Hearts & Hands Carnival

 I swap babysitting with Auntie Al and a few great friends so I am able to attend many of the special things that happen in Amelia's Kindergarten class. It is so awesome to be able to watch her at school doing her school thing. Her teacher is fabulous, the aide is kind and I so enjoy getting to know her school friends. I love the opportunities to volunteer!

 ~ Momma P

Jacey the walking woman

 

We are so very lucky to live in the same city as some of our cousins and also to live close to sweet services. Our cousin Jacey is participating in a super cool activity at the Glenrose, the Locomat. It is amazing and the only crazy machine like it in western Canada!   Jacey gets harnessed in, her waist and legs, then she gets walking. It is the coolest ever as she was lowered down onto the treadmill and she began walking with help!!!! I may have had tears in my eyes.

 

 

Also cool about the appointment was when Jace got to try out the electric wheel chair. Coolest EVER!!!!!!  Generally the woman is this total sweetheart but then there are times when she is all spunky and funny and we know, yep she is Jon and Al's kid :P  When she got her hands on the power, she LOVED IT!   It was wonderful to get to go and watch Miss Bird walking and wheeling, sure love that girl.

Quickly snapped these as we were leaving...

"Cousins are the first friends we have as children"

~ Mrs. P

amazing shoes

In the mornings it is just Stella and I.  While we miss the rest of our family; Dad at work and Amelia at school, there is something super special about getting to be together just the little girl and I. She gets to talk and lead and be my total focus, it is great.

She is hilarious and creative! Stella has this silly streak in her and when the mood strikes she is such a goof ball, super fun to play with.  She is also such a creative little lady, always playing pretend and asking us to join in, being a part of whatever she is playing out. She rocks!  On the day I snapped these pics she took the hair elastics and clips to make shoes...for reals. What a girl, love her.

~ Momma P

$ bottle money $

Firstly, can I just say that my dad is the best!

There are so many times when he perfectly parents or grandparents and I am grateful to have him in our lives. He and my mom compliment one another so well as they head up our crazy family, each having different strengths and skills, they are such a support to us.

 In preparation for Disney World spending money the girls help take our bottles to the bottle depot.  They have to help empty the recycling container and bring it to the garage and then when we periodically make our trips to the bottle depot they do their best to help lift up the bags which results in them getting to keep the money we get back.  It is a little exercise that we hope helps them learn about money and work!  The weekend before we left I still hadn't taken the time to help them empty their piggy banks and count up their money, we had made our last trip and gotten wrappers for the coins but hadn't done the counting.  So it was absolutely wonderful when my dad offered to help when the girls reminded me again that we were only a few sleeps away from going. The money they saved enabled them to make purchases while in Disney :)

My dad is a big newpaper guy, he reads a lot so it is rather special to me that as I look back at these images they did their counting on a newspaper. Amelia has even suggested before that we save our flyers, "for Grandpa to read"!  

Yeah for Disney World and bottle money and learning things with your Grandpa! Great day!!!

~ Mrs. P

love in the 'HAIR'

It is an absolute pleasure for me to do my ladies' hair, truly a pleasure.  Braiding, pony tails and twists...I love it all! I love that these ladies will sit (usually nicely for me) it is such fun. It is actually kind therapeutic, worth waking up early or slacking on my own hair to do theirs.

Some of the cool hair styles I copied from the internet for Valentine's love week at school.

 Amelia was so excited about her heart hair and heart hair elastic, when she looked in the mirror she kept going on in excitement. It made me almost tear up because it is awesome to do something so small that was so appreciated :)

My littlest lady is still pretty into having an 'Elsa Side Braid'. She has also been loving her crochet crown headband, worn pretty often. A total doll

~ Mrs. P

a hurt tooth

When mothers say "dont' jump on the bed", there is a reason!!!!!

A week ago Stella Bella was jumping on our bed and ended up falling, smashing her little mouth against the footboard and it was so sad. She had a ton of bruising and things seemed ok BUT a few days later I noticed her front tooth was turning grey :(  I am sad for her!  Luckily it hasn't hurt an excessive amount and we visited the dentist who said she will likely need to get it pulled at some point, poor thing.

I must say that she was VERY BRAVE!!! She was nervous and even though she has been to the dentist a few times already she was still apprehensive.  Super cool though as we pulled into the parking lot Amelia suggested we say a prayer to help Stella be brave for the dentist.  Pretty much cried listening to Amelia pray and them talking in the back seat.  Tragedy turned teachable moment (I wasn't even the one teaching!)

Stella picked play doh and promptly came home and played for a good hour with our stuff and her new little yellow stuff.  I can't help but be a little sad for her and gosh waiting to decide when to pull her tooth :(  We may become BFFs with this dentist guy!

Side note - I am blown away by how big my baby girl looks. 

~ Mrs. P

the month of LOVE

Each morning for the month of February the girls wake up and find two hearts in their mailboxes with a message from mom and a message from dad. It has become a special treasured tradition, yeah!  The one morning I had forgotten it was sad, so it is clearly something the ladies look forward to having!  It is a pleasure to sit together and discuss our ladies, the traits and attributes we see in them, contemplate our favourite things to do with them...it is just great to remind them "hey we think you rock and we love you!"

...Some of our greatest opportunities to demonstrate our love will be within the walls of our own homes.  Love should be the very heart of family life... ~ President Monson

I think it is great to take any opportunity to remind those we love that "hey we love you"?!?!  So I am hardcore.  I few years ago I made our ladies valentine mailboxes that hang on our kitchen chairs and each year we have added either a craft to help us decorate or a special tradition that we can carry forward each year.  A day devoted to love!? Yes please.

Top Row: melted wax crayon hearts, borax crystal hearts n shapes, kind words jar for expressing appreciation

Middle Row: cut and sew paper hearts, dollar store felt mailboxes

Bottom Row: canvas painting, white erase words for the people we love, 14 days of love notes taped to the door 

Ohhh the month of love!!!!!!

 ~ Mrs. P