I Don't Matter

The twins have combined "I don't mind" with "It doesn't matter" and it's the cutest and saddest thing ever.
Me: It looks like your art work ripped."
Twin 1: "It's okay. I don't matter."

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You Could Sleep With Me

Pea just had a bad dream, so I went into his room to settle him. After some time,a I said that I was going to go back to my own room to get some sleep and he said, "Mommy, you could sleep with me. I pwomise I won't kick you".
So sweet.

Moments In Time

I've often heard that the best conversations parents have with their children happen in the car.  I suspect that, like many other parents, this may be true for us as well in the future.  For now, though, the best conversations we have with our children tend to happen in the shadows of dusk as bed time approaches.

Each evening, I lie beside Pea in his bed recounting the day's events and discussing our favourite parts. This usually happens after bed time stories have been read and after the light has been turned out. The tiniest slivers of evening light enter through the edges of his window curtain which allows me to see only the outline of his face (but not the details) well.  Typically, he drapes his left arm over my shoulder and around my neck as I rub circles with the tips of my fingers on his back.  We lie together like this as we talk and I soak in every touch, every word and even breathe in his scent, as though I might lose it forever in sleep.

Tonight, after we exchanged our favourite parts of the day, he became silent, yet I knew he was still awake by his breathing.

He lifted one finger and said, "Mommy, I bite my finger." During dinner tonight, he accidentally bit his finger and required some loving and kisses to make it better.  

I lowered my head down and gently kissed the tip of his index finger.  "That hurts," I consoled.

"Yeah," he admitted.

I then pulled him closer to me and brought his forehead to my lips, kissing him before saying, "My baby."

Then, in a dreamy whisper he said, "You're my sunshine, Mommy."

Another Trip To The Lake House

Last December, we spent a few days enjoying some time at my brother's Lake House and we throughly enjoyed every second.  So, when he invited us to come and spend the day this weekend, we jumped at the chance.
A couple of things set us back a bit, unfortunately.  Pea's nasty middle ear infection and fever were factors in delaying us as we were sidelined with clinic visit, prescription pick-up and a wait to see how well he could become before leaving.  Secondly, when we finally had the car packed up and were less than five minutes into the trip up North, I was sidelined by a sudden onset of cramps and nausea.  I begged J. to turn the car around and speed home as I didn't want to be sick in the car.  We made it home in just enough time.  I spent the next hour lying on the cool floor of our bathroom trying to keep my stomach contents from spilling.  Dizzy, sweaty, and weak, I felt AWFUL that the kids, who were so excited about finally getting to see Uncle J. and Auntie L., perhaps wouldn't because of me.
After the hour was up, I told J. that we were going to push forward with the trip.  I couldn't disappoint the kids no matter how awful I felt.
Two hours later, we arrived to a warm welcome by my brother and his family.  We played in the pool, took several rides on the seadoo, watched as my nephews and niece (and friends) went tubing in the lake, played games in the yard, and enjoyed the company of family.  Despite all the setbacks, it turned into a lovely day.

Hand and Footprint Crafts

Another hot one today (predicted to be 44˚C or 111˚F) so we are cooped up inside once again.  We've spent the morning crafting and painting and have some cute stuff to show for it.

Chick was SO excited to see this little ballerina come together!

Our Nemo fishies!

Beautiful and bright Sunflowers. 

Pea made a tractor with his little foot and Chick made this Giraffe a couple of months ago.  Cute stuff!

Last Day Of Nursery School

Since February, the twins have been attending nursery school on Mondays and Wednesday for a couple of hours each day and today marked the kids' last day.  Over the past few weeks, I scoured the web looking for ideas for teachers' gifts (you'd think I'd have a handle on this given my profession) and decided to make some yummy vegan fare for each of their four teachers.  Two teachers received vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (see yesterday's post for pictures) and the other two teachers received vegan chocolate zucchini loaves.  I ran with M3's idea for the gift, so THANKS!

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Loaves

Our card read, "We 'loafed' being in your class!"

The cookie card read, "Thank you for making us smart 'cookies'!"

These four women are the BEST!

From left to right: Miss Cindy, Miss Joy, Miss Susan, and Miss Holly.

A Perfect End To January

This morning, the kids and I woke up to fluffy white snow covering everything in sight, so after breakfast we got all bundled up and drove over to our favorite park.

Is there anything better than making footprints in freshly fallen snow?

Pea fell on his bum trying to get up this little ramp.  He was not impressed.

Even in Winter, Chick loves a good swing.

This photo was taken right before Chick decided to jump backwards off this structure.  She landed flat on her back, cried so hard she had a breath-holding spell, then collapsed in my arms.  Not fun.

The aftermath.

It didn't take long before she was back to her giggly self.

All the while, Pea kept a concerned eye on the goings on with his sister.

We made shapes in the snow.  Pea is standing in the middle of my heart. 

We took a little time to practice our letters in a fun way. Pea followed my footsteps as I made the letters.

This picture exemplifies our son's personality to a tee.  He's going to be THAT kid.

Cheeky monkey!

Happy Chick!

Happy Pea!

Goodbye, January 2012. Bring on February!

My Kids Made That

Our fridge is completely covered in the kids' art work. I love it. I love that I get to display their creations and I love that I finally get to proudly say, "My kids made that".

Size Is Overrated

When we arrived home from Florida, the kids discovered that their snowman had melted and there was only a little mound of snow where its body was. Almost every day since, Chick and Pea have been asking to build another snowman and since we finally received a little more snow, J. was happy to take them outside to build another. Sadly, the snow wasn't as sticky this time, so J. had to use water from the house to build a smaller scale model of the large one that melted. No matter, though, as it still made the twins happy to have another snowman to see.

Disney World Day Six - Port Orleans Riverside and Magic Kingdom

After the spontaneous and adventurous day we enjoyed at Animal Kingdom, we decided to stay put in our hotel on this morning.  Our touring plans had us heading back to Magic Kingdom for the day, but we were all dragging a little and decided it would be best to have some fun (without traveling) in the hotel's pools.  Sure, it was only 54˚F (12˚C) but we're CANADIAN, dammit, and we weren't going to let a little chill stop us.  The hotel's pools were heated, but not overly.

So, after a lovely breakfast at the Riverside Mill (the hotel's quick service food court), we donned our bathing suits and spent the morning shivering swimming in the pools. I took these photos of my super-cuties at breakfast.  J. was gone to get some food for all of us and we were entertaining ourselves by smiling big into the camera.

Since it was SO cold on this day (warm by our winter standards) we were the only people in the pools.  We started off in the quiet pool by our room, then headed to the main pool and wading pool afterward.  I even dipped into the hot tub while J. played with the kiddos in the wading pool.  Bliss.

After naps, we headed out to Magic Kingdom.  Just inside the entrance, Chip and Dale were signing autograph books and taking pictures with kids.  Chick and Pea had no idea who these large characters were, but they were drawn to them nonetheless.  Chip and Dale hugged the twins and took pictures with them.  Then, Chip (or was it Dale?) grabbed Chick again and gave her more hugs.  It was super cute.  We were putting the kids back into the stroller and Chip and Dale were signing autographs for other kids when one of the chipmunks stopped and ran back over to Chick in the stroller and hugged her again.  She was beside herself with glee.

We walked around the park, rode the carousel and played in the Swiss Family Treehouse before catching the Resort Monorail to the Contemporary Resort for our dinner at Chef Mickey's.  J. and I had had enough of the buffet style eating for one week and opted to stick with a light salad instead of gorging on the other foods before us.  Chick and Pea also didn't have much of an appetite on this night.  The characters, as usual, were a huge hit with the kids.  In particular, Goofy made Chick's night when he came to our table.  I told Goofy that he was Chick's favorite and Goofy gave her some special hugs and one on one attention.  Chick was still her the high chair and Goofy kept motioning for me to take her out.

When I did, he grabbed her hand and walked away with her!  Chick and Goofy walked a little bit, then turned and waved, then walked a little more, turned and waved, etc. 

She had NO reservations whatsoever about going along with Goofy.  She was happy to head out with him and say goodbye to all of us.

What a sweet experience for Chick.  Usually, Pea is the one who is outgoing and personable with people, but this was certainly Chick's night to shine.

After dinner, we took the Monorail back to Magic Kingdom and rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin before calling it a night at catching a shuttle back to the hotel at around 7:45pm.  I really, really wanted to stay to watch the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular  at 8pm, but we had to be on a bus for the airport by 3:45am and I knew we needed to get back to the hotel to get some rest.  Next time!

Disney World Day Five - Animal Kingdom

Earlier on in the week, J. and I had made a decision to skip Animal Kingdom in lieu of spending a quiet day at the resort swimming and playing.  We had thought that the kids would enjoy a day off from traveling on buses and from the hustle and bustle of park life.  Catherine had scheduled us for an early morning breakfast at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, though, so we thought we would get up, go for breakfast, then come back to the hotel for the rest of the day.
Because our reservations were set for before the park opened and since we arrived early for our reservations, the kids had the run of the park and they LOVED it.  J. and I quickly realized that this park was right up our kids' alley and that they would likely enjoy this park more than any other since it allowed them to run, walk and see all the animals we read about in books at home.
Before breakfast, we saw some flamingos, talked to one of the zoologists about flamingo diet, met some lovely park staff who gushed over the kids while giving high fives to each of them, and traipsed through some amazing and lush grounds on our way to Tusker House. This park was definitely suited to our kids' personalities and we knew immediately we were in for a great day together.
Our breakfast was another buffet and the kids ate well.  They mostly enjoyed seeing all of their favorite characters once again and Pea especially loved when Mickey Mouse took him by the hand to lead the morning celebration parade.

After breakfast, we took an adventure ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris.  Man, we expected to see some animals, but we didn't expect to see so many up close and personal!  This was likely my favorite adventure of the trip (I really liked Soarin' but this one was amazing in its own right).  We learned so much through our guide and saw some beautiful animals along the way.

This giraffe came right up to the door of the truck we were riding on. We easily could have reached out to touch it, it was that close to us. So cool!

These gators were "too 'cary" for the kids.

Is there anything cuter than a baby elephant?

Once the safari was over, we walked onward toward the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Here, the kids ran from exhibit to exhibit and loved seeing all the creatures in their habitats.

This Komodo Dragon was very cool and I learned a great deal by talking with his keeper.  It was all fine and dandy until I asked about Komodo mating.  Then, it was all kinds of awkward.

We then headed toward Finding Nemo - The Musical and learned that we were just in time for the next show. It was spectacular and the kids really loved it.

After the show, it was time for a snack for the kids, so while the kids and I sat and ate more Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Bars, J. decided to ride Expedition Everest. I don't have any pictures to share of this time because I spent the 30 minutes we sat there talking to a man whose family was also riding Everest.  After a few minutes speaking with him, he asked me where in Canada I lived.  At first I thought he knew I was Canadian by my apparent accent, but then he told me it was because I was so polite.  Funny!  He was from Saskatoon and his wife and grandchildren were there on vacation.  They all had matching t-shirts and he said they were having a great time.

After snack, we headed over to TriceraTop Spin.  Chick rode it once, while Pea wanted to ride it several times and because there were no lines, I was happy to be his riding companion.

We had many more sights to see, but it was late and the kids really needed naps, so we headed back to the hotel for a little rest.

That evening, we had reservations for dinner at Kona Cafe in the Polynesian, so we took a shuttle to Magic Kingdom, then hopped on the Resort Monorail to get to our waiting dinner.  We had fed the kids a very late lunch after their naps, so we knew they wouldn't be hungry for dinner and this worried us, since we thought they might be antsy during our dinner. However, the cafe provided colouring sheets which kept them quite happy throughout the meal.  Something else that made them happy was picking out desserts from the display case.  Oh man, the desserts at this restaurant could send anyone into a diabetic coma!  Chick chose the Kona Kone.  A HUGE waffle cone surrounded by blue (raspberry) cotton candy with two scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream and M&Ms. 

Seriously.

J. and Pea shared a dessert called Kilauea Torte.  They each enjoyed it a great deal.

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel where J. took the kids swimming in a little wading pool beside the main pool.  They had an incredible amount of fun there and met some other children who were splish splashing away.  I stayed warm in my clothes and took pictures from the sidelines.  I'm no fool.

I love this video of Pea splashing in the water. He became VERY brave during this trip and was able to swim clear across the length of the main pool with his floaties on and without help. Here in the wading pool, he was enjoying the freedom of no floaties.



Soon, it was time for bed and time for all of us to get a good night's sleep. This was definitely one of the most enjoyable days we spent at Disney World.