Quoteable Monday's

Power is not revealed by striking hard or often,

but by striking true.

- Honoré de Balzac

A Mess That Was Worth It

This mess was worth it for two reasons....

I was trying to make lunch

{and yes we eat lunch wearing our pajamas some days}.

This moon sand kept my two year old busy for quite awhile.

This mess was also worth it to see the satisfied grin of this sweet boy.

What do you let your little one "make a mess at" for a few minutes of peace?

Wordless Wednesday - Got Gas?

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Tackle It Tuesday - Snow Fun

I have been ill on and off for the month of January.

We have had birthday's to celebrate, hockey games and a hockey tournament to attend.

Subzero temps to deal with.

I should be posting about all the housework and laundry that accumulated while I lay in my bed fighting this tonsilitis bug but then that would mean I actually did those jobs.

On the weekend the weather warmed up.  I knew there was one thing that I wanted to get done.

And that was to build a snowman or a Bonhomme de neige in our house.

Where we live it is too cold the majority of the time for the snow to get sticky. The weather recently warmed up and even though I wanted to throw a movie into the DVD player Sunday afternoon I decided we needed to move it outside.

Our snowman, who goes by many names depending on who you are asking, may not be the creation Dad made with the kids last year...........

....or as biodegradable with the bark chips and kindling for arms.  But I will say I do love him and glad that he is outside our house welcoming those that come to visit.

What are you tackling today?

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Quotable Monday's

The best way

 to see Faith is to

 shut the eye of Reason."

Benjamin Franklin

5 Year Olds

This is what I looked like 5 years ago....

Very pregnant with children!  The twins arrived January 20, 2006.

 We had a one week hospital stay and finally we arrived home to big brother and Daddy.

Sasha has always been the get up and go type.  She arrived first and was yelling and screaming.  She walked early, talked early and nothing has slowed her down. 

And then Sam arrived 3 minutes later, blue and not responding.  My friend's Mom who snuck in the O.R. (and was a nurse) kept telling me he was okay but she also blocked my view as well.  Smart because I was worried and so was Daddy.  But then we heard him and he is and always has been a delight.

My blue eyed boy.  A very tiny boy but his personality makes up for everything he was lacking in the growth department.  Sam is now only a 1/2 pound from his sister and is a happy healthy 5 year old.

 1st Birthday.

Two year olds!

Becoming a big brother and big sister.

3rd birthday.

First day of preschool.

Playing Cinderella. Sam was always the ugly step sister.

4th Birthday and the infatuation with Super Why!

Let's not forget Barbie Musketeer!

Today we celebrate their 5th Birthday.  I am so very excited for them and they are excited too.  Sasha thought she would get to switch to Kindergarten now...yes she is my eager to lean girl.

Sam just loves all the attention a birthday gets him.

Big things are to come for these two.  They are already "separating". With school comes different friends and they do not stick together so much anymore which saddens me but also makes me curious to see where they go in life. 

As the Mother of twins I have to say I am proud of myself to have made it through the last 5 years with my sanity intact...or so I think.  It's not easy being a Mother to twins let alone to four children. It puts a strain on many things besides your mentality.

My husband also has been knee deep in diapers and forumla or doing the burping.  Many nights it was him in the rocking recliner with our daughter or son, both of them asleep, and many times my type A personality would let them be and leave them sleep until the morning.  They were adorable.

Happy Birthday Samuel and Sasha. 

I am very proud to be your Mother and excited for the next 5 years.

Wordless Wednesday - In My Backyard

Wordless Wednesday

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Tackle It Tuesday - Too Much!

One thing that bothers me is that we (and most people in this country) have too much of everything.  There are so many people out there that have nothing and it breaks my heart when I see children hurting because of poverty.

I have two bins full of winter accessories, scarves, hats, gloves, and mittens.  Many of these items were hand me downs or made up by Granny's.  My children do not need five scarves each.  I kept spare mitts and touques but pared down on the rest.  I was guilty myself of four hats!  I went from two bins to one and in this bin there are only a few items to be stored.

Fashionista would not get rid of her scarves and I allowed her to keep them because she will wear them.  She did however donate a few other things.

These items will be delivered to the Children's Haven in our city.  Gage was sitting in the empty bin and asked Sasha asked if we were donating him too?

NEVER!!! He's my cute two year old.

What are you tackling today?

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Quotable Monday's

To live is the rarest thing in the world.

Most people exist, that’s all.

-Oscar Wilde

Slow Down

I feel like 2011 is flying by at warp speed.  We are almost at the halfway point of the month. 

This bothers me.

I do everything I can to make sure life does not pass me by while I blink.

I dislike being rushed to get through a day running here and there looking like a crazy woman.  Okay I probably do not "look" like a crazy woman but inside my little head their is a woman that looks just like me running in circles screaming.

We have four children and three of them are registered in more than one activity besides school/preschool.  Yes one of the activities is hockey but this year it has been really good with the amount of ice time at the max two times a week.  Until next week that is...ugh...home tournament + husband working his job all weekend = craziness for me. 
Thankful for a babysitter.

The days fly by because of these two....

Bundles of energy!  More like explosions of energy.  They are very creative so much so that they end up shutting down somewhat and cannot find anything to do.  That is frustrating as a parent.  So many toys and activites and they follow me around the house.  I usually give them chores to do and they end up liking the work so they keep following me around.

And the fighting.

OH the fighting.

I am not sure what to do about the constant bantering.  My plan is to just keep correcting and discipline but the problem is I end up exploding by the end of the day.

I know this will pass. They will start to focus on other things and begin to CALM down.  It's like their brains cannot get enough learning, yet when you sit down to do a workbook sometimes it end's up in disaster.  Books are good, we could read books all day but then who would clean, cook, and chauffeur?

My favorite is outside play, them not me...YEE HAW.   I thought I'd have calmer children after an hour play outside yesterday (I was out there too) but I was very wrong.  Hyper children running circles in my kitchen while I tried to cook supper.  Yes I do discipline and their is a rule no playing in the kitchen but it doesn't seem to work in my house.

So I am going to ride this storm till it's over because we know in the end I am going to MISS all of this craziness.  Here we go....

Thankful Thursday - Realizing How Blessed I Am

Yesterday I realized how blessed I am.  I had more birthday wishes via email, facebook, blog and phone calls than I could count. 

As I was driving home lastnight after my mentor meeting I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the people in my life.  Thinking of those that wished me well on my special day.  I thought of how each of them fit in my life, why some are reappearing after years of not much contact, previous co workers, Aunts who I never see or hear from, and elementary school friends.  I also had two friends who called me the day before my birthday just to wish me a great day because they would not be able to call me on the 12th.  Bloggy friends, Twitter Friends...I love ya!

I have such a RICH life!  Great husband, great children, great family and GREAT friends!

Two special Mother's emailed me as well.  One usually phones me but LOVED that she emailed and remember me.  These two women are very special people in my life, their daughters are my great friends.  I love their families and think of them often.

I hope on rough emotional days I can remember how blessed I felt yesterday and to be honest the "high" is still with me today. 

Thank You My Friends.

You made me have a very special birthday.

Visit Thankful Thursday - "I Am Unique" - CJ Carleton

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday

37 years ago.....

 this beautiful brown eyed baby was born to a wee bit of woman and red haired young man.

That's me!

 

I love this picture because it has my Grandma's hand in it and it's holding mine.

And finally my love of chocolate shines through at an early age.....

The plan is to colour and cut my hair,

indulge in good food with a great husband sans children.

Go fridge shopping (because that is what I want for my birthday).

Celebrate with children and husband with  pizza from a pizza place not from the grocery store freezer  and cake.

And then meet up with my mentor tonight.

Oh and I also hit the snooze button for over an hour this morning.

Sweeeeeeeeeeet!

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Quotable Monday's

Let your heart guide you.

It whispers, so listen carefully.

~Littlefoot's mother, Land Before Time

Creative Kids

It may not be easy to shut the television off and get the kids busy at something else.

There are many days I just want to let them watch movies but then the fighting starts and I know they are bored and getting on each other's nerves.

What I love about my kids is how creative they are at play.

For example...Sasha made her stuffy a leash with some yarn so Sam decided to do the same with his pet worm...a pipe cleaner. 

Here they are taking their "pets" for a walk.

It was very cold outside on a weekend when Daddy was working so the kids were starting to get at each other. My patience was slipping away.  I made a fort for Gage and then the big kids all wanted their own forts.  They had fun visiting each other's house like the three little pigs.  I think Owen was the big bad wolf a few times.

Gage's fort.

Sasha's house...no surprise she used the colorful blankets in our house.

Owen's fort was downstairs.  Daddy had  great idea to use fitted king sized sheets.  They are great for fort building.

 Sam's was neat because we used the staircase and a few chairs so it was an odd shape.

When they got bored of that they wrapped their oldest brother up in streamers.

This past summer the kids finally took a liking to fireworks.  They were making their own fireworks out of paper one day and I suggested we use streamers instead.  Since then they will have "fireworks" in the house.  After unwrapping big brother they bunched the streamers up and Sam "set them off" from upstairs.

Sasha caught them in a laundry basket.  This game went on for hours with Gage and Owen doing the "oohhhss and ahhhsss" over the spectacular sights.

 It's at a time like this where I see that sometimes it is a good thing to not let the TV and videogames overtake our life.  I want my kids to use their brains, be creative, love life.  We are still big TV watchers, I won't deny that, but I notice how it sucks the life right out of me at times and how addictive it can be.  When I shut the TV or the computer off and get determined to do something it is always rewarding.