The girls snugglin

The type of reasons which get caught in your throat when you have to tell a child something unimaginable. Or watch a child’s heart break and know your the cause. I was silent for a long time because I needed to watch how they dealt with new circumstances. I had to protect from afar what little I could and shelter them from adult issues and grown up pain.

I have watched both of them show remarkable strength and trust in the two people that they should be able to trust the most. Beyond every cry or unanswered question I beamed at the little women they are becoming. The vibrant imaginations they exude and the compassion and understanding of the most complex issue they will ever know…issues of the heart.

When they hug me now I smell their hair, feel their body warmth and hear their silent story. The story that they show me through open eyes. They let me know how hard moments are not by sobbing but by aging when an adult question crosses either of their lips.

My goal is to have you enjoy what is rightfully yours – your childhood.

Mom made one of the best homemade cakes I can recall seeing. It was a great laugh and it turned out great. Macy was full of smiles

She then went out with me on the Friday for dinner and a movie – UP. It was super awesome as it was just her and I and the first time that just her and I went to a movie and she was really good – we laughed a lot and ate a lot of popcorn and the biggest pop i have ever seen – Thanks Encore Upper Canada Place Cinemas in Burlington.

It was great just chillin me and her and I will remember it always as my 5 year old Fudz smiling and holdin my hand as we walked to the cinema and then on the way back piggy backing her all the way up Brant St. to the car and her gigglin all the way.

These are the moments I can honestly account for just looking at them and holding back tears – happy ones at what a wonder Macy has become.

Collage of Macy's 5th Birthday

1st Annual Telling Tales Festival. Share. Discover. Enjoy.

From start to finish I was impressed. I was impressed by the website and the wealth of information provided, the way the website was structured and its’ pleasant appeal,the writing style but also the tone. I had never ventured out to Rockton Ontario and I am sure glad I did. It is a beautiful place if you like small communities with big hearts. It was so organized! I mean from the second you entered the very organized parking lot to the shuttle service of buses to the welcoming group as you stepped off the bus.

My kids, ages 8 and 5 were beaming with excitement just for the fact that we were getting on a cheese wagon (yellow school bus) in the middle of a forest. It was a good laugh.

The booths had a variety of sponsors, authors, businesses, retailers, merchandise and food. There was always someone around to help you if you needed it and the staff at the Westfield Heritage Village were phenomenal. They wore great costumes, were approachable, displayed a very in-depth knowledge of the roles they played and addressed all questions regardless of the age of the inquisitor.

The speakers at the event which were predominantly authors of books that were either well known, up and coming or new to the scene were animated, comical and a real delight to experience.

I can not say enough good things about it and to every single one of the people that had anything to do with the event right down to the people that helped park the cars…THANK YOU

I think one of the reasons it impressed me so much was that the emphasis on literacy and reading is a very dear subject for both my wife and I when it comes to our children and it was a great way to experience the love of books in a different forum with a large number of similar interested parents. The kids had lots to do whether it be at the puppet show or the face painting or learning from the Westfield Heritage staff.

I look forward to next year and by the turnout this year and how smoothly it was run and how organized it was, it can only get better.

Remember. The gift of literacy is one of the most powerful things you can ever give a child for with that there possibilities and imaginations will never know a limit

Dear Cali & Macy;

I hope one day when you are all grown up you can see the value in the details of everyday life. That everyday you wake up and have the pursuit of breathing in air like you have never felt it feel coarse through your lungs. When you see the smile on a strangers face that you acknowledge it and return it in full even if you don’t quite feel like it. The reason is that they are contagious and just the simple physical act of your lips raising,will diminish the magnitude of whatever is on your mind.

I hope you never harden or become jaded. Allow the world to enter you at full force and embrace every hurtful lesson that you will endure. It is in these awful situations that you will gain the most value. The most acute pains force the most driven to supersede anything.

I know both of you have the entire spectrum of possibilities in front of you and as your Dad I will do everything in my power to ensure you can see every angle and when you cant i hope you ask for help.

Surround yourself with real people who know your insides and urge you to grow your outsides. They are the ones that will bring the biggest joys to you

The simple act of learning to know when to ask for help has taken me a long time to figure out. It actually has been the hardest thing for me to come to terms with. I could chalk it up to stubbornness or defiance or just plain stupidity but it has in recent years become one of the few things I know now would have helped a whole lot more if I had of known then.

Take your dreams and make them goals because dreams are just that, dreams. Nothing will ever hold you back if your truly believe….
In all of your being that it is meant to happen.

I will
watch and listen and be so proud
So very very proud of everything you will ever do
because nobody
will ever be able to do it your way and that is why you both are the most special people I have ever met.

I love you

Mom…It’s marshmellow love

Both of my girls are fairly affectionate, which I love. Macy is more so then Cali but overall they are both very hugging and loving. Every night there is the same ritual of kisses and hugs and I would not trade that for the world. It becomes a scary thought when that fades opr morphs into something else and as long as I can prolong that day I will. I feel that that love trumps all other types of love. The one where they hold you tight and know you will always hold them back a little more and kiss their temples and smell their hair and remember when they were born.

It is a very special day a day where the heart is bigger. Not because you should on Valentines day have a bigger heart or presents for them but because deep down inside when a daughter looks at her father I can tell you 100%, that look, where everything comes to the forefront and you hold back tears because you are amazed at their beauty and intelligence and personalities and you love them for being themselves.

You love on Valentine’s Day for being, the chance at being more and feeling more.

I am done apologizing. Life does occur faster then it can be recorded.

My girls are now 7 and 4 years old. I look at them now and realize that they can both comprehend much more of the world and how it treats others and the impact of their own actions. They have witnessed one of the most remarkable moments in history, they were old enough to realize the impact of the event when the first black political candidate was voted in to the United States of America as president, Barack Obama.

They have now both experienced in school the power of will, the threat of bullying, the power in numbers, the courage of individuality and the comfort in friends. As parents that is all you ask. You ask for your kids to experience everything, both good and bad. Even when the bad moments hurt and you hurt for them it is better to be there so you can explain it to them and make them feel like the whole world is not against them but just a moment in a long life of moments.

My wife and I have given them every perspective of the purpose of things and why things are done the way they are. I hope for both of them that they learn from it but also challenge the way things are.

I hope that they push the envelope and dont accept the status quo and forge their own path and make a new path for other like minds to follow

They are both stunningly beautiful, witty, intelligent, polite and loving. They are one of the reasons I woke up and one of the biggest reasons why I have valued the statement –

A promise is a promise

She looked so cute on her first day and I don’t think she could stand waiting for the bus any longer when it appeared down the road. She lined up in front and was busting at the seams to get on. She got on with her big sister and sat in the fifth row from the front on the right side. She was waving with the biggest smile.

It was what she had been looking forward to since Cali started going to school. It was finally here – the day she got to ride the bus!

She made some pictures and got a story read and almost had a time out but as she put it – not really – HAHAHA

Macy waved good bye as the bus drove away and of all the things that affected me most it was the school bus taking her away to make her different when she returned.

I am not speaking of a dramatic change – just an overall. It has to be she spent a whole day in a place that she will build as her own world – one that Mom and Dad cannot truly ever really know.

It is the most exciting feeling to watch your little ones thoroughly enjoy a new experience.

The best thing about Macy when its her birthday is she gets very cute. More cute then normal because she knows the attention is solely hers on that day. She also loves it that her big sister makes a pretty big deal of it so that she always feels special.

We had her birthday party on the Sunday and a bouncy clown castle was rented to house all the screaming meamies – HAHAHA

Too bad the first hour and a half it rained on the castle and 15 kids were in our house screaming and running around like a bunch of lunatics. Macy had a lot of fun because a lot of the kids that were invited were from the hood and she has gotten quite close to them – even though they fight everyday and then make up.

At the end of day – Macy had droopy eyes and lost her wah – she faded in true fashion and as I entered the room before I went to bed to look at her on her 4th birthday day – I looked at my little lady that despite all my pleading and begging is going to grow up.

Happy birthday Macy

This will resonate with everyone that is a parent. Nobody does it better then the parent does and god forbid if you tell me otherwise…LOL

Jen and I have raised Cali in a way that I have complete trust that she is capable…but I am not there to ensure it. I am not there to protect her from how mean children can be or the humbling experience of being last picked for a game or activity.

I love Cali as most parents do their child, with all my heart and it pains me and fills me with Joy to know that this is the first step of many to see if the early work and efforts of raising a child will grow into a lady that stands on her own

It’s killing me

Tags: munx, cali, parenting

Dang! Minus my efforts to keep her 6 another year she had a great birthday. She had 10 friends over for a salon party that got their hair “DID” and nailes and a collection of girly things – Mom organized the event with a lof of help from Nanny and Nana. It was cute to see but it hurt to hear.

Being in a contained area with 10 females under the age of 10 is deafening.

Cali had a lot of smiles on her birthday weekend and she loved the gifts we got her. Two gifts that stood out above all the rest was the mp3 player we got her and the the Jonas brothers meet and greet tickets that Uncle David got for her. I think her head did literally pop off.

Munx, when you smile at me I remember every second of your birth. Every birthday you have gauges to me how simply amazing the human life cycle really is but most of all –

Every birtday shows me how much of a little lady you are becoming – I am very proud of you.