Mama's Boy

I volunteered in Brady's classroom on Friday and he was so excited to have me there.  There was no embarrassment over PDA's, he hugged me, sat on my lap and held my hand while walking in the hall.  I enjoyed every second!  That night we had a movie night at the school, the feature presentation was Kung Fu Panda, at one point during the movie, Brady moved close and snuggled against me because it was a scary part and he didn't want me to be scared.  Then he leaned over and whispered "Don't worry Mom, it's just a movie, it's not really real."  I'm so thankful for my boy and his soft heart, I pray that he will continue to have that heart as he gets older.

Coping and Cuteness

So I'm actually managing through the winter, I still don't like the weather, the extra clothing, the extra time to put on the extra clothing, but I am managing.  We've gone sledding a few times now, and we've even sent Nicoley down the hill on her own a few times.  She really likes it, she gets to the bottom, claps her hands and says "One more time!"  Mark bought the kids a GT Snowracer and that's been fun for them!  (I think he's sad that he can't ride it... crazy weight restrictions!)  Jayme and Brady also enjoy trying to snowboard down the hill, and of course they all enjoy the warm up hot chocolate after the trip!

Nicoley has been amazing us with her incredible intelligence... she's barely just turned 2 and she can count to 10, usually without missing any numbers... she can recognize 10 of the 26 letters... and she is talking so much and we laugh so much at the cute and funny things she says.  My favorite one lately is that when she sees anyone of us without out clothes (we're still a pretty open family) she says "Nakedbaby" (all one word)  When she says something, she expects us to repeat it back to her, just to make sure she's understood.  If we aren't paying attention, or just answer with an umm hmm, she will continue to repeat it until we say it back.  She has also been heard telling us "I funny" so she knows she is still the star of the show around here.

A look back...

My sweet little baby, she was so cute as a newborn and even cuter as a 2 year old!  Even Jayme and Brady look so little in these pics.  Where did these 2 years go?!!  

Happy Birthday Baby

Now that Nicole is two, do I have to stop calling her the baby?

We had a fun party with her little friends 

this morning 

and a house full of 8 

babies 3 and under, plus 

mommies was very 

overwhelming for a new 2

 year old.  There were kids all over the place, playing 

with Coco's toys and

  eating her snacks.  She did however like blowing out the candles and opening the presents.  She got some princess dress up stuff and she loved all the pretty clothes and jewelery.  By the end, when I decided to take a group shot, she wanted nothing to do with it!  "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!"

Christmas 2008

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with our family.  Christmas morning is such a special time for us, I just love the whole feel of it!  I loved it as a kid and now I love it even more with my kids.  I thought it was funny that Jayme said she woke up every hour or so the night before because she was so excited... I was the same way as a kid!  The big thrill for us this year was a Wii.  I think the kids were surprised, and boy were they pumped!  We played right away Christmas morning (We set it up the night before and they opened the empty box!)

I was surprised to find one to purchase so easily a week before Christmas.  I walked into the Walmart electronics department a week before Christmas and there it was!  No line ups, no wait!  I was shocked after all the horror stories I heard about lining up in -40, or getting up at 7:00am to be the first at a store.  Brady was even with me when I bought it but was oblivious to the purchase,  oblivious as I hid it under the stroller and even oblivious when the man behind us in line loudly said "Oh!  Someone's getting a Wii for Christmas eh? "

After we celebrated with the five of us, we had Papa and Nana over for breakfast, then we spent the rest of the day at Grandma and Grandpa's and were blessed like crazy! 

Dancing Star

This is our star enjoying her new Dora mat.

The Wonder of it All

Ahh Christmas Eve.  The wonder of it all.  I am feeling quite emotional today thinking of the day before Jesus came to earth all those years ago.  As we are doing last minute preparations for our celebrations, tidying up, prepping food, wrapping the last of the presents, I ponder what last minute preparations were going on in heaven that first "Christmas Eve"  Were the angels having a last practice before their concert, were God and Jesus making last minute plans, was the Holy Spirit busy preparing the hearts of men to receive the Savior?  I hope that today I can rest in this peace and savour every moment of the next few days.  Tonight we have our Christmas Eve candle light service and I know I'll cry as we sing those familiar carols, but as we do, we need to really listen to the words and absorb them... JOY to the world, the LORD has come... Oh HOLY night... Come let us ADORE Him...

My silly girls posing...

Just some Christmas holiday fun game times with my 2 fav card players! 

Chocolate Pretzels

We made our Chocolate Covered Pretzels yesterday.  I had to save some activities to do while the kids were home from school (BTW, I won't be home schooling any time soon!)  I've really enjoyed our holiday time so far but keeping them busy has been a bit of a challenge.  Notice the teacher in me had them spell their names with pretzels!   Ha, I'll throw in a little educational fun any time!  Oh and just a note to anyone who wants to make chocolate pretzels, don't mix the chocolate with condensed milk... it turns into fudge and does not coat nicely, don't ask how I know, just take my word on this one!

Coco didn't help but she did get into them after and make quite a mess, I just threw this picture in because she is so cute!

Next Off the List

We did our gingerbread house today.  Lots of fun, too much sugar consumption  and an almost 2 year old doesn't get the idea that these candies and treats are not all for eating. There were a few stressful moments.  My plan to be unstressed and calm this holiday was tossed when the crazy house wouldn't stay standing...  I think the icing in the kit was a little too runny (maybe I should go back to homemade, I still have the creme of tartar, does it go bad?)  The windows kind of look like a haunted house and some of the candies were sliding down.  Notice on the first picture all the "helps" our little house needed to stay up, this pic was taken after it had completely fallen down once.  (I think I thought some bad words, but I don't think I said them out loud)  Brady was trying to be helpful, but at that moment I didn't want his help, I decided to "let" him play outside (in -35) for a few minutes.  So I rigged up the "helps"  and let it set while we went out for our annual Christmas Light Ride. I think the finished product turned pretty good!  Now our ride was much calmer and even relaxing.  Christmas music playing on the radio, a nice warm car and 3 kids strapped in tight.  We saw Candy Cane Lane, Polar Bear Place, and Reindeer Run Drive.  Wow 2 things off the list in one night!

Off the List

We're crossing things off the list!  This is one of the cutest Christmas books ever, and it's sentimental for me because my dad used to read it to us at Christmas time.  I read it to the kids, Jayme and Brady liked it a lot, Nicoley didn't listen too well so she mostly enjoyed daddy time while I read.  On Saturday night we watched the movie, the one I didn't know they had even made and it was cute.  Kind of a seventies version, but I guess the book was written in the seventies so it worked.  The Herdmans were way cuter than they should have been and the movie left out a few parts but it was a good family night, complete with snacks, cuddles and giggles.  We "discussed" the movie after and I think that Jayme understood the point of the story.  All in all a good read, an okay movie and a fun family tradition.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We are getting SO excited for Christmas and I've taken a bit of a different focus this holiday season.  Normally I'm pretty flustered and a bit worked up about all that needs to get done and I think back in January and regret not enjoying more.  So this year I'm CALM and RELAXED.  I want to enjoy every moment of this time of year with the kids and I want to make lasting memories with them.  I want for them to start to understand the true meaning of Christmas.  (This posted under a picture of Santa! Ha!)  We received a cute Advent devotional this year and I've made a list of activities that we want to do during the season and I find it helps to tell the kids what's on that list and they make sure we do all the things.  Our list includes: reading the book "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" , then watching the movie (I've never seen it, didn't even know they had one, saw it at the library and I really hope it doesn't suck!) , making a gingerbread house (OK so I bought a kit... I'm not going to go through that again... a few years ago I decided to get Mark involved and I cut out and baked pieces to a very cute gingerbread semi, well, Mark was displeased with how out of proportion it was, so the next year he cut out the gingerbread for a to-scale semi, which he only wanted decorated with smarties that were the actual colour and placement of the lights, not so much fun for kids who want candies and icing EVERYwhere!  so we stick with a house and I buy an all inclusive kit).  We have baking on the list and we've done all that: fudge, gingerbread men, sugar cookies, peanut butter bark, and rice crispie treats.  We still need to cover pretzels in chocolate to complete our holiday treats!  We will have a jammies night in the car driving around to look at Christmas lights (Mark will have to wear clothes because as Uncle Kenny knows only too well... what Markie wears to bed won't keep him very warm in the car!)  All these activites, plus the Church events, family events and fun times with friends make this "the most wonderful time of the year."

I really hope to make this a special Christmas, I pray that my sweet little ones will start to get the true spirit of Christmas, and that they will understand that the reason we give and receive gifts is because Jesus was the best gift of all.

Brady's Prayer

Tonight was Brady's turn to pray, he is always so thoughtful in his prayers and it seriously melts my heart.  Among other things, he prayed for Peace in Israel, this is how it went:

"I pray for the peace of Israel, cuz they're in a bad war.  I pray that there'll be no more killness, no more hurtness, no more hospitals, not more deadness and no more funerals"

So precious.

A Couple Cute Coco Videos

This one she didn't want me to take any more pictures of her, but she gave me a very cute wiggle instead!

This video is a bit long, but it shows how to really enjoy a box of Smarties!

They Say the Cutest Things

One of my favourite things about a baby getting bigger is when they start to say things on their own.  Nicole has been amazing at repeating (yes sometimes too amazing) but now the cuteness continues with her coming up with her own things to say.  On Monday Mark was eating a fudgsicle and she looked at him and said "Please Mark.  Please?  Please Mark."  On Tuesday Brady learned a new song and sang it non-stop for what felt like 3 hours and finally at supper time she looked at him and said "quiet Bady"  My feelings exactly.  His song was about a pony, skinny and bony, that had an unfortunate mishap at the park, in the morning I reminded him that this was not an appropriate Wee College song so he said he would only sing it in his head.  After Wee College I asked if he remembered NOT to sing the song, and he proudly answered that he only sang it in his head and smiled to himself all morning.  On Wednesday Nicoley started using "Oh yes" in many different situations... with an emphasis on the 'yes'... "play Pey-Pey?  Oh yes" (Pey-Pey is her little buddy actually named Peyton)  then when extra ham showed up on her plate she looked down and said  "Oh yes"  Now I have fun asking her if she loves Mommy, because the answer is always "Oh yes".   If you tell her how cute or pretty she is, my vain little girlie answers "I know"

And Jayme too is so very cute, I know I often leave her out of this blog... only because I don't want her to think I'm making fun of her, a grade two-er can be quite sensitive about such matters.  Jayme's cuteness this week came in the form of a note.  A friend of mine gave us a pair of plaid pants as a hand-me-down for Jayme.  I tried to convince her how cute they were, how old she looked in them, how sassy, how sporty, really anything that may have convinced her to wear them, but she wrote me a note  saying "I WILL NEVER IN MY LIFE WEAR THOSE PANTS... EVER"  She made herself clear, we will re-hand-me-down those pants.

A Peaceful Shower

One day I would like to take a shower in peace, but while the kids are young, I can forget about it!  Today Jayme came in first to pee, I reminded her not to flush, then Brady came and I gave the same reminder, but boys have to ask why, so I said it changed the water, he said cool,  to what colour?  Then he said he had to flush, y'know had to.  I told him I'd flush for him when I was done.  OK he says, but I'm still going to wipe.  Yup, good thing, thanks, I should lock the door next time, we do have 2 bathrooms for reasons such as these.

First Snow

Well somehow the first snowfall sneaked up on me this year.  I realize that it's almost mid-November and we often have snow even in October, but maybe it was denial, or maybe it was just wishful thinking, but this snow caught me rather unprepared.  Jayme had to call me from school before lunch recess today and ask me to please bring her some snowpants, everyone was wearing them.  

And all I had for mitts for the kids were those useless mini gloves.  No warmth, and absolutely not water proof.  I guess all the other moms in St Vital were WAY more prepared than me and had already been to Walmart to buy their fancy new mitts and when the Letkeman family decides to go on the night of the first snow, funny thing, Walmart is OUT OF MITTS!  OK so not really funny, actually frustrating,  but we found some at Children's Place and I hope my kids enjoy their 12$ mittens better than some 6$ pair we couldn't find at Walmart.

I don't think Coco really like the snow all that much, I got her to smile for this picture, but I think she was crying 1 and a half minutes later.  Of course I also think that Brady threw a snowball at her and that is quite possibly the reason for the tears rather than the cold or snow.

Brady loves winter... he wanted to be outside all afternoon, but I ran out of minigloves before he ran out of things to do outside.  I bribed him with hot chocolate to get him in

Jayme likes the snow too.  She's the idea girl.  She decides where to put the big piles of snow, how big to make it and she supervises the work.

I think I'm happy about the new "season", but really I'm just lying to myself, I really don't like winter.  I dislike the snow, I dislike being cold, I dislike bundling up, I dislike carrying a baby all bundled up, and have her slide down because her jacket is puffy and slippery and my jacket is puffy and slippery. ARGH.   The ONLY thing winter has going for it is CHRISTMAS... I LOVE Christmas!!!

Trip out East Part Three: Apples, Pumpkins & a Park

We spent one day touring to countryside around Belleville.  It was such a beautiful fall day.  The trees in Ontario turn the most amazing colours... we saw orange, purple, red and gold leaves.  It was all so lovely.  We went to an apple orchard and pumpkin patch.  The kids fed some ducks there and saw some pot-bellied pigs.  (I'm not sure what they have to do with apples and pumpkins, but still fun nonetheless)  Each of the kids picked their very own apple from a tree and carried it around with them for quite some time (I think they were waiting to eat it until they washed it, but I never actually made that rule)  After the orchard, we went to Lake Ontario and a town called Wellington.  Again SO SO SO beautiful.  There was a fabulous park and playstructure beside the lake and it was a great spot for some fun fall photos!  With all the excitement over the playstructure, the kids forgot their cherished apples on a picnic table.  They remembered once we got back in the van, so Daddy got and and checked EVERY picnic table in the park with no luck, some lucky chipmunks must have got them.  The kids were devastated, and I mean really upset, almost irrationally so.  After we stopped for lunch, we got back in the van and magically those "exact same apples" had turned up!  Turns out Papa had rescued them from the table, or so Mark told the kids, and they believed it hook line and sinker.  (Wow, I've never actually used that expression before!)

So here are only a few of the pictures I took that day.

Mark was back there holding Nicolie up

This truly was an amazing playstructure

Trip out East Part Two: The Residence of Choice

Upon arriving in TO we had to wait FOREVER for our rental van.  We understood when we saw the Quebec plates that it must have been driven in special for us from Montreal.  We figured that a Quebec van was actually a good thing, because when our DD Brucie, was a crazy driver on the 401, we knew people would just say "Crazy Frenchman!"

While waiting in Terminal 3, an Airport Policeman (? I had no idea)  on a scooter came scooting by, he was very nice to stop and let us take pictures of his "hog"... the kids were pretty impressed!  I would have been impressed had he let them actually take it for a spin!  

Our residence of choice in Belleville was Chateau Paradise.  What a LOVELY place to stay.  We had the most amazing hosts, the most delicious food, the greatest laughs and we felt completely welcome by everyone, including Charlie!

Mark's sister Andrea and her husband Ken were so gracious... they bought special food, craft supplies and had Treehouse On Demand for the kids, they had Coke for Mark and they bought a coffee maker and brewed coffee for me each day, complete with flavoured creamer!  We were so spoiled!  The kids ate Froot Loops in a trough sized bowl, they drank Sunny D out of coffee mugs and they colored and played play-doh and did stickers till their hearts content!  And of course there was that cool helicopter and oh, not to forget to mention, Charlie.  (I think I will do a post all about Charlie, including the story of our one night stand... keep checking for that one!!!)  Here are some pics of the kids being spoiled rotten.

Play doh creations...

Yum... pancake breakfast...

The famous "sauca"  with balls of beef...

Coco sharing her pizza...

And the only word to describe our stay...

Trip out East Part One

We had a completely wonderful trip to Ontario!  Everything went so well.  I think I will Blog all of this in segments because I really was a good Mommy and took lots of pictures!

I'll start at the beginning... the first flight!  The kids loved the airport and the airplane, and even Coco did super great on the plane.  It's a 2 hour flight but with the whole process of getting up at 4:30am, then driving to the airport and checking in, then going through security, the kids did remarkably well.  I haven't flown (flied? flew? flewn?)  in a long time, definitely not since the new security due to 9-11 and I'm not normally a deceiver, and I honestly didn't try to sneak anything into the plane... While waiting in line they come around and ask if you have any creams, lotions, gels or liquids.  We all said no and then when my bag went through it's special tunnel, they pulled me aside and went through it and discovered a giant jar of butt cream (Nicole's not mine!)  Oops!  They are actually quite lenient for mom's flying with babies.  Unfortunately they must have thought Mark looked a little suspicious because while one worker was digging through my bag, the other one was asking Mark to remove his watch, wallet, belt, jacket, and shoes.  Once he was redressed, we were able to purchase our Tim's and board the flight!

Jayme sat with Auntie and Uncle for the first part of the flight.  Brady sat with us, both got window seats.  It was still so dark in Winnipeg when we left, so they didn't get to see much during take off.

The typical out the airplane window shot!

I must say that I really loved WestJet, they were so accommodating to us flying with a baby and they were so happy and nice, I liked them!

So here's my second attempt...  

Nicole loves having an audience, and the audience loves her.  I had to set the camera on the counter to catch her on this video, she often gets upset when I point the camera at her, so I tricked her this time.