I haven't been keeping up to date on pictures/happenings. I feel a little bad about that. I have this little nagging feeling in my head that our kids won't have enough pictures or things from their childhood to look back on. It's probably an unnecessary worry, but it exists anyhow. I do my best to remind myself that the most important thing I want my children to ever feel/know is that they are loved to a degree far too great to measure. And that love will only ever get stronger. And yes, I'm a sap :).
So here are the pictures that were on my phone from January.
Milayla sleeping. She's an angel.
An incredible note that Atticus made for me in his 'mommy & me' journal. Not sure how much you can see in the picture, but that is a picture of me and inside it says how much he loves me. And the bottom portion is asking when him and I are going to get to go on a date. I love taking the kids out for dates.
Phineas and his darling face. He quite likes having his picture taken and then getting to look at it. We have a little illustrated picture book about a little boy explaining all the ways he is like a missionary and we are pretty sure that Phineas thinks the little boy in the books is himself. It's so cute.
Date night to an escape game thing in Montreal. We kind of stunk at it but had fun anyhow. Not bad for our first ever escape game.
Lots and lots and lots of snow. I sure love those imaginations that come out with the snow. One day I shovelled a maze in the backyard out of the snow. It was seriously brilliant - the kids LOVED it! Then it melted a little bit and looked really neat because you could see the grass and the maze really well. Then it rained and froze and became what the kids affectionately called their ice skating rink. In any case, the kids had so much fun running through there, finding the hidden treasures and seeing how quickly they could find their way out. And they were over the moon excited when a light dusting of fresh snow revealed that a CAT had gone through our maze! He had travelled through the maze pathway for quite a bit before he finally just walked where ever he wanted. So fun for the kids to follow the paw prints in the snow.
We took Jason shopping for some new clothes so the kids and I stayed entertained by having a dance party outside the change rooms. It was Milayla's idea and when they saw the cool effect that moving your arms really fast made in the pictures, they were pretty ecstatic to keep giving that a go.
And they pushed Phin around as well. They were pretty awesome troopers.
Not sure if I ever posted our new Christmas ornament that we got at the nativity display at St. Joseph's - so here it is. We love it. The true meaning for the season.
Phineas went through a couple months of really awful sleeping with teething (we have since discovered that he was pushing through an EXTRA tooth) so it was not uncommon for him to fall asleep while we were on our way somewhere in addition to his nap. This particular day we were headed to an indoor play place. Atticus was busy making a birthday card for a friend.
Then we got to the indoor play place and the kids successfully exhausted themselves and had plenty of fun.
And in a lovely dose of irony, the brand new furnace that we had put in before winter so that we weren't dealing with a broken down furnace in the middle of the winter kept shutting down on us. And not just a few times but a LOT (8+). Thankfully, the winter was fairly mild so we only woke up cold a few nights. I am grateful for warranty, quick service and extra blankets though.
I've been trying to do better at getting little activities together for Phineas while I am doing lesson time with the big kids. The pompoms in the muffin tray were a hit for about 5 minutes and then I spent another 5 minutes having him help pick them up off the floor. I love this kid so much. He is always smiling and tries so hard to help. He loves to point to the letters in Milayla's reading book and try to make the individual sounds. It's not correct, but super cute anyway. He learns pretty quick and really wants to do all the things his big siblings do. That said, he is pretty quick to claim my lap as his own and snuggle into me any chance he gets. Love giving snuggles.
And more winter. We were pretty excited when we finally got some wet snow and could build some snowmen.
Milayla went to a "princess" birthday party. I love that her view of princesses is pretty solid - we are all princesses after all :). And that smile of hers. So beautiful.
Our cool maze, partly melted.
Phineas really just wants to do everything like his big siblings. So he delights in playing at the piano. Note the chair that he pushed up to the piano since the usual chair was not sitting there. When he tires of playing piano, he hits the 'demo' button and goes to town dancing.
I stumbled on a really tasty cookie recipe that is made with almond flour and cranberries with only a teeny bit of maple for sweetener. It was an instant favourite around here and one that we can all eat (even Phineas, who still doesn't get sugar).
We finished our Christmas puzzle. I think we need to get another one of those. It was fun working on that together. The kids love puzzles. Milayla, in particular, could be found working away on it in every spare minute that she had. And Phineas helped by not curiously pulling it apart.
And there was the taking down of the tree. The kids were pretty sad about that this year but still helped out anyhow.
After grocery shopping one day, we checked out a pet store. The employee decided to pull out a rat from the cage to show the kids. They freaked. So then when I suggested a picture in front of the parrot, they wouldn't get anywhere near it. So I have a picture of Jason (with a bit of Phineas) next to the cool parrot.
Nothing cuter than kids bundled up, waddling around in snow suits. Atticus and Milayla didn't waddle around in snowsuits very much before they were 2 (we just didn't have as much snow in Holland and Germany as we get here) so it is interesting having a babe learning to walk in snow and catch up to his big siblings.
After a particularly long night teething, Phineas was really tired the next day. I had hoped to make his nap a little earlier in the day to help him out but he plunked down on my lap while we were reading Narnia with the big kids and fell fast asleep. He had a nice 20 minute snooze there which was so incredible cute, sweet and needed.
All the kids got shovels this year. I can't seem to find my pictures with Atticus and Milayla and their shovels. But rest assured, each of those kids pulled out their shovels when it was time to shovel the walkway and away they went. They are awesome helpers. Really, really, awesome helpers.
We headed to the science centre to get out of the unbearable cold one day. That place is awesome. It took a bit of encouraging but the kids decided they would give the dinosaur exhibit a try (it had robotic dinosaurs which the kids were worried might be a bit scary) and they ended up loving it. My little explorers. Phineas was in love with the 'build your own ball track', Milayla enjoyed the magnaforms and digging for dinosaur bones, and Atticus liked building in the play area.
The red stain on the mattress is probably not what you think it is. Unless you think it is chapstick. In which case, you'd be correct. We have an artist in the house. I'm grateful that I have the ability to laugh. It is just a mattress after all. And I love my children way more than a mattress. That said, there was a little conversation about proper places for art and the artist had to help clean it up.
Swimming classes were lovely, as always. It was pretty cool when we showed up one day to see some ice sculptures out front. And the kids have made awesome progress. They are little fish. Phineas usually goes into Parent+tot class with me and the big kids are each in their own level. We're due for another family swim day.
And there are a few snippets from January. I'm writing this is April (and the end of it) so it feels like forever ago! But so glad to have these pictures and all the memories that they represent.
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