Life as a Gronau

A Letter to my 5 year old

2012-01-10T23:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Kyra,
About a year and a half ago you started asking me to chew gum. Knowing how your mind works, I wanted to stop you asking that before it got incessant so I told you that you had to wait until you were 5 years old before you were allowed to chew gum. (My thought process being you would be in kindergarten and mature enough to handle the responsibilities of gum, plus, 5 seemed so far away at the time). Unfortunately for me, 5 came a lot quicker then I anticipated. How did this year go by so fast?

I can still remember this day so clearly. Finally getting to meet you when you were determined to stay inside me for so long was one of the greatest moments of my life.

Kyra, I don't think I'll ever be able to express just how much you mean to me. How does a mother find those words? You amaze me on a daily basis. You make me smile and laugh (as well as want to rip every hair out of my head because, girl, you know how to push my buttons). Your attention to detail continues to astound me. I find it funny that after the intial excitement of welcoming Kait home the first thing you said was "you got a new cover for your phone!" Of course it would be you who would notice that:)

Your memory is far superior to mine and we have to be careful what we say because inevitably we'll hear "remember mommy/daddy when you said . . ." Although it does come in handy because I can now say "Kyra, please remind me about this . . . " and you will!

(1st Birthday)

You are thriving at school. You love getting to see your friends everyday and I hear nothing but positive reports from your teacher about how you're doing. Makes my heart so happy to know that the things we are teaching you at home are spilling over into school life. Your biggest complaint about school is that recess and lunch aren't long enough:)

(2nd Birthday)

Ready to Read is a fun afterschool activity for you. Daddy and I are constantly amazed at how much your reading skills have exploded. You still prefer to have us read to you(which I have to admit, I don't mind; it's one of the few times you cuddle!), but you are sounding out harder words and are able to get them most of the time! Last week was the first time you read an entire book by yourself and it wasn't one you had heard before. You were so proud of yourself!

(3rd Birthday)

Sometimes in the busyness of the day I'll just stop and really look at you. I notice how your face has very little "baby" left in it and instead I see "girl". I hear the way your words string together in a long run-on sentence because you're just so excited to get out that new idea. I listen to the way you sing-sing your way through life and I think "yes! There's the joy I want you to know. Keep that song in you!" And as I watch you, my eyes fill with tears because I just cannnot believe that you are mine. I cannot believe that I get the honor of being your mom. As my eyes are filling with tears, my heart is overflowing with joy and true gratefulness that you are my daughter. This next year I have a plan to stop a lot more and just soak you in. Your beautiful smile, your fabulous laugh, your adventurous spirit, your determined spirit; I want to remember this time with you.

(4th Birthday)

I want you to know, Kyra, that you are worth every lost moment of sleep and every single minute of worry. I wouldn't trade them because those lost moments of sleep are times that I get to feel you cuddle up next me in bed and hear your breathing settle into an easier rhythm because you feel safe & secure. Every single minute of worry are times that I think of you and pray for you.

You are my heart, baby girl, and I love you.

Love always,

Mommy

(5th Birthday)

Unruh Family Photos

2011-11-13T23:37:00.000-08:00

In June we had Vanessa come and do family photos for us. It was a fun afternoon with lots of laughs. Since I promised a picture-full post, I'm going to stop talking now and show you my favorite photos(of which there a lot).

Thank you Vanessa!!

Missing

2011-10-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” Elizabeth Stone
Never has this quote felt more true then now, with Kyra being in Kindergarten. I am having a hard time with it. I am having a hard time with my daughter being gone from me 5 days a week/6 hours a day. I feel that I'm losing her, that someone else is now in charge of raising her. Does that sound extreme? Probably. But that's honestly how I feel. Somebody else is teaching her how to act, what to say and I wonder, did we teach her well enough? Are the things we're teaching her at home sticking at school? Does she remember the rules mommy and daddy taught her first? Are the values we've tried to instill in Kyra showing up at school? I don't know. I'm not there so I can't know what she's doing during the day and how she's interacting with her friends.

So I worry. I worry about what she's picking up from some of the other kids. I worry about what happens when someone hurts her either physically or emotionally. Will somebody notice? Most likely not. Will somebody be there to give her a hug and sooth her pain? No. Kyra's not in the preschool bubble anymore. She's in the public school world which is feeling big and a little scary at this point in time. So I worry. And I miss her.

We miss her. Jayce and I. We feel it that Kyra is no longer a part of our day. I hear multiple times a day "Let's go pick up Kyra from kindergarten, mommy". Jayce misses his playmate. His big sister isn't there anymore to jump up and down when he goes on the potty or say "Way to go Jayce!" when he "reads" a story or does something well that he's been working on for a while. Kyra's not there to be my fantastic little helper that she's growing to be. We don't get to hear her laugh and see her big smile and listen to her silly antics and watch her very creative/energetic dances. She's not there during our day and we miss her. You know what? I think there's a bit of grief that goes along with a child starting full day kindergarten. At least for me there is. and it's showing up in physical ways. Knots in my neck and shoulders I can't get rid of. Not sleepingwell at night. Waking up monday morning with this horrible sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because I know we're at the start of another long week of school. I don't like it.

I miss some of the freedom's that we used to enjoy. The freedom to enjoy after dinner visits with friends because bedtime was allowed to be fluid. The freedom of not having to watch the clock during family dinner at the farm. The freedom of being able to do spontaneous bike trips after dinner because we felt like we had the whole evening ahead of us. 7:30 bedtime feels very constricting. I miss the easy morning wake-ups and despise having to wake my kids up in the morning. I miss having playdates with Kyra present. I miss my girl.

With all this being said, there are things to be thankful for. I'm thankful that even though it seemed improbable, Kyra has Lucas and 2 of her other friends from preschool in her class. I'm thankful that we have such a wonderful teacher. She's open to a parent volunteering as much as they would like and really does a lot with the class. I'm thankful that we live close enough to be able to walk to school. I'm thankful that Kyra being in full day kindergarten has taught me, even more, to treasure the moments I do have with my kids. I'm thankful for friends who understand because they're going through the same thing I am. I'm thankful that Kyra is settling in so well. It was rough at the beginning. Kyra cried at school the first week, was so grumpy and hard to deal with when she was at home that I just wanted to cry. Which I did. But now she loves her school, has fun with her friends and is really enjoying the whole experience. I'm really thankful for that because if Kyra was having a hard time at school my desire to keep her at home would be increased tenfold.

That's where I'm at right now. Learning to adjust to this new routine in life.

With that I'll sign off with a promise that my next post will be picture-full. 'Night all.

Humbled

2011-09-02T00:20:00.000-07:00

Being a parent is by far one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had. I have been a not-so-great mother recently, yelling more than I should, giving a punishment without fully understanding the situation and just overall not doing my best at being a mom. It was very humbling the other day to get down at my kids level, look them both in the eye and say "mommy is sorry I was yelling so much and getting so frustrated today. It's not your fault and I love you very much".
You know what my kids did? They looked up at me with those beautiful eyes of theirs and said "it's okay mommy, can we play this game now?" It always amazes how much our kids can let things just slide off their backs. They offered forgiveness to me so quickly, much quicker then I'm sometimes willing to offer it to people. There was no looking back, they just forgave and moved on. It was so humbling. And that apology I offered, that a part of me didn't want to give, changed the mood for the rest of the day and the days to come. It was hard to do but so worth it. These kids:

make it worth it. These beautiful children are my heart and they deserve my best.

Why did I choose this to my next post after such a long blogging absence? I'm not sure. Maybe if there are other mother's having the same frustrations, you can know you're not alone. Maybe to serve as a reminder that even though some of us are itching to have a routine back and for our kids to return to school, it's important to treasure these moments & days we have with them. While it's something we hear often and it can become cliche, it's something that's been resonating with me a lot lately. Whatever you take from this post, I hope you enjoy your time with your kids on this long weekend. I know I will.

A Birthday Letter for my 3 year old

2011-07-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Jayce,
Happy Birthday my precious baby boy! Where do I begin? You are 3 today, 3! The time has passed much too quickly for my liking and it is shocking to me how much you have grown up even in the last couple of weeks. We had a birthday party for you last weekend and you prayed for the meal, all by yourself. You stayed loud and confident right to the end and didn't get shy or bury your head in your arms once. How did that happen? When did you come out of your shell? It seems to have happened overnight. You're pulling away from me, not needing me as much now and learning to stand on your own 2 feet. As much as I celebrate and am thankful for that, it also makes me sad. You're a mama's boy Jayce. Have been for a long time and while there have been moments that were difficult, I have really loved it. You are my last born and it meant I could keep you in a baby stage a while longer and truly savor that stage.

Now I look at you and I see that babyness swiftly leaving you. I'm getting teary eyed and emotional writing this because I'm not ready. I'm not ready for you to grow up. I'm not ready for you to go to preschool. I'm not ready for you to pull away from me. I've been holding onto you, maybe tighter than I should, because there was a time I thought we were going to lose you. There was a time I prayed to God, begging Him to save you, pleading with him to allow me to raise my baby. I still remember that week, the week of hell during which I shed some of the most heart-wrenching, soul shattering tears of my life. A week that most people have forgotten and moved on from (as they should) but a week that I can't and don't want to, ever forget. It's a part of your story, a part of our story and it reminds me even today, to hug you and Kyra tighter; to be thankful for the moments and years I've shared with you. And I am. I am so thankful to know you Mr. Man. I am so thankful for your wonderful smile, for your laugh that we still have to work to hear but is always worth it:) I'm thankful for the way you bury your head in my neck when I'm getting you dressed and the way you always have to be sitting on my lap when it's storytime. I'm thankful that my fears I had about you not talking have proven to be unnecessary; your speech is growing by leaps and bounds now.

I love you Jayce. I love the way your body(no matter how big you get) always seems to mould so perfectly to mine. I love watching you play with your sister and to see you having to try everything she's doing. I love that you are so content to play on your own and are still obsessed with cars/trucks. I absolutely love your kisses because you didn't give kisses for a long time. It's only in the last 2 months that you've really started. And they are precious. They melt my heart in ways I can't describe.

Happy Birthday Jayce! We love you more than you know.
Love,
Mommy

A Glimmer of Hope

2011-07-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

As a mom I find myself repeating the same phrases over and over again. "We don't hit in this family, please say sorry to your brother/sister", "please stop using your whiny words", "please use your words"and it often feels like I'm not being heard because the same behaviors are showing up again and again. It makes me wonder, am I doing the right things? Am I choosing the right disciplines? Are my children behaving when I'm not around? Then today, as I was driving to my parents house with Kyra, I saw a glimmer of hope that yes, my daughter is hearing me and yes, she is making good choices when I'm not around.
(A little background, I chew gum multiple times a day so naturally my kids ask when they can have some. The rule I've made is that when they turn 5, they can have a piece of gum.)
Today Kyra was at a friends house while Jayce and I enjoyed some mommy/son time at home and she told me that while she was there, her friends were asking for gum. Their mom offered Kyra a piece of gum and she told the mom that she wasn't allowed to have any. This in itself made me so proud of her that she remembered my rules and didn't take advantage of the fact that I wasn't around to sneak a piece. Then Kyra went on to say "I thought about saying yes mommy, but then decided to tell (friend's mom) that I wasn't allowed".
I have to tell you, I had tears of happiness pool in my eyes when Kyra told me that. Not only did she make the right decision, she admitted to me what she was thinking. Moments like these make my heart so very happy. Moments like these help me realize that the things I'm trying to teach are sinking in and to keep at it. Moments like these make me extra proud to be a mommy.

Turning 5 in 2 different worlds.

2011-06-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

This beautiful girl of mine

turns 5 in December.

What does that mean for her?

Lots of time to play

excitement for school

play time with her brother

and endless opportunities to be loved and encouraged by her family.

This precious little boy

turns 5 in July.

What does that mean for him?

A transfer into a facility similar to this one:

(Warning, difficult video to watch. May not want to have young children around)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgxNgV5SrSk

It means a life with little to no human contact. A life of being hidden away and thought of as nothing, simply for being different.

You can help save this precious little boy from a place that no human being should ever have to enter. You can help this boy be closer to finding his forever family.

You can help this boy be closer to getting the love and cuddles and life that he deserves.

Would you consider donating today to help change this boy's life?

Go to http://reecesrainbow.org/ilya-p to donate.

My sister, Tasha, is the 5/5/5 Warrior for this little boy and I would like to do my part to have his story heard. Reece's Rainbow is an organization that has gripped my heart and my prayer is that every child on the Reece's Rainbow website would find their forever family.

Bug Hunt

2011-05-28T00:22:00.000-07:00

This month at preschool the science teachings have been about insects. Last Friday their fantabulous teachers organized a bug hunt for the kids. On these special days they allow the parents to stay (if we or our kids so wish) and I almost always take them up on that. Jayce and I had a great time tagging along on the bug hunt and were thankful the teachers let us stay for the rest of the class.

Checking out what Teacher S, aka: the bug whisperer, had discovered. (Seriously, I think she found every single child's bug. It was joked that she just kept pulling them out of her pocket).

Showing off her finds; a spittlebug and a ladybug.

The kids were instructed to find a rock to bring back that they would later paint. It's apparently very serious business.

Jayce enjoying show 'n tell time with his big sister. Kyra was thrilled to have him sit with her and I came to the realization that Jayce might be more ready for preschool than I'm giving him credit for.

Lining up to play outside. He was so happy to be involved in Kyra's class.

I love this school!

Jayce's big boy bed

2011-05-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Lately Jayce has been asking to sleep on the Elmo couch a lot. We figured he might be ready for a big boy bed but everytime we asked him he said no. So we decided to do a modified version, that would work for Jayce.

Helping daddy take the bed apart.

Having fun in his big boy bed.

Loving the Elmo bed rail.

"Nigh-night!"

Kyra's request for a cute post with her and Jayce.

That's as much as we'll do for now and Jayce is loving it!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-07T23:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually a fan of Taylor Swift but I heard this song for the first time today and thought it was fitting to post for Mother's Day. Whoever these girls are that made this video did a wonderful job.

To all the mom's out there, Happy Mother's Day!! I hope you're blessed, honored, spoiled and are made to feel how truly wonderful you are.

To all of you out there who have lost a child or have struggled with infertility, know that I'm saying a prayer for you today.

Happy Mother's Day moms!!

Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift

Never Grow Up lyrics

You're little hands wrapped around my finger
And, it's so quiet in the world tonight
You're little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming
So, I took you in
Turn on your favorite night light
To you, everything's funny
You got nothing to regret
I'd give all I had, honey
If you could stay like that

Oh, darling don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh, darling don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up
It can stay this simple

I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart
And no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, and never grow up

You're in the car on the way to the movies
And, you're mortified
You're mom's dropping you off
At, fourteen there's just so much you can't do
And you can't wait to move out someday and call your own shots
But, don't make her drop you off around the block
Remember that she's getting older too
And don't lose the way that you dance around in your PJ's getting ready for school

Oh, darling don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh, darling don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up
It can stay this simple

And no one's ever burned you
Nothing's ever left you scarred
And even though you want to
Just try to never grow up

Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room
Memorize what it sounded like when your dad get's home
Remember the footsteps, remember the words said
And all you're little brothers favorite songs
I just realized everything I had is someday gonna be gone

So, here I am in my new apartment
In a big city, they just dropped me off
It's so much colder than I thought it would be
So, I tucked myself in and turned my night light on
Wish I'd never grown up
I wish I'd never grown up

Oh, I don't wanna grow up
Wish I'd never grown up
Could still be little
Oh, I don't wanna grow up
Wish I'd never grown up
It could still be simple

Oh, darling don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh, darling don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up
It can stay this simple

I won't let nobody hurt you
Won't let no one break your heart
And even you want to
Please, try to never grow up

Oh, whoa
Don't you ever grow up
Oh, whoa
Never grow up
Just never grow up

Video Post

2011-04-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

Little Ballerina

Jayce having some trampoline fun (with his faithful sidekick, Mater)

A Ramble

2011-04-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

The power of the kitchen timer amazes me. If the kid's are arguing over a toy and I set the timer for 2 minutes back and forth, all fighting stops and they're happy to share. Today Jayce wanted to play for one minute before his nap so I set the timer and when it beeped he said "oh, nap time!" (then proceeded to cry and fuss but I'm choosing to focus on the positive) :)

Cucumbers have been the food of choice for my kids lately. They even asked to eat some with their waffles at lunch today. The cucumber I bought yesterday? Almost gone. I'm not complaining, bring on the veggies!

My newest resolution? To not eat at McDonald's as much anymore. I knew this would be a hard idea for Kyra to take and I was mentally gearing myself for all the battles I would face. Big surprise for me; when I explained to her that I didn't want to eat at MD's as often because it's not a healthy choice she was actually ok with that. We'll see how next week goes but for now I'm glad that she's ok. (We'll also have to see how my resolve holds out . . . it's just too convenient of an option).

Cooking has been on my mind a lot lately. My skills are not in the kitchen, I don't enjoy being in there. I'm not someone who does a pinch of this here and a dash of that there. I measure out everything. Anytime I try a new recipe (which hasn't happened for a while) it totally stresses me out and I can't have anyone else in the kitchen with me(which the kids totally love and understand :P). The problem being that I want to do more for family. I want to cook healthy meals and introduce them to new things. I want to be better. The ridiculous thing is that I know what I need to do. I need to get in the habit of making a meal plan and shopping for the week. It would certainly help de-stress me. Unfortunately me knowing this hasn't really kicked me into action. Anybody out there want to give me a kick in the butt? Or send me your meal plan? :)

Kyra only has 3 more months left of preschool. 3 more months left of a familiar, safe, fun, stimulating, wonderful environment. That means it's only 5 more months until she starts kindergarten. 5 more months before we enter a big unknown world. 5 more months before I'm being forced to have her in school 5 days a week, 6 hours a day. Blah!! Next year scares me so much. I pray often that it will be a good experience for both of us and that she ends up in a good class. That being said, there is a part of me that's so excited for what this school has to offer and I'm excited to watch to her grow and learn even more.

Kyra loves to sing and we often hear her making up songs as she plays. She's always ready with some idea of the next game to play or adventure to go on. She loves to wear pretty dresses and is thrilled when she gets to wear Auntie Chrystal's sparkly lip gloss or have her nails painted. She loves learning new things and was very excited to tell me all about the coral reef/new animals they learned about today. She's loud, passionate and beautiful. She is my heart and I love her more than I ever knew was possible.

Jayce is such a character. Oh my goodness that boy makes us laugh. His newest favorite saying is "no way" and it makes me giggle everytime. He is such a mama's boy (you don't need to spend much time with us to know that) but lately has been wanting daddy a lot. He broke my heart today because he couldn't stop sobbing he wanted daddy to come home so bad. I heard multiple times "Daddy not home yet? Daddy still at work?" He loves to play "airplane" with daddy and throws himself into the air trusting that daddy will be able to catch him. Jayce loves to color and is thrilled that Kyra so willingly shares all her art supplies with him. They can often be found coloring together on either the Cars or Princess floor pages. He looks up to Kyra so much and has been a bit lost this week with her having gone back to preschool. He has no interest in potty training whatsoever and whenever I ask him if he wants to buy some underwear his response is "no, I like my diapers".

Jayce turns 3 this summer and I'm in shock everytime I think of that. I still think of him as my baby. I love that he wants to be with me so much and (for the most part) I don't mind that he wants to be carried a lot still. I love his snuggles and how perfectly his body molds to mine. Jayce will start preschool in September and it's going to be hard for me to let him go in such a tangible way. He is my heart and I love him more than words can say.

I love this stage of life we're in. I love being a stay-at-home-mom and watching our kids grow together. I'm especially grateful for how well they've been playing together lately. Sure they have their bickering moments still but for the most part they both want to play together as much as possible.

I doubt myself. I wonder if I'm doing enough for/with my children. I think back over the more difficult moments of the day and wonder how I could have handled them differently. I came back from Mexico energized and wanting to change a few things about my parenting style. I want to speak more calmly with my kids and spend less time losing my temper and yelling. So far, I've actually been doing pretty well with that. I am still human and still have my own rough moments but I've become quick to apologize and I hope my kids will notice a difference in me soon.

I love my husband and how hard working he is. He's dedicated to our family and purposely does his side jobs after the kids are in bed so that he can spend as much time with them as possible. It's hard for him on the days he has to work and even though he'll be completely exhausted from his day's work, he still musters up the energy to play/wrestle with the kids. He supports me 100% in my role as a SAHM and I hope I'm doing as good of a job in supporting him in his. Eric is an amazing father and husband; we're blessed to have him in our lives.

A blast from the past

2011-03-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

I was looking through some old photos and found this video of Jayce learning to walk. I can't believe how much he's grown already!

Party day goodness

2011-03-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

I can't say enough how much I love our preschool. The things the kids learn astound me and I don't just mean academically. The life skills and empathy the teachers teach will take them far. I'm sad to think we only have 3.5 months left but will enjoy it all. I love knowing that Kyra is so excited about going to school and how excited she was to go back today.

Having said all this, here a few videos from February's party day.

Warm up song

Michaelangelo - Renaissance Man

Learning about the heart

The view from here

2011-03-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

Eric and I have this routine we do for Valentine's Day. We've been doing it since the year Kyra was born(the first time we left her with my sister was for Valentine's Day. Cool fact: Chrystal's been her valentine every year since! In 2009 Jayce got to join in the fun):) We drive out to Langley, put our names down at the Olive Garden and then wander through the different shops near there for an hour or 2, depending on the wait time. I love this routine. It's our thing and I look forward to it every year. In fact, when Eric asked me if I wanted to do something different this year my response was "no way! This is our thing. I'm looking forward to it". I really am. Things have felt really hectic lately and I find that time seems to slow down on Valentine's night. We have a chance to walk hand-in-hand, wander aimlessly around the area, enjoy some really good food and just be. I love you Eric and I hope this continues to be our tradition for years and years to come.

Picture Update

2011-02-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

I couldn't love these kids more if I tried. Here are a few pictures of our lives the last little while.

Kyra being her true silly self and wearing my jacket over hers.

Serenading Jayce and I with her preschool songs. Thanks mom for this piano - it's served us well!

I love how she drew this face.(and that the arms and legs still come out of the head):)

This is her interpretation of a stroller.

Copying mommy and "sending out" a message.

This catching set is a favorite for both kids. It's so fun that they can actually catch the balls!

Playing on Uncle Peter's trailer.

Reading with Daddy.

Reading solo. I love seeing Jayce do this because there was a time he wanted nothing to do with books. I love reading and have always wanted to pass that passion along to my children. I'm glad to see he's finally found that joy.

Videos

2011-01-25T18:37:00.000-08:00

Just popping in today with a little video post. Enjoy!

Jayce has really been into singing lately and I was happy to catch his version of Happy Birthday on video:)

Click this link to see Kyra practicing some math in her princess workbook. So fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqyPo3CnK2o

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl

2011-01-17T23:42:00.000-08:00

Kyra,
I have been wanting to write this letter since your birthday but couldn't seem to find the words. This is why the letter is coming a bit late, I hope you'll forgive me for that.

My sweet girl, you are 4 years old now. A day you thought would never come. While you were ever so excited, I was a little sad. It feels to me, some days, that you are grown beyond your years and I just want you to slow down. You are so eager to move on to the next thing or the next stage that you get frustrated if you don't get the hang of things right away. While I love that drive and I know it's going to serve you well as you get older, remember baby girl, it's okay to make mistakes and to take time to practice. There are so many things to enjoy right now and I hope I'm doing a good job of showing you that.

You gave us a really hard time the weeks before Christmas, so much so that you had me in tears during quiet time and at the end of the day. It was a rough period for sure and you had me questioning myself. But; I'm so thankful for that time because we worked through it and managed to rub off some rough edges from each other. I can't help but be glad that we've worked through it now because maybe (and this could be wishful thinking) but maybe it will serve us in the long run and we won't have as many battles in the teenage years. It really has brought us closer together and as hard as it was being in it, I'm so thankful that we fought through it.

Right now baby girl, you are the same bundle of energy you've always been. You move from one task to the next with a speed that makes my head spin but I see breakthroughs now where you're able to sit and focus on one task for a period of time. The new task we're mastering right now is cutting with scissors. You received a wonderful book from Oma for Christmas that is specific to this task and you're loving it. You love to tell us about the new things you're learning in preschool and we've printed off all the planets and many artists along with their paintings to hang up in the playroom. I'm so thankful that we made the right decision in sending you to Wind & Tide because you have thrived. I love, love, love the hug I get from you when I pick you up at the end of the morning. The smile on your face when you see me waiting for you is heart warming and you can hardly contain yourself waiting for the teachers to dismiss you. It's bringing tears to my eyes right now just thinking of it.

You have an imagination that makes me laugh and that I marvel at.

In this picture you decided to take a trip with your baby and many other various items you needed. Moments before this you were actually in my suitcase with all of this stuff and were headed off on some wild adventure.

The other day you gathered up random items from the house and had Jayce & I play Christmas with you:) It was so cute how excited you were to hand out our "gifts".

We are still going through a rough period right now in regards to sleeping. You don't sleep through the night and we often hear "I don't like to sleep in my bed, alone". I do wonder to myself how long this phase will last and if there's something deeper going on that you can't articulate to us but to be honest, I love having you sleep with Daddy & I. You start out the night in your bed but end up in ours more often than not. I don't know what you're taking from this or what you'll remember but I'll remember this as a precious time with you. I'll remember the weight of you in my arms as I carry you and the comfort I feel as I watch you snuggle down in between us. I'll remember the sweetest conversations you've had with Daddy before he leaves for work and the hugs/kisses you insist on giving him.

Kyra, you are my heart. You make me want to be a better person and you have helped to fuel my desire to savour these years with you. I love you,

Mommy

Kyra's 4th Birthday

2010-12-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

For Kyra's birthday this year we decided to try something different. I really wasn't up to having everyone come to our house(last year was already quite crowded) so we decided to book it at the Safari Kid Zone. Theme this year was Tinkerbell. As the parent I have a few issues with how things were run but the kids had a blast and that's really all that matters:) We had 2 hours and 15 minutes for our party time and shared the structure a little bit with drop-ins and another party but I don't think the kids even noticed. We were on the play structure for a while and then had the upstairs party room for an hour. I wasn't sure that if that would be long enough for cake, a game and a craft but we managed to fit it all in.
A big indoor playground to enjoy and they decide to color:)

It was hard to get pictures of the kids playing but here are a few I snapped.

Kyra felt like taking a rest at the entrance. Her friends are trying to convince her to come up and play:)

Enjoying some time in the infant play area.

Ready to head down the bumpy slide. Lots of fun!

Kyra wanted to take a picture. I think we need to work on her focussing skills:)

The first thing we did when we got up to the party room was to play a Tinkerbell version of pin the tail on the donkey. This was pin the petals on the flower. (And yes, Kyra was there to help every single one of her friends):)

After the game it was time for cake!!! As everyone knows it's the best part of any party:)

Michael's was having a big sale on their foam crafts so I bought some foam stockings a bunch of stickers to decorate them with. The kids really enjoyed it and Kyra has displayed hers proudly on our tree.

Group shot:)

This year, instead of buying presents, we asked our friends to bring the money they would have spent and we would donate it to Food for the Hungry. We really felt this year that we wanted to start expanding Kyra's world view and teach her about the less fortunate in our world. Am I going to do the same thing next year? I don't know. But this year worked really well. It probably helped that our friends, being as generous and wonderful as they are, brought a long a few gifts for Kyra to open.

The birthday girl in all her glory:)

It was a fun filled time and I'm thankful to have such amazing friends around us. Happy Birthday Kyra!

Our Little Ballerina

2010-12-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

Kyra took a 4 week intro to dance class in the summer with one her friends from preschool. Since she decided she really liked it and wanted to keep going, we signed her up for a year long program. It's a tap/ballet class and I think she's enjoying herself. Some days she comes home and say it's hard but still wants to go every week so that's good. We're not allowed to be in the room during the lessons but every couple of months they have a viewing day where we get to watch the last 15 minutes of class. We had one of those last week and I took a few video clips. She's so adorable! I love her so much.

On another note, we've been having some rough nights with Kyra lately. She's been waking up terrified in the middle of the night and is having nightmares again. If you think of us, we would really appreciate your prayers.

That's all for tonight folks! Stay tuned for some gingerbread decorating fun:)

One of those moments

2010-12-03T15:02:00.001-08:00

I had one of "those" moments a couple weeks ago. You know the kind where the kids are happily playing(and have been for more than 2 seconds), you're actually able to get something done (peacefully) around the house (I was doing dishes) and your child is speaking and you go "uh-huh, ok sweets" but don't really hear them? That's the moment I'm talking about. The funny thing is, I usually clue in pretty quickly and will respond or stop Kyra from doing something if I really shouldn't have said "uh-huh". This time I didn't. I was lost in my own world, happy to hear joyful sounds coming my kids. It wasn't until Eric comes in and Kyra excitedly says "Daddy! I'm changing Jayce's diaper!" did I finally clue in and go into the living room to see this:

(do you like my festive editing?)

I laughed out loud. I couldn't believe she was actually changing his diaper! Notice the diaper all rolled up and the wipes pulled out the way I always do. Never mind the fact that Jayce is contentedly lying there, not thinking at all that there's anything wrong with this scenario:)

Oh my goodness do I love these kids. They definitely keep life interesting:)

Snow!!!!

2010-11-25T14:27:00.000-08:00

Today was a fantastically, beautiful, snowfilled, fun day. Today we had snow in Abbotsford. I was so excited for the kids today that they could actually go out and play in it! I was also thankful that it happened on a non-preschool day because it meant Kyra was able to join in the festivities the entire day.

First steps outside. I love Kyra's excited face and Jayce has his "mom are you sure about this?" face:)

Posing for mom but keeping an eye on that snow.

First steps in the snow - woohoo!!

Kyra could not wait to make snow angels. She's been talking about that ever since we told her that snow would be coming. I have no idea why but she made so many snow angels today, I lost count.

Gotta catch . . . .

. . . and eat . . .

. . . said snow.

Jayce is turning into such a little character. He keeps us laughing all the time.

Jayce decided the bush needed to be cleaned off.

Then he decided he had to put the snow back on.

Mom, I like this!

More snow angels:)

Jayce really wanted to try doing a snow angel:)

Whoops, got a poke in the cheek from a hidden stick.

Lots of fun was had on the trampoline that daddy hasn't taken down yet.

And the slides were extra fun. The kids flew off them laughing hysterically as they landed:D

Beautiful boy

They got to play outside with Sammi for a bit - so fun!

This shot is compliments of Lisa.

This concludes our morning of fun. We were outside for about 45 minutes and I took approximately 100 pictures. Then we went to my parents for the afternoon. After supper we took the kids for a GT racer ride to Oma's house. So I have even more pictures. More importantly, we have lots and lots of memories. I love the snow!!!

Cousins

2010-11-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

I have such a great relationship with my sisters, something for which I'm truly grateful. It makes me sad sometimes to look at Kyra and realize she'll never experience that. Then I see the following pictures and I think that if she can't have a sister, at least she can have a great relationship with her cousin, Samantha.

Fun at the park with our boy

2010-11-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

We had some beautiful fall weather Sunday evening, so off we went for a bike ride. Kyra's first choice was to head to the "red" park so after a quick trip around the lake, that's where we ended up. Jayce decided he actually wanted to try climbing this structure for the first time so ofcourse I had to document it:) He had so much fun and was so proud of himself.

"No cheese mom!"

(He doesn't put up with all my picture taking as well as his sister):P

Jayce loves to take Eric's hat and proclaim "my hat!" I think he looks beyond adorable when he wears itl and today I was happy to capture a few photos of this adorableness.

A short clip of Jayce climbing.

A short clip of Jayce hanging all by himself

I'm thankful for a beautiful November that has allowed us to head out to the park still. Fall weather like this is why I'm glad we live in southern BC:)

2010-11-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

Kyra has taken a big interest lately in reading to Jayce. If I'm finishing up something in the kitchen or folding laundry and Jayce wants to read a book, she's often there saying "come Jayce, I'll read it to you". I happened to be lucky enough to capture one of these moments on video.

Project Life

2010-10-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

I've been doing this project since January called Project Life. It's a different take on scrapbooking and I love it. The premise behind it is that you take a picture everyday for a year and then write a little blurb about each picture. The kit comes with a really nice album, journaling cards, stickers and a date stamp. It's been forcing me to 1) actually print pictures 2) make sure I take a picture everyday and 3) makes me focus more on what I'm taking a picture of. I admit, I'm behind in the journaling department but I'm hoping to catch up on that in the next month. Since I don't have the energy to write a big long blog post, I decided to show you some of the pictures I've used for Project Life because some of them are so gosh-darn cute.

I can't help but smile everytime I see this picture

Handsome & Cute - what more can I say?

This picture warms my heart. Can't believe how little Jayce is here.

"Look mom! We're friends!" Direct quote from Kyra:)

Beautiful princesses

What a ham

Trip to the zoo. Looking cool was the business of the day.

Face painting is very serious business

Jayce's first time finger painting. He wasn't sure what to think at first but then got into it a bit more.

Kyra's last day of 3 year old preschool.

Canada Day Parade!

Storytime at the park. Parachute games are a highlight for Kyra.

Jayce didn't enjoy the sitting down and listening to stories part, so he played.

What a great older cousin:) And a cutie little one.

Saying good-bye to Nana & Opa at the airport. They're not happy that Nana & Opa are leaving, but happy to be visiting the airport:)

Devotion time.

That's a wrap. 'Night all.

A Look Back

2010-10-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

I was looking through some old photos and found this video of Kyra feeding Jayce. Sorry for the grainy quality, but it's still cute:)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

2010-10-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

As we were getting the kids ready for bed last night Kyra out of the blue asks "why did God make us?" I was literally stunned into silence. I couldn't believe she was asking us that and I couldn't put together an answer right away. Eric answered her saying "because He wanted us to be a family". That answered satisfied her at that point in time and she transitioned right back to the bedtime routine.

It amazes me how little minds work and after I got over my initial shock the answer that came to my mind was "companionship". God wanted companionship and wants a relationship with each of us. That's what it all comes down to for me. That's what I'm hoping & praying I can teach my kids. That instead of putting God in a box and thinking of Him only as a being in heaven, that I can teach them that God loves & knows us and wants us to love & know Him.

About 90% of the time I feel ill-qualified to teach this to Kyra & Jayce. I feel that my relationship with God isn't stellar but I'm working on changing that for them but also for myself. I feel like I've been drifting far too long and that my priorities have been a bit skewed. I've been working on being a better mom and a better wife(that order should also be reversed but that's a different post for a different time) and in doing so have put my relationship with God on the back burner. I don't know about many of you out there, but for me that is easily done with young kids they need so much attention so much of the time. It's not really a good excuse though because I could carve out time for Him, if I was really wanting to. In fact, I've been feeling for a while that I need to adjust my thought process from quiet/nap time being "me" time to it being God time.

I've been fighting that for a long time because there's something strange that happens at the 1:30pm mark. All the pep talks I've been giving myself through out the day such as "okay, I'm only going to rest for 30-45 minutes and then get up and do the dishes/laundry/devotions . . . ." seem to fall right out of my mind and my body becomes inexplicably glued to the couch. When I finally reach that point in the day my body shuts down and I'm just so grateful to have some peace and quiet. In fact if you were to pop over during quiet time you would see me on FB, watching TV with a book beside me waiting to be read. In my mind that is my time and no one else's. Not even God.

The thing is that He's not even asking me to give Him all of my quiet time. He's only asking for a portion. And what makes it even worse is that the times I do stop and take time for Him I don't feel like I've lost anything. I still get to check facebook, watch TV and read a book (if I so desire). I still get my me time but I'm choosing to put Him first. I'm choosing to use my time for something more valuable. That is what I'm trying to remind myself of these days. My goal is finish out this week putting aside some quiet time for God. Hopefully I can make that part of my routine and it won't feel like such a chore.

That's just a bit of me and where I'm at these days. Thank-you to Kyra for making me think of this and for helping me push myself:) Good-night all!

Swimming Lessons

2010-09-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

*I need to apologize for the grainy pictures. I don't like using the flash inside but this is what I end up with when I don't*

Swimming lessons this year has been so much fun. I managed to put both kids in at the same time (different classes) which makes things easier. Both kids are having a blast and are doing so well. Here are a few pictures that I took last week.

Pouring water over his head is a huge step for Jayce.

I think they're playing Purple Soup here which is Kyra's new favorite game.

Blowing bubbles! This week Jayce actually put his eyes in for the first time - yay!

Swimming with daddy:)

Back floats - huge milestone for Kyra especially since she let a stranger help her.

Collecting the balls is a highlight for Jayce.

"Clean up, clean up"

Front float

This picture is sad to look at but it actually makes me proud. In the above picture Kyra swallowed a huge mouthful of water and had a little choking episode. She did cry and was upset for a minute but instead of continuing to cry until I could reach her, she instead let her teacher calm her down and then went back out with him to practice her back float some more. I was so proud of her.

Jayce practicing his front float along with some kicking.

"1, 2, 3, Jump!" One of his favorite parts of lessons. He jumps so high!

Practicing floats with life jackets. Considering she was terrified of her lifejacket a month ago this is great progress.

A snapshot of swimming lessons so far. We're all really enjoying it, we usually stay another 30-45 minutes after the lessons are done and have fun family time. Despite my fear of having them in swimming lessons during the fall (makes their asthma worse) I'm so glad we did it. What great memories!

Snapshots

2010-09-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Monkey girl in all her glory:)

Is there any better place to store your flute?:) (and yes, I know it's a recorder, but Dora plays a flute, so that's what Kyra's instrument has been named.)

First day of dance class

Oma bought the kids some stickers to decorate their rooms and they loved them.

The heart sticker is from the set Oma bought, the "Play, Imagine, Dream" is from Nana, through a company called Word to the Wall.

Practicing writing the alphabet. (I have flashforward to her in high school, doing homework. Yikes!)

Jayce is getting into dress-up clothes now which Kyra is thrilled about:)

I flipped over the pool so it would stop filling up with water but it filled up anyway and Jayce thought it would be a good time for a swim.

Reading with Uncle Peter. So sweet.

Love this shot.

Stickers in Jayce's room. He's so excited everytime he walk into his room now:)

(sign reads "Mechanic on Duty")

Playing in the helicopter was a highlight for Jayce and he couldn't wait to tell daddy.

I've completed my task for today, now it's time to enjoy the sun!

One week later . . .as promised!

2010-09-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

It's been one week since my last post and here I am blogging! At least I'm starting out strong:) What have we been up to? Kyra started preschool last week and she jumped right back in as if she had never left. She was so excited to go back and proudly went to school in her brand new back-to-school outfit (thank you Winners).

Kyra asked me if I could make the leaves into a big pile for her and Jayce to jump in. I tried explaining that the pile wouldn't be very big yet but she didn't care so out we went.

At least they each tried to help:)

And then the fun ensued:)

We also went to the MCC Sale on Friday which was tons of fun, as usual. We're looking forward to next year already:)

Face painting is a must for Kyra.

Mini golf was something new for her. She loved it which makes me think it may be time to try out Wonderland.

Kyra & Jayce having fun together:)

There you have it, our week at a glance. Now I'm off to watch some Grey's with my hubby since we're still trying to catch up before the new season starts. Good night!

Breaking the Silence

2010-09-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today is Sept. 5 which means it's been far too long since I've updated my blog. Can I blame summer? Or blogger since I'm getting very frustrated with how long it takes to upload pictures. And what's a blog post without pictures?

Anyway, I am here and I am alive. Trying to get ready for the swing of fall but am in denial that it's actually September and that Kyra starts school again this week. The kids and I are loving the beautiful summer days we've been blessed with the last couple of days.

The kids are keeping me as busy as ever. My favorite time of the day with them right now is first thing in the morning. Kyra will rest with me for a bit until she hears Jayce stirring. Then she climbs off the bed, opens the door to his room and I get to hear their happy chatter as they greet each other. Kyra usually gives him a truck or 2 to play with in his crib and she plays on the mattress in his room(more on that later). They are so happy to see each other, they laugh and talk back & forth until I finally manage to pry myself out of bed. It makes me smile as I lay there listening to them build on their relationship. I pray almost daily that theirs isn't just one of sister & brother but of friendship as well.

I love my kids so much and I'm realizing more and more lately how much I'm going to miss this stage. As frustrating as it can be some days (or weeks:P) I love it. Jayce is expanding his vocabulary daily and turning into such a little character. Kyra is emulating me so much I can't help but be flattered & I can already see that when the time comes, she is going to make an amazing baby-sitter. I love them so much it takes my breath away. I am blessed.

Now it is time for me to say good-night and spend a bit of time relaxing with my wonderful, handsome hubby. Now that I have officially broken the silence, I hope to continue breaking it by posting once a week(my goal for the fall). Feel free to hold me to that. Good night all!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jayce!

2010-07-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful baby boy!

You are our Mr. Man, our buddy and our lives are so much richer with you in them. My heart explodes with love when I see you. Your big blue eyes make it hard for me to say no when you raise them pleadingly at me. Your curly hair makes me giddy and I'm so thrilled it's growing out again.

You are obsessed with cars & trucks. That is not an overstatement. Car/truck is every 3rd word out of your mouth:) You walk around usually with 2 or 3 of them in your hands.

You love to swing (and by this I mean like a chimp from a gymnastics type bar) and jump on the tramp.

You are finally starting to speak more but are clearly more of a visual learner. You pick up on certain things much faster if I sign with you. You used to say blue for every single color but now have started saying red(signing) & yellow(speaking). Your new favorite words are bun(which you say bum - hilarious!) and iced tea. Kyra loves asking you to say new words and usually you comply but sometimes she'll get your all time, most used word, no.

You are, for the most, a happy-go-lucky, go with the flow type of child. But if you get truly upset, you are not an easy child to console. You don't want me to sing, you don't want to be cuddled, everything we offer you is pushed away with a resounding "no" and we're often left scrambling to find something, anything to calm you down. It's amazing the instant change that happens when we do find that "thing"(it's never the same). Your big smile returns, you chatter at us and the tears instantly subside. You may think this is a silly thing to write down but this is you right now. I don't want to forget anything about you at this stage. You who are my cuddly child. I love the way your head fits so perfectly in the crook of my neck and the mini-snuggles you give throughout the day. You who fits so perfectly in my lap and who still needs to be rocked and drink a bottle for naptime & bedtime. I know that needs to stop soon but I can't because you're still my baby.

I love to watch you with Kyra. You want so desperately to be a big boy, you copy the things she does even if you're not quite ready for them. You haven't sat in a booster chair to eat for a very long time because you insist on sitting at the table like a big boy. Sometimes makes for a much messier eating experience but I don't have the heart to say no. When doing your obstacle routines around the living room you follow Kyra every step of the way and I love hearing your infectious giggle echo throughout the house.

You, my precious baby boy, are so loved. You completed our family the day you were born and we are so thankful to have you in our lives. Happy birthday Jayce. Daddy, Kyra & I love you so much.

Las Vegas Sunday, May 23, 2010

2010-06-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention in my last Vegas post that this time around we stayed at the Mirage. A much better experience than our last time(we stayed at the Imperial Palace) and I would recommend it to anyone heading to Vegas. Our hotel had a huge breakfast buffet so we had to check it out Sunday morning. Here's Eric about to try sushi for the first time.

He didn't hate but I don't think it's in his top 5 favorite foods.

Some of the scenery outside our hotel. So beautiful.

Our show for the evening!!! It was our first Cirque du Soleil experience and we loved it. It was such an amazing show and I would see it again in a heartbeat, just to catch what I all missed! The stunts and acrobatics were breathtaking. I highly recommend seeing it, if you get the chance.

All dressed up and ready to go. I couldn't decide which picture I liked better so I posted them both.

Night shots of Vegas

The Venetian was across the street from our hotel.

Our hotel

Eating supper at 11pm. We had such a weird schedule in Vegas but we loved it. We only ate twice a day, a brunch and then a very late supper. It was hard to to adjust to a normal schedule coming home.

Gotta love Denny's:)

(Yes, I'm wearing my parka in Vegas. It was cold and windy on Sunday!!)

New York, New York

The Statue of Liberty made entirely of Skittles:) This was the amazing candy shop in New York, New York and no, I didn't get to eat there:(

Pictures from around New York, New York.

Excalibur

The chocolate fountain at the Bellagio.

These pictures are from the over-sized garden display in the Bellagio. Just goes to show that everything really is bigger in Vegas.

The ceiling in the foyer of the Bellagio right outside the garden display.

I took this picture at 12:35am as we were heading back to our hotel. I was so tired by this point but I was impressed to see that they really do clean everything.

So concludes our Sunday in Vegas. More to come!

Party Day - May

2010-06-17T22:01:00.001-07:00

Party day in May. Can't believe it's her last one next week! (can't believe it took me so long to post this) Last month's color of the month was purple (can you tell?), science was gardens/growing and I can't remember what the math theme was.

My beautiful little sunflower.

This is Kyra's "I know you're looking at me but I'm pretending I don't see you and don't want to look at you" face.

As usual, Jayce was there too. He did not want his picture taken though.

I love the smile on Kyra's face in this picture and the attitude of her classmate beside her:)

"There's a seed in the ground in my garden bed . . ."

" . . . and I'm gonna watch it grow"

So fun to watch them at party days. They've all grown up so much since the beginning of the year and it's fun to actually hear them singing and doing the actions. More than that, they're actually enjoying it! I can't believe Kyra's 1st year of preschool is almost done. Where did this year go?

Las Vegas Saturday, May 22

2010-06-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

And so it begins . . .

Waiting to board the plan. Reading a book while trying to ignore my unease of leaving my children.

Landed in Vegas!!! So happy to be back and to finally be on vacation:)

First picture driving to the strip. Not the best quality, but I wanted to document it.

Our hotel room. When we checked in they upgraded us to a room with a jacuzzi tub. Sweet!!

2 sinks - I feel so decadent.

And that concludes our pictures from our first night in Vegas(we landed at 10:30pm and decided not to hit the strip that night). Stay tuned for our adventures in Vegas!

Beauty in the unexpected

2010-06-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

There is something so beautiful about sleeping with your children. I did it with both my kids when they were babies and I don't regret a minute of it. There's something so soothing about having your baby sleep on your chest where you get to feel their little hearts beating and feel their soft breath on your neck. At first when I started sleeping with Kyra I was so nervous, worried about her falling off me or of Eric and I rolling on her in the night. But I got over that pretty quickly and really began to enjoy it. Both Kyra and Jayce slept so much better when they were with us and I didn't have the heart to put them down anywhere else. Even if they weren't sleeping in our bed, they were still in our room. At least for the first 6-9 weeks. After a while I couldn't sleep through their little noises and they were moved into their own rooms but if they needed a middle of the night feed, they would usually end up right back on my chest.

I'm not a 100% advocate of co-sleeping in the later years, truth be told I've judged people for it but now I'm wondering why I did/do that. If that's what works for their family and both hubby & wife are in agreement then I say do what works for you. It really is magical in some ways. It's a different bonding experience, one I really love. To be completely truthful, Kyra still sleeps with us some nights. There was a long period of time where Kyra quite happily fell asleep and stayed alseep in her own bed. But when she started getting night terrors and was inconsolable the easiest thing to do was to bring her in our bed. She would immediately snuggle up to Eric, stealing half his pillow and I just know that's where she felt safest. She slept so much better with us and wouldn't wake up again that night. If we managed to console her and get her to sleep in her own bed, inevitably she would be up 2 or 3 more times. Really, it was just a better night sleep for all of us if she came in our bed. When we went to Camp Squeah this year, Jayce had a really hard time sleeping away from home(which we knew he would) and the only way he would fall asleep the first night was on Eric's chest. It was such a beautiful thing to watch him and Eric together. When I attempted to move him into the playpen he woke up screaming but as soon as I brought him back to our bed he quieted and fell right to sleep. He wanted to feel safe and comforted, how can I argue with that?

I'm writing this blog post because I was reminded of this joy today. Kyra fell asleep in our bed during quiet time today so I crawled into bed in an attempt to wake her up. Usually that's all it takes, she'll bounce awake and want to run to the living room to play a game or glue or read. Today though, she sighed, rolled towards me and stayed asleep. I put her little hand in mine, stroked it and just enjoyed the peace and quiet with my baby girl. The reason for the title is because this love of co-sleeping came unexpectedly. I never thought I would be that parent, never thought I would enjoy having my child in bed with me. But I do and I'm not ashamed of it.

A Reminder

2010-05-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today I had a reminder. A reminder that life is fragile. The fact that this reminder came from a TV show doesn't diminish it at all. I was actually wiping tears off my face. Tears of sadness for what I was witnessing but also tears of gratefulness. I was completely overwhelmed with gratefulness for my children being alive and healthy. Because apart from my husband, they are the most important people in my life.

I know part of the reason these feelings came over me today was because of the show. But it's also come because of a conversation I had with some friends not too long ago. We were talking about the fact that as a mother of young children you hear from more seasoned mothers to "enjoy this time, it doesn't last very long". I think we all came to the conclusion that as much as we agree with that statement it's hard to truly enjoy our children being this young. We are too busy trying to keep up with our children, too busy worrying about raising them right to truly enjoy them this young. I've been trying to change that lately. I've really been trying to enjoy this time, enjoy these years with my babies(so to speak) and not just certain moments. I think I've been achieving this lately. It's an ongoing process, a struggle some days but I really and truly want to enjoy this time. Looking ahead to the future reminds me again how quickly time is moving.

Kyra

is almost finished with her 1st year of preschool. Next year she'll be gone 3 mornings a week and it makes me sad.

Jayce

will be 2 this summer! He is getting farther and farther away from being a baby. I love these kids so much it hurts. Everyone says these are the formative years for kids education and what they learn now will carry them through as they're older but I think it's also the formative years for our relationships with our kids. I want my kids to know that no matter how frustrated or upset I get with them, that I will always love them. I want them to learn already that they can talk to me about anything. I want them to know that I will always be here for them, always make time for them.

And I want to be thankful. Thankful for having young children to care for. There are too many parents out there who have known the pain of losing a child(or children) and my heart aches for them. Their stories make me want to cherish this time even more. Their stories are a reminder of how much I have to be thankful for.

Just because I have a heart of thankfulness doesn't mean I don't have bad days(believe me I do. That in itself could be another blog post). Raising kids is the hardest job in the world and there are days the struggles tend to overwhelm me. I can be fillled with exasperation/anger/doubt and so many other emotions but what I want to choose to do is instead of the making the negatives so prominent a memory, I want to instead make the good memories prominent. In some ways, as cliche as it might sound, I want to live each day as if its my last. This tv episode and other things I've been thinking about lately have made me want to embrace life more, to really find out what it means to live. I don't know fully yet how I'm going to do that or where God's going to lead me but I'm getting ready to step up and step out. I want to be and do more. I want to maintain an attitude of gratefulness.

I'm not quite sure how to conclude this post so I'm just going to sign off here. Thanks for reading and sticking through my somewhat jumpy rambles. This is just a little bit of what's been on my heart lately.

Fun on the Trampoline!!

2010-05-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-10T23:09:00.001-07:00

My first Mother's Day craft from preschool. Kyra was so excited to give it to me(and I was so excited to receive it) that I opened it up on Thursday after preschool. Kyra happily opened it for me:) The card inside reads "My love for you just grows and grows".

Kyra was so excited to point out all the colors to me.

Sunday evening we went to White Rock and really enjoyed playing on the beach(at least the kids and I did. Eric's not much of a beachy person):)

Beautiful picture by Eric

Exploring the beach.

Fun in the water! It was pretty warm, even at White Rock and the water was enjoyable to be in.

My kids and I:) I love them so much.

Jayce loved these rocks. We threw them back in the water a lot and he picked them up. . . a lot.

Run!!

Whoops:)

We're all okay:)

We had so much fun there, the kids didn't want to get out of the water to get changed. We'll definitely have to go back this summer and enjoy some more beach time.

Hope all you moms out there had a wonderful mother's day!!

Party Day - April

2010-05-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

I've said it many times before and I'll say it many more; I love party days. I don't know if any other preschool does these but I think they should. Party days happen once a month and are a great way for us parents to see some of what the kids are learning. It's so fun to watch how they grow as the year goes on. They're actually singing now and doing the actions which is so fun to see.

Kyra walking in.

Kyra & Lucas actually stood beside each other this time which is the first time in 8 months of school. (April's color theme was pastel, which is what they painted on their hats).

Jayce was there too, happy to watch his big sister perform. He's even more happy if I keep feeding him snacks and give him trucks to play with:P

Singing one of my favorite songs about taking time out to slow ourselves down and make our choice count.

Kyra joining in enthusiastically!

Yay for party days! Mommy & Daddy are so proud of all that you do Kyra!

Fighting with God . . . and finally surrendering.

2010-04-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

A while ago I wrote a post that we were going on a missions trip. This is something I am so excited about, something that has been in the back of my mind for years and years. When things were up in the air for Eric's job a while back we started talking and realized that separately, Eric and I had both been thinking about doing missions with our family. We decided to contact MBMSI and see what our options were and what the costs were. We had checked out the website beforehand and were really excited to see Thailand as an option. Unfortunately, when we met with our contact, we were told that Thailand actually wasn't open for this summer but they were working on securing some other locations. We were really disappointed about not going to Thailand but in my mind I was thinking, that's okay, we can go somewhere else to volunteer.

In my head we were going on a missions trip, the only thing we needed to figure out was where. So I wrote that post about us going. I shouldn't have done that though. The whole time I was writing that post I had this voice in my head saying, "don't write it. You're not going. Don't write this". I ignored it, ignored God basically. I was fighting him saying "of course we're going. This is something both Eric and I want, we're going to volunteer our time, to help, why wouldn't you want us to go?" I fought God a lot on this. I ignored His voice for a while when he kept telling me "this isn't the year". I was afraid that if we didn't go this year, that we would lose momentum or desire or something and we would never end up going. I was so excited to go that I didn't want to hear "no".

I finally surrendered though. After a lot of arguing with God and discussions with Eric(we both went back and forth a lot) I finally surrendered. I said "okay God, I hear you. We're not going this year". It was a hard thing to realize, a hard thing to come to grips with. It was even harder having to write the email to our contact and telling them we had decided not to go. I have this desire inside of me and it aches to not be going. I'm sure this seems strange to people. I think most people argue with God because they don't want to go, not because they do. But I really have this desire inside of me and that's what helped convinced me it's okay not to go. I figure if the desire is this strong, God's going to show us the right time to go. Eric and I both feel really pulled to go to Thailand so maybe by waiting there will be a chance to go next year. By waiting, both Kyra & Jayce will be older which could mean easier transitions and it could also mean that we'll have a better handle on their asthma. By waiting it means there could be a family or 2 that would be able to come with us. By waiting we get to be here to celebrate my dad's 55th birthday(love you dad):) By waiting we get to continue with some other plans we had for the summer.

It's still a bit hard for me. It's hard writing this post actually and it's going to be hard when the dates come and gone that we would have been traveling but I am excited about our new summer plans. I'm excited for beach dates and for planning Jayce's 2nd birthday.

I need to sign off now as my daughter is asking me to come play "Cars" bingo with her. Thanks for listening.

I'm an Auntie again!!!

2010-04-13T14:54:00.001-07:00

It's so much fun being an auntie and it was such a joy meeting this little adorable baby. Travis is small and soft and smells like a new baby. Such a joy to cuddle him.

Kyra was thrilled to meet her new little cousin.

Uncle Eric holding his new nephew.

What a sweet little face.

Congratulations Jared, Lisa & Samantha!!! We love you!!

Big sister teaches little brother

2010-03-24T15:17:00.001-07:00

Sometimes older siblings teach good things. Sometimes older siblings teach not-so-good things. Sometimes older siblings teach things that are just plain funny. This video, is one of those things:)

This boy . . .

2010-03-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

. . . and this girl . . .

. . . melt my heart.

2010-03-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

This blog "enjoying the small things" is a must read. I would have kleenex on hand though because it is emotional.

Photo shoot

2010-03-04T22:20:00.000-08:00

Kyra came running up behind me one afternoon and said she wanted to do some pictures of just us:) She was hugging me so tight and giving me that smile I can't resist so here are some of those pictures. Keep in my mind it's me taking these pictures with my arm stretched out so I didn't want to use the flash. Thus, the not-so-great quality of the pictures but they're still fun:)

I love these kids:)

2010-02-20T15:31:00.000-08:00

Sad

2010-02-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

Today I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry right alongside Jayce. All my baby boy wanted today was for mommy to cuddle him & his puppy while he drank his bottle and read him the same book over and over again. Unfortunately, seeing as how I have 2 other kids to hang out with today, I couldn't do that. We did have some cuddle time and we did get to read his book but it just never feels like enough. I feel bad that I had some mommy/Kyra sick time on Friday but I couldn't do the same for Jayce today. Kyra & Sammi needed me as well. Thankfully, during me making lunch and fighting with Jayce for him to take his medicine, they played amazingly well together. I could totally focus on Jayce for that time frame and it was definitely needed. Jayce

H-A-T-E-S taking his medicine. I don't blame him. (for those that don't know, we found out Jayce has a throat infection and Kyra has an ear infection. She just informed me that both ears hurt so I think she now has a double ear infection).

As I was saying, I don't blame Jayce for not wanting to take his medicine. Everything going down his throat right now, must hurt like crazy. I was almost in tears with him while giving his pre-nap dose of medicine. His eyes were red from crying, I'm sure his throat was on fire because on top of these illnesses, asthma is running wild over my kids, and he had just finished a major coughing fit where he almost threw up. Jayce doesn't usually cough like that, it's usually restricted to Kyra, so that was upsetting for him and me. He was looking up at me with these tear-filled, tired, red-rimmed eyes crying "ma-ma! ma-ma!" I managed to force the medicine down his throat(with him coughing and gagging the whole time) and gave him his bottle hoping that would calm him down as the timer was beeping at me telling me that the lunch was ready for the girls. He was so happy to get his bottle but kept pulling it away every few seconds and crying because his throat hurt too much to drink it:( I cradled him for a bit but the girls, having heard the timer, kept calling "is lunch ready? Is it time to eat?" so I bunched up a pile of towels and put him down on the kitchen floor so that he could be in my area but I could focus on the girls for a bit. He was so tired, he almost fell alseep there. He got a bit of a second wind and managed to eat a bit, not much though. He signed "all done" so I managed to get in a couple minute of cuddle time while the girls were still eating. It was so nice to cuddle him and then I got his blankie out of the dryer and he wrapped himself up in it, grabbed his mini-blankie and his puppy and toddled off to his room, ready for a nap. He's resting now and hopefully he gets in a good, long nap. Some days I just feel inadequate as a mom. I could have really used a clone (of me) today.

Things that made me smile despite all this turmoil: Kyra getting undressed and asking to put on dress-up clothes so that she could "get married". Samantha and her sweet nature, happy to play with Kyra's doll and read whatever books my kids picked out. You've definitely got a sweetheart there, Lisa & Jared:) After letting the girls pick their own stickers for being such good listeners and playing so well together Kyra gave me one too saying "good job putting Jayce down for a nap mommy. You did so well today too!" Gotta love that girl:)

I hear Samantha calling for Kyra so I better get her up. Hope your days are all going well and you're enjoying some beautiful sunshine!

Summer plans - prayer needed

2010-02-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

Eric and I have some exciting summer plans in the works which we're now ready to share about publicly. I think it's come as a shock to some people but we are going to be taking the kids and going on a summer missions trip. We will be going with MBMSI's Action and will be gone July 9-Aug 9(approximately) plus a week of training and a week of debrief making it a 6 week program. We're not sure where we're going to be going yet and that's why we need your prayers. There are 2 different assignments that have come up, one is finalized, one is almost finalized. Our gut reaction when we heard about the first assignment was nope, don't want to go there and we were both excited about the 2nd assignment. And yes, I'm purposely not telling you what they are. We are asking for prayer for discernment on which assignment to do and prayer that we will hear(and listen) to what God wants. In the back of my mind I'm thinking "God's going to send us exactly where we don't want to go". This comes from the fact that a couple months ago, while doing devotions, I asked God to challenge me/us. Someone once told to me be careful saying that to God because He will. I'm excited for this challenge though, I'm excited to go on a missions trip and share that with my family. I've been wanting to do missions since I was 15 so this is a long time coming.

Don't get me wrong, I'm also scared out of my mind. The logistics of traveling with 2 children overseas would be enough to scare anyone, I think. Add to the fact that our kids have asthma and we have to be able to get and bring along with us 4 weeks of medication, Jayce would be almost 2 and Kyra 3.5. Crazy!!! Hours of travel, trying to keep both kids happy while traveling, dealing with jet lag, dealing with sleeping on the plane(gravol will definitely be brought) . . . ., dealing with the adjustment to a new culture and new surroundings, I'm not ignoring all of these things. I know it won't be easy but we'll survive and even have fun doing it!

We have another prayer request that ties into the kids. The person we're in contact with has recommended that we travel either with someone who's single and they would be along to help with out with the kids(so that Eric and I could both go out and do things together sometimes) or that we travel with another family and we do a rotation with childcare. If you could be in prayer for that we would really appreciate. Or, if you're reading this and feel like you would like to come with us, let us know:)

So lots of prayers needed for us right now. If anybody reading this has gone on a family missions trip and would be willing to offer any advice or stories of your travels, we'd love to hear them. Thanks for reading - we're excited to see how God uses us and changes us!

"Mommy, come look what I did!"

2010-02-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

is what I heard every minute during the beginning of quiet time today. Kyra has a dry erase board that she received for her birthday(thanks Auntie Lisa!) and she loves to practice her numbers and letters. She knows I like to take pictures of what she does because they aren't in a book I can save. So it was very sweet of her to let me know but I finally had to put an end to it because neither of us were getting much "quiet" time:) Here is a collage of what she did.

My brag time is ending now:)

18 Months

2010-01-23T23:00:00.000-08:00

18 months . . . . such a long period of time. Anything can happen in 18 months. And yet it seems to have gone by so fast.

This little boy who blessed our lives July 23, 2008

has grown into this (not so) baby boy.

An energetic, full of life, handsome, funny, blue-eyed boy.

Jayce is 18 months old today. I was looking through the blog post we wrote when he was born to get the 2 pictures of him as a newborn(most of our pictures are on the other computer) and I was reading through some of the comments on that blog post. It brought back a flood of memories, including that awful week where we were unsure as to whether or not Jayce would live. I want you to know, that I don't take this little boy for granted. I am so incredibly thankful to be writing this post, thankful that I can celebrate Jayce turning 18 months. This little boy is such a joy to us. I cannot believe how fast he is growing up and I seriously wish I could kiss him and hug him all day long.

When Jayce was first born we thought he was more of a mellow child, we thought he was going to be the more relaxed one of our 2 children. Ha! We were totally wrong.

We put this bookcase here to stop Jayce from getting to the DVD's. He decided to be resourceful and find his way in.

Jayce can keep up with his sister any day of the week.

He is go, go, go from the minute he gets up. He is still more content than Kyra in that I can still leave him in his crib for up to an hour before I get him in the morning. He's also able to sit and play for longer periods than I remember Kyra doing at this age. But, if Jayce is up and going, then he's a tornado. He loves to wrestle so I often find myself doing that with him throughout the day. He loves to be a big boy and is constantly trying to copy whatever Kyra is doing. She's taught him some not so good things already:P

Right now one of his new skills is learning to walk up & down stairs by himself.

Jayce is also loving doing sign language. I wish I was more fluent because I'm sure he would be communicating way more right now. He picks up new signs immediately and remembers them. The newest sign I've taught him is "work" because he's constantly looking for and asking for Eric during the day. Now when I tell him "daddy's at work" Jayce starts waving bye-bye. At least I know he's understanding me. He gets sooo excited when he hears the door open when Eric gets home. He stops whatever he's doing and runs to the gate yelling "da-da! da-da!" The other day I had opened the gate for the kids and Jayce literally jumped off the stairs into Eric's arms. Makes my heart smile everytime I see that:)

A picture of my baby boy, today. He just had to wear Kyra's helmet:)

Happy 18 months Jayce! Daddy, Kyra & I love you so much and are so thankful to have you in our lives!

Haiti

2010-01-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

I've looked at a lot of pictures the last few days and read a lot about the earthquake in Haiti. The devestation there is unimaginable. I can't imagine hovering in a doorway with your child while having your house tumble around you. Then to come to out of the dust and fog and realize that many, many buildings around you have collapsed, many people trapped, many people needing food/water/shelter. The basics that I take for granted. I've been wanting to do something tangible and finally decided to donate some money to Compassion. I have no associations with them yet, but I would love to sponsor 2 children one day and Compassion is the organization I would choose to go with. In case you were wanting to donate but couldn't pick an organization to go with, I decided to post this button here. I copied this button from one of the blogs I read, Kelly's Korner.

Today

2010-01-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

Today . . . my kids are happy.

Today . . . my kids are behaving.

Today . . . the sun is shining beautifully.

Toay . . . we got to go to the park with Auntie Chrystal.

Today . . . we pretended it was summer and had a picnic outside. In fact, we're still outside enjoying this gorgeous weather. Kyra's taking "baby Owen"(aka: baby Makenzie) to the doctor and Jayce is wandering around with his bottle in his mouth. Both kids are loving it out here and I am thankful for today.

It amazes me

2010-01-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

How strong a parents love is for their children. Today was an awful day starting with Kyra having a time-out before we left the house for preschool!!! Not an awesome start to the day. My time with Jayce was fun though, went to Wal-mart to pick up some much needed items (and one not so needed. But how could I pass up the Lake House for $5.00?) and then back to preschool to pick up Kyra. Once we got home, oh boy, did the fun begin. Kyra decided that she was NOT going to listen. Not even for one little bit. Top that with my not sleeping well last night and then subconsciously worrying about something all day, we weren't the greatest pair today. I thought I did pretty well holding my cool up until quiet time. Quiet time was lengthened to 80 minutes today and that apparently wasn't enough time for me:P Or Kyra. Maybe she should have had a nap today because man-oh-man things got 10 times worse after quiet time. Incessant whining, running away when I would ask her to come see me, questioning everything, pushing the boundaries and then crossing them. Hitting Jayce, yelling at Jayce, refusing to sit for time-outs . . . .blech:( It was awful. I was counting the seconds until Eric got home. Then I needed to get dinner ready. I put in a movie today because I think we all needed it. Unfortunately Jayce wasn't in the mood to sit for a movie and was constantly under my feet and then proceeded to wail when I couldn't pick him up. Frazzled isn't a strong enough word to describe how I was feeling. Finally I heard that most glorious sound, the sound of a husband opening the front door and entering the house after work. Finally, I thought, he could sit and play with the kids and I could finish supper. Jayce had other plans and Eric ended up having to finish dinner while Jayce and I enjoyed a cuddle on the couch. This is the part where I'm amazed. How many other people would I have wanted to sit with and comfort after they had just been a source of frustration for me? But about 2 seconds away from total meltdown(mine & Jayce's) there I was, lost in the moment, totally in love with my baby boy. I was thankful to be holding him, thankful to have a baby boy to cuddle & love & yes, even get frustrated with.

And then the moment ended. It was time for supper and Kyra treated us all to more "fun". I thought it was just me she was annoyed/frustrated with and that she would maybe listen to Eric when he got home. Nope, that was just a dream. She took a little break from her insanity when we went to downstairs to see the clothes Auntie Lisa for baby boy Unruh(very cute stuff, by the way). But then we came upstairs and Eric and I were beyond frustrated with her. Finally it was time for medicine and bed. Even as I'm rocking Jayce, I can hear some issues going on with them and I'm thinking "seriously, she's fighting us to the very end, here". But then I put Jayce down and went to Kyra's room to do our bedtime routine. We did devotions, sang, prayed and then we had a chat as she unwinded from the day. She was totally upbeat, happy to recall events from the evening before and had me laughing. Once again, I was totally lost in the moment, totally in love with my baby girl. All of my anger just melted away, as if it never existed. I stared at Kyra's face, listened to her pray and was so thankful for her.

How amazing is this love. Being a parent really does give you a glimpse into the love God has for us. How many times do we whine, wail, snipe at God and yet he takes us, as we are. Again & again. Even more than that, He's totally in love with us. He looks at us, like we look at our children. Without blemish. I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for God's love and thankful for moments like these that remind me how close He really is.

Christmas Eve Service

2010-01-13T22:58:00.001-08:00

(aka: The Gronau/Reimer show) at least from the point of view of my pictures:D

I'm finally posting pictures from our church's Christmas Eve service. It was so cute seeing Kyra up on stage. I had a moment of disbelief that I have a child old enough to participate in the service. It was so funny trying to practice with her at home because she learned one version of Jingle Bells at preschool and I had to teach her a different version for church. The first time I sang it to her she said "I can't sing that - it's the wrong one!" She did learn the church one though and even though she didn't sing very loud, she sang the entire song. There were a lot of proud parents up front taking pictures. Should have snapped a picture of that:)

At the start of the evening I had to take pictures of Jayce and Owen in their matching outfits. What handsome little men!!

Kyra was in the back of the group and I was sitting in a bad spot but these are some of the pictures I did manage to snap.

Best Buds

Leanne and I had the *brilliant* idea of trying to take pictures with all 4 kids. It made me laugh because it was a bit of a gong show. Kyra's holding "baby Jesus" in her arms.

See?

Kyra & Lucas giving Owen some love after Jayce was all done.

There you have it, my snapshot of our Christmas Eve service. Next up: Christmas!

Dancing at Kyra's party

2010-01-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Uncle Peter and Jayce were being silly and of course the girls had to join in. So much fun!

Kyra's 3rd Birth Day

2010-01-08T00:16:00.000-08:00

For Kyra's actual birthday, Dec. 24, we took her & Jayce to Captain Kid's in a nearby town and then to the mall to get her ears pierced. It was a great day and we all had so much fun together. It was especially great that Eric had the whole day off this year so we could all be together.

Our girl waiting to run and play:)

Jayce going through the tube

Happily posing for a picture while they waited for me to get ready to slide:)

Bridge time

These rollers were so fun:D

"Riding" the train

Enjoying the slides:D

Ear piercing time! All lined up, waiting for the pinch . . .

. . . and there it is. She was so brave and didn't actually cry for that long. We gave her DQ in the afternoon for being such a brave girl. Kyra's very proud of her earrings and picked out her favorite color, purple. She then showed them to and told everybody who would listen. Every story included "I got a pinch/owie."

Opening her present from Eric and I.

We gave her a Melissa & Doug calendar. She loves my calendar and is always asking what day it is and wants to know when things are happening so this way I can help her understand these things better. We don't have pictures of it, but Jayce gave her a Princess storybook pillow.

We love our girl and we had such a fun time celebrating her birthday. Stay tuned for pictures from our Christmas Eve service:)

Kyra's 3rd Birthday - Family

2010-01-01T22:10:00.000-08:00

Gotta start with dinner. Same as the other party. If something's right, you stick with it:)

Group shot

Cuddles with Oma:)

Uncle Peter enjoying(I hope):) some playtime with Jayce.

Cousins playing with Nana

Where's Sammi?

Kyra's beautiful carriage cake once again baked and decorated by Eric.

Showing off some of the details.

Kyra was very adamant that we use the castle candle so I had to document it for her.

Princess cake toppers on the vanilla cupcakes for those who don't like chocolate cake.

Waiting for cake:)

Blowing out candles with a very helpful brother.

I love this picture. Daddy/daughter relationships are so precious.

Family shot - can you tell there were multiple cameras out?

Something was funny . . .

Oma and Auntie Kaeli(that's either Auntie Tasha or Auntie Chrystal doing the bunny fingers):P

Auntie Lisa and Samantha

Despite what it looks like, Eric's pretending to cut the cake, not stab me with the knife:D

Sisters

And here's the one who was taking the picture.

Kyra enjoying her cake with Nana

Samantha enjoying her cake

Love this girl

Presents!

It was so much fun to celebrate with our families. We were blessed to see how much love there is for our little girl. Thanks so much to all of you who came. We love you Kyra!

Kyra's Party - Friends

2009-12-27T22:23:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Kyra's birthday with her friends on Dec. 18 this year. Let me tell you, it was a little more stressful for me since it was a weekday which meant Eric wasn't home during the day to help me get ready. He did take his lunch/coffee breaks all at the same time and did come home for a bit which was really appreciated. Chrystal took the kids for a bit in the afternoon which also helped but still, a little more stressful for me:P

All in all, I think the party went well. This was the first year Kyra actually knew what was going on and was so excited for her friends to come over. I think she started asking me at 9:30 in the morning if it was time for her party yet. When Chrystal brought her and Jayce home at 5:00pm the first thing I heard when she walked in the door was "all my friends aren't here yet. Where are they mommy?" It was fun to watch her being so excited and getting to live that excitement with her. Birthday parties are definitely meant to be big bashes.

Some of the first pictures I took were of a few of the kids proving how energetic they were and running laps around around kitchen/dining room/living room area. So much fun:D

Kyra and Kezia took a little break from running to play ring-a-round the rosy.

After the running and the rosying it was time to eat. We kept it simple; hotdogs, nuggets, fries, oranges, grapes and taquitos for the adults. Kid food since it was a 3 year olds party:)

I had a first for this party in that I actually had an organized craft for the kids. It was a princess party so I printed off some crowns for the kids to decorate. It surprised me that the Cars stickers were the most popular for the boys and the girls. I thought for sure the princess/my little pony stickers would go by fast but Cars was definitely well-liked.

Crown decorating fun

Kyra(top left), Kezia(top right), Michael(bottom left) and Samantha(bottom right) showing off their crowns:)

A few of the dads hanging out(watching the hockey game) while the moms were helping to decorate the crowns.

(Colin, John & Eric)

Josh with his beautiful girl, Alexa.

Kyra and Eric with Owen, who most of Kyra's dolls are named after:)

Kyra asked for days beforehand to have a princess cake so of course her daddy had to oblige:)

When asked who was on the cake she very excitedly said "Cinderella!"

Waiting for the cake to come out.

Blowing out the candles

Very excited to eat cake:)

Cake eating time

I wanted to do a group shot this year but with 9 kids you can imagine that would be a tad difficult:) I decided to post all 4 just because they're fun:)

That's Kyra's friends party in a nutshell. Thanks to all of you who came!! We had a great time and definitely felt the love for our baby girl.

3 Years Old

2009-12-24T21:59:00.000-08:00

Kyra turned 3 years old today. I can't believe it. I can't believe it's been 3 years since she was born. 3 years ago today we were in the hospital enjoying our new baby and wishing we were at home. Not exactly the way we planned out that Christmas but what a wonderful gift to receive.

Kyra is such a light in my life. She gives the best hugs(when she feels like it). We call them squeeze hugs. She has such a big, tender heart and I pray that it stays that way as she grows. It's an unbelievable feeling to know that someone so little can love us so much. When Eric has a day off she is very adamant that we all do everything together. If I've taken her somewhere without Eric, she asks to take him there. If Eric's taken the kids somewhere without me, she keeps talking about taking me there. I love that. I love how much she wants us to experience everything with her.

Kyra is a great big sister. Obviously the kids have their issues, especially with Jayce being old enough to get into things, but not really old enough to play. But, she's still concerned about him and does not like it when we have to give him a time-out. She's the first one to try and give him his toy(even in the middle of a time-out). If I tell her that we're going out, just me and Kyra, she immediately needs to know who is coming to watch Jayce. She breaks up pieces of her food to share with him and keeps wanting to change his diaper all by herself.

Kyra is high-energy, with everything she does. Her vocabulary is expanding so much and she can now talk and talk and talk. Going for car rides is never boring with her. Bedtime is especially fun because she just talks and talks as she decompresses from her day. Sure, sometimes we just want her to fall asleep, but honestly, I love those times. Lying next to her in bed I thank God that I have her here with me, that I'm able to have these moments. I don't take a moment with her for granted.

I love you baby girl. You are so special to me, I can't properly put into words just how blessed I feel to know you and have the privilege of raising you. You make me smile and warm my heart, multiple times a day. You stole a piece of my heart the day you were born and it will be yours, always. Sometimes I look at you and think how big you're getting and other times you still seem so small. I look forward to many more adventures with you, my sweets. Happy Birthday Kyra!!!!

How cute . . .

2009-12-24T15:41:00.000-08:00

is this precious boy?

Melts my heart.

A video

2009-12-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

Of Kyra singing one of her favorite games/rhymes that her Oma does with her. She's saying it in German, as well as she's able to:)

I love how much she's copying us these days and her big imagination. She's growing up so fast!

Cousins

2009-12-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

I thought I would dedicate a post to the cousins since I don't think I've done once since Jayce was born. The first 5 pictures were taken at our family photo shoot in May and were done by Dania & Andrew. I may have shown some of these before but they're worth doing again:)

It was hard to get a good shot with Nana, Opa & their grandkids.

What cuties!

Samantha & Jayce sharing the Elmo couch together. One of the few shots I have of the 2 of them together.

Major cheese face from Kyra:D

Kyra and Samantha showing off their babies. It is a must that they each have a baby whenever they're together. Good thing we have a couple different ones in each house so they can always share.

Taking a walk around the farm.

All 3 cousins playing ring a round the rosy. Can't wait till the 4th one can join in!:D

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-09T15:32:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share . . .

2009-12-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

this video of Kyra dancing:) (ignore the song lyrics. we turned on the dance clubbing music station because Kyra wanted to dance and this is the song that came up)

Happy Birthday Eric!

2009-12-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Eric's 30th birthday(aka: his champagne birthday). My sister Kaeli and my mom were willing to watch the kids for us so I decided to steal him away for a night and we headed off to my parents Worldmark timeshare condo in Vancouver. It was such a great time away and today was absolutely gorgeous. I was so thankful for nice weather which meant we could enjoy being outside and enjoy walking around downtown Vancouver. Unfortunately, we have no pictures since I forgot to pack the camera but we got all dressed up last night and went to the Keg for dinner. It was so nice to get away, just the 2 of us and not have to worry about schedules or bedtimes or medicine. We ate dinner at 9:00 at night and this morning we actually got to sleep in! What a foreign thought. As much as we missed our kids, I wasn't quite ready to head home this afternoon and get back to reality. A little more time, just us, would have been nice.

Eric, I love you so much.

You are an amazing father to our kids and it shows in how much they love you. I love watching them run to the gate when you get home or to see Jayce carrying around our engagement photo saying``da-da! da-da!`` I love that Kyra asks for you during the day and is always wanting to come visit you at work. Thank-you for loving our kids so much and being such an awesome dad. I pray that the relationships you`re already building with them will only get better through the years.

You are a wonderful husband to me. I read this line somewhere that says ``my spouse knows all the bad things about me and loves me anyway``. Thank-you for that. Thank-you for loving me and choosing me. You are my rock and my support. I`m thankful for the years we`ve already celebrated together and pray that God grants us many more.

(yes, this picture is from my birthday. We don`t have a picture from Eric`s birthday dinner tonight so I chose this one instead because it`s fun:D )

I love you Eric - Happy Birthday!

P.S. this finally concludes my posting for NaBloMoPo - I may take a few days to recuperate:)

Disney on Ice

2009-11-29T23:49:00.000-08:00

I figured I would try something new tonight and post about an event on the day it actually happened:)

Today I headed to Disney on Ice with Kyra and our friends, Shauna and Kezia. It was so much fun!

Ready to hit the road

Seeing the princesses. Can't remember her name but she's in a new movie I think.

Waiting to see Cinderella

Here she is!

Just had to pose with her baby

Ariel's dress

Waiting for the show to start

Kyra was so excited to see Mickey

Mater

Look mommy! Lightning McQueen and his friends!

Lightning

Ariel and the fish!

Kyra being silly

Lion King

Tinkerbell - This part of the show was amazing and Kyra definitely enjoyed it. We even caught a piece of the "flower petals" that flew down at the end of the show.

Thanks for being our dates Shauna & Kezia!

Seattle Trip Finale

2009-11-28T22:52:00.000-08:00

On our way home from Seattle we needed to find somewhere to have supper. On the way to Seattle I remembered seeing

so I suggested we take the kids there and see what all the hype was about it. (Yes, the pizza was that greasy but boy oh boy did it taste good.)

The kids loved it. We got this package deal with pizza, drinks and tokens to play the games/rides. The nice thing about Chuck E. Cheese is that every game is only 1 token. We got 40 tokens which means we got to enjoy their favorite rides, many times.

Chowing down at supper time.

They had Chuck E. Cheese TV playing during dinner and at certain intervals, Chuck E. Cheese would come out and sing songs(a mechanical version). Kyra and Jayce loved it and Kyra had a hard time eating her dinner.

This is a video I got of her enjoying a dance with Chuck E:)

They had a blue screen that you could stand in front of and you would actually be on the Chuck E. Cheese TV. Kyra had lots of fun with that and so did I actually. Blue screens are fun!

Blue screen

On TV!

Jayce on his all time favorite ride - Bob the Builder:) He went on there 4 or 5 times.

Checking out the Fun Bus which wasn't as thrilling for him. All the rides did the same motion, back and forth gentle rocking, but Bob the Builder was the one he stuck to.

Kyra enjoyed it too:)

Sliding fun:)

Kyra keeps asking when we can go back to Chuck E. Cheese. I think there's one in a nearby town so maybe we'll have to do that one evening with the kids.

With that I finally conclude our adventures in Seattle. It was such a great trip and Kyra still talks about it. I'm glad that she has wonderful memories from our first family trip as 4. I am definitely looking forward to more trips with our kids and am itching to go on another one right now. Yes, it rained, yes the hotel wasn't exactly what we were expecting but the only feelings I get when I recall that weekend are positive. I know Jayce won't remember it, but I know he had fun too. Thanks for sticking with me as I took such a loooong time to document this. Good night all!

Rambles

2009-11-27T21:48:00.000-08:00

I am tired tonight. Really tired. The last 2 weeks have been so busy. It's all been good stuff but it's making me tired. I'm itching for another family vacation where we can all be together and relax. But that won't happen again for a while so I'll enjoy the relaxing evenings we do have. I am contemplating a day trip down to Seattle. Kyra keeps asking to go back and since we get in free to the zoo, I don't see why that couldn't work. It would be a long day but it would be so fun. Just something I'm imagining. I haven't mentioned this to Eric yet so we'll see what he says when he reads this:) Yup, Eric reads every single one of my blog posts. I love that. Sometimes I'll change things or adjust them based on what he says. I really think he should write another post one of these days. In fact, I think he should write a blog post about his time with the kids when I was in Seattle. If you're friends with him on facebook, lovingly bug him about it:)

Right now I'm wrapped up in one of Eric's sweatshirts . . . so cozy. I totally stole one of his sweatshirts and took it back to bible school with me when we were dating:) I don't think I washed it the rest of the time I was up there because I didn't want to lose his smell:)hehe Ahhhh . . . . dating days. Such fond memories. As you can tell this is another random, rambling post. What are some of your fun memories from dating? Did you ever steal your boyfriend's sweaters?

Kyra's still awake. Due to her having another nap today. She takes naps when she's sick and both kids have colds right now. Jayce is on the verge of another ear infection which is concerning. It would be his 2nd one and it reminds me of when Chrystal was younger and she had so many ear infections. Not fun. I'm already wondering if this is going to a chronic thing with Jayce or if it's just because of winter . . . .who knows. I'll have to wait and see I guess.

We did a spur-of-the-moment trip to the zoo this morning. The sun was shining so brightly and it actually felt a little bit warm when we walked out the door. The kids had a doctor's appointment this morning but after that we picked up McD's and headed to the zoo. We rode the train today and it was the first time Jayce actually sat still on my lap. He loved looking at all the animals. The train ride made us all a lot colder though so we headed into the Vivairum to warm up and then it was back outside to play. Unfortunately it didn't make us totally warm and my poor kids hands were so cold. Tonight we made a trip to Superstore to finally buy some gloves and boots for them. We also bought some cute Christmas pj's. Can't wait for them to wear them!!

My loving husband is making me a hot chocolate with bailey's and whipping cream. Mmmmm . . . . . one of my favorite drinks in the winter time. I have some new books that my mother-in-law lent me to read so after I'm done writing this blog post I'm going to cuddle up next to Eric and lose myself in one of the books. Does anybody else out there have far less time to read? I miss reading. I could seriously book a week long vacation all by my lonesome where I would have a book in one read and a drink in the other and read my days away. That sounds heavenly. Okay maybe a week is too long by myself, I would definitely want some company at some point. Anybody want to go to the Bahamas next year?:D

Now I think I should sign off because I'm not sure how interesting this is for other people to read and I'm running out of things to ramble about. Oh! If you haven't done so yet, head on over to Lisa's blog and make a guess on the gender of their baby. Their ultrasound is next week to find out what they're having and I cannot wait to hear whether my kids will have another girl cousin to play with or if Jayce may be getting a break from all the estrogen in the family:) Yay for new babies!!!

Have a good night all. Thanks for *listening* to another ramble. Hope your weekends are relaxing!

Shopping Trip

2009-11-26T22:46:00.000-08:00

I love shopping - especially when it's technically not my money I'm shopping with. Tasha's friend gave her a gift card to Suzy Shier and Tash was kind enough to pass it on to me. (Thanks Dania & Tash!) So off we went today, during the kids naptime, for some fun shopping. I have to say I'm enjoying shopping more and more now. Especially since we're done having kids, it's nice being able to re-stock my closet for my new body shape and size.

It was a quick shopping trip, just over an hour I think, but very successful. I bought this new jacket

that I have desperately been needing and searching for. I love red.

I bought a new black sweater, a new shirt/vest thing and this little beauty

Definitely a successful trip. Thanks for coming with me Tash!

Baby Girl

2009-11-25T23:29:00.001-08:00

My baby girl is no longer that. She is nothing close to a baby anymore. She's going to be 3 next month! How did this year go by so fast? When did Kyra get to be such a big girl? I wrestled with putting her in preschool in this year, I really did. Now I know that we made the right decision. She is enjoying it so much and loves to perform her songs at home. It's often the first thing she requests when I tell her I'm turning on music.

This picture was taken after her first day in preschool and she still has a big smile on her face and is ready to show off her backpack. I cried that day. She had a great time.

This energetic little girl

certainly keeps me busy. She's always asking "where are we going mommy? Can we go out today?" Maybe that's partly my fault, I hate being stuck at home too, but I really believe she was born raring to go. This firstborn child of mine fought sleep like I didn't know a baby could. After I would feed her for the last time at night (around 11:30/midnight) Eric would stay up with her until 2/2:30 in the morning until she finally fell asleep. Forget a nap schedule, she didn't really take naps. She never wanted to be held on your shoulder, always had to be facing out, able to take in the world.

Now she's doing that on a grander scale. She keeps up a constant stream of chatter

wherever we go and I do mean constant. Silent car rides are a thing of the past and it's very hard for Eric and I to have a conversation when we're driving with the kids. There are some moments where peace and quiet would be muchly appreciated but for the most part I love it. I love that she is so inquisitive and wants to know everything.

This little girl has a heart of gold. She likes to help us cook dinner, do dishes, do laundry, load/un-load the dishwasher. She'll break up pieces of whatever she's eating to give to Jayce. If I give her a breakfast bar in the morning, she'll say "it's okay, I can share this with Jayce mommy". It's her way of checking to see if there's strawberry in it or not. She's very aware of his allergy already. She's into asking now "Does that make you happy? Are you happy now? Will that make you happy?" She's very big on all of us being happy right now. She usually has a big hug for me when I pick her up from preschool and big hug for daddy when he walks in the door after work. If I tell her we're going out in the evening she just has to make sure that daddy and Jayce are coming too. This little girl melts my heart.

This little girl is all girl in some ways. She is sensitive to smells(she gags when she poops and runs away when I change Jayce's diaper), she loves dresses, pretty shoes, putting on nail polish and chapstick. When we go shopping she always asks if we can go try on shoes. When we go into a store she holds a piece of clothing up and says "oh it's so cute! Can I get it?" Yup, I'm in trouble already.

This little girl has no problem getting dirty though . . .

This little girl is smart beyond her years and that scares me. How do I keep with that? How do I continue to challenge and teach her as she grows?

This little girl loves her daddy. Tonight she made me want to cry when after supper she asked "Daddy, will you dance with me?" I don't think there's a sweeter question a little girl could ask of her daddy. And dance they did. I chose to enjoy and savor that moment, rather than photograph it.

This little girl is my little girl . . .

. . . and she is loved.

Kyra and Lucas

2009-11-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

Where have they gone you may wonder? Well, nowhere actually. Since Leanne decided not to go back to work this semester(due to having a cutie baby boy, Owen) I am not looking after Lucas anymore. We miss him lots around these parts. If I ask Kyra what she wants to do during the day one of her favorite answers is "go to Lucas' house". We do all still get together though plus Kyra & Lucas get to see each other a lot at preschool & sunday school. Here are some pictures I've taken of the 2 of them but hadn't posted yet.

This picture was taken back in January. Look how young and cute they are!

Coloring together in sunday school

I asked them to turn around and say cheese. This is the picture I got:)

They started playing this game where they would stand at opposite sides of the room, run full tilt into each other . . .

hug . . .

. . . and then fall over:)

I think in this picture they were getting chastised by their teacher. I thought it was funny to watch them and was taking pictures instead:D

These pictures are from mall date Leanne and I had in August. A bit of a crazy day since Owen was only a month old. I took these pictures of the kids while Leanne was feeding/changing/tending to Owen, that's why they aren't in any of them.

Playing with Jayce

Such excitement and care-free fun

"That's Lightning McQueen, Kyra"

Making up their own version of peek-a-boo with an advertisement stand. "Where are you? Are you in here?" they would say. (Oh, the reason I cut the video so abruptly and start to call Jayce's name is because the cup in his hand has strawberry juice in it.)

Hope you enjoyed this snippet of Kyra and Lucas together. They still truly enjoy being with each other and Jayce is also excited now everytime he gets to see Owen and Lucas. Lucas can get Jayce shrieking and laughing with just a glance and a "grrrr"(Lucas likes to growl at Jayce):D Guess the titles will have to change to Kyra, Lucas and Jayce. When Owen gets older he'll be added in this chaos too:) Love you Lucas and Owen!

16 Months Old

2009-11-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

My baby boy is 16 months old today.

This standing-on-table

banana obsessed

truck lovin'

blue eyed, curly haired wonder

is 16 months old.

Only 4 short months ago we celebrated his 1st birthday. Where did my time with him go? I love our tuesday/thursday mornings now. I love being able to spend time with him, wrestle with him, blow bubbles for him.

This adorable face

melts my heart.

This smile

makes me smile and feel better no matter what I'm feeling.

This joy-filled

copycat

little boy has captured my heart in a way I couldn't dream possible. I couldn't imagine loving another child the same way I love Kyra. I couldn't imagine that after all I had gone through with her, all the alone time we had, another child would fill my heart the same.

But he did. He moved on in and stole the part of my heart that was reserved and waiting specially for him.

This boy now weighs 30 lbs.

This boy can out-eat his sister any day of the week.

This boy's vocabulary includes: tractor, da-da, ma-ma, ba-ba(bottle), bubbles, woof/woof, cracker, please/thank-you by ASL, Kyra, book.

This boy has the most squishable, kissable cheeks.

This boy has the deepest blue eyes I've ever seen.

This boy completed our family. . .

. . .and he is loved.