Halloween Quickie...

We are in full Halloween mode over here...House is decorated, costumes are decided, pumpkins are decorated...

...and thanks to Alyssa, all 80 treat bags are made!!

She has so much fun doing little projects...

What I thought was going to be an ongoing week long project, was finished in just under 2 hours! She didn't once ask to eat any of it either!!

In other news, we've finally ditched the high chairs and now have our big kids sitting at the table...Makes for some fun family dinners!!

These little turkey's keep me laughing all day long :)

A Thanks Worth Giving...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year I find myself reflecting on all that I am Thankful for, of course I do this every year, but this year I find myself in a more emotional state and more appreciative of what I really am thankful for. Perhaps the loss of our little friend makes me a little weepier (or a lot!), maybe it has something to do with getting older (I turned 33 last week), and I kind of think being a mother has intensified it all...

 

It seems lately, that I have been complaining a lot about my daily frustrations on parenting these little people, but truthfully not a single day goes by that I am not truly thankful...We had a long road to get here, and I love nothing more than being the greasy haired, sweatpant wearing, food on my shirt, messy house, short order cook and mostly proud momma to these 3 little blessings...

Further to that, I couldn't do it without my sidekick, we laugh together at the insanity, and get tears in our eyes from pure joy when we stop and look around at this beautiful life that we share...

 

We are so blessed and thankful for the love we have constantly from our families, parents who know just the right time to come and take over, and parents who spend the winters here to give us more support (I sure wouldn't want to spend my winters here if given the choice!)...Siblings who are more than siblings and our 3 Nephews and 2 nieces whom we love so dearly...

 

I am thankful to live in a beautiful safe country (albeit a mostly cold country!),

I am thankful for my husbands job,

I am thankful for the love from a little dog,

I am thankful for Saturday morning family pancakes,

I am thankful that my brother is going to be living his dream of working on an ambulance,
and I am thankful to be living my dream every single day...

Yesterday we went on a Pumpkin Hunt at Butterfield acres...
We did it last year and it was fun to see how much the babies have changed (Click here to see last years pictures)

The kids all had fun, we couldn't get a nice picture of the 3 of them like last year, perhaps it will be a few more years til we get a good one of them again!

 

They were all so proud when they found their very own pumpkins...Alyssa had fun decorating hers, Blake did a little coloring on his, Leah was not at all interested, and both of the little ones just tried to eat all the decorations...

Off topic pictures...Morning playtime in our jammies outside before the snow comes! 

I just love this picure of bedhead, jammy girl trying out the baby swing... 

CHEESE!!

 Wow, I wonder who could have made such a mess!?!

 I love that she knows to smile and say Cheese when she's busted...I guess I'd better stop breaking out the camera...

 I am thankful for tiny toy cars lined up ever so perfectly!

A sad day...

We lost our beloved pet Wylie last night, and today my heart is feeling pretty heavy...He was my parents dog, we got him when I was a teenager...he was old and lived a very good life but he was a part of our family for the last 16 years. Its so hard to even compare the loss of a pet to that of a human, but its funny how these little creatures warm their way into our lives and become not only pets but members of our family...He will be missed by all and especially by his doggy brother Oliver...Rest in peace little Buddy :(

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

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

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... 

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.