the Fitzner Family

Sunbeams

2012-01-02T21:32:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the day that Kepler has been anticipating for the past month (besides Christmas of course). He started Sunbeams! Every time we went to church in December he would say "After Christmas I don't go to nursery anymore. And there are no toys in Primary." He was a little bit nervous before church started, but once he got to Primary and sat in his row, there was no turning back. According to Kepler here are some of the highlights of the day: getting his name picked to go up and pick a worm during singing time, having Shiloh in his class (but Elsa was sick), making a crown, learning about baby Moses, and seeing me sitting at the front. *tear* He's growing up, but he's still a mama's boy. I love seeing all the adorable little Sunbeams sitting on the front row so reverently, it's just too cute. His teacher told me that when she asked the kids to draw a picture of themselves Kepler said "I can't draw a picture of me, but I can draw my belly button." So that's what he drew. Ha, that is so Kepler! Jayna was very excited to have her little brother join her in Primary. During the opening prayer she said "Thank you that we have the new Sunbeams here today."

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T21:14:00.001-07:00

On New Year's Eve we had a little family party. Jayna and Gibb planned a fun night for us, here was the schedule they came up with:

2:30 play in the backyard

3:00 drink hot chocolate

3:30 bath time

4:00 make a craft (crowns)

4:30 dinner

5:00 watch a movie

6:00 eat homemade ice cream

6:30 play hullabaloo and candyland

7:00 count down and mini dance party

We followed it pretty closely, except we didn't end up having time to play the games. Because we ended up watching almost an hour of home videos instead. It was so fun, and I think this may be a New Years Eve tradition for our family. 2011 was a good year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This is what we were up to earlier in the week.

Swimming and the playground at Mac Island

A beautiful sunset we saw driving home at 3:49 pm

Kepler was happy to get a robe and slippers from Santa so he could match Jayna

Trying out the new sled, it was a hit!

We've been having amazing weather so far this winter (I hope I don't jinx it) and so we've been able to go outside and play so much. I'm now a believer that winter can be fun! But that might change with the weather in a few weeks.

Going on a little walk in the woods.

Keira trying out the jumper for the first time

This little sweetie is 5 months old!!

Jayna changing her first diaper, and now that she knows how, hopefully not her last!

Tomorrow it's back to real life again, and I think I'm ready. When I told Jayna that she was going back to school she was SO excited. I asked her what she was most excited about and she said "The centres!!" Haha, she has been crafting almost non-stop since she's been home, but she can't wait to get back to school to do more crafts. I guess she really is an artist. :)

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T12:36:00.004-07:00

Kepler spent most of this month on the naughty list, so we were all surprised and relieved that Santa still brought him what he asked for. I guess he made up for it in his last ditch efforts to be nice on Christmas Eve day. ;)

He was SO happy with his silver bell from Santa's sleigh. He kept holding it up to his ear and saying "I believe!" He also told me that he wished I could hear his bell too. I told him I could hear it and he said in a sad and serious voice "No Mommy, it's broken for you."

His Lightning McQueen race track was also a huge hit, and kept him occupied most of the day

Jayna of couse loved her easel and was excited about the rainbow chalk! She also got an art kit from Grandma Fitzner. So she got to be artist all day long, her dream come true.

Pretending to be Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus on the sled that Santa brought them. Kepler has been pretending to be Santa for about a week straight.

One of Jayna's other favourite presents, a Chrystal flower pot. She loves little "treasures" like this.

Kepler reading Keira the book he gave her

We got a good picture using the timer, hooray!

Christmas Day after church was so relaxing. The kids got to play with their toys all day!

This picture just makes me laugh. I think we have clone children.

We had some friends over who work at Gibb's office for Christmas dinner. Melissa, Brittany and baby Ella

Keira and Ella's first Christmas

After the kids were in bed, we cleaned up and skyped with more family. Then we tried to watch a Christmas Carol and we were both falling asleep. Ha, you know you're old when you have to watch a movie over 2 nights because you can't stay up. :)

Christmas this year was pretty close to perfect for our family. I'm kind of sad it's all over already, but Gibb still has this whole week off. I'm excited for lots of family time and hopefully getting some projects done!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T12:05:00.002-07:00

Staying home for Christmas this year was so fun and relaxing! We loved it! We missed all our family, but it was fun to be able to start our own traditions, and it was especially fun to not have to pack up all the presents.

On Christmas Eve morning we had our crepes breakfast.

This is a tradition that Gibb's family usually does on Christmas morning, but we knew we wouldn't have time before church on Sunday morning.

We thought the kids would love it but they wouldn't eat the crepes, even after we drizzled them with chocolate sauce. Kepler ate about 4 sausages, and Jayna just ended up having egg nog and a huge bowl of strawberries and blueberries.

In the afternoon we headed over to the Anderson's to spend Christmas Eve with them. The one downside about not being with family for Christmas was that there were no cousins around to entertain my kids while I was busy cooking and getting everything ready. So this was perfect timing.

The kids went sledding right in their backyard, it was perfect!

Emma and Keira

Inspecting all the presents, Jayna had all the presents under our tree memorized

We fed the kids an early dinner and then the adults got to take our time enjoying fondue, it was SO yummy! Then we watched a short nativity movie and then acted it out.

Kepler was the Angel and surprised us all with how well he knew what to say

2 Mary's riding on the donkey

Looking at Baby Jesus

Mary, a Wise Man, Mary, a Shepherd

(We were figuring out who everyone was going to be and Kepler wanted to be a Wise Man and then he said "But I don't have any Frankincense!" haha)

Keira in her Christmas outfit

All the kids opened up their jammies and then we each opened up a little gift (one of the Anderson's traditions)

We got home early enough to still read a couple Christmas stories and spread out reindeer food on the lawn. Jayna even spotted Santa and his reindeer in the sky while we were driving home, but poor Kepler missed it.

Santa told Jayna and Kepler that his favourite kind of cookies were chocolate chip. So on Christmas Eve morning we had to bake another batch of cookies, and now we have a big bag of chocolate chip cookies in our pantry...along with all the other shelves of junk food.

All set up and ready for Christmas morning!

It was such a fun night! We loved getting to spend time with friends, but still be able to come home to our own house and get the kids to bed not too late. Christmas Eve is my favourite part because it's so magical and exciting.

Christmas Festivities

2011-12-23T16:40:00.002-07:00

I've been inspired to do a big long December post by Lindsay (since I've barely blogged all month), and I even stole her title. :)

This year is our first Christmas staying home by ourselves since we've been married. I've had mixed feelings about it. Earlier this week I was a little sad and missing family. But overall, it's been so fun and relaxing. I'm really looking forward to Christmas Day when our kids can actually stay home and play with all their toys. We've made sure to do lots of Christmas activities to keep us busy and happy, here's what we've been up to.

Our Elf, Star came back again this year. Jayna and Kepler would talk to him about everything. They would tell him where we were going whenever we left the house ("Bye Star, we're going to the library."), let him know what we were up to each day ("Star, today at school I sat by Scarlett at snack time..."), and made sure he knew to tell Santa if they were being naughty or nice ("Star, Kepler just hit me, AGAIN!")

The youngest gets to go on Daddy's shoulders and put the star on the tree.

We put Christmas lights up outside for the first time. Jayna was really worried that people wouldn't know that we were celebrating Christmas if we didn't have any decorations outside.

Putting "decorations" up inside too

Finally getting some cute smiles from Keira, she's the happiest baby, but I can never catch it on camera

Doing some Christmas baking with Brittany

Writing letters to Santa

Making gingerbread houses at school

(Jayna's school is an Apple School, so they used dried fruit to decorate)

Kepler pretending that Keira's bath sling is Santa's sleigh with presents on it

and that he is Santa on the sleigh

Making ice cream out of snow, it was yummy!

Some Christmas crafts

Making a gingerbread house at home

Finding another use for my empty advent calendar string at the end of the month, hanging my Christmas cards!

Keira wearing the Christmas gown that Jayna and Kepler wore at their first Christmas

Jayna's Christmas concert at school

Gibb and I will need to brush up on our French Christmas vocabulary before next year

Primary kids singing at the Ward Christmas party

I had to add this one in, because I love how squished Keira's cheeks are!

Doing crafts at Jayna's Christmas party at school

Jayna and her teacher, Madame Diane. Jayna LOVES her! She wrote in her Christmas card "You have the best ideas for kids and that's why school is so fun. Thanks for letting us decorate gingerbread houses. You're my best friend."

A ride on the sled (I think we need to get a bigger one)

And finally going to see Santa at the mall today. We left it so late and thought we would be in line forever. But we only waited 10 minutes!!

Merry Christmas!!

Fancy Dinner 2011

2011-12-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had our 2nd Annual Fancy Christmas dinner. Last year's fancy dinner was so fun, I couldn't wait to do it again. This year on the menu it was fancy lasagna, fancy peas, fancy rolls and fancy water, with fancy egg nog and fancy cupcakes for dessert. Delicious darling!

Keira didn't last long, she napped through most of the festivities

Kepler's improved on his pinkies up skills from last year

Christmas cupcakes

Jayna and Kepler helped Gibb make us place cards

Jayna drew a picture of her and Keira on the back of hers, since Keira didn't have one

And we ended off the night with a fancy dance again

Jayna and Kepler learning to dance fancy instead of crazy

I think that this might be our family's favourite Christmas tradition. The getting fancy part is just as fun as the dinner and dance. Some of the highlights of the night were:

1. Having a relatively peaceful dinner with everyone on their best behaviour

2. Kepler telling me "Mommy, you're my darling."

3. Jayna saying that it was the best night ever and asking if we could do it again tomorrow

4. Kepler asking Jayna "May I please have this dance" and bowing (with some coaching of course)

What a fun night! Once again I can't wait to do it again next year.

2011-12-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

Jayna lost her first tooth while we were setting up our Christmas tree. She went to her room for a couple minutes and then ran back in the room with her little tooth in her hand and said "Daddy, I lost a tooth!" I was so surprised! I knew she had a tooth that was a little loose, but I didn't think it was even close to falling out, and she just barely turned 5. I almost didn't believe her at first, except there was blood on her mouth and hand.

She was excited for a couple of minutes, and then she started crying, and she said "I'm not old enough to lose a tooth yet!" Haha, I think she was kind of surprised, and a little unsure about the blood too. But after a few tears, she was back to being excited and has been happily showing off her lost tooth to everyone we see.

When we asked her how it fell out she told us that she felt like there was something stuck in her teeth, and so she was trying to get it out, but then pulled her tooth out! Haha, I wish I could have seen her face! I think she must have been pulling pretty hard.

She thought she was going to get a "shiny new dime" from the tooth fairy, I don't know where she heard that. But the tooth fairy was feeling generous that night and she got a loonie instead.

There is no turning back now, this little girl is officially growing up way too fast.

Indoor Soccer

2011-11-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

Jayna and Kepler started indoor soccer this week-end. Kepler was so excited to be playing and not just watching. I think he might be a little more competitive than Jayna. All the way there he was saying "I'm going to win a gold medal today. I can run super fast. And when the other kids miss the ball, then I'll kick it, and then I'm going to get a trophy!" He ran right onto the field and started kicking the ball around, and had a huge smile on his face the whole time...except for about 2 minutes when he was crying and really sad. The parents aren't allowed on the indoor turf, so I was just watching from the bleachers. After when I asked him why he crying he said it was because he hadn't scored any goals. But then he told me that he scored 10 goals, so he was happy again. :)

Jayna wasn't sure about playing soccer again because she said that she gets really tired and hot from so much running. But she decided that she would do it and was really excited. But then when she found out that she was not on the same team as her "best friend" (a little girl that she had just met that morning) she was devastated and didn't want to play. Luckily for her the coach was super nice and switched her to the other team.

Jayna was still sad about not being on the light blue team at this point, and refused to smile for me.

And luckily Keira is an angel baby because we are going to be at soccer for 3 hours every Saturday morning. This poor girl is going to be taking a lot of naps like this, I guess that's the life of the 3rd child.

More Visitors

2011-11-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

When you live in the North Pole you don't get very many visitors, especially in the winter when the roads are bad. So we were really excited to have more visitors so soon. Jolayne and Dave drove up for the week-end and it was so much fun!

Jayna and Luke

Keira meeting Auntie JoJo

Kepler and Jordyn made us some yummy dinner

All the kids wanted to sit on the bench for dinner

We had cake for Gibb's birthday while they were here, I finally made Gibb a German Chocolate cake for his birthday, he's been asking for one since we got married!

We also spent the day at Mac Island, swimming and playing on the playground. The kids had so much fun with their cousins! Thanks for driving up to see us, we love having visitors!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-03T22:20:00.002-06:00

Kepler wore this costume when he was a baby and I love how the hat makes their cheeks all squished. :)

My little pumpkin!

I went to go put the camera away and came right back and she was falling asleep, haha!

She was so tired from being on the go all day.

Jayna had also said that she wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake, so a strawberry was a good warm compromise.

Kepler was a dragon again this year, and he loved his costume just as much as last year. Except he did not want to be a nice dragon at all this year. He only wanted to ROAR as loud as he could and scare everyone! Including the little 1 and 2 year olds at all the parties....oh dear.

We had a perfect night for trick or treating, the kids didn't even have to wear mitts!

I took the kids over to the Loose's for trick or treating while Gibb stayed home with Keira to hand out candy.

Rylan was a little bit excited!

We only went down a couple streets and the kids got so much candy. Kepler couldn't even lift his bag so he was dragging it on the ground and it got a hole in it.

Kepler was so funny that night. He would stay and chat at almost every house. He would yell "TRICK OR TREAT" as loud as he could and then he just wouldn't stop talking: "Don't forget about me, I want candy too. Ooh, I like your pumpkins! Your pumpkins look so cute. I'm a scary dragon! Have a good trick or treat night. Happy Halloween!" He was also determined not to forget his manners. He ran back up to the door of a couple houses to tell them "Thank you!" when he forgot. It was pretty entertaining!

Ugh, I feel sick looking at these pictures, since I'm the one who's eaten most of this candy so far.

Time to throw it away! And then I want to tell the kids I ate all their candy tomorrow morning. Haha, my friend posted that video today, so funny!

Halloween Parties

2011-11-03T21:35:00.003-06:00

We had 3 little Halloween parties that we went to for the kids this year. And Jayna still begged me to have some friends over for a Halloween party at our house.

Kepler and Keira at the Library Program Halloween party

Jayna finally wanted to be a princess this year. I'm surprised it took this long. But when I told her that she would have to wear a coat over her costume when she went trick or treating she was devastated, because then no one would know what she was dressed up as. So she decided to just be a princess for her class party at school.

They sang some cute Halloween songs for us.

Luckily Gibb had the day off, otherwise I don't think her teacher would have ever invited us back (and by us I mean Kepler).

Keira did not like having her hat on

Kepler had been planning that he would say Bonjour to Jayna's teacher when we got there. So he did, and then he got so shy and embarrassed and hid under Gibb's legs for about 5 minutes, ha! I've never seen him get so embarrasses like that, it was pretty funny.

Kepler was so happy to be at Kindergarten, and so excited to sit by Rylan!

We also met up with our friend Brittany and her baby Ella at the Halloween party at the HUB. But we forgot to take any pictures.

Visitors

2011-10-25T23:00:00.000-06:00

Gibb's parents came up to visit last week-end, it was so nice to have them here. Jayna and Kepler were so excited for Grandma and Grandpa to come. They got in some serious fights about who got to sit beside Grandma at dinner, luckily she has 2 sides! I think we had a perfect mix of fun and relaxing.

Jayna got to paint Grandma's toenails

Playing Kepler's favourite game Diggity Dog (or diggity doggity as he calls it). This was a gift from Pat for Kepler's birthday and it is a really fun game for 3 year olds.

We went to the Oil Sands Discovery Centre

Grandpa and Keira in the big truck

Proof that I was there

We decorated spooky Halloween cupcakes

On Saturday night we got a babysitter and went to the Keg for dinner

Keira putting Grandma to sleep ;)

This week-end was also the Primary Presentation, so they got to see Jayna do her part. She did a great job memorizing her part (we practiced a lot, even Kepler had it memorized).

I'm just realizing that I didn't get very many pictures of Kepler this week-end. The poor neglected middle child...

Keira got lots of extra snuggles all week-end!

It was so fun having visitors, and having some extra help too!

Swimming!

2011-10-03T21:43:00.000-06:00

We took Keira swimming for the first time today, and she liked it! She's our first baby to actually like swimming the first time, Jayna and Kepler both cried. I was surprised since she definitely does not like bath time. Jayna liked showing her how to swim and Kepler liked giving her a ride by "pulling" her behind his toy boat.

Check out those chubby legs!

She was pretty serious the whole time, but she lasted 30 minutes! Hooray for warm water at Mac Island! We had to sneak these pictures since you're not allowed to take any pictures at the pool. It was totally worth it, and we didn't get caught. :)

Edmonton

2011-10-02T23:50:00.000-06:00

We went down to Edmonton for the week-end so that Gibb could go to the Dental Conference. Gibb's whole family ended up having to go out of town that week-end, so we barely got to see them at all.

While Gibb was at his conference the kids and I got to spend a whole day hanging out with Lindsay, Cohen and Ivy!! It was SO fun, and sad all at the same time. We miss them!

Of course we spent some time at WEM, shopping and playing

We were excited to take Keira over to meet Great Grandma and go for her first swim, but then we found out that morning that she had shingles. So I just dropped Gibb off with Jayna and Kepler instead.

Getting a ride on her walker, as usual.

We also got to spend a whole evening with the Olsen's, literally. Me and my kids crashed at their house until about 10 pm while Gibb and Dave were at Priesthood and out for ice cream. Luckily the kids played great together and it was so fun to see them again!

Keira was so good this whole trip. She traveled really well and when we were packing up and getting ready to go I laid her down on her blanket for tummy time for a while, and when I came back she was fast asleep.

The timing of our trip was perfect, the leaves were so beautiful on the drive home!

Both kids were exhausted and slept for almost half the drive home.

These pictures make me laugh because you can tell they were just sucking their thumbs when their mouths are still wide open.

Northern Lights

2011-09-27T23:22:00.000-06:00

We've been able to see the Northern Lights quite a bit this fall. I finally got to see some with red, and Gibb saw some with purple. It's so amazing to see them in person, this is one of my favourite things about living here. Beautiful!

Kindergarten!

2011-09-11T21:28:00.000-06:00

Jayna started Kindergarten on her 5th birthday! Seriously, she could not have had a better day! Well actually maybe it could have been a little bit better if she had taken the bus that day, but Gibb and I drove her instead. :) She was so excited and so ready to start school. Her teacher is Madame Diane, and she is fantastic! I think she'll be really good for Jayna. She told me her favourite thing from the first day of school was getting Happy Birthday sung to her in French and getting a birthday pencil.

When I brought her backpack up from the basement she hugged it and said she had missed it so much, haha!

Jayna's doing French Immersion and she was so excited that she already learned how to speak French on the first day. She can say Bonjour, Au revoir, Je m'appelle Jayna and a few colours and other random words. One night Kepler wasn't listening and before I could even start counting Jayna started counting to 3 in French.

I was pretty much on the verge of tears all morning, but I was holding it together pretty good. And then when we were giving her hugs good-bye she said "I'm going to miss you mommy". I had to book it out of her classroom because I totally lost it and I was bawling. I told Gibb on the way home that I wanted to start homeschooling. I'm so not ready for my little girl to go to school every day!

The next day Jayna got to ride the bus, the excitement was just never ending that week! Once again I was on the verge of tears, but kept them in until she drove away, and then totally lost it again.

I thought she might be nervous to get on the bus by herself, but she was just loving every second! She waved to me and Kepler with a huge grin all the way down the street.

Since my mom is here I thought that it would be nice to be able to take Jayna to the bus without bringing the other kids along. But Jayna and Kepler had other plans. Jayna insisted that Kepler had to come see her get on the bus and say bye to her and wave to her, she's a little bit sentimental like her mom. And of course Kepler is always up for tagging along, these 2 really are best buddies!

I thought that Kepler would be sad and missing Jayna all morning, but he was living it up! His first order of business was to play with all her toys that she never lets him touch. Then when I told him it was time to go pick her up he said "No I want to go play with her baby again." Haha! He's definitely taking advantage of having the spotlight for once.

I just couldn't resist taking pictures of her every day!

Jayna is loving every minute of Kindergarten and her teacher said that she's adjusting and doing really well. I have mixed feelings, it's been way harder than I thought to send her off to school every day. I miss her all morning, the house feels so different without her here. Now that she's started school, 5 years doesn't seem like enough time to have her all to myself, it went by so fast! *Sigh*, it's been such an emotional week for me. I don't know if it's just me being really sentimental, or baby hormones still raging...but I may or may not have cried every time she drove away on the bus last week. And I may or may not have cried again just writing this post.

So one week down and 13 more years to go... ;)

Jayna is 5!

2011-09-11T20:26:00.001-06:00

Wow, I can't believe Jayna is 5, that sounds so big! She seems to have grown up a lot in the last month or so...which could also be because we just had a baby too. Either way she definitely seems like a 5 year old now. When we went to Kindergarten orientation the teacher asked us to write down some things about our child. This is what I wrote about Jayna. She's very compassionate and sensitive to other's feelings. She's very creative and love crafts. She has a great imagination. She loves to be a helper. She's very observant. She tries really hard to do the right thing. She is very social.

The other day I was busy doing something and I told Jayna to go play until I was done. She said to me "Mom, don't you know I'm only an artist. I don't like to play with toys." Haha, this is so true. Jayna doesn't really ever play with any toy for very long, but she could spend a whole day doing crafts.

We had her birthday party a few days before her birthday. This was her first year having a friend party, she was so excited! She wanted a Care Bears theme with a purple Care Bear cake. Thanks to Aunt Cassandra for taking Jayna to get all her party supplies!!

Jayna specifically requested the streamers hanging down like this for her decorations

Share Bear, purple is Jayna's new favourite colour (although pink and blue are a very close second)

We were all pretty excited!

Doing a craft

The boys opted to make pirate hats instead of pink party hats, hehe!

They turned out so cute!

Cake time! Jayna told me before the party started that she gets a little bit shy when everyone is singing Happy Birthday to her.

Jayna got spoiled this year!

She's been asking for the bath Barbie for a while, she was so happy that Kepler got it for her :)

And of course a pinata!

Candy!!

Having a dance party. The party was so fun, kid's this age are so easy to please. I'm glad we didn't plan too much because the kids just wanted to play and I was so impressed with how well they all played together.

Jayna's actual birthday was the first day of school. That night we went out for dinner to Montana's.

There happened to be 3 other people there for their birthdays that night! When Jayna heard them singing to the other people she said that she wanted that too. So I told the waiter it was her birthday and he went to get her sparkler and gather everyone to sing. Then she started getting nervous and decided she didn't want everyone to sing to her. So we cancelled the singing, but she still got a sparkler.

On the Friday after her birthday I took a treat in to her Kindergarten class, so this lucky girl had a whole week long celebration! And she was definitely milking it too. She kept telling Kepler that she got to go first or pick the plate colour, etc. because she was the birthday girl.

Jayna had the best birthday this year, I don't know how we'll ever top it. A party with friends, and then the first day of Kindergarten too! We love Jayna and can't imagine life without her!!

One month

2011-08-26T18:26:00.007-06:00

Keira is 1 month old!

She started smiling when she was about 3 weeks old and I keep almost catching it on camera

She's starting to be more alert and awake

Jayna and Kepler like to share their blankets and stuffies with her

She still does that cute newborn stretch with a wrinkly forehead

She likes her swing most of the time (thank goodness)

She's starting to get really chubby cheeks

Jayna and Kepler still love holding her

And giving her tons of hugs and kisses

Kepler's favourite time to give her hugs and kisses is when I'm feeding her because then she's too distracted to cry.
Jayna said to me the other day "Everything about babies is SO cute! I feel like I need to kiss her!" I feel the exact same way! :)

Summer Vacation Part 2

2011-08-25T22:04:00.009-06:00

Well, we thought that we wouldn't really be going anywhere this summer, but since Keira arrived a couple weeks early we decided to go down to Southern Alberta for a family reunion and to see the Hills, since they also decided last minute to come to Alberta. Keira was only 2 weeks old, but I thought it would still be worth it to get to see family, especially for the kids. And it was, Jayna and Kepler had so much fun with their cousins and were really excited to go on a vacation. My mom and I drove down with the kids, and then Gibb flew down to meet us a few days later.

It took us over 13 hours to drive down there! Luckily the kids did pretty good, it was a really long, tiring day. There are always wide loads on Hwy. 63, but this day there were some of the hugest I have ever seen, I don't think this picture does it justice.

All of Cassandra's kids were crazy over Keira, it was so cute!

Kepler wloved playing with the older boy cousins, he just thought he was one of the guys

My Grandpa is amazing! He's almost 88 and he such a fun Great Grandpa. He takes the kids out to the backyard and shows them his garden and picks raspberries with them. Then he had a water fight with all the kids on the deck. He came in and filled a bucket up with water and was taking it outside and laughing to himself, then he turned around and asked me "How wet can I get your kids?" Haha, I told him to soak them, so he did!

He also keeps this huge dirt pile in the middle of his backyard just for the great grandkids to play on.

And after all that he showed Jayna how to blow bubbles out of a straw, genius idea!

Jayna followed Great Grandpa Jensen around all afternoon, she had so much fun with him. I really hope she remembers him when she's older, such great memories!

We went out to Stafford Lake one evening for a picnic, Kepler was so happy to get a ride on the boat.

I also got to see some friends while we were there.
We met up with Amelia and her kids at the park

And we also met up with Lindsay and Krystyn one morning, as usual I always wish I took more pictures!

The cousins having a dance party. Jayna now asks to listen to Nathan's favourite song and Kepler knows some of the words and actions to Don't Call Me Baby Anymore thanks to Samantha, haha it's so cute!

Jayna telling my Aunt Nola all about starting Kindergarten on her birthday

Keira loved Great Grandma Jensen :)

On Saturday we had a Jensen Family reunion in Waterton.

Gibb took the kids on a hike. It was 4 km and they walked the whole way. They were pretty hot and tired when they were done.

Having lunch with Aunt Susan on the hike. Jayna and Kepler realized that Aunt Susan looked and talked just like Grandma Kathy, and so they kept "teasing" her and calling her Grandma, they thought they were pretty funny.

I stayed behind and had a picnic while they were hiking

Kepler was asking to see a waterfall all day, he was fascinated by it

After everyone was done hiking we had a big BBQ by the lake. It was so great to see everyone!

Kepler and my cousin Dane are only 7 months apart, any by the last day they had finally warmed up to each other and played all day long

Being silly playing air hockey

Stocking up on crab apples for the road

Thanks for having us Grandma and Grandpa!

We took a different way home and so the drive home was a lot shorter than the way down
Our vacation was short but sweet, and we really packed it all in in 5 days! We were all exhausted when we got home, but the kids slept in until 8:30 or 9 for about a week to recover, so I won't complain!

Baby Blessing

2011-08-14T20:56:00.001-06:00

While we were in Southern Alberta we had Keira blessed at my grandparents house. It was so nice to have so much family there for it.

It was so sunny out, I don't know why we didn't take some pictures inside

Uncle Scott, Great Uncle Tony, Kennedy, Great Grandpa, Uncle Scott, Daddy holding Keira, Robbie, Grandpa Fitzner, Great Uncle Eric

Four Generations

We missed you Mona!

Erin even drove down from Airdrie with Holly and her huge cast, we really appreciated all the family who came. Scott surprised us by coming with Cameron and Evan too.

Dane, Konnor, Chase and Nathan, so handsome!

Gibb's parents happened to be in Montana and so they were able to drive up for it too and meet Keira for the first time! Thanks for coming it was good to see you guys!

It was a really special day and we felt so grateful for all the love we felt from our families coming to share it with us. Keira's lucky to have all of you in her life!

Firsts

2011-08-05T20:22:00.002-06:00

I love how many random firsts a new baby has. The kids think it's fun to say "This is Keira's first time..." for everything we do. So here are some of her firsts from this week.

First day at the park

First picture with the pink bunny
(I did this with Kepler, and wish I had done it with Jayna too)

Today was her first doctor's appointment and she weighs 7 lbs. 8 oz. They get big so fast! (sniff, sniff)

Another Daddy's Girl

2011-08-05T18:32:00.000-06:00

I think it's pretty cute seeing Dad's with their babies, especially when it's your own baby. :) Gibb was like most guys before we had kids who didn't really want anything to do with babies. So it's funny seeing how fast our kids have him wrapped around their little fingers. Gibb likes to try and make our pictures a little more exciting, here are some classic Gibb shots.

And of course the standard Dad poses

One of my favourite moments of the night tonight was hearing Gibb and Jayna fight over who got to hold Keira...Gibb won. I wish there were a few more people fighting to hold her at 3 am ;)

Thumb sucking 101

2011-08-02T14:08:00.000-06:00

Jayna and Kepler have been talking about all the things they're going to teach the baby, and always at the top of the list is how to suck her thumb.

Here is Kepler showing her how it's done.

And at 3 days old she already has the hang of it.

Kepler started sucking his thumb at 3 days old too. Since Jayna was already a thumb sucker I thought that I should try and stop it so that we wouldn't have to try and get 2 kids to stop eventually. That was a bad idea, we had a pretty miserable few weeks of me trying to force a soother on him. Then I just gave up and let him suck his thumb and he was so happy again.
So I think I've learned my lesson and I'm just going to let it happen. It's a hard habit to break, but it really does make for good babies!

Welcome Home!

2011-07-31T11:54:00.001-06:00

We had the best welcome when we brought Keira home. Jayna and Kepler had picked out flowers for me and her, and they both picked pink before they even knew it was a girl. And Jayna made her this cute little card.

They had also made cupcakes with my mom for our anniversary, so thoughtful.

And then the mauling began. :)

Kepler thinks it's amazing that the baby has eyes, and ears, and a nose, etc.

And they both love it when the baby grabs onto their fingers. That was one of the first things Jayna did when they saw her at the hospital.

Proud big sister and brother!

We have been so used to calling her "the baby" for so long, now we need to get used to calling it "her" and Keira!

It's a GIRL!

2011-07-28T22:09:00.006-06:00

Keira Kathy Fitzner was born on July 26 at 9:04 am
She weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19.5 inches long

She arrived 2 weeks early on mine and Gibb's 9th wedding anniversary!
Everything went great and we had the most fantastic nurse who ended up delivering our baby (the doc was tied up in an emergency and showed up 20 minutes later to stitch me up).
We're glad to be home now and are really loving having a newborn in the house again.
Jayna and Kepler are so excited and proud to have a baby sister!

There is nothing like seeing and holding your baby for the first time!

Braces!

2011-07-19T18:52:00.000-06:00

After a long 1 year and 11 months I am done with braces and dental appointments, WOO HOO!
(Just barely less than the 2 years I though it would be)
This has been one of the major highlights of the summer for me so far. It might be topped by the baby being born in a couple weeks, but it will be close. ;) The other highlight has been eating corn on the cob without cutting it off!
I actually got my braces off in June, but I was waiting to get my permanent crowns on my implants before I posted any pictures, so here they are.

BEFORE

The first day I got my braces on I came home and Jayna was inspecting them and tried to kiss them! Ha, we thought it was pretty funny, and she liked our reaction so for a few weeks after that she kept trying to kiss them, gross!

DURING

Both of these pictures are about half way through

AFTER

When we told the kids I was going to be getting my braces off they were both really sad. Neither of them remembered me without braces. Jayna couldn't understand why I would even want them off because they are so sparkly and pretty and she can't wait to have braces when she gets older. She also thought I wouldn't be a mom anymore without braces on, and that it would hurt or break my teeth to get them off. Kepler didn't really understand, but kept asking me if I would still be his mommy after they were off.
I have to admit I was a little worried that my teeth might fall out after they were off. And I didn't really think I looked like myself anymore, but I got used to it pretty quick and I could not be happier to be done with that!

More soccer

2011-07-16T18:44:00.001-06:00

Soccer is all done for the summer and we're going to miss it.

Jayna loved having her friend Rylan on her team with her

Kepler got a soccer ball for his birthday and loved bringing his own ball to the games.

He proudly told everyone that he was on Daddy's soccer team. Good thing this kept him happy for the season, next year he'll be playing too!

Swimming Lessons

2011-07-15T18:37:00.002-06:00

Jayna and Kepler just finished a session of swimming lessons. It was Kepler's first time in swimming lessons, and his first time not just being a spectator to Jayna. He was so excited and loved it! He is not scared of the water and loves to jump in, do back floats and go under water.

Kepler in On my Own Sea Turtle

He really wanted a picture beside the water

Jayna was in Salamander and did really well this session. I think the magic combination was a great teacher and her goggles. We did a little extra practicing with her back float and it was worth it. She was so excited that she passed her level and will be a Sunfish next time!

The final countdown!

2011-07-11T10:03:00.003-06:00

I'm 36 weeks and officially starting to count down until this baby gets here. I feel like I'm in the home stretch and the end (of being pregnant) is in sight! It's funny because even though we didn't find out what we're having this time I've never been more prepared. I thought I would be dying to know if it's a boy or girl, but I've been totally fine with it, until the last couple weeks. Now I'm just getting really impatient to know what it is. Jayna has totally switched from wanting a sister to wanting another brother. She's now completely sure it's a boy and when I tried to ask her why she thinks that she just says "Because I love having a brother, so I want another one!" Good enough for me. And so now of course Kepler thinks it's a boy and wants a brother too. At least I know that if Jayna is happy, Kepler will be too.

I've been going back and forth between thinking it's a girl or boy this whole time, but I think it's been about 60% boy and 40% girl. Gibb just says that every time he pictures the baby he pictures a boy.

There's not really much else I can do to prepare until the baby gets here, except try to keep my house clean. My mom gets here on Thursday and the kids finish swimming lessons on Friday. And then we all get to sit around and wait...I have a feeling this could be a long month. ;)

Here I am about a week ago at 35 weeks

Bunk Beds

2011-07-07T23:13:00.003-06:00

3 months after ordering them we finally got the bunk beds in this week! This has been a highly anticipated event at our house, and one of the major things to check off the before baby comes to-do list. Kepler just turned 3 and was still sleeping in the crib. He was kind of attached to the crib so I wasn't sure how he would do, but once the bunk beds were up there was no looking back for him. He's so ready to be a big boy in his bed!
Jayna has been talking about sleeping on the top bunk since she got to sleep in the bunk beds last summer at the cabin.

Gibb being the handy man

Just a little bit excited...

The first couple of nights Kepler ended up back in the crib because he wouldn't stop singing/talking and keeping Jayna awake. Jayna is not into partying with Kepler at night before they fall asleep, she is all business and runs out to tell us if he makes one peep that he's keeping her up (party pooper!). Kepler quickly learned that talking means no bunks beds and so he's been quietly falling asleep ever since. At night he says to me "Mommy do I get to sleep in the bunk beds again? I promise I'll be quiet! No talking in the bunk beds, that's the rule." And he so desperately wants to sleep in the bunk beds that he's been following that rule.

Jayna still needs to get used to the fact that she shares a room and a bed now and that Kepler is allowed to come in whenever he wants to and play on the bunk beds too. But so far it's been a great transition and it's nice that the kids love going to bed, hopefully we can milk that one for a while! It's weird having an empty room though, I think it's going to take me a while to stop calling it Kepler's room.

Gregoire Lake

2011-07-04T21:05:00.002-06:00

Gibb had an extra day off this week-end, so we went out to the beach at Gregoire Lake, which is only about 25 minutes away. It was really windy, but the kids still went in the water. They loved playing in the sand for so long, building sand castles and digging for treasure.
It was so nice for Gibb and I to be able to relax while the kids played. They're old enough now to be careful by the water and play together. We need to enjoy this for a few more weeks until we start all over again with a new baby!

Canada Day

2011-07-01T23:02:00.001-06:00

It never really feels like summer to me until July 1. It seems like Canada Day always has great weather too. We went to the parade again this year, and the kids actually remembered it from last year.

Just to prove I was there!

My favourite "float"!
This Buffalo was in the parade last year, and I told the kids it would be here again, so glad Bailey Jr. didn't disappoint them. Only in Fort McMurray...

Kepler loved waving and yelling "Happy Canada Day!"

We ended off the day with a BBQ and finally going to see Cars 2

Kepler keeps telling me now that he wants to go back to Canada (meaning the parade), because he loves Canada so much! I tried to explain to him that we live in Canada, but that was way over his head. So now I just tell him we'll go back to Canada next year.

Crafty Crafty

2011-06-29T21:52:00.001-06:00

Jayna has been on a major craft kick this month. It started out with this mini whiteboard I got out and she would draw on it almost all day long.

Then when we were in Edmonton she couldn't get enough of this little paint set that Grandma Fitzner had.

So when we got home I bought her her own set from the dollar store. Best $1.50 I ever spent!

A couple weeks later I got out a bunch of random stuff from the craft cupboard and just let her go to town. This ended up taking over our table for a few days because it's all she wanted to do almost all day.

She made a fish hook and some fish for Kepler to play with. She came up with this all on her own, and Kepler loved it!

This masterpiece took her a few days to complete. She kept coming back to it and adding more and more details. It's a story for her to read to the baby when it's born.

It's been so nice having a break from Jayna begging to watch TV and movies all afternoon while Kepler is napping. Now I'm going to put it all away for another month and then bring it all out again after the baby is born and I really need a nap!

Happy Birthday to Kepler!

2011-06-24T20:46:00.002-06:00

Kepler is 3! And he's pretty excited about it. He totally caught birthday fever from Jayna and has been waiting for his big day.

When he woke up Jayna wanted to go in and sing to him, so we did. But then he just wanted to eat his cake. I think he just associated his birthday with eating cake since that's all he really knows about birthdays. I would have just let him have a piece for breakfast, but it wasn't made yet, oops!
(Note to self, next year I will make his cake the night before instead of the day of his birthday)
Luckily I was able to keep him happy with monkey bread and smoothies for breakfast instead.
We met some friends at the park after that, but about an hour later it started to rain. Good thing we were only a couple blocks from my friend's house so we all headed over there to play instead.
When we came home for lunch Kepler just wanted his cake again. Poor guy! I promised him when he woke up from his nap it would be ready, so he was pretty excited to finally see his Thomas the Train cake!We had Kepler's best friend and family over for a BBQ that night.
Kepler's new soccer ball! Now he thinks he's a soccer player like Jayna!

Happy Birthday to Kepler!

Kepler's best friend Cohen!

We ended the night with Thomas treat bags. I don't think this little boy could have been any happier.

Birthday kisses for the birthday boy!

That night after the kids were in bed Gibb and I heard Kepler singing in his crib "Happy Birthday to Kepler!" hehe! I guess he wasn't done celebrating yet. The next morning when he woke up the first thing he said was "Mommy, am I still 3? That means I can run really, really, super fast now!!"
Oh man, I love this kid. 3 year olds are so fun, and Kepler always has us laughing, especially when we should really be disciplining.

More swimming

2011-06-21T21:32:00.003-06:00

Jayna just finished another session of swimming lessons. Every time she starts a new session she cries that she misses her old teacher and doesn't like the new teacher for the first day. And then she realizes her new teacher is nice too and cries when she's done with that teacher. I've started bribing her with a Booster Juice if she goes the first day without crying at the edge of the pool, so far so good!

This was the last day of swimming lessons and the teacher let them ride around in the canoe for a while, they loved it! It's fun to see Jayna really making progress in her swimming, and she loves it. She's come a long way from my little girl who was terrified of the water.

Father's Day

2011-06-19T21:25:00.002-06:00

Happy Father's Day to Gibb, we love you Daddy!

The kids were actually being more cooperative than Gibb for these pictures. ;) Gibb has the same squinty eyed problem as his mom when it comes to taking pictures with a bright flash.

Summer Vacation

2011-06-15T22:41:00.001-06:00

Since we're having a baby right in the middle of the summer this year we couldn't really plan any kind of vacation at all. So a 5 day trip to Edmonton in the middle of June that coincided with my final ortho appointment will have to suffice. It was perfect timing to get to see Brett and Jenny once while they're here too.
Gibb and Jayna out in the back trying to practice their photography skills.Lots of play time with the cousins!
Luke, Jordyn and Kepler

A visit to Great Grandma Gibb's house, which always includes cookies and usually a swim in her pool

Kepler & Jayna with Grandpa & Grandma Fitzner

Another tradition at Great Grandma's is getting a ride on the way down/up from swimming

Gibb took the kids out to the lake one day while I was busy at appointments getting my braces off!! (pics of that to come soon)

We tired Kepler out this week

A trip to Galaxyland while we did some shopping

I find that on trips like this I barely take my camera out at all. We also got to see Jo and Dave's beautiful new house, go to the temple and even sneak in a date night! I also got to spend a girl's night out with some friends which is always a good time. It had been a while since our last trip to Edmonton so it was so good to see everyone. Now if the baby decides to come a little early maybe we can sneak in one little trip at the end of the summer too!

Kiddie Pool

2011-06-08T21:40:00.000-06:00

We had to get a new kiddie pool this year, and we ended up buying one that's more like an Olympic sized kiddie pool. The kids have been out there so much! We really need to have some friends over for a pool party in this thing, it's so big.

Jayna driving around Kepler's remote control boat he got for his birthday

Summertime!

2011-05-30T21:03:00.000-06:00

First day running through the sprinkler and eating popsicles in the backyard. It's definitely starting to feel like summer!

Busy Busy Bee

2011-05-29T15:00:00.003-06:00

Jayna had her first dance recital this week-end. She's been asking since her first dance class back in September, when she gets to dance on stage. So to say she was excited for it is kind of an understatement.

Shaking her bee stinger like they do in her dance

Doing her own pose

She was so excited to get a flower at the end of the night!

This video is not the greatest, since we weren't really supposed to be taking a video. I had to do it sneakily so I couldn't really tell what I was doing. And in the middle of the dance I had to put it down to hide it from a hard core usher with a flashlight. Hehe, but you still get the idea. Jayna is the 3rd one from the left.

Heritage Park

2011-05-19T13:13:00.001-06:00

Jayna's preschool had an end of the year field trip to Heritage Park. The kids got to see some old fashioned cars, fire trucks and a tee pee. And then they got to go into an old fashioned school house, which was the kid's favourite part.

Jayna loved writing on her slate with chalk.
"1 2 3"

Story time

Then they had a snack and played some old fashioned games.

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-17T16:53:00.005-06:00

Jayna's preschool had a little graduation ceremony for the last day of school. They sang us a song, got their diploma and we had some cake. Short and sweet, just the way I like it!

Teacher Amy

Teacher Dawna

Jayna and her friend Kamryn

Jayna and her friend Kate

Preschool ending is bittersweet. Jayna's had so much fun and will miss her friends. But I'm ready to be done driving to school and start going to the park every day! I can't believe that Kindergarten is coming so soon, again it's bittersweet. But let's not talk about that for the next 3 1/2 months! ;)

Soccer!

2011-05-14T19:45:00.003-06:00

Today was Jayna's first day of soccer. It was the perfect day for it too, sunny and 20C! She was so excited for everything about it, picking her jersey number (#4), bringing the snack (watermelon) and being a "soccer star" (as she puts it). We were so happy that she has her friend Rylan on her team too. In the car Jayna and Kepler kept singing "paass, shoooot, SCORE!" (my kids watch way too much Backyardigans).

I totally thought that Jayna would be the kid who's picking dandelions and daydreaming on the field. But she surprised me, she was right in there and loving it! This is going to be a great way to spend our Saturday mornings for the next couple months. It doesn't get much cuter than a huge group of little kids all trying to kick one soccer ball! ;)

(I can't believe my big girl is still 4, she looks like she could be 7 in this picture)

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T21:29:00.000-06:00

Mother's Day was great this year, I got spoiled! It sure is nice having a day where the kids have to be nice and listen to me all day long, hehe!

Tea with the Queen

2011-05-05T20:05:00.001-06:00

Jayna's preschool had a Mother's Day Tea Party this week. Jayna has been talking about this for a few weeks now, but she actually did a really good job keeping everything that was supposed to be a surprise a secret from me. First we made crowns together. Then all the kids sang a song to us and gave us presents. They finger painted plates for us, Jayna painted 2 flowers and the sunshine on mine. And then we got to sit down to tea!
Pinkies up!

After tea we had a little story time and then took pictures in the castle.

Jayna can be so thoughtful and she really tried to make it a special morning for me. She woke up telling me "Happy Mother's Day!" and then said "I'm just pretending it's Mother's Day today since it's the tea party." She made sure I got my favourite rice krispies treat from the plate before they were all gone and was better than any waitress I've had at refilling my teacup before it ever got empty. I loved spending a morning getting pampered by Jayna, she really knows how to make a mom feel special!

Lucky Clovers

2011-05-02T15:39:00.002-06:00

We've been in our house for over a year and a half and we still have empty lots on both sides of us. Finally about a month ago they started digging and building on all 3 lots beside us. It's been so loud and dirty, but at least it's all going to get done at the same time. And it's also provided a lot of entertainment for the kids, especially Kepler, who has probably spent hours watching the trucks dig dirt.

This morning our kids were watching the digger as usual and they started getting really concerned about a patch of lucky clovers that was right at the edge of our yard. They did not want the lucky clovers to get dug up and ruined. They begged me to go out and "save" (aka pick) the lucky clovers and bring them inside, which I did not do since I was in still in my pj's. Then they begged me to let them go out and save the clovers, which I also didn't do since it's right beside the huge hole they're digging and there is a big orange fence blocking the way.

They got the idea to tell the builder to stop digging. They were waving and yelling "STOP, STOP DIGGING" at the window for a while, but the builder just kept smiling and waving back. So then they got the idea to make a sign to hang in the window so he could understand what they were trying to tell him. Jayna asked me how to spell stop, and then ran to kitchen reciting "s-t-o-p, s-p-o-t, s-o-t-p". This is what she ended up with:

I helped them tape it to the window and they continued waving, yelling and pointing to their sign for a while. Then a few minutes later they came running to me yelling "It worked, the sign worked! They stopped digging! The lucky clovers are saved!"

They were so happy and excited that they saved the lucky clovers, and they really thought it was all because of them.
So when we came back after being out for a few hours later that day they were pretty sad that the lucky clovers had been dug up after all. And I was pretty sad too since they also dug up a bunch of our grass with the clovers. Oh the joys of living in a construction zone.

I love watching my kid's imaginative play. I think a good imagination is one of the most important things for kid's. And for every hour of guilt I have about how much TV they watch, a little bit of that is erased whenever I see them being creative, curious, and playing together like this. :)

Library Program

2011-04-30T22:25:00.001-06:00

Our library has a free kid's program every Tuesday and Thursday morning. They sings songs, read stories, do a craft and then have toys for the kids to play with. Kepler and I have gone a lot this year since it's at the perfect time while Jayna's at preschool.
They always have really good craft ideas, and Kepler loves bringing his craft home to show Jayna.

This week they had the library program on Saturday and a Firefighter was there. He talked to the kids about fire safety, put on all his gear, read a couple stories and then gave out pens, erasers and stickers. It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday morning while Gibb was working.

Kepler spent at least 10 minutes watching the firetruck outside. He really loves trucks, planes, boats, train, etc., anything that goes!

I think that Kepler, me and the baby will be spending quite a few mornings here next year too while Jayna's at Kindergarten.

Jayna's Haircut

2011-04-28T16:11:00.002-06:00

It's taken me a few days to be emotionally stable enough to write this post, but I think I'm ready to do it without crying now. ;)

A few months ago I cut my hair short. I asked Jayna if she wanted to cut her hair too, not really thinking anything of it because I knew she would say no. At the time she still loved her long hair and never wanted to cut it.

Then a few weeks ago I got my hair trimmed again, and all of a sudden Jayna wanted to cut her hair too. I had been asking Jayna on and off for a while if she wanted to get her hair cut, thinking that life would be so much easier. But as soon as she said she wanted to do it, I was devastated, and realized I was just as attached to her long hair as she was.

So of course I tried to sneakily talk her out of it and convince her that she wanted to keep her hair long. But in true Jayna style she would not be persuaded once she made up her mind. I tried to just put off making an appointment hoping she would forget, but she kept bringing it up and really wanted to get it cut.

One of my friends asked Jayna why she wanted to get her hair cut, and if she had seen someone with cute short hair that she liked. Her answer: my mom! Which of course made me melt...but I still wanted her to keep her long hair. I even tried to put it off until the next time we go to Edmonton in June, but she wanted to get it done right away. So I finally gave in and made an appointment and immediately felt sick and wanted to call back and cancel.

I was still trying to convince her not to cut it too short on the way to the salon. But Jayna's getting too smart for me and had some pretty good arguments. She said "It's my hair and so it's my responsibility. I want to look like you mom, I want to be just like you! Hair grows, it will grow back long again." How could I argue with that?

BEFORE:

I still get a little sad looking at how long and pretty it was

DURING:

This part was not pretty. Pretty much as soon as she sat in the chair I started crying. We went to a friend of ours to get it cut and so it was a little embarrassing. Jayna was loving it and he kept asking me why I was crying, didn't she want to get her hair cut? I tried to just blame it on crazy hormones, but I was pretty sad. I must have been a mess, since that night he emailed me asking if everything was okay with Jayna's haircut and saying that he felt so bad that I was crying. Maybe I am a little too sentimental.

AFTER:

She got 13 inches cut off! We're going to donate it to Locks of Love.

I do think she looks really cute with her short hair, and about 5 years older too.

I've been trying to be happy about it so that she doesn't regret doing it or think I don't like it. That afternoon I was brushing her hair and she asked me "Are you trying to brush it so it will grow back again really fast? Don't worry Mommy, my hair will grow back."
And combing out her hair in about 1 minute with no tears after the bath has definitely helped to bring me around too.

In case this post is getting too depressing I will end by saying how much Jayna LOVES her short hair. She can't stop shaking her head to feel it on her shoulders. She also loves that we're twins now and keeps asking if we can take a picture of our short hair together. We were at the park the day she got it cut and she told my friends that she saw her shadow and it looked so cute! :)

The baby is getting big!

2011-04-26T21:39:00.003-06:00

Pictures from our ultrasound at almost 24 weeks. The baby was as long as corn on the cob.

These didn't scan very well, but it was so fun to see the baby again, now that it's getting bigger. We brought Jayna with us to the ultrasound and she loved it. We didn't find out what we're having, which is a first for us. I thought I would be dying during the ultrasound to know if was a boy or girl, but I wasn't. I'm really excited to have a surprise this time!

20 weeks

I popped this month!
25 weeks

9 months...

and his baby was already born, it was a girl of course.

Jayna is still sure that it's a girl, and so Kepler is too. Her top 3 names right now are Sparkle, Silver and Mary, in no particular order.
The kids are constantly inspecting my belly to see how big the baby is, and they're a little more excited than I am that the baby is getting bigger. ;) Most nights after we eat dinner they tell me that the baby grew!
This baby has been way more active than Jayna and Kepler were. Last week they both felt the baby moving and kicking, they loved it! I love seeing them get so excited about this baby.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T21:10:00.000-06:00

Gibb had a 4 day week-end for Easter, and it was such a nice break.

On Friday we took the kids to see Rio. It was cute, Jayna and Kepler loved it, and were SO excited to go to the movie theatre and get popcorn!

Saturday morning we went to Dunvegan Gardens for an Easter egg hunt.
There were tons of people there, it was crazy. And the big kids pretty much just ran in and went crazy finding all the eggs. By the time we got in our kids were lucky to find one egg each, and not too happy about it either...

Luckily there were some people who worked there handing out more eggs to kids who didn't find any.

On the way home from the egg hunt Kepler was crying and saying his tummy hurt. We were just thinking that he ate too much chocolate, until he threw up all over as we were turning onto our street.

Poor little guy spent the rest of the week-end like this. It was so sad, but cute at the same time.
And we definitely took advantage of all the extra snuggles.

We had planned on having some friends over for Easter dinner on Sunday, but when Kepler got sick we had to change our plans.
We're so glad that Brother Entrikin still came over for dinner. We needed some help eating all that food, and of course he's one of Jayna's favourite people. He even put on a puppet show for us!

Monday Kepler was finally feeling a little better so we did our own egg hunt.

We made bird's nests.

And it was nice enough to play outside!!
Jayna asked me to make her a "list" of the order of the rainbow so she could draw it. Starting to take after her mama, I make a lot of lists.

I don't think I've seen my kids smile this big since last September, we are SO happy that it's finally starting to get nice outside!

Easter Party

2011-04-14T21:23:00.001-06:00

Jayna's preschool had their Easter Party a week early since this week is Spring Break.
They got to dye Easter eggs and Jayna took the hands on approach. Haha, her whole hand was purple for the day, but it actually washed off pretty easily.
One of her favourite centres is always the playdoh table. And this day it did not disappoint her, it was white playdoh with sprinkles in it and bunny cookie cutters.
This big easel with Mr. Sketch markers was another favourite that day. Jayna is in a drawing phase, and will sometimes draw and colour pictures for over an hour! It's amazing how many times she can draw flowers, rainbows, the sun and sky, our family and all her "best friends" and not get bored of it! :)

They also got to decorate bunny cupcakes at snack time.

I can't believe Jayna's going to be taking the bus to kindergarten next year! I'm actually really excited about it because she is so ready and excited for it. She's going to French Immersion and can't wait to start learning french (thank you Fancy Nancy!). She loves telling people that her favourite colours are rose and fuschia (not plain old pink and purple) and likes to make up words and then tell me that's how you say something in French.
I'm glad I got to spend a morning alone with my big girl, she was so happy that I came in to preschool with her, and said that was her favourite part of the day! :)

Field Trip

2011-04-12T15:13:00.001-06:00

Jayna's preschool had a field trip to Dunvegan Gardens, which is a big indoor greenhouse and gardening store. The theme for this month is Spring and gardens. It was fun to bring Kepler along, since their is a no siblings allowed policy in the classroom, he liked feeling like he was a big kid and part of preschool.

They took us on a mini tour to show us the birds, bunnies and fish in a pond. I think my kids' favourite was the bunnies, since they told them one of them was the Easter Bunny!

They also got to see all the flowers and plants and smell the herbs.
Then they each for to plant a seed to take home.

Playful Pups

2011-04-07T15:08:00.001-06:00

For the past 5 weeks Kepler's been in this program called Playful Pups. It's twice a week while Jayna is at preschool, so the timing works out perfectly. And it's been so nice to have some one on one time with Kepler doing something he loves. When we first started doing it back in September he would call it Puppet Show, and he was so proud to have something that he went to without Jayna. Every time Jayna talked about her teachers at school he would pipe up with something about his teacher from "puppet show". Unfortunately all the sessions throughout the rest of the year until now were cancelled. So it has been such a treat for Kepler to finish off the year with Playful Pups.

It's run by students from Keyano College and they basically have the gym set up with every kind of sports equipment, a little boys dream! Well any 2 year old's dream really. For the first 30 minutes the teacher does a semi structured activity involving all the equipment. Each day they make up some theme like a Jungle Adventure, going to all the planets in Space, the Olympics, the Zoo, or a road trip across Canada. And then the last part is free play where they have mats set up in a big obstacle course and a bouncy castle.

This day was the Olympics and Kepler is carrying his torch.

The parachute is always one of Kepler's favourite activities, and whenever we go under the parachute he always asks me to hold onto his handle so he can run to the middle. I think he's afraid the whole thing will collapse if he lets go.

His pants are all too big now that he has a tiny little underwear bum :)

Today was the last day of Playful Pups for the year. Hopefully soon we can start spending that time outside at the park!

Teddy Bear Picnic

2011-04-06T20:27:00.002-06:00

Lindsay and I have been doing preschool for our kids once a week this year. We were just talking about how this is something we do all the time, but never take pictures of or blog about. So I pulled out the camera today, to document something that is part of our every day life (or every week).
All the kids love preschool, and I love it too because it gives me something to do and forces me to plan some fun activities for my kids. Today Kepler surprised me by knowing and writing some letters! I realized how much he's been learning (and how much I underestimate him).

Today we had a Teddy Bear Picnic as the theme. I remember doing this same thing when I was a kid and I loved it. They were all so proud of their Teddy Bears and couldn't stop talking about them, and giving them hugs and kisses.
It looks like they're wearing some sort of weird crowns, but they're supposed to be teddy bear ears.

For a snack we had honey on toast, blueberries and strawberries, goldfish and teddy grahams.

We ended off the morning by going on a Bear Hunt for the teddy bears. This was a favourite, especially with the 2 boys. But we had to end it the third time around when Ivy turned into the bear they were hunting for and Kepler found/caught her by tackling her to the ground.
Preschool is always a fun way to pass the morning, and I know that the kids had fun doing something when they remember and are still excited to tell Gibb about it when he gets home.

Distracted

2011-04-06T19:43:00.002-06:00

I find that along with having a horrible short term memory while I'm pregnant, I also get very distracted. I can never remember what I'm saying or doing. Maybe this is all part of the whole pregnancy brain thing. Anyways I'm blaming this post on the fact that right now I'm very distracted by food. I really need to do a few catch up posts from March before it gets too far into April, but all I can think about is what we ate for dinner tonight, and I'm so happy that we have enough leftovers to eat it again tomorrow.

We had Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta from Pioneer Woman. This is the second time I've made this recipe, and I'm seriously thinking of making it a weekly staple at our house. Yes it's that delicious! My current lemon craving might make me a little biased, but Gibb and my mom both loved it too. If you've ever made any recipes from Pioneer Woman you will know that they're pretty much all amazing. And this is one of her more simple recipes to make. I would usually never alter anything in her recipes, but tonight I did. I used 4 huge lemons and the grated zest from 2 lemons in the sauce. It was so lemony and delicious, I was in heaven!

This might seem a bit extreme, but I am the type of girl who gets major cravings when I'm pregnant. And when I finally eat something I've been thinking about for a few days, I feel like nothing has ever tasted better. Sometimes I will go for 2 or 3 days where nothing I eat tastes that great or is really satisfying because all I can think about is a certain food. And I will go out of my way to make or get that certain food.

Anyways, now that my current craving has been satisfied I'm going to try and focus on being productive for the rest of the night. Wish me luck!

For Robyn!

2011-04-04T21:59:00.003-06:00

I usually NEVER do stuff like this. But...I'm doing it this time. My older sister's best friend growing up is going to be on a reality TV show and if they win, they get a FREE HOUSE! Robyn was the kind of friend who would actually be nice to me, the annoying little sister, when she came over and let me hang out with them, which made me feel so cool! And most teenage girls are not that nice, especially to their friend's little sisters, so I feel like I owe her one. ;)

So here is the scoop. The show is called My RONA Home and they are the Blue Team. There are 2 teams that have to build and design a house and then whoever gets the most votes wins their house for free!! So to vote for the Blue Team just go to this website starting April 10, and you can vote every day.

GO TEAM BLUE!!

Potty Time!

2011-03-29T18:44:00.001-06:00

We spent the last 4 days at home potty training Kepler. And it went surprisingly well! (I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying that) I've heard so much that boys are so hard to potty train, but I think Kepler was actually easier than Jayna, which probably has a lot to do with their personalities. And also the fact that we waited a little longer to potty train Kepler, hoping he would be more "ready", whatever that means.

Some of the highlights of the week-end:

Kepler singing the potty song from his Elmo movie "Accidents happen when you're awake, accidents happen and that's okay!"
Jayna reading books to Kepler to help him sit on the potty longer and encouraging him to "push!" hehe
Kepler getting so excited when Jayna and I did the potty dance with him the first time
Kepler sharing one of his potty treats with his (slightly jealous) big sister

Today was the first day we went out with underwear and he had no accidents! I feel like it was almost too good to be true, and I keep expecting something horrible to happen to make it more like the nightmares I envision when I think of potty training.

The only hard part has been that Kepler is terrified and absolutely refuses to go anywhere near a toilet. We tried to push it a little bit the second day, but he started getting nervous, had an accident and then asked for a diaper because he said he's "scared of the big potty." So we just didn't mention it again, and luckily it didn't ruin his progress. But now I'm going to be carrying around his potty seat with me everywhere we go, until he decides he's ready to try out the "big potty". Yup, it's a MAJOR pain! But I'll take it if that's the only struggle we have. We are so proud of our little "big" boy! And he's pretty proud of himself too!

Thanks Mom!

2011-03-19T10:54:00.005-06:00

Grandma Kathy came to stay with us for 3 weeks to visit and to watch our kids while we were gone. And as usual it went by way too fast, and my kids wish they could replace me with her. ;) Having her here was such a big help.

I got to go into Jayna's preschool to help out one day. It looks like she's punching me in the stomach, but she's just really excited.

We played cooties a few times, it's one of the kid's favourites right now.

We had a little ice cream party the night before Gibb and I left on our trip.

While we were gone my mom did the usual routine with the kids.
She also took them to a Winter Festival with bouncy castles, games, and the worst face painting ever? Jayna insisted on being a pony even though the lady told her she didn't really do ponies, so this is what she ended up with.

Is it just me or does Jayna look way older than 4 here.
Playing at the indoor playground one day.

Painting

Jayna saw cheerleaders for the first time at a Keyano Huskies basketball game a few weeks ago and now she wants to be a cheerleader when she grows up.

Kepler making Grandma look fancy

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We can't wait to have Grandma Kathy back again this summer for an even longer visit. Maybe we should start making the countdown chain now!

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

2011-03-10T20:27:00.008-07:00

Gibb and I just spent 8 days in paradise!
With no kids!

We have been planning this trip for so long, and it felt like it was never going to come. We debated for so long about where to go. We were so close to going to Hawaii and almost booked the flights, but then changed our minds last minutes because we weren't that excited about it. Okay that sounds bad, we would have loved to go anywhere hot, but we wanted to try somewhere new and we also wanted a really relaxing vacation. Everyone keeps asking us how we picked Turks & Caicos, and one of the biggest factors is that it has some of the most amazing scuba diving.

Gibb did his open water dive while we were there and so now he's certified! He ended up going diving 3 times that week. The diving there was incredible, he saw all the classic tropical fish, starfish and sea turtles. He also saw and heard whales and saw tons of sharks. On his last dive a shark swam right past him from behind and brushed his arm, so cool, and scary!! I have to admit I'm a little jealous, so next time we'll definitely go when I'm not pregnant.

This was our beach!
We had the best spot, we were right on a huge reef and it had awesome snorkeling.
We went snorkeling almost every day.

This is what we spent a ton of time doing! Minus the looking miserable part, I'm pretty sure he's sick of me taking pictures at this point.
This was our view as we walked out of our room *sigh* it was about a 3o second walk from the beach!

You can tell this is our first night, I'm still so pasty white!

The beach we were on is called Grace Bay and we could walk about 10 or 20 minutes in either direction and there were tons of restaurants to choose from at the different resorts, and they were all pretty much amazing!
We had tons of fresh seafood. This night I had grouper and Gibb had snapper, so yummy!

Our pool

On the side of the pool they had these sheets of glass so of course Gibb had to pretend to be the animals at Sea World.
A shark!

A whale

A dolphin

And a trainer? I think

Another night going out for dinner. The sand there is so perfect, we could walk home in the dark on the beach and never had to worry about rocks or anything.

We went on a half day excursion on a boat, they took us snorkeling and conch diving. It was so rough and choppy that morning, thank goodness for gravol!
I dove down for this conch, oh ya!!

Then they took us to a beach and cut the meat out of all the conch shells to make a fresh salad, it was delicious.

On the island there were all these iguanas running around, but we didn't get to explore for very long because it started raining. It was a fun morning, but I have to say that half the entertainment was the older couples on the boat, they were hilarious!

Another day we were going to go horseback riding on the beach. Gibb has never ridden a horse before, and he only got to ride for about 10 minutes and then it started pouring so we had to turn back. I was so disappointed that I didn't get a picture of Gibb on his horse, so I made him pose by one. His horse was named Pilgrim and mine was Mango.

We got drenched!

And we were SOO bummed we didn't get to finish!

About a 10 minute walk down the beach there was this little market selling a bunch of handmade crafts and jewelry. The perfect place to chat up some locals and buy some souvenirs for the kids. We didn't take a picture at the market, but this was right by it.

Another beach picture, it went on forever in both directions.

There were some gorgeous sunsets!

This trip was exactly what we'd been dreaming of! I pretty much just wanted to go to a hot beach anywhere. And I wanted a super relaxing vacation where I could lay out most of the day and not feel like I was missing out if we didn't do tons of sightseeing. And Gibb wanted to do some sweet scuba diving. I felt so rested when we got home (except for the first day when we were just tired from traveling), and that's pretty good considering I'm 4 months pregnant.

I thought that I would be kind of sad leaving the kids for so long, this is the longest we've ever left them. And even though I missed them a ton, and made so many comments about how much "Jayna and Kepler would love this!", I was totally fine. And I have to admit when I saw other moms with their little kids trying to put their sun screen on, carrying all their gear around, and trying to get them to eat dinner, it made me so glad I was getting a break from all that!

The day we left, Gibb and I could not stop looking back for one last look at the ocean, and the beach and the pool, we really didn't want to leave, I mean who would. So we decided to just say
"See ya later Turks & Caicos" instead of "Bye" because we definitely want to go back some day!

Baby bump

2011-02-24T22:22:00.003-07:00

Jayna is having a baby girl in 1 day. She's either going to name the baby Braces-toothpick or Smartie.

Almost every day Jayna inspects my belly and asks me if it's any bigger. I think she just expects me to wake up with a huge belly one day, kind of like this.

Kepler has a new favourite game he likes to play at meal times. He says "Let's talk about baby." So I start out by saying "My baby likes to eat cereal (or whatever we happen to be eating)." Then Kepler says "I have a baby in my tummy and my baby likes to eat cereal too." Then him and Jayna start saying all the things their baby likes to eat and it usually gets pretty silly and ends up with things like fish (as in our pet fish), forks, socks, etc.

Hooray!

2011-02-07T13:40:00.003-07:00

I'm 14 weeks pregnant and have already felt this baby moving!
We're so excited, August can't come soon enough!

Anything you can do I can do better...

2011-02-03T23:09:00.002-07:00

Last week I was pretty proud of myself when I did this with the kids. But then yesterday and today has been pretty warm (above zero!!!) and Kepler was so sad because "Pop-pop Wendy's head fell off". So Gibb took the kids outside to fix it...
and built a larger than life version of Pop-pop Wendy instead!
This is why I leave the snowman making to him.

Star of the Day!

2011-02-03T22:54:00.002-07:00

Jayna was Star of the Day at preschool today. She's done this a couple times before, but today she was extra excited for it. The colour of the month is pink and she loves how everything in the room is decorated in pink. And today was wear the colour day too, so she got to get decked out in her favourite colour and she decided to bring something pink in too. When you're Star of the Day you get to be the special helper and then you get to bring something in for show and tell.

You put it in a box and then all the kids ask questions to try and guess what it is.

Then after they guess you tell everyone about what you brought and pass it around so everyone can see it.

Jayna brought in her pink bunny that she's had since she was a baby, and usually sleeps with. Up until this morning her name has always been "bunny", but as of today when the teacher asked, her name is now "headband".

Luckily Kepler and I got back to pick Jayna up a little early today and then one of the other moms offered to watch Kepler so I could go in and see. It was so cute seeing her do her thing in preschool.

Fun Mom

2011-01-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm not like a "regular" mom, I'm a "cool" mom!

- Quote from Mean Girls (that movie is hilarious)

I was reading an article last week about how some famous mom blogs paint a perfect picture of their lives and kids and only blog about positive things that happen. And how other moms feel depressed when they read these blogs because they think that they will never be as good of a mom as them. I actually enjoy reading a few of those blogs though, it's entertaining reading about other people's lives.

I was thinking about this and being a good mom lately, because I have been purposely trying to be more of a fun mom lately. You know you're old when you have to purposely try and have fun. I feel like it wasn't that long ago when I was a teenager and only cared about having fun, but obviously it was a long time ago. No wonder kids always think their parents are so old and parents always think they're still young and fun.

I've already done my winter blues post so I'm not going to go there again, but I'll just say that I was really feeling it ever since we got back from Christmas. So finally when I couldn't even stand myself anymore I decided I was going to try and be fun!

So since it's supposed to get freezing cold again tomorrow I decided I would take the kids out to play today. We went for a walk in the sled and made snow angels.

We always walk down the street to this one spot where there is a big field and then a path through a forest. This rock is in the middle of the field and Jayna has named it the "sleeping rock". Every time we come here both kids have to lay down on it and pretend to sleep on it. I think Jayna could play on this rock for hours if I let her.

And then Kepler was begging to make a snowman. I didn't really want to make a snowman, I was ready to go inside. But the snow was perfect for it since it rained this morning, and usually the snow here is too dry to make snowmen. And I'm trying to have more fun with the kids, so we came home and made a snowman!

Kepler wanted to name him "Pop-pop" and Jayna wanted to name him "Pireze or Wendy" So we named him Pop-pop Wendy...poor snowman. (It looks a lot darker in these pictures than it was)

This may not seem like a big deal, but this is the first time I have ever built a snowman with my kids. Up until now Gibb has always been the one to do this with the kids. I just felt like it was more of a "dad" thing to do for some reason.

When Gibb got home from work and saw the snowman, he was so surprised. He didn't even think I made it, he thought we had friends over that made it. And that just proves my point that I really do need to keep trying to be more of a fun mom.

Winter Blues Part 4

2011-01-25T20:31:00.005-07:00

I just realized that for the past 3 years I've had a post that has something to do with the winter blues sometime in January, February, or March. I thought maybe if I got it over with now, then I could just get it out my system for the rest of winter. Probably just wishful thinking. I know I'm not the only one, I feel like everybody is blogging/talking about this right now. I think this is pretty much just the worst time of year. But I'm going to try and stay positive!

This week has already been so much better than last week, especially since we're all healthy and it's finally warmed up a bit. We actually got to go play outside! Even though Jayna pretty much cried the whole time and said she was cold. I was a mean mom and made her stay outside for a whole 15, maybe 20 minutes before I gave in and we went in for hot chocolate. But I did get some hilarious pictures of Kepler and Ivy in the sled.

I can't stop laughing at these! They look like they're about the same size, but they're actually 18 months apart, even though they have almost the same shoe size.
I kept telling Kepler to give Ivy a hug to keep her from falling, but then he would just put his mitts in her face. But they both still seemed to be having fun, even though it does not look like it in these pictures.

My sister got Jayna a subscription to a kid's magazine, Chirp. It's really cute and ever since Jayna saw this snowman craft idea she's been dying to try it out. So we finally got around to it last week.
Kepler's on the left, Jayan's on the right.

I just realized I've barely taken any pictures this month. I probably just needed a break from the hundreds we took last month. It makes it so much easier to keep up with blogging when there aren't as many pictures though. But my goal for next month is to take more pictures of our everyday life. I like having pictures that aren't of us doing anything special, but just show what our life is actually like.

Pool Party!

2011-01-19T22:43:00.003-07:00

Desperate times call for desperate measures. We were desperate for some fun at our house. We've all been passing around colds to each other for a month now, and it keeps going in the same order too: Kepler, Jayna, me, Gibb. And I don't think it's gotten above -25C for almost 2 weeks now. So, like I said, we were pretty desperate. We decided to invite some friends over for a pool party! The only thing is, when you have a pool party at our house it's BYO pool, so thanks Linds!

Gibb thinks I'm crazy for not just taking the kids swimming. But they loved this and I didn't even have to leave the house.

Jayna's favourite part was having a picnic snack sitting on the towels, just like we were at the beach.
Kepler's favourite part....well I don't know if he even has any memory of this even happening.
When Gibb got home from work today I told Kepler to tell Daddy what he did today. He just stood there shrugging and saying I don't know, until Jayna finally told him "We had a swimming party!"
I know he had fun at the time though, and if I had to guess I would say his favourite part was playing with Cohen's colour changing cars.

We have a pet!

2011-01-13T19:34:00.002-07:00

Gibb has been wanting to get a fish tank for the kids for a while now. I am really not a pet person. But this week I finally gave in. I made a deal with Gibb that he could go get the fish, if I could have 2 hours at home to myself to get some stuff done and organized. (I know, I was desperate) I feel more like I made a deal with the devil. ;)

It was a good week to do it since we've all been sick and we're in the middle of a deep freeze. So its kept the kids occupied while staying home more than usual.
Gibb took the kids out to get the tank, supplies and fish. When they got home Jayna was jumping up and down and yelling "We got a pet, we have a pet now! I love pets!"

Transferring the fish into the tank

They got 2 sailfin mollies. The orange one named Pumpkin is Kepler's and the white one named Licorice is Jayna's. There are also 6 tiny little fish that are all named Flower babies.

Even though I wasn't that excited about getting a pet, it is pretty cute seeing how excited the kids are and how much they love the fish. They have spent a lot of time just watching and talking to the fish. The first night they sang them a bedtime song, and this morning Kepler ran to the tank and yelled "Good morning fish!"
I actually don't mind the fish at all, but I feel like I need to stay tough about it or else next thing I know we'll have a dog that's taken over the house, and I always said I would NEVER get a dog! (Famous last words, right?)

Christmas Vacation

2011-01-07T15:46:00.007-07:00

We went to visit my sister and her family in Ontario for 10 days. It was so fun to see their new house, and for the kids to spend a lot of time with their cousins.

Kepler spent most of the plane ride like this, he was so excited to be on an airplane!

Jesse and Jayna

Gibb and Samantha playing bop it

Eating the pomegranate faster than I can peel it

Playing Hullabaloo

Playing Wii

Samantha had to do homework, boo

Cassandra being her amazing self and making fresh cinnamon buns

Cassandra had her Primary class over for a class party. Jayna just heard the word party and went and put on her fanciest skirt and shoes. Then she was wondering where all the Sunbeams were. But she was still excited for the "party", even though it was eight 12 year old boys eating pizza, haha! She told them "My mom's not sure yet if we're coming back for Easter and Halloween." I told her I was sure that we weren't coming back, but I wish we could too!

Tobogganing!

Brett, Jenny and Milo came to visit for a couple days, and I barely got any pictures.
Milo was so cute on the sled!

Playing at an indoor playground

Poor Jayna was kind of miserable, but being a trooper. She had some really bad luck while we were gone with being sick, getting an ear infection, and breaking out in hives all over her body for 4 days.

I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with a bunch of old friends while we were there. I had lunch with Cindy and Jill (but no picture yet).

Dinner with Aleccia, Charissa, Kayley, Janeth (and Alison)

Aleccia and me

Jayna with Aleccia's nephew and baby Ethan, he's such a cute, happy boy, and him and Kepler have the same birthday!

Me, Cassandra and Sami the night before Sami left. I think this was around 1 am and Sami still had to pack and leave for the airport at 6 am.

I still don't have all the pictures yet, but I figured if I didn't post this now, it might never happen. We're so glad we went, it was definitely worth it. But so sad to have the party end!

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T21:27:00.001-07:00

Christmas morning we woke our kids up at 6 am. Yep, that's right, we woke them up. Only because all their cousins were awake and ready to open presents, but it was pretty funny having to tell them to get out of bed to see if Santa came, it felt very backwards. It was hilarious waking Jayna up because she was sick and had an ear infection so she couldn't hear very well. We were yelling "JAYNA, wake up! It's Christmas, let's go see if Santa came!" And she was just looking at us, and yelling "What?" Haha, but once she figured it out she was so excited.

So happy that Santa brought her Woody!

Kepler, Sami and Samantha

Already setting up lego sets

Ready to open presents

Kepler taking a break from opening and actually playing with his toys, he could have played with this all morning

Eating a candy cane for breakfast

Scott built a rink in their backyard, and Jesse had the hugest smile on his face when he was playing hockey with his new skates

Checking out Brett's amazing lego set he built

Kepler all day "Buzz! I got Buzz"

This kid was SO happy with all his toys. He barely put these 2 down all day. Grandpa would have been proud to see him open his "sweet boat"!

Best family pic we could get, Jayna wasn't feeling the greatest

One of the most exciting things that happened this year, was that my other sister Mona had her baby on Christmas Day! It was pretty exciting, we can't wait to meet cute little Zara!

I can't believe it's already over for another year. It was so special getting to spend this Christmas with some of my family, and for the kids getting to be with their cousins. Thanks so much for having us!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve there were about 40 people over at my sister's hosue, and it didn't even feel crowded. The kids were playing and watching a Christmas movie in the basement and the adults were upstairs eating and talking.

Cassandra and me

Samantha looking cute!

Kepler staying up way too late, but happy with kie kie

Jayna putting out her stocking

The kids in their Christmas jammies

The kids were so excited, but exhausted from staying up so late. When Jayna was going to bed she said to me "Mommy, do you think I'll hear Santa say Ho Ho Ho when he comes? If I do I won't get out of bed, because then he might not leave me my presents."

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Party time!

2010-12-16T18:07:00.004-07:00

One of the fun (and exhausting) things about December is all the Christmas parties.

Our Ward Christmas Party at the beginning of the month had lots of games for the kids
Pin the nose on Rudolph
Hanging Christmas Wreath (aka eat a donut off a string), this was so funny to watch

Gathering Snowballs (this game kept the 2 year olds entertained for most of the night)

Jayna had a pajama party at school, she was so excited she wouldn't even pose for a picture until she finished dancing and jumping around

We tried to make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers this year and they just kept collapsing. At least the kids still had fun.

Eating Rudolph for our preschool snack

Jayna's preschool Christmas party

And this has nothing to do with December or parties, but it was so cute. Kepler is still so snuggly, even when he's getting a shoulder ride. He's been sick this week and so he's even more snuggly than usual. I love the extra love, but carrying around 29 extra pounds all day is tiring.

We leave for Ontario for Christmas on Tuesday, we can't wait! We'll be the ones with a million suitcases for the 4 of us since we're bringing all our presents with us.

Fancy

2010-12-10T19:45:00.004-07:00

Tonight our advent calendar activity was to
"Dress fancy for a fancy Christmas dinner."
It was definitely the most fun activity so far. We had fancy chicken, fancy rice, fancy salad and even fancy water. It's amazing how much better fancy water tastes than normal water!
We used our fancy Christmas tablecloth and fancy Christmas dishes (thanks Aunt Mona!) and fancy napkin rings and fancy candles and had fancy Christmas music playing in the background.

Jayna thinks we should dress like this every day

Pinkies up!

Kepler trying to do pinkies up, but giving a thumbs up instead

We called each other darling and had impeccable manners
(except when Kepler spilled his water and egg nog)

These 2 pictures sum up how exciting the night was

And of course you can't have a fancy dinner without having a fancy dance after

Jayna getting dipped

We ended off the night with a fancy drink (egg nog) and fancy dessert (cookies). And then we had to read Fancy Nancy's Splendiferous Christmas before bed.
Night night darlings! Can't wait to do this again next Christmas.

Santa

2010-12-06T09:07:00.002-07:00

Santa Photo 2010
Sometimes our kids are so predictable.

Jayna just decided this year that she wasn't scared of Santa anymore because he's nice, and that she was going to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted. And once she makes up her mind to do something, she just does it.

Kepler was scared of Santa but was trying to be brave, because he wanted to be like Jayna. Before we went he would say "I like Santa, Santa nice... .No, I don't want to sit on Santa's lap!" We didn't force him, but as soon as he saw Jayna get excited and go up he had to be like his big sister. I love his face, his expression shows perfectly how he was really nervous, but trying to be brave.

Jayna asked for Woody and Kepler asked for Buzz, how convenient! ;)

Letters to Santa

2010-12-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

24 days and counting

2010-12-01T14:48:00.002-07:00

Is it Christmas yet??
It feels like it is just around the corner for me, but for my 4 and 2 year old it cannot come soon enough!

Setting up and decorating the tree

Our friends the McCoy's gave us an Elf on the Shelf this year. We're all really excited about this new tradition. Jayna and Kepler named him Star. He's only been here for 2 days, but he's already very loved by everyone!

And the advent calendar (idea from here)! For the kids enjoyment and my sanity.