Stoklosafamily

Learning to Ride

2009-04-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get Hannah to learn to ride her back since last fall. I took her training wheels off a couple of times in the fall, but she always asked for them to be put back on after a few minutes of trying. I decided to take them off again a few weeks ago and refused to put them back on. Needless to say she has hardly riden her bike the past few weeks. I helped her ride to the park one day last week, and she "had" it for a moment a few times. I thought it would be a good idea to try again last night after dinner. I was helping Hannah and then realized that she hardly peddles when I am helping her. I explained to her that she has to peddle in order to keep her bike from falling over. Once she really started to peddle, she got it right away and started riding all by herself. When Jonathan saw Hannah riding her bike, he said he wanted to try on her bike. I suggested we take off his training wheel (there was only one on his bike because the other one kept loosening). He was all for it. The first time he tired I could feel that he had his balance, so I let go of him and ran beside him. I had to steady the bike a couple of times, but he did Amazing!!!! He picked it up so fast. It takes him a while to get going sometimes, but he is working really hard at it. We went for a walk this afternoon and Hannah and Jonathan both rode their bikes. Hannah did more riding than Jonathan, and he probably did more trying to ride than riding, but niether of them complained or fell. We went up to IGA, the Drugstore and then back home. I am so excited for both of them. I am really happy that they are able to enjoy this accomplishment together. They are really proud of themselves. When we were getting ready to go outside last night, Hannah asked me to bring the video camera just in case she was able to do it! Cute eh!!!

Zoo Time

2009-03-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

We finally took the kids to the zoo today. Gramma Stoklosa bought us a family membership to the Toronto Zoo for Christmas this year. We havn't felt much like going in the winter (although the zoo is open year round), but with spring arriving today was the perfect day. Hannah and I had play practice this morning, so we met Joel and the rest of the kids in Whitby. When we were just about to enter the Zoo we spotted the Lynch family. Hannah and Fiona ran towards each other right away and gave eachother a hug. We chatted for a few minutes and then went on to our zoo adventure. The kids got their own maps and we started on our way. We visited the Australian exhibit first. The kids got to see some snakes, sea turtles, really cool bugs that look like dead leaves, Comodo Dragons and an amazing live coral reef. The highlight for me were all the amazing fish. There were so many different kinds, each with incredible patterns that were vibrant and the colours were almost electric. We got to see the Sibirian Tigers, one came super close to the enclosure wall. I certainly would not want to meet a hungry tiger in a dark alley. Their paws are huge. Watching them was amazing. You could see the p0wer they have in their legs and shoulders as they walked around. Jonathan and Benjamin really liked the tigers. We didn't walk around the whole zoo, but we did see some reindeer, wild horses, kangaroo's, camels, a few monkeys and some mountain goats. I am glad that we have a family pass as there is so much to see.

2009-03-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

I had an idea when I was on the treadmill this morning. I was thinking of what to make for dinner tonight, with Easter and Passover around the corner I have been in the mood for some tastes of my Jewish heritage. I decided to make some potato latkes and then I started to think about tomorrow....St. Patrick's day. Naturally I decided that I had to make an Irish dish (Potato and Leek pie), not just because of St. Patrick's day but because part of my dad's family came from Ireland. Having two culturally diverse meals planned it made me think of how much I enjoy cooking foods from different countries. I love to eat all the wonderful flavours from around the world. I have wished before that I had a cookbook that had a variety of recipes from man diffent cultures. I love recipe books, but I only have room for so many. I decided that I could make my own (I already have a pretty large collection of multicultural meals, so I would just have to organize them according to the country they came from). Then I got to thinking why not start a blog about it and then write a cookbook (why not think big right?). I have often thought I would like to write a cookbook, but didn't feel like I would have anything new to add...not until today. I am an expert when it comes to feeding my family.
My kids will eat dishes from Greece, South Africa, England, Mexico, Isreal, China, Japan, India,Poland, Scottland without complaint. But I can do better. There are so many wonderful meals waiting to be discovered. I like cooking meals from different countries because I want our family to appreciate how diverse a world we live it, yet how we are all the same. Eating the food from a country makes me feel like I understand a little about the people who live there.

Tonights meal was delicious. The potato latkes were crisp on the outside and nice and light on the inside. I also made chicken strips dipped in matzo meal. Hannah said she didn't like the potato latkes, but just before bed Jonathan said "that was yummy". When I asked him what he said he would show me. I thought he was going to lead me to the buttertart squares, but instead he pointed to the potato latkes (or what was left of them). He asked if I could make them again, but make more just for him! I always know dinner was a hit when my kids ask me to make it again!

Sour Milk

2009-03-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

I had to laugh at my little Eden earlier this afternoon. She decided to get into the pantry cupboard and found one of her sippy cups. I did wonder how long it had been sitting there, but I didn't think too much of it...that is not until I heard her gagging a minute later. She gagged a couple of times and then she seemed to be okay. As soon as I heard her gagging I knew that there must have been some sour milk in the cup. I think I gave her some in it yesterday, so it can't have been that bad right?? It was so funny I couldn'thelp but laugh. In fact as I am writting this, the thought still makes me giggle. Eden has a very active gag reflex. It is amazing how the smallest taste of something can make her gag. I can still remember the instant reaction/gag she had when we were at Valerie and Glen's for dinner and I decided to try and give her some chicken broth. I had never tried it with any of the other kids, but thought I would give it a try. I should have known that it would be aweful as the colour was slightly...actually Idon't know what you would call the colour. It looked like gravy that had solidified. As you can imagine, it only took one taste for Eden to gag on it. Just to be sure I hadn't caused her to gag by putting the spoon to far into her mouth I tried to give her a second bite and sure enough she gagged again! Would it be really cruel to give her something she doesn't like on purpose just so we can record her gag reaction?????

I love you so much

2009-02-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

We were on our way to Joel's Aunt Kim's funeral on Wednesday. From the back of the car Hannah said "I love you so much mum" and then Benjamin said "I love you so much mummy" and I told him that I loved him so much, and then he said "I love you so much daddy"...he went on to tell Eden, Hannah and Jonathan that "I love you so much". It was so cute. We made sure to point out to Hannah that she was being a good example to Benjamin by expressing her love for her family. Benjamin is still our little copy cat, but as you can see it is a good thing :) He had gone through a little spell when he didn't want to give hugs and kisses, but fortunately that didn't last long. I am really thankful that all of our kids are really affectionate. When we were sitting in the funeral, Jonathan just started to kiss my arm...I wonder what the people sitting behind us thought, but he just likes to come up out of the blue and give kisses. I felt really bad earlier today as I got upset with him because I thought he was trying to climb on my back and really he was just trying to give me a kiss.

Hannah's Audition

2009-01-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

Hannah auditioned for the Oshawa Stake's production of Beauty and the Beast on Thursday (also her birthday). I had explained to her that I had to see if she would be allowed to participate b/c the kids were supposed to be 8 yrs and up. Hannah did amazingly in the Children's choir for the Stake Christmas contata. She was the youngest in the choir and had all the words memorized and she was really focused on following Sis. LaFrance. I had talked to Heather and Lori about her participating in the play and they were pretty sure she would be able to, but I didn't want to get her hopes up. Part of the problem is that there arn't a lot of roles for kids in the production. They were going to do their best to create some small parts. On the day of the audition I didn't really mention it to her much. I didn't want her to think about it too much and get silly (she likes to pretend to be scared or nervous, but I don't think she really is). I asked her around dinner time what song she wanted to sing for the audition and she asked if she could sing anything she wanted. I told her she could and then she said she wanted to sing "This is Me" from Camp Rock and that was it!!! When we got into the audition I was a little nervous (about my audition). I tried to get her to stand with me for courage but she ran to the corner and made funny faces whenever I looked over at her. When it was her turn, she was being a little shy. I asked her if she wanted me to sing the beginning of the song with her, which she agreed to and then whispered the first few words to me. She started to sang the first few words really, really quietly, but very quickly realized that she didn't need my help at all. She did so awesome!!! I was so proud of her. She has never done an audition before, or even sang in Church...although she certainly loves to sing a lot at home. Everyone clapped for her and then they talked about options for her (i.e. doing a mini me version of the "silly girls"). When we got home, she her song again for Joel while I recorded her.

I am so impressed with how mature she is and how she was able to understand that she might not be able to be in the production even though she had auditioned. I got the call from Sis. LaFrance on Wednesday just before lunch and she told me what a great job Hannah had done in her audition and that she was going to be a mini version of the "silly girls" with Holly, Chantelle and Abigail and she aslo gets to be a dancing carpet. She was so excited when I told her. We were looking through a Beauty and the Beast board book last night and wanted me to point out her part....we found one rug in the book, so she was happy. I will be playing the roll of Madame Grande Bouche (the wardrobe) so I am really excited that we will get to be in the show together and get to spend lots of time together. I love that she is into Musicals....she may not look like me, but she definitely gets her love of music from me!!!

Updates

2009-01-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

Well...it has been a while. I have been wanting to post for a long time, but the longer I waited, the more I had to catch up on, so the longer I waited.....You see the never ending cycle. I had told myself that I would at least post once a week in the new year, but as we are 2 weeks in and this is my first post I am not doing so well. Instead of trying to backtrack over everything that we have done in the past few months, I thought I would do updates on the kids. I will post some pictures later that will fill in some of the blanks.

Hannah

Hannah is turning 6 on Thursday. It is hard to belive that we have a 6 year old, but on the other hand it feels like she has been with us forever. I really want to go back and look at pitures of her during the years to remember all the phases she has gone through. I feel like I can remember what she looked like, but I know I will be pleasantly surprised. She started gymnastics last Wednesday. They started off on the floor mats stretching and doing front rolls, then they went to the balance beam. Hannah wasn't quite sure how to get to a standing position, but once she did she was awesome. She didn't hold onto her coach at all. After she finished the high balance beam she walked backwards across the low balance beam (most of the other girls walked across it sideways). After the balance beam they did a little obstacle course where they had to jump up onto a mat, jump off, roll down another mat, do a kartwheel, crawl under a boxhorse and through a tunnel and then repeat. Hannah hasn't quite figured out how to get the momentum to roll over completely and to do kartwheels, but she will get there. The last station was the trampoline, which she had no trouble with. When we got home I asked her which part was her favourite, and she said all of it was. She has asked me everyday since then if it her day to go to gymnastics...even though I explained to her that it is only on Wednesdays and showed her the day on the calendar. At least she is enjoying herself.

Hannah continues to do really well at school. When I went in to visit her classroom her teacher said that she is the most mature girl in the class and that she is like the "big sister" to everyone. I was really amazed by how much french Mdm. Robert speaks in class and by the fact that the kids understand her. Mdm. Robert said Hannah was doing really well in all areas. Hannah is still funny about school. She will still ask why she has to go to french immersion, or why she has to go to school most mornings. I think she is just being a little silly or trying to see what I will let her get away with b/c once I tell her she has to go she doesn't mention it again. She loves school. She is such a social little girl. She is doing really well with her french. I consantly hear her singing in french. The funny thing about her complaining about going to french immersion is that she has always liked to speak in a different language...ever since she was little she would speak in her made up language...she still does it sometimes. Her new thing is making up french (or other) lyrics to go with songs we are listening to. She is so good at singing along to the tune that a couple of times I have almost asked if they have been teaching the kids to sing primary hyms in french!!!
Hannah is really trying to get into Hannah Montanna, but I have told her that she is not to watch it and I refuse to buy her anything Hannah Montanna related. I have seen little clips of the show and there is nothing really wrong with it, but I just don't want to encourage her to grow up too fast. I would rather her be interested in Barbie movies (at least they always get married at the end) then with watching teenagers have boyfriend/girlfriend relationships etc. She already gravitates towards older kids, so I don't want to encourage that in her tv watching. I know she has a hard time understanding that and has tried to sneak watching it a few times, but I can't say I didn't do the same thing when I was little (although I am pretty sure I was older than six when we would sneak watching "Three's Company" and "SantaBarbara"). She has watched "Camp Rock" and "High School Musical 2" which are both pretty clean and cute, but again don't encourage it.

Hannah is getting super tall. She is 4ft tall! I think that is pretty tall for a 6 year old. She is the tallest in her class and she is much taller than most of the kids in her primary class. Hannah has been a really nice helper around the house lately. Since the house has been up for sale she has been so much better at keeping her room clean. She has also been my happy helper with the dishwasher. I don't make her empty it all the time. but she does it a couple of times a week without complaint (although she did remind me tonight that I am supposed to pay her for helping and then she will pay me for making dinner, cleaning, laundry etc....we had had this conversation a few times). I love my little Hannah...she is still my baby girl, although she likes to remind me she is not a baby. I love watching her sing and dance. She might not look like me, but I can say that she got her love of music and singing from me!

Jonathan
It has been mentioned to Joel and myself a number of times lately that Jonathan has had a growth spurt. I would have to agree....he is another tall little boy. He is about 3.5 ft tall, not bad for a 4 year old. He is about the same height as Austin. Most of the size 4 long sleeve shirts are now to short in the arm, and some of his size 4 pants are floods. He got some new clothes for Christmas, but I don't think they will fit him for very long. I will have him wear them this winter for sure, but then they will get packed away until Benjamin is ready for them.

Jonathan started skating lessons 2 weeks ago. Joel takes him, so I havn't had a chance to see him yet. On his first week, he was really excited that he had a teacher named Jonathan! Joel said he did really good considering it was his first time on skates (even though we bought them for him the year before), he fell down a number of times but always got back up. Joel said that when he got up from one of his falls he was rubbing his bum:) He was excited to tell me about it when he got home, and excited to go again on Saturday. When he came home from his second lesson, he was so proud to tell me that he didn't fall once. Joel also mentioned that Jonathan had been sad at the beginning of his lesson b/c his teacher Jonathan wasn't there.

Jonathan loves going to school. There was a big snow storm on the Friday before the Christmas break started so all the buses were cancelled. We asked the kids if they wanted us to drive them to school, Hannah said "NO" but Jonathan wanted to go to school. I explained to him that alot of his friends wouldn't be at school and that it was okay if he wanted to come home once he saw that, but he still wanted to go. Joel said there were about 10 kids in his class when they got to school, but he wanted to stay. I felt really bad that we were all home (Joel worked from home b/c of the weather) and he was at school....at least he was happy about it! On the night before they went back to school from Christmas break, he was so excited. He laid out the clothes he was going to wear. I am a little surprised that he likes school so much as according to Mrs. Harris he does get into a little bit of trouble sometimes...shocking I know. She said that he is a really nice little boy, but sometimes doesn't like to sit down or stop playing when free time is over. She mentioned that he frequents the "time out" chair. I was surprised when she told me that b/c he had never mentioned it. I hadn't really asked him b/4 that b/c I thought he would tell me if it happened (he gets grumpy when he gets in trouble by someone other than his parents). Since she mentioned that I have tried to remind him to be good and not get a time out. Now when he comes home from school one of the first things he tells me is "I didn't get a time out today".
Over the Christmas holidays Jonathan really got into playing on "his website" aka Hotwheels. He loves to play all the games...including a few that involve shooting something....I am not super excited about that, but at the same time it is really cute to see him get so excited over winning a game (even though he never actually wins).
Jonathan has been much better with Benjamin lately. They play more together and he doesn't pester Benjamin as much as he used to. It probably helps that Benjamin is talking now and can tell us what Jonathan did. Sometimes when he does hurt Benjamin (acidentally I think) I will hear him apologizing right away. You can hear in his voice that he knows he is going to get in trouble. Jonathan is still really loving towards Eden. He still comes up to her and kisses her on the head, or tickles her under her chin. It is really cute.

Benjamin
What can I say about my little Benjamini. He is a cutie that is for sure. He is doing amazingly well with his talking. He is using full sentences and I hear him using new phrases all the time (of course I can't think of any right now). Sometimes it takes a few tries before I understand what he is saying, but we are getting there. One of the words he is using a lot lately is "why", but in a long drawn out and cute sort of way. He loves the farm and LOVES the horses. He asks me multiple times a time "can we see the horses at Nana and Papa's barn". When I say "not today", he replies "why". Another cute one is when he asks if he can go skating (with Jonathan) and I tell him he has to grow bigger and he says "alright". I might seem odd that I think that is so cute, but it is just amazing to hear him talking and understanding like an adult, when he is soooooo tiny still. I havn't had him weighed in long time, but I don't need a scale to tell me he hasn't grown that much. He continues to get taller....but there is still no meat on his bones that is for sure. I am not sure why, but it upsets me that he is so tiny. I think it is just because I worry about him. I worry that he is going to get picked on or made fun of because of his size...there is no way of knowing how big he is going to get, but his pediatrician likes to keep telling me that he is going to be small. The frustrating thing is that there isn't much I can do about it. There was a time when he would hardly eat, but that is no longer the case. Sometimes he will have 3 breakfasts.....he will finish a bowl of cereal and then ask for more and then a little while later he will still want more breakfast. He doesn't eat as much as Jonathan at lunch and dinner, but almost. I hear so many stories about premies growing to be 6 ft....I love my little boy. He went through a phase a few months ago where he wouldn't let me give me kisses, or if he did, he would wipe them away. Thankfully he is back to giving and receiving kisses from his mommy.

Lately Benjamin has been loving toy horses. He got some for Christmas, but really loved one in particular. Whenever he misplaced it he would ask "where's my horsie". We went to the rec centre last week to play and he insisted on taking it with him. I know he was holding it in his hand when I put him in the stroller, but when we got there it was gone. He immediately started asking for his horsie and hasn't stopped, so we went and bought him a new horsie today. He picked one that was similar (a pinto) to the one that he lost. This one is a little bigger, so hopefully it will be easier to keep track of.

Benmain loves hockey. He is more than happy to sit down with Joel and watch a hockey game (not the whole thing). He got some floor hockey sticks for christmas and loves to play with Joel in the basement. He also loves to colour. He will sit at the kitchen table for an hour colouring....you have to watch that he doens't colour himself though. He decided to take a green maker and colour all over his hands, arm and tummy one day last week (he also coloured on the couch and a book...the couch actually cleaned up better than his tummy!).

Every night after I tuck Benjamin into bed he asks me to sing to him. It used to be "I am a child of God" and now it is "I love to see the Temple". I gues he doesn't really ask me to sing he simply says "I am a child of God" or "I love to see the Temple". It is very cute. As soon as you start singing to him he gets this huge grin on his face and it doesn't go away until I stop.

Benjamin has turned into quite the copy cat....."CC" as we sometimes like to call him. He does everything that Jonthan does. He copies Hannah, but not as much as his big brother. It is really cute when he copies what Jonathan says...but not always so cute when he copies what Jonathan is doing, mostly b/c Jonathan shouldn't be doing it in the first place!

Eden
She is such a joy! I had to pause to think of what else to say. I love babies because they are so cute and innocent. How can you get mad at a baby. Whenever one of the older kids has be upset I always have Eden I can turn to (I have felt the same way with each of the kids) to make me smile and remind me of how much I love my kids. A lot of people will say that she is a serious little girl and doesn't smile...but they don't see her at home. She loves to laugh at her brothers and sisters and she giggles with me all the time. She loves to bite my toes....crazy eh!!!! She will also bite my hands and shoulder. She doesn't bite hard, so it doesn't hurt. She thinks it is absolutely hillarious. She laughs every time she does it. I am sure my reaction helps with that and because I love to see her laugh I make sure I react.

The biggest news with Eden is that she turned 1 on December 29th. The year went by fast, but I don't know if I feel like she is one yet. I was just thinking today that by the time Hannah, Jonathan and Benmjamin turned 1 I was already pregnant (although just)...crazy...I can't imagine being there right now, but at the same time it is going to be interesting going through her second year without being pregnant and knowing that she wasn't going to be the baby for long. I am looking forward to seeing how that feels. Eden started walking in since Christmas. She took her first steps the week before Christmas, but didn't realize she had done it. I didn't see her take any more steps until Boxing Day when we were at the farm. She took 3 steps between objects a couple of times. The first week she would take three steps, and then last week she would take 6-7 steps at once (although last Thursday she took 26 steps all without really stopping). Since the weekend she has been walking everywhere. She still crawls a little, but not really her bum scoot anymore. She has started to crawl on her hands and feet with her bum up in the air (just like Jonathan did) so that she can easily transition to walking. It is really cute to hear her walk up behind me. She is getting really good and fast. I finally caught her on the video camera tonight. I have been so terrible with that this year. It has sat idly in our room without being used, so we just barely caught her crawling on tape. Sorry Eden!

Eden is still a joy to put to bed. When you lay her down, she still reaches for her pink blankies and snuggles into it and then she will giggle and smile as I tuck her in. The past few nights I can hear her talking to herself for a few minutes before she falls asleep. She is still incredibly happy when she wakes up in the morning. She had been sleeping until b/w 7-7:30am, but the past week has decided she wants to get up an hour earlier. Hopefully that won't last too long.

I took Eden in to see Dr. McAllister last week for her 1 year check up. She wieghed 17 lb 5 oz with a length of 28 1/2 inches and head circumferance of 45 cm. She is smaller than Hannah and Jonathan were at a year, but I don't think by much. I have been meaning to look that up, but keep forgetting to. I am not worried by her size considering how tall Hannah and Jonathan have turned out to be...and it is less likely that she will get teased for being a small girl, than Benjamin will b/c he is a boy.

Eden has started to immitate a few things that we do. If you ticke her and say "tickle tickle tickle" she will repeat "ticka ticka ticka" and she has also started to say "sshhh". She even puts her finger to her mouth sometimes. We are so happy that she is part of our family. She balances the kids out perfectly. Right now she is pretty calm, but I am sure that will change a little. Her siblings adore her and are really good with her. Hannah is still excited for when Eden moves into her room and will sometimes talk about the things she is going to teach Eden.

All in all life is really good. Our house hasn't sold yet, but the house we want is still available. Our house is nice and clean (Joel is loving it, but so am I), we are all healthy and happy. I love being home with the kids. I have been trying lately to be more organized with the kids. I have been scheduling a few more things into our day and making a bit more of a routine and I like that. There is still plenty of freedom, but I find myself enjoying my time with the kids more and really appreciating the fact that I get to stay home with them and pretty much do what we please! I am fortunate that Joel is so supportive and works so hard to enable me to have what many would consider a luxury...I have to remind myself of that sometimes but I am really trying to take advantage of the time I have with the kids. I don't want to regret anything when they get older. On a personal note, I had an epiphany a few nights ago. I always pray that I will have more patience with my kids....something that I seriously need and then as I was praying one night I had that thought that I should pray to love them more and feel more compassion for them. I realized that the more love I have for them, the more patient I will naturally be with them as a result. Of course I don't need to say that I have always loved my children, but it was really cool to find a different way to acheive and answer to my prayer.

My Head hurts

2008-10-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

Here is another cute Jonathan story. This morning I heard him say that his head hurt. I didn't think much of it and it didn't really seem to bother him much. On the way to watch conference at Church he fell asleep (only a 10 min drive). When we got there he woke up and immediately started to say that his head hurt. When we got inside the chapel, he sat with me. He WATCHED conference for the first 10 min or so (no talking, just sitting quietly on my lap), then I knew that he really wasn't feeling well. After a while, he asked if he could lie down and fall asleep. He laid his head on my lap and not long after fell asleep. He woke up half way through conference and you could tell that he was in pain. He sat with me for the rest of the time. I had to leave to get something, and when I got back you could see the tears in his eyes. He was upset that I had left him. I asked him if he wanted me to get him some medicine when we got home and he said no. Then I asked him if he wanted daddy to give him a blessing and he said yes. I told him to ask daddy, which he did. It was so cute. You could hear the tears welling up inside when he asked Joel. Once conference was over, Joel and Mike (grandad) gave him a blessing. The result was almost immediate. Joel blessed him that he would return to his usual energetic self (a testimony that blessings really come from Heavenly Father, as I am sure Joel didn't want him to be quite his usual energetic self :)) and that his head wouldn't hurt anymore. Within a few minutes of the blessing I asked him how he felt. He said his head didn't hurt anymore. I asked him if he knew why not, and he said "because my daddy and grandad gave me a blessing". I then heard him telling another sister "my head hurt, but know it doesn't because my daddy and grandad gave me a blessing". I am so thankful for the priesthood. I am thankful that my kids have a strong testimony of priesthood blessings. They have faith in their daddy and know that through the priesthood they will feel better.

First day of school

2008-10-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

For Hannah's first day of school we decided to put her hair in rags. She has asked me to do this on a few occasions lately, but we forget until it is bedtime. She was a little nervous about going to french immersion, so I suggested this as way to distract her. It worked, she was all excited about it as soon as I suggested it.

Joel left for work late that morning so he could come with me and the kids to take her to school for the first day. She was really happy to see one her her friends from her class last year (Naomi). She is such a cutie. She met her teacher and then it was time to say goodbye. When she got home from school, there was a note from her teacher Mdm. Robert that said "Hannah had a great start today. She loves the dollies in our room. She loves to ineract with her teacher and her new classmates. She is very comfortable around here! What a nice girl!" Isn't that a nice note :)

Jonathan had his first day of school the same day as well (really he had a interview with his teacher in the morning and then went for part of the afternoon). He was excited to go to school. I wasn't sure if he would act shy, but he had no problem. It helped that there were toys to play with in the yard b/4 he went in, and he knew a couple of kids in his class (Mitchell Kucie from church and Logan from Hannah's dance). When the bell rang, he found his bag and stood in line. There were a number of kids upset to be leaving their mums, but not him. He waved goodbye and that was it.

Even when I forgot to pick Jonathan up for school, he wasn't upset. I thought that he was taking the bus home, but as it wasn't technically his first day of school, I was supposed to pick him up. I felt so bad, but he didn't seem to notice. He was waiting in the office with his teacher Mrs. Harris. He said he had a good day, but was looking forward to next week when they would get to do painting :)

Music to my ears

2008-09-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

Jonathan continues to amaze me. After church on Sunday, Kerri-Ellen came up to me to share a cute Jonathan story. She said that he was giving his teacher a hard time in Sharing Time, and then the pianist started to play "I love to see the Temple". She said Jonathan sat up and said "I love this song. I went to the Temple with my mommy and daddy". She said he then sat reverently and sang the entire song :) So cute. We listen to the primary songs a lot in the car and I have really noticed lately how much he is enjoying singing. While we are on the subject of Jonathan singing, here is another cute story. Benjamin was upset when I was putting him to bed the other night. Jonathan suggested I sing him a song. I sang him "I am a child of God" and then Jonathan asked me to sing it to him. After I finished I said good night and left their room. Benjamin was getting upset again and I heard Jonathan say "don't be upset Benjamin", and now for the best part, then I heard him singing "I am a child of God" to Benjamin. Doesn't that just make your heart melt!!! I have heard him sing to him a couple of times since then. It is nice to know that he loves his brother despite all the trouble he gives him.

Swim test

2008-09-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

The new Newcastle pool opened up this week. I took the kids swimming on the first day. One of the lifegaurds came up to me and said that next time I brought the kids, I would have to bring another adult (the child to adult ratio is 3:1), unless one of the kids can pass the swim test. I was pretty sure that Hannah could pass the test, so she went and tried. In order to pass the swim test, kids have to be able to swim from one side of the pool to the other without stoping. They also have to swim with their face in the water for a few strokes. As she was swimming the lifegaurd kept trying to give her instructions, so Hannah stopped. The lifeguard said she didn't pass the test b/c she stopped a couple of times, but didn't realize that she had only stopped b/c the lifeguard was talking to her. We went for public swimming on Wednesday and I had Hannah try the swim test again. This time she passed with no problem. It is so cute to watch her. She is an amazing little swimmer. At the end of last summer, she could swim by herself a little bit, but at the beginning of this summer she wanted to use a lifejacket or water wings again. I think she just lacked the confidence to go for it. We swam alot over the summer (once a week at the Bailey's, plus sometimes at the outdoor pool or at Gramma Burnfields pool in Wilmot Creek) and she got her confidence back. When we went to Palymra, she swam with Joel in the deep end, and fell in love with doing cannon balls into the pool. Now she can swim all over the pool by herself. She can even float on her back! Jonathan has been doing great with his swimming lately. He uses the water wings and can swim all over the place with them. It is so cute to watch his legs go :) Lately he has been swimming under the water a lot and sometimes he doesn't even plug his nose.

Palmyra

2008-07-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

Palymra was great. The kids were the best they have ever been while we toured the sites. They sat through the whole Restoration movie at the Hill Cumorah visitor centre (only 15 minutes, but still great). Afer the movie was over, we went into the interactive part of the visitor center. Jonathan really enjoyed himself watching all the Book of Mormon movies. He made sure he went to all the different stations to watch them all. It is moments like those that you realize all the other crazy stuff that happens while we were there is worth it:) They were also really good in the grove and at the Joseph Smith homes. When we were in the log home another child kept picking up all the artifacts. One of the sister missionaries kept asking him not to and taking them away from him, but he kept grabing different things. I thought Jonathan and Benjamin were going to join him, but they just stood quietly and listened!!!!! AMAZING :)

The kids also had a lot of fun swimming on Saturday and Monday. Hannah was doing huge cannon balls into the shallow end by herself and then ventured into the deep end with Joel close by. She jumps in and then swap to the surface and over to the side of the pool by herself. Jonathan also decided to be brave and jump into the pool by himself (no lifejacket or water wings). I was amazed. Jonathan hasn't been much of a water baby, so this was incredible. A few times he jumped in without telling me. He did a good job of swimming to the surface, but I helped him to the side of the pool. I was so proud of him. Even Benjamin was getting brave in the water. He had his life jacket on, but he jumped to me a couple of times (with me holding one of his hands) and even started to kick his feet while I swam him through the water. It was so cute to see.
The weather was really nice. Saturday was nice and hot for swimming and then not too cold while we were watching the Pageant. Hannah and Jonathan fell asleep through the Pageant, but Benjamin stayed awake. It rained a lot on Sunday, but by the time we finished with the site seeing and went back to the campsite, it had stopped raining. A few sleeping bags in the tent got wet, but we were able to dry them out in the sun before bed. Eden slept great while we were there, so I can't complain :)

Eden is eating

2008-06-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today is the day. Eden started solids...okay,okay, she actually had a Baby Mum Mum cracker on sat. and sun and really liked them so I decided I should try giving her cereal. She has been trying to grab my plate lately. I wasn't sure if that was b/c she wanted the food, or b/c she just likes to grab things. She did great with the crackers (they pretty much dissolve in the mouth) on the weekend and then had more today. She would get upset if I didn't give her the pieces fast enough. I also gave her some rice cereal today and she loved it. She didn't make any funny faces or gag or anything. She ate all that I had prepared (a couple of tablespoons for sure) and probably would have eaten more if I offered it to her. I should also mention that she is doing amazingly with her sleeping. I decided to put her in last saturday night (after she was wide awake half the night before just for the fun of it). I didn't want to do it, but thought I would see if it made a difference. If it didn't then I was going to bring her back into our room. She slept incredibly the first night. She went to bed around 8pm and didn't get up until 7:45am...I wasn't sure if that was just beginners luck???? the next couple of nights she got up earlier (1am and then around 4am), but after that she has been great. She has been sleeping until around 6:30 (although this morning it was 5:30) so I am extremely happy. I put her to bed and down to nap awake sometimes and most of the time she doesn't make a peep. She just puts her two middle fingers in her mouth and goes to sleep. She is such a dollie :) I just love her. She has such an amazing temperement. Even when she does wake up in the night, she is really happy. Most mornings she will lie in bed with me for an hour or more and just be content with a little toy or something. She gives the huggest smiles (although never when I have the camera....I think she is too busy looking at the camera to smile) and is truly just a happy little girl.

My sweet husband

2008-06-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

Joel is away in Montanna on a Mine training course. He sent me the nicest email this morning that I want to remember :)
Hello my most wonderful wife!!

Was a long day travelling, and this more than any other trip I feel home sick. Probably because I haven’t been gone this long in a while, and I feel as though I’ll be missing so much, nothing in particular but just not being there. I’ve thought about you a lot throughout the day, wondered what you were doing, what the kids were up to, wishing I could be there rather than cramped in some plane or sitting on an uncomfortable airport chair. It started to weigh on my last night, I started thinking how harsh I was yesterday and that those were the last things I said and did before going away for a week. I’m really sorry! I wish I was a better parent and husband. Then I started wishing I didn’t have to go so I was in no rush to get packed. I’ve got a pretty nice view of the mountains from my window, but I’d rather be able to see my wife and kids.

Friday wasn’t much better, it was my own fault and I was mad at myself and took it out on you, I’m sorry! I hope you know how much I love you, I wouldn’t be able to get by without you. So much of who I am is because of you and the kids are very fortunate to have such a strong mom.

You’ve done a great job doing your cakes. I’m very proud of you! It’s refreshing to see you take such an interest and initiative in something. I think I’ve always had something, like sports or investing, for me to get into and I’ve always felt kind of selfish and guilty. You’re such a giving person, whether it’s to us, our family’s or friends, or people at church, it’s important to take time for yourself, to do something you enjoy.

You’re my best friend, my greatest love, my Eternal Beloved. Friday can’t come fast enough.

All my love from miles away,

Joel
XO

Kids of Steel Race Day

2008-06-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Hannah and Jonathan's "race day". We hadn't made a huge deal out of it in the weeks leading up to it. On Wednesday I Jonathan if he wanted to do the race and he was still interested. They were both really good about it. Hannah did two races last year (one triathalon and 1 duathalon) so she had no problems with it. Saturday morning the kids got up early because they were all excited. When we left the house around 7am it was already hot. We arrived around 8am and got the kids bikes in the transition area, then they got their registration kits and then got their "numbers" on their arm and leg. Jonathan and Hannah were both in the same age group, but Jonathan was number 12 in the first wave and Hannah was number 31 in the 3rd wave. Joel took Jonathan up to the pool and waited with him while I watched with Hannah, Eden. Jonathan seemed fine and was dangling his feet in the water, but as soon as they said "go" he froze. He wouldn't get in the water. Finally Joel got him and they ran around the pool and over the the transition area. Once Jonathan got on his bike he past quite a few kids. I was at the pool with Hannah, but I was watching out the window and saw the first and last part of his bike ride. Joel said he did pretty good with the running part, but by far he was best on his bike. As soon as I came over to him he showed me his medal and said "I won" it was really cute (all the kids get the same medal). He seemed to have fun. As we were leaving he said "next time I want to go in the pool" (except he was using an acusitory tone as if we had said he couldn't go in the pool".

Hannah did great...expect for the start. When they blew the whistle to get in the pool, she stood up and jumped in.....her head went under and she got water up her nose, so she was a little stunned. Once she recovered from that she did really great. I ran with her (and Eden in the snuggly) to the bike transition area and then Joel stayed with her for her run. She is really good on her bike, but she could have been faster if she didn't still have her training wheels. We definitely need to work on that for September. She had no problem with the running...but it is hard to get your kids to be competitive, without making it all about winning. I don't think they really get the concept of a "race" and winning yet, but that is okay.

Cleaning house

2008-06-01T19:00:00.001-07:00

I decided to buy the Mr. Clean mopping system thing to help keep my kitchen floor clean. I wash it once a week, but it really could use it much more (especially under the table). Jonathan and Benjamin are constantly dropping food on the floor. Hannah and Jonathan were excited when they saw it and wanted to help, I explained that it wasn't a toy. A little while later I was on the computer and I heard a noise. I asked Jonathan what he was doing and he told me that he was cleaning and he was almost done. I checked it out a few minutes later and found him in the dining room moping the floor in his underwear, it was a funny site. He had taken the mop out and had washed the living room and dining room floor....except he used way too much of the cleaning solution. I could see it all over the floor (it sprays out the front of the mop). He insisted on finishing the floor. It was really cute, but at the same time he used the entire bottle of cleaning solution! I was hoping it would last more than one day :) He actually really likes helping me clean, or just helping in general. I find that when he is being a little out of control I can get him to calm down by asking him to help me with something. He has been pretty good lately. I have had numerous comments that he seems to have really calmed down lately :) Yeah! He has been really good at "Town Hall". When I picked him up last wee his teacher was telling me how great he was doing. She said that he is a pleasure to work with. It was good to hear that. I always worry how he will behave. I know he can get a little wild with me and Joel, but was pretty sure he didn't get that way for others....it was good reassurance.

Little stinker

2008-06-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday night was not a very fun night for us....mostly me :( Joel had decided to tell the kids that they could have a sleepover in the family room....cute idea, but the kids were a little too excited about it. I had 3 cakes to finish and was upset b/c my new printer (with edible ink) that I was going to use for 2 of the cakes wasn't working (a whole other story), so I was very frustrated. I finally started on the cakes as the kids were watching a movie and then realized that Joel was going downstairs to workout. The kids finally settled down and I got what I needed to done. Hannah was the first to fall asleep, then Jonathan and finally Benjamin. I was up until about 1am finishing the cakes and then went to bed. Just as I was about to get into bed Eden woke up. I think it was b/c of the lights in the washroom...she decided that she was wide awake and didn't finally go to sleep until 3:30am... I was so tired. I tried nursing her I don't know how many times. She was pretty happy, but didn't just want to sit still. I kept having to move her around and give her something to play with. I moved into Hannah's room so we wouldn't wake up Joel. I finally rocked her to sleep and then she woke up again 30 min later. I nursed her and then she slept again until 6am...I was so exhausted. I have no idea what Eden was thinking. Surprisingly enough she wasn't cranky on Saturday. I decided to cut her sleep short (sometimes she will take an afternoon nap that lasts more than 3 hours) and see if she slept better through the night. I couldn't decide if I should put her in the crib or not. I put Hannah and Jonathan in the crib around 5 or 5 1/2 months...as much as I like my sleep, I kind of like my little sleeping buddy, but on the other hand, it would be very nice to not have her wake up multiple times a night. I finally decided to go for it. I put her in the basinet and placed the basinet in the crib. She was wide awake, and she didn't even make a peep. She woke up 12am and brought her into bed to feed her. I would have fallen back asleep, but she had a dirty diaper. After changing her, I decided to try and put her back in the basinet. I fully expected her to cry, but didn't hear a peep. I kept waking up and listening for her, but she didn't wake up until 7:45am :) I am not sure if that was just beginners luck??? I put her in the basinet again tonight. I am constantly amazed that she will put herself to sleep (I have been trying to put her to bed and nap awake for the past couple of weeks). It is amazing what babies can do. She is such a cutie pie. She is such a happy little girl. She gives the hugest smiles....especially to her mommy :)

The New Narnia

2008-05-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

We decided to take the kids to "Narnia - Prince Caspian" aka "the new Narnia". For weeks, whenever the kids would see a Narnia preview on TV they would say "it's the new Narnia". The kids were pretty good during the movie. I was hoping that Eden would sleep through it (we went to an afternoon show partially for that reason). She slept a little at the beginning and then woke up. Benjamin ended up falling asleep on Joel. Grandad bought the kids a huge popcorn and pop for a snack, which was great, but also meant that the kids each had to go to the washroom during the movie. I took Jonathan to the washroom and then he ended up peeing on his pants.......I was so upset with him. I knew as soon as he sat on the toilet that it was going to happen as he didn't pull his pants down all the way and started going as SOON as he sat down. I was so frustrated with him. I knew that I was overreacting, but at the same time couldn't stop myself. I feel so horrible when I do that. Fortunately it is'nt that often. Aside from that we had a great time. The movie was really good and the kids enjoyed it. Jonathan wants "a new Narnia" sword he saw at Toys R Us for Christmas. What a funny boy. As I am typing this he is sitting beside me and playing with my hair. He has been doing this lately. He will sit beside me and run his fingers through my hair. He also will come up to me and just touch his hand to my face and hold it there and then tell me he loves me. I love how affectionate our kids are. They tell us multiple times a day that they love us and are always giving us hugs and kisses.

Fireworks

2008-05-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Queen Victoria day with fireworks on Monday night. Bowmanville had it's anual fireworks at the Johnson's on Monday night. Joel went out with Jonathan earlier in the day and bought some fireworks from the big truck by the Bowmanville Zoo. When we got there it was REALLY windy, but we were prepared. We were dressed warmly and I had made a nice big thermos of hot chocolate. Yummy! There were hotdogs and chips and lots of desserts to eat. The big boys (daddy included) played catch while the little kids played around. At one point I saw Jonathan, Benjamin and Joel trying to roll down a little (extremely little) hill. It was addorable. They all happened to be wearing red. Benjamin was trying to figure out how to lie down so that he could then roll down. It was so cute.
Eden spent much of the night sleeping on Sister Johnston. Doesn't she look adorable. I love that hat :)
As usual, Hannah was trying to hang out with the big girls (Stephanie and Shania who are 7 years older than her). They are nice girls, but I would much rather her play with the girls her age. Joel took her to the fire to roast marshmallows, which distracted her enough so that she eventually started playing with Logan and Bianca. The wind died down once the sun started to set, so that made it even more enjoyable. Once the sun set, Joel brought out glow sticks for the kids. A little while later, Hannah came up to me and told me that she had given hers to Brother Wry's niece (also a Hannah, and not a member). I thought that was so thoughtful of her. Once the Brother Coutts and Brother Brignall started setting off the fireworks, we got comfy on our lawn chairs and cuddled under blankets and had our hot chocolate. I loved listening to the kids as they watched the fireworks, all their "wow's" and "ooh's". It was great. Moments like these make me so happy that we have had our kids so close together. I love that they will have many of the same memories.

Funny Boy

2008-05-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

I just had to share a few things Jonathan has said lately.....Joel was wearing a pink polo shirt the other day ( I bought it for part of his "Don Johnson" costume). Jonathan came up to him and pointed to his stomach and said "why are you wearing a girls shirt?" I thought it was hillarious :) I was trying to fix the sink in the powder room yesterday (yes, again). I had the sink all hooked up and turned the water on....and then the leaking started. I drained the water and took the sink apart and turned it upside down and then the water came pouring out (evidently from somewhere inside the sink) and all over my pants. When Jonathan saw me he said "Mommy you had an accident" I told him it was water and he said "no, I see pee on your pants". What a cutie eh!

Mother's day at the farm

2008-05-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

We went to the farm yesterday (finally! the kids have asked me multiple times everyday last week if it was the day we were going to the farm) to celebrate Mother's Day and had a lot of fun. We got there around noon (we stopped on the way to pick up Mum's flowers from a greenhouse I love). Dad was outside so we met the new ponies and then went into the house for lunch. We were just having lunch when the Bremner's arrived. I was surprised that the kids finished their lunches and weren't too distracted by their arrival. I really wanted to take the kids for a walk to the back woods to look for Trilliums (I have tried to show them some along the side of the road a couple of times this week, but I wanted them to have a closer look). Before we were able to go, Jordan called to find out if we were going to come and take a look at his house. Rebekah, Noni and I went while Dad took the kids for a horse ride on Belle.

I havn't been back to Donnie Lutes's house since I babysat for them. I remember thinking that they had a HUGE house when I was younger....but I was surprised to find that it wasn't that big at all. It is amazing how our perspective changes. I probably thought their house was huge b/c I knew that they had money. It was really cute to see Jordan and Shannon in their own space. We had a nice visit with them and then headed back to the farm. By the time we got back, the kids had finished their rides, so they were happy to come for a walk. I havn't walked to the back forest in 10 years (or something like that), so it brought back so many memories of me going back to get the heard, or to look for wild strawberries or my personal favourite, thistle dutie (digging up the thistle plants). We found the trilliums exactly where I remember them being. It was very cool.

It is so nice to see all the cousins playing together. They get along really well. I love being at the farm where they have a little more "open range". They played on the trampoline, but the horses, in the field with the jumps and all over the place.

Big boy bed

2008-05-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

We finally decided to put Benjamin in his "big boy bed" in Jonathan's room. Two Sunday's ago at bedtime, Joel asked him if he wanted to sleep in the bed, and that was it. I was amazed that he actually stayed in bed....he went to sleep without getting up once. Jonathan didn't want him to sleep in "his" room (even though I have been telling him forever that he is going to share his room with Benjamin). I figured that was too easy....I was right. I tried putting Benjamin to bed the next night, and he kept getting out of bed. I put him back in his bed 3 times, and then put him in his crib. He slept most nights in his crib during that week (although I kept starting him off in his bed). Almost every night Jonathan would say "put him in his crib". This past week was a much better week. I think he slept in his bed every night. He will sneak out of his bed once or twice, but he is really good for Joel and will go back to bed without complaining and has fallen asleep. I was really surprised on Wednesday night b/c when I got home late from activity days, they boys came out of their room (Jonathan had a nap earlier in the day, so he didn't fall asleep right away). I put them back in their room and went downstairs. I could hear them playing around upstairs, but we didn't bother them, and eventually they got into their beds and fell asleep. Benjamin came out of his room once tonight, Joel put him back in and that was it. I keep waiting for it to get worse, partially b/c Jonathan was terrible once we moved him to a bed. It took us a good 6 months to get back to the point where we could put him in bed and leave the roo and he would go to sleep ( I used to have to lay outside his room so he could see me, then I would gradually close the door until I could finally close it and sneak away. Then we got to the point where I could just sit outside his door and let him know that I was still there every once and a while......and then finally we could say goodnight and close the door! That was a huge Horray moment :)) I havn't been able to get Benjamin to go down in his bed at nap time, but I can work around that. Eden isn't quite ready to move to the crib, but it is nice to know it will be ready for her.

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

Another Mother's Day has come and gone. Joel took the kids out on Friday night to pick something up for me, so I had an idea of what they were getting me when they came back from their shopping trip and Jonathan kept trying to tell me what they bought me (during one of his trys, I heard him say that they bought us a phone. I just got a new phone, so I figured it was something for that). I stayed in bed so the kids could bring the gift up to me. Hannah made an adorable card at school that I just LOVED :) I will include a pic later, but what I really loved was the inside. Here is what it said (there were 8 questions that Hannah answered):

My mom is "funny"
My mom likes to "walk"
My mom's favourite T.V show is "Rachel Ray"
My mom's favourite sons is "Into the Night"
My mom likes to eat "spagetti"
My mom likes it when "I hold my baby sister"
My mom's favourite word is "cutie"
My mom's the best because "she plays with me"

Isn't that so cute! I am always so impressed with how observant our kids are, especially Hannah, which makes sense as she is the oldest. I think she did a great job answering the questions. All her answers may not be my "favourites", but there are things we will do together i.e watch Rachel Ray (one of her favourite chefs), listening to "Into the Night" on my iPod...she is always asking to listen to it, and then she will sing it at the top of her lungs.
The kids were really good for me during sacrament. I brought the church activities that Rebekah gave me for christmas, and the kids really enjoyed doing them. Joel was the closing speaker in sacrament. He did a really good job. He opened by explaining that he is a "momma's boy", so this was going to be tough. He used a lot of quotes from scriptures and Sherri Dew and Julie B. Beck, he referenced his mom and me a few times, but was very emotional when he did. Brother Goral gave him a hug and said "that is exactly what I needed to hear" after sacrament was over. I thought it was very sweet. After church we came home and I finished a yummy cake for Grace's.
Eden was a little fussier than normal today, and then at the same time she laughed a ton with me. I can get her to laugh whenever I pretend to nibble her tummy, or when I put her nose to my face....but today she was laughing like crazy when I was talking to her. It was super cute.

Auntie Noni comes for a visit

2008-05-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics Noni took when she came for a visit on April 14th. I asked her to come and watch the boys while I was at a Dr.'s appointment. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.

A new strategy

2008-05-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post....I had been updating our blog at night after Eden was in bed.....unfortunately she hasn't been cooperating as much at bedtime. Either she isn't going to bed until much later, or she doesn't want to go to bed unless I am holding her...I have decided to try a new strategy....I am going to try and update this blog when she is napping :) Hopefully this will work out better.

Spring Time Fun

2008-04-27T18:35:00.001-07:00

I am so happy it is spring. We have been having so much fun the past couple of weeks. I have been out walking to with the kids almost every day. Eden sits in the snuggly, and I push Hannah, Jonathan and Benjamin in the bike trailer. We have been to lots of parks, Valeries, the Library, grocery store....you name it. I love having a destination to walk to. Hannah and Jonathan have been riding their bikes a lot. I am trying to get Hannah to get rid of her training wheels. We tried using just one training wheel, but she didn't like it so much. We let the kids ride down to "Alley Scoops" for ice cream a couple of weeks ago. We kept meaning to go last year, but never did. I was at a park with the kids a couple of Thursday's ago and saw a sign saying it was open. Hannah is great on her bike, and Jonathan is really good as well....although he sometimes likes to stop to look at an especially nice stick or rock. It was a lot of fun. Joel rode his bike to keep up with the kids (although I don't think he had to peddle much) and I pushed Benjamin in the bike trailer and carried Eden in the snuggly. I wish I had brought my camera....but forgot. It was cute to see Joel and the kids on their bikes, not to mention Jonathan's face after he finished eating his chocolate (what else) ice cream. His face was covered :)

Since it has been nicer out, we have started going on the trampoline together after dinner.

It was really rainy and cold last week, so we didn't get out much :(

I want a bite

2008-04-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

I am sooooo HAPPY to report that Benjamin asks for food now. He is doing a lot of talking now, but not too many sentances....but one that he says alot is "I want a bite". There was a time when I thought he would never be interested in food, but it looks like he finally sees the benefits to eating. The other morning he came upstairs saying "I want a bite", I was wondering what he wanted to eat. It turns out he was carrying a water bottle and wanted a drink :) He almost had it right:) I don't have to force him to eat very often anymore. I am still feeding him because I want to make sure he will eat, but he is doing so much better. We had dinner at Grace's on Sunday night and Benjamin sat in the high chair for over 30 min eating. It was amazing :)

Blue Jays

2008-04-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

We went to a Blue Jays game on Tuesday night. Joel has been planning it for a while. The tickets were only $2 a piece. We were planning on buying them when we got to the Skydome, but as were walking towards the ticket booth, a man offered us some of his tickets. He was there with a large group and had extras. Even though the tickets would have only cost us $8, it was still cool to get them for free. Once we had our tickets in hand, we went for some "street meat". This was the kids first experience with it. We stood on the bridge overlooking the Go trains below and ate our hot dogs/sausages. The kids were really good for us. There was a railing on the ledge of the bridge, so the kids stood behind it. It was a good way to keep them in one spot. As we were driving through downtown, we were talking to them about the importance of staying with us b/c it was such a huge place. When we were walking towards the SkyDome, Jonathan kept looking up to the CN tower. We have been to the CN tower before, but Jonathan was around 20 months, so he probably doesn't remember. The kids were pretty good for the game. Jonathan kept wanting to run up the stairs, but we were able to keep him in our row. Jonathan kept asking if it was time to go home yet....It was really cute to watch them look around the stadium. Benjamin kept saying "baseball". Joel took them out to the kids zone for a while. He said there were really good for him until it was time to go. He gave Jonathan his shoes and then was putting Benjamin's on, when Jonathan decided to leave. Joel said he was gone for a few minutes and he couldn't find him....luckily Jonathan came wandering back. No matter how many times we explain to him that it isn't safe to wander away from us, he just doesn't get it. I don't think he is trying to do it, but it just doesn't sink it that we might not be able to find him. Even when he came back to Joel, I don't think he was scared. They were gone for a long time, so I was worried that something like this had happened, I almost went out to find Joel, but then they came back. It was a long game, so we left a little early (around 9:30pm) and listened to the rest of the game on the way home in the car. All in all, the kids were really good. There are a few more $2 nights, so we will probably go again. Joel has really fond memories of going to Jays games with his dad (Jan) when he was younger, so he really wants to share that with our kids.

Date Night

2008-03-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

Joel and I went on a date to a Leafs game. Joel was given the tickets by one of his re-insurers. When I told Hannah that we were going on a date, she told me "you don't have to go on a date because you went on a date when you were married." It goes to show you how many "dates" we go on. Jonathan and Benjamin went to spend time with Grandad, and Hannah when with Gran to the YW broadcast. Benjamin still isn't feeling 100%, so I was a little concerned about leaving him. When we pulled up to the house, I saw that Jordan was home and knew that I didn't have to worry b/c Benjamin LOVES Jordan. When we picked them up tonight Grace said that they were good and that Benjamin stayed with Jordan the whole night.
The game was good. The Leafs actually won :) They were playing the Montreal Canadians. There were so many Canadians fans. Eden was wearing a red toque to keep her head warm, and apparently people thought that we were Habs fans as well. Eden was an angel through the game. The funnest part of the night was listening to the fans behind us. They were a bunch of young guys and were so into the game. At one point they were talking about one of the Leaf's players and one of the guys said "if they trade him, I will move with him". Talk about dedication. It was a fun night

Monkey See Monkey Do

2008-03-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

We had one of our home teachers over tonight (Mike Chisholm). The kids were being really calm (partially b/c they wern't feeling great) as he was giving the lesson. Benjamin was sitting on Joel's lap and I watched as Benjamin kept copying what Mike was doing. I first noticed it when Benjamin was holding his hands...something he usually only does during prayer. Then he kept making these large arm movements and then folding his arms. It was so cute to watch him. Once Mike would do something, then Benjamin would copy it. I pointed it out to Joel and Mike, so Mike made even more arm movements and Benjamin kept copying him. I havn't seen him do that before. Too Cute :)

Easter Weekend

2008-03-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Easter has come and gone. We had a very busy weekend. We went to Mum and Dad's on Friday. We got there around 12pm. I put some egg bread in the oven and then the turkey while the kids played outside. I was washing my hands at the sink when I looked outside and saw Dad pushing Jonathan on the tire swing....the kids love playing with Pappa :) We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch (seems to be a tradition whenever we are there for lunch) and then Joel went to help dad get a couple of loads of hay for the horses. The Bremners arrived around 3pm and Jordan and Shannon came around 5pm. Dinner was good. Jordan was so cute. As soon as he saw the egg bread he said "that looks just like Anne's", he was so excited :) He asked Joel if I made it a lot (usually only around Easter) Joel told him he has had it a few times, but that I make lots of other breads as well, then Jordan kept saying "it's going to be top of your list". It was very sweet. Jared and Stephanie didn't come b/c Jared had to work, but initially I made it thinking of Jared. I'm not sure if I have gotten such a positive reaction from Jordan before. The kids made "resurrection rolls" after dinner (Abigail and Ethan explained what the spices, butter, marshmallow represent). We left around 10pm, just as they were putting on "Enchanted". It was a good day. The kids were really good :)

Saturday was a very busy day. We went to the Newcastle Town Hall for "breakfast with the Easter Bunny". We have gone for the past 4 or so years.....last year Jonathan wouldn't go near the Easter Bunny (he has a thing for costumes....he won't go near Santa either), I was curious to see what he would do this year, but before we had even sat down he ran over to me to show me what the Easter Bunny had given him. The kids had fun, but the pancakes were terrible...they are usually pretty good (not as good as homeade), but this year they were cooked soooooooo long you could barely cut them. Oh, well. After breakfast we went up to "White Feather Farm" in Raglan so the kids could pet the baby chicks. They were only 2 days old and very cute. Jonathan and Benjamin pet one, and Hannah got to hold one. Very cute :) When we finished we headed to Uncle Mark's barn. Every time Hannah sees Mark she asks if she can come over and then bugs us to call Mark for the next week. We finally made it Saturday afternoon. The kids looked at all the animals....he has horses, pigs, cats, lamas (cool), donkeys and I have probably forgot something. Oh, yeah! Chickens :) Then the real fun began...the kids got to go snowmobiling. Joel has lots of funny stories about snowmobiling with Mark when he was a kid, so it was neat that our kids got to go. Matty took Hannah and Joel took Jonathan. There wasn't a ton of snow...but enough. Joel took Benjamin out and I even went for a slooowww ride with Eden (she was in the snuggly). Hannah went out with Mark later and he let her drive a little. You could tell when she was controlling the gas because the snowmobile would lurch forward and then slow right down. It was a lot of fun. More snow please so we can go again :) Okay, maybe we will wait until next year. I want spring.

We went to see Gramma Stoklosa for dinner. Joel took to kids down to play mini golf and pool while gramma and I watched a cake decorating special on foodtv. We went for dinner to an Italian restaurant near Gramma....Yummy :) I had a coconut currie pasta dish with chicken and huge shrimp. It was so good. The kids were really good. They didn't run around at all. They are getting better when we eat out (which isn't often). Gramma gave the kids a whole BOX of Kinder Surprise eggs....there are 25 of them !!!!

Sunday morning was good. Joel had a bishopric mtg for 8am, so we had an earlier start than I would have liked. Jonathan was so tired from Saturday, that we had to wake him up! That never happens. The kids got to hunt for their eggs (they each had their own room to hunt in) and then we got ready for church. Before we left for church I took some pictures of the kids in their adorable matching easter outfits :) They looked so adorable :) I love getting matching outfits. It was so nice to get a matching outfit for Hannah and Eden. The kids were good for me during sacrament, yeah. Eden slept through sacrament, so that helped a lot. We had a quite afternoon watching the animated version of Ben Hur. It is shorter than the movie, but very much the same (which made me happy) I got to catch most of it while I made more Egg bread and iced a cake. We went to Valeries for dinner. Cassie and Drew had another egg hunt for them in the basement....needless to say they ate more chocolate than dinner :) Cassie and Drew are so sweet with them. They are always willing to play with them. Well....that was our Easter weekend! Busy, but very fun.

Jonathan's soccer days

2008-03-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

Jonathan made it through his first "season" of soccer. It was a seven week program where they learned drills and soccer skills and then played a game of soccer at the end. It was hillarious to watch the kids play...there was a yellow team and red team, each was supposed to go in opposite directions, but in every game it ended up that they tried to score on which ever net they were headed towards. Jonathan had a bit of a rough start the first couple of weeks, sometimes he wouldn't participate and would just run around doing his own thing, but the past three weeks he really improved. Wednesday was his last class of this session. He was awesome the whole time. He did all the warm ups and played the drill games (i.e. fishes and sharks). One of the drill games that I really loved watching was "Messy Monkey, Clean Monkey". First they scattered the pilons all over the field, and then they had to go around and kick them over (or kick them over with the ball) and then when it was "clean Monkey" time, they had to stand them back up with their feet. It was so cute to watch him. Jonathan played great this week. He was really enthusiastic and participated in all the games. He stopped during the soccer game a couple of times to hang on the railing, but overall he was fantastic. We have signed him up for a summer session of soccer where he will be on a team and they will play other teams 3 on 3. Joel wants to coach him....I still have to call and put his name on the list.

A new calling

2008-03-17T19:38:00.001-07:00

Joel got a call on Friday night that he needed to meet with President Ulloa. He called on Saturday morning, and arranged for our family to meet with him on Sunday morning at 8:45am. We knew that it had something to do with the bishopric as our Bishop had served for 5 years. We went to see Pres. Ulloa on Sunday morning and he extended a call for Joel to be the second councelor in the Bishopric. He was ordained as a High Priest later that morning and then set apart as second counselor. So far so good, we made it through Sacrament with him on the stand. Luckily Laura Chisolm came and sat with me to help with the kids. We are used to him having a busy calling (Stake YM Pres. is very busy between the activities, conferences meetings, and then add on never ending scouting stuff). I am very thankful that he is so willing to accept callings and support those whom he is serving. I love him very much. He is a great daddy and a super example to me.

Then there were six

2008-03-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

Eden Elisabeth Stoklosa was born on Saturday December 29th, 2007 at 11:15pm. She weighed 8 lbs 8 ounces (our biggest babe). The first thing I noticed about her was that she was pink and round...such a cutie pie. Hannah came into our room (she came home from Sarah and Chris's open house with Nana and Papa) just after she came out. Hannah was in the room when the midwife said "it's a girl". Hannah was sooooooo thrilled. She really wanted a baby sister (she used to have an imaginary one before Eden was born). Eden latched on right away....and nursed for over an hour. I was so tired, but finally she fell asleep. Eden's sleeping schedule was a little wonky at first. She was really fussy between 11pm-1am and sometimes later. Plus, she would only go to sleep if she was being held. If I tried to lie her down and wasn't lying with her, then she would wake up. This lasted for the first month or so. I realized that if I changed her before nursing her around 10pm, then she would sleep right through her fussy time. As far as needing to hold her to sleep, gradually we worked her off that. Around 7 weeks she stared sleeping from around 10pm- 4 or 5am. The past couple of weeks she has been going to bed between 8:30 and 9am and is getting up once or twice....but no complaints from me. There were two nights a couple of weeks ago that she didn't get up until 5am and the next night 6am, but that hasn't happened again. Eden started smiling at 4 weeks, also about the same time as her "baby acne" kicked in (Hannah had it as well). It didn't clear up for a month...poor thing. She wasn't the happiest, but since it has cleared up Joel says that she is a new baby. She is so cute (can't say that enough). She is our "little lady" and we couldn't be happier.

Then there were five

2008-03-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

Benjamin Isaac Stoklosa was born at 3:36pm on May 2nd, 2006....He was 5 weeks early, and weighed in at 3 lbs 1 ounce and he was born in a hospital...gasp :) Benjamin's pregnancy was somewhat difficult, but it is amazing how Heavenly Father prepares you. I have always been felt somewhat apprehensive during the first trimester, but with Benjamin it was even worse. I just knew that something wasn't right. I had a blessing by Joel and Grampa Burnfield. It said that we would have a healthy baby, but I knew that didn't mean that there might not be other problems. During my 18 week Ultrasound, the technican kept asking me about my dates, she kept going over and over them. They thought that I was a month less than I thought...but I knew my dates. When my midwife (Maysoon) went over the results with me, she told me that the ultrasound showed that the baby was small and that there were some calcified spots in the bladder. She explained this could be nothing (i.e. underdeveloped bladder, blood in bladder) or it could mean something more serious (i.e. down syndrome or cystic fybrosis). The hospital called us and asked us to have some genetic testing done, but we declined. I decided I would rather have a happy pregnancy and deal with any problems when the baby was born, then worry my whole pregnancy. We also talked this over with a friend (Paul Whitsitt) who felt the same way. He suggested we have an additional ultrasound in a few weeks to see if the calcified spots still showed. I had another ultrasound a month or so later, and the baby was still measuring small (between 3-5 weeks small for gestation). At that point there wasn't much to be done. I continued to have more frequent ultrasounds to check for the size of the baby. Everything else seemed to be fine (i.e heartbeat and movement). At 30 weeks I was transfered to an obstetrician....I had always said I would deliver in a hospital if I had to, but I guess I never thought it would come to that. I really liked Dr. Peters. She was very down to earth. She sent me for weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests over the next month. She also felt it was important to get a second opinion from Mount Sinai (they specialize in high risk pregnancies). I went to see Dr. Ryan at Mount Sinai on a Friday. He did a ultrasound while I watched (there was a screen in front of me). After the ultrasound (and a very lengthy wait) he explained that it looked like baby was doing okay, for now. He said that he could see that the placenta was starting to break down and was concerned that if we waited for the baby to tell us that it was ready to be born, then it might be too late. He felt that baby could handle delivery at this point and suggested that I be induced as soon as possible. I took his report to Dr. Peters that afternoon and she scheduled me for an induction on the following Tuesday (May 2nd)....See what I mean about his pregnancy....I never got very big, and because he was so small I hardly ever felt him move. When he was born, he was healthy (just like the blessing said). He breathed on his own from the start. The big problem with Benjamin was that we had to wait for him to gain weight. It was hard to not be able to hold him as much as we wanted, but we knew that he wouldn't grow if he was stimulated too much. One of the nurses put it like this "our incubator is better than yours". I knew she meant well...but you still wonder what you did wrong. My placenta was sent away and the only answer of sorts that we got was that the umbilical cord was hypercoiled...and perhaps this lead to Benjamin being IUGR (Intra uterine growth restriction). Benjamin was in the hospital for 28 days. I would go to the hospital every day for 3 of his feedings. Usually I would go for the 9am and stay for the 12pm feed, go home and then come back after Hannah and Jonathan were in bed.
Benjamin is our "little peanut" or "Benjamini". Even after he came home it took him a very long time to grow. He was nursing, but not gaining...so his pediatrician told us he had to be supplemented on formula. At 6 months Benjamin gave up nursing....the bottle is much easier than the breast :( He looked like a new born for the first 6 months. I would try and hide him when we went to the store b/c I got tired of people asking how old he was and then having to give some kind of explanation for his size. I figured that he would crawl at 12 months and walk at 18 months...pretty good guess. He started crawling just before he turned one and he started walking when he was 17 months (he took his first steps at Valerie and Glen's cottage). He wasn't doing much talking before christmas (he would say a few words), but since christmas his vocabuarly has really increased.
Benjamin was a very calm and laid back baby. I thought he might stay that way, but lately he has started to be a bit of a "rascal". He used to wander all around the house, but never got into anything...now he wanders, but definitely gets into whatever he can (he made a mess with the flour on Saturday morning). Benjamin loves balls, he runs around at Jonathan's soccer and kicks the soccer balls. He wants to get on the field and play with the other kids. He also loves hockey. We have these mini hockey sticks that he loves to play with and shoot the puck. When ever there is music on he starts to dance. He also runs everwhere.....he hardly ever walks, perhaps that is why he is still small. He is burning a ton of extra calories b/c he runs everywhere. I love that Benjamin will still come and give me kisses, just because. He loves his baby sister (he can say Eden, but sometimes he gets confused and calls her Emma). He uses a high tone of voice when he is talking to her. It is adorable. He loves Jonathan (even though Jonathan sometimes uses him as his own personal punching bag) and has even started trying instigate the wrestling with Jonathan.

Then there were four

2008-03-17T18:47:00.001-07:00

Jonathan Adam Stoklosa was born on Wednesday, October 20th 2004. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz. He looked like such a little man when he was born. He had a lot of dark brown hair and a natural part to the side. He had a perfect little boy haircut :) There was some debate about his name. I wanted Isaac for his first name and Joel really, really wanted Jonathan....I love the name Jonathan, but was afraid that everyone would try and call him John or Johnny....in the end, the name Jonathan had more meaning to Joel than Isaac did to me. Jonathan is named after Jonathan in the bible. Jonathan (son of Saul) was a friend of David's. Saul wanted to kill David, but Jonathan protected him. Joel admires the love that Jonathan had for David....thus the name Jonathan. Jonathan has the most beautiful auburn hair. I cut it for the first time on his first birthday. Before I cut it, he had blond streaks in the front, and a really long, dark auburn streak in the back. He has gorgeous ivory skin, amazingly long eyelashes, and incredible blue eyes. He is my beautiful blue eyed boy....Even though he is my beautiful boy, he has gone through (and still is) going through some "stages". He didn't really start talking until he was 18 months old. Prior to that, he would just scream to get what he wanted. I didn't mind it too much, because I knew that he would stop once he learned to speak. Jonathan loves balls. Ever since he could walk, he has been able to kick a soccer ball (much to Joel's joy). We enrolled him in organized soccer for the first time in January. He did really well the first week, but the next couple of weeks he just wanted to do his own thing. He would just run around the huge indoor field kicking the ball, but didn't want to join his team. The past couple of weeks he has been great. He has been participating in the drills and playing the game. It is so cute to watch him. I still have to get a picture of him in his super cute soccer uniform.
Jonathan loves movies with "bad guys". He turns anything he can find into a sword or a gun...I am not too happy with this, I am more than happy to let him watch Hannah's Barbie movies, but even these always have a bad guy of some sort. Jonathan is very passionate. When he is in upset (most often b/c he has gotten in trouble) he will run to me and just cling to my legs and apologize. He is also very energetic...we used to call him the energizer bunny. There was a long time when he had no interest in TV. He would just run around the house getting into everything. I was very happy once he would sit still for a few minutes and watch a show. Some of Jonathan's favourite movies are: Shrek and Shrek 2 (it sounds like "Shrek tooth" when he says it), Narnia, Transformers, Mulan, and Lion King (see what I mean about bad guys).
Jonathan loves his baby sister. The other day I asked Hannah to hold her on the couch for a minute, then Jonathan asked if he could. He sat with her (propped up by the couch arm) for at least 20 minutes. I kept checking on them, and he was content. She fell asleep and he kept kissing her head. It was soooooo cute. It is funny, because the first couple of days after Eden was born, Jonathan wasn't really interested in her. It was like he didn't know she was there. Once I said something to him about his baby sister and he said "she isn't my sister, she's your daughter". What a cutie pie :)

Then there were three

2008-03-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

Hannah Eve Stoklosa was born at 4:36am on Wednesday, January 15th, 2003. She was long awaited as we had had some trouble with previous pregnancies. She was born weighing 8 lbs and looking like she had just returned from a vacation in Florida. Hannah has brought us so much joy over the past 5 years....it is so hard to beleive that is has been five years. I used to hear people say that they couldn't remember when their kids were that small...I used to think that I would never forget the different stages my kids have gone through, but recently I have begun to realize that I can't remember as many of "little things" that I would like to. Hannah is a beautiful young lady. She sometimes acts much older than 5, and at other times much younger. I find this frustrating. I know I expect too much of her at times, and at other times I she shows me that she is capable of doing much more than I expect of her. Hannah is loving. Ever since she was a baby, she has loved to cuddle. Lately we cuddle on the couch together while watching Food Tv. She wants to be a "cooker" like Rachael Ray when she grows up. When ever I am making dinner, or baking she is always asking if I will show her how to make that when she gets bigger. Last year Hannah competed in her first triathalon (Kids of Steel) and she loved it. It was so cute to watch her swim across the little pool all by herself. Joel helped her in the transition areas I her brothers and I cheered her on. She said the running was her favourite part. She competed in a duathalon in September and came in 1st for the girls in her age group. We were so proud of her. Hannah has taken Highland dancing for the past 2 1/2 years. She loves to show you her "highland hands". Lately she really wants to learn how to tap dance. She was given a pair of black church shoes that she calls her tap shoes. Even though they are too big for her, she wears them around the house constantly to practice her tapping :) Hannah is in JK and is loving it. She has just started to read :) Last week she brought a book to me and asked me to help her. She is able to sound out all the letters and can sometimes figure out the word by herself, but most of the time she needs help putting the letter sounds together. I think she is doing awesome :) What else can I say about Hannah. She is a true little girl. She loves to dress up...never puts her clothes away after she has finished playing with them. She loves to put on makeup (luckily the makeup she got from a friend for her birthday is all gone), she loves her baby sister and is looking forward to sharing a room with her. She has a great imagination and loves to play. I love my baby girl...even though every time I call her that she tells me that she isn't a baby. She is my little Hannahla and her daddies angel.

There were two

2008-03-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

I don't have any great story to begin with...so I will just begin where our story started. Joel and I first met at a YSA dance when I was 19 and he was 18. His Uncle Mark came up to me and asked me if I would dance with his shy nephew....I agreed...we danced....Joel said I was not very encouraging and only answered "yes" or "no". I thought I was being friendly. Needless to say he didn't ask me out :( Joel went on his mission to South Africa and I went to Utah. I came home from Utah and he returned from his mission a year and a half later. We met again the first week of December at institute at the Heyland's apartment ( CES missionary couple from Alberta...Sis. Heyland is from South Africa). I had a job interview at work earlier that day. I can still remember the outfit I was wearing (brown pant suite with a goldish turtle neck) Joel couldn't keep his eyes off me :) even when I caught him staring at me he didn't turn away. We started hanging out as friends and then started dating in January. He proposed at the Sacred Grove in March 2000 while we were visiting Palmyra for the Temple's open house. We were married on June 17th 2000.