Happy Birthday Ricardo

Happy Birthday Ricardo!!! On January 15, Ricardo had his seventh birthday.  We kept the event low key as there has been so much going on with Christmas and I just feel that he was overwhelmed.  He really doesn't have any friends at school yet so we invited a little girl who lives next to my parents who he has played with a few times.  We had a cake, balloons and some gifts and the little party lasted about 1 hour.  He was very happy with the party.  My Mother made pizza which he loves and then the cake finished it off.

Ricardo and his cake

Ricardo also received a bike just after New Years.  He had never been on a bike before but he was so happy to get a bike that he didn't want to wait for the rain to stop so he practised under the back deck.  He fell off a few times because he kept turning the bike so sharply that the training wheels couldn't help.  We have gone onto the road a few times and he did well on the down hill but the slight uphill grade back to our house was a little tough.  The weather won't be good here for a while but he will get lots of practice during the spring and summer and I am sure the training wheels won't stay on long.

Christmas and New Year

It has been a very busy few weeks.  We spent Christmas at my parents and my sister also came.  We didn't do anything special on Christmas Eve, just sat around talking.  The kids went to bed early as they were worried Santa would come before they were in bed.  I am not sure what Ricardo was expecting but he did pick up on Ali's excitement.

To my surprise, the kids slept until 7:30 Christmas morning.  I was sure they would be up early but both kids really need a lot of sleep.  The kids opened their stockings and we had breakfast before letting them open the gifts.  Even though we tried to keep control by only giving them one gift at a time, they still tore through them quickly.  Ricardo was excited by everything he got.  Then the rest of the day was spent playing with toys.  I spent most of the day in bed with the flu as did my mother.  My sister cooked Christmas Dinner.

Here are a few pictures.  They aren't great due to the speed at which the kids were running around.

Ricardo with some of his gifts

Opening his pirate ship

Building a course for marbles

Ali working in her fashion book

We spent a few more days at my parents and then Ali and I headed home for two days.  Ricardo stayed with my parents for the first time which he enjoyed.  My Mother took him for a walk up the mountain which he loved.  Ali went to a sleep over with 15 other girls which gave me one night to myself which was bliss.

New Years was uneventful as I fell asleep at 10:30 on the couch and missed it all.  My parents live across the street from the beach where they hold the Polar Bear swim.  After much pondering, Ali decided she would take the plunge.  My mother also went in but I decided that I would rather stay warm.  Ali went to the beach in her house coat with her bathing suit underneath.  She went in right up to her neck but afterwards she said that she now knows what it would be like to live in a freezer.  She stated several times that she would not do the Polar Bear swim again.

Ali before the Polar Bear Swim

After the swim and shivering cold

We headed home after the swim and had a visit from the social worker.  The social worker's mother lives in the same town as me so she lines up visits with me to coincide with visits to her mother.  She asked me a lot of question about how Ricardo was doing and how we were doing as a family.  She also talked to the kids.  There really wasn't much to it and she was gone in an hour.

Now the kids are back and school and things will hopefully get back to normal.  Ricardo needs a long spell of normal weekly routine.  He was unsettled last week with yet another change.  There shouldn't be anything now for a while expect for his birthday which I am going to keep low key.