12/26/2019 0 Comments the balletREUBEN AND I FINALLY GOT TO SEE THE NUTCRACKER!!!
It's been literally years of trying to go and see it and this year we finally went! And the best part is we took Shiloh! She is taking ballet this year and we were really excited to take her to a real ballet. She got to pick out her own dress, told me exactly how she wanted her hair and loved every minute of the one on one time. Including the monster sized reindeer donut. Some of the dancers were actually from her studio! Don't mind Jackson's foot in the picture. He's not a brother. At all. He's never a pest.
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12/26/2019 0 Comments christmas timeClearly once again I'm writing a post a little late. I thought as my kids got older I'd have more time. Like free time. What a laugh eh? Turns out I underestimated how inconvienent it is when they stop napping.
We are almost done our family parties, things are slowing down a bit, and we are excited to have Reuben home for almost another week! Reuben and I spend one night in November coming up with a homemade advent calendar that is full of different activities for us to do as a family. The kids open a burlap bag each morning that has an activity, outing or sometimes just a piece for our nativity scene that we talk about. I love spending time with Reuben intentionally figuring out things we want to do to celebrate Christmas and what we want to teach our kids about the season. And before you throw up on our Norman Rockwell type visual, by Dec 14 I'm exhausted with doing something every day. And now that Jackson can ''read'' we can't just skip. But here are a few of our favourite things we did this Christmas! 1. We wrote Christmas cards to military officers stationed abroad who wouldn't be able to come home for Christmas. I really hope they have kids because Shiloh drew some pretty epic Christmas scenes and made sure her name was the predominant thing on the card. Christmas greetings are overrated right?! 2. We grab hot chocolates (or coffees because real parents drive coffee. Jk. Just sleep deprived parents. Aka me), wear our jammies (and yes, Reuben actually wears pants for this outing) and drive through Christmas lights. We always go to one house that has lights set to music. It's a highlight for all of us. 3. We had a 'snowball' fight inside with snowballs we made out of newspapers and Aunt Esther joined us! It was pretty epic. I was definitely the champion. Just imagine me as Braveheart. Don't imagine Reuben dominating everyone because he has actual aim. 4. We take each of the kids out to buy presents for each other and on Christmas Eve they wrap them. This year was absolutely adorable watching them get as excited as the person opening the gift. PLus Harper picked out a wicked awesome camo pattern hat with a built in flashlight for Reuben. And I got hairspray from Jackson. He's awesome. 5. Our church put on a family serve type night around Caledonia. We got to make cards and put together baked good baskets to deliver to firefighters, paramedics and officers. Harper, of course, threw an epic fit at the fire hall because her Uncle Logan (who is a firefighter) wasn't there. So that was awesome. 6. We went to the Simcoe Lights with some great friends of ours. It ended up in a snowball fight. My kind of night. 7. Our friends ugly sweater Christmas is one of my faves. It made me really realize that we have the most amazing friends. The kids picked names and gave each other small gifts. It's like the little community I've always wanted for my kids. It's chaos, it's insane, it's loud. It's perfect. I think it's something pretty awesome to find a couple that you are both friends with and kids who get along. And we have 3 of those amazing couples. 8. We delivered Angel Tree gifts this year. I was so incredibly humbled by this experience. We were able to purchase gifts for 3 small kids on behalf of their dad who is incarcerated. The mom had no idea this was going to happen until we called her to confirm some details. The kids put on their brave faces and dropped the gifts off to the most wonderful woman. And the best part is, it came from their dad. Not us. Not some charity. Gifts from their dad. I once again realized how our selfishness gets in the way of giving. And now we are enjoyed tight pants, sugar overload and all lazy days. Our Christmas Day was spent together with the 5 of us, opening presents, playing with presents, eating, drinking coffee, watching tv, drinking coffee, eating, going for a walk along the river, watching tv and eating. Perfect day eh? 12/1/2019 0 Comments Harper-rooShe's turned 3 but has not calmed down in any way. We've battled the Harper and devious ways but she keeps coming back with reinforcements.
Here are the top things I've learned about Harper this month. 1. Harper should have been named Mowgli. Or Scrappy. Or Wild Child. Her hair, oh her hair. No matter what I do, it never stays or she pulls it out so she is constantly rocking this homeless "I-hate-brushes" look. Guys I do try. Okay not every day. Maybe like once a week, but that's a start right!? Anyways, I guess she was frustrated with her own hair and she took matters into her own hands. I found her 'cutting' her hair. With Reuben's razor. And no, we don't leave it where the kids can get it. I have no blooming idea how she found it. So when you see the toonie sized bald patch you'll know why. 2. Harper has a new best friend. Herself. Well her reflection actually which has been named Leelee. I often find her having conversations with herself, sorry Leelee, in the mirror talking about her day, showing her stuffies, etc. Sometimes she drags me along to sit on the bathroom counter having conversations with herself in the mirror. It makes me question my reality. 3. Harper firmly believes the world's problems can be solved with a sticker.My entire house is full of stickers everywhere. On the garbage lid, on the toilet seat, on the barstools, on the floor, on the tv. Even on the toilet paper which was an awesome surprise when I didn't initially see it but felt it. 4. Harper hates underwear so much she will literally burn them. Okay maybe it wasn't super intentional buuuuttt.. Harper has gotten into the habit of running around in her birthday suit, shouting "my booty, my booty!!" I have NO idea where she got that from. My best guess is Reuben. Just kidding. I spent 15 minutes trying to get her to put underwear back on. "Harper! You have to wear underwear. No one wants to see your bum." "I can't. It's burning." "Harper. Put it on!" "I can't! It's burning!" "What? How is it burning?" "Look!" I turn to look and see a flame at least a foot high on the counter. I guess in her booty dance she had thrown her underwear, it landed on the candle and burned. Help me. 5. My life will never be boring as long as that girl is in it. 12/1/2019 0 Comments another post...finallyI know I know I've been slacking in my posts and I realize you are all just dying to know what has been going on with my family (hahaha). Believe me I've been missing them too. I actually find writing incredibly therapeutic despite my complete disregard of proper grammar and sentence structure. I'm planning on writing a post to explain why I stopped writing for a season but it's been a challenging one to draft. We've had some pretty soul-sucking life-altering things happen this year that has made getting through a day a challenge, let alone find joy in writing. Anyways, another post!
We've started to get ready for CHRISTMAS!!! Okay so we started before December did but that's completely alright in my world. We love all the cozy Christmas feels, our real tree and lights everywhere. Reuben completely supports my decision to go Christmas crazy which may be one of the reasons I married him. So as I'm writing this it is crazy freezing rain outside, the kids are wrapped up in blankets watching a Christmas movie and I'm watching them all over the enormous mountain of laundry I need to fold. Although we celebrate many Christmas traditions, we are Christians and do believe Jesus' birth is incredibly important. And because my kids go to school with other you know, kids, we talk a lot about whether or not Santa is real, Jesus is real, if there will be a real elephant for Harper under the tree Christmas day. Jackson is my little evangelist and talks a lot about God and Jesus in his class at school. It helps some of his good friends are also ones from church. But he came home quite upset this week that one of his friends doesn't think God is real even though he has told him so many times. We talked about it for a bit and I told him sometimes we need to show people that Jesus is real by doing what He asks and loving everyone around us, listening, etc. "But Mom! They will never know Jesus is real because of me!" "Why buddy?" "Because I am just so silly when I sit on the carpet at school!! I never listen to what I'm supposed to!" Oh my little buddy. You melt my heart in every way. |
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