Easton's 3rd Birthday!

Easton had a great 3^rd Birthday!  He got to have both sets of Grandparents there, so he was very excited.  Uncle Brent and my friend Andrea also came to celebrate and we had Thanksgiving dinner together, then Easton’s birthday cake and presents.  Easton loved his train cake.  It was fun to make, but of course took too much time!  His favourite part was the candy.  He hardly ate any of the cake – it was all about the candy. 

We got him a train table that a friend of mine made and was ready to part with.  Easton loves it and it is big enough that both he and Cassia can play on it and not fight ALL the time.  Actually, they do a pretty good job.

He also got some other neat gifts.  He thought that the remote on his remote-controlled car was an iPod. J  And he is enjoying the tractors that go along with his barn. 

Cupcakes Easton took to daycare.

Setting up the cake.

Okay, I think he loves it!

Other views...

We had a good time and I can’t believe Easton is three.  What a big boy!



It's been 5 months?!?!?!?!

Oh my.  Talk about inconsistent!  I guess I'll need to make a few posts to catch up on the highlights of the past 5 months.  Although, I'm sure if anyone was checking my blog, they have stopped now.  Oh well...

I'll start back with October and Easton's Birthday Pictures.

Mom and Dad's Visit

It was nice to have Mom and Dad here visiting for a week!  We didn't have great weather, but it was still nice to stick around home most of the time.  Cassia and Easton enjoyed spending lots of time with Mimi and Pawpaw.  They went for walks with Pawpaw and Mimi read them books and showed them how to make "Mimi's Candy". 

Mom and Dad got here on Easton's birthday, but they kept getting delayed so the kids were asleep by the time they got to our house.  Not very common delays at that: one forest fire and hitting one deer.  Luckily all was okay and they got here in one piece.  Sunday was the Winnipeg Jets first home game.  Since no one had tickets, they watched the game at home.  I spent the day getting ready for Monday (Canadian Thanksgiving and Easton's birthday party) and Mom helped.  We also went to Mom and Dad Warkentin's for lunch and had yummy borscht and pie.

Monday we were having Easton's birthday party and since it was also Thanksgiving, I made my first turkey.  Mom helped make Thanksgiving dinner and I also had to finish Easton's cake, so it was a full day.  (More on Easton's birthday in a separate post.)  Well, I think the turkey turned out pretty well as did the other trimmings we had.  Mom and Dad Warkentin, Brent, Mom and Dad Myers and Andrea were all there.  No one got food poisoning (that I know of) so I think it was a success!

The rest of the week we just did things around home and had a couple of outings.  I was so mad at myself for not taking many pictures.  Luckily Mom thought to upload the pictures from her camera to our computer so I have hers.  I worked on Tuesday and Thursday so Mom and Dad had the kids on their own those days.  Cassia liked having Pawpaw pick her up after Kindergarten!  They went to McDonalds one day and the Children's Garden and Playground another day where they also fed the ducks and geese.  We had thought of going to the Corn Maze, but it was just too chilly and wet to have been any fun. 

Picture Day at School

Dad made shelves in Easton's closet which was really great and saved me tons of money on a closet system.  He also fixed a few other things around the house as well as Easton's barn and finished the shingles on Cassia's doll house.  Mom made our Christmas batch of turtles - and I got to lick the pan! :)  She also made truffles, so we will already be set for holiday gatherings! 

We also went to Tony Roma's for my early birthday supper, which was really good!  And then on their way out we had to go get a baked apple pancake - yummmm!

It was a great time, thanks for coming Mom and Dad!

Settling Into Routine

It seems like we are settling back into routine.  Today was a good drop-off at daycare.  Cassia has actually been having a lot of trouble when I drop her off.  I think it is mainly because she wants to line up outside with her teacher for school rather than be walked over by daycare staff.  But today she saw her friends and went right in to do a craft.  Didn't even look back.  Easton usually cries, but today he just had a pouty lip.  There were only about 3 birds that could fit on it today.  He whimpered for 1/2 second when I left, but then was okay.  I'm glad they are both feeling more comfortable there. 

Cassia loves everything about Kindergarten.  She has gym every other day and loves it, which probably makes her Daddy proud.  She also loves going to the library and music class.  She often recites the rules of Kindergarten and likes to sing the songs they learn to remember things like days of the week, etc.  Yesterday she exclaimed, "Mrs. Whitely is the best teacher in the world!!!"  So I think things are going well on that end!

Easton is doing so well with potty training.  He goes on his own and doesn't have #1 accidents anymore, although he's having more trouble with the other!  He is not trained at night, but he will sometimes get up in the middle of the night to go, so I think that is pretty good!  He is still excited about it and thankfully Cassia likes to look and see what he has done so I don't have to all the time!!!

Ryan is settling into his new job as well.  It is quite a different atmosphere from his last school, so that will continue to take some adjustment.  But so far, he has a much more predictable schedule, which is nice for all of us.  I'm just trying to keep up with everything and so far, it's going better than I thought it would! 

(I wrote this a few weeks ago and forgot to post it!  So I guess I'll post it now...)

The end of an Era

Tomorrow will be the end of an era. Tomorrow I will have a child in school for the first time. And tomorrow I believe I will also have one very proud daughter. Cassia is so excited. And at her "Meet the Teacher" time yesterday, she saw that her good friend from her previous daycare is in her class. The girls were thrilled!

So tonight will be some excitement deciding what to wear, preparing the backpack and packing a snack. Cassia is excited to show off her "indoor shoes" that are bright colors and sparkly.

I'll update and, of course, I'll have to post a first day of school picture!

Potty Training

Well, we choose the perfect time to potty train.  I mean both kids were starting a new daycare, Cassia starts Kindergarten in a week and Ryan is starting a new position at a new school.  Add onto that the knowledge that I received on Sunday (the 2nd day of potty training) that I was supposed to have been filing U.S. tax returns every year for the last 11 years.  And that even though I don't owe any taxes, I could be penalized and fined crazy amounts because I didn't file.  Oh, and the deadline for filing with reduced penalties was three days away.

Yes, the perfect time to potty train.  Not stressful at all.  No big transitions. 

Well, the boy is really catching on, so I just couldn't put a damper on his progress and start again another time.  He is so proud of himself and is very excited when he has any successes.  He even got up yesterday morning while I was in the shower and Ryan was still sleeping and went by himself!  It was in the little potty that happened to be in the living room at the time and he tried to carry the contents to dump it himself, but I guess it was a little hard to balance and the floor got the raw end of that deal.  I guess I did too for having to clean it up.  But oh well, that was a big step! 

So hopefully he keeps this up and he'll be rid of diapers soon!

New Daycare

Well, today was the first day for both kids at the daycare at Cassia's school.  Cassia had to be at this one because she will be starting Kindergarten in September and we aren't able to pick her up and take her to daycare half way through the day.  And since I could get Easton in as well, we switched both of them to the same one for just ONE drop off.  I am so thankful for that!  And the school is closer to home than our previous daycare, so that is great. 

We went to visit a couple days ago with the kids and Cassia cried.  Not at the prospect that she was going to stay there.  She cried because she couldn't stay all day and also that the kids her age were at an outing so she couldn't meet them.  Easton was thrilled with all the new toys, but he wanted to make sure we weren't staying. 

Unfortunately they will be in different rooms. Easton is the oldest one in the toddler room, but he is in there since he isn't potty trained yet. He is a stubborn one too! So we are going to work with the daycare to get him trained ASAP so that he can move over to be with the older kids. Although I am NOT convinced the time to try (again) to train him is when he is just starting at a new daycare, when Cassia is just starting Kindergarten and when Ryan is starting a new position at a new school. Well, I guess we'll see...

I was very nervous for today, expecting a clinging/crying show with Easton.  I figured Cassia would march right in and ask someone to be her friend.  So I said goodbye to Cassia and Ryan took her to her room.  He said she was sad and said she missed her friends at her other daycare, but she went in and started to play.  By the time I got back over to her room, she was playing in the play house with the girls and they were already long-time friends.

I stayed with Easton for a little bit, but he was very enthralled with the toys.  He wanted to keep his Snoedley, but he put it in a safe spot.  I figured I wouldn't make a big deal of anything, so after a bit I went over and told him that I had to go to work and he was going to stay here. 
Easton:  Is Cassia going to stay here?
Me:  Yes.
Easton:  Is Daddy going to stay here?
Me:  No, Daddy has to go to work, but he will come and pick you up in the afternoon.
Easton:  Are you coming back?
Me:  Yes, we are always coming back.  Dad will pick you up later, okay?
Easton:  Okay.

A kiss and a hug and that was it.  He didn't even watch me leave - he just went back to his toys.  First day of daycare and no tears.  Okay, so I cried when I left, but someone had to cry on the first day!

I assume next week will be a bit harder since, now that I think about it, the first day usually isn't as bad - it's the 2nd and 3rd days.  But they are only there 3 days a week now since they are at Grandma and Grandpa's one day and home with me another day.  So maybe that will be a good mix. 

Editted to add:  It is now one week later and I forgot to post this, so I'll add an update.  Easton did, in fact, have a hard time after he realized that I really left.  This made Monday's drop off really really hard and I had to just leave before I started crying really hard.  I hate leaving him at a new place.  He has a really good time when he is there, but when I pick him up the first thing he says is, "Mommy, I cried when you left because I didn't want you to go."  I think he knows already how to get me.