November iPhone

I feel like I find such lovely treasures on my phone. Like the trove of videos of the kids that Jason finally managed to find a way to get off my phone (they had a data problem uploading). And like all these lovely photos that capture these little kiddos in all those in between moments. Those are the best moments. The small details that amount to so much. 

Like these kids making use of the shoe rack while they wait to say morning family prayer before Daddy heads off to work. 

Or Atticus and Milayla helping in the kitchen. This time it was to make Cauliflower pizza crust. We finally found the perfect recipe!

And the kids did such an awesome job getting the cauliflower ready to go into the food processor. It was hard work! Just look at that face.

And the cauliflower bits got everywhere. We were all covered. It was so much fun.

And then there are our weekly trips to the swimming pool. Those little wet footprints across the change room floor make my heart smile.

And then there was the big wind storm which knocked out the power for a nice majority of the residents of Montreal, including us.

All was well, though. We had plenty of candles and the kids pulled out lego and got to work by candlelight. Atticus is going through a robot phase; he builds so many different styles of robots and comes up with them all on his own. I am so impressed with his creativity. He even thinks through all the parts and how they will use them to function - and what their specific function is. He's pretty proud. I love it.

Let's take a closer look at that beauty!

Pretty sure he's going to be needing a robotics kit sooner than we realize.

We were pretty fortunate with the power outage because the kids and I had just finished making the pizza and put it into the over (which was all ready to go). So even with the power outage, the pizza still cooked enough for us to eat! Lucky us!

While we went and found a few winter clothing items in some unsuspecting places, the kids also found some colorful dragons in unsuspecting places as well. Milayla was pretty excited when her and Atticus got to ride in it together.

This is definitely one of my favorites. We had picked up a book at the library about sights in Paris. And as Atticus and I were reading it, I was explaining to him all the places he had been to there and all the places that Jason and I had gone to together. Then he asked me if lots of people live there and I remarked that even Daddy used to live there when he was on his mission. His response - "Missionaries go to Paris, too!?". Yep, kiddo. They do. And a ton of other wonderful places with wonderful people. Then he raced to the kitchen to ask Jason about some of the buildings in the book that I wasn't very familiar with. It was so cute to see him ask questions for a nice amount of time, and they were very thought out questions, too.

And then there is the week that Milayla made it her favorite hobby to snatch up Jason's glasses whenever he left them somewhere (which is often..). Love her!

Or Atticus' idea of wrapping a gift.

That's packing tape colored with permanent marker, in case you were wondering.

Or there is the mountain of cinnamon that happens when someone (we have no idea who) accidentally unscrewed the cinnamon lid a bit before we went to add some to our muesli. Whoops!

Or these cuties reading together. It was squishy to fit into that chair but they made it work and Atticus is so excited to get to read books to Milayla with his reading skills that are progressing steadily.

And fudge babies. Yum. In the words of the kiddos - they are the perfect family home evening treat.

And the sharing of lollipops from Halloween.

And the silly faces that accompany them.

And then there are the items that Milayla decides to wear during the day. She loves to practice putting on clothes so she is always adding hats and sweaters to practice buttons and zippers. It's so much fun. She is pretty happy about her budding skills and so are we.

And there are more books. Lots of books.

Like books on the reading pillow (after Milayla ran away from Daddy and getting in the bath).

And books on the couch.

And with the Christmas tree now up, we have books on the carpet in front, and books squished into a big bed.

And the kids were so excited to get to send off their stickers for the sticker project. It is such a great project that Sharee started last year. It is an easy way for kids to help kids in another country. If you want some more details you can check --->here<--- a="" always="" but="" for="" get="" i="" is="" it="" late="" little="" next="" out="" p="" s="" stickers="" that.="" there="" think="" this="" to="" year="">

And Milayla's curiosity while we were making guacamole taught us all that you can peel an avocado pit. The things you learn with children!

I decided to cut Milayla's hair short because she likes to have it down most of the time so I thought it would be a good time to try a shorter style on her. She was a superstar while I figured out just how to cut it. I ended up doing it so that it is a little shorter in the back. She liked it so much that when the boys were due for their next hair cuts she brought out her chair for a trim as well!

And then there was the first, and only, casualty in our toilet. Atticus decided it would be a good idea to fly the toy tractor over the toilet. It didn't make it.

I am grateful for metal coat hangers that can be bent to reach into the toilet so that I don't have to put my hand in there to retrieve, particularly when this was post Milayla using the toilet (and before flushing...). Thankfully, there have been no more flight attempts over the toilet.

Yep, I love all those in between moments. They really do fill the day with good things. And always put so many smiles on our faces. Love it.

We got away for a day

When a free Saturday presented itself we hopped in our car and headed a little south to check out the Joseph Smith Birthplace memorial near Sharon Vermont. It was a little chillier than we were expecting but we had some really pretty snowfall on our drive down. Not to mention, Vermont is beautiful, and we saw it "between" seasons as all the gorgeous fall leaves had long since fallen and the ground was not yet blanketed in snow. We still enjoyed it though.

It's probably no surprise that we were the only ones at the memorial. We were there right when they opened and it isn't peak visitor season. That meant we got a nice little tour of the small exhibit and the memorial all to ourselves. The exhibit is really nicely put together with beautiful paintings, books, statues, and some pieces from the time that Joseph was born (including the hearth that was in their home). 

We saw a layout of the land in it's entirety and the kids were pretty amazed with how big it was. And we also learned a lot about the early years of Joseph Smith's life. A lot of the items we already knew but there were definitely some tidbits in there we had not learned yet. It's always nice to learn some new things. We were so busy listening and taking a look around that I forgot to take some pictures of the inside, so I made up for it with some outside pictures. 

The stone layout here outlines the size of the Smith family home where Joseph was born.

The kids were pretty enthralled with how small it was and declared that it was smaller than our home but big enough to still run around in.

The kids were also pretty enthralled with the cookies that they were given inside the exhibit and the big empty space to run around in.

The base of the memorial.

Family picture in front of the memorial. The kids are still chowing down on their cookies.

The top part of memorial is exactly 38.5 feet tall, one foot for every year of the prophet's life and is one solid piece of granite - without blemish. So, as you can imagine, it is quite tall and it apparently was quite the feat to get it up.

Our guide was great and did a really good job at involving the kids so as we drove away (and stopped to snap a few more photos on the way) the kids had plenty to say about the memorial and what their favorite parts were.

There is a chapel down the road from the memorial that is really beautiful and looks out over the rolling hills below it. I had Jason snap this photo out the window seeing that I was driving.

 He still had some time before we really needed to start heading back across the border so we stopped in this small little town that was full of all sort of factory tours (including Ben & Jerrys!). We opted for the apple cider mill and headed on in. It was seriously cool.

There were homemade jams, along with hard to find products, artisan pieces, and lots and lots of apple cider and maple syrup. This inactive beehive was pretty neat as well. 

The kids enjoyed seeing all the machines that the apple cider was made on, including this old fashioned apple press.

This isn't the best picture seeing that I missed getting a picture of Milayla sitting in this cute little wooden lounge chair by just a few seconds. She quite liked it, it was just her size!

When we were waiting in line to purchase our adequately large jug of apple cider, we noticed that they had some treats called Cider Donuts. I asked Jason what they were (not sure why I thought he would know) and there were a few people that heard me and turned to give me this look of "did she seriously just ask that!?". Yes, I did. And I made up for my poor knowledge by ensuring we got a few to share on the way home. As near as I can figure, they are cake donuts that have apple cider in the dough. The kids quite enjoyed them.

Then it was back across the border. The kids were really curious about the border. It was the first controlled border that we have ever driven across (other controlled borders have always been in the airport). It was fun to get to start some intro discussions with them about world politics. And I mean, verrrrry intro. But it's a start. And they love getting into the conversation in any way possible. And since our trip they have made many duplo controlled borders where Milayla drives cars and animals through and Atticus will ask her questions such as - Where are you from? Where are you going? and, my personal favorite - do you have any cider?

Of course the border guard didn't actually ask us if we had cider, just the usual questions of dollar value we purchased and such. It's just fun to see watch and listen to the kids' recreation of it.

It felt nice to get away together though. Getting out of the city just felt so relaxing and I always enjoy the conversation that two little toddlers come up with. The questions are creative and never ending. Their curiosity is wonderful!

Fall Family Photos

A friend of ours from our church congregation, who is a wonderful photographer, agreed to do some family photos for us. We're so happy with how they turned out. The weather was great and all the fall colors were beautiful. Can't wait until we can get some of these up in our home!

If you want to check out some more of her work you can see photos from her other sessions here. She has some beautiful photos!

But first, make sure you check out this handsome guy.

The leaves were incredible!

My favorite part of this photo - that you can't see all the spiders that were crawling all over the rock and our legs. So worth it for this cute shot!

Milayla was not smiling for us this day. I think it was in large part to someone other than Mommy being behind the camera (not a usual site). While I am sad that her gorgeous smile isn't in all these photos, she still looks just as beautiful. I love these photos of the kids together.

The closest thing we got to smile until we tried a new technique a little bit later.

Those eyes!

And the smile emerges! Nothing quite like being tossed in the air to get some smiles!

Leaves!

More going in the air for smiles!

Those handsome boys.

Atticus getting his turn in the air.

Sweet kisses from that awesome little boy of mine.

It was a fun morning. Thanks for the fabulous pictures, Robyn!

I am a Triangle

Oh man. I knew us coming back to Canada was going to be an adjustment. Not just for the kiddos, who had never lived in Canada, but also for us who had been gone for 5+ years (Jason being gone longer of the 2 of us).

I thought we were saving ourselves a bit of shock by coming to Montreal - a french speaking and quite diverse city. But if it did save us any shock, it wasn't enough.

Shortly after arriving, around the time of the meltdown actually, a friend who is very accustomed to moving around the world with and without children sent me this article about repatriating and I devoured it with wide eyes as pretty much every word rang true with me. I'm different since I last lived in Canada. Canada - not so much.

Don't get me wrong. I love Canada. And I love Montreal. But at the end of the day I am still closer to the worlds biggest ball of yarn than I am to places like Egypt or Greece. I have to work harder to share history with the kiddos because, well, Canada is still pretty young in that realm.

I'm pretty grateful that we moved to Montreal as I still stand by my feelings that Quebec is one of the most culturally and land rich provinces. It's beautiful. And Montreal is filled to the brim with museums which I adore. Though those museums are surrounded by busy streets and busy people and life is just different. And we still have little bits of our hearts and so many friends scattered throughout the world.

I suppose we had it simpler with our previous moves. We could travel a short distance to experience a different culture and a different language without our way of life needing to change too much. It also meant we could easily travel back to the other places we have lived. We had grown quite accustomed to European living which, in many ways, is so much simpler and enjoyable than North American living.

So why did we move? Because it was time for us to grow in a way that we couldn't there. And while we're still discovering the all the 'whys' of it all I think it's important for me to establish that there was a very firm 'why' that we followed and it was right for us. Because I need that anchor when I am trying to find the balance between empathizing with our kids about missing our old homes and reaffirming to them the greatness of our new home. And there are certainly times when those kids miss their old home.

It varies on what they miss. Most recently it's been our bright German home, Atticus' friend Evia from The Netherlands, and trips to the temple in the Hague. The funny thing is, Atticus picked now, of all times, to start liking to use German. I think it is all for the sake of reminiscing, but I am working to build it so he can keep at least a basic knowledge. At those reminiscing moments we do our best to let them express it, join in conversation with them, and make it a happy thing to discuss rather than a sad thing to discuss because it certainly doesn't need to be sad. We do have a lovely home and are making many lovely friends here yet I think it is natural to miss elements that aren't so large a part of our life anymore. And we need to help these kids figure out this star life of theirs (read the article to learn more about them).

They have so many different reference points, the best thing we are trying to do for them right now is anchor them in this family of ours with love, consistency and communication, work on adaptation and friendshipping skills, and let them explore and adapt on their terms and schedule.

It isn't an easy or quick process, but from time to time, when I catch a glimmer of all the polishing and refining that this change has wrought upon all of us (especially the kids) I feel joy. A deep, rich and filling joy. And it's then that I know that this is exactly where we are supposed to be. I am a triangle. Slightly out of place but in the right place to help these little stars of mine shine.