No cheese, Mama!!

Apparently, around Christmas, too many pictures are taken.  After taking pictures of all 3 kids together,

Silas playing with his new barn,  (Isn't it cool?  I ♥ it.  It's from Tiny Footprint Toys-they sell eco-friendly toys!)

the opening of some presents,

and some of Silas playing in his new favourite spot, (he is quite annoyed that this box is gone...)

Silas informed me, "No cheese, Mama!!  All done cheese!"  I guess I tried to take one picture too many.

Best. Present. Ever.

This is how Silas was kept busy Christmas morning-he got a box of bandaids in his stocking.

And he sat there, until every single bandaid was taken out of the box, the backing was peeled off and the bandaid was stuck to an arm, hand, or leg.

And today, the other two were instructed to hide their new boxes of bandaids, before Silas tried to get into them as well.

  

Gingerbread

Gingerbread house making! I secretly hate it.  But we do it every year....because the kids love it.  All 3 of them.

It's serious business, putting on the icing and the candies...

I was impressed that Silas actually put some of the candies on the houses.  He likes candy.  A little bit too much, I would say.

Many of the pictures have him shoving the candy in his mouth.  The other two kids were screaming and laughing in the background, telling him to stop eating the candy.

Which he thought was hilarious, of course.  And it only made him eat more.  Which made them laugh even harder.

Winter.

Winter is not my favourite season.  Not by a long shot.  But the kids love it so I decided that I should try to make an effort.  We went sledding the other day and Caleb and Sophie had so much fun.  It was cold and windy but that didn't seem to bother them at all.

 

Sophie wanted to push Silas down the big snow pile at the end of our street and didn't understand why when I told her no.  Until she tried to pull the sled up...

This is the one time Silas went down the hill.  He seemed to enjoy it but we couldn't get him to go again.  He wouldn't even try to sit on the crazy carpet.  So, Ryan and I took turns pulling him around while the others went down the hill.

But, Silas....by the end of the season, you will like tobogganing.  Because really, it's one of the best things about winter.

Say Cheese!!

Toddlers.  They make picture taking so difficult.  The other day, I was trying to take sibling pictures.  I wasn't even trying to get all 3 in a picture.  Just 2 kids at a time.  And the pictures kept turning out like this-

And this-

There are more-

Every.  Single.  Time.

Except this one.  He was almost looking.  But only because he wanted to take a picture and is trying to grab the camera.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Better late than never?

I have not been very good at this blogging thing lately.  I always mean to quickly write something...and then I don't.  I realized the other day that I did not make a single post in November and have yet to show off the kids at Halloween...whoops!
So here they are.  A little late, since we are already beginning the Christmas season, but what can you do...

Sophie spent more time making faces at the camera than she did scooping out the insides of her pumpkin.  I have about 20 pictures very similar to this one.

We used to always carve 2 pumpkins but Caleb and Sophie have decided that Silas needs his own pumpkin too. 

The cutest little cookie monster ever!  He did not want to sit to have his picture taken.  He wanted the candy.  And the chocolate.  And he could not understand why we were wasting time taking pictures when people were giving out candy!!

Sophie the witch...

And spiderman.

It was cold this year and Caleb and Sophie's costumes did not fit over their coats.  Caleb insisted on wearing his spiderman gloves but after a few houses, they were traded for mitts.  I also realized how difficult it is to get a picture of 3 children together when one of them is a very excited 2-year-old who considers chocolate a food group!

Wait for me!!  Silas did awesome.  I'm pretty sure that he does not realize that he is little.  He walked the entire time, though he needed some help on the steps in his costume.  He did ask to go home about half way.  Of course, he thought he was asking for everyone to go home and was less than thrilled when we dropped him off and headed back out.  Next year, Si.  I'm pretty sure that you will be able to keep up next year.

Sophie's world

This picture is courtesy of Sophie.  An important message paired with a colourful picture.  I especially love her text bubbles.  She reads them even though there are no actual words in them-only letters.  The person in the middle is saying "I see a snake!" and the snake (who I didn't realize was a snake until Sophie pointed it out) responds with "snake?  Where?" I also really appreciate all of the rainbow outfits.    Because honestly, that is how Sophie dresses about 95% of the time.  The more colour, the better.

Sophie-please don't ever change.

Fall...

I guess it's fall.  I'm not ready for it.  I have been really enjoying this nice weather that we've been having!  We thought we would go spend one last day, at one of our favourite places, before it closes for the season...

On the "choo-choo bus", as Silas calls it.  The actual train was broken but we were able to ride the streetcar!  Silas told everyone who would listen, "Choo-choo, BROKEN!!!"

Pretty girl....

The trees there were bare.  Which meant there were lots of leaves for jumping!  First, pile them up.

Run.....and jump!

My turn!

What a perfect day it was.  A choo-choo bus, some leaves, and chickens.

What can be better than that!

The Princess and the Frog

Silas got his Halloween costume today.  He was super excited.  

So excited, that after he tried it on, he refused to take it off.

Now...what are the chances that it's going to last until Halloween?

Who came to school today?

Today was the first day of school.   I didn't bring them for their first day this year.  Since Ryan does daycare drop off, it only makes sense that he brings them on their first day.  I'll be honest, I hated missing it.  But I suppose that it's good for Ryan to have some of those firsts as well, right?  I made sure that he took some pictures for me.

Caleb was so excited.  He has been talking about school starting for weeks.  Everywhere we went, he would tell anyone who would listen, that he was starting grade 4.

Of course, Silas was not going to be left out.  I'm fairly certain that he does not realize that he is little.

He also does not quite understand the school rules.  Hey, Si!  No running!

As I mentioned, Caleb has been super excited about school.  If we take how excited he has been and times it by ten, we would have how worried Sophie has been.  It's been a rough two weeks for her.  There has been a lot of tears, meltdowns and drama.  I was hoping that once she got to school, she would meet her new teacher, see her friends and have a great day.  When I asked about her day, she said it went okay but she's also been crying on and off since I picked her up.  She's going to bring her lamb with her in her backpack tomorrow.  Maybe that will help her to feel more confident?  Hopefully?

Notice how she does not have bright coloured, striped tights?  Yes, I was quite surprised myself.  New year, new fashion?  I hope not...as crazy as some of her outfits are, I also think they scream Sophie.  And I'm just not ready for her to be influenced by others in regards to her clothing choices.

I guess with that, the summer is over.  It went a little too fast for me.  Caleb, on the other hand, is definitely ready for summer to be over.  He is already talking about Halloween and writing his Christmas list...

Happy first day of school, Caleb and Sophie!  I hope you both have a fantastic year.

Olympian in Training...

Apparently, Silas is training for the Olympics.  He was practicing his long jump the other day.  And he is serious about his training.  I can tell...because he did this over and over and over and....

Neighbourhood Friends

The kids all made friends at the park the other day.  Caleb found a boy his age and they rode their bikes on the path and spun around on the merry-go-round.  Sophie found a little girl to play.  They found a fuzzy caterpillar and spent their time making a home for it.

And Silas found this little guy to hang out with.

Silas would try to chase him.

And he would fly away.

But he kept coming back.

It was wonderful....it kept Silas occupied for hours.  Okay, more like 15 minutes.  But for a toddler?  That is hours.