Winter Wonderland

 We have LOTS of snow ... and it just keeps coming! 

  

Today was nice and mild so we headed out for some snowy play. The snow was perfect packing snow - great for snowmen, forts, and all that sort of great stuff! Apparently it is also good for sleeping ...

 

Unfortunately, it was also very deep. This meant the kids stayed close to the driveway while mom rolled some snow balls for a snowman. Seth had lots of fun rolling around, digging, and adding "stomachs" to my snowman. Maddy stayed in one spot. The whole time. At least she's smiling and not crying (like last time we went out!)

 



After our snowman was built, I got out the shovel and got got my excerise in for the day - I shovelled trails and "caves" for my "baby dog" and "beaver / meercat". They had lots of fun crawling around ... especially when they discovered the salty mud slop that had dripped off of Uncle Mark's truck. Ewww!

One last picture to show God's created beauty:

 



Science Centre

On February 15th we headed to the Ontario Science Centre with some friends. We HAD to go that weekend because it is free for children under 4 ... and Seth was turning 4 the following Tuesday. It's all about saving money!

Seth and Maddy absolutely loved it. We stayed on the 4th floor the entire day - Kid Spark - which was targeted to children under eight. Here are a few of the activities in which they took part:

Watching the man blow GINORMOUS bubbles. Maddy was enthralled ... Seth was eager to learn. He tried and tried, but never made any that were quite the size that the "bubble blowing expert" made.

 

The beaver lodge. I knew Seth would be thrilled with this little display! He and Maddy crawled in the lodge and sat there pretending to be beavers. After a while they were joined by their friends, one of whom read a book to them. And, of course, after being IN the lodge, it was time to climb ON the lodge!

There were lots of water activities. Both the kids loved these displays. Here is Maddy catching a fish ... cheater!

Seth was a little short for this activity ... but he improvised! He was quite wet by the time we were done! (And no, he did not fall in)

Learning about our insides! There was a bone display and an internal organ display. Seth was very devestated to discover that his heart does not look like a true heart shape ... so upset, in fact, that he was angry about it the next day. We assured him that God made his heart in a most beautiful way - the way that best helped his body. After that he accepted the shape of his heart. Sort of.

A budding Mozart. Or established noise-maker.

The pin wall. Both kids loved this activity!

This was another of Seth's favourites (I'm saying that quite often ... he must've really enjoyed the place!!) This blocks were magnetic and could be used to build 3-D structures. They were on a light table, which added to the fun!

There was a half built house that the kids could help build by placing foam boards into the framed walls. Here is my little construction worker ...

 

Seth ... the size of a newborn bear cub ..

 

 

Seth and Maddy had tons of fun! Kiera did too ... so much people watching!

 

 

She got to ride in her stroller like a big girl! No carseat ... Sniff, sniff - my baby's growing up. She was sooo good. She sat in here the entire time ... except for when I laid her down and she napped :)

 

Well, that was the good part of the day. The bad part came when we *tried* to go home ... crazy Toronto traffic :P It took 3 hours to get close to Milton .... when we finally stopped at a Walmart for some "good" McDonalds food ... and a much needed break for the kiddos (and their grumpy mom).

 

When we were almost home Maddy said, "I don't want to go back to that place." I was kind of surprised and asked, "You didn't like the Science Centre?" She said, "No, I don't want to go back to the jam place." Jam place?? Oh, the traffic jam. Good thinking, kiddo. Neither do I :)

 





Valentines Day

... or "heart day" as Maddy liked to call it :)
We started off our day reading some hearts that mom and dad put on Seth and Maddy's bedroom door to let them know how special they are....

After breakfast we had a heart hunt.....

Seth was very good at finding the hidden pieces of paper ... Maddy, not so much. Perhaps next year :D She just kind of wandered around saying, "It's heart day!"

Later on that afternoon we decorated a heart cake.

And had heart pizza for supper.

Seth and Maddy had lots of fun! Kiera did, too, although none of it was heart-day related. She did alot of this:

and this:

All in all, it was a very successful valentines day.
We did go to a valentines party as well, but we did that the day before Valentines Day. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the fun we had. We decorated a cookie, made a heart craft, ran around with friends, and had a huge melt down that resulted in going home early (okay, so we didn't all do that - just Maddy. Apparently she still wasn't 100% over her flu / ear infection. She wanted bed and she wanted it NOW).

Five Months!

Okay, so I lied ... apparently she does smile for some pictures!
It's true ... this little beauty is already 5 months old! Where does the time go? Another month has flown by. I thought I'd jot a few notes about Kiera at 5 months:
* She's a smiley little girl. She smiles as soon as you look at her :) PLEASE keep this up!
* She's content ... happy to lay on her playmat or sit in her chair while life goes on around her. This is such a treat! She always welcomes attention, though!
* She's a toughie. She's getting very good on her tummy - and has even started to push up with her legs. When lying on her back she lifts up her head to scan the room ... abs of steel!
* She's moving. Okay, so this isn't entirely true. She does turn circles when on her tummy, and even moves backward occassionally. But, that's as far as she's gotten (and that's fine with me! This house is nowhere near baby proof!)
* She's chubby. I had to add that. We hear it from everyone. It seems her cheeks are worthy of mention!
* She was sick this past month. It was so heartbreaking to listen to her cough (however, in line with "number one", she could be in the middle of a coughing fit and still give the most adorable smile). We also discovered she does not like the taste of tylenol. Oh dear, please don't let this be a glimpse into the future of food :S
* She loves her baths. Loves them. Really, really loves them. She is a splasher - making a much bigger mess than her older siblings!
* She loves and is loved by her siblings. She loves watching them and gets very excited when they pay attention to her ... which is often.
* She is getting very good with her hands. She is much better at grabbing toys and putting them in her mouth - and this includes her soother. Hurray!!
* I guess we should include at least one negative ... she spits. And spits. We are all hoping this ends SOON. We have some medicine sitting in the cupboard, but I haven't had the heart to give it to her yet. I'm getting a little tired of laundry, so perhaps soon. Or perhaps not.
* We love her to bits. We are so incredibly thankful that God saw fit to place her into our family. She's a perfect match for us!

Little Mommy

This little lady LOVES her baby. She takes very good care of baby "Kiera" (very original name :p) ... taking her on walks, making sure she is bundled for cold weather rides, reading stories, undressing and redressing her, and giving her frequent feeds throughout the day. I love watching her play, grow and learn. I pray that her nurturing spirit will forever remain as part of her character :D

Egg Friends

Seth and Maddy recieved these cute little guys from Grandma and Grandpa:

Of course, when they recieved them they were hairless. Maddy was quite excited about her egg and asked (every day!) when she could eat it. She was hoping for chocolate. Alas, instead of eating the eggs, we watered them. After a few days of waiting tiny green "hairs" began to appear ... and eventually turned into these full-haired little guys! If only Seth and Maddy (and Kiera) would learn a few lessons from their eggy friends on the art of growing hair!

At this point we decided the hair was getting a little too long. So, out came the scissors ...

 

 

... and off went the hair!

 

 

 

 

Much better! 



Smiles!

Just so I remember just how cute she was:

She smiles a lot ... but NEVER for the camera. As soon as I pull the "big black box" out her smile disappears and she stares ... so this picture is both beautiful and extra special!

February Blahs

Well, it's only the second month of the year and already I'm lagging behind in my posts. I'm going to blame it on the February blahs ... which came in the form of sickness. We had a wonderfully busy week planned last week - afternoon with Grandma, library time, a visit to a friend's, a birthday party, a weekend with Aunt Katie and Uncle Will (while mom and dad snuck away) ... Instead we spent it cuddling and sleeping. All three kiddos ended up getting fevers and coughs. We finally took them to a walk-in. Hopefully we get over this virus soon so that our life can continue!!

Being sick didn't stop mom from organizing crafts ... after all, we have a birthday party to get ready for! Here is Seth and Maddy's favourite craft in the works ....

I'll post pictures of the completed snowmen later! All I can say right now is that they look super cute!

Math Fun

Seth is busy learning his numerals from 1 - 10! He's pretty good with 1-6 but struggles with the higher numbers. So I pulled out the building supplies, stickered some numerals to some blocks, and set everything on the table. When he came out of his bedroom after quiet time he got right to work - and he really enjoyed it! It's definitely a "do again". Of course, after he was all done he had to build some stairs :D I love his creative mind!

Letter Smash

We've been working on learning letters with Seth for a while now. He knows his capital letters and about half of his lower case letters. I found this fun idea on pinterest (from the blog Life with Moore Babies) and thought I'd give it a try! First we mixed some flour and water (1 cup of each). We added a few drops of green food colouring for fun (why green?? it's the only colour we have in the house!) Seth enjoyed stirring:

Then we took cotton balls and dipped them in the mixture. Gooey, gooey!!

 

We put them on a greased cookie sheet and baked them at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. They smelled SO GOOD in the oven!

I took them out and let them cool off. While the kiddos were finishing supper I printed a letter on each one. I left the table for a few minutes and came back to Maddy trying to eat one. I told you - they smelled SO GOOD! She wasn't a fan of the cotton-bally tasted, however! Then I made a fatal mistake ... I put the kiddos to bed. We took took the cotton ball letters out the next afternoon while Maddy was sleeping so that we could have some "smashing fun". Why is this a fatal mistake?? They got VERY hard over night ... I mean, very. Poor Seth really had to work at smashing his letters. He managed, though! He had a lot of fun doing it, too!

 

Some were so hard he ran to get on his new shoes so that he could stomp on them. This was even more fun!

We had lots of fun smashing letters... although, next time I'll definitely do the "smash" right after the bake!

Sweetness

Maddy's words tonight before we put her to bed: "Mommy's my best friend". Sigh. I love her.