Melissa's Friend Birthday

A much anticipated event - looked forward to all year - Melissa's friend birthday party! Ever since going to a friend's birthday pool party at the Super 8 Hotel, Melissa had been keen on having her's there too! So we booked the date well in advance and sent out the invites :)

We went with a mermaid theme for the invites

The morning of, helping decorate the cupcakes...

 

The pool!

The slide, which was a highlight for sure!

Daddy & Brody, warming up in the hot tub...

The table all ready for the girls...

Yummy cheese (and some pepperoni) pizza!

Cupcake time :)

Presents...

A friendship necklace from a close friend, they each wear 1/2 of a the heart...

Turned out to be a great party, girls all had fun and we came home to a house the way we left it :) Yay!

Daddy turns 40!

April is a very exciting time in our house as we celebrate both Ken & Melissa's birthday. This year was a milestone birthday for Ken - turning 40! Melissa helped me decorate for him while he was at work :)

 

Ready to open presents!

Ken asking Brody if he made this piece of art for him. Brody's response "Yah" (his typical response to everything these days!) 

 

Brody with the card he made with the help of his big sister...

Melissa showing Dad the card she made for him...

After she colored it she rubbed it with oil to make the paper transparent for hanging on a window... just like they had done at school.

Just being cute... bumps, scratches & all!

There was no shortage of help opening the presents!

A dance party followed in the shredded gift-wrap :)

Easter with the Thomas'

The kids were treated to another Easter egg hunt at the Thomas family Easter dinner. I think Brody had a little more of an idea of what to do :) 

They were spoiled with many goodies in their festive Easter baskets which Nana lovingly makes for them :) 

The pinwheels were (and still are) a hit!

Brody playing on the iPad

This was awhile ago (almost 2 months now)... just realized I didn't publish it, but it was in draft format. Still cute all the same :)

Easter with the Klassens

The sun was shining this beautiful Easter weekend. 

Papa & Ken hid the Easter eggs for an outdoor Easter egg hunt.

Brody one in hand searching the grounds...

 

Found another!

One for each hand :)

Melissa still searching, spares a moment for the paparazzi...

Telling me "I can't find any..." hmmmm

Cousins

Papa let his chickens out to join in the egg hunt. Brody just kept pointing at them! 

Easter bunny Papa sharing his friendly chickens with the grandkids...

They even got to hold them :)

The after-dinner conversations with the adults while the kids played.

Riding with Julia

Spring was in the air for certain on the last weekend of March! Melissa tried out her doll bike seat with Julia for the first time. The doll seat was a Christmas present she received from Nani & Papa... she was very pleased with it :) 

I asked her if Julie (her other AG doll) was going to have a turn too, and she informed me that Julie was too young (she's only three Mom!). She is the younger sister to Julia (who is the same age as Melissa). Julie prefers to stay indoors and rest most of the time. Well, now I know!

Tee-Koo Tee-Koo

Brody has some very cute pronunciations these days as his vocabulary is expanding. I managed to get him saying a favorite of ours, tee-koo, tee-koo for tickle, tickle.



Some other cute words:

Thank-you - "Kay-Cue"
You're welcome - "Ker-Kel-Kom"
He answers "Ya" to most questions, and "What?" to sentences directed at him... guess he is parroting us?!?

20.5 months

Around the House

We had been rather under the weather for most of February... but March promises to be the start of great health! Here is a little peak at some of things the kids have been up to...

Brody loves playing games on the iPad (until he realizes I'm videoing him!) 

Melissa loves wearing her blonde & pink wig in the evenings, during dinner etc. There are quite a few stray hairs on the floor as she loves to brush it too!

 

Brody's First Haircut

The day came that I was ready to get Brody's first haircut. It was the length of the back hair that was getting to be kinda long and uhm... not so cute! My excuse was that I was making sure to have a good sample for the baby book (which we did get!). Being the hair was so fine, and slow to grow I wasn't about to risk cutting it myself, so I took the kids to my hairdresser for a trim.

Hear are the before pics: 

And the after pics:

 

I can't get over how different Brody looks from behind! Not a whole lot changed on top, just a bit of tidying up. The hairdresser suggested shaving his head as it would make the hair grow back thicker, but I just wasn't able to do that! This haircut kinda takes away a bit of his baby look... I guess our little baby is growing up :)

Playground

This weekend we had some amazing sunshine! We went to a nearby playground and let the kids play. Brody exhibited no signs of fear and climbed up the playground and backed down the slide! 

Here is his first attempt & hang-up! 

Climbing over and over again!

Here is a video of him in action...

Swinging with Daddy...

Meeting Baby Benjamin

This afternoon Brody and I had the privilege of meeting a newborn baby - Benjamin. Brody wasn't too interested in Benjamin until I was holding him, suffering a bit of jealousy! It is always surprising how small they come! Such a sweetie :)