Thursday, April 16, 2009
Learning to Ride
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!!!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Zoo Time
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.
Monday, March 16, 2009
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!
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
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?????
Friday, February 13, 2009
I love you so much
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.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hannah's Audition
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!!!
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!!!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Updates
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.
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.
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