It finally happened. Luca lost his tooth that he's been eagerly wiggling every day for weeks. This morning at about 6:30 am, he came barrelling into my room, squealing "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! My tooth finally popped out!"
I tried not to appear startled to be awoken by a toothless, grinning boy with blood dripping down his chin and instead joined in the celebration with him. We wiped the trickle of blood and then him, myself and Levi all inspected the tooth and the hole it left.
We had a very eager boy, all morning asking if it was time to go to school to show his friends.
I love listening to the boys' conversations. Tonight at supper, they had quite an interesting one. It went like this:
Levi: I can't wait til I'm 5!
Luca: Do you know that you only have 90 birthdays and then you die?
Levi: Yep.
Luca: Like Biz Nona. She was at least 90!
Levi: Yup but now she's a baby again. (Note: I have NO idea where he came up with his. Apparently he believes in reincarnation....at 4!)
Luca: No, she's not a baby. God made her back an old lady but she floats in the clouds and watches us and keeps us safe. (He then whispers conspiratorially) And little fairies fly around and kiss her on the lips!
Levi: I can't wait til I'm 90!
Haha, seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Luca was so serious about the fairies too! LOL
Perhaps I'm just being oddly emotional but the last few weeks I've been in awe over how quickly my biggest boy is growing and changing. He's really developed into his own little person with his own thoughts, attitudes and so much independence. It all started with last week's discovery of his first loose tooth...
Luca, when you started kindergarten 8.5 months ago, you were still so small and still needed your Mommy. Your cheeks still held the tiniest bit of baby fat and you still had that childlike look about you. Now, you've grown so much in the last few months that it seems like every time you put on a pair of jeans, they are inches too short. Your face has thinned out and you look so much more grown up. I love the soft dusting of freckles across your nose and under your big blue eyes.
And don't even get me started on that loose tooth. As soon as it falls out, your smile will forever change. First it will be the hole left by that tiny baby tooth, then it will be awkward, goofy looking, teeth-too-big-for-your-face look and finally, hopefully a beautiful set of teeth in a dazzling smile.
In the last month or so, you've decided to just wear shorts or pj pants to bed- no shirt anymore. When you come downstairs for breakfast wearing just jammie shorts and a bare chest, I have to stop for a moment and gather myself because you just look so...so grown up. What happened to the days of matching pj sets and snuggles with my jammie footed little boy? Sigh.
You are becoming so independent. I don't want to ever forget how excited you are when I let you do things on your own- like the first time I let you go to your kindergarten door without me walking you from the truck or the first time I let you walk down the street to meet friends. Of course, I stood at the end of the driveway and watched you every step of the way- my feet waiting to run to you if you showed even the slightest bit of needing your mama. But the grin you wore on your face and the way you walked proud as a peacock told me you were ready to do things on your own.
You are getting so close to riding a two-wheeler all by yourself. By the end of the summer, you'll be cruising along. Before I know it you'll be getting your drivers' license and wanting to borrow the truck. Yikes!
You are reading so well. You started Kindergarten knowing letters and sounds and you knew how to spell your first name. Now, you are sounding out words all over the place- naming stores as we drive past them and reading labels on the cereal boxes. You can write your entire name- first, middle and last. You're sounding out words and writing little sentences on the whiteboard at home. In 8 months, you have been cruising along though 5 Home Reading levels.
Maybe its the teacher in me, but this is a huge milestone and my Mommy-heart is just bursting with pride. Once the doors to reading have been opened, its not something that you can ever take away. You will never forget how to read the English language. Without even thinking about it, when you look at something as you walk past, you will read the sign above a door or the advertisement hung in a window. You have taken huge steps, my son. Knowing this skill is one of the foundations to everything you will do in your life.
One of your favorite things to do right now, besides play computer games, is to build LEGO sets with the directions. You are getting so good at following each step of the directions until you have your masterpiece in your hands. And there it is again- that look of pure pride and joy when you bring it over to show me what you've accomplished.
One of my favorite things is to watch you and Levi when you don't realize I'm watching. When you get all "big brother" on him and try to teach him how to do something. The other morning at breakfast, while I stood quietly in the corner of the kitchen sipping my coffee, you tried to teach Levi some of the moves from your Spring Fling dance. You were so patient with him- breaking it down into tiny steps and helping him until he got it right. You were so encouraging- saying things like "You can do it, buddy" or "You've got this!". That right there- those 5 glorious minutes- erased the frustration of the fighting from the day before. Levi is so lucky to have such a cool brother. I hope that you both teach the other wonderful things throughout life.
Of course, with this newfound independence comes the bit that drive Mommy and Daddy nuts- the talking back and trying to find how your opinions fit into our daily schedule. The bossing around of your brother. The frustration when things don't go quite your way. I try to remind myself that this is all part of growth and that with the exciting new developments come the ones that you have to figure out as well.
Earlier this week you were invited to attend Beavers with a friend. As I dropped you off, you were so eager to go, you gave me a one armed barely-there hug and away you went, leaving me staring at the closed door and just feeling the internal struggle of pride and sadness. I am so proud of you- I'm proud of your confidence to go without me and your eagerness to try new things. I'm proud and happy with the friendships you have. But I'm sad that my first little baby is no longer a baby. You're growing up so quickly, my boy. In a few short months you will start Grade 1. You will spend more hours in a day away from me than with me. That's hard. I know it is a rite of passage and everyone goes through it. Its just the way it is. And its just the first of many of these growing up moments to come. I'll just have to deal with it.
I love you, son. I love these "growing up" moments, even if they are hard at times. While I know there will be moments that I look back and miss my little chubby faced, jammied baby boy, I also know that there will be so many more exciting things to come as you get older.
Now, please excuse me while I go cry into my coffee....
The rain of the last week has been getting to me. The first day I didn't mind it- the rain I knew would bring green grass, buds on the trees and flowers poking through the ground. But the cold and the wind and the greyness was bringing me down. It was nice to wake up to sunshine this morning, but it is to be short lived- more rain in the forecast for the weekend. Blah.
At the end of 2011, we found out that Chris would be losing his company truck at the end of June- the office staff would no longer get this perk. So, we've known that we needed to buy a car soon. We'd been watching kijiji and did see a few we liked, but didn't get so far as to go and look at. Then Chris found a Subaru Outback. It was a great price and looked to be in great condition. He talked the price down a bit and agreed to purchase it. The family that owns it is moving mid-May, so the agreement was that Chris would put a deposit on it and then get it when the family moved. That actually turned out to be a good thing because it gave Chris some time to call the Subaru dealership and have them pull the service records. It turns out, there is a major repair that needs to be done, so Chris contacted the owner and was able to get $500 more taken off the price of the car. So, we got a really good deal on teh purchase price but will need to do some repairs when we get it.
Speaking of repairs, because 1 vehicle isn't enough, the front end of my truck was making "clunking" noises. Yes, that is my very educated description. Chris looked at it and had an idea what it might be and we decided to take it in. Well, it's fixed and we now have the "honor" of owning the most expensive shocks that repair shop has put in. Yay us! We didn't think about the luxury suspension system when we bought a "luxury" vehicle. Lesson learned and nearly $2000 poorer.
The boys were supposed to start soccer in Mid-April. We were told that when the fields were dry, we would begin. April came and went with no communication at all. Finally, we got an email saying that there weren't enough coaches and they didn't know if they could run the U4 and U6 teams. Perhaps they should have communicated this mid-April so they could try to get some volunteers? NOT 2 weeks after they were supposed to begin playing... About a week later, we got another email saying that soccer would indeed start this Saturday- May 5th and that the coaches were getting thier lists early this week. Have we heard from anyone? Of course not. Last year, Luca was somehow missed and not even put on a team until we contacted the person who runs it (after weeks of trying to get in touch with her unsuccessfully, but that's another story). Ugh. I'm so irritated and annoyed. Apparently this is how disorganized it always is every year. That's not ok with me! If the person who is doing it is finding it to be too much, she needs to ask for help or pass some tasks to someone else! Grrr!
Ok. Complaints over. I feel better. Now off to do a bit of gardening before the rain settles back in....
Levi turned 4 last week and wanted a LEGO party. Thanks to Pinterest, making this a success was easy!
I made the invitations on the computer with a LEGO photo background and then cut them out and glued them onto yellow cardstock. Sorry, no photo.
The decor was simple- a red table cloth, a vase with LEGO in the centre of the table and some yellow balloons with faces drawn on stuck to the walls.
(sorry, you get sideways photos. I tried deleting and reuploading them a few times and they just won't go teh way I want them to!)
As the guests arrived for the party, there were LEGO coloring sheets out on the table that I got from this site. They are customizeable, so I was able to make them specific for Levi's party. There was a page to design their own character and one with blocks to color.
After seeing mini fig heads made out of baby food jars, I knew there was a reason I had been hoarding saving all those jars! I spray painted the jars yellow (taping the threads so they didn't get all goopy with paint), then drew the faces on using real LEGO mini figures for inspiration, then sprayed a clear coat over top. The kids loved them!
I filled them with a surprise LEGO figure bag and some LEGO candies that we found in Banff.
I made the cake to look like a few large bricks. In my head it looked a lot better. I had no idea that Oreo cookies (used for the top) were so difficult to cover with icing! Also, I ran out of icing and at 10pm the night before the party, I just didn't feel like making more. So, there are crumbs showing through the icing. I was beating myself up over it until Chris convinced me that the 4 year olds wouldn't care. And guess what? He was right!
I covered juice boxes in construction paper and used one of my scrapbooking punches to make the dots. Easy peasy! LEGO drinks! And I found some square yellow paper plates that fit just perfectly!
We played a "pin the mouth on the figure" game that I made out of poster board. All the kids except Levi thought this was pretty great. In typical Levi style, he decided to pout and not participate at all.
And just a few photos that my sister took that I thought I would include....
Its been mentioned to me numerous times by numerous people that I haven't posted in a while... Oops. So, here is a quick little catch up post, hopefully to be followed by some better posts soon.
Chris and I went to the Dominican over Easter. Just the 2 of us. The first 3 or 4 days kid free were wonderful but then we really started to miss them. There was so much they would have loved. We've decided that 3 or 4 days sans kids is the perfect amount of time. Long weekend vacations are in our future, I think!
I held a huge snake while we were on vacation. SO out of character for me! Eek!
My baby turned 4 last week. Four! Wow. We had a LEGO party for him the weekend before his birthday (LEGO birthday post to come!). On his actual birthday, he informed me that he would not be 4 until he ate cake. The problem? I wasn't planning on making another cake. So, off to the bakery for some cupcakes I went!
How is it possible that my baby is 4 and my oldest is only 8 weeks away from being finished Kindergarten?! Before I know it they will be driving cars, graduating, getting married......ok, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away but seriously- where has the time gone??
The boys are eagerly awaiting the start of soccer season. Hopefully they will be starting next week!
We had some cold, rainy days this week. Although it was miserable, it is so amazing to see how just a little bit of rain can bring out the green in the grass! Yay for Spring!
Next weekend my sisters, my mom and I are having a Spa Day. It was a Christmas gift from my parents. I'm really looking forward to it. Brunch, Massages and Pedicures. Bliss!
There aren't many things better in life than great visits with wonderful friends. I've been lucky enough to have those recently. There is something so comforting about sitting down with someone who knows you so well and being able to talk about anything and everything. And being comfortable being together but not talking. Companionable silence, not awkward.
Inspired by Tasha to share my own guilty pleasures, here they are (in no particular order):
Licorice. Since Chris and I are doing a 21 day sugar cleanse right now, that tops my list. I miss licorice....18 more days and counting.
Books. Not just reading, but I'm a total book hoarder. I love to have them. To own them. To browse the book store for hours. I have so many books I may never read each and every one of them. And new, great books come out all the time!
Pinterest. Such a time suck but I love it!
Going to bed early. Seriously, when my kids are tucked in, my jammies go on and I climb into bed to read, watch tv or play on my tablet.
Not only do I have a good looking, hard working, kind and loving husband, but he's also very handy! He can fix almost anything and is getting very crafty at building things too.
As promised, here are the overdue photos of the pantry makeover.
Our mudroom used to be kind of a "catch-all" for anything that didn't really have a home. Apart from being overflowing with jackets and footwear, we also stored pop and other random things in there.
Because the pantry in the kitchen is uber small, we had been storing any food that didn't fit in the kitchen in the closet at the bottom of the basement stairs. Not a terrible place for it, but having to run up and down the stairs every time we needed something got to be a real pain.
One day, I had a brain wave to relocate the pantry to the mudroom and to move all of our off season outerwear to the closet at the bottom of the stairs. Brilliant, right? Except that my great idea meant a fair bit of work for my handy husband.
One weekend, he got down to it. Out came the old shelving. I didn't think to get a good before photo, so here is one from before we actually moved in and another part way through the dismantle.
Then he set to work measuring and cutting to install shelving along the back wall and a small coat rack and shoe shelves along the side wall.
The shelves are going up!
In one weekend, Chris got the pantry shelves up. The side wall would wait until the following weekend. The boys thought that the shelves were a fantastic fort and had quite a bit of fun playing in there. At least we are certain teh shelves can hold some weight!
(Blogger won't let me flip this picture. There's always got to be 1, right? Grrrr.)
The next weekend, the rest of the shelving went up, including some smaller shelves and some drawers for mitts and toques, etc. We've got shoe shelves now and a smaller coat hanging space for just the "in season" jackets.
Its absolutely perfect and I am so proud and thankful to have such a great husband!
Ugh. Super annoying that the pictures won't load the proper way. Oh well, just turn your head. ;)
Pretty awesome, eh?
But wait! There's more!
The boys have been really into Playmobil lately and recently got some knights. They were very creative and did use a rock structure to stage some battles, but Daddy thought they should have something better.
Daddy suggested they build a castle together! It took nearly all day Saturday and yesterday, but build a castle, they did!
The boys were so excited this morning to find it completed and waiting for them in the living room! Chris wants to add a few finishing touches to the draw bridge and I need to make some flags to go on the flag poles, but its pretty well done.
Yep, we're pretty lucky to call this guy Daddy and husband!
What a busy week! I worked 2 full days and 2 half days this week, so today is my first day at home. Sure makes the week fly by when its busy like that!
My boys LOVE Playmobil. They got some about a year and a half ago and have been building their collection since. They got a bunch for Christmas this past year and have played with it at least once a day since. This morning they were up early to play and have been at it all morning. Its so nice when they play together nicely and use their imaginations! Last I checked, they were staging a battle between knights and pirates!
I'm quite surprised that my last post, which was a bit controversial for me, didn't get more comments. I got 3 comments on here and only 2 on facebook. I anticipated more from that post. I have noticed a lot more traffic from all sorts of places though....
There is no school next week for kids here, so the boys and I are packing up and heading South to Lethbridge for a few days to spend time with my wonderful friend Tasha. We can't wait to see each other, eat junk, drink wine and visit! The boys are very excited to go see her girls as well.
The weather has been so amazing here. Last weekend when we were in Canmore, we saw pussy willows starting to bud! How crazy is that for the middle of February?!
I don't usually post about controversial topics. The main reason for this is that I believe that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and that what one person believes should not matter to another person unless it brings about hate or hurt. My beliefs are just that- mine. I don't usually share them publicly because I don't feel that I should have to defend my personal choices to others. They are mine and they are what work for me and I don't change them based on what others think. My beliefs contribute to who I am as a person.
However, I've decided to take a bit of a public stand on this issue because it truly does have me shaking my head in disgust. Directly, it doesn't affect me. I'm not American and I don't shop at JC Penny. But it definitely affects my view on our society.
I'm not going to try to debate the merits of the (as I see it) bullying campaign put out by One Million Moms and the stance JC Penny takes when there are so many other good articles out there doing just that, such as this one, this one and this one. Yes, I know that all of those articles are opinion based and somewhat one sided. However, I have linked to them because I share the same opinion for the most part.
Basically, the root of it is that the "Christian" group One Million Moms was calling for JC Penny to drop Ellen as spokesperson because she was gay. I use "Christian" loosely there because I consider myself a Christian but do not align myself with the same values that that group does.
One Million Moms claims that "traditional families" make up the majority of JC Penny shoppers and that the chain will lose customers because they have hired a gay person.
One Million Moms stated:
"Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families. DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there."
I'm not really sure what, in this day and age, a "traditional family" consists of. Once upon a time, a traditional family was a mother and father and their children. It seems to me that this type of family is no longer the vast majority making up North American households and may in fact, actually be the minority.
So, tell me. What does traditional mean, anyway? What are "traditional values" and who is to say that one's sexual orientation dictates their values?
To me, Christian values include loving your neighbor, helping those that are in need, being kind and honest, not intentionally hurting others (physically and emotionally).....and more. I believe that a Christian should act as Jesus did. Did he openly condemn those that were different and cast off by society? No, in fact, he approached and showed compassion and love to lepers and prostitutes- some of the most hated and feared of society at that time.
Interestingly enough, in the following video clip in which Ellen addresses the controversy, she states the following:
"Here are the values I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me those are traditional values. That's what I stand for."
I find it interesting because those are the same values that I hold to be important and things that I want to pass along to my children. Does that make me a lesbian? No. No more than if Ellen was African American and my belief in what she says would make me black.
This is what I find ridiculous. What makes Ellen less of a person because of who she chooses to spend her life with? What about that makes her an unworthy candidate to sell clothing to American citizens?
One major problem I have right now with mainstream Christianity is the undercurrent of judgement passed upon those that don't "fit the mold". I find this to be against the model that Jesus laid out for us to follow and to be hugely hypocritical. How is "love thy neighbor" to be demonstrated and modelled for our children if we condemn those that are different from us? We are perpetually stuck in a cycle of hate where history repeats itself, just with a different scapegoat.
This particular case, involving a popular and very famous person is getting lots of exposure because she is famous and popular but there are many average people that go through the same struggle- the struggle to be accepted for who they are regardless of what society sees as "normal".
Its interesting to me that the current target of the demise of society is homosexuals. I wasn't around, but does the civil rights movement of the 60s come to mind at all? Then the targets were African Americans. In the 60s, it was taboo for "whites" and "blacks" to fraternize at all, let alone marry and create (gasp!) interracial children. Here we are now in a society and culture that doesn't even bat an eye at mixed race couples and their children. What would our grandparents and great grandparents say? (I hope you can sense the sarcasm here)
I have friends that are mixed race, and I have family members that are mixed race and never once have I thought anything of it. I know people of almost every race and religion imaginable. Never once have I thought they were less of a person because they believed or looked different than I.
After 9/11 the main target was Muslims. I'd like to think that nearly 11 years after the devastation of that day caused by a SMALL GROUP of Muslims, not the religion as a whole, people have come to realize that it is not fair to lump every person that aligns themselves with the Muslim faith as a terrorist.
The Eugenics movement of the early 20th century in which individuals with any sort of mental disability (most commonly Down Syndrome) were forcibly sterilized is now looked up on as barbaric and should a group now suggest re instituting this practice, they would never come out of the argument alive.
I'd like to think that this targeting and bullying of homosexuals is one day going to be something that our children or grandchildren look back on and shake their heads at in disbelief that we as a culture could be so closed minded. Just like we do when we think about sterilization of those with disabilities and the distinct separation between Caucasians and African Americans.
What would our world be without diversity?
I identify myself as a heterosexual Christian woman, but that being said, I don't promote or agree with any of the hate and negativity that some heterosexual Christian women's groups display.
I welcome your comments and opinions, however please refrain from inserting your beliefs on whether homosexuality is "right or wrong". This post is not a debate on homosexuality and is not a debate I care to get into. This post is about equality in people and not judging a person for one of the characteristics that make them up as a whole.
Luca's class started skating this week and he was beyond excited to go, which meant that Levi was so excited to go and then devestated when he found out he couldn't skate with Luca and the kindergarten class (liability issues).
So I promised them that I would take them to public skating on Wednesday afternoon. I was a bit nervous since Luca had been on skates a grand total of twice before that and Levi had never skated. Being the afternoon, Chris was at work, so it was up to me to try to take two very beginner skaters on the ice. Thankfully they had the trainer bars out (after I had supported them a bit, the rink manager finally saw us and remembered to bring them out, that is).
It went way better than I could have predicted and we had so much fun! I think we're going to try to make it a regular thing. Once the schools are done doing their scheduled ice time, there is a Mom and Tots skate time from 10-12 am so I might try to take Levi then as well. Some fun one on one time for him and I.
Here the boys are ready to hit the ice. They are anxiously waiting for me to finish tying my skates.
Levi was so proud of himself!
Here's a few clips of them skating. I sound like a tool and I realize that when I say "watch out for your brother", there is someone skating by that is clearly not my child. I didn't mean him. LOL
I've been going with Luca's class to the rink and volunteering during skating. His class goes two more times next week and I plan to go then as well. Its fun to watch him learn how to do it and to see the other kids improve as well.
Here are Luca and Adelynn skating wtih their class on Wednesday.
I am not doing so well with my goal to post regularly.
This past week has been pretty busy- I subbed 2 days this week, had MOPS, errands to run and had 2 wisdom teeth pulled.
The wisdom teeth extractions went well, they just "popped" out (the dentist's words- didn't feel like it to me!). I was feeling pretty good until late yesterday afternoon and last night when my left side began to swell, have lots of pain and just felt awful. This morning I woke up to a fever and nausea. I figured it was probably infected (mouths are cesspools for bacteria, so no surprise there), so I headed in to the Urgent Care centre. Usually we go to Didsbury but I (wrongly) thought that since I was arriving at opening time, I would get seen quickly and then could get my prescription and go home, rather than drive the 20 minutes to Didsbury, then drive past my house to Airdrie to get my prescription and then home again. After 3 hours of waiting, with no one getting called back, I decided to leave and go to Didsbury anyway. I told the nurse I was leaving and she strongly advised me to stay because she was worried that the infection would spread since I was basically swallowing it constantly. She secretly bumped me to the front of the line and I was in the back an on my way to the pharmacy 20 minutes later.
I've had 2 doses of antibiotics and am beginning to feel better. I'll pop in to the dentist tomorrow just to have her check and make sure it looks alright.
I'm getting my hair done tomorrow and am embracing a dramatic change. Its something I've been throwing around for a while now, and I've decided to do it. Its just hair, right? It'll grow back..... Stay tuned.....
A few weeks ago school was cancelled due to -40 temsp (with windchill) and we stayed home in our jammies and had a fun day.
True to one of my goals, I set out painting activities for the boys, despite the mess I knew it would make. We experimented with different tools to paint with and they had a blast. It was a great way to spend an hour of our long and cold day!
The boys are also into Angry Birds (they are way better at it than I am!). I had found these coloring sheets online and printed them off. They intently colored for a while too.
Levi is getting to be a very careful colorer!
(Blogger won't let me change the orientation for some reason. Sorry!)
I kept busy doing some baking- blueberry muffins and brownies.
This weekend Chris has been busy building me a pantry. Pictures to follow when it is complete!
Mom to two busy boys, world's luckiest wife to the love of my life, teacher, volunteer, DONA trained doula...I wear many hats. Thanks for joining me on the journey that is my life!
Welcome to my blog! This is an outlet for me to let friends and family in on what has been happening in the lives of the Grahams. Please visit us often and leave comments!
