Birthday Boy

Today, is my handsome hubby's 27th birthday...

... but our celebrations happened a day early this time around! 

Jon had plans to get his restricted gun licence (it's kinda like concealed carrier in the States, but not... cause Canada is a PEACE LOVING country and will allow no such thing!) today, then tonight he and some friends from Jer and Joe's church are out shooting skeet and eating meat until their hearts content! 

All in all... a very fitting evening for the birthday boy!

SO... last night our little family did our best to let Daddy know how much we loved him!

We made him his favorite supper - farmers sausage, perogies, grilled red peppers, and green beans. Though, I gotta be honest, cause the pictures don't lie...

I asked HIM to grill on his BIG DAY.

(The carabiner on the back of Larren's shirt is compliments of big sister... apparently it's how we roll these days!)

I know, I know... I still feel bad... but at the rate supper was going I would have been standing at that grill all night!! So Jonathan happily obliged with kiddos in tow!

Alia just HAD to put balloons somewhere, so we decorated Jon's chair with his favorite colors and a little medical tape for added flair!

After supper the girls took Daddy on a treasure hunt for his birthday gift.

Upstairs they went... with lots of "Nope, not here(s)" and then I finally heard Alia say, "Let's just go look in the bath tub." The novelty of the hunt must have been wearing off! :)

GASP! Low and behold, it was there!

Since I'm too cheap to wrap such a big gift in nice wrapping paper, when I know Jon won't care... we were left with only ONE gift bag (large enough) in our stash. A pretty ole' flowery one! :)

And as you can imagine, the girls were ever so curious as to see what Daddy was getting! I knew Alia would try her hardest... but still wasn't convinced she could keep a secret, so the only tip off I gave her was "a tool!" 

And because Daddy is so smart, he knew what "tool" it was even before he opened the case!

Though I think he was quite surprised! A Snap On cordless impact has been on his Christmas list for several, several years! 

The chitlins are never too young to get a proper lesson on how to use such fang findangled things!

Alia was impressed with the power. a.k.a. How loud and fast she could make it spin when she pushed the button!

And if big sister gets to play with it, than little sister will be by her side faster than you can say little Miss. Mechanic!

After another mini lesson for the little one, she was ready for a turn...

We couldn't get a clear reading as to Larren's evaluation of the power...

... she was just in pure shock that the thing could actually talk!! :)

After our little tool school, we zipped to town to OFFICIALLY register Jon's old '47 Chevy as his daily driver (a long awaited day for him!) and went to our favorite hang out spot for ice cream!

Once again, I'm so blessed that I get to "do life" with this amazing man... and am wishing him another year of soul deep smiles, fresh revelation, new experiences, safety (I'm a mom... it's ever on my mind now!), and blessings as he blesses others.

Happy Birthday, my love!

The Pic Pickle

So remember when I asked ya'll THIS question? I wanted your imput on the pictures being bigger, and if that was actually better? Well, no one really mentioned any pros or cons (a reminder that I'm really just writing this ole' blog for moi and ma grand-mère!!) so I kept going with plan B. 

But after a month or so of plan B, I've noticed a glitch. 

Let's let my lovely 3 year old model assist us in demonstrating this glitch, shall we?!


** Experimental note**
These pics are all straight out of the camera without a lick of editing... which, of course, ya'll know is my lazy habit!

Photo 1 - Plan A
 .... mmm, nothing like picking blue corn chips out of your teeth and having Mommy document it!! 

Photo 1 - Plan B

Photo 2 - Plan A

Photo 2 - Plan B

Photo 3 - Plan A
 ... blue corn chips for all the world to see, thanks Mom! 

Photo 3 - Plan B

and finally, last but not least (just to drive the point home for me and Gramma!!)...

Photo 4 - Plan A
 ... this was her "happy face", as she liked to call it. Maybe she's trying to tell me something, eh?! 

Photo 4 - Plan B

So... all that to say what?!?

Plan A it is! And now I wanna go back and change every picture ever uploaded for like the last month. If my fairy blog mother would like to step in and do that for me, that would be much appreciated!

Experiment officially over.

Thank you, and we will now resume with your regular scheduled program!

:)

Park Play Mate

Yesterday I promised Alia we would go to the park, since it was such a nice day... but my mid-afternoon the timing simply still wasn't working out. Which means we had one sad little pumpkin pie. So... I e-mailed Jon and asked how a park date sounded after supper? He was all in, and Alia was all smiles as I made a big hurrah about DADDY going with us when he got home!

What can I say? Daddy always makes a park run better!

Maybe it's his carefree nature, or the extra set of (way more fun than Mommy's) hands, or because the girls are thrilled with every minute they spend with him, or because he lets them go on item after item after item... no matter how many times they ask!

Whatever it is... Daddy makes everything more fun!

Alia's always a tad bit more adventurous when Daddy is close by! :)

While Alia and Daddy climb the highest mountain, Mommy and Larren play it safe on the kiddie slide!

The new found rocket ship sure became a hit!

Monkey see...

monkey do.

But again... when Daddy's close by, there's no fear! He's not telling them to be careful every 5 minutes like someone else they know!

And he was more than willing to check out the new splash park at the first ohh and ahh that escaped the girls mouths!

We had to smile at Larren's hand positioning. She was right... no matter how much we tried to help her get a better grip!

Though now that I've brought it up... she seems to be a tad bit shy about it....

so just smile and keep the pushes coming if you happen to be the next chosen park play mate!

Spring-Summer Sun

I was surprised when my calendar informed me that summer doesn't officially start until next Tuesday. With that surprise also came an instant wave of hope! Maybe, just maybe, Manitoba will get it's crazy weather patterns figured out and this sun again / rain again thing will leave it's system! We are still in Spring, so maybe Summer will bring consistent warmth and day after day at the beach/splash park! We can sure hope!

On those random days that we have been blessed with sunshine, we've been outside as much as we can stand it! (Though I should add we're still sporting the "pasty white" look... I'm "crossing my fingers" for an actual tan one of these years!!)

And if you've noticed a little trend here on the ole' bloggity blog, you know that snack time is one of our favorite indoor meets outdoor events!

Ummm... do you have a licence for that thing?!?

If you look in one lens of Alia's sunglasses you will see what the lovely humidity does to Mommy's crazy hair... and if you look in the other you will see little sister being a good warm weather girl and staying well hydrated! :) 

I know you guys are starting to wonder... but I assure you, we do more than snack all day long! It's just that snack time brings both girls together, content, in one spot, sitting still and the urge to escape my lens with every fiber of their body is mild for the moment.... so it's an easy photo op for me! That being said, I'll do my best to document the parts of the day that we're actually up and moving the ole' muscles!

I hope you are able to soak up some rays and sport the shorts in whatever corner of the country you may be in! As for us... well, we're glad that every thing matches white cause our summer shade won't be darkening anytime in the near future. Rain, rain, and more rain for the weekend! :)

Baby # 3 - 16 weeks

Still big and getting bigger.

BUT... am now feeling the baby as he/she flitter flutters around! Love. It. Makes my heart flitter flutter right along with him/her! :)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Psst.

Have I mentioned that we're finding out if we're having a boy or girl this time around?!?! I'm so super duper excited about that! We've done the "surprise way" twice now, and just once I'd like to experience what's it's like "the other way!" Made the official appt. this week, so in July we'll know!

But... pstt.

Have I mentioned that we're going to try and keep it a surprise from the rest of ya'll. Mean, I know! But fun, none the less!

:)