Happy Love Day

This morning we skipped church, as we have two super sniffly kids, and we went to Campbell Valley Park (the south entrance). This is my favourite place for the kids to run around.

I was supposed to have a maternity shoot there yesterday but it got postponed for a couple of weeks. This morning would've been perfect!

We had a wonderful morning letting the kids run around and just be boys. Both were walking in puddles or streams and dragging sticks around.

I am so thankful for my boys.

Lots of love in this family.

Usually more goofiness than acts of affection.

I would LOVE a picture of our family walking towards the camera on this path but we did not bring our tripod...isn't it a beautiful path? It is my favourite one there. Hmmm...may have to go back one day soon. I love all the long dried grass right now. Just picture us walking towards you:)

Happy Valentines Day.

Love, The Chapmans

Dance-A-Thon

Yesterday Kai had his dance-a-thon at preschool. They were raising money to send to Ethiopia via World Vision to help kids of the same age. He was pumped to wear a pink T-shirt of mine as it was `pink day'. They had strobe lights, streamers, balloons etc. and the kids had an awesome time.

(Kai's favourite new book...he is obsessed with construction vehicles.)

(The only calm moments with Koen are when he is drinking:)

(Kai pumped to be wearing pink)

(Counting cookies)

(The wild party....they put a bubble machine in front of a fan, what a good idea!:)

Below are my latest cupcakes from the Martha Stewart Book. They are the Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I added some red sprinkles for some Olympic spirit, made them mini cupcakes, and eliminated the nuts to make them kid friendly:) I figured that with 3 cups of zucchini in them, at least we'll be getting some veggies by eating them!

Looking forward to watching the Olympics this weekend. Saddened by the death of the Georgian Luger. I somehow feel some guilt about it....just feel guilty because I am a Vancouverite. Does that make sense? I hope that they can make some serious improvements to the luge course in the next day or two.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Love, Louise

The Rash Chant

This afternoon we picked Gary up from work at 3pm to head to Vancouver. Well, actually, the kids ran into Gary's classroom first. Kai got to collect tests for Gary and he loved it. He also picked up a construction vehicle book from the library there too:)

The kids have never been on the skytrain before and Kai was very excited. He loved the view, the noises, the speed. He loved it the entire way there and back. Koen just wanted to run around which does not work very well. He just kept wiggling and screeching when I tried to hold him so I ended up letting him walk around while holding on to the neck of his shirt. Not ideal but kept him happy.

It was cold and rainy. I wish we had gone yesterday. Oh well. It wasn't very busy so that was nice! I think Gary and I will try to get back sometime on our own so we can really walk around and try to get some pictures. There wasn't really any picture taking today as it was raining and the two kids were running around in opposite directions:)

Every picture of Kai has this sad face on it. Not sure why he was doing that. We each had a hot dog for dinner. Well, not Koen, he ate the sandwich that I had packed. I have had my yearly allotment of hot dogs (3) in this week alone. I had one at Avatar, one at the Opening Ceremonies, and then one today. So crazy. So gross. So wrong. Kinda good.

Okay, so now I need to tell you a funny story. One where I was in tears. It might not be so funny to you but maybe you had to be there? We were going home on the skytrain and Kai started chanting something that Gary and I couldn't decipher. We didn't really pay any attention until he said, `Bum! Rash! Daddy, can you show me your bum rash?! He had been chanting `Bum! Rash!'. Oh. My. Goodness. Gary said, `I don't think anyone wants to see that.', so Kai said, `Does anyone want to see daddy's bum rash?'. The guy beside Kai was staring straight ahead with a huge smile on his face. Fortunately most of the people were listening to ipod's or sleeping. I tried to get him to stop chanting but I was just laughing so hard because I was so shocked. The reason it's funny is because he doesn't really have a bum rash. Oh boy, is this inappropriate? He fell while cross country skiing a few weeks ago and got the HUGEST bruise ever on his butt. So, when he showed it to us, Kai had called it a rash. We started chanting `Bum! Rash!' over and over so that he would show us again. Too much info? We haven't talked about it in about 2 weeks but somehow he randomly thought of it. Over the laughs and tears, I told the guy beside Kai that it wasn't really a rash, it was a bruise. I don't know if he understood or cared about what I was saying through my laughter. Oh man. I gotta watch what we say at home.

Overall, I'm glad that we went downtown. I'm hoping that we get a chance to go again...when it's not raining and probably just Gary and I. I asked Kai what his favourite part was and he said the skytrain and the escalators.

And finally, here are the flowers that Gary bought me last night. Nice guy...with a bum rash:)

Sprinkles

This morning, Kai and I started making his Valentine's Day treats for his preschool friends. They are celebrating Valentine's Day on Thursday so I thought we better get started today. Tomorrow I'm going to do some other baking for the actual party. They are doing a dance-a-thon to raise money for a program in Ethiopia that helps children under 5 to survive and thrive.

Then we wrapped them up. That pink ribbon is actually from our wedding favours 5 years ago. We had bags of personalized M+M's that said `Gary and Louise' and `May 28, 2005'.

And just 'cause they look pretty....

I'm so thankful that I could attend the dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies. Obviously I can't say anything but I thought that we, Vancouver, did a wonderful job. Also, the skytrain and security etc. all ran very smoothly:) Make sure you watch it on Friday night!

Well, time to wake up Koen and pick Kai up from preschool. I just need to say this one more time...my boys have a ton of energy. Enjoy your Tuesday evening!

Olympics Celebrations in Langley!

Today I was going to take the kids to the torch relay at 9am but when I saw that the parking lot was filling up at the Langley Events Centre, 1.5 hours before the program, I decided to find a spot. Kai, Koen and I ran around for about an hour. Maria and the kids joined us.

They had fun stuff for the kids like flags and tambourines. The kids made it all the way until noon. We didn't quite make it for the torch's arrival but we got to be part of the festive atmosphere. My boys are movers. Big movers. It's tough on my own to keep my eye on both of them. Kai did sit in the stroller for half an hour with Bubbi which was nice because then I could just chase Koen. Koen cannot sit still or he will scream. Although, he did sit with auntie Maria for a good 20 minutes.

Kai loved the Lion mascot from whatever bank is sponsoring it. He went up behind him and pulled on his tail. Twice.

We saw some of the gymnastic routines, we heard Cole Armour sing, a choir and band etc. They also had some nice and loud music playing when we got there which Kai loved.

Ani likes her picture taken. You can see this is early on because the parking lot is nearly empty!

Kai and I.

Kai dancing

Ani wanted a picture by herself but Kai kept jumping into the picture driving Ani nuts:)

Koen was fascinated with the white lines on the pavement:)

Ani and Kai with one of the torches from the relay.

Snack time!

Well, time to get ready for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies Dress Rehearsal! I'm really excited. I'm also happy to be going without the kids. Is that bad? I'm just excited to worry about myself:)

Woohoo!!!!

Skin Update

Thank you for your advice on Koen's skin. We have switched him over to goat's milk and will try it for one week. He is actually still throwing up a little each day, which I'm assuming is still his reflux? I'm going to make a same day app't with my family doctor tomorrow. The other thing it could've been, as per Joanne's suggestion of contact dermatitis, is that he has had 3 bubble baths this month. I wonder if it could be the bubbles? He has very, very sensitive skin as he is pretty much a red head. We'll see. I've been lotioning him up really well 2x per day so hopefully that helps too. Thanks for the advice!

Skin Question

Hello to all my readers...is this just eczema? He has it really bad on his right leg and his chest. The rest of his body, not so bad. He's had it for about a month. This does coincide to when I started him on whole milk but I'm not sure if it's related. It was really bad tonight. I've been using a good Aveeno lotion on it, so hopefully it will help?

Also, completely unrelated...I saw Avatar today in 3D. It is the best movie I have ever seen. I never pick a favourite, but I just have. So beautiful and creative. Go see it. In 3D.

I Always Said..

that if I had a boy, I would never have him run around in sweats, rain boots, and hair all crazy. I thought I would dress him all cute all the time. What do I do every day? Yup. Let him be. He's comfy and happy:) Well, for church and preschool I try to tidy him up a bit but he really, really loves his `comfy pants'. You really can't say anything until you're in it or you've been there. Like preschool, I said I would never send my kids. I thought only lazy parents did that. Guess I'm lazy! No, to be honest, I think it is absolutely wonderful for Kai. He has learned so much and his teachers truly love him. I was able to watch him there for an hour and he sits attentively, puts up his hand to speak, gives fabulous or silly answers, smiles with excitement, listens to instructions, shares with friends....it was so nice to see. I'm sure he can be a monkey too, but from what I saw, he was a great little boy.

As you can see, Kai is standing. He came to our room at 5am to tell us he could walk. I'm so surprised how quickly he has recovered. I'm also very thankful. Poor guy was just crawling everywhere for 24 hours. We prayed about it and it was a great example for him of how God answers prayer. The unfortunate thing of today was that he had all that extra energy from yesterday in him which meant two times the wildness.

Koen loves his fire truck, it was a fabulous buy. You know when you buy something and you hope it's well used, well, it is very well used. He's been quite a bit better these days so it may be due to the amber necklace, not sure. I'll let you know when the next tooth comes through how effective it is!

We went to the park with Ani and Izzy (nieces) today and the kids had fun. My boys got nice and dirty. Of course. Koen would walk up to a big puddle, get down and crawl through it, and then stand up again and repeat.

Ani and Kai play so well together. She calms him down a lot and he is really good with her...usually. Except when he gets in her personal space. Kai doesn't understand personal space. I think that it's great that his best friend is a girl, it has taught him a lot already.

And Izzy. Her eyes are awesome. I've said it a million times:)

Tomorrow morning I get to take pictures of my sisters 36 week pregnant belly. So excited about it; her belly and where I am taking the photos (just Mill Lake but I really like it there because I've only taken pictures there once). I think the perfect amount of photography shoots would be 4 regular per month OR 1 wedding and a regular shoot. That's kind of what we try to do...with the exception of May being a crazy wedding month.

Saturday afternoon I'm seeing Avatar. Sunday I hope to spend some time with Gary. Monday, I go to the Olympic Opening Ceremonies Dress Rehearsal. All good stuff. Gary is spending the night with his 4 brother-in-laws and my dad. Should be an interesting evening...my dad is in charge of it:)

I'm going to eat some ice cream since my thyroid is in overdrive..again. Have a good weekend everyone!

Poor Bubba and His Bubbi

Kai bear fell out of bed last night but it wasn't a normal fall. He got his head stuck between the bed and night table causing a nice big bruise on the side of his head. Other than that, I thought he was okay as he went right back to sleep once I rescued him. This morning he was unable to put any pressure on his left leg. Kai is very tough. He rarely cries when hurt and he is always covered in bumps, scrapes and bruises. This morning he refused to walk and when he tried he just fell down.

(Kai with Bubbi...he's allowed to have him downstairs today)

I took him to the doctor. Do you know how hard it is to carry the two kids at once? Good thing I'm so strong:) She said it wasn't fractured as he could still kneel on it. She said it's probably just a contusion or sprain. She gave us some ibuprofen and we were on our way. In the meantime, no preschool for this guy. He's just laying on the couch.

She had said something to the effect of Kai maybe trying to get attention because there is a younger sibling. I know this is not true because I know my boy. He gets attention by his words or by lying on the ground saying he's too tired to move. I felt like she was minimizing his pain. She also implied that once there was an activity he wanted to do, he would just do it. As though his mind could overcome the pain he was in. Sorry, but nothing can make him move. I tested it out with the promise of a lovely treat:) He is in pain. I know it's not serious but I feel bad that he just has to lay around all day. I think he will just ride Koen's fire truck around the house.

Now, to show you how outgoing Kai is. Here is a conversation with complete strangers in the doctor's office:

Kai: Hi, I'm Kai Chapman. My birthday is August 3rd. What's your two's name?

Boys: Cameron and Connor.

Kai: Hi Cameron and Connor. Do you want to come to my friend Matthew and Ayden's with me?

Me: Kai, that's nice to invite them but I think they need to see the doctor.

Kai (to the boys): Why do you need to see the doctor?

Boy: I have an ear ache. Why is he wearing a necklace (referring to Koen)?

Kai: That's my brother Koen, he got the necklace from the mailbox (true, it came in the mail).

Then, as we were leaving...

Kai: Bye boys, I hope your ear gets better soon!

I'm surprised he didn't invite them to his birthday. The up side of this is that I can take him anywhere and he'll just sit there. This has never happened. In the doctor's office, I just had to keep an eye on Koen. That was a first. Kai sitting for 20 minutes straight!

Well, guess I'll take them for a walk in the stroller today. I cannot believe how absolutely beautiful it is out there today!

Wordless Wednesday