Growing Up

My kids are growing up way too fast.  OK, I know my daughter is only 2 1/2, and my son is (haha) only 2 months old, but they really are growing up way too fast!!!  I can't believe my boy is already 11 weeks.  How can that be?
In some ways I don't mind.... 

Elysia is now officially potty-trained.  Yeah!!!  We are officially out of diapers and into pull-ups and big girl panties.  Woohoo! 

Elysia has an absolutely delicious sense of humour.  I love it!  How wonderful it is to be teased by my lovely daughter, or to watch her eyes sparkle when she laughs with her Daddy.

I also love that I can talk to and reason with her...well sometimes, that is!  It is so nice having conversations with my girl.  Not a day goes by that she doesn't blow me away with her understanding and knowledge about something.  She's one smart cookie!

But then there is the sad stuff.  My baby isn's exactly my baby anymore.  Her cute little baby phrases are maturing into proper sentences.  Her daily sentence of 'num num' has been replaced with 'macaroni' or 'cheeseburger' (don't judge...yes, my kid eats kd and McDonalds, but sometimes it's the only thing I know she'll eat.  Picky kid). 

She likes to feed and dress herself, and she is growing ever more independent on a daily basis.  She isn't even three!  Can't she stay my baby for just a little while longer?  It's nice and sad at the same time.  I want her to blossom, but I want her to stay my baby.  I love to watch her learn and grow, but I want her to always want cuddles from Mummy and want to be tucked into bed after reading 'Goodnight Moon.'

Sigh.

I guess every parent goes through this.

Fall and Winter 2011

It's now tradition.  Every year we go to this wonderful Farm/Pumpkin Patch in Maple Ridge.

Elysia and I enjoying looking at the farm animals.

Elysia loves seeing all of the animals at the farm.

Time to choose a pumpkin!

Perhaps this one?

The final result...

A work of ART!

Elysia loves Halloween. 

Absolutely the cutest lil' Cow ever!!

Trick or Treating at Grandma and Grampa's house.

Elysia LOVED trick or treating.  She didn't want to stop!  'More houses!' she'd say every time I asked her if she was ready to go home.

We had to dress up the dogs, too. 

Maggie wasn't so impressed with her costume.

Cody didn't seem to mind his!

We also had a lovely Christmas season. 

Elysia went to see some Christmas tree displays and decorations in Downtown Vancouver.

We also went to see some amazing houses all decorated in lights.

I just love this pic...

But a definite favourite thing at Christmas is...

Playing with the boxes that the Christmas gifts came in.

My Joy and my Delight

Welcome to our world, my beautiful Son.

Two months ago today, we were given a wonderful gift.  Our son was born weighing a healthy 7lbs 9 oz and is absolutely beautiful. 

Timothy Kenneth...

Named after two extraordinary people.

Big Sister Elysia is proud, too!

I'm so blessed to have a great family.  My kids are blessed to have an awesome daddy!  Even if they do tire him out...

I have the best kids.

Me and my kids!

Paint, paint, paint!

I have never had much luck in picking paint colours.  I don't know why exactly.  I know what I want, go to the paint shop and pick it out, but when I open the can of paint and put it on the wall it never turns out exactly the way I want it to.  Take my living room, for example.  I wanted a blue/grey colour and I got blue.  And I don't mean a nice soft blue.  I got BLUE.  Definitely not what I wanted. 

With a second baby coming, I needed to change up my living room again as my growing family would be spending a lot of time there.  Bye bye blue!  It wasn't that it was a bad colour, it was just too dark (and BLUE) for me.  In a basement living room, it just felt too closed in and I really didn't like it.  I needed something light and inviting!  So off to the paint store I went, and thankfully my Mom very graciously offered to paint the living room for me.  I am thrilled with the result!!

 The lovely paintings above my little fireplace are original pieces of art painted by my multi-talented Mom!

Our little dining area.

This old cabinet is also going to see paint...one day!

Now I just need to find the perfect piece of art for above my sofa.












Next...Elysia's room!!

My Growing Family

So much has happened since I last wrote! Where to begin...

Well, it turns out that I am going to be a Mama again. I’m both excited and nervous at the same time, as I imagine all expectant mothers are. I’m officially out of the first trimester though, so I know all is good. Steve and I have a bet on whether the baby is a boy or girl. I think it’s a boy, and if I win Steve has to take me to dinner to this lovely restaurant on Burnaby Mountain. If he wins, I have to make him his favourite dinner...roast with Yorkshire pudding! Boy or girl, it really doesn’t matter as we’re just thrilled to be given the gift of another child. Baby is due late November, early December!!

So cool seeing pictures of my baby!









Second child on the way...we needed a bigger car! I love the Mazda, but it was just too small for our growing family. Steve decided to trade in his old work car, a 2002 Civic with 300,000km, and bought a Hyundai Santa Fe. The Mazda is now his work car and I get to drive the Hyundai. I love it! It is much bigger than the Mazda, there is plenty of room for two car seats, and it has a rear cargo area that is perfect for bringing the dog on outings. Cody the menace dog no longer sits beside Elysia when we go on a trip! It is also easier for me to store the stroller, as I don’t have to lift it over the ledge of the trunk when Elysia and I go out. With my bad shoulder, this is definitely a bonus!

It even has a rearview camera!!  So cool.
















Steve has also begun working in the backyard of my parent’s home. He loves doing yard work and my parents have a great big yard. Perfect! Currently he is fixing up a small area in the back for Elysia to have as a play area. My Mom and Dad bought Elysia a sandbox and this area will be perfect for it. It is right outside her room and I think it will be awesome.  I’ll add a few chairs and some plants to make it cosy, and I really think she'll like it. He has big plans for the yard, so I’ll definitely post pics as it all comes together.

With another baby on the way, we also have a lot of plans for inside the house. I’ve decided I really don’t like the blue colour in my living room, so that is going to be changing really soon. I’d like it to be a bright and cheery place that my little family would like to hang out in, and right now it just isn’t working for me. We still haven’t fixed up Elysia’s room either. That is a definite must! It needs paint, lighting, blinds...I haven’t decided on a colour yet, but I’m thinking I’ll just choose a nice light colour for her room and accessorise with colour. Problem is I can’t paint! Poor Steve...

We also recently returned home from a wonderful vacation with my family. I’ll save that for a future blog, as I have tons of pics to post. However I will say that we had a wonderful time (minus the total meltdowns that were had by my daughter on the many long flights...)!

I think that about catches me up!

A few random pics...

 She found Grumpa's glasses.

Never say your child will never drink pop!

Play time with Grandma.

At the Fair in New Westminster.

This pic was taken yesterday after her haircut.  The milkshake was perfect in making the whole experience far more pleasant!

Mara

Yep, I Can SEW!

OK, let's just say I can sew on a button.  Hey, it's a start!

When I was 14 years old, I took Home Economics in school.  Unfortunately, I was more interested in socializing than Home Economics, so I never really mastered the skill of sewing (or cooking for that matter, but that's for another blog ;-))

Anyway, my friend Linda offered to teach a group of us non-sewers to sew!  Who woulda' thought I would learn to sew?  Not me!  It turns out that I actually like it.  The ticking and whirring of the sewing machine, and the joy of creating something from a few pieces of fabric.  Fun!  I'm already looking at books of children's clothing patterns...perhaps I'm getting a little ahead of myself?  Nah.

Looking forward to next months lessons...perhaps zippers?  ;-)

Full House

So many changes in my little family!

Steve, Elysia and I have moved from our little home in Langley to an even cozier home in Burnaby.  Steve and I want to buy a house, so we figured the best way to do that was to downsize for a while and save up a down-payment.  So we moved!  Hellooooo Mom and Dad's!!

We did a lot of work getting ready to move in.  First we had to get our house ready to be rented out...paint, paint, paint!!!  Then we had to get the basement at my parent's home ready for us...paint, paint, paint!!!

It was worth it!

This is my new little sitting room.  My Mom painted those lovely pictures behind the sofa.  They are now hanging on the opposite wall, and look awesome!

Here is the little fireplace we got to warm up our room.  It makes the sitting room so much cozier!  Cody likes it too (although he really loves the awesome shag rug!).

This is going to be my spring-time project.  I'm going to paint it white.  Hope it turns out!

The room is big enough to include our little kitchen table.  It's nice that my family can sit together.  Steve and I enjoy coffee here, and Elysia likes to play in this room.

There is still a lot more I want to do.  First of all, Elysia's room needs a facelift.  New paint, curtains and lighting are definitely in order!  Then I'm thinking about re-painting my sitting room.  I like the room, but it's a bit darker than I really wanted.  I would like it lighter and am thinking of a grey-blue.  I'm just really getting tired of painting!

Amidst all this redecorating we also had Christmas!

This is Elysia and I on the Stanley Park Christmas Train.  It was fabulous!  We went with our neighbours from Langley and had a really wonderful evening.

Another train ride!  This time it was Lougheed Mall.  Dad seemed to enjoy this train ride more than Elysia though. 

December is baking time!  Here is my first attempt at making a gingerbread man...pretty sad!

Second attempt turned out much better.

Here is my Mom and Dad's lovely tree.  I thought it was really pretty.

This is Steve's and my tree.  Steve insists on a real tree.  I would love a fake one, but I have to admit that the real one is beautiful and smells so nice.

OK, I threw this picture in because I thought it was just so darn cute.  Elysia loves making a mess of my laundry.  Not fun to clean up, but so adorable to watch her having fun and smiling like this!

This is Elysia wearing her Christmas dress and shopping with Grandma Shaw.  We spent the afternoon at this little shop where Elysia got to see Santa and look at the lovely Christmas displays.  She looked so cute, but unfortunately her visit with Santa didn't go very well.  Hopefully next year the big guy in the red suit won't be so scary!

This is another pic I just had to throw in.  Cody decided to take a nap and use Elysia as a pillow.  They are such buddies!

The big, goofy dog.

Sigh...what can I say?

It doesn't snow a lot here in Vancouver, so we love it when it does.  Driving in it isn't fun though!

Elysia and her Daddy Christmas shopping at Lougheed Mall.   

My Mom's Christmas Village.  Pretty awesome!

Elysia hanging out in her toy basket.

Elysia at her music class.  She loves music!  I really hope that is something she always loves.

As you can see, December was a really busy month!