Tummy Time

Week 30

Courtesy of Greg. I do feel enormous but it is nice to have these for a future memory. And I love that the kids want to cozy up to me and to the baby.

In Full Bloom

The lilacs are blooming all around.  It is like a burst of purple everywhere.  I love lilacs.  Lilacs always make me think of living in Provo in the Spring.  The burst of purple and the smell that seems to be everywhere in town.  Having so many lilacs here just makes Spring so happy.  I've also been introduced to the different shades of lilacs.  They have white, dark purple, light purple and even a pink here.  I thought light purple was all their was.

We bought a lilac tree/bush last year but we were unaware that they take a while to bloom once you've planted them.  So we've really been enjoying all the lilac trees in the neighborhood around us.

I decided to walk to pick up Chloe yesterday and on the way home the kids wanted to pick some lilacs.  Now I don't condone picking lilacs off of houses where the tree is close to the house or where obviously the people enjoy their plant but as we walk down the alley, there are some bushes that are outside of fences, sometimes next to the garbages.  I figure nobody will miss them there and besides we'll enjoy them more in our house.

So here are our spoils:

And our dining room and almost entire downstairs smell so beautiful!

Sunny Afternoon

I had a "date" with Greg in the backyard this afternoon.  We don't really ever get a babysitter and go out.  I find it to be so much work to figure out an activity and coordinate with Greg's busy schedule and by the time you figure all that out and go somewhere fun then pay the babysitter, I always feel like it was just too much money that we didn't really even have to spend.  We really need to do better at this because our kids do well with a babysitter and we love our babysitter.  But I digress.  So we were in the backyard having a "date".  This consisted of us, alone, outside, while Gavin was napping and the girls were playing in the living room.  We ate drumstick ice creams and just talked.  I sat in the sun and Greg sat in the shade as we always do.  Then after a while, my legs went to sleep and my butt was super uncomfortable.  And I remembered that we had gotten a hammock last summer (at the reuse fair) and never had a chance to use it.  So Greg tied it to the (unsteady) fence and I clumsily tried to get inside and lay down comfortably and relax.  Let's just say that hammocks are NOT made for pregnant ladies.  And frankly our wobbly fence isn't really made for pregnant ladies either.  Sadly.  To be in a hammock comfortably, you need to lay on your back, and I really needed to lay on my side.  So we ended our date early and let the girls go outside and play in the hammock.  They loved it.  Chloe, our super reader, especially loved reading her book outside.

They swung and laughed and giggled and battled over leg and foot room.  It was all what you'd expect.  I think we need to get a wider hammock that two adults can fit onto because this is quite a narrow hammock and doesn't extend very much at all.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Gavin was sleeping.  Having all the family outside really made us miss him and if we let him sleep too long on Sundays he doesn't go to bed at night (since he starts his nap after 2) so I headed up there to rouse him.  And this is what I found:

I stood staring at him for a while then went and grabbed the camera.  He's so cute with his long eyelashes and his little wife beater on.  After he woke up, he went outside with the girls but  the hammock was too wobbly for him.  He was afraid.  He did enjoy pushing the girls on it though.

It was a great sunny afternoon and definitely recharged our batteries--just what a Sunday afternoon should be like.

So Much Sewing!

I've been sewing up a storm lately.  It is relaxing (mostly) and makes me feel good about accomplishing something.  There have been lots of lessons learned and lots of success and lots of lows and wo's also.  Just today in fact I was ready to just rip a t-shirt to threads and throw it in the garbage.  I've learned that sometimes you need to put stuff to the side until your anger subsides.

It all started in the new year with friends' birthday presents.  This is the style of bag my brain makes.  Some of them are cuter than others and some of them are more well made than others but I really do feel like I'm finding my groove here.  These birds are from some really fun fabric from Ikea.  The others I just made up with my mad drawing skills.  ;-)

Then I decided to make some "Happy Birthday" signs.  I originally planned on just making one sign but I had too many girly fabrics for a gender neutral one so I just made two.

I was shopping and found some long sleeved shirts for cheaper than I could buy a short sleeved shirt for.  So I thought to myself, "How hard could it be to make these short sleeved?"  Turns out it was a little hard.  I couldn't find a stitch to do the hem nice and professional looking so I made the ruffle to cover it.  I also had to use my old machine because the sleeves were too small to fit on my new machine.  That was pretty annoying.  And seam ripping jersey knit is pretty disastrous too, BUT the girls loved the result.  Maybe with more practice I could do better.  In the end though with the time and effort spent, I certainly didn't save any money but nobody will have shirts like this.

Fort Ed

It was a holiday weekend here in Canadia. We expected lots of people to be gone and have the city to ourselves. Boy were we ever wrong. Yes, lots of people left but tons of people came to town also. We decided to hit up the opening weekend of Ford Edmonton. We've gone before but Gavin was really too little to remember or really to enjoy it. He's been making train noises all week and playing with his trains and we just knew it would blow his mind to go and ride on a real train so we went.

He was so happy. He loved it! We almost couldn't get him out of the gift shop where they strategically line up all the trains on a low shelf where little hands can reach them. We walked around, had a picnic, the kids played with some sticks in the water, Tati picked up a few snails and grossed everybody out, she also dabbed some dandelions on her face and Gavin's for "make-up".  We ended the day by buying everybody a lollipop treat and heading home where Gavin collapsed exhausted in the car.  AND the big thrill of the day was that Gavin wore undies the whole time and didn't have any accidents!!!

A good day to be Dad

Most people believe kids + power tools = disaster/trip to ER. But today I saw an opportunity to have one of those experiences that I can reference the next time I am asked to give a talk in General Conference. So here is the story:

A few months ago I happened upon a discarded Ikea cabinet by our apartment dumpster. It was in such disrepair I immediately realized it would not be worth it to try and restore it. I did, however, recognize that many of the wooden panels were still in "decent" shape and decided to salvage them for some undetermined future project.

Now fast forward until last month when my daughters both fell in love with some doll beds they found at a rummage sale. Although neither of them was anything alike in style, they were both equally terrible. One was a wicker rocking bed that was just waiting to get sat on or smashed into a million tiny splintery pieces while the other was slapped together with 2x6's, random bits of wood and poorly used nails. Once we got them home we realized that neither were worth keeping and I promised to make them each their own dolls beds.

Fast forward until two weeks ago when I found a circular saw (which I had been pining over) on sale. Once I got it home I eagerly cut up the salvaged wood according to a rough plan I made for two doll beds.

So that brings us to yesterday when I finally decided to piece together the parts of the beds. I invited both Chloe and Tati to help me out. We used a pocket hole jig to put it together. I realize this may not be the best application of this sort of tool, but I was excited to use it. As we worked together I made sure to turn just about everything into a lesson. I explained what the jig was, how to properly use a drill, how/why to use a clamp, what can happen if you don't drill a pilot hole and all sorts of other tricks that I'm sure they both absorbed and will remember for the rest of their lives (or at least until bed time).

It was really fun. Chloe was really into it and did almost her whole bed. Tati lasted about three holes and then wanted to watch tv. Her loss of interest was all too familiar to me (sorry Dad, I should've stuck around and helped you more with your projects).

Here they are:

I know, I know. They are quite flawed (like the footboard on the one on the left is on backwards - you aren't supposed to see those pocket holes). But they don't care. They love them, so I am not going to worry about it . . . for now. Eventually I think we will paint them, but they are content with the way they look right now. I have a feeling this isn't what people are referring to when they say the like the "distressed" look.

But wait, this isn't all. With the beds completed we had lunch then Julie encouraged me to take the girls swimming. Yeah, swimming. If you know me, you know how big of a sacrifice this is for me. But I knew Julie was right when she said "They'd love it." And they did. I had fun with them too (despite the whole getting wet part of it).

Overall, I think they had a great time with their dad. I have been really aware of how few memorable moments I am creating with my kids, and hopefully yesterday will be one they can hold on to for a while - especially since I haven't seen any more wood at the dumpster lately.

Swinging from a tree

We found a gem of a park a while ago.  It has a big field surrounded by trees.  Originally we thought it would be the perfect kite park but we were wrong.  The trees protect the field too much so it is too hard to keep a kite up.  But it has proven to be a wonderful picnic park and this year Tati can finally climb the tree without any help--although she might still need some.  She had a blast climbing this tree.  At one point as we were all just laying on the picnic blanket, we suddenly heard her yelp and say, "Help!"  So Greg had to quickly go and help her b/c she had lost her footing and had grabbed onto a breaking branch.  Thankfully she was holding on pretty strong so he lifted her down.  Then Greg broke off the rotten and dead branch so no other little kids would have the same thing happen to them.

I was a bit nervous and that was even before she almost plummeted to her demise but I had recently read this article circulating the internet about how Americans need to parent more like Europeans and give their kids freedom and responsibility with scary things like climbing or wittling and not trying to protect and hover so much.  I definitely think I can let go a bit in that regard.

It is super fun to see her growing up and excelling at things so physical.

A doozy.

This outfit makes me laugh so hard. It's a doozy all right.
He had been "riding" his bike and the kids take their bike riding safety very seriously.  He was wearing his flip flops but Tati told him he had to wear real shoes to ride his bike because, remember, we take our bike riding safety very seriously.  So she got him some socks that obviously must be pulled up as high as they go. Then he got off his bike and decided he was going to use a wrench on the rocks at the rock table and probably try pumping some air into the rocks as well with the bike pump.  I love this kid.  He is so funny and his personality is just becoming more and more alive.

Mother's Day!

Tati was so excited about Mother's Day this year.  For days before she was doing a count down and for weekends before she was drawing pictures and telling me not to look at them.  I also started to notice little things hidden around the house.  The morning of, she sent me on my very own scavenger hunt.

First I got this picture in a frame that she had drawn of us together.  Then I was instructed to open it up and look on the back for my clue.  Here's what I found. 


Mom I know your pregnet and look not so good But I still love _____.

cleu (find a colorful rock and flip it over to find the missing word) ___



In case you can't tell, it says "You". So she still loves me, even though I dont' look good. Phew.

Then I got a few other gifts.  Chloe made me 2 cards with poems. She also gave me a really sweet present: a watermelon ring pop. The reason it is so sweet is because watermelon is my favorite flavor for all candies. She had received that ring pop for Easter and she saved it for me and gave it to me for Mother's Day. Now that is love.


Me and Greg made some chocolate covered strawberries the night before. I pretty much think you should be forced to add roasted almonds to chocolate strawberries no matter what. Trust me, it should be a law.


 It was the best Mother's Day I have ever had. There was no fighting and no food prep for me on that day. We even were able to eat dinner at a friend's house so we didn't even have any dishes to do. It was a crazy hot day and just as a special present for me as I was sweating off, the clouds rolled in, the wind kicked up and we got some relief from the heat.

p.s.  Gavin had some bad diaper rash so he spent most of his day like this:

Puppy Water

This is for my brother, whose children also pretend to be dogs.  Do all kids do this?  Don't get me wrong, there are times when I think being a "puppy" is exceptionally annoying but there are also times when I think it is hilarious and cute.  I just love the way Gavin is lapping the water with his tongue.

Tati's Puppy name is Salmon or "Sammy" for short. Chloe is "Cinnamon" and Gavin hasn't really figured out the alternate name thing yet so he is just "Gavin Puppy" as opposed to normal Gavin the human or Gavin the boy.

Petunia.

It has been so windy lately.  The wind is blowing all kinds of allergens into my nose and all kinds of dirt and dust around our house.  We're sweaty and crusty feeling all the time.  Today we decided to pack a lunch and actually take advantage of the wind and go fly our kites.

Zeke is our tried and true kite.  Pretty much he'll get up any time and is a no brainer to keep him up.  Chloe is getting so much better at moving the string around and gaging when she needs to move closer or farther away.  She is also getting more brave at letting out the string. 

Our new kite is Petunia.  Petunia is much prettier with Zeke but she also more difficult to keep up.  She likes to twirl  and race around--which is very thrilling for the kids to watch--but she is also very likely to loop around and slam right to the ground.  So Tati is really stepping up her game at knowing how to launch.  We say:  1-2-3-LAUNCH!  Then the person holding the kite throws it up into the air.  So Tati was good at both launching and commanding the launch.

Gavin was just happy to run around between kites and get to hold some of the string.

His biggest struggle was keeping his pants up while he ran.  Ha, ha.


He also really enjoyed looking for bugs.  He is so cute and growing up so fast.  He studies the bug and tries to softly touch it and hold it and then you look away and the bug is dead, smashed and he's either asking for a kleenex to wipe the guts or has already wiped the guts on his clothes.  Gross.

Bullseye Baby!

We've been counting down Target opening ever since we found out that Target bought out all the Zellars stores and was finally crossing the border here to Canada.  We had heard rumors of the buy out when we first moved here and just always assumed that in the 5 years that were projected for the stores to arrive, we'd already be gone.  Ha, ha on us. 

Greg said that since we waited so long for it to happen, both he and Chloe would ditch school so we could be there right when it opened at 8.  It was super fun to go together on the big day! There was a funny old lady that was talking to her friend a bit disappointed: "I thought I would get a present at the door." I was hoping for a free gift too.

I'm not saying that it wasn't awesome, because it was.  It just was a bit of a disappointment too.  Our store is really small and has a very limited stock of things.  I was all jazzed to hit up the maternity section, for example, and there were 2 t-shirts, two dress choices, 2 pants choices and one skirt.  And none of the styles worked on me or were what I needed.  I guess we also expected that all the things we haven't been able to get from the US would magically appear but mostly, they didn't.  We've heard rumors that some of the other stores in town are much bigger--one of them even 2 story--so I guess we just need to make a special trip to check it out.  

The best part of this store opening is that it is literally just walking distance away and in one trip we can ride the escalator at Sears, go to $Dollarama, go to Target and then finish up our walk home by stopping by the library.  What more can we ask for?  Well, I guess I can ask for a larger maternity section.  ;-)

Science Center

Once upon a time when I was a teenager, our family went to San Francisco.  I can't remember the reason for our trip or where all we went on that trip, but I do remember going to the Science Center there, the Exploratorium.  The thing that always stood out in my mind from that trip was watching somebody cutting open a cow's eye.  At the time I remember it being both disgusting and cool to see.

This Christmas, some of our nice friends bought us a trip to the Science Center here.   We just never seemed to find a time when we could all go together.  We were starting to feel like we were never going to make it there and the kids kept asking so we finally planned our trip.  We chose this particular day because one of the activities listed was watching the dissection of an animal eye.  I knew the kids would both love it and never forget it.

There were so many fun things to see and do there.  It was awesome.

I had fun showing Gavin some fish. It dawned on me by his excitement that he's never really seen salt water fish before--except for on t.v. Kind of sad. He loved the anemone and the clown fish--of course.

Gavin went crazy in the kid section because there was a whole airline display. He could fly the plane and push a bunch of buttons that made a bunch of noises and made lights flash. You could also push around luggage carts and put things through a pretend x-ray conveyer belt. He was pretty cute there.  After a while he even shared the driving duties with Tati.  That just proves how much he loves his big sis.

Chloe and Tati loved the water table section. There were balls and water and fountains and mazes for the balls to flow into. There was even a ball whirlpool. It was every kids splashy dream come true.

Tati enjoyed played with all the static and magnetic stations. She also really loved charging a rocket and launching it.

Chloe loved the astronaut display and pretending she was in space. And I love the way Tati was holding her hand while she was on the moon.

We went outside and had a super fun picnic and it was sunny and bright and beautiful outside. Then it was time for the main event, the eye.

(Warning Marnie, you might want to skip the following pictures)

Since Gavin wasn't into any of it, I took him back to the airplane section and the girls stayed back with Greg and saw a cow brain, a kidney and some slides of other internal organs.
This would be a great place to buy a season pass to but it is quite pricey. Hopefully wherever we end up will have a Science Center and we can buy a membership there. The kids would love to go and even just play with the water table and balls again.

At the end of the day, we asked the kids what their favorite part was. Gavin loved the airplane, Chloe said she loved watching the eyeball and Tati said her favorite part was seeing the cow brain. So I was glad we went on that demo day.