Christmas Day!!

5 and 2 1/2 is absolutely the PERFECT age for Christmas!

Excitement, belief, wonder and joy filled every moment of our day yesterday.

Our morning began at 7, when the kids ran to our room to wake us up.

We went downstairs to open up stocking.

Then to the gifts!

With each child getting a large gift, our living room was FILLED with paper, boxes and general Christmas debris!

After opening up our gifts, we began setting up Nahla's dollhouse and Tyran's fire station and Pirate set while waiting for Grandma and Papa to arrive.

When Grandma and Papa arrived, Christmas began all over again!!! 

Look at the kids in their adorable NY Yankees backpacks! 

They were definitely a huge hit!

We had some quiet play time, nap time and clean-up, then it was off to Grandma and Papa's house for Christmas dinner with our extended family.

Fireman Ty had some help from his big cousins, Richard and Stephen, in opening up his new Airport!

Then the four cousins shared a cuddle on the big boys\ new "gaming chairs"

After a fantastic Mommy-made traditional Christmas dinner, Tyran spend some time entertaining Grandad and trying to convince him to open up a candy for him!

This morning, I awoke feeling blessed to be part of such a loving, giving family. Though we were not fortunate enough to be able to spend time with both sides of the family, we will get that chance a little later in the season, to spread out the love!

Tyran was feeling especially loved this morning as he and Elmo had a cuddle on the couch while he watched his new Toopy and Binoo movie.

 Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!

Breakfast with Santa

Christmas must be near...this morning we went to our annual Breakfast with Santa at the North Delta Rec Center. Every year, it is a bit nostalgic for me, as I used to volunteer at this event, and now I bring my own kids!

Nahla and Tyran are at a perfect age for this event because they are so excited about Santa, and they are independent enough to do the crafts, sit at the table and enjoy the atmosphere.

Grandma and the kids being festive!

Caira, Cage and Chayce joining us for the annual festivities.

 The kids eating before Santa arrived.

And finally, getting to meet Santa. Nahla wants a Doll House and Tyran wants a Fire Truck...I wonder what Santa will bring!

Each year, we say that we are going to get a picture with all 5 kids, and each year we fail. This year we were successful!!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

So many things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving weekend.

For having 2 super kids!

 Great Friends...

 New babies

 And growing kids!

 It has been over 2 1/2 years, and we have avoided cutting Tyran's hair, but we decided that it was time to allow him to become a big boy. So, while I went out for a bike ride, Ada, cut his hair...and he grew about 2 years!

There should be some photos of our family Thanksgiving dinner also, but I forgot to bring the camera, so unfortunately I did not get any photos of the Bailey family and Forrester family together on thanksgiving!

Nahla's Princess Party!

As of tomorrow, my baby girl will be 5! It is completely incredible to me that 5 years have flown by so quickly, but also, they have, and today we celebrated Nahla's 5th birthday princess style!

Despite being dressed when friends arrived, all of the kids quickly changed clothes into costumes!

 They took a short rest to have some snacks...

 but were right back at playing dress up!

 Adam make his special macaroni for lunch, at Nahla's request

 And then it was time for presents. She is one spoiled little girl!

 Despite needing nothing, and mommy hoping that Barbies will never come in our house, Grandma had to buy her a barbie...correction, "It's a Rapunzel doll!!"...in the exact form of Barbie!! That't what Grandmas are for right? Giving kids all the cool stuff that moms don't like!

 She was overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude!

 Then it was time for cake. I started the tradition of making my kids cupcakes for their birthdays when Nahla turned one. I enjoy making them, and have found all sorts of ways to colour and flavour icing without using food colouring.

Well, this year, Nahla wanted a 5 cake instead of cupcakes, and her favourite colours are pink, purple and green, so I got lazy. Instead of trying to perfect each of the colours, I bought the store-bough icing colour/flavour mixes. Well...she got her pink, purple and green cake, but it smelled like a combo of mint, raspberry and bubble gum, and tasted like chemical! Complete fail! Next year, I return to doing it my way!....With that said, Nahla was happy!

A very Happy birthday to my incredible little girl!

As I look at the time, this is almost exactly the time, 5 years ago, that my water broke, and I headed in to hospital for the last time as a child-less person. It has been a ride of a lifetime, and I look forward to every minute of the future. I just hope it doesn't go too quickly!

Geek Mom Supreme!

I think that I did the unthinkable. I

 have never in my life been cool, nor have I attempted to be. After all I am a math teacher! However, I do pride myself on not being one of those geeky moms who dresses the same as her children, or ensure matching outfits for family photo shoots (no offense to those who do!). 

So, call it insanity, or call it thrifty, my most recent endeavour is shocking even to me. 

Last weekend I painted the kids bathroom yellow. It was looking drab and boring, and I had patched a bunch of holes, so it was time for a new, clean look. The yellow brightened it up, and with a cute little owl theme, it looks like a cute kids bathroom. However, when I finished sewing the window toppers, I had a bunch of extra material, and goodness knows you can't let perfectly cute material go to waste. What better to make with leftover curtain material?...apparently a dress for Nahla! And, if that weren't bad enough, her dolly got a new dress out of it too!

For those of you who know me well, you are currently shaking your head, and feeling uncertain whether to be worried about my mental hearlth or laugh your ass off, but it is true, I can't take it back, and Nahla loves her new dress!!!!

With that said, I had to redeem myself a little bit, so when I finished, I built the kids a fort in the trees in our backyard. Nahla has taken to climbing trees and both kids love to play outside, so with some string, an old tarp and the kids play centre, I put together a "tree fort". Now this is definitely more my style!

The Kids' First Wedding

Yesterday, I received quite the surprise when, as I was getting the kids ready for a sleepover at Ouma's house, Adam called to tell me that the kids needed to be at the wedding we were going to. Adam was a groomsman, and had been at the wedding site setting up, when he noticed the kids place settings. Apparently, the bride and groom assumed we would bring them, and we assumed we wouldn't...so at 10:45 I had exactly 5 hours to buy an outfit for Ty, prepare food for Ty to eat (because wedding food all has Gluten), get clothes together for Nahla and I, put together some quiet activities to entertain the kids during the ceremony and speeches, ensure that both kids had a nap so that they would make it through without a major meltdown., buy a wedding card and wrap the present, attempt to make myself look presentable, and get to Tsawwassen (an hour away).

With 10 minutes to spare, we made it! Here they are dressed in their outfits. Not the outfit I would have chosen for Nahla, but I hadn't built in an additional twenty minutes to convince her otherwise, so the purple flower dress with winter leggings and summer sandals it was!

Prior to the ceremony starting, Nahla had a quiet moment with her baby.

And the kids managed to catch a few minutes with Daddy before he was pulled off to do the lasts minute speaker set-up!

And, as the ceremony was about to begin, the kids were ready in their chairs to watch the beautiful ceremony!

And fortunately, the preparation of quiet activities paid off for our kids and a few others, as they sat and created sticker pictures for the bride and groom during the ceremony.

 We could not have asked for better weather.The clouds covered the sky keeping it cool enough for the men, and warm enough for the women, and ideal for the photographer.

The location was beautiful, and the details were perfect.

Congratulations Sarah and Garett  Bailey!

Thanks for a wonderful day, and a memorable experience for our little munchkins.

Backyard Camping

I am pretty sure that it is a right of childhood to camp in your backyard, so when Adam mentioned it today, the kids first ever backyard camping trip began to take shape.

Sure, they have camped in a tent in the wilderness, and in a motor home on a river, but what can be better than pitching a tent in the backyard, last minute, and cozying up with your brother and daddy for the night...yes that does mean that I will be cozy in my own bed tonight! I may take Daddy's place tomorrow night, but besides liking the comfort of my own bed, there simply isn't room in our little tent, and the big one may be a tight squeeze in the backyard.

So, once the tent was up, the kids had brushed their teeth (inside, much to Nahla's chagrin), and put their jammies on, we read a story on the patio...

Had a cuddle with Daddy in the tent...ok it was more silly time than a cuddle, but what can you expect on their first backyard camp out!

Then the kids were on their own to go to sleep...

except of course for the bathroom break by the blueberries (there is a potty there, so no blueberries were watered in the making of this camp-out!)

And, a couple of hours, many more trips to the potty, numerous hugs, and a few arguments later, the monkeys are sleeping soundly!!!

Also, in the past month, the kids got bunk beds and now share a room. They are loving the new adventure and the joys of having 2 playrooms now!

I threw a birthday tea party for my grandma and was quite pleased with the results, so here is my little brag...I made all of the food you see!

Adam and I took a trip to Seattle, while the kids spend the weekend camping with Grandma and Papa (neither of which I have photos of...sorry)

And we took a family day trip to Gold Creek. The camera died after only one photos, but here are Adam and the kids looking a the crystal clear water

So, with only a few weeks of summer remaining before starting in on my new teaching adventure, I am feeling relaxed, fulfilled, and generally very fortunate for my incredible husband and 2 beautiful children. I couldn't be happier right now!

Nahla's First Science Experiment

For the past couple of weeks, Nahla has been going to Play, Connect, Learn; a pre-kindergarten program at her school, in the kindergarten classrooms with two of her possible kindergarten teachers. The program runs for 2 1/2 hours a day, and the kids get a taste of what kindergarten will be like. Nahla has loved it!

Today, as the kids were leaving, each child was given a piece of bubblegum from their math guessing activity. Well, this mean mommy doesn't allow gum! In fact, we have a no gum until your 20 rule!! That goes right beside the no blowing bubbles in your milk until your 21 rule!

So, we had a bit of a conundrum...easily solved. We turned it in to a science experiment!

Nahla filled up a glass with water and dropped the gumball in...you can read what happened from there in her lab write-up!

(Please note that #2 happened first, followed by #3 some minutes later...they were not simultaneous)

Crisis averted, science promoted, and no gumballs were hurt in undertaking!!