Emily's Harry Potter Birthday Party

Emily and I have been reading Harry Potter over the last year or so.  She never really wanted to read chapter books but has an incredible love of dragons and that's how I hooked her.  And once she was hooked she was HOOKED.  We ploughed through the first four books.  That's over a thousand pages and she loved every story and wants to keep going.  I'm worried that the themes are getting a little too mature so we are going to head over to Narnia for a while but to celebrate her love of Hogwarts she wanted her 7th birthday to have a Harry Potter theme and we went ALL OUT.

We spent weeks crafting.  We made wands and a Platform 9 3/4.  We painted the windows and made special invitations.  We figured out how to make the Honeydukes candies and so we made Chocolate Frogs and Every Flavoured Beans.  We figured out how to make floating candles in the dining room and our friend Andrea helped us wit that.  I did a LOT of work with the glue gun.  There was heavy reliance on Pinterest (how did people parent without Pinterest?) We had Golden Snitch cupcakes!  

My mom made Emily and I robes and I had sorted out that our house was the perfect place to recreate Hogwarts so that's why we had the party at home.  We put the Platform 9 3/4 wall outside the porch door and you had to sneak through the slit in it.  The "Hogwarts Express" (the childhood train set) was set up in the front porch and the front door was the entrance to Hogwarts.  We enlisted our friends Katie and Adrian to help fill out the faculty.  They were amazing sports and came in costume.

When the kids arrived I acted as their headmistress Rowena Ravenclaw and welcomed them as our new early first year class.  They printed their name tags and chose their wands.  We explained that I would take them around to their various classes before the banquet in the Great Hall.  The first class was Potions with Professor Snape (Keith).

Potions class was essentially fun and exploding science.  Professor Snape had labeled all his ingredients with Hogwarts names (Bezoars and Wolfsbane and Dragon Eggs, etc). He made "Dragon's Toothpaste" (common name in science experiments is Elephant Toothpaste) and had it erupt in his clear cauldron (punchbowl).  That experiment was cool but not as explosive as we were hoping.  He had an encore however.  His favourite experiment is putting Mentos (Dragon Eggs) into soda pop (Giggle Juice) and that caused an eruption that hit the kitchen ceiling and elicited 7 year old squeals of delight.  

Next was Divination class with Professor Trelawney (Katie) up in the loft.  She had combed her beautiful hair out big and had lots of scarves and colours and indeed it was the perfect set up for Divination class.  She did a great job of pretending to predict every kid's fortune.  Again thanks to Pinterest I had found a Divination potion where you put food colouring at the bottom of each glass and covered it with ice and so when you added 7 up the colour of your fortune was revealed!  She was perfect.

Our last class before the Great Feast was Care of Magical Creatures.  Our Head Hufflepuff girl Adrian and Hagrid's assistant Cian (complete with elaborate dragon "tattoo") taught the kids how to pin the fire back on the dragon.  Beware of the Baby Dragon though he is very tricky! He likes to escape and roar loudly :)

We then had our Grand Feast.  We had pretend jugs of pumpkin juice and butter beer but served water and pink juice instead.  There were "Hufflepuffs" (cheese puffs) and "Slytherin Snakes" (gummy worms) and Professor Sprouts vegetables.  They had their cupcakes and chocolate frogs and then went to play around the castle before their parents picked them up.  We even had Quidditch painted on the back window for those who wanted to try. 

Everyone was sent home with their very own (helium balloon) owl from the owlery, their wand and a container of Every Flavour Beans.  It was everything Emily hoped it would be and we had a lovely faculty dinner afterwards of amazing Indian food from Charisma.  The house elves didn't have to do a thing.   It was a lot of fun to plan this with her and to have it all go so well.  Her friend Abigail who has started to read the books too told her mom our house was EXACTLY like Hogwarts. :).

Sam is 1!

I can't believe it's been a year.

A year full of so many wonderful memories.

A year full of love and time as a family.

A year getting to know this sweet boy that we all love so much.

How does a year go by so fast?

We are so grateful to all of our Winnipeg "family" for coming to celebrate Sam's first year.  We had an underwater theme for our little Morris manta ray and made 2 cakes in typical Mennonite fashion (plus a cake to "smash") and inadvertently added a little "Baby Shark" medley for good measure.  We had to explain to Granny what Baby shark was and that Granny shark has no teeth in the hand movements/verse of the song but she was game to play along. Sam had lots of "help" from his siblings who were so excited to show him what birthdays were all about.  They spent hours on his decorations for the big day.

I could write forever on how thankful I am for this last year but instead I will say "Happy birthday my sweet little boy".  I hope all of your birthdays are full of as much love and happiness as your first one.  Thank you for joining our family.  Thank you for your smiles and laughter and "clucking" when you blow kisses.  Thank you for your enthusiastic love of any and all fruit including grapefruit.  Thank you for how much you tolerate your siblings constantly yelling in your face and dragging you around.  Thank you for tolerating the endless kisses from your mother.  Thank you for being you - we are excited to watch you grow.  Happy 1st birthday Sam.

A Gorgeous Winter Day

This Christmas break I wanted to take the older two cross-country skiing.  Cian isn't that interested in skating and I wanted to try a different winter sport that might spark his interest.  What I didn't realize was that this would pose challenges that I would never have thought possible. It was a beautiful winter day (4 degrees!) the day we went to Windsor Park Nordic Centre so there was slim pickings at the rental counter.  Cian got the last set of skis in his size.  The bindings were stiff but what I didn't anticipate was how stiff Cian would be.  His cerebral palsy makes pointing his toes difficult - the exact position you need to get into in order to put on cross-country skis.  Emily's were easy and she clicked in right away but it was AT LEAST 30 minutes of us trying to get his ski bindings on.  I was on the ground under his foot trying to point his toe but far greater than my efforts Cian was trying desperately to get his foot to do what he wanted.  I cried telling Keith this story when we came home because Cian's perseverance is so inspiring to me.  He keeps going long after adults would have give up and I would have stayed kneeling in the snow all day to help him click his boots into those bindings.  Thankfully we didn't have to do that as we were successful!  Emily may have gotten into her bindings fast but she also lost her composure the fastest when she fell.  Lots of drama as she flailed her legs around twisting up her skis and generally making life more difficult for herself.  That's her way...like her mother before her.  I'm not sure what possessed me to take 2 kids cross-country skiing by myself when they had never done it before but I did and it went pretty well all things considered.  We didn't go too far - just a bit into the trees and on to the practice field but it was a good first outing.  Cian especially liked it and thanked me for taking him skiing.  He also asked if he could have his own skis and lessons so it was a very good day for winter sports in the Morris house!

After we went skiing the kids and I had lunch at Dairy Queen.  I think they have the best kids meal of all the fast food places - they don't have any stupid plastic toys and you get a drink, fries, cheeseburger AND a kids cone. It was nice to hang out just the 3 of us.  After DQ we picked up Keith and Sam at home and went to the hill behind our local community centre for some tobogganing. Sam wasn't so sure at first but he enjoyed his first forays into sledding especially if he was with Emily!

We came home from the community centre with some neighbours and met other neighbours outside our house already starting the snowman they wanted to build at our house so the kids helped with that until supper time.  They were outside almost all of the daylight hours enjoying some good winter activity on a warm, sunny, winter day.  I wish all winter days were as warm and beautiful as this one but I will be thankful for the gorgeous day we had together as a family.

Four Theme Park (Days) and a Wedding!

In June my friend Anjali had a big birthday party in Winnipeg.  She lives in California now but her closest people are still here and she wanted to come home and have a birthday celebration with all of her people. It was a beautiful evening that Keith and I were honoured to be at.  And she looked really happy.  At first I thought it was because of her birthday but then I finally just said to her "You look so good" and the confession came out..."Well there is this boy...."   :)

This beaming confession was a very big deal.  Things in the love department have not come easily to my dear friend so to see a new guy make her this happy was a revelation.  I tucked that little happy nugget away and hoped for the best, like a special seed I really hoped it bloomed into something beautiful for her.  And it did.

In September she called and said that this new beau had asked her to marry him and she said yes and to plan for a visit to Palm Springs in November.  Needless to say our house was thrilled to hear the good news.  I was just going back to work and my closest friends that were invited couldn't make the trip.  Keith and I debated about whether or not I would just go or if I would take Sam or how we wanted to swing it but I knew it would be nice for Anjali to have both Keith and I there and I also wanted to share the experience with Keith too.  Well, if you want both Morris parents at something our three little ducklings have to come so we were trying to sort out how to do that.  Also, since we were going all the way to California and I was breaking my own personal "travel ban" to the US I figured we might as well have some family fun and head to Disneyland.

My mom suggested my brother might want to come and he did.  Worked out well all around - we had an extra adult to watch the kids and Brandon didn't have to feel weird as a single guy at Disneyland.  Plus, the kids fought over who got to sit with him on the rides so I think that was pretty nice for him.



Disneyland

Our first day we spent at Disneyland.  I had rented an Air BnB condo within walking distance which was awesome.  The park was decorated for the holidays and we had a great time checking out all the decorations and all the attractions.  We went to Toontown which I had never been to before.  We walked right on to Roger Rabbit's ride and the kids were a little nervous but excited. While we were hanging around Pluto popped by and we got our picture taken with him.  We had lots of luck with rides that day even without using our FastPasses. What really worked well for our group was the Single Rider Line.  A lot of the bigger rides have an option of riding by yourself and you have a special entrance (usually through the exit) and you can practically walk right on.  That worked so well for 3 adults since one or two of us could stay with the kids and the other one could jump on an adult ride.  We did this for Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Matterhorn Bobsleds, and a couple of others I think.  The other thing that worked really well with the baby was the RiderSwap option where most of your group waits through the line and one of us would stay with Sammy and then when the original group went through the baby watcher got to go through on a FastPass (with two of your closest friends).  Both of those options at Disneyland were really good for our family.  We saw a lot that first day including the Indiana Jones Ride, Tarzan's Treehouse, Jungle Cruise, Steamboat and many more.  One of our favourites was the Spinning Teacups at night and seeing It's A Small World all lit up for the holidays. We even got to take the monorail home.  It was a magical first day.

California Adventure

We thought we would go to Legoland on our second day but that didn't work out so instead we went to California Adventure.  There were lots of new things to see and do here as none of us had been to California Adventure before.  We first went to Pixar Pier.  I originally thought I would do the Incredicoaster but I'm not a huge fan of upside-down and the only other person who wanted to go in our group was Emily so I thought I would save that for a different visit.  We all decided we would go on the Ferris wheel as there is no height requirement which means we could take the baby.  There are stationary cars and swinging cars and other people with babies were in the swinging cars so we thought "Sure let's try something new".  We got on our swinging car and there was a barf bag which should have set off alarm bells in my head.  We all got into our car and it started around and on our first slide down into a swing all of us thought "WE REGRET THIS CHOICE!".  The swing is not a gently rocking.  I am surprised there aren't seat belts.  You rock backwards until almost 90 degrees while you are going higher and higher in the air.  The baby had no frame of reference for what was going on and Keith was holding him but I knew it was only a matter of time before my motion-sick spouse was going to lose it so I took the baby. Sam was clearly worried about what was happening and I had no other way to calm him except to nurse him sooooo....now I can say I have nursed on a swinging Ferris wheel (#extremenursing).  The other two kids were totally fine.  Thankfully the second time around was less swingy and Keith did not throw up (#smallvictories).

After that excitement we toured around the theme park some more.  We had gotten our FastPass for the new Cars ride right when we got there so we were set to close out our evening with that.  We tried our the Jellyfish ride,  Goofy's Sky School, Turtle Talk with Crush, and Monsters Inc.  We all loved Soaring and the kids went for a second round with me on RiderSwap.  We hung out in the RedWood forest play area for a while so that Brandon and Keith could do the Grizzly River Run (which closed for a bit but they did eventually get through it).  We met Chip and Dale in the forest and Sam got his picture taken with them.  In the afternoon Cian, Emily and I decided to check out what we thought was a small little Frozen show in the Hyperion Theatre.  Instead we saw a full-on Broadway musical version of Frozen that was amazing and worth the cost of the theme park in and of itself.  The kids loved it (so did I).  We spent the evening in Carsland checking out Luigi's spinning cars and going on the new Cars ride which was a HUGE hit.  Uncle Brandon and Cian went to the ToyStory midway to cap off the night and Emily and I decided since it was the end of the night we would get wet and try the Grizzly River Run in the dark.  She is a ride fanatic  - the bigger the better for that little girl. Everyone had an awesome evening and we stayed at the park until closing time.

After California Adventure we had a day off which we used to get some groceries and to hit the pool. The pool was freezing cold.  I didn't want to go in but Uncle Brandon decided the best way to try it out was to jump straight into the deep end.  I have never seen anyone get out of a pool so fast in my life.  The kids kept trying to jump all the way in and then remembered that it was freezing and ran back to the hot tub.  It was still a fun afternoon though. 

That evening we continued our Disney theme and watched Tarzan.  We hadn't seen it in ages and clearly the kids understood the themes a bit better now as at one point when Tarzan leaves his mommy I had to sobbing big kids in my lap.  I soaked up the cuddles and kisses as I know their childhoods won't last forever. 

Legoland

We drove down to Carlsbad to check out Legoland because our kids are OBSESSED with Lego.  They were very excited at all the different Lego options and it was almost overwhelming to decide what to do first.  The kids have watched Ninjago for years so certainly liked that area and while I waited for everyone to go on the Ninjago ride Sam and I checked out the Lego Miniworld and stumbled upon a sign up sheet for some classes for 9 years old to try some new Lego.  I signed Cian and Keith up for later that afternoon as I was sure the space theme would be of interest. Emily (as always) was annoyed she was not old enough to participate.  We had a great time trying out a bunch of different Lego rides.  The kids loved driving the Lego cars and getting their "driver's license".  Cian is very serious about driving in these scenarios as he is interested in real-life future driving. Emily is annoyed by his caution in this regard.  Sammy liked the Duplo area and all the oversized squishy Duplo.  Legoland didn't disappoint our big Lego lovers - everyone had an awesome time.

Disneyland Part Two (last day)

On our last theme park day we went back to Disneyland.  We were excited to try all the things we had missed and made mental notes of the first day.  We planned to be there from morning until night and that's exactly what we did.  We got a Fast Pass for Fantasmic but even though we went right there our FastPasses were for the 1030 show.  All rules of bedtime go out the window - it's Disneyland - how far can we push them?  Turns out at least 14 hours, countless rides and 20 km of walking and they were still going strong. We spent the morning doing lots of rides.  We started off at It's A Small World and you could almost hear the sound of Sam's brain exploding.  Stimulation overload!  Sam got to do a number of rides - which was really lovely to share those experiences with him too even though he is so small.   In the afternoon Keith took Sammy home for a real nap in the crib since we knew we would have a late night.  I was true to my word with Emily and in the afternoon we checked out the pirate island that's only accessible by raft.  We also got to see Tinkerbell in Pixie Hollow which was amazing (Sam loved her) and we went to visit Mickey at his house.  All I wanted was a picture with Mickey and Sam.  Mickey was so sweet to Sam and played with him until he warmed up to the world's favourite mouse.  At dinner in Downtown Disney we crossed off all the rides we had done and were pretty darn successful.  After our late dinner (complete with street music inspired crab dances!) we went back to the park for a few more rides before Fantasmic!  We had fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and knew Emily "the bigger the better" Morris would love it but wasn't too sure about Cian.  Well it was the ABSOLUTE HIT of the night.  Turns out by some strike of luck there was no one really in line so we rode it 5 times in a row in different permutations (so that someone would stay with sleeping Sam).  The kids would run off the ride and run back on screaming "THIS IS FASTER THAN A FAST PASS!!!!"  They LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED it.  Both Em and Cian kept their arms up the whole time screaming and hollering the entire way.  I was lucky enough to witness why the line was so good.  The fireworks were going off and we got the best seats in town.  Seeing the fireworks from there was spectacular.  It was the best ride to cap off the trip.  Right after our Big Thunder Mountain escapades we settled into our area to watch Fantasmic!  We got a great view right at the fence beside the lake and it was indeed magical including a "real life DRAGON" for our dragon lover.  We wearily stumbled home after an action-packed last day with one quick picture at the giant Christmas tree. What an incredible day.

Manjali Wedding

After our theme park adventures we drove to Palm Springs for the epic wedding festivities.  I had rented a house with a pool in the backyard so everyone was happy about that (especially because it was warm!).  We also had the added surprise that Keith's parents decided to travel down to California on their way out to their first cruise so we even got to see Granny and Granddad! We had missed the Thursday night event but were excited to see everyone at the Sangeet.  

All the events were in Mission Hills which was a short drive away from our rental place.  The Sangeet was beautiful, an evening of dancing and mendhi - the room was completely in red and other warm tones.  The families were so obviously happy and excited.  Anjali was RADIANT.  I finally got to meet Manish in person and not just via phone.  He was lovely and clearly loved Anjali which was the best part of the whole trip for me.  To see your friend so happy and all her dreams come true - what's more magical than that?  

Saturday morning was the ceremony.  It was a beautiful warm sunny morning.  There were seven photographers and a drone and it felt like we were in a movie.  There was a dance rumble between the two families.  There was a white horse.  There were real rose petals EVERYWHERE.  Everyone had huge grins and there were lots of hugs.  Anjali's brother's smile was infectious and his happiness radiated everywhere.  It's funny now that I've been married so long and my kids are getting older I look at different things at a wedding.  I hope my boys will be as happy at their sister's wedding day as Anjali's brother was (I am in no way tearing up writing this....moving on!).   The ceremony was beautiful and I was thankful that there was translations in the program for their white friends so that we could follow along in the meaning of things.  Every step was so beautiful and full of meaning and love.  It was beautiful to have Manish and Anjali surrounded by their family the whole time.  Anjali was...how is there even a word for it?...stunning?  radiant? Absolutely beautiful. 

That evening was the ceremony. There was an additional wardrobe change for everyone (including us as guests).  I summoned my courage to wear my friend Joann's sari (I needed far less courage for the very comfy Indian suit in the morning).  Everyone looked amazing and there was beautiful colours everywhere.  The colours were especially brilliant juxtaposed against the entirely white reception hall.  It was like a dream.  I have never seen anything like it in my life. Keith said it was probably the fanciest wedding we will ever be at in our life and so we should live it up - and WE DID!  The food and drinks and dessert and dancing were all amazing. The speeches were beautiful.  If I didn't already like Manish (which I did) and I wasn't already impressed with him by how happy he made Anjali (which I was) I would have been completely sold on him by the speech his brother did.  Any adult man that chokes up multiple times in admiration of his brother - well, "you had me at hello" as it were.  Two thumbs up.   Anjali's parents was so kind in their words to Anjali and Manish and Anjali was poised and thoughtful and magnificent in her speech.  Our friend Michael said of Anjali's speech that basically no one could talk after that - it was perfection.  

Throughout the wedding festivities I was thankful just to be there to witness such love - the love we celebrated between Anjali and Manish just starting their lives together but also a lifetime of love with family and friends.  Love was everywhere and what's more worthy of celebration than that ?