Birthday party!!!

Pledge

Hi,

So, here is the thing...I am writing this down so that I will be held more accountable for my decision.

We've made the decision that our family is going to be "pro vegetarian". What do I mean by this? We have decided to decrease further the amount of meat we are eating for mainly environmental reasons as well as health reasons. We already eat only chicken and fish and on the rare occasion pork but I am hoping to decrease our consumption of meat further to maybe one or two times a week...There are plenty of other healthy options.

The other challenge I am giving myself is to try to make Mathieu's lunches completely garbage free. So no more individually packaged yogurts, cheeses or granola bars... Danielle's going to give me a delicious recipe for homemade granola bars...

That's it for now!!

YOGA MOVES.....

Mathieu showing us some of the Yoga moves he learns at school...

Mathieu's Birthday

Having kids definitely brings out the kid in me. I get genuinely excited about upcoming birthdays and holidays and I enjoy planning for them and preparing for them. I get a real kick out of seeing how exciting and magical these times can be for the boys, especially Mathieu who has more understanding of these things...Mathieu has been counting down the sleeps to his birthday and I have been looking forward to it as well...! We started the day with what has become a family tradition...birthday cake for breakfast!!! Why wait until after supper when you can have birthday cake twice on your birthday? (I could not quite let go completely of my concern for healthy eating though so I made the cake with carrot and banana purée....The kids did not know the difference and it made me feel better about feeding my kids cake for breakfast!!!!) Mathieu definitely enjoys this tradition and tried to stay away last night to listen to me baking his cake...He was so happy when he told me this morning..."Maman, I could smell the birthday cake in the house when I was in my bed and I heard the oven go ding ding ding when it was ready".

Mathieu opened up a present of new "6 year birthday clothes" (check out the picture of him posing like a model". We went to swimming class this morning and then we brought Mathieu to the toy store to let him pick out a Playmobile toy with the money he got from Grandpa Moe and Grandma Jan. He chose some more knights which he loves and played with it all day. Afterwards, Mathieu got to choose a restaurant for lunch and of course he chose McDonalds...Again, it was cute to watch as he helps his little brother maneuver his way up the play structures..

At night we were babysitting Danielle's girls so we had a birthday supper for Mathieu...After supper he was thrilled to open his new hockey table from his two grandmamans and his grandpapa. They played with it until bed time.

We also really appreciated everyone who called and wrote to wish Mathieu a happy birthday. I I think it made Mathieu feel really special... Thank you everyone...

So, my little boy is now 6 years old...Time really does go fast...

Next Sunday we are having Mathieu's big birthday party. There will be about seven 5 year old boys running around our house dressed as superheros...I have the Tylenol on hand and the neighbours have been warned (i.e., Get out, save yourselves while you have the chance...)

Well, that's it. Enjoy the pictures and thanks again everyone!

Stephanie

Ode to my Wednesdays and Fridays...

I often talk about how lucky I am to work 3 days a week. It really is a wonderful schedule in so many ways and I really appreciate that I can do this. I enjoy and appreciate my week days off so thoroughly that I thought I would write a little ode to my Wednesdays and Fridays...


On Wednesdays and Fridays I don't have to put my alarm on...my alarm clock is Mathieu jumping into bed with me...

On Wednesdays and Fridays I can do long snuggles with Mathieu and Gabriel in bed...Mathieu, in particular is a big snuggler. Gabriel gets impatient after a couple of minutes and starts chanting, "I want Mini wheats, I want Mini Wheats..."

On Wednesdays and Fridays we don't have to rush through breaksfast, we can take an extra long time lingering at the table...

On Wednesdays and Fridays I can take my time getting Mathieu off to school...

On Wednesdays and Fridays Gabriel gets to stay home with me...

On Wednesday and Fridays Mathieu can come home for lunch...

On Wednesdays and Fridays, I can thoroughly clean my house...giving me a sense of control and accomplishment!

On Wednesdays and Fridays, I manage to get a little quiet time while Gabriel is napping...Oh this is precious quiet time!

On Fridays, I get to go with Gabriel to playgroup at the Carrefour...It is so wonderful to see the joy he gets out of these mornings and to watch him run his little heart out in the gym...

On Wednesdays and Fridays I can take my time to run any necessary errands...Gabriel partilarly enjoys sitting in the grocery cart and pointing out every possible article of food he sees...

On Wednesdays and Friday I get to watch part of Oprah before picking Mathieu up from Tae Kwon Do or Chess class...


But of course, I know I would not appreciate these days so much if I didn't have my Mondays, Tuesday and Thursdays!...

Next up...Ode to my Saturdays and Sundays!!

Franglicisms...

Mathieu has gotten to the point where his french is stronger than his english so every once and awhile he comes up with the cutest little franglais/directly translated expressions...I thought I would write down a couple of the latest...

e.g., Talking about Easter:

"You know maman, they put "klooz" in "Jayzooz's" arms..."

e.g., I don't want to tell you maman, I gave my tongue to the cat".

More to come...