Princesses and Cowgirls

Riley's prime goal right now is to be a princess. She adores dresses; especially ones with a skirt that spins when she turns around. She has been raiding Leila's closet recently, in pursuit of the perfect skirt or dress. I let her try on ones that are a little big for Leila. She also walks around in Leila's sparkly slippers which are half her size. She demands to try on every one of our flavoured chapsticks so that she can be a "Rainbow Princess." She is adorable.

Here is an exciting event that we were fortunate enough to witness on our way home from picking the boys up from school. The tree branches that had fallen in the park after the ice storm were getting cleaned up....and....fed into a "tree chomper machine"! We watched the men work for a good half an hour.

And here are the morning munchkins up to their usual shenanigans.

The bigger kids have been very much into sledding this winter. On one occasion I neglected to put these 'magic carpets' away, and the kids started using them inside, sliding down pillows from the couch. It was great fun at first, but soon the runs seemed to resemble those used in extreme sports. I put the sleds away, despite the complaints and very persuasive negotiating.

Okay, so this was one of the best moments. Every day I need to be in Thomas's room for the first 5-10 minutes of nap time, in order for him to fall asleep. And almost every day I need to go to Amadea's room and gently rub her tummy until she falls asleep too. This is now the time when I give the older kids their half hour of T.V. They know they are to be as quiet as possible, and they're pretty good about this. (I know it's not easy for a 3-year-old and two 5-year-olds to stay quiet, but they try.) Anyway, as I am rubbing Amadea's tummy, and have almost gotten her to sleep, I keep hearing this banging sound from the living room. I'm wondering what the kids are doing, and hoping they will stop, since I am so close to getting Amadea to sleep. It doesn't stop, but I miraculously manage to get Amadea to sleep anyway. When I return to the living room, I ask, in an exasperated voice, "What was all that banging?" I am answered by another bang. I focus now on Riley, lying on the ground, with her feet tucked into Noah's Leap Pad case. She flaps her feet to the floor, and the case slaps on the ground. There is a look of pride on her face. Clearly, she is a mermaid.

If you could see what I saw in that moment, you would get such a good laugh, right from the heart. In the picture above, Noah has joined her. He is a "mer-man", and they are perched on a "rock". Riley told me, out of the blue, a few days ago, that when she grows up she's going to be a princess and a cowgirl. Thomas is intent of becoming a robot. It's highly important to set completely unreasonable and unattainable goals early on in childhood. ;)

Amadea loves to try things on. In fact, she's basically dressing herself these days. At only 16 months, she can put on hats, tube scarves (I'm not sure what you call this kind of scarf, but I feel that term describes them well), pull shirts over her head, and put on anybody's boots but her own. I even caught her attempting to step into my tall Hunter rain boots! Such an ambitious girl!

And Thomas has that firefighter hat practically glued to his head. A few days ago I went to his playpen to retrieve his blanket for his parents when they were getting him ready to go home. I just saw the firefighter helmet lying in his bed where his head had been and remembered that he had worn that to bed. Yes, he was so determined to stay a firefighter while sleeping that he kept this incredibly uncomfortable hat on for nap time.

And I just had to include this creation of  B.'s. It is amazing! He is unbelievably skilled and creative.

One day at lunch, Amadea decided to wear her yogurt bowl as a hat. (I know - how far is she going to take these self dressing skills?) Of course I ran immediately to the kitchen to grab a....cloth? Nope. Camera, of course! After remarking on how adorable Amadea looked, and getting a good laugh (and a picture) (and with the other kids giggling and watching the show), I was duly rewarded by my daughter, who followed suit. She thought, "I'll make mommy smile even more!" Leila's bowl was far fuller than Amadea's. You can tell that Leila is trying to process the sensation of the cold glob on her head! Bath night!

Here are a few outdoor pictures. Some child at Noah's school had built this awesome snow fort. After another child kicked it down, we tried to recreate the builder's vision. I have to admit I had WAY too much fun doing this. The other picture is of us sledding at Lithuania Park.

Thomas isn't into sledding as much as the others are. He prefers to play on the playground, or in the snow. Here are two good friends roasting marshmallows in a snow bonfire. They let me taste, and they were delicious! Speaking of which, Thomas, more than the other kids, likes a good snow snack. As long as it's clean, who am I to stop him? The other day I looked over at him, and he was holding this huge chunk of snow to his mouth (don't worry, it was pure white), and he gave me the biggest grin, as if he was enjoying his first summer ice cream.

Photo shoot time. Notice Leila and Amadea holding hands in the first photo.

Leila bites and pushes Dea. Dea swings water bottles and various toys into Leila's head. It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.:)

This is a cute little video too, although a little blurry. I love capturing these beautiful moments!

Amadea strutting through the kitchen catwalk sporting the look of the season: a Santa hat and a backpack.

Riley brought a princess dress for Leila to wear today. Now they can be princesses together. Actually, Riley would like it if EVERYONE in the daycare could become a princess. She brought another princess dress for someone else to wear but it was too big for the baby girls. She begged, and actually succeeded in getting one of the boys to wear it for a short time (I won't say which one).  I told her I had a black dress like hers and she begged me to put it on. It's a summery dress. Why do I feel like she's going to succeed in getting me to wear that dress? Why do I feel like she is going to succeed in turning me into a princess too?! :)

Humour in the Difficulty that is Parenting

This article is fantastically funny, and oh so truthful of what a humbling experience parenting is. Humour is what helps me to enjoy my job, even in the most difficult moments. Enjoy! (I'll get a daycare post up soon, I promise!)

http://www.scarymommy.com/10-things-i-said-my-children-would-never-do/

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Snow Angels

The daycare is up and running again, after a wonderful holiday. However, with the deep freeze that Toronto was experiencing, we have been stuck inside for two whole days! Minus 25 degree or more with the wind chill is just not okay to trek out in if we don't have to. And since Noah and B. are not yet back at school, we have had the luxury of avoiding it.

Let's go back over the past month or so, when we had delightful winter weather, in comparison. Oh look, here the kids didn't even need their hats and mitts on! Ahhhh....memories.

Here are some of the kids (and one of Noah's school friends) in the playground tunnel. Leila and Amadea are really getting into this tunnel!

But it got REALLY fun when the snow began to accumulate, and we were able to play in the winter wonderland, in balmy near zero temperatures. 

We met Noah and B. at school each day, with our huge toboggan in tow. It is able to fit 4 kids! Leila and Amadea enjoyed being pulled around in it, while the bigger kids (Thomas now included in this group) were more interested in riding it down the hill.

The next day, we also brought our "magic carpets" to supplement the toboggan. I have had these for years, and they were the biggest thing back in the day, but I'm wondering if they are even sold anymore? They are basically single rider sheets that are super easy to transport, since they roll up and weigh next to nothing.

Thomas and Riley eventually tired of the sledding and preferred to play in the snow. We made snow angels and followed each other's foot prints. But what they seemed to enjoy above all was playing house. We made low snow walls (we lacked the required amount of snow, attention spans and time for something more ambitious) with a small opening for the front door. We called the front room the living room, and we got as far as a hallway and a bedroom.

The two babies have not yet developed a love for the snow, and usually go for a walk instead, with my assistant. The older boys usually prefer to continue sledding with their school friends. This snowman, however, was a group effort (well, sans babies), and they were quite proud of their creation!

Swinging in the snow was another delight!

They are all into underdoggies, swing hugs (where I grab hold of them when they swing forward, hug them, and let 'em go), and a little game where I give them a push and say good-bye, and pretend to be annoyed when they keep coming back.

Winter, so far at the daycare, has been a blast. We just can't get enough of the snow. It's so pretty and fun, at least when the temperatures are reasonable.

During our indoor time, the kids completed many holiday crafts.

They made sock snowmen, paper plate wreaths, paper stockings, Santa Claus masks and 3D Christmas trees.

They also decorated my wall with beautiful snow paintings.

For Hannukah, we made a menorah out of a paper plate, a paper towel roll, a toilet paper roll, straws, and construction paper. The kids loved singing our Hannukah song which was sung to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

B.'s mom bought us a gingerbread house, which we also had great fun decorating and tasting.

Usually Noah and I make sugar cookies and decorate them on Christmas Eve. This year we decided to include the daycare kids in our super-fun tradition. As usual, the kids have a knack for making delicious cookies!

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Happy new year to you all!

Roar

Haven't had the chance to write a daycare post lately, but here's something really cute, to brighten up your day. It's Leila singing her favourite song: Roar, by Katy Perry

Halloween 2013!

I apologize for the delay in this post. I had a lot of ground to cover here!

Our Halloween festivities started the week before Halloween, when we baked cookies in the shapes of cats, pumpkins, bats and ghosts.

It was rather difficult to get the kids to stop constantly taste-testing EVERYTHING, but we eventually got the job done!

The next day we decorated them, which seems to be even more fun than making them. Thomas preferred to eat his toppings, rather than to decorate his cookie with them (he doesn't mess around).

Sugar high?

Or just plain happy to eat a Halloween cookie?

Maybe a little of both. Here are their lovely creations. (Leila and Amadea both enjoyed a plain Halloween cookie while watching the big kids decorate theirs.)

Another day, we scooped the goop out of a huge pumpkin. No one worked harder than B. on this! The kids were all really great though.

We separated the seeds for later roasting....

And then the kids went wild and had a grand old time shredding the newspaper (which was intended to keep the mess off the floor). These kids are always so creative, always thinking outside the box!

So, because Riley was not going to be attending the daycare on Halloween, we decided to have a Halloween party a few days early. AND one on Halloween. You can never have too many parties!

The following are pictures from Halloween Party: Part 1. (You'll notice the kids aren't wearing their costumes for this one, since we had it 2 days prior to Halloween).

The place already had numerous Halloween decorations from the kids, so I just added some streamers. We had a Halloween table cloth and Halloween cups, plates and napkins.

When the kids came for lunch, they got loot bags filled with little Halloween treats I purchased: Halloween bubbles, Halloween stickers, Halloween spinning tops, springy toys (witches and pumpkins), pumpkin kaleidoscopes, Halloween stampers and a couple of chocolates. 

After lunch, they all got to play with orange and black Halloween punching balloons. They all loved them, even little Amadea!

And here are a few random pictures. The one of Leila above is just too precious not to post! Perhaps she's trying to help me clean up?

And the photo above just shows the busyness and insanity that is our daycare. Sometimes everyone, and everything is literally all over the place! (Sometimes parents come to pick up their kids and remark that it sounds like an insane asylum from the hallway, before they enter the apartment. Okay, it's still an insane asylum once they enter, but I guess it just feels different when one becomes a part of it.)

B. took a short break from all the partying to check out a book, and Amadea joined him in his little reading nook. Such a sweet moment! :)

We laid some foam pumpkins out on the floor and played a freeze dance game. When the music played, the kids had to dance over and around the pumpkins. When the music stopped, they had to stand still with both feet on one of the pumpkins. There were plenty of pumpkins, in order to keep competition low. ;)

Next, we played the Ghost Toss game. I covered a (clean) garbage bin in a white garbage bag, and taped a ghost face made of construction paper onto the front. The kids had made lollipop ghosts days before: lollipops covered with tissue, tied with yarn, with faces markered on by dabbing two dots on for the eyes, and one for the mouth.

They were to stand a short distance from the garbage bin, and throw the "baby" lollipop ghosts into the "mommy" garbage bin ghost. Each child got 3 tries. Amadea decided it was her job to empty the garbage pail after each child's turn.

And for no particular reason, here are some cute pictures of my babies.

We also played "Hide the Pumpkin", and this was everyone's favourite. We had 3 real little pumpkins which I hid while the kids waited in Leila's room. When they came back to look, I gave them clues like "You're getting colder", or "You're very hot!" to help them find the pumpkins. When I was unable to run the game (due to tending to babies, or food prep), the older kids took over the game, and took turns hiding the pumpkins.

For dinner we had jack-o-lantern pitas. They had cucumber eyes, carrot noses, and mouths made of peas. I kept teasing Noah that he was cruel to gobble up a whole face!

Here are some of the kids posing with our real jack-o-lantern. We had a little light in it too, but it never really got dark enough outside while the kids were at daycare for them to really enjoy this aspect of it.

And here are 3 of the kids donning the hottest fashion of the season: pumpkin bibs. You know you want one now.

Here's a game the big boys played while the 4 babes slept. Okay. One babe awoke a little early. She must have known we were having fun without her! Anyway, this is a game that the boys set up themselves. It is like a virtual game board. The foam pumpkins, ghosts and spiders represent the spaces on the game board, the boys are the "men". They role a large die to see how many spaces they are to move. The winner is the first one to reach the finish: the haunted house.

We wrote things on the pumpkins like "Miss a turn", or "Move ahead 3 spaces". A line of ghosts signaled a "slide" to an earlier space in the game, while a line of spiders was a ladder to get ahead in the game. Noah especially enjoyed making his own creative (yet incomprehensible) features to the game. It's a great quiet game to play while the babies are sleeping. Except when there are tears. And there were tears. Oh....right....that's how Amadea woke early.

Okay, now fast-forward to Halloween day. Meet Transformer: Optimus Prime, the Toronto Fire Chief, Wolverine, Oscar the Grouch, and Tigger.

As usual, Tigger just can't sit still!

We organized a mini daytime trick or treat within our building. First, we knocked on our good friend Salim's door. The kids not only got candy treats, they also got home-made cookies, and the chance to play at Salim's place for a little while.

I don't know about you, but I just can't take Optimus Prime seriously in this photo of him in the rocking chair. It makes me laugh every time!

Salim was dressed up as Dora's best friend, Diego. Completely homemade and original. What a great idea!

Salim then joined the group while we trick-or-treated at one more apartment, and then he came over to our place to play for a while. The rest of the afternoon was filled with the same sorts of games as the first Halloween party, but we added spiders and ghosts Tic-Tac-Toe. (I made the simple game board by sticking masking tape to the ground.)

We had meatball spiders (with carrot legs) on a bed of worms, for dinner. Okay, it's not very well done, but I wasn't invested in working too hard on that one!

I leave you with a Halloween photo of one of our alumni: Oscar. This photo was graciously emailed to me by his mother. He is the cutest little pirate ever! I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween!