Saving Her Pennies for Disney

I have good friends who are great parents and am continually inspired by their fabulous ideas. One such idea was helping Amelia save and contribute to our families upcoming Disneyworld trip. She was able to do this by helping recycle bottles and then getting to keep the money.  For about 6 months whenever our recycling was full I would call Amelia to help. When we were going to make a trip to the bottle depot I would get her to grab a corner of the garbage bag and help load them into the vehicle. When it was warm she even helped me bring them to the window and dump them.  It has been a fun experience, well as fun as the smelly bottle depot can be. We had previously been donating them but when my friend shared this idea we jumped right in.  Perhaps one of the coolest parts to this 'saving your pennies' exercise was that the piggybank she put her bottle money in was just a super cheap tin from Dollerama and to open it we had to use the can opener, so we honestly didn't keep track and were surprised when we opened it.  She had a little over $140 dollars :) wowzers - yeah Amelia!!!!! She was also able to pay tithing for the first time, so that was neat for her to start that step of giving.  We took Saturday to roll Mr.P's change and count Amelia's money then the two of them went to the bank and exchanged it for US$.  I have to say I am pretty proud of her, it is exciting to start the learning process with such fundamental things like money.

 

 

~ Mrs. P



You Light My Fire

As I think about Mr. P it is pretty cliché but the dude lights my fire!  AND not just in the romantical way, he really stretches my thinking, grounds my emotionalness and gets me smiling like no one else.

Certainly there are times when I am frustrated with him and think 'dude ugh...' but that is normal real life, I am sure he does the same with me sometimes. We always work and figure it out.  Lately around here we have had a few weeks with back to back date nights, it has been awesome.  He has been away lots for work too so I relish my time with him. The guy is such a hard worker, he is a doer and I admire those qualities, all that he does for our family. I also appreciate that he is the kind of husband who washes the floors after bedtime (because I like waking to a clean house).  He knows my love language for sure!! I have written this before but watching him with our girls has made my love grow.  Watching him play gorilla daddy or be a horse or get this - sew pretend dresses for Amelia, he has captured more of my heart.  So a bit of an ode to him. When I met him at 19 I didn't even realize how lucky I had it!

 

he lights my fire

 



 

proudly ~  Mrs. P

Night Out with JT



We Dig Justin Timberlake 

 

A girls night out happened last week and I just wanted to take a moment to memorialize it.  So Justin, well he is the total package, a well rounded guy; sings, dances and easy on the eyes.  It was planned to be a Hinko sisters night out with Jenny, Alyson and Leslie but poor Alyson was fighting some bad bronchitis. Thankfully Leslie's SIL Jesse stepped in to join us, although it was JT who wouldn't want to go.  Our seats were way up in the boonies but for the price we decided they were still really good.  We pretty much danced the entire night!!!  He has so many classic songs that you know every word and must sing along.  I started the evening early with plans to hit up Target - my favourite store.  We all met up, grabbed some dinner and then arrived just in time.  It was such a fun night!  Girls nights need to happen more, they are always a blast.

 

 

~ Mrs. P

an out pouring of LOVE

 

They call it the 'terrible twos' for a reason, there are moments that are frankly just terrible.  My little lady and I had a particularly challenging week. There were a few days that frustration on both of our parts was the dominant emotion.  Naps are a thing of the past and I have been trying to do a quiet time where each lady gets to pick a bin (I made up 5 bins with special, fun only used during quiet time items).  The idea is that they pick a bin and then hang quietly listening to music, playing with the toys from the bin, reading their library books and perhaps even sleeping on their beds ha! Sleep happened only once this week for Miss Stella. It is like my girls don't like sleep. Quiet Time has about a 20-30 min run, but it has kept me sane this week. I feel kind of bad writing that, but this momma needed quiet time herself.

 

One afternoon was particularly hard, Stella was spazzing in her room and I was on my verge. A friend popped into my mind so I called her.  I was certainly prompted to do so because her words have been echoing in my ear - show an outpouring of LOVE!!!!!  Not that you let behaviors go or stop teaching but give lots of love and attention.  I know that this little chick needs my touch and time, pretty sure those are her love languages.  This was a good reminder for me.  So during JoySchool it was just Stella and I so we made running a few errands special.  It was such fun, she was such a little goofball. It was seriously SO FUN!  Such good advice to remember, especially when things are challenging 'show and outpouring of LOVE'.

 

~ Momma P



BULLSEYE in the house

 

 

Over Christmas our girls watched Toy Story 3 and re-watched and re-watched and since then our Stella has become a huge fan of Bullseye.  Except here is the thing, she calls herself 'Bullseye', dresses in a 'Woody' costume but thinks she is 'Jesse'. If you ask her what colour her hair is she'll say red, she also requests that Mr. P and I be her horses and take her for rides. Yeah a bit of confusion but so adorable!  She will also tell us that, "there is a snake in my boot" or that "it is garbage time" (not sure where that fits into the movie but pretty sure they are Woody lines).  The girls also request that we act like Buzz when he gets switched to Spanish.... I just call them Sinorita's a lot and talk with a bad accent. It has been the cutest thing watching Stella get into the character - whoever it actually is HAHAHA.  Also to be noted about the costume, it was a super cheap pick up a few years ago post Halloween and it a size 4 so I am constantly rolling the sleeves up and to stop the bottoms from dragging and tripping her we tuck them into her socks.   I have washed it 3 times this week!!!!

 

This chick is seriously funny. These pictures were from two different days; same costume, same headband but different hairstyle, different shoes. Oh my what a girl.  We are taking the girls to Disneyworld shortly and I am so pumped to take this little woman to see the characters, it is going to blow her mind!!!

 

Tonight we had pizza for dinner and in my planning for Disneyworld I discovered one of the restaurants in the park is called Pizza Planet and the girls started getting excited asking about the aliens from the movie.  Then Stella was like "pizza for dinner, where are the aliens?" oh man not here now but at the restaurant when we go on vacation.  I forget sometimes that littles have a hard time processing such things.

 

 

~ Mrs. P



IKEA night of freedom

 

 

After a week of confinement at home we sprung ourselves and headed to IKEA!!!!!!

No one else at our house was showing any signs of the 'disease' so by Friday afternoon we took off and did a few errands. Yes, freedom!   IKEA is a sweet place to have a dinner/shopping date so we picked up a few Expedit bookshelves and had a cheap dinner.  I plan to put the shelves sideways and use as reading benches for the kids in the basement.

 

Super cool was watching my little girl Stella push the cart.  She is one determined woman and I can scarcely believe how independent she can be sometimes.  She did not want anyone else touching the cart as she pushed, she handled turns and weaved between shelves as we debated bed sheets.  A few times the wheels went array and she sat down beside them and turned them, making them straight. What a funny, focused girl!

 

~ Mrs. P

 

Root Beer Float Family

 

 Our family is comprised of pretty serious root beer float addicts!!  What started as a fun family night treat has become a tradition, dare I say part of our family culture.  Floats are the most requested treat! For Christmas I picked up a mug for each member of our family and we've used them a few times already.  We are currently out of supplies but once root beer and ice cream get stocked up I am certain it will be requested for dessert and snack again.  The little ladies are pretty hardcore.  Even though we are feeding them pop and ice cream, I kinda love that our family has had a 'special family treat' evolve. It will be cool to see if floats are still popular when they are 14 and 12.

 

 

Excuse the picture with me on the phone and neither of them looking.

~ Mrs. P

Quarantined

 

What I thought would be a week getting back into routine ended up totally NOT being routine at all.  Graham started getting sick last weekend, went to the doc on Monday and they thought is was strep throat.  He stayed home and laid low.  Tuesday night he was feeling tons better, except his hands were starting to hurt. Light bulb moment sore hands and his other symptoms meant 'hand, foot and mouth disease' (Jon had had it the previous week). He went to the doc again Wednesday morning, it was the later illness. So our whole family has stayed home and was quarantined for the rest of the week. 

 

 

On one hand it was great having another week together, just our little fam jam.  But on the other hand not really being able to go out, waiting to see if anyone else would catch the disease meant a bit of the crazy came out. Routine, oh routine where art thou?

 

  Me being the ever documenting momma snapped a few pics of some current trends at our house.

 

* Swiffer swords/sticks/microphone - they are NOT suppose to be standing on the couch but they were pirates and the couch was the ship!

*Blanket forts/manger/ships - this trend started after the Jacober girls visited us last. I am forever folding blankets, they spend hours building so I just smile.

 

 

Talked with my Grandma this week and she basically told me to just 'chill out' ha!  My whole family is at home, forced confinement ENJOY IT.  We have had lots of PJ time and completed a few projects around the house. Yeah!!!  It is going to be really weird when Mr.P has to go back to work, we are sorta getting used to him being around.

 

~ Mrs. P 

kinder bound

We took this selfie in front of Amelia's future school!!! She is now registered for kindergarten.  It was such an exciting step for her, so very bittersweet.

There almost aren't words. Such a mixture of emotions.

 

 I want to freeze time.

 I want to be present and cherish EVERY.SINGLE.MOMENT. from now until next September.

I want to keep her with me and never let her go - forget school.

I am full of excitement for the things she'll learn and experience.

I am eager to watch her go forward into the world being the beautiful shinning light she is.

I want to protect her from anything that may happen to hurt her tender heart.

I look forward to hearing about the adventures with new friends.

I am excited to hear about her teacher. (Teachers ROCK you know!)

I am pumped to watch her continue to grow. There is such joy in that.

 

Mr. P was home sick so just my big girl and I were able to go together on Monday morning, Stella stayed home watching a show with her Dad.  It made going that much more special just the two of us. That morning Amelia was a little grumpy (she is usually a chipper morning person) but as we brushed teeth and put on boots it dawned on me that she was nervous.  So excited and pumped as we both had been, she was feeling it...this is a BIG step!!! A few extra hugs and more patience, we forged on and by the time we pulled into the school parking lot my brave beauty was chatting away with me and we walked hand-in-hand through the front doors of the school. Registration just opened so we went that day to ensure we got the time spot that works best for our family.

 

Now I must say that I LOVE school, I have LOVED school, LOVE it so much I became a teacher. I now LOVE being at home with ladies and relish my role here. Great things await Amelia at school, things I can't teach her. I hope she will LOVE it!  I know the special kind of people who teach kindergarten (by best friend Amy is one), they are gems. I also know that the experiences she will have next year with stretch her and challenge her beyond any of the letters or numbers she will be learning. Saying that though, oh how she will be missed. I felt a little ache in my heart as we were at the school filling out papers and she sat beside me writing in her note book. For three hours of the day she won't be beside me....oh tears for real as I write this!

 

Kind of awesome, while in the office the principal recognized me from my attendance at last years Kindergarten Open House.  Yes, I am an eager beaver nerd and went a whole year early but I wanted to see what literacy approaches they used so we could possibly use them in Joy School. Anyway, I was in her little group for the school tour and she remembered my face.  I introduced her to Amelia and wanted to say, "please keep tabs on my baby girl she is so little and precious to me".  The principal had a warm, welcoming smile, I am sure my eyes spoke those words.  After our paperwork we walked around the foyer, looked at the student projects on display, looked at the library through the big wall of windows, even peeked through glass windows into one of the kindergarten classes.  Seeing the hand they high-five on the door with the letter sound of the week, reading about their adoption of a World Wildlife Foundation animal, and just seeing the exciting activities they have planned in their January Kindergarten Newsletter on the board, it absolutely reaffirmed to me that I am pretty sure she will LOVE next year and I am sure she will just flourish!!!!!  It will be great!

 

So be still my heart.

As we walked out we snapped a picture and she looks soooooo happy!  Honestly, the whole day I went back and forth between elation for her and tears for me. So bittersweet watching babies grow.

 

~ Momma P



Rad times but Ready for Routine again

 

 

We have loved being together over the holiday season!!!! Graham scored a little over 2 weeks off, so unlike years passed he was able to fully participate in all of the merriment. It was Rad!!! Can you tell that he really loves me? Wearing a matching Christmas shirt, what a good guy. We've done some fun stuff around here post Christmas Day...

 

 Saw the movie FROZEN in 3D

 

 Ate out way too many times
** Important to remember to put your children on the inside of the booth, our poor Amelia fell right off the side. Ah parental fail, poor girl.

 

Made a snowman with Dad!

Ok this could really happen every weekend, weather permitting.  The girls, ummm well our big girl had fun. Apparently Stella just stood standing, crying to go in.  I was off boxing day shopping so she had to stay out.  Amelia is in heaven whenever she has her ski pants on, she is a big fan of making snow angels.

These chicks are hilarious and awesome and I totally love them!  We have had some pretty Rad times but I am Ready for Routine.  Things can get a bit crazy when we don't have a schedule. Most of our new toys have found home and we took a large load to Goodwill so that is helping me feel sane, I am a creature of habit and am looking forward to getting back into our family habits/routines. That said it has been absolutely fantastic having Mr. P home with us full time!!!!  He has taken on some big projects and given a ton of his time this week to others.  We love him and will be sad when he has to head back to work on Monday.  The only good part is that we will find a groove at home again. Yoga and Joy School start next week and Rhymes the week after. I am a nerd but I like steady and predictable.  I must say though we have had a Rad Run over the last few weeks!

 

~ Mrs. P