The best part of Christmas...

...according to a toddler.  

I'm pretty sure he was more excited about watching Mickey play the bells than he was about the presents and his stocking.  Though all of the chocolate he ate would definitely be a very close second.

Holiday Fun

I haven't had much time to write lately.  Work and school seem to be getting in the way.  Add to that a sick toddler and I just haven't had much time to myself.  It's been a bit of a rough month.  Silas has been getting sick repeatedly and every time he ends up having trouble breathing.  It now seems to under control and he is finally sleeping again.  Well, sleeping as much as Silas sleeps.  Hopefully, these two weeks off give us the break we need to get back on track.

Anyhow....Christmas!  Every year, we decorate a gingerbread house before Christmas.  Caleb and Sophie love it and Silas was very excited to help this year.

Sophie was happy to help Silas put candy on the gingerbread sleigh and house.  And I was impressed that Silas wasn't just eating all the candy.  Because he really likes candy.  A lot.

Of course, it didn't take long for Silas to discover a game that he liked better-dumping the candy from one container to another.  He is at the age.  The age of filling and dumping.

Unfortunately for Caleb and Sophie, Silas dumped most of his candy on the floor.  So instead of putting candy on the house, he started taking it off.  I guess he is not quite ready for gingerbread decorating.  Oh well, there is always next year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Caleb and Sophie were so excited when they woke up to snow on Saturday morning.   They have been waiting, rather impatiently, for it to come.  Sophie was quite disappointed when I told her she would have to wait to make snow angels because we were heading out.  They did play a little bit while waiting for the van to warm up.  

Silas did not remember the snow from last year and was quite concerned at first.  He kept pointing at it with a confused look.

But he was soon laughing and playing with the other 2.

Which of course led to me putting a screaming toddler in the van.  Because even though it was time to go, he was not finished yet.

Just when I think it's gone...I find more glitter

I've been having a rough time lately.  It's been a hard transition going from working part time to full time.  Much harder than I thought it would be.  Plus, Ryan's been on crutches since the September long weekend and while he is definitely feeling better, there is still so much that he can't do.  And of course during all this, Silas has been teething.  Which means he has been waking up every hour throughout the night....and only wanting me.  And he's been chewing everything....including me.  Lately, I'm ashamed to admit, I've been wondering what we were thinking.  Thinking that I can't handle 3 kids.  That I'm not cut out for this.  But then I listen to Sophie teaching Silas how to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Or watch him try to build lego with Caleb.  Or wake up to slobbery kisses.  Or see him stop nursing just to sign 'milk' and then latch on again and I just can't imagine not having him...he is what made our family complete.

Trick or Treat!

I was curious to see if Silas would go trick or treating this year.  Earlier this week, we tried to put on his costume and he was less than thrilled.  I was hoping that he would wear something and go to a couple of houses with Caleb and Sophie but he was not interested.  And of course, he didn't want to stay with Ryan so up on my back he went.  Just looking at the picture, I can tell that he is not impressed.

After he realized that people were giving out candy and he got a box of smarties, he did cheer up.  Sophie and Caleb had a great night.  Sophie was so proud that she went to just as many houses as Caleb.  She's never done that before.  Here she is waiting for Caleb.  

And one of both Caleb and Sophie, before we went out.  

Happy Halloween!

Twas the night before Halloween...

Caleb and Sophie are beyond excited about Halloween.  They have been waiting to carve the pumpkins all week and Sophie has been making bats at daycare to hang on the banister.  We finally got around to carving the pumpkins this afternoon.  We have 3 this year.  The older 2 explained to me that 3 kids = 3 pumpkins.  They did have lots of fun scooping out the seeds and drawing on the faces.

Silas was right in there this year.  I don't think he realizes that he is so much younger than the other 2.  He usually wants to be doing exactly what they are doing.  Here he is scooping out the seeds....

And here he is putting them back in.  I suppose it makes sense-that is his favourite game.  Dump things out, put them back in and dump them out again.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Usually on Thanksgiving we head out to the pumpkin patch.  I love Thanksgiving weekend.  Ours is usually very low key and it allows us to hang out and enjoy the fall weather.  This year, we needed something with less walking and standing so we spent part of the afternoon at the nature centre today. The kids all loved it!

We weren't able to go on any trails because of Ryan's leg but maybe next time.  All 3 kids managed to keep themselves busy and had a great time.

Especially after Silas realized that they were doing some construction just outside the window.  Once he saw the diggers, he wasn't interested in anything else. 

Taking Part

As shy as Sophie can be at times, she just loves being involved in everything.  She was absolutely thrilled when she was picked to help act out a story a couple of weekends ago at the Storytelling Festival at Fort Edmonton Park.  I absolutely love this picture.  She had a great time and it was fun to watch her become more comfortable as the story went on.  She really is becoming such a confident and independent girl.  And it is so great to see.

Who needs a pool...

...when you have a great big puddle?

Silas had no trouble cooling off this evening, splashing in the puddle out front.

Thankfully, the puddle was the result of a neighbour watering her lawn and not somebody washing their truck.  Especially since Silas discovered a new game.  When he leans over, puts his head in the water and looks upside down, everyone laughs.

Adjustments

Thank you so much to my cousin Erin who gave Silas this wonderful shirt-

I love it.  I think it is the perfect shirt for Silas, who has always been quite attached to me.  The past few days have been rough.  Silas has realized that I am working full time and seems to be even more attached than ever.  He is great when he is away from me (a big thanks to Andrea and my mom who watched my kids last week since my dayhome wasn't available yet) but as soon as I get home, he does not leave my side.  He has been spending a lot of time in the carrier again.  He has been asking to nurse frequently.  And the other morning he followed me around with his bowl of cereal.  If I stopped to do something, he would take a few bites but as soon as I moved to go do something else, he would pick up his bowl and follow me.  There have been a lot of tears these past few days if I even try to leave the room without him.  Hugs, baby boy.  You are breaking my heart...but I know we will both adjust.  You will have lots of fun at your new dayhome and I will get used to working every day again.  We will all get used to this new routine...and on days that seem more difficult I will tell myself that there are only 110 days or so until Christmas break.

Good Bye Summer, Hello School...

I can't believe that summer is over already.  I am definitely not ready for work, school and fall.  I am working full time this year and am already feeling the stress of that.  I'm already wondering if I've made the right decision and we haven't even made it through a full week yet.  I'm hoping once we get into the routine of school, daycare and work, it won't seem so bad.

Caleb and Sophie both started school today.  I've always done the 'first day of school' drop off.  This year, because of timing, Ryan brought them.  I think he liked it.  I asked him to take some pictures for me.  Usually, I just got one before putting Caleb on the bus but Ryan took a few for me.  Here are both kids outside the school-

Caleb was so excited to show Sophie her classroom.  When we talked about school last week, he didn't seem very excited.  He was definitely happier today.  I think he was glad to see his friends.  He is lucky enough to be in the same class as last year, with the same teacher.  I'm sure that helped him.  Change can be hard for him so knowing the teacher, the expectations and where to go made things easier, I'm sure.

Sophie was less than pleased to go to school.  I was a little surprised at how scared she was.  She has done many unparented programs.  Attended playschool.  Gone to a few different dayhomes.  I was expecting her to be excited.  She was the exact opposite.  She cried quite a bit the last night, repeating over and over that she was going to stay with Silas and Grandma.  She was better this morning but I could tell that she was still worried.

Of course, once she got in the class and met some friends, she was fine.

Overall, a great first day.  Neither one had any complaints.  Though Sophie did ask what took me so long.  I guess tomorrow I will have to try and get there sooner.

Frogs

This is how Caleb has been spending his last couple of weeks before school starts-

Frog Catching.  Him and a friend (and sometimes Sophie) have been catching frogs just on the other side of the fence.  They name them and then we make them put them back so they can catch them again another day.  Growing up, we used to go catch frogs as well and it is one of my best memories.  Silas loves it too-you should hear him squeal every time the frogs jump.

Lego Fun

I asked Caleb what his favourite part of Disney World was and he told me his new box of Lego.  We went to the Lego store while we were there and he absolutely loved it.  He could have spent hours looking at everything that was there.

He did like other things as well.  Once Caleb finds something he likes though he wants to stick with it.  Why try something else if you already found something fun?  As a result, he found a ride in each park that he liked-Splash Mountain in Magic Kingdom, Figment in Epcot and Star Tours in Hollywood Studios.  And he asked to go on each one again and again.  And mostly, we agreed if we could fit it in or the wait wasn't too long.  Because sometimes I think he needs repetition to feel secure.  And safe.  And that is such an important feeling to have.

One Big Sandbox

This was one of Silas' favourite parts of Disney World-

Yes...that's right.  We went all the way to Florida to play in the sand.

He was so happy to shovel a bit of sand into the bucket.  And then dump it out.  The other kids enjoyed it too.

Caleb dug for Dinosaur bones.  Until he realized that dinosaur bones are big and it would take longer than he thought.

Don't worry-Silas did like other things too.  I think his top 3 things were shovelling, the pool and the balloon they gave him when we arrived at the hotel.    And I suppose in the mind of a 17-month-old, life really can't get much better than a little sand, some water and a balloon.

Princess Sophie

We just got back from Disney World and Sophie was lucky to become a princess when we were there.  We treated her to the Castle Package at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  She had her hair done, got makeup and was able to pick out a dress, shoes and crown.  She seemed to be in shock while they were doing her hair and makeup.

Almost done...

Bibbidy, Bobbidi, Boo!  There were sparkles everywhere.  She still had sparkles on her a few days later.

Sophie was so proud of her dress.  She loved that everyone called her Rapunzel and commented on her gown.  

And seeing herself for the first time-she didn't say much but I know that she loved it.  Especially since we couldn't get the dress off of her until it started pouring much later in the evening.

Sophie had so much fun being a princess for a day.  Especially since immediately afterwards, we were able to go have breakfast at Cinderella's Castle where she was able to meet a few of the princesses.  We did not meet Rapunzel, unfortunately, but she still had a great time.  My favourite was the stepsisters. They were absolutely fantastic. So much fun!

Not even 2...

...and already scared of girls.  Does Silas not look terrified that I am going to leave him with his cousin A?  I just stood up to take a picture of the two of them sitting on the bench together.  I wasn't going anywhere but apparently Silas was not going to be left alone with that cute little girl.  If only she had some dried cranberries left.  Silas sure wasn't scared of her when she was sharing her snack!

Sibling Love ♥

There has been a lot of arguing in our house lately.  Caleb and Sophie have been having a hard time getting along.  Sophie tends to want to do whatever Caleb is doing and he wants to have nothing to do with her.  So I love to see moments like this.  Moments where you can see that they really do love each other.  Because I know they do.  Even if they have a hard time showing it at times.

Feeding the Birds

One of Caleb and Sophie's favourite things to do is feed the ducks and geese by the lake.  

Don't you love Sophie's skirt?  I got it from Color Dynamic. I absolutely love it.  It is definitely one of my favourite pieces of clothing that Sophie has.   I just wish she would wear it more often.  Apparently, even though it twirls, it's not a princess dress.  I love it though so I am thinking matching twirly skirts for Christmas would be super cute.  Sophie does like to match so I bet she would wear it then.  Anyhow, back to the birds!  Silas was there too....I was just trying to keep him from running towards the geese.  He does not understand why he can't run up and pet the birds.

Or why I won't let him go swimming.

I'm pretty sure he's wondering why we're even by the lake if he can't play in the water.  Always a fun time walking by the water.  If only there weren't so many mosquitos.  Then, it would be perfect.