Starting Hockey

Jesse started playing ice hockey this year.

His first few practices were pretty early on Saturday mornings. I thought the early mornings might be a little tough, based on how long it takes me to get him out of bed for school every day.

I soon found out how mistaken I was.

Yeah, the early mornings are a non-issue when he's getting up for hockey instead of to catch the school bus.

He literally jumps out of bed, throws his clothes on, inhales a quick bowl of cereal, and is waiting by the front door with his bag and stick and plenty of time to spare.

I'm happy for him to have a good outlet for some of his excess energy and he's enjoying it so much.

Cross Country Girl

Samantha really enjoyed running Cross Country for the first time this year (1.5 km).

Here she is at her first meet. She was very nervous, but she did great and had so much fun.

She narrowly missed qualifying for the City Finals, and is looking forward to next year already.

Meaghan Smith: The Cricket's Orchestra

My dear friend Meaghan just released her CD, The Cricket's Orchestra.

I'm so excited and happy for her!

It's on sale at Barnes & Noble, and available on itunes.

Here's a link to Meaghan's Website. Go check it out!

Grandparents

It was wonderful staying at my Grandparents' house this summer.

Back when I was growing up, they lived on a farm. I always enjoyed helping my Grandpa with the farm chores, like changing sprinkler pipe and feeding the chickens. We spent endless hours playing in the coulees with the cows grazing in the pastures nearby.

Then there was Grandma's baking. My favourite treats were her famous Butterhorns. The best way I can describe these are big soft rolls with this really thin layer of icing. Sometimes they had nuts on top. To die for.

I remember Grandma loved to watch Murder She Wrote, and Matlock. She was always baking, cleaning, quilting, sewing, doing word puzzles, or something else while watching TV. I used to think it was so cool that she had a television in her kitchen and she would let us watch Wheel of Fortune while we helped set the table and get dinner ready.

It makes me so happy to see my children spending time with their great-grandparents and making memories of their own.

Update: Conference Weekend

Scott has gone to Salt Lake City with three friends for General Conference this weekend. They went to a BYU football game on Friday night too, which Scott said was a lot of fun.

It's been cold and rainy, so the kids and I have been enjoying the indoors this with friends, movies, popcorn, blankets, and books. I even let the kids pull out the DS's that they have barely touched since our Alberta trip.

Today we are heading over to a friends' to watch the rest of Conference. Should be another great day.

It's hard to believe October is here already. All of a sudden when the weather got colder this week, I started thinking about needing to pack up the shorts and sandals and get out the vests and jackets...

And gourds, apples, pumpkins, & cinnamon. After all, next weekend is Thanksgiving! One of my favourite holidays. I LOVE fall.

More on the Rainbow Party

So I mentioned that we did a little rainbow theme for Clara's first birthday.

It all started when my sister recommended a rainbow cake, as she had recently made one for my niece.

We made the cake, strung some rainbow coloured balloons up around the house, made rainbow Jell-O and popcorn and invited some family and friends over. So easy and fun!

The older kids LOVED helping with the rainbow food. Especially Samantha - she was in kitchen heaven.

Here are the recipes. Notice you will need a lot of Jell-O. And a good helper.



Recipe: Rainbow Popcorn

For each colour of popcorn, you will need:

10-12 cups popped popcorn
1 package any flavour Jell-O
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda

First, microwave the Jell-O, sugar, butter, and corn syrup on high for 1-2 minutes. Stir and microwave 1-2 minutes more, until it is starting to bubble.

Stir in the baking soda until it is incorporated and foamy.

In a large paper bag, layer the popcorn and Jell-O mixture. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Shake. Microwave for 30 seconds, and shake again until popcorn is evenly coated.

Spread on parchment paper or cookie sheets until cool. (Store in an airtight container)





Recipe: Rainbow Jell-O Salad

6 packages Jell-O (rainbow colours of course!)
water
vanilla yogurt

Mix 1 cup boiling water with 1 package of Jell-O and stir until it is dissolved. Then divide it evenly into 2 bowls.

To the first bowl, add 3 Tbsp cold water, and pour into a 9 X 13 clear glass pan. Chill in the fridge for 25-30 minutes (or until set).

When the layer is ready, add 1/3 cup yogurt to the remaining Jell-O and stir until smooth.

Pour into pan and chill for 25-30 minutes.

Repeat the process for each colour. You will end up with 12 layers.

Enjoy!



Recipe: Rainbow Cake

1 box white cake mix
food colouring
lots of white icing


Mix cake according to directions on box. Divide batter into 6 equal portions and add food colouring to each one (rainbow colours of course!).


Bake each colour separately in a 8 or 9 inch round pan (you will need to adjust the baking time, as the layers will be thinner than usual). Cool.


Layer cake colours onto serving tray with white icing between each colour. Frost the whole cake in white. It doesn't look that pretty in this picture, but when you ice the whole thing and then cut it into slices, it looks really cool.


I was so busy getting a video of Clara eating her cake that I didn't get the best pictures of the actual cake once it's served, but these will give you an idea. Enjoy!

Clara: One Year Old

It was so hard for me to see Clara turn one year old. I cannot believe that it's been a whole year since she was a newborn swaddled in my arms, so tiny and precious.

We had fun giving her a Rainbow Birthday celebration that was really more for the older kids benefit than Clara's, although she did enjoy chasing the balloons around.

Here are some things she is doing at 12 months:

She can go up and down stairs by herself.

She can wave hello and goodbye.

She is starting to talk, and here are some of her first words:

Mama (Her first word)

Dad

Hi

Bye

Yeah (This is her answer to most questions)

Me (When you ask anything starting with WHO, such as, "Who wants ice cream?")

She's starting to comprehend some words and phrases. Whenever she here's us ask, "What's Clara eating?" she knows she has to make a run for it or we're going to come over and yank the marble (or other choke-able item) out of her mouth.

She's starting to really enjoy books.

She can stand up unsupported, but hasn't taken any first steps yet.

She loves Music and will dance when she hears some.

She loves to play with her siblings and hates it when she's left alone in a room.

She has 11 teeth now, and has had a bit of a rough go with the last few that have come in. When she is cutting new teeth she gets really bad diaper rash, fever, runny nose, and loss of appetite. Despite all of that she is rarely grumpy. She usually just likes to be held and cuddled more.

I have never seen a baby loved more by her older siblings. Our kids still argue over who is going to sit beside her in church, and who is going to get her out of her crib when she wakes up.

The only exception to this is Nathan. Now that Clara is a threat to him, he is starting to feel the need to remind her of his position in the family as the older child. Whenever she starts to make a grab for his goldfish, sippy cup, or toys, he will quickly push her away yelling, "NO, Clara!" (We're working on changing this one time out at a time. I think we're making some progress.)

One thing about Clara that really makes me laugh is the way she gets herself into trouble. She crawls into spaces that she can't get out of, gets tangled in cords, stands up beside unstable objects, and gets her fingers stuck in all kinds of crevices (VCR slots, cupboards, etc.). Pretty much at least once or twice a day she will get into a predicament where she needs to be rescued.

In the words of Brett, "What would we ever do without Clara?"

Samantha's Haircut

Samantha decided she wanted to cut her hair short.

I was sad to see it all go, but went along with it because

1. She's nine years old and is wanting to make her own choices and be more independent.

2. She has a sensitive head and HATES getting her hair brushed or styled by anyone, but especially her mother. Hence a lot of ponytail days or plain untidy hairdos.

3. It's hair. It will grow back.

4. She's so cute, I knew she could totally pull it off.

Pretty much every girl that sees it has just loved it but the guys (Dad, uncles, Grandpa, etc.) haven't liked it as much. Is anyone really surprised by this?

Here are the before and after pics.

Back to School

Hey Strangers.

After a busy but awesome summer, I believe it is time to dust the cobwebs off the old blog.

This year, for the first time, I was actually glad to see the kids go back to school. Mostly due to the fact that I was really craving the routines that come with it. No more kids staying up until 10:00 PM (or later), sleeping in, staying in pj's until noon, and needing to be constantly entertained because they don't have school, homework, piano practice, and extracurricular activities filling their days.

And you can only do so much vacationing. After soccer season, a trip to Alberta, a couple of weeks at the cottage, not to mention splash pads, parks, street hockey and play dates with friends, it was time to settle into a bit of much needed normal life.

I think this picture sums it up. Nathan fell asleep on the last day of summer vacation in the entry way, no clothes on, with Clara's blanket, the remnants of our last trip scattered around him.


Yeah, I was definitely ready for Labour Day to come this year.

Here they are on the first day: Samantha - Grade 4, Brett - Grade 2, JD - Grade 1 (That's what he wants to be called now)

Clara's Eight Month Update

I woke up last Monday thinking there is no way that Clara can possibly be eight months old - already! Unfortunately, the calendar doesn't lie, and time just keeps marching on, despite my reluctance for it to do so.

Here are some of her recent milestones:

She cut tooth number two, just few days after the first one. She is working on getting some other teeth closer to the surface, and seems to have a constant runny nose, despite not being sick. Overall, she has been pretty good-natured about teething, with just a few grumpy days (and nights) here and there.

Clara is on the move! She has learned to drag herself around on her stomach with her arms (the army crawl) and is getting quite fast. She can whip across the room in just a few seconds at the sight of something appealing (paper, a plastic bag, electrical cords, an open staircase, etc.). She's very close to real crawling, but every time she gets up on all fours all she does is rock back and forth.

Clara could have 100 baby toys in front of her, but will ditch them the instant she spies a marble, a piece of lego, a bug, paper, or any other choke-able or inedible item. She can spot any of these things from a km away, and will have them in her mouth in a matter of seconds if nobody is paying attention enough to stop her.

She's still sucking on her 2 left fingers, and has graduated from the cradle, finally. She is getting bigger and more fun to play with every day and is a pure joy to have in the family!

On a totally unrelated note, I just wanted to mention that we have 12 Play On! events happening this summer, 9 of which are in June. So, I guess this is a warning that I may go missing for a while.

Thankfully, my Mom flies in tomorrow. Not a moment too soon, as we had our Winnipeg event last weekend, the kids have started into soccer season, and things are starting to get even more chaotic around our house. (Didn't think that was possible, did you?)

I will try to pop in periodically for a little update here and there whenever I can. For those of you fellow bloggers out there, I will be checking my Google Reader daily, so keep the posts coming!

10th Anniversary

Scott and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary today.

It's hard to believe we've been married for 10 years already! You know what they say - time flies when you're having fun... On the other hand, when I think of all that has transpired since we started our own little family one decade ago, it seems more and more like an amazingly short period of time.

One thing I love about Scott is that he is very thoughtful. He planned for us to celebrate this day a little early, with a surprise trip back in April, since he knew that this time of year is a tad busy (read: we don't sleep for 6 weeks straight).

He made arrangements for the kids, and we flew down to Salt Lake City for the weekend of General Conference.

I can't say enough about how much I loved that trip! It was the perfect Anniversary gift. The absolute combination of relaxation and fun, as we had 4 days with just the two of us, some old friends to reunite with, five sessions of Conference, a lovely hotel, and a bit of time leftover to sight-see and shop.

Also worth mentioning was dinner at a restaurant with a gorgeous view, heavenly cuisine, and, best of all, not a single chicken finger or plastic bib in sight.

After all that, we still got to celebrate today with lunch downtown and a fun date together while Lindsey & Jeff watched the kids. (Thanks, you two!)

Some highlights of the past 10 years together:

Becoming parents to our five amazing children (Best thing we've ever done, but definitely the hardest, bar none. Well, at least for me. Scott's such an awesome Dad that he often makes it look so easy.)

Scott graduating from a rigorous 2 year MBA program at UWO.

Starting up a business from nothing. Working and sacrificing to try to get it going, only to shut it down 3 years later.

Scott working 18 months in a job he couldn't stand for the benefit of his family.

Being blessed to go back to the job he enjoys and able to make it work this time around.

Traveling across this beautiful country together several times. From Halifax to Vancouver, and now, finally, Newfoundland in a month!

Also, more traveling to Dubai, Florida, New York (State and City), Utah, and enjoying time in Alberta for many summers.

If there's one thing we've learned, it's that we LOVE to travel together! Looking forward to many, many more trips in our future.

Having wonderful parents, siblings, in-laws, grandparents, nieces, nephews, and extended family. We love spending time with both sides of the family.

We have been blessed with so many fabulous friends. And fun traditions like Cookie Night on Sunday evenings. Good times.

Going up to the cottage in Tobermory. So many amazing memories, starting with the day we got engaged up there nearly 11 years ago.

Several church callings and service opportunities.

Being close to Scott's Mom as she has battled cancer. Watching in awe as she continues to press forward with an amazing attitude and zest for life.

Knowing that no matter what lies ahead, we have each other, and really, that's all that matters.

Happy Anniversary, Scott!

Clara's First Tooth

Clara cut a tooth last night!

It's on the bottom, left side. She was a little bit fussy for a couple of nights, and she's had a slight fever and runny nose, but overall she's been a trooper.

I was worried on Friday because she refused to take a bottle for about 10 hours straight, and I thought she was loosing interest in formula altogether. But now that the tooth is here, she and her bottle are happily reunited, and I've stopped freaking out.

(Well, about that, anyway)

Sorry - no picture. I just wanted to document this day so I can tell her she got her first tooth at 7 1/2 months!

Oh, and she reached another milestone today as she sat in her high chair and fed herself two crackers. This is the first time I've let her feed herself anything. Just one of the things I'm taking a little slower this time around because I'm a bit sentimental about my baby growing up too fast.

Clara: Seven Months

Clara is seven months old now. She sits up really well, eats solids twice a day, and is starting to get mobile. She's not crawling yet, but she can move around to try to reach anything that looks interesting, and can get herself across the room doing this if she wants to.

She continues to charm the rest of us with her smiles and easy-going personality, and especially her contagious laugh.

She still sleeps in her cradle, which is unheard of for our other kids when they were this age, but she doesn't try to sit up or anything when she wakes up. She just lays there, smiling at the ceiling and blankets and sucking on her fingers until someone realizes she's awake.

Losing a Tooth is Really No Big Deal, According to Brett

Brett lost a tooth at school. He's lost teeth before - this was number four. Still, he didn't even tell me about it. In fact, he didn't even mention that it was loose.

I noticed the hole in his smile when he got home and said, "Brett, you lost another tooth?" (all excited)

He said, "Yeah, Mom. My teacher put it in an envelope for you."

I went in for a closer look and found two more loose teeth!

I remember when Samantha's teeth started to get the tiniest bit loose. She would give us multiple updates throughout the day on each tooth's progressive wiggly-ness. And if anyone tried to give her something hard to bite, like an apple, she would quickly remind us that there was no way she could eat that with her soon-to-be-missing teeth.

Brett seems to pay about as much attention to loosing his teeth as he would to watching wet paint dry on the walls.

At least he was a good sport about letting me take some pictures.

The Missing Cottage Cheese

I mentioned in my last post that Scott and I went out of town on Saturday night.

Well, about 8 minutes before it was time to pick up the babysitter, Samantha and I pulled into the driveway with a van loaded to the roof with groceries and stuff from our shopping trip to Costco and Superstore.

I quickly put the perishables in the fridge, and plopped all the non-perishables in the back room, still in the shopping bags, to unpack later.

While on the highway en route to the concert, I realized the two containers of cottage cheese we had purchased had never made it into the fridge.

I quickly called home and asked Samantha to please go to the back room, look through the unpacked bags, find the cottage cheese, and put it in the fridge.

I listened while she went downstairs, but after several minutes of searching, she said that none of the bags had the cottage cheese.

Scott suggested asking her to check the fridge, in case I lost my mind and had put them away without realizing it (which I had to admit was very likely).

She went up and checked. No cottage cheese.

I then asked her to get the keys, go outside and check the van to see if we forgot to bring one of the bags into the house.

A few minutes later she had found a grocery bag with the cottage cheese, which had been left forgotten in the van.

We hung up and went off to enjoy the concert.

Several hours later, when we returned home, the first thing we saw when we walked into the house was the grocery bag with the cottage cheese sitting on the floor.

Apparently, after all the trouble that went into finding it, Samantha forgot to actually put it inside the fridge. Go figure.

Easter Weekend

We celebrated a fun Easter weekend with friends and family.

Thursday I spent about 5 hours working on some Play On! stuff that I had told Scott I'd get done before the end of the week. Since it wasn't a school night, we went for a family walk to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

We stopped by a video store on the way home and rented Bolt. The kids thought it was pretty good, Scott went to bed partway through it, and I think I enjoyed it the most. It's a fun flick if you're looking for something to entertain the whole family.

Good Friday there was no school of course, and Scott took part of the day off. Our kids played outside with some neighbourhood friends during the day, and then later Samantha invited a friend from school to sleepover. They had fun setting up a "Spa" and invited Scott and me to come visit. They had scented lotion and body spray, back massages, fingernail and toenail painting (Scott opted out of that part) and some relaxing music and magazines.

On Saturday Scott left early in the morning for a huge building clean up he was in charge of at Church. He had over 90 people there and it was a huge success.

While Scott was working hard, the kids and I went out to Delaware for an Easter Egg Hunt with some friends. We ended up staying for lunch and the kids all played in the backyard since it was a beautiful day outside.




Saturday afternoon Samantha and I took on the crowds as we ventured out to Costco and Superstore for some groceries and and a fresh turkey for Easter dinner.

Saturday night we had a babysitter come watch the kids while we drove to Kitchener to see my friend Meaghan Smith in concert, opening for K.D. Lang.

(I managed to snap a couple of pictures before an usher came over to tell me that photos were strictly forbidden in this venue and that if I took one more she would be forced to confiscate my camera. So, it's kind of far away, but this is the best I could do...)


Sunday after church we had Easter dinner with Pat, Bill, Jeff, Lindsey & Tyler. I was so busy cooking, eating, and enjoying the day that I forgot to take a single picture.

Monday morning we went to the London Children's Museum with some friends. We came home and the kids played with friends before our Monday night BBQ. Scott did a great job with the steaks and salmon. We had some friends over along with Jeff & Lindsey again for a fun Family Home Evening.

Thanks to all of you who have called or emailed. We've been so busy these past few weeks that I sometimes forget it's been ages since I've been in touch or had a minute to post something on the blog.

We're still here... Doing fine... Just trying to figure out how to cram everything that has to get done every day into 24 meager hours. Usually we collapse from exhaustion at around 11:30 PM or so, even though we're only about 2/3 of the way down our "To Do" lists.

We still love you all and think of you often from under the piles of laundry and homework and Lego and diapers and hope that you're all doing well and that you had a wonderful Easter!

Their Future Wives Will Be Grateful One Day

I had Jesse and Brett with me for a quick trip to the mall yesterday.

While walking by Merle Norman just before heading home, I decided to pop in and get my upper lip waxed.

As this was the boys' first experience with cosmetology, they had a lot of questions for the lady working there (who was very nice and had a good sense of humour, fortunately).

What's that green slimy stuff you're putting on her face?

Is this a spa?

Are you going to put cucumbers on her eyes?

When it was time to pay, Brett piped up again:

It cost $8.40 just for that? That took like 2 seconds! If I worked here, I wouldn't charge that much.

Lady: Is that so? What would you charge?

Brett: (thinks for a second) I would charge $6.99.

Lady: Wow, that's pretty cheap.

Jesse: Well, if I worked here, I would charge $3000.

Clara Turns Six Months and the Baby Talk is Out of Control

Our baby girl is 6 months old!

This is probably my absolute favourite age for a baby to be. I just love love LOVE this stage of life. Still little enough to cuddle and rock but old enough to interact and make cute talking noises and laugh and smile and roll around. Love it!

If I had a wish today it would be for time to stand still right now so I could just sit for hours holding and cuddling and kissing this precious baby. I just can't get enough of her!

You'd think that with number five, I'd be past the googly-eyed mama stuff, but no.

Sometimes I make such a fool of myself gushing over Clara's cuteness that the older kids stare at me like I've lost my mind.

Like when my voice jumps up 3 octaves too high and I start calling her the most ridiculous names and kissing her cheeks over and over.

Yeah, it's pretty bad.

But tell me, what would you do if you were face to face with this precious bundle of cuteness all day?

Bath Pictures

Clara has always loved bath time. Here are some pictures from several weeks ago.

Update: The Rest of March Break

Back to school again. The kids have been pretty tired. Even Jesse, who usually jumps out of bed raring to go, had a really hard time this morning.

We had a busy week and an even busier weekend, so I think we're all exhausted from that.

Here's a summary of what we did from Wednesday to Sunday:

I spent a few hours at the church making favours and decorations for Tasha's shower with Adrienne and Alexis. The kids played in the gym.

We all visited the dentist. Not fun, but the worst part was paying the mondo bill at the end. I miss our dental coverage.

Scott put on a presentation to a group from the London Newcomers about the church and gave a tour of the building.

We took the kids to a fun new place called Kidscape. They all had a great time. Nathan was in heaven. We stayed until closing.

Brett and Nathan went to play at a friends house. Samantha and Jesse had 4 friends come play at our house. Samantha's one friend slept over and they were up until late watching movies and having fun.

Scott went to the Youth Temple Trip.

I took Samantha and Clara to another baby shower, for which I made 3 dozen quiche tarts. Lindsey watched the boys, since Scott was in Toronto.

While taking Brett to another play date, I noticed 2 Open Houses in the friend's neighbourhood, so I did a quick walk-through of both of them. Beautiful new homes, and we're starting to get ideas of what we want in a house, even though we're several months away from buying.

We went to a potluck end-of-spring-break party. There were about 7 families there. Lots of good food and socializing.

We put on a Teacher Training Luncheon for Primary workers on Sunday. We had a couple of teachers away that day, but ended up feeding about 16 people (plus a few kids). We did some training while they enjoyed a luncheon of various soups, salad and buns. I think it went well.

Pat & Bill surprised us with a visit on Sunday afternoon. We also had a missionary farewell to stop by at and then Scott, Jeff, & Bill went to a Stake-wide Bishoprics Meeting together.

All that, plus any other activities the kids could cram into the remaining hours: more bike riding, playing in the yard, Wii, lego building, games and more.

Jesse is getting really good at pitching the baseball to himself. He can throw it in the air, swing, and hit it across the yard. He rarely misses. He's so coordinated, that kid!

Scott is off to Toronto this afternoon and evening, and I've got a big RS Anniversary dinner tonight that I'll be dragging the kids to. (They are providing babysitting there, which is nice. Hopefully it won't go too late though.)

That's it for now. Gotta run shower while Nathan is distracted for a few minutes with his cars and a cartoon, otherwise I'll be in my pj's until naptime.

Update: March Break

March break is in full swing around here. The kids have been staying up a little later, sleeping in, eating pancakes at 10:30 in their pj's, and hopefully having a nice break from school.

The weather's been beautiful so far, so we've been able to visit a couple of parks and spend some time playing outside, riding bikes, and walking to the nearby school playground.

I don't know what happened with me, but I feel like I was totally unprepared for this week. I guess I was trying to be laid back about it and just do whatever we feel like doing instead of planning activities to fill up the days. I pictured spontaneous trips to the children's museum, parks (weather permitting), libraries, and having more time to do fun stuff at home.

Instead it's been a little chaotic, as I'm finding it difficult to juggle fun activities for the older kids around a toddler and baby's schedule. It seems like we change plans so many times in a day that neither myself or the kids knows what's happening next.

Tonight was fun though. Scott took Samantha out to the movies for a daddy-daughter date while I took the boys and Clara to the Jesse Davidson Park. It's great to have some one-on-one time and the kids alway look forward to their "Daddy" dates.

On an unrelated note, I've also been dealing with some crazy mood swings this week. One minute I'm so happy I'm getting teary-eyed over the littlest things, and the next minute I'm feeling irritable and grumpy and can't think of anything I want more than to crawl back into bed for a while. Hopefully this will pass before my poor family gets completely fed up with me (if they aren't already).

Tomorrow afternoon I'm getting together to make shower favours and decorations. Brett has a play day with a friend from his piano class. Jesse's going to the dentist. Our home teachers are coming over. I'm going out with a friend for dessert to celebrate her birthday. And Scott has a playoff hockey game later at night.

Oh, and Clara turns six months old.

(Maybe that has something to do with the mood swings...?)

Update: More Sickness

Clara was up most of the night last night - coughing and stuffed up. She just wouldn't settle and fall asleep. I held her and rocked her from about 12:45 AM - 3:30 AM. She would doze off for no more than a couple of minutes before she would cough and wake up and cry again. I finally gave up and brought her into bed with me.

She was still crying quite a bit, and I ended up holding her in bed (and dozing off in-between coughing fits) until 6:30 AM.

That's when I decided to put her back in her cradle (crying or not) so I could sleep for 30 minutes before waking up the kids to get ready for school.

Scott had spent the night in the family room with Jesse as he was still sick and in a lot of pain from his molars and fever. I think they got a little more sleep than previous nights, though. He did come up and offer to take a shift with Clara, but I told him to go back and stay with Jesse.

As Scott left to take the kids to the bus, he sent me back to bed. Then he came back kept an eye on Jesse and Nathan while trying to get a little work done in the office. Luckily, by that time Clara was exhausted we both slept for almost 3 (glorious) hours.

I called the doctor to see if we could get Jesse in today, and Scott was able to take him in this afternoon. He had a terrible ear infection on his right side, and she prescribed Biaxin for 10 days. (Jesse is allergic to penicillin).

Hopefully this will help him to finally get some rest and relief.

On a happier note, a couple of friends and I are busy planning a surprise shower for Tasha, who is expecting a baby girl in a few weeks. The girls came over yesterday to discuss themes, decorations, food, and favours. So fun!

Update: Daylight Savings Weekend

Scott took the three older kids to the Monster Truck Show at the JLC on Saturday. Samantha liked it, but Jesse thought it was too loud. Apparently he didn't handle the noise very well, even with ear plugs.

I was up until just after midnight on Saturday night trying to get caught up on Primary and other stuff. I was getting ready to head to bed when I realized that with Daylight Savings, it was actually about 1:15 AM. I changed the clock in our bedroom and set the alarm, as Scott had to be at the church for a 7:00 meeting.

I heard him get up and shower, but made the mistake of rolling back over for a few more minutes of sleep as he was leaving. Bad idea.

Needless to say, we were late for church. But as we were walking in at 9:47, I couldn't help but think that since it felt like 8:47 to us, and considering how much I slept in, that was actually pretty good.

We had the Bridge family over for Sunday dinner, along with Jeff & Lindsey. It was fun to get together and visit and enjoy the day.

Monday I went in to Jesse's school to help in the lunchroom. Nathan wasn't on his best behaviour, so I had to spend a lot of time giving him my attention. He has been very demanding since being sick last week. He's also picked up some bad habits, like wanting to have his soother and blanket all day long.

After school Samantha came home really grumpy. She had tons of make up work to do from being away so much last week and she was completely miserable.

After a couple of hours of attempting to do Social Studies and getting virtually nowhere, she was sent to her room. Scott went up a little while later and found her sleeping!

Honestly, I don't think Samantha has EVER gone to bed before 8:30 PM in her life. Maybe as a baby a few times, but even then she was more inclined to stay up late.

We had dinner and Family Home Evening without her and she slept all night for a total of 14 hours.

Jesse, on the other hand, barely slept at all last night as he was up for most of the night with terrible earaches. His mouth was bothering him this morning, and he seems to be cutting his 6 year molars.

We just had lunch and Jesse's resting on the couch with his blanket watching a movie now. I just gave him some Advil, so hopefully he'll be okay for a bit while I shower and give Clara a bath.

Scott went back into court today, as he was summoned for jury duty in an eight victim murder trial that took place outside of London. The judge excused him though, as the trial is expected to last several months, during which he wouldn't be able to run his business.

Although he knew it would be near impossible for him to be on the jury for the next few months, he was still a bit disappointed, as he thought it would be a great experience.

Uncle Arden passed away on Friday and the Funeral is tomorrow. My grandpa is now the only sibling alive in his family of seven children. I can't imagine how hard that would be.

Update: The Neverending Sickness

Clara's eye has improved, although it is still kind of goopy.

Brett is back at school today for the first time since Friday (when I had to go pick him up).

Samantha is still sick, although I think the worst may be behind her now. She hasn't vomited since Monday.

Nathan was fine until about 15 minutes ago, when I got him out of his crib, and noticed he too has a brutal fever.

Actually, my first clue was the fact that he was in his crib until 10:45 this morning. I had been up there a few times to see if he was ready to get out, and he wasn't even sitting up. Usually if he's left for too long after he's awake he starts jumping up and down and yelling, "Get out!"

Jesse, Scott and I have been fine so far. Hopefully it's because our immune systems are strong enough to boycott this bug.

Okay, gotta run. Nathan's aksing for a sippy-cup refill and Clara's trying to latch onto my arm while I type.

Update: Getting Sick

Yesterday I stayed home from church with Brett, as he had been throwing up on Saturday night. We had gone over to a friends house for pizza & wings night, and our poor baby-sitter had to clean it all up.

Today he and Samantha are home from school with fevers and Clara woke up with an eye infection. When I got her out of her cradle this morning she looked like this:


Her eye was crusted shut. You think she would have been sad about it but instead she was as happy as ever and smiling at everyone.

She also has had a decrease in her appetite since Saturday, which worries me a little. But I think it might be that she's just not been feeling well. Yesterday she only had about 4 solid feedings.

Today was the deadline for RSP contributions, so I had to go the bank to set that up. Talk about leaving it to the last minute.

I really hope things start to settle down a bit around here because I'm pretty sure I'm reaching my limit.

How to Get Youself Known at the School Office

I had an embarrassing moment today, and when I told my sister about it she was laughing so hard she could barely talk to tell me that she was totally going to tell her friends about THIS.

Today I had to call the school to see if Jesse had made it to there okay.

Because I wasn't really sure.

That's what had her laughing at me.

But here's the whole story.

This morning I was extremely tired because I was up way too late talking on the phone to my sister (same one). Anyway, I slept in a little, but still had plenty of time to get the kids ready for school, until I got distracted talking to Scott about what Jordana and I had been talking about on the phone.

So. Then we were really running late, and it was pouring rain outside, and Scott was getting ready to go to Toronto, but said he would take the kids to the bus.

Jesse was the first one ready and headed out the door on his own.

Brett, who was complaining that he didn't feel well, (more about that later) was uncharacteristically lagging behind and left a couple of minutes after Jesse. He decided to go to the second bus stop because he knew he was late.

Scott and Samantha were the last ones to leave. Samantha ran ahead to make it to the first stop, but Scott followed Brett to the second one.

A few minutes later Scott came home and told me that when he got to the end of our road, before he followed Brett to the bus, he didn't see Jesse anywhere. He was pretty sure he got on the bus because, where else would he go at 7:50 AM, but he didn't actually see him. At all.

In typical Cassandra fashion, I started freaking out. Scott had to get his stuff ready to go for his trip, but suggested that I call the school to make sure Jesse was there. I told him I would do no such thing.

I had a church meeting to go to that morning, so I considered stopping in on my way to see for myself instead of calling. But my meeting wasn't starting for almost 2 hours, so I really couldn't wait that long to be sure.

SO.....

That is why I had to swallow my pride and call the school secretary to ask if our 5 year old kindergartner had made it to school safe and sound.

And he had.

Then, wouldn't you know it, a couple of hours later, the secretary called me back and asked me to come pick up Brett, who was sick in class.

Brett spent the rest of the day watching movies and resting in bed.

I spent the rest of the day checking on him every 15 minutes to take his temperature and see if he needed anymore chicken soup / apple juice / soda crackers / Advil / blankets.

And hoping not to get a phone call from Children's Aid.

Clara at 5 Months

Time for some pictures and an update on Clara.

When we went in for her 4 month check-up, she wasn't gaining enough weight and had dropped from under 75th percentile to under 25th percentile. I started feeding her more frequently during the day (since she sleeps so well at night) and also supplementing with bottles occasionally.

Two weeks later she had gained enough weight back to please the doctor and now, a month later, she is taking about 2-3 bottles a day. If things keep going this way, she will wean herself completely by the time she's 6 or 7 months old. That's a few months earlier than our other babies, but I think I'm actually okay with it.



Clara is one of the friendliest, happiest babies ever. She just grins and coos whenever anyone looks at her. She has started laughing too, which is SO cute.

She's starting to outgrow her swing. She likes playing on a blanket, and will grab for toys and try to hold on to them for as long as possible. She is really good at rolling over onto her tummy, and can support herself really well with her arms and look around. She's starting to get better at supporting her weight with her legs when we hold her up, but mostly she prefers to sit or be held up.

Sometimes she wakes up for an early morning feeding and I just love going to get her out of her cradle around 5:30 or 6:00. The house is quiet and dark and I can just cuddle her in the rocker and enjoy our one-on-one time together. I cannot get enough of her soft little hands and feet, her wonderful baby smell, her cheeks that are so kissable. I just soak it all in and try to cherish every minute of this precious age. Because I know all too well how fast it goes by and how much I will miss it in a few months.