Sorrow

My beautiful family has been split in two. The twins are on their way back up to the ski hill without me this time. My husband and I decided to stay home this time because the travel is so stressful with the baby. Also, I wanted the twins to spend some time with their Uncle and Aunt. They don't get to see my sisters husband enough. However, I have reserved the right to send my husband to pick up the twins if I just can bare it. I truly hate to miss out on any part of their lives. I gave them strict instructions not to doing any growing up while away. I hope they listen!

On a positive note, the toddler and I will get to spend some great time together. I can't wait to get on the floor and push around the cars and build trains. And of course, the baby will be happy and sleep contentedly.

I miss my boys dreadfully already.

Home

We are back from our trip to the ski hill. The car is unpacked and the wash machine is on over load. We came back earlier Monday to prepare a welcome home dinner for my husband's brother. He decided to surprise Grandma and Grandpa with a spontaneous visit. It is nice to see them. They have a son the same age as the twins, so they are busy rekindling their friendship.

There is something wonderful about the day back from a busy trip. The kids seem to be over stimulated from the outings and whole up in their room with loved toys and make believe worlds. This, of course, gives me an opportunity to fill the fridge with food and unpack and wash clothes. Everyone catches up on much needed sleep. And all becomes right with the world once again. It is nice to be home.

Skiing

We are up at the ski hill for a couple of days and things seem to be fairing much better than the last trip. The baby has decided to sleep a lot more this time, which makes everything run much smoother.

The twins headed up with Nan and Papa a day before my husband, I, and the littles. They say there trip went smoothly and the twins were great. I missed he twins terribly through the night, though. 4 hours just seems so far away. However, the trip up the next morning with just the littles went really well. We noticed a much calmer air about the house in the morning and in the car during the drive, especially when both littles decided to sleep at the same time.

The twins have had 2 ski lessons this trip. The first went very well, but the second had another child in attendance who screamed and cried for his daddy for 1/2 an hour. Poor thing. I wanted to go over and console him. He delayed the instructor, though, and the twins sat around getting cold for that half hour. Ick. The twins didn't seem to get much out of having lessons 2 days in a row, so I think once a week is best.

The toddler has been thoroughly enjoying the snow; however, he turns into a limp noodle as soon as he steps in to soft snow, falls down, and screams, "eeh, eeh."

The boys, my husband, and my brother went tubing before dinner last night. We thought the toddler would be able to ride on my husband's lap, but wasn't allowed. So, he had to ride in his own tube. He was a bit hesitant the first time. By the time he reached the bottom he was yelling again, again, and squeeling the entire way down. Very cute.

I walked with the baby to check out the tubing. She hates it. She squwacks spit out the cold air and attempts to the whole time. She is not a cold whether baby at the moment.

Today we have plans to take the boys skating and to build a snow cave. Fun. Oh, and my husband and I are going to head in to town and take advantage of the sales. This will be my first shoping spree in over 5 years. I am down to 3 shirts and am in great need of some up to date clothes. The boys will stay behind with Nan and Paps while we are out. Lets hope we find some good stuff.

Games

I have tried playing board games with the twins for some time now - about a year and a half. Up until lately, we have had little success. We tried snakes and ladders, which is okay except that our version is a roll up mat and the pieces don't stay in place. We tried connect 4, but the concept is a little to hard. Instead we just try to see who can put their pieces in the fastest. Chinese checkers was an absolute no go - the marbles ended up all over the house. Go fish is a played open faced with 2 cards and until 5 matches are made - twin1 hates giving away one of his cards and an argument usually ensues. They just about have the knack of tic-tac-toe. A winner, though, is the Cars version of Candy Land (I am guessing Candy Land because I am not sure I have ever played it). Ya. We have been having a blast playing this game. It's about time. It just feels very family like to successfully play a board game as a family. Thanks for the game Grandma and Grandpa.

Short

I woke up short this morning. No - not short in height, but short in patience. I am a wee bit tired. Still not fully recovered from the whirl wind trip to the ski hill. My wonderful husband did take over the house this morning at 6:30 when I woke him and promptly crawled in to his nice warm spot behind him, this extra hour of restless sleep somehow did not make up for 51/2 years of missed sleep. Nonetheless, extra sleep it was - although short.

After my husband left for work around 11am, I was left alone with my wonderful children and short amount of patience. I just wasn't in the mood to carry around the baby all morning, facing out so she can absorb the world until my arm is about to fall off. I just wasn't in the mood for the ear piercing 'NO' from the toddler whenever he opens his mouth. I just was not in the mood for the constant bickering over who touched who first and who had the toy first from the twins. I was about to re-enact a scene from Annie yelling, "Kill, Kill, Kill." Just like Ms. Hannigan.

So, I did what any normal mother on the short side of patience does. I packed up the kids and headed to the library - CRAZY. Yes, I know. But I needed some fresh air and sometimes the only way to get it is from the front door to the car.

Off to the library we go. Why, oh why? To foster a love of books. For the sake of literacy..... And what an adventure the library always seems to be. The baby always fusses and cries the entire time. The toddler takes every book I give him and heads to the return slot and drops them in. The return slot, of course, is located beside the door, so I have to leave the twins, who are removing books from the shelves and dumping them on the floor as fast as their arms can move, and make sure the toddler doesn't escape out the door. Meanwhile, the twins are exclaiming, "Wow. Look at that one." to every book removed at the top of their lungs. Quiet is not an option. Then when we have our pile of books gathered off the floor, which of course is too large for the twins to carry, and balanced one armed to the counter, the toddler decides to start screaming, "NO, NO, NO." and drops like a limp noodle. I quickly run the books over to the counter and then chase the toddler in to a corner and scoop up the limp noodle, who suddenly begins thrashing. Pick up the bag of books that the bug eyed librarian has wonderfully put into the bag for us and stampede out the door. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. (I have tried carrying the toddler in the back pack and the baby in the swing, but upon entering the library the toddler started arching his back and yelling, "OUT.")

I bit of respite, though. The baby promptly fell asleep in the car, which never happens. And the toddler started to yawn on the way home and is now napping. The twins are building trains in their bedroom. I get a little R & R. Oh and school has been put on hold for the day. The advantages of home school. Now for a cup of tea and a snuggle on the couch reading books with the twins. A cuddle is just what the doctor ordered when short on patience...

H for Hippo

Classic picture. School en costume - Bob the Builder and a Pirate. Ahhh.

Hippo colour match.

Number hopscotch. They roll a die on a number, jump each number on 2 feet/backwards/one foot while counting, pick up the die, hop back counting down.

Dress Up

Eek. Looks like we are already starting to dress alike!

Favorite

The twins have begun to use this word in reference to just about anything that they 'think' they like. In particular, they have decided upon favorite clothes. This includes pretty much anything with machines, cars, transformers, and tools on it. The favorites include socks, we have exactly 5 machine socks left that are demanded everyday, pajamas (bob the builder), underpants (spiderman, tansformers, Toy Story, Cars) and shirts (3-4 each). Initially, the twins would just request a particular item. Then, they started taking the required favorite out of the dirty laundry. I didn't like this because we only have one hamper for the house, so all sorts of things end up in there. They got around this problem by stashing their clothes. Yes, I open cupboards and out falls the 'favorite socks and shirt'. I pull out the couch to vaccum under it and there is a 'favorite'. There are now 'favorites' stashed all over the house. I found some under the bathroom sink the other day. There is only one problem. They forget where the 'favorite' has been stashed. Hmm. I wonder what is next - refusing to remove the 'favorite' all together and remain in it for days on end.... That's what I would have done!

Home Sweet Home

I have to say that I love my home. It took quite a while to really call it home, though. We moved into this house 4 years ago when the twins were just 6 months old. At that time, we thought of the house as an investment, made some improvements, and re-listed. The market dropped and we were left with the house. We thought we would just make a few mare changes and then re-list when the market got better. Wrong. We made those few changes, and a few more, moved bedrooms around, had another child, made memories, made some more changes, had another baby, and have plans for more changes. Now I couldn't imagine moving. We have a beautiful view, that we will one day fully utilize - hmm, more changes. We have great neighbors who treat our kids like their own grandchildren. We have a quiet street. We have a set of grandparents, uncle and nephew around the corner. Everyone in the neighborhood knows the red-headed twins and watches out for them. Our backyard is private. Our house is warm and comfortable. My house is now my oasis.

This became ever so much more evident with our recent trip to the ski hill. We only went for two days to see if the twins would take to ski lessons this year, which they did. There is no turning back for them now. However, while up there, I spent much of the time toting around an over tired baby. My mom ended up getting sick because she was taking care of the other 3 kids at night and got little sleep. The arrangement up there just isn't quite worked out yet. The kids always seem to be under foot and have nowhere they can hide away to and imagination play till their hearts content.

Upon arriving home, the twins escaped to their bedroom, the toddler found his cars and garage, the baby calmed down and slept for 3 hours. By the last half hour of the drive home, I was anticipating my oasis. Home, sweet home.

We are set for another ski trip next week for a few more days. Hopefully a longer trip will work out some of the kinks. Playroom, sleeping arrangements... oh and of course, daddy is coming this time. We missed daddy a lot. And when it is over, I have my oasis come home to.

Sleeping Snow Princess

Skiing

Random

Mom and baby

Hungry!

And the Winner Is?

A day in the life

Woke up and thought about jumping in to the shower before the baby awoke. I should have. I still haven't had my shower yet. It's starting to look like I will get one when my husband gets home this evening.

The baby is feeling a lot better today. Although when we got back from Strong Start she cried for no apparent reason. I could tell that she was in pain somewhere though. Still some lingering diarrhea, but she is back to her smiling self. She stayed up until 11:30 last night. Ug. My husband and I were exhausted. Hopefully she will resume her 7:30 bed time tonight. I was just starting to feel like my self again.

I turned another year older yesterday. My Grandma phoned to remind me....She is good about that. I am not. She asked how it felt. I said that it feels better than the previous year - pregnant and new born and lots of extra pounds = yick. I am looking forward to the next stage in our lives now that pregnancy is over.

We went to school this morning. I don't know what it is, but on the days I suggest we go to school the twins seem to shuffle their feet. I end up yelling. I know they love it, so why can't they hurry up. We ended up leaving the house with uneaten breakfast sitting on the table. We had a great time once we got there. There was one girl who was a bit of a bully and a toy hog and her mom paid no attention. Hmmm. Should something have been said? We had no pee accidents at school. Ya. Twin1 is now on day 4 of no accidents. I couldn't tell you the last time twin2 had an accident. Awesome little men.

We arrived home for a quick lunch and the toddler went off for his nap. Then home school begins. Today we did some patterns, number matches, letter poking, paint by numbers and made banana bread. The baby was awake for half of the stuff and then nursed to sleep just in time for the dirty stuff. The toddler awoke from his nap just as we put the bread in the oven.

Now, the toddler is lounging, the twins are playing in their room, and the baby is still sleeping. The banana bread smells like it is almost done. Yum. It is a good thing I don't like banana bread, but the kids love it. A quick clean up of all the toys, vacuum, and get dinner started. Where, oh where does the day go. I just hope I get that shower in somehow.

Poor Baby

My little girl had her first shots yesterday. I went in there very confident that all would be okay. The boys never had an issue. Sure, their legs were tender and they all got diaper rash. But a few hours later you would never know they had shots. My poor baby did not fair so well. Her legs were extremely tender. She developed a fever that lasted a day. She still has diarhea. She has finally started to smile again and has ceased to cry non-stop. My poor little girl. I feel for her and fear the next round.

School Today

This week we are checking out the letter G - Gumball theme. Each day we review the letters we have learned and say words that start with the letter. The first day we trace laminated large letters - capital and small. They match the theme word using alphabet letter discs - in capital and small letters. They complete some patterns in the theme. They sort sizes of the theme - big to small. They complete a color match puzzle in the theme and then practice the colors. They play number hopscotch. We count the theme and match numbers. We play with pattern blocks and make pictures. We cut out shapes and lines. We paint by number. We poke out letters from paper. We create the letter using stickers, balls, bingo dobbers. We are very busy. Today we made bread and made letters, tools, airplanes. Fun. Fun. Oh and we read books. Lots of books.


Can you spot the big G, little g (backwards - we are still learning), and big A (the toddler did that one.)

We Have A Thumb Sucker

Bottle Belly

Shmahze

We headed out for the day yesterday. Hair cuts were on the list. AHH. The poor lady cuting the toddlers hair had such a hard time. He was everywhere. My husband has to clamp the toddler down on his lap or squeeze him in a hug. Then to get the last few stray pieces, she chased him around. She even had him on the floor. Uh. We left totally drained from embarrassment and exhaustion. The twins were great though.

We have given the hair dresser a lot of firsts. She has cut hair in the car - the toddlers bangs while he was asleep. Then chasing the little man around. Finally, she cut my hair with the baby sleeping in the sling and then playing on my lap. She is a wonderful lady for putting up with our shmahze hair event. My poor husband walks out of her place completely frazzled. I don't blame him a bit.

I hear blood curdling screams coming from the toddler. Gotta go.

Twins went to Grandma and Grandpa's this afternoon. There are definitely some benefits from living a block away from your in-laws!! This was a wonderful respite from the day. My mother has now come down with the cold and ski season has begun, so we will be seeing less of her. (However, my parents have voiced that they would like to take the twins skiing - WHAT - 4 hours away from their mommy. I am not in favour of this, but am willing to give it a try once.) On the walk over to deliver the twins, the baby fell asleep. Upon return, the once again sick toddler and I get to spend some quality time together playing trains, cars, making cookies, and coloring. This was a great break from the demands of all 4 children at one time and some wonderful one on one time. Which is quickly coming to an end as I hear the baby start to stir. Toddles. Now what to make for dinner. I am quite uninspired and may resort to frozen pizza. Yick.

The Toddler

Shrinky Dinks

I saved these for a winter day. The kids had a great time doing them. The best, of course, was watching them shrink. Thanks cuz. Now, they are quietly playing with them down stairs. Ya.

Outing

We are finally over our colds. Ug. It was a long one this time. We have been couped up in the house for over 2 weeks. We did venture out on the weekend, though. We took all the kids to Disney on Ice. Believe it or not, the twins remembered the show from last year, so they were keen to go. Unfortunately, we didn't investigate which show it was first. We didn't realize Disney has multiple shows going at one time. We thought we were going to Toy Story 3. As it turns out, it was the Celebrations show. A bit of a let down. The kids weren't as into it. Lesson learned on our part. They did still enjoy themselves. The toddler got a bit antsy, which is to be expected after a 2 hour drive to get there. Fortunately, there were a bunch of open seats higher up. So we moved and he got to run through the aisle with glee. We learned another lesson, too - don't buy the toy until you leave. They spent the entire second act playing with the toy and ignored most of the show. All in all, we had a great time and will check out the event next year, too.

She slept through the night. Wahoo. It's a whole new world around here.

Potty Training Revisited

Success. For now anyway. Daddy Potty Training Boot-camp has resulted in success. Our diaper bill has officially decreased by $100/month. Ya.

Yup, we finally decided to try again. Well, actually, my husband had a few days off work and no projects planned, so I told him it was now his turn. Who knew that it would take approximately 1 year from when I tried. I guess 41/2 was the magic number.

Twin1 has now gone 4 days and nights without an accident. He will even instigate the bathroom stop without reminders. This is shocking since he was the one who would hide behind doors and under tables, or run down stairs to poo (his pull-up).

Twin2 has had a few accidents and is not quite as self reliant, but one accident a day is way better than changing pull ups and wiping down bums.

This age is actually nice because if they do have an accident, they can take care of themselves. They can change their own clothes and such. In fact, when twin2 has an accident I only find out because he has a different pair of pants on. What a clever lad.

My husbands approach was to allow them to choose their own underpants and then if they had an accident in them, then the twins had to throw the underpants in the garbage. They were a bit upset at the idea of throwing away their transformer underpants. Ya to my husband. His efforts are much appreciated.

Wahoo! Snow.

Soon to the ski hill we will go.

Sleeping Beauty and her Protectors

Sick

I have finally succumbed. I am sick. It started to come on full force yesterday around lunch. I guiltily turned down my kids invitations to build houses, play cars... and instead sat in the lazyboy reading a book and ignoring the screams from the throw down fighting going on downstairs. The toddler was feeling a bit under the weather too, so he joined me in the chair and watched 'Cars' over and over. I believe I have now seen that move close to a hundred times or more. The baby was a bit restless yesterday too. Perhaps because I was not attentive enough, or because her feedings were inconsistent due to the jostling of the toddler. She had small naps throughout the day, instead of her 2 long and 1 short ones.

The baby is doing wonderfully. She seems to have adjusted to a schedule already. I don't know if this is just luck, or professional parenting. She sits in the swing for longer periods now. And the toddler seems to have stopped poking her eyes out. Instead he goes up to her and puts his blanket on her and pets her head. He is such a good big brother. The baby smiles constantly and is always searching for someone to interact with. She has even started reaching for people and sucking on her hand. Ya, self soothing is one its way.

Speaking of great big brothers. Yesterday, twin1 and 2 were interacting with the baby, trying to make her smile. I reminded them not to touch her face and hands. Twin1 replied, "Ya, I got gems (germs)". They astound me everyday with their new knowledge. I just love being home with them and seeing these things.

I guess even if I am sick and not as attentive as I would like to be, I should be happy knowing that they have me everyday, no matter what. They know that they are loved one hundred percent. How fortunate I am to get to spend all this time with these wonderful people.

Housebound

1. We have been stuck in the house lately - sick. Thank goodness my husband took a few days off last week because each of the twins took a trip to the hospital - asthma and strep throat. The toddler (I can not get rid of the bullet that automatically generated!) got the cold first and passed it on. The baby even got it. Now the toddler seems to have developed another ailment. I am hoping this is just teething!!. My husband and I have managed to fight the bug so far. Another sleepless night and perhaps we will succumb.

The twins actually asked to do their home school yesterday. Ya. That made me quite happy. We took a break while dad was home and we were sick. Now we are back at it. It seems to go best when the toddler is napping, but he likes to be involved too. Yesterday I attempted it while all 4 were up. A bit of a mistake. But I wasn't about to say no to their enthusiasm over it. We did have to stop early, though. Oh well.

Twin2 is turning in to a bit of a computer addict. He asks to play on it all the time. We limit it until the toddler is sleeping, after school and to pbskids games.

Got to say goodbye to hubby and wake up with a hot cup of tea. Good morning.

Snow

His first play in the snow. Fun, fun.

Date Night

My husband and I are going on a date. Wahoo. The only problem is that it is a year from now! Perhaps by then I will be ready to part with all my babies.

Letters in Paint

Can you tell what the letter is?

Time Change, Shmim-Change

I don't think the time change happens over night. Like jetlag, it seems to take a week to several weeks to readjust. Around here, the time change has yet to happen. The kids are now waking at, what is now, somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30am. Ug. And they are exhausted and cranky by 6pm. Keeping them up later doesn't seem to help anything - they just get sick. We try to fight it and tell them to go back to bed, or let them climb in to our beds, but this doesn't work. Instead, somewhere in the next few weeks my husband and I will have noticed that we adjusted. I don't know when this happens, but all of a sudden it does. It must be like the sun, where we adjust slowly, by minutes a day. Next year I hope I remember this and stop making it such a big deal. We will adjust. It is just that sleep is so paramount in our lives at the moment. Caffeine will get us through! All hail caffeine!

Only in a Small Town

Only in a small town can your kids sit on the Zamboni during a hockey tournament. This made up for the fact that skating was canceled.

Homeschooling has been on the brain lately. The twins have really taken to it and are happy to sit down with me after lunch when the toddler goes to bed. We are finishing up the letter 'C' this week and moving on to 'D' next week. I am using the program created by 'Confessions of a Homeschooler' Blog. I checked out the BC PLO's for Kindergarten and her program seems to correspond pretty well. There is a bit of prep on my part, but I am enjoying it. The problem is finding the prep time, since I head to bed when the baby does in the evening. I am really happy with their progress and it doesn't take that long. An hour and we have practiced numbers, letters, colors, pre-writing practice, sizes... then we just need to find time to cuddle up and read books for awhile. I am really liking this and I think they are too.

I was feeling as though the toddler was being neglected and mentioned this to my husband. They next day I got to spend an entire hour with him playing cars, trains, puzzling, reading books. Then yesterday we got to spend another hour together. I guess I shouldn't worry so much. They will all get what they need when they need it. I guess it is impossible to give equal amounts of my time to all of them. They all have different needs and I will just have to go with the flow.

I do really enjoy my cuddle time with each of them, though. I guess this is what I need!

New Domain

Dresses. Hmm. They look very weird on my sweet little girl. I am still getting used to pink. Dresses - that is going to take awhile.

Mommy Brain

Yesterday I had a rip roaring headache that just wouldn't go away. I tried eating, drinking water, but nothing worked. I went to bed with the headache and, now, have woken up with it. However, at 1am, during a feeding, I figured out why. I only had time for 1 cup of green tea yesterday. I was having caffeine withdrawal. No wonder.

A Beautiful Day

The baby slept 6 hours in a row. Ya. Then she slept another 4 hours. I got more sleep last night than I have gotten since the toddler was 5 months old (he slept through the night twice before he was 6 months old and then he went to feeding 4-6 times a night when he started teething). The twins slept until 7am. Ya. The toddler, until 8am. Breakfast went off with no complaints. Daddy took the twins skating. They can now skate with a stick, pushing a puck, and then shoot it at the net. Wow. In the mean time, the toddler and I stayed home and had a bath while the baby slept. Then we packed up and headed out for my one day out of the house a week - running errands. We made it to our destination and the baby slept in her car seat the entire time - Ya. We all happily ate our picnic lunch in the car and my husband and I got to have a conversation during the drive. We ran our errands and received few complaints. Then we headed to an indoor play yard where all three boys ran around for 1 1/2 with huge smiles on their faces. Daddy attempted to keep up while sweating and panting. He he. Off to dinner - again with no complaints. Everyone ate happily and there was no screaming from the toddler or the baby. On the drive home, everyone fell asleep. My husband packed all the kids into the house, changed them, and sent them off to bed still sleeping. The baby ate and ate and ate and then drifted off to sleep. Now, I sit typing away making sure the baby really is asleep, while my husband is out playing hockey. Soon I too will drift off to sleep reading a good book.

Yes. My life currently revolves around keeping the peace, stress free meals where everyone eats, and sleep. Perhaps soon I will get to add more, but at the moment this constitutes a beautiful day.

All Smiles

Spectacle

Ever since we have had kids, we have been a spectacle when we are in public. First, it was the fact that we had twins. Then, twins with orange hair. This definitely got peoples attention and drew people to us from across a store. People point and talk loudly (I think those are twins. Look at that hair.) Yup. We can hear you. Then the toddler added to things with his 'light up the room smile', or conversely his temper. The comments continued and the crowds grew. Now, the spectacle continues. I can see people counting from 1-4 in their heads and then comes the exclamation, "4. Boy you have your hands full. I hope it's a girl." Yup. It's a girl. The crowds continue to grow. The comments get louder and longer. I wonder when the spectacle will end?

Our House

The twins seem to be growing up at an incredible rate these days. They now totally dress themsleves, although their clothes are often on backwards or their shoes are on the wrong feet. Oh well. They even dry themselves after a bath and get dressed for bed. Ya.

So, the other night the twins were still in the bath, the toddler was finished and dressed for bed, and I was feeding the baby. Twin1 comes out of the bath and shows me how he dried himself. I congratulate him and then suggest he get his Pull-Up and get dressed. Instead, he turns around, bends over, pulls his cheeks apart with his hands, and says, "STINK YOU." Ah, Hmmm, Shock, Side Splitting Laughter. This went on for 10 minutes, with twin2 joining in of course. I had tears running down my face. Welcome to our house. You just never know what will happen next.

A day in the life

We are crazy busy around here these days. Strong start, home school, playing, time spent with each child daily, time with husband, laundry, meals, snacks, picking up toys, diaper changes = day gone.

Preschool Homeschool

Life

I think the baby and I have entered in to a bit of a routine, although these seem to change every couple of days. My mom is still helping out a lot by taking the boys in the afternoon for several hours. I think I am ready to go to alternating days. Eeek. I am now doing all the cooking. We are slowly getting back into the homeschooling swing with daily crafts, book reading, and letter/number recognition. The boys floor me daily with all the new things they pick up. The toddler now announces when things are, "Ffffffun." The toddler can pretty much communicate everything that he needs now. His brothers favorite activity is tormenting the toddler. Ugg. Twin1 has taken up pouting, or should I say wailing, with the slightest touch. Twin2 has become defiant using the word 'NO' a little too often - although a few talks from Dad seem to have stopped this for the moment.

At the moment, I should be sleeping. The baby started to stir so I got up and prepared for a comfy feed - 45 minutes ago. Hmm. The noises are getting louder. Gotta go.

Pumpkins of 2010

Pumpkin Patch Day

This and That

We had a great weekend. We actually managed to head out of the house for a bit. We visited the Corn Maze this weekend and had a blast as always - there are pictures to come. We managed to enter the maze for about 5 minutes, longer than the previous 2 years. And in that 5 minutes we did get lost. My husband and I were still rolling up our pants, from the mud, and the kids took off. There are 4 entrances at the start and we weren't sure which they took, or if they all took the same one. They had all gone down the first entrance and were found in seconds, though. The pumpkin patch, as always, was a hit, as well as the animals and mini hay maze. Next year we are hoping for 10 minutes in the maze. We left with some pumpkins and huge smiles. Always a blast, we will be back next year.

The following day, my husband took the twins to a hockey game. Fun, fun. And over the course of the weekend, we completed a number of small projects around the house. My husband even planned and started the new paint job on his hockey helmet. He does this so the kids can tell which one he is on the ice. What a great dad!

The baby is doing wonderfully. She is starting to be awake more often, and as a consequence has some cranky periods, although not many and not for long. She started smiling yesterday - real smiles, not just burp ones. She has to be carried a lot - all the time - every time I put her down, even for a minute, the other kids are all over her. The toddler is totally in awe of her, but he is a bit rough and thinks her eyes are a little too interesting. Consequently, I an either carrying her in my arms or in the carrier. My back is taking a bit of a beating. I guess I will have to start some tummy exercises sooner than I would have liked... Ug. I hate exercises. Also, this means dinner is usually cold as I cook it when I can through the afternoon. The other day, the roast chicken was ready at 3:30. Ah well, it all goes so fast and pretty soon there will be some other weird and wonderful organizational need.

All in all, life is good.

Cleaning House

Love

The toddler loves his sister very much - when she is sleeping, laying down, and sitting. Especially when she is nursing!!