)

Jamie was over to help celebrate and took a family portrait :)

Thursday was Cara's Birthday celebration at preschool - she got to wear this hat all day.

Saturday we went to Leah's costume Birthday party.  Snow White and Tiny the Pteranadon had a great time.  Everyone dressed up - in the background you can see Mummy as a witch and Daddy as a wizard!

Gwen was a butterfly and really enjoyed some "mummy juice".

Sidney, Cara, Gwen and Leah.

That night it was time to celebrate Mummy's birthday!

Gwen gets excited for cake every single time!

With my birthday present from the girls :)

Gwen loves Jamie!

We all love love Jamie!

October Updates

Sister Love.

We had a busy week here getting our new windows in upstairs and preschool and Cara also started ballet classes again.  Gwen is enjoying her Saturday morning swimming classes.

Gwen is talking and singing almost constantly.  Putting together 3 word sentences and she can really carry a tune well.  She learns songs very quickly and will sing things over and over.

She is also climbing on things - sitting on the coffee table is a favourite.

Cara helps out in the kitchen - in full chef attire!

She is really liking preschool and is telling us lots of stories.  Her imagination is out of control some days!

She is very excited for her birthday and Halloween and our upcoming trip to San Diego!  She is most excited to see her cousins and polar bears!

Dreams Come True and A Rainbow Party, Too!

Saturday was the General Dynamics Family Day at Daddy's office.  It was a very fun day and really nice and warm (way better than the freezing cold, snow and frost we had last week!). 

The girls had a blast in the bouncy houses!

Cara had fun inspecting the military vehicles.

Gwen loved the popcorn and cotton candy.

Still too small to drive.

Cara is almost big enough though!

The girls got a tour of Daddy's desk and meeting rooms (their favourite was the room that is covered in white boards and has excersise balls to sit on).  Cara liked seeing her painting from school displayed in Daddy's cubicle.

Gwen on "Bam-Bam"

After hot dogs and snacks and glitter tattoos there were pony rides!  They even had a helmet Gwen's size so both girls got to ride!

Cara on "Tina Turner"

Cara has been requesting a pony ride for 2 summers now and it just never happened but this day it did.  At supper that night Daddy asked Cara how she liked riding a pony and she said "It was a dream come true, Dad." so matter-of-fact it was hilarious.

 Sunday we celebrated Cara's 4th birthday.  (A bit early.)

We went with a rainbow theme!  Cara says her favourite colour is the whole rainbow.

Jamie and Nana joined in the pass-the-parcel game!  They even got to win a prize!

Cara's friends Freya and Leah watched Cara open her layer of the parcel.

The girls made rainbow necklaces.

They ate rainbow snacks!

And rainbow jello cups!

Gwen enjoyed the whipped cream "cloud" the best!

And she was so into partying that she wore 2 party hats (a spare in back)!!

They played pin-the-rainbow-on-the-valley!

Blew out the candles on the rainbow cake - she told me later that she wished for peas.  Green peas.

Opened presents - this one from Leah!

And some more playmobil from Jamie - this look is: "Jamie, you are the best uncle!"

We even had a rainbow Cars pinata!

This is the only picture of all of the kids at the party!

Freya, Leah, Gwen, Sidney and Cara!

These sugared up kids were pretty wild!

Post-party veg out time.

It was a very fun party and we can't believe that Cara is (practically) 4 years old! Wow!

Thanksgiving

The girls have been busy this week getting over some colds.  Cara was on antibiotics and then Gwen came down with croup Thursday night.  So we've been to the Dr alot lately!

Thanksgiving Sunday Jamie and I did a 5k race.  Here we are just before the start!

He is a great running partner and we finished with a great time.  34:26 for me and 34:25 for Jamie! less than .5 of a second between us though (I really let him have the win!)

Cara had fun at the playground while the run was going on.

Gwen loved it too.  She is a great climber these days.

Post race with the cheering team leader!  

That evening we had a great Thanksgiving feast.  Daddy and Cara went to a hockey game in the afternoon while the turkey roasted and Jamie helped peel the veggies while Gwen had a nap!  A great Thanksgiving with lots of great memories and much to be thankful for!

Inglewood Bird Sanctuary in the Fall

We had a good week this week.  Cara is enjoying school and Gwen is still cutting her 2 year molars.  They are pretty much over their first cold of the season.  We went to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary with Nana on Friday.  The trees looked nice and seasonal (although when everything just turns yellow it just isn't as pretty as New Brunswick's red maples!)

The outing gave us a chance to go for a drive in Nana's new car.  Cara is big enough for a booster seat now so in Nana's car that's what she'll ride in.  She looks so old in a regular seat belt!

Gwen now uses the car seat that Cara used while traveling with Nana.  The girls were wearing shorts it was so summery.  September 28 and it was high 20s!  They are calling for flurries this week!

Gwen strolling on the path at the park.

Sunday was our 6th anniversary!  Jamie came to babysit and we went out for a fantastic 3 course meal with wine pairings at Brava Bistro.  It was the dinner that I won at my 5k race in August.  It was a lovely evening out to celebrate, reminisce and wonder about what the future holds!