Thursday, January 9, 2014

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 


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

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


Saturday, January 4, 2014

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


Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Chirstmas DAY

This year was a Polischuk year so we headed over to Grandpa Ed and Maureen's house after a nap (due to the excitement and early wake up).  Auntie Jenn and Rob were there, as well as Maureen's two sons.  When we came through the door the turkey smell PUMPED US UP  and we got hungry for our third turkey of the season, yummy!!!!!  It was a day of fun and excitement, great gifts were shared.  Grandpa Ed even had tears when he received part of his Christmas gift, it was set to arrive later but it will be worth the wait.
 
The girls got comfy in the dog bed and Amelia enjoyed taking pictures through out the day on her new camera brought from Santa.  I really must devote a whole post to her photos, some are pretty good.



Our big girl has enjoyed the Nativity this year and has been continually dressing up and acting out the Christmas Story. I LOVE IT!!!!!  She took the scarf Auntie Jenn knit me and used it to dress up as Mary.  Stella played baby Jesus and the dog bed, formerly their couch, finally served as the manger. They are pretty creative and it warms my heart to see how much she has focused on this part of Christmas.


 
Love Ed's face here, so thrilled with his gift from Jenn and Rob!!!!!
 
It was hilarious trying to get a picture towards the end of the evening, we really should have done it earlier. Certainly captures the realness of the holiday attitudes!


 
~ Mrs. P

Merry Christmas MORNING

 
 
Christmas Morning started early like it always does...6amish!!!!! Amelia was the first to rise being her chipper self and soon roused everyone else....we were all gathered in our big king bed to be honest so it didn't take long to get us all up and pumped. There is something ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL about children and Christmas. Graham and I even went to bed excited in anticipation of the excitement we hoped to see in our little ladies eyes. It was wonderful! The mess of paper and toys scattered about are worth it (and I am not one for mess or scattered toys).
 




 Each year our women get ornaments from us; Amelia is currently a fan of old school Twetty "I twought I saw a putty cat" and Stella could sometimes double as Oscar the Grouch.



 
Dear me it was a blast and we are blessed!!!
Not a moment of this parenting gig should we take for granted.  I sometimes joke about my little girls with big attitudes but man are they awesome and man are we lucky!
~ Mrs. P



Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas EVE

Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay
Close by me for ever, and love thee I pray.
Bless all the dear children in your tender care,
And fit us for heaven to live with thee there.
~ Lyrics from Away in a Manger
 
There is something so magical about sharing Christmas with children and seeing their excitement, for Santa. It is beautiful to watch them grasp the true reason we celebrate, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.
We had a very intimate Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, just our little crew of four.  It was special to be able to lay low. Of course we love our extended family but it was neat to kinda do our own thing this year.

  We spent CHIRSTMAS EVE making a few last minute deliveries to neighbors and friends, because we were sick the whole week before everything was just sitting on the kitchen counter and I felt it would be a bit anti-climatic to deliver after hahaha! According to two of my friends Amelia's little buddies loved our 'Merry Christmas and a Happy Root Beer' gifts (we are totally root beer people), awesome!!  Oddly, I hadn't really planned for dinner that night and not surprisingly when we asked the girlies, what to do they request? McDonalds!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yep, so we had Christmas Eve dinner at the Golden Arches.  Fun, more traditional stuff happened after dinner.  The girls each received a video message from Santa, we left a note for him and then finished off the night by reading the Christmas Story from Luke. It was chill and nice, the excitement almost palpable.

Some snapshots of our family at McDonalds ha!
 
 
 
 
Some of my favourite peeps right down here!!!! 
Just our little fam jam on Christmas Eve.
What a wonderful season.
 




 
I tried playing around with my camera this year, clearly I am no pro.  I just wanted to have softer pictures that captured the warm feeling in our home. We are very blessed!!!
 

Bags of books and a bit of loot under the tree. Yeah for Christmas Eve!
 
~ Mrs. P

Monday, December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas GRAND VISITS

 
On the 23rd we did some visiting with our Grandparents, our ladies Great Grands. I just had to include how lucky they are to have this generation in their lives, not everyone does.  My Grandparents are such a source of love and encouragement, as well as a great resource...because after all they have been around for quite a few years :P
It was fun visiting and being with them.  I forgot my camera, so thankful for cell phones and their wicked, awesome technology to take photos.

 
~ Mrs. P