February 2014

Oh, February. What a mixed ride it was. We had a lot of lovely moments. We also had some moments I would like to not repeat. Like choking during dinner time and having to head off in an ambulance to the hospital - then getting to try to cover up all the popped blood vessels on my face and neck (from choking) for the next week. Not to mention the worry on the kids faces when they realized that something was very much wrong. It took them a good week afterwards for the kids (and Jason) to not cautiously watch me when I ate to make sure I was still eating. Not fun. I'm just glad it was me that it happened to and not one of the kiddos. 

And then there was waking up to the sound of our water heater spraying water onto our laundry/storage room, and getting to take a cold shower while we waited for the new one to go in (which was thankfully very quickly arranged). 

And then there was our car deciding that it would get sick at the end of the month and need some hefty repairs (which we are still working on...).

Oh, and having to say goodbye to a dear friend who moved off to Alberta. So grateful our paths crossed again, here in Montreal, for as long as they did.

But then there were good moments. Like swim lessons, valentine prep,  We Love to Be a Family Day, time with friends and museum trips. 

And then there were all these in between moments that are the moments that probably put the biggest smile on my face. They remind me that life is good. Life is blessed. Life is purposeful. And life is full of love. And that is something most definitely to smile about. 

So without further ado, here are some of those sweet, in between, moments that sweeten up the core of my life with so much goodness. 

Milayla is still going at those fingers. And this picture took me right back to that bright, blue eyed baby stage.  (check out here, here, and here to see what I am talking about). 

Night time prayers pretty much melt my heart around here. Atticus has taken to being Milayla's prayer helper and it is the sweetest thing to listen to.

Our fish. Who practices her kicking any time that she goes in the bath. All the practice has payed off, too. She is a pretty strong kicker at the pool now!

These gorgeous tulips that Carol brought over to me as soon as she heard about my lovely choking trip to the hospital. She is so sweet and thoughtful. We sure miss her around here!! And she picked perfectly. My heart has been aching for those dutch tulips, especially since we just hit another drop in temperature.

These kids set up their own "nap time" on the play room floor. Probably not the most comfortable place, but they sure love it. And it's not like they actually nap there.

And when they have their energy back they are up dancing, making up routines which primarily consist of turning and jumping, but it is sweet none the less.

And Milayla has blossomed as an avid builder and puzzle maker. She's mastered our puzzles. And builds robots out of lego. And castles out of wooden blocks. She gets in her own little world and works until her vision is complete.

Meanwhile, Atticus has been working up patterns like crazy with his mosaic tiles. He is getting so quick at getting the patterns together.

Carol obliged the kids and read them a chapter of the book that we were working on in February (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). It's funny; as an adult I am a little surprised at how blunt some of the words are in there, particularly from those oompa loompas. We did have to sensor it out a bit to allow for the fact that both kids are really under the intended age group for the book.

After Atticus came up with this for his very first letter that he sounded out all on his own, I knew I needed to spend a little bit more time with him on sounding out words from his head. BUT, it is still a very sweet letter about how he is going to play nice with milayla and share duplo when she wants to play with them. Sweetness. And so much thoughtfulness.

And from there it was on to writing his own emails!!! No joking. Once this kid got the hang of things there was no stopping him. He wrote a few family members to let them know about his growing skills.

Ironically, we took a class to get updated in our CPR certification just a few days after my choking incident. We found a great place that allowed us to bring the kids so that Jason and I could both get it done. We had a lovely instructor, and after the kids finished their picnic dinner they got to practice cpr techniques on the special baby mannequins that the instructor had. While they aren't quite ready for the real deal, I am really glad that they were there to see Jason and I learning an important skill and that they had their own little intro to it all as well.

These two are typically pretty good at working together to reach a goal of their finished product. That is always nice. 

Some of our projects during the month.

Atticus' spelling practice.

And these boys are all smiles about our 'new fruit' trial. Jason has been a big instigator to get us all to branch out in what kinds of fruits we eat.

This is dragon fruit. I tried it and found it tasted like a less sweet version of kiwi. I wasn't too crazy for it, nor Milayla. But the boys loved it.

And now we are well into March. And I am grateful that, just as February was, it is filled with much goodness and sweetness.

We Love to Be a Family Day 2014 (aka Valentine's Day)

I'm pretty grateful that I stumbled upon this idea on the Power of Moms website last year. And I am also pretty grateful that I didn't dismiss it as a tad too cheesy for us. Last year was so lovely so we were definitely going to give it another shot this year. Besides, the kids were actually asking for it and that's a pretty good sign that the tradition is a keeper in my books. (for a peek at last year click here).

Our day started early, and before we were even dressed, as we had to get started on our first heart before we had breakfast. 

I love Milayla's morning hair. Pretty sure it's impossible for this girl to not look cute. 

Each of the hearts this year had a little theme to them such as service, love, music, sharing etc. 

We started by baking some of our favorite pumpkin muffins to put together some goody plates to give to some friends. While those baked we had some delicious pancakes with fruit sauce for breakfast. Pretty sure that Jason has the pancake thing down to a perfection.

After things were cleaned up and we were all dressed, we opened up our Valentine buckets. 

Pretty sure these kids have a sixth sense for chocolate. I only put a couple little chocolates in the bottom of each child's bucket (and the big kid around here) and all three of them dug for it first, instinctively knowing what was in there. I just tell myself it's because they know I pick the good stuff - those lindor chocolate hearts are delish!

Can't forget that the kids opened up some more valentines from the mail the night before. They love getting mail!

I felt a little bad about the fact that we had some errands that needed to be run that morning, but we were able to combine it with delivering some plates of goodies to some really lovely people. It was a nice way to balance out the morning.

Then there were singing times, a lovely lesson about family, group hugs, and a family walk that ended us at a very fun candy store.

Pretty sure our kiddos have never been into a strictly candy store, a chocolate store, yes, but not candy. It took a bit for them to compute that all the stuff in there actually was edible and not just toys. They each got to pick out a few small candies and we found a real wonka chocolate bar. Which was kind of a big deal since we had just finished reading the book as a family. And, of the entire store, the kids were most impressed with the large wonka stuffed toy. Pretty sure Milayla was ready to march that right out of that store.

When we got home it was time for us to suit up into our pyjamas and make some heart shaped pizza.

I told everyone to make a crazy face for this picture, Milayla told me she was busy but the boys obliged. And Milayla succeeded in spreading out that pizza sauce wonderfully!

Then we all hunkered down in the living room to watch the film adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Can you see the excitement in these kiddos eyes?

Unfortunately, I think their excitement was a bit let down at the movie. We stopped watching about half way through after Atticus said that he thought it was a bit scary and not as good as the book. We encouraged him to follow his feeling as there are so many movies to choose from that there is no need to watch something that you aren't very keen on.

So while the movie was a bit of a let down, everything else was a big success. The kids are already talking about what we will do next year and how it is one of their favorite holidays. I just love the togetherness that a day filled with little bits of time together to serve, learn and grow can bless our family with. I love traditions that can do that!

Valentine Prep 2014

I really am excited to get these valentine prep pictures up on the blog. Partly because I had so much fun making valentines and treats with the kiddos (and Jason when he was available) and partly because it means I get to work on our We Love to Be a Family Day post next. yay!! 

First up, we kicked off February with a family home evening about loving our family and those around us. For our treat we made little personal size heart pies. I had seen the idea for the pies on pinterest. The result was edible, but not great. At least we had fun making them and getting ourselves covered in flour.

I can't resist posting these pictures of Atticus. He is becoming such a face maker lately as he works on emphasizing his expressions and moods. 

And here is my darling girl still tired from her nap and snuggled up to me, insisting that Mommy take a picture of "sleepy". Well, here is what sleepy looks like.

And what handsome looks like.

And now here is a series of photos of little hands helping. I love seeing those little hands helping out. So sweet and special.

This picture is blurry. But I had to post it as it is one of the rare times that I caught Milayla's real smile before she moved on to her silly smile or to something else entirely. So beautiful.

Jason's hands were in there an awful lot as well. 

Bizarrely enough, I don't think I took a picture of the finished product. They looked pretty great. The kids did a great job!

Then it was on to our heart attack. Atticus was very insistent that he sound out and spell them on his own. He did pretty well. His spelling is really coming along. Milayla did really well on expressing what she wanted the hearts from her to say.

Since we did the hearts in all different colors, when we put the hearts around our kitchen (which are still up because we like them so much) it looked like we had big candy hearts all over the cupboards and walls. I rather like having them up because when the kids and I are hanging out in the kitchen (for meals, or meal prep, or craft time etc) Atticus will read the hearts and Milayla will point to which ones she wants read. It means that they are reading some wonderful things about each other and our family every single day and I love it. We need more good things on our walls. It just seems like that is the last thing to happen around here when we move, if it should happen at all. That needs to change. We need more pictures.

Here are just a few of those awesome hearts.

An Atticus heart - 'Mommy's kisses + cuddles' (because he likes them)

The one with 'TOYS 4551' says, in entirety - 'Milayla's sharing toys' because Atticus likes that Milayla shares toys really well. And then there is a yellow heart about daddy being the best and a green heart about what a great helper and hard worker Atticus is.

Milayla's splendid art work

Then the kids helped me make a list of people that they wanted to send valentines out to. They sent out a ton in the mail (I hope they all made it! ) and then made a ton for friends here. They really worked their little hearts out on those. The ones that they spent the most time working on were the ones that they made for our family. They spent a lot of time cutting and gluing and making little mosaic hearts and coming up with what they wanted to write.

I am so loving Atticus' writing and how well his sounding out of words has come. We've started copy work to really help him get a handle on new words and the structure of sentences (spaces, when uppercase etc). 

And, of course, Milayla mentions cuddles whenever possible!

I'm kind of in love with the fact that we have found a way to enjoy this holiday with it being fun and not a lot of pressure. We just enjoy time together. Always appreciated. Will post on our We Love to Be a Family Day soon!

Bullying - Stop it - a video

I've posted some of these Mormon Message videos on the blog from time to time; usually in line with holidays. This one came up recently and I finally had a chance to watch it and I loved it.

While I don't love that it is needed for a video to be made bringing awareness to the pain and hurt that bullying causes I do love that this video shows how trying to be "funny" can really hurt the person that those jokes are pointed at. I also love that this video has tried to be more broad in its approach in that it is not specifically for Mormons. It's for everyone.

Having been bullied through most of my school years, I know how much it hurts to have to deal with it nearly every. single. day. And just how lonely it can be.

I only hope that there are people who see this video who feel inspired to speak up against someone who is bullying or to at least lend a hand of friendship to the one being bullied. One, kind and genuine person can make all the difference to someone who is being bullied.

We Read the Book of Mormon as a Family and celebrated

We've been very slowly working through reading The Book of Mormon as a family for about 2 years. That's a long time. But, for working through with little ones it was definitely the best pace. So many new words and stories for them to discover. Even I find I learn to understand and know the words and stories better at that pace!

As we neared those final chapters at the end of December we started throwing ideas around for how we could celebrate afterwards and we all decided to do a family outing. The difficult part seemed to be coming up with what we should do for that family outing. 

We pitched going to a wave pool to the kids, or sledding and hot chocolate, and a few other ideas and the kids were pretty unimpressed with all of them. 

With a slight hesitation I suggested another idea that I had had but wasn't sure everyone would be up for it - another visit to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. 

As soon as I suggested it the kids threw their hands up in the air and with smiles stretched across their faces they shouted 'YES!'. Milayla jumped up and down. And Atticus said that he would go get his shoes (he was a little disappointed when we explained that we weren't going right then). Jason looked at me with a slightly surprised yet very contented smile on his face. I knew what he was thinking because I was thinking the same thing; 'our kids just cheered about going to the art museum'. My heart smiled.

We are pretty lucky to have such a great art museum here. We love it. And we love seeing how the kids peruse each room, pick out their favorites and then tell us why. And we loved counting down the days until we got to head down to the museum. Such a fun day! 

We lucked out and made it just in time for their finger painting workshop. The kids adored it. Milayla is still a little finicky about textures against her skin, but I think it was a good environment for her to give the slightly cold, slimy paint a go (She has very happily finger painted at home since this little excursion. yay!!). She painted sea animals and a tree with an owl. She loves animals.

The boys were busy from the get go and ended up toting home a couple art pieces each.

After Milayla and I worked on a couple art pieces together, she promptly sat back down on the mat, where we learned about finger painting (before getting to work), and said she was waiting for more projects. She just wasn't ready to leave that creative room!

After getting cleaned up from painting we were able to see a few more exhibits, some of which we hadn't seen yet as the museum is huge. The kids both got pretty excited when they found some paintings that were finger painted just like what they had done. Oh, how I love those moments! When they see how the things they are learning can grow and develop over time into such unique, individual expressions of how they see the world. Goodness, I already love seeing there little masterpieces; each so creative, unique and thoughtful.

When we headed for home we were all decided that the art museum was a good place to go celebrate as a family for reading the Book of Mormon. And Atticus had the realization that, because we started reading the Book of Mormon again, that we would get to celebrate AGAIN! The kids are certainly paying a lot more attention this time through as we read and asking more questions, I think, in part, because they know we will have a lot to celebrate when we are all done.

Overall, a really fun, and lovely day to celebrate.