Happy Birthday G-ma

 

We got to celebrate my G-ma's birthday while we were in Canada! This was the first time that I have ever prepared a main course for 8 people all by myself! Woot woot! Go me! Anyways it was nice to have the family get together and socialize. It was casual and while simple is not my style it was nice to just enjoy one another. Not to mention hear some fun stories from G-ma.

At first Duke Manfred was scared of G-pa. Once he warmed up to him they were good friends. Pictures like these make my heart happy. 

 Just in case you were worried Dolly had some poofs while we were eating. Ethnie was pretty worried that that she had food too! :)

June Phone Favorites

 We went to the park a lot this month! Ethnie is getting so brave! She has very little fear of climbing.

 I {love} this picture of Mom and Duke! So happy!

 Why yes, we have reptiles at our playgrounds. Love life in the desert!

 A selfie with my little man and he new hair do. He's so handsome!

Ethnie really enjoyed putting chocolate chips in Pa's container. It was usually one for the jar, two for me. 

 My last weekend of work I was Merida, Elsa and Ariel! It was a wonderful way to end my time at Celebrate Kids. Being Marida was a lot of fun! I loved rocking the accent!

 I adore this picture of Ethnie and I'm not sure why She is getting so big soooo fast! 

 There was this beautiful spider web on my G-ma's mirror and it had not one but two nasty spiders on it.

 E really enjoyed playing at the water table during Duke's nap time.

 Just like his Gramma, Duke likes to stick his tongue out when he's concentrating.

My little ray of sunshine. June zooooooooomed by! We'll be in Nashville in less that 3 weeks! WHAT?!

Canadian Cuisine

 Most of these foods aren't even Canadian we are only really known for poutien (french fries with mozzarella cheese and steaming hot gravy to melt the cheese.) But these are some of my favorite things and I can only get them up North. In Canada we have Asian cuisine like the States has Mexican. Mom was kind enough to get some Chinese food from my favorite spot. It was amazing! This was taken after we had eaten most of it. 

 Mom made pancakes with real whipping cream. I know I can get this any where but real whipping cream and fresh strawberries were fabulous!

 I {love} donairs. I have talked about them in previous posts. I had to have one in honor of Jakob. It was de-licious!!

 Seriously... my mouth is watering just thinking about them!

 And of course I had to have some pink cream soda. My mind was blown when I saw that the States only had Brown cream soda... it's supposed to be pink.

 I also had to take the little people to Tim Horton's for thier first Timmy's doughnut.

 Duke was quite the fan.

 Okay he was a big fan! :)

 Ethnie was a bit more skeptical. 

 But she warmed up to them pretty quick!

I love getting snacks in Canada! It was a fun taste of home!

Off to Canada

 We made it! After hyperventilating over my solo flight to Canada with two kids we made it. We were bumped up to first class and let me tell you, I have seen the light! The extra 6 inches of knee room was great for wiggly kids. We had the whole row all to ourselves which helped with a sleeping Duke. Ethnie Informed me that she had a poo just as we were about to board the plane. So with a diaper bag on my back (thanks again Janet!!!!) and a 25lb kid in each arm I made my way down the ramp. The flight attendant greeted me and I asked if she would hold Duke while I changed E. So Duke greeted passengers coming aboard with the flight attendant. Our flight attendants were amazing. all three were mothers with little kids so they were very understanding. Ethnie had a hard time sitting in her seat with her seat belt on but after duck taping it shut and giving her snacks and her blanket she calmed down. She was so relaxed that she fell asleep right as we took off! Duke fell asleep during take of as well but the way I was holding him up with one arm while holding E's poor bobbing head up with my other arm just wasn't going to work so I tried to adjust the kids and they both woke up. Bummer but they were still happy.

Then the cart came by. I didn't realize that we had unlimited access to all of the goodies so we stalked up on chocolate, chips and sandwiches. It was amazing! Ethnie was perfectly content munching away for the entire flight. Every time the cart would come by Ethnie would point and say "More! More!" She was a bit disappointed when I explained that it was only garbage.  Duke fell asleep and I set him down in the spare seat while E and I played and then we landed! It was wonderful. A juggling act but wonderful!

We also got to see Mom and Dad's new accomodations. I love the house they are currently in. It has a beautiful staircase that Duke loved to climb. It wasn't long before I was out buying boards to block them off. 

 Uncle Jared lives with my parents so we got to see him quite a bit. Duke liked having more men in the house.

 Uncle Chris took some time off of work to come up for 6 days! Here are all of the boys. Yup that is the best picture I could come up with!

 Duke loved playing guitar with Uncle Chris. They were so cute!

 

 We had quite the gathering for Grandma's birthday, but that's another post.

 Great- Grandma and Grandpa. Oh how I love them so. It was a lot of fun spending time with them and watching the babies bond. It makes my heart happy.

 My Mom's best friend Catherine came over. I love this lady. We had to enjoy some popcorn just us girls while watching our shows. 

 Duke spends a lot of time in the highchair eating. It's his happy place...

...especially when he has Uncle Chris entertaining him. 

 My dear flash has been broken since Christmas of 2012. My Dady set to work operating and Ethnie was his helper. He was able to fix it but now it's broke again. :-( Silly Flash!

Uncle Jared never misses and opportunity for a photo shoot with the little people to help pick up some ladies. I seriously love his smile in this one.

Happy boys! We are having a great time up north!

Flash Back

 There is something unique about watching your children play with the toys you had as a child. Part of me was busting with nostalgia and joy, remembering the hours I spent playing with dolls and record players. Another part was filled with such love for my little ones seeing the generations enjoying my toys the same way I did. The final part of me was filled with hesitation. I was oddly protective of my toys and how they were handled. As children we were taught to take excellent care of our toys and while yes we were still kids and things did get broken, for the most part all of these toys after 20 years were still in excellent shape.  I was continually catching myself telling the kids to "be soft" and "play nice" with toys. It took a while for me to realize that it was okay and that toys are meant to be played with. 

 And play they did. Ethnie especially loved this little hammer toy. 

 This is my dog Lady. I would sit and ride on her just like Ethnie is doing now. She was so matted and old poor Lady found a new home in the trash.

 Duke modeled a hat that my Grandma and I made together when I was about 5.

 Sometimes a doll just wasn't good enough. Duke loved being pushed around by his sister. 

 It was so cold in Canada. (Okay it was 65F during the day and 40F at night with rain. Coming from Vegas at 100F+ it was a big change!) I haddn't even thought to bring any warm P.J's. Thankfully after digging through a few boxes we found some of my old P.J's. Ethnie was so cute racking my jammies!

 Elmo was always being fed some sort of food. Usually green grapes. :)

 I {love} this coat! See neon made a come back. 

 The best part about old toys though is sharing. 

It was such a fun flash back for me. I think I had more fun than the kids!