Milayla's 3rd Birthday

I rather love getting to celebrate the birthdays of these littles ones around here. They get so genuinely excited for one another and its just a lot of fun to shower them with some extra love. A tradition that we've held to for the last few years is that we plan a surprise outing geared to the interests of the birthday child. Not sure how long that tradition will stick around, but for now, we're loving it. 

Milayla's birthday kicked off with her requested birthday breakfast - pancakes, whip cream and lots of fruit. 

Oh, how we love her smiles. 

It took us a while to get started on eating because the birthday girl had to scout out all the birthday decorations and let us know what she liked about each banner and balloon. She was so genuinely appreciative of every little detail and said lots of 'thank you's. She seriously has a heart of gold.

After breakfast, we all loaded into the car to head for the birthday outing. We had this one planned for months and were pretty excited to see Milayla's reaction. We headed to the Biodome. 

The biodome is set up with different climates and some animals that live in those climates. I've got to admit I was a little worried when Milayla was terrified of the animals, even though they were all enclosed, and wasn't sure that she was enjoying her birthday outing all that much. At one point we walked into a dimly lit room with a floor to ceiling, wall-to-wall, aquarium and a large fish swam towards Milayla and I'm pretty sure she had a little mini-heart attack; she koala beared it around my neck for a little while after that (not that I mind those extra cuddles!).

Yet, when it came time to leave, this girl was hooked. She was ultimately fascinated by all the animals and I am pretty sure the penguins definitely won her over (or the sea otter slide :) ). And she has been asking when we will get to go back to the rainforest! Love her little exploring heart!

We even managed to sneakily buy a Christmas gift for her from the gift store (yep...I'm planning that far ahead this year).

After the outing, we were greeted with a beautiful sunny day. Which was perfect for our little packed lunch and the time that I would get to spend with our brilliant girl while Jason took Atticus to french class. Milayla and I enjoyed a pile of books and sang her favorite songs before having a little nap before the boys returned home. I always love when I get a little one-on-one time with the kids - this particular day was no exception.

Pretending to be pirates.

When we were all back gathered together we began opening presents starting with the new birthday outfit so that we could sneak in some pictures.

It was actually a tough sell to get Milayla out of her button shirt, but once she was in the dress and saw how fun it was to twirl in she was sold.

Then it was on to birthday pictures (which you can see more of by going here).

Then back to presents.

I love this picture series. Atticus worked really hard on making a new finger puppet for Milayla and writing out a special card for her (something that he said is important because Mommy and Daddy write out special cards). It was a pretty special moment between the two of them.

Then Milayla opened up a few more presents, got some birthday wishes from Grandma and Grandpa and we just had some fun throwing the kids in the air and playing with balloons until dinner time.

Good thing we have high ceilings!

The birthday girl requested asparagus and spinach quiche, steamed baby carrots and maple glazed salmon for her birthday dinner and a homemade icecream cake to finish things off. She didn't know what to think of the flames on the candles and needing to blow them out, but she sure enjoyed the food and cake!

After the kids were all cleaned up we all crawled into Mommy and Daddy's bed to look at pictures of Milayla as a baby and talk about all the wonderful gifts and talents that she has been developing already in the last 3 years.

There's no doubt about, Milayla is one very special individual. She is kind, brilliant, determined, strong and beautiful. She loves to share, help, laugh and cuddle. She has an extraordinary light that shines through those gorgeous eyes and smile of hers. So happy and blessed to have her unique personality in our family. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILAYLA! We LOVE YOU!

Ottawa Tulip Festival May 2014

Back in May, we sporadically hopped in our car and headed to Ottawa for the last day of the tulip festival. The kids had no idea where we were going, just that it would take us a little longer to get there. I rather love getting to surprise the kids - they are pretty genuine in their surprise and appreciation of the time together and the adventure. 

I enjoy the time to chat with everyone in the car the best, along with getting some time driving through country - sooooo nice for a little break from the city. 

We had a lot of fun. We all loved the tulips and when we saw some pictures on display from The Netherlands, Atticus recognized them immediately. The kids also really liked checking out the river that was there. As an added bonus, they also got a distant glimpse of where Jason went to University. Pretty cool!

After checking out the main part of the festival, we headed over to Parliament to see the tulips there. We walked all around the building, admired the architecture, checked out the great view of the river then sat ourselves down to enjoy a picnic lunch that we had brought along. It was pretty neat to check out parliament. Maybe one day we'll make it back and get to do the inside tour; that would be fun. The kids loved getting some extra running time in before we headed back to the car. Jason attempted to take us to the Prime Minister's residence but couldn't quite seem to locate it. Oh well!

Milayla was very insistent that she wanted to see the church building there. How could we deny her that little request? Well, we set out to go to it on our way out of the city (thankfully Jason knew his way there from his university days) and after sitting in all that tulip festival traffic we finally made it and Milayla was disappointed that we wouldn't get to go to church that day! A picture of the building seemed to help lull her disappointment but she certainly would have preferred if we had gotten to go inside and attend a sacrament meeting. 

Then it was back on the road for home. We liked Ottawa. It has more of a small town feeling than Montreal and seems a lot more bike friendly. And we love our bikes :). Hoping to make it back at some point to check out some of those museums as well. And, as usual, absolutely loved seeing these kids explore something new and getting to explore it with them. It was great getting to chat about our favorite parts on our way home.

So, while the tulips weren't quite as plentiful as Holland, we sure loved the time together and getting to explore something new!

on our own little tulip stage!

carefully checking out the water

celebrating their triumphant climb to the top of the stairs!

a little bit of Canadian history

the millennial flame

the kids and I are in there too!

the local church building

all smiles about the day!

ready to head home!

Going Private - without subscribers

I've had this nagging thought in my mind for a while - that I needed to take our family life a bit more private. I love to blog. I love to take pictures. I love keeping people updated on what our family is up to. However, in the process of keeping this blog public I feel like my voice has lost some of its' authenticity and sincerity. 

The first and foremost goal of this blog is to help me appreciate and document the daily moments with this family that I love so much. And while the blog is still arguably fulfilling that aspect, I feel like other aspects have ventured in and crowded that main purpose out a bit. 

So, after lots of thinking about it and lots of chats with Jason, I'm taking it private. I'm not sure at this point how long term/permanent this will be, I just know that it's what needs to happen at this point in time in order to return this blog to its' intended purpose - documenting our family and the memories we are making. And from there, we'll take it a step at a time. 

I have some other blog and article ideas stirring up in my head, but for now I'm focusing in on welcoming a new baby into our family, gearing up for homeschool, finally settling into this home of ours and, most importantly, embracing the present moment as we work towards our family vision. 

A big thanks to everyone who has stopped in to read around - I hope that you have enjoyed a small glimpse into our lives. 

For close friends and family that read this blog - please leave a message or email us so that we can be sure to send some picture updates your way via email. 

Baby #3 - 36 & 37 Weeks

I told Jason that this baby is getting bigger - obviously. But, really, I am fully expecting another big baby. Not that that will affect the cuteness factor at all, though I am just praying that I can have all the strength I need to help this baby transition from inside of me to inside of this world. Just really getting excited to have that freshly born babe curled up to my chest, gently cooing while he sleeps. And so excited to get to experience his unique personality and help him discover and develop his talents and gifts from God. So many exciting things ahead! 

Loved this photo that I saw a while back at the hospital when we got our first ultrasound done. Little hands! 

And I really do love having a pregnant belly. It's beautiful.

36 weeks:

37 weeks:

Doing my best to enjoy the beauty of being pregnant while anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newest member of our family! Such a difficult balance to maintain!