Growing Up!

I can't believe that we are nearing the end of January and I have not posted a single picture from the holidays! Ugh. I will...sometime soon.

But, in the meantime, I just couldn't NOT post this...

Last night, the girlie lost her first tooth!!




There it is. So tiny. Yet, I remember how big it looked when it first appeared in her sweet little mouth. Seems like just a moment ago.



She was SO excited to have finally lost a tooth and couldn't wait to see what the Tooth Fairy would bring.




In the morning, she had a wonderful surprise. The Tooth Fairy (whom she says she saw, by the way. Apparently she has long brown hair,a purple stiped shirt, pink tutu, blue wings, green crown with purple and pink jewels and a pink and purple wand. I LOVE the magic of six year olds!!) had exchanged her tiny tooth with 5 shiny loonies. Hooray!!

Not only that, she also found another tooth was ready to fall...right into her open hand!

So now, here she is, with two less teeth than she began the weekend with.



And now the Tooth Fairy gets to make a return visit. (I wonder what she'll wear tonight?!?)

A Rite of Passage

Today marked another big day. Ear piercing!!


The girlie has been telling me for some time that "when she turned six, she would want her ears pierced". So that magical day came and went in September but she wasn't asking so I wasn't offering. I really wanted it to be her idea and her motivation to have this done...not something that I pushed or encouraged.


Well, that day came. Perhaps it was the teenagers newly pierced ears (THAT is a whole other story!!), perhaps it was just the realization that "hey! I am six now!" but whatever the reason, she asked and I obliged.


We went to a fantastic tattoo and body piercing place in the city to be sure it was done right (sorry...no mall or jewelery store piercing for my little one!) and here she is, anxiously waiting






Giving the thumbs up as they prep her ears








The moment of truth!!





What a trooper :)







And the final product...one proud and happy girl








Today was not just about her though...



Someone else came along for a piercing...



The Bear!!



He has been asking for quite some time to get his ears pierced so it was important to me to send the message that there is a right and a wrong way to do it. Right: professional piercer, autoclaved studs, sterile gloves and taking your time. Wrong: your teenage friend, a kitchen counter, a potato and hand me down studs. Ugh.



Here is his moment of truth








Getting the finishing touches







Although my hubby is of the "you were born with all the holes a person ever needs" attitude, he acquiesced and seems to have come to terms with it.



I think that they both look pretty adorable and they are both thrilled. As we drove away, the girlie said "I am so proud of me! I didn't even cry!"



Guess what? I was proud too.



(sorry about the weird formatting....blogger seems to be a little more possessed than normal tonight and will not let me fix it!!)

Slackin'

Sorry for my absence once again.

It seems that there has been a lot...and nothing much...going on lately and I have been a negligent blogger. Sigh.

Last Sunday was my birthday and it was a GORGEOUS day weather wise. As a child, all but one in my memory there was snow on the ground. Often A LOT of snow. This year, it was 13 degrees and sunny so we took advantage of it. After a lovely brunch at Cora's (mmmmmm), we spent the afternoon at the park playing in the leaves. What fun!

Burying the little man



Fun in the leaves



The Bear being "cool guy"




The girlie posing (as usual)

It was then back at home for a dinner made for me by my hubby and then cake.

Why five candles? I am not sure. Perhaps one for each of my children? Sounds good to me.

It was a lovely day spent with the people most important to me. What a perfect way to spend a birthday! (I do think that a spa day is still in my future though LOL)

The Elusive Family Photo

Those of you who have spent any amount of time reading my blog will obviously know...I love taking pictures...especially pictures of my kids. So, while we were all together at Fort Whyte for the Girlie's birthday, I wanted to take a picture of all the kids together. Maybe for Chirstmas cards...perhaps just for us...whatever. I would just like to get a nice pic of my pride and joy.


Humph...easier said than done. Here is all I got...


Hmmmm....the middle child is missing (refusing to get up on the rock because so and so blah blah blah....you know the drill )






Take Two: Where is the Little Man? Exit stage right...climbing a tree









All togther now but wait....don't they look thrilled to be there?!?








Yup, little man gone again.




SO frustrating!!


I think that I may have to perfect my Photoshopping skills (which at the moment are pretty minimal) in order to get a picture of all five of my kids sitting together, looking at the camera, and not scowling.

Until then...this does still give you all a window into my world.

SIX!!

Thursday marked The Girlie's sixth birthday. Wow!! I can hardly believe it!

Here she is...what a happy looking six year old, huh?










Our first stop of the day was Mongo's Grill for lunch. Birthdays in our family are sort of a big deal. The birthday child basically calls the shots for the bulk of the day: ordering up whatever they want for breakfast, lunch and supper, school can be skipped...you get the picture. Mongo Grill was both the girlie and the middle child's choice so this was our second visit this week. Oh well. it is much better than McDonalds!!



Check out these goofballs!








After lunch, we spent a wonderfully warm day at Fort Whyte Alive. We walked the paths, rented a Bison Buggie, heard geese honking and just generally enjoyed the fresh air.

These two are doing their "cool" poses

On "the rock" where pictures have been taken each year for 6 years

Birthday Girl up close

Daddy/daughter duo

By the end of the day, the princess was tired so The Bear offered to piggy back her the rest of the way. What a good big brother (and S had to get in on the photo action :)

And there they go...

What a great day!

Sunday Family Fun Day

A beautiful September Sunday! Who knows how many more days like these we will have left?

We decided to try to make the best of it!

Hanging around...

A stop at Starbucks for Strawerries and Cream

Walking the labyrinth

Father/Son chat

Climbing rocks

Climbing Trees

My favorite flowers

Hopefully next sunday will be just as nice!

The End of Summer

Well, I can hardly believe that summer is over. Backpacks and school supplies and new school clothes have been purchased, sorted, labelled and packed. We had a glorious long weekend full of football, family BBQ's and a fun day of golf. (Hubby took the big boys to golf nine holes and the littles and I went mini-golfing).



Now, fall reality sinks in. Back to routines, early bedtimes, packing lunches and soon enough fall activites.

The excitement has been palpable the last few days. On Tuesday evening, new clothes were carefully selected by each child and laid out for the morning. Special snacks for "first day of school lunches" were lovingly packed and ingredients for back-to-school breakfasts were purchased and assembled by this mother with mixed emotions.

There is a part of me that looks forward to the structure and routine that the school year brings. It feels like a time of renewal and fresh beginnings.

I love the anticipation I saw in the kids and remembered that feeling, that very sensation in my body. I remember being that little girl, agonizing over what to wear on that important first day; the excitement of crisp new clothes, squeaky new shoes and all of the wonder and hope that it accompanied.

I remember that little knot in my belly and the tightness in my chest, the feeling of millions of butterflies flittering around my tummy as I wondered who would be in my class, who would I sit with, would I like my new teacher? It is a visceral thing, I feel it in every part of me... sometimes.

Then there are those other times. The times, like Tuesday evening, that I am short and cross. Those times... after the third glass of water is asked for, the second pee break requested, the bazillionth time I hear "Mom...I can't find my guy!! ...it's too dark! ...or too light! ... or too cold! ... or too hot!" I get angry and snap at them because I want them to be well rested and ready for their big day. I want them to be quiet so the others can sleep. I want them to stay in bed when they have been lovingly tucked in, read to, cuddled and kissed. Sometimes I just want them to STAY IN BED!

*sigh*

I have moments when I wish summer would never end. I long for more time to stay up late, sleep in, have pajama days and host sleep overs and all the fun things that summer means. I love our long praire summer evenings and the toning down of scheduled activities, meetings and appointments.

But, all good things must come to an end, I suppose, and sooner or later the lack of routine might drive me over the edge. Maybe :)

When Wednesday morning arrived, I was reminded again of the excitement of the day. I remembered how I often had a hard time falling asleep the night before the first day of school, so pumped full of adrenaline and nervous energy and I felt guilty for being such a hard-ass the night before. Oh well. It seemed that all had been forgiven (or forgotten) and we went on with the day.

Breakfast was eaten ...waffles and whip cream and berries mmmmmm.




Just so we are clear, it is not everyday that the kids get a hot breakfast and it was only toaster waffles (Super Mom, I am not) but for the first day of school, at least, I will have send them off with more than just cold cereal and juice in their stomachs.

I double and triple checked backpacks and lunch kits, shoe laces and sweaters.

And then they were off..

Off to Grade One

Off to Grade Four

And off to Grade Six

(The teenager is far too cool to participate in the first day of school pictures now *sigh* Off to Grade Ten for him)

Here they are...

And there they go...

Off to learn and grow and explore and expand in a world that I have little control of.

Believe me, there is a part of me that would like to keep them at home forever and I mourn this passing of a new year, but seeing how excited they were yesterday as that school bus pulled up to take them to their new school and then hearing about the best parts of their day when they returned was the pay off.

Watching my kids traverse this new transition with such joy reminds me to do the same. As an adult, so much time is often been spent "not doing" for fear of....what? Failure? Embarrassment? Ego? Hmmm...

This is my children's gift and lesson for me today.

Daddy's Little Girl

This little girl LOVES her daddy and in an effort to set the bar for any potential future boyfriends VERY high, her daddy semi-regularly brings her flowers (don't worry...whenever she gets some, I do too :)

As the only two girls in the house, he spoils us every once in a while. Who am I to complain?

Here she is with her latest bouquet





Future suitors...look out! This amazing girl will not be the one who coyly orders nothing but a salad at dinner. She is a carnivore through and through...it will likely be surf and turf for her :) And you had bettter bring her flowers...and treat her nicely as she has four brothers that are looking out for her.

(Poor girl will likely not have a date for a long, l o n g time :)

More than a week...

has gone by without a single post from me. Oops! Here is a recap of what we've been up to...

The littles finished their swimming lesson session. A fun time was had by all and I am making a commitment to continue in the fall. These two weeks of lessons has shown me again how fear can begin to show up and slow down their progress when we take too long a break. Must. Keep. At. It.






We also spent a day with a birthday boy...isn't he cute?



There were bouncing good times




and Freezies (of course)



And a great time was had by all! So much fun, in fact, that we were back two days later for a party (somehow, my camera stayed home that day. D'oh!)

Another somewhat new development this week is the little man has fallen in love with the sand box.

Darn mosquitose :(

The next few days will be spent trying to get things wrapped up as we prepare to leave for holidays on Saturday (maybe even Friday). We are not exactly sure where we are going but we are starting by driving west and we'll just see how far we get.

Hopefully I'll have tons of exciting photos to post along the way!