Ty Turns 6!!!!!!

Ty has definitely had a LONG Birthday celebration this year. His actual birthday was on Thursday, November 18, but his party was not going to be until Friday the 26th. So he woke up Thursday morning to signs and streamers on his door, had a #6 pancake, took cupcakes to school, got to pick out a prize at school, went skating after school, went to a hockey game Friday night, saw Megamind, Saturday, his Korean Sunday School teacher bought him a cake for Sunday school, then on Friday, he had his much anticipated hockey party!! All of this while continuing to say, "It's my birthday..so can I pick....?" After all of that he is officially 6!!!!!! I can not believe how quickly the time has flown by. I feel like I was just holding him in the hospital and now he's in Kindergarten, and 6!!!

Decorated Door!

#6 Breakfast.

Picking out his prize at school, which he was SO excited about!!

Ty standing by his cupcakes, while the class sings "Happy Birthday" short story on the cupcakes: I had made homemade confetti cupcakes, that Ty and Emma had helped with the night before. Emma came down to Ty's class before we passed them out to get one. As I was getting her one, the glass container fell and busted on the floor, ruining the majority of the cupcakes, so I had to RUN to Safeway to pick up some more. Ty handled it great and his only request was that they be decorated :)

Ty's class!

Emma helping Ty read his cards at his birthday dinner.

Some of the gifts from PaPa and MiMi that were left to open. Everything else Ty got for his bday from family had to be given early b/c it was all hockey stuff and he needed it right away. So for a month, we have been saying, "this is from so and so for your birthday, but you need it now" :)

Korean cake for Ty's bday!

Ty had 2 requests for his cake. 1)that it be made with candy. 2)that it have strawberry cake on the inside. Both seem like pretty reasonable requests, and the first I could definitely do, however, the great city of Vancouver does not sell Strawberry cake mix!!! In fact, when I asked my Canadian friend Melissa, she said she'd never heard of it!! So, thankfully, Lyndsey rescued us and was going down to the States on Tuesday before his party and got me 2 mixes!! Thanks Lyndsey, you made his day extra special :)

About to blow out the candles.

All the kids eating cake and ice cream.

The parents.

One of Ty's gifts was a Luongo life size poster. He loved it!

Ty's friend Jake skating.

The non blurry kid is Ty playing hockey. We had the rink divided, with half playing hockey and half skating.

Hockey Game.

All the kids that came!!

Halloween and Trick or Treating

We had tons of fun Halloween weekend this year!! We had parties at school on Friday, some friends over Saturday night, and then, Trick or Treating 2 different times on Sunday!! It was fun-filled!! In Mississippi, we were always told to wear costumes that were not too scary and kid friendly. They obviously do not go by those rules here in Vancouver :). On Friday, at school, all of the kids could dress up in whatever costume they wanted. They had a "haunted hallway" that Emma's class was a part of (she was dressed as a black cat, that's about as scary as we get in our household :). I went with Ty's class to the "haunted hallway" and it was SCARY!!! The teacher in charge of the hallway asked our teacher if we wanted the lights on or off, she said she didn't care, but looking back I think we should have gone with ON!! It was pitch black with a strobe light blinking, scary music, the kids were lining the hallway with scary masks and things were hanging down from the ceiling. 2 of the scariest masks were the scream face masks that had blood pumping through them--YUCK!! I had about 5 kindergarteners huddled around me crying and screaming as I am holding their hands and pushing them through. At the end of the hallway was a "dead" body hanging from the ceiling. By this point all of the kids are crying and saying they never want to do that again, and one of the little boys got a nose bleed from the excitement--TOTALLY different than the Fall Festivals we are used to attending :). At the end of the day though, both classes had great parties that were alot of fun. Emma's class decorated cupcakes, and Ty's class had several stations set up to make crafts, play games, and they sang songs for us at the end. Saturday night we had friends over and just grilled out, which was very fun and relaxing. On Sunday we went over to an area of town called Yaletown and trick or treated the shops there. It was a totally different experience, and the kids loved going from store to store. After a couple hours there, we headed home, warmed up, grabbed a quick snack, then set back out to the West End, which is where our school is located. There we trick or treated some homes and apartment buildings. People go way out here for Halloween. There was a row of houses and an apt building that had really decorated. The apt. building was made into a freak show/circus theme, and one of the houses had been made into a pirate ship. In all, inspite of the one scary event, we had a great time with friends this Halloween!

The Pirate Ship House.

Ty(one of the stations was painting your own face) and his friend Jake, both Batman!!

My handsome Batman.

My Beautiful Cat.

Emma's yummy decorated cupcake.

Tasting her work :)

Ty and Jake playing BINGO. This was Ty's favorite thing at the party!

Emma's Class.

Our decorated Pumpkins.

Ty's face says what he's thinking about the yucky inside of the pumpkin :)

Emma did great this year at helping carve her own pumpkin and cleaning it out!

Ty changed costumes for actual trick or treating, now he's Robin!!

Emma the black cat behind the pumpkins!

Waiting to cross the street to trick or treat the businesses.

Trick or Treating the businesses.

This is Luongo. Most of you probably don't have a clue who he is, but he's the goalie for the Vancouver Canucks! HUGE DEAL up here!! We noticed him out with his daughter and asked for a pic and he was happy to do it!! Ty was THRILLED!!

Off to trick or treating #2.

Ty, aka Robin.

Emma and super girl, aka Madeleine.

The whole west end trick or treating group :) Buzz: Carson, China Doll: Brooklynn, Robin: Ty, Black Cat: Emma, Super Girl: Madeleine, Zombie: Ashra, and Cooper (as himself :)

Ty's Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!!

Ty's class went on a field trip to a different pumpkin patch than we went to as a family. It was fun, but Ty said his favorite was still the one we went to first. It was a very "Vancouverish"day, slightly misting, cold, and muddy in the pumpkin patch! None of that bothered the kids one bit :)

Jake, Ty, Vladisaw, and a blurry Kyle.
I had never seen characters like this before: a giant pumpkin and corn.

This is what the kids did for about 10 minutes straight!! They ran and hopped on the hay bales row by row!

Here they were playing in a giant tent filled with hay.

Ty on the wagon ride.

The one thing I did like better at this patch was that they had musicians on the wagons with us leading us in a sing-a-long!!

Ty picking his pumpkin.

After the patch we went to a nearby park that was by the water to eat lunch.

They also ran around and scared seagulls away.

PUMPKIN PATCH!!!

Just a little warning--there are A LOT of pictures coming up :)

If you know me at all you know I love fall and I LOVE going to a pumpkin patch every year. One of the first things I did when I knew we were moving to Vancouver was make sure there was a pumpkin patch somewhere close enough to drive. We found a GREAT one this year. Each pumpkin patch holds a special place in my heart because each one has so many memories that we've created at it, and I know this one will hold many more memories in the years to come. This year we went with the Robinson's and our friends Amy and Ashra. The kids played in bouncy houses, rode horses, pet bunnies, went on a hayride, picked pumpkins, tasted REAL apple cider (really its fresh squeezed apple juice with no preservatives--it was AMAZING!!!), jumped on a jumping pillow, went down slides and through a small maze. It was FUN!!! We can't wait to go back next year!!

Ashra, Emma, and Ty.

Ty riding the horse.

Emma riding the horse.

Emma petting the bunnies.

Ty in the bunny houses.

Seriously, I took about 15 pics and not ONE turned out with everyone looking at the camera!!

On the hayride!

Ty and Daddy!!

Amy and Ashra.

Ty's pumpkin pick of 2010!!

Emma's pumpkin pick of 2010!!

This year she was even big enough to pick it up!!! I don't like how old she's getting !!!

Emma and Ty on the jumping pillow.

Carson on the jumping pillow.

Emma decorating her pumpkin.

The finished product!!

Ty painting his pumpkin (to look like it was bloody, gore is a new thing at our house) :)

Ty's finished product!!