Thursday, April 28, 2011

She's alright and a conversation.

Long-ish day here today.

Sam woke Ben and I up last night at least 9 times between us (or around there) and so we were all tired this morning.

Sam barely ate anything for breakfast.

We took Katie to school and hung out with a friend at a nearby mall. The little car/stroller was fun for a little while but then Sam just wanted to be held with her head on my shoulder while we walked and I pushed the cart. For Ever. (30 min +)(ouch, my arm STILL hurts!)

Obviously tired and out of sorts I checked her temp before lunch and it was 38.9...a bit of a fever. She slept a lot, sometimes in my lap, sometimes in a chair. A lazy day for us. Cloudy and drizzly as the afternoon went on. While she napped I made soup. Which she then didn't eat, but of course that's ok because she's sick. She did nibble on crackers and a few other things. And drank lots of water.

As we were reading after supper, she was falling asleep again, so I got her jammies, her second dose of Advil and put her to bed. Katie and I were colouring (Henry and Diesel 10, from Thomas books) when Sam heard dad come home from his soccer assistant coach meeting (for Katie's team) and she walked out of her room saying she wanted to be up. Then dad went out again for groceries...he's a Really Useful Dad. =)

I held Sam while Katie and I drew pictures. And then, this magical drawing/strorytelling took place...
...here's a square, see how I can make it a box?
...oh, I should use this colour, Sam?
...Hmm...sea green
...let's draw an octopus
...Katie will draw his face
...why is he sad Katie? Oh, because the other fish and octopus friend wouldn't play with him and I should draw him in a cage?
...like this?
...Sam, you think he's sad and he should have a toy?
"...yeah"
...Ok, I'll draw a toy car...ok a red one.
...Kaitie, you want me to draw the mean octopus who put him in the cage?
...The mean octopus isn't letting the one in the cage have any food? Well, I'm sad about that, so I'm going to draw some seaweed for him.
...Yes, Katie, they eat little fishes too, I'll draw one of those.

And on and on. And while this conversation was so organically creative that I was tickled just by this, I was also glad to start to see Sam come alive a bit. I then noticed it was raining more so we went to the front window to see what we could see.

Katie: Cars! Houses! Trees!
Sam: smiles a little...and says "Pinecones!!"

And then Katie gets silly and lists all the things we saw in a funny voice and before you know it both girls are doing it and laughing hysterically.

So, I think Sam is feeling a whole lot better. Already she doesn't even feel quite as hot to me. Phew. Not that I was really really worried, but they are just so seldom feverish (knock on wood) that I get a little worried when that happens. Though, I don't think we had a single temper tantrum today. That's a bit magical too. =)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Happy 4th Birthday Katie!

Happy Birthday Katie!

It's cliche to say this, but I cannot believe you're already 4...have you really been bringing joy to our lives for 4 years already? (and has it only been this long? Feels like forever!)

You took this picture of yourself with the camera last week. I think it is the best picture of your eyes I have seen. Such a beautiful mix of colours! You have grown incredibly this past year. You can write words if we spell them out for you and even can write Dad, Mom, Katie and Sam all by yourself. Your dad and I may have to start spelling words aloud in French soon (or Pig Latin) because you are getting the hang of spelling...the other day Dad spelled E-A-T and right away you said "Eat!?". Other words we cannot spell are Park, Snack and Bath. (well, we CAN spell these words, bu cannot count on you not understanding them). You can say your ABC's backwords with a little prompting, and can count with ease.

You are the greatest big sister I could ever want for Sam. You both enjoy each others company most of the time and the things that make you giggle are silly. "Sack of Potatoes" anyone?! You are also finding humour in potty language these days, though you have been pretty good at stopping when we ask. For example, when "making cake" you explain that it's "Blueberry Diaper Cake" ha ha ha. =) Speaking of blueberries...:
You are an excellent listener...I suspect it's something of an Oldest Child/Rule Follower thing...I love it and will try hard not to abuse it and let you have some fun.

I suppose your biggest talent these days is drawing. Your teacher at preschool has let us know time and time again that you have excellent colouring/drawing skills. (if I'm allowed to brag..."best I've ever seen in a 3 year old" is about what your teacher said). You drew this "Blueberry Man" (you named him) at dad's school on the white board.
And drew his friend (or brother? I forget) next to him upside down. I don't know but this seems pretty amazing to me. Apparently Dad's students were impressed too.
It seems like I am amazed every day with something you say or do. I can already see that you are kind and concerned about other people. You love to make friends and will run up to anyone at the playground and ask them to play. You voluntarily share things with me and Dad and Sam. You can definitely be stubborn and, like all kids, can get upset when you don't get what you want. You love to run and jump and are excited about starting community league soccer soon.

Your face was painted like a butterfly here because we went to our friend D's preschool Easter Egg Hunt/Penny Carnival...we had so much fun. It is a wonderful feeling to do things that make you happy.
We all love you so much! My biggest hope for you in the next year is that you continue to smile, be nice and funny and enjoy doing and learning all the new fun things that are coming your way.

Love and BIG Four Year Old Hugs,
Mom
PS...big hugs to Dad too...it's our 8th wedding anniversary today and I can't believe how fast the time is gone and how amazing you have been as a Husband and Father. That's all I can say about it...if I try and type more and explain, I just start tearing up because no words are good enough. =)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

From last weekend...Sam, getting caught eating soap in the bathroom. Doesn't she look guilty...buy also peaceful?
Last weekend Ben got creative and made the girls a cardboard box airplane. He actually made a car first and started to make the airplane when we realized we might need two vehicles, but the airplane was so much cooler (apparently) that no one then wanted the car. They did manage to share one vehicle.
Auntie Alli was in town visiting last weekend. She came bearing gifts!
Flowers and spring headbands and stickers a quilt and all kinds of goodies!
We had a great weekend with her and I'm so glad that she got to see some really great behaviour from the girls...Goofy, fun, smart, polite, crafty and all kinds of great ways that our girls are so awesome and I'm glad she got a good taste of it. This last picture (though we spent quite a bit of time together I must have had too much fun and forgot to take many photos) was taken just as she was saying goodbye and the girls were just about as hyper as they get.
Auntie Alli brought me a book about making Cake Pops...yummy little treats that can be spectacularly decorated... I made some the next day for the dinner at Gram and Grandpa's and though I kept the design simple, I think their cuteness is still pretty impressive. Don't be too surprised if I make these a few more times this spring!
Of the 268 pictures that I just took off the camera, Katie must have taken at least 200 of them...I let her take a few pictures and she just got the hang of it...she even knows how to slide the button back and forth between seeing the pictures you've taken and taking more. Clever kid. I'll show you a couple, but will spare you the pics of stuffed animals, dirt on the floor, and miscellaneous blurry things. She took this cute one of Sam. Auntie Alli brought the girls cute window clings/sticker-gel-things and the girls play with them every day...the play does include ripping the pieces (Sam) so they wont' be around long, but have been well loved. Katie put these letters up (Katie took these pictures too, after I showed her the macro setting):And told me they were on skateboards. This pic was taken on Thursday when we had the big snow. Honestly, the day before, that scene was just about all grass. Indie photographer Katie was shooting documentary style and caught this interesting exchange. Allow me to narrate:
Sam, the wild and daring 2 year old of the house is seen climbing over the couch...again. Mother rushes over and expresses great with a mix of great concern and fury that this is dangerous behaviour in the home environment and better suited to playground type environments. We can see in this shot of her posterior that the mother may have recently been indulging in the previously mentioned "Cake Pops" and other baked goods. The mother then sits on the desk used as climbing apparatus and expresses her delight at triumphing over the difficult behaviour of the sometimes trying two year old while also showing awareness that photographers were indeed, still nearby. The photographer, Katie, allows herself to be photographed and is wearing the new dress made by her mother. We appear to be quite proud of the photography skills and happy with the new ensemble. Expect more stunning photographs from this up and coming new photographer on this very blog soon.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Snow again...

Well! Just when we thought it was spring! The day before yesterday, we could almost see all the grass on our front lawn...and then yesterday we had a huge dump of snow. I don't know how much but it must have been at least 10cm. Wet and heavy to shovel. Grumble grumble.

The other week Katie got dressed all by herself and then asked me to take a picture of her outfit. And then for some reason, intentionally gave me this face while doing it.
Sam reading in a chair...doesn't she look grown up in this photo?
Last week when the weather was nice and there were puddles everywhere we went for a long walk. It was beautiful and fun to get outside.
Rubber boots and spring jackets! (Katie is wearing her winter one again today, Sam is wearing two spring jackets.)
The next day we went and had lunch at Gram and Papa's and it was so nice out the girls wanted to go for a walk again. So I talked Gram into joining us for a walk to the playground. There was so much deep snow! the girls had trouble walking because they sank down so far. We may have gotten a little wet.
I really can't wait for playground season!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Finally Springish

Whoops...have we not talked since St Patrick's Day? My bad...

(The funniest thing about St. P Day was how the Leprechaun's came to Katie's classroom and were mischievous and MADE a MESS(!!), turning chairs upside down and on the tables, and leaving footprints all over the floor...these teachers we have are SO wonderful!!)

Though the weather has finally started warming up and the snow is melting, for a while there I was doubtful we would ever feel spring-ish...so the girls and I decided to make butterflies and adorn the walls. (and their backs). This inspiration came from a favorite blog of mine, Made. Katie enjoyed the craft though I did end up colouring most of the butterflies, simply for speed and efficiency.
Sam coloured some wings too and though she didn't seem to need antenna like Katie, was pleased to have her wings just like her big sister. (stuck on with tape)
This is such a silly picture...I was being lazy and tossed the girls coats down to the back entryway, hoping to avoid the terribly arduous pain (*sarcasm alert*) of having to open the gate and walk down 4 stairs to hang them up. Sam's landed right on top of the light and the girls thought seeing the coat on the wall was just about the funniest thing ever.
This is our first time playing scrabble with the girls. (or rather Ben and I playing scrabble while the girls watched, learned and played with our letters, possibly dropping them on the floor...I may have been a little uptight about them dropping tiles on the floor. Can mom spell R-E-L-A-X?) Katie had fun and calls it "Scribble". The game was a nice way to do something fun and celebrate that it was spring break and Ben was home the whole week. We had so much fun with Dad around! By the way, Sam looks like she's not enjoying the "scribble", but really she's just mad I pulled her out of her chair for the photo. Bad Mom. =)
Here's a happy Sam! Wearing a beautiful Chinese dress that Uncle Jerry brought back from Cambodia. I love this bright colour on Sam. I had to tear it off her later as she has sbuck back to the table for more breakfast (she's such a grazer...if I don't clear breakfast she would nibble at it all day)...no Rice Krispees on this dress please!
Katie's dress doesn't quite fit, though she was game to try it. Since we recently had her 4 year checkup with the Pediatrician (about a month early) and found that she's well proportioned at the 90something percentile, I'm not surprised that a size 4 doesn't quite fit! (for the record: 49lbs/22.2kg and 3'8"/92cm)We managed to squeeze in a playdate with our friends D and M during spring break. I think it was one of our best play dates ever with them! (and rest assured there have been many great ones!) The kids hardly argued and played so well together that Megan and I had almost a full and complete conversation. Wonderful! The kids had fun playing in their dress up box. (Katie was looking for the lion costume, which we never found, but in the spirit of the awesome play date, there were No Tears etc about this)(...now had it been a princess/ballerina costume...!)
We ended the play date with a rousing game of Curious George Discovery Beach . We've played it before and it's a fun game for the kids. Makes me really look forward to playing more board games with the kids. And Megan was an excellent game hostess. A really lovely day overall. As I mentioned, the weather is finally looking up and we're seeing more grass. The girls and I went on a couple of walks ("Expedition!" says Katie) and are enjoying splashing in the puddles ans being in the sunshine. And I have to write this now, because I don't want to forget to tell you...as we were on our walk in our neighbourhood yesterday, we passed some people that we don't know. I said hello and something about the weather and Katie looks at them and says "We can't talk to you right now because we're minding our own business!" with quite a lot of almost 4 year old attitude and maybe even a finger wag. I have no idea where she got that, but it was hilarious and a glance at the gentleman says he agreed. =)