A Little Pre-Easter Party

You can really feel that spring is nearly here....  Easter is right around the corner, and we have the cutest little bunnies on the block right here!  (Gabriel MIGHT look a little grumpy, but he's actually not.  He was thinking really hard about stomping his feet to the "If you're happy and you know it" song).  It's a trick I've learned to getting my littles to smile and stay put for a second.

We had the great pleasure of meeting with our friends from church--the other mamas and papas and their little people and having a fun morning of crafts, cookies and egg-hunting.   I was excited to see Gabriel's enthusiasm for hunting for eggs and with Gabriel in the lead, Magdalene soon caught on.  She is very perceptive and loves to do whatever her brother does.  I am amazed at how fast she is learning new words and concepts every day, like "hiding" for example.  And it's cute to see him look after her, finding eggs for her, unwrapping them and giving them to her too. 

As the children are getting a little bit older, I think they will really start to understand some of these concepts of Easter--death, hope, renewed life.  And I am thankful to be raising them in a community of loving people who share some of these same values.  How fortunate we are here!  Thank you for the lovely morning friends!

As the children are getting a little bit older, I think they will really start to understand some of these concepts of Easter--death, hope, renewed life.  And I am thankful to be raising them in a community of loving people who share some of these same values.  How fortunate we are here!  Thank you for the lovely morning friends and for all the thought and planning you put into this morning!

Auntie Dr. Rachael Finds Bunnies in our Ears.

So I was talking to my sister the other day on the phone planning our big trip East.  My sister has serious responsibilities as an aunt to these little ones, you know.  So we are planning on how we can have the most fun trip out east ever!

As we were talking, we started reminiscing about times with our aunts and uncles.  It's funny how the simplest moments have stuck in my mind when I think of times I have spent with my relatives growing up.  My aunt picking us up in her hot, red two-door Sunfire sports car, wearing her big oversized sunglasses and driving us to the gas station where she would buy us a chocolate bar.  I remember feeling so cool sitting in the front seat wearing my own pink oversized sunglasses from Biway, with the window rolled all the way down, my hair whipping around my face, the Rankin family blaring over the speakers.

Our trips to the stampede where we ate pancakes, wore our tourist fanny-packs with pride and ourbig cowboy hats.  We yelled "Yahoo!!" at the top of our lungs all the way there.  We were nuts, I tell you.  We didn't care what anyone thought.

I am looking forward to the kids spending time with their aunts and uncles this summer.  I am looking forward to the memories they make with them--the "blanket-wee" rides around the house, the afternoons out in the sailboat, the races and rock throwing contests, the time spent out wandering through the woods.  In the meantime, here are a few pictures from our time with Aunt Rachael, the future Dr. Rachael who snuck a couple of days in with us while she was here in the city.

She delighted Gabriel and Magdalene with her some of her medical equipment, which they used to find "bunnies in her ears" and "a shark in her throat" and watch to see the pupils shrink when a light was shone in her eye.  All very fascinating.  We even pulled out the toy doctor kit for a minute to take blood pressure. 

Thanks Doctor Auntie Rachael, for making a future visits to the doctor a delight (hopefully) and forever solidifying that there are bunnies to be found in ears and sharks when we open our mouths. You are going to make a fabulous Doctor one day!  Thanks for making the "doctor check-up" a fun experience.   See you in the summer!

You might also like:

• Winnipeg Wedding: Rachael & Derek
• Winnipeg Highlights
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• The Yellow Cup Cafe: Toronto 

Don't Step in the Jam.

Oh man, this has got to be my favorite stage!!  Yes, my one year old has started getting very insistent about having her own way and I have a little threenager on my hands some days.  But Maggie has finally started sleeping through the night and I cannot tell you how much I am loving the three year old Gabriel who is actually eating and sleeping and generally much more happy again.

Perhaps it has something to do with really having found playmates in each other.   I live for the moments when I glance back while we are driving to find Gabriel holding Maggie's hand to try and stop her from crying.  The toys and snacks go back and forth as they share in the backseat.  I am a proud mama over the simplest gestures, like the first cookie offered to his sister before taking his own.  

Gabriel is making all sorts of connections which is really fun to watch.  He stares up at the pictures on the wall in our kitchen and declares: "Bumpa is like a Daddy.....  Grandpa is like a Daddy.....  ChouChou is like a Mommy..... Nana is like a Mommy " And then he points to a picture of Jordan as a baby and says "Daddy like a Maggie!"  It's that simple ability to recognize that people can be more than one thing--Bumpa is a boy, a Bumpa AND a Daddy.

And we have loved watching them develop their own sense of humour.   He'll point to me and say, "You Daddy?  You Maggie?  You Gabo?"  And then laugh.

                Me: Watch out, don't jam Maggie's foot. (Under the rocking horse)
                Gabriel: Watch out Maggie, don't step on the jam!

Maggie loves to get Gabriel going.  She'll crawl over to the dog bed, flop down on it and start pretending to tickle her tummy as an open invitation to get Gabriel to tickle and chase her.   Maggie is seriously walking now. No more crawling here!  And oh my goodness, all those beautiful garbled toddler words are flying out of her mouth.  Besides the obvious, are "hiding," "strawberry," and even little sentences like "Hi Daddy."  I am pretty sure it's all due to her older brother who never stops moving or rattling on about this or that.

Oh my darlings, you keep me laughing.  You keep me humble and make me proud.  You are my everythings.  And while I go to bed completely exhausted each night after what can be a long and/or tiring day, I cannot imagine how joyless my life would be without you.

From March: Kissing Baby Lambs

Over Spring Break this year, we visited some of the farms in the area.  Although we live in the city now, we are trying to hard to make sure that the littles has a sense of "where things come from" so that they can appreciated and not take for granted the many luxuries we have.  It's so easy to disassociate milk from cows and eggs from chickens and even chicken breasts from the whole chicken, apples from trees and berries from bushes. 

One year when I was planting a garden, I was delighted to discover the ways that many vegetables grew.  How tall our broccoli got for example.  I am a firm believer that even though we live in a city, we can still maintain our awareness and curiosity about nature. That's what we hope to do as the berry seasons and orchard seasons hit us this year, visit the farms.

We met up with my childhood friend Jen and her littles, Grace and Jack to check out the farm for the day.  Maggie was just getting on her pegs and was enjoying the freedom of not always being in a stroller.  We enjoyed chasing chickens, kissing the baby lambs newly born, playing trucks in the corn kernals and roasting marshmallows. 

Lots of farms in our future!  And hopefully lots of visits with friends too while we are at it!  Thanks for connecting Jen!