Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Unwashable...

Dear Leah,

As much as I love your art work, todays choice of surfaces was certainly not what I would have chosen...I also would have preferred you use a washable marker instead of the NON washable one of your sisters that you decided to use. My table and wall will forever have a pink hue, and I'm pretty sure that it won't be coming out of your white pants...Hopefully over the next week your pink body will fade...Please darling don't let there be a next time, I'm quite certain I won't find it as funny...

Love,
Mom


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

A Wish for Bennett...

Meet Bennett!
Bennett is my sister in law Jane & my brothers nephew (Jane’s sister’s child). Last year he was diagnosed with Dyskeratosis Congenita, which is an extremely rare genetic disorder.

 Every year, thousands of individuals come together in communities across Canada to walk and raise funds to create the Magic of a Wish for Canadian children living with life threatening illnesses. It gives kids the opportunity to make a wish and do something in their lifetime that they might not get the chance to do later on. Bennett was granted a wish from this foundation, he hasn’t yet decided what he wants to do.

The Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada has never refused an eligible child and has granted over 17,000 wishes! Wish requests continue to increase and they are currently providing 3 wishes a day! So every time you have breakfast, lunch or dinner a wish is being granted to a child.
 I hope you will help to create the magic of a wish by supporting Wishmaker Walk for Wishes. No amount is too small, and for the price of a Starbucks Coffee, you can make the difference in a childs life!

To read more about Bennett and his family, you can visit http://coaltrail.blogspot.com/
To donate you can visit Bennett's Wishmakers

Friday, September 23, 2011

This and That...

Happy Friday! Just a few quick pictures to end the week...

Grandma Rose's Rainbow...
We often see a rainbow in this same spot and Alyssa always says "Oh I bet Grandma Rose is on that Rainbow"
Here are a few pictures from our camping trip to Calaway Park...Kirk and Alyssa stayed over 2 nights, and the babies and I came during the day...They had fun running around in the trailer, hopefully next year they will be a little easier to manage and we can all really go camping in the mountains...Alyssa loved all the rides, including this giant boat ride...it freaked me out being on there with her, but she loved it...Blake loved the real ChooChoo we took him on, he had this little smirk the whole ride...
Our little man is a clumsy little guy, poor kid inherited his momma's genes there...he is forever getting hurt, and loves to be snuggled after and biggest sisters favorite job is to hold her beloved brother...He lied on her like this for a good 1/2 hour after tripping on nothing and splitting his lip with his teeth...
Our Big kids first Day of 4 year old Preschool...

 We went to a family fun day event and little Leah loved this baby jumpy house and ball pit, we couldn't get her out of there...Blake was too chicken with all the other little kids but not our Leah!
We also went to Butterfield Acres Farms to visit some farm animals...this is the best I could with the 3 of them in the same shot...We met Gunkle, Sophie and Gabe and had a really awesome time!! I think we'll go back for their pumpkin hunt that we did last year...  
 This is what happens when you leave Leah unattended for a nano-second...
Markers everywhere...
Silly Baby...
 Our traditional self picture on the stair railing...We were all together celebrating Kris's 35th Birthday... 

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Best that I can...

This blog post over at Enjoying the Small things came at just the right time...This is a super popular blog that is full of Life...this woman raised over $100,000 for her daughter with Down syndroms 1st birthday...pretty remarkable huh! I usually head on over when I need a bit of a "Life is Grand" pick up...Sometimes I get a bit tired of the Sunshine and Roses writing,  but  I often come away with the feeling of wanting to be a better person, mother etc...I know her writing is just a snippet of her life and I am more than sure she has her fair share of childrens battles, bad days...she just chooses to highlight only the good...Good for her...

This post she wrote about us mothers trying to fit it all in, really resonated with me with this past week...I've been feeling like I'm treading water and just trying to keep it together...How can I have a tidy house and clean laundry put away, all while my kids are hanging on my legs needing me too? How can I cook dinner when all I want to do is play outside with my kids..How can I be attentive to my husband surrounded by a giant mess that will bug me until its tidy...and you know what?? She is right, we don't have to be the best at everything all the time, sometimes it will be the laundry that takes the lead, most times it will be the little people tugging at my pants, and heck sometimes it will be me and only me in the lead...Yesterday for example I dedicated to kids day...we played outside, we read books, we had bubble baths, we baked cookies...and by the time daddy came home I was just done! I decided to take a nice walk alone, and while Alyssa asked if she could come, I really just need 20 mintues to recharge and have a mommy time out...and I tried not to feel guilty about it.

So while I think us mothers, wives etc set our expectations high, sometimes its ok to let things slide and others to take priority...we are all just doing the best we can. I think this shift in thinking will help me regain some control over what sometimes seems overwhelming.

Monday, September 19, 2011

A Ramble...

 I haven't really posted anything with much substance lately...I thought I'd do a little rambling about what we are up to these days...

As fall approaches I find myself with the need to organize, declutter and prepare for a winter spent indoors...I have plenty of hand me downs from Alyssa, cousins & cousins cousins...I swear that in itself has been a lengthy process...sort, rotate, & donate kids clothing...Plus making room for 3 kids worth of Winter Jackets, Boots, Hats, Mittens...We've also been purging, and organizing toys..we've gotten rid of lots of baby type toys..Yippee!! I think we are finally at a place where we can have some kind of organized chaos...

Alyssa has started back at Preschool 3 days a week, of course being the non-morning person that I am she is in the afternoon class. She jumped right back into school, and though I have still been having mixed feelings about her not starting kindergarden...she seems to be confident in her class with some of her friends from last year...She is a completely different kid from last year when she started school. She has also started her ballet class on Monday Evenings again, which she just loves. We tried for skating lessons as well, but we didn't get in the first session. We are hoping to sign her up for hockey in January.
Alyssa loves playing with her cousin Sophie...they play several times a week. She loves to play Bake Shop with her Moon Dough (the messiest stuff EVER!)  Store, shopping and Restaurant and anything that involves her being a Grown-up. She doesn't seem into Princess stuff as much as before...her playing seems to have evolved a bit.
Alyssa has always been a great sleeper, she still even now at 4.5 years old will not get out of her bed, she calls me every morning to come and get her out of bed, which I actually love! She sleeps 12 hours from whatever time she goes to bed, and she flat out refuses to have a nap...Ever! She has been having a few sharing issues lately...whats hers the babies can't ever touch, but what is theirs she thinks she is entitled to as well...Should be interesting after all 3 birthdays and Christmas. All in All, our Alyssa is a good kid...and holy moly does she ever help me out...she's taken it upon herself lately to clean up toys and tidy up randomly, "To help you out Mom!"

Blake officially now has all 20 teeth through, hallelujah! I think he was a pretty good teether in general, I don't recall ever blaming a bad mood on teeth...I hope he gets a bit of a break before those pesky 2 year molars come in. His talking has really started taking off. He puts 2 words together, mostly things like "Where Dada/Mama/Papa/Lissa", Hi Mama, Bye Dada...He says quite a few single words, too many to list...
He is really a sweet loving little guy, he likes to be hugged and give kisses and really likes to play alone...My favorite thing is when he runs around the corner and says MAMA and wants me to give him a kiss...he gives me a little hug and then he's off...He is obsessed with his cars, trucks and anything that has wheels and goes "Brrrrmmm". He is on the go non stop, if he's not eating in his high chair he is on the move from morning til night. My little guy is a morning person much to mommy's dismay, he is usually the first to wake up, and since he's gone to bed with 2 or 3 cars or trucks you can hear him early on driving is cars along his crib...He does like to have a long 2-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. He has his little Blankey Baby he sleeps with, and let me tell you, he can't sleep without it...he will cry for "baby" until you find it. Blake is just a little peanut, I'm not sure how much he weighs, I'm guessing about 22-23 pounds.

Leah Maria as we call her, or Monkey girl, has stalled at only 10 teeth and I don't see any others in sight, funny however she does have all 4 molars. Teething doesn't sit too well with her, so I'd be happy to just get these others out of the way sooner than later. Leah is quite the little smartie pants, her comprehension level is crazy and the words she is stringing together shock me some days. I guess since Alyssa was a late talker I find her talking rather amusing...My favorite word she says is Octopus, it comes out a little different each time but mostly sounds like "Octaplusss". She is well into the 3-5 words at a time, mostly things like"Where Daddy go?", "I want juice", "I want Up/down/help". The other day Blake was playing in a drawer he's not suppose to and she yelled "Baby, NoNo Do that", we were floored!!
Leah's favorite things to do are whatever Alyssa is doing. She likes to sit at the table and color with her, we've even had some playdoh out which she seemed to like...Leah also likes to seek out trouble, honestly...I know I keep saying that and I hope it doesn't grow into a reputation when she's older that she feels she has to keep up with...She really does keep me on my feet all day long... Leah loves to do acrobatics on anything and everything, she has no fear of climbing, hanging, swinging...She really thinks she is big kid...Leah likes to sleep in longer in the morning, but she is a very light sleeper and her morning brother racing cars in the crib right beside her, usually wakes her up earlier than she'd like...I think she'll be like Alyssa and give up her napping early...I usually get 30-40 minutes and on a rare occassion an hour and a half...She loves loves loves her Daddy and has some serious jealousy issues when anyone else tries to touch her daddy, that being said though she can be snuggly, lovey and can sit still for extended periods of time, unlike Blake...When daddy isn't home, I do get hugs kisses and snuggles. She can be rough with her siblings, but you can tell how much she loves them, she always wants to kiss them...and she does know when she's hurt them and knows to go give kisses to say sorry. Almost everytime Blake gets his bum changed she climbs up the end of the change table and kisses his head...Leah is still pretty small too, she is a little more solid than Blake, and I think she probably has a pound on him now somewhere around 23-24 pounds...

Kirk is super busy with work right now, we are hoping things slow down over the next month or so as he winds down at one of the 2 companies he's been working for. He has started back at hockey this past weekend, I know he's looking forward to that...As well as the Flames games we have tickets for, we both always enjoy going to the games. We are hoping in the next few months to take a little trip somewhere, just me and him...Vegas maybe?!

I'm hoping to take some cooking classes with my SIL Jane this winter, I'd also really love to learn how to crochet so I can make my kids super cute winter hats...but for now I'm trying to get into a routine with school drop off and pick up, which isn't always logistically that easy...the school is too busy and too small for my double stroller yet these crazy babies aren't co-operative enough to walk just holding my hands, for now its Blake in my Ergo carrier and just holding Leah...it also conflicts with nap time...Having my mom here at just the right time for drop off and pick up, helps me out a ton! Housework and laundry continue to haunt my dreams...trying to keep the babies stimluated enough this winter will be my biggest challenge, that and me trying not to go insane!

So there you have my huge long ramble, glad I got that out.. now I can get back to my regular blogging!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Dancing Girl

Here is my little Dancing Queen...she loves to dance but never lets me video it, it was a rare treat so its only on my phone camera...She is dancing to the an Elmo toy where I had to press the button a million times to keep it going which is why the sound is so horrible...none the less the dancing is cute!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Catch Up...

After a whole month, I have finally collaged our holiday pictures...We had such a great trip it was hard to narrow down the pictures, and sadly there aren't as many pictures of Grandma in there as I would have liked...What an amazing place, we are so lucky to be able to stay their with them at their beautiful home. Sorry there are so many, I wanted to make sure they are in my blog book...









Lots of Catch-up to come!! Fall is in the Air!!!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Double Happy(s) of the Day!

Dearest Children...Thank you so much for sleeping in every single day this week...Granted you went to bed a little late most nights, I certainly appreciate the 8:30 wake up...instead of your usual 7-7:30 wake up!! Keep it up and your momma will shall reward you with a smile instead of a frown!

Ahhhh Bliss...remember last year when my darling husband took me here for my birthday!!! Well I am about to have a repeat with my cousin Jannelle who is flying in from Vancouver...She cashed in a whole swack of travel points for Spa Certificates, and we are spending 6 hours at the Spa tomorrow at the Banff Springs Hotel...Yippeeee!! I've been counting down the days! We will each be getting an hour massage, a facial, and Mani/Pedicure...Lunch included and the rest of the day lounging aroung the mineral pool and falls and in the hot tubs...All FOR FREE!!!!!! We are staying over night and hopefully sleeping in! Thank you  Jannelle for what I'm sure will be an unforgettable weekend!! Also Thanks to my honey for full time parenting this weekend so I can have a weekend away!

PS...I have camping pictures from last weekend added into my list of pictures to deal with, along with our summer holidays still...As the summer winds down and we get settled into our fall routine, I'm sure my blogging will be back into the mix....
I also have a New blogger Award from Jennifer at Twinside Out,
 I will proudly post soon too!! Thank you Jennifer!!