Why did my mean, mean, meanest mom blow out the light?  WHY??????

Oh, so I’m supposed to eat this thing.  Blue stuff?  Not bad.  Brown stuff?  Delicious!

Ok, this is good.  (Although I wish dad would get that camera outta my face so I could enjoy it in peace.)  Lemme taste that blue stick…

This will teach ya — I’m gonna get my grubby hands on that camera!  Happy birthday to me!!

So for now, just a taste…

I’m so very grateful that Jakzen and Maguire have these 2 amazing role models in their lives.  (And yes, I say that even though I know full well they will be the cause of endless grandfatherly shenanigans in the years to come…)  Happy Birthday!! 

2. Party One was on Saturday with Jak’s Calgary grandparents.  We wanted to do something low-key, but something we knew he would enjoy.  The answer — a trip to the park!  (Thanks to auntie erin for suggesting Helicopter Park…it was a hit!)Jak’s favourite part of the park wasn’t the swing.  It wasn’t the slide.  It wasn’t the merry-go-round.  It was a ramp.  Yes, you read that right.  He spent the majority of our time at the park just going back and forth, up and down the ramp.  Crazy kid. 

3. Here are some “behind the scenes” shots of our time at the park…

4. Maguire was at the park, too.(I promise he’s under that blanket…)

5. One last round of photos from the park — boys being boys!

6. We had dinner at our place after our park adventures, and I made sure to have a giant chocolate cupcake for Jakzen for dessert.  In preparation for what I assumed would be a messy experience, I stripped him down and plunked him back in his chair, all ready to dive in and get dirty.  First, he was unsure what to think of our singing…and even more unsure of the sparkly candle.Once the sparkler had burned out, he picked up the cupcake and we were all ready with our cameras to capture him attacking it with gusto.  No such luck.  He took one lick, and put it down.  Apparently there really is such a thing as too much chocolate…

7. On Sunday, it was Olivia’s birthday.  Crazy that this weekend marked her FIRST birthday.  Already!  She’s such a happy little girl — and a total ham for the camera.

8. Yesterday we had a party with some of Jak’s best buddies…and of course, more cupcakes.

9. Maguire, the party animal.

10. Jakzen got the obligatory cupcake with a candle in it again…and once again, he wasn’t sure what to think.

Thankfully Jak has good friends like Ronan who *tried* to teach him how to blow out the candle. 

Jak made a couple feeble attempts at blowing, but in the end, Ronan saved the day and blew out the flame — and Jak was grateful!Of course, Jak didn’t want anything to do with eating the cupcake, and opted instead for a chocolate cookie.  Which he LOVED…and his mommy finally got those messy birthday shots she was looking for.   

2. Croup stinks.  Sick sucks.  Jakzen got croup – again – the middle of last week, starting with a late night trip to the ER.  And he’s still sick.  Poor little dude.  He’s had some rough nights (and so have we!).  He’s been super tired and has a perpetually runny nose and of course he’s coughing.  Oh, that cough.  So we’ve been quarantined.  And we’ll continue to be quarantined until the germs are GONE.  Which I hope is SOON because I’m going stir crazy.

3. We had a busy weekend all planned out this past weekend.  And it all got canceled.  Thanks to #2 above.  Mom and dad, and gram and gramps were going to come for a visit, but I didn’t think it would be much fun at a sick house.  So hopefully – HOPEFULLY – they can make arrangements to come back sometime soon when we’re all back to 100%.

4. The coolest thing that happened on my birthday??  Eloise Violette was born! So happy to share my birthday with this new little sweetheart…well, with her and Elvis.    **Please note that baby Ellie was born on Friday, and her mom was somehow home and already leaving comments on my blog yesterday.  I think she’s a superwoman.

5. I ordered my own cake for my birthday.  I realize that statement sounds sad and pathetic, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  I wanted to order my own cake because there was a bakery I wanted to try out.  Decadent Desserts. One word.  DEEE-licious.  Vanilla cake with chocolate mousse layers and caramel then covered in chocolate ganache.  Oh my.  Please note that I originally ordered this cake when I was expecting a house full of company…and alas, they didn’t come (see #3) and that left a whole lotta cake.  For me.  Woe is me.

6. Poor sick monkey (who is a total stinker and pushing all sorts of buttons around here lately — both literally and figuratively.) 

7. And this little monkey had a big week, too – (ask me about it in person and I’ll tell you all about it!).  Really trying to enjoy this newborn “all I do is snuggle and sleep” phase because I know it doesn’t last long. 

8.  I just realized that I haven’t blogged about Mark and Kristi’s visit… They came to meet Maguire and to spend New Year’s with us.  We had a good — quick — visit.  And wanna know just how wild and crazy our visits are??  We  stayed up until 10:45p on New Year’s Eve.  We almost made it to midnite!!  Yep, that’s crazy.

9. Bahhahaha!  This picture cracks me up.  Can you tell they are related??  Both mouths, hanging open in concentration. 

10.  And this picture cracks me up, too.  Just moments before, Carter was told to put his Gameboy down, so he crept over to Jak so that he could “help” him with his game.  Jak was totally captivated by his big cuz, and the 2 boys shared a giggle.  Wished we lived closer to my nephews because I love seeing the interaction between all four of the boys.  (Hint, hint, Kristi!)