Monkey the helpful big brother

Tonight I was getting the kids ready to go out and play. Monkey was all dressed but Big C wasn't quite there. He needed to get his boots put on.

I was getting my coat on so Monkey stepped up to help out. He wasn't actually able to do it, but he sure did try!
He is a really wonderful big brother.

Quote of the Day - Skiing with Grandma

After telling daddy that it was 'fabulous' this is the conversation that went on with mommy:

Monkey : 'we raced and grandma didn't win any'

Mommy: ' maybe she'll be faster next time'

Monkey: 'no, the hill doesn't let heavy people go very fast. Rob and I are not heavy - grandma is'

DPoD January 29th - The Little House that Monkey Built

Since Big C was out like a light (and with socks on...he must have been tired) it was time to do a little consctuction in Monkey's worldWhat may look like a random pile of books really becomes a little Mater house upon further inspection. Upon the collapse of version 1, there was the building of version 2 - larger and more elaborate - and requiring an aerial view.

Who knows what'll happen tomorrow during nap time?

Grandpa gets busted

He has tried to fly under the radar for a while now. Monkey knew about the trains, but big c had no idea such a bounty lay under the dining room table. Well, today Monkey and grandpa snuck downstairs. Big C was hanging out by the gate at the top of the stairs because he just KNEW something good was going on down there. I brought him downstairs and it blew his mind!!! Grandpa, you're busted!!
Big time!
You can expect this will be requested multiple times per visit from now on!
Thanks for being a super cool train grandpa, I can't belive that I am this lucky.

Saturday morning chez WB

This morning there was much dancing at our house. Monkey is off skiing with Grandma and Rob and we were taking it easy. In this first video mommy daces with big c, in the next one, big c takes it solo.


Hee hee, that was too cute!! Here is the video of him bustin' a move on his own:

Another one bites the dust

Yesterday I asked Dave "does the fish normally sleep on his side?" 

 

Dave "top or bottom of the tank?"

 

Saje "bottom"

 

Dave "yep, that's normal."

 

Saje "I don't think he's doing too well"

 

Dave "Don't worry about it"

 

Fast forward to this morning

 

Saje "umm Dave, how long do those naps usually last?"

 

Dave (laughing) "umm, not this long!!"

 

Yep, Thomas WB the (what are we on now) 5th?? Is dead.  Le sigh.

 

They live for years at a time for me at work, now I can't get one to live a month at home.

DVoD January 22nd - One Big C'ism remains, while the other is gone

If this has indeed worked, this is Big C telling us that he is holidng 'Beeder' - aka Mater from Cars.

If not, this is another attempt in a growing line of me trying to get a video uploaded.

Scammer

I buy and sell on line lots. This is a first for me. I got this email last night "Hello, I am responding to your ad regarding the item you have for sale. Could you send me any details that you may have excluded from the ad. I will appreciate it if you can reply me at annieadams4u@yahoo.com i do not check my facebook often.I look forward to your response. Best RegardAnnie." Seemed like an odd email since it wasn't at all specific to the item for sale. I did a quick google search and found another blogger talking about how this person sent them a message through Facebook (the same place I am selling) trying to initiate an advanced fee fraud. Scary. Be warned: annieadams4u@yahoo.com is up to no good!

GGPoD - Grandma and Grandpa's Picture of the Day

Big C was over at our house for the afternoon as Monkey was having his big party. The nap went well and so he was up and ready for adventure in the early afternoon. He was quickly walking himself up the hill, sometimes even with the toboggan in tow, and then was hurtling himself down the hill in glee. Both grandma and grandpa took their turns going with them and all 3 had a fabulous afternoon. Big C must have walked the hill 20 times! Here are some of the highlights!

Monkey's 4th Birthday Party

Today was Monkey's 4th birthday party with his friends. We had a blast!! Our theme was Disney Pixar Cars and we invited a mob. First we got the house decorated, including a real set of racing suits and helmets. The boys thought those were a riot. You can see Monkey racing around in his "race car" while Big C just tries to stay upright with the heavy helmet on his head.We stuffed the suits and they raced the frame of our car bed by the side of the room. Super cute!! Once the mob arrived we headed down to the basement to turn them loose on the toys. That kept them occupied until everyone had arrived.
We then headed upstairs to have every child decorate thier own personal cake to bring home.
They each got thier own bowl of candy and cars and went to town sticking stuff on wherever they could find the space.I hope all of the mommies and daddies enjoy thier dessert tonight : ) Once the cakes were done it was time to go down to the basement and play with the parachute.
Some of the kids hung back and played with all of the "new to them" toys in the room and the rest hung out around the parachute.We worked up quite an appetite doing that so it was soon time to head up for hot dogs and cake. Monkey loved his Lightening McQueen racetrack birthday cake and everyone dug in. I made the track out of Oreo cookie crumbs. While coffee grounds would have worked just as well, it just didn't seem like a good idea for taste or for the effect that would have on 11 4 year olds!!!The kids happily dug in to the cake and then it was time to open the presents. We threw the Cars movie on the TV and let the birthday boy have a blast with his gifts. The kids all gathered 'round as he dove in. He was so excited with every new treasure. Everyone was so generous and he was so pleased, thanks so much to everyone!! We can't wait to thank you all personally.

His room, wardrobe, bathtub and toy box will forever bear the memories of his awesome Cars birthday party with his friends.

The belts arrived today-YAY!!

The boys were SO EXCITED!! I had told Monkey that it was coming. When he saw the package he tore in to it instantly. Look at our new belts (and our yummy tummies). It was hard to get a picture of Big C's smiling face since he just kept looking down at his belt!

In this video you can hear Big C pointing out the letters of the alphabet to go along with his ABC Myself Belt, he runs over to me to get me to open it, tells me that the belt is "mine" then he dances around and demands that we put it "on, on, ON" him. Too cute!!

We managed to capture this video. You can see how excited they are.


Did we mention thank you Nathalie!!

Monkey needs a new belt

Monkey's legs have gotten about 3 feet longer in the last couple of months. His waist however, has gotten only slightly thicker. So I had to buy all new jeans. They have the drawstring in them to make them fit him properly but he still loves his "myself belt" train belt. I love it too as he can put his belt on all by himself. He is now winching it so tightly around his waist to make it fit that he is complaining that it hurts, but he wont stop wearing it.

I have actually started giving these as gifts at birthday parties. When I ask a parent what thier child will like, almost every parent since Monkey got his belt has told me how much thier child loves Monkey's belt. I can get the firetruck belt and the construction belt in Ottawa so I have been giving out the firetruck one and the contruction one like crazy!! The kids just love them!These train belts are really hard to find in the winter since they are summer colours-eek! I have offered him a firetruck belt, no deal. A construction belt, his answer "no mommy, a train belt pleeeease". If only he knew how much I want to give it to him and how hard it is to deliver. Is anyone in the states soon that I could have one shipped to you? That or are you in London and coming here? They sell them at Cheeky Monkey. Update, no they don't. Grrr.
He looks so pitiful with that big gap at his waist!!

Update: I have tracked down the belt. It is in the mail as I type this and it even has Monkey's name on it. He is just going to be thrilled! As a bonus there is even one coming for Big C since we just love them so much!! I heart mysef belts!!

Keep your hand sanitizer close by

There's another flu going 'round.  Some of the kids that we have invited to Monkey's birthday party that is happening this coming weekend are recovering from the flu.  Apparently one kid threw up on the bus last week, groan!!  Last night, right at bed time Monkey told me that he felt like throwing up.  We kept our ears open, but nothing happened.  At 1:30 am he came in and woke me up.  I sat bolt upright and was ready to be on barf patrol.  Nope, he came in to tell me that he was feeling better.  Good to know, now I am wide awake!!  He came back in every half hour until 4.  Needless to say, he and I are very tired today.

 

Is this your sweater?

The sweater has appeared in our garage, of all places, in the wheelbarrow. It is a size XL Eddie Bauer sweater. Looks to be in practically new condition. Since we have taken such good care of said sweater, there will be a reward paid by the owner in the amount of $7.64. This just happens to be the amount of a pita at the Pita Pit. You can claim your sweater in the comments section of this post.

My favourite colour is back

I know this is my last chance so I am enjoying it! Ahh, lellow : ) Listen carefully in the video and you'll hear it.

Tonight big C grabbed my big clunky boots from the front entranceway and proceeded to wear them around the house. He even tried to get them on my feet. Finally, he just tucked them on his hands and toured the house with them.

New 2008 edition of WB family portraits ready to order

Back by popular demand the WBs have a new edition of the family portrait, only the second in the series to include BigC. A new addition to the line up are two seperate photos of just the boys together-super cute!!
I took some quick shots with our camera of the prints themselves to let you know a vague idea of what they look like. Knowing that Aunt Heather had requested a family photo in advance, we got the extended package and have the following on hand to distribute. Additional prints may be aquired by ordering additional sheets from the portrait studio.


















Not including what Dave and I have put dibs on, we have

*photo number 1, family shot 3 5 x 7

*photo number 2, the boyz back to front 1 5 x 7 and 2 4 x 6

*photo number 3, close up of the boyz, wallet photos

Let me know what you would like, as I said, others can be ordered if you would like a different size of something.

Big C the blue doggie

This little blue doggie just loved running around Grandma and Grandpa's house!!

Polycarbonate (aka Nalgene) bottles

For a while now we have been hearing about the risks associated with using polycarbonate plastics due to the the endocrine-disrupting hormone Bisphenol-A in the bottles (recycle symbol 7 on the bottles) and Phthalates (recycle symbol 3 on plastics). We were largely ignoring this until recently when MEC pulled all polycarbonate Nalgene bottles from their shelves. Now today, a US study showed that Bisphenol A is most harmful to infants. Scary.

We used to all use Nalgene bottles. We had the sippy cups all the way up to the big jugs that sat on both Dave and my desks at work. I brought in a glass and have been using that. I am now drinking tap water as the water coolers here at my work are all polycarbonate bottles.

Over the weekend our family got stocked up on Klean Kanteens. We bought them from a place in BC with a great price that actually had them in stock and charged no shipping on orders over $60. For those of you looking to get them in Ottawa, I suggest www.ecomama.ca. She has the best prices in town and is frequently downtown to arrange for free pick up if you happen to be in or near the core. Otherwise she is in Orleans for pick up or you can pay for shipping. I found a store in Toronto that is willing to discount on big orders (we were asking about an order of 8 bottles they offered me 20%). They have free shipping on orders over $200.

The research:

There are a lot of reasons to consider switching for all of the members of your family. Take a look at the sippy cups, pacifiers, cups, straws, utensils, bottles et al that you may have in your home. Here are some links that I have turned up in my quick searching:

§ The chart at this link is an awesome one to print off and post where you will be able to reference it. It speaks of the different plastics and points out the "bad" ones (3, 6 and 7 for those of you who would like the Coles notes version);

§ I found this information that someone has posted and done a whole bunch of searches of their own http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/11/z-report-bisphenol-in-baby-bottles-and.html;

§ This isn't much, to make my decisions, I actually looked into it much further. I never click on many links on a web page though, so I don't figure you will either, do a Google search and see what is out there.

But part of the Klean Kanteen is made from plastic-what gives?

The plastic parts of the Kanteen are apparently made from non-leaching plastic.

Here is an email with confirmation from Klean Kanteen about the lack of phthalates in the sippy spout that they are using on the Kanteens:

From: Chris Carlson <chris@kleankanteen.com>

To: Saje

Sent: Wed Jan 09 19:05:51 2008

Subject: RE: inquiry about Phthalates in the KK

All of the plastics that Klean Kanteen uses are made from plastic #5 (polycarbonate) which is a non-leaching plastic and does not contain any phthalates. Phthalates are in PVC plastic which is plastic #3.

Chris Carlson

Awareness Representative

4345 Hedstrom Way

Chico, CA 95973

800 767 3173 x303 t

530 345 3568 f

A great quick reference chart from the web about baby bottles and sippy cups

So Saje, what should *I* do for *my* family?

The bottom line of course is that Health Canada is not done studying the issue and they will need more time before they issue a statement. You need to make the decisions that are right for your family. I can tell you that we have switched away from these plastics where possible and we are looking for ways to do it more.

The last of the Bernie pics

Here are the last ones that we have....Bernie sleeping with Monkey in his room....awwww