Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Graemesaurus Rex Turns 4

This past weekend, we celebrated Graeme's 4th birthday. All in all, he really had a great birthday this year, with celebrating that just seemed to go on and on and on - the joys of having your birthday on a Friday, I suppose. His main birthday theme was "Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs!" For some reason, however, we managed to get birthday cakes that had anything but... Funny how that works out sometimes. :)

On Friday, September 12, his actual birthday, we brought a cupcake cake with a dragon design into school for him and his friends at Papillon Preschool. The cake was a hit with all the kids, teachers, and even mommy (who couldn't help but have one - I mean, look at how yummy it looks!). Graeme also loved that he got the first piece - too cute!

We also went out to dinner that night, dining at the oh-so-fancy Red Robin. It was a stop we had to make because they are one of the restaurants that get all the waiters together to sing the birthday celebrant a long and racuous birthday song. In all our past visits to Red Robin, someone's always had a birthday and when the singing started, Graeme would always call to us to "clap your hands." He gets so excited and happy for birthday celebrations - even when they're not for him - he is so cool! For the dinner, Uncle Manolete, Aunt Alison, Eva, and Jude joined us, which was a real treat for Graeme, as these are nearly all of his favourite neighbours right now. When the time came for his birthday song to be sung, he was just so pleased!

Here is Graeme enjoying his birthday dessert, after getting serenaded for his birthday, and then opening up one of his birthday presents, a new "Little Einsteins" DVD.





On Saturday, we had Graeme's "real" birthday party, returning to Lemos Farm to celebrate with ponies, farm animals, trains, and bouncy houses. All the kids had a blast with the pony and train rides and trolling around the farm and Graeme had a blast being the center of attention with all his friends. For his birthday cake this time, he selected the "Madagascar" theme - this is one of his favourite movies of all time. :) All in all, it was a perfect day, with perfect weather, and a good time was had by all.

The New School Year

First day of school is always exciting - new clothes, new school supplies, old friends, and loads of catching up from summer vacation. Summer vacation rocked this year because I got to be home; Ethan didn't even need to go into summer camp at all and he just loved that. Now that summer is done, though, reality hits and this year we have three boys going into new classes.

- Ethan is in the 5th grade, the big man on campus, and he'll be going in to middle school next Fall;
- Graeme is in his last year of preschool, looking forward to graduation next August and starting kindergarten at "Ethan's school"; and
- Xavier is in his first year of daycare, just starting out his school career.

Some photos from all the firsts...

Graeme on his first day in the Pre-K class; like big brother Ethan at his school, he is also one of the big men on campus at Papillon Preschool. He is working on letters, numbers, and writing to get ready for kindergarten. He really loves school so much and now directs me daily about when to fetch him from school, which is "after snack and after playground" unless we have swimming lessons. It will be a sad, sad day when the time comes to move from Papillon. He loves it there so much! And just a quick update on swimming lessons, Graeme is really getting the hang of it and is even really enjoying going underwater. One last note about this photo -- notice the lump on Graeme's forehead. He fell into our wooden rocking chair, head first, and gave us a big scare and himself a bruise that lasted about 2 weeks. He's a total boy!

Ethan on his first day as a 5th grader at Foster City School. Jude and Eva are also in this photo - they all go to the same school. Aren't they all just too cool for school?! Ethan is continuing to take piano lessons and he has gotten SO good at playing and he can read music as though he's always known how to :). He's also taking Spanish classes right now, nothing he's too excited about, but he'll grow to appreciate learning a second language eventually. His hair continues to grow, but he's showing signs of wanting a change. He told me just recently that he's ready to cut about 2 inches off.

No photo of Xavier at school yet, but he's adjusted amazingly well for having been there for only 2 days. He is drinking out of the bottle like a pro and just having a happy time with his new teachers.

We've got amazing boys and we are so proud of them all!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Life with Ethan

I'm still amazed that Ethan is already 10 years old. It makes me proud because he's growing up to be such a great person. It also freaks me out, to tell the truth, because of how quickly these first 10 years have seemed to pass. I can almost feel the next 10 passing just as fast and I dread it. It makes me want to hold him and the other two boys so much closer, to memorize all the moments we share (even the seemingly inconsequential ones) so I can bring them to mind later on in life, to write everything down, to commit to memory all their expressions (facial and verbal), just to keep everything close to me so that I never forget any of it ever. I look at Graeme, who's turning 4 this Friday, and I know that him reaching 10 is going to get here just as quick. There is a happiness and a sadness to children growing up that just can't be helped, I guess. And I think that therein lies the reason for grandchildren. Hahahaha!

Some recent photos of Ethan on his trusty scooter at the park this past week I want to share. He's had his hair long for so long now that I can't really remember the last time he let us cut it short. It might be two years or so now. I wonder how long he'll let it get. I'm trying to convince him to grow it really long then to donate his locks to "Locks of Love" when he's ready for a shorter look.


Saturday, September 6, 2008

Life with Xavier

Xavier just turned 4 months old. This signals my return to work in about a week, which I am dreading, but that is an entirely different story. :) At any rate, Xavier's been really keen on using his legs lately, wanting to "stand" more often than not so we bought him a play center to allow him more freedom and exercise and he loves it!



Went to the park for a spell last weekend and put Xavier in a swing for the first time. He looked really cute but silly in it so we have to memorialize it with photographs...



Life with Graeme

Sometimes it takes a lot of time to put Graeme to bed. He gets up with all sorts of reasons to not be in bed sleeping - he's thirsty, he has to hug mommy goodnight, he has to kiss the baby, etc. Last night, he came up with the best reason so far...

Graeme: I can't sleep.
Daddy: What's wrong?
Graeme: I can't sleep so good because my eyes are in the way.
Daddy and mommy snicker to themselves quietly.
Graeme: And my ear.
Daddy: Why your ear?
Graeme: Because I want you.

Who are we to argue?