Day One Hundrered and Fifty Four

December 31st 2013.

It was a nice year. Nothing extraordinary happened no matter how I braced myself for the alternative. I  have never been more grateful for the gift of an ordinary day. 365 of them this year. Baby giggles, lazy Sundays, admiring lego creations and tearing up at the first run on a two wheeler. A few runny noses, birthday cakes and a road trip. A busy Christmas season rounded out this blessedly normal year and we are looking forward to the same in 2014! xoxo

One Hundered and Fifty Three

These children are growing up so fast! Last year at this time they seemed like such babies and this year the boys are...boys.Ben  is a veracious reader and loves video games. Jacob is confident and opinionated and Elizabeth has a mind of her own and a tongue to share it with. Most frequently a one syllable word screeched at a very high decibel level the boys could never quite reach as she yells her displeasure. In a moment though...she ig grinning and blowing kisses and I am not quite sure what we are going to do with this petite little blond girl who has everyone wrapped around her finger.

Ben loves Lego. He can take a booklet and a new set into his room and in a hour have a completed model. It is such a foreign thing to me...too be able to look at all those tiny pieces and see how they will form the picture on the box. My genuine astonishment is always his biggest motivator as he is working. I can see his lips twitching in anticipation of my gasp when he shows me. I love that he cares so much about what I think and how much my pride means to him.

Jacob took his Christmas concert in his preschool very seriously. He practiced "Jingle Bells" and  "Away in a Manger" nightly until the big day. In a group of 40 children on a stage of varying heights he struggled to get to the front during the first number. His head poked around some taller children he had got stuck behind. He shook his bells furiously but it wasn't as he imagined. During a quick break between songs he pushed his way confidently front and center and relaxed. He sang his heart out and did each action perfectly. At the end of the performance the children blew a kiss to the adoring audience and stepped down to go to their parents but Jacob remained on the stage after everyone had gone blowing kisses.

Elizabeth has been lucky in health. She has rarely had even a sniffle but this fall gave her a double eye infection and an awful cold all a once. With a constant cough, runny nose, fever and swollen, painful eyes, her typical energetic and happy self was slumped on the couch with her soother and blanket laying on her lap. Her favorite purple dinosaur was on the television. She LOVES Barney. We never put it on for the boys but somehow she discovered it and every time she sees him on the netflix homepage she jumps and squeals "Baaaaaneeeeey!". She stands and dances for the whole show. On this day she didn't have the energy at all but she couldn't stop dancing. It was taking everything she had to sadly wiggle in her spot and clap her hands slowly together. Towards the end of the show she was so tired and so unwell that when a song came on she would whimper while she wiggled. A true fan she is. She is too cute (and feeling much better now).

Day One Hundered and Fifty Two.

October ....in photos...

In short. Jacob is adorable and loves learning. Ben lost a tooth and taught himself the multiplication tables...Elizabeth won't stop climbing, is a chatterbox and loves to dance (and say TA DA!).

Day One Hundred and Fifty One.

Nova Scotia Vacation !

Jon and I did a practice pack of the van the week before we left to make sure everything would fit. We bought a collapsible roof rack just in case. We had everything organized short of an excel spread sheet itemizing it. We decided that I would sit in the third row with Ella so that I could keep her entertained. We were confident that we were fully prepared.

47 minutes later the van was chaos. I had to dig threw three different bags to find the ipad cord, the right snacks and all of a sudden we were invaded by crumbs and I was up to my ears with stuff. I couldn't feel my legs for the duration of the drive they fell asleep so quickly.

22 hours later, after a long night in a hotel (the first time all five of us have slept in one room! Um. Ya. ) some vomiting, a baby covered in diarrhea and no spare sleeper that wasn't totally buried. Ben played his tablet for 12 hours straight, Jake watched garbage truck videos on you tube for hours and Ella played with her toes. They were awesome.

It is interesting to relive my exact summer holidays through the eyes of my children. They absolutely loved every little minute of it. It was wonderful to experience my favorite memories through them and show them off to some of my favorite people.

When asked what their favorite memories were Ben said, despite everything we did, that it was eating breakfast at Grammie June's house and Jacob loved playing with the dump trucks in the gravel and having a fire on the beach -where the ever safety conscious Ben sat 20 feet away with a bucket of water....just in case (Never mind the billion gallons of water in the ocean behind us).

It was great to be able to spend so much uninterrupted time together and have my parents and grandmothers all together.