Happy 6th Birthday Stewie!

Happy 6th Birthday Stewie!

Stewie!

Finally you are 6-years-old today (tonight to be more specific). Wow.

To be honest, it kind of feels like you’ve been 6 for a long time already.   You and you almost 8-year-old brother are often mistaken for twins.  You eat the most at one seating than your family, including me, and I’ve been known to pack back the food in my day.  You are strong like a bull, like your father, which you proved to us and a bunch of 6-year-old’s when you singlehandedly helped your team win a tug-of-war where you were the anchor.  You are driven, determined, serious, focussed and everything else that people look at and follow up with “wow”.  Quite frankly if I didn’t see your birth with my own eyes, I would have thought you were switched at birth.

I mean you are the reason why I herniated the disc in my back – because until you were 10 months old, you refused to sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time.  I carried you morning, noon and night – even though all you wanted was food and mummy.   Mummy also had Linus to take care of, so it was me or the cry-way.  Tough luck for you!   You were stuck with me.

Looking back now I should have known how you would be at 6-years-old… When you were born – a planned home birth – your breathing was shallow so the mid-wives stepped out of our bedroom to call 911 (forgetting that our parents were on the main floor listening and becoming quite worried - I remember my mother calling me as the mid-wives were explaining that calling for backup just in case was a standard practice from babies with shallow breathing - asking me if everything was alright because she heard the call, whereas we did not.  But after seeing what you did when you were given oxygen by the mid-wives - you ripped the tube from your mouth over and over again, we all knew you would be just fine!  You didn’t want it.  You didn’t need it.  You didn’t have it.

Fast forward to today and you are the same size and weight as your 7-year-old brother.  You look older than you are, you act older than you are and you have an old soul who comes across as a kind, compassionate boy who asks really great questions – some not so great mind you (If Big Show fought all the birds in the world, who would win?).

You love school but get frustrated that you’re not learning fast enough – like after the 2nd day when you wanted to quit school because you were colouring with crayons and you could do that at home, you certainly didn’t need to go to school for that – and you get frustrated when your classmates talk during class or (gasp) try to talk to you when there is work to be done.  You also somehow failed to mention to us last year that you were reading at a beginning grade 2 level when you were finishing senior kindergarten.  You excel at karate and swimming.  You are a trusting friend until someone does you wrong, then you have a memory of an elephant, yet your big brother is your best friend and your worst enemy at the same time.  You two fight, then within a few minutes you’ve made up and are playing together again like nothing happened.

You have a very strong sense of justice, and as a result you always protect your brother and sister and I’ve often told the story about how, when you were 2-years-old, a 6-year-old boy took your brother’s balloon. After he had asked for it back, unsuccessfully, you stepped in and grabbed this boy by the shirt, looked him in the eyes and said “I’m going to throw you in the garbage!”  He handed you the balloon and quickly walked away.  You passed that balloon to your brother and went on playing like nothing happened.

You are a piano whiz, and you said you want to try the violin and learn your way up, trying all the string instruments, until you get to the big ones, like a cello.

When asked what you want to be when you grow up, you replied with; “Everything!” I finally got you to confirm it was because you wanted to know what you would really be good at want to do for the rest of your life.

When I blog about things you have said, like punching G-d, my hits go through the roof.  You’re very funny, and the reason we started a Twitter account for you, called @LittleBoyPurple which we don’t update any more, but you probably will one day because you’re a hoot!

So, son, I want to wish you a very happy 6th birthday.  I love you and please, keep feeding me the material, and let me know when that middle child syndrome has set in. 

Are you hungrier than a 5-year-old?

Are you hungrier than a 5-year-old?

I doubt you are hungrier than my 5-year-old!

Let me preface this by saying when we moved 2 years ago into our new house the first thing we did was re-do part of the kitchen to allow for a much bigger fridge for Stewie.  The fridge that came with the house was not going to be enough for the 6 of us (Me, Urban Mummy, Linus, Stewie, Berry and our Nanny – let’s call her “Gamay”), but we were most concerned about Stewie!  This boy can eat and he’s only 5.  He’ll eat us out of house and home by the time he is 13-years-old.

For example, in the car on our way up to T&T grocery in the Promenade Mall in lovely Thornhill, Ontario on the weekend Ms. Urban Daddy was engaging the children, asking them what they wanted to be when they grew up when Stewie bubbled up and asked if there were going to be “samples” at T&T?  His mind is almost always on food.

As an aside, if you have never been to a T&T grocery store, you must go there!  There is a location in the Promenade Mall in Thornhill. and one on Cherry beach in downtown Toronto.  T&T is owned by Loblaws and they carry Asian foods.  Our children love T&T because of the samples they give out during the day and for the fresh dim sum and sushi they make which we pretty much always buy and eat for lunch or afternoon snack.

When the kids hear T&T they know they’re going to eat while we shop and since the samples are of things we hope our kids will want to eat, like tofu, fish balls, dumplings, and many other unique items we would never think to include in our very healthy diet.

Instead of buying a product, like fish balls, for example and experimenting at home, the kids can give thumbs up and thumbs down to them on the spot and if they like it and will eat it, we can buy it.  It makes a lot of sense and is a great way to expand any child’s food options.

The sample stations at T&T are usually manned and the kids know to ask nicely and in return they are given one sample to try unless there are different flavours and they want to try them too.  I won’t let them try coffee, or sweets or anything we will not purchase – like pork products – but we have tried some pretty crazy samples over the years.

The one sample per station rule works for everyone except Stewie – who already at 5 eats more in a meal that his 5 foot 11, 230 pound father (me).  At the store he tries pretty much everything and if he likes it – and if the food station is unmanned, he’ll eat and eat and eat until someone catches him.  He always uses a new toothpick, he’s a bit of a clean freak that way, and he’s not a pig eating everything he just casually takes another, then another with a giant smile on his face.  Free food!

That penchant for eating reminded me of our last cruise.

The last cruise we went on, when the off shore excursion was to the cruise lines private island, we got up, ate a huge breakfast, then hopped on the tender to the island.  By 9am we were baking in the hot sun, playing in the sand with the shells and laying on a raft.letting the tide take us away, when out of nowhere, Stewie started to get VERY agitated.

It was not just past 10:30am and the anger turned to frustration, which turned to tears.

We brought him back to the beach chair and spoke with him about what was bothering him.  The sun?  The heat?  The sand?

It was none of those.

He was hungry.

Fortunately, the cruise ship was setting up a lunch buffet on the island and were almost done getting it ready, so Ms. Urban Mummy walked over and came back with some fruit, some veggies and some water.

But Stewie did not want any of that…

So all of us walked over to the buffet and immediately, Stewie saw what he wanted.

“I want a burger!” he proclaimed.

“At 10:30am?” I questioned.

“Yes!  I want a burger!!!” he said, with his voice borderline agitated, frustrated and again close to tears.

“Okay” we said and by 10:45am after a huge breakfast 2 hours earlier, Stewie was eating a burger.  We could see his demeanor changing as he was eating it.  There were some blood sugar levels dipping here.  But good little Stewie was not done with his first burger… He needed a second one, which he ate quite happily if my memory serves me correctly.  He was still 4-years-old at this time, too.

Then after being burned to a crisp, we headed back to the ship for nap time for Stewie and Berry at which point, Stewie started to put up a stink as he was, “hungry”.

So I took him upstairs to the buffet and we sat at he ate yet more food.

Man can that kid pack away the food.

I should have seen this coming.  This is the same kid who at about 1 1/2 years old was sitting in his high chair at a family resort just north of Toronto eating a meal – soup I believe – and very slowly, when the waitress came and took away the inch left in his bowl.  He did NOT like this and spent the rest of the week with his head on a swivel and every time a waitress walked near the table – ours or others – and he would wag his pointer finger and say, “Never , ever, ever take Stewie’s food away”.

Possessive a little?

His behaviour there came to light in his little sister last week when we at dinner at Safari on Avenue Road in Toronto, when 2-year-old Berry needed to go pee.  She looked back at the table and said, “don’t touch my food”, “don’t let anyone take my food”, “I’m still eating”. and she kept mumbling “I’m still eating” over and over again as she walked to the bathroom.  When she returned and her food was still there, she smiled and with a look of relief on her face, she said, “Oh!  My food is still here.  I came back, and my food is still here!”.

But back to Stewie… There was the time we went to St. Thomas, Ontario to see and take a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine and Stewie was probably 3-years-old.  After a full day of fun we went out for dinner to – of course – the Mandarin Restaurant.  After eating a pretty large meal, matching me plate for plate, I went to get a soup to wind down my meal and with that soup I grabbed 2 teriyaki shrimp to eat.

Stewie finishing his second bowl of soup too, turned to me nd said, “I want shrimp!”.

How did he know what shrimp were?

Okay, so I went back to the buffet and brought him back 2 peeled shrimp.  He stuffed them in his mouth so fast, Urban Mummy couldn’t take a picture of him eating them.

He finished and asked for more.

After bringing him another 10 shrimps, we were laughing as were the elderly couple sitting beside us watching how much food this boy has packed away.  Figuring he should stop before he explodes, I brought him teriyaki shrimp instead but he loved those too.

So fast forward now, and we’re all finished eating, when Stewie after finishing his 32nd shrimp declares that he is full.

We gasp, and pack up the family feeling sorry for the Mandarin who made money on the few noodles that Linus ate but lost a ton of the massive amounts of food that my skinny 3-year-old just hoovered back.

That trait remains to this day.

Just last week Urban Mummy made mini-pizza’s for the family.  5 small ones for Linus and Berry to split, 3 for her, 3 for me and 3 for Stewie.  She ate 1 and a half. I managed to eat 2 – but probably should have stopped at 1 and a half as well, while Stewie ate all three and needed a snack before bed.

And yes, we have had him tested for worms.

He’s fine.

He’s hungry.

He’s a growing boy!

My 775th post – for all readers for all seasons.

Welcome to my 775th post.  If you’re a blogger you will know this is a lot of writing, covering 8 long years.  If you are not a blogger, trust me, it’s a lot of writing.

The thing is, I’ve been getting a lot of traffic in the last couple years, and some very kind accolades here and there, but both of them are from all over the place, as are most of my posts. 

So for my 775th post, I want to make sure I cover off as many visitors as possible by touching on some of my most popular topics;

If you’ve come to read about politics, I can confirm that those on the left in (downtown) Toronto are still way off base in thinking that this financial crisis was ”created” by Mayor Ford so that he could solve it to look good.  False.  Look at Greece.  Run by socialists and on the verge of bankruptcy.  Look at the TTC.  In effort to cut costs, the Mayor and the TTC chair Karen Stintz cut some routes and there was backlash, so the public spoke that we needed those routes and a $0.10 fare increase was added instead and the public… Back in an uproar.  You cannot have it both way, folks.  I’d love to help the poor, keep all social programs, have amazing snow removal, etc., but someone has to pay for this and I can tell you I’m already taxed up to the top of my head.  If you think you’re not paying enough taxes, then you can pay more and help those in need.  I’m maxed out, thank you.  If I don’t have enough disposable income, then I cannot afford to go out, buy things, eat out, and help re-distribute my income to those in need.  It’s the way the world works… Get over it.

If you’re here to read about coffee, then let me tell you about this great coffee I tried recently at a place called Neighbours.  It came highly recommended from one of my awesome readers and I was really surprised how nice it was.  Not too bold, not too weak, and the cool thing about the location I went to was that they have flavoured coffee mate and that removed the need to have flavoured coffee.  I didn’t put any in for my first cup and I probably won’t for my next one, but it was very nice!

If you’re here to read about parenting, then you’ll be pleased to know that I am the “Daddy 101″ blogger for Pink and Blue Baby.com. Cool, eh?  I find this site really useful, and I have a ton of great stories and baby / toddler / kid tips from almost 7 years of being a daddy and 3 beautiful children.  For example, just Wednesday was my son (Linus’) 7th birthday party and we had a Lego party.  It was great.  The Lego ninja had the kids sitting in 4 teams of 4 and they raced to build a Lego tower, then the built a Lego candy house.  The hour flew by.  After the hour the kids ate Lego candy blocks (thank you Bulk Barn) and Lego cupcakes that I made and my wife decorated so beautifully.  Pizza, grapes, whole wheat pretzels and air popped popcorn round it all out.  It was totally worth it.

For 5-year-old Stewie, we had The Magic and Comedy of IncrediBrent, Toronto’s birthday musician and Brent was amazing.  The kids loved him, the parents loved him and he interacted with the kids so well.  He was a pleasure to deal with and have in our home and I would totally have him back for any future kids parties.  His web-site is www.incredibrent.com.

For Berry’s 2nd birthday party – you saw the Hello Kitty cupcakes in a previous post – we had Applefun Puppetry, www.applefun.ca, and Mike was also spectacular.  He had all the 2-year-old’s participating and his show was so clever and funny that he had me in stitches.  I’ve seen him a couple of times before but that did not stop me from being completely engaged.  Worth the price of admission.

If you’re here to hear my views about food then I can recommend Java Joe’s for catering because they have added some new sandwiches and they are killer.  Spicy chicken and their steak and hot peppers goes great with their chicken Parmigiano and eggplant Parmigiano.  The coffee is great – some organic too – and they have these wickedly heavy brownies and skor brownies.  Find the location at Leslie and West Beaver Creek, call and speak to Randy.  Tell him the Urban Daddy sent you.  He’ll like that!

So I’m not sure what else to cover at this point in time, except to say thank you to all of you who take the time to comment and who tell me you’ve been following along with my posts at home.  It means a lot to mean and it always makes me wonder what’s so interesting that keeps people coming back.  But I like to tell stories, I’m proud of my family, and I like to write, so there.  I’m going to do it if 200 people come to read or 20 million (LOL).

Feel free to subscribe to my feed, or like me on Facebook.  If you are reading this through my actual blog, then go on the right side, check out some of the amazing writers on my blogroll, and further down you will see the link to my Facebook page and some other sites that have featured me.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to all of you from all of us!

Warren aka the urban daddy.

@urbandaddyblog

On Wednesday November 30th, my boys took a Vow of Silence. Read why…

On Wednesday, November 30th my boys, Linus and Stewie, were not allowed to speak above a whisper at school. I was hoping that would apply for home too, but it did not. Wednesday, you see, was the launch of Free the Children’s The Vow of Silence initiative.  My son’s school was an active participant in this Vow.
 
This Vow asks that all students in school, even if only for a short time, be silent to show solidarity with children around the world who are denied basic human rights, who do not “have a voice.”  Teachers were asked to modify their lessons to follow the philosophy of the Vow, and at least in my son’s school, there was an assembly at the end of the day in which the participants were allowed to break their silence and use their voices to affect change.

We have always mad e a point to educate our children on the fact that not every person is free to speak, pray, and marry whomever they want and we won’t stand by while children are subjected to exploitation, poverty and the denial of their basic rights. I expect that there are at the bare minimum, millions of children who are silenced by these abuses.

This organization is educating children and parents so that we can all take a stand for children everywhere.

A little more about the Vow of Silence… This is part of the annual fundraising of an organization called “Free The Children”.

The goal this year is to raise-awareness from Toronto to Mexico City, London to San Francisco, Beijing to Jakarta, Vancouver to Sydney and back whereby young people will go silent for 24 hours in solidarity with children who are being silenced by poverty and exploitation.

How silent is silent, you ask??? For Vow participants, being silent can mean refraining from speaking. It can also mean not using email, Facebook, Twitter or text messaging. It can even mean not using hand gestures, note writing or any communication at all. Participants determine your level of silence based on their comfort.

So my boys took the Vow. They took action, to raise awareness for Free The Children, but going silent during their school day.

As parents, we were asked to take a moment or two to reflect on the day’s activities with our children, which we did.
 
For further information, or to donate, you can simply follow the link here;

http://www.freethechildren.com/vowofsilence

So so Smooth… I could learn from him.

Man, what a smooth talker!  I could learn from this one.

Stewie, I’m referring to.  5-year-old Stewie.

You see, he wore a nice shirt to school for his class picture but at some point in the day he got hot and took it off.   Of course, he forgot to put it back on which meant his individual SK picture will be of him in an army green t-shirt that reads, “Mom’s Cabana Cutie” on it, and not in a nicely chosen shirt.

When I commented to his mother that at least the shirt was accurate – he LOVES his mother, he looked down at his shirt and commented;

“Does my shirt say Mom is terrible???”

We both looked at each other, very puzzled and shocked that he would say that.

“Do you think your mother is terrible?” she asked him.

“No”, he replied with a smirk on his face.

“Do you think your mother is terrible?” she repeated?

“No” he said again, a little more seriously, still with a smirk.

“What do you think of your mother?” she asked him.

“Mom is pretty” he replied, looking very proud.

“Mom is smart”, he said right after.

Man, he learns at such an early age, eh?

Happy wife = happy life.

Happy mummy = happy tummy.

I could learn from this kid!

Happy 5th Birthday Stewie!

Happy 5th birthday to my son I call “Stewie” here in Urbandaddyville. 

We were so happy when you turned 4 because you were as big as a 4-year-old and no one believed that you were 3.  Now that you are 5 you look like you are 6.  You and your 6-year-old brother share the same the same size shirts and pants, and you’re 4cm shorter than him. 

You wanted a bag of marbles for your birthday and you got it.

You wanted a magician for your birthday (but not Tricky Ricky) and you wanted cupcake decorating at our home but just yesterday you asked us if you could have your party at Active Kids Zone.  Your party is Tuesday.  There are 24 kids coming.  It’s too late to make these changes, and we’re not using AKZ since they refused to refund our money for a camp that your brother was sick for.

You went this afternoon to write your journal.

The worse your brother behaves, the better you do.

You have developed a bond with your baby sister because you can boss her around and she loves it.

You told us school was boring – after 2 days - because all they made you do was colour.

You have not slept through the night or in your own bed for the last 5 months.

You’re awesome!

We love you.  Happy Birthday.

It must be Sunday… I can’t wait for work to get everything done!

Whew.  I made it to Sunday night.  That’s a big deal considering what this week held for me and what next week has in store.

Before I begin, however, can I ask that someone… Anyone… Remind me via the comment section to this blog, or through my urban daddy Facebook page, or @urbandaddyblog on Twitter about this comment should I mention it ever again in the future.  Thanks.

Here is the comment:  I think my daughter, Berry, may be a little OCD.  Why?  Because I asked her to help clean up in the kitchen earlier today and I caught her laying on her tummy on the floor.  I thought she was playing, or looking under the table, but no, she brought over to me a poppy seed.  Yup.  A poppy seed from a bagel. 

She had me remove it from in between her fingers as she said, “clean up.  Dirty”.

At first I thought it was humourous, until she brought me another, then I stopped her when she went for more.

 

So I never made it to the CIBC Run for the Cure since I finally succumbed to the horrible flu that felled my entire family over the past few weeks.  The highlight of the weekend for me had to be falling asleep while playing with my daughter for an hour when my wife had the boys out at the Science Centre.  She merrily played on.

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to my feed, and “like” me on Facebook.  Don’t miss a single “exciting” post.

 

True to my word, I took the Country Style challenge, day one, and I picked up a large 2 cream, 2 sugar (not to be confused with the Tim Horton’s large double double) and considering it was 5pm and I expected the coffee to be bitter, I found it to be okay.  I went to the location at Dufferin, just north of Roselawn – a drive through and got a not so white, very sweet cup of coffee which seemed to get better as it cooled.  I can’t help but think that these guys would be better off settling on 2nd fiddle after Tim Horton’s – possibly through offering a better food option, but there is no way these guys compare to Starbucks.  IMHO.

I also was leery about having the coffee there so late since I know Timmy’s has that 20 minute fresh pot policy, and I’m sure CS does not.  For all I knew that pot could have been simmering for an hour.

 

Another memorable moment from this past weekend was Stewie singing the entire Dora the Explorer theme song to Berry.  He knew every word and was on key.  Sure he hates that show… LOL.  At least I prefer this behaviour than his frequent attempts to get Berry to play with him, or follow him. 

This is a common occurence between him and her;

Him: Berry!  Come play with me.

Her: NO!

Him: Yes.  Come play.

Her: NO play, Stewie.

Him: Want ice cream?

Her: Yes!!!  Want ice cream, please.

So she follows him.

 

Now remove “ice cream” and replace with key Berry-favoured words like “Dora” and “Chocolate”.

This explains why she woke up last weekend from afternoon nap shouting, “Berry want ice cream, please”.

 

We’re all fish here, right? Oh, we’re not fish, we’re in a fish… Okay!

My 4-year-old son Stewie just told me, over a plate of leftover Shanghai noodles – his before bed / dinner snack, that our house is actually a submarine and its dark outside (besides being 8pm) because a shark swallowed us.

 

He went on to say that we get out of the shark’s stomach in the morning when the shark sneezes us out.

 

Oh yes!

 

When I asked him to repeat this story, he said we were fish and stuck in the shark’s stomach, but then changed it into a submarine. 

 

Hey, I don’t make this stuff up!!!

“Daddy, I think I have a loose tooth” and whose thong is that?

So about 3 or 4 weeks ago, 4 1/2 year old Stewie says to me, “Daddy, I think I have a loose tooth”.

Sure, I think to myself, there is no way at that age you have a loose tooth.  You just want to be like your brother…  So I reach into his mouth, he points to the bottom row of teeth, and I grab 2 or 3 of them and perform the wiggle check on them all at the same time so I can assure him there are none that are loose.  Satisfied, he moves on and being Stewie, he understands nothing can be loose – and now he really believes it.

Fast forward to just over a week ago, when Stewie blurts this out while watching TV with his brother; “Daddy, I think I lost a tooth”.

(Hey, I just noticed that the word ”Brother” is really ”Bother” with a “r” - maybe they are meant to be pains in the ass to each other…)

So I walk over to Stewie, he opens his mouth and he’s sticking his tongue through a space in the bottom of his teeth where a tooth once was.  The tooth?  No where to be found.

So off he went to write a letter to the tooth fairy to explain what happened with that tooth and it was that note that got him $5.00 and a reply note from the tooth fairy – which told him to keep up the good work brushing his teeth.  He was so happy he carried the letter with him for days and he read it over and over again… Cutie.

He then took the $5.00, and $2.00 that I had given him earlier in the week and he used it all when he was at the park with his mummy, nanny, brother and sister when he bought them all ice cream from the ice cream truck. 

What a little man.

 

And one last Stewie story…

Last week he came with me to Linus’ t-ball game under the promise that he would play in the park and not hang off my arm the entire game as he had each time he came to a game.  I was helping to coach, so having him there was a bot of a distraction to say the least.  He promised to go to the park.  Needless to say, he didn’t,  and instead hung off my left arm, holding my hand for most of the game (such a cutie!!!)  So while we’re standing watching the game, Stewie looks over at the woman sitting with her legs crossed and part of her thong showing. 

I notice he’s staring at her thong looking confused.

“What’s that daddy? He asked.

“What does it look like?” I asked

“A whale’s tail” he  shot back.  “Why does that woman have a whale coming out of her underwear?”

Worrying that she might hear this conversation we head over to the field, but the questions continue; “Is that a whale?  Will it bite her?  Why is she wearing it?  Is it wet?” and so on and so on.  So to remember this conversation, I snapped a picture of said thong and sent it to my wife with a note attached about a whale tail.

She didn’t reply – she was tutoring, saw the picture and wisely ignored it. 

The game went on, the woman got up and walked away with her kid after spending what seemed like every minute checking her ass and pulling down her shirt to cover her underwear, each time drawing the attention of Stewie who was looking, I’m sure, for the whale to come out.

What was funny was when Linus came to the plate, cracked a hit up the third base line, trotted down to first, then noticed this woman walking away and yelling to me, “Daddy, that’s my teacher!” 

DOH!

I quickly deleted the picture I had taken.

Oops.

Mitzvah (Good Deed) Day 2011

This past Sunday, May 16th was Mitzvah Day (Good deed in Hebrew) at my son’s school.  So instead of taking him to see the Toronto Rock win the National Lacrosse League Champion’s Cup with a 8-7 win over the Washington Stealth, I took him and his younger brother to his school (next year it will be their school) so we could help the community and to help others not as fortunate as we are.

In cold, pouring rain, we arrived and helped the few soggy adults outside dig, plant and cover the newly dug garden in the front of the school with sunflower seeds.  If 1/5th of them take root there are going to be 50 plants.    My boys did a fabulous job in this rain and with all the mud – planting, raking and clearing.  It didn’t matter that it was freezing or that it was raining or that there was mud up to their knees, they knew we had to get those seeds into the ground and get them deep enough to cover so the animals can’t dig them up and eat them.  The boys were focussed and yes they tried every single outdoor tool.  It was funny.  I think all those years of having our own garden and getting the kids to help out finally payed off.

After that, we went inside to dry off and warm up and decorated some gift bags for the underprivileged.  These bags were then filled with toys and taken to a shelter.  Once all the bags were decorated and the toys all gone, we moved to a different station and we decorated some Canadian flags which went into backpacks stuffed full of school supplies headed for Kenya. 

After that, we were looking for more to do so we sauntered into the school’s kitchen to watch them put the finishing touches on the decorations on the brown bags filled with sandwiches heading to a homeless shelter.  The kids were also putting notes into the bags. 

The birthday / get well soon card station was packed full of kids decorating cards so we moved back to the backpack station to assist in the transportation of these items to a truck.

One our way out of the school, I found my kids pounding back freezies.  Stewie said he had 10 of them , Linus 4.  I think 3 each might be a more realistic intake. 

So in the cold and rain we agreed that a nice warm bagel would be the best fit for two hungry boys who pitched in for their community.  So off we walked towards the bagel house.  Problem was, we passed the parking lot of the school and there were 2 adults washing a car.  The boys REALLY wanted to help wash that car, so the organizer gave them sponges filled with soap and off they went, cleaning the entire car.  No totally drenched, we walked on to St. Urbains.

Once at St. Urbains, I was happy that the chocolate chip bagels we all gone, so the kids instead received a whole wheat sesame seed bagel which they happily chomped the entire way home.

A good end to a fun morning.

Helping others is a big deal and I want to encourage my kids to give back to the community.  Thankfully the school set this up and my wife suggested it was a better idea to take him here instead of to the lacrosse game.  Time well spent.