a cake in the making

What's better than eating cake?  Well when you're four, and you're Jacob, the answer is making the cake.  He was a supreme helper.  Helping measure.  Emptying the cracked eggs.  Braving the noise of the mixer...  

And here he is, helping with the clean-up*

*Note -- although Jake did a bang-up-job cleaning the beater, I was tasked to clean-up that chocolate face. 

birthday party

On the weekend, following Avery's actual birthday, we had a little family party; because what's a birthday without a birthday cake!?  When I asked her if she wanted chocolate or vanilla, she said she wanted chocolate AND vanilla.  Smart girl.  At that point I'm not certain she even knew the difference but she does now.

She was sweet, shy and excited about the whole thing.   

And decked out in her new purple cape, she happily blew out two candles.

  We did the wishing for her.  

May there be many, many happy and healthy birthdays to come and may she always know how deeply we love her.  

turning two

This sweet girl turned two!  And sleepless nights aside, these last two years have been an absolute dream.  Avery, we love your wild energy, sweet kisses and hugs, and all those loud sequels of delight.  You bring us so much joy and we feel grateful for you every single day.      

We had a little cupcake celebration on her actual birthday -- chocolate and red velvet.  The kids choices. 

They were thoroughly enjoyed.

I am sad to see one go; but excited to see what two brings. It's that happy-kind-of-sad that all parents feel when their kids get too big, too fast.  Time flies and kids really do grow like weeds ;)

Even though she will always be my baby, 

she's not a baby any more.    

Love this little munchkin.  Like crazy.

jake turns four

F O U R

Wow, did that ever happen fast.

Four was ultra exciting because it was the first year Jacob got to have a kids party.  We planned a picnic for his friends and their families, made invitations and Jacob hand-delivered them to each child, planned a scavenger hunt, made mini cupcakes and cupcakes for the kids to decorate, made a picnic feast, Jake filled goodybags, and then... May 10th arrived with rain in the forecast.

Luckily my Aunt offered her house up as plan b and we made a last-minute location change (THANKS aunty Brenda and uncle Mont!).  It turned out to be overcast with just a few drops of rain so we were able to play in the bouncy castle and do the nature scavenger hunt outside BUT picnic and decorate cupcakes in comfort inside.  Perfect. 

The guest list was definitely the hardest part.  I think the smaller the better but there were a lot of family friends to invite and a few of his good friends from preschool.  Plus their siblings!  We ended up with nine kids (four more were away on holiday, phew!), Jake and Avery too, and then everyones' parents. 

But everything went smooth... 

The bouncy castle was a huge hit 

(I can totally see why people buy those things now)

  

Time to picnic

And onto the nature hunt.  All of the kids got a red pail with a printout of pictures of things to find: rocks, flowers, twigs, leaves, pinecones, pine needles and acorns.  

Last but not least, cupcake decorating with a lot of sticky little fingers and happy kids

A party success!  And a four-year-old with a huge grin on his face.  

Kids were sent home happy with their loot-bags and we then popped forty balloons, vacuumed up about a million sprinkles, wiped-up after all those sticky fingers and were home in time for Avery's nap.

    

I had a hard time with Jake turning four, seems so fast and sounds so big.  But we love watching him grow, seeing his sharp little mind work and love that kind heart of his.  These four years have been a dream.  Love him so hard it hurts and always will. 

april and easter

April went by in a flash. 

(I seriously cannot believe that its June already) 

We enjoyed visitors, Easter and welcoming springtime.  Jake continued to love school, we watched Frozen for the first time and Avery was hooked, Jake started to cruise around on his scooter on our walks, soccer classes started, and we found ourselves at the park more and more.   

All in all, a very nice April.

And here are a few of our Easter pictures... 

Jake doesn't even have a sweet tooth but he had been taking about Easter egg hunts all year long.  Let the hunt begin 

                                                             Avery had a lot of help

A success!

Getting both kids to look at the camera at the same time proved to be much more of a challenge than hunting for hidden eggs 

pasta pro

I made the mistake of making homemade fettuccine with BOTH kids a few weeks ago - tasty but a handfull.  The takeaway from that little experiment was that it's a little too messy for a 1 year old (duh!).  Avery ended up covered in flour and obsessed with eating raw noodles but Jake showed real pasta-making-promise.  So just Jake and I did it again the following week (thanks naptime!) and it was a huge success. 

The best part of pasta making is... the pasta maker!

made in Italy, of course :)

Jake was in charge of settings 0 to 5.

He was a pro, no assistance necessary. 

And settings 6 and 7 were a "team effort" with Jake turning the crank and me guiding the pasta through.  Jake would've liked to make pasta all-day-long.  

He helped with all the layering.  His favourite being the cheese on top.    

And, ta-da!  Homemade lasagne. 

  

We'll be making more pasta together again soon.  Our time in Italy ensured that pasta making will be a family tradition around here.