Missed 2016... oops

I guess I just slept through 2016

Wow. So much happened last year.

I was made a manager at work and I have two wonderful women that report to me.

Ryan went on his first trip without Neil and I. Gabi and Sandor (my in-laws) took him to Dominican Republic to a beautiful resort (Samana, DR). Longest time apart from him for me, 6 ½ days and I was okay. I didn’t cry which I was surprised about, they were good about calling and sending photos.

I was very anxious until they called after they got to the resort. Just my 5-year-old going to another country without me and the worry something would happen. However, once I heard they were at the resort I could relax and just enjoy a quiet house. Indy got a lot of walks that day because I was so high strung. Haha

Then RIGHT after that, and I mean the next morning after Ryan got home, we went to Florida to a cruise.

Poor kid was so cooked that Sunday, soon as our room was open on the boat we had a pretty sweet family nap time.

We went on Norwegian for the first time because they had an amazing deal. Ended up costing about the same as Royal would have cost. It was a blast but I still like Royal more.

Now this year we are planning our BIG DISNEY TRIP!

We are going with Chris, Tara and Sloane and the Parks. We have our trip paid for, fast passes booked, Ryan is getting a pirate makeover and Jedi training, dinner at the Castle… it is very exciting. Also, to make it even more insane we are driving because flying is insane expensive.

I have been working on getting our signature book together, getting fancy markers from the dollar store, have stocked up on glow sticks and necklaces for the kids for the evening parade.

I have even started pulling Ryan’s summer stuff and making sure it still fits because this kid is insane tall now.

Speaking of, Ryan is reading. I think he plays lazy with me because he rather I read to him still but today… WE GOT OUR FIRST HOMEWORK!!! A reading assignment!

I am so excited to do this with him. Also, he is accelerating at math. He is in Senior Kindergarten and doing multiplication and percentages and rocking at it. I think the Montessori way of teaching helps. It’s taking objects and using them that way so a child can shape the brain into visualizing it, it memorizing it.

We have signed him up for French Immersion for first grade and will hear back in march if we got in. Because it is not his primary school we enter a lottery. His current French teacher said he thought Ryan would do well in FI.

Fingers crossed because the French school is MUCH better rated then the school we are zoned for.

L

Ryan has changed a lot. He is still very close to us (more to me) and loved getting books at night. But now he showers on his own, we will help him out of the tub and then he dries on his own and puts on his clothing on his own. We are trying to push for more independence.

Enough People

I am tired of everyone complaining about Christmas and Holiday decorations being out and up before Dec 1st.
Just stop.
What does it matter if the stores have out Christmas stuff before Halloween is even over, or if your neighbours put lights up. It is pretty. It makes people happy when it can be a pretty dressing time of year.
Here in Canada November can be so depressing. Fall is pretty much over, no more yellow/orange/red leafs. Just bare trees and dead grass. It's grey and cold and wet.
If you walk into a store and it smells like Cinnamon and you see red all over and holiday jolly music playing softly in the background do this... close your eyes. Take a deep breath and remember what this season is about.
Family
Joy
Giving Back
Love
Happiness

When I see my neighbour putting lights up I think "oh smart, this will be the last warm weekend we have till Spring next year, good call buddy."
Not "Ugh it's not even Dec, what a dick for putting pretty lights out that make everything look like a wonderland!"

STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE.
We are very lucky people, whom ever is reading this. You can go to the store and get food/clothing, you have a home/place to live that is not a tent or box, you can turn on a tap and drink the water, you can see a doctor, you can chose your schools to send your offspring.
WE ARE LUCKY.

So please. Before you complain about Holiday decorations or anything inane like that take a look at your life, pause ... and be grateful.


Or I will send the Grinch to go pee on your car handle.

Long Easter weekend

Our long weekend was epic.

Friday morning I got up with Ryan. Figure Neil should sleep in, he has been working so much. We had a nice breakfast and then got in contact with Tara and The Parks (mike & janet). I meet up with Tara and Sloane (her daughter who is 8 months older then Ry). Mike, Janet and the girls, Alexandra and Chloe joined up a few min later at the park.

This is a very awesome park. Its near Taras place in Port Credit. It was such a pretty day, sunny and still cool but not WINTER in Canada cool. Toward the end Ryan had his coat off.
He ate a bagel, banana and box of rasins. To be fair we were there for almost 3 hours and we ran around a lot, I was starving by the time we left too. It was so cute cause at one point I had Sloane and Ry and we were running around these three weird small statues of random stuff. A turtle shell, a fish, a fox head and a boat... stuff like that. I was counting them as I ran hitting each one. At one point Sloane asked me to play chase with her. So damn cute. It was super cute to see Ryan and her high-five after going down the slide. hehe

WEEEEEEEE!

Mike having fun on the TeeterTotter

Ryan getting in on the fun!

After nap we went to see Joe and Ang and went to another park.
Almost got in a fight with a 5 year old asshole. There was a 'big kid' slide and Ryan had gone on it a few times. The last time I was going to let him on it this kid was standing there not letting him up. I say to him, "Will you move please, he wants to go down the slide, thanks." He looks at me and says "only big kids can go on here, you have to be 5 years old."
I look at him and say,"he is big enough please move."
He says, "you have to be a big kid, you have to be five he is not allowed."
I look at him and very serious I say to him. "Move now kid." like no humor no cute tone of voice. I put on my "I will fuck you up" face to a five year old because he told my kid he couldn't. No I am not above getting in a "who is scarier and bigger" match with a 5 year old.

He moved out of Ryans way. >:)

Saturday we both got up early like it was a work day. We had a fast breakfast and we were off to St Catharine's for an easter egg hunt with some buddies, The Parks! (again). What can I say, we like them.
I was a little shocked how great Ryan was on an hour long car ride. He was perfect! We stopped at Tim Hortons since we were early and got some coffees, bagel and apple juice and we were off again.

Got to the park very early so we were able to walk around before the crowd. Easter bunny was super scary to Ryan. Then we saw it.

RUNNNNNNN!!!!!!

Princess Leia and Chewbacca with bunny ears. Hmmmm okay. Not really an easter thing but I am game.

The Meaning of Easter?

We meet up with Mike, Janet and the girls. Mat, his wife Chrissy and their boys (X and Caiden).
I have never been to an easter egg hunt before this, especially one with little kids. There was a field roped off with caution tape. We all gather around it and holy wow it got crowded. A group of people went onto the small field and started throwing out chocolate eggs out of these huge boxes. Hundreds of them. We got the go ahead. Ryan was in the 1-3 year age group so we are allowed to go. It was so fun. Ryan was so good at it! He didn't understand what it is cause we dont give him candy but he loved the colours! After we went for a small walk to the trash can, just him and me. I tossed my tissue in and he tossed a candy egg in. hahaha

Go buddy go!

OMG YELLOW EGG MOM!!! Look yellow!!!

While Mat, Chrissy and the boys went home to prepp for brunch we went down to the festival part. WOW it was super packed but all the kids got balloons (Ryans was yellow!) so it was worth it.
Went to the brunch, spent a few hours playing with the kids and had a very good talk with Janet about kids, having more then one, loss of children and so on. It was a good talk and it just made me miss her and spending time with her.
After brunch it was pretty late like 1:30 late. Hmmmm 2 hours past Ryans nap time and he was still being good, a little drunk but good. Started the ride home and after a few min he was OUT (while hugging Neils coat and holding his balloon)

Mmmmm sleep.

We keep it casual at the Bank house.

Sunday was family day. It was a very nice dinner. Robin, Christina and Ellie were missed very much (Ellie was sick). What was very fun though was watching Ryan hunt for easter eggs. He was SO good at it. But again he would break open the egg to get the chocolate out and then leave it. Had no idea he could eat it.

Easter Dinner

OH I forgot in the morning he found his basket I made for him. He was sitting there eating all the goldfish crackers while Neil was making him pancakes (from scratch). hehehe
I got in a little trouble over that when I woke up. Then I did it, I gave him his first Kinder Egg. I was so excited cause I found Hot Wheels Kinder. After he ate it, which he did really fast, I pop open the kinder to find A PUZZLE. WTF! I think I even said "WHAT THE FUCK!" while Ryan was in my lap. Opps. But I was super disappointed. I wanted a car for Ryan, that would have rocked his world, he did like his new books though.

My new favorite picture of Ryan and I that Neil got.

Such a happy family, yay spring!

Mean Parents?

Are we mean parents? Today was an Easter egg hunt (well chocolate eggs were thrown on a field and the kids got to grab them all). Ryan had the most chocolate out of all the kids. He didn't know it was candy. Hell at one point he saw me throw a tissue in the garbage and he threw an egg in. He gave most of them away to the other kids and he was just excited about the colours. "Look yellow mommy, BLUE!"

However when I told him I had a Banana he went craycray. "NANA! BANANA MOMMY YES PLEASE PLEASE!" and ate it all down while I was carrying him, just so super happy. He was also very worried about getting a balloon (which we did, a yellow one).

He has had sugar before, we have cake sometimes at family events and he has had chocolate before (halloween & Christmas). I don't want him to know what it is, I don't want him to WANT it. I really dont want him to demand it or expect it.
That being said are we mean? He will be 2 in 18 days. I have always been a little... careful about what he eats. I did get lazy for a bit and let him eat a lot of empty carbs (goldfish/graham crackers.)

He was 34 pounds at 18 months old. That's really big. Yes he was tall but the doctor told us he might be an obese child if we are not careful. Well I am happy to say he is going to be 2 very soon and he is still 34 pounds. I stopped giving him crackers and gave him cucumber to hold him over till dinner was made. The past month Rasins has been his big thing. Which is fine with me, helps him poop. Oh and berries. Holy wow this kid can eat a pint of blackberries in 3 minutes and with a purple stained mouth and fingers ask "please mommy more tank you."

So are we mean parents? Are we setting him up to only want to eat sugar sweetness when he is older? Who knows. All I know is I breastfeed him for 14 months, made all his baby food (other then carrots cause I always burned them and prunes) and tried to make sure he eats a good amount of healthy foods.  I really dont want to mess it all up now!!!
I also get super pissed at daycare when they give him those damn cheese doodles things or juice and have told them DO NOT give them to him. Made me happy when I caught the teachers giving him orange slices.

Wow really hard Easter egg hunt. :P

YELLOW MOMMY!

Star Wars Easter? Sure WHY NOT!

After brunch he was very fast to pass out, like 3 min later fast. Helped it was 90 min past nap time.

Oh on that note time to make his basket (a new book, colouring book, Kinder Surprise eggs with Hot Wheels car in them and plastic eggs with Goldfish crackers). Then time for this mom to take some cold medication and pass out. Two nights up coughing. Antibiotics are working just taking some time and I really could use a good night 'sleep'.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

New Year and resolutions

 I hope 2012 is as amazing as 2011 was. I hope Ryan continues to grow and thrive and be a smarty pants. I hope my family stays/gets healthy.


 Last night was a blast. Fondue with Neil, Joe, Angela and Ted. Was pretty wicked and funny. Played a new game too which was a blast. Loaded Questions was the name of the game. We had A LOT of laughs. I highly recommend it.
 Thank you to Christina for convincing us to have oil fondue. I think it was the most popular and these cheese things she told us about are TO DIE FOR. I think Ang and I alone ate half the box.
Zucchini was pretty good too.


So on to my new years resolutions...
This new year I will
1. Stop Cussing
       I am doing this with Neil. We have jars set up already and everything.(Neil already put 50 cents in)

2. Loose 3-4 lbs a month 
       I will do this by eating healthy again (almost no breads and no more glass of wine at night) and working out 3x a week (right now its 2x, I am starting this in Feb)
3. Focus on being a great/creative mom and wife. 
     # 1 & 2 play into that as well, getting healthy so I can keep up with Ryan


Speaking of which I need to eat my breakfast, dry my hair and go pick up the kid. Gabi said her and Sandor had a great night with Ryan (and day) which I am very happy to hear. They are awesome grandparents. So happy they are so close to us (a block away).


I am a tiny bit sad I didn't have Ryan to hold for new year but happy we all had a much needed break to. Its nice to have a quiet morning (haven't had one of these since September) but I miss my little man and I cant wait to see his big smile.


HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!