Atticus turns 7

Atticus is 7. When did that happen? If I could have imagined, when Atticus was born, what he would have been like when he was 7 I don't think I would have had any idea how perfect he would be. That isn't to say that he is without fault or mistake, but to say that he is exactly himself. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Today was low key, and rainy. We still loved every minute of it. Time at the library. Reading books. Drawing with chalk outside. Cupcakes in the tree house (even the neighbourhood bunny paid a visit!).  Ziti for dinner. Back scratch songs. Snuggles and kisses. I love this little boy of mine so much. He is a great encourager, a kind friend, good helper, and so very thoughtful and smart. He is a great kid. Our latest thing between us is to tell each other that we love the other times infinity and then more. And it couldn't be more true (no matter how impossible it sounds). As I sit in his room putting Phineas to bed, he waits for me to tuck him in and we make signals to each other with different ways to say 'I love you'. He comes up with some fun ways to try and signal infinity. My heart fills over for the great kid that he is and all the fun ways that he is learning and growing and becoming. 

We'll be doing our usual of a party on the nearest Saturday this coming Saturday. So very looking forward to it. Love him and getting to help him feel a little bit extra special. 

Happy Birthday, Atticus! You are a great big brother, son and friend to everyone. And you are crazy loved! Enjoy your birthday. You're awesome!

Father's Day 2016

The kids had set to work on Jason's Father's Day crafts pretty early on. There were a few stages involved in their craft and they like to put every possible detail into anything crafty that they make. And they love doing it. Absolutely love it. It helps that it's for this great guy they call Dad/Daddy/DaDEE/Papa/Dada

We kicked the day off with french toast casserole and the kids gave Jason all their cards at breakfast because they simply couldn't wait until the afternoon. They wanted to give Jason their gifts as well but we opted to do photos before church instead.

I kind loved getting Jason with each of the kids. So fun. He is one very loved Dad! And, of course, Atticus wanted to make sure to get a turn to take a photo so into the picture I went. I had been up most of the night before with Phineas and hadn't anticipated getting in pictures, but I love how excited Atticus gets to take pictures and to have me in them as well.

After church (and Phineas' nap), the kids insisted that Jason open his presents right away. They were so excited to have him open up their projects. And they look awesome! They made these canvas pictures for Jason of a night sky stating that he is the best dad in the galaxy along with a picture of them in chalk art on the driveway and a palm sander! Jason was pretty insistent that we not buy him anything. We had to ignore him on that one this time because even the kids knew how much we was eying up having a palm sander. Though, that said, I really do think (and pretty much know) that he would have been over the moon happy having only received the beautiful paintings, picture and cards from the kids. The did an awesome job on them!

And that brings me to the awesome job that Jason is doing as a dad to these great kids. There is a reason why these kids love and adore him so much and that is because he rocks! He consistently gets the title of silliest daddy in the whole wide world because he keeps them laughing. He is great at stepping in to help and a big encourager to them. He is also such a great example on being steadfast and a hard worker. I feel pretty fortunate to have him as my partner in parenting. I feel like we see eye-to-eye on most things and balance each other off well in other things. I really do feel like I lucked out! And I think the kids echo the same sentiment! We love and adore Jason!

And while on the subject of Dad, I cannot leave out a mention of the awesome dads that we have known throughout our lives. I love seeing how our dads grow into the granddad role and how much our children need that multi-generational connection. It's tough when we live so far away but hopefully there will be more visits in the future :). And then the kids have some pretty awesome great grand dads as well. They are pretty lucky :).

Happy Father's Day to all the great Father's we know!

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Hiking in Nature

After we went hiking for my birthday, the kids got a little bit hooked and I am pretty excited about doing some more with them - and so are they! Because we can't head out to true hiking trails super often, we are making more use of our nature parks that are closer to home and we have some great ones. So I mapped one out and picked the path we would walk according to some neat things along the path (bridges etc, that help to keep the kids interested). This particular park actually reminded me of one that Jason and I walked in Houston. The kids did AWESOME and we were all surprised when we checked our distance at the end to discover that we had gone FURTHER than we did on my birthday. These kids are serious troopers. The mosquitos were pretty fierce that day though. All that said, we were among the first in the park so it was like we had it all to ourselves and it was such an awesome way to start our Saturday. 

My birthday pictures

I'm typically the one behind the camera. While I do enjoy taking pictures, I don't enjoy missing out on being in pictures with my family. But, when I put the camera down to make sure that I am enjoying the moment and am actually in the moment, the camera is typically left off to the side and there are no pictures of the moments that I am more present in. I am pretty sad that I am not in more pictures with the kids. I cried when I went searching for photos of my with my kids as babies only to discover I only had a handful of blurry iPhone photos. There is no opportunity to get proper photos with them at that age again. 

So I've been trying to coach Jason on how to work the camera so that he is able to take over the camera occasionally so that I am actually in the pictures.  For my birthday, he took over the camera. He even snapped photos of the decorations that he and the kids did. It was so refreshing and lovely to get to spend the entire day focusing on enjoying the day with my family AND still get some pictures from it as well (because I think there needs to be a balance of living in moments and capturing them). And Atticus loves getting to take photos as well which is great because then Jason and I get to be in pictures together as well. Love Love LOVE these pictures. And I love the great day that they represent. I know I said it before, but I will say is again - I loved this birthday! I just love these incredible people. And it was a birthday present in and of itself that I was able to get pictures with the kids and with Jason. There are a lot of pictures. But there can never be too many, to be completely truthful on the matter. It's the only chance I have to try and freeze time and keep these memories - pictures. So grateful for the people, the smiles and the amazing memories these pictures represent. So grateful.