A few updates

I didn't start the new year off very well, did I?  We've had a very busy January and that hasn't left me much time for the blog.  But I thought I'd post a few pictures of the kids and a few updates.  We don't even have that many pictures - we've been really busy but just with everyday stuff, not a lot of photo-worthy events.  :)

DANIEL:

• Daniel is still really enjoying Kindergarten and is doing very well.  He's started choosing the art and writing centres, which is new for him, and means that he brings home lots of fun pictures and stories.  Now we just have to get him trying to write at the writing centre - he's still too nervous to try.  We scanned a few of his stories - I'll post them to the blog soon but they're on our desktop computer and I'm using the laptop right now.
• He's loving soccer now and is no longer feeling timid.  He was a little scared to get out there and was really worried about what people would think of him.  Now he just gets out there and has a great time.  He's not the most aggressive player but he is always in the game and trying hard.  He's an awesome goalie - I have to say, I think he's the best goalie on the team. 
• Daniel just started swimming lessons again at the beginning of January.  He loves the water!  He's now in the Crocodile level, which means there are more children in the class and they spend the entire lesson in the deeper water.  This level is a bit more of a challenge for him but he's doing well.  He has a little girlfriend, though, who isn't the greatest influence.  She's always trying to swim away and he tries to follow her, but he's not as strong a swimmer.  We've gotten on his case about listening to the teacher, though, and he's doing much better.  Now she keeps trying to pull him into the water and he just can't tread water well enough.  I guess we'll need to have a talk with his teacher next week to make sure Daniel's listening and his little friend isn't trying to get him into trouble!

ADAM:

• Adam is loving "his school," which is what he calls Strong Start.  School seems to come pretty naturally to him.  He really loves doing art - drawing, painting, doodling.  He can doodle for hours!  His drawings are pretty cute and funny and his works very meticulously on them.  If it's not quite right, he crumples it up, throws it across the room and says, "That is NOT awesome!"  A true artist.  :)  He also loves to count and do his ABCs.  He prints his name and loves to copy out all the names of his family members.  He really likes getting on the computer and typing everyone's names, too.
• Adam is also in swimming lessons this winter.  He is in the Sea Turtle level again - he didn't pass in December.  But he's made so much progress!  He used to cry when he went into the water with his teacher; he wouldn't let his face near the water.  Yesterday, however, he put his eyes, nose and mouth in the water!  What a huge improvement!  His teacher was really excited - I think Adam was pretty proud of himself, too.

We just signed both boys up for t-ball in April.  I think they'll both really enjoy it.  Adam is definitely a natural - he has a great arm.  I think Daniel will like that baseball isn't quite as aggressive a sport.  He really wanted to play lacrosse, because he's learning it at school and his best friend plays.  But he's just too nice for a sport like that.  :)  But I think t-ball will be keeping us very busy, since they won't be on the same team.  We'll see how it goes...

A few pictures of the boys.  They're really hard to take picture of these days so I only have pictures of them together, nothing individual.

SARAH:

• Sarah is so fun these days!  She's got such a quirky personality, a really funny sense of humour and she's really mischevious.  But in such a cute way!  She loves to be silly and make people laugh.  You have to watch her pretty close - she can always be found climbing the stairs, standing on a table, getting into cupboards...  But then she flashes that smile and you have a hard time getting mad.  :)
• She isn't saying too many words - mama, dada, momo (more).  But she's learned a few signs.  She can sign more, please, thank you and has almost got milk.  I think I saw her sign eat today.  It's so cute and she's really proud of herself when she can communicate with us.  And she has really good manners!
• Sarah's such a cuddly little girl.  She loves to give hugs.  When you ask her for a kiss, she'll turn her cheek to you, as if to ask you to give her a kiss!  She never gives them out herself but she loves to ask for them.  Today, she was playing with a little boy at Daniel's soccer practice.  The boy came up and gave her a hug and she pointed to her cheek, asking him to kiss her!  She also has the cutest way of showing her excitement.  When I got home from my trip to Boston, she ran up, started stomping her feet, lifted her shirt and patted her belly!  That's quite the welcome!

A few cute Sarah pictures...

We've certainly been keeping ourselves busy.  Between school, work, soccer, swimming, orchestra, band and just everyday life, we've been on the go all month.  I took four days off to go to Boston to visit my friend, Lesley, and to meet her new son, Christopher (and, of course, hang out with his big sister, Mary).  It was quite the experience for me to travel by myself, only worry about myself.  I had a hotel room to myself for four days - it was quite relaxing!  I really did miss the kids (and James, too) and couldn't wait to be back to the craziness.  I appreciated the break and the chance to visit with with my friend of 30 years, but I don't know that I'll leave the family again anytime soon.  James did an awesome job as a single dad, but I don't think he'll want to do it again anytime soon either!

A Merry, Busy Christmas

What a fun and busy December we had!  My apologies for not keeping up with the blog but we were on the go for almost the whole month!

We went to the mall at the beginning of the month and met up with Auntie Lauren and Uncle Duncan to celebrate Auntie Lauren's birthday.  Of course, while we were there, we had to visit Santa!  The boys asked for a Playmobil pirate ship and pirates to go with it.  Sarah wanted nothing to do with Santa!  She was so scared that I had to sit with her.  Then we figured the whole family may as well get in the picture.  Not a bad picture except for poor Sarah.

There were a lot of Christmas festivities at school, a highlight being Daniel's Christmas concert.  The Kindergarteners sang a couple of songs before the beginning of the Christmas production.  Daniel enjoyed playing the drums during his songs.

After school ended on Dec. 17, we had a few days to finish our Christmas shopping before heading up to Penticton for Christmas.  So much fun visiting relatives, eating good food and having great times.  We started the visit with some unexpected snow.  The boys had a great time playing and sledding.  Sarah never managed to get out in it because she was pretty sick with a runny nose and bad cough.

We all went to the annual carolling party on December 23 and had a lot of fun singing and visiting relatives.  Sarah loved all the music and the yummy treats.  The boys were surprised when Santa arrived.  And they really enjoyed playing in Great-Grandma and Grandpa's big house, hiding out under the stairs.

On Christmas Eve, we all drove out to Kelowna to visit the other side of the family and celebrate with them.  Everyone brought delicious hors d'oeuvres and ate well!  Auntie Linda and Uncle Mike have a fun games room and the boys had a great time playing foosball and table hockey.  They didn't want to go home!  But they did finally give in and read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" with Grandma and Grandpa before heading home.  Luckily, they had set out their milk and cookies for Santa (and carrots for reindeer) before we left because they all fell asleep in the van on the way back.

Christmas morning was so exciting!  The boys were thrilled with the Playmobil pirate ship and pirates that Santa brought.  They played with that for hours before any other presents were opened!  Sarah loved her bouncing baby doll that laughs and tried to steal the baby doll's bottle for herself!  Great-Grandma and Grandpa C came over in the late morning for the rest of the present opening and for brunch.

After lunch, we headed back to Great-Grandma and Grandpa R's for gift exchange and Christmas dinner.  Fifteen of us played the "Greedy Gets" game, where you can open a gift or steal one that someone else already opened.  That was a lot of fun and James and I were really happy with the gifts we ended up with.  The kids had fun playing with their new toys in the basement and hanging out with cousins.  Sarah wasn't so sure of baby Juliette, although Juliette loved Sarah!  It was so cute to watch them in their pretty matching Christmas dresses from Great-Grandma.



We headed back home on Boxing Day and had a pretty uneventful drive, with only a bit of snow and fog.  We got home around 7pm, dropped all our luggage and presents on the living room floor and went straight to bed.  The next morning was Christmas with Leah's side of the family.  We opened presents in the morning, went out to have lunch with aunts, uncles and cousins and then went back to Gramma and Grampa's for stockings and dinner.  Another fun and busy day.  The kids did amazingly well but were definitely exhausted by the end of the day.  The next two days were spent hanging out at home in pyjamas and playing with new toys!

We hosted our first open house on December 30 and were happy to see so many friends, relatives and neighbours.  We were afraid we wouldn't see many of our friends over the holidays since we were away for much of it, so the open house seemed like the best idea.  We were questioning that the day before when we were madly cleaning the house!  But it all worked out and it was really nice to extend the Christmas season with all our friends.

We didn't have any plans for New Year's so, at the last minute, we decided to take the kids to Stanley Park to see the Christmas train with all the lights.  They loved it!  It was really cold, though, about -4.  All three of them loved the lights and had a great time.  We're actually thinking this should be our New Year's tradition from now on.

Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas - a little busy and rushed at times but really very fun.  It was so nice to celebrate with all the important people in our lives.  Although it will be nice to get back to our daily routine, we really will miss all the fun things we've been able to do over the past two weeks!

This blog post would have been far too long if I had included all the pictures from our Christmases, so these are just a few.  If you'd like to see them all, please go to

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=258388&id=581855950&l=cbca2d4306



Countdown to Christmas!

The Christmas season is upon us!  We have lots of fun things planned for this month and it started with a few fun events put on by our community centre.  Last Friday evening was the lighting of the firehall.  Some places have a big party and the tree in the town square is lit up.  Not here - we have a party at the firehall!  There was pizza, Tim Horton's and Santa.  Sarah slept through most of it but the boys got to have a nice visit with Santa.  They also had fun playing with friends and running around the firehall.  Adam's highlight was getting to use the bathroom in the firehall!  Daniel hated being chased by a bunch of girls from his school.  :)  Unfortunately, none of our pictures from the evening turned out - it was too dark.

On Sunday morning, we went to the community centre for breakfast with Santa.  The kids had a great time!  First, the kids did some colouring and then had a pancake and sausage breakfast.  The boys thoroughly enjoyed the three cups of hot chocolate they each had.

Sarah LOVED the sausages - I think she had three!  This could have been a cute picture of her and James but I think her mouth was full of sausage!

There was some musical entertainment by Tony Prophet, who sings fun kids' rock and roll songs.  Daniel was a little shy about getting up to dance but not Adam!  He was the first to grab a drum and run up on stage.  He rocked out for a long time and looked very serious about it!  Sarah had fun dancing around on stage, too.  This video makes me laugh every time!

There was a big mural on the wall and our two artists got right to work.  They love colouring and drawing so much these days.  They spend hours with paper, pen and crayons, sitting at the kitchen table.

Then it was time to go visit Santa and Mrs. Claus.  We actually got a really great picture of the three of them!

Daniel got a little nervous around Santa and forgot what he wanted for Christmas.

Adam just loved the whole thing.  He wasn't nervous at all.

Sarah, however, wanted nothing to do with Santa.  That first picture wasn't so bad because she didn't have time to realize what was going on.  Once she got a better look at Santa, she freaked out!

Last night, we met up with Auntie Lauren and Uncle Duncan at Metrotown for Lauren's birthday and another shot at visiting Santa.  The boys did great, Daniel remembered what he wanted for Christmas and Sarah screamed her head off!  She wouldn't let go of me and never did sit on Santa's lap.  We did get one family shot with Santa, with me sitting on a bench beside him with a screaming Sarah in my lap.  But she didn't get an individual picture with him - she would have never forgiven me!  The pictures should be ready tomorrow or Friday, so I'll be sure to share them on here!

Snow!

Nothing will convince the boys that Christmas isn't here yet.  They are adament that, because the snow we got last weekend and today, Christmas is here!  (Or, in Adam-ese, "Pwimmis is hoh!")

Last Saturday, we got Daniel all bundled up for his soccer game, since we didn't here anything about it being cancelled.  Adam and James went with him, only to discover that the park was completely empty!  (An email arrived after they had left saying the game was cancelled.)  But they were out and it was sunny and snowy, so they stayed out at the park for about an hour, making snowangels and snowmen.

Today was the big snowfall.  This pictures are especially for James, who is over in Rome at the moment, missing all this white stuff.

Winter wonderland from the front yard.

Winter wonderland from the backyard.

Sarah doing her best Maggie Simpson impression.  She was not impressed with the snow when it was falling.  She didn't mind it on the ground but she didn't like it in her eyes.  She cried and cried all the way to and from the school this morning!

After school, Daniel's buddy Tyler came over for a while.  I put them straight to work, shovelling the sidewalk.  Hey, if James isn't here to do it, I'll find someone else!  (I did end up doing most of the shovelling myself, though.)

Adam helped out, too.

Sarah observed from her little snowdrift.  Once the snow stopped falling in her face, she quite enjoyed herself.

Snow is fun!

It was probably only a one-day snow adventure, though, since I think the rain has already started.  Should be a slushy fun mess to walk to school in tomorrow!

Halloween!

A little late, but here are a few Halloween pictures.  The kids had a great time trick-or-treating - they were out for over an hour.

Here are our pirate and skeleton.

 And our cute little pumpkin. 

(Sorry, I'm having issues with adding pictures tonight.  Please bear with me!  And keep reading because there are a few new posts below.)

Our rough week

It's been quite a week in our house! Daniel had soccer practice on Monday evening and, during the practice, complained that his tummy hurt. I thought it was just because he was running around so much after just eating dinner. But, by 3am on Tuesday morning, he was throwing up. And it continued for the next 56 hours! It was horrible! The poor little guy was so weak, he didn't move for three days. You've never seen Daniel so lethargic and mellow - he's usually such an energetic and happy guy. By Thursday morning, having been up 6 times the night before, I finally took him into the ER at Children's Hospital. Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do for the vomitting and, luckily, he wasn't dehydrated. The doctor suggested giving him Pedialyte but Daniel didn't like the flavour (too salty) so we tried Gatorade. He tolerated that because it's what athletes drink! By Friday, he was feeling better but was so weak and gaunt. I'm sure he lost a few pounds - he looked so thin! By Saturday, he was pretty much back to his old self, arguing with his little brother and trying to sneak Halloween candy.


Meanwhile, Sarah came down with a fever on Tuesday. She stayed home with Leah and Daniel that day. Fortunately, the fever didn't last long, but she was just generally irritable for a few days. On Thursday, we noticed that her chin was really red and raw but assumed it was from all the drooling she's been doing, due to her molars coming in. Then, on Saturday evening, Adam burst into tears at the dinner table, complaining, "I not like to be tired!" He felt quite warm and fell asleep at 6:15pm. He then slept for the next 13 hours! We were afraid that he was coming down with what Daniel had. By morning, however, he was much better - except for the red sores all around his mouth. He was also limping around the house. When I asked what was wrong, he said, "I is a pirate. I have a peg leg." :) No peg leg, but he did have some sores on the bottom of his feet. It could only be Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. We're experts with this one, since both boys had it the week before Sarah was born and Daniel had it when he was about 18 months. Luckily, it seems that Adam and Sarah have relatively mild cases. Their appetite has been affected a bit and they've been a little more fussy but nothing too terrible.

But we're ready to be healthy! We've all been battling colds since school started and now this! I think we've paid our dues for a while. We don't want any more illnesses for a while, thank you!

For a less whiny, more upbeat post, continue reading below. It's sure to make you smile. :)

Our rough week

It's been quite a week in our house!  Daniel had soccer practice on Monday evening and, during the practice, complained that his tummy hurt.  I thought it was just because he was running around so much after just eating dinner.  But, by 3am on Tuesday morning, he was throwing up.  And it continued for the next 56 hours!  It was horrible!  The poor little guy was so weak, he didn't move for three days.  You've never seen Daniel so lethargic and mellow - he's usually such an energetic and happy guy.  By Thursday morning, having been up 6 times the night before, I finally took him into the ER at Children's Hospital.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do for the vomitting and, luckily, he wasn't dehydrated.  The doctor suggested giving him Pedialyte but Daniel didn't like the flavour (too salty) so we tried Gatorade.  He tolerated that because it's what athletes drink!  By Friday, he was feeling better but was so weak and gaunt.  I'm sure he lost a few pounds - he looked so thin!  By Saturday, he was pretty much back to his old self, arguing with his little brother and trying to sneak Halloween candy. 

Meanwhile, Sarah came down with a fever on Tuesday.  She stayed home with Leah and Daniel that day.  Fortunately, the fever didn't last long, but she was just generally irritable for a few days.  On Thursday, we noticed that her chin was really red and raw but assumed it was from all the drooling she's been doing, due to her molars coming in.  Then, on Saturday evening, Adam burst into tears at the dinner table, complaining, "I not like to be tired!"  He felt quite warm and fell asleep at 6:15pm.  He then slept for the next 13 hours!  We were afraid that he was coming down with what Daniel had.  By morning, however, he was much better - except for the red sores all around his mouth.  He was also limping around the house.  When I asked what was wrong, he said, "I is a pirate.  I have a peg leg."  :)  No peg leg, but he did have some sores on the bottom of his feet.  It could only be Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.  We're experts with this one, since both boys had it the week before Sarah was born and Daniel had it when he was about 18 months.  Luckily, it seems that Adam and Sarah have relatively mild cases.  Their appetite has been affected a bit and they've been a little more fussy but nothing too terrible.

But we're ready to be healthy!  We've all been battling colds since school started and now this!  I think we've paid our dues for a while.  We don't want any more illnesses for a while, thank you!

For a less whiny, more upbeat post, continue reading below.  It's sure to make you smile.  :)