Jakub and Robert are very much into magic now. Although sometimes they don't really understand the concept of magic, but they try their very hardest. It's so so cute.

We went to Sherbrooke to visit our friends (Beata and her daughter Karolina). We took our other friends along (Asia, Jurek, Amelka, Natalka). It was supposed to rain, but the weather changed, and it turned out to be a great day. Here are some pictures from the trip, a little hike we did, and then a swim in their ultra clean pool. I love to go visit Beata - there's always so much to do.

Recently we celebrated Robert's 3rd birthday. It was great. In the morning he had swimming class, which he loves. Then we went home to relax and play a bit. Then in the afternoon, we went to the Y for "jungle gym", and we invited his friends along (Esteban, Adrian, Amelka, Natalka and of course Jakub). This was so much fun. He couldn't contain his happiness and true affection towards everybody there. At the end, of that, Robert thanked all his friends for his presents (and I didn't even prompt him to do it, so it was very cute and real - I don't really know where he learned such great manners). Then we went to McDonald's to pick up Robert his favorite food: Chicken McNuggets. (I'm not sure if that's his favorite food or his favorite word to say, but he uses it a lot.) We picked up Alex from the train, went home to eat the nuggets and open presents. And then of course there was the cake (Mickey Mouse themed this year). We played with the presents so long. It was really really awesome. One of the best birthdays ever. Robert really appreciated everything. I love that little trouble maker. He's awesome! He's so sincere about everything. He's real! He's my boy!

Robert always like to do what Konrad does. If he's in the crib, he'll climb in to be with him. If I'm giving Konrad a bath, he'll quickly take off his clothes and jump in. And of course, when I lay Konrad in the living room, soon his brother Robert will match his brother in every move and pretends he's the baby. Of course, Konrad loves all the attention, so it's all good.

For the last few months Robert has gone to an art class / music class combination. He absolutely loved it! For the first thirty minutes they would paint, do projects, do collages etc. Then in the second half, they sang, danced, played instruments. Initially Robert didn't want to do anything, but after only one class, he loved it so much. If fact he talks about it all the time now, and he wants to play the games he learned there. He is also very proud of his artwork and wants to show everybody and display it all around the house. What a great way to spend Thursday mornings.

Here is his favorite game / song:

For all of you out there that think that I have three clones of each other in three different sizes: SMALL, MEDIUM, and LARGE...

Whenever Robert seems to be tired or cranky, especially when it's the afternoon, we tell him that he needs to go take a nap. But somehow he has learned to associate this with the fact that he needs to cheer up and he won't be "punished" to go take a nap. So when we tell him that he soon will go to sleep, he says: "I'm happy" and automatically puts on a happy face, with the cutest smile you could imagine. Even sometimes he says "I'm happy" through his crying tantrum. It's really really really cute!

Finally the weather is nice. Spring is here. We decide to go to the library by walking, about 4K round trip. Jakub wants to take his bike. If he succeeds, this will be by far the furthest distance he will have crossed by bike.

We start off with Robert on the bike, because he insisted. His feet scarcely touch the pedals and he doesn't quite get the steering, but he has a good time being pull by his balloon string.

Then comes Jakub. He still remembers how to ride, but not at 100% efficiency. He especially doesn't remember how to stop and there was one scare when he kept on rolling almost into the street. Luckily he bailed into someone's lawn.

Jakub proved that he had the stamina, if not pride enough to keep a short spell of whining inside.

Have a look at Uncle Mark impressing the kids with his skills of disgusting behaviour.