Thanksgiving Monday

How better to end a weekend of family fun, than with more family fun?  The plan was to go for a hike/nature walk somewhere between us, and then come back here for turkey enchiladas.  The weather wasn't exactly cooperative, and no one wanted to move quickly in the morning on a holiday, so the Molina's came over a little later, we hung out, we ate, and then just as it was getting dark we snuck in a little walk in Palgrave.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Yesterday, we started our Thanksgiving weekend with a trip to the Farmer's Market in Orangeville and a walk around Monora Park.  It was so beautiful!

Then it was off to Thornhill.  We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with my Mom, Dad, Andrew and Rayna.  We had fun swimming and eating and hanging out.  Mom/Grandma asked everyone what they were thankful for at dinner.  I said the health of my children.  It is something I am so thankful for.  I wish I remembered what everyone else said!

My thankful list (in no particular order) also includes: my family, living in Canada, being home with my girls, my testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel, Ken (Ken is my family, but he just needs a nod all on his own), being a Mom.  I could go on and on.  Life is good and I have so much to be thankful for.  

Today at church I had all the nursery kids colour turkeys and we wrote down what they were thankful for. One of the two-year-olds said that he was thankful for dump trucks! Alice's says: Fiona having a nap, Rayna, art from pre-school, going to pre-school.  Kate's says: family, cousins, aunts and uncles.

All things Alice

This is Alice's first family drawing.  I love it.  From left to right it's Fiona, Alice, Kate, Ken, and then me.  I'm in a balloon.  And according to Alice we're all having grilled cheese, except Kate who's having scrambled eggs and toast because Kate doesn't like grilled cheese.  The progression of art is so fun to watch.

I'm pretty sure I've written about Alice and Jake before but I can't be bothered to look back and try and find references, and since I never tag anything, I'm not sure how I'd even find it in the first place!  Jake... I'm not even sure who he is anymore.  Sometimes I think he still might be the Jake and the Neverland Pirates character, but other times I'm not sure.  Alice refers to him as her brother.  She talks about him quite a bit.  She talks about the things he does, what he likes.  Kate gets annoyed by the Jake talk, Kate is very literal.

The other day Alice told me that Jake was dead and that he wasn't going to get resurrected until after Captain Hook got married.  The day after that she told me that Jake moved to New Zealand and that she would never see him again.  This prompted a whole other conversation about Auntie Wendy living across the ocean and taking a plane, and would we ever go over the ocean on a plane.  I really do wonder for how much longer she will talk about Jake.  She also recently asked me if I was going to have another baby because she needs a brother.   

Last night she sweetly asked for a blessing from Daddy.  Before she and Kate started school, Ken gave them both father's blessings.  Alice was blessed not to be sad, among other things.  She asked Ken to give her another blessing last night so that she wouldn't be sad.  She does get sad sometimes.

Then there are other times that she is so joyful.  Her first ballet class was last Thursday and she was beaming.  She was so happy that I teared up a little.  I am loving the time that I get to spend with my sweet sensitive Alice.

Fiona is 16 Months Old.

More and more Fiona is one of the girls.  She wants to play with her big sisters.  She wants to be where they are, doing what they do.  Sometimes it goes well...

This past month we started working on body parts - specifically the face - ears, eyes, mouth, nose.  Fiona's favourite is eyes.  She even says "eye" as she's stabbing you in the eye.  (Most kids love poking eyes, not sure why?)  Oh and animals.  She is loving animal picture books - growling, mooing, baaing, meowing, it's awesome. 

The separation anxiety has definitely passed.  She loves her Dad and her Grandma.  A friend of mine even watched her while I was the duty mom at Alice's preschool and guess what, she was great! (Thanks Michelle!)  She is still occasionally afraid of other adults but she is now open to the idea of them!

Personality wise, she is really quite happy most of the time.  She is fun and crazy and cuddly and giggling, and then sometimes she gets so frustrated by her inability to communicate her needs.  I feel like I'm dealing with Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde!  The fact that she's getting molars doesn't help.  I think the top ones are in, but I'm not sure about the bottom. 

FIFI!!  Happy 16 Months!

General Conference

I love general conference.  LOVE!  A weekend jam-packed with spiritual illumination, with such tremendous guidance.  This conference was no different than any other.  I sat with notebook in hand to write down wonderful ideas, personal ideas. 

I tried to prepare myself and the girls.  We had FHE on Monday all about the apostles.  We coloured pictures and talked about them, looked at pictures.  Ken and I talked about how much we love our prophet and the importance of receiving guidance. 

I made booklets, bingo cards, I bought candy, I made a quiet book about the apostles.  I wanted the girls to have tools to help them.  But I also didn't have any illusions about forcing them to watch.  I wanted the basement to be a welcoming happy place to be if they wanted to be there.

I was going to take a picture of the girls happily completing their conference activities... sigh.  So, noon, Saturday we all go down to the basement, just before noon really.  We had a late breakfast, so no thoughts about lunch.  The girls were excited when they saw everything.  They were of course most excited about the bingo-candy game.  Fiona was tired and lasted all of about ten minutes before completely losing her mind.  I then spent the next 45 minutes losing my mind trying to put her to sleep.  Sigh.  By the time I got downstairs again Kate and Alice were pretty much done. 

I was able to catch up and I pretty much listened to/watched everything.  There were a few talks that were interrupted but really for the most part I was able to partake.  Kate and Alice were in and out, Fiona barely held on, and there was of course the barfing (poor Alice) during the last session today. 

I really enjoyed conference.  I am left thinking about so many things.  I do feel slightly guilty though.  Ken looked after the girls for the most part.  I'm not sure what he got out of conference.  Conference with small children is hard.  I think we did the best we could. 

I am excited for my girls to gain their own testimonies of the gospel.  I'm excited for them to be excited about conference.  I'm looking forward to the day when they understand the blessings of personal revelation in their own lives.  But for now, I will be thankful for their childhood and for their innocence. 

Alice was so excited to catch glimpses of the prophet.  She learned Henry B. Eyring's name and Dieter F. Uchtdorf too, which was pretty cute, she already knows the prophet - Thomas S. Monson.  Kate had moments when I feel like she was feeling the spirit, which we will follow up on at FHE tomorrow. 

I belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I am so thankful for this.  I am so blessed.

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!