CeCe's party pics

Getting ready to eat.

The cake

Some of the guests of honor

Let me at it

The spoils

Cecilia turns one!

Well, actually CeCe's birthday is tomorrow, but we had all the festivities this weekend.  All of her grandparents were able to make the trek for her party which probably meant a lot more to Julie and I than her, but she was happy nonetheless.  She got to stick her fingers into her cake and yes, she likes cake.  And ice cream.  I guess the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree.  Julie decorated the cake which was in the shape of an elephant.  When I get the pictures off the camera, I will post them.  CeCe wasn't too concerned about the presents though - not nearly as into that part of the party as her sisters and cousin.  They were all over that. 

It's hard to believe a whole year has passed already.  At this time a year ago, Julie and I were anxiously awaiting the arrival of her parents, so that we could go to the hospital.  The got here around midnight and CeCe was born by three.  It was a little closer than we had planned.  That was the beginning of my parental leave -37 weeks at home with all my girls that I will be eternally grateful for.  It had it's moments, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Ginny is still not that comfortable with the whole pooping thing.  She finally went Thursday evening and now hasn't gone since.  She's starting to look like its uncomfortable and now she's getting a cold again.  She's been coughing quite a bit this evening.  It can't be easy to keep that sucked in there while you're coughing like that.  I don't envy her that feeling.  It'll come I guess, one way or another.

Speaking of Ginny, we tell her that she need to listen to her body when she has to go to the bathroom.  It's actually a saying we picked up from 'The bear in the big blue house.'  He's pretty smart that bear.  Anyway, she says this quite often - Dee gets quite a kick out of it when Ginny says that her body is telling her she has to pee.  This evening though, she started to use this logic to play me.  She was procrastinating going to bed, like usual and wanting one more drink of water.  After several strong no's by me, she said, "Dad, my body is telling me I'm thirsty."  Nice try.

Jorja is so close to losing her first tooth.  Most of her friends have lost some already it seems, but she's hanging on.  One is literally hanging on by a thread though.  It's driving Julie nuts I think.  She is always wanting to wiggle it and pull on it.  Jorja lets her for a bit, and then has enough.  It won't be long now though.

I guess I should get to bed now.  Another work week awaits.  I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not, but every day when I get to Dee's house to pick up the girls they ask me what kind of beer I tested that day.  That just seems odd coming out of a two year old.  Anyway, on that note I'm off.  Later.

Potty time

It appears we may have finally had a break-through on the potty training front.  It actually happened at Dee's house this past week.  Dee has another girl there a little older than Ginny, so maybe it was a peer pressure thing, but one day Ginny came home wearing panties.  She still had some accidents in the evening, but this weekend was great.  All day Saturday and Sunday with no accidents.  We even went out for a few hours on Saturday afternoon with her in underwear.  There's a new meaning to living on the edge.  She made it through though, with flying colours.  We made her go at Walmart, and that went off without a hitch I guess.  Julie took her and Jorja to the bathroom and Ginny got to pee on top of Jorja's pee - how exciting!  Whatever works.  Julie made cupcakes in honour of the occasion, and Ginny took some to Dee's today to celebrate with a potty party.  And she came home in the same pants and underwear that she went in.  Finally, there is an end in sight.  Now we just have to conquer the number two and we'll be set.  So far the only time she has done that since the wearing of the panties has been after she is ready for bed and in her pull-up.  Oh well, everything in due time.

I was going through my itunes library the other day and just for kicks, turned on the feature that shows how often each song has been played.  It soon became obvious that in the past five years there has been a definite shift in my music listening.  All of the top songs played were by Sharon, Louis and Bram.  The top song had been played more than twice as many times as the top played adult song.  At least I still have the ride to work.  Later.

The making of a masterpiece

Well, as promised, here it is:  the making of Julie's birthday cake:

My contribution:  the 'crumb coat':

The future cake boss?

The concentration...

Just a little more magenta over here:

Almost done: 

The masterpiece:

 And CeCe, the trooper, forced to watch all the fun from the playpen:

Later.

38

Today was my birthday - it was a good day. It began with Jorja serenading me with Happy Birthday. She was beside herself wanting to give me my presents first thing this morning. She and Ginny had a good time 'helping' me with my gifts. Julie got me some really cool beer glasses made in Poland. Since I began tasting beer, she thinks I've become a bit of a snob. I no longer like drinking it out of the can. You can't really experience the whole aroma and flavour if you don't have a glass. These are tall and narrow, thin-walled with a heavy base, perfect for experiencing a cold beverage.

I went for lunch with the lab people from work. It was the last week for the summer student we've had for the last four years, so they were going out for lunch. It was nice to catch up.

This afternoon we had eye appointments - all of us except CeCe. The girls did really well. Julie and Jorja ended up going together, and Ginny and I went together. Ginny was a little reserved at first, but she did really well - sat a lot better than I thought she would. There was one time though while I was having mine checked that she wiped out and started to cry. So she came and sat on my lap and was wailing. The technician then asked her if a bouncy ball would make her feel better. Through the sobs, she mustered a yes. It was pretty cute. Both girls got free sunglasses too, so that was cool. My eyes are still perfect. Apparently the age things usually start to go downhill is 42. We'll see I guess.

We ended up ordering some supper in and then eating cake. Julie made a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream covered in a chocolate ganache. Are you sensing a theme? She put a layer of cherries in the middle, which was nice. She called it 'Death by Chocolate Covered Cherries.' It was awesome. Later.