It's been a fast year...

Wow.  This past year has gone by so quickly.  It is so hard to believe that in one short year Silas went from this

to this

He was so tiny when he was born.  Only 4lbs. 8oz.  I was almost scared to hold him.  He's still small compared to other 1-year-olds but I often forget because he has grown so much.

Silas had a great birthday.  He was lucky enough to get cake 3 times and he just loved it.  I forget if it was Caleb or Sophie but one of them told me that Silas uses his 'chocolate senses' to find missing chocolate.  He would eat chocolate all day if he could.

Silas isn't walking yet but he is crawling, walking along furniture, standing, climbing up and down stairs, saying no and all done and signing milk and more.  He knows all of the words that he thinks are the most important.

I still can't believe that my baby boy is 1.  I guess he's not a baby anymore-he's a toddler.  A busy, happy toddler who loves to climb, splash in the water and play with blocks.  

A toddler who is still happiest when he's with his mama.  ♥

Happy Birthday Sophie!!

Wow!!  I can't believe my baby girl is already 5!  It doesn't seem like that long ago that she was born.  And now she such a spirited, creative girl who is constantly singing and dancing.  And changing her clothes.  I gave up long ago telling Sophie what to wear.  Luckily, she loves 'princess' dresses so if I want her to wear something specific for a special occasion, she is always happy to do it.  She was barely walking when she took off the outfit that I had picked out for her (I think it was green), climbed up the change table in her closet and pulled down the frilliest pink dress she had.  I wish I had a picture of her outfit the other day.   She was wearing every colour and size of stripe imaginable...multi-striped leggings...multi-striped skirt...and a shirt with brown and white stripes on the sleeves.  When I asked if she wanted some plain leggings or a denim skirt she looked at me as if I was crazy.  She told me that it matched perfectly-it was all striped.

Here she is on her birthday...

When I told her we should take a picture of her on her birthday she had to run and get her hat that she got at school.  She was very proud of it.  She also needed to wear the necklace that she got from her cousins.

I absolutely love her shirt.  I found it on sale too-for about 5$.  It says 'little girl, big dreams' and I think that sums up Sophie.  She is constantly making up songs and asking me to turn down the radio in the van so she can sing them.  Not long ago, she was singing away and all of the sudden looked at me in a panic and said "Quick, Mama!  I need a pencil and paper so I can write this song down!"

I told Sophie "Happy Birthday" as soon as she woke up on Friday and just could not understand that she was 5.  She kept looking herself up and down and then telling me that she was still 4 because she looked the same as the day before.

Happy Birthday baby girl!  I guess you're not really a baby anymore...but you still are pretty cute :)

Christmas 2010

 I love Christmas!  I love the energy and the excitement, the lights and music, visiting with friends and family.  The past few days have been pretty busy and the kids are looking forward to finally spending a day at home to play with their new toys.  Caleb is actually still sleeping this morning-at almost 10.  He seems to need the most sleep out of the 3.  It took a while for me to realize when Sophie was a baby that she just didn't need as much sleep as her older brother.  Silas seems to be more like his sister.  So far, he's not much of a fan of sleep.


Here is what has kept us busy the last couple of days...

Caleb, Sophie and Silas all dressed up for church

Sophie singing on Christmas Eve

Caleb singing.  It was hard to get a picture of him.
I always forget how small he is until he is in a big group with others his own age.

Silas on Christmas morning.
He LOVED all of the wrapping, bows and ribbons.

Christmas morning!  I couldn't find Christmas pyjamas that I liked this year
and finally settled on these.  Sophie kept exclaiming "It's a sleeping dress?!?!?!" 

Sophie was excited her princess gloves that she got from her aunt and uncle.
She was quite convinced that they would keep her hands warm outside and wore them all morning.

Silas eating Christmas dinner

Sophie and her cousin had matching dresses to wear
as well as matching flowers for their hair.
So cute!

We had a great Christmas this year and it's looking like it will be a relaxing Boxing day with the kids busy with their new toys and movies, Silas actually taking a nap and having one last family dinner.  Did I mention that I love Christmas?  ♥

Merry Christmas!!!

Getting excited for Christmas

Sophie loves wrapping presents.  She helped me wrap up all of the Christmas books and then decided that she should give a present to Caleb.  Sophie went around the house and collected a whole bunch of things that she thought that Caleb would like.  She wrapped it all up using half a roll of tape and put 4 bows on the top.  When Caleb got home from school, Sophie was so excited to give him his present and stood back and watched him open it.  She was so proud to give him something that she picked out and wrapped all by herself.

I'm glad that Sophie seems to enjoy the giving as much as the getting.  She is very excited to wrap more presents.  I may have to buy more tape though.

Trick or Treat!!

Caleb and Sophie love Halloween.  They have been talking about since school started and Caleb has his costumes picked out for the next 5 years or so.  They both have Halloween shirts that they have been wearing frequently for the last couple of weeks.  Sophie has worn pants more often than not which is unusual for her.  Typically she will not wear pants and chooses a 'princess' dress or a skirt but if I gave her the Halloween shirt she very willingly put them on.

Caleb and Sophie had a great time with the pumpkins.  I usually buy 2 so they can each draw a face.  They both helped scoop out the seeds so I could roast them.  This year I put sugar and cinnamon on half of them.  I prefer them with salt but Sophie loved the sweet, roasted seeds.

They both drew faces on their pumpkins so I could cut them out and were so excited to put candles inside so they could glow.

This year I was pleasantly surprised when he chose to be a knight instead of a superhero.  He does have numerous superheroes on his list for years to come.  Sophie was a princess, no big surprise there.  Silas was going to be a lion, since we had that costume already.  But I decided that since we had a knight and a princess, we needed a dragon.  And what a cute dragon he was!  Here he is, a day shy of 8 months, and already trying to get to the candy.

Here's Sophie's photography skills again...she is always stealing my camera and  taking pictures.  Here she caught the dragon and I having a little quiet time before it was time to go trick or treating.  Silas then slept the entire time we were out trick or treating so that worked out well!  Of course it is now 9:30 and he does not appear to be tired at all...

And here they are.  All ready to go and waiting for it to get dark.  Caleb and Sophie had a great time and can't wait for next year.

Happy Halloween!

Mountain Climbing

Caleb is excited about 2 things in Banff-the waterslides and the mountains.  Ever since we arrived, he has been asking to go climb the mountain that he can see from his window.  We tried to explain that it is farther away than it looks but he was quite insistent that it was "right there".  So off we went to "climb a mountain".

Silas had the best seat in the house.  He was less than happy at first.  I haven't worn him much on my back but once we started walking he settled right in and took a little nap.

Sophie was quite insistent that she did not want to climb the mountain and just wanted to go "home".  After convincing her that it would be fun, she reluctantly started down the trail.  She did enjoy drawing pictures in the dirt as we walked.

Of course after she tripped and fell she kept reminding us that she told us that she "didn't want to come" in the middle of her tears.  We went back to play in the playground...which she did enjoy and Caleb and Ryan went on to tackle the mountain.  Caleb came home saying that his legs were tired but not too tired to go swimming.  And ready to climb another mountain tomorrow.