Friday, September 30, 2011

Busy, Tiring, Day

Today was a busy, E-H-A-U-S-T-I-N-G day. We had Tevan all day and he was pretty fussy and so was Rachel. The plan was for Dave to work downstairs and only come up if I needed him. Sadly, I needed him for most of the day. sigh...

Sam wanted a "tree out of honey" on his toast this morning and Dave was quite artistic. When we asked Sam where he thought of this he said, "Alissa made it for me." Thanks for setting the bar so high Alissa!

As you can tell, we had our hands full today! And of course, today is the day that EPCOR came to change our water meter in our basement, and they needed to dig up our yard to find the outside tap to turn off our water because the one in our basement is broken. sigh. And double sigh.

Dave put Tevan down on the play mat so he could do something while I was nursing Rachel and when Dave came back, two minutes later, Tevan had rolled over and fallen asleep!

And when he put Tevan down again, to do something else, he came back and Sam was entertaining him! It was supercute!

Fortunately tonight was date night so we had a chance to relax. Which for me meant putting away laundry, doing dishes, and finish sorting my box of correspondence. Then Dave and I watched about half of Notting Hill before deciding it was time for bed. So Good Night! I'm looking forward to having a bit of a break tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hanging out with Daddy

When we moved to Edmonton my mom gave me a HUGE box of correspondence which I had saved for millions years. It's been Dave's nemesis as he's wanted me to go through it and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. I wanted to do it before Sam was born and THAT didn't happen. Then Dave wanted me to do it before Rachel was born and THAT didn't happen either! With the impetus of moving soon (in the next few months, we hope!), I wanted to get it done so for the past few days I've been digging in. And when I say "millions of years" I mean I have diaries and notes in there from high school -- which was over twenty years ago :)

As I've finally gotten in the groove, I asked Dave if I could downstairs and sort while he hung out with Rachel and Sam. Such is the impetus for getting it done that Dave said, "Yes!" Usually our evenings are family time so I was glad to have some more time to sort.

While I was sorting Rachel hung out in Sam's rocking chair (she actually really likes it there!)...

And then Sam decided to join her...

And then Sam and Dave made some cool things out of playdough. Like a "pancake with raisins"...

And a 10-pin bowling alley...

And I didn't get my box completely done but I did get A LOT further. Yay!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Strawberry Fields Forever

...or at least while it's warm enough to wear this outfit :) Thanks to Anali, David and Stefan for this piece of cuteness!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Bathtime Sunday!

We've had a lazy Sunday so far. We all slept in until quarter to ten, then Dave made French Toast and then Rachel and Sam had baths.

First up was Miss Rachel. She still LOVES her bath which is so great. See how she's just hanging out, sucking on her fist? She's so content.

Next up was Mr. Sam. Sam is sooo active in his bath, playing and splashing and scrubbing. Sometimes bathing him is a bit of a challenge, not because he doesn't like the water, but because he is so active he doesn't want to cooperate with the getting clean part of the bath.

After bathtime it's time to dry off. A game that somehow got started with Sam is that when he's wrapped in his towel, he's a towel monster. I don't know when, or how, this game got started but then he has to run around and scare everyone. It's quite funny sometimes :)

And here are Sam and Rachel, both being green towel monsters! I can't believe Sam was ever this small and I can't believe how big Miss Rachel is. I don't quite know how that works, but there you are!

Now Sam, Rachel and Dave are out watching construction and I am going to go join them. Then we're going to the library. It's nothing but excitement around here, I'm telling you! But I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Thank-you Flowers!

So Teresa, our awesome cleaner and friend, is going back to school next week and thus, dissolving her cleaning business. Sadness :( Hiring her to clean our house last Fall was one of the best decisions we made in terms of our date nights (which we spent cleaning sometimes) and my sanity (especially with being so wiped out by my pregnancy with Rachel). Knowing we didn't need to worry about cleaning our house on top of everything else was soooo awesome.

So of course, when my friends would comment on how keeping their houses clean was stressful, I'd hand them one of Teresa's business cards. And a lot of them hired her too. We all loved Teresa!

Because she's ending her business, and because I made so many recommendations to my friends, Teresa dropped off flowers for me tonight. She got them at the farmer's market and they are awesome. I didn't have a vase big enough for them so I had to divide them into two bouquets and they are sooooooo beautiful. Thanks Teresa! Thanks for the flowers! And thanks for cleaning our house this past year! And thanks for helping us keep sane by cleaning our house :)

Friday, September 23, 2011

Kindermusik With Saige!

Today was a Kindermusik day! Dave decided to come with so we had quite the procession of strollers and people as we walked with Elena, Skylar and Saige too. We stopped at the Tim's Express at the Esso on the corner of Whyte and 99th and decided it's completely worth it to stop at a real Tim's instead. Lessons learned.

Kindermusik was good and I think Sam enjoyed having Mommy and Daddy there. He also enjoyed his latest choice in footwear -- "a running boot on THIS foot and a running shoe on THAT foot!" If we know he needs to walk a lot then we convince him to choose either both boots or both shoes, depending on the situation. Otherwise we just let him go for it. What's the harm?

After Kindermusik we stopped at Empress because we had to pick up bread and challah. And because it was Elena's first time at the bakery we all got treats. Although neither Dave or I liked ours very much so we've learned that next time we'll just stick to bread :)

Sam and Saige walked home from the bakery so it took us about twenty-five minutes to get home. Oh well, all that was on this afternoon's agenda was naps for everyone :) Now I'm making dinner and Sam, Rachel and Dave are out watching the construction -- it's entertainment for the whole family, I tell you!

Oh yeah, Sam and Saige held hands for a bit as we walked home. It was sooooo super-cute :) When I see Sam holding hands with a girl I just melt!

Mexican Date Night

So Dave and I had Date Night tonight. We were going to re-live our Vienna experience and go to Continental Treat but we forgot to make a reservation and when we showed up we were told we'd need to wait for an hour and a half! We decided to go to Julio's Barrio instead. It was a good choice!

I ordered a lime virgin margarita and mushroom fajitas. They were sooooo good. I ate four of them :) And the margarita was like more of a lime slushie. I think what I really wanted was a daiquiri!

Dave had chimichangas and one of my fajitas.

We really liked Julio's Barrio except for the fact that it was REALLY loud. And then to make matters worse, this loud group of people sat behind us and one woman was practically screaming the whole time. Somehow Rachel managed to sleep through everything though!

We came home and watched a few episodes of Season 2 of Glee. In one of them, Glee did The Rocky Horror Glee Show and they ended with the song Time Warp. Dave needed to go upstairs so I was singing my own (mostly made up words) to the Time Warp and moving Rachel's arms so she was "dancing" and then Rachel started absolutely giggling! Which of course made me start to laugh and sing the Time Warp about 15 times in a row, both of us laughing up a storm. It was very funny!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Today, so far...

Sam, Rachel and I met Julian, Tessa and Yumi at Cafe O Play today. It was a fun morning and I really enjoyed talking with Yumi. And I ran into some people I know from another parenting group I did things with when Sam was younger. It's things like that which make me feel at home in Edmonton. Sam had a cupcake and a four berry smoothie. He really really really liked it :)

Rachel tried out the exersaucer for the first time. I think she enjoyed it. And yes, I know it was too tall for her. And I also know she's missing a sock :) She liked hanging out though.

When we got home Sam wanted cottage cheese in each bowl, rather than choosing one. Sometimes I give in because, really, what's the big deal? At least, that's what I ask myself. And he really enjoyed it.

And now both kids are napping and I took this...

...and turned it into this.

Yay me! Ha ha ha!!!

Sheri is bringing Naden and Tevan over in about fifteen minutes so I can watch them while she goes to get her massage gift from us New Mom's. So I will have four kids on my own until Dave gets home. He said he'd try to get home around 4 or 4:30 and "no later than 5:00" so wish me luck! I'll need it. And patience :)

Duck, Duck, Goose More Duck

When we were expecting Sam, in December 2008 we flew to Ontario for the week between Christmas and New Years. We met with our Care Group from Waterloo North and they threw us a surprise baby shower. It was so awesome and we felt so surrounded by love.

One of the gifts we got was the duck blanket and sleeper set featured below. It was from the Patterson Cole family and Sam wore it a lot. Although usually not all together. However I wanted at least one picture of him wearing the entire outfit and tonight I got one of Rachel too. (And I love how in both pictures you can see a little bit of my slippers, both of which are pink, but are actually two different slippers. Ha ha ha!!!)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Alissa Came To Visit!

Alissa came west for a wedding and graciously agreed to drive up to Edmonton to meet Rachel and hang out with us. It was soooo good to see her! We watched a movie and had time to talk. Alissa was a good sport about doing some errands with us yesterday and entering into the chaos which is our life right now! Including getting Sam dressed :)



We hung out at Bonnie Doon for a bit because I wanted to get a three-month weight for Rachel and then we ate lunch. And spilled smoothies and had a much needed diaper change but that's a whole other post!

As you can tell our kids were on their best behaviour! Ha! Thanks for coming to see us Alissa and we can't wait to reciprocate at your new house in Hamilton!!! Thanks also for letting me use some of your pictures for this post :)