Five.

Yes, five. 

Well, six birthdays, five full years.

Tell me, does a mother ever get used to these things?

I registered him for kindergarten earlier this week, and I drove right past the school first.

I made it in on the second try, but barely. I always thought it was a little silly when people talked about crying when they drop their child off for their first day of school. I don't think that anymore.

This boy is such a sweetheart. In five years he has gone from a sweet baby to a sweet and articulate boy. I say articulate because one of the most amazing things about him is his ability to put things into words. Almost daily he spontaneously pipes up with some sweet declaration of his love for Mason or I (or both). A couple weekends ago he randomly spoke up and said, "Mom, don't you know eternity means forever? I'll love you for eternity. Even when you pass away and I pass away, I'll still love you." We weren't talking about love, forever or death before that at all. 

He just melts my heart. I'm so lucky to be this sweet boy's mom.

Happy 5th Birthday, Gavin.

Acire Adventures is 3!

I don't know how these things sneak up so quickly. Birthdays, you know. Today this blog has been up and running for 3 whole years! Despite the lull that my blog seems to be in, recognizing that it's been here for 3 years is motivation to keep it up. Like I said a while back, I may not have much for you until school is over, but I plan on getting back to it when I can.

Thanks for reading!

Gavin's Birthday Party

So I was reviewing my 25 before 25 list, and remembered that this was on the list. Gavin's birthday party was over a month ago now, but it did happen. We had 3 of his friends from daycare over for a couple hours and did cake, presents and a couple games. 

The kids were crazy! I can't imagine having more than 4 little boys in the house at once! But it was fun and I'm glad we did it. I modified a couple party games to fit our dinosaur theme and their age. One was "pin the tail on the dinosaur"

The other was a game that let them all open a present. I thought this might be a good thing since kids this age often really want to 'help' the birthday boy/girl open their gifts.

Mostly, they just wanted to play with all of Gavin's toys. It was definitely a good lesson in sharing!

[Note: For obvious reasons, I can't post a bunch of photos of other people's children, so I just chose a couple photos without their faces.]

Happy Friday!

Well, Gavin's birthday is all done now and his new favourite line is, "yeah, well I'm four now". He says this as if it means he is now an adult or something. :)

The weather is gorgeous here today and my best friend is going to become a mom this weekend. I'm so excited, it feels like such a bright day today. We're also having a little birthday party with Gavin's friends this weekend. From what I can tell, we're in for a good one.

I hope your weekend is just as great.

Four.

Today my boy is four. There are no words to describe how shocking that is, in a way. I'm so proud of him, he is the light of my (and Mason's) life. 

Happy Birthday, Gavin!

The Cake

My nephew's birthday was a week ago already and I realized that I forgot to show you the cake. I may not have mentioned it before, but my sister's husband is a very talented guy. You know, he's the musical, gourmet chef, great golfing, cartoon drawing, awesome daddy, engineer. Because that's totally fair, right? :) 

Yes, apparently she knows how to pick 'em. 

Anyways, we know that when we're invited for a meal or a birthday there's going to be something great. So I had to share a couple photos of the fun & amazingly delicious birthday cake he put together for his little guy's birthday...

Amazing, right?

And guess what was inside? Layers of chocolate & red velvet cake with chocolate icing. Yum.

The birthday boy also got to play with his food!

Anyone else have a little case of cake envy?

Ben

I generally don't post here about birthdays if they aren't from my household (because then you'll post some and not others and feel like people will wonder why...), but this little guy will always be an exception. 

Today is Ben's birthday. Ben is my one and only nephew and I love him to bits. It's amazing how much we can love our own kids, but I think it's equally amazing how much we can love our sibling's kids!

This little guy started out quite timid, but at two years old he's such a bundle of fun. Whenever I see him he's either quiet or incredibly loud (not much in between), he can give the best stink-eye if you look at, laugh at, speak to, or come near him without his authorization, and he can give his mom some serious (seriously adorable) attitude in the sweetest little voice you've ever heard. Oh, and he absolutely adores his big cousin Gavin who absolutely adores him.

I'm so grateful for this little guy for so many reasons. Just by being around, he has helped teach Gavin so much about compassion & consideration for those smaller than he (at least once a week Gavin will have a chat with us about which toys at our house are safe for Ben, though he's only been here once). 

And I can't believe that Ben is two. 

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Easy Bunting Birthday Card (printable + tutorial)

Ages ago, I saw this tutorial on How About Orange for a cute bunting birthday card. I've made it a few times and it was really cute, but it was easy to do stuff wrong - the flags would sit wrong, or open up and fall off, or whatever. So I decided to make my own fool-proof version. 

If you want to make one too, here's how...

What you need:

printable template (below)
1 piece of card stock (8.5x11inches)
1 piece of paper (8.5x11 inches)
printer
scissors
pencil
washi tape, markers, or pretty paper
glue stick
pen

How to make it:

Open this image in a new tab or window & save it to your computer.

Print it on an 8.5x11 inch piece of paper or card stock.

Fold the left third under. 
(use the ends of the black lines as a guide: they should end at the fold, but not overlap)

Then use the edge of the third you folded under to trim the right third off.

Use markers, washi tape, or little pieces of paper to make the little flags. Triangles are the easiest, but you could do scalloped flags or any other shape!

Open the card flat & use as a guide for the inner sheet. Mark the length of the card on the white paper in pencil.

Then cut the white sheet 1/4 inch inside the pencil line & trim the other edge the same amount. Fold the white sheet in half and you should have a nice card lining.

Glue along one edge & place the paper sheet inside the card with the folds together. Once it is where you want it, press the glued edge down. 

Write something nice inside.

And send it off! Cute, personal & free.

thoughts on twenty-four

24. So young, but old in a way. Not old, but kind of a surprisingly high number, you know?

I have a funny relationship with my age these days. 
Twenty-four in so young - so young to be settled, to have a three and a half year old child. 
So young to feel as old as I do at times because twenty-four is older than I thought I would be for some of the things I am doing right now  and to still be so far from knowing who I am and what I want my life to be.

I think I'm starting to understand why, in her mid-forties, my mom would say, "I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up". I suspect that people generally don't feel like the person they thought they would be at their current age. 

Twenty-four feels old because I remember being eighteen, nineteen & twenty, looking at people the age I am now and seeing them as much older, wiser and worldly. But who am I kidding, I don't feel at all like they seemed to me then.

I took a look in the mirror the other day and I saw wrinkles... ok not wrinkles, but lines. 
Lines that mark the faces I have made so many times that they are becoming a permanent part of me. 
Lines that are the same as my mother's, the same as my father's. 

And after a milla-second of vain anxiety, I felt proud.

Getting older truly is a privilege.




[yep, I'm 24 today  :)  thanks for reading]

A Quarter Century

Today this guy is a quarter century old. Yep, pretty ancient right? 
Ok not really... 

Happy Birthday Mason!

Love,

Post Birthday Post

So if you stopped by yesterday, you already knew it was Gavin's birthday (thanks for the birthday wishes, those who sent them!). It was such a crazy day, I just had to share it.

It started bright and early. Mason and I got up early to inflate 30 balloons with helium so Gavin could wake up to a balloon filled room. He woke up just after we brought the last of them in and was so happy. He opened some presents, had waffles for breakfast, and went to gymnastics. It was a good morning!

But I guess he was all used up by the end of that. After lunch and a nap he woke up and, well, took out some natural processes on Mason who had just gotten home from work. Poor Mason got peed and then puked on in about half an hour! Even worse, poor Gavin who had his first puke experience (other than spitting up as a baby). I think it was kind of traumatic for him.

He got better and then worse throughout the day, but we still got through the birthday stuff. We were lucky to have Grandma Val here so we didn't have to send the poor sick kid to daycare! He managed to muster up some excitement for the cake even though he didn't really eat any (for the best I'm sure).

It was a good lesson for my perfectionist side. The day before I was worried about timing the balloons right and trying to get the cake to look good, but the actual day was a reminder of how little we have control over and how little the things I can make "perfect" really matter.

When I put him to bed I asked him if he had a good birthday. In his sad, sick voice he said "yes" then rolled over and fell asleep almost instantly. Good enough for me.

Birthday Boy!

Last year, it felt weird writing a post that my son was two. Two! That feels like it was just yesterday, but alas, it was a whole year ago. Today my boy is three! Ugh, time goes by so, so fast!

However, he certainly seems like a three year old...

He has been using full sentences for over a year now. He tells stories, plays all sorts of creative, imaginative games, shows his love, and resists potty training and bedtime like nobody's business.

Oh, and he has been growing straight up (and mostly in the legs) like crazy lately. All of his pants from fall are suddenly too short!

So anyways, here's a happy birthday to my boy who grows up way too fast!

Today we'll be having a little celebration with my mom who drove seven hours just to be here for this boy's big day (we love you, Grandma Val!).