So long, farewell~

Becoming a mom turned me into such a sentimental wuss. I don't know why, but every little milestone makes me into such a cry baby. 

Today was your last day at your daycare. You are starting a new daycare that Aidan is currently attending. The reason why we wanted to put you in Aidan's daycare is so that the pickups and drop-offs are much easier for both daddy and I. Last winter, daddy had such a hard time going to 2 different daycare centres to pick you both up. We would have put you in Aidan's daycare sooner, but they only accepted kids over 2 2/1 until recently. They are now accepting 2-year olds. I guess the demand is high where we live…

I didn't think that today would be a sad day for me. However, it made me realize that my babies are growing up. This daycare was the daycare Aidan started at when he was 1 so it's a little bittersweet. I think I now know why people keep having more kids. 

Your teachers- Miss Karina and Miss Sandeep wrote you a beautiful card and inside were handprints of all the kids in your daycare class with a class photo. I literally had a lump in my throat when I read this. Thank you Karina and Sandeep!

Birthday girl

Happy birthday sweet Kendall!

Mommy woke up super early today to finish assembling the fruit platter that I made for your daycare birthday party today. I also had all the loot bags packed and ready to go. 

Here are just some of the loot bags I made for your class. They got popcorn and bubbles.

Here's a better look.

And a better look of the bubbles.

On Saturday we will be having your birthday parties with our family. Good night! Gotta get some sleep…

Birthday boy

As I write this, I'm dead tired and basically running on adrenaline. I'm in the busiest time at work, but I've been staying up late every night to make Kendall and your loot bags for your daycare birthday parties. Never have kids with birthdays 1-day apart! #deadtired #whydoidothistomyself

Yes, I could have gone to the dollar store to pick up loot bag items in their party section and I did do that, but nothing was good enough for my taste. My occupation is a graphic designer/art director so I can't put my name on something that is not up to par for my liking. I decided that I would again, hand make something. Of course, once I start something I go all out. I hardly got any sleep this week, but it was all worth it. You were so excited to see the finished product and super excited to go to daycare this morning to give them all out to your friends.

It all started with me seeing something on my Instagram feed. I follow a crafter, Sharilyn Wright and she
posted something not too long ago of her handmade notebooks with washi tape spines. I thought that was
such a great idea. I modified the notebooks I made by adding the names of all the kids as well as some
more personal details that they could fill out at the bottom- age, birthday, favourite colour. Since your
writing skills have drastically improved as soon as you started junior kindergarten, I noticed you are always
drawing and writing. I figured a personalized notebook would be the perfect gift for all the kids. I scored
the cover stock a 1/4" on the left where the washi tape ends so that it would open easily. 

Just a close-up of some of the washi tape patterns. Aren't they pretty stacked like that?

Instead of just plain, blank pages, I printed grid paper and lined paper to give it more of a custom feel.
I also added a page at the beginning where it had a box that you had to draw a picture of your family. 

As well as the custom notebooks, I added a bag of flavoured popcorn- white cheddar popcorn or butter
popcorn to the loot bags. 

If I had more time, I would have added one more thing to the loot bags, but I didn't have anything left in
me to design something else.

I love the Ikea-brand ziplock bags (purple bag behind the notebook). I covered the Ikea logo with the
tags of all the names of the kids. This is your loot bag.

There were 26 kids in your class, so you can imaging just how many I had to do. And that's just for your
daycare. I worked on Kendall's daycare loot bags too. The Longo's bag on the bottom right had peanut-free
cupcakes to bring to your daycare this morning.

This was you after I picked you up around 3:30pm. You guys were all eating the cupcakes when I picked
you up. When you got the car, you declared that this year was the best birthday of all. 

Waiting on our front porch for daddy and Kendall to come home. BTW, since Kendall's birthday is on
Monday, I will be giving out Kendall's loot bags then. Yours falls on a Sunday this year, so I had to do your
birthday party today.

While we were waiting for daddy and Kendall, you enjoyed eating your popcorn.

Welcome home Kendall!

She had show and share day at daycare where she had to bring in a teddy bear so she brought Muk Muk,
one of her large entourage of stuffed animals that she carries around these days.

My cutie patootie.

Watching Aidan eat his popcorn.
"When can I have some???" —Kendall

I end this post off with a cute video I took of Kendall today. She is constantly saying no these days. 

But it's not just a short "no!" It's a long "Nnnnnnnnnnno!"

Rules are for fools

Daddy sent me this image he took of you guys after dinner time today. Apparently both of you were bad so he put you in time out. A little ironic that you are wearing a shirt that says, "Rules are for fools." Oh really now???

Mario and Mario

Daddy got McDonald's takeout for you guys tonight as a special treat. Your Happy Meal toy was a Super Mario visor. So cute, no?

The happiest place on the planet…

…and no, it's not Disney World. It's Ikea!

Ikea just knows how to do things right. They are so accommodating to families- they have affordable house goods, affordable food, their washrooms are built with little ones in mind (did you see the kid sinks??), and their kid's showroom section is every kid's fantasy playroom. 

I didn't really have anything to buy there, but today was a day where I was just bored and wanted to get out of the house. Auntie Jess and I have been really bonding over this Summer because you and Emma are at an age now where you play really well with each another. We've been meeting pretty frequently during the weekends and today was a day where we decided Ikea would be a great place to meet. You and Emma had a blast playing the kid's showroom. I think you were there for almost 2 hours!

Pretending to sleep. 

Usually we have you in the shopping cart when we come to Ikea, but today, we let you roam free with
Emma and you were going everywhere, touching everything and you guys really enjoyed your time there.

This ceiling lamp caught my eye. I think it will be really cute in your bedroom. I really don't like the ceiling
lamps on our 2nd floor so I'm always on the lookout for nice lamps.

And the price is good too! I'll have to keep a mental log of this.

What I did end up buying were these fake flowers. Yes, fake flowers don't have the best rep, but these
looked pretty darn real. 

I cut the stems a bit shorter and put them in these soda bottles that I have been collecting. I think flowers
look so good in cool soda bottles. What do you think?

I put these bottle vases on the ledge going down to the basement. I think it makes this area a bit prettier because
of the hit of colour.

I actually took this photo of you while we were at Burger's Priest. They opened one not too far from
where we live so I took you there for lunch. You absolutely loved their french fries. You were playing
with your iPad while I was waiting for our food. Look at those lashes! Women would kill for those lashes.

I think it's a hit!

I got this ice pop kit at work so I thought it would be a great idea to fill the mould with orange juice and give it to you as an ice pop treat. I gave you one today and you looooooved it! I think I might make smoothie pops next time. It will be good since you hate eating fruit.