One thing that people don't tell you about parenthood is the amount of birthday parties you will attend and have to throw. 

One of our friends had her very first birthday this year and her parents threw her a fantastic party. Charlotte and Ethan had a lot of fun.

Ethan, ever-creative, eats this birthday cupcake hands-free.

He looks pretty proud of himself.

Charlotte turned three this April and we had a small party to celebrate. She was pretty jazzed. Balloons and presents and cupcakes. Three of her favourite things.

Cousin Tai's birthday is in the same month, so here we are, more cake and good times. 

Ethan enjoyed the party mostly because he found this broom to play with.

Mom of course had another birthday.

And we had the gang over to our place to celebrate Nan's birthday. 

Here is Charlotte helping Nan blow out the candles on her ice cream cake a la Amy. So yummy!

But, there are other fun things to celebrate throughout the year, besides birthdays. Like Easter Egg hunts. This April, we still had snow on the ground but the Easter bunny still visited and the kids went a-hunting.

This was Ethan's stance for the whole egg hunt. Not a lot of searching or finding was done by this guy. And yes, that white stuff in the background is snow.

This was his other pose: looking over to the right.

He started to move around when he spotted this rocking horse.

Miss Charlotte on the other hand was all over the hunt! 

I see you little pink egg.

Yep Ethan, your basket is still empty.

But we don't actually spend all our time at parties. We tend to stick close to home and when the weather is nice, we head out back to the pool. Ethan has learned to swim with a life jacket and Charlotte continues to be quite adept with her water wings.

Ethan swimming solo with Dad nearby.

Miss Charlotte and her fabulous smile.

Two water monkeys.

Ethan the duck.

Well, that's the news for now. Until next time!

Little personalities

At the beginning of February, Ethan finally caught up to his sister and tipped the scales at 25 pounds.

Here are the monkeys side by side, completely composed and not trying to wriggle free from Dad's arms.

It didn't last very long though, Ethan is now 26 and Charlotte 28 pounds. They are pretty close to wearing the same size clothes albeit Charlotte is still slightly taller (and thinner!).

They share a lot of similarities. The most obvious one is their very specific love of thumb-sucking-while-holding-the-tag-of-their-blankie-to-their-nose. Charlotte's blanket of choice is her pink babyphat one. Ethan, luckily, has four favourite ones so Mom can actually launder one while he dirties up another.

But, Ethan would probably be okay with just one blanket as evidenced here. He can easily substitute peanut butter toast as a blanket taggie. Yes, that's right, he's holding a piece of toast to his nose while he sucks his thumb.

Ethan is also very easy going. Apparently, his daycare provider can get him to sit still long enough to paint his toenails. 

All set for spring with my new pedicure.

We go to a lot of museums. It has been a good winter for them since Ethan is not very steady on his feet in the snow. The Children's Museum is one of our favourites. 

Charlotte at having maple taffy for the first time at the Children's Museum.

Charlotte driving the bus.

Making herself a sundae.

Here they are swabbing the deck.

The mops were Ethan's absolute favourite toys at the museum. He played with them for close to a whole hour. He especially liked it when he had both mops.

Even when taking a break from mopping, he liked to have one close at hand. It was hard to say good-bye to them when we had to head home.

They are becoming better friends. It is quite sweet to see them play together.

And, they are still excellent sleepers. 

hello 2014

The good thing about a lag between posts is that there are a lot of photos to choose from. And that makes things a lot easier for us. So here we go!

Let's start at Fall 2013. It was a beautiful season here in Ottawa. Lots of sun and so the family got to spend lots of outdoor time. Charlotte and Ethan both love jumping in leaves, not hard to believe!

Here is Charlotte getting ready to be buried under a pile of leaves. It was a game that never got old.

And here she is popping out. How happy a pile of leaves can make a 2 year old.

Ethan was all smiles and giggles.

So much fun! (Aside: this is probably the only photo we have of everyone smiling at the same time.)

Here is Charlotte and Mom posing for a nice pic.

Ethan and his best friend: soccer ball. No surprise, his official first word was "ball"

Oh soccer ball, you're so great. 

But not as great as my big sis. Love you!
A rare kiss. So fortunate that we had the camera handy.

October 2013 was Ethan's first birthday. He had his first party, his first cupcake, and his first introduction to presents.

Ethan was a bit apprehensive about the happy birthday song.

But not at all shy about diving into his cupcake. 

There's nothing like a good thumb suck after a chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting.....mmmm.......

Charlotte, like a good big sis, helped Ethan unwrap (and play with) his birthday presents. 

Ethan modelling his new Sens jams. Thanks Nan and Dada!

Ethan modelling his new cars hoodie with froggie. Thanks Auntie Tina!

Ethan in his fab sweater. Thanks Uncle Chris and Aunt Carol and cousins Meghan and Emma!

Halloween was great fun! Charlotte was super excited about trick-or-treating and absolutely loved her costume. She wanted to be kitty-cat all day. In fact, she still likes to wear her costume around the house to this day.

Dad and Charlotte carved our pumpkins this year.

Ethan as a bear.

Charlotte the cat trick-or-treating at the Thompsons.

Kitty-cat and bear with candy.

The rarest of the rare: Kitty-cat sharing candy with bear. 

After trick-or-treating, Ethan was ready to hit the clubs.

No one could have anticipated how much Charlotte would love Christmas. All things Christmas: Christmas songs, Christmas decorations, and of course Christmas food.

Charlotte could not stop decorating the tree. She put the ornaments on and then ceremoniously took them off about 4 times in a row. Mom had to eventually shut it down and put her in bed so the tree could actually be decorated.

The finished product. Of course, there are a few handmade ornaments by Charlotte and Ethan on the tree.

Ethan got just what he wanted from Santa- yet another soccer ball!!!

Few people know about Santa's 10th reindeer!

Mmmmmmm, stale gingerbread!!!

Mom and Dad's favourite presents for the monkeys were these matching pj's!  (Complete with matching trap doors!)