~ Muddy Boots ~

Their World, Aug 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 18:44:00 +0000

August highlights:

waffles for breakfast... with fresh whipped cream, local berries, and homemade caramel sauce
finally getting our deck stained (most of it)
having extra time with our cousins, while they waited for the visas for Sudan to come through
introducing the kids to "Back to the Future", and using online instructions to build the Delorean our of the Lego pieces we already have
hosting my aunt Laveryne and my cousin's son, Brenda, for the weekend... and we CRAMMED that weekend full of as much fun and trips and tours and museums and sightseeing as humanly possible!
the fact that my aunt brought my mom along as well!
LOTS of swimming (!) thanks to wonderful friends with pools
Elosie falling off the slide and suffering a concussion... our family's first head injury!
a final farewell to our cousins (actually Peter's cousin and his family, whom we adore) before they finally left for Khartoum

It was a good month. Except for the concussion.

I decided to use a collage program (that I've had forever) for these images... and must've had some sort of compression setting on them... because they look like garbage.

But seeing as this post is almost 2 weeks late, I'm just going to leave them.

Pretend they were all taken with my phone... then it's not so terrible. *sigh*

Their World, July 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 03:32:00 +0000

And I thought that June was busy!

In July we:

hosted a Canada Day party for 22 people
enjoyed the last bit of our time with Nana and Papa
had a packed 8 day visit from my sister and her family (geocaching, ice cream shoppe, the Ottawa Beer Market, a tour of the Cold War Museum at the Diefenbunker, the Science Museum, POUTINE, the Museum of History & Children's Museum, the Mosaika light show on Parliament Hill, along with park visits, bike rides... see? PACKED.)
watched LOTS of soccer... so sad that Argentina lost.
travelled down to Rochester, NY, to visit the Strong's Museum of Play, see a movie, do some shopping (including the Lego Store!), visit the Rochester Science Museum, and hit up a Wegman's to drool over their selection of gluten free foods
spent three fun-filled days with Peter's brother and his family at our sister-in-law's family farm/pond, located right next to one of NY beautiful state parks

We also swam with friends, went to parks/splash pads, had fun rock climbing and racing through bouncing houses/slides at les Jeux de la Francophonie Canadienne, climbed fences to watch trains go by, and cheered Peter on (from a distance) as he ran a 26km Spartan Race. In addition to that, I managed to squeeze in a family session, a maternity session, a full-day wedding, and potentially a birth if baby decides to come before the end of the month. In the month that I told myself I'd take off. HA.

And my birthday is July 31st!

(I decided to limit this to images of only my four kids, without any of their cousins... otherwise this post would have 53 images. No joke.)

02.July.2014 - with Nana and Papa (Peter's parents)

07.July.2014 - family shot at the Diefenbunker

14.July.2014 - picnic on our way down to NY, swimming & sundaes

15.July.2014 - The Strong's Museum of Play, the Lego Store

16.July.2014 - hurricane simulator at the Rochester Science Centre... and a little girl feeling left out

18.July.2014 - a little evening hike in the state park

24.July.2014 - inflatable fun at les jeux de la francophonie

25.July.2014 - traaaaaaain!!

I have so many other images to share from this month, but this will have to suffice. Next in the circle is Annie. Please click through and see what she was up to in July.

Their World, June 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 15:05:00 +0000

June was full. Two birthdays, our 14th wedding anniversary, hot enough weather to finally be in the water, finishing our homeschool year, hours spent at various parks, a visit from Nana and Papa, and a big Spartan Race at the end of the month.

02.June.2014 - Liam opening his birthday presents. Eloise pouting because they weren't for her. *Excuse Andrew's dirty face.

09.June.2014 - Swimming next door. Our neighbours (a retired couple) are so good to us. They've given us a key to their pool and even bring out snacks for the kids every time we go to swim. Spoiled!

18.June.2014 - Liam's Nerf part with friends. I invited two (of my) friends, which meant 13 kids. They had a blast running around the park with a stockpile of 100+ bullets.

22.June.2014 - Trying out the pool at our friends' new home (they're all in there, I promise).

23.June.2014 - End of year homeschool picnic at a nearby lake.

26.June.2014 - Eloise opening her gifts from Nana and Papa and her brothers. We celebrated her birthday a bit late this year, which totally offended her brothers, but she didn't know the difference. She's in love with the 12 vintage Care Bear toys found on Kijiji.

28.June.2014 - Family pictures, post-Spartan Race. I should've had the boys all wear their Spartan shirts and medals, but no one was in the mood for wardrobe changes at this point, in the 40C degree humidity.

Next in the circle is Anika.

Their World, May 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 May 2014 13:00:00 +0000

The month of May brought warm weather. Finally. The kids are outside so much. Enjoying the yard, the two parks nearby, their bikes, their best-friends-who-will-soon-be-moving, and new neighbours RIGHTNEXTDOOR. Mother's Day was lovely, school is going well (and is almost done!!), and the garden is coming along.

11.May.2014 - Forced into taking Mother's Day pictures. Dirty socks, fingers in noses, and all.

12.May.2014 - A walk in a little ravine near our house. With sticks. Always with sticks.

19.May.2014 - Guest appearance from my older sister's kids during my sans-kids trip back to Regina.

20.May.2014 - I got to meet my new niece! And I hadn't seen my nephew since he was about 4 months old.

27.May.2014 - More fun at the park. I'm so, so, so glad the weather has warmed up.

From a bike ride later that same day. They're like a little gang.

It's not always easy to find the time (or the motivation) to pull out my camera and get some pictures of all four kids together. Especially when they seem to always have better things to do... and I always have loads of client work waiting for me on my computer. So I'm thankful to have a group of women pushing me forwards with this little project.

If you'd like to see what some of the others were up to this month, then next in line is Annie.

Their World, April 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 17:18:00 +0000

A couple of iPhone shots this month: puddle jumping, and dragging the kids to do our civic duty (i.e, vote).

We were back to the Science Museum with cousins this month, enjoyed a neighbourhood Easter egg hunt, and then a scavenger hunt at home. There were no clues down daddy's shirt.

A good month.

Voting is FUUUUUUUN!!

Our trips to the Science Museum are becoming almost monthly events. This time we had the kids' second cousins tag along.

Neighbourhood egg hunting.

Elaborate easter hunt that took hours to plan (write the clues, organize the clues, hide the clues, etc) and all of 10 minutes to complete. Not sure why Andrew looks so sad in this first one!

Sarah is next in the loop. You don't want to miss her little guy in his Superman undies.

Their World, March 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 12:30:00 +0000

Soon these monthly posts won't feature snowsuits.

I won't miss them.

27.February.2014 - Child labour.

03.March.2014 - Toys R Us while daddy was in Switzerland.

05.March.2014 - Sledding with friends. The hill to themselves. Homeschooling win.

12.March.2014 - March Break and Messy Hair at a Chapters Lego event.

13.March.2014 - 10 minutes early for the neurologist... who was 45 minutes late. Result: a 55 minute game of Eye Spy.

16.March.2014 - Settles of Catan on a Sunday afternoon. Peter won. And there were snack.

The next photographer in this series is Mandy Mester. Her black and whites are magical. Go see.

Their World, February 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 04:12:00 +0000

Another month with a fair bit of illness in our house. I'm sick and tired of it (see what I did there?). I'm really hoping that warmer weather and more vitamin D will improve our chances. This month saw lots of reading, lots of playing, lots of days spent in pyjamas (or "jothes" as Simon calls them... jammies + clothes = jothes), lots of learning and schooling (and some tears shed), and yet more snow.

We also celebrated Valentine's Day with a few friends. In our case, a "few" was 25 kids and 6 moms. I love throwing parties and making these days special for the kids. There are so many benefits to homeschooling, but there are also some fun parts of school that I don't want them to miss out on. I hope their childhood is full of memories of happy times like these.

01.29.2014 - Reading. Not all four kids, but 3 kids + 2 kittens. Good enough.

01.30.2014 - Simon and Andrew consented to play Little People with Eloise. She was one happy little girl.

02.02.2014 - Playing outside. An elusive smile from the 10 year old; swings and big jumps for the others.

02.07.2014 - Watching the Olympic opening ceremonies.

02.13.2014 - From our Valentine's Day party. 4 kids + 2 kittens. Win.

02.22.2014 - Saturday morning screen time. The kids get an hour on the weekends (and then spend the rest of their time begging/scheming/working for more). Kittens are both present. Peter was working. The pile of laundry to be folded is representative of me. ;)

There are 10 lovely ladies participating in the circle, the next one is Ruthie from Fairy Wings and Dinosaurs, with her FIVE have a little tea party. Wonder if I can convince the boys to have tea with Eloise this afternoon...?

*The "Their World" blog series was dreamed up by Jude from Jude Wood Photography.

Their World, January 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 13:30:00 +0000

"Their World" is a project that I've joined with some other moms/photographers/bloggers, with the goal of capturing our children, together, doing what they normally do. In their world.

I want photos of all four of them together.

Doing what they do.

I spend so much time photographing other families, put so much care into editing the images, and so much effort into telling their stories. I want to be more deliberate in photographing my own children and recording their stories.

Our stories.

I blogged all of, what, three times last year? It makes me cry to think of all the little frustrating and funny and sweet and wonderful moments that I didn't record. But this is a new year and I think this project is exactly what I need to motivate/push/force me to blog.

Since I didn't join this circle until last week, I'll be reaching back to the end of last year for my first two images, but then my goal will be to post one image from each week. One image with all four kids.

I will award myself bonus points for getting either or both kittens in a shot.

big snow - 12.20.2013

Christmas Eve - 12.24.2013

Andrew's family birthday, 5 years old (and the beginnings of H1N1 for Liam) - 01.03.2014

Andrew's party with friends... and Grandma (who brings gifts for everyone) - 01.20.2014

Museum of Science on the day Grandma left - 01.23.2014

If you enjoyed these, Jude is next. She has an absolutely magical way of seeing her children.

it's been three weeks...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 02:35:00 +0000

If we're friends on Facebook, you'll know that I recently found myself going through old emails in an attempt to clean out our inbox. Emails from my father's illness and death... and emails written during my pregnancy with Nathaniel and following his death.

That was quite the rabbit hole!

But they were good to read. A good, hard cry can be cathartic. And amidst all the pain I poured out in those letters, what struck me most that night was how loved we are. We have amazing friends and wonderful, loving, supporting families.

Since that night, I've thought several times that I really need to be more proactive about saving some of my writing. It's a part of me. These were major events in my life and, when they're older, I'd like my children to be able to read them and understand how they impacted my life and, in many ways, their own.

To that end, I'll start with Nathaniel.

This is an email I sent out November 9th, 2005...

It's been three weeks today since Nathaniel was born... it's also his actual due date today. I'm having a hard time realizing that it's all been real.

I know this will be long, but I want to share a bit about our experience in the hospital. As you know from my last email, they ended up pushing the schedule back one day so that both my doctor and the obstetrician we'd met with earlier could be there. After spending the night in a room in the assesment area, they moved us to the labour and delivery side around 11am Wed morning. The nurse we had there was so wonderful! Her name was Melissa. She was funny, great to talk to, sweet, encouraging, and really took wonderful care of us. But more than that, she really seemed to genuinely care about us and Nathaniel (our doctor told us later that it was her first time dealing with a fatal diagnosis like ours).

During the whole labour up until then, Nathaniel was doing so well. The nurses and our doctors were all surprised when they'd look at the fetal monitor strip and see how well he was tolerating labour. I was so excited and SO SURE that he was going to do great. After I got my epidural, they decided to break my waters, which was something I'll never forget. Even with all the freezing I could feel it just keep coming and coming. I was somewhat expecting this because of the excess fluid, but it was still unnerving - the shocked looks on the faces of my doctor and nurse -and Peter!- didn't help.

It was at that point that things started getting worse for Nathaniel. Without all the cushioning that the amniotic fluid provided, the contractions were just too much for him. My doctor and the obstetrician were discussiong a few options when the obstetrician told us that if she didn't know anything about us -or Nathaniel's condition- based on the fetal heart rate monitor she would recommend a c-section. Now since this was coming from the woman that we knew didn't want to perform a c-setion in our case, we took it pretty seriously (and were very appreicative of her honesty, if a little shocked by it). We decided to go ahead with the surgery and our parents came in and prayed with us then.

Now here's where the timing comes in...

The anethesiologist who'd done my epidural is apparently a great doctor, but not really a great "people person". We really wanted our parents to be allowed in the operating room right away to see Nathaniel and dedicate him if he wasn't doing well, something our doctor told us this guy would never allow. Fortunately, his shift was just about ending, so another doctor agreed to be there for my surgery and he was fine with our parents coming in.

Also, Nathaniel wasn't breathing at all when he was born and had to be rescusitated. The doctor in charge of the neonatal team in the operating room was able to do this, but the big thing is that she was also willing to. Our doctor told us that most of the other neonatal doctors wouldn't have even tried, given Nathaniel's diagnosis. This particular doctor (who our doctor had specifically asked to be there) was through for the day at 5pm; Nathaniel was born around 4:15pm.

If the surgery had been earlier, our parents wouldn't have been allowed in. If it had been any later, we may not have had any time at all with Nathaniel. And if it had gone ahead as scheduled for the previous day, who knows what would have happened or who of our family would have been there to meet him. Our doctor may not have even been there and Melissa definitely wouldn't have been on shift. The two of them especially made our time at the hospital the best that it possibly could have been.

So we do have much to be thankful for, and it's good to sit down and write about it. It's a good reminder.

I think peter and I are doing as well as can be expected... and we're also doing as terribly as can be imagined. At the same time... possibly they're the same thing? Grief certainly seems to be a funny thing: a dull ache one moment, overwhelming and suffocating the next.

I know it will get better, but at the same time I don't know if I want it too - it's all I've got.

Several people have said to send out an email if we're having a bad day, simply saying that it's a bad day and asking for prayer... well you'd all be getting emails daily if we did that! It seems impossible to go a single day without having one -or several- very bad moments. I sometimes still can't believe that this is real. It's not natural. It's not right to go to the hospital and have a baby, but not come home with one.

When I think about all the little plans I had before Nathaniel was born, how I hoped he'd live... I feel pretty silly. Not that these were things that I shared with people (except maybe Peter)... these thoughts were too precious. I even hoped he'd still be with us at Christmas! I feel pretty... stupid... about it now.

It's almost embarrassing to admit everything: how I bought premie outfits for him (which have since been returned); how I thought about needing a journal to record everything about our time with him; how I asked my parents to bring the cradle to Calgary (the one Heather, Lynette and I slept in aswell as Xavier, Liam and Rowan); how I actually thought that there was no rush to make funeral arrangements since we might not need them for a while! All of these little things seem to mock me now.

Maybe that's one of the reason's that Peter seems to be handling things better than me - he didn't get his hopes up as high -he was more realistic- so his disappointment isn't as deep. I don't think I even admitted to myself how much I had pinned on Nathaniel surviving longer. I feel betrayed by God that He didn't give us more time. For some reason, that's the part that almost hurts the most. We knew all along that Nathaniel wasn't destined for this world, but it would've been so simple for God to give us a few days. Precious hours and days to make memories, to make things more real for Liam - and for us. I was so out of it after the surgery, I slept for almost 40 minutes. Almost half of Nathaniel's short life... I missed. I hate myself for wasting that time.

We know that where our baby is now, he's whole and perfect and happy. But somehow that doesn't make us want him here with us any less.

It's hard to let go.

I'd better wrap this us now... For those who have made it to the end, congratulations. Congratulations and thank you. Thank you for loving us, grieving with us, praying for us and upholding us in our sorrow. It means more than we can say.

Oh, and please don't feel like you can't talk to us about Nathaniel. I know it's sad -and talking about sad things can be depressing and awkward- but please don't feel uncomfortable about it. He's our son, who we love so dearly, but don't have here with us. All we can do is talk. Talking makes him real again. We might not always feel up to talking, but mentioning him lets us know that you remember him too.

Here's hoping some, if not most, of that made some sense...

Amy & Peter

lazy Saturday morning

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Just a few pictures from Saturday morning this weekend. Testing settings on my camera before a maternity session, trying to figure out how I'd managed to mess up all my focus settings. Thankfully the boys were willing to sit still for a few seconds so I could take a few test shots. The light is not ideal in the two of Eloise and Andrew... but look how cute!

Edited to add that I do have a fourth child... the elusive nine year old boy. This somewhat shy and secretive creature can usually be found surrounded by impressive Lego creations, with his nose tucked in a book, or conquering multiple levels of confusing sounding sim games. Best to approach slowly and cautiously and with camera inconspicuously hidden from view. Spooks easily.

messy eater

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:52:00 +0000

I don't even remember what she was eating here. Likely some sort of Christmas/NewYears leftovers. Rice? And Turkey? Either way, it was clearly more fun to throw it around and rub it in her hair than actually get much in her mouth.

These were taken January 2nd with a wide angle lens I rented over the holidays. Was fun to play with something new.

a new year, already a month behind

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 05:44:00 +0000

I wish I had more time for blogging.

I love looking back and reading old posts and stories about my kids. They're going to wonder what happened to 2012!

I haven't even blogged about Christmas, and it might never happen, but this will always be remembered as "The Christmas with the Puppies". A good friend was headed out of town and we volunteered/insisted that we take one or more puppies while he was gone.

Fun for the kids, right?

Puppies! THREE PUPPIES!

Gah! Puppies are A. LOT. OF. WORK. Three crazy, rambunctious, not-quite-house-trained puppies... I was in tears the first day (Christmas Eve!) and would get pains in my stomach just thinking about those little beasts, but by the end of the week I even had a wee pang saying goodbye to them. Like most things in life, once I adjusted my expectations and gave things a bit of time to work themselves out... and made sure everyone knew I was boss... it went much more smoothly.

Every once in a while I start thinking about getting a dog, and in moments of temporary insanity might have even checked out a few breeds online.

Thankfully it passed. Then it came back. Then I pushed it down. Then it hit again.

I really don't need any more creatures to care for at this point in life.

But they were pretty cute.

(And I might have the pet section of kijiji in my top pages.)

(And I just might check it every time I sit down to nurse Eloise to sleep.)

What's orange and black and fun all over?? A 6th birthday party!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:59:00 +0000

We celebrated Simon's sixth birthday last Saturday.

A few weeks early (his birthday's not until the 25th, but we wanted to take advantage of my mom being in town (Peter was supposed to be on a business trip to Argentina, but the trip was cancelled). When I looked at the calendar and saw that grandma would be here at the end of the month -Halloween!- we convinced Simon that a Halloween/costume party would be WAY COOLER than a Bionicle party.

(Plus, how would one make a Bionicle cake??)

It also meant that we could spend most of the month of October decorating the house for Halloween, then leave the decorations up for the party... and not madly decorate and party-fy the house until the wee hours the night before! Win!

I'm not a fan of the scary/gory/spooky Halloween stuff, so we stuck to orange, black, pumpkins, spiders, and crows. I was really happy with how my minimalist Halloween art turned out (you can see the Superhero versions from last year HERE), and spent far too long making the giant yarn spiderweb and printing out Halloween-y art for our photo wall. The owl s'mores were also a bit time consuming, but so cute and such a big hit.

I'm so glad my mom was here to help with all the planning and prep. Especially since Eloise was a bit more clingy than usual, having broken her finger the day before (in case you start wondering why Little Red Riding Hood is wearing a sock on her hand).

I didn't manage to get too many pictures of the birthday boy on the day of... he was too busy running wild with friends. I'm hoping to get him out for a little photoshoot sometime nearer his actual birthday, though.

I'm sure I put far too much effort into decorating and food and themes and everything else for my kids' birthday parties... but I love it. And love THEM! Is "Party Planning" a Love Language?? If so, it's one of mine! I hope that they feel it and, when they're older, always remember how special their days were.

Love you, Simon.

baby broke a finger

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 02:40:00 +0000

With Simon's big 6th birthday party on the weekend, I took advantage of my mom being in town to run some last minute errands. While she stayed home doing math and reading with the older two boys (substitute teacher!), I took Eloise and Andrew with me to Bulk Barn and Michael's craft store.

All was going well. We'd breezed through Bulk Barn, getting some discounted Halloween candy and the thing we needed for some of the birthday fare. My main reason for going to Michael's was to see if they had any of their fun Halloween paper plates left. We picked up a couple packages of plates (at 70% off!), some fun black and purple striped napkins, and a big rubber spider to finish off the web I'd made in the dining room.

The cashier rang everything through and I turned to insert my credit card into the little machine (which was on the other side of the counter), when I heard a loud crash. I'd only turned my back for the time it took to insert my card (hadn't punched in my pin!), and in that time Andrew had decided to try to climb into the much-smaller-than-average shopping cart. Eloise was strapped into the baby seat so she went right over when the thing tipped.

She was screaming as I rushed to undo the seat belt buckle and pull her out. And as I pulled her into my lap, I saw all the blood. ALL. THE. BLOOD. I frantically searched her head, mouth, nose... the places you'd expect to bleed that profusely.

But it was her finger.

When the shopping cart tipped over, her hand must've been holding onto the side of the basket and gotten crushed under the edge. After waiting what seemed like forever for them to bring a First Aid kit, we got her hand wrapped up and covered in a sock so I could get the sobbing Eloise, the now-much-quieter-than-normal Andrew and our purchases loaded into the van.

After quickly dropping Andrew off back at home with my mom, I took Eloise to the Children's Hospital in Ottawa. I knew it wasn't a life-threatening injury, but was worried that I wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding from the gash on her wee finger.

taken after being re-bandaged in triage at the Children's Hospital

After a dose of Advil, some freezing gel (in preparation for the stitches) and a much more professional wrap job, she really was in a good mood for the most part. At one point a porter came into the waiting room with BUBBLES. Huge hit.

The doctor decided to x-ray her hand in addition to stitching up her finger. Turns out there was a small fracture to the last knuckle of her index finger. Poor baby. The cart really must've crushed it for it to break the bone AND rip it open like that.

Saturday, I had to change the dressing on her hand just before the Simon's birthday party started. Peter helped while one of the boys -Andrew maybe?- took some pictures with my phone. What you can't really see from the pictures is how blue it is. Her whole finger, even into the first knuckle (which is more of a pudgy little blue/purple dimple now).

She'll live, of course. She was quite tentative to use her left hand all weekend, and insisted on having a sock on it at all times. By yesterday, though, she'd abandoned all wrappings other than a Bandaid, which serves mostly to remind us all to be careful with her hand.

We went through triage, ambulatory care, three waiting rooms, assessments, bandages, treatment, stitches, three x-rays, and almost five hours later we left with extra bandages... and without paying a penny. It's times like this that make me thankful for Canada's great health care.

I'm also thankful that baby bones heal so quickly.

halloween 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 03:16:00 +0000

This year we had a knight, a *Canadian* astronaut, a Clone Trooper, and Little Red Riding Hood. I snapped these as we were rushing out to pick Peter up from work on our way to a Halloween party at some friends' church. It was dark and cloudy and threatening rain. I was happy to be headed someplace indoors, but would've like a bit of a brighter day for pictures.

I also wish I'd thought to get my mom (who was here for a visit!) in a picture with the kids. Or ME for that matter.

Oh well. They're cuter than mom and me.

We went a bit further with my Halloween decorating this year. Because of the timing of my mom's visit, we decided to have Simon's birthday party early on November 3rd. We doubled up on the Halloween decorations and had all of his friends come in costume. Although we failed to get around to carving pumpkins (forgive me boys!), the decorations turned out REALLY fun. I'll try to post them soon. Hope you had fun in your neck of the woods.

our little Colombiana

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:45:00 +0000

Or is it Colombianita? Whatever. I never claimed to speak Spanish.

Now that Eloise is older (I was going to say "bigger", but she's so tiny that that hardly seemed accurate), I decided it is high time to start documenting her in all the cute little outfits that our friends gave us in Bogota when she was born.

This little embroidered dress and Colombian doll were given to us by some of Peter's colleagues. I'm afraid that the doll's straw hat and sandals will not make it past Eloise second birthday... she's pretty rough. She's going to, literally, love them to pieces.

I love the dress. Since Eloise is so petite, I know she's going to wear it for years. As a long dress now, and later as a tunic.

As always, Andrew had to get his cute self in on the action. What a pair.

Next time we'll try the string-to-doorknob trick

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 03:32:00 +0000

I haven't forgotten about the rest of our New York trip, but an event happened here last week that cannot go undocumented...

Simon lost his first tooth!

Over the last few years as Liam lost teeth, Simon went back and forth between jealous and fear. I was a bit worried how he'd handle it when his turn came.

As it turned out, he was a total trooper. As it became looser and looser, it began to hurt a bit when he'd try to chew. Last Friday night was his favourite supper of taco salad, and he was worried it would hurt when he ate. I jokingly said, "Let's go get the pliers!" since I like to scare my kids... but he agreed!

With only mild trepidation, he let Peter pull his tooth our with a pair of needle-nose pliers!

Truth be told, Peter has been dreaming of this moment since becoming a dad. To be honest, I was kinda jealous.

Simon looks a bit terrified in one of the pictures below, but he was totally into it.

Peter and I have been dreaming up what we'll tie the next loose tooth to...

P.S. My kids grow teeth like sharks. Ew.

at the pond

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 21:57:00 +0000

Do you like picture-heavy posts? Good. There are 62 in this one. But I made them into collages, so I only had to upload 12.

I'm not just a pretty face.

So, after a short drive south from Rochester, we arrived at our sister-in-law's family farm and headed straight for the pond. As soon as we got there, the boys jumped out of the van to find their cousins, who they hadn't seen in over four years. The last time we saw them face-to-face (other than Skype calls) was when Liam was five, Simon was only 18 months, and I was three months pregnant with Andrew. So neither Andrew or Eloise had met them, and we'd yet to meet little Cora. After a brief, somewhat awkward, arm-around-the shoulder hug, they were off together... having found that thing over which all boys can bond... Lego.

(Let's pretend I imported this into photoshop to add some text over that grey square, ok?)

The three-and-under set aren't always included in the big boy play. Thankfully there were many distractions and much fun to be had apart for the tiny plastic men.

I can't imagine where Andrew learns to make all his faces...

The afternoon we arrived was also the birthday party of the son of Susanna's (our sister-in-law) cousin. So, it was the birthday of my husband's brother's wife's cousin's son. Follow? They were gracious enough to include us in the scavenger hunt, games, cake, etc. One of the games involved cups with holes and water that had to be moved from one bucket to another.

There was a bit of a mishap (I don't even remember what happened), but nothing that hugs from mom couldn't fix. Even hugs with a camera in ones face.

When not playing Lego, swimming, swinging, playing shuffle board, fishing or digging in the sand, THIS was often happening.


There are two large plastic dump trucks at pond and someone came up with the idea of riding them down the big hill. I thought it was a joke when someone first suggested it. Nope. They really do it. Simon, especially, loved it.

But enough with the boys.

How about this cuteness below? And a view of the beautiful pond?

I was worried that Andrew would feel left out, with the Toby/Liam and Asher/Simon combos clearly established. But he didn't seem to. He loved swimming with anyone who was in the water, and played in the sand whether the other boys were or not. His back was pretty tan by the end of the week from being bent over in the sand pit so often.


These next pictures are of our sweet little niece, Cora. She's two years old and it still makes me shake my head that we didn't get to meet her until this summer. Her family living in California and our in Bogota/Ottawa makes getting together a big challenge. I'm sure if we lived near each other, she and Eloise would be great little friends.

I just love how she's holding her dress up in the first picture.


And just a few more of Andrew that I couldn't not share. He's generally a pretty good sport about having my camera in his face so often. And even when he is being a bit difficult, he's still cute. I love that he's still wearing all his bracelets from the market in Colombia, even after a year.

I'd say 62 pictures is a not-too-bad start to sharing our time at the pond. It really was such a treat to be there. More to come!

Seasame Street, Super Heroes and not a TV in sight

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Before heading to the pond to join Tim and Susanna, we spent a couple days in Rochester. High on our list of things to do was a visit to the Museum of Play. IT. DID. NOT. DISAPPOINT. I'd go as far as to say that this museum ALONE is worth the five hour drive from Ottawa/Gatineau. Truly amazing.

The museum has a large Sesame Street area, complete with the famous steps, Big Bird's nest and full Elmo's World. All totally exact and interactive.

We paid extra in order to visit the butterfly exhibit. Eloise didn't last long (she just wanted down to play in the puddles and chase the tiny quails), but the boys enjoyed it more than I thought they would. Liam grabbed an identification guide and went on a hunt for all the different species. Andrew was more into the little quails, and the toucan and other birds. Simon... poor Simon... he wanted SO BADLY for butterflies to land on him. I don't think I've ever seen him stand that still for that long! He's so rarely NOT in motion! A couple of them did land on his hand or back, but only briefly and not really long enough to satisfy him.

This area of the museum DEFINITELY had the best lighting. I love these shots of the boys. Not sure what Andrew's up to in that first one, but it makes me smile.

Next up was the Super Hero exhibit. Oohhhh boy! Are you ready for a glut of pictures?? The boys loved EVERY INCH of it.

Aren't the building-climbing ones fun? Check out the ones below of Eloise dragging Peter. I was almost crying while taking these... I'm surprised they turned out!

This next series shows Simon and Andrew receiving their super powers. Simon was totally into it. I'm surprised he didn't try to leap off a tall building afterwards.

The museum also had this amazing mini grocery store where kids could shop, play butcher/baker/etc, and then check themselves out, complete with printed receipt. In the back, behind the store was a mini TV station with set ups for a cooking show, weather and news. It even had working cameras the kids to operate and move around to film different areas of the set. We spent quite awhile back there and I have a few ridiculous videos to upload to YouTube later.

At the last minute, we decided to go upstairs and walk through the toy archives,where the boys loved seeing all the old Star Wars toys, the original Lego set, along with a bunch of other fun vintage toys and games. There was a large section featuring a vast collection of old/antique/vintage dolls and, let me tell you, it was SUPER creepy. Eloise didn't notice, but it made the hairs on my arms stand up and the boys REFUSED to take more than a few steps in. Spooooky!

We ended our trip with lunch in the old school diner at the museum. The food was forgettable, but the pink vinyl and chrome decor made up for it.

All in all, a fabulous morning and I'm officially jealous of anyone who lives in Rochester and gets to visit whenever they want. Hands down the best children's museum we've ever been to.

sandwiches state side

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 21:24:00 +0000

It was my birthday this week. Thirty-three years old.

I know! Yikes!

But my kids assure me it's not THAT old.

I was sitting here trying to remember what we did last year for my birthday and, drawing a blank, I decided to check back on my blog. Blogs are great for remembering details like that... if you actually use them and write regularly. Which I didn't. And I haven't been.

The day after my birthday, I sat down a wrote out some goals for this year. Goals related to family life, fitness, business, and our home. It's still a work in progress, but it's a good start. Sort of mid-year resolutions.

One of my goals is to be better at recording my family's stories here.

Cause my memory ain't as good as it used to be.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Early July, we loaded the van and set out for NY state. South out of Ottawa, across the boarder, and on to Rochester. To avoid a long stop at some restaurant (never fun with four little ones... even less so when you've got someplace to get to), we packed a lunch and found a little picnic area to spread out at.

Liam even looked up from his book a couple of times to talk to us.

Simon really wasn't mad at anything, but he likes to play his cards close to his chest at all times. Wouldn't want us to think he's enjoying himself TOO MUCH, but he did tell me I make the best sandwiches EVER. Win.

Andrew finds most things funny. Even sandwiches.

Eloise, true to form, walked around eating. Sometimes actual food that we gave her, but mostly rocks and sticks. We joke that she's part goat.

I'm going to be sad when she outgrows these pants.

And no family photo opt would be complete without be setting up the camera and timer (my remote was dead) and forcing everyone to stand nearish each other for picture. These are important memories, folks. They've figured out that it's better to just go along with it, rather than have me pout about it afterwards. I rewarded them by letting Liam pretend to punch me in the face in the following frame. Hopefully Eloise will get in the game soon.

I have so many pictures from this trip and I'm REALLY going to be mad at myself if I don't get them up and blogged. Feel free to send me threatening letters if you think I need the motivation.

I've missed you all!

Eloise Amora Kaye

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:01:00 +0000

With the dawning of tomorrow's day, our baby girl will complete her first spin around the sun.

Our sweet Eloise.

One year passed.

Already.

How??

She is DEFINITELY our last. Our last baby and, this, our last first birthday. For the last few

weeks, this thought has been sending me into bouts of melancholy and nostalgia.

Our baby girl is so sweet and so little... how can she be a year already? Where has it gone??

And in my refusal to face the reality of passing time, I have made NO preparations

and put NO effort into planning her celebration. To assuage this particular mommy guilt,

I hope to dust off the sewing machine and whip up a little crown or bunting or something

to mark this momentous occasion.

And it is momentous.

Our baby is one year old.

Aversions to sleeping in her crib aside, she is... just AWESOME. Sweet and smiley and friendly, so easy to laugh, fearless and determined, bright and lovely and full of so much personality. She was our wee Colombian surprise, but I just cannot fathom my life and our family without her in it.

In looking up the meanings of her names again, I'm surprised at how fitting each of her names is:

Eloise: a mix of Eleanor meaning light and Lois meaning good

Amora: means love

Kaye: either pure or rejoice

She is pure love, goodness, light and joy. That's Eloise.

Tomorrow will likely be a quiet day, with daddy at work and the rest of us enjoying our

last day with Grandma before she heads back west. We will (hopefully) wake slowly, have the

birthday girl's favourite eggs for breakfast, bake some cupcakes, do a bit of crafting, a lot of playing, and a ton of loving on our baby girl. All along my camera will not be far from hand as I try to document her special day.

To freeze the time that is going way too fast.

You are loved, Eloise.

(right now) I am...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 18:01:00 +0000

I've posted once this year. ONCE.

And only seven times since we moved back to Canada in August. Seven times in seven months. And while I'm struck by the lovely symmetry -lucky seven and all that- perhaps I'll draw from that completeness and try to open a new chapter here, so to speak.

Clearly this is a phase of life where "something has to give" and that something has been the blog. But it makes me sad when I think of all the stories I didn't tell. All the pictures I've taken over the last HALF A YEAR that have not seen the light of blog.

Since I started this blog as a record for my kids to have when their older, I feel like I've let them down by my neglect of this space. Weekly, I resolve to dig into those hundreds (thousands?) of pictures. To cull, edit, export, upload and post. And write informative/meaningful/engaging/witty/love-filled stories to go with them all. Then I start thinking about all the other posts that never got written... Liam's 7th birthday, various visits from family over the last 2-3 years, the amazing deck Peter and his dad built summer '10, our Easter week spent with three other families at a vacation rental in Colombia last April, the baby shower that was held for me in Bogota hosted by a dear friend, a last fun filled, Nerf battle playdate that Liam had with friends before leaving Colombia...

And the list goes on.

And I get overwhelmed.

And I do nothing.

So instead of trying to go back through the last two years and write every story that should have been written, I am instead choosing to simply write about what's been going on this week.

Thanks to the Scintilla Project for the writing prompt, to Soulemama for the format, and to my sister for nagging on my Facebook wall.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

RIGHT NOW, I AM...

:: Enjoying the thought that spring is coming. Bulbs are beginning to sprout new growth and buds will soon be appearing on the trees. I can sense things slowly starting to wake up... me too, perhaps?

:: Seeing the disaster in the boys' room grow and grow and grow. While they're loving having all their Lego and Playmobil in their room (while the basement is a job site), I start to twitch every time I'm forced to enter.

:: Missing my mom after her visit in February.

:: Searching on kijiji and craigslist for that perfect vintage/retro/mid-century couch.

:: Watching my calendar fill up with spring maternity, newborn and family photo sessions.

:: Smelling a whole new array of smells from the diapers of an eight month old who's being introduced to new foods daily. Motherhood is glamourous.

:: Putting away the calamine lotion and calendula cream (finally!) after having the chicken pox spread from Liam/Simon to Andrew to Eloise. They didn't love it, but now it's over with. Yay for immunity!

:: Looking at design ideas and paint chips as we plan the finishing touches on our basement reno.

:: Waiting for the drywall guys to arrive. They're 2 hours late and counting.

:: Wishing that life would slow down just a little. Except for the drywall guys. They can hurry up.

:: Hearing the confidence in Liam's voice as he reads (on his own! chapters at a time! with only a little bribery!), and amazed at Simon's reading ability for only being five years old.

:: Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that has to be done and all we'd like to do.

:: Reminding myself of where my priorities lie.

:: Remembering how very much I have to be thankful for.

:: Laughing at the boys daily. They drive me crazy on a routine basis, but they also bring such great joy and laugher and fun to life.

:: Being more and more aware of areas where I fall short and where I want to improve/change/grow. This is a good thing!

:: Working on organizing those thousands of photos I've taken over the last many years.

:: Tickled that Simon and Andrew like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.

:: Noticing how much longer and warmer our days are getting. Hooray!

:: Recording Simon's use of the term "yesternight" and Andrew's pronunciation of "yicken pox".

:: Happy that Liam enjoys the Rick Mercer Report just as much as Peter and I do.

:: Hoping that Eloise won't break a bone before she actually learns to walk SINCE SHE THINKS SHE ALREADY CAN.

:: Listening to the sound of Liam rummaging through drawers of Lego upstairs (the soundtrack of my life), Simon and Andrew giggling/fighting while making silly videos of themselves on the computer, and Eloise breathing deeply as sleeps in my arms.

:: Knitting, um, lots in my head! I'd love to make some toilet paper roll knitting nancys for the boys and see how they take to it.

:: Inspired by Ann Voskamp. Her blog, her reminders to live life fully and THANKFULLY, and this post especially.

:: Thinking of two great men. One recently diagnosed and the other whose journey ended Monday night. I know we're not to live in fear, but cancer scares me.

:: Eating ice cream for breakfast next week in honour of Bruce and Jim and countless others. In Bruce's own words, "as a show of support AND as an affirmation that everyone will vow to live life and not take even the small things for granted".

:: Hoping that this blogging thing sticks for a bit!

family fun

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:01:00 +0000

With three boys who have had a camera shoved in their faces most of their young lives, in order to get them to agree to a "nice" picture, I have to bribe them with getting to do crazy ones afterwards. So for every nice picture on my hard drive, I have at least a couple of these...

Truth be told, I actually like the crazy ones better than the normal ones most of the time! Very soon I'll have enough to put into a book!

This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

Christmas Day in photos

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:51:00 +0000

Andrea from the fishbowl once again issued an Hourly Photo Challenge for Christmas day. I've enjoyed seeing others blog their holiday pictures in this way in past years, and -having joined the iPhone club not long ago- I decided it'd be a fun way to document the day... although my DSLR wasn't far away the entire day and also got put through its paces.

This was, however, a lot of fun.

Moreso for me than for all my family who had to endure the alarm on my phone going off every hour and me spending a few minutes each time to edit and upload a picture.

Good thing they're used to me having a camera in my hand.

So here it is, our Christmas day in hourly increments...

8:00am... and the kids are still asleep! All five of the older ones! Only the babies are up.

9:00am Baby's first Christmas. For this baby AND my new niece and nephew.
STILL waiting for the bigger kids to wake up and join the party.

10:00am A trio of minifigures from Liam's stocking.

11:00am Christmas kisses. She's so sweet.

12:00pm Andrew sitting at the window waiting for everyone -who wasn't sick-

to get home from church, and hanging out with Sir Axlerod and Finn McMissile.

1:00pm Tucking into the big gifts since we only had time for stockings and
breakfast before heading to church. It was a tight fit at my sister's, with seven adults,
five kids (3-9), and three babies! (wish I hadn't left the black bands on the top and bottom of this pic)

2:00pm Spreads and dips and crackers and fruit and nuts and chocolate and
coffee and egg nog and juice and Irish cream, oh my.

3:00pm The building begins.

4:00pm The building continues.

5:00pm Simon on the left and Rowan on the right. Masters of mischief.

Getting along better than ever before.

6:00pm One of my two (TWO!) jaunty hats. You will see them both often.

7:00pm These particular Christmas decorations are up year round at my sister's place.

8:00pm After seven boys between my older sister and I, we both had surprise pregnancies
this year AND BOTH HAD GIRLS! Eloise is on the left and Maizy on the right.

9:00pm My nephews received these carousels for Christmas from another aunt. Twitter
informs me Es ist ein Weihnachtspyramide! (translation: It's a German Christmas carousel!)

10:00pm Since someone was sick-and-throwing-up-and-took-an-almost-four-hour-nap-in-the-afternoon, that someone got to stay up late and play games with the grownups.

11:00pm Ticket to Ride is FUN! (depending on how ~~fair~~ charitable you are, I either came in second or last)

12:00am I kind of look like I have no/weird eyebrows here, so just look at the sweet-
and-wide-awake-at-midnight Christmas baby in her pretty rainbow wrap.

It really was a nice, nice day.

We had fun giving gifts to our family and were thoroughly spoiled in return. We all received gifts that were special and fun and thoughtful and perfect. The boys were thrilled with all their Legos, Peter with his Tassimo (to take to work), me with my hats and wool and jewelry and to-be-exchanged-for-different boots, and Eloise with her crochet hat and handmade dolly.

We tore through our stockings, ate copious amounts of good food, Peter took Liam and Simon to church where their uncle Joel was preaching (to a higher capacity crowd than was expected for a Christmas Sunday morning!), opened loads of presents in a bit of a frenzy to make sure we were through before my younger sister and her family had to leave for her in-laws, ate some more, visited, put a not-feeling-super-well Andrew to bed for a much needed nap, said "No you can't open any new Lego sets." a dozen times before finally relenting because we realized it was too cruel to make them wait, made some phone calls home to friends, talked to family on Skype, ate even more, built more Lego, searched for already-missing Lego pieces, played with babies, read Christmas stories at bedtime, played Ticket to Ride until far too late and finally went happily to bed.

It was a very good day and a very good night.

consider this your Christmas card

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Perhaps the best

Yuletide decoration is being

wreathed in smiles.

~Author Unknown

Many blessings to you and yours.