Christmas Part 1

Oh man I'm so behind in blogging! I'm going to try my best to get caught up within the next couple of days, but of course that all depends on how much the little ones sleep :)

Christmas parties started early this year for us and we didn't stop until we rang in the New Year! My brother, SIL, and Niece were home the week before Christmas so we hosted a gift opening brunch that day with my side of the family. It was nice to sped time with my brother's family and especially nice to spend time with my sweet niece. This year she kept up with the boys and is running all over the place!

Grayson's first gift opening experience :)


The last couple of years my dad has taken it upon himself to purchase gifts for the women of the family - hopefully that tradition continues as it's given us some great photo opportunities and a few laughs along the way :)








Gifts are always crazy with my side of the family - this year a total of 29 batteries were needed for the kids new toys! It was great spreading out some holiday parties because it gave the kids some time to actually enjoy their new presents :) This year I tried out a new recipe I found on pinterest - think we've found a new Christmas breakfast tradition! goodbye pillsbury cinnabons and hello pillsbury biscuits smothered in warm syrup, brown sugar, butter and pecans! Yummy! you can find the recipe here. No photos as those sticky buns didn't last very long!

What a great morning we had!

They Still Love Swimming!

A few weeks ago we we're invited for a swim at Aunt Meggie's. The boys were excited about swimming "inside Meggie's house" and decided that it wasn't a good idea for us to have a pool inside our house because the carpet would get wet :) smart boys they are. We invited ourselves for lunch, so after swimming we enjoyed Liam's perfected grilled cheese sandwiches. Yummy!

At first Noah was a little timid, but he soon remembered his love for the pool. Owen just continued to jump over and over - he was exhausted on the ride home :)

My Lil' Angel

My sweet boy had his first school Christmas concert this past friday! I was more than a little excited about it and couldn't wait to see the cuteness! His costume was to be a men's dress shirt worn backwards and tinsel (either gold or silver) for a halo and a sash. When we tried his costume on him he was a little disappointed, he thought he looked like a ghost instead of an angel :) after the tinsel was on he liked his costume more but added an extra embellishment of his own - a gold star garland for a necklace! we decided it wasn't a battle worth arguing and left him to personalize his costume with his "necklace".

Grandma and Papa came to watch the concert with us and although we were early for the show, lot's of people were even earlier. next year we'll have to be there about an hour before the show starts in order to get a good seat, even though we were early we had to sit near the back. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get much video (camera was set in high definition mode- oops) but we did manage to get some short video clips and many photos! you can tell by the short videos and photos how much Owen loved being on the stage performing! he did an awesome job and I was so proud of him. I think I shed a few tears watching him do so well!

There were 4 kindergarten classes and each class performed 2 songs, then they all joined together for 2 more songs at the end. During Owen's first song he and his dance partner somehow got pushed behind the rest of the class and we could hardly see him. I was seriously going to ask his teacher to move some people over, but she noticed the missing boys from the show and pulled Owen up front. Things couldn't have turned out better as he was placed in front of the microphone and the only person you could hear singing was him! He was so precious! singing, dancing - giving it his all! afterwards, his teacher mentioned that Owen is her "go to guy" to get the job done :) and a few parents commented on how well he did and that he must have practiced often. He didn't really practice at home, but anyone that knows Owen knows that he is a bit of a perfectionist and likes to do things well!

I love that you can tell how much fun he was having just by the photos!





















Here is a short video of Owen singing with all of the kindergarten kids.


Angel Band song - Grand Finale;)


Owen's Vietnamese name means "fame & prestige" and I have no doubt he will be famous someday! Way to go Owen! we are so proud of you :)

4 Months Old

I love this sweet baby! Grayson is such a happy baby, he's always smiling and is very close to laughing. I love having little 'conversations' with him, after a feeding he is so content he chatters and babbles away. Sometimes in the middle of the night I'd prefer him to just go back to sleep, but he is still so sweet to listen to. Mommy is still his favourite person :) and I'll take that as long as I can get it! He's started to show more interest in his toys and will sometimes try to reach for them. So far his favourite toy is his own two hands! he constantly has them in his mouth and I try to get him to use his soother instead. Often I look and he's spit the soother back out and has his fist shoved in his mouth again.

We haven't been for his 4 month wellness check-up, our Doctor is just back from maternity leave and is working only a couple of days a week, so he will have his appointment in January. Grayson has been suffering from a terrible cold this week and has been put on antibiotics because of the phlegm in his lungs. He is sounding a little better this morning so I hope he is on the mend, otherwise he is to go back in a few days for puffers :( hopefully it doesn't come to that. He had me very worried monday evening and I am glad he is starting to act more like himself. It's so hard when your kids are sick and even more nerve wracking when your baby is sick!

Grayson hasn't rolled over yet but he hasn't had many opportunities to practice. Once he's feeling better I'll have to try to fit more tummy time into our day. He has good neck control and is quite strong so I think he will get it soon.

Happy 4 months Grayson! With each baby the time seems to go faster, If only I could slow it down a little...

silly baby, he's been drooling and blowing bubble lots - hopefully it doesn't mean he's going to get teeth early.

Christmas Tree Decorating

Owen and Noah were into decorating the Christmas tree this year much more than last year. Such a difference a year makes! The tree ended up having two levels of decorations - one at Owen's height and one at Noah's :) I had to fight back the impulse to 'fix' the decorations and leave them where the kids originally put them. There are sections of the tree that are bare, some with too many decorations etc - but I resisted the urge! Gavin and I did make sure to put some special decorations (like the ones we got in Vietnam) up high just so Seymour doesn't knock them down and break them.

Choosing some decorations to place on the tree.


Check these decorations out! Noah thought he was funny pretending to put tissue paper on the tree!


So adorable!


This is one of my favourite photos of Noah :) I love how sweet he looks. I'm almost second guessing my decision to take him for a haircut this weekend he looks so cute in this picture!




Here's the perfect spot for this ornament!


This is Noah's 'trying to smile' look.


I like this ornament Mom!


Grayson slept the entire time, but has since liked looking at the lights on the tree.


Great job on the tree boys! I love how they are getting excited about everything that has to do with Christmas!

Christmas Parade

A few weeks ago we took the kids to the Santa Claus Parade! we bundled them up like we do every year and planned an early dinner and a quick stop for hot chocolate - we were ready for the cold! as soon as we stepped outside we realized we were over dressed and quickly took off the hats and mitts. The kids were sweating by the time we walked and found a good location to watch the parade - I think our kids were the only ones in snow pants :) I love the warmer than average temps and am dreading that first real snow fall and cold Canadian weather.

Here are 3 of my favourite boys waiting for the parade to start, my other favourite boy slept for most of the parade. Once again we forgot a blanket for the kids to sit on, one of these years I'm sure we'll get it right :)






Last weekend Gavin and Jim took the kids to another Santa Claus parade. There are no photos of that outing, I'm guessing things were a bit too busy to bother with the camera ;)

Meet Frosted Flake!

This year we started the Elf on the Shelf family tradition and the boys love it! Owen named our elf 'Frosted Flake' and I think the name is a perfect choice considering he is from the North Pole:) Each morning they race downstairs to find our elf doing something silly. Sometimes he's just hiding in a silly spot and other times he's up to no good! The first night Frosted Flake took Owen's digger for a spin, another time he got into the halloween candy and some popcorn, and yesterday morning we found him sitting on the couch with the remote control watching the Swiss Chalet channel!



I love the family memories we are creating!

On Halloween morning as I was dropping off Owen at school, his teacher informed me that they were having their monthly Celebrates assembly and Owen would be receiving an award! I was really thankful my mom could come and watch the kids while I attended the assembly. Owen was surprised to see me and I enjoyed a few minutes witnessing what his little kindergarten life was like at school :) There are often times I wish I could spy on him and see what happens in a day :)

The Celebrates award recognizes a student from each class that displayed certain qualities that month. They are nominated by the teacher and awarded a certificate during the assembly. Owen's award was for being a discerning believer in faith, a good friend, and doing good deeds for others. He was very proud when his name was called and so was I :)



Owen has been talking more about the way people behave and what kind of behaviours make "good friends" I'm hoping these lessons lead him to find good friends and take him far in life! way to go Owen!

3 Months Old

3 Months old already! Grayson has been entertaining us this past month with his sweet baby smiles and the sweetest baby talk! when we talk to him he tries to "talk" back. He has been more playful and interactive lately and Owen and Noah have enjoyed playing with him more. Sometimes I will playfully stick out my tongue at him and he will copy and stick out his tongue, and his newest game is to play "pop the soother" - he gets the biggest smiles when he spits out his soother on purpose It's the simple things in life :) but he sure is becoming more fun. We've tried to capture some of this fun on video but he gets distracted by the camera and just stares at it!

Here he is having some cuddle time with his brothers. Owen likes to hold him when he's "not fussy and not stinky" heh- don't we all ;) Grayson watches the boys play and I'm sure he's taking in all of the big brother trouble and saving it for me!



Grayson is an easy going baby and has never minded tummy time. He doesn't get on his tummy as often as he should, but I've been trying to make an effort to do tummy time more often.


Recently we brought out the baby swing and he loves it! he seems to like the swinging/swaying motion. He definitely likes to be on the move and the swing has given us a few breaks from having to carry him constantly. Still, his favourite spot is either in my arms or in the baby carrier.


I'm not sure how much Grayson weighs now but I've certainly noticed him getting heavier, and he's got some cute chubby thighs! He likes to feed every 2-3 hours during the day and will stay awake for about two hours before needing another nap. Nursing is going well but it has also made for a picky baby - he only likes me to feed him. I've been pumping and freezing milk and have quite a stockpile - all in hopes that Gavin can start to give him some bottles :) we thought he didn't like to feed from bottles because he would always refuse to eat when Gavin tried, but we've learned that he just wants mommy to feed him! he associates feeding with me and will take bottles from me. Gavin tried to give him a bottle once when he was sleepy and it worked for a bit, until Grayson opened his eyes and saw that it wasn't mommy, once again he refused to eat - he sure has a stubborn side to him too!


A few weeks ago Grayson caught a bit of a cold and since then hasn't been sleeping well. He was doing a five hour stretch early in the evening from about 8pm to 1am, and then up every two hours after that. While it wasn't perfect, it at least seemed like he was on his way to longer periods of sleep. The past few weeks have been awful with regards to sleep, (he's only sleeping two hour intervals) and I really am needing to make some changes in our routine to hopefully get things back on track. I keep reminding myself that the sleepless nights are temporary but it really is wearing me out!

Happy 3 months Grayson! you are just too cute and we are loving watching you grow and learn new things!

Halloween!

We started our Halloween fun by having Catherine and Hannah over for dinner. We served our usual halloween meal 'pumpkin spaghetti' the kids love it and it's easy to prepare ahead of time. This year the trick- or -treaters started arriving at the door at 6, and they came in big numbers! I was glad we made the last minute decision to pick up more candy "just in case". We had lots of candy left over, but I have no idea how many kids we got they came too fast to count!



Grayson dressed for the holiday by wearing a borrowed halloween sleeper :) super cute! Grayson and I stayed home to hand out candy, but we enjoyed watching the kids trick-or-treating-from the porch.


Our collection of mostly disney themed pumpkins. Catherine and Hannah carved mickey, and we carved goofy and "a ghost with flames" as per Owen's request.


Trick - or - Treat! Gavin said this year was much easier because the kids could go up to the houses on their own! no carrying any young kids up and down the stairs, next year he will have Grayson to carry around :)


It took Noah a few houses to figure out what was going on, but after he did he was so excited! he would run from house to house saying "candy! candy!" heh- I don't think he realized just how much candy he'd be given.




Thanks to Catherine she caught these videos of the kids :)


This spooky house set Owen off for the rest of the night. He wanted daddy to go up to the houses with him after that. He had wanted to come home but stuck it out for the love of candy :) I'm glad he mustered up enough bravery to finish the night and continue to have fun.





Pirate Owen!


Cutest little strawberry, dragon and pirate around! here they are enjoying a treat.


My three trick- or- treaters


My three cuties!


We checked the boys candy to make sure it was safe and took out the candy we don't like them to have (really hard candy and gumballs) then we helped ourselves to some of our favourites :) Grayson snatched this lollipop as if no one would notice, but I was sure to snatch it back just after I took the picture:)


Happy Halloween!

Thanksgiving monday turned out to be the perfect day for our annual trip to the pumpkin farm! just mentioning the word farm sends my kids into excitement mode:) The weather on monday was great and we were sure that everyone would have the same idea and the place would be packed. We went early to avoid most of the crowd and much to our surprise it wasn't really that busy!




























Again no photos of Grayson :( that boy slept the entire time we were there and I wasn't interested in waking him just for a photo op. Obviously sleep is very important to me these days :) The big boys had a great time and enjoyed the wagon ride, tractors, farm animals and searching for the biggest pumpkin in the field.