Today Landon graduated from preschool :) So crazy that in just a few short months, he will be in kindergarten full time!  He is so excited to be going to big school and be at the same school as his friend Paige! Wind and Tide has always had a special place in my heart because it is where I taught for 5 years before having my boys. They always do such a fabulous job of events and today's graduation was wonderful. The class did 3 plays, The 3 Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Landon was in the 3 Little Pigs. Then they had their walk across the stage, where the teachers told everyone what the kids said they wanted to be when they grew up. As Landon walked across, his teacher said "And Landon hasn't quite decided what he wants to be yet!" haha, he's honest :) They sang some songs and we watched a great movie the school had put together of the whole year.  Then we celebrated with cupcakes and treats!

Landon and his buddies, Isaiah and Tyler

Landon was the 'brick seller' in the 3 Little pigs

Proud of themselves

My Handsome graduate

With his wonderful teachers!

The 3 of us

Cheese!

Had to share

I had to share this, thanks to my good friend CW for sharing it with me
http://powerofmoms.com/2012/04/your-children-want-you/

Landon's 4th Birthday

It's hard to believe it's been 4 years since Landon made his entrance into the world.  He has been such a joy to Jason and I and we had a lot of fun celebrating his 4th birthday this year.  He was so into the planning of it, that it made it all the more special.  Landon is full of life, loves his friends, is sensitive, happy, a fireball, stubborn, willing to learn new things, loves hockey, and thinks his dad is the best person in the world!!

At preschool every month they do a "Party Day" where the parents stay for the first 30 min of class and listen to the kids sing the songs they've learned about that month.  At the end, they also celebrate all the birthday's from that month.  So, in November, it was Landon's turn.

Landon at the front, waiting to blow out his candle

For Landon's "friends" birthday party this year, he had asked for a "Canucks hockey birthday", because hockey is everything to him!  So, that's what we planned - a hockey party.  I got these great cupcakes made by Rachel of "Gateau My Gosh" (someone my sister-in-law knows) and they were awesome!!!

Decorations

Banner (idea found on Pinterest)

Landon loving his cupcakes

Great cheese smile, L! haha

 So, for Landon's party we decided to have some friends over for dinner and cake - we ordered pizza, a wonderful friend of mine made a salad and a veggie tray and then we had cupcakes for dessert.  The house was full, and Landon loved it.

Enjoying the cupcake

Opening presents

After dinner and presents, Landon, and all of his little male friends went to a Langley Rivermen hockey game with their dads.  We had bought tickets and made that a "boys only" part of the party.  Landon came home from the game that night, ran up to me with a huge hug and said "Thank you for my party, Mom, it was so much fun!"  - Now, that is the best feeling ever! -

Pue Family Photos

After 6 years, we finally got our full Pue family photographed!  We had such a great time and our great friend, Tania of Redhanded Photography did such a wonderful job.  You can check out the blogpost here: http://redhandedphotography.blogspot.com/2011/11/family-carson-brenda-gang-pt1.html?showComment=1321559156356#c8889198735640418103

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Loaf

This recipe has become a frequently made one around our household lately!  It is so yummy so I thought I'd share it!

CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI LOAF

1 egg

1/2 cup Miracle Whip Dressing

1-1/2 cups grated zucchini (about 1)

1-1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

HEAT oven to 350ºF.
BEAT egg and dressing in large bowl with whisk until well blended; stir in zucchini. Mix remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Add to zucchini mixture; stir just until moistened.
POUR into 8x4-inch loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray.
BAKE 50 min. or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 min.; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. (I have found that it usually takes closer to an hour to fully cook through.  

*Recipe from Kraft's What's Cooking Magazine* 

Hawaii Family Vacation

Ok, so I'm not doing so well on getting this post up.  I realized that all of the pictures are on my hubby's computer and because he needs it for work a lot, I'm not able to access it all the time.  So, here is a start to the post:

On our way to Seattle

My cousin got engaged last year and had told us that she was planning a destination wedding.  It was really important to us to be there for her big day, so we started saving up well in advance so that we could make this a great trip!  Karalee and Ben planned to fly from Australia, so we all decided we'd make it a big family vacation.  It was highly anticipated by Landon as he asked everyday for a few months "Do I get to go to Hawaii on an airplane to see Uncle Ben and Auntie Kare today?".  He was so excited to take his suitcase and get to fly on an airplane to see his long lost Uncle and Auntie!  We were able to bring our wonderful friend and babysitter, Victoria, with us on the trip, which was such a huge blessing.

We drove to Seattle, spent the night and then flew out of Seattle the following day.  Landon literally skipped through the airport and when we got on the plane, he yelled as loud as he could "I'm going to Hawaii to see Uncle Ben and Auntie Kare!".  He thoroughly enjoyed the plane ride and was SOOOO good.  Liam on the other hand, well that's another story.  Let's just say, he's a one year old boy who doesn't like to sit still and has a bit of a temper! :) I was very glad when we landed in Maui!

Here is Liam playing at the beach

Building a castle with Uncle Ben

Playing with Papa in the pool

My sisters, mom, Auntie Judy and I at Becky's wedding

Fun with Auntie Kare

watching all the fish at the Maui Ocean Center

Haha our attempt at a family photo ;)

Playing with daddy in the water

Mommy and Liam

Building castles

SISTERS

Just chillin with his shades on

Walking with Uncle Andrew

Almost home after a long trip and fast asleep

I have some more pictures that I'd like to post too, so I will do that as soon as I am able to!  All in all, this was a wonderful trip.  Liam definately didn't travel as well as I had hoped, but he got 2 molars in the 9 days we were there! And as it is, he doesn't sleep well, so the time change and heat, plus sleeping in a playpen didn't make our nights very easy, but we made it work!  And I'm so thankful for all the extra helping hands we had during the trip.  Vacations with kids are not really "vacations", but watching it through their eyes was pretty fun!

And life goes on...

I feel like life has definately run away on me lately!  I can't believe that it's already the middle of July and I haven't blogged in so long!! I do want to catch up, but I feel like some days I have a hard time keeping on top of my house and kids, let alone adding in extras like blogging!  But, I'm going to try later today to get up a post about our family vacation to Hawaii for sure!! So...I'll be back!

SPRING :)

Spring has arrived - I love these signs of it around our house!

Our plum tree

Beautiful cherry blossoms on the side of our house

 And seeing that sunshine means that it is time to get my boys outside for a while!  We have to enjoy the sunshine when we get it :)

While the flowers are beginning to grow, my boys have definately grown too!  I'm always amazed at how much can change in just a week.  Liam is definately at a busy busy stage, and leaves me exhausted by dinner time every night.  He is a lot of fun, but testing, learning, exploring, all those fun things that they do, keep me on my toes!  Landon is loving preschool and continues to talk more and more everyday and grow into a little man.  I'm surprised at some of the things that come out of his mouth - words I didn't even know he knew, and usually the sentences he puts together make us laugh!  It's amazing what they pick up from us adults!  Liam is saying "Papa", "All done", "Please", "Mom", "Dad", "Abby", "Mama"....way more than Landon was ever saying at his age!

 As we enter a new month and a new season, I'm looking forward to all that is ahead.  The past couple of weeks we've had to walk through some hard times with friends and I am reminded daily of God's grace and love.  Being a mom brings its challenges and rewards daily - and I admit, I've found myself frustrated more often than I would like.  I'm learning a lot about myself as we raise these 2 boys and I'm so thankful for the friends and family around us, who are such great examples and such wonderful blessings to walk this journey with.
Enjoy the sunshine that has finally come our way!

Liam's First Birthday

I know, i know, I've been terrible at updating my blog! Life just gets away on me and I hardly have an extra 2 minutes...I feel like there needs to be more than 24 hours in a day sometimes.

Anyways, our little boy turned 1 this month!  It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since he came into our lives.  Liam has filled every day with joy - he is full of smiles and brings life to a room.

For his first birthday, we wanted to do something a little bit different.  We knew that we didn't need anymore toys or clothes - we've been blessed with much!  So, we wanted to come up with a way of blessing someone else.  Jason and I talked about it a lot, prayed about it but couldn't come up with something that both of us felt great about.  One Sunday, we were sitting in church, and one of the pastors mentioned a family that was going through a tough time - they needed to get their daughter a surgery that is not available in Canada, and so were trying to raise $25,000 to go to the USA for the surgery.  We just knew that this was the family we wanted to help.  After finding out a bit more information, we sent out Liam's invitations telling everyone our idea that if they wanted to get Liam a gift, that it be in the form of a donation to this family.  It was such a wonderful evening of fellowship and celebrating our Liam!

The Mickey mouse cake made by a wonderful girlfriend, SL.  Check out her website at http://www.cakesbyshawna.blogspot.com/

She made 4 dozen Mickey Mouse cupcakes as well (The cake/cupcakes were all a gift from Auntie Kare and Uncle Ben in Australia)

The birthday boy greeting his guests

Hanging with Auntie Abby (MAJOR teething cheeks)

House full of people!

Happy Birthday to you!

Having his first taste of cake...with Mama and Papa watching on Skype from Australia

Yep, he loved it!

Birthday Boy with Grammy

Thank you to all of our friends and family for celebrating with us and for helping us bless this family.  We are so excited to be able to share with Liam what we did for his first birthday when he's old enough to understand. 
For more information on the family that we donated to, you can go to:
http://www.wix.com/triacam/funds-4-savanna
and http://www.theprovince.com/health/Baby+stem+cells+could+sister/4083561/story.html