More Christmas prep

It's been an incredibly busy fall/winter. I feel like I'm drowning in stress the majority of the time. I'm not even sure how to make it better, we've simplified in so many ways, but still we're overwhelmingly busy. However, when you've got kids and it's Christmas you have no choice but to keep in truckin'. So we did, but we simplified so much. Instead of our usual activity nativity calendar we bought a Lego one. We still did most of the activities I would usually do with the calendar, just at a more relaxed pace. No one complained. The girls all got new dresses/skirts for Christmas Sunday (I made the skirts) and they looked like angels! Such sweet little girls. We did some baking, we decorated the house and most importantly we decorated the gingerbread house. I LOVE this tradition. I don't get involved, I just really really love watching my girls get messy and creative, and I especially love the icing mustaches at the end. This year I feel like more candy made it in their mouths than on the house, and I'm not just saying that, I REALLY mean it! Which is great...it's going to get eaten anyway, might as well be before it's hard and gross right??

Garage Band

So these girls are little performers. Any chance they get they will put on a show. They dream of being famous and want to sing and dance all day long...even while helping Dad in the garage.  Now I'm honestly thinking of starting a garage band for them. How cute would that be? Now to teach them guitar.

Christmas Concert

The girls school split up the Christmas concert this year into two programs (one on Wed one on Thurs) and then again into two showings of the program on the night (A-L last names go to the first showing and M_Z go to the second). It was sooo great to have somewhat decent seats, have a short concert and not have to fight for parking. Genius thinkers at that school I tell ya. Paige's class sang the cutest little song about getting some new teeth for Christmas....so relevant for those grade one singers. They also sang Away in a Manger. Hailey's class sand a Kwanzaa song and another one about Christmas Cookies. I might be biased, I know I'm biased, but I'm pretty sure Hailey stole the show. Honestly...she was dancing and singing and full on performing like her life depended on it! Nora was all smiles and flirty coo's for the people behind us and Cait passed out in her Daddy's arms. I just kind of love this season...even if it feels extra busy this year!

Trimming the tree

This has been an incredibly busy month. Like I honestly feel like I'm on the verge of a breakdown. It all started one night when Ben was casually browsing mls looking at houses to buy...when he came across one he was interested in. So we went and had a look at it the next day. We do this regularly, we're ALWAYS on the lookout. But this one seemed to work for both of us so we decided it was time to sell out house. So we started the process of getting our house ready, which has turned out to be WAY more than we ever expected. There were quite a few things we had to do to get it up to code (we bought it as a foreclosure and there were a few funny things about it that weren't serious, but could be a hurdle when selling). Then we had to get our finances in order which has turned out to be more difficult than expected. Apparently they are making things very tough for self employed borrowers. Anyway...in the middle of this we decided to tag along with friends to cut down a Christmas tree....straight out of the forest. Not some fancy tree farm. So it is quite the tree. It's gorgeous and imperfect and makes my heart so happy! But because of the craziness of life we just got around to decorating it this week. The kids had a blast and although it's not as perfect looking as my other trees it just feels so magical. And thank goodness for that because the rest of the house remains undecorated...which is SOOOO unlike me!!

First Solids

And just like that...that little newborn (OK 5 1/2 month old) of mine is eating solids! We tried to hold off as long as we could but it was becoming more and more evident that she was ready to eat! She was following our utensils while we ate, she would open her mouth hoping something would come her way and then finally she started crying when we weren't feeding her. So one day last week I decided it was time. I baked up a sweet potato, tossed it in the blender and voila...food for days! She sure LOVED it! Cait got in on the action to and took her turn feeding her baby sister. It was a fun day for all of use and the big girls were so excited to help feed Nora for dinner that night. We're so grateful for Nora and the light she brings into our family! She's pretty awesome!

I'm going through Pictures

So I'm going through files on the computer right now and I came across these pictures of Nora that I completely forgot about. I remember this day. My Baby Blues were particularly rough with Nora. I was really struggling to get out of that fog and couldn't really see a way to get there. She was three days old and I thought to myself  'I need to take newborn pictures of her...or hire someone to do it for me'. Neither really felt like a great option...but I knew it would be the easiest if I did them myself. The first few days (weeks...almost months) of Nora's life were filled with Colic and bouncing and never laying flat. On this particular day she fell asleep in the bouncy chair and was out for the count. Like really really asleep. She was sleeping like she never had before! So I quickly ran downstairs, grabbed the few simplest props I could find and spent about 10 minutes taking her picture. There are maybe 8-10 decent pictures out of the bunch...and although it's not a TON it's enough. And I seriously can't even remember her looking like this! So dark, chubby, her hair, her cheeks, her eyes, her squishy lips. So I'm super glad I have these pictures.

Anyway, I really really love having this blog so I'm trying to catch up on the last few months. If you're super interested in reading you can just scroll back...as I'm placing the posts in the months I'd like them to fall. 

Halloween

So there's this thing about me...I just really really love theme costumes!! Like almost nothing makes me happier than a family all themed out for Halloween. It's getting harder and harder every year to convince these kids to go with a theme though. I can't even remember what they all originally wanted to be, but I was lucky enough to be able to convince them to be Mummy's. In my naivety I though this would be such an awesome and super super easy costume. Well...I have sure learned from my mistake. Mummy costumes are one of the most time consuming things to make ever, like it took me at least 6 hours to make just the shirt and pants on the two big girls costumes, then I had to make their hats and Nora's little sleeper costume. My hands were so sore form all the stitching and my lips had some sort of allergic reaction to the thread I kept running through them before tying the knots. OUCH. Anyway, there was literal blood sweat and tears put into those costumes. So guess what...they're being Mummy's for the next few years! We've got to get some serious mileage out those costumes...lol! Now, back to the theme thing; so there's this thing about Cait...you can't convince her of anything. So she vehemently rejected the idea, and therefor ended up as a Mermaid for Halloween. And in classic Cait style, right as we were heading out the door for trick or treating she ran upstairs and changed into her Elsa dress. Oh Cait.

Anyway, Halloween on  Saturday is the best. So much time to get ready. We lazed around, went to a cousins hockey game, hit up a Halloween party and then carved pumpkins and ate dinner. Such a nice change from the usual gong show rush that Halloween is.

Jump Jump Jump

And so it is...my last baby is now a jumping baby! Each milestone we pass is just a little more and more bittersweet...because I'm happy to be heading to the next stage of our life, but sad that I'll never experience a baby's first jump in her Jolly Jumper again. However, Nora is such a huge light in our lives and we honestly just can't get enough of her. She lights up when anyone looks at her, she smiles for any ounce of attention, and she always has this sweet little expression on her face like she's waiting for us to amaze her. Well she amazes us! She really is just such a fun and special girl!