I'm back...

I guess I took a long break through the summer time from blogging. We really enjoyed our summer. It was nice to sleep in and just take it easy and have time to spend with the family. We enjoyed time at the trailer over the summer months as well.

 

Exactly 1 month ago today, our baby girl turned 2. That means she's not a baby anymore. She is growing up so fast! She's a little girl that loves pretty things like chap sticks, and bracelets as well as pretty dresses and don't forget pretty shoes and boots. It's fun having a little girl! :)

 

Here are some pictures of her birthday celebration, as well as her Papa and her Daddy's birthday celebration. All 3 have birthdays within a couple days of each other. 

 

 birthday girl with pretty bracelets

 birthday boy Papa

 birthday boy Daddy

 a new playpen for her babies

 love her mischievous grin!

 a new dolly...she loves her baby!

 so cute when they try to blow out the candles and they have trouble

We love you sweet Chloe! What a joy you are to our lives and we all thank God for bringing that specialness to our family. May God bless you in this year of being 2.
And blessings to Papa and Daddy too in this year!

Pictures of my favourite people

 Reading in the sun

Ethan loves finding a patch of sun on the floor and just playing or laying in it

 Our Swiss boy- Switzerland celebration at school

 My 3 favourite little people!!!

 Seth is taking Tae Kwon Do and is enjoying it

following in his dad's footsteps

 Daddy's helper

 I ask for a thumbs up, and I get a thumbs down from Ethan

 Dad and his boys

I love that we have a window at eye level for the little people in our home. That way they can wave, or just peek out the window to see what is going on.



He's 5!!!

 Ethan celebrated his golden birthday on Thursday. Hard to believe that he is 5 already!

 Decorations and presents set out the night before

 He woke up early, got dressed and then sat at the table patiently waiting for everyone else to get up and ready so he could open his gifts

 His first Lego set

 Opening his gift from his brother

 I was the mom volunteer for the morning in Ethan's class, so it was special to spend part of his birthday at school with him, which included enjoying  cupcake at snack time. After school, Opa and Oma came for coffee/tea and to visit us all. Ethan forgot the birthday suitcase (special bag to take home in JK when its your birthday, which includes a birthday gift from the teacher). It was hand delivered from his teacher Mrs. Baker, on her way home from school. How sweet of her!! We enjoyed french fries, chicken nuggets and salad for supper and ice cream for dessert.

 After church this morning (Good Friday), we had a small family party with my family. We ate a dirt & worms cake and he opened some more gifts.

A special Happy Golden Birthday to you Ethan! We love you and you are very special to us all!

Organ concert

He was able to go

 to Andre Knevel's organ concert

last night with his dad

and he had so much fun!

It was a special time for father and son!

Our March break

We had a fabulous march break. My dear hubby was home for the week and that was so much fun to have him around!! The week went by very quickly with lots of things to do...like swimming at the YMCA, playing outside, going for walks and bike rides, going to the park, having some family over for a night, Seth went to 2 birthday parties, we celebrated my Mom's birthday as well. Paul and I were able to go on a one night getaway, just the 2 of us! It was about time since we haven't left Chloe yet and she's 1 1/2 years old already! We really enjoyed the beautiful weather we were blessed with! The week went by so fast. It was really enjoyable to relax and sleep in and just enjoy lots of family time! 

I should really say "don't ask" but maybe I should explain lol

They were getting ready to go to the YMCA to swim and this is how I found Ethan after he got into his bathing suit and was waiting to go. Only Ethan that's for sure!

Chloe was a little fussy a couple nights so the one night I took her out of bed and she enjoyed some snuggles and snacks with daddy!

 Her crazy bed head in the morning!

Ethan learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels and he was pretty excited about it! He's growing up for sure. Next week he turns 5. Crazy how the time goes!

 Seth had some fun trying to build something out back. He was trying to make a boat and was using tape to put it together, but he was able to use Paul's hammer and nails and enjoyed every minute of it!

Hope you all had a great March break and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Kids

Things are pretty good here in our home. We are keeping busy. The kids keep growing up so fast! Hard to believe in 6 weeks, Ethan will be turning 5. Wow!

Health wise, for the most part we are well. We've had colds, viruses & pink eye going on from person to person ever since the middle of December. We just can't seem to get rid of it! Chloe currently has pink eye. In the past 1.5 months she's seen the doctor 3 times. We've maybe had 2 days where no one had a cold or anything. I guess it could be worse, so we are thankful for our health and strength that we have been blessed with!!

 Seth made a Lego creation for a project for school

 Its a church and he was inspired by it one day after a drive around town and seeing some of the older church buildings with tall steeples

 This little girlie loves "playing" piano too!

 Who needs milk for making chocolate milk when you can drink the syrup straight from the bottle!

When the boys were small, I always had latches on the cupboard doors but in this house we never put them on. Some days I wish we did, especially on the days when I'm putting lots of canned goods, or potatoes and onions back in their proper spots.

 Chloe is trying to put her "boo-tas" on (her boots) and she likes putting her "coa-ta" on too (her coat)

love when little ones start talking/communicating

 Ethan just learned how to play the Wii, so he has a little fun playing Mario Kart and other games

Stay tuned for some more posts coming up soon!

piano

Seth has been doing piano lessons for a couple months now. Auntie Dani teaches him for the time being. We wanted him to learn the basics and to get an idea if he was really interested in it or just wanting lessons because others from school were taking them. December was our trial month and he did well and was enjoying it so we decided to continue. We ended up buying a keyboard off of kijiji and a little table/stand to put it on. Some days it is harder to get him to practice than others, but over all it is going well. I think the biggest temptation is the fact that is is a keyboard and there are at least 100 different tunes/songs it plays and different sound effects as well. It is more fun to play with that than to actually practice the songs.

He is learning and having fun so we shall keep on going for now. :) His goal is to be like the organist Andre Knevel. ;) If you don't know who that is, he is an organ player who does some concerts with choirs and a pan flutist. Seth calls him famous! Seth has a fascination for organs, organ music and even made a miniature pipe organ out of Lego. He is really hoping that his dad will take him to an upcoming concert of Andre Knevel one of these days!! It is neat to hear some music in our home, even if it is Mary had a Little Lamb and Ode to Joy and other songs like that. I enjoy it, especially since both Paul and I have never learned to play the piano. We keep telling him to do his best. And if he wants to be an organist someday, he needs to continue with piano lessons and all the practicing that goes along with it. Keep up the good work, Seth!

Valentines Day

Yesterday was valentines day. I went grocery shopping right after bringing the boys to school and found it interesting at the amount of men shopping for flowers, cards and candy for their significant others. Around here, we don't go with the flow of celebrating this special day. I know my hubby loves me and I love him so we don't need to do anything fancy about the day as society does. The kids still send valentines to their friends/teachers at school and receive lots of special cards and treats as well. And I made some special heart shaped cookies (as pictured above) and we enjoyed it as an after school snack. We also received a 'What I'll do for Love' coupon booklet from Seth. :)

One thing I really enjoy doing is making a special meal that we all enjoy, followed by a special dessert and eating by candle light. :) Last nights meal was homemade pizza, and then the kids had ice cream with berries and Paul and I had a homemade strawberry pie with whipping cream for dessert. I was going to serve grape juice in fancy cups, but I forgot. Oh well. It really didn't matter. We all enjoyed it the meal.

One special thing was hearing a prayer by one of our children after our meal..."Thank you God for this yummy supper, for full bellies, for the special treats, and for the nice candles we have get to have tonight". It's moments like these that make certain holidays special. Not the cards, candies and flowers, that can come anytime of the year. It's the spending time together and making memories with our kids!