December Recap

Okay, it's been awhile so I'll try to recap as best as I can:

Dan and I hosted Christmas dinner at our house for the first time! We had tenderloin and prawns.


I made gingerbread houses with the girls and they had so much fun!!!!





































The work days went pretty fast and I got to do some pretty fun things with my little grade ones.
Once I was off work it has been so great to spend time with the girls and of course Dan. Here are some things we've done: (I've blocked out the faces of other children for privacy)

We went to a Portuguese Breakfast with Santa while Pa and Avo were in Hawaii. We ate tons of food and Olivia met her friend from school and even saw her teacher! Here we are with Santa and Olivia's friend even joined us!





Look at my little Bohemian Olivia! She wore a headband and a scarf with her flowy dress. Lexie is my glamour girl- the day after I had bought this dress she came downstairs ready to go to preschool in this dress! And Miss Cassidy wore a light color dress to coordinate with her sisters- looking super adorable in her polka dots! I even coordinated myself with them too.









Lexie with her friend at her Christmas concert. She sang her heart out again. I've uploaded a video to her concert to youtube but it's set to private. Email me if you want to see it! (You should see this girl shake the jingle bells!)










Olivia got to wear pajamas for her Christmas concert which means she got to wear pj's to school two days in a row!!! She loves to wear pj's. Here she is singing "Let's all got to Bethlehem".



















Here's Lexie at her last ballet class.












Cassidy did pretty well at Lexie's concert. It was hard to keep her in one place but we managed.












Other highlights:
Grandpa Knox came down to visit us before Christmas but I don't have the pictures on my computer. More to come....

Containment

Have I mentioned how busy Miss Cassidy is? It's all about containing her. Well, all my girls have been busy bees but Cassidy seems the busiest. Maybe it's b/c I'm older, or b/c I've got 2 other kids to keep on eye on but I'm exhausted! Don't get me wrong though- I wouldn't have it any other way. Today we went to Superstore and Cassidy doesn't like being strapped into anything. It was like 2 degrees but holy cow was I ever sweating in Superstore! I was with Lexie and I had to have her chase after Cassidy if I didn't have the angle. But here's the bad news- I'm not losing any weight doing all this running around!!!! Maybe I should lay off of the chocolate....but it tastes so good!
Here's another Santa picture. This is from my mom's school. Poor Lexie had thrown up the night before so she wasn't able to make it. Cassidy was not impressed with Santa but she was okay with the elf. See Olivia's shirt? It's scratch and sniff! She just loves it! Problem is I bought it on sale from Oldnavy.ca and didn't get it in Lexie's size. Now she wants it. It's so tricky- I have to get 2 of everything even if they don't need it! And there are times when I know I need to get 3 of something. By the way, the chef/teacher at my mom's school (and his students) made the breakfast and it was so good!!!!

Ho ho ho!

The girls got all dolled up and we went to Metrotown to get our pictures taken with Santa. Ya, WE. I did not intend to be in the picture but I knew there would be a chance. Last year Lexie was terrified of Santa but this year she hopped up on Santa's knee with a big smile! Olivia was more nervous for some reason- hence the awkward pose. I tried to put Cassidy on Santa's knee and she did the whole "slip and slide". You know, where kids put their arms up and they slide out of your grasp. Her pretty little polka dot dress was all up over her head, totally not the look I was going for. But still, there they are- our 2011 picture. I'm so glad it's done b/c it really is stressful planning for it, getting to the mall on time and then waiting in line. We were at a breakfast with Santa at Grandma Knox's school. So much fun for the girls!!! I am totally and utterly exhausted from chasing Cassidy around. Man that girl can move fast and she has to touch everything. EVERYTHING! Poor Lexie couldn't come b/c she threw up in bed last night.

"There's something brown in the bath...."

Oh dear, when I heard those words I knew it wouldn't end well. Olivia and Cassidy were in the bath. Olivia says "There's something brown in the bath but it's not poo" As I'm walking to the bath I'm thinking "what else could it be?" And sure enough as I walk in Olivia says "Oh ya, it is poo." And there it is in all it's glory- slowly breaking apart and floating all around the bath. Olivia can get out on her own and I scooped Cassidy out. I grilled Olivia "Did you touch it? Did she touch it?" hands were scrubbed anyways, bodies were washed outside the bath with a washcloth and lots of soap. Once I got the girls into fresh pj's I had then had to turn my attention to the bath tub. I will spare the disgusting details but let's just say I contemplated throwing all the toys away. They are sitting in bleach right now so I may still throw them away.
This is stating the obvious but CLEANING UP POO IS GROSS! And time consuming. Everything gets scrubbed twice as much as it would normally. But the funny part (not really haha funny but parenthood funny) is I had to clean up more poo the next day when Cassidy pooed on the floor. (Potty training-ones of those things you don't miss when it's done and gone.)
***This photo was taken about a month before Cassidy was born in Feb 2010; the only other photos I had of them in the bath someone was always flashing their nakedness)

36 more days...

***This is the girls last year. This was taken before Cassidy turned around....and (oh the horror!) realized she was sitting on a strange man's knee!!! She burst out crying. It was actually kinda funny.***

Oh ya, we're on the count down to Santa day! And while I'm at it, I only have 12 more working days until my Christmas holidays. (that's 3 days a week for 4 weeks) I'm itching to get my tree up and get all my decorations out. I think we're doing it next weekend.

Can you believe that we had snow already? We got out all the mittens, gloves, scarves, boots etc. Now we need to add at least 5-10 minutes to our morning routine so that we can get ourselves organized for the cold weather.

A sisterly story- Olivia was being difficult....insert sigh....as per usual. She is my "spirited child". I was going to give her a juice box in her lunch but she was so difficult that I told her I was now too tired to go out to the garage and that her behaviour wasn't appropriate for a treat. She got mad and said something about me sending horrible lunches. **defense- I'd like to defend myself here and say I send awesome lunches that get eaten up with no leftovers. *** So I make a crack about how yucky lunches should be her consequence for yucky behaviour. Then Lexie pipes in that Olivia should have squash for lunch. Ha ha ha ha!!! I totally crack up and add that I could send it in a baby jar b/c temper tantrums are for babies. Olivia was so mad but she calmed down. She was a little worried that she would get a jar of baby food for lunch but nope, I wouldn't do that. Tempting.....

Random Halloween pictures

Alexis as a fairy at Phoenix Gymnastics and a witch on Halloween night. She loved wearing makeup.

Olivia was a black cat for Phoenix gym and Halloween night. That's her hanging upside down on a bar.

Miss Cassidy insists on feeding herself. Pretty cool most of the time. Here she had gone to the fridge and asked for "yo- gur". I tried to feed it to her and she started to cry. So I put it down on the little table and sat her on the chair. She was a happy little girl. I gave her a spoon but she didn't
think it was necessary.

A rare sighting of mom in a picture.

Boo!

I feel like Halloween has been all month. "On the 31st day of Halloween my true love gave to me...31 boxes of smarties, 30 reeses pieces, 29 coffee crisp....etc etc". It all begins at work when the calendar switches to October and the Halloween pictures come out. "Is it Halloween today?" asks a little grade one voice. And this goes on for days. We took our girls to Phoenix gym for a really fun day. Well, it was fun for them. I was really hot and carrying my purse around was a pain in the butt. The girls got to play on the really cool gymnastics equipment, eat a sundae & bounce in a bouncy castle.







Then today was a big first in the Sardinha house- Olivia and Alexis went trick or treating! Our block is pretty sad but apparently the street behind us was pretty good. We didn't think it would happen but they came back with bags full of treats. Alexis wore a pretty spider witch dress with hat and Olivia went as a black cat again. Cassidy dressed up as a pumpkin but she stayed at home with me to hand out candy.
Happy Halloween everyone!

Swimming

All 3 of my babes are little water babies. They started out by loving baths and this transferred over to swimming lessons. When kids turn 3 they start swimming lessons by themselves. As in no parent participation! As in mommy doesn't have to put on a bathing suit & forget the humiliation of hairy legs. But wait, I only have 2 over 3 so that means I'm in the water with Miss Cassidy. Every Thursday Lexie has swimming lessons and I take Cassidy into the pool for public swim. Cassidy loves it and I feel like there's no choice but to take her in while Lexie has her lessons. Cassidy would spend the entire time trying to get into the pool anyway. But the funny thing is when we're in the pool she's trying to get out of my arms the whole time. She just wants to be free but that only works when we're in the shallow end. She actually had a little meltdown- okay it was probably a temper tantrum- and we almost had to leave the pool. It was all over a toy.

And if you've never been swimming with a small child let me tell you about the joys of the change room. First there's all the stuff you have to pack for everyone- the clothes, towels, change for the locker, money for me to swim, pullups and swim diapers plus bribes to keep them still when I'm getting myself changed. My backpack is huge and barely fits in the locker. After the swim comes the really fun part. We search for a family change room where we have our own shower. Seriously it makes me so mad when I see one single person coming out of the FAMILY CHANGE ROOM with the signs that say FAMILIES ONLY. I have to get both girls into the shower while I unpack the locker and make the several trips back to the family room. All the while chasing Cassidy back into the room. Then I let the girls shower for a bit while I organize everything and search for the soap. I try to get myself ready while they shower. Getting them dried and dressed always comes with some mishap- socks dropped on the wet floor, forgotten underwear, Lexie opening the door...Well, it all ends up being a good experience and I hope that one day the girls will look back fondly on their fun outings with me. I don't have any pictures of our current swimming but I'll share some of the past....

New things with Miss Cassidy

Since she's 19 months old now there's lots new with her. Her language is expanding like crazy! Some new words:
Mario, Yoshi, Jesse, (all little figurines we have)
messy, Cassie, Lexie (but it comes out with a lisp like Lexthi, she does this exaggerated tongue thing!) Olala (for Olivia)
corn, beef (every meat is beef), soup, pants, socks, jacket
car, high chair, bed, blanket

She's doing somersaults on the bed and I'm hoping to get her into gymnastics next year. She's quite the little climber- still. But she's a little more daring now. I have to keep my eye on her at all times. Ya, it's as exhausting as it sounds. And I'm sick now too. Full on head cold.

Busy Bees times 3

It is getting so hard to update here! Life with 3 little ones is sure crazy busy. It feels like every moment is taken up with something. I know I'll look back fondly and feel like this was the best time, when I had some control over things. But right now it's all packing lunches, doing laundry, keeping up with school stuff, attempting to clean and of course the play. I like to get down and play with the girls. It's fun listening to their little imaginations go wild. Even Cassidy is getting in on the pretend play when she pretends to eat the cupcake off her onesie or feeds her stuffed cat milk. I think updating here is like trying to clean the house- I think about all the things I need to clean so I avoid it all b/c it overwhelms me. I've got lots going on and little updates to do but not enough time to write it all down. I think I'll have to choose one thing at a time to update and just focus on that. I like adding pictures so I'll just share a random one. This was the girls last Halloween.

Where do I begin?

Okay, I'll try and sum it up:

-Uncle Mike came and switched us over to Telus computer and T.V.

-Cassidy is a little monkey getting up to trouble every chance she can (I am so exhausted from chasing that girl!)

-work is super crazy; my class is super difficult and one thing another keeps coming up; my life is consumed by work!

-Olivia is loving grade one; she just got tested and is reading at a level 23 which is somewhere around grade2-3

-Lexie likes preschool, I think she needs more challenges

-Cassidy is getting a new tooth and possibly more

more to come....

Whirlwind trip

So we headed up to Kelowna to visit my dad aka Grandpa Knox and Joyce. Or as Cassidy calls Grandpa "Papa" (emphasis on the 'a's'.) We left around 9:40am and had a great drive up. We went the farthest we've ever gone without a stop- 2.5 hours! Miss Cassidy only slept 15 mins. which was surprising since she loves her naps. We arrived up there around 3pm and got settled in quickly. Luckily there's a basement where we can spread our stuff out and be a little noisy. To get some energy out of the girl's we went for a walk. The highlight of the walk was seeing 4 deer- a mom, her twins & I think a grandma. The girls were thrilled!

The next day we went into visit G.G.- my grandma! How lucky am I to be still visiting my grandma? The girls were given a tour of Gram's Lake Country Manor and were on their best behaviour. After hanging out in Winfield for a bit we went back to Mckinley landing where Grandpa lives and Cassidy had her nap. After the nap we went to my aunt and uncle's house which is right on Okanagan Lake. Holy cow did Lexie and Olivia enjoy themselves!!! They spent most of the time in the lake. It was a lovely temperature. Not sure what it was- maybe 70-72 degrees? (around 21 degrees celsius) Alot of my family was there- most of my cousins and their kids & spouses. We had a fantastic time! I didn't get nearly as much time with my dad, aunt or cousins as I'd like. Miss Cassidy is such a busy bee and constantly into EVERYTHING! I'm on my feet chasing her all the time. I love love love this stage and it's rapid language development but the constant busyness is so exhausting. Especially for this mom who's not getting a lot of sleep.

We stayed one more night and most of the second day. We made one more trip to the lake for a quick swim in the lake & a visit with Aunt Betty & Jenna. Then it was back home. WHIRLWIND I tell ya. The trip home was great. We stopped in at a fruit stand for some peaches and had another great trip along the Coquihalla. We made it home around 8:30 and got the kids into bed quickly. It only took a couple days to unpack.

Ecola State Park (more Oregon pictures)

We stopped in at Ecola State Park on our way back from Cannon Beach. The girls were really excited to see this deer. We actually think this may be an elk b/c it was much bigger and darker than the deer we're used to seeing. This picture was taken on the edge of the parking lot.

This last picture was taken at Cannon Beach.