our little ham at the wedding

These were taken at about 9:30pm! Maybe he can stay up or maybe he's just wired!

some more pics from the wedding

Our little angel is a monster eating machine!

It was the day of Carla's wedding, a wedding that I have been quite excited for. And what a perfect day it was! The sun couldn't have shone any brighter for this couple! It was a small, intimate wedding with 30 of her closes loved ones. It was set for 5:30pm at Seasons in the Park but it started just a little bit later. The day was even better since Matthew was the bestest little angel anyone could have asked for. We started the day a bit late as he slept in till 9! When I woke up I thought it was only 8am but then quickly realized that it was 9 and he was still catching his zzz's! Then we got ready quickly to meet up with Clayton, my brother and Kim at the Richmond Nature Park. We spent about an hour there on the trail and then in the gift shop that had stuff to do for the little guys. We then went to Pho for lunch. Matthew ate all his mush and two bowls of Pho noodles and fruit before we headed home for a nap. I was hoping that he'd have a great nap so he could last longer at the wedding. My wish came true as he got just over 2 and a half hours before waking up very happy. We got ready, him putting on his suit, James putting on his suit and me in my navy blue dress. We got to Seasons in the Park just before 5pm to settle ourselves in. Since the timing was quite off from our usual schedule, I couldn't help but worry how Matthew would take to it. I really should give him more credit and stop worrying! He was exploring the dining room where we'd be spending the next 6 hours in. The bride was a bit late so the ceremony didn't start until closer to 6pm. Then some h'orderves came to tickle our tummys while photos were being taken outside. We fed Matthew his mush and some of the h'orderves. James said that he'll consider this his dinner so I could enjoy mine when the time comes as he'll be entertaining Matthew. I don't know if James was being nice or if he just thought the small bites were too delicious to stop munching on but anyhow James ate a very good amount while Matthew finished his mush and some chicken skewers and spring rolls. Then we went outside to take some pictures which was only about 15 minutes. We went back downstairs to enjoy some bread and speeches. Matthew ate almost a whole bun and some cheerios and fruit. Then our entree came and Matthew had some mashed potatoes and lots of french fries and one chicken strip. Dessert came and Matthew had a few bites of our lemon tart and a couple bites of ice cream. At this point, it was 9ish and not only is Matthew a very pleasant guest, he had been sitting since 6pm (with a short break to go outside for pictures) but he was still eating and very happy. After a few more speeches, it came time for dancing. We thought Matthew would go crazy when Rihanna's "We found love" song came on but he was too preoccupied with Ciresi's phone which had been playing Rihanna's "We found love" song continuous for him as he was asking for it. We left the wedding just after 10:30pm. We were prepared for Matthew to fall asleep in the car on the way home so we brought his PJ's. But he didn't sleep as he kept requesting for Rihanna's song. Man, it used to be one of my fave songs but I'm getting kinda sick of it! We got home and he was still awake so we decided to give him his milk and do his regular bedtime routine. He downed 6oz of milk and then went to bed super nice. He's been eating up a storm! He must be making up for the 2 days he didn't eat! I was hoping he'd sleep in and he did until I woke him up to go to the Easter Egg hunt at the YMCA (langara one) to meet up with Ryan, Lana, Doug, and Yee-ma. He woke up happy (thankfully!) and we enjoyed a full morning of carnival games and an easter egg hunt. He wasn't too good at it and the YMCA volunteer kept dropping eggs around him so he'd find it easily. He just wanted to play! We then grabbed a quick bite at Oakridge Mall with Yee-ma before we headed home for a nap. So that's what our angel's doing now - napping since 1:20pm. It's times like this that I TOTALLY want another one!
oh one thing about the wedding. I thought it was so thoughtful that there were gift bags for each of the children in attendance. Each bag was thoughtfully prepared based on gender and age group. The idea behind the bags was to help entertain the kiddies, luckily for us it was just an extra and not needed but super much appreciated! I thought it was such a nice added touch...thanks guys!

my first ice cream cone

We went to one of our fave restaurants called Phom Phenh aka "gum been" during the long Easter weekend. It's so delicious! We thought we would get there early to beat the rush but we should have figured there's no down time to this restaurant unless it's closed! We waited a whooping 40 minutes but it was sure worth it.
Before the long weekend, Matthew caught the hand,foot,mouth disease from school. He had a slight fever for 2 days and wasn't eating much. He wanted to but every time he popped something in his mouth, he would cry. Poor guy! He's bounced back quickly so all is great now. He hadn't been sick since the last time my parents left and of course he got sick the day my parents left town for another month of travels! Lucky us with our cranky pants! We weren't concerned with his lack of eating during his two sick days as we know this guy can eat up a storm. Boy, did he make up for lost time! As we waited for our food to arrive, we fed him his chicken mush. He ate it up in no time and demanded more immediately. So onto his fruits and cheerios. When our food came, he had a bowl of beef with rice, 2 bowls of vermicelli and 2 spring rolls. Man, where does he pack it all?!?!
We also bumped into Matthew's classmate, Kasia who was also there with her parents. Her parents admitted that they used to come here a lot but since having Kasia, they haven't found the time - same here! After our yummy dinner, we stopped by at the Gelato place on Venables and enjoyed some yummy dessert. Matthew was given a free ice cream cone. He ate it all up and wanted more!

Gym time!

Lisa found an awesome gym and invited us to join her and Connor for the next 2 months worth of Saturdays. Unfortunately I've already signed up for this music class in our neighbourhood and can't get anyone to answer me if we can apply for a refund. Oh well, at least the music class is much closer.

This Wayland Sports gym (in Richmond)is really cool. It's like a gymnastics course for little people! It has trampolines and runway trampolines everywhere that leads to this gigantic foam pit. And yes, I've tried it and it's tons of fun! There's also a mini obstacle course and short rings and swing bars that's just the right height for these two monkeys!

I was quite impressed with this place and am sad that Matthew can't participate for the next couple months. But here are some pics of this awesome place! And then Connor and Matthew played for a bit in the parking lot after the class.

what a fun spring break!

As much as I complained that James "wasted" his vacation time by taking spring break off, I'm so thankful he did! We had quite a busy week and so happy that we got to spend every waking moment as a family together. The first Saturday we went to the Commercial Street Park followed by Greek dinner with the whole Chan family. Matthew cut the dinner a little short, but luckily we were planning on leaving anyway. He's in a screaming phase now so...we had to leave! (The picture of Clayton covering his ears with Matthew is where Clayton is saying Matthew's too loud with his screams!) Sunday we bought an apartment, yep an apartment at the Telus Gardens in downtown. It's supposed to be an investment property between my brother and I but it's turning out to be a "let's keep it just in case we get too drunk after a hockey game, a weekend get-a-way, a place to change diapers, a place to take a nap if needed"...we'll see what really happens when the bills start rolling in! Then after the big purchase we met up with our friends for dinner to use up our American Grille Groupons. The kiddies were all so good! Then on Monday, the three of us headed south to the border to do a little shopping. On Tuesday, we squeezed in a quick workout then went to meet the Wangs for dimsum lunch at Golden Harvest. After nap, we met up with both sets of parents at Sushi Garden. Wednesday rolled around and since I had a meeting at the lawyers in downtown, James and I decided to make it a day of it. Matthew's been really good napping in the stroller so it was an easy decision. We then had family dinner at the Chinese restaurant at the Grand Villa Casino. Thursday, we took it easy and just went for dim sum with my parents as they were on babysitting duty with Clayton and then went to the Brentwood Mall indoor playground for 30 minutes of fun. Sunny Friday came along and we went to yaletown and found parking right away! Amazing! We took the skytrain to waterfront and then the seabus to go claim 3lbs of clams for me! Yum Yum in my tum tum! Then after lunch, Matthew took a nice nap as we headed back to Yaletown to meet Anthony for happy hour at Rodney's. 30 oysters each later, we went to Red Robin's to meet up with my family for dinner. We then went to Jas' grand opening of her branch on Saturday, ate with the guys who went and then strolled Main Street as Matthew napped in the stroller again. Then I took Matthew to Central Park while James went to play hockey. Today, my parents, Matthew and I went downtown to Kirin for lunch, then again strolled Robson while Matthew napped in his stroller. We came home shortly after he awoke from his nap to meet up with daddy (his first day back to work) to go to the playground at the elementary school next door. Then we had family dinner at home. Phew, what a week of doing nothing really but having tons of fun doing it! Until the next week off which is in May. We just bought tickets to LA so planning on meeting Mickey and the gang for the first time for little Matthew! Woo-hoo!
Here's a video of Clayton and Matthew playing.

my fave videos!

I love these two videos!