Joy in the little things

This morning I asked Lillian to put a wrapped gift under the tree. She waddled over and put it down. Then with great joy and laughter she clapped at her great accomplishment. Then she picked up the gift and moved it to the other side of the tree. Once again, she celebrated her great achievement. This gift movement went on for about 20 minutes. What a great example of joy in the little things.

Happily One

My alter ego

A week or two ago I was downstairs with Elijah while he was working on fixing his house/box. He kept talking about Jason and finally he looks at me and says "Hey Jason, can you come help me?" Slightly perplexed I helped him using the hammer he had given me.

A few days ago I was once again helping him fix things downstairs. And once again he called me Jason.

I'm guessing it is my fix-it alter ego. We don't really know anyone by the name of Jason. Not sure where he came up with this.

(On a side note: When my brother asked Elijah yesterday who Jason was Elijah said that it was his brother. He also said that he worked with him pouring concrete. Oh the joys of an imagination.)

Invitation open to all

Elijah and his cousin got the chance to do a little bit of professional hockey development today.

Come skate on our pond. One day you'll be able to say you knew him when...

Hockey Night in Canada?

It's gotta start somewhere.

Trevor has been working hard for the past couple of weeks at making a bit of a rink for Elijah to learn to skate. They went out for the first time this evening. Elijah loved it.

A reason to take more pictures

After months (some may even say years) of discussion, we bought a new camera yesterday. We had been wanting an DSLR for a while and it was finally time.

Here's a picture of me taking a picture of Elijah while he takes a picture of me with our old camera. Welcome to our lives Rebel T2i.

Back at work

I'm back at work and happy to report that the kids are doing fine. They are enjoying Tante Rose's (daycare). We've almost made it through the first two weeks and "they" say that those are the most tiring so I figure it's smooth sailing from here.

Here's some pictures of kids.

Pictures by Elijah

(In case this picture needs clarification: This is soup. He added water, dirt and sand. Then he mixed it up and stuck his finger in to taste it. He contemplated the taste for a moment and then he went to add more dirt.)

I think it's time to buy him his own camera. Or maybe buy me a new camera. Yeah, I like option two better :)

Cleaning the windows

Like most kids, Elijah loves to spray things. He loves it when he can help clean the windows or mirrors. So he was thrilled when I let him clean the patio windows. I asked him how it was going.

Elijah: Good.

Me: That's great to hear.

Elijah (with a great deal of conviction in his voice): Yeah, I love it mom.

Learning to ride

New BBQ, costly. Empy box, priceless.

Happy birthday Elijah - Part 2

Sometimes we as moms just need to let go of our own expectations.

Tomorrow is the friend birthday party for Elijah. I had grand ideas of what we were going to eat and do. In the midst of the planning and doing I came across a child's birthday party on Facebook. It looked like the mom had spent A LOT of time. As a casual observer I felt the freedom to judge the ridiculous amount of time that she had obviously spent. Until I realized that while my theme was different, I was that mom.

So we're having burgers, chips and veggies. There will be no eleborate birthday cake. (Although it's not for lack of trying. Attempt #1 involved cupcakes which ended up being lopsided due to my oven not working properly. Attempt #2 involved a 9x13 cake that was going to be a rocket. Icing was made. We were ready to go. Apparently the cake did not want to come out of the pan and subsequently it came out in pieces.) So we will have a icecream cake from Dairy Queen.

The thing is, I know that Elijah doesn't care. What I make for him will not be viewed by him as a reflection of my love for him. He just wants to know that when he's hungry, there is something to eat. When he needs a hug, he wants to know that someone is there to cuddle with.

A few weeks ago he said "Mommy, I yuv you forever." I'm pretty sure that's with or without an elaborate birthday party.

Happy birthday Elijah - Part 1

Family Birthday party. Mommy made her little Buzz Lightyear a rocket cake. He is happily enjoying his Toy Story toys - Buzz, Woody, Rex and Barbie are having a great time.

I ain't no Vera Wang

...but I do now own a sewing machine.

Last weekend I finally purchased a sewing machine. I'd been wanting to buy one for a while but I always found that there was something else I wanted a little bit more. I really wanted to finish the Christmas stockings that I started right after Lillian was born. So I spent a chunk of a nice last Saturday afternoon putting together the stockings that I cut out and embroidered back in 2009.

Being behind the sewing machine brought back some fond memories for me. I remember sitting in my parents kitchen sewing Barbie Doll clothes on my mom's Bernina. I smile at the memory of going downstairs to the box of material scraps that my mom kept. From there I learnt the basics of patterns and sewing.

This set the stage for my Home Ec sewing adventures in Junior High. Grade seven was the customary pair of pants. (Red plastic as I recall. All the rage. I do believe they also had a pocket. Bonus points for difficulty.) Grade eight involved a sweatshirt. No real recollections of what that was. But grade nine. Oh, grade nine I remember. We got to choose our own project. And I chose a Raggedy Anne doll. I'm not sure what part of it appealed to me but whatever it was I was fully engaged in making this The. Best. Raggedy Anne Doll. I spent hours sewing that hair and embroidering the face. While others sewed housecoats (which may or may not have had seams down the back :)), I was busy making a doll which I ended up calling Zamboni. No idea why. (I am proud to say said doll now sits in my daughters room.)

The funny thing is that I don't actually enjoy the process of sewing. In fact, I told my mom halfway into the sewing of the first stocking that I remembered not liking this. But the end. Now that's a part to enjoy. There is something rewarding about seeing your idea come to fruition. To have sat in our cramped living room with a newborn last Christmas imagining what stockings for our family of four would look like. And then seeing them complete.

Welcome to my life Husquvarna. (Yes, that's right. My sewing machine is made by the same company that is A-mazing at chain saws. How could my sewing not have real, raw power?) I imagine we will have a story or two to tell down the road.

This is the life

A few weeks back we (and by "we" I mean Trevor) made a fire pit in our backyard. Last night we had a weiner roast when Trevor came home from work. It was a perfect fall night. Elijah loves "helping" with the fire and I imagine that he is a lot like his daddy was at that age.

One thing I didn't account for in the building of a fire pit was the dramatic increase in the consumption of marshmallows in our house. Good thing they're cheap.

My Favourite Deputy

Elijah is going to his cousin's birthday party this afternoon. It's a cowboy theme. He's been wearing his cowboy boots all morning.

Summer fun

Sharing

It starts with a pleading look to Grandma and ends with her "sharing" Grandma's apple.

Off to the ER we go... again...

This sweet little boy had another brush with the ER this week. He was playing outside and he must have tripped because he started wailing. He doesn't really cry when he gets hurt so that was the first sign that it was bad. The second sign was the blood covering his face. There is nothing like that time between seeing the blood and finding out where it's coming from. Turns out he split his tongue open down the middle. The blood was really coming out so we packed up our Camry and headed to the hospital. It eventually stopped bleeding so they didn't have to do any stitching.

He was quickly back to his happy self and there have only been a few moments of discomfort as he tries to eat or drink from his sippy cup. And he's not even three yet...

Good times

Elijah has discovered Buzz Lightyear from "Toy Story". He loves Buzz. He runs around the house saying "To infinity and beyond" (actually, it comes out more like "oo i ini ee a ee on") So we left on our road trip to Minneapolis prepared that we would need to pull out the portable DVD player that we bought so he could watch his new favorite movie. We didn't even need to take it out as a good portion of the trip down was him playing with his monkey and teddy bear (which have been turned into Buzz and Woody respectively).

We had a wonderful couple of days with our friends. Their children were gracious and kind to Elijah and Lillian. They got on the floor and played with Lillian and headed downstairs with Elijah more times than we could count so that he could play with all their toys. (He told me yesterday that the favorite part of the trip for him was the downstairs.) It is sometimes sad to have good friends living so far away but it is good for the soul to be able to see each other for several days and watch our children become a part of each others lives.

Summer at the lake

Lillian figured out how to pull herself up while we were at the lake. Although her biggest accomplishment was learning to climb up the stairs. Too bad we don't really have any for her to practise on.

Elijah LOVED fishing with his daddy. I was really surprised at how quickly he caught on to it. He was amazingly patient and kept wanting to stay out there.

Like mommy like son?

My SI swimsuit model daughter. She is a little fish. She would have stayed in the water all day every day. Unfortunately, she's pretty fair and doesn't do too well if she's in the sun for too long. Regardless, she loved the water (and the sand was pretty fun to try and eat too.)

That's a blueberry in Elijah's hand. We hit the jackpot for blueberry season and went out picking several times. Elijah came along and picked and ate his berries as he went.

Elijah and Lillian in July

Our computer died a few weeks back so to make a long story short, we now have a new computer and I can now show you the latest Holland cuteness.

Lillian loving the kiddie pool (although she did try to escape several times in order to eat the grass).

Elijah really enjoys helping with the yardwork. We're planning on taking down this shrub so it's a perfect one for him to cut.

Pigtails. Sitting with a pig. Get it?

Brother and sister love.

Just sitting around.

All this beauty is hard work

Part of what we loved so much about our new place when we bought it was the yard. It was big (for Winnipeg) and well established. By that I mean LOTS of perennials. You name the flower we likely have it in our yard. There are flower beds, trees and shrubs everywhere. It's really pretty to look at but it is a lot of work.

It is even harder when you don't know what's a weed and what's a flower. (Note: I am proud to admit that my knowledge of various plants has expanded since my first day at the Sears Garden Centre when I didn't know the difference between and annual and a perennial. However, knowing the difference between and annual and perennial is quite different than knowing the different kinds of Hostas or roses.)

So, here's just a sampling of what's in our yard.