Happy New Year - Resolution time!

Let me start by saying that 2011 was a wonderful year for my family.  We were generally healthy, and happy most of the time!  We travelled a little bit, enjoyed the girls highland dancing and the business is doing well!  I hope 2012 is just as good to us!  As the new year approached I started to think of what kind of resolutions I wanted to make.  Of course the old given's popped into my head, be healthier, eat healthier, exercise more, spent less money etc etc.  Of course those are all great resolutions and I hope to be able to do a bit better in the "health" department this year but I really wanted to do something a little more meaningful this year.  So I thought about what kind of things make me happiest  and what kind of things I could improve on and most importantly what kind of things would benefit my entire family.  So the two things that I came up with are


1) To do one act of service for a member of my immediate family EVERY day.  Not each member but at least one.  The only rule I am giving myself is that it can not be something that I already do daily - for example cooking dinner, doing laundry or driving kids to school or activities etc.  I of course will do my best to keep it as even as possible (you know it may be easier to do something for some people than others;) but I am trying to do my best to include everyone on a weekly basis.


2) Consciously be grateful for at least one thing EVERY day.   The following quote sums up why I want to focus on gratitude - "Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable."  I want my children to grow up to be compassionate adults and I really feel that the best way for me to acheive this is to to teach them to be grateful and to charitable.  If I want to teach them this then I certainly need to set  an example for them.  So this is my New Years Resolution.


I am going to try to post what my daily acts of service and thoughts of gratitude are.  I probably won't get a post in every day but I will do my best and I will note what they were for each day.  I am actually really looking forward to this!


So for today my act of service was organizing my daughter Avri's drawers and helping her stick up some name letters that she printed in vinyl up on her wall.  I enjoyed her company as we did this together while she took a 15 minute break from her cyber school studies.  She is 11 years old and in grade 6 and she is such a sweet girl.  She is so even tempered (not like me) and thoughtful and sweet and good to her younger siblings.  She rarely gets upset with anyone.  I am so proud of the person she is and who she is becoming.  I adore her.  


And today I am grateful for hot baths.  I love them.  I love that when all 4 of my girls are in bed and I am sore from yesterday's workout ( you know the other resolution to be healthier) that I can slip into a hot bath with a good book and forget about all the chores and day to day tasks that are awaiting me on the other side of the bathroom door!  I love the way my cats sit on the edge of the tub and play in the bubbles all the while keeping me company.  Even if it is only for 45 minutes I love that I can relax and escape from my responsibilities and then come out feeling relaxed and refreshed!


That is it for tonight but you will be hearing from me a little more often on here as I account for my daily resolutions!  Here is to 2012!


Below are a few pictures of christmas concerts, gingerbread house making highland competition and the girls performance with their dance school at the old folks home in  Maple Ridge.

Tis the season to be jolly.......

Well it's official, the kids are out of school and it is now my full time job to keep them entertained, for a whole 8 days until christmas arrives.  Thank goodness my mother is arriving on Wednesday evening, having Nana here will make the task much more and fun and whole lot less work for me :)  The last week of school was pretty darn busy, we had school concert, 3 class parties, projects due, ortho appointments, and the list goes on.  This week is shaping up to be rather busy too, but more fun stuff!!  The girls have a fun dance recital at the old folks home on Tuesday - that will be really fun for them.  The elderly love to watch the girls dance!

 I have lots of fun things planned for this week before christmas (or should I say lots of things planned for my mom to so with the girls when she gets here!)  I want to take them to a movie (maybe even 2 if the first one goes well).  Last year when Leah was not even 2 years old we went to a couple during the break and she was so good.  So I figure it should work out this year too.  I plan to do some baking with them and some wrapping.  I am almost done shopping, really almost done and that is like a miracle!!  I am quite proud of myself for that.  I am picturing the malls to be pure kaos this week with all the kids out of school!

I have some cute picture from the girls Christmas concert a few days ago but I still need to upload them.  as soon as I do that I will add them to a post.  There are some pretty cute ones!!

Christmas Bells are Ringing...

Holy smokes it is less than 2 weeks til christmas.  How can that be?  It feels like school has just started.  The months are just wizzing by at a crazy rate, and for one of the first times in my life I am actually wishing I could slow time down a little.  My girls are getting so big and so old so fast.  I actually am starting to miss having a house full of toddlers!  Now it is a house full of homronal pre-teens!  Really they are getting so old and they want their space and they have an opinion and they certainly don't want mine!  I fell so blessed that so far they are such good kids.  They want to do what is right, they want to please us and they still even like to be around us.  We have such a great time together as a family.

The last few weeks have been especially busy leading up to Christmas.  We have put up the tree and decorated the house, put up our christmas lights and started baking.  Don[t forget the christmas music - we have been listening to that since NOv 1st!!  We have some fun nights out christmas shopping too! I just love the chirstmas sesaon.  Funny though at different stages of my life (like the ones where I was 8 months pregnant) I have found christmas to be alot of work, but this year I am just loving it!

Avri got her braces on a few weeks ago - she was so brave getting them on.  It really was not a fun procedure for an 11 year old but she got through it. She actually looks pretty darn cute with her braces on, I think!  And her teeth should be straight in no time.  She will only need them for 14-18 months!!  not bad!!

Below are a few christmas pictures of the girls around the christmas tree.

Good night for now - will post more soon!

Halloween and Toilet Treating - guess which one is scarier!

I can't believe it is actually November already!  Where on earth is the time going?  Kids are back in school and things are going well for all 3 of them.  I can not believe my little Zoe is in Kindergarden now.  She LOVES it.  She is so happy to go to school each morning, I have to admit though I really miss my sweet little Zoe during the day and Leah really misses her!  She has ajusted to the full school days very well and she loves her teachers.  I am relieved that she is so happy to be at school.  Mika is doing great in Grade 3.  She is one of the best readers in her class and loves to help out around the classroom whenever she gets a chance.  She also checks in on Zoe regularly and keeps a close eye on her at school.  It makes me feel good knowing that their classrooms are right across the hall from one another!  Avri is in Grade 6 and she is having a great year!  She is in a new program called cyber school where they work on line from home 2 days a week.  Sometimes she gets together and works with a friend here or at their house.  She is loving it and she has really come out of her shell alot.  We are amazed at home much she is learning in the program. She has also joined the volleyball team at school and she loves it.

All three girls are back to dance and that is going well.  They had a competition in Kamloops in September and both Avri and Mika placed 1st in all 4 of their dances and won the aggregate for their categories!!  They are now in the next level and have done one competition in Victoria in that level.  Both did great and Avri also won the aggregate for that competition too.  Zoe is still in primary but she is also doing great!!  They have several competitions coming up and are practicing a minimum of 3 days a week.  We have come to really love Highland dance as a family.  I love watching the girls dance.

Avri had her adenoids out a few weeks ago.  It was a scary procedure for both of us.  Josh and I have been blessed so far to never have one of our children need a surgery, so this was a first for me.  I was pretty nervous for Avri and she was pretty nervous too.  It did not help that poor Avri was also fighting a cold that she came down with 2 or 3 days earlier.  She did great during the surgery, I was so proud of her.  They let me go into the recovery room when she was coming out of the anesthetic.  When I walked into recovery and saw her laying there with a little blood stain beside her mouth and sort of laboured breathing with her nose all stuffed up I felt so sad and helpless.  I knew she was still a little out of it, and feeling great and she was very restless.  I stood there holding her little hand and had a few tears.  When she looked over she said "it's ok mom, I'm ok."  What a sweetheart.  Then she said can you text dad and tell him I am ok?  She was very concerned about how worried we were.  Once she go tthe ok to leave recovery we headed back to her room where we had to wait about 2 hours before they would release her.  When we got back she had a couple of popsicles and they we put on the movie ELF to watch.  I climbed into the bad with her and next thing I knew the nurse the was waking me up to say we could go home!! OOPS!  Her recovery after that went fine :)  Now the poor kid is getting her braces on in 2 weeks!

This is Avri right before the surgery.

This is us on our way into the OR 

This is her in recovery - still a tad groggy!

So a few weeks ago I decided that it was time to toilet train Leah.  Fourth time around for me and was totally not excited at all.  But I figured, I have successfully done this 3 times, how hard can it be right?  Surely I know exactly what I am doing and with a little bribery, alot of praise and some patience I can pull this off in a few days......... ya well it's been 5 weeks now and Leah has taught me a big fat lesson in patience and another one in stubbornness.  The one on stubbornness is for both of us.  She is determined not to poop on the toilet - in fact she is pretty much determined not to poop at all now and has the ability to hold it for days on end if she so chooses.  I have cleaned more poop out of underwear in the past month then any human being should ever have to.  I have begged, and pleaded and bribed and you name it I have tried it.  NOPE she will not.  I have spent so many hours sitting ont he bathroom floor with her on the toilet, me reading, singing, entertaining and trying hopelessly to get her to go.


Something I have come to know with toilet training, especially this time around is that you simply can not make them go.  You can try all sorts of tricks and rewards and whatever other things you think might work but if they don't want to, forget it.  SHe did go once - just once on the toilet after I told her that her dad would take her swimming (her absolute favorite thing in the world to do) if she pooped on the toilet and it worked, she did it.  Just like that, climbed on said she had to go went.  I warned Josh that he may be spending alot of time at the pool in the next month but we have had no success.  She has the pee thing down, she can stay dry for the whole day, but as for the poop we have gotten no where.  I haven't given up yet, I wish I started when she was a litle younger and a little less opinionated.  I am praying she will toilet trained by the time she turns 3 in January but at this rate.....I am not too hopeful!  I will however keep you posted.  In fact I actually considered starting a blog that was strictly on the public washrooms in the city of maple ridge.  Since moving here 8 1/2 years ago I am pretty sure that I have been to almost every single public washroom there is.  I am not kidding.  I have 4 girls all of whom I have toilet trained while living in maple ridge.  I thought it would be fun to rate them on cleanliness, accesability, how nice the hand soap is, whether they use paper towel or blow dryers - you get the picture.  Sadly I don't really have the time to do it, but I am sure I could keep you quite entertained.

Anyway onto happier things.  We are less than two months away from my favorite time of year - Christmas.  I love it.  The shopping, the music, the baking, the decorating all of it!  We took down our halloween stuff and have moved on to christmas.  I don't have any pictures of the halloween costumes downloaded yet - I will try and get a few on her.  The girls all looked very cute in their costumes.  It was quite a fun night!

Summer Festivities

The summer is zipping by so fast!!  We have been very busy but managing to relax a little too.  The three older girls were enrolled in the Hammond development swim program which was was every morning Monday to Friday from 9am to 10am.  Normally it is not a big deal to get up by 7:30 and start the day - but for some reason I seriously struggled this year - maybe the fact that most mornings in July this year it was only 14 or 15 degrees and I am pretty sure it was raining one third of the time, but we managed.  Leah loved watching the girls, and although they grumbled a little, I think they actually really enjoyed it.  All the girls had great instructors.  Here are a few shots of the girls swimming..

Little Leah was such a trooper - sitting on the side of the pool cheering the girls on!  She wanted to go in so badly, but she is not quite old enough.  Soon though!!  This is Avri's last year doing it.  She has done so well and she has become such an awesome strong swimmer.

Josh and I took a 4 day trip to Arizona - that was so fun and so HOT!!  We had a great time but I really missed the girls.  Nana came and stayed with them and they had fun but I felt so far away from them.  I really am wimpy when it comes to being away from them.  Arizona was beautiful though - we really enjoyed site seeing and relaxing a the pool.  We stayed in Scottsdale.  It was a beautiful resort.  The temp was about 110.  I actually didn't mind the heat at all - although while we were there I developed a strange reaction to the sun?  It is still bothering me when I go out in the sun here.  I was also stung by a strange bug?  I was suntanning and felt this intense pain/sting on my foot and leg.  I swatted it away so I never actually saw what it was but it hurt like heck!!!  

On BC day we spent the day at Hayward lake with some friends.  It was a beautiful day.  We relaxed and hung out there all day long.  The kids loved swimming in the lake - even though it was COLD!!  They played in the sand, played football and a bit of bocci ball.  We had a bbq and relaxed!  So fun.  This weekend Josh has gone up to Pitt Lake to spend the weekend with his parents and the three older girls - Leah and I are at home.  It is so quiet around here.  I am enjoying the time with Leah - but she misses the girls alot.  They are home tomorrow which is good.  Next weekend we leave for our two week holiday in Veranda Beach (right outside of Osoyoos.  I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Below are a few pictures of the BC day picnic!

Eat Sleep Dance, Eat Sleep Dance, Eat Sleep Dance.....

I will try very hard not to become a boring dance mom who only talks about her kids dancing, but seriously we are eat sleep breathing dance right now.  The girls just had their year end recital it was great!!  The funny thing was as soon as the Piper started to warm up and play Leah hopped up on the band stand stage and started dancing.  She was none too impressed with me when I tried to get her down either!!  This is her protesting and sitting down on the stairs of the stage.

But she did sit perfectly and watch the whole 45 minute recital.  She actually LOVES watching the girls dance.  Zoe did great for her first few dances, then it was time for her to do the sword dance with the whole group of girls and they brought the little ones down off the stage and got them to dance right up in front of the crowd of family and friends that were watching.  She looked at me and her face went red and she started to cry.  I went up to see what was wrong and she just buried herself in my lap so she didn't end up doing it.  Later she told me she was scared she would kick the sword and that it would hit someone who was watching!  Poor child was feeling traumatized!!  She did awesome in her other dances and she won a special trophy for being the happiest dancer to come to practice and get right to dancing!!  She really is like that - she never complains, and she always dances her little heart out!!

Here is the three of them in their kilts at the recital.

Avri and Mika getting ready to dance.... Piper in the background

We also had Avri's birthday party this past weekend.  It was fun, lots of girls, lots of noise but lots of fun.  We had a carnival theme, they played games at stations and they got tickets for each station they went to (everyone got the same amount of tickets because I am all about fairness!)  Then they could trade their tickets in for prizes - see prize table below!

It was fun and the weather cooperated enough that we could have the bbq outside after they were done with the games!

After dinner we had cupcakes, I found Leah kindly sharing hers with the dog - no wonder Piper loves following Leah around everywhere!!

I left Josh in charge of the games - he did an awesome job, the kids loved playing them and I think he had some fun too....

Pin the tail on the "DAD" - ONKEY!!  What a funny guy!!

Well that about sums up the past few weeks - we have a few more competitions coming up, so the girls are practicing tons! I'll keep you posted with the outcomes.

Nailpolish and carpets don't mix

I had to write a post and share some of the funny things Leah has done lately.  First of all she is obsessed - no exaggeration here, obsessed with lip gloss and nail plish (what can I say she IS my daughter!).  Anyhow I go to great great lengths to keep her away from these things but with 3 older sisters and a mom, you can imagine that there is alot of lip gloss and nail polish floating around this house.  I have child safety locks on my makeup drawers in the bathroom and we have the child proof door handle  covers - and I am forever after my girls to keep their doors SHUT.  She looks for every opportunity to slip quietly into one of our rooms and ransack through the goodies.  She also looks for my purse, as she knows I keep lip gloss in there.  Funny though - I have a really nice Sephora Lip gloss that I won't let her use and when she gets lucky and finds my purse on the ground or counter she will rifle through it - eat half a pack of gum, smear her face with lip gloss and anything else, but she won't touch the Sephora one.  Then when she is done having her way with the gloss and stuff she will bring me the Sephora lip gloss and say "here Mommy - Leah no use it, only mommy - OK mommy"  Like I should be grateful that she didn't touch my favorite one!  It cracks me up every time and she looks so darn cute with the big sparkly lips, and really I can't blame her for wanting to use it.

Today I took Avri to an Orthodontist Appointment for her braces (coming June 15th).  It was not a great appointment because she had to have the molds done and Avri gags very easily.  I was sitting in the waiting room and I could here choking and gagging in the other room.  It brought tears to my eyes because I felt so bad for her, and I knew it was miserable and hard for her to deal with.  Finally the assistant came and got me - I went in and saw her and she had big tears rolling down her face and she was scared and worked up because the stuff had dripped down her throat.  She had the bottom molds done but the top ones she pulled out before it worked.  The assistant was trying to convince her to try again and Avri didn't want to.  I was sitting there thinking wow this is a great start to years of orthodontics!!  We were finally able to convince her to try again - the assistant used a small tray and missed the clay really thick (why she didn't do this in the first place frustrates and annoys me but either way I held her hand and helped her focus and we got through it.   I can not believe I am old enough to have a child with braces!!  She will be getting them on June 15th.

While we were at the dentist josh was at home with the younger three.  Always interesting!!    Heck it is interesting when I am home with them but when it is him they tend to be more mischievous and try to get away with more.  This brings me to the nailpolish - remember Leah LOVES nail polish.  She got into Avri and Mika's room and did a mini pedicure on herself and meanwhile got it all over the carpet.  This is one of the few times when I have thought that having off white carpets is actually good!!  Using acetone polish remover and rubbing alcohol and HOT water - I actually got the stains out!!  WOW!  Anyway here are a couple of pictures of her toes and might I add that they are the cutest little toes you ever did see!!  She was so proud of herself too!

Well mothers day has come and gone.  I felt really grateful this year for my 4 girls.  I grumble and complain alot about them and about life as a stay at home mom right now, but they are so wonderful.  They bring me so much love, laughter and happiness.  Sometimes I can't believe I have 4 kids - 4 girls.  I secretly love to tell people I have 4 girls just to see their reaction.  Most people say your poor husband, but I think he gets off kind of easy - I will be the one dealing with all the girl stuff!!  I really dont know what I would have done if I had boys.  I am so girly, I love the dance and piano that my girls are involved in, I love the clothes, the make up and hair stuff.  I LOVE it all.  Sometimes I get a small glimpse of the hormones poking through and I worry about the future and dealing with all that stuff for years and years, but really I could not be happier.  If someone had of let me choose what gender of children I would have I think I would have chose 4 girls - really.  I think of all the great things that the future will hold for me, baking and cooking with them (which they already love to do).  Shopping and going to girls movies and girls night out, actually come think of it they already love all those things!  The poems and pictures and cards that they gave me for mothers day were beautiful - Mika wrote me a song, it was so cute. She sang it to the tune of Happy Happy Birthday from Red Robins!!

We are itching for Spring to arrive around here.  We have already bought some veggies for the garden and we are going to get flowers soon too!!  We just need a little sun.  Zoe is my gardener, she LOVES to help me in the garden.  Leah likes to be outside too - although she is a bit scared of anythign that flies right now.  Hopefully that will pass.

Highland dancing is going great - we are in full competition mode.  I have starting making some of the costumes and I love it!!  I forgot how much I love to sew.  I just never seem to have the time!!  Avri got  1st place in all 3 of her dances at the last competition and got the aggregate (highest score for her catagory).  Not bad for second competition. Mika got a 2nd and 5th.  She did really great too!!  There were even more girls in Mika's category! I am so proud of them!!  Zoe will be competing in June at the competition in Bellingham.  I will keep you posted with how all of this goes, we are having lots of fun with it!!  Below is Avri in the outfit that I made - it is her national costume - used for dancing the national dances.  Below that is Leah being cute (not hard for her) and Zoe at her 5th birthday.  I don't have any nice ones of Mika so I will be on a mission to snap a few nice ones of Mika.