Love & Navia

This morning I was sitting at the computer working on my lesson plans and Navia came up, pushed my hair behind my ears and started kissing both my cheeks, over and over again. I asked why she was doing it and she replied, "because I love you". So, being curious I asked her why she loves me and she replied, "Because you love Daddy and Emma and Kaleb and you came from heaven to love me." I think I feel just a little more special this morning because of my 4 year old.

When I asked her how she knows that I love her - "Cause you tell me all the days that you love me!" was the response in an exasperated tone - yep, she thought I should just know the answer to that one - hehehe!

So, now I'm procrastinating with my lessons plans so that I can make sure to remember this forever and always remember how lucky I am to have the 3 most amazing kids in the world and the best husband ever (sorry, I know how other wives feel, but reeeeeaaaalllly . . . I do have the most amazing husband!!!)

Easter Weekend Oddities

So far our Easter weekend has been unusual in it's weather (which the average high for this time of month is 8) . . . and I'm NOT complaining!!! On Good Friday it was 24 degrees Celsius - so it was shorts and outside the entire day! We did remote control cars (and yes, they work really well in the water too!!!), kite flying, gardening and just hanging out with all five of us!

Daddy pushing Navia at the park closest to our house

Emma flying her kite

Kaleb doing the "boy" thing - throwing rocks!!!

Kaleb having fun with his car and the water

Navia has a turn at flying the kite - and she does very, very well!

Then today we had another gorgeous day - 29 degrees Celsius (felt like 33!!!)! So it was off with the shorts and tank tops and on with the BATHING SUITS!!! Yep - April 3 and the kids are outside in the sprinkler - who'da'thunk?!?!?!!

Kaleb, Navia and a neighbor friend making silly faces

Kaleb "stealing" water for a mud puddle he was creating

Happy April Fool's Day

Well, April Fool's Day jokes are now officially over, but I thought I'd share a few that made their way into our house today. . .

The day started off early with Braden getting up to get to work earlier than normal. After his shower he went to get new underwear (yes, my husband changes his underwear - hehehe!) and found that his underwear drawer was full of my underwear! He asked ME what I did with his and I didn't know what he was talking about so he had to go ask the kids. Seems like those sneaky little kids got out of bed last night and switched Brade's underwear to Navia's drawer, Navia's to mine and mine to Brade's. Yep - they got us good (and the best part - it wasn't destructive and didn't take long to switch back!!!)

Before they headed off to school I sat the kids down and told them that we had signed them up for a summer camp and handed them this brouchure.

If you look closely at the writing you'll see that it is for "Adventure Getaway CHORE Camp" - you can learn how to make beds, wash dishes without getting water spots and more!!! I thought it would be fun for them, they didn't all agree and not everyone wanted to go. After I told them it was just a joke Kaleb got a bit upset because he said that it kinda sounded like fun!!! Hmmmm? Does this mean that he has fun cleaning his room?

Then I made their snack - cheese squares and corn - not too interesting . . . but it you look closer you might notice something . . .

Yep - it's not real cheese OR real corn - they're made from Starburst candy! Emma (who stayed home today because she's not feeling well) and Navia thought it was a fun trick . . . I have no idea what Kaleb will say when he goes to eat his snack - hopefully he'll like it though!

But it now is after 12 so the tricks must stop - until next year!!!

Preschool, Firetrucks and Cookies!!!

Navia has been going to Preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. She LOVES it and the teachers are great! Yesterday I was the "duty parent" and of course I came armed with a camera!!! It was a busy day because they just brought out new dress-up clothes that were clamored over by all the girls, and even a couple boys. They also made cookies as a group and got to ice them and eat them as a snack - which was very yummy (and very messy!!!)

(Navia is leaning over with the pink tights)

Yummy!

Check out Ms. Princess, cape, muffins and all!

I went to take a picture of Navia and suddenly all the kids wanted to be in it too - soooo cute!

Last month the school went on a field trip to the Firehall in Manotick and all the parents could come along. Navia had a blast and was very, very fast!!! They could explore 2 different firetrucks and an ambulance and she was popping in and out of each one as I was having to go around each one.

Navia was enjoying the firemen UNTIL they put on the masks and started breathing like Darth Vader. When the fireman asked the kids if they were in a fire and saw a fireman dressed like this and sounding like this what would they do . . . Navia's response wasn't the right one . . . she thought she should go under her bed. Yep - she's now scared of firemen!!! So I'm thinking that we're going to be going to meet a few more of these guys to help her get over her fear. I guess the field trip wasn't exactly helping my little girl, although it did for so many others!

It took a long time to get Navia this close to the fireman - and even then it was just for a second!

How to Train Your Dragon

Tonight was the night that we decided to take the family on our date night to the theater to watch "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D. What a great decision!!! The kids had a blast watching it - all THREE of them - and Navia loved how "cuddly" the dragon Toothless was (one shown in picture) It was also nice to watch a movie together without wanting to get out of there because the movie was bad - nope - GREAT movie!

In the middle of the movie Kaleb leaned over to me and said in an excited whisper, "Mom, I thought this was a great movie but it just keeps getting better and better" and he turned back, glued to the screen.

I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched it yet, but the really cool thing is that today we bought the book by the same title, which is the first in the series - and we didn't buy it for Emma. Nope! This book is for Kaleb and he can't wait to start reading it tomorrow to see what is the same and what is different from the movie! And . . . this isn't a "child's" book - it is 224 pages long with 19 chapters!!! YAY!!! I think we just might have found a series that Kaleb will enjoy, but we'll see. He actually was tested last month on his reading capabilities and it looks like he's reading at an end of Grade Three level!

So, we'll see if we're purchasing number 2 in this series sometime soon - I sure hope so because it's great to see the kids reading like this - kinda reminds me of how I was when I was younger.

"A Note from Hiccup -

There were dragons when I was a boy.

There were great, grim, sky dragons that nested on the cliff tops like gigantic scary bird. Little, brown, scuttly dragons that hunted down the mice and rates in well-organized packs. Preposterously huge Sea Dragons that were twenty times as big as the Big Blue Whale and who killed for the fun of it.

You will have to take my word for it, for the dragons are disappearing so fast they may soon become extinct.

Nobody knows what is happening. They are crawling back into the sea from whence they came, leaving not a bone, not a fang, in the earth for the men of the future to remember them by.

So, in order that these amazing creatures should not be forgotten, I will tell this true story from my childhood.

I was not the sort of boy who could train a dragon with the mere lifting of an eyebrow. I was not a natural at the Heroism business. I had to work at it. This is the story of becoming a Hero the Hard Way.

- Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third" (excerpt from beginning of book)

Bye, Bye Braces!!!

Last April (10 months ago) Emma had braces put on her 4 top front teeth . . . this is a picture of her taken a year ago so you can see what her teeth looked like . . .

She LOVED having braces and had fun choosing what colors of elastics she's have each month. Then today came . . . this is what she looked like before we went in for her orthodontist appointment . . .

And this is what she looked like after her appointment!

She is happy to have them off because she was missing her sticky treats, but the cool thing is that at the same times she's happy, she's also looking forward to getting them on again! Yep - we're only on stage one and now we're going to wait for the rest of her baby teeth to fall out and her adult teeth to come in and then we're back to braces (probably in 1.5 yrs). Her adult eye tooth is already starting to come in and the doctor knows that there isn't enough space, but we need to wait and play it by ear. He figured this way at least she could have a break and then we're back to it again.

But - isn't there such a HUGE difference between the before and after pic . . . wow!!! Her doctor did a great job!!!

So now we wait 6 months and go back just to check on how things are looking, and from there figure out when stage 2 will officially be starting! She does have a permanent retainer on the back of her front 4 teeth to keep them in place until everything is complete, but if you weren't told about it you'd never know.

If you see her around now she will definitely be smiling HUGE just to show you her "new" teeth!

Winterlude

Today we decided to have a Winterlude day- considering it was the last weekend for it if we didn't go today we would've totally missed it - so we packed our stuff (and kids) up and went to Jacques-Cartier Park to Snowflake Kingdom and had the best weather for it!!! And really, what better thing to take Grampa Bailey too!!!

We started off in the snow sculptures, where each province had an entry - the kids loved the details carved out of the snow. And of course we HAD to have BeaverTails - and I'm pretty sure that we now have Grampa hooked!!!

Standing in front of the winning sculpture - Alberta's Ice Skates

Then we entered the park where Mommy just HAD to take a picture of everyone in front of the Winterlude Mascots, Mr and Mrs. Ice Hog (okay so the Mrs. was otherwise occupied with other guest so it's just with the Mr - hehehe!).

There were various other characters roaming the site as well . . . .

Grampa and the "girls"

Grampa and Navia by one of the snow carvings

The CANADA ARMY and MARINES had areas that you could try out various things and the one that the kids couldn't wait to do was hook up Grampa and Daddy up to the sled and have them pull Kaleb and Navia around while Emma was pushing at the back. Needless to say, Emma fell. But Emma wouldn't just fall and let go - nope! She hung on for dear life and was dragged around the course - it was hilarious to watch!!! I just happened to take a small video of it - check it out below - I'm thinking she really only got a couple steps out before she fell :)

Kaleb wanted to give a try pushing it while Grampa and Emma were off at another ARMY area, but as you can see - he wasn't any more successful than Emma at pushing it for the entire time!

There was also an area that you could try snowshoeing - which the kids did pretty well!!!

Emma was pretty fast - even trying to run

Kaleb thought that racing Navia would be a fun thing, but . . .

Yep - Navia's one snowshoe fell off! It didn't stop her though - she just picked it up and kept on running!

Then - the part that we really came for - the ice slides!!! There were various ones to choose from, single and group ones. The kids loved how fast they could slide down and even Daddy and Grampa did numerous runs!

Navia trying the sitting pose to see which if it is faster than lying down.

Kaleb figured the lying down was the fastest!!!

Then they tried the group one - and came down in a huge falling-over mess!!! Would you believe that they started in a line all nice and straight?!?!?

Grampa and Navia ended up coming in first, with Daddy a close third, then Emma and then at the end, Kaleb

Daddy doing a slide - sitting works better for him because he can see where to stop at the end and not run into an unsuspecting child :)

There also was a tubing area that they all took turns doing - it's Grampa's turn!!!

Daddy goofing around with Emma - she was pretty dizzy after being swung around so fast! (kinda neat seeing the Parliament Buildings in the background)

We then went to Confederation Park to see the ice sculptures and came across "Taffy on Snow". The last time that Gramma Bailey came down Brade and the kids went to a Sugar Bush place with her and it was the first time they'd tried maple taffy - it was cool to be able to now do the same with Grampa.

Choosing which one they wanted

You can't see the little syrup drips on Kaleb's head after Grampa and I were showing off our taffy - oops - guess it's laundry time!!!

I think we just might have hooked Grampa on another sweet treat!!!

So the day started out with a McDonald's breakfast - then did Winterlude for the entire afternoon - came home and put the kids to bed and is now ending with "Memphis Bell" - yep - it was a good day!