Hear that? I'm pretty!

Tonight as I was getting ready to brush Lily's teeth, she spotted my (unused) eyebrow/eyelash brush/comb.

"What's this, Mommy?"
"It's a comb and brush for your eyebrows and eyelashes... like this, see?"
"Oooh! Let me try!!"

And as she sat there carefully combing her eyebrows, I had a little pang of "oh no what if she really gets in to all the make up and girl-stuff that I was never interested in?"

And just then she reached out to me, gave me a big squeeze and said, "I love you, Mommy. You're so pretty."

Awwww...

Chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee

I love seeing these little visitors each day. This one came today and stayed for a while keeping safe from the hail.... hail in April.

Singing with my baby girl

One of my favourite that Sharon, Lois and Bram sing is A - You're Adorable (which was originally written and recorded in 1948 apparently!). We haven't listened to Sharon, Lois and Bram in almost a year because the kids had other songs/stories they were interested in. But lately Lily has been requesting them, and today on the way to school she was singing A - You're Adorablg to herself and then requested I sing with her as a duet, with each of us taking turns singing a letter.... it is the sweetest song to sing together with her:

"A," you're adorable,

"B," you're so beautiful,

"C," you're a cutie full of charms.

"D," you're a darling and

"E," you're exciting

And "F," you're a feather in my arms.

"G," you look good to me,

"H," you're so heavenly,

"I," you're the one I idolize.

"J," we're like Jack and Jill,

"K," you're so kissable,

"L," is the lovelight in your eyes.

"M," "N," "O," "P," I could go on all day.

"Q," "R," "S," "T," alphabetically speaking, you're OK.

U," made my life complete,

"V," means you're very sweet,

Double-"U" "X" "Y" "Zed" or "Zee!"

It's fun to wander through the alphabet with you

To tell you what you mean to me.

A quiet, peaceful day

Yesterday Tom went to spend a few days quietly at his parents' empty house studying for a test he has tomorrow. So the kids and I have been on our own since Monday morning. And of course on Monday morning we were all feeling poorly. We did make it out to the park for some fresh air and sunshine, and to the bakery for some delicious fresh bread, but after that it was a quiet inside pyjama chicken noodle soup kind of day.

There's something about Lily in a sunbeam that is beyond gorgeous.


She decided to do some beading and make a necklace.

Then she remembered the felt board and set it up. We cut out some more felt shapes (we needed more sunbeams and flower stems), then they made a collaborative creation - Lukasz made a rocket ship and Lily made a spring day:

Then Lily made a lady holding her lunch of french fries:
And a sailboat on the water under a very colourfully cloudy sky:

Lukasz worked very hard on his felt creations, too, only they are in a video, and it's over 5 minutes long...

After felt I decided to water down some paint and let them blow paint all over the place. Which they did. Fortunately I have a great relationship with messes, in that I don't mind them too much. :) Lukasz got a huge kick out of this activity (hey who wouldn't love spraying paint using a straw?) and they made some nice little paintings, too.

During dinner, Lily started singing this little song to herself and I asked if I could make a video. She obliged:

This video fills me with such happiness, even after the not-so-great way I've been feeling this evening. Some days I almost cannot believe that I am lucky enough to be their mom. They have their moments, as all of us do, but they do take such good care of me, and, well, there's just nothing in the world that could bring me greater happiness than being here, with them, being their mom.

At the close of our day, this:

As I mentioned, I did not have the greatest of days today. It was no fault of theirs, just the result of a week that has been emotionally trying for many reasons.... but looking back through these photos and the videos of what we've been up to in the past 2 days, if any tears fall, they are tears of pride, and happiness, and a bit of incredulous-ness at just how lucky I am.

Dinner battle

Dinners are a pain in the rear. I've been through the "fine, have a hot dog" phase and have now slipped back into "homemade dinners are where it's at"... we'll see how long it takes before I throw in the towel.

During the holidays I did not cook at all. Lucky me! I took care of breakfasts and lunches but someone else always prepared the dinners. Yum.

Monday, our first full day back, we had spring rolls and carrot sticks for dinner. Whee. Kids were not impressed with that, and I think they both ended up eating cereal before bed.

Tuesday I fared a bit better, whipping up a turkey hash with the *ahem* endless turkey that my mom sent back with us. :) Basically turkey mixed with green and red peppers and celery all cooked together in gravy with a side of rice. They both picked at it.

Wednesday I made chinese fried rice (rice, corn, carrots, peas & egg with soya sauce) with raw carrot sticks. Lukasz took one look at this and exclaimed "I LIKE this!" and ate his entire bowl. Lily did not fare as well. She wanted everything separate, not all mixed together. But the three of us together did eat five whole raw carrots.

On Wednesday I also made a beef stew, but refrigerated it overnight so everything could mix and absorb more flavours before this evening when I cooked up some potatoes to toss in.

Add a side of buttered fresh bread and voila! the perfect winter meal.

I think Lukasz picked three carrots out of it, Lily ate most of the beef out of hers, and a carrot and a potato or two. Of course they ate all of their bread and drank all of their milk.

I try not to feel irritated and frustrated when they don't eat a good dinner. They know that (usually) that is all there is to eat for the rest of the day, and it stays out so they can have some whenever they feel hungry enough. They eat big breakfasts and lunches, so it's actually a healthy strategy to eat a smaller dinner, but dinner is the meal I put the most effort into, perhaps wrongly so. But would they have eaten more stew at lunch? I doubt it.

I was a really picky eater as a kid and teenager, still am to some degree... I guess it's biting me in the rear now... L&L sure didn't get their eating habits from their dad, he eats everything. Which is good, considering the amount of leftovers I inevitably have.

Forever it will be

I pulled Lily into my lap for a snuggle just now, and realized how long it has been since we've had a good cuddle. So I asked her, "Can I just cuddle and snuggle you forever?" She replied, "Sure!"

I love my baby girl.

I strongly dislike potty training

Whew. Well, what a week this has been. Or maybe it's been longer than a week, either way, it's been rough. I like to keep this blog as a "happy place" where I chronicle the good times. Today was a good day, in comparison to the last week. I've actually thought on occasion that parenting is just too hard. But today was better. As I've mentioned, Lukasz has been going through a lot of changes lately, and we've also come to the conclusion that he's wanting more attention, and he's been sick... and of course there is the potty training. He is amazing at going to the potty when he needs to pee (sorry if this is too much information, but today there was so much progress made that I feel the need to chronicle it). He even will say, "OH! I need to go potty!" and run for his potty. And he never has an accident, unless he's wearing underwear, which he unfortunately has not figured out how to pull down over his little bum yet.

But getting him to poop on the potty has been an entirely different (exhausting, nerve-wracking, draining, horribly emotional) experience. I think most kids when they are in diapers poop standing up. If not, well, that's how my kids always did it; and it was a transition for them to learn how to go while sitting, when they were so used to going standing up. And I can totally understand that. Lukasz does not like it when he has to go and does not have a diaper on. His signs are crystal clear, the jerky leg dance, saying over and over again that he's cold... but if I wasn't watching every second, he'd start going somewhere completely random. We had no messes because I AM ALWAYS WATCHING, but man is it exhausting to be on constant poop patrol.

It has gotten to the point where I hate it when he's due for a b.m. So many false alarms, dragging him to the toilet, having him slither down the second I turn my back, putting him back on, the yelling, the crying, the really really really needing to go yet refusing to... ARGH!

But tonight was better (I'm not even going to go into the details of today). I knew he needed to go; I was watching him, the signs were there. I gave him a quick bath and then had him (conveniently) wait in the bathroom while I bathed Lily. Wonder of wonders he actually said to me twice, "I need to go poo." I would put him on the toilet, but he'd slither off and lie down on the floor with his knees tucked under him... well I happened to read things right and hoisted him up and onto the toilet at just the right moment. He went on the toilet, and he was pretty annoyed with me about it. I called Tom so Lukasz could tell him the news, but he just grunted, refusing to acknowledge that he'd done something great.

*Insert huge sigh.*

But we're getting there... and there are still fun times despite the chaos.

A proud moment for me

Last night I went back in to the kids' room after putting them to bed and caught Lukasz grabbing a Berenstain Bear book and bringing it in to bed with him. Flashbacks to my own childhood. I used to hide them under my pillow.

A portrait of Mommy

We have been doing a lot of crayon transfer drawings lately. Lily does tiny drawings on small squares the glues the squares on another paper to make a collage of sorts. This is one she just did of me. I see the likeness. I like my feet. :)

Learning the hard way

Yesterday was a rough day. There was a lot to do, and a lot of things to take care of and we were due at a barbecue at 4 p.m. My entire day revolved around getting everything done and ready so we could get to the barbecue by 4 p.m. Getting four people ready for a day away from home is not easy. At least, not for me. Figuring out what everyone is going to wear, making sure it's clean, that every one is bathed or showered, fed, napped, and packing everything we might possibly need - diapers, wipes, changes of clothes, baseball gear, bubble soap, fixings for a salad I made, evening bottles, Lukasz's blanket and soother for the evening, camera, sun hat, etc., is always a good trick. Often I'll think one kid is ready, get the other ready, only to find that the first is now hungry or has pulled off and lost their socks, or doesn't want to wear their shirt I picked out, or just filled their diaper.

Because our Saturday morning was so busy with Lily's music class, Tom didn't have a chance to make his homemade pancake breakfast for us. So he did that on Sunday morning, then we dashed out to the farmers' market and to a nearby rose garden, home, I bathed the kids, prepared them some food, put Lukasz down for a nap, set Lily up with her keyboard, and got everything packed up while Tom showered, then Lukasz woke up grumpy and very upset, pretty much inconsolable, but we were in a hurry so he got rushed out the door, lunch packed in a plastic bag to eat in the car.

We got to the barbecue in time, but for most of the time, Lukasz was inconsolably unhappy. Everything we tried to do resulted in a big "NO!". The only time he was quiet and happy was when he was out for a bike ride on a push bike. Thinking back now, I should have taken him for a much longer ride. But it's killer on the back, trying to keep the bike going straight when he hasn't quite grasped the concept of steering yet.

I know this is all sounding like one big whine, but I do have a point. :)

This morning, I was calm, and kept my temper in check even when they were arguing, I didn't raise my voice, I guided them from one thing to the next - dressed, have breakfast, brush teeth, shoes on, out the door, in the car, to the park... and both kids were perfectly happy. They both got fresh air and space and freedom, which is much like what they had at the barbecue, but this time, I wasn't a mess. I wasn't a bundle of frayed nerves. I wasn't stressed out to the max just trying to be on time.

I've heard time and again that kids feed off our emotions. And they absorb them. And it's totally true. I look at yesterday's nuttiness compared to today, and I look at the difference in the kids, especially Lukasz:

- Yesterday the smallest thing would set him off. He'd want a bit of long grass to use as a fishing pole, but the second you handed him one, he didn't want one and would pitch a fit. It was completely ridiculous.

- Today I went through the motions to get him ready for his nap, he had lunch, I changed him, darkened their room, made sure he had his blanket and his soother, and before he lay down he came to me for a hug, and as his face was resting against my chest, he said, "I love you."

Just like that, the horrors of yesterday faded away.

May Long Weekend in Kelowna - celebrating Gran's birthday!!

We blitzed a trip to Kelowna for the May long weekend. We left Friday evening after Tom got home from work, and arrived there at around 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Lily and Lukasz fell asleep on the drive, but of course, they woke up when we got there. Lukasz was running the living room/kitchen circuit, pretending to pitch a ball, yelling "STRIKE!" and then running as fast as he could. After a very early morning snack, they finally fell asleep at 3:30, and I think we all woke up at 9:30 which was absolutely luxurious!

Gran and Grampa had some work to do for their landscape design business, so we yoinked Uncle Shane out of bed and took him geocaching at Shannon Lake with us. It was an odd weather day for Kelowna, it rained. But the rain would only last a couple minutes, 10 at the most it seemed, and then it would stop and everything would dry up again. So we got sprinkled on three or four times, but it was no biggie.

Lily and her Tatus rehiding the cache we found - we traded one of our magnets for a cute pin with a picture of Sherlock standing in the middle of water, and the words "No ship, Sherlock". Tom thought it would be right up Gran's alley (they have very similar and very corny senses of humour). He was right. :)


Lukasz and I climbing back out of the brush after checking out the cache:





The dandelions were in abundance so Lukasz lost no time in blowing fuzz all over all of us.



I managed to get a few nice shots of the dandelions, too.





Uncle Shane got Lukasz laughing so at long last we have some photos of a giggly Lukasz.







After finding that first cache, we had quite a walk to the second one. Lukasz was much more interested in finding dandelions than walking; here, Lily and I are waiting for the boys to catch up, and Tom is waiting for Lukasz who is blissfully ignoring our calls as he hunts down more dandelions. Tom found the second cache, and the rain really started to come down, so we piggy-backed the kids back to the car (that was a workout!) and headed back to Gran & Grampa's.



While Lukasz and Tom napped (lucky boys), Lily and I made Gran a birthday cake. Uncle Shane picked out the mix (I'm not adventurous to make a cake from scratch yet), white with rainbow sprinkles.


The cake turned out perfectly! Woo hoo!!


Gran gave me instructions for making delicious homemade icing - 16 ounces of whipping cream beat on high and slowly at 1/4 cup of icing suger. Delicious!

Fresh strawberries to decorate the top of the cake and to go between the cake layers!


Decorating a cake is very serious business....



The finished cake! Gran is 29 forevermore, as am I starting this August! (Okay, really I'm turning 30... shhh)


Here we are singing and wishing Gran a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I had the big fat idea to put sparklers on the cake and they took a while to light, as you'll see.


Enjoying the fruits of all her hard work. :)



I wanted to get a shot of Tom and Lukasz chowing down on the delicious cake, I didn't notice that poor Uncle Shane hadn't received his piece yet. But he let everyone know without having to say a word. :)



After dinner a rainbow made an appearance!! It was nice to see Kelowna so lush and green!






Sunday morning we took the kids to a nearby playground to burn off some energy. Lukasz was busy testing his limits on everything as usual. It's interesting to see how he has no fear at all of climbing up high, but he can't stand swinging on a swing or getting bounced high on a teeter-totter. Just like me in the latter respect.


Then we headed off to a little park to do a bit more geocaching. Unsuccessful this time, but it was such a beautiful little spot, great view with a weeping willow and running water nearby.



Then it was time to go in the backyard for some "beesball" as Lukasz calls it.


t
We all know now that Lukasz is fascinated by skateboarding. He idolizes his Uncle Shane, and cannot get enough of watching him skate. Shane had an old mini-skateboard from years ago, and he passed it on to Lukasz. But not before he took the trucks and wheels off, sanded off the old graphics on the bottom of the deck, primed and painted on it, and worked out a new design for it which he then hand drew and filled in.

Proud Lukasz with his new "sakeboard". The design is drawn, but has yet to be filled in.





Ready to do some "sakeboarding":

Working on his newest moves, rocking side to side with his feet on either end of the board, so the board lifts up on one edge. He keeps his balance perfectly. His other trick he tries to do is to spin the board under him as he jumps, and to put the board on one edge, then jump and land on the board as it lands back on the floor. And of course, his 180 jump.




Here he is working on all his moves. I love that he tells me he's going to be careful. :)



This is one of my favourite times of day. How they love their stories... Tatus did the honours this night, and I have to admit, I feel a little left out when I'm not reading the book. But then I tend to hog my kids. :)



Shane, Tom and I stayed up way to late hanging out and catching up, and in between turns playing Tripoly, Shane worked on Lukasz's board with an extra-fine Sharpie.



I think Lily is pretty much the spitting image of my mom in this photo:



Lukasz is thrilled with his finished board! Thank you SO MUCH Uncle Shane!!!!



The proud (and a little goofy) artist showing off his work:







Blue skies meant a trip to City Park: Lukasz was absolutely still as he watched Uncle Shane in the skate park. Later, he even got a ride on Shane's skateboard.



Uncle Shane getting some air mid-trick:



Having a rest:



These are, as Lukasz calls them, his "cool shoes". Thanks Monika! :)



Someone is having the time of their life...



Mom, Lukasz and I enjoying the sun and the view at City Park.





Time for a rest and a snack. Someone was parasailing over the lake, so we had some entertainment while we munched.





Checking out the fountain:







Getting a lift back to the car:







On Monday Shane and I tried to take my mom out for her birthday but nothing went quite as planned. We decided to delay a trip to a nursery garden because it looked like it was going to rain (and of course there were blue skies after that). Then we couldn't find a place that was open for lunch but eventually we ended up at a pub, and I ate so much I wasn't hungry for over a day after that.

Later in the afternoon we whipped out to a nursery:



















And then it was time to drive back to Vancouver. :( Fortunately we'll be back again in a week and a half now for Uncle Shane's 21st birthday.

The clouds and sun were stunning over the connector...











If you look hard enough, there is beauty wherever you are.