CHEERS TO 30 YEARS!

30 Years ago today Mum and Tom got married.  If you look at the blown up photo taken this day 30 years ago it is obvious that we have all grown and changed just a wee bit. Amazing to think that in that wedding day photo I was Kieran's age and MUM was the age I am today!

Happy Anniversary to two remarkable people I love with all of my heart.  I'm glad we could celebrate you with all of us together, even if it was 10 days early.  What we didn't do is get a group family photo at our brunch...  Next time.

We hosted an honorary brunch for Mum and Tom last weekend.  With Jal heading to Korea for work, we celebrated early.  We love you!

November 26, 1983

Oliver climbed into the tool box

Celebrating 30 Years

The Peanut Gallery eating on the floor

Snuggles with Oli

Snuggles with Jacob

Snuggles with Charlotte

CARLOS & ANDREIA

Although we are no longer dropping kids off at Humberside Day Care we have managed to keep in touch with a handful of the teachers from there.  Having been there daily for 7 years, although lovely to no longer be paying so much in child care fees, we do miss some of the people we had the pleasure of meeting there.  Carlos and Andreia were Quinn's teachers for his final SK year there.  They had such a fantastic connection with many of their kids, and Quinn had a soft spot for them too.  We hosted them for Friday night pizza dinner, some beers and a few laughs last weekend.  It was great to reconnect with them.  Thanks for all you do.

MISSING CANDY!

Dave and I were looking for the left over Halloween candy the other day, OUR left over halloween candy, not the candy the boys collected, and low and behold it was GONE!  We asked the boys where it was and they replied, "oh, we set up a candy store!"  They took me up to Quinn's bedroom and pulled out his nightside table drawer.  Nice candy store, please may I have some of the candy that I bought?  :)  Not a bad life when you have a candy store set up in your very own room!  Amazingly, they do not eat a single piece of candy without asking?!??!??!?!?! 

WORK WEEKEND

The battle of the "for the good of the home" versus "for the good of the man" won out.  During our midterm break (Friday and Monday off school) Dave opted to redo the remainder of the walk ways surrounding our home.  In addition to hosting a birthday party and volunteering in Kieran's classroom Monday afternoon Dave worked his butt off all day Friday, Saturday and Monday morning using up the stones and redoing the walkway down the side of our house as well as the full backyard.  The result is outstanding, and although I know he is glad it is done, it certainly made for an exhausting long weekend.  Thanks Dave for your unending efforts to improve, improve, improve our home.

Walkway BEFORE

Limestone screening.  The boys wanted to stay home from school on Friday to help.

A little before school shoveling

Looks great!

Working hard

BIG LOVES

Two of our biggest supporters in life are my sister Jal and our wonderful friend Pete.  They make a huge effort to touch base, connect, visit and check in often.  Jally was San Fran bound on Kieran's official birthday so she came to celebrate him at the birthday party the day before.  Pete had a busy Monday as well so he arrived at the house post party and spent about 90 minutes on the floor in our living room building the Lego car he had brought.  We are so grateful to both of you for your constant love and friendship.

A very awesome Playmobil cargo ship from Jally.

SMARTIE MATH

Monday November 11th happened to fall on our mid-term break this year which meant Dave and I had the day off.  We were able to spend much of Kieran's birthday with him.  We attended the Annette Remembrance Day service, brought the boys home for a birthday lunch and then went and volunteered in Kieran's classroom for the afternoon.  We brought 20 boxes of Smarties with us and spent a few hours doing Smartie math with the kids.  It was great fun!  Thank you Ms. Saunders for letting us take over the classroom that afternoon.  The kids were engaged and focused, amazing what happens when you bring chocolate into a lesson!

11.11.13

Monday morning marked Kieran's 8th birthday.  As he slept soundly on Sunday night we managed to build a desk and chair, decorate his bedroom door, rearrange his room, cleaning and clearing along the way.  As I cleaned the floors and moved his dresser from one side of the room to the other I was amazed that he heard nothing and never even stirred.  He woke up at 6am glanced around his room and although on many other days he might have rolled over and gone back to sleep he was amazed by what he saw.  He was up checking it all out and excitedly came in to snuggle and share his gratitude.

Birthday door tradition

The birthday boy sleeping.  Dresser is now moved to accommodate a new desk and chair where his dresser had been.

New desk, chair and lamp

Dollar bill erasers - perfect for K

New markers

And a whole bunch of love

PARTY TIME

We hosted Kieran's birthday party at our school last Sunday.  It was the perfect place to let 10 little people loose.  We started with a game of soccer on the field, once the rain started to fall we headed inside to the gym where we played dodgeball.  I brought a lot of glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets so we cracked them, dressed everyone up with some glow stuff, turned out all the lights and cranked the tunes which lead to some glow in the dark dodgeball, a short dance party and a few rounds of tag.  From there we hit a classroom and played pictionary on the whiteboard ending in Ketchum Hall with some snacks, D.Q. Blizzard Oreo cupcakes and the one amazing gift from his buddies and an equally fantastic presie from Aunt Jally.  We were glad Jal could join us for the fun. 

The boys with Godmum MaryAnn.  MaryAnn was a labour and delivery nurse at St. Michael's Hospital for many years.  She delivered 5 out of 6 Fitzpatrick kids and is Dave's Godmother.  Even though she was retired she managed to deliver Kieran as well and is his Godmother too.  She tried to make it to Quinn's delivery but he arrived in this world too quickly.  Although she did not deliver QBall she was the first one there to meet him.

Driving the new LiteHawk R/C Car.  A big LiteHawk day!

The new car!

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

We started celebrating Kieran's birthday last Sunday morning with a visit from Poppy and Nana.  The boys were excited to see them.  Coffee, cinnamon buns, hugs and a very fun presie was a fantastic way to start off the birthday celebrations.  Next up was the birthday party that afternoon...

Quinn's face is priceless here.  He knows what it is because he opened the same thing for his birthday in July.

Big thank you hugs for Nana.

Now we have TWO LiteHawk R/C Boats.  Can you say races happening soon???

Boy giggles.  Q, what's up with the funny face?

THANK YOU Poppy and Nana!

THE MAN WITH COLOURFUL HAIR

On this chilly, grey day I cannot help but smile at one of Quinn's recent pictures that he has called, "The Man with Colourful Hair".  He has explained to me that the man in the middle of this picture has big, colourful hair swirled around the page.  It makes me smile every time.

2922 DAYS

Eight years ago today Kieran burst into this world 18 days early according to my due date and eager to greet anyone and everyone willing to glance his way.  I am only half joking when I tell the story that Kieran was born with a smile on his face, it wasn't one of his big look at me smiles, but he had a small up turn of his mouth as of 12 hours old.  He has been smiling most of his days since.  Kieran, you and Quinn are my two greatest gifts.  You ensure our days are filled with laughter, stories, smiles, words, questions, wonders, and an appreciation for life that I didn't always see before sharing the world through your eyes.  Thank you for being such a kind, caring, wonderful person in our world.  We love you more than all the stars in the sky.  xxoo

This collage captures a picture at a few hours old, 1 year, 2, years, 3 years and so on all the way up to a recent shot taken with his bro at a x-country race, so not officially 8 in that bottom right hand corner shot, but pretty close.

I saw this pillow at Chapters last week and thought about buying it for you given that we say that to one another all the time, but I decided to take a photo instead!

PUMPKIN PATH

For the past several years every November 1st we have been loading our pumpkins into the trunk of the car and driving them to Sorauren Park to participate in the Pumpkin Parade.  Seeing hundreds of pumpkins lit and lining a path through a park is utterly beautiful.  A few people in our neighbourhood decided to start it in the Junction in Vine Park.  We decided to attend the more local one this year.  It is my best guess and hope that with each passing year this Pumpkin Path in Vine Park will become bigger, better and more beautiful with each passing year.  Here's year one, a great tradition has begun!

SIMILARITIES?

I think yes!

Damian Lewis who played Major Richard Winters in the Band of Brothers series.  He now is one of the lead charters in the television series, Homeland.  There are many in our neighbourhood who only refer to Dave as "Brody" and if he is away at a conference or sporting event for school they ask me if I am sure he is where he says he is.  It's quite funny.  It seemed appropriate that Dave dress up as one of his characters.  Kristen's dad (Kristen is our sister-in-law, married to Dave' s brother Paul) is a true history buff and collects old uniforms, he happened to have this in a closet and happily passed it on for Dave to wear.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Scary Skeleton Quinn

When they came trick or treating at our house I gave a special Halloween Beanie Boo named Haunt instead of more candy.  Happy Boys!

Post Ninja...

Kieran opted to put his pumpkin on his head

Crazy, hilarious boy!