HO! HO! HO!

I showed the boys their video message from Santa on Wednesday night.  Their reaction, both verbal and facial expressions were AMAZING!  Hoping you can view them this way too.  Click on their names to take you to the linked site.  Let the magic of Christmas begin...

Kieran's video from Santa

Quinn's video from Santa

KIDS DANCE PARTY AT 3030

Naturally, a local pub seemed like the perfect place to host a 7 year old's birthday party!  :)  The first time Kieran went to 3030 he had such fun playing pinball and board games that he asked if he could have his birthday party there.  I wasn't sure about the idea on many levels.  (a) what does the future hold if we are having his 7th birthday at a pub? (b) would 3030 ever go for it? (c) what would his friends parents think of us?  Ironically we noticed that a neighbourhood group was planning a KIDS DANCE PARTY at 3030 on Sunday November 11th, of all days!  So, we piggy backed off the idea and held Kieran's birthday party there.  He invited 6 friends plus K & Q and some family.  Overall, it was a great success!  Everyone had a fantastic time.  Fingers and toes crossed that this becomes an annual thing because I would gladly do that again.  About midway through the evening Kieran was called up on stage.  They announced it was his birthday and the entire pub sang to him.  One of the owners turned to me as he had just walked up on stage and said, "is he going to be ok with this?" to which I replied, "absolutely".  K was in heaven as the place happily sang to him. As he walked off the stage the MC announced, that kid WILL BE on stage someday!  Thanks to everyone who made the effort to come to us and make Kieran's day so special.  As we walked home he turned to me and said, "Mum, that was the best day of my entire life!"  It's going to be difficult to top that one!

Quinn and Ben playing Jenga

Strategizing with Jally

Gangnam style

A happy guy

Dancing with Dad

Best buds

Dance Competition on stage

Wonderful Family and Friends

Happy Birthday to ME - The whole pub is singing to him at this point.

Gifts from the organizers.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

7 Cake

Wishes...

One nice gift from all of your buddies.  A Playmobil JET.  Thank you everyone!

Pete came too.  Thanks for the Lego Pete!

We started and finished our day with Lego in the living room.  What a day!

2,555 DAYS OLD

Today marked Kieran's 2,555th day in our lives.  Amazing to think that it has been 7 years.  Kieran, you have been a blessing of love and laughter since we laid eyes on you.  We love you more than you could ever know.  Thank you for all you bring to us.

A birthday presie to Kieran love Quinn. A presie for being such a great bro to Quinn love Kieran.

The gift exchange...  What did you get...???

K Love U 7 Birthday pancakes with sprinkles

Q with balloons

The Playmobil Crane has been a desire for Kieran for MONTHS!  This was his one nice gift from the whole family!  Thanks Claw, Grams, Jally, Nana and Poppy for contributing.  We will get you over soon so you can play with it too!

Quinn trying to nibble Clown Jally's nose off! 

EARLY BIRTHDAY SURPRISE!

As luck would have it, Kieran was born on the Friday of our November midterm break which means his birthday often falls in or around our long weekend (no school Friday or Monday).  With that, Dave and I thought it would be great fun to surprise the boys and whisk them off to one of their favourite places, Great Wolf Lodge.  We sent them to school on Friday morning, packed the car and showed up for their school Remembrance Day Service that morning.  Once the assembly was over we signed them out and whisked them to the car.  We handed them each a "Golden Ticket" saying that their ticket was good for one night at Great Wolf Lodge.  As they put it together, the excitement was high.  By the time we arrived in Niagara shortly after Noon the boys were excited to spend some time in their "Wolf Den" room and chill out before hitting the water park.  We spent a few hours in the afternoon swimming, zipping around the Lazy River and waterslides.  Dinner, a little arcade time and back to the water park from 7pm until nearly 9pm.  The boys fell asleep in about 60 seconds flat.  A little more water park on Sat. morning before packing up and hitting the road.  We stopped in Hamilton to see the ever amazing cousins as we passed by and finally arrived home before dinner yesterday.  Fantastic fun for sure.  Day one, of a big celebratory weekend...

Snackin' and watching a show in the Wolf Den

Q being his own ridiculous self.

Loving the wolf den

We all were doing Head and Hand Stands...  Who knows why!  I think I started it!

Best Birthday Surprise Ever!

Bedroom door decorated for when he woke up this morning.

7 Year Old Birthday Pancake!  Yummy!

THE HALLOWEEN THAT ALMOST WASN'T...

There were many tears shed in our house on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.  Poor Kieran arrived home from school on Tuesday feeling unwell.  By 7pm that evening he was throwing up. Being sick is never a good thing, but on the eve of Halloween, as a kid, this is one of the worst possible days to fall ill.  I stayed home with Kieran all day yesterday, we were super low key, read, watched tv and carved pumpkins.  The hope was that he would feel well enough to go trick or treating to get some candy to enjoy once he was feeling better.  Things worked out in our favour, by end of day he was in much better spirits.  Quinn (a giraffe) and Kieran (Clark Kent) dressed up and wandered down the street.  The were out for about 25 minutes before calling it quits (on their own accord) but they managed quite a haul of goodies in a short time.  We sat on the porch handing out candy until about 8:15pm and I was amazed to walk back in the house to find the boys sorting their candy into plastic baggies.  Quite hilarious!  Given the weather the number of kids was not nearly what it has been in past year which means we have quite a bit of candy left over.  Come on over trick or treating at our house anytime to indulge in some treats for yourself.

On our way home from picking up Q we stopped to watch a band rocking out at Crema.

Pete WOW's once again...

The boys!  Quinn, Sam, Kieran, Pete and Dave

Strapping on his shoes, getting ready to run!

Clark Kent trick or treating at his own home!

The Supervisors!

The Candy Sort!