Elle's 3rd Birthday(s)

My Beautiful Silly 3 year old girl.

I've never been inclined to do BIG birthdays for the kids.  I prefer just family - but as we're half way around the world from our extended family, I do feel I want to give my kids something a bit more special on their birthdays.

Getting little goody bags together.

Birthday girl having lunch

Cupcakes and candles

About a week before Elle's birthday Conor asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday and if she was excited about her birthday and she said "and my friends are going to come over, and we play, and we open presents, and we eat cake.."  So I REALLY felt like I had to do something (although I told her that mommy and daddy and Finn will give her presents but her friends will just come over to play... but they brought presents anyways so that made it extra special for her).  Conor didn't want to have anything to do with it, haha, so I decided to just have a playdate birthday during the week, and then a family one on her real birthday which was a Sunday.

Thea LOVED the fun glasses in the goody bags

Finn did too :)

Elle got a couple horsies from one family - the novelty has worn off  a bit now, but for about 3 days those horsies went EVERYWHERE with her

The more kids I have, and the more kids my friends have, the more I get overwhelmed by huge group activities.  And I don't necessarily think the kids notice or even benefit from having 20 friends over compared to 6 friends - quality over quantity, and all that.  So I decided to just invite 2 families over, which is difficult but went with a "homeschool/church school" playgroup as the two families we invited are homeschooling families AND the kids go to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd together.

She let me braid her hair!!!
I decided to braid mine too so we could be twinsies

Being silly with my girl

It turned out to be a nice day.  The kids all played really well together, and even got out to jump in the trampoline.  I bought hot dogs so they wouldn't have to rush out and we could have an easy lunch.

Present time - these are all a bit blurry - she's too fast!

Opening presents - a Dr Suess book

Instruments from Mommy and Daddy

Practising the xylophone

Unfortunately that morning we noticed Elle had a very small runny nose.. and by her real birthday the girls and I were all pretty sick with the cold (and it lasted the WHOLE week, of which Conor was on "holiday" - for the first time since I was on bed rest!!)  It was a bit of a bummer, but the weather wasn't the great anyways so we wouldn't have gotten out to do anything special as it was.  Elle enjoyed her "ice cream cake" (home made ice cream brownie bars), and we got her some instruments so the kids all had fun making "music" (I use that term VERY loosely! haha)

Got a couple books from Grandma and Grandpa
I love that they get books for the kids that Conor remembers from his childhood!

Our tradition of taking pics with the kids holding a car with their age :)

I can't believe she's three - it comes with his pros and cons of course.  Her tantrums can be EPIC, but she can also be so darn sweet!  Now that she's 3 she can go to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd with Finn and she's really enjoying it! (and Thea and I are enjoying having that 1.5 hours to ourselves!)

Impossible to get them all looking and have their numbers showing - but we tried! haha

She's a spit-fire for sure - but can't imagine what the house would be like without her (except the word quiet comes to mind).

Happy Birthday beloved

Today my wonderful husband turns 30!!!



He's been such a champ lately putting up with all my crazy pregnancy hormones, a teething toddler, and taking Finn out when I had a cold this week.



So I'm making him a cake (hopefully it turns out better than last year, when I had to make two cakes because I forgot to put sugar in the first), cooking him dinner, and treating him like a king :)



Happy Birthday Conor, I love you, and I don't think you're old!

Happy Birthday Mama!

Just a little post to say Happy Birthday to my amazing mom!!!

We got to skype with her today, which was great!

Love you mom!

One year ago

One year ago my amazing grandmother turned 95 years old!

One year ago my sister-in-law was in the hospital only 28 weeks pregnant and contracting.

One year ago her husband was flying home from Alberta to be with his kids and wife.

One year ago my other brother was flying TO Alberta to be with my dying father.

One year ago my father died.

This year Grandma is 96 years old - my baby niece is almost 1 (she managed to stay in her mama until the middle on January!) - and my dad has been gone a whole year.

This whole grieving thing is a lot different than I thought it would be. Especially as a (then) 27 year old girl loosing her father. For a long time I haven't had a father that I talked to often (as in more than a hand full of times a year), or saw for anything other than big occasions (my graduation, my brothers university graduation, the birth of my nephew and niece, my marriage, the baptism of my son). But it certainly wasn't because there were any issues between us, or we didn't want to talk to eachother. We just didn't know how. It was just too hard - we missed each other too much.

So while I think of him often, I don't really miss him that much. But right now is different. Right now I'm pregnant with his 5th grandchild, and sure he didn't get to see Finnian very much, but at least he got to meet him and hold him. He'll never get to even meet this baby. And that makes me sad.

Today I definitely miss him.

I love you Dad.

Happy Birthday Finnian!

Today is (unbelievably) Finnian's 2nd Birthday. It's just a strange thing to think, 2 years really isn't a very very long time, but it feels as though he's been around forever.

A few things that he loves right now:

• drawing - Conor get's paper from the recycling at his school and staples them together so that he has booklets to draw. He VERY quickly will scribble over the whole page and then bring it to you to change the page. Or else he likes you to draw for him. My favorite is drawing a kitty, because he always gives it a kiss after I'm done drawing it!


• Walking - the stroller is quickly becoming a thing of the past. If I'm not getting a lot of groceries it's almost easier for him to just walk and not bring the stroller at all, but I do bring it if I'm getting a lot.


• Still loves bathtime. He hates the actual cleaning process, and having to get out. And the tub is getting a bit small for him, but he will sometimes "swim" for me, by going down on his stomache in the water, but he has to keep his legs bend because the tub isn't long enough.


• Doing really well at bedtime. He might put up a fuss as he figures out that is what is coming next, but usually it's shortlived. Sadly he rarely lets me cuddle with him while I carry him up the stairs, because he wants to walk up - but I can trick him by having his blanky over my shoulder, and he likes cuddling his blanky.


• He doesn't play with other kids very often, but he is pretty cute when he does! We were at a friends house last night for a dinner party and she has a little girl about 6 months older than Finn, he's taken to fake feeding people, by taking food of a page in his book and then holding it out to you. He started doing this with the little girl last night and she would open her mouth and go "num" and he would giggle histerically. It was the cutest... he's even taken her hand a couple of times to show her something - sigh!


• I bought him a chocolate advent calendar - he has a love/hate relationship with it. As soon as I get it, he goes and lays on his tummy on the floor and then I show him which one to open, and he opens it, takes out the candy, eats the candy, and looks at all pictures behind the candies he's already eaten. But then it's game over when he's done eating, because he wants another one... and all day, everytime he sees it and you have to say no, he throws a bit of a fit!

And now a little monthly walk down memory lane

Date of Birth

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

One year old!

13 months

14 months

15 months

16 months

17 months

18 months

19 months

20 months

21 months

22 months

23 months

Second Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today I am 28.

First things first, I'm pretty sure that my hometown of Abbotsford has not had snow since my birthday in grade 8 (and we were actually snowed in, there was so much snow!)... and now it's snowing there... so even though I'm not there, I guess I can say that I got snow on my birthday!

Finnian helped me ring in my birthday was a bang...er, scream! The poor kid did NOT have a good night. He woke up at 10 screaming and sad, and then farted loudly a few times and eventually settled back to sleep (in our bed). Then he woke up at 12:30 and every after that until 4:30.. but on top of the gas he also had a fever. Each time he woke up, the thing that got him back to sleep the previous time would not help him sleep this time. The first time it was Tylenol for the fever (as well as sleeping on me, NOT comfy), the next time he finally fell asleep after having some milk, the next time was juice. It was a long night. He's still a bit warm, but hopefully he'll have a better night.

In the morning we just had a lazy time, ate breakfast, Conor was home so we all went to the grocery store and to the cafe afterwards, ate lunch and then Finn went down for his name.

Then I went shopping!

Eleonora took me to Fiumicino (where the airport is) and there are two malls. One nicknamed the "american mall" because it's just a bit outdoor stripmall... and the other one is more a typical mall, but we didn't end up going there. We went to H&M because they have good prices and I got a couple pairs of black leggings and a sweater dress and a long shirt type thing to wear with tights! (plus a couple of long sleeve shirts for finn). i'll post pics later

We did some other browsing of other stores, and were just about to leave when Eleonora saw a "Lindt" store... so we had to go in! And she bought me a Lindt italian Hot Chocolate - sooo rich and yummy!

Anyways, now I'm home, Conor is making pizza for dinner, and has made cupcakes or cake or something for dessert... Finn is watching shows :)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Birthday party

Yesterday our Australian friends invited us over for their daughters 4th birthday. We had a few stormy, cold, wet days last week (especially the evenings, you should have heard the thunder and downpour!), but we were blessed with a very nice break from that weather with (so far) 3 days of close to 20 degree weather. It's been gorgeous!!

Anna, the birthday girl

They had the birthday party in the "garden" (the ground floor of most apartments here have a "garden", which sometimes has a bit of grass, but otherwise it's tiled outside area with trees and plants). As usual we had a great time with them... Finn started getting fussy near the end, but otherwise he had a lot of fun with their kids, and we ate some great food and deserts, as well as "fairy bread" which is apparently a birthday staple for Aussies.

I didn't get a picture, but got this from google.

After lunch we went home and had naps, and then went down to the beach with those guys again. Finn is really up and down when it comes to the beach. One time he will LOVE it and not want to leave, and the next time he will hate it and not want to touch the sand. Yesterday was a hate it day - we put him down on someones towel and he just stayed there and didn't move for over an hour. (Conor took him down today and kept his shoes on and Finn apparently had a lot of fun)

Monica's Birthday

We weren't trying to go for the christmas green and red thing

I guess we're just festive girls at heart!

Friday was our good friend, Monica's, birthday party!!

Me and Monica

Conor Monica and I

Other party-goers

Annaliese and Lousia

(she plays poker with us at the Meeses - and she helped us with our taxes!)

Perfect Clare picture with her beer!

Monica Me and Robert

(Robert also plays poker with us)

We went to a restaurant/bar called Mosquitos and then headed to her house afterwards...I took alot of fun pictures :D

Monica, Robert and Maddy Meese

(I love the look that Maddy's making

- all because Monica's a little crazy...but I didn't say that)

Me and Olivia Meese

Mmmmm....toblerone

Monica and Nick (a seminarian that likes to play poker :D )

Unfortunately Conor likes the drink too!

Some seminarian, Mads and Me