February: Blessing #4!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights - James 1:17

Praise be to God! On February 22nd we welcomed another blessing into our family - Carter Izaak VanLeeuwen. We are beyond excited to be holding this precious gift in our arms! He arrived with much drama (as our kiddos tend to do) and melted our hearts immediately (as our kiddos tend to do ;) ). We arrived at the hospital in the wee hours of the morning (thank you mom and dad VG for coming to our house at 3AM!) and Carter made his appearance shortly after 1 PM. He was our heaviest baby thus far - 8lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long (too long to fit most of the pj's I brought to the hospital for him). 

His brother and sisters and grandparents came for a visit later that afternoon -it was so fun to watch them meet their little brother. Seth and Maddy were smitten immediately. Kiera was curious about the food on my side table.  

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We left the hospital the following day. It was a bitterly cold day - and our truck wouldn't start. So we sat in the hospital lobby until Greg's employee arrived to give us a boost. His life began with an adventure! We stopped by Vicki and Mark's on the way home to pick up a couple of buckets of clothes - afterall, the ones I had didn't fit him! 

At home with our little man. It seems like it's been forever since we cuddled a baby boy. So glad to be able to do so again! We look forward to having another hockey-playing, car-loving, race-running boy in our house! 

We are very thankful to our heavenly Father for entrusting another one of His children to us. We pray that we will be given the wisdom need to raise Carter to be the man God would have him be. Such an enormous task! 
And so begins another adventure.... 

February: Seth

I cannot believe that six years have passed since I became a mom. Six wonderfully crazy years. I cannot believe that my tiny little seven pounder has grown up into a fun loving, active, smiley six year old boy. A boy that I am proud to call my own. Every night I thank God for entrusting the care and upbringing of Seth to me and Greg. It definitely is not without its challenges, but the blessing far out way any difficulties :)
Of course, a birthday calls for an update. So, without further ado, here are a few tidbits about my big little man. 
* He is affectionate. He loves to give hugs - especially at bedtime ;) 
* He and Maddy are inseparable. They play together all. day. long. They truly are the best of friends. They both love to pretend to "be" things - especially animals, Paw Patrol characters, and Diego / Dora. They build extravagant forts with piles of "special things" everywhere (talk about a nightmare to clean up!). They also love to read together - they each take a page and slowly make their way through a book. Maddy is very shy - but I can convince her to do pretty much anything if I tell her Seth will be with her :) I hope their friendship continues forever! 
* He is kind hearted. He has a hard time seeing anyone hurting or sad. His heart is large - and for that we are thankful. (Although, it ought to be noted that he does get some pleasure out of teasing Kiera.) 
* He refuses to eat. Anything. If you were to ask what he likes to eat, he would say toast. And that would be true - the only thing he doesn't complain about eating is toast. He also somewhat enjoys oatmeal with yogurt, yogurt on its own, and tacos. A few cookies / crackers meet his approval. He also enjoys spinach salad. That is about it ... 
* He is full of energy. It's strange - for a boy that consumes next to no calories, he sure can move! He loves to run and jump. When the days get too long he will start to run from one end of the house to the other, over and over, and over. He is a fast runner, too - he's got a lot of potential as a racer :) Which is good - because everything is a racer for him - as long as he can win! 
* He is a giggler. If he finds something funny, he errupts into a fit of giggles. So cute! 
* He loves to be just like his dad. He is so excited when he and Greg are "the same" - even if its something as simple as the colour of their plate. He also loves to play with Greg - cars, Lego, playfighting - anything will do!
* He has an interesting style. He loves to have his hair done - just perfect. He has a few very specific requirements about how his hair ought to be done. He also refuses to wear (what I would call) "normal" clothes. All winter he has worn shorts and a muscle shirt. It is a fight to get him to put on pants and a long sleeved shirt when it is time to head out.... When he does agree to put on pants, they have to be skinny pants (like Diego). Makes things tricky - how do you buy skinny pants for a boy with stick legs?????
* He is in no hurry to leave his home. He enjoys being home with his family, and has little desire to participate in organized activities. He has no desire to go to school at all. He does enjoy playdates - as long as they involve Zachary, Ethan or Braeden ;) When Maddy decides to play something different than him he does get rather despondent - he doesn't enjoy playing on his own for very long. 

Well, that is a quick overview of our eldest blessing. We are so thankful for all that he is and all that he brings to our family. We pray that he grows up to be a man after God's own heart - a man who loves his Father, his family, and those around him. We look forward to many more years with our handsome young man. 
 

February: Happy Birthday Seth!!

Happy birthday to our biggest miracle! Seth turned six on February 19th. He was so excited for his big day to arrive - he counted down for weeks! He (and the rest of us) had a great day celebrating! 

First picture as a six year old!  

He picked Lucky Charms for his birthday breakfast. Nothing like starting off a new year on a sugar high! 

Presents from his sisters - more superheros for the collection... 

We have a bit of a family "tradition" - Family Day weekend usually falls around Seth's birthday. Instead of taking Family Day off, Greg takes Seth's birthday off and we go on a family adventure. This tradition has several benefits: it makes Seth's day pretty special, the places we visit are not super busy (like they would be on Family Day), and all the kids get to join in the fun :) This year we went off to Lego Land - definitely a hit!! 

Some Lego painting 

Off on their first adventure - Ride number one. Me and my overly preggo belly had to stay behind ;) 

Lego mini city -Toronto. This was pretty amazing to see! There are many things you can build with Lego!! There were boats moving in the water, police cars arriving at the scene of an accident, street lights turning on and off, airplanes getting ready to take off... 

There were also lots of other Lego creations around the building. Naturally, Maddy found the dog :D

The birthday boy at the earthquake table. 

Kiera kept very busy - building with blocks, baking cupcakes, running around everywhere .... At some point in her travels she found a new "friend" who had a sore leg. His mother was putting a cold water bottle on the sore leg - Kiera found this quite fascinating. Within minutes Kiera had a "sore finger" and was in need of a water bottle as well :) There was a second ride that she was too short for. This was very disappointing for her and took her a while to get over :( It was very tough for her to watch her siblings enjoying the ride while she had to stay on the sidelines. Other than that "minor" disappointment, she had a great time and was <relatively> well behaved.

There was a big jungle gym / climbing structure that Seth and Maddy loved. They spent lots of time running around. They made a few new friends and played hide and seek with them.

Another highlight - the ramps. There were buckets of Lego that the kids could use to build cars. They could then let the cars go down the ramp and see how far they could make it. There was also a racing hill where you could send a few cars down at the same time and see which one was fastest. Seth and Greg LOVED this activity - they worked for a very long time on a big eight wheel car. They were pretty convinced that it was the fastest one ever made ;)

Overall, it was a fantastic day! Our last stop at Lego Land was the gift shop where Seth got to pick out a birthday gift. Since Lego Land was in the mall, we headed to the food court for some Subway dinner - yum, yum! 

We arrived home pretty late - but not too late for cake!! We ended the day the same way we began it - sitting as a family, enjoying a sugary treat :)

February: Lego Fun

A long awaited event ... Seth's sixth birthday! Well, his birthday party. We had the party a week and a half before his actual birthday juuusssstt in case the unexpected happened and our little one arrived early! I went with a lego theme since our little man is a lego expert! It was lots of fun to plan - I tried to keep it simple since my energy levels are a little low :) 

We had some yummy Lego brownies...  

Always a favourite party event - blowing out the candles! 

Another favourite - present time! He received a spiderman bike from Braeden and an Arctic Lego set from Ethan and Zachary. The spiderman bike provided lots of entertainment at the party. The Lego set provided lots of entertainment for the rest of the week. 

A few Lego-ish decorations... 

Pin the head on the Lego man:

 We played a few other games as well. Greg made a ramp and the boys built cars and had races. We also turned a door into a large Lego brick and the boys took turns trying to shoot a hockey ball at the Lego "bumps". Then, of course, there was Keep Up the Lego Balloon Head - lots of laughing, running and jumping in that game! We also did a pinata (reused from our Halloween fun).
Seth had lots of fun! He loved having his friends over and enjoyed celebrating with them. 

February: Snow Fun

I am not a winter lover. I dislike cold. I enjoy snow ... but only when the sun is shining and the weather is warmish. I'm also slightly (okay, very) lazy when it comes to getting the kids outside ... putting on all that snow gear seems like a lot of work - especially when they only last outside for a short time. However, I do know that outside air is good and healthy for kids and so I did send them out on a fairly regular basis (kind of). Seth and Maddy are kind of like their mom - a little afraid of the cold. However, sledding makes it worthwhile - they (especially Seth) love to slide! We do not have very good sledding hills around here, unfortunately... they had to settle for sliding down the snowbank that Greg had made from snowblowing. Not a very good hill. 

Finally I joined them outside and took them to the big dirt pile in our side lot. This put a huge smile on Seth's face - he went down again and again. Maddy had a hard time getting up the hill, and couldn't manage to stay on the sled when going down :)  

February: RBC

My sister is a gardener-extraodinaire! She loves everything plants - and if you have that sort of love for plants you (obviously) have a yearly pass to Royal Botanical Gardens :) This Spring the RBC had a Frog Frenzy program. Katie called to see if we would like to join her and Atticus for a morning of fun and learning. So, despite the fact that the legs and back that had to support my big preggo belly were yelling "NO! Don't do it!", I decided it sounded like a lot of fun for the kiddos and off we went. 

My handsome little nephew Atticus. He had lots of fun ... climbing all the stairs ;)  

 We started the morning off with puppet show. The kids loved it - although none of them volunteered to give the dragon a kiss! We also got to hear a few froggy stories.  

There were a variety of fun activities around the centre that allowed children to learn about frogs. This one had the kids leaping from lily pad to lily pad -so fun! 

Checking out some of God's amazing creatures. The incredible variety and beauty of these animals is mind-boggling! They come in all shapes and colours! 

Each aquarium had a small label that told us how many frogs were inside. Seth and Maddy had fun trying to find them all - frogs are sure good at hiding! 

 There was also a small demonstration on snakes (sort of ironic since they enjoy eating frogs!!). The kids were given an opportunity to pet the snake - Maddy and Kiera did so willingly and Seth chose not to :) 

Craft time! Seth is having more fun than he is showing in this picture! 

Before leaving we stopped at the gift shop and picked up some frog tatoos. The kids have been really into tatoos lately, so they were pretty excited! We had such a fun morning - thanks, Katie, for inviting us to join you! The RBC was a very beautiful place - I'd love to go back and wander the gardens :)

January Tidbits

Here are a few random pictures of our life in January! It was a chilly month, and felt rather long. Perhaps because we were eagerly awaiting the month of February - to celebrate our big boy's birthday and our little one's arrival :) 

Seth continues to enjoy dressing himself in strange and rather weather-inapproriate ways :)  

 Maddy received a large horse from her aunts for Christmas. This horse has been named "Elly" and has received lots of lovin'. Maddy and Kiera love pulling out allllll the bows and making Elly (and themselves) look beautiful! 

 

I finally convinced Greg to go to Home Depot to buy some paint for our baby's room. We got to Home Depot, picked out some paint, then started talking about our bathroom. Before we knew it we had paint for the bathroom, new light fixtures, and some towel rods in our possession.... nothing like a spur of the moment bathroom reno!! We had visions of a new bathroom by Monday - ha, ha. We got home from our shopping extravaganza and Greg got right to work tearing things apart and mudding. It was rather discouraging since I had spent the entire day spring cleaning the bathroom - washing the cupboards, walls, ceiling :D He certainly undid all my work in short order! He worked until late in the night and spent all the next day fixing and painting. It (obviously) was not finished that weekend -but it did get done eventually and we are very happy with our "new" bathroom (I shall have to take a picture of the new and improved space!)

 

 Kiera thought her dad looked a little lonely and joined him for some story time :)

 Clearly Kiera has the "cheesy smile" thing figured out! Just what everyone needs - a superhero in heels!

 Long winter days are made fun when Lego enters the picture! Seth and Maddy can spend hours building and rebuilding Lego contraptions. Usually their masterpieces are cars - but boats, planes and submarines occassionally appear as well. 

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 Kiera spent a few days sick - she even threw up for the first time in her young life. She was less than impressed with the experience :D 
Seth tried to help her feel better by showing her the masterpiece he made in his art class.

She was pretty sure she was feeling better ... this is how far she made it off the couch. It was a sad sight :(