My Brainwashed Baby!!

Have you ever wondered just how brainwashed my children are? Well, you must check out these photos. Natalia is madly in love with airplanes. She always gets this crazy expression on her face whenever she sees or hears an airplane. It's hilarious! She went absolutely crazy in Walmart over the weekend because she saw a picture of an airplane on the sign for the travel agency. Trust me when I say, no airplane gets past my child!

Gerben introduced Natalia to this book called "Modern Commercial Aircraft" at a very young age and now we have to hide the book or we are stuck reading it ALL day. She loves to check out the pictures and scream "Jumbo Jet" every time she see's one. She even recognized a Boeing 777 the other day and said, "777" without any prompting. Gerben was thrilled! It actually is quite cute to see this little person with such a huge obsession. Gerben just beams with pride when he sees his little girl enjoying the same thing that he does. So next time you visit my house you will have to pull this book out. It's quite a sight to see.

Who's kid did we take to Marineland?

It sure wasn't our child!! I don't know what got into Emma but she was an entirely different child at Marineland on Saturday. She was an absolute blast! Our little chicken went on every single ride that she could. She went on all of them at least twice. It was amazing and so much fun. She had a blast screaming and giggling on the rides. She even loved the roller coaster that she absolutely hated just 1 month ago. Wow! What a different kid. She has since told me that her favourite ride was the swings that turn in circles way up high in the air. I have to admit that they are probably one of my favourite rides too. Both kids were so good. Natalia loved feeding the bears and the fish. I think her favourite part is riding the ferris wheel and the boats. She had a huge smile on her face the entire time. What can I say...

EVERYONE LOVES MARINELAND!

When did she suddenly grow up?

Holy Cow! I put Natalia's hair in a pony tail today and suddenly she doesn't look like much of a baby anymore! She looks like a little girl! Even a few of my friends commented on her ponytail and how cute she looked. I just can't get over how much more grown up she looks. She is 20 months and definetly a full-fledged toddler. I just wish I could keep her as my baby for longer. It won't be too long and I will be sending her off to school too!!

I was a little bit camera happy today!

I am desperately trying to get the hang of my 50mm lens on my camera so today I took the kids outside and went crazy! I think I took about 500 pictures, although most are crap, in my opinion! I even went so far as to set up my studio lights in the bathroom so that I would have better lighting to snap photos while poor Natalia took a bath. After a while she was getting quite tired of me and kept waving and saying "Bye" to get rid of me. All in all, I did succeed and learned quite a bit about this lens even if it was with the disapproval of the kids.

Moo, Baa, La La La

If you don't know what "Moo Baa La La La" is it's Natalia's FAVOURITE book right now. She will make me read it over and over and over again. I swear I must read it atleast 10 times a day. Natalia even takes this book to bed. Needless to say, I asked Gerben to take a video of me reading it to her today. She is so funny! She loves to make all the sounds while you read the book. I think my favourite sound is the horse because of the funny giggle she puts at the end. Anyways, here's the video. I hope you enjoy it.

A little misunderstanding!

Let me start by saying that I think Emma's teacher is the best! I spoke to her this morning about Emma's meltdown after school on Monday and she felt soooo bad! I guess some of the kids in the class were not listening when it was time to clean up and she told them that if they didn't start cleaning up they would have less playtime in the future. Well, poor Emma, took it to heart and thought that Mrs. Cherewka was talking directly to her. In actual fact, Emma was being one of the few kids that were actually doing what they were told. Mrs. Cherewka had a one-on-one conversation with Emma today and helped Emma to understand that she misunderstood what she had meant. She told Emma that there would always be playtime for the kids who listen. When I picked Emma up from school today she was much, much happier. She had a great day at school today and was really excited about everything she had learned. Thank God! I feel so much better.

Not a good day for Emma at School

I knew that everyday wasn't going to be a great day for Emma at school but it darn near broke my heart to see her so upset after only her second day at Kindergarten. I knew the minute I saw her after school that she wasn't her normal happy self. She was very quiet and didn't say much. I just assumed she was exhausted. Well, we weren't even out of the school yard and she was crying. She cried the entire way home and told me that she didn't want to go to school ever again. I guess the teacher made a comment that there was going to be "less playing" on Wednesday and that crushed Emma. I think that Emma probably took it out of context but because Emma is such a literal child she took it as meaning that they wouldn't be playing at all. The poor girl just kept crying and crying. She was so upset. She was also upset because she doesn't get to sit near Gracie at the tables and I think it really bugs her that she can't be near to her friend. There was nothing I could say or do to make her feel better. She told me that she wanted to stay home with me and not go to school anymore. I keep telling her that she has to go to school and that she would still get to play and see Gracie but it wasn't good enough.

I know she was exhausted and I am sure that's why she was so emotional but man, it's tough to pick up your little girl from school and have her just devistated. I plan to talk to her teacher on Wednesday and find out what was said so I can clarify with Emma but for now I think I am going to have to drag her to school on Wednesday because she has made it very clear that she doesn't want to go back, even to see Gracie.

If anyone who is reading this has any advise I would LOVE to hear it. It broke my heart to see her so upset and I didn't have a clue what to do about it.

One day down, Many more to come!

Emma set off on her first day of school today. After some brief early morning jitters she was totally excited. I know there was some nervousness because barely ate her breakfast but she got through it. We got to school about 10 minutes early and Emma immediately met up with a new friend, Gracie. It was so nice for Emma to find someone in her class right away. When it finally came time for the bell to ring, Emma tore off towards the door like she owned the school. I actually had to call her back for a hug and I kiss. After she was safely in the class I couldn't help but peek in the window. She put her backpack on the hook as fast as possible and was already heading for the toys!

Emma was finished school at 3:20 so Natalia and I headed over to pick her up. Emma came running out of the class with a big smile and so excited to show me the stuff she had done. Emma told me that she got to play with the rice today and also that they drew with lipstick. She thought that was hilarious! Of course she had to tell me that she couldn't play with the paint because it was closed today but the teacher PROMISED it would be open on Monday. I am sure Emma will hold her to the promise.

Emma told me that her favourite part of Kindergarten was meeting Gracie. She made the comment "Why is the teacher is teaching me things that I already know." I guess they were printing their names and to Emma that's a very simple task. Emma also told me about playing a name game with "Mrs Fuzzy." I figured "Mrs Fuzzy" was a bear or toy but infact it's the librarian and her name is "Mrs Pizzy." I laughed and laughed when I realized her mistake.

All in all the day went very, very well. Emma is very disappointed that she has to wait until Monday for her next class.

Saturday at the Lightfoots!

Emma and I ventured off to Cambridge for some shopping and decided to stop in at the Lightfoots and do some catching up. It was really nice to get together with Amy and Eric again. Emma had an absolute blast jumping on the trampoline with the kids. She also thinks that Amy has the coolest backyard playset. It's an awesome wooden one with a rock climbing wall and a huge slide. I think Emma ran steady the entire day. She was absolutely filthy when we finally headed home but I don't think she could have had a better time.
It really sucks how you begin to lose touch with people as you get older and your lifestyles change. I really need to make more of an effort to get together with old friends more often. It's so nice to spend some time with adults.
If you are wondering who the picture is of, it's Rebekah. Emma and Eric's youngest daughter. She is absolutely gorgeous! I could photograph this child all day!

Kindergarten is about to begin!

I am so happy that Emma seems excited to start kindergarten. We were so afraid that she would be super timid about the experience but so far it's going well. She met her teacher yesturday and that went very, very well. She confirmed with us that Emma is very smart for a child of her age. She will probably end up doing some SK work in order to keep her interested because at this point she actually already possesses many of the skills that she will need to graduate from SK. Lucky for us the class is a JK/SK spilt so it is no problem for her to do the SK stuff when needed. The teacher seemed so nice and really helped us with understanding what the routines and expectations of us there will be throughout the year. Emma officially starts her first day of school next Wednesday. I am sure she is going to love it.

1 Toad, 2 Snakes and 3 Deer!

In an attempt to get more active lately Gerben and I decided to take the kids for a walk on one of the trails around Brantford tonight. We have been walking lots in our neighbourhood but it's beginning to get boring. Needless to say the weather was fantastic so we packed up the wagon in the van and took off to a trail that we knew ran near the river. The trail is really quite beautiful.
On our way back we took a different route and walked down closer to the water. Just to the right of us, off the trail, we saw a little toad hopping along and just had to stop to show the kids. I thought this was going to be the highlight of the walk but boy was I wrong!! As we moved farther along the trail there was a large open area to the right of the path and as I looked over I spotted 3 deer watching us from the clearing. I wish I could have captured a photo but it was beginning to get dark. It was so cool to see them because we were so close to town. Practically in town to be exact! A deer was the last thing I expected to see. After the deer disappeared from site we climbed our way back up to the main trail. I bet we weren't on the main trail more that a few minutes when Gerben almost ran a snake over with the wagon. The poor thing was moving along so slowly. The kids really got a chance to check it out while I handed Gerben the camera to take a few close up shots. There was absolutely no way I was getting that close to the creature!! We finally kept moving and I prayed that I wouldn't see another snake. After a while Gerben and I decided to run for a while and we took off running. Well about 15 seconds into my jog I damn near stepped on another snake!! I let out a huge scream! The crazy beast was thrashing around like a crazy creature! The way it was squirming around you would think I did step on it but I know I didn't. It was horrible!! I still get the shivers thinking about it. Needless to say there was no sticking around to take more pictures. I was ready to get my butt in the van and away from the creatures of the night!

They are finally home!

After a very long flight, Gerben and Emma returned home around 12:45 this morning. Emma was primed and ready to go. She was full of hyper energy. For her it was about 2:45 in the afternoon so sleeping was the last thing on her mind. She was so excited to tell me about her trip and show me all the cool things she brought home. She choose a beautiful necklace for me while she was in Australia she was so proud of it because she picked it out. I love it as well. It's gorgeous!! At about 3:00am we finally went to bed and forced her to stay in her room and play while we slept. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I believe she finally fell asleep around 5:30am. Time changes must be hard on little bodies. We decided to wake her around 10:00 this morning and try to get her body on our schedule. Natalia was THRILLED to see her big sister. She squealed and giggled at that site of her. She even gave Emma kisses. It's so nice to have both girls home again, even though the house is considerably louder. I will try and post pics from the trip in the coming days. Gerben took some fantastic ones. The scenery is awesome.

They're on their way!! Yippee!!

I can't wait for Gerben and Emma to get home. They should be boarding the play any time now. Of course I still have to wait until 12:30am on Tuesday before I will see them. Sheesh! That seems like forever. Natalia and I have been keeping ourselves quite busy with things around the house. Tonight we went for a very long walk and then played outside for a while. It's been really cool spending some significant one-on-one time with Natalia but I am now ready to have Emma and Gerben home.
I have been playing around more and more with digital scrapping and I thought I would share some of the results. It's really refreshing to try something different for a while. It's a great way to pass the time waiting for Gerben and Emma.