Stella turns TWO

It is hard to believe that our littlest woman is TWO!

Stella Charlene is such a special girl and we love her dearly. 

 We greeted her this morning by dumping balloons into her crib while shouting "Happy Birthday", then after a bit of playing with big sister it was breakfast and the Happy Birthday song.  I think she was a bit baffled at the events unfolding but seemed to enjoy the attention.  We were lucky that Daddy was able to join us before he went off to bed and it was simply a fabulous morning together celebrating Miss Stella. We had a new colouring book and crayons waiting for her and she got colouring right after she gobbled down TWO - yes TWO pancakes.

 

 

 Stella is really into:

*baby dolls

*baby Neely

*making various objects be babies ie.forks, rocks, toilet paper rolls just to name a few

*reading books - both with me and on her own

*playing with her big sister

*colouring

*sidewalk chalk

*being outside

*snuggling her dad - head on his shoulder, arms around his neck, the whole shebang

*snuggling her mom - especially before bed after we read a few stories

*watching Sesame Street or Mickey

*making the bird talk on her Dad's iphone

*the riding zebra toy downstairs

*calls every drink "milk"

*occasionally says "me do" and insists that she try to 'do'

*sorta starting to be into Nursery on Sunday

*a big time fan of her pink polka dot jacket and likes to point out any polka dots

*attempts telling jokes like her big sister and will tell us that she is funny - "I'm funny" - oh dear!!!

*has giggling fits with her big sister and it makes everyone in ear shot smile

*great at giving hugs and kisses to her immediate family, extended family other then Neely, Kingston or Jacey only when the mood strikes her!!!!!

This last photo is sooooo Stella with her blue eyes and serious stare. 

 

 What a pleasure to be her momma!



cutie pies

 

I am a picture-aholic and I am fully aware of it!!!!  However, by taking a ton of pictures of the people you love so dearly there are bound to be beautiful moments captured...just saying. Love these moments captured above.

 

The Birds are so kind to us, they are kind in general but are really kind to us when our Dad is working a lot.  They come to our place or lately because little baby Neely has joined the family it is easier if we go to their place.  They have us over often  and it helps me stay sane.  They invited us over after church on Sunday and we had prearranged to have our girlies match (minus baby Neely), so of course we took a few pics.  Amelia and Stella are actually super into matching and love to wear the same things, they actually request it... oh my heart loves it!!!!!!!  Needless to say they were thrilled to match cousin Jacey.  Our spring weather has been warm then cool so Alyson suggested this may be our last Sunday getting to wear these fleece heart dresses.  They were on clearance and actually may be night gowns but paired with cute baby legs they are dressy enough for church.  Stella loved that they had hearts and kept pointing out the "pink hearts" or "orange hearts"....oh I love that her language is coming, such a window into all that she actually knows.  It was a fun day!!  No matter how crazy getting ready for church is or how crazy the kiddos behave during sacrament it is ALWAYS worth it!  So often listening and learning for those 3 hours helps charge me up so I can carry on for the next 6 days.  Often such simple spiritual insights occur like a new approach to prayer.  Just little personal pick me ups that I need.  Life is good and seriously when I look at these pictures of our big girls, life is soooooo good!

 

~ Mrs. P



bugs, bubbles & cousins

 

At bedtime we are still doing the 'Happy/Favourite' thing about our day and I love hearing what Amelia says. 

We had a very busy day in the city, jam packed with cousin time and outside fun.  We had a morning play date with the Stannix family and Amelia said that playing with the ladybug at Cami's house was one of her favourite things.  The other thing she said was catching bubbles with her sister and prince Kingston  (as he is affectionately known).  We hooked up with them at Gramma n Grandpa Hudkins.  Kind of cool because I had snapped a few pictures of both things she mentioned.  Amelia has been asking before bed and then again in the morning, where we are going? who we get to see? She likes being busy I guess and she LOVED spending the day with her family.

 

My highlight of the day was welcoming home Mom and Gramma from their 3 week European Vacation. They went to Poland to see where Gramma's mother was born, they stopped over in Germany, then hung out with family friend Margo in Scotland, finally flying home out of London. I have really, really missed being able to call my mom about anything and everything so seeing her made me smile so big!!!!!!!

 

 

Just another happy day!

~ Mrs. P



moments with momma

 

Kind of a day in the life, minus the tantrums and I actually did my hair. Ha!

 



I have some very talented friends and one such friend wanted to capture

`Momma`s and their Little`s`

 as a celebration of Mother`s Day.  I really have been trying to get in the pics with the kiddos so they have photo memories that include their parents but it isn`t always easy to find a flat surface, fiddle with the zoom and set the timer.  I decided to go for it and have Lady Shutter Bug come over.  I wept tears (because I am a big baby) when I looked at the images she captured.  Her philosophy/style is to snag real interaction, not so much of the ridged posed pictures....I LOVE THE RESULT!!!!  This truly feels like our everyday life captured.  We read, we dress up, we dance and spin, tell secrets and giggle.  Weirdly no tantrums occured during the photo shoot, frankly a photo or two of those moments would have been pretty real too!

 

 

 



 

We have the coolest chicks ever!  For real they rock. 

Fun fact: my brown beaded necklace was my Great-Grandma Lepine`s and I love to wear it. I also

 wear a gold chain with two charms, each has an initial for `A`melia and `S`tella.

 

xoxo Momma P



Root Beer Float Fanatics

Fanatics, I tell you!!!!

These ladies are serious fans of Root Beer Floats.  It is funny because I don't think that Amelia even had pop until she was 3 and here my little Stella who isn't yet 2 is all over the Root Beer Floats. (I should state that this is the ONLY time they get pop.)  Anyway, we all LOVE having floats as a special treat.  Perhaps it has to do with getting a spoon and straw or perhaps it has to do with all of the sweetness.  Either way it is a delicious, special treat.  Even without our Dad around we still try to have weekly Family Home Evening or FHE.  We always start with Ring-Around-The-Rosy and end with some kind of novelty treat.  It is always worth the effort to prepare.  Sometimes it means leaving dinner dishes or skipping bath to make it happen but it is ALWAYS worth it!  I am always impressed by what the girls retain and that also makes it worth the effort. 

A testament to the fact that 'good things aren't easy'.

 

~ Momma P

lucky to be a mother

 

We are so lucky to have these precious ladies and all so lucky to have each other.

 

They are blessed to have a built in best friend, a built in teacher and a built in playmate.  Man oh man how lucky they are to have one another, sisters!  It is still baffling at times to think they we have TWO CHILDREN, craziness!!!!  We (I) made TWO CHILDREN.  Graham and I had years where every prayer uttered contained our plea, our desire to be parents.  There were so many conversations, decisions, adoption interviews, classes, fertility appointments....tears....and now we have TWO BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN.

 

A week ago today was Mother's Day, it is a precious day for me. My feelings on this day have evolved as I have grown and learned. There have been tears but also tremendous growth, for which I am grateful for.  I control my emotions, my outlook.  I have personally learned many things on my quest to be a mother. Graham and I have grown together as a couple.  In years past I've been asked to speak at church and have talked about 'Mothering' because every woman on earth has the ability to 'mother' the children around her. I truly believe this and found peace in the opportunity I had to show love to the little folk in my class at school and the young folk around me in general.  There is something precious and tender about being a mother now, after longing for this role. It is both tougher and better then I thought.

 

"The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. Please know that it is worth it then, now, and forever...

Mothers, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are, better than you are, and better than you have ever been. "

~ Elder Jeffery R. Holland 

 

Reading this quote recently reminded me that as long as I am daily doing my best I will be made more than I am. What a great promise!?!

 

~Mrs. P

Adventurers - sort of

Our women are totally digging the nice weather.  We are having fun outside adventures in our driveway and the other day at Joy School Amelia biked the farthest I've ever seen her bike.  It is making for tired people at bedtime, not going to lie - I love it!  Stella is particularly fond of being outside, it is pretty sad for her when it is time to come in.  I am soooooo looking forward to getting a yard.  I think Tula is excited for grass too.

 

 

Anywhere there is a spec of grass or trees my women are looking for lady bugs, picking up sticks and collecting rocks. Yeah for spring!!! Also super awesome, Amelia's fear of bugs seems to be on the decline.

 

~ Mrs. P

brownies for breakie

So in an effort to shake up life and throw some spontaneity at our ladies....we had brownies for breakfast!!!  They were a bit shocked and LOVED IT!

I have read and re-read a book called 'Teaching Children Joy' by Linda & Richard Eyre.  The first JOY they address is Preserving the Joy of Spontaneous Delight.   This day of course Graham and I were all about the brownies and ice cream instead of oatmeal - frankly who wouldn't be?!    The book inspires me and encourages me to stop, enjoy the surprises, embrace the unexpected and reveal in the innocent happiness my ladies find in the world around them.  I don't want to ever be too busy, too structured or too proper to take in the JOY.

 

~ Mrs. P

 

 



Counting Down

 

Although I love hanging out with our girls,

I can't wait to see more of these three below getting to have time together.

 

 

We march on and are counting down the days until the shutdown is over. We have had some rough times around here.  Nothing super crazy just missing our Dad, missing my side kick. I am super thankful for really good babysitters, I don't know if I could survive without them.   There is a ton in my life to be thankful for but we are just sooooo looking forward to having our Dad around more.

 

~ Mrs. P

She Rocked It

This chick had her first REAL dentist visit and she totally rocked it!  We had gone a year ago to get all acquainted with the dentist but this was the for real cleaning and check-up....I must say the TV was a super helpful distraction. Yeah for my big girl!!!!!

~ Proud Momma P

soooooo loving spring

The sun has been shinning and the grass is getting green, we are LOVING it!!!!  Well we love the grass in other yards because we still have dirt in ours.  Our little Stella totally enjoys being outside and often tears happen when we have to come in. 

 

Apparently my women are 'gatherers' and the top two things to hunt and gather are sticks and rocks.  Everywhere we go they find interesting rocks and sticks.  Today I left 4 rocks and some sticks in a parking lot because they were floating around in our vehicle....not joking! I kind of wish I had kept them for us to paint, an idea for later I guess.   After Rhyme n Storytime this week we hung out enjoying the sun and grass, picking up sticks.  Stella also found our first ladybug of the season and was smitten.

 

I adore my little ladies in their polka dot jackets, they look so darling.   Every time they wear them I am asked at least once if they are twins, ha!  They do love matching, for real Amelia requests it.  I am totally a fan and will continue to be a geek with matching purchases until they start saying no way! That will be a sad day because they really do look so sweet!

We have also been doing some fun spring crafting and painted some ladybugs on cardboard with a friend.  We are serious fans of paints!!!!!!

 

 

~ Mrs. P



The KINDNES Jar

In Joy School (our mom run preschool co-op) last month the JOY we focused on was: Communication, Relationships and Kindness

 

We did some fun stuff like gifting a secret friend, discussing kind words we can use, body language, manners but the thing that I loved the most were these 'Kindness/Manner Jars' the kiddos made.  Whenever the girls remembered to use manners or I noticed them doing kind acts I would write it on a little piece of paper and put it in the jar.  Super coolness happened when every 3-4 days I grab the jar and read them out to the ladies.  They LOVED it!  I LOVED how it made me more aware of the good things my kiddos are actually doing.  Sometimes it seems that as mothers we are always correcting or reminding so it was refreshing to focus on the good.  I think the Kindness Jar is totally something we will stash away and pull out whenever our family needs a kick in the butt to be kind or use kind words.  It was just cool.

 

~ Mrs. P

Laundry Ladies

I honestly rarely fold laundry when the girls are awake, it is usually an evening chore coupled with Survivor, Amazing Race or Celebrity Apprentice (I am slightly addicted to these reality tv shows).  I think that these pictures are evidence of why the job takes like x10 longer when the girls are 'helping'! Haha

They are starting to actually, sorta help put their clothes in their drawers.  It is all a process I guess.   

 

On a side note I love that they play together, lucky ladies to have one another.

Also, we are over the halfway mark for Mr. P's shutdown woot, woot!!

 

~ Mrs. P



oh my darlings

 

 Oh my sweet darlings!!
We march on.

I must say that this week was a lot better then last.  Stella cut a tooth and I have really tried to smile more!  Despite getting more snow on the weekend (it's suppose to be spring) we still had lots of fun times around this place the last few days.  It has been a week where we seemed to have struck the perfect balance between getting out and staying home.  A fun birthday party was the source of these adorable crowns that my ladies decorated.

I have randomly been asking my darling Amelia "what her favourite part of the day was?" I have not done this consistently but felt like it might help bring a positive groove back to our house.  On Saturday after we had a jam packed day of swimming lessons, lunch with friends, church swimming party...she responded "swimming with you mom".  OHHHHHH awesomeness!!!!  Especially because I do not like swimming and almost tried to get out of it.  It was the highlight for her and I am so glad we went together.  FYI Stella had a special day playing with Grandma Hinko :) 

The coolest thing happened last night with my darling Stella, she said "I LOVE YOU"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well her toddler attempt, but it was definitely I LOVE YOU!!  Honestly, it totally wiped away the stress and frustration of last week.  Each night before bed we cuddle in the rocker and share a few stories n songs, just the two of us.  Advice from a friend has caused me to look at this time together differently.  Since Stella was a year we have had this little bedtime routine but I sometimes want to rush it along and get to my post bed 'me' time (me time is important but) my Stella totally needs her routine AND also really needs touch and time from me.  I am learning that this time is soooooo important to her, I just see it differently.  Oh always growing as a momma!!!!

This week I am grateful for prayer, good friends advice and a husband with a listening ear.  I might not have survived the week without them.  Also, grateful for forgiveness.  Glad that my girls forgive me and glad that I can pray for help to be better.

~ Momma P

 

Some wise words here...