Batman Party!

Poor Antoine... we had never given him a real birthday party (he had had a special dinner with family friends a couple of times but not a birthday party...)... mostly due to the fact that he is born in February and I never felt like hosting a party with a bunch of toddlers cooped up in our home... so this year Antoine was begging for a birthday party with his friends so I told him we would wait for the weather to be good so that we could spend part of the party outside... He accepted and waited patiently for the Spring to come... only to have rain the day of the party!! 

We had gotten from friends from our ward decorations for a Batman party and Antoine loved the idea right away. We asked everyone to come dressed up to make it even more fun!

 

 

 

Guess who is enjoying the gifts as well?

Esther visiting us...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antoine at work with Papa...

Antoine was anxiously waiting for his turn this year to spend a day with Mark at the FTC

 

We don't stop a tradition we love...

Every year we spend April General Conference with our dear friends the Isaacsons in Maryland. This year, Tom and Ginny could not keep our tradition so we went there a couple of weeks later and a wonderful time - kids playing in the huge yeard, adults catching up on our busy lives, and everyone enjoying a fire and some smores!

It is a wonderful time of the year!

I love Spring with its numerous colors as Nature becomes alive again...

We had not been to the Cherry Blossom for a a couple of years and we sure enjoyed a beautiful day with our friends!

 

Fun at Chuck E Cheese!

We started a rewards system for Adam and Antoine to do their chores and one of the things they can earn is an outing to Chuck E Cheese, which they chose this time...

Victor was not thrilled by some of the activities at first but he warmed up to others and we all had a great time! 

 

Where did Spring go???

From my previous post, spring had arrived and we had already enjoyed some times outdoors... but snow is back and even enough to build a snowman!!

This was Victor's first interaction with the snow and he really liked it! He loved going down the hill on his baby sled and had a great time watching the other kids play!

Once back home and Victor put down for his morning nap, I helped the boys build a snowman and they called him "Snowy". 

 

Spring is here!!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather Saturday to go out with our bikes to one of the playgrounds in the neighborhood and bring our balls to practice our basketball skills... =)

Victor has not been anxious to stand or walk since he has done his first steps a month ago... but he surprised us by standing and holding the basketball!

Our happy 18-month old crawler....

 

Not sure about the swing...
He seemed to like it very much last Fall but I guess he has no remembrance of it...

His favorite part was definitely the playground... from going up and down the stairs to crossing the bridge and going down the slide with Daddy...

Simple joyful memories together...

Putting up with two older brothers!

The three boys were in the bathtub together and Adam and Antoine thought it was very funny to cover Victor with suds... Victor is such a champ... Look at his angelic face!!

 

A first for Victor...

We had snow this week and Mark, Adam and Antoine spent the morning outside playing and sledding. The snow was really slushy and they came home completely soaked...

We made a fire and it is quite an event for us... Remember we had carpet all over our main floor so I was not really fan of dragging dirty wood throughout the house but now we can use the fireplace with easy clean-up... Adam and Antoine were thrilled but Victor was quite intrigued by this new experience!

He did not quite get used to the sudden noises of the wood crackling and would start crying each time the fire would make a "pop" sound...

 

Happy boys...

 

First steps!

After 7 months of crawling like a champion, Victor decided out of the blue to stand up and walk with his push along toy...
His main way of going from one place to another is still crawling but he now goes on leisury walks around the house with his various push along toys!

Celebration!

Our sweet Antoine is already turning 5!

You can tell from the following pictures that Antoine LOVED his presents, from his giant stuffed elephant to legos, books and playmobils... He had requested a French chocolate cake... Can you tell he is not the only who devoured it?? =)

Victor has discovered chocolate and ice cream... We are in trouble!! 

 

Lazy Saturday...

Adam and Antoine are so happy when I come back from the Library with dozens of books... They can spend hours reading in their PJs...

 

Allo!!!

 

New decoration...

 

Christmas morning...

 

 

 

Silly baby...