A Very Merry Cabin Christmas 2009

Momma got what she wanted for Xmas - besides of course a healthy happy family - a new digital SLR camera!! Momma also got about 5 extra pounds of junk in the trunk from much eating and drinking but ah it was so worth it!

Spoiled little boys - a new mini-snowmobile for Xmas from Mimi and Papa C!! This goes with the mini-quad they have for the summer months!

Jasper and I ripping it up on the green machine (aka mini-snowmobile). The green machine maxes out at about 10KPH so no hi-speed wipeouts should occurr, but nonetheless Jasper did not want to ride it solo. Jasper did double with Everett a few times as well which was too cute.....

A lovely but rare moment of all the cousins peacefully co-existing : )

Christmas Dinner cabin style - sweatpants and pajamas and lots of booze (and food!)

Papa C and Jasper doing a little snowmobiling around the cabin

A very tired Griffin asleep in the sleigh. This could have very easily been a picture of me as well as baby G decided that he didn't really want to sleep very much while at the cabin and much preferred having milk every hour on the hour - including a very special 5:50am wakeup on Xmas morning!

Christmas Eve and the boys model the latest in cabin fleece pajama fashions

Rub a dub dub, 4 boys in a tub....and then post-bath a naked bounce party on Mimi's bed

A Very Merry Day Family Xmas

Twas the the night before our Day family Xmas and all thru this pigsty known as our house, I realized just how much STUFF we have..... I mean ridiculous amounts of STUFF...... overwhelming amounts of STUFF...... with a lovely Christmas tree overflowing with STUFF to come. So starting then and there I enlisted the help of Jasper and collected three full boxes of toys and such to be put away to be sold at a later date with all proceeds going to Team Finn and the Ride to Conquer Cancer. I think we will make this a new year round tradition - before we add to our STUFF, we will take away some STUFF to give to charity or the recycling depot etc. Hoorah!

But back to the Xmas festivities. Last year you might recall, after the great snowfall stranded most of our immediate and extended family in North Van we had one of the best Christmases I can remember. And why? It wasn't about the STUFF, it was about having 4 generations of family and multiple families are gathered under our rather small roof - it was WONDERFUL. So we had another treat this year - along with hosting the Day family Xmas gala, my cousin James and his family and my Aunt Sue and cousin Kylie also came over for a lovely supper and a day-late (ha ha) celebration of Kieran's 2nd birthday. Again, so much family and SO WONDERFUL!!

Wed morning we are off to the cabin for round two - 4 days of snow, eating, drinking, more eating and more STUFF : )

Griffin's Big Adventure

Griffin is Mommy's little soldier. He went in last week to get tubes put in his ears to help ease chronic ear infections and fluid build up. He was totally cut off from eating/drinking at midnight the night before and despite a scheduled surgery time of 12:30, the little man didn't get into the operating room until 4:30 - gasp! Poor Griffin and poor me - my b--bs had grown to at least J cups and the little man didn't understand why he couldn't get a piece of the action. The actual surgery was a mere 9 minutes long and he was a complete champ. besides being a bit sleepy and a LOT hungry, you wouldn't have know anything had happened to him that day. We have noticed him saying more words this past week - perhaps a coincidence, or perhaps finally some nice clear ears!

Griffin's Big Adventure

Poor little Griffin. Not only did he have to go to the hospital for surgery yesterday (ear tubes), but his surgery was delayed 4 HOURS because of an unforseen emergency. So, we walked and played and he tried and tried to nurse, but of course isn't allowed anything to eat or drink so he cried and cried, and my boobs got bigger and bigger and bigger......... So we waited some more, and he cried some more, but he was such a trooper. Eventually the waiting room thinned out (yes, almost everyone in the waiting room was waiting for our doctor too because of the delay) and it was our turn - he was such a champ! I couldn't resist taking some snaps of him in his little wee hospital gown - I just wanted to eat him up he was so cute! Today is like nothing ever happened and we are hoping this will help with all his ear problems - now I just need to figure out how to get the &$*#)@_#*# earplugs in his ears before each and every bath/shower (and this kid LOVES to bathe)

We outta be in pictures - take 3

Some photos from our November photo shoot with Sacha. Trying to get Griffin to not knock over the artfully placed "one" was next to impossible, but at least Sacha managed to get a few shots before it would come tumbling down. At the end of the shoot we had brought leftover birthday cake for Griffin and Jasper to have a cake smash (ie. get crazy messy). However a funny thing happened, both boys stuck one hand on the cake and basically went "Ewwwwwwwww!!!" and didn't want to touch it anymore. Alas who can blame them, hydrogenated palm kernel oil wouldn't feel very good on anyone's hands I guess.

Adventures in Mexico

Hola Amigos, we are back from a great week in sunny Mazatlan. Despite a few medical mishaps and Griffin being on a sleeping strike (except for the beach naps), the week was really amazing. We stayed at El Cid Marina which is a little bit out of the havoc zone and it too, was amazing, so clean and quiet - no fighting over poolside loungers or to get the last of the guacamole at the buffet. But what trip wouldn't be complete without at least one trip to a Mexican hospital (NOTE: all males may want to skip reading this part!). Poor Jasper ended up with a bad case of paraphimosis (just Google it, and be ready to cringe) and ended up in emergency at midnight the first day we arrived. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find a clean quiet hospital and top notch care (with english speaking doctors for us gringos). Jasper was "fixed" (not fun) and sent off with some prescriptions and was really none the worse for wear - what a trooper! Luckily Jasper was still able to swim and go in the ocean, I can't imagine how 6 days at the indoor Mexican McDonalds playground would have gone over.....
Oh, and of course we forgot our battery charger so we are waiting on Gma and Gpa to send over their pics, will post a few from before the camera died and some from our video camera.

Mexican Night at the El Cid Castilla - Mediocre buffet, but great headwear!

Jasper and Aaron in one of the two pools at the resort (and the one that Jasper didn't poop in!)

Griffin's favorite place to take a siesta - on the beach under the palapas!

Taken seconds before a massive faceplant by Griffin....we did a day trip to Mazaguas waterpark - super fun, super quiet but also a little sketchy. Poor Grandpa ended up as the next medical casualty of the trip thanks to some overzealous sledding!

Siesta Time!

Again, I have been very neglectful of the blog, but for a very good reason. Basically all of my spare moments (ha ha) have been spent building the website for Team Finn - my Ride to Conquer Cancer team site, and a site to honor Finn's memory. As well, this day especially makes why I am riding all that much more important as we lost a member of our extended family today - may Uncle Barrie rest in peace after his brief but brave fight with cancer.

Have finally created a YouTube account so I can post more videos without bogging down my blog. Aaron also broke down and bought a mini sized video camera that we might actually use more than once a year (sorry kids!). Anyways, Griffin is inching his way closer to walking - he can now stand unassisted for up to 10 seconds, and has attempted a few steps. He definitely has the bravery gene so hopefully it won't be long!
Griffin's First Steps?

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet, Give me something good to eat!

So cute - no wonder they all cleaned up in the candy dept.

Griffin liking the vanilla cake, but almost too tired to care

Griffin and LC hanging out. LC is getting some groovy Trump-like hair!

Griffin and his older woman Halle!

Jasper and his pal Jack at Escuela

What a sugar sodden week it has been between all the bday cake for Griffin and the pounds and pounds of Halloween treats. I have managed to maintain a modicum of composure and have only packed away an average of 4.2 mini chocolate bars per day which I think is pretty darn good considering the huge stash thats currently in the fridge.

Now that the sugar rush is over we are counting down the days til Mexico...uno mas cerveza por favor!!!

Oh Baby How You've Grown!

This was wee Griffin one year ago today..."I'm free, i'm free!"

Its hard to believe that an entire year has passed since wee Griffin came in this world. He is the most chilled out little dude, the biggest cuddle bug, and the BEST eater (if not sleeper - ah well). He is on his way to toddling, and is trying so so hard. Thanks to a new fancy walker from Mimi and Papa, perhaps it will be sooner rather than later!

Griffin continues to work on his thick layer of chub, he has mommy and daddy to thank for that as we were both chunky babes. We don't have the official weigh in until Monday but I imagine he'll tip the scales around 25lbs!!

Griffin idolizes his big brother and somewhat unknowingly knows already how to push all his buttons, just the start of many many many many years of mommy having to break up brotherly beatdowns.

Happy birthday sweet baby boy. Mommy needs to go cry now...no more babies...and no more calling you baby Griffin I suppose. Love always xox

Griffin giving his best triple chin look

Getting spoiled by Mimi and Papa!

Digging into the chocolate cake which he didn't really like eating much (although I can't blame him it was dry - bad mommy)

Working on his 4th chin!

Thanksgiving 2009

The Cousins

Griffin and Ole Mor getting some cuddle time

The soon to be Cedar Ave Industrial Court - watch out Donald Trump!

Little Boys in Blue

Seems like not long ago I was sitting at the kids table for Thanksgving!

Griffin and LC hanging out

Jasper and his bud Amelia playing Ballerinas - hee!

Ok, so am I way late again with posting. Things have been really busy these past few weeks as I have been yet again a "contract" working woman of the world (full time mommy-hood excluded), as well as developing the "pro-bono" division of Fifth Gear Solutions. We recently launched V2 of www.mamamaven.ca, my lovely friend Tanis is really starting to gain momentum out there with her wonderful workshops and I am happy to be a part of her important little business. As well, I have been working on designing a website for Team Finn, and a website for our familial industrial venture that is under construction in Summerland currently - whemph! Go Fifth Gear go!

So, back to Thanksgiving. yet again we were able to do the double feed - once here in town at Greg and Al's and another up in Summerland. Yum! We also had the chance to visit the construction site for the Cedar Ave Industrial Court - Team Nielsen's first foray into commercial real estate development and hopefully not the last! Jasper and Griffin had so much fun playing with cousins, and Jasper even got to "sleep over" with Everett in Mimi's closet - so cute to hear all the giggles and fun (although not as much fun for Mimi who had to try to get them to sleep!).

Next post - Griffin's 1st Birthday! Sniff, my baby is going to be a big boy soon : (

Confessions of an iPhone Addict

Jasper and I went on a little adventure across the seabus downtown and at the shoe store I asked him to pick out a pair of shoes for mommy. These are the ones he picked and proceeded to try on for me - hoorah for fake-python stilletto booties!

Crusin with the walker at Mickey McDougall - we are getting braver every day!

Thanks Grandma for the new toque!

The only use for the easel these days - splash eachother with the water that collects after each rainfall

Proud Grandma!!

Griffin and his favorite pasttime - eating!!

Jasper "Finding Nemo" at Children's Hospital. Griffin's ENT has an amazing waiting room!

Griffin at BabyEats - loving being uber mobile these days.

Ok, so the entire month of September is gone and we are half way through October and I have grossly neglected my parental responsibility of blogging/bragging about my children and documenting their growth on film and blog. This, I blame on my new (ish) iPhone and my poor kids will look back on these past 6 weeks worth of iPhone only photos and say "Mommy, you were such a neeeeerrrrrrrdddddd and these photos are teeerrrrriiibbbblllleeee!!!".

Ah well, the fall trundles along and we are gearing up for Griffin's first birthday on the 28th. Jasper's fall line-up includes school (escuela) Mon and Wed, plus Gymnastics, plus Music, plus Karate (well, maybe not since the Sen-sei scares him and to be honest he scares me a little too). I started swimming with Griffin every Wed morning while Jasper is at school and he has taken to it like a fish to water. Jasper has pretty much officially given up the afternoon nap and now partakes in quiet time each afternoon, which has complicated my life since now I have to keep him busy 11 or his 12 wakeful hours - sigh.