Video time

Good morning!  It took all night to load to youtube, but I have some more videos to post for interested family and friends!  Note... that video quality is quite lacking, sorry if it makes you motion sick!!

Madelynne with some VERY high heeled Red Shoes!

Boys pirate birthday party, Arrgh!

Boys singing Happy Birthday to Madelynne.

Madelynne blowing out breakfast birthday candles.

Some cool XMas hats.

Birthday party with Abby.

"Two" "Dos"

How is it that my baby has turned two?  Or as she prefers to say, "Dos!"
Her first mini party was with Papa and Bama, blowing out the candle was a bit scary.
The second mini party was with Aunty Laura and Aunty Julie before they left till mid January.  Candles were getting interesting.
On the morning of her birthday, we had to keep re-lighting the candle since she was having so much fun blowing it out!
She lucked out that the BioWare Children's Holiday Party was the same day, so a fun time was had at Busy Bees with a bunch of other kids and Santa was there too, which the boys liked but not Madelynne!
Today after meeting we had her good friend Abby, Abby's mummy, daddy and Uncle Clinton stay for lunch.  Unfortunately Madelynne was sick with a tummy bug allllllll day.  But she cheered up for blowing out more candles and opening presents and a little bit of fun.  You'd never know she was really sick from the pictures!
I'm really looking forward to this year with Madelynne.  She has so much character and constantly surprises me with what she comes up with and is very good natured.  She knows what she wants and is adored by us all!  She's constantly getting in the middle of her brothers, and she is very much a Daddy's girl.  I still get plenty of loves and snuggles, I'm not left out :) It's going to be a fun year!  Love this girlie to the moon and back and more!

Party with Laura and Julie

Breakfast Party

At Busy Bees

Dora party with Abby

6 YEARS OLD!!!

How did this happen?  My boys are 6 today!
I really need to write about them individually, but soooo tired after today!
The boys wanted a pirate party, they got one!
We "walked the plank", played "sleeping crocs" and "musical islands", had pizza and cake, then finished with a treasure hunt.
14 kids was a bit over zealous... lesson learned!  But they all had fun and I loved watching them have fun.  My friend Sinead who's boy is in the same class helped me out, sure needed her with them all.  Ruben hid in his man cave!
We had 3 cakes this year!  I thought I'd go easy and order one.  Then my conscience got me yesterday thinking they can't share a cake.  So I went and bought 2 little sponge cakes and decorated them this morning so they had their own cakes to blow out!

The two boys are just... ahhh.... how to put it without bragging... simply put... I'm just so proud of who they've become, love them to bits.



I tired to look piratey... but I think I look frazzled!

 And so that I have my treasure hunt clues documented, here they are.

#1


Ahoy, look where you sleep

But go quietly… don’t make a peep

There under the sky so blue

I’m happy to say is clue #2

#2

Yo Ho, look where you bath

Be careful not to swashbuckle or splash

Is the message washed ashore

Or was it left behind the door?

It is free me matey’s, so go find clue #3.

#3.

Walk down the hall and on down the stairs

Arrr me matey’s, you must

find the room that has magic dust.

Be careful, no slamming doors

and you will see clue #4.

#4.

Toys arrrrrr here, toys arrrrrr there,

Toys arrrrrr everywhere.

Find me a good place to dive

And you’ll discover clue #5.

#5.

A pirate likes a warm flame

Surrounded by books and games

Warm up your hands

Clue #6 is not in the sand.

#6.

If me matey’s dare

Go down the stair

Find me some booties

Clue #7 will be under ye footies!

#7.

Me matey’s arrrrr hungry for some grub

But first me dishes could use a big scrub

It is when scrubbing the plates

You’ll find clue #8.

#8.

Ahhh, me matey’s arrrrr smart

You’ve found 7 clues, now to find ancient art

It’s the MAP ye so badly need

Ye may find it where pirates can have a good feed.

Where to start...

So much has happened since the last post!
But for now, I'm going to jump to today with a new post.
Stay tunned!

Another Adventure

I have more up-dates to put up between the last post and this, but thought I'd just add a quick one now of the now!
My parents are on their way to visit us!!  And if you know my hubby and how he loves road trips, when him and my father were planning this "surprise" visit (surprise didn't last long :)), Ruben decided we'd drive to London to pick them up!!
So here we are on another road adventure and the kids as always, are doing great, it's mommy who gets exhausted!  But Ruben is de-stressing, driving does that for him.
Friday after school we drove 50 minutes, checked out a car dealer, bought a car for Ruben, then kept going and finally arrived at our hotel in Rosslare 5 hours after leaving home!
Boys woke earlier than necessary, very excited for a ferry ride!
8:45 the Isle of Inishmore ferry set off and 4 hours later we were driving off the ferry in Pembroke, Wales.  The ferry was great the first 2 hours, there is a kids play area, children's theatre, games room, but come hour 3, they were ready to get off!
3 hours after that we were in Bath, England, but not soon enough to see the Roman Baths :(
Oh well, save that for another day.  A very cute city tho!  Stunning setting, surrounded by hills, very lush and green, just gorgeous.
After a walk around Bath, off to Chippenham for the night.
Sunday AM we got to a special tiny meeting just outside of Chippenham, then headed over to the Stonehenge.  I wasn't really interested to go, Ruben had been and thought I should go.  Once there, it's like, WOW, amazing.  Hearing the story behind it all and still to this day the big question on really why they went to all that effort to make it, verses all the speculation.... Anyway, I'm glad we went!
1 hour after that we were at our second home, the Sofitel at Terminal 5 at London Heathrow!  
Today Ruben is off working, we are hanging out in the hotel and have something hopefully exciting for the kids at 7PM... the London Eye!!  (Mommy wants to do this)
Then the most exciting thing, Papa and Bama arrive bright and early tomorrow!  We cannot wait!
I worry about the boys missing another 3 days of school, but really, they are getting way more education on this little jaunt!  And we will do our homework :)

Daddy's office

Last post of the day!  The boys are very intrigued with Daddy's new office, just a couple more pictures!

 

Customer Serivce area, part of it...



A cool white chair

This chair is in the front entry of Daddy's work building.  Madelynne loves it.  We've been there a bit recently, and we always have to stop and swing around in this chair :)

All about Ruben

He'll be horrified, but this post is about my hubby!  He's put in A TONNE of time, energy, headaches, miles... into BioWare Ireland, the new facility, etc.  These pictures are from this past Monday, the opening of the new facility, where the Taoiseach Mr. Enda Kenny attended as well.  (Ireland's Prime Minister).  It's been a long time since I'd been to a social event like that with all the political folks and media.  Met the Mayor of Galway, she was very friendly, and had our picture with the Taoiseach, he is charismatic, makes you feel at ease and have a good laugh.  I'm curious to see those pictures when ever they show up. Also in these pictures are fellow Albertans, Ray and Greg, Co-Founders of BioWare, etc. 
I have to say, my hubby looked VERY handsome! :)

And pictures of Ruben in the magazine EDGE this month.

Recent photo favs

I absolutely adore this picture!

We saw this and thought of Uncle Ty, then saw the price tag and forgot about Uncle Ty :)

Being shy.

Pizza night while Daddy was working.

Crazies!  I actually bought these suckers for the plane, but forgot then as they were asleep.

Mason up close and personal.