The best weekend in a long time…

This weekend was the best weekend I've had in a long time… I've been filled with so much sadness with memories of my dad that it's been hard to be happy… I was so sad to see this long weekend end.

Friday night my friend Lana treated me to my early birthday lunch at a great Japanese restaurant called Kasa Moto. Then on Saturday we just relaxed at home by having a barbecue in our backyard. On Sunday we went to church in the morning and then Kendall and I met with Auntie Jess and Uncle Wayne downtown to check out the Victorious Festival (a Christian festival with proceeds going to the Canadian Cancer Society). Daddy took you swimming so you guys didn't go with us. We tried to get halmi to go, but she just wanted to stay home :-(

Today (Civic Holiday), we went to Canada's Wonderland in the morning where we rode lots of big kid rides (the first time you were able to do so!) and then we went for a outdoor BBQ at Sunnybrook Park with Auntie Sara, Uncle Wayne, Auntie Jessica, Uncle Wayne, Emma, Noelle, halmi, Dan's mom, brother, Dan's SIL, Sophia and Isabelle. It was such a nice way to end the weekend. I just wish halbi was with us…

You riding the carousel. I realized that you were tall enough to ride a lot of the big kid rides. We ended up
riding Klockwerks, The Fly and Thunder Run. You had a blast!

Kendall stayed with daddy while mommy and you rode the big kid rides. Here she is doing the kimchi squat.

On our way to Sunnybrook Park, you guys passed out. Celebration!

It was supposed to rain today, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day. 

We didn't even have to bring any toys. All the kids had a blast running around. We must do it again!

Kendall was having so much fun. Here she is hopping towards me.

"Hi mommy!"

Uncle Wayne got all the kids (minus Noelle and Isabelle) to carry the mat to the car. You guys were being
good little helpers…

…but failed miserably #fail.

First snowstorm

You knee-deep in the snow after school today.

It is not easy doing the pick-ups and drop-offs when you have more than 1 child. And make that 10X worse when you live in a cold climate. 

We had our first major snowstorm yesterday. It snowed all day and I had shovel 3 times. I woke up with body aches this morning :-(

Because parking is nearly impossible by the school, I usually park at my friend's house who lives right by the school or I walk over with Kendall in the stroller. Yesterday, I was going to leave Kendall at home in the morning while she was still sleeping to take you to school since the weather was so bad. I knew that Kendall wouldn't wake up while I stepped out for 15 minutes. However, my friend Jenn (the one that lives near the school) wouldn't allow me to do that. She got her husband to walk over with a sled to pick you up. She also picked you up from school and dropped you off. That was so helpful. 

However, I decided to go out today with Kendall to walk you over to school since the snow had stopped falling. BAD MISTAKE! The sidewalks were still not plowed and I got stuck several times with the umbrella stroller. By the time I got to school, I was a sweaty mess. Luckily, daddy came home early from work so I didn't have to bring Kendall with me to pick you up.

That was yesterday after my 2nd time shovelling.

Walking home from school this afternoon. You can see that the sidewalk is still covered in snow :-(

Ironman and Wolverine- the 2013 edition

I'm so glad I get to work home on Thursdays and Fridays when I'm not in production at work. Luckily Halloween fell on a Thursday this year so I was able to take you trick or treating. Originally Auntie Jessica and Emma were supposed to join us, but the weather was terrible so they cancelled. I called up my friend, Jen, and her son Nate to join us as they just live around the block. Daddy and Kendall stayed home because the weather was so bad and daddy was giving out the treats. Even though we bought 1,000 treats, we ran out in the blink of an eye. That's how crazy it is in our neighbourhood…

Twins and yummy bread

Guess who were twins at church today? You and Asher! Asher's mom, YJ, bought that shirt for you a while ago, and today you and Asher happened to be wearing it at the same time. I think you found it really cool because you were literally attached at the hip to Asher. You were hugging, holding hands, following each other… it was quite funny.

Goofing off in the church gym.

Around dinner time, you and I went over to Asher's house because YJ was teaching mommy how to bake my own bread. She bought me a bread pan from Korea and I recently bought the same bread maker that she had.

The piece de resistance- my new bread maker.

YJ's infamous bread. I'm salivating looking at this.

Fresh out of the oven. Yum!

Long day

I am pooped! Today was a very long day, but a good day.

We went to the mall in the morning to get some more clothes for the both of you as the weather is getting colder. We quickly had lunch at the mall before we rushed to go to your eye doctor appointment. You've been complaining about your eye hurting for a few weeks now. I took you to a walk-in a couple of weeks ago, but the doctor said nothing was wrong and that I should just put a warm cloth over the eye that was bothering you. However, I knew something was wrong when you kept complaining every day and rubbing your eyes constantly. I was worried that your vision was bothering you and you would have to get glasses. Luckily your eye sight is fine, but the bad news is that you have allergies. Not sure of what, but there is something in the environment that is making your eye itch. The eye doctor prescribed an allergy medication for your eyes, but I think I will have to get another allergy test done soon. Sigh.

After your eye appointment, we went to the library to return your books. We then went to Home Depot to buy cabinet hardware for the kitchen knob that I broke this morning. Usually you have nap time in the afternoon, but I think your body is used to being awake the whole day. You didn't seem as cranky and tired as when you were younger. When we came home, we did laundry and sorted you and Kendall's clothes for donation and to give to Auntie Jess' new baby. After dinner, I texted my friend Jenn to see if her son, Nate, wanted to go to the park with you. I told her I would take the both of the them to the park so that she could have a bit of a breather. You guys played in the park til it got dark and then we went back to Nate's house where you played there until 9:00pm. What a day!

Here's a cute video of Kendall eating Korean rice pops. 

You and Nate at the park. You guys were so wild and crazy. It's like you guys were never let out or something.

BFF's? You and Nate.

At one point, you and Nate were pretending to be magicians and being totally hilarious. There was a woman there with her daughter and she kept laughing at you guys playing.

We're going to the beach~

Ever since we read Ian Falconer's Olivia, you've been asking me to take you to the beach.

Well today was your lucky day, because we decided to go to Sibbald Point with daddy's friend's family since it was the long weekend. We thought it would be a nice day to barbecue and play in the beach, but it turned out to be a nightmare. It was soooooo cold and so windy. We couldn't enjoy ourselves because all we could think about was trying to keep warm. And both mommy and daddy didn't bring a sweater so we literally froze our a$$ off :-S

On our way to Sibbald Point. Not a good look…

You trying to keep warm in your huge Spiderman towel. That's Keidyn beside you. He was so
nice to you. He kept playing with you and he was so friendly. You really took a liking to him and
that's surprising because you are normally very aloof and standoffish. 

You finally doing what you've been wanting to do- building sandcastles.

Quick video of the beach and how cold it looked…

Roller skates and Pippi Longstocking

We decided to take it easy today and rest at home since yesterday was a crazy day with Kendall's birthday party. Daddy and your Vancouver grandpa were busy most of the day building storage shelves for the furnace room. I decided that I would take you out in the afternoon to try out your new roller skates that you got from Auntie Sara and Uncle Dan. Since you already got a helmut, elbow pads, knee pads and gloves from your Vancouver grandma for your birthday I knew you were ready to test out your new skates. I drove you to a nearby school and we practiced on the concrete path. You were pretty good, I must say. You didn't fall once.

Taking a break before skating.

When we got home I decided to try out something with Kendall. My friend, Jenn, posted a picture of her daughter, Naomi on Facebook with pigtails and she is much more younger than you. I figured since Kendall already had long hair on the sides (only on the sides) it would be perfect to try out pigtails for the first time. I already had small hair elastics on hand and I must say she looks pretty darn cute! I wish I did this for her birthday party now.

My Pippi Longstocking

I was trying to capture pictures of Kendall on my good camera, but by this time she was getting
pretty annoyed with me.

I tried getting you in the picture by having you hold Kendall, but she was having none of it.
Sigh.

Here's a cute video I took of mommy tickling Kendall.

After bath time I took a video of Kendall doing jam, jam while eating her dinner. It's so cute when she does it because it's almost as if she's doing it to impress me. I know it doesn't seem like it in this video, but when I call out her name she just does it automatically even if I don't ask her to do it.  

Happy 1-year birthday Kendall

Today we celebrated your 1-year birthday party. We had a more intimate party than when we did Aidan's 1-year birthday party. We only invited our closest friends. It was more enjoyable that way.

Your outfit for the party. Your Vancouver grandpa took this photo of you at home before the party.
I was at the venue doing some last-minute decorations.

The head table set up.

The banner started to droop a bit so I wasn't too happy about that, but I'm happy how it turned out.

Here's the manzanita branch with your photos. I also arranged all the flowers myself. I initially
wanted to use peonies, but they were not in season by the time it was your birthday so I went with
my backup flower- hydrangeas.

I got Flour Studio to bake 2 dozen cupcakes. This is the vanilla cupcake with strawberry buttercream
swirl. I stuck my handmade cupcake toppers on top.

My friend, Jenn, made the Goim towers. I gave her directions on what to put on the towers as well
as the spray paint colours. I gave her the dragon reference photo as well. I think it turned out beautifully.
I'm planning on keeping these Goim towers and displaying it in your room.

Isn't the cake beautiful? Flour Studio also made the cake. I gave them the cake inspiration shot.

I love how classy it is. I know lots of people do animal themes, but I wanted to do something different.
I love the rainbow theme.

The other cupcake flavour was chocolate cupcake with mint buttercream swirl.

Another view.

For the tables I made a flower arrangement of white hydrangeas with craspedias.
I put votive candles all around decorated with washi tape. I also scattered my paper medallions
that I made.

Here's how I displayed the popcorn favours. I used them as table seating cards as well.

Aidan was being a little sore sport. He didn't want to take any family photos. This is the best
one we got of him.

Your Toronto grandma and grandpa.

I wanted to take lots of photos at the party, but I couldn't. Your Vancouver grandpa took this photo
and he shot us in such a low angle. I have a double chin!

You and your Vancouver grandma.

Look how cute you are eating.

Everyone was trying to get Aidan to cheer up.

You and daddy.

Aidan was watching videos while eating lunch.

Getting ready for the doljabi. Because I was holding you I couldn't get any good photos of you
in your hanbok grabbing the 2 items. You ended up choosing the ball and the microphone.

I think Auntie Sara took this photo of Emma and Uncle Wayne. Maybe Emma ate something sour?
She's such a cutie.

The 3 boys- Austin, Nate and Asher.

Cake cutting time. I was sad to cut into such a beautiful cake.

The cake was so delicious.

The party wrapped up at 4pm.I was ready to crash when we got home, but there was so much to do!

Here are all the cards you received from your birthday party. I'm planning on keeping these.
I also kept Aidan's 1-year birthday cards in a box.

Some of these cards are Aidan's 4-year birthday cards.

Aidan got a pretty rad sweater from Asher and Austin for his birthday.

He was much happier at home than at the party.

Aidan got tons of gifts, but I forgot to take pictures of everything he got :-(

He got a Spiderman bike from Auntie Jane, tons of clothes from his Vancouver grandma, helmut and protection gear for his bike from his Vancouver grandma, a garbage truck toy from his Vancouver grandpa (Aidan asked for that), gift certificate and money from his Toronto grandparents, a tent and Lightning McQueen book from Auntie Jess and Uncle Wayne, movie certificate from Nate, and a sweater from Asher & Austin. Lastly, Auntie Sara and Uncle Dan got Aidan colouring books and roller skates. He was so happy. I was able to take a video of him trying on his skates. I think we'll go out tomorrow to try out his skates. 

I can't believe it's finally over. It took a lot of work, but I'm happy I was able to do this for you for your 1-year birthday.