How to fly to Mexico

1. pray that everything will go smoothly

2. get grandma to meet you at the airport and walk around with boys while waiting in line (it helps if she brings Mr Potato Head along)

3. find out that your plane is delayed 6 hours

4. check luggage and reserve seats

5. go home for 6 hours

6. come back and have supper at the airport (to use up the free vouchers given due to the delay)

7. provide plenty of hubba bubba gum and lollipops for take-off

8. suck soother during take-off (if you have one handy)

9. have a great flight with happy kids

10. thank God for answering your prayers

11. watch the in-flight movie (Enchanted-just Matthew watched)

12. read the going on a plane book

13. colour and do dot-to-dots

14. work on the doodles book (how fun!)

15. don't eat the plane food (good thing I packed jam sandwiches)

16. cry a little when you have to put your seatbelt on (by now it's past bedtime)

17. fall asleep 10 minutes before you land

18. thank God once again for a successful first time flying!

19. gather heaviest carry-on backpack and purse and sleeping 3 year old

20. arrive happily (and sleepily) in Mexico at 9:50 PM

mexico

We're back from our trip to Mexico!

I just spent all night going through photos. And now I need to go to bed.

But here are a few photos to let you know what a great time we had!

More details to come :)

getting ready...

A pedicure... Reading this book:

Shoe shopping:

Packing:

Carrying on:

and also:

Are you allowed to carry-on playdoh? I'd better go check...

any tips?

Any tips for travelling with two young kids who have never flown before and whose mom is starting to get a little nervous?

A lady from work just gave me a really good tip for picky eaters at all-inclusive resorts. She brought along some plastic containers and took extras of the foods that her girls liked. That way, if there was nothing that they liked at the lunch buffet, they still had the leftover peanut butter sandwiches that she had taken from the breakfast buffet.

Any other tips like this? Please share :)

Thanks so much!

flashback friday

Happy birthday (tomorrow) to my baby sister, Faye.

I'm two and a half in this photo and Faye is 2 months old. Does Faye happen to remind you of anybody else?

The nice thing about having a sister is that you always have a friend.

I think we're about 5 and 3 here. (am I right, Mom?)

Enjoy your big day!

turning three...the day after

Caleb: Am I still three?
Mommy: Yes, you are.
Caleb: Am I still the birthday boy?
Mommy: No, you're not. But you're still my special boy!

(Don't you just love three year olds?)

turning three... on the day you turned three

On the day you turned three...

You opened presents before daddy left for work. You were happy to get a new Woody toy because your other woody toy broke last week.

You ate Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast and couldn't wait to read your new disney storybook.You went out for lunch with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mark (and mommy and Matthew too, of course). We went to Boston Pizza and you ordered the grilled cheese sandwich (or 'girl cheese' as you call it) with fries and ketchup!

Your brother was invited to his best buddy's house for a playdate, but when he found out that you weren't invited, he said he'd rather be with you because it was your birthday. Isn't he a nice brother?

You were a very nice brother too. You shared all of your new toys with Matthew. You even let him play with your new castle before you did! I'm so proud of you!

You had your grandparents and uncle over for supper. This time you had a shrek cake! And you were a real pro at blowing out the candle.You got some more gifts. A really cool knight/king costume. It's the perfect gift for you! Matthew had fun trying out your new plasmacar.

You played and smiled and you snuggled too. You are so grown up, but you'll always be my baby. Hugs and kisses to you, sweet Caleb on your third birthday!

turning three... the flashback

One week old...
His first summer... a picnic in the park
Five months old... check out those big blue eyes!
Caleb's first Christmas!
Happy First Birthday, Cale!

More summer fun... (almost one and a half)

Almost two... pretending he's a fireman

Argggg! Pirate Caleb!Being super-cute (summer 2007)

Halloween 2007 - dressed as Woody, from Toy story, of course

Happy Birthday Caleb! We love you so much!

turning three... the party

Caleb's 3rd birthday party!

The cake:Buzz Lightyear and his enemy Zurg! And his rocket (including about a million green and purple smarties!)

The family:

What a great opportunity to get a quick shot of the family!

And the brothers!

The Party:

Caleb was a bit overwhelmed at the beginning of his party (understatement). But once he got used to all the people, he really enjoyed himself.

A new Mr. Potato Head with Transformer accessories! The favourite gift!

The craft:

Foam rocket ships that could be decorated with foamie stickers and Toy Story stickers!

5-4-3-2-1 Blast off!

The goody bags:

Space fabric drawstring bags, sewn with some help from my mom. Inside are some Toy Story puzzles, smarties (minus purple and green), mini buzz lightyears and fruit snacks.

And of course, I know you all want to know....

The sweatpants:

We couldn't convince him to wear jeans.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

ten on whatever day it is today :)

Hello!

1. I"m still here. We've just been really busy.

2. Caleb's Buzz Lightyear birthday party is on Saturday.

3. Thank you to my mom who helped me sew 10 rocket fabric drawstring bags for the Buzz Lightyear party.

4. It's hard to tell who is more excited about the Buzz Lightyear party: Caleb, Matthew or Mommy :)

5. I worked all day today (convention day) and I'm taking tomorrow off!

6. Caleb will only ever wear sweatpants (I think it all began with the potty training), but he tells me that he'll wear blue jeans to his party. Do you think he actually will? (I told him that Woody wears blue jeans) Don't worry, I have a back-up pair of sweatpants that would be acceptable.

7. Matthew fell at skating last night and has a little bruise on his chin. He's okay.

8. By the way, somebody knocked Frosty over last weekend.

9. All future snowmen will now be made in the backyard.

10. More details from the Buzz Lightyear birthday party will surely follow. Stay tuned.

frosty's wild night...

Frosty (see yesterday's post) must have had a pretty wild night. When we woke up this morning, his hat was gone. In its place was a McDonald's cup. When we went out to investigate further, we found that his nose, mouth and pipe had also disappeared. He still has his eyes and his buttons.

:(

That'll teach us for making a snowman in the front yard.

Matthew thinks we should make notices and put them up all over town.

:) He's so cute.

a nice day

We had some nice winter weather today. We went outside with the boys and made a snowman and played some hockey on the driveway (new hockey net!). Unfortunately, the only one who would pose for a photo was Frosty: And Matthew did for about 5 seconds:

Oh well, it was nice to have some sunny and warm weather and to get outside!

valentine favourites

Here are some of my valentine favourites from flickr:



1. Birdie on a vintage clothes line, 2. Cupcake Couple, 3. Vintage Apron, 4. Soon it'll be St. Valentine's day, 5. ice cream?, 6. The Greatest Love, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled

Happy Valentine's Day!

lollipops

Thanks to Susie for pointing me in the direction of Heather Ann Sugar Kisses!

I have these lollipops to give out to Matthew's class tomorrow and I was looking for a creative way to package them.

So I played around a bit and ended up with this tag (imagine it cut out in the shape of a tag, ok?):

But Matthew didn't like having his face on there. So I found this Valentine picture he made for me the other day and scanned it. And look what I made!

This tag:

and this:

and this one is kind of funny:

And then we wrapped up the lollipops and got these:

Happy Valentine's day (dude!)