Maui

 10 days went far to fast...but man did we make some great memories!

 

Thought I should record a few highlights:

 

The best was being together, we literally almost spent every waking minute together as a family.  Graham and I rotated sleeping in, the girls went to bed before us but the rest of the time we were together.  Obviously a wonderful part of the trip was the beach!  It was fun to see our ladies enjoy the sand and the water.  Their bravery grew as the days wore on, that was cool to see.
 

    

Everyday we were able to watch the sunset!  It made me feel all relaxed and chill.  Seriously beautiful and such a peaceful way to end the day.  Sometimes we watched from the beach or grassy area just outside our hotel, other nights we watched from our balcony which faced the water.



 

Loved that our ladies play together.



The Maui Aquarium was certainly a phenominal experience.  The shark tank was a bit crazy!  We sat behind the wall of glass watching the swimming sharks, it was freeky but made for a cool picture.



 

Also a highlight for our big girl especially was taking the Sugar Train in Lihaina.  It was a slow moving, not to scenic train ride.  It was fun for the girlies and that is what matters. 

Shaved Ice - classic Hawaiin treat!!



 

We had a few adventures.  We took the road to the southeast part of the island and saw the 7 Sacred Pools, which is a river that flows from the volcano and creates a stunning series of waterfalls and pools. The girls loved this crazy tree along the path to the pools.  Everytime we were in the car Stella spazzed out but this destination was worth it.

Again just more wonderful beach time.  In the past warm vactions meant snorkeling and laying in the sun, now with our little ladies warm vactions mean sandcastles and playing in the sun! 

We wouldn't have it any other way.

These are just two of my favourite pictures from the trip!!!! Love those ladies and this dude.

 

 

We didn't hit up a luau, instead decided it was great incentive for us to come back!!!

 

~ Mrs. P 

 



the girls help decorate and it shows

It has been so fun decorating for Christmas this year!  The girls are quite into looking at the different ornaments and LOVE to move around the Fisher Price Little People Nativity.  The tree in our den is a little 4 ft. tree that I use to have in my classroom at school and it is perfect for that space.  This is our 'fun' tree and has the ornaments we have given the girls and one another over the years.  It is tradition that each year we give one another a new ornament.  The girls will LOVE theirs for this year, can't wait!

 

  If you look closely at the picture of the tree below you will see evidence that little girls live here.

 

When I went to turn off the tree before bed the other night I found two bracelets hanging on branches....awesome!  But of course bracelets make perfect ornaments!!!!!

 



 

Love those girls of mine.

~ Momma P



Princess Culture

I guess it was inevitable that this phase would eventually come along and the 'Princess Culture' has hit our home hard.  At first I kind of had mixed feelings, don't get me wrong I am a girly girly but want our girls to be well rounded women not just focused on outward beauty.  A guy that Graham works with had even said to him he wouldn't let his girls get obsessed with beautiful princesses and happily ever after because that just isn't reality.  Eeeek! Harsh!

 

I have concluded something different.  I WANT our girls to focus on beauty- inner beauty and I want them to feel that they deserve to treated like a princess, worthy of a happy ever after.  In turn they should seek a wonderful prince (insert cheesy tone but serious eyes), who possesses great qualities and then work together towards a life of happiness. As I type this I want this to happen in like 25-30 years!!! 

 

 

Bottom line I am embracing the culture, I even bought princess Christmas ball ornaments and recently princess shampoo (which is gross by the way).  A friend suggested a great book:  'Real Bible Stories of God's Princesses' by Carolyn Larsen, it is sooooooo good.  It is a fabulous book about the women in the bible and the attributes they poses, excellent!  We are choosing to look at this dive into princess culture as a fun phase and make sure that we talk about how patient and kind Cinderella is, not just how beautiful.  I must say it is super fun to dress up and put tiaras in my little ladies hair! Clearly though the day I snapped these pics, we hadn't done our hair or gotten out of pj's yet.

 



 

Oh our sweet little princesses, they are so deserving of happily ever after!  Very lucky to have them.

 

~ Momma P

Her dad is like SUPERMAN

Graham is like Superman! 
For bedtime we read scriptures and then pick two books for bedtime.  Amelia totally gets into a groove of picking the same books and her two top choices the last few days have been these super hero books. (We've talked about WW's outfit not being modest but she helps keep the world safe so it all balances out!)  Best conversation ever tonight with Amelia while reading the Superman book.  Amelia turns and says to me, "my dad is like Superman".  I asked if I was like Wonder Woman...nope....just her dad is a super hero!!!!

Seriously awesome! First Prince Charming and now Superman.  Is there any doubt that Mr. P is soooooo incredibly admired by the women in his life.  I know that the love is mutual.  Here is hoping that this adoration continues through the teenage years.

 

 

A summer snapshot of the girls attacking their dad after work. 

 

A pic from this fall when our family was apart.  Playing in the backyard together, they just couldn't get enough of the guy when he would be up visiting.

 Graham is away right now for work and the girls love getting to see their dad on Skype, how awesome is technology?!  Tonight though over Skype Amelia asked Graham why he had to work, oh sad.  No reason seemed good enough for him to be away for work.
  They really love their dad!!!!
~ Mrs. P


A Parade, a ton of cookies and WARM HEARTS

Tis the Season to enjoy family and friends,

and we have been doing just that!

 

This weekend was the Santa Claus Parade in Fort Saskatchewan so we had our little friend Finley and our big friend Reanne (one of our fav babysitters) join us.  Such fun!!  We had talked about the parade and got pretty pumped the days leading up to it but that morning dawned cold and snowy, very Christmas-esque but not cool for standing outside with children.  We were able to snag a great parking spot so I just opened up the back hatch and let the little girls snuggle under a blanket.  It was pretty adorable!  This November has brought with it a ton of snow so there were big snow piles on either side of the road.  Some of the fabulous people handing out candy with the floats jumped on over the piles and handed the girls candy, so awesome!  When the local rep hockey team came down the street a young guy came right up to Reanne to give her candy for the girls (for the girls I am sure wink wink), love it!  A couple standing beside us unloaded all of their candy into the little dish the girls had, what kindness! They really made out well in the candy department and we still have Halloween stuff eek.   It was just a fun morning.  The best was that Stella would take a break from eating popcorn to clap when people started cheering. Her head would bob up and down between her dish of popcorn and the floats going by. She has become such a big girl, so engaged in the activities we do together.  I am sure that if it is warmer next year the girls will want to be running out collecting candy from the street.  I am thankful that this year they were cool with hanging out in the back of the pathfinder.

 Oh how we love baking!  Baking with my Grandma Hinko has become a family tradition.  We pick our favourite recipes, do shopping prep and then work away for a few days.  We each come away with a lot of baking and it is a blast working together in the kitchen.  We play Christmas music and catch up on life.  This year our cousin Beth, her son Ethan and her good friend Amanda and kiddos joined us, it was such a good time.  We even tried a favourite recipe of Amanda's and after tasting the final product it has been put on our yearly MUST MAKE list!!!!  Now that we've started baking I feel more ready for the season.  I love putting out a plate of special goodies anytime someone comes over.  I love spending time with family and friends doing special things that only happen at Christmas.  Oh and I really love my Christmas CDs, digging them out of the box brings excitement all on its own...let alone playing them!  Yeah for Christmas!

 

~ Mrs. P



The tree is up and Christmas is coming!

 

It is getting a little festive at our house.  We still have boxes to unpack but I can't help myself, we are starting our Christmas preparations.  Having kiddos make every holiday come alive more!!!  We have our outside lights shinning bright, wreaths hanging on the doors to great company and tonight the new 9 foot tree went up...decorations for it to come.  Mia is also working on decorations, oh how we love painting!  Our Stella girl is as crazy as ever and I just had to include this recent picture of her sticking her tongue out at me with her adorable spaghetti face.

 

We are slowly feeling more settled, getting more organized and are totally looking forward to Maui, then Christmas!  Bring it!!!!

 

~ Mrs. P



Shut in because of snow...

 

Living in Canada has many positives, however one negative is the crazy snow that sometimes happens.  Last week it got pretty crazy in these here parts.  Twice Alyson had appointments in the city and detoured over to our house instead of heading into Edmonton because the road was just seriously so bad.  Graham said the road to work was like driving on pure ice.....so we pretty much stayed home the whole week.  

 

What is nice on a snowy day? Baking! 

It was a week packed with banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, rice crispie squares (for uncle Jon) and finger jello (a new recipe that turned out great).  We called it a success in the kitchen and then watched at least one movie each afternoon because this momma was not awesome enough to venture outside to play. Ha! Actually feel a little bad about that.

 

The snow also made me think Christmas and spurred us on in our quest for a 9 foot tree. Found one, bought it and now it awaits set up.  Sweet!!!

 

Our ladies 'helping' in the kitchen...yes that is it, helping!!!

 

 We turned our back for one minute and this girl got into trouble.

 

This was what Kingston did in the snow, playing of course!!!

So wish they lived closer. (Just west Edmonton but still.)

Stole this pic from Leslie's Facebook because there was no driving last week.

What a handsome dude!

 

Dear snow,

You are so beautiful, yet sucky to drive in.

How I love that you make things white and lovely.

I appreciate the urge to bake and have soup upon your arrival.

I also love that it means Christmas is coming!

Thank you snow.

 

Love ~ Mrs. P