Toothless

Our handsome boy is growing up- he lost his first tooth. Its been loose for months (the one next to it too), but just finally came out this morning as he was eating his morning Cheerios. He was so excited that he suddenly yelled out that he had lost a tooth and had to run upstairs to tell dad right away. He has been carrying it around with him all day, playing with it and making comments about it. I heard him at lunch explaining to Heidi that she won't be an adult until her baby teeth start falling out. He was also very eager to learn about teeth during school today, so we took a few minutes to read about teeth as part of his reading practice. Here are some pictures I got of Asher to document his big day. He'll be putting his tooth under his pillow tonight to see what happens . . .

Cinderella Ballet

We've been looking forward to this afternoon for months! My friend and I started planning to take our kids to see a play awhile back. It snowballed and turned into a bunch of friends going to see a full-scale ballet. Unfortunately the friend this originally started with had to go to a different showing because of scheduling, but we had lots of fun seeing Cinderella with our other friends. This was the boys' first ballet. I've been talking it up, but wondered if they would really love seeing a ballet (everyone else who went was female of course) but they really did enjoy it and we are already planning to see the Nutcracker at the same theater in December. I didn't include Heidi in this even because I thought she was too young to pay attention, but I think she will do just fine by the end of the year and given how engaging it was for everyone. (Heidi and Trevor stayed home with dad. It was their naptime anyway, so it wasn't too much work for him and it wasn't too traumatic for my little cling-on, Trevor). I had the boys wear their suits and ties and I wore a dress that I've never worn before because I don't want a baby stretching it out or getting goops on it. We may have overdressed slightly, but it was a lot of fun- for me anyway, Asher hates ties and took it off immediately after the picture above, which Austin took just before we left. Here are the boys with one of their friends waiting for the show to start. All the adults sat together and chatted and we let all the kids sit next to each other, which they loved.

Here are the boys and I before the show.

This is during the first half of the show. Asher sat like that almost the whole time. He relaxed a bit after intermission, but he was still completely engaged. Leif was relaxed for the whole show, but was still watching intently.

Here are the boys at intermission. I promised them that if the concessions were somewhat reasonable, I would by them a snack, so we stood in a big line and the boys got to order and pay for their own snacks- all part of the experience.

Asher chose pringles and Leif chose skittles. Here they are enjoying their treats while waiting for the show to resume. My friend and her three daughters are behind them.

Sharing their snacks. I also brought some goldfish and cookies (just in case the snacks were way to pricey), so I passed the goldfish out to the kids, and all the moms ate the cookies :)

After the show, Asher got to meet Cinderella. He was a little shy to shake her hand and talk to her, but he did it was happy to have a picture with her. Leif was too shy to do any of it and just hid behind me.

I'm so glad I got to share such a fun afternoon with my boys and friends. I'm even more excited for the Nutcracker and seeing how Heidi will react to ballerinas.

33 Months

Heidi is well on her way to becoming a big girl- she insists all the time that she is a big girl and she definitely doesn't lack any independence or self-will. She has taken the huge step out of babyhood by becoming completely potty trained! No diapers or even pull-ups for her! Its undies only and she is so proud (me too!) It seems like it kind of just happened overnight after months of us both being semi-committed to it. I'm surprised that she is able to stay dry during the nights and nap times. As long as we make sure she goes potty before going to sleep, she's good- sometimes she even wakes up and eats breakfast or plays for awhile before she goes potty.
Besides that huge news, Heidi is also blossoming in her imaginative play. She has always into pretending, but her games are getting more elaborate and inventive. She has a few stuffed animal doggies (All named "Milo" after a dog that we babysat a few times for some friends- which isn't so inventive ;) that she loves to feed and take outside to go potty. I'm also constantly tripping over cups and plates that Heidi has set out for her baby bunny to have dinner and eat her birthday cake (It's her bunny's birthday every few days). She also loves to pretend she is baking. Sometimes she makes me be minimally involved in her games, such as eating what she baked or singing to her bunny, but mostly she just plays these games all by herself.
Heidi loves to sing and dance. Sometimes at bedtime the whole family gets trapped in her room while she sings and dances around for us, insisting whenever we try to leave that she is almost done. The songs she sings are usually loosely based around songs that she knows with a lot of her own words and tunes added in.
Although Heidi still very much loves her daddy, she is glued to mom lately. She has a meltdown if Austin tries to put her to bed because she would rather I do it. This may be because I sing to her longer while I'm rubbing her back and playing with her hair, but its also because she is very interested in the fact that we are both girls. She often points out that we are "gruls" and tells the boys "Gruls only" all the time. Sometimes when I tell the kids they can't have something because its mine she tries to justify why she can have it because its just for "gruls".
Today is "Family Day" in Canada. Austin had the day off work (although he still had to go in for a bit to finish something) so we went on a little family excursion this morning. Here are the photos I got of Heidi.

 She was very interested in touching all the "big" trees, although they all seemed pretty big to me ;) I think she just liked the ones that were thicker around than the rest

And a bonus shot of all the kids

Grandparental Visit

Austin's parents visited us last month. We all ended the visit being sick and it took me forever to recover, then I never got around to putting up a blog. Rumor has it that some people are waiting on these photos- so here they are.
The day after Brent and Kate arrived, we went out to breakfast then headed down to Niagara falls. The kids never get to go out for breakfast (or really at all) so they had a great time. Asher ordered enough food for 6 adults, but he did actually eat about half of it.

 
 
 It was freezing at Niagara Falls, and with so much water in the air, there was ice everywhere. Everyone was well bundled up though, so it wasn't too bad. Afterward, we crossed the boarder into New York (my first time being back in the states since we moved!) and I got to go to Target (the highlight of my month!!!!) and we went to dinner at the Olive Garden (for lack of somewhere else to go before the hungry children turned into gremlins)

 It just so happened to be Brent and Kate's 40th wedding anniversary, so Austin made a big deal about it and made them kiss in a photo. 

 After that day, the sickness started to set in, so we didn't do too many exciting things. But the whole point of the trip was for the kids to get to visit with their grandparents which the did and they loved. Here is Heidi and Grandpa shoveling in the backyard (one of Heidi's favorite outdoor activities)

More Winter Fun

It has been chilly and snowy here! We've been inside a lot, but we've also found some time to get out and enjoy the outdoors (in small doses). I got to take the older boys ice skating while a friend watched the younger two. It was fun and the boys are making steady progress in learning to ice skate.

The kids also love to just go play in the snow- so here are a few shots of them enjoying the snow then enjoying some hot chocolate to warm up.