On Having 4 girls

I'm sure I beat this subject to death...and everyone's sick of hearing about it. But really, I get asked about this ALL the time. How do we feel about having another girl...and I'm not really sure how else to respond other than say "we're thrilled". Because it's the truth. We are so happy. Did we want a boy? Were we trying for a boy? No and No. Not that we DIDN'T want a boy, but we knew full well that we were going to get what we were going to get regardless of our opinion. It's luck of the draw and what we drew was pretty lucky. Would we have been over the moon excited if this baby was a boy? Yes! Anymore excited than we are now knowing it's a girl? No. It just really makes no difference to us. There are benefits to either gender and although I'll miss out on lots of boy milestones, I certainly won't miss out on the girls ones. I'm sure our teenage years will be crazy, but maybe they won't. What I do know is that our house is filled with all sorts of girly things like Princess Charm school, princess everything, Barbies, Hair Salons, Baby dolls, more pink than you could ever imagine and even more Princess stuff. I also know that our home is full of some typical boy stuff like Dinosaurs and Rocks and quads and mud and bugs and worms and so on. We might have a smaller toy car selection than most homes, and we don't have any trains here, but no one's missing out. Our girls have the privilege of being who ever they want to be...and sometimes that includes a lot of pink, and sometimes it doesn't. We're happy about that. We very excited to add one more personality to this mix. Even though they're all girls, not one of these three is the same. Each came with their own challenges and especially their own talents.

Now, I know some people have said "poor Ben". And you know what...I don't think he's feeling to bad about this situation. He's got 3 amazing girls right now that just adore him. What more could he ask for? A boy to go quadding or hunting with? Well...he's got three willing girls? In fact I think he's winning right now...how easy are bathroom breaks at the mall when you don't have any kids to take to the men's room? Or the change room at the pool? Totally a breeze when it's just you! I think there are certain things he would have liked to experience with a son that he won't with a girl...but then there are certain things he can experience with his daughters that he wouldn't with a son. So he's in the same boat I am...more than thrilled to be welcoming another little girl to this mix!

Spring Break Fun

Since we just came back from our Disney Trip it didn't seem like quite the right time to plan a trip anywhere else during our Easter Break. So I decided to plan a little Staycation for the girls and I while Ben worked. On the schedule? Wave Pool (with Ben on Easter Monday), a games day with the girls friends, a trip to the Tyrell Museum, and a trip to the Zoo. It was busy and fun and so exhausting.

One of the games on our big Game day was Freeze dance...which quickly turned into the Paige show. This girl and her dance moves - they're seriously the best!

I was so grateful for my parents for coming with us to Drumhellar to the Museum, I honestly couldn't have done it without them. They made the day a lot more fun than it would have been. We picnicked, then climbed the giant dinosaur at the info center, and then finally made it to the actually Dinosaur museum. Hailey was in HEAVEN! I love that she loves this kind of stuff so much! My parents generously bought and paid for ecverything that day - including more than enough souvenirs for my girls. It was a perfect day!

On Zoo day we brought our own Zoo to the Zoo. How many times can I say Zoo in one sentence?? I went with Lauren and her four kids. So 7 kids total plus one very pregnant mom (and Lauren) made for quite the gong show. But as always when it comes to Lauren and her kids we had lots of fun! The girls just love those cousins of theirs and somehow we ended the day without too may injuries/ tears  and no lost kids! HUGE success! That's how we count successes around here...everyone has their bones where they belong and everyone made it home! 

Easter

This year Easter fell on General Conference weekend...which I think might be a first for me. At least as a mom. Not having actual church on Sunday sort of took the pressure of this tired pregnant mom and the expectations to find the perfect set of three Easter Dresses. I honestly just couldn't get it together enough to do the necessary shopping for this event, and I was therefore so happy when I realized I didn't technically need Easter dresses for the girls. Really, I understand that I don't technically need them at all...but this was a huge opportunity for me to relax and take things a little easier.

On the Friday the girls and I decorated eggs. Earlier that week I went on a field trip with Paige's class to the art gallery here in town and we leared all about the art of Pysanka - Ukrainian Easter eggs. So we applied the same techniques to our eggs. We used crayons instead hot wax to create the designs and then I let the girls go to town. It was honestly so fun and easy! I don't think we've decorated eggs for quite a few years around here, but this year it all seemed to fall into place (i.e. they were the perfect age and no babies).  Then we packed up and drove down to the farm to spend the night. The Farm is close enough that we technically didn't need to sleepover, but it's always fun to change things up. Especially on Holidays. We spent Saturday lazing around, eating the most delicious waffles made in an antique waffle iron and playing outside. A quick trip back to Calgary that afternoon and we were ready to watch an Easter play put on by Tanya and her kids. It was exceptional. We followed Saturday with a nice relaxed Easter Sunday. The girls found their baskets...loved everything in them (especially the water bottles, who would have guessed?), we watched conference and then went to Nate and Tans for our annual Family Easter Egg hunt. It was pretty perfect!

Cait Turns Three

So our littlest firecracker Cait turned three last weekend. There was no other way to celebrate this ones birthday besides turning it into a three day weekend long event. We started out on Friday taking her to get her ears pierced. She has been begging for this for so long and since it's our family tradition to pierce our girls ears when they're three, we of course gave in! It was also the perfect ammo for having her behave - you know "you have to be a good girl if you want to get your ears pierced" or "you have to eat your dinner if you want to get your ears pierced". Now that it's happened we'll have to find some other incentive for behaving! Anyway...she didn't love the experience. lol. She was pretty sad when it happened, but quickly recovered and happily posed in from of the tattoo sign when we were all done. By the way, we had an actual piercer do it...for a variety of reasons. One being that the other place didn't have openings and the  mostly because we liked the way real piercers did it vs the girls who do it with the guns. It just made more sense. 

Of course the party was Frozen themed...and required an Elsa dress for the guest of honor. I think she loved it. We played Frozen type games (dancing, pin the nose on Olaf), coloured frozen pictures, ate cake and opened presents. I think we met Cait's expectations...which by the way, she was very specific on the things she wanted to happen at her party!

Then on Sunday we had Grandma and Grandpa come over for the afternoon to celebrate her actual Birthday with us.  So more gifts and food, and leftover birthday cake! lol. No one cares that it was half gone...Cait just loved blowing out more candles and being the center of attention once again! Of course she wore he Elsa dress for the entire day again and all her gifts were frozen themed. She's just slightly obsessed and I kind of loved it - it makes gift giving so much easier!

Anyway, I just can't believe this baby of mine is three!! It's been a crazy three years and when I think of all she's been through and all the future challenges she'll face I can't help but be proud of this girl and her feisty personality! She's the right girl for this battle. She'll be awesome!

So a few things about Cait at three - for the records:

-She loves to dance and sing - Frozen music and Taylor Swift
-She's now in a big girl bed (just a few weeks shy of her third birthday)
-She wakes up early and wakes up her sisters too so she has someone to play with
-Because of her early rising (7;00/7:30) she likes to take a nap every day
-She's bossy - and asserts her dominance over her sisters all the time
-She says the funniest and cutest things and has us all laughing most of the time
-She LOVES snuggles
-When it's time to get dressed she will only wear 'girl' clothes...which we're still yet to figure out what exactly those are
-She's 99% potty trained...which is honestly quite impressive given all her bladder/kidney issues
-She LOVES to play babies and with her kitchen set
-Sometimes we think she's a teenager based on all the eyerolls, sighs and cold glares she gives
-She LOVES to sing her ABC's and pretend to write them all the time
-She still has a soother....and we'll have to figure out what to do about that soon, but she sure loves it
-She loves to play by herself for hours and is really quite independent
-She LOVES her sisters
-She's sneaky and can find candy in any hiding spot in the house
-She just the cutest most fun thing to be around!