Sunday, March 27, 2011

Anyone remember "Newsies"?

I watched Newsies a fair amount of times as a teenager. There was a lot of eye-candy in that movie, plus the songs were rather inspiring. Anyway, sometimes when I blog I feel like one of those kids yelling on the street, "Extry extry, read all about it!" So here's our news.

This week has been quite a blur. Ryan was away from home every night with Apple, school or church activities. He's exhausted and trying to get over feeling under the weather. The launch of the iPad 2 was pretty fun for his store! He also participated in his school's fine arts showcase.

I attended a parent council meeting at Claire's school, at which I was the only parent not on the executive. Sometimes you don't realize, until you get involved, how much work goes on in these volunteer positions. It's so important to support your kids' schools and your community leagues!

I also got to visit Claire's class to observe how things are going. She has a great group of kids and wonderful supports in her class. As we begin to plan for grade 1, it's going to be a whole new ballgame in terms of support and funding. It's a little scary to be on the cusp of something unfamiliar, but we're glad to have the support of the administration for her to attend there.

We had our last Ballerina Dreams class on Saturday. Although it's been fun (and we're looking forward to their recital next week!) it will be nice to not spend our Saturday afternoons going to St. Albert and back!

The girls and I and Auntie Natalie went to a Charlotte Diamond concert. It's fun to share some favourite childhood songs with your own children.

Claire got us some posh seats, right at the front of the stage. :)
As I was walking her to the front, I realized just how steep an incline there was and how strong people must be who have to propel themselves in such situations.


Claire enjoyed it so much!

I loved this picture of her!

Madeline has many roles in our family. In a lot of ways, she's like the oldest child because she often takes care of her sister and includes her in things. She's also our baby. I enjoy these little moments where she shows such love for Claire.

We call Claire our little pretzel because she can so easily contort herself. It's actually quite a lucky thing because many kids that have movement disorders suffer from muscle tightness.

Ryan and I used our last Oilers tickets for this season. Neither one of us has ever seen them win a game live, and both feel that we are some kind of jinx.
Oh, what a heartbreaker of a game! They were up by 3 and let the lead go to lose in a shootout, 5-4. At least we had the fun of going crazy and cheering with the masses for 4 goals. It was fun, especially while we had the hope of winning!

We have tons of icicles forming off the eaves of the house as things begin to melt. Ryan pulled this one off the front and both the girls had fun playing with it.

The last day before Spring break started, Claire's school had "Crazy Hair Day." Those of you who know Claire know that many of her typical days could qualify under that category, but here's what we did for her that day.

Madeline's been enjoying the spoils of her birthday. We've been slowly opening up new toys in hopes that she'll appreciate them more and lose less pieces. She really enjoys being artistic and does surprisingly well at keeping things neat.
In other news, we've had two nights in a row with Miss Madeline wearing "big girl underwear" to bed and keeping things nice and dry.

Often I'll tease the girls about getting too big and growing too fast and demand that they stop! Madeline will always giggle and say, "Mom, we're not going to listen to you! We will keep growing!" Luckily though, she informs me that they'll still be my babies, even when they're old. :)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

4 Years or 1460 days

Madeline is 4 today, officially. We had her giant, crazy party on Saturday and it was a lot of fun.

We wanted to make a big deal about the day because very often we focus on Claire's exceptional needs. It was good for Maddie to have a special event all to herself and she was a very good hostess.

She hugged her friends (and kissed all the boys!) to thank them for gifts and didn't get too crazy with all of the attention and hubbub. It was an enjoyable time to connect with family and friends and here are some photos from the day!


I made the mistake of showing Madeline her cake that I had prepared a head of time. She decided to sample it to ensure it's deliciousness. So we used this as a backup cake and made a new one and mommy learned a valuable lesson.

Claire, sporting her designer princess crown.

The diva.

Her Disney Princess Astro Jump. It was a big hit!



Performing her birthday duties with a rapt audience.


Madeline enjoying cake in her favourite place. The stage.

Whenever anybody would ask her what she wanted for her birthday, she'd reply, "Barbies."
And Barbies she got!

She doesn't look excited at all...


Even Auntie Mel sent a gift from Ireland. Some fancy chocolates and a fuzzy lamb. It was very exciting to open the package she sent.

The kids had a blast in the gym with all the fun toys.

We had many people help us clean and pack up after the festivities were over. It was a very fun day!


Monday, March 14, 2011

Alliteration always adds awesomeness

Psst. PSSSST. This is what we Laytons have been up to lately. (Please don't rub in the fact that it's been nearly half a month since my last post. I've already done the appropriate penance in the form of 53.5 jumping jacks.)

Claire's kind of kicking me right now. She has amazing feet. She's like a little monkey.

What was I saying? Oh yes. Our comings and goings.

I've had a few meetings this month; a parent council for Claire's school, running a preschool meeting for Madeline's preschool, becoming a part of a community group organized to help revitalize and revamp a community park and organizing a new home-based program for Claire that will focus on some skills not currently being focussed on at school.

Ryan's been very busy with work and work and Young Men's. Many days he'll work at the school all day, rush home for something quick to eat and then be off to the Apple Store. On nights when he doesn't have double work, he'll often have something else that occupies his time like church activities, meetings, marking, report cards or playing the drums to accompany his school's piano recital. Sometimes he has free time! Oh wait, no, he doesn't. :)

We did get a night out to spend with family and friends at Rob's Big Band Dinner dance. He played the bass in the concert band, sung in the concert choir and played the drums for a Beach Boys Tribute band. It's fun to watch him show off his musical talents.




The day after the concert we held a Birthday Extravaganza to celebrate a few Patterson birthdays. Mom (Feb 27), Rob (Mar 3), Nat (Mar 15) and Maddie (Mar 20). It was very fun. A lovely meal followed by so many presents that it felt like Christmas and then three different types of dessert to accomodate all birthday requests.

Madeline and her new craft drawer, fully stocked by loving grandparents.

Claire and I hanging out in the kitchen.

Blowing out her princess candles was the highlight of the day for Madeline.


Isn't he such a cutie? (Noah's not so bad either, ha ha)

Courtesy of a photo shoot with Auntie Natalie. Oh my.

We were lucky enough to have a visit from the Thompsons this past weekend. It's always fun to have sleepovers!

Here we are, trying out Five Guys burgers with their delicious cajun fries that taste much better than they look.

I think Madeline was quite happy to cuddle with Liam.

Rockin' out. (See Jason, I posted a completely normal picture of you)


Lately Madeline has become a fan of copying people. She'll usually start with the delightful game of saying everything you say. She also wants to be just like her sister, Claire.

Wearing ankle braces

Doing "crobatics" using Claire's walker sling

And just for fun. Good thing I inherited my Dad's untangling genes.