Happy Birthday Jelly Bean!

Tuesday December 7th 2004 at 12:14 am you were born. All my dreams came true that morning. You made me a mother. It's the greatest gift I've ever had in my life.

That was five years ago today, I can hardly believe it.

This is you at 10 minutes old... so quiet, so content

9 months old

Our first Family photo with you at 10 months

You at one and a bit, showing me all your teeth!

this picture always brings a smile to my face.

two years old

3 years old- sharing a laugh with the Grabber

Willows Beach- one of your favorite places to play.

4 years old...

Five years later...

Alyssa, you are such a wonderfully brilliant and talented child. You are so thoughtful and loving. I am so very proud of you! Happy Birthday Jelly Bean!

Surprise for Alyssa

Having a December baby can sometimes be challenging, especially when trying to plan a birthday party. The weather this time of year makes it challenging to do something outdoors and finding an activity that is different but fun for all can be difficult. Alyssa is our December baby and she will be five on December 7th. This year we planned an early surprise birthday party for Alyssa. She had no idea and that made it so fun.

This past Saturday was a gloomy, rainy day and I asked her what she wanted to do. I suggested to her that maybe we should go to the mall. She hesitated but then agreed to come.

Once there, we walked over to the Build-a-Bear store. Then Alyssa noticed a friend of hers in the store, then another and then another. All of a sudden, one of the employees said, "Who's here for Alyssa's birthday Party?" Alyssa seemed a little confused. She knows her Birthday is December 7th, so she wasn't sure what to make of it at first. So here's how things went.

The first thing is to pick your stuffy.... Alyssa picked a beautiful pink Unicorn.

Then each stuffy needs to be stuffed and the kids get to help.

Then all the kids sat in a circle and named their stuffed animals, said something special about it and each one grabbed a heart and made a special wish for Alyssa's birthday. All of the birthday wish hearts were then put into Alyssa's stuffed Unicorn, whom she named "Rachel."

Then it 's time to groom

and pick an outfit .... mmm so much to chose from

and dress them

Rachel "the Unicorn" looks mighty fine in her Wizard outfit!

Each friend , signed a special bear for Alyssa.

It was a special gift to her from all of them

and I tried to get a "little" creative (nothing Martha like though)

I made Bear cupcakes to go

and packaged them all up for each guest at the party

Thanks Everyone for helping us surprise Alyssa! We had so much fun! Everyone got a Build-a-Bear, a cupcake bear to go and a huge smile on their face.

Complete satisfaction!

Wordless Wednesday

Getting Crafty!

Well the holiday season has started and we are trying to be a little bit more crafty this year. I'm not one to go crazy over crafts but I do enjoy making the odd holiday craft here and there. The other day Alyssa and I went over to Michael's Craft store and we got some paper and stamps and thought it might be fun to try making some Christmas cards for her classmates and some of her teachers. We set up shop at the dining room table last night and then I thought to myself.. why not get Nathan involved. I haven't done any craft like things with him EVER. So here's how it went...

I gave him a piece of paper and showed him how the markers worked

( Thank Goodness everything is washable)

I did most of the lines on that piece of paper with ball like markers. (the baby beginner kind) To Nathan these ball like markers are just that, a ball. So I really shouldn't have been surprised when he attempted to bounce them. I skipped that step and went straight for regular markers.... Of course they go in his mouth because that's what he does with all non-food items.

Then he decided he was all done... until...

he remembered how fun it was to chew the pen

(check out the marks on his face and down his neck)

New bright yellow piece of paper makes it more interesting. Hey and this pen is a different colour. I'm thinking this is pretty facinating.

So, Mommy drew a crazy happy face and she used this pen to do it... hhmmmm

I'm gonna try with two and see what happens...

Ohhh wow.. Look at this.. This is how Mommy showed me.

I'm enjoying drawing!

I put his drawing in our dining room for all to see. I am so proud of Nathan. I wasn't sure he'd even be interested but he sure surprised me. I can't wait to do more with him!

HALLOWEEN

Halloween has come and gone and I'm already behind in posting about it.

Here' s quick look at what we did on Halloween. My pictures were pretty limited.

We carved pumpkins and Alyssa really didn't want anything to do with pumpkin guts ( I don't blame her- I can't stand it either)

We did six pumpkins but for some reason I only have these three

Here are some of our carvings

Alyssa's pumpkin

Alien pumpkin

Sean's transformer pumpkin

Then it was time for trick or treats and well....

the Grabber wasn't into it.

Doesn't he look so unimpressed. He hated that costume and wanted it off so this is the only picture of Nathan in his Halloween costume. There was no interest in carrying a bucket around either, simply throwing and tossing it around.

Alyssa on the other hand had no issues with trick or treats...

Just look at this little kitty

The " I got CANDY dance"

Hope you all had a nice Halloween...

and now it's time to start thinking about Christmas

baby steps...

Well we are slowly moving forward... I mean slowly... slower than a snail on a slow day but it's still some progress so I'll have to remain focused on that. Tonight, Nathan sat in his big boy chair without the computer or books or toys...and he didn't fuss. Our family sat down for dinner. We usually offer Nathan the same foods we eat but up until tonight he has always pushed the plates away (it's like he knows) tonight was different..

Tonight, he seemed interested in the rice in his bowl. He touched it with his hands. I offered him a spoon to play with but he wanted to touch. I have to say I was shocked because the rice was sticky and with Nathan's sensory issues he usually freaks out or flat out refuses to touch.

However tonight that was not the case...

Look at that.. He's right in there with both hands... After about 5 minutes he started getting agitated and whiny. He wanted his hands cleaned. He absolutely loves when I use the face cloth on his hands, he gets the cutest smile when we wash his hands.

I still can't believe he touched and played with the rice

and then put his mouth all over the bowl...

Hopefully one day these baby steps will lead

our Little Grabber to eat...

Spooky Ghost house

Alyssa and I made a spooky house out of gingerbread tonight in preparation for our little Halloween party in a weeks time.

We had lots of fun making it and it is now our center piece on the dinning room table.

Alyssa did all the decorations!

I think she did a fantastic job! Don't you?

Tomorrow we will start carving all the pumpkins for our garden display...

Picture almost perfect...

For the past three years, we've wanted to get family photos done. The last photos we had done were back when Alyssa was 10 months old... so a little out of date to say the least. We haven't managed to get much cooperation from the Grabber for any photos... there's simply too much to do and too much to look at (except the camera, which he rarely looks at).

So here are the picture almost perfect... but close enough Fall 2009 Family shots...