Connor's 15th Birthday

For Connor's birthday, he invited his friends Mark and Ethan over to play some X-box and then go play a couple hours of virtual reality games at Ctrl V. For his cake, I went with a DnD theme and made a chocolate D20 die. Turned out pretty good even if I did cheat and make it a sphere without any facets. It was still yummy. His gifts were all mostly DnD themed as well.

Connor's 12th birthday

On Connor's birthday, we invited Edmonton area family over for a birthday celebration.

Then the next day, we took seven of his friends to Rundle Park to play archery tag.

Hudson and Maira were too young for archery tag but they got to do some target practice while they waited.

I can't believe it's been twelve years since Connor was born. He's grown into a smart, strong-willed, tender-hearted, affectionate, hilariously witty and punny young man. I love being his mom - always have and always will. I can't wait to see what kind of man he grows into as he learns more about himself and the path ahead of him.

Maira's Birthday

A few short weeks after we moved into our new house, Maira turned 9 years old. She asked for a dance themed birthday party.

There were only six girls but they had enough energy that it seemed like twice as many. They made their own microphones, gave themselves rockstar makeovers and then played Just Dance and sang lots of Taylor Swift karaoke at the top of their lungs. 

We also invited family over for a birthday dinner.

Hudson's 7th Birthday

Hudson turned 7 four days before we moved. We still piled balloons on his bed after he fell asleep the night before his birthday and I shed a few tears at the inevitability of my baby growing one year older, just like I do every year.

He loves the Star Wars movies (his father has made sure of that) so he decided he'd love to go see the Force Awakens with the family for his birthday. It had come out a couple weeks before his birthday so it was actually hard for him and Connor to wait that long (and Jess actually didn't make it and went and watched it on his own the week before and then watched it again on Hudson's birthday). 

I took Hudson to Build-A-Bear right after he saw the movie and this is the bear he picked out:

It has been christened "Darth Hudson" and its light saber makes the appropriate light saber sounds and lights up and everything. Hudson was very pleased.

That evening, we picked up an apple pie at Costco since Hudson doesn't care for cake and had a family birthday dinner in Spruce Grove.

A couple weeks later, once we were moved into our new house, we had a birthday party with his friends. He asked for a Minecraft themed party. I bought a few decorations and made some Creeper cupcakes and planned a couple of Minecraft type games but I think the biggest hit of the night was when Jess gave them each a flashlight, bundled them all up in their winter coats and sent them out to the backyard in the dark to explore the treehouse. They armed themselves with branches and brooms and were very brave even after they found certain proof that the treehouse was inhabited by vampires.

Connor's 11th Birthday

We were in the middle of replacing our flooring on the main floor when we celebrated Connor's 11th birthday so the house was a disaster and things were busy but we still had fun celebrating with family.

Happy Birthday Connor! We sure love you lots and forever.

Jelly Bean Tasting

It's been too long since I've updated. We've been doing house renovations and they have sucked up an enormous amount of time. We're not quite done yet so I don't have time for a long update but I thought I'd just upload these videos of Connor and his friends having fun trying "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans" at his Harry Potter themed birthday party. Enjoy!

I'll post more pictures from my newly 11-year old son's birthday soon.

Maira's 8th Birthday

Maira turned 8 in January - she's growing up so fast, I just wish she would stop! We had fun celebrating her in our family and in our life. She was excited to go rock climbing with some friends so that's what we did for her birthday party. It turned out that her Uncle David and Aunt Laura were in town that week so they joined us at the rock climbing gym. 

Just like for Hudson's birthday, Shae and I collaborated on the cake and built a miniature Maira climbing up a mountain:

On the night of her actual birthday, we had a family dinner. It's getting harder and harder to fit everyone at the table!

She doesn't care for regular cake so I made her a s'mores ice cream cake. Here I am sticking it in the oven for a couple minutes to brown the marshmallows:

She started Learn-to-Figure Skate lessons this month and is absolutely loving it.

She also got baptized in February. Which called for another family gathering - yay!

Here's a picture of me very pregnant with Maira in front of the very same door at Shae's baptism:

And Shae wearing the same dress after her baptism that Maira wore after hers:

Now, back to the present:

We love you so much Maira!