He's on the charts!!!!

I took Ben to the endocrinologist today. He has been on growth hormone for almost a year (he started on June 30th last year). He is now 47 1/2 lbs (10th percentile) and 46 1/2 inches tall. His height is now at the 3rd percentile, he is finally on the height chart!!!! He has grown 4 inches and put on 8 lbs in the past year. It is truly amazing. The doctor is very happy with his growth and expects him to keep catching up with his peers. They have increased his dose to account for his increased size.

bubbles, bubbles, bubbles

Since Maggie never really plays with toys, I went to Target at an utter loss as to what to get her for her birthday. I settled on getting her a bubble machine that's designed like a bbq grill. It was a huge hit, they played with it all day. I guess Mum isn't totally clueless after all.

My baby turns 5

The day finally arrived when Maggie is 5 years old (and can go to school in August!!). She was the first child up in the morning, and came to sit with me in the kitchen.
Me: Hi Maggie. How are you? Did you sleep well? What day is it today?
Maggie: Shrugs her shoulders
Me: Don't you remember what day it is today?
Maggie: Shrug
Me: Maggie, what day is it today? It's very special
Maggie: I'm trying to think
Me: What are those things over there on the counter?
Maggie: Presents
Me: What are they for?
Maggie: I don't know
Me: Maggie, they are for you it's your birthday
Maggie: Yeah, it's my birthday.
She completely ignored all of the presents until Ben got up and his enthusiasm rubbed off on her. Granted, he has enough for several children. They took the presents and put them on the floor and Maggie proceeded to open them while we tried to keep Ben away from "helping" too much. The hit of the day was the bubble machine that we bought her.

Another storm

We had a big storm come through our neighbourhood yesterday afternoon right after I got home with Ben. We were just walking out the door to go to the park and the wind came whipping down the opposite street, bringing large amounts of trash with it. We just closed the garage door & went back inside. Our power was off for about 6 hours, the kids just can't stand it when the power is out. Maggie goes around switching all the light switched on and off, she just can't understand it. Luckily, everything in the fridges and freezers should be safe and we even 'had' to go out and eat dinner!!!! Ben & I did go up to the park eventually and walked around the lake. There were a lot of trees down in the neighbourhood, one just missed the house down the road from us and another was right across our street so we can only get out one way right now. Ben and I spent the afternoon searching for Canada Goose feathers, he uses them to write with-must have been watching too much Harry Potter (can you ever really watch too much Harry Potter???!!!)

Our ever-evolving garden

I start with one idea and before I know it, a new project is born. It started with my frustration to find a place where I can put one of my bird baths. Most of our back yard slopes and I'm always trying to find somewhere flat. I decided to try putting it on the grass next to the patio and soon I was digging up all the grass in that area with the view to putting in a small garden area next to the house. I moved all the grass that I dug up and placed it in the run off spots in the yard, particularly under the dogwood where the roots were coming through, I just hope it survives. Earlier in the Spring, we also remodeled the back of our existing garden area to try to stop the rain run off washing all the mulch away. We put a row of paving stones at the back, shortened the planter and planted grass. So far, it seems to be working really well. As usual, it will take us years longer to settle into the outside of our home than the inside!!!

We need one of these!!!!!

Enterprise Family Fun day

Enterprise has always had an event once a year for families. In previous years, they have held these at the zoo, six flags and a baseball game, but the economy has resulted in them downsizing considerably this year & the event was held on their parking lot. However, it was still a significant event with lots of inflatables, face painting, balloons and lots of free food. The kids had a fantastic time running from one thing to another. They particularly like these bikes, almost as much as Daddy did!!! Silly Jilly was there making balloon animals, she is really amazing, she churned them out constantly for 4 hours and there was always a line waiting. Ben got an alien which was really cool, but Maggs popped one of his legs in the first minute, so he didn't last long!!!! We were watching the kids wait in line and were laughing at the different methods for standing on the hot ground. Ben didn't care, he just stood there. Zachary stood on his socks and Maggie just hopped from foot to foot!!!! At the end of the day, we went to the Galleria to buy the kids new crocs, theirs are both well worn and they needed bigger sizes. They both opted for Cardinals crocs, that I have to admit are pretty cool. Ben was particularly impressed that they were able to donate their old ones back, they either send them to kids in Africa or grind them up, depending on how worn they are. I suspect that ours will be ground, but Ben was happy to think a child in Africa might get his.