I Love Being a Mom

 I pulled Alice into my lap to cuddle her.  Alice looked up at me and asked, "How much do you love me?"

I answered, "I love you more than you'll ever know." She whispered my answer back with wide wonder filled eyes.  Then I told her that when she has a baby of her own she'll know.

"Will you love my baby?"

"Yes."

"Will I still live with you when I have a baby?"

"Probably not.  You'll probably want to live on your own with your husband."

"No I won't.  But I have to be a teenager first, then I can be a grown-up. But I can't be a teenager yet because I still have pre-school."

Pause

"Mom, are you having another baby?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Because I want a brother."

"I'm sorry, you're not going to have a brother."

"But I really want a brother."

Cooper's 6th Birthday and a Field in Kettleby

Every year I think, will this be the last one?  When will being birthday friends cease to be enough?! (I suppose this isn't entirely accurate - we do see Cooper more than once a year!) The August before Cooper was born we went for his shower - I was pregnant with Kate and no one knew.  Now, every September - usually the last Saturday - we head to Keswick for COOPER FUN!  Shawn throws the best parties.  The girls have such a great time.  I think Shawn must be relieved that we're done at three kids.  We've increased the population of the party!

This year the theme was Lego.  Shawn tried to encourage a ninja theme because all the kids are doing Lego, but Cooper could not be swayed, so Lego it was.  This was our first Lego party, and I don't know what is done at other Lego parties, but this one was AWESOME!!  I took lots of pics and just generally enjoyed myself - we all did.

I think my favourite thing that Shawn did was the t-shirts.  She sewed a yellow lego head onto black shirts, then she had sharpies so the kids could create their very own Lego face.  She actually finished Fiona's during the party, and then advised me to let Fiona design her own face, and I'm so glad I did.  Oh and one other note - in the pictures is Shawn's brother Benjamin.  His Lego self-portrait was too awesome not to record for posterity!

After the party we headed south and found the 404 extension - who knew the 404 now goes all the way to Keswick?!  It was awesome.  Then Alice wanted to eat rice cakes in a field?! Totally random, but that's Alice.  So I made a spur of the moment decision when we were driving and we went to Kettleby.  I knew there was a grassy area, but I had no idea how awesome it was.  Not only did Alice get to eat rice cakes in a field, and in a tree,  Kate got to realize her life-long dream (or at least her summer dream) of climbing a tree.

Oh and in case I forget, the theme song from the Lego movie is Everything is Awesome.  And today, everything was awesome.  I finished today by watching the women's conference, online in the basement.  A great day from beginning to end!

A Fun-Filled Friday

When I chose pre-school days my thoughts were this: Tuesday - Orangeville, Wednesday - the day we pull Kate (if we pull Kate) to do things all together, to break up the week day, Thursday - library group.  That left Monday and Friday.  Those are also the days that Ken works from home, so if/when the white car gives up the ghost I won't have to walk Alice to pre-school.  Never did Kate having P.A. days enter into my thoughts.  I knew that we would miss some Mondays because of stat holidays, and I was okay with that - Thanksgiving, Family Day, Easter Monday, Victoria Day - four days - big deal!  But P.A.days... didn't think about that.  It was funny to take Alice to school but keep Kate at home.

Kate had her first P.A. day today.  It was a beautiful day.  We went to two different parks in Tottenham - Annie's park (on Eastern Ave.) and the park on McKnight.  

Then we picked up Alice from pre-school, came home, had lunch, and then we went to Chudleigh's Apple Farm.  APPLES!!  It was so fun.  We all enjoyed eating sun-ripened apples in the orchard, picking apples, the hay bales and slides, the animals, the wagon ride.  I love this annual fall event.

After we had our fill of apple fun, we jumped back in the car and drove the scenic route to Brampton, found a subway sandwich place and had dinner.  Next stop, the temple.  We did this last year after our apple fun, and it was so lovely, so we did it again.  I love taking the girls to walk around the temple.