There's a new kid on the block

I know I still need to cover Oliver's party, Hannah's party and her birthday, but first... BIG NEWS!

Bronwyn and Dave had their baby!!!
As Hannah and I predicted, it was a baby girl.  What we didn't predict was that it would be born 8 days late... and on Hannah's birthday!

Presenting Caitlyn Shirley Reimers
Born 3/20/2011
9:20pm
8lbs4oz
21"

Letter to Oliver on his 4th Birthday

My sweetest boy

I can't believe how much you have changed my life since you came along at 11:45am on Friday March 16, 2007.  What a crazy day that was!!  I'll tell you aaaaalll about it when you are older!

I am such a proud mom.  You are a wonderful little boy and your kind heart is noticed by everyone that meets you.
You are so friendly - quick to introduce yourself, and always ready to chat... to the Starbucks lady, the school crossing guard, anyone you meet along your busy way.  You have time for them.  Your friends right now are mostly younger than you (siblings of Hannah's friends, or MOPS play mates) and you are so patient and gentle with the "little 3yr olds".  I watch you sharing and showing them how to do things.  You are a gentle leader.  I will pray for you that this great quality will continue through your life so that you may be a blessing to others that might need your guidance.
You are loving.  You give big bear hugs.  Touch is a love language for you, and when you are saying something important you will put your hand on someone for emphasis.  When you tell me you love me you put your hand on my cheek.  It melts my heart.  You love cuddles and kisses, and give as well as you get.
You are adventurous.  You love to run, jump, explore, and do most things fast.  You love flying down the street on your bike or scooter, and (much to my faint mother's heart) always want to show me "tricks" you can do.  You love to look for leaves and bugs, and when we go walking you always stop to pick everyone walking with us flowers, which is so sweet of you.  Thank you.  Being outside is always FUN.  You are a great climber, and the play structures (and trees :) ) are no match for you!  I can see that sport will be fun for you... you enjoy kicking, and are getting great at catching, and Daddy says you have a good throwing arm, too.  It's going to be fun to see you start participating in sports in the next year or so.
You are smart.  You pick up so much from Hannah, and you love to draw and write.  You are so careful and precise.  I know that when you start preschool in the fall you will love it.  I hope that yearning for learning (rhyming just for you, see?) never fades.  Both Daddy and I still love learning... it is a life-long adventure!
You are a wonderful brother.  You look up to Hannah and love being around her.  You (mostly) are happy to share and play together.  She is your best friend and you love to make her laugh or make her feel better if she doesn't feel good.  When she is at school you miss her, and will ask 10 times if we can go and pick her up yet.  I am so happy that you have each other.
You have a praying heart.  Wow!  After leading you in prayers as a baby, you are often now the one who will initiate prayer time.  And you show love through prayer, you pray for your family and friends, and if we see an accident or something scary, you want to pray for those people.  You will climb into my bed in the morning and cuddle up to me and I hear you whisper "Dear God, Thank you for Mommy.  Amen".  Those are glorious words, Oliver.  Your Father in Heaven hears your prayers and loves you soo much.  Simple childlike prayers are exactly what he wants to hear from us all.  Keep praying, Bub.

So onto the less serious stuff like what you like to do and say:
Favorite color - orange
Favorite food - still "macaroni" (pepperoni) pizza
Favorite restaurant - Red Robin or Chuck E Cheese's
Friends - Carter, Hailey, Tanner, Joey and Sebastian.  You get on well with all of Hannah's friends and their siblings too.
You love your "fast" running shoes.
You love to wear sweats, but you also love getting dressed up and having gel in your hair and button-down shirts.  Getting dressed takes forever because you can't focus.  You will be half done and then NEED to get something and run away and come back.  It often makes me crazy!  You like to put your socks on by yourself, and pick out your clothes.
You love reading books at bed time.  There are quite a few that you know off by heart - Dr Seuss is a favorite (There's a Wocket in my Pocket, Mr Brown can Moo, can you?), but you love reading and reading time.  So do I!  Cuddling on the bed with a book and reading to you is a special part of my day.
You are a great independent player.  You have a great imagination.  Toys you love right now - Trios, bakugans, transformers.  Also any cars, helicopters, space rocket.  You still have your lovies - baby leopard, Quatchi (Vancouver Olympics mascot), many others.
You have a favorite blanket - your spotty blankie, that you always want to have with you when you sleep, and when you just wake up or feel tired during the day.  It gets dragged around the house.

Things you say - Oliver-isms:
You don't always say your "l"s.  So you will talk about wove (love),
You also battle with your "r" and "w"s.  So you talk about yunning (running) or yalking (walking)
I know it will be corrected soon, but for now I love it.


So much more to tell you, but I just wanted to write some things down so that one day I can look back and remember what you were like at 4.  I love being your mom.  On the days when you drive me crazy (and there are many... that's just how little kids can be!) I still end up marvelling at the sweet boy that you are.

I am blessed.

It's birthday month!

March is busy around here.
Both the kids and I have our birthdays.  And we will be getting a new cousin/niece/nephew this month too.
Should be fun!!

Hip-Hop-O-Potomas

Starstruck Showcase is a program that goes to some lucky elementary schools and promotes dance (and physical exercise in general).  TBE was happy to have them, and this was our cute kindergarten class's dance.  I was so thrilled seeing Hannah so confident up there.  The auditorium was packed, and part of me really expected her to come on stage, freeze, possibly burst into tears.  (She has that tendency when she's the center of attention.)  I think she must have felt safe with the rest of her classmates up there.  She was fist-pumping and hip-hopping like a pro!  So FUN!  (She's pretty much in the middle of the screen most of the time... blonde ponytail, second row)

http://vimeo.com/20267763

Bedtime cuties

I am very thankful that Hannah and Oliver LOVE to spend time together.  Don't get me wrong... there are times where they can't be in the same room without arguing, but those times are the exception, and not the norm.  One of the things they love to do, and get to do on weekends or holidays, is to have sleepovers in each others rooms.  This past President's Day weekend we set up Oliver's bed on Hannah's floor and he slept two nights in a row in Hannah's room.  The one night we got interrupted in the bedtime routine by our landlord coming to check up on a water leak we had, and so I told them to sit and read til I got back.

I got back and found this:


and overheard Hannah reading to Oliver:

Very cute.

02-02-02 to 02-02-11

Happy 9th Anniversary to us!  At the last minute, Glen decided to take the actual anniversary day off work.  It fell on a Wednesday, and my mom doesn't work on Wednesdays, so we thought it would be a good day for us to get out of town.  And then we thought about it and thought if we had the whole day, why not take off after Glen left work on Tuesday night.  We couldn't decide between Tahoe and San Francisco, but in the end the cold snowy mountains beckoned and off we went.

It was such a treat.  I found THE MOST AMAZING deal on a hotel in South Lake Tahoe right across from the Heavenly Gondola (and, more importantly, right across from the Starbucks).  We checked in, and then went to a fancy restaurant for our anniversary meal.  Kalani's.  Big treat.  Overpriced for the who's who in the skiing crowd, I suppose, but for our anniversary we decided to splurge. 

We slept in, and then made our first stop at Starbucks for breakfast before wandering around the little galleries and stores window-shopping ski gear and art!  It was that kind of day... lazy, unscheduled.  We ate when we felt hungry, and walked down to the water (FREEZING), and sat chatting to people from all over the world that were there to ski.  For a while on the Tuesday we'd considered skiing, and we'd brought all the gear for it, but decided to rather just relax and spend the time together.  Good choice!!

Ended the evening with appetizers and drinks at Fire and Ice before finally heading home. 

What a great getaway.  Thanks to my folks for watching the kids!!

Anniversaries

I like to make a big deal about anniversaries. Even as poor newlyweds Glen and I decided that we would try to get away for our anniversary each year.  And we've done a good job of that.  I think we might have skipped 2009 due to economic times, but I'm not sure.... I'll have to check back!

2003 - First - camping in the Pilansberg
2004 - Second - The Feathered Nest - a bed and breakfast in the Magaliesberg
2005 - Third - The Hill House Inn - Mendocino  (enormously pregnant)
2006 - Fourth - Kingvale Lodge - skiing
2007 - Fifth - Cypress Inn on Miramar Beach in Half Moon Bay    (enormously pregnant)
2008 - Sixth - rented a ski condo in Incline Village, North Tahoe
2009 - Seventh -??
2010 - Eighth - our impromptu business-not-pleasure trip to Calgary might have to classify... we were in different countries for our actual anniversary.  But it was SUCH a treat to be just the two of us after being in Canada out of our element for 2 months.
2011 - Ninth - Park Tahoe Inn in Heavenly

It's always fun to get away just us.   I love the undivided attention that I can give Glen.  I love the loooong chats about our dreams and where we've come and where we hope to go. 

I love Glen.