Favorite Foods

You know those foods that kids seem to inherently love? Mac and cheese. Chicken nuggets. French Fries. You know, the typical, unhealthy-but-its-the-only-thing-my-kids-will-eat-without-making-a-fuss foods. Well, I am so happy that, at least for the time being, that food for Milayla is Indian Food; curries, naan bread, coconut rice, paneer, and all that good stuff. We had gotten Indian take-out the day that Milayla was discharged from the hospital so that we could celebrate and it was one of the first foods (aside from rice cakes) that we saw her really enjoy.

Thankfully, she still seems to be enjoying it because I love having it as a backup for a meal that I know we will all enjoy.

It has been fun seeing Milayla explore different foods, learning new tastes and textures, but it is a tad stressful when there are days she isn't interested (and those days come a bit more often than I would like...). In general though, she has become quite a good eater, trying lots of new foods and being a good sport about it too. We are all very impressed. I just hope many years down the road when she sees the above photo that I posted on here, she will be a good sport about that one too ;). Love this girl!

2nd Day of Christmas

Oh, how I love the leisurely feeling of the 2nd Day of Christmas (aka: Boxing day for those in North America). As soon as the kids woke, it was time to call the grandparents to open up their gifts over Skype. Of course, everyone loves that. Then we all lounged around, played with the new toys a bit, got dressed and ate breakfast. 

And when we were ready, the kids began opening the presents from us, other family members and friends.

And then we played; built trains, stacked Jenga, cooked in the kitchen, anything those little excited minds wanted to try out.

 It sure didn't take long for the little ones to tire out, so we all enjoyed leftover perogies and went off for naps.

The afternoon was just as relaxing. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather we were having and head out for a walk to and around Burgerpark. We certainly weren't the only ones with that idea.

We visited the animals and wandered around until the sun went down.

And then chatted as we headed back home for more perogies and playing until bedtime.

I love relaxing days (especially when all the illness around me finally caught up to me and I got very sick on this day). After the kids were in bed we ended up rounding out the evening by helping Keely pack (if sitting on the floor wrapped in a giant duvet is considered helping :) ), as she would be leaving in the verrry early hours the next morning, and then we enjoyed a few games before calling it a night. We were sad to see Keely head off, but so grateful for the time that we did have her here. It was such a huge help to have an extra set of hands while we were in the hospital and afterwards when we were still running all over the place for appointments. It wasn't just the help though; Keely is an awesome person and awesome company and we just loved having her here. (Thanks for the visit and all the help, Keely! You rock!)

And with that, Christmas drew to a close for another year and the New Year and all of it's wonderful plans began ringing in our ears. I love the Christmas Season. Yes, you can keep the Christmas Spirit all year round by always striving to love and follow the Saviour, but there is always a little something extra that the Christmas season brings with it and I love that feeling and being able to share it with my family.

1st Day of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.... some family time and perogies :). 

I love Christmas. I love how thick the air feels with anticipation leading up to Christmas and I love the extra time that we get to spend all together as a family. Saying it's awesome doesn't even begin to describe it. 

Of course, around here, we tend to do things a little differently (it seems to be a pattern with us) in order to try to keep Christmas focused on Christ and family. Of course, we have our Bethlehem dinner on Christmas Eve where we read from the scriptures and end the night with a reading of A Christmas Carol, but I felt like the feeling we had worked so hard to build throughout December and on Christmas Eve faded into the background come Christmas morning. So, last year we changed gears on account of Christmas falling on Sunday and pushed all the presents to the Second Day of Christmas (that's Boxing Day for all you folks in North America). That left Christmas day to things we deemed important and how we felt the Savior would want us to spend his birthday (not to say that gifts are a bad thing...but we were feeling a bit of gift overload around here). 

We tweaked it a bit this year on account of a few different things, but all in all, we really enjoyed the day. When the kids woke they trickled into our bedroom and climbed into bed so that we could call both sets of Grandparents (before they went to bed Christmas Eve) to wish them a Merry Christmas. We loved being able to start off the day talking to them.

Then, still in our pajamas with lovely morning hair, we all tip toed into the living room where Keely was still sound asleep (the kids had plenty of fun waking her up in the mornings while she was here); she mustered the strength to roll to the edge of her bed with her camera in one hand and retrieve her stocking in the other hand. I'm grateful she had the energy for her camera, it means awesome pictures. Like this one, which seems to capture Atticus' anticipation sitting in front of the tree so well. 

Since we don't do presents on Christmas Day, we have found that stockings (and the exception of one present, which I'll go into later) seem to balance things off well. We don't really do much in the way of Santa around here, particularly when we have three Santa's vying for our attention (Dutch, German, and American...) but that is a post all on its own for perhaps another day. Our stocking fillers are pretty standard; a couple candies/chocolate each, oranges, nut mixes, fruit bars, crackers and, in Keely's case, fry sauce. The junk food is kept to a minimum so that we can feel comfortable giving our kids complete control over their eating regulation of their treats. As to be expected, Atticus chowed down on chocolate for his pre-breakfast and Milayla on her crackers. 

We also slipped in a couple new books into each of the kids' stockings. We aimed for one activity book (magnetic books, dry erase, coloring books etc) and one story book so that they would have plenty do entertain themselves with while I made breakfast.

At Keely's suggestion, we gave omelettes a go for breakfast. Loaded with plenty of veggies and served with a side of fruit salad and croissants it was the perfect Christmas breakfast. One of the most perfect parts (I think) was that we sat, talk and ate without any rush at all - there was nothing pressing for our time or attention. We enjoyed the moment. We enjoyed the company. And we enjoyed the food. 

After we all pitched in on the clean up, we read books together, played games and watched a couple short Christmas videos about the Saviour and about the Wise Men. We really had no agenda except to spend time together however we felt was best. It was great. 

I love the pictures that Keely got of some of the little details of everything. Like Milayla's incredible expressions.

Or Atticus' immense concentration as he works through his new dry-erase learning book.

Or those little pigtails lost in a mess of duplo building blocks. 

The little touches of decoration.

 and even our collapsed gingerbread house.

Then, with the morning rounding out to a close, and breakfast leftovers filling our tummies for lunch the kids got to open up one present. It was a joint present that we had picked primarily for the logistics of setting it up in preparation for the next day. Otherwise, I think we would have let them each pick one present to open. Oh man, they sat there waiting to open that present like they had waited an eternity. 

And then, it happened, they got to open it. When it was nearing completion we asked Atticus what it was and, only seeing the back of the box and not the front with the pictures, he exclaimed very matter-of-factly, "a new box!". It was pretty priceless. And Keely even captured his facial expression when he said it. I love his expressions and how well he explains things.

Once they figured out that the cool kitchen that was on the box was also in the box they were pretty excited. But their excitement would have to wait, it was naptime, and Keely and I needed to get to work assembling their kitchen (not to mention, all of their kitchen gear was still wrapped under the tree!).

While Keely and I got busy putting together the kitchen, Jason was busy in the real kitchen getting the perogy dough ready (and making me my very own batch of gf perogies - I love that guy). We would have loved to help him make the dough and the perogy sauce but he won't let us. It's forbidden. Perogies are his thing and we did our best to respect that. Especially when he is so good at it!

And with the arrival of the mid-afternoon the kids were up and our guests were arriving. It was time to assemble the perogies. This is an absolute favorite around here. We all sit around the table, talk and assemble the perogies before we sit down and eat Christmas dinner together. We try to always invite others to share the meal with and to get to know them a little bit better. In a way, our day kind of leads up to this; the opportunity to share the Christmas Spirit and the joy of family and friendship with others.  It is what Atticus declared as his favorite part of the day as I was tucking him in and I would have to agree with him. I love being surrounded by my family and our friends and being able to do so on Christmas day is just that much better.

And after lots of lovely conversation, the kids were tucked into bed and we bid our guests ado. It was a lovely day that I wish I could wrap up in a bow and gift to myself more during the year. We are so blessed and I know those blessings are a gift to us from our loving Heavenly Father and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, whose birthday it is. And I am grateful for an awesome husband who, when he asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I said "a day spent with our family and friends, no agendas, no appointments, just us drinking in the Christmas Spirit however feels right for the day", said "I'll make it happen." and did. How grateful I am for my Saviour and grateful that I get to share the joyful news and importance of his birth with my little family.

And, even though I know this post is going up about a month and a half after Christmas, I hope you all had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is easily one of my favorite parts about Christmas time. While during the day we are usually busy trying to get all the last minute preparations for Christmas done, calling family and cleaning up our home, as soon as the early evening begins everything stops. We turn off all electronics, put our phones away, turn on the christmas lights and get settled in for a night without any interruptions. First up, reading the story of Christ's birth from the scriptures. While the kids don't always sit still, and we stop numerous times throughout the reading to answer various questions, I am grateful for the curiosity they have and the beautiful spirit that is always present. Then we sit down, picnic style, around the tree for a very simple Bethlehem dinner. We talked about our favorite parts of the Christmas season to that point, the Saviour and what we were most looking forward to with the upcoming Christmas celebrations. I love how long we get to sit there enjoying one another's company.

Then it was time for the usual opening of the Christmas pyjamas and head off to bed for a few Christmas songs before calling it a night. This year, we all piled into Milayla's room on account of her having a snazzy new night light that shines the stars, in changing colors, on the walls and roof. So we sing songs while we gaze at the stars. It is something that the kids enjoyed so much that we still continue to sing songs under the stars before saying goodnight; there is even the appearance of a Christmas song or two (when requested).

Once the kids were down it was time to get started on a tradition that we began last year and really enjoyed - to read A Christmas Carol in entirety. I can't wait for the kids to start growing into this tradition, but in the mean time I have really enjoyed reading it through with Jason (and this year with Keely as well!). It seems that every time I read that book I glean something new from it about the importance of the Christmas season and how to hold it in my heart the entire year. Armed with some seasonal snacks we took turns reading through the ghosts of Christmas - past, present and future. As we approached midnight it got a bit tougher to work our way through, but as we welcomed the first minutes of Christmas day and Scrooge woke in his bed chamber a changed man we become very grateful for the effort we put in to enjoy reading the book together. Though, our excitement certainly did not entice us to resist the call of our own bed chambers much long after we concluded the final chapter.

I love Christmas Eve. I am sure it will grow, adapt and evolve as the years progress but I hope the core elements and focus will always remain the same - Christ and time together.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I know the thought of Valentine's Day makes a lot of people run the other direction and, I will admit, it's never been one of my favorite holidays. In fact, I tend to find it just plain awkward. However, I have really found ways to shift my attitude lately. I think a lot of it has to do with the extra platform it gives me to teach my kids about the love of the Saviour. It has also really helped us bring our family and giving service back into focus and I am all for those kind of holidays. So, we've been heart attacking, mailing off valentines, and coming up with extra ways to serve those around us. In our down time, the kids are having fun with some Valentine games, reading some appropriately themed books, and watching little video clips. So I thought I would share a couple of our favorite little video clips that we have been watching this month.

I like this one because it shows all sorts of little ways that we can give love like the Savior did and still does. And the hymn, Love One Another, is so very fitting. A definite favorite.

And this one is just plain cute. A variety of couples, married for a variety of years, all sharing their ideas that enrich their marriage. Very sweet and endearing.

Well, not matter how you choose to celebrate (or not celebrate) Valentine's Day, I hope it's a wonderful Thursday! We'll be trying out our First Annual 'We Love to be a Family Day' as seen here. We're pretty excited. Will post how it goes later. Happy Valentine's Day!

Heart Attack

For the first Family Home Evening of February we heart attacked each other all over our kitchen, eating area and living room walls. It was awesome. I had seen the idea multiple places before and decided we ought to give it a go and hoped for the best (as far as the kids getting into the idea). Well, I don't think I could have hoped for it to go better. Everyone had so much fun coloring/writing on the hearts or coming up with different things to put on the hearts. We even had fun putting up the hearts all over the apartment. We will definitely be giving this tradition another go next year. 

I love having all these thoughtful, loving words decorating our walls. This is just a snapshot of a few of them!

I think it will be a sad day when the time comes for us to take them down. Until then though, I will be sure to enjoy reading them and talking to the kids about them so we can all soak up that extra bit of love circulating around here.

Gingerbread Houses

It has been a yearly tradition in my family, for many years, to make graham cracker houses as a family. When Jason and I got married we wanted to continue the tradition but since there were no graham crackers to be found (or a suitable substitute that we could find) we decided to give classic gingerbread houses a go. In years past, we have put quite a bit of thought and energy into them. Now, that the kids are old enough to really want to get involved we keep it pretty simple and easy so that the kids can decorate as they so wish. Last year we didn't even bother making our own gingerbread and opted for a kit from Ikea (which didn't last too long before all the moisture in the air caused it to crash). This year, we went the same way as it was simple, and simple is good. Atticus and I had already made a gingerbread house in the hospital, but we wanted to make one as a family and we wanted Keely to join us in the festivities. So, we got a couple kits, picked out some candy, made some icing and went to work. I was behind Keely's camera for some of the fun (which was great, because I love her camera - there is some serious camera envy going on here) but somehow there are no photos of Milayla and I pitching in. I promise, both her and I had our hands in all that lovely sticky icing and candy, building to our hearts' content. Atticus even helped me make the icing. I think I actually may be getting the hang of making that Royal Icing that is recommended for the "glue". sigh. Well, it's a good thing, pictures or not, we were all part of making those awesome memories and enjoying a family tradition. So, without further ado, I present...the photos (which were all edited by the lovely Keely, and the ones that were also taken by her are marked as such.)

A great shot from Keely.

This photo is Keely's handiwork

this is one of Keely's

And, as should have been expecting, our house crashed within a couple days, just like last year (didn't even make it to Christmas this year). But we still had fun making them. Keely's house outlived ours...at least the majority of it.

Sigh...guess we better start planning for next year. Already looking forward to it!

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Waaayyyy back in the first half of December, while Milayla and I were still hanging out at the hospital, we got to go home for a weekend. After being in the hospital for two weeks about the only thing I wanted to do was curl up with our little family at home, eat cookies and watch movies. And, well, aside from a couple necessary trips to the grocery store and market, that is exactly what we did. When it came to cookies we went all out. So happy that we had Keely here to help because I always forget just how many cookies can come out of a batch and how much work goes into making, rolling, cutting, baking and decorating those things. We had fun though. And, we got to document it (a LOT) because Keely is whiz bang good at photography and always snapping away. So here goes...a whole lot of Christmas Cookie Making fun. Looking through these pictures kind of makes me wish we still had a few in our freezer (we don't...). OH well :). 

Atticus is an awesome baking assistant and did a great job mixing up our cookies. 

I love this picture that Keely got of those cute little feet of his hanging off the back of his chair, neatly crossed as he mixed to his heart's content. It seems to remind me that even though he has grown so much in the last few years, he is still so little with so much to learn.  

Milayla happily snacked away in her high chair next to us and listened to the Christmas music. Those eyes...gorgeous!

And Keely snapped photos of our Christmas Advent Calendar (love that thing and I am so glad that Jason and I hunkered down and made it a few years ago. It's become a much-loved family tradition).

I'm pretty sure that Jason was busy chopping vegetables in the kitchen for dinner, but he managed to escape photos. Shame. 

Required cooling time for the dough meant that we wouldn't be rolling out our cookies until the afternoon but our time was happily filled with games, books and music. And after naptimes it was time to get to work. Look how serious these boys are about their cookie making. 

I was pretty excited that our Christmas themed Cookie cutters arrived the day before - just in time :). Having the perfect cookie cutters sure makes things just a bit more fun. Though, there were some definite favorites, we seemed to end up with way more Angel cookies than anything else. 

Man, we made a LOT of cookies...

And Milayla was the perfect little cheerleader. Not to mention all the fun that Keely and I had taking play breaks with Milayla. 

And then, finally, after lots of rolling and cutting and baking, the cookies were left to cool before being loaded onto plates to gift to some very deserving folks at the hospital. Of course, we made sure to keep plenty for snacking on for ourselves and were sure to decorate them with plenty of icing and sprinkles.

Oh, what a fun day it was. We all just seemed to get sucked into the moment and enjoyed every last bit of it. Definitely a great way to spend a Saturday in December. Can't wait to give it a repeat.