Pirate Day

The kids and I enjoy having different themed days, they vary from cowboys/cowgirls, knights, princess, superhero and of course pirates. Whenever we have a themed day I try and have a craft to go with it either that or stickers. I am really enjoying how much more the kids want to be a part of everything. They love to cook, bake, organize and clean with me. Both David and Jaclyn ask me most days if we can do crafts together.
They are lots of fun!!

Pirate Day

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

We put up our tree last weekend. It was lots of fun watching the kids help decorate it.
Here are some pictures that I took this morning of the kids.

Jaclyn not that interested in having her picture taken.

David loves Christmas!!

Sibling love.........

Our tree!!

I love Christmas!!!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Waiting for a muffin

Here are our two kids sitting on the new "visiting chair" that was given to us by the kids grandparents. I have it just off the kitchen and the kids like to sit in it while I am making their meal and talk to me.

This morning I pulled out some of our Christmas decorations and we started to put them out. During this time I sat down with David and we talked about what Christmas was all about. I told him that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. We also talked about what Jesus' birthday and His coming down to earth means for us. After we talked a little more about what we were celebrating David asked if we could make a cake for Jesus. I told him that I would love to make a cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday and Christmas.

This is the conversation I had with David after his nap today:

Me: David would you like a muffin for your snack this afternoon?

David: No mom, I want to wait until Jesus comes!

Me: (Trying not to laugh) What?

David: After Jesus comes for his birthday and cake!

Me: Oh........well I think we need to talk a little more about when Jesus is coming.

David: For his birthday at Christmas.

Me: David, Jesus won't be coming to our house for Christmas. Do you remember reading the Bible and talking about how Jesus was born on earth and now is living in heaven until it is time for us to go and be with Him?

David: Oh, I forgot............can we still have cake?

Me: Yes we can still have cake.

David: OK, Thank you mom!

Me: Do you want a muffin?

David: No, I'm OK

Waiting for a muffin

Jaclyn

Jaclyn is growing up into such a fun little girl. She loves to dance and sing. She also likes to dress up and will try on any shoes that she can get her hands on. This morning I put her in a dress that was mine when I was a little girl. It fun to see my daughter in a dress that I remember wearing when I was young. I am very happy that my mom saved some of my clothes from when I was little. Thanks mom!! I am enjoying seeing her in some of my old clothes. In fact right now I am waiting for a package from my mom with some of my old sweaters for Jaclyn to wear.

My little diva!!

Jaclyn

New Blog

I have started to make cakes. In doing this I have also started a blog to record my thoughts and some pictures in this new adventure.

The web site is: www.hobbycakes.blogspot.com

I started a new cake tonight and I will be trying some new ideas with it. I will be posting more pictures this week.

Does anyone know of a good cake template for my new site? If so, please let me know.

New Blog

Its been to long....

Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged! Our life has been crazy here.........
so here is a little update.
David is almost completely potty trained, still working on the nights.
Jaclyn is out of her crib and sleeping in a big girl bed. We bought her a twin bed, she looks so little in it. However she is sleeping really well.
The kids and I love to make crafts together and I am always looking for more crafts that they can both do. Yesterday was pirate day, we made pirate hats and talked like pirates all day!
Does anyone have ideas of crafts I could do with the kids?

I will try and post some pictures soon!

Its been to long....

David turns Three!

Well David turned three on July 19 and we had a wonderful weekend. The kids grandparents came into town, which the kids always enjoy. We went to Stanley Park, had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party and celebrated with Davids birthday twin Jenna. (They are born an hour and a half apart at the same hospital. Her parents are good friends of ours)

Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Jaclyn and David playing at Stanley Park.

Here are David and Jenna on their birthday together. Ever since they were babies David has always wanted to be close to her. When they were about 7 months old David sucked her toes. As soon as he could walk he started to chase her for kisses and hugs. He would get so excited when she would let him hug or kiss her. It was very cute! Well it seems that the tables have turned a bit. Jenna now loves to hug and kiss David and he will run or say NO to her. Right after this picture was taken David moved over away from her.

They are so cute together, and they have a lot of fun playing with each other.

Jaclyn playing at David's party.

David going to make more bubbles.

The kids outside with the bubbles.

I made Mickey Mouse capes for all the kids that came to the party. They all loved them and wore them all afternoon.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake

David turns Three!

Summer Swimwear

The kids new swimwear with built-in life jackets.

Summer Swimwear

Weekend Fun!

I love spending time outside with my family. This last weekend we spent most of the time outside enjoying the sun! We went to White Rock beach, which is one of my favorite places to spend time. Both Chris and I just love the sounds and smells of the beach! It seems that our children enjoy it also. We had a wonderful time, we walked along the beach, looked at a big sandcastle, watched the planes fly by, had a picnic and ice cream. David has been asking everyday since if we can go back. I think that we will be making more trips to the beach this summer. We also went for a walk to a park. Chris and I are going to try and go for a walk with the kids every day that it is not raining so that we can all enjoy the weather and parks around here. It is wonderful that Jaclyn and David are getting older and both enjoy getting outside more to play.

Jaclyn's first time putting her feet in the ocean.

David playing in the water and watching a plane fly by.

Playing at the park

Picnic time

Running in the field

"Flower for mom"

Weekend Fun!

David's Eyes

Well David has been wearing glasses now for about 4 months. He didn't like them at first because he couldn't understand why he was wearing them. He is doing really good now and wears them all the time.

When we first started the process of finding out that he needing glasses, how strong his prescription would be and how his eyes are developing. We also started talking to his Dr's about if he was going to need surgery on his eyes to correct his cross-eyes. After more tests last Friday they decided that he would need the corrective surgery. They said that he will still need his glasses but he would be able to focus better when his eyes are straight.

His surgery is booked for April 3o (thirteen days after they told me he would need it). It is only a day surgery, if fact the procedure is about 25 minutes and the rest of the time we will be there will be in prep time or recovery time. In all it will be about 4 hours.

I have started to talk to David about the fact that we are going to the hospital to have a nap so that the Dr's can look at his eyes. At the moment he thinks that the whole thing will be an adventure and today even told a lady at the store "the Bob & Larry book is for when I go to the hospital to have a nap so that the Dr's can look at my eyes". The saleswoman had no idea what he was talking about but it shows me that he is starting to understand what is going to happen.

Although he seems to understand it now I hope that he still looks at it as an adventure after his surgery! I can't help but be a little concerned as his mother, even though it is only a little surgery.

David's Eyes

Spring is here.....

Life around our house has been crazy these last few weeks. With Chris finishing up his semester (he is taking his Masters degree in Christian studies) as well as the kids both being sick earlier this month. David with tonsillitis and Jaclyn with the flu and she is teething. They are both doing much better now.

The weather here has started to clear up which means more time outside playing and walking. We are all looking forward to many more days outside enjoying the beautiful sun.

Tomorrow is Chris's last day of school which means that next week he is going to be looking for a job to support us for the next few months. We are also looking into our future and have to decide if he is going to finish his Masters degree in the next two years or if we are going to look into working in a church again and then finishing his degree over the next 5-7 years. If you are the praying type please pray that Chris finds a job soon and that we follow the path in which God has prepared for us.

Here are a few pictures of the kids from the last few weeks!

They love to spend time together.

Our little angel.
My future paintball player.

Jaclyn's first time on the swings.

Cheese!!!

Spring is here.....

Jaclyn's 1st Birthday

I can't believe that my baby girl is one years old.

This last year has gone by so fast (actually it has gone by too fast). I found myself trying to savor every bit of Jaclyn's babyhood. She is our last baby and I wanted to remember everything about it, not that I don't remember what David was like as a baby but the time went so fast.

Jaclyn is such a wonderful addition to our family and we feel that our family is complete. For those of you who haven't met her, she is a very serious baby (I believe I blogged about that in an earlier post) however she has so much more to her personality already that we wonder what kind of lady she will grow into. She is funny, sneaky (she surprises David all the time), stubborn, active, noisy and loves to make faces. We have really enjoyed this last year with her in our lives and David adores her.

Some highlights of our weekend are:

We took the sky train into Vancouver on Friday to go shopping in Metrotown with David and Jaclyn's grandparents. It was the first time we have taken the kids on the sky train and they both loved it and it was nice to share that first with their grandparents.

We had an open house party for her on Saturday and some of her aunts, uncles and grandparents were here. Some of her great aunts and uncles were able to be here as well.

Jaclyn shares her birthday with my grandfather as well as my bother. So March 8th is a great celebration for our family.

This year my grandfather (Jaclyn's great-grandfather) turned 75 and my mom had a birthday party for him on Sunday (their actually birthday) which is why some of her extended family was in town. Jaclyn's uncle turned 17 that day as well.

This past weekend was a fun party weekend!!
David and Jaclyn slept hard and long every night this weekend.

Jaclyn loved her ice cream cake!!

I am looking forward to what this year will bring. I expect her to be walking on her own soon and I am looking forward to having her talk more. I am also excited to see how the interaction between David and Jaclyn develops.

Jaclyn's 1st Birthday

Vomit

I really don't like vomit!!

I know most, if not everyone, doesn't like it. The reason I am saying this is because this afternoon the little boy that I look after got sick after nap time. The boys were sitting at the kids table starting their snack and I turned around for just a moment when David started to yell at me. You could here the panic in his voice as he yelled "mom, puke, Preston puked.....gross!" I thought that David was going to cry because the puke was in front of him on his table and all over Preston. I ran over to Preston to clean him up and get Jaclyn before she got into it. Because David was not in a sharing mood he had been holding the snack close even before the vomit began. (This is one time I was happy that he didn't share.) I started to clean up Preston as I moved Jaclyn out of the area ( I ended up distracting her with my foot), all well David is yelling gross!!

Well, I finally had Preston stripped down to his diaper so that I could get him cleaned up. Oh yeah, the reason I had turned around before this all happened was because I needed a diaper. Preston had pooed! So while cleaning up all the vomit I was also cleaning up a very stinky diarea filled diaper. GROSS!!!

I had, during this time, contacted his mother so she could come and pick him up since he was quite obviously sick. By this time, I had all three kids cleaned and calm and started to disinfect the area in which was contaminated. His mother had come to get him. Unfortunately before they left my house he had vomited two more times. After he was clean the last time he they left before it happened again. As soon as I closed the door I put a movie on for my kids and started the job of disinfecting everything three feet and lower. Yes everything! This little boy has the ability to touch and even put almost everything the kids have in his mouth. So this afternoon and mostly this evening Chris and I will be disinfecting everything we can think of. I will also be washing everything that is able to go into the laundry this evening.

So much for a quiet, calm evening.....sigh!

Vomit

I Love You Day!!

Today is Valentines day and we have been celebrating all week. Earlier this week we did crafts with some friends of ours. A good friend of mine lives in this complex with her family and we get together regularly so that our children can play together. Her son is eleven months older then David and her daughter is eleven months older then Jaclyn. They all play so well together.

We made a heart tree craft that the kids coloured and then we put together for them, both of the boys love doing crafts. The next day they were over again and we made heart cookies together.

I have been telling my kids that this weekend is "I Love You Day" and that means that we get to spend the day together as a family and love each other lots. David thinks that it is a wonderful idea and he has been telling Chris, Jaclyn and myself all week that he loves us.......so cute!

Last night I put out a little something special for the kids to wake up to this morning and I blew up some red balloons for them. I like the idea of spending a day or week and tell the kids just how much we love them. They know that we love them but I think that this is a way to make such fun memories for them. (Its also an excuse for me to spoil them a little)

Yesterday I took the kids grocery shopping and they got Chris a special balloon and chocolates that David picked out and he was so excited to give them to his daddy when we came home. We then had a family picnic for dinner.

Tonight we are having a quite night as a family. We will be having Chinese food and after the kids go to bed Chris and I will be staying home and watching The Notebook together.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day today and don't forget to tell the ones you love just how much you love them!!

I Love You Day!!

Differences

I never really realized when I was pregnant just how different my children would be, its not that I thought they would be the exact same its just that I never thought about it much. For instance the crib that I am using for Jaclyn is the same crib I had for David. A family in our old church fixed up one of there old cribs and gave it to us. It was a real blessing to us and worked very well for David. Jaclyn has been sleeping in it as well and it has been really good for her, until two days ago. I was in her room and noticed that Jaclyn broke her crib. One of the corners was just hanging there. She wasn't hurt or anything but we did take it down and moved her into the playpen for now.

Now back to what I was saying about my kids being different. When David was in the crib he would just play in it when he was awake or try and figure out a way to climb out of it. Jaclyn however as soon as she is awake she is standing in her crib jumping with everything she has, hence her crib being broken. Chris and I have also talked about how David tried to figure out a way to climb out of his crib that his thought was linear and logical and he never did figured out a way that would make sense to him. Where as Jaclyn is trying as well to get out of her crib and when I caught her one day she was climbing the bars and trying to jump out without thinking about what would happen when she did that.

Chris and I have talked about how we want to move Jaclyn into a big girl bed sooner then we had initially planed on because of her trying to get out. Well now we are thinking that we will be moving her into one even sooner now. Chris will be fixing her crib tonight so that she can sleep in it again, we are hoping that she doesn't break it again. Once she has learned how to climb on and off of Davids bed (she is already trying to get on it) we will be moving her into her own bed. Mostly likely this summer. Its crazy to be thinking about moving her when she is not even one yet. David was almost twenty months old when he moved into his big boy bed. I think that Jaclyn will be about 15 months old when she moves into her big girl bed.

They are such different kids!!

Differences

Dreams!!

David is two and a half now and is really beginning to use his imagination. He also likes routine, what can I say he is like me that way.

In the morning we have been having a quiet time together when he wakes up. We will lay in his bed together and talk about what we want to do that day or what is on our schedule. Over the last few weeks we have been talking about what he dreamed about. It started by me asking him what he dreamed about and then I explained to him what a dream was. He looked at me and said "um.......McQueen, Mater, Sally, Ramon and David were playing together" (character from the movie Cars)

I then asked if he had fun and he said: "yup"!!!

We then went on with our day.

Since that day I ask him what he dreamed about and we will then talk about his dreams from the night before. I love discovering what he will say each day. Mostly it has been about Buzz Lightyear and Woody from the Toy Story movies.

This morning he told me that Lightyear, Woody, McQueen, Sally, Mater and some of his other favorite Disney characters cleaned my house. (to bad these characters don't actually clean my house when I sleep. Hahaha)

Dreams!!

Funny Faces

Most children when they are out will smile at strangers......well not my Jaclyn. There will be people, perfect strangers smiling at her and making funny noises or faces just to get a reaction from her and she will just stare at them. As some of you know she won't even smile for a photographer when having a family picture taken. Chris and I have come to laugh at the seriousness of our little girl.

The funnest thing to us is that at home when it is just the four of us she will make so many funny faces and she laughs and smiles all the time. She is a very silly girl.

Here is a seres of pictures I took of her well she was playing by herself at the table.

Funny Faces