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.   

It was pretty near impossible to get a picture of Hayden.  He was on the move the entire time!  Busy guy.  It’s nothing but warp-speed fun for him!  Miss Olivia was on the move, too — just at a bit of a slower pace (for now!), and at the expense of her mama’s back!  And yep, Jakzen was moving, too.  But he’s not quite sturdy enough to be left alone, yet he definitely doesn’t want his mama’s help.  Mr. Independent explored every inch of the park…and was the most mad when it was time to leave! 

2. JEN’S WEDDING IS THIS WEEKEND!  (I pick up my moo moo tomorrow, in case you were wondering…)

3. Had girls’ night here on Friday night, and then the same girls (plus Kara and her munchkins) went to Theresa’s on Monday.  Holy moly, what a difference in visits!!  Friday night was all about the food and the conversation.  Monday was all about chasing kids around, while snacking when we could, and broken chats between “don’t touch that’s!”. 

4. Theresa’s new pad.  Awesome.  And HUGE.  You could get lost in that place.   

5. Had a hair appointment on Saturday morning.  With a new girl — only because my usual guy wasn’t available on short notice to do both a cut and a colour.  My hair turned out just fine, but I don’t think I’ll be going back to her.  For one reason.  We had decided together on the lighter colour for my highlights, but apparently my hair (so I’ve heard) doesn’t take well to lightening (as in, it takes longer than most).  But once she realized this, rather than say “hey, this isn’t as light as you wanted it to be”, she said “hey, I decided to go a shade darker than what we originally planned”.  Riiiiiiight. 

6. The Nick-ism of the week:  He wanted to tell Jak to go get his Elmo…but instead he asked Jak to go get “Emo”.  That’s right — Elmo’s distant melodramatic cousin who wears skin tight jeans, black t-shirts and listens to moody music. 

7. When is fall going to get here?!?  I know plenty of you enjoy this weather, but I truly don’t want 30+ degrees at the end of September!  I want to wear sweaters, dang it! 

8. The doc said my iron is low.  So now I’m taking big blue pills.  But I’m still sleepy.  How long does it take for these suckers to kick in?? 

9. Jakzen developments:  He’s mastered the art of the fake laugh, has figured out how to turn the TV on and off with the remote — although it still surprises him every time he does it, he loves socks and shoes — which bodes well for #1 above.  And his poor fingers have taken a beating this week.  He’s figured out how to open the cupboards all the way, but unfortunately he got his fingers stuck when he closed the doors back up.  Yowch.  And then we were at Walmart the other day, and the car parked next to us was real close, so I had to wait for the auto van door to close before Jak and I could get by.  So I casually said “Hey, Jak — look at the door!  It’s closing!”.  Note to self: Don’t call attention to something you don’t want your kid to touch.  He stuck out his hand juuuuuust as the door was about to close, and his fingers got pinched.  Thankfully, I yanked him away before the door closed all the way.  Coulda been way worse.  Lesson learned. 

10. Some pics from our playdate the other day…

Ahhh, now this feels like summer.