More pre-Christmas and the Eve

We had some friends over the Monday before Christmas. I think I mentioned it before...6 kids and 6 adults. Here's the 5 non-infants at the kids table.
We had brought out our old bouncy chair for the 6 week old. The girls thought it was very interesting and played with it the next day. Here they are pretending to watch over baby Jesus. I think Katie even said she was Mary and Sam might have been either Joseph or a wise-man, I didn't quite catch it.
We finally got around to putting some insulating plastic over the girls window. Whoops! See the ice that had built up between the black out blind? I knew it felt a little cold in there. I don't care if the plastic helps with the ice or makes it worse, but it does seem warmer in the room now.
We decorated more cookies on Christmas Eve...had to make sure we had enough for Santa, right? Used my mom's "Old Fashioned Sugar Cookie" recipe...much better than the other ones I made. Hopefully I remember that this is THE recipe when I go to make them next year.

The girls got a little dressed up for Christmas eve. (though I think before we headed out Sam had decided she didn't want the skirt anymore)I had made them Christmas barrettes the night before for our other family Christmas party. I think they are so cute!GG Lill brought out a gorgeous doll house to play with, that used to be Gram Cheryl's. Such a neat house...all metal and bungalow layout...I haven't seen one like this ever before!Gram was keen to show Katie and was having as much fun (or more?) than Katie!Sam had a lot of fun and ended up getting so hot running around that she insisted on taking of all her clothes. How's that for a special Christmas outfit? Here's a video we took of Sam. She was pretty excited!

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

Here's a pic of the girls in their PJ's putting out the cookies for Santa. We also put out apple for Rudolph. The girls were excited and Katie even wrote the note.
Things are mostly improved health wise now. Most of us are feeling better...Katie got sick this week but is recovering quickly.

Have I mentioned that Katie is officially in her "WHY?" phase? Evidenced (obviously) by asking why about a lot of things, but also her general questioning. For example..."We're having friends over tomorrow" (1 second later) "Is it tomorrow?". Cute, but irritating after the millionth time. It's very neat though to hear her being curious about everything and I'm trying my best to give her clear answers appropriate for her age.

Sam's talking a ton...very much a "Mine" "Me Too!""I want some fruit too!" kind of place she's in.

I'm sure there's more to share but I'm getting tired from our WILD (leftovers for dinner, bath and books) New Years Eve. See you next year!

More Pre-Christmas

Hello!
Hope you all had a very merry Christmas. Our girls had a lovely Christmas but Ben and I (technically) did not, with both of us getting some bad stomach bug on Christmas day. Luckily, we made it through the present opening and brunch, but we were in terrible shape the rest Christmas day and the next. Thankfully, Gram Cheryl was able to help and came over for a bit in the evening to give the girls dinner and help get them ready for bed. Gram and Papa took the girls for much of boxing day so we could rest and recover. Thank goodness for family!

Illness aside, things were wonderful. Here are some photos from pre-Christmas.

Katie getting excited about putting up our tree.
Sam wasn't as excited but did help hang some (unbreakable) ornaments.
The girls and I had time to spare one morning and went to Starbucks and Chapters.
As much as we have the time to do this, I think we've been busy with errands or playdates and school etc, so haven't actually had much recent relaxed "no where else to be soon" play time together. It was fun and silly.
Laundry doesn't stop for holidays does it? Funny how the mountains of laundry stay as large, but the girls are looking bigger in the pile then they used to.
Silly Sam, still little enough to fit in a basket. I do believe it was Katie who covered her up with clothes. I did quite a bit more baking this year than I usually do...I'm more of a year round baker than a Christmas baker. These were cookies made from Gram Mary's dough (luckily for her she couldn't find her cutters and had to send it home with us!), saving me time and energy. Katie enjoyed helping me decorate while Sam was out shopping with Ben. Decorating with Katie is easier than baking, because I just let her do whatever she wants and decorate the rest as fast as I can before we have too many inch thick iced cookies, or cookies drowning in a bottles worth of sprinkles. The girls helped the grandparents decorate their Christmas trees. (I only have a picture of them at Gram and Papa's but they did Gram and Grandpa's too). Papa was reading "Twas the night before Christmas"...Sam, not that interested in sitting still. Look, more baking! Peppermint Meringue Cookies, from Joy the Baker. I didn't have the proper piping tools, so I just used a ziplock bag with a snipped tip. They maybe had a bit too much food colouring...the first ones piped were a little red and bloody looking and the rest still left quite a pink tint in your mouth when eaten. Still, they were easy and had a nice whoosh of peppermint. One fine evening was spent having dinner at our friends Russ and Steph and baby W's house. We exchanged gifts for the kids with them...So Much Fun for the kiddos! All gifts given and received were lovely and sweet. Especially the slippers...Katie got a pair of snowman slippers and she has worn them to bed every night since and skates around the house in during the day. Happiness is...!
More Christmas to come...!

Christmas Season

The girls (especially Katie...at her age, she's really starting to anticipate this year) are getting very excited about Christmas. We've had lots of fun Christmas activities to make us feel warm and fuzzy.

Sam eating a cookie we decorated at the breakfast/crafty fun morning with our friends Megan and Rob and their kids D and M.
Katie decorating.
Megan and family.
Katie had a Sharing Day at her preschool. Parents and Grandparents were invited (both Ben and I and Gram Cheryl came!). There was a craft component as well as a song/dance. (low pressure Christmas concert!) Katie had fun but did get a little shy during a dance and sat on my lap after that. It was neat to see her with her friends and teachers.
Here's a picture from our little graham cracker gingerbread house decorating party we had the other weekend. The kids were quick to decorate but even quicker to eat...I think all Sam did was lick icing. The houses were cute and we had fun eating pizza and veggies afterward. Jo-Anne and her girls G and C came...we'd invited others, but very last minute, and so we had fun with just the 4 girls.
There's been a lot of baking and Christmas prep this week. It's been nice having Ben home. We had dinner with our friends Megan and family and Katie's preschool friend N and her family. 6 adults and 6 kids (though one is only 6 wks old)...it was a bit chaotic at the kids table. There were times where we adults couldn't converse for all the loud giggling!

Unfortunately, Sam woke up in the night throwing up...It's either that she ate too much or the bug that's apparently going around. She was fine after that until yesterday morning when she threw up again. Though I admit I gave her a full normal breakfast thinking she was all better...and I was definitely wrong. She seems fine today...here's hoping we're healthy for the rest of the next few days as we have 4 dinners out in a row starting tonight.

Merry Christmas! (in case I don't post again until after Saturday)

Christmas Kitties

This photo was the result of one of Sam's Un-Naps a few weeks ago. She took all the blankets etc and pulled them off the beds. And took her clothes off. She's a busy girl. These photos were taken at Ken's work Christmas Party. They had lots of great kids activities including face painting. I don't know if Katie started it, but after she got this kitty face I saw lots of other girls with kitty faces. Or maybe that's the only face the painters knew how to draw? (note Katie's Christmas dress from last year...it was a bit big when I bought it and she refused to wear it more than the one time until a couple of months ago. Now we're wearing it once a week!)(Cute!)
Sam with the Christmas tree. I swear I saw her look at it... Think... Take a few steps closer...Then look around as if to think "See, they didn't even notice I moved closer!". I'm sure she's the one will worry about getting into our tree this year. Since we did decorate on Sunday afternoon, Sam has been taking off some ornaments here and there, but only the soft ones we put on the bottom, so it's not been too disastrous.
My friend M posted on her (private) blog recently and posted pictures about the trouble of getting family photos with too busy kids. I thought I'd post one of our attempts:
I was trying to get the girls in front of the trees. I had decided that kitty faces could be the new holiday "thing". The girls did not seem to agree.

Thank you...

Sam is napping on me in the sling as I type this one handed. I've prepared myself to surrender the nap battle...we'd lost the last three days with no nap. Her behaviour's not intolerable though, so while I think she's a bit young, maybe she knows what's best. But I'll take a nap from her here and there when I can....today, she was pointing and asking for something and as best as I can figure it was the sling and a blanket. Add my favorite calming CD (recent re-found!) Jewel Lullaby and she fell asleep. I'm sure my back will thank me later.

Besides Sleepy Sam, what I'm really thankful for is the mysterious extra camera cord I found! While digging through our tech/CD cupboard looking for Christmas CD's, out tumbled this little black camera cord. I swear I've never seen it before. Early Christmas miracle?

We tried letting the girls put decals up in their room (some time ago now...). There were two identical sticker sheets, so the got one each. The decals were stiffer than the ones we have in the basement which made it pretty easy for the girls to work with.


Of course, that also makes it easier for them to pull off too. This happened later on the same day we stuck them up.

Here's a long promised skating photo! Videos to come. Ben and Katie.
Friends Megan and M.Rob and D. The rink is at Millennium Place in Sherwood Park.Sam was not into skating, but enjoyed watching.It has been a busy weekend with Christmas parties...Hopefully I can do some marathon blogging and tell you all about it soon. =)

Baking!

I'm definitely feeling more seasonal lately...It helped that we went to an AWESOME Christmas breakfast and craft event with my friend Megan and her family, held at their church, this past weekend. The food was great and the best part was seeing the kids ave so much fun! I'm so grateful that they thought to ask us to join them.

Today was Katie's sharing day at preschool. Parents and grandparents were invited to come and do some crafts with the kids as well as watch some song and dance...and participate! It was really neat to see what they do and see how the teachers interact with the kids. Katie did get a little overwhelmed and chose to sit out for a bit, but we understand it can be awkward, with all those strangers around watching. Ben and Gram Cheryl were able to come and Great Auntie Joan even popped by! Sam stayed home with Auntie Andrea and Uncle Sheldon.

Anyway! Now we've had lunch and since I'm napping Sam later now, I'm just getting used to having more time after lunch. What shall we do...Bake? We made dough for making gingerbread men. I bought a set on impulse because it had cutters for clothes and a santa hat and beard with it. Too cute! What's our favorite part of baking? Licking the beater/spoon or course!
(I'd almost forgotten I can take pictures with the laptop...yay!)

The dough has to cool in the fridge for a few hours so the girls are doing dishes. Yup, for real. I have limited their dishes to plastics or other unbreakables. The mess will be astronomical I think. And I am planning on rewashing the dishes later when they're not looking. I've never let Sam get involved before, but she has this very insistent way of getting involved. I swear, half the time I think about baking these days, I decide not too because of the way the girls start pushing chairs over as soon as they see me go near a kitchen counter.

It's maddening, but then, what else is new? =)

About a Green Sheep

Today was a pretty good day!

With all the sick and the weather and who knows what else, I'll admit I've been feeling pretty tired and maybe stressed out. And THEN...Sam didn't nap for three straight days.

I was totally freaking out. She was even taking off her diaper and telling me she had to go potty (she asks usually after every diaper change...sits, does NOT pee/poop, pulls as much toilet paper as she can (before I remember to grab it) stuffs it in the toilet, AND reaches back and flushes it. And then smiles with glee!). The whole situation was bringing back flashbacks of when Katie was doing the same thing...which led to the end of napping and potty training at the same time!...Only she was 6 months older than Sam is now!

Goodness! I thought and thought and thought...chatted (whined) to my mom friends and strategized with Ben and finally called our pediatrician and the receptionist (is she a nurse too? I don't know?) suggested putting her down for her nap later, around 2 (I was aiming for our usual 12:30 or 1:30). I was also remnded while talking to her of something we did with Katie when she started sleeping on a bed instead of her crib...that is, putting her back to bed every time she gets up. Right now, we had gotten into a pattern of holding the door shut. I think that putting her straight back to bed (even every 30 seconds for 20 minutes while she's screaming) works better because it gives a consistent message of "It's nap time" and no "fighting" about it. It worked yesterday and again today in less time than yesterday. Phew. I feel like I've averted a major crises. And for some reason, I feel like my perspective has changed and I'm just more calm and happier anyway. Maybe the weight of being worried about them being sick and then Ben and I and then napping issues was really affecting me more than I realized.

Anyway...Other than napping, today we did a few things. Went and picked up a part for our dishwasher (yay, we can use rinse agent again!), went to the library and made soup for dinner.

At the library, Sam found a book that we've read before "Where is the Green Sheep?" by Mem Fox (we love her!). Sam insisted I read it to her while some other mom commented on her talking skills (so nice to hear!). Sam remembered that the book was about sheep, especially green sheep. Since we've had it home again, we've read it maybe 6 times. One repeated line in it is "Where is the green sheep?" I must have said something like "we don't know." once or twice at this point because now Sam reads this line and then puts up her hand and says "Don't Know!" in the cutest little voice. Another favorite page is where it says "Near sheep" and "Far sheep"...for "near" there is a close up drawn image of this sheep face and then for "far" a sheep drawn far away. I moved the book close to her face and then far away...she loved it, giggled and now we have to do it multiple time, every time. =) It's definitely one of those books we've developed a special relationship with. I love it!

Hope your days are looking up too. Still looking for the camera cord...and Sam's dolly...Santa?...are you reading this?

Feeling Blah and an Overdue Video

Good morning!

Um...still have not found the camera cord. Will find it soon or I'm sure the camera will explode.

The girls are both feeling better...did I mention the day after Katie was sick last week, Sam got a fever too? Yep. Katie didn't go to school at all last week, but did make it this week.

Ben was sick on the weekend. Not quite the same thing as the girls but sick enough to be on the couch for a day or two.

BAM...then I got it this week on Wednesday. That was a long day but the girls were pretty good. There was a lot of them playing by themselves, a little extra tv for Katie and...I don't even remember how I made it through the day. Ben was great and came home as early as he could from work. And arranged to have someone cover his morning class so he could take care of the girls yesterday morning. That helped a lot...being able to sit and not talk and just relax myself all better.

I'm feeling better today...my throat's still sore but it doesn't feel like my whole neck is swollen.

Katie's illness affected our night potty training, and upon advice from the Pediatrician's office, we're having her wear Pull-Ups and waking her at around 10 or 11pm to go to the bathroom. Training her body to wake up at night too pee. So far so good.

Also, Christmas is suddenly right around the corner (how did that happen!?) and the girls have started their Advent calendars. We have one each with Playdough treats (cutters and tiny playdough filed ornaments etc., a thoughtful gift from my cousin Meghan and her daughter Lucie) and the one that Gram made Katie last year which we've filled with chocolates. Sorry Sam, you're too young this year to get a chocolate a day, next year for sure!

Not sure what we're up to today...hopefully we can arrange a playdate of some kind.

Since I have no photos, I dug around a bit and remembered I hadn't ever shown you our Halloween video! Are you alright watching a video that's over a month old? (you'd better be ok with it, because you have no choice!)

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

Enjoy your weekend!
PS...has anyone seen Sam's little knit Dolly? It's her best sleep buddy and it's been missing for a week! Napping has been if-ier and I think she'd settle down more easily at night if we had it. Look around and if you find it, let us know! =)

A Surprising Milestone...

Today was a sick day. Katie woke up with a fever. I kept her home from school (she cried about that) and the three of us took it easy.
Sam's diaper rash is back since her poops have (I think) been affected by her teething. Medicine and diaper cream are helping.
We've been eating lots of plain pasta and not too much fruit/fibre.

In all this I'm sure you're wondering "what was the milestone"?

Katie's First Movie.

I decided that since she was sick that she got all the books and tv time she wanted. (which gave me some reading/"napping with eyes open" time). Sam napped over 2 hours which helped. I had hoped this would be a more spectacular moment...maybe popcorn, Ben and I both there, a movie we've been dying to share with her. Nope. Horton Hears a Who which we had PVR'd a few weeks ago as a potential movie for her, just since it was there. We've enjoyed several versions of the book. I think it went ok. She watched most of it I think.

We also read some of Little House in the Big Woods...I've been itching to read this book to Katie. I enjoyed them so much as a little girl. I'm sure she doesn't understand everything but she does seem to enjoy it. Looking forward to more of this.

I think this sicknes is going to put a kink in our nighttime potty training...after a couple of sick issues earlier today, I threw a Sam diaper on Katie when we went downstairs (carpet you know!) and Ben and I have just agreed that messy nights would be even less fun than simply wet ones. Ben's out getting emergency diapers right now. Phew. Quick thinking since...

...I'm heading out to my last writing class in 45 minutes and dinner's just about ready. (garlic lemon chicken drumsticks, white rice and asparagus that I'm betting the girls don't touch.) Hope Ben's evening goes well.

Have a good night, hope you are not sick like some of us.

A little Grumpy...

I'm a little grumpy this morning. A few reasons why:

1. We took the gate off the girls bedroom for sleeping. Party because the plastic gate was getting a bit bent and the girls had figured out how to slip underneath. (gate=useless) Also partly because we've decided to try getting rid of Katie's night diapers. We have ONE diaper left. We'll use it tonight and then make sure we have a lot of clean sheets. Anyway...Sam stays in the room pretty well...we have to hold the door handle for about 20 minutes until she gives up. Katie on the other hand...while she goes to sleep better, she is waking up more and coming to see us in our bed. Maybe partly because she's going to the bathroom (we've told her we're going to start getting rid of diapers completely) and I think largely just for comfort. She'd been a bit wakey anyway lately...searching for her glowworm or other stuffed toy etc. It was a long night last night. I think I juet need to mentally plan for a weekend wake-a-thon.

2) Sam's been a bear this week. Not the whole time, but definitely having a few really fussy periods a day. And some diarrhea...I'm chalking it all up to molar teething.

3) This morning Sam got to and broke a musical snow globe...thankfully not the globe part, just the base. I'm mad because of the mess a bit, because she keeps getting into things she shouldn't (yay persistence, that'll be agreat character trait when she's older!) but mostly for sentimental reasons. The globe was used a lot when Katie was a wee baby when we needed to calm her and distract her while at the change table. It's sad to think that I won't someday be able to hand it down to her. Oh well, it's just an object.

4) Due to the gate thing, the girls woke up at about 5:20 AM this morning. Yuck. I refused to make breakfast until 6am.

5) Winter is officially here this week...like -20 cold and a fair amount of snow. It's kind of fun and nice and bright, but it's going to take some getting used to.


There are many GOOD things though...!

1) Coffee. At home and free at McDonalds this week. I like free things. And coffee. Did I mention coffee?

2) When Sam was having some rough times this week, Katie has been an angel...helpful. Both to me and Sam.

3) I baked a yummy Cranberry Orange Bread for a play date yesterday and it was delicious. (though I didn't use any dried cranberries...only nice tart frozen ones!)

4) The girls have been playing really well together. Last night before bed the girls were racing around in a circle with their strollers and all four of us were laughing.

5)Katie has named one of her stuffed animals. Every time she says the name I almost can't not laugh out load. The name is Baby Join Join. I have no idea where it came from. ("Mom, I'm busy reading to Baby Join Join")

6)I've got cookie dough in the fridge ready and waiting to be baked this afternoon. I've found that with the two girls "helping" it's often easier time-wise to mix dough one day and bake it another. Hard to find time to do it all at once.

7) I've got all my fabric cut and ready to sew for some Christmas projects. Now comes the fun part. Can't wait until Sam's nap time!

8)I think we're planning on going to Millenium Place this morning with some friends. Warm swimming, indoor playground and nice company. Can't wait.

9) Which reminds me...I have video and pictures of Katie's first time ever skating from last weekend. Sam wasn't interested but Katie loved it. She liked it so much that I searched on Kijiji the next day about picked up 2 pairs of skates for her (2 sizes) in our neighbourhood for THREE DOLLARS. (that last point has a lot of good things, doesn't it?) (but I still can't find the camera cord...I'll get Ben to look this weekend)

Dear Sam,

I know I should expect that you could figure out how to open the diaper bag and get into my wallet. You've done this a zillion times and each time I curse your cleverness.

Why is it though, that you manage to take out only the most important things? My license, health care card and even the receipt for my Special Boot that I'm to photocopy for the claim? Do you know how close that is to disaster?

There are plenty of better things for you to grab from my wallet...expired starbucks cards, unneeded receipts and various "club" cards for stores I don't shop at. Please take those instead.

That's it for now. Have a good day...lets hope you're less fussy than yesterday...darn molars. (and perhaps a wee cold).

Lots of love,
Mom

Where is the camera cord?

I would post, but I can't find the camera cord.

Working on it.

See you soon!
Heather

What we sometimes do with Playdoh.

Sometimes, this is what we do with playdoh. Because it makes the girls laugh.

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

I've been meaning to take of photo of my newest accessory... a walking boot...an Aircast...looks like a ski-boot. I didn't break my foot, I'm just trying to heal a mystery running injury on the bottom of my left foot. I took last month off running and will do another month with the boot. Sam calls it "Mom's Special Boot". I don't feel the pain while wearing it, so I think it'll help. I'll try and get a picture.

Friday

Hello Friday!

I'm uploading a video that we took while playing with playdoh the other day, like in this picture:
It's kind of cute...I'll post it when it's ready. I have a few videos to post, I'll work on it.
Here are some photos I almost forgot about from Katie's preschool party. (really just during the drop off and pick up, other kids faces are blurred). This yellow dude (I forgot who his costume is...) is cute and knows how to pose for a picture!
Katie the Fairy. I love this photo because her face has such a cute heart shape. She actually looks like this a lot but I don't manage to get many photos of it. I just think she's so cute!
Here's Katie with her friends (yellow man in background is a friend too). These 4 really like playing at the playground and running in the field after school. They're very lucky the weather has held out...we're still getting plus temperatures this week. (I just checked the weather and it's currently 12 degrees...at 7:30am!!)
Sam's hair is getting longer and fluffier (that's what happens before it gets thicker) so I'm trying pigtails a little bit. Super cute, but with a high level of difficulty in execution. Sam says "Ow" a lot during, but I really think it sounds a bit fake and suspect she's copying Katie's "Ows" from when I brush her hair.
Not sure what the plan is for today, but I'm thinking we should go outside. I'll let you know!

Snow Pictures

Never mind that the snow's all gone...here are the snow pictures!

Cute and puffy in snowsuits!
The two "Noman", as Sam likes to call them, before Katie insisted on adding her scarf (like Jillian Jiggs, she says!"). (my leg in picture for scale)

Sam wondering about those mittens...they're last years and thumb-less. Mama needs to make her girls some mittens. =)
Katie laughing.
The finished snowman. Katie got upset when we went inside because she wanted her headband back (the scarf was originally her headband) even though I'd prepped her that we were giving it up forever to the snowman.