More "Happy Birthday Cake"

So Darren had his THIRD birthday cake...and didn't even get to eat any of it...he's too young... The Renkemas were down for a visit on Sunday and the boys had a great time.

Supermen!!

Tractors, tractors, tractors...

We went to an open house day at the John Deere tractor place near our house. Evan was just so excited about all the tractors, and wanted to "drive" each one. We saw all kinds of tractors, and got a ride in one. There was free food, tractor pulling, and great weather! If you ask Evan what kind of tractor he's sitting in, he says, "A John Deere tractor."

Happy Birthday Darren!

We are so amazed at this wonderful child - how he's grown and changed in this past year. He had his one-year appointment and the doctor is quite impressed with his progress. He is in the process of getting three new teeth and is hardly complaining. He is such a smily, goofy little boy and loves to watch his big brother. They amuse each other in the van, by talking and laughing and just being silly. We love you, Darren!
Darren's "Happy Birthday cake" (as Evan calls it). It's supposed to be a frog!

Birthdays in Belleville

We spent the long weekend at Grandma's house celebrating Easter, Judah's second birthday, and Darren's first birthday.






Easter egg hunt and shapes that grow in the water!!

A BIG Boy Bed!!

Ta-dah!! He is very proud of his new bed, and actually has slept very well in it. (You'll notice the dirty walls behind him from his dirty feet through the crib slats!!). He was so proud this first night in his new bed that I went to get the camera to take a picture. The next night, he climbed into bed and said, "Get the camera, mommy?"I've been saving some Evan stories until I had a chance to write about them, so here are a few of our favourites:

• "Mommy, my truck is vrooming, but the tractor isn't tracting!"
• We're trying to learn about colours, so all day long, he is asking us, "Mommy, what colour is Darren? What colour is Opa? What colour is..." Kind of a hard question to answer!
• He was sliding around the living room sitting in a basket, "Mommy, look at my Funny Carpet!!" (ie. Krazy Karpet)
• He was all dressed up for church, and I told him that he was very handsome. "I'm not handsome, Mommy. I'm awesome."
• He doesn't have juice very often, but recently we learned that there's different kinds of juices, such as orange juice. He was playing with his cups and said, "Here mommy, have some black juice."
• He was reading the paper with me, and there was an article rating things with thumbs up or thumbs down. He said, "Look at all the awesomes!" (Thumbs up is awesome).
  

Darren is just an all-around happy child. He watches and imitates and laughs!!



Eric was juggling some toys and, for some reason, Darren thought it was quite funny!

Around the House

We had a nice visit with Mrs. Kristin and little Raiden. Evan thinks he's great, and Darren was fascinated to see a baby smaller than he! Our big snowstorm. Evan said many times, "We have to shovel all that snow." He didn't mind it, but we did!

Stuck again...

...and whenever Darren does something that makes us laugh, Evan is right there!!

Winter Fun

We have all had that stomach flu that has been going around. Darren has had it the longest, and had a rash on his cheeks (as you can see). He seems to be all better now, though he gets fevers in the evening still, and really enjoys cuddling. He had an appointment at the hospital for the Neo-Natal Follow -up Clinic. He's doing well. The nurses and pediatrician were happy to see him again. He's almost 17lbs now. We ventured out in the snow this morning. The men (Daddy and Evan) shovelled and then we went for a walk in the blizzardy snow. We came inside for some hot chocolate... I'm sure there's a lot more shovelling to come - they say it's only just begun!

Darren is still rolling and often finds himself stuck. I think Evan did the exact same thing in the same spot...maybe I should find that picture!
"...all dressed up to go..." Evan's favourite quote from his favourite book, The Party by Barbara Reid. If I'm putting my coat on, or if Evan is getting his coat on, he says that we're "all dressed up to go."