ballerina girl

Saturday mornings mean a leisurely breakfast, some playing and then ballet class for our Stella. She did a 10 week session in the fall and asked to do another session. To be honest we asked a few times because Saturday mornings can sometimes be a pain BUT she clearly loves it! Parents get to come in for the last five minutes and watch the class do a little performance, her smile just makes me so happy. With Graham working late most nights before Christmas and every night now, we are really treasuring our Saturday family time. Once shutdown starts in March he will only have Sunday off.  So after class we usually have family time and it is such precious time to us!! 

I often think about the things we do outside of our home and seek to find what is right for us, sometimes we do more and sometimes less. This is the phrase that often comes to mind.

~ Momma P

ice on Whyte

 

Oh what do you do in the winter time when all the world is white?

You go check out ice sculptures and slide down ice slides, that's what. 

The weather has been glorious for January so we headed into the city to check out Ice on Whyte.  Ice sculpting artists from around the world come to compete by chiseling, sawing and using other crazy techniques to create some seriously beautiful art.

There wasn't a ton for kiddos but it is always nice to experience something new.

We were delighted that there was a spot available on the wagon after we parked so we climbed up and the little women were thrilled!

Our women weren't super pumped for the slides but we encouraged/made them join us.  They are just cautious, in the end it was worth it because it really was a highlight.

Graham and I had booked a sitter for the evening so got stamped and went back to Ice on Whyte in the evening after dinner. The sculptures with lights at night, so beautiful. WE LOVE WHYTE AVENUE!  It is probably one of my favourite places for a date night. Tons of restaurants to choose from, interesting and very eclectic stores. It always brings me back to my university days ~ sigh ~ those were some good times, saying that I LOVE where we are in life now. That time as an individual and then as a couple was a pretty great time and whyte ave makes me think about it.   I had sooooooo much to talk to Mr. P about as he has been working late almost every day since Christmas break.  I process things by talking and had been craving his listening ear, so I talked it off.  It was Saturday so CHIANTI, our restaurant of choice had almost an hour wait which wasn't a worry for us because Chapters is right across the street.  Can I just note that days like these are good for the soul. We had a wonderful family day of fun and then the Mr. and I had an evening to ourselves. 

Things have been weighing heavy on my mind with some guidelines the government has asked school boards to create policy with.  It was not fun stuff and the guidelines were way out there, so I read a ton wanting to feel educated and then composed letters.  I wanted to contact officials at the school board and government.  I felt it was my duty and couldn't just sit by but it was all pretty emotional, it felt right and I needed to do it BUT it requires work sometimes to 'Stand For Truth and Righteousness'.

~ Mrs. P

hoar frost

hoar frost

/hor frost/ 

noun: a grayish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapor formed in clear still weather on vegetation, fences, etc. 

photo credit: Jessica Boyden

It felt like we were living in a winter wonderland today! In the morning as we waited for carpool we noticed even the spiderwebs on the stone looked beautiful. Every time I glanced out the windows I couldn't help but utter a little prayer of gratitude for the world we live in.  What a gift! Truly this earth can be such a beautiful place.  I knew that people with skills would be able to capture the stunning hoar frost and I am thankful Jessica let me use her pictures.

~ Mrs. P

'white'

This little body suit deserves a whole blog post to its self. 

Stella has her own strong opinions on style. Sometimes we compromise, sometimes I just let her go for it.  To avoid morning drama we often lay out oufits on the weekend so that getting dressed goes alot smoother for us all.   Recently this 'white' as it has been lovingly called has gotten too small.  Cousin Neely will now be the proud owner.  This by far Stella's favourite piece of clothing. This was worn a few times a week. She would even dig it out of the dirty clothes and ask me to go wash it for her, a lot of love for 'white'. 

It just needed to be photographed and memorialized.

~ Momma P

darlings

 Graham has been working late so it is just the women and I most evenings, some nights seem so long and we miss him.  While going solo I had a moment the other night where I realized that cuddling and stories are not going to last forever, yep it made me cry. We have our bedtime routine and after prayers and kisses and last minute drinks of water I will read to them, sitting in the hall with the bathroom light shinning. We are currently on the last book in the 'Fudge' series by Judy Bloom. The girls think Fudge is so funny and I love getting to share with them books that I love. 

Almost always Amelia falls asleep first and then sometimes Stella will ask if I can hold her hand.  Parenting is full of such hard stuff and such good stuff. 

I put up this vinyl quote the other day in each of the girls' rooms above their growth charts because as their momma there are times when I just want them to stay little, no more growing!!

~ Momma P

dates with the littles

We won a family pass for the Telus World of Science, the whole year for our whole family - wohoo! Graham had an Oilers game planned with Stella Bella so Amelia and I went to the Telus World of Science.  Having dates with our littles is something we talked about before we had kiddos, we wanted to really make an effort to do consistently. We go through spurts of being better at this but we made it happen and goodness how I love it when I get to have my littles all to myself.   

Amelia and I had a blast together, I just let her lead me through and we spent as much time as she wanted at each thing.  We also matched outfits because HELLO of course we would!!!

Stella and Graham were hardcore fans with their matching jersey's :) adorable!  The game was so intense that Stella fell asleep.

 I heard once that children spell LOVE - TIME and while sometimes our dates are big like this, other times it has been just a rootbeer float at A&W or shopping/running errands one on one.  I hope when the girls look back at their childhoods they will feel cherished and know that we put every effort into spending time with them and when possible helping them have unique experiences.

~ Mrs. P

a watercolour crayon on cardboard kind of day

We like to craft around our house and Stella made use of some cardboard we had laying around.  Auntie Jenn had given us some water colour pencil crayons and they are perhaps a favourite because they combine colouring and then painting.  Yeah for quiet afternoons where we get to hangout and craft.

We also did a bit of this....

 I made an alphabet matching game and told Stella it would be fun, she told me about half way through matching that it "was not fun" hahaha at least she enjoyed the painting. 

~ Momma P