Pink

Of course Coco couldn't be left out of the hair streaking...
Boy do I love this kid. She is caught between being the "baby" and sometimes wanting to be a "big girl". Some days she really plays the baby card, not wanting to clean up, or to take responsibility for her actions, and other days she wants to go and do all the things Jayme and Brady are doing. But on any given day, so is ready for a snuggle or hug and kiss, she truly is sweetness and has so much love to give and we are blessed to have her.
Here she is on a "big girl" day...

Ten

Double digits... that's big.  To say that Jayme has been excited to turn 10 would be the understatement of the year.  She has carried around her 10th Birthday Extravaganza party planning clipboard (I'm not kidding)  She had her guest list on this clipboard, the food list, a sample drawing of the invitation, a detailed, to the minute plan of what to do at the party (ie: introduce friends: 5 minutes, open presents: 10 minutes etc)  and, get this, a contract that she had Brady sign saying he wouldn't bug her friends when they came over for the party.  She had 8 girls come for the Chocolate Fondue party, where we played games, ate fruit dipped in chocolate and went outside for a bonfire, then she had 3 of the girls stay for a sleepover.  Our first non-family sleepover ever!  I dyed a streak of pink or purple colour into each girls hair, they watched Tangled while munching popcorn and eating treats and believe it or not, they actually slept!  And as per the Clipboard, crepes were on the menu for this morning, banana and Nutella, strawberries and whip cream and cinnamon and brown sugar.  It really went so well, and I'm so glad because with all the thought put into this event, she sure would have been disappointed if anything had gone wrong.  I even told her this evening that everything went so well, I'd allow her to have sleepovers again!

Here are a few pictures...

The fondue

The girls and Brady enjoying the fondue

Our very beautiful 10 year old :)

Playing the animal game

Watching Tangled

(Look close, you can see the pink streaks!)

Such good memories were made, and my little girl is growing up... bittersweet.

Haircut

Nicole wanted her hair cut and I've been having such a hard time keeping it neat, I decided that we should try it.  I think it looks so cute!

This is not the official "before" shot, but it sure shows how scraggly her hair often was! 

Eight

Eight years ago today I went to the hospital.  It's kind of weird walking into the hospital, not in pain, but knowing that that day, you would have a baby.  Inducing is a crazy thing.  They hooked me up to the IV about 6:00am as I needed a dose of antibiotics, then about 10:00am they added the oxytocin... the nurse said she started me and the lady next door and told me "The race is on"  RACE, you say?  Well the competitive side of me heard that and decided that I would SO beat that other lady...  and 4 (excruciating) hours later, the nurse delivered our little man!  Apparently the Dr was in the elevator on her way up!  (And the poor other lady... she was only delivering her baby when we were already having visitors!) 

We were so very excited to hear that we had a son, deep down I know we were hoping for a boy, but I don't think we had voiced it.  I had convinced my head that it would be a girl, and the pregnancy had been so like Jayme's that it seemed to make sense.

We called our family and friends and before supper time Brady's big sister had met him and many others too.  That first night Brady started a trend that he kept for quite a few months, he decided that sleeping was more fun while be held.  The nurses kept telling me to put him back in the bassinet, but when I did, he'd cry and fuss, so I held him.  I think that most of his first year of sleeping was while he was held, and even at that there was NOT enough sleep to go around!  "Sleeping like a baby" was a cliche that made no sense to us!  I think there were many comments made like : "good thing he's cute..."  And cute he was.  And still is.  Eight years later he still sleeps less than his sisters, he still wakes earlier and seems to have oodles of energy, especially in the mornings.  Like today, he was building lego at 6:30, playing basketball at 7:00 and asking for breakfast before 8:00.  Finally at 9:30 I made his requested birthday breakfast of bacon and eggs, and I think he ate 7 pieces of bacon :)

We love our boy so much and are so very proud of him, and I still can barely believe he's eight.

Winter Fun

A couple of weekend ago we went to my brother and sister-in-law's place just outside the city.  What a fun afternoon.  We pulled a sled behind their quad and had a blast!

Colie had fun too, even though she didn't want to go behind the quad.  She'd rather hitch a ride :)

Voyageurs

The kids have Festival de Voyageur Week at school this week and are encouraged to wear any "Voyageur" clothes.  Of course, besides toques, we had nothing!  So I crocheted a couple of "ceintures flechees" .  Boy were they excited!  And they turned out so great too!  Now they're set for the week!

Oldies

I haven't been taking  a lot of pictures lately, and I've been wanting to update the blog, but life is just kind of trucking along with the routineness of school, work, and just daily activities.  I should get my camera outside where the kids are playing hockey, building forts and constantly shoveling all the snow we've had.  OK, I'll put that on my to do list, but for now, here are a couple of cute old pics :)  I'm sure blessed to have these 3 amazing kids.

Christmas

Christmas flew by with a flurry this year.  We tried to slow it down, but for some reason, there was so much going on that the whole season seemed to slip away!  We still tried to do all the advent activities that we normally do, but school and life seemed to get in the way!  Don't get me wrong, it was a great time of year, but now that it's January and we're back into routine and it's cold and dark, Christmas seems like a distant memory.  Maybe a few pictures will remind me of the special season when we celebrate our Saviour's birth.

We did our traditional Chocolate Covered Pretzels

We made gingerbread houses, we tried to make 5 small ones, but ahh, it didn't really fly, next year, one big one again!  Live and learn

Our 3 excited little bunnies on Christmas morning :)  In their Christmas jammies

Colie's new dolly that eats and talks, she came complete with stroller and highchair

Super pumped big kids got a DS :)

It truly was a blessed day and time of year.  We spent a great day with my family on the 25th, then another amazing day with Mark's family on the 26th, there was so much food, laughter, and good memories.

FOUR

I should have been posting this 3 days ago, but I think I've needed a few days to adjust to the idea that my BABY is four.  I kind of feel like I need to breathe into a paper bag! Has it really been 4 years since our sweet Colie came and made our family whole?

She is really such a blessing in our home, she has brought us so much joy, love and laughter in her four years.  I think if you'd look up "sweetness" in the dictionary it should say Nicole.

Baby Coco: 3 weeks

First Birthday

Second birthday

Third Birthday

Here is the Birthday Girl!

The party snacks

The treat bags for her 5 party guests.

Family Pictures

On a beautiful fall day at the lake my lovely and talented sister Cate took some family pictures for us.  Here are a few.

Merry Christmas to All :)

Angels and Nerds

For our church's Christmas concert Jayme and Nicole were angels.  So cute! And the big news here is that Jayme has started wearing her hair down!  What a different look for her!

I didn't get the best pictures of Nicole, but trust me, she was adorable!

We went to our first 3D movie and the kids took their glasses home.  Jayme had nerd day at school, so she wore her glasses and of course Nicole needed to copy her big sister.  She wore this for an entire morning... cutest little nerds I've ever seen!