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Thanks for visiting our website!
<---Sydney is 4! Pictures from her birthday added on July 3rd!!!! |
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We had quite a day today with Sydney celebrating her birthday. She seriously felt different....as if she even looked different now that she's 4. She told us that being 3 was good but 4 feels even better!
We had a bug and princess themed party for her. We figure it was a good mix for Syd. Much like her, the party was girlie....but not TOO girlie! We had the Vallacorba family join us for the whole day. We started at the bug park (inside the botanic gardens). We had a great time playing at the playground, acting like ants, climbing through (rope) spider webs and eating birthday sweets. Syd insisted on having muffins with chocolate chips. The last time she ate cake, she threw up....so, she's anti-cake right now. That was fine by us! Before heading to our place, we walked through the gardens and the insectarium as well. At home we had some dinner, balloons, presents and by then, very tired kids!
A day out with 4 kids always brings some drama and obstacles but everyone managed! Within the first few minutes of being there, Syd had a diva "I'm the birthday girl!" moment. She got over that quickly but within the next 5 minutes, we were walking on a bridge and Syd's best friend Rachel took a mis-step and fell IN the water!!!! Poor thing handled it SO well. Nelson and Cynthia win HUGE parenting points by having another outfit for her in their bag! She bounced back and was ready to go again within minutes! These first 2 obstacles happened literally in the first 10 minutes of being there. Things went much smoother from then on! Thank goodness!
It was a memorable birthday for Sydney. She has been a bit nostalgic the past few days and has wanted to see pictures of her on her actual birth day. We have loved showing her the baby pictures and are amazed how fast the 4 years have flown by. In our own biased opinion, she's such a sweet & special girl with personality plus. Happy Birthday to our big 4 year old!
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We feel so lucky that we got to catch up with our friends that we met back in Denmark. When Matt played in Odense, we met Andre & Laura because he played prof. hockey in the same town. He is a French Canadian and Laura is from New Jersey. We had wonderful dinners at their place, many coffees at FrankA and even shared an American Halloween & Thanksgiving with them.
They were in town this week visiting Andre’s family and we spent the day with them relaxing at a swimming pool. They have 3 beautiful boys now and Syd & Myles had so much fun with them. Sydney especially took to their 5 year old boy, Julian. They have similar personalities and are both high energy jabber mouths!
It was so great to reconnect with them. We were not surprised to know that we still have lots in common with them. They are great parents and such easy and fun people to be with. It’s always special to meet up with friends where 5 years pass and it doesn’t feel like any time at all!
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We have been noticing SO many things that our kids say and do that are "Canadian" because they are learning them at school. It's so fun to hear the things they pick up on. Some of them are:
Calling a jump rope a "skipping rope". Syd told me that I was "wrong" when I called it a jump rope. ExcUse me!
Syd says Zed (rather than Z) every once in awhile when she says her ABC's. She says it with a smile b/c she knows it still sounds funny to her.
Myles always calls his nap a "do do" - short for the French word for sleep, dormir.
Syd is always asking us to sing along with her to her French songs from school. She's teaching us!
Syd sings Oh Canada at the soccer games but doesn't know any of the words to the American National Anthem yet!
Sydney knows that after kindergarten you go to "Grade 1" but doesn't understand my American terminology when I talk about "1st grade"!!
Those are just silly examples but there are a few other Canadian things that Matt and I really wish the States would start doing. They don't allow any pesticides in the grass here in Canada which makes for BILLIONS of dandelions (which the kids adore) but also gives you peace of mind when rolling through the grass at the parks. They also have strict regulations about their milk here. There are NO rBGH or hormones allowed in Canada's milk products. Based on the crazy milk consumption of our family, you can imagine why that's important to us!
We love having this experience for our family. Living in such an international city gives us such a wonderful outlook and opportunity for our family to learn and grow!
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Our Saturdays mornings for the summer will be spent watching Syd play on her first soccer team. On her first day, it was so cute to watch Matt get her all ready with her bright orange uniform, shin guards, cleats, soccer socks, etc. He got really into it and was so excited for her. She also was thrilled about meeting new friends, having a new soccer ball (her 10th!) and having a coach! She has a great time running, kicking and taking at least 10 water breaks!
On a side note, I did NOT ask for her to pose this way. She saw another little girl pose and thought this was the best way to stand for a picture!
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I haven't been very diligent about writing soccer updates lately. The team has gone on a good run though lately. In the last 6 games, they went 4-1-1. Yesterday they played Vancouver. It was an important win because of how things worked out in the Canadian championship. They won 2-1, had some great goals and Matt had a big save in the last minute of the game.
Our family friends here came to the game and we loved sharing a nice afternoon and a win with them! I've posted pictures of all the kiddos in the photo album.
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