Birthday parties and counting down

This weekend we had Aidan's birthday party for his friends. We had the party at the Y (there was no way I was hosting 8 kids at our house!) and it was a huge success. The kids had a blast bouncing in the bouncy castle, climbing up and sliding down this huge inflatable slide (and going up and down over, and over, and over again!) and playing floor hockey. Aidan LOVED it, and was absolutely delighted to have all of his friends share in his special day.

Shannon LOVED the bouncy castle:


Quinn had a BLAST on the slide:



The birthday gang:


Sometimes the child truly amazes me. Aidan opened his gifts, and of course there were a few that everyone wanted to play with. Well, our little man had no problems sharing his new toys with his friends, and was even going around asking his buddies to pass the toys along so everyone could get a chance to play with them. It was too precious!!

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet (aside from the snow storm that dumped more snow on us!). Sunday was spent hanging out while Chris worked frantically to install the hardwood floor in the boys room. It's coming along nicely and should be done by the end of this week hopefully!

On the baby watch front we continue to wait for the littlest Pace-James to join our family. We are officially 3 weeks out for d-day (or at least that's the official count - we'll see what this child decides to do!), so I've finally started actually preparing for this child by washing some newborn clothes, packing a bag for the hospital etc. In the meantime, it's business as usual until this little one decides to see what life is like on the outside!

How can he be 6 already?!?!

Happy 6th birthday Aidan!!

Shannon at her best!

Apologies for the hair-storm, but she pulled her ponytail out right before I shot this video. How cute is she?!?!

Homage to the little Miss

Today we had a GORGEOUS day - 11 degrees and sunny out! What an evil tease in early February, but I'll take it.

After I picked the kids up from school and daycare, they insisted we play outside. So, I put the boots on Shannon and off we went. I captured some classic pictures of the little Miss and just had to share!





As you can see, she went for her first bike ride ever. She wasn't too sure about things at first, but by the end of the ride she was just loving it! She also had her first close encounter with the concrete meeting her head when she stumbled and took a header right into the road. Last summer I didn't have to worry about these things because she wasn't mobile but I suspect that she will have many a goose-eggs during this spring and summer!

More splashing around

This past weekend we had our final 'excursion' before baby number 4 joins us. We headed down to Splash Universe for a weekend of splashing and swimming. Yet again the kids had a great time - Quinn even became a little daredevil and rode ALL the slides (some with Chris' assistance). It was a bit better for our age of kids than Great Wolf Lodge because Splash Universe is smaller so the lines were shorter and the kids could do their own thing without us tagging along.

Ms. Shannon had a blast as well, and decided that her new favourite game was to sit in the water, and then slowly lower herself backwards until her head was in the water and she was 'floating'. She kept doing this over and over again, until one time she did it in water that was a bit deep so she actually submerged herself. She didn't cry or freak out, she just looked at me as if to say: "What the heck is going on here?!?!" I grabbed her and pulled her up and she sputtered a bit, but then continued on her merry way splashing around.

We visited Cabelas while we were there, and even though we're not hunters (farthest from it!) it was an amazing site. They have displays of animals all over the place and a massive mountain display complete with waterfall and fish. It was amazing! As was the impressive display of guns, crossbows and knives available for sale! We ended up wandering around there for about 45 minutes just checking out the displays and merchandise.

Now we are officially done travelling until baby joins us. So now we turn our full attention to getting everything ready for this little monkey!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Howling at the Lodge

Last weekend we had our first of two weekend get-away trips before baby number 4 joins us. We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls and had an absolute blast! The kids had sooooooo.... much fun and there was plenty to do for all ages.

Shannon just loved stomping around in the pools and swatting at the water gysers. That child is a little too adventerous for my liking though - she just toddled off into deeper, and deeper water, oblivious to anything except having fun!

Quinn also loved the gysers, and just generally running around like a mad man! He even went down a couple slides - a huge grin on his face the whole time.

Aidan loved the fact that he could go down the 'big' slides with Chris. In fact, there were only 3 slides that he wasn't tall enough for. But he was content to ride the slides he could - yelling his fool head off all the while. He kept saying to me: "Mummy, this is the coolest place EVER!!!"

Chris and I really enjoyed ourselves too. It was so nice to see all three kids having so much fun, and just seeing the sheer joy on their faces made the whole trek worthwhile.

On Friday night Chris played in an all-night Ultimate tournament with Uncle Dave in Hamilton. This tournament has become an annual ritual, and is typically followed by a day of extreme fatigue (that's what tends to happen when you're up all night playing ultimate!) and a couple days of soreness and cramping. But, he had a good time, and was really happy he got to play. The kids were happy because we stayed at Tush & Dave's place, so they got to play, play, and play with cousins Liam and Devan (and I got to ooh and ahh over little Sharra).

This weekend we're off to another indoor waterpark in Detroit, so we'll have to see how it measures up to the Lodge.