Two Weeks

On Monday, March 19, reflecting on the fact that I had two weeks of maternity left, I decided that I was going to blog every day.  Our days would be full of fun and I would record every minute of it so that when I was back at work I would have lots of happy memories to look back and remember.  That was the plan... we did have long, fun days which in most cases were so full I didn't really have time to blog.  So here it is... my last two weeks of mat leave.

Monday March 19
-Spent far too long putting kleenex back into box
-Went to surgeon to talk about my gall bladder
-Kate had her first hair cut at Silly Scissors (A fun little coincidence - it was in the same plaza as the doctor and when Kate saw the sign she announced that she wanted a haircut.  We went in and I, fully prepared to shear her beautiful tresses, told the hairdresser that she wanted a cut, so go ahead, was then so happy when the hairdresser suggested a little trim!)
-We met Mom and Dad (aka Grandma and Grandpa) at the McDonald's playplace in Newmarket and then went to Fairy Lake
-In the evening we went to Alliston

 

Tuesday, March 20

-Marisol came over to play

-We walked to Foodland (which takes a really long time... Kate started to break down half way there and she was in the stroller!)

-Kate and her Dad played "fire fighter" with the hose in the backyard and made mud

Wednesday, March 21

-Alice is 13 months

-we were supposed to have a playdate with our friends Michelle, Marisol and Amelie, but it was one of those days where our schedules just didn't match up

-the girls had a fun time playing in the backyard (Alice might have eaten sand... okay fine, Alice ate sand, I'm a bad mom.)
-birthday oreos are AWESOME, if you haven't tried them you should... if you like oreos that is

Thursday, March 22

-Ken took the day off

-I had an ultrasound (gall bladder fun)

-We went to MEC in Barrie

-We went to the beach in Barrie

-(We forgot to bring the camera... so annoyed!  The photos are of Kate crawling like a crab and proof of Alice's obsession with her dirty diapers... she is seriously obsessed, it's gross. She likes to get the pee ones out of the garbage and she enjoys carrying the "special ones" that we individually wrap around the house - and sitting in chairs with them?  Seriously!)

Friday, March 23

-We went swimming with Grandma at Grandma and Grandpa's building and had lunch

Saturday, March 24

-We went to Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket and Ken played with the girls in the play area and the toy store while I did some shopping

-We attempted to eat dinner at a sit down restaurant... disaster (Must not sit in a booth even though 3 year old wants us to as 1 year old MUST be in a high chair or it's a disaster!)

Sunday, March 25

-Went to church

-Decorated Easter eggs

Monday, March 26

-Luke and Maya came over to play with their Mommy, Diane (Sweet Diane is a teacher that I have known and worked with for almost seven year now.  We were married within six months of each other, and had our first child within one month of each other.)

Tuesday, March 27

-Went to Chapters in Newmarket to buy an "incentive" Toby train (As in Kate you need to poop in the potty, here's a prize for when you do - still some potty/poo-poo fear issues to resolve.)

-Took the girls to Annie's house (after dinner) to say hi (Kate pooped in the toilet at Annie's and earned her Toby train - she was one happy lady!)

Wednesday, March 28

-Went to Fairy Lake with Michelle, Marisol and Amélie (Thank you Michelle for being such a fun friend!)

-Took pictures of Alice while Kate napped

 Thursday, March 29

-Visited with Annie for an hour and then left the girls with her (practice for Monday...)

-Met Zorana at the Windsor Arms hotel for tea (Bliss, absolute bliss!  I know that I will cherish the memory of our chat, the relaxation, the everything for a long time.)

-Did a little shopping on Bloor Street

Friday, March 30

-Went to lunch at the Fairbairns (I taught the kids piano for a few years, they are such a special family.  It was so lovely to see Margy.  Margy kissed the car as we were leaving and Kate thought it was the funniest thing ever.  Someday we'll wash her kiss marks off the car.)

-We had a tragic time at IKEA (On January 10th the girls and I met my friend Ruth and her daughter Ava at IKEA for lunch and shopping.  Ava was already toilet trained, so she got to play in the playplace.  I told Kate that when she was toilet trained we would go back and she would play.  I had hoped that I would be able to take her while I was on mat leave and the toilet training just wasn't going, and then it finally clicked.  And well, I thought today was going to be the day, but I forgot about the height requirement... oh sadness, such great sadness.  The sign on the wall said she had to be 37 inches, and when she stood next to the line, she didn't measure up.  When we got home I had Kate stand against the door in the office - I drew a line to measure her and then I started to measure out 37 inches... and guess what, she's 37 inches tall... STUPID IKEA breaks my kid's heart for nothing!   The picture is clearly BEFORE the sadness.)

-Kate proves why sippy cups are still a good thing - spills or not

Saturday, March 31

-(happy birthday Jon)

-Shopping in Alliston in the morning

-General Conference

-Went to the park in Tottenham

I am so, so grateful for my maternity leave.  I wish I was home full time forever, but I am thankful that I was home for a full year and six weeks.  Now to try and hold on to happy thoughts!

Decorating Easter Eggs

I'm excited for the day that Kate can more fully participate and enjoy crafting activities.  She did enjoy the egg decorating for about 10 minutes.  She enjoyed plopping the eggs into the dye cups.

And she enjoyed the basket full of grass - with a train and two eggs.

But then she got distracted and took off, which left me to finish decorating, which of course I didn't mind a bit.

Alice thought the grass was awesome.

Here are the finished eggs in their brightly coloured glory.

The Easter Bunny

Someone forgot to tell my children that they're supposed to be afraid of giant stuffed animals.  The child before them got the memo.  They were so happy and so excited, but you can't tell, can you?!

I'm Thirteen Months Old today!

To celebrate my being 13 months old we played outside lots, which I love.  Kate and I played in the sand and water, in the little house, with the chalk and the bubbles.  It was great.  I must say though, that the best thing about today was that my Mom finally let me colour!  I've been asking for markers, crayons, and pens for ages, but I guess my Mom just thought I wanted to eat them (which is partially true). 

Today she got out a colouring page - it was left over from my sister, she did the marker, but I got to colour on it with crayon.  It was as amazing an experience as I thought it would be.  To see the pretty lavender colour make stripes on the page, to know that I made those stripes, it was intensely satisfying.  I got to sit in my sister's booster chair while we coloured.  We coloured for a while, hopefully we'll do it again soon. (The colouring ended when I forgot myself and started to try and eat the crayons.  I'll have to remember not to do that next time...)

Here's my colouring page.  Remember that my sister did the brown marker and I did the rest, well most of it, my Mom helped a little.  Don't judge me too harshly, it is only my first attempt.  I chose the colour myself.  I think pale purple is a lovely hue that evokes the feeling of Easter.

Hello Outside!

Our yard sometimes feels very small.  Then I remember to be thankful that we have a yard, and fun yard toys, and cute kids to play with the toys in the yard.  (Yard is kind of a weird word when you say it over and over again.)

And thankful for beautiful weather too!

St. Patrick's Day

Green Pancakes

Green child enjoying green pancake

Not yet green child enjoying green pancake

Green children enjoying the waterfall

Green adults and child enjoying green ATV

  

We had a very fun day.  Kate kept calling it "patrise day".  It was fun walking around Vaughan Mills all in green - once we all took our jackets off.  Thanks to Shawn and Cooper for coming to join us and for bringing a special snack for Kate.  Lucky Charms in a ziploc bag are the perfect St. Patty's snack - even if she did just eat the marshmallows.

We ended our day in Newmarket - bought some spring/summer clothes for Kate at Once Upon A Child and had dinner at Kelsey's.  We haven't eaten out in a long time, and I quickly remembered why.  Alice was NUTS.  Ken ate while I walked with Alice and then I ate while Ken walked with Alice.  Don't suppose we'll do that again soon.

I just love Saturdays and my family.  (Not in that order!)

Sisters and Baby Tinkerbell

Alice loves Kate and most of the time Kate loves Alice... except when Alice takes her stuff, or is too loud, or too close... or?!  EEK!  I love the moments when I catch them being cute together.

Kate has been enjoying dress-up lately, but we don't have much in the way of dress-up clothes.  Today she asked to wear the tinkerbell costume... and I thought okay the size is 6-9 months, that isn't going to happen...

One more note about the picture.  This is Kate's favourite pose.  She loves to close her eyes and smile.  I have to sneak attack to get a picture with her eyes open.