Birthdays

So, Despite my best efforts, my babies are growing up. Elle is turning two in a couple of weeks, so I wanted to get the boys' birthdays up from this last year. Can you believe our little Sammy turned four in April? We were so happy to have both sets of Grandparents here, and Amy and Tyler's crew as well. We had a yummy BBQ, Sam loves hot dogs! Our little superhero got some mini superheroes, stretchy batman and a bear hat that roars! He still loves it, though it's stopped roaring now. At four, Sam can: eat at least 3 bowls of cereal in the morning; dress himself as Batman; put away the utensils from the dishwasher-sorting them properly is something that we're working on-; jump off just about anything from any height; ride his bike a little with a little help from mom and dad. Sam also wants to run with Mom whenever I go out. He's very active and loves to yell and play Batman.

 Don't mind my gut here, I was trying to push out to show you what not to do while carrying your child's birthday cake as your husband takes the worst picture ever. =)

Our (other) boy genius turned six last -ahem- December....I know I've slacked with the blogging! Anyway, he wanted a robot cake, so a robot cake he had. We had all the cousins to Duffy's Fun Centre, here in Brooks. We enjoyed some delicious pizza, fun games and some novelty cake. Max's favourite part was the candy watch. (Forget the other parts that took me like 3 hours to do!) Max got half a DS from us, he worked for the other half and paid for it himself, some DS games and a sweet RC car that drives up the wall! Grandma and Grandpa Wilson were able to join us for some pizza, too. We loved having everyone there. Max is excited for next year when he can invite friends as well as family to his party.

We still have like, a zillion, points to redeem at Duffy's. Uncle Tyler found the ultimate jackpot game and played it over and over and over. Then he gave all the tickets to Max for his birthday! How nice was that? At six, Max can: read and sound things out on his own; speak fluent french to his dad and teachers; unload the dishwasher by himself; vacuum the living room on his own; walk to and from school without anyone to help him cross the street!

I read a poem the other day by Emily Dickinson- my all time favourite poet, called Forever is Composed of Nows:

Forever – is composed of Nows –

‘Tis not a different time –

Except for Infiniteness –

And Latitude of Home –

From this – experienced Here –

Remove the Dates – to These –

Let Months dissolve in further Months –

And Years – exhale in Years –

Without Debate – or Pause –

Or Celebrated Days –

No different Our Years would be

From Anno Dominies –

To Max and Sam and Elle:

I can't help but feel gratitude to my Father in Heaven for blessing us with the knowledge of eternal families. These little moments of "NOW" will forever be my eternity. I can't think of any better way to explain it, to fully express my love for my little kids, who won't stay little forever. I'll always have my now times to remember infinitely. Happy Birthday, Stinkers.

Love, Mom

At LONG LAST!!!

You know you haven't blogged forever when the format has changed on blogger. Oh boy. Well, after talking to my friend, Lauren, I decided I've slacked too long. I found my camera, found my SD reader on my iMac, loaded all the pictures from Dustin's iPhone, categorized them and -as Max would say, VOILA! (pronounced wa-laa- I learn something new from our little frenchy everyday)

Speaking of our little Frenchy, he graduated from Kindergarten, earning his diploma on the First of June. The School did a ceremony with the whole school ( I think there are 80 kids total) and each child earned an award for something they did well. Max brought home an award for Math and French. The kindergarten kids worked hard on making their caps out of construction paper and the gowns out of garbage bags.
Max explored the halls at the College where they held the ceremony, nearly missing his class march. He especially liked the snacks that evening. They had fruit and crackers and cheese. We took him out to Boston Pizza before the ceremony, where he chose and ordered his favorite- Bugs and Cheese. He's growing up, this little guy!

Along the same line, Sam graduated from his Joyschool group, too! He had lots of fun this year, learning how to write his name, how to count to 20, and colouring in the lines! His favourite part of graduating was the Tim-Bits that Randa brought. He also liked his cap that Rachel made.

I don't want to leave Elle out. She's been busy growing up, getting over e. Coli, and pestering her mother. Jokes, she mostly pesters Max and Sam. She loves jumping on Dustin, and jumping off various things that she climbs. She swings precariously off the Jungle Gym, where no child should swing. Without further ado, I give you Elle:

Elle's finally able to put hair in piggy tales, so I thought you should all see how cute she is. There you have it, I'll try to keep up with this as best as I can.

Oh, to be Young AGAIN!

I was going through my pictures folder today and found some sweet ones from Europe. I thought I would post so I can look back next week (when I'm 28!) and remember how sweet it was to be 27 in Paris! Happy February!

pensive in Luxembourg

Scary at Pirates 3 in 3D
Gaining weight in Lux
Last Night in Paris

Things to Remember

I should be folding mountains of laundry.

I'm not.

I'm thinking and remembering my kids. They really are little jewels in my crown.

Today, Sam and Elle and I went out to a historical building here in town. It's a five minute drive, but Sam insisted on bringing "Puppy" or, "Hook" as he is sometimes referred as. Sammy jabbers constantly in the backseat so I tend to tune him out. I caught a little something that I'm glad I didn't push out.

"...Please keep puppy safe. Please, Heavenly Father, let puppy love me. Let him know I love him. Please help puppy to keep me safe..."

Me: 'Sam, did you say a prayer for Puppy?

Sam: "No, I gave him a blessing."

Me: "That's nice because a blessing is a prayer, good practicing for when you turn 16."

Sam: "Elle wants one too, Mom. Not from Dad, from me, because I'm her best friend."

Me: Sobbing in the front seat.

Sometimes I forget how fresh they are from our Father in Heaven; How close they really are to Him. I read a conference talk by Elder Cook of the Seventy, entitled: It Is Better To Look Up.

I often feel like my briefcase is heavy and I can't help but think, "I can't possibly do this!"

Elder Cook states, "Why is it a challenge to consistently look up in our lives? Perhaps we lack the faith that such a simple act can solve our problems. For example, when the children of Israel were bitten by poisonous serpents, Moses was commanded to raise up a brass serpent on a pole. The brass serpent represented Christ. Those who looked up at the serpent, as admonished by the prophet, were healed.⁴ But many others failed to look up, and they perished."

I wonder sometimes if I would be one who failed to look up, overcome with my own grief and worries, bothered by my kids' inpropriety at throwing their boots at glass cases in the museum. Instead, I need to "look up" and "step up", and remember He wants me to be HAPPY!

My friend, Lauren and I asked Max once where heaven is. He replied, "In outer space!" I think he was 2 or 3 years old. I asked him yesterday what a covenant was. He said, "A promise that we make with God. He promises and you promise." Max helped me remember that when I take upon myself the Lord's name and do all things by him, I "will have his spirit to be with me", to be uplifted and fulfilled during my time on this earth.

I love my kids, I'm so grateful for them. Elle who has decided she won't be sleeping at night anymore. I went in at 6 this morning after she had yelled for about an hour, turned on the light and looked at her. She was sitting in her crib with her legs straight out, and turned her head up to look at me. She didn't have tears, just a little cherubic face that broke into instant smiles and banter. When her arms went up and out toward me, I felt like I could hold her forever. Her little head nestled in my neck and her arms squeezing mine.

These really are the "small and simple things by which great things are brought to pass." Like changing my heart and helping me to look up.

CANNOT COMPUTE

You need to picture me saying "cannot compute" with robot hands, looking oddly from side to side. Now that's out of the way, I must explain: I have not blogged in quite some time. Understatement of the year, I know. A lot has happened 'round these parts so I'll try to compute where I must begin.

At the begininning:

Max started kindy. He was super excited this year, unlike last year's debacle, to go and learn. I think having some of his cousins at the same school helped EXPONENTIALLY! So, go me, for braving my son going to a Francophone school when I barely know 'bonjour'. ps- while we were in France, I was trying to say to people, "I'm sorry I don't speak French" it came out as "The ears don't speak french." Ya, Dustin didn't catch that until about, oh...a month ago. We were in France six months ago. "That information would have been useful to me YESTERDAY!" Or six months ago. Tangent over. Max is having lots of fun with school. He comes home each day singing a new french song, and answering, "Oui?" when I call him for dinner.

(Bag Pants- Max's invention)

Sam has been coping not having his bestie at home. He has to put up with me making him listen to classical music and reading him stories out of "Uncle Wiggily and Friends" circa 1950. My Gram used to read me stories from there, and make me listen to classical music and I loved it. I have a sneaking suspicion that Sam would rather be slaying bad guys, or chasing cats or anything else.

Elle is just busy "doodling around" (I quote Max). She's getting more teeth and being a baby. When we ask her questions, she replies " eeee---YA!"

'Elle, would you like to get your flu shot today?'

"eee-YA!"

Alrighty!

She's always in the thick of it with her brothers. We did away with her high chair, and were lent a wonderful booster that ties to our chairs so she can sit with us at the table now. I would say she's over the moon about that.

October:

HALF MARATHON! Yep, we did it. My besties and me. All crossed the finish line. At about 13 km I thought to myself, "This is purgatory! It can't get any more boring than this!" I had run with Robin the first 12 km, she stopped to pee, so I was hoping she would catch me and keep pushing me. Unbeknownst to me, she peed TWICE. I was waiting and waiting, then Erin found me at 19 and pushed me the rest of the way. We sprinted the last few hundred meters and, man, it felt good to stop running. I finished at 2:10:xx. I had to walk a couple of times but other than that, I rocked it. We all did! Good job girls, love ya!

race to the finish!

HALLOWEEN! I feel like we had Halloween all month long. Sam wants to dress up as a Superhero everyday, Batman, Spiderman, He-Man, Thor, Pirates etc. You know, new clothes, different day? haha. Sam dressed up as Spider-Man, Max as Captain America, and Elle as a witch. Max hated that because she was a witch last year. I'm afraid he's inherited Dustin's passion for not wearing the same costume 2 years in a row. Remember Skeletor? I do. Most don't because we've lost any pictures we had. If you have any, can you email them to me? Thanks, Lauren.

Renovations:

We bought a house here in Brooks and moved in the first of July.

Living Room Before:

Upstairs Bathroom Before:

Boys' Bedroom Before:

Basement Bathroom Before:

Upstairs Bathroom Before:

Master Bedroom Before:

Kitchen Before:

AFTER:

Living Room:

Upstairs Bathroom:

Master Bedroom:

Boys' Room:

Kitchen and Dining Room:

So, guys, there ya have it. A TON OF BLOG POSTS PILED INTO ONE. In case you were wondering, I didn't add the AFTER pictures for the basement living room, and the basement bathroom because they are yet to be completed. Slow as molasses, I tell you.

I hope I didn't overload you, but to be fair, you have been asking me for it!