Basketball

Sometimes I can't believe how big the boys are getting.  It seems like yesterday that they were playing with the baby basketball game that we sat on the floor.  Now they are out in the yard and are in love with all sports.  They play sports together, apart, side by side...just about any way you can think of.  Mathew enjoys sports but after awhile he looses interest and usually ends up in the playhouse or playing with his cars or in the sand box.  Not Zachary, that boy lives and breaths sports.  You name the sport he will be there to play for as long as we allow.  This year he has started to excel at more sports, particularly basketball.  He keeps wanting us to raise the net higher and higher so he can play "just like my daddy".  Ahh cute little buddy!

This picture reminds me of the quote "Dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them!"

Silly

Sometimes the silliness is a welcome break from the normal routine!  I love how kids can just make us laugh when we least expect it.  On the day below I was alone with the twins getting them ready to go somewhere.  I was going through the checklist, everyone has a coat, rubber boots, snacks etc.  I turned to find little Zachy staring at me like this and couldn't help but bursting out in laughter.  Sometimes you just need to embrace the silliness and laugh until it hurts!

Base Easter Egg Hunt

Being a military family we like to try and participate in activities that are run at the bases we are posted to.  A week before Easter the base hosted their annual Easter egg hunt.  We used to participate in this yearly when we live in Germany but have only been to it one other time here in North Bay.  Last year it was sooo cold and windy that we could barely last the 5 minutes outside.  This year it was still cold but the sun was out so we were actually able to enjoy the beautiful weather a bit. 

The outing started out with the opportunity to meet the Easter bunny.  The boys thought that was so much fun especially since this Easter bunny liked to give high fives and act silly.

They bring all the kids to the back yard of the building and explain the rules.  Every child is to pick three eggs.  The boys made their plans on which eggs they were going to pick.  They discussed which colours they would pick.  Zach concocted the plan that he would run to the eggs right beside the furthest tree.

Then they announce on your marks, get set, go!  All the kids are off and all their plans that they had decided on were down the tubes.  It was so funny, neither one got the colours or locations they had though about.  Mathew said here really wanted to get the far egg but there was this pink one that kept shinning in his eye so he took that one instead hahaha!

This year was a different experience for Jason and I because we didn't have to help the boys get their eggs at all.  They waited in line, listened to the directions and ran and got their eggs all on their own and then ran back to show us their loot.

After you collect your eggs you go inside and they open them up and give you three prizes.  Zachary ended up with all chocolate and Mathew received three tiny toys.  It was really cute to see the boys in the car with their loot.  Zachary volunteered to share his chocolate and Mathew said the bunny must have made a mistake so he opened up his pack of 4 wooden coloring eggs and gave 2 to Zach.  He claimed that it would not be fun to do if Zach didn't have any!  Ahhh sweet boys!

Easter Wishes

I will definately write a longer easter post in the next day or two but just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter.  Our family had an absolutely fantastic weekend and we hope all of you guys did too!

Little easter sneak peak.....

Hope you guys were as excited as we were at our house for Easter!

The Chair Evolution

The Evolution of Our Chairs

The weather has been warming up here and Jason and I have started our spring cleaning.  We have two lofts in our garage that we rotate the seasonal equipment from.  Up goes all the ski’s etc into the storage area and down come the golf clubs, bikes etc.  The back part of the storage area is all the baby stuff that we decided to keep.  When I was up there last weekend I realized just how much stuff we actually have!  Having the twins meant having two of almost everything.  I had to move a highchair over to get something down and that’s when Jason and I got to discussing just how many 'eating' type of chairs we have gone through since the boys have been born and just how much of a help they each were at different stages of the boys lives. 

Their first chairs that we used for feeding were actually their bouncy chairs.  We would sit them both in their bouncy chairs and that would allow one adult to easily feed two babies at once! 

Once solid food started the boys moved into their highchairs.  We had peg perego highchairs with wipeable material backs.  I would highly recommend highchairs that are easy to wipe because many meals got very messy!!  They had a removable insert on the tray so easy to grab it and bring it to the sink to wash. 

To be honest though our highchair trays were very easy to remove but often I just removed the entire thing!  Another nice feature was that they were able to go from a slightly reclining to upright position as the boys grew. 





The height was adjustable as well which was nice because I would put them at the highest position if I was standing to feed them or at table height if I was sitting on the kitchen chair.  We used their highchairs until they were 2.5 years old for every meal!  Yes that is right, we pulled their chairs up beside the table and they ate all their meals with us in their highchairs!! 

They received bumbo’s and tray’s as gifts for their first Christmas.  They used them to play in but we also used them as highchairs to travel with when they were still pretty young.  They were pretty small and easy to pack.

The boys went to an at home daycare for 2 months starting when they were 10 months old.  We purchased portable booster chairs that attached to seats for their daycare provider.  We also used these for meals and traveling once the boys became too big to eat in bumbo’s anymore.  We still used these until about 6 months ago as booster seats for when we went to visit people.  With the trays attached they were perfect; especially when we were visiting friends that did not already have kid stuff.  We just left them in the back of the truck for the longest time and would run out to get them whenever we needed them.

The stokke trip trap highchair that we purchased almost 2 years ago now are still being used to this day and I foresee we will still be using them for years to come.  They have been absolutely fantastic.  There are about 10 different slots that you can input the actual seat and then the foot rest in.  They match our table perfectly so I will say that 99% of the people who come to our house and eat with us don’t even realize that the boys have a different chair then everyone else at the table.  We can just adjust the seat part down as the boys grow to make sure they are always at the right height at the table.  They never have to sit on their knees in order to reach the table like the rest of us.  I also love the fact that their feet/legs are then supported.   To me it is more comfy when my feet rest of the floor on my chair in comparison to when they dangle so I think it’s the same for them too.

In the above picture you can see that they are at the same height as adults at the table.

This is a picture from halloween.  You can see the chair from the side here and see how their feet are supported.

And that my friend has been the evolution of the boys chairs so far.  They are all completely different yet have each served us with a different stage in our boys feeding.  Which different types of chairs have you tried and loved and/or hated?

St Patrick's Day Craft

Well I have no idea how the month of March seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye!  I swear it just started.  Even though the time has flown, I don’t want to forget some of the things that have made this month memorable for us.

St. Patrick ’s Day was on a Saturday this year.  At first I was a little disappointed that the boys wouldn’t be at school to celebrate but then I realized we would get to do activities all day long as a family.

The day started out with green eggs.  The boys cracked the eggs (yes I still cringe at the thought of all the mess that occurs but they are actually learning how to do it and enjoy helping so that is what counts right?). 

 Jason and I wore our hats we had bought for a St Patty’s day we celebrated in Ireland (pre-kids hahaha).  The boys loved them so much they wanted to make their own st Patrick’s Day hats so later that day we made them some.

We painted rainbows, talked about leprechauns, talked about chasing rainbows and about clovers.  We talked about Ireland and all the pretty sights there.  We talked about Saint Patrick himself.  It was fun just learning new things all together.  It’s amazing how you can incorporate lessons into anything with kids.  To them painting rainbows was just a fun craft, to me it gave me a chance to first teach/go over the colours of the rainbows with them, talk about how secondary colours are made and see firsthand colour mixing. 

That morning we went as a family to the maple syrup shack sporting our green attire of course.

We took our annual st Patrick ’s Day picture.  The boys thought it was hilarious to see the pose from when they were really little.  I can’t believe how quickly they are growing!!

Mathew and I finished our evening by visiting my grandmother in the hospital.  He wore his hat he had made and brought paper and markers to draw her St Patrick ’s Day pictures and hang them on her board.

Back to normal

Wow it’s been way too long!  Things at our house have been hectic to say the least.  A lot of ups and downs in the last month but finally our house has returned to normal….or as “normal” as it ever is!  Our family has been really able to enjoy some great family time lately.  As the weather warms up I think there will be even more opportunities in the near future. 

So I’ll start with a few little catch up posts!

The boy’s attended a friend’s birthday party a week ago.  It was at Creative Learning here in town and they had an absolute blast.  It was the first time that we didn’t really know the parents but they just ran off and had a great time.  They did tons of crafts, activities and even came home with their faces painted.  This was shocking to us because they don’t typically like face painting.  We have painted on each other’s faces at home before but every time we are at an event they ask to pass on the face painting.  Mathew came home as our little tiger

and Zachary was Spot the dog.  He preferred to be called spot until the minute the makeup came off.

It was neat seeing the boys interact with some friends that they had made only through school.  Lot's of their other school friends they also know through activities or playdates.  It was the cutest thing ever when the little brithday girl came over to give them huge hugs.  The look of joy on their faces was enough to make my day!