Family Day Weekend

For our family, Family Day long weekend is always the busiest weekend of the year. We celebrated Kayla's birthday another 2 times this past weekend with a party at a play gym with her friends on Saturday and a party with family on Sunday. So in the 6 days since she's turned 5, Kayla has blown out the candles on 5 different birthday cakes and has had a total of 3 birthday parties plus 2 birthday dinners! Wait till you see what we do for her when she turns 16...

Aside from the birthday celebrations, we enjoyed very pleasant weather this weekend and was able to get in another skate on our backyard rink.

 Steve got Kayla her first pair of hockey gloves. Disappointing for Steve, she didn't like wearing them and went back to her ski gloves.

 Lauren sat out this time around and watched her big sister.

 Skating on the big rink this holiday weekend with family and friends.

 Lauren watches behind the glass with Grandma.

 This weekend we also finally finished re-organizing Kayla's room with her new bunk bed.

And this weekend also marks the weekend we fully trust Lauren to drink from a cup without spilling (and without a bib)!

Happy 5th Birthday KAYLA

Happy 5th Birthday to my sweetie Kayla. I can't believe she is 5. This morning she told me she thought her hands and feet got bigger since she turned 5 today...too cute!

We surprised her bright and early this morning with her birthday presents (bunk bed and photo album) and she loved them both! She brought her photo album to school and proudly shared pics of the family with all her friends. She blew out candles on her birthday cake at school, and then did another round of candles at Grandma's house after school. Tonight she sleeps on the lower bunk of the bunk bed - she was too scared to sleep on the top bunk!

It was 5 years ago that this little 5lb, 14oz baby came into our life. Full of energy, always enthusiastic and with the most giving heart, Kayla has really lit up our lives and those around her. This weekend will be a busy one for her with a birthday party with her friends on Saturday and a surprise birthday party with family on Sunday.

If you want to send her a birthday greeting, you can email Kayla: kayla.choo@rogers.com

I set this email account up for her when she was 2 years old and email her periodically with pics, funny things she said, or just to say i love you. I plan on sharing her email account with her in a few years and I think it'll be fun for her to read emails from all us!

Weekend Snow and Presents for Kayla

Another round of snow hit Toronto this weekend, allowing the girls to go sledding, Steve to rebuild his ice rink and me to finally sport my new snowpants and boots I purchased just to wear in the snow!

This was one of Lauren's first time in the snow and as expected, she did not like it (never likes anything new). But after taking some time to warm up to the white and fluffy stuff, she finally calmed down and enjoyed herself on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

 Steve made Kayla wear her hockey helmet to go sledding after reading some internet article about kids and head injuries due to sledding...i guess better safe than sorry! Kayla never put up a fuss and had a blast going down the hill with Lucas (our next door neighbour), Lauren and even with me!

 Mis-matched snowsuit of a size 6-12 month snow pants, 1 year jacket, 1 year gloves and a size 4-5 hat! A small peanut with a big head.

Kayla is turning 5 tomorrow, Feb 14. I'm super excited to give my gift to her..a photo album of family pictures (she really, really loves all her family) and a bunk bed. I've always had a dream that my girls would sleep in bunk beds together. Not sure why this has always been a dream of mine, but I had a bunk bed growing up, and I have a lot of fond memories with my brother and sister and the bunk bed, from playing beachball volleyball, to playing camping/tent, to having birthday sleepovers, to coming home from camp to see all my dolls hanging from belt nooses from the top bunk (the doing of a bad sibling...Keith) to coming home from camp again to 100s of yellow-post it notes that say "you are ugly" all over the bunk bed (bad sibling Keith again). Ah, the good ol days...Anyways, I hope Kayla loves it as much as I already do, and I hope she builds a mountain of fond memories with her sibling like I have.

Count Your Blessings

Just shortly before Lauren's first birthday we had professional photos taken courtesy of the Littlest Hero Project. The organization has been since renamed to Inspiration Through Art. They've just posted their newest 2012 heroes on their website http://www.inspirationthroughart.org/meet-our-heroes/ and in reading the profiles of their newest heroes, it definitely serves as a reminder of all the blessings we have with Lauren and Kayla. And that you really have to count your blessings every day as you never know what may come tomorrow.

I was chatting with a friend over the weekend who was telling me about a friend of theirs, in their 40s, who have been trying for years to conceive and have pretty much given up. Oh how much they want to have a child of their own, but it looks like, because of their age, its just not in the cards for them. The story definitely put back in perspective that just being able to have a child is a blessing. I'm sure that couple would be over the moon to have a child, or a "Lauren". I guess its easy to take for granted things that come so naturally whether its being able to conceive, having a healthy delivery or being able to walk and talk. In another conversation with a friend who is a special needs teacher, she asks me whether Lauren has any feeding issues, to which I reply no, and she comments that that was good to hear because she has a little boy in her autistic class who only eats bacon and toast. That's it, just bacon and toast. All the time. All meals. Just bacon and toast. I can't even fathom what this must be like.

So to my girls, Kayla and Lauren, I count my blessings every day that you are here with us, happy, healthy and safe. I am thankful for the small things like Lauren eating like a champ (although its super messy and requires a good vacuuming of her high chair, the floors and her pants after every meal), Kayla not eating most of the time and reciting nursery rhymes, singing or making silly faces at Lauren,  and both girls being able to eat more than bacon and toast.