Tis the Season

Well, Gavi loves Christmas so far. Except he is a bit frustrated at all the limits we're placing on him. One step at a time. He just needs to learn how to be patient.


We went and got our Christmas tree this weekend. We totally sold out and didn't go to Ikea. It was a big debate and we did feel a bit like traitors but honestly the trees (albeit cheap), kind of suck. They are often already dried out when we buy them and they have absolutely no real tree smell whatsoever. So we splurged this year and bought one from Lowe's. It smells divine! The whole house smells like tree and the little extra stump that Greg trimmed off is next to my night stand which means I have an extra potpourri of aroma in my room. We love it. The girls named our tree, "Pinecone" because of her lovely shape.

They also loved looking around at all the decorations and ornaments while Daddy took like an hour (no joke) going through all the different kinds of trees and sizes and finally picking one that he liked. It was just too cold for us to all be outside for that long.

I got a few good pics of the kids though.

Afterward we were all starving and decided we'd grab a cheap burger from Burger King. After dinner, we vowed to never go there again--ever. So we all headed home with our tummy aches.

We somehow got them to wait a whole day to decorate. It probably had a lot to do with all the Christmas books we got out. They are so easily entertained by books. I love that about my chillins. It is so fun to get out the ornaments that I made or the kids made over the years. I don't think we're ever going to be one of those families that has matching ornaments or colors or whatever. It inspires me to make some new ones. I actually really want to sew some felt ones. If I do it, I'll post pics.

Here are some of the kids decorating!

Here's one of Gavi giving me kisses.


And here is the finished product!

Hopefully she'll still look this awesome in a few weeks.

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving. Greg surprised me by organizing a fun dinner with some friends here. The turkey was delicious! It reminded me of my Grandma because she always made turkey when we visited and it totally made me miss her. Anyway, I got all fancy and made a pecan pie. I would never try pecan pie when I was little because it looked freaky and funky. They don't really have pecan pies here in Canada. You can occasionally find little pecan tarts which basically are super mini pies. I got some at Walmart of all places after Canadian Thanksgiving and they were delicious so I told Greg I really wanted to make one. I thought it turned out beautifully, thanks to my sis-in-law's recipe but it wasn't a big hit at the party. Just reminded me how pecan pie is kind of old people pie. Ha, ha. I also have learned that I like my pecan pie like super cold out of the fridge. Yum.

Here's a pic because I was so proud of myself.

And here are some notes from our Thankful Wall this year. I love this tradition. It is fun to hear the things the girls are thankful for evolve and it was fun to have Chloe be able to write her own and even write some for Gavin and Tati.

Gavin is thankful for:

• boobie milk
• for my 2 best, biggest sisters in the whole world!
• for Eugene, the monkey
• for my pacifier

Tati is thankful for:

• for fun
• for candy
• for my new cougar "Mango"
• for milk (normal)
• for my jewelry
• for anamls (written by Chloe *)
  
• for the sun
• for colrs (*)
  
• for ants (huh?)
• for peanut butter
• for Sneaky (her BFF jaguar)
• for my barbie mermaid
• for Lucy, the elephant (the real one who lives at the zoo)
• for my mom (yes!)

Chloe is thankful for (in her awesome spelling that I want to remember):

• the holly gowst
• for the erths (that's deep)
• for a home
• for my school
• for my family
• for missionaries
• for church
• for my toys
• for food
• for books and stufees
• for frends
• for Linda (her Llama stuffee)
• for Samin (Tati's alter ego when she's a dog) (yes, you read that right)
• for Halowdays

I am thankful for:

• for my Chloe because I love her so much!
• for finally having a baby boy!
• for my cozy duvet on my bed.
• for our nice camera.
• for my best friend, Greg (and his biceps)
• for pretty snowflakes
• for cranberry gingerale
• for my sweet, little boy who makes me smile
• for yummy food
• for avocados
• for my Tati who gives me lots of great cuddles and hugs.
• for video chat

Greg is thankful for:

• for Canada
• for fresh fruits and veggies
• a fully functioning body
• for snow (sometimes)
• for technology
• for blankets
• for the Book of Mormon
• for my awesome family

Bionic Nose

We had a fun night last night. Chloe puked and felt disgusting, then Tati kept getting out of bed because her pillow was sweaty (which I finally remedied with putting a towel on her pillow, and Gavin kept waking up crying because he is teething. Man, am I ever tired today.

So last night the puke smell was overwhelming. I was spraying air freshener and febreeze everywhere. My bionic nose was in super high gear. Greg stripped the sheets, she got a new pillow and blah blah. The smell was going no where. As we lay in bed trying to fall asleep Greg was talking to me about this profound subject of how puke smells lingers and that was all it was.

I was just trying to get all the kids to take a nap and as I was about to tuck in Tati's blankets to get her bed in order when lo and behold but what do I see? Dried, streaks of puke that have dripped down from Chloe's bed and down to Tati's bed. So gross. It was like the last thing I wanted to deal with. So as I'm taking things off of Tati's art string that hangs along her wall with papers and special treasures that are now dried with spew, I just had to laugh at the beauty I found behind a laminated picture of Orcas that Tati has hanging next to her bed. It is from May, 2001 and it has our engagement day.

I know this is gross but I have to include a picture because it is also really funny to me.

I never would have remembered that is where the calendar ended up and I also never had that date fully documented (since I was never quite the journaler). Anyway, just goes to show that there really is a silver lining to even the nastiest jobs sometimes.

And speaking of random, while thinking of my bionic nose, I found this. We'll call it an ode to my childhood:

• 

• When I was little, I remember having bad dreams about fembots.
• Why is her name spelled like Jaime Escalante? Shouldn't it be Jamie?
• When I go to weird, cheap sweat shop stores, I say that it smells like "fembots" and Greg thinks I'm nuts.
  

The Best Day Ever!

Today was quite the momentous day for Chloe at school. It was so awesome because she lost her tooth, AT SCHOOL! I didn't realize her tooth was that loose to be honest with you. She told me a few days ago how she wished she could lose her tooth at school because it is so awesome and you get a little tooth box and blah blah. She told me how she likes to wiggle her tooth in her class and all I could think of was how many germs she was putting into her mouth.

Anyway, when I picked her up from school, she was just busting with excitement! She had lost her tooth AT SCHOOL! And not only had she lost her tooth at school but TWO of her other classmates had also lost a tooth THAT SAME DAY, in the SAME CLASSROOM! Crazy. Unbelievable. Exciting. Best Day Ever! I honestly can't believe she pulled it out. I guess after the second kid lost a tooth, that just did it for her and she got a kleenex and pulled on it really hard. She never would've done that before. Just goes to show me how much this girlfriend is growing up.

Here's Chloe telling you all about it.

Afterward, she got right to work writing the tooth fairy a letter requesting a fairy book for her "prize". I hate the dumb fairy books by Daisy Meadows. Avoid them. But they are oh so in right now in a 7 year old girl's world. Thankfully, her friend, told her that it didn't sound very polite requesting a specific gift from the tooth fairy. Her dad chimed in with "Yeah, she isn't Santa." Brother. Anyway, so here was the revised letter:


So not only did she have a much humbler letter, she also made a donation because she bet that the tooth fairy didn't have very much money. Ha, ha. She's right. This tooth fairy had to take this prize from the Christmas stockings pile. Oops.

Also, the washcloth is to dry off with because her Daddy mentioned, it was quite cold outside.

The next morning, what to everyone's surprise, the washcloth was wet and there was even glitter on it!

"Mom, the tooth fairy totally dried off and there is glitter!"

Then Chloe proceeded to tell me how the tooth fairy shops at the dollar store and how she put a sticker over the price tag to be polite. I was talking to my sister on the phone about it all and she was in disbelief that our sweet Chloe still believed all this. I just have to say that I like it. I will be sad when she figures it all out.

Our First Snow

I have to say I've been really proud of Canada this year. I mean, here we are like half-way through November and we just barely had our first snow. Not bad. Granted we did have some pretty insanely low temps in the days that followed this but we survived.

I love how crazy my kids are and I love how the snow just doesn't even phase them. The day after this picture, it stormed and snowed like crazy and because Tati is my stir crazy child, I decided to get her out and exercise her around. After spending 10 minutes getting our gear on, she marches outside and sits right down in the snow like she's at the beach.

Yeah, this ain't no beach. But it is pretty. At least for now it is quite pretty. Don't ask me if I think it is pretty in April.

And a special close up to admire Tati's use of my red lipstick. (See this post if you haven't read it.)

You're Dead!

Somewhere something is slipping through the parenting cracks. My 3 yr. old just made a gun out of K-Nex and has been shooting me. Then she says, "I'm just joking Mom!" Yeah, good one.

Red Alert

My Mom sent me this package which was super fun and one of the things thrown into it was this liptstick. The note attached said that she bought it and then upon trying it on at home decided it wasn't her color but she was sure it would look great on me because RED lipstick always looks good on younger women. I was scared of the lipstick especially because it was called "lip stain" and also scared of it because it was called "Cherry Pop". Then right before heading to church as I was finishing up my make up job, I decided my white face needed some color. What would I use? Aha, I'd use my new lipstick from my mom.

As I started to draw the stain onto my lips I remember thinking 3 things:

1. Man, I hope I follow my lip lines well.
2. Man, this seems awfully bright and red.
3. Uh oh.

So I tried what any normal person would do, I tried to wipe it off. Nope, it went no where. Although to their credit, it wouldn't have rubbed off onto my glass or another person had I been kissing them.

So I pulled out the big guns and got a hot washcloth with soap and started to SCRUB my lips. It got some of it off but there was still a VERY red tinge. And there was also a bit of redness now on my chin and upper lip. So I did the best thing I could think of, I put on some brownish gloss. Together with the RED, it toned it down enough to not come across as the big, blinking, red alert I was feeling like.

See for yourself.

And for the record, I can see how addicting Photobooth can be for somebody. I'm too picky about the results but it is fun.

Tati keeps staring at me and smiling and saying, "Mom, you look beautiful!" "Your lipstick is awesome on you." "Your lips match your nail polish! How did you do that?" Maybe I'll give the lipstick to her.

I decided I would fit in best with my red lips if I were sketching in gay Paris.

Au revoir.

Remembrance Day

So tomorrow is Remembrance Day here in O Canada. It's the Canadians way to say "Veteran's Day". Today I went to an assembly at Chloe's school. I loved it. I love that religion and patriotism are still alive. It makes me think of when I was in school back in the day, this is how it was in the States and then it makes me feel really sad for how far things have changed. One of my friends on Facebook put this as her status yesterday:

"It's gone from the 'Christmas Party' to the 'Winter Party' and now this year it's the 'Mid Year Celebration'. Seriously? I want to know which group was offended by the term 'Winter'."

I just thought about how lame that is and how much we suffer as a people by denying the spiritual nature of us and worrying about who will be offended by any sort of "religious" things we say. It also inspired me to be a stronger proponent of true patriotism where we acknowledge the help of God in how we govern ourselves and how we work with others and respect others.

Here in Canada, everybody wears a poppy pin. It is really cool to see so many poppies everywhere. They come from this poem called, "In Flanders Fields". I guess there were lots of battles fought there and lots of people died and were buried there. Each spring, the fields were covered with red poppies so when Canadians got back home, they'd remember their friends who were buried in the fields covered in poppies so everybody who wears a poppy is saying they remember the people who died fighting for freedom.

You can buy these poppies everywhere. Well, technically they are free but you can make donations to have them and the money goes to the war vets so how can you really not give them money, right? I used to think it was a weird way to celebrate the vets. That was because it was a different way of celebrating than I'm used to. At home we put up our American flags and play some patriotic music. It is a little louder of a celebration. Here things are quieter, more reverent maybe. I like it. I've come to learn that it doesn't matter so much where you come from but what you believe in and what you're willing to fight for.


Anyway, here are some things that I loved about the assembly:

1. They asked us to not clap and to be quiet during the assembly and not one elementary student made a peep. (And on that note of miracle, Tati sat for an entire 30 min. quiet and in her seat.)
2. The children, not the administrators, read poems and stories about the history of and reason we still celebrate this day.
3. All the children listened intently to the messages of freedom, gratitude and peace.
   
4. The entire school sang a song that had the word "God" in it twice.
5. All the children stood up and sang the National Anthem with the teachers and parents. The entire auditorium stood and sang and nobody walked out or sat down during the singing.
6. They somehow got all of the boys from Grades 1-6 to sing a "oooooohhhhh" background voice as a girl read a poem and nobody laughed or made fun of each other.
7. There was a moment of silence where everybody bowed their heads and remembered the people who fought for our freedom. There were many adults wiping their tears when it was done.
8. At the end before the kids left, the Asst. Principal asked how we can show our gratitude for those who have fought for our freedom and she told us it was by "remembering" them. Which is the whole point of today.

I just came away feeling really uplifted and hopeful. And I am VERY grateful for all the people who courageously fought and continue to fight for freedom.

Are your legs cold?

Chloe's aren't because she is so rocking the leg warmers. This outfit was so epic that I had Greg take a picture. I love this girl. She is so creative with what she comes up with.

She would've loved the 80's. And we would have totally been friends. And I love that this pose just came out of her.

Oh and one more note: That is a shirt and not a dress. It is just a size 10/12 but she decided she didn't want to wait until then because she could wear it now with leggings. Ha ha.

His/Hers

We've had some family visiting this week and although our sleeping arrangements worked out just fine, there was that little detail of all sharing one, small, bathroom. Everything was ok until 3 people needed to go to the bathroom all at the same time. Poor Chloe was downstairs with a panic face waiting for Grandpa to come out of the bathroom. Later, before bed she was talking to me about her future dreams and aspirations:

"Mommy, someday I want to have 2 bathrooms in our house. One for girls and one for boys. Just like they have at stores: with one toilet and then a wall (stall). Then we'd never have to wait to pee."

Way to dream, Chloe.

9 Months Old!

Guess who is all grown up now? It's Gavin. Our super cutie, super dangerous, getting into everything boy.

Here are some things he can do now:

• Crawl fast
  
• Push himself up to standing
• Climb the stairs
• Unplug things
• Sit by himself in the tub without flopping over everywhere
• Eat hard veggies like cucumbers and red peppers
• "Talk" to us. He grunts to get our attention then laughs and laughs when we look and he does this funny seal noise when he gets really excited. We'll have to get a movie of it.
  

Looks like it is time to rethink our toy and bookshelf storage.

Matchy Matchy

It is funny to me how many people from our college ward still have so much in common with us. I like it. It is fun to peek in on the lives of old friends and acquaintances. One of the things I like to see is when other families do themes whether it be from fun colors in family photos to Halloween costumes. It is something I like to do but I'm not going to lie, it takes a lot of work (sometimes too much). This last Sunday, I had the girls dress in their "Halloween Church Outfits". Does that seem so oxymoron or what? I loved it though and started thinking that maybe I should start a holiday hair clips collection for them.

Obviously we were going for purple and black.

P.S. Isn't that such a cute witch painting? My friend Jeanette loaned it to us for our party. We named her Ruby.



So did you Halloween dress up for church?

Trick or Trout

Trick or treating was fun because Tati was finally really into it. She was so excited and still marveling at the concept that people gave her candy for absolutely no real reason other than she asked for it. And that doesn't work so well for her at home. After each house she would excitedly tell us what she got, "Mom, that lady gave me a KIT KAT!" "I just got a LOLLIPOP!" but it was louder and more crazy voiced. We knew she was starting to tire out when she stopped telling us what she got all together and finally announced that she was tired. Still, these fools made out like bandits. I decided that this year there would be no suckers though. Is it just my kids or do other kids suck those lollipops FOREVER? I feel like I can see cavities forming. So I just let them keep all the chewies and chocolates. It is still more than they can eat. Chloe told us some rumor of a "Candy Fairy" who takes all the extra candy and leaves a toy present. Chloe was incredulous too and upon further questioning, her friend convinced her by saying, "Well, it is real because the candy was gone and there was a stuffie there." We can barely keep up with the tooth fairy around here. Has anybody ever done something like that?

Gavin went up to a couple of houses but then he fell asleep and that was it.

Tati loved all the attention she kept getting as a squid. She is our attention seeker child for sure. BTW, I got that squid costume last year after Halloween for $5. I just couldn't resist it. I bought a 2T because Tati had been so small and I figured it would work well for the future boy I was planning on having. It fit her great this year although it was a bit high waters. She wore thermals and stretch pants underneath it.


After we got home we did a "Spooky Bath". I got the idea from one of my blogging buddies. You put glow sticks in the bath tub. Melanie, I could see you guys doing this too. Then make a bubble bath. Our bubbles died out pretty fast and I went a little light on them because I was just certain that Gavin would eat them all up. (Side note: My children's under parts get very irritated by things labeled "Bubble Bath"--even the Johnson and Johnson ones. Their doctor said they just have very sensitive parts.) Anyway, they loved the spooky bath. I tried to take several pictures but my smart camera is obviously way smarter than me. It kept beeping and telling me that it was too dark for a picture. Then you try and get 3 kids to be still in a bathtub and not move a glow stick. Yeah, it is impossible. I tried with a few different lighting options like the hall light, etc. but this was the best I could do. I actually really like it.



Our kids love bath time. They only ever get out because we force them too. They don't even care if the water is cold.

Costume Parade

I remember how fun it was to dress up for school in my costume when I was little. The kids are only allowed to wear their costumes for part of the day here. I get it but at the same time it makes it a bit crazy for the kids to put all their gear on alone. We've decided to have Chloe just come home for lunch, get dressed and then go back to school in her costume. It makes it so much easier. Anyway, after all the kids get dressed up, they go to the gym for a big costume parade. It happened to fall right at nap time so my crowd was a little touchy but overall they had a great time. Anytime Tati can hang out with the big kids, it makes her day. And Chloe is always so good at making her feel big and included. She sat next to Chloe with her class:

And even walked the stage with her. It was so cute. Tati was actually a little timid, which is so unlike her, but when it was all over, she was SO happy. Chloe was pretty stoked that Madam was dressed up like a pirate too although she divulged that she thought her own costume was much better.

There were claps and cheers throughout based on the age of the students and their various costumes but the person that got the most applause was the janitor, Mr. Manny. Chloe calls him the "guy who cleans up the school". It was so cute to me, and heart warming, how every kid just LOVED him. Chloe said he's really nice and funny and he always gives the kids a high five. The kids lined the catwalk with their hands up to get a slap from him. I'm sure Mr. Manny didn't aspire to be a school janitor but he sure has made a great and positive impact on these kids and I, for one, was really touched.

I didn't dress up just because I ran out of time. And Gavin didn't wear his parrot outfit but he did wear a pumpkin costume. This was his spare that I bought for $2 at Dollarama. It was pretty cute but he hated it too. Let's hope that he'll grow into dressing up.


And here's one of Chloe at her classroom party right after the parade. Guess that wig didn't last long.

You're a Halloweener

3 pirates+1 kraken+1 parrot=
Happy Halloween!

We had a fantastic Halloween. I love Halloween. This year we cut our costumes down to the wire for sure. I knew what I wanted Gavin to be but I still hadn't sewn it because I was working my butt off on the trick or treat bags.

Poor Gavin's still wasn't done (and isn't now either but it will be by next year). Anyway, I had heard that Winners (the Canadian version of Ross Dress 4 Less) was having their Halloween costumes on sale so I rushed over and found this devil costume. BTW, I think it is mean and wrong to dress cute, little babies up as devils. I also bought some costumes to have for dress up stuff. Gavin has a Batman and a Superman costume now for when he grows up.
Update: Here is Gavin's bag. (finished 11/19)

Anyway, we took this costume and converted it into the parrot costume. I'm pretty doggone proud of myself for thinking that I could convert it and for pulling it off. Gavin, on the other hand, HATED IT! He especially hated the hat.

We also had our first party ever at our house. It was tricky because our place is too small to really have too many people over like we wanted to. So I just invited the people that I go walking with to just try it out. It was a total success so now sky is the limit. Well, in all fairness, it was crazy crowded but it was fun. I can't wait to start having more parties. The girls thought they had died and gone to heaven having some of their friends over and party food with no limits. They weren't even cranky at all. Well, that is until everybody left and we started getting them ready for bed then the sweets and the late hour caught up with them HARD!

Anyway, here is a shot of our dry ice freaky punch. The dry ice was fun but kind of over-rated. Next time we're going to spend money on a weird state of matter, we might as well opt for liquid nitrogen.
We made these super fun eyeball cupcakes and I also made some bugar popcorn. (Caramel popcorn that I made green.) I'm not usually a food grossifier but it seems pretty fitting for Halloween.

I also got Greg to do something fun with a pumpkin. He used his drill. BTW, the idea on the internet said to use glow sticks and if you do, you need several of them. A candle works MUCH better.



We also attempted to do a Photo Booth. Yeah, that didn't work out too well but it was a good learning experience for next time. Here are some shots we took of our fam in the photo booth.


We also had a costume parade at Chloe's school. I'll put that on the next post.