2nd Birthday Celebrations!

Today, we celebrated Ewan's 2nd Birthday with a friend party in the early afternoon and then a family party over dinner. It really was such a wonderful day - myself, Alan and Ewan really enjoyed every moment of it. I had so much fun planning for the party and I was organized enough that I also got to enjoy the parties! It was so wonderful seeing Ewan playing and laughing with all his little friends. He was so excited and happy all day - the little guy partied from 1pm to 8pm before crashing in his bed! Thank you to Kids Crooked Playhouse for getting us Ewan's new Play house in time for his Birthday (it's the super cute blue wooden playhouse in the 1st pic below), Run a Mok for the bouncy castle, to Crash the clown (www.dance4dreams.com) for a great performance and to Piece of Cake (http://pieceofcakeottawa.ca/Piece_of_Cake_Ottawa/Welcome.html) for a beautiful and delicious cake. 

Here are some highlights from the day -

Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us, Ewan is so lucky to have such wonderful friends in his life. AND I forgot to give out the loot bags - isn't that terrible, that is one of the best parts of the party!!! I will deliver them this week!

My baby boy...

My baby boy will turn 2 years old in 15 days! For his 1st birthday, I was so excited to celebrate with him but also still so anxious to experience all sorts of firsts with him (words, walking, crawling - Ewan was a late bloomer with many things!). Now, for Ewan's 2nd birthday I just want everything to slow down - I feel like he has turned into a boy overnight! He never stops talking and singing in both French AND English now, his pretend play skills are expanding every day and he wants to help with everything and simply learn about everything around him and he also just learned how to climb up onto the couch for the first time (still a late bloomer with some things, lol!) I simply cannot believe my little man will no longer be my little helpless baby boy.

I also have a confession to make... next Saturday was supposed to be my first overnight away from Ewan - and I cannot do it!!! Isn't that crazy! I should be able to leave him for an overnight, right?! Now if I did leave him, it would be an absolutely awful night for anyone who stayed with him. But I think it would still be worse for me. At first I thought it would be my first full night sleep in TWO years, but I don't think that I would sleep at all that night for being worried. Do you know that this past week, Ewan has slept straight through until 3am several times - and I was awake from 1-3am until he awoke worried that something was wrong - that is craziness!

I am still going to Toronto to visit some University friends for the night - I am not cancelling my visit - Ewan will just come with me. It has actually turned into a family trip - Alan had to leave for Houston on the Sunday morning (which meant I would have to have flown back super early on Sunday) so now we are going to drive down together after the Saturday morning play classes and Alan and Ewan will visit family in TO and meet up with me later that night. Ewan and I will spend Sunday slowly making our way home with lots of stops along the way.

I will aim for mine and Alan's wedding anniversary in August for a first night away from Ewan - lots of time to psych myself up for it:)

A week of Birthday celebrations!

Last week was full of birthday celebrations for myself and Alan (our birthday's are one day apart - and if you take into account the time difference because he was born in Scotland - we were actually born on the same day - kind of a fun fact!). Although Alan was supposed to miss both of our birthday's because of an ill timed business trip to Houston; he made it back to say Happy Birthday and we spent the afternoon of his birthday together.

Our birthday gift to each other this year was also a morning at the Nordik Spa. Neither of us had ever been there before and I have to say it was fantastic! It is situated in the Gatineau Hills and you are literally surrounded by trees and mountains and it is simply beautiful, peaceful and relaxing. I had booked a pedicure for myself and then we spent the morning together in the 'nordic baths'. The Nordic Baths (which is also a really great price and next time we would probably only do them and skip the spa service) are a three step process beginning with either the sauna or the steam room, followed by a dip in a cold pool (outdoors!But we did it!!!), followed by relaxing time - either in the hot tubs or in an enclosed space by the fire. We did the 'process' twice and then enjoyed a wonderful lunch - complete with wine and a chocolate fondue!

Unfortunately, our bliss quickly ended. By the time we reached Alan's aunts' house, who had so generously played with Ewan most of the day, we were seriously sick. The stomach flu hit us hard - for 4 days!!! Each time I thought I was better - I would try and eat - and then I paid for it for the next 12 hours! Thankfully as of this evening I am sure that I am better now. Although it was kind of nice to literally stay in bed for the past few day!

I also have to thank all of the Before School kids and the Nursery School kids for a wonderful day on my birthday - it was so nice to celebrate with all of you!!!

Being Thankful... and a New Adventure

This past Thanksgiving weekend was a wonderful opportunity to take some time and relax. Ok, not so much relax, but it was great to visit family that we haven't seen in some time as well as get some outdoor maintenance stuff done around the house. I really enjoyed setting up and planning all of the gardens in the spring, however, I now have very little motivation to clean them all out. All in all a very productive weekend and some great meals with great company!

This weekend, Alan and I also took Ewan to the pumpkin patch. He had such a great time wondering through all the pumpkins and sitting on them! I don't know why he thought he should sit on them, but he did. And we chose the comfiest pumpkin he could find! Now that he his up and running, it definitely is a lot more challenging getting great pictures - I seem to only get him running away from me! (I can't seem to post pics tonight, so I will update this tomorrow)

Other important 'Ewan' news - he had his very first hair cut! Well, an unofficial hair cut. Really, I just cut
his rat tail off - it really had to go. But I think he may be due for a real hair cut soon.

Over the past little while, Alan and I have been talking about how thankful we are that the business is going as well as it is and the many wonderful families that we have come to know through the business. These families have supported us in our new programming and ideas - some successful, other ideas not so much. But our new A Gym Tale adventure is going to be an extension of our Birthday Parties, by adding on a new option to have a character visit your home.

Not just any characters, but Spiderman, Batman and Sleeping Beauty just to begin with. These characters have only the most authentic costumes available. I don't really know anything about comic stuff - but these costumes are pretty fantastic. This party option will allow families to have an at home party but still bring in an entertainer who can take care of all of the activities while the parents can sit back and enjoy the party as well. Depending on the ages of the children and the character visiting, the kids will take party in super hero training or a princess story telling, singing and dancing activity. As well as incorporating a variety of other activities for the hour that the character is present.

We are very excited to introduce these characters and we will be doing so on Halloween day. Sunday, October 31st we will be hosting a Costume Party at A Gym Tale between 10-3pm with half price drop in play and lots of great picture opportunities.

I hope to see everyone there!

Happy Birthday to my baby boy!

Ewan's birthday has just passed, what a very special day it was! We had a giant family party on Saturday, and I mean huge - 60 people! Ewan did a fantastic job and was wide awake and in good spirits the entire party. After all the guests arrived, John from monkeyrockmusic.com came by and did a 45 minute music class which entertained all the kids (ages 1-14) as well as all the adults. It was a great way to get everyone involved, singing, playing instruments and everyone was talking about it for the rest of the party!


After the Monkey Rocks show, we had a BBQ lunch and then the cake! At first Ewan did not know what to think - he has never had sugar before. After a taste from my finger, he slowly tried it himself and after a moment was shoving handfuls into his mouth - all over his face actually! By the time we finished cake and quickly opened up gifts, Ewan was exhausted and it was time to say goodbye to everyone.


Although we had a wonderful time and I think Ewan very much enjoyed all of the excitement - it really is a lot of work and preparation to host a birthday party at home. Not to mention the clean up afterwards - it took me a week to clean the house before the party and then two days after the party to get it clean again! Next year we will definitely be doing the party outside of our home - maybe we will have to host it at A Gym Tale after all!

Easter Weekend

What a wonderful long weekend - great weather, spending time with friends and family, and building a garden rock wall! Ok, so building the wall was not so much fun, but it did turn out really well. What started as a small raised vegetable garden, quickly turned into three garden beds, for a total of 50 feet! A little bit of a larger project than we had initially bargained for. Myself and my husband can barely move this evening without moaning and groaning. But we now have our very first do-it-yourself home renovation project under our belt. Now what can we do next....maybe a fire pit?!

Ewan also had a very busy weekend showing off all of his new 'tricks' to family and friends that we haven't seen in awhile. Ewan can push himself backwards on a few different types of surfaces, he can rip door stoppers right out of the wall, he can now stand up without his legs instantly turning to jello, he can bounce while standing, consistently wave, clap and bump heads when asked and talks non-stop, all day long! It is so exciting seeing him turning into a real little boy!! And with his 1st birthday less than five weeks away, party plans are well under way. Does anyone have any birthday party venue suggestions?!