Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Open Your Mouth


So Miss Rachel is a little odd in that as soon as she gets hungry (for solid food) she starts this low-grade whining that only intensifies when you put her in the bouncy seat and put a bib on her. But then as soon as you have food on her spoon, ready for her to eat she Clamps. Her. Mouth. Shut. It's beyond frustrating.

(I love how you can see her two bottom teeth in this picture!)

So then to get her to eat you have to go "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" or some other trick to get her mouth open. Yesterday I started asking, in a really annoying voice, "Who's a happy baby? Who's a happy baby?" and Rachel started laughing and opening her mouth really wide.

Then later in the day Sam started saying, "Who's a happy baby? Who's a happy baby?" in the same tone, which is how I figured out it was really annoying! But at least it worked.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Sam -- From His Point of View!

I read about this quiz in this blog post and I wanted to try it with Sam. Ask your child the following questions. The answers were written exactly as Sam responded. (Except the for the parts in parentheses which are clarifying some of his response's.) Some of Sam's answers surprised me :) And I did this quiz with Sam on Saturday, January 28, 2012. I will try to remember to do it again in six months and see how his answers change. Or don't change as the case may be!
What is your name? Sam
How old are you? one (he was two at the time)
What is your favourite colour? orange and red
Who is your best friend? Olivia (from New Mom's group)
What is your favourite animal? elephant and Tigger (the animals he sleeps with)
What is your favourite movie? Water video (Baby Einstein)
What is your favourite book? "This is my best book!"
What is your favourite food? peanut butter and kiwi
What is your favourite song? Jingle Bells, Batman smells, laid an egg yeah!
What makes you happy? singing Jingle Bells
What makes you sad? When I want something
What is your favourite game? playing bouncy ball
Can you write your name for me? "S-A-M!"

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Happy Birthday(s)!

Today's post is all about birthdays!

First of all we went to the first birthday party of this little girl. It was fun and crazy with all the kids. I enjoyed catching up with some of my MOPS friends because we haven't been together in a few weeks. The cake was adorable...

...and Sam playing with the balloons was even more adorable!

Unfortunately the party was right over nap time which you can tell from the tired look on Sam's face in the second picture. He ended up not napping today and was in bed at 7:23 and probably asleep by 7:25! Ha ha ha!!!

Also today it is my Grandma Krahn's birthday. These are all pictures from our wedding but I think every other picture I have of her from more recently is already on here :)


And for some reason I really love this picture of my dad and my grandma together. It is just so sweet!

Anyway I talked to Grandma tonight and Sam talked to her too and asked her if she got cake for her birthday! And he told her he was playing with trains. I think they enjoyed talking to each other :)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

A Few Pictures From the Last Few Days

This is another "Slices of Life" catch up post. First of all, here are this week's Making It Through Winter Flowers. These are Stars of Bethlehem and they have been opening up nicely.

I was trying to get a close-up picture of the flowers and I moved one vase to better light. It was hard to get a good (non-blurry) picture of the flower but I liked how the one of Sam and the flower turned out. I've been really enjoying finding unique or interesting flowers this month.

Then yesterday I went to visit a friend and she was asking if I needed any girl clothes. I asked if she had a swimsuit in Rachel's size and she found this one.

I've been self-conscious at the pool lately because everyone thinks Rachel is a boy. With this adorable swimsuit they won't. I don't know why this is a big deal to me but it is. Also, while she had on her swimsuit, Rachel was demonstrating her ever-increasing sitting skills. Yes! She started sitting last Saturday and has been growing in ability in leaps and bounds. Yesterday she sat for five to ten minutes at a time.

Dave thought it was funny this morning that she was in her bassinet with her teddy bear in one hand and her new swimsuit in the other. I needed to leave the room for a minute so I just picked her up and stuck her in her bed. I didn't realize she had been clutching the swimsuit when I did that!

Last night Dave and I went out for supper and to the symphony. (He is going to write a post about that later.) Sam went to Kim and Jacqui's for a sleepover. Here he is with Seth and their Rubik's cubes.

And here he is coming home with his suitcase. He had such a good time and was adorable pulling his suitcase along :)

Friday, January 27, 2012

Kool Present

Dave's classmate and friend, Barry and his family, gave Sam and Rachel an awesome gift for Christmas! In fact, I might be more excited about it than Sam or Rachel :) It's a Kool-Aid pitcher with glasses, a funky spoon and a fun ice cube tray. The other day we tested it out. Well actually I went to a yoga class and Sam and Dave were charged with making the Kool-Aid.

Sam waiting to make Kool-Aid with the pitcher.

Dumping in the sugar.

Stirring the sugar and water together.

Checking out the "kool" colour having just added the first packet of Kool-Aid.
It was lemon-lime if you must know!

Stirring the Kool-Aid powder in.

Dumping in the second packet of Kool-Aid.
It was orange.

Making sure everything is well mixed.

Excited about drinking the cold Kool-Aid out of the cups.
Complete with "kool" ice cubes!

Such a good treat!

Thanks again Barry and family. We love it!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Baking

So the other night Sam and I made banana muffins. We were both wearing our aprons from Polka Dot Piggy Designs. We stayed clean and made awesome muffins! It must have been the aprons. Ha ha ha :)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Excitement!!!

So the other night I pumped 25mls of milk to see if Miss Rachel would take a bottle. She had totally refused formula from two different bottles earlier in January so Dave and I were a little concerned that she wouldn't take a bottle at all.

This coming Friday night we are going out with Jason and Marcia for dinner and to the symphony so Rachel needs to take a bottle or it will be an interesting night for Twiebe, who is babysitting her. Plus we were heading out to a movie on Saturday afternoon and we figured life might be easier if she took a bottle.

Anyway, it seems that Miss Rachel is totally happy with breast milk in a bottle, just not formula. Dave fed it to her, and despite a few suspicious looks, she drank it all.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Ice on Whyte Videos

In addition to the various photos of Ice on Whyte in yesterday's post, we also took a bunch of videos of our visit.

Here are Sam and Dave, sliding down a (relatively) small ice slide.
Sam exploring an ice maze. The walls were just high enough to block Sam's view, so he had a good time meandering through the maze.
Sam zipping down a big ice slide, head-first no less! Apparently the head-first technique was entirely his idea, and he launched himself down the slide just as Natasha was asking if she was allowed to go down with him :)
Dave making his way down the big ice slide. As Natasha observed upon Dave's arrival at the bottom, "Adults kinda slow down, don't they!"
Dave and Sam going through the obstacle course. We only realized afterwards that the icy bannisters at the end were meant to be slid on separately (that is, one person per bannister), rather than each of us using both bannisters to awkwardly shuffle along the ground.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Ice on Whyte

Yesterday morning, we decided to take advantage of the (relatively) nice weather and head over to Ice on Whyte, an exhibition of ice sculptures, castles, slides, and general winter fun. The event is hosted in a local park (about five blocks from our house), so it was a good excuse to get some fresh air after a cold week of hunkering down inside.

This sign, carved in a block of ice, set the tone for the event.

Dave, Sam and Rachel, soon after entering the park.

An Eastern Orthodox church, made entirely of snow and ice.

A Chinese dragon. This year part of the focus of Ice on Whyte celebrated the partnership between Alberta and its "sister" province of Heilongjiang, China.

Dave, Sam and Rachel posing in front of a Canada goose.

Our family under a small ice pagoda.

Natasha "relaxing" on what is surely a very cold, hard couch.

Dave and Sam zipping down a small ice slide.

Sam exploring a maze made of ice. The walls were *just* high enough to block his view.

Sam and Natasha going down a *much* larger ice slide. Natasha went up with Sam and thought he might want to go down with her, since he had been unsure about going on the smaller ice slide alone, but while she was checking with the attendant if that was okay, Sam threw himself down the slide on his belly, much to Natasha's shock!

Rachel was quite content throughout our trip, checking things out from the comfort of the stroller -- and a very warm snowsuit!

Sam and Natasha going through an obstacle course near the foot of the slide.

Finally, we decided to check out the ice sculpture competition before heading home. There were some *very* impressive entries, with the ice sculpting teams coming from China, the U.K. and all over Europe (as well as Canada and the U.S.) to participate. Each team had a set number of blocks, and a limited amount of time, to use in completing the sculpture. Here are some of our favourites.

A very detailed vase of flowers.

A life-like lion.

This entry from the U.K. and the Isle of Man featured a dragonfly and a mythical character of some sort (on the left, standing on the toadstool).

The winning entry, made by a team from China.

This last sculpture wasn't a part of the competition, but was very impressive, nonetheless.

We had a really good morning at Ice on Whyte and were very glad it warmed up enough for us to go check it out.