life {lately} ~ v. 15

another week and a couple days,
another twenty some odd images to capture it.
 here's life {lately}

birthday chalkboard, birthday pancakes, birthday cupcakes, oh my.
a crabby sandwich
sleepy little littles
liam learning to "drive" already
averie learns about spagetti
happy birthday art
patio beers
and a whole lot of landscaping

by the way ...
is it really the last day of july?
what the what.
summer's half over!

heading off for our summer camping road trip on saturday.
can't wait for some lake and ocean fun.

see you in a couple weeks

it's a monster bash ~ liam's third birthday party

a week and a bit ago we celebrated liam's third birthday with a party at our place.  at first i was hoping to have our friends and a bunch of kids over, but with it being summer that was not to happen.  it's sadly one of the down sides of having a summer birthday.  everyone is usually away on vacation.  no worries.  we had a blast celebrating with our friends and family that were still in the city.  there was monster punch, monster cupcakes, pin the eyes on the monster, a monster pinata, and more googly eyes on things than probably necessary.  i may have had a little to much fun putting it together.  but liam loved all of it, which is what matters most.

a few months back i started pinning all things monster party related.  this will most likely be liam's last birthday where mommy decides the theme and i went with monsters.  tons of great ideas floating around on pinterest.  i feel like i owe some sort of promotion or sponsorship ad along the lines of "this third birthday was brought to you by pinterest."  seriously, what did people do before there was pinterest?  anyways, my favourite thing from his party, hands down, has to be the monsters up for adoption.  scored a bunch of ugly dolls on sale and they were perfect.  love each of their names and the stories they come with.  some of which are hilarious.  liam adopted ninja batty shogun, who now goes everywhere with him and i frequently find him talking to in bed at night.  so cute.  oh and i loved the monster punch.  that was freaking delicious, even better with a splash of malibu rum.

monster punch ... with some adult poison on the side.

monster watermelon.

white chocolate chex mix.

googly eye cups.

balloons and a pinata.

the makings of a great party.

all the kids were able to adopt their own monster.

ended up with a few leftover and averie has made fast friends with them.

love these guys.

made a giant monster out of foam board, craft paint, a little glue and some staples.

 for the eyes i used scrapbook paper and my circle punches.

this was a huge hit.

everyone required multiple turns.

i was finally able to use my martha stewart cupcake book.

totally awesome.

homemade devils food cupcakes with swiss meringue butter cream frosting.

dee-lish.

best part was decorating them with all the candy and making the monster faces.

birthday party was a success.

only thing i would change would be to have it outside.

unfortunately the backyard mud pit prevented that this year.

next year.

wonder what the little monster will chose for next year?

ten months new

well miss averie has been in this world longer than she was in my belly.  can't believe that.  i vividly remember all the complaining i was doing around this time last year.  pregnancy and summer heat waves don't mix. 

averie girl is getting to such a fun age.  i remember watching liam at ten, eleven and twelve months and being in complete amazement at how much and how quickly he learned to do things.  and how fun it was to watch and see the world through his eyes.  i'm starting to feel like averie is growing at an exponentially fast rate.  wasn't she just an itty bitty babe?  now she's crawling, standing on her own, and taking on the stairs.  hang on baby girl ... i'm not ready for this.

on the flip side i am totally loving seeing this girls personality.  she is such a happy happy girl.  her favourite thing to do is laugh and giggle.  at everything.  throwing a stuffy at the floor.  hilarious.  chasing her on the carpet.  has her in stitches.  she makes me smile all day.  everyday.  except when she's tired or hungry.  then she's a bear.  just like her momma.

ten month highlights

~  crawling around like nobody's business

~  climbing stairs all by herself, with mommy or daddy right behind of course
~  learned to stand up on her own
~  loves peaches, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, cucumber, banana, yogurt, cheerios, avocado
~  does not like eating meat.
~  wearing 6-12 and 9-12 month clothing and size 3 diapers
~  loves her bath time.  we're now doing a bath every night.  has helped with her sleeping.
~  sleeping is up and down, some nights good, some nights bad.
~ still waking once or twice a night to feed, starting transition formula to hopefully end these.
~  officially has five teeth, three upper and two lower
~  weighing in around seventeen pounds, had to weigh her at the pharmacy
~  went to the pharmacy for her first antibiotics because she had her first ear infection.  boo.  poor girl has been sick way too much.
~  wants to play with everything and anything that liam has.  he hates this.
~  hates, and i mean screaming kicking flailing hates, being put into her car seat.
~  loves snuggles with mommy and daddy.
~  has some "words" mum mum mum, and directed at me.  and da-dee, directed at rob.
~  she loves music and dances bum scoots when its on.

in less than two months baby girl will be a year.

looking forward to the fun things ahead.

walking, running, learning to talking, no more late night feeds.

and sleep.  looking forward to sleeping through the night.

what does that feel like again?

first annual

let's just keep the birthday festivities going shall we.  with liam turning three this year, it means it's time to start a new birthday tradition.  one that i've secretly been looking very forward to.  for every birthday, starting now, i hope to ask liam this set of questions and compile his answers in a book to give him on his eighteenth birthday.  averie will get her own as well when she turns three.  it was just such a great idea and i know i'da loved doing something like this when i was little.

so here is liam's first annual birthday questions:

1.  favourite colour?  green
2.  favourite toy?  bobcat
3.  favourite fruit?  blueberries
4.  favourite movie?  wreck it ralph
5.  grade/teacher?  starting preschool in september
6.  favourite song?  ba ba blacksheep
7.  favourite animal?  elephant
8.  favourite book?  wump world and the prince's bedtime
9.  best friend?  emerson
10.  favourite breakfast?  krispies
11.  favourite thing to do outside?  play with emerson
12.  favourite thing we've done as a family? go to hawaii
13.  what do you want for your birthday dinner?  cupcakes
14.  what is one thing you've done that you're proud of?  ride my bike by self
15.  what would you like to learn to do this year?  go to school
16.  what do you want to be when you grow up?  to drive a bobcat

he absolutely loved his birthday presents this year, rad dude truck and fix it felix jr.

what a guy.

one more birthday post is in the works.

we had his monster party today ... it was a hit.

hope to share it early next week.

happy weekend!

life {lately} ~ v.14

another couple weeks, another photo-dump.

we've been doing some fun summer things here.

like eating ice cream cones.

more landscaping, bye bye front mud hello birthday grass.

it was my birthday ... i got grass.

wicked birthday card created by the littles.

birthday beer and birthday sangria.  it was a good birthday.

some fun food.

some stampeding at a "pancake party." 

averie learning to stand up on her own.

there's a bunch more fun-ness coming up too.

liam's monster party.

camping vacation road trip.

more landscaping.

love summer!

today you are three

dear liam,

today you are three.  no more are you my baby, my toddler, my mini bum, or even my farf.  you are now a "big boy."  today is that day that changed my life forever.  today is the day that i became your mom.  today is the day that my life had new meaning.  today is one of the best days of my life ... because you came into this world.  i love you more and more every minute of every day.  i love all your silliness, your craziness, your sense of adventure, your curiosity, and yes even your tantrums (sometimes).  i love that you love to sing to averie when she's crying and that you give her hugs and kisses, even though you were the one who pushed her over.  i love that you talk in voices for all your toy cars.  i love that sometimes you use your fingers as pretend diggers and dump trucks that talk to each other while we are in the car.  i love that you love music and are too shy to dance to it.  i love that you go absolutely nuts when a bobcat is working nearby.  i love that you jump up into daddy's arms when he gets home from work.  every. night.  i love that you still call milk "muck".  i love that you sleep with an old pair of jammies and your puppy.  and that they go everywhere with you.  i love that you love camping and being outside.  and finally, i love how much you love.  and that you aren't afraid to tell or show us.

today you are three.  and on this very special day i love you more than i ever thought possible.  happy happy birthday my farf, my mini bum, my baby, my toddler, my liam.  i can't wait to see what the next three hundred and sixty-five days have in store for you.  happy third.

with all my love
mommy

life {lately} according to iphone ~ v.13

things are hard right now.

both kids are sick with summer colds.  boo.  those are the worst kind.

averie is teething like mad and refusing to nurse.  hello breast pump.

and i'm pretty sure that three coffees a day is my new norm due to sleep deprivation.

dear teething and cold virus eff off.  we had more fun without you around.

prior to the past few days of suckiness, we've had a good couple weeks.  

at least that's what my iphone shows.

fun food.

pics of the bow river during the flood.

landscaping!!  bye bye mud pit.

sidewalk chalk sessions.

hair cuts and afternoons at the park.

30 C and higher in the forecast this week.

loving that it's full on summer here.

and that stampede starts on friday.

come hell or high water!!