Turning Toddler

My little darling Pea.

Is not a baby anymore.

Every day.

She seems to get bigger.

Learn more.

Play different.

She is growing up.

I love to watch her.

When she plays with her baby.

You cannot tell me women are not nurturers at heart.

From the small age of 23 months.

I am seeing a mothering instinct.

Taking care of her baby.

feeding her baby.

Loving her baby with kisses and hugs.

God made us to love and nurture.

And you can see it in my 23 month old.

She is showing off God's heart.

As little as she is.

Yesterday.

I just sat back with my camera.

Watching Pea play with her baby.

It was quite adorable.

She pretended her baby was crying.

And then started hugging and kissing her to console her.

She fed her pizza.

And put her to bed.

Then talked to her like her baby was just another person.

 She has so many mothering qualities already.
I look at her as she talks and plays with Maelle.
This morning, she would not eat her eggs until I gave Maelle eggs.
And then she would not eat her apple sauce until I gave Maelle apple sauce.
She takes care of her sister.
Constantly giving her toys.
And when she is crying, she will try to console her with a toy or hugs and kisses.
When Maelle falls asleep having her bottle, Pea is there giving her a goodnight kiss.
She has such a gentle, caring heart.

Here are a few pics of Maelle yesterday.
In all of her glory.
Playing with my wallet.

Daisy is our cat.
She used to hate being in the same room as a child.
But when you have 2 children so close.
Daisy doesn't have any choice but to accept it and embrace it.
Daisy has changed a lot in the last 2 years.
She roams the house as a queen.
Taunting the girls.
By walking by brushing up against them, then running away faster than they can get her.
Then 2 seconds later, she is back.
Taunting them again.
I secretly think Daisy LOVES the girls now.

Pea likes to try and kiss Daisy and she walks by.

This is my life.
My two girls are my world.
I wouldn't change it for anything.

Sweetness

                                                                                                         

This is one of my beauties.

Her eyes light up a room.

Her smile is contagious.

She wears moccasins.

And crochet.

                                           

And yes.

She loves to chew on tiny baby legs.

 

                                                                                                                

                       

Bowling

Yesterday.

We decided to go bowling.

In our living room.

Maelle just liked to suck on the pins!

All in all, it was a good time in our living room.

Even Pea's baby got in on the action.

Cute little Elli Bean with her first ponytail!

Nana got Pea a cabbage patch doll.

A real one.

That Pea LOVES.

She carries it around.

Feeds her.

Gives her toys.

Let's her play the piano.

Sits beside her during the Backyardigans.

It's quite cute!

This is Pea's baby:

And that was our

Yesterday.

Calm & Reflective

 Our day started at 7am this morning.

Not a usual time for us to be up.

It is usually silent at 7am.

Everyone still tucked in their beds off in dreamland.

It worked out great though.

We usually do not get to go to playgroup at the old high school.

We are usually just getting up when it begins.

So today.

By gosh darnnit, we MADE IT!

AND we made it right on time!

9:20am and we are leaving the house to walk down.

Play group was neat!

This was the first time there.

They have a really cool setup.

Hopefully these 7am wake-ups become more regularly, at least on wednesdays or thursdays.

We even had a walking buddy home! Thanks Jenn!

Naps were instant. 

We walk in the dorr and as fast as Pea could take off her boots and her coat, she is searching around for bunny and on the couch waiting for her bottle.

Maelle was not far behind.

Today has been nice.

I've had some quiet time to myself.

Just to think.

And listen to music I love.

Like this group : TFHNY

 LOVE THIS SONG!

I have been reflecting.

And just enjoying this quiet time for myself.

With a hot cup of espresso, milk and hot chocolate in my hand.

Thoughts running through my head.

Thinking about how amazingly blessed I am.

I have a truly AMAZING husband.

God has blessed me tremendously with him.

He is everything I could ever wish for and so much more.

A true gentleman.

Thanks you Brenda & Graeme for raising such a true beauty of a man!

I am so, so, so blessed.

And then I look at my children.

If you walk in our house, you may notice the few hundred photos we have everywhere of these two beauties.

I can't help but look at them and just melt.

Beautiful is not even close enough to describe these girls.

They melt me.

Inside.

I would do ANYTHING for these two.

God has blessed me tremendously.

ok....just thinking of them, I am starting to tear up.

I have so much to be thankful for.

 

Vomiting & Smiles

We have been battling the flu over here.

A very strange flu.

Neither Luke or I have gotten it.

or my parents.

But the girls have had it the last few days.

They have been throwing up once a day. Usually in the morning. 

But they are happy little campers.

You would not know that they have had a flu by their attitude.

Smiles.

Playing.

Fighting.

Laughing.

The usual in our house.

Yesterday, Maelle woke up from her nap happy as can be like always.

We brought her down and she was just playing on Luke's lap. 

Then, all of a sudden, throw up EVERYWHERE!

I threw her in the bath and instant smiles again.

I don't understand.

Pea has been bouncing around like usual.

She gets a little docile here and there.

Pea woke up this morning happy and playing with no puke!!!

Hopefully we are over it!!

Here's my little sick pumpkins:

 

 

Adventure Weekend

A long weekend. 

More adventurous than we could have ever imagined. 

We started out friday night having a spontaneous date night thanks to Brenda & Graeme who ere willing to take our little girls for the night!

We went into Ottawa and did a little shopping and then had a late dinner at Lone Star. We were originally thinking we would make it to a movie but by the end of supper, it was already past 10:30pm.

We decided we would rent a motel room and stay the night so we could go to Cora's in the morning for breakfast!!! My FAVOURITE place to eat breakfast!!!

It was a GREAT, SPONTANEOUS date night!

Sunday morning, I woke Pea up to get ready for church and found that she had thrown up all in her bed during the night and was covered in puke. She woke up, looked at the puke and just pointed to it saying "mess, mess, mess!" The wild thing is that she hadn't even made a peep during the night when she did it. 

So we stayed home from church and I washed her about 10 times trying to get the smell out of her hair!

Then all of a sudden, Maelle threw up all over the dining room floor! 

Poor little girls. 

It was a rough morning.

But I have to say I take advantage when my little girls are sick!

They are not cuddlers. They never have been.

Not even when they were newborns.

But when they are sick, it is a different story!

Maelle cuddled me sunday morning until she fell asleep.

That NEVER happens!

So I took advantage.

and soaked it in.

Until we had to leave our poor little girls.

Of course the ONE day your children need and want you the most, you just have to leave them.

We had to photograph a wedding.

If I had any other job, I would be calling in sick.

but for a wedding...you have to be committed! 

Unless it is an extreme emergency, you better show up!

So we did.

With heavy little hearts for our little girls.

but they were in good hands...their Nana & Papa!!!

The wedding was BEAUTIFUL though!

Eric & Alicia

They got ready in the middle of nowhere! 

the boonies!

Way down this little private cottage road.

Luke went to drop me off at the girls place and then was going to head to the guys place to take pictures.

He left and 5mins later he's running back to the house telling me our car is in the ditch!

The road was SUPER icy  and they had not been down to sand the road.

So we just left the car, we didn't want to spend time trying to figure out how to get it out when we are supposed to be photographing the most important day in someone's life.

We went on as usual.

Hitched a ride with the girls in the limo! lol

The wedding was at Temples Sugar Bush.

The location was GORGEOUS!

Their vows were AMAZING!!!

Probably some of the best vows we had ever heard. And we've been to a few weddings! lol

Here is a little sneak peek of the two of them:

They were a REALLY GREAT couple!

We had a lot of fun with them!!!

They are a couple that we left their wedding saying "I could see us being friends with that couple!"

We were done photographing at 5:30pm but were not sure what to do about our car.

We called trusty Graeme and he came with his SUV and some traction grips.

At first he didn't think he could get us out with just his vehicle so we went down to a guy's house that we knew had a tow truck and a few other big trucks. He wasn't willing to help though. Even if we paid him!

So Graeme tried and got us out!

We were so thankful because trying to get a tow truck down to where we were would be at least a couple hundred bucks!

We came home after a LONG day to a clean house!

 Thanks to my MOM!!!

 She had cleaned our bedroom COMPLETELY!!!

Ok. I know some of you are thinking..."that is SOOO WEIRD! She cleaned their room???"

but it was AMAZING!

If you had stepped into our bedroom before she cleaned it, you would not be able to walk because there were so many clothes on the floor in piles and heaps.

She had taken all the clothes on our floor, washed them and put them away. She even re-organized our bedroom and added in a hanging rack for more storage!

It looks AMAZING!!!

I know some people would be totally weirded out by that, but to me, that was the coolest!!!

I could not think of a better way to come home after a very long day!

So today is family day!

We got the girls all fed and dressed.

 And off to Randy Williams house to check out his little hobby farm and see our dead pig getting chopped to pieces small enough to be put in our freezer!

 Kapua was there helping package it.

This is one of the pigs!

Pea thought it was pretty cool and was saying "Hi" & "Bye" to it!

We let Pea wake Lindsay up from her sleep after the night shift weekend! lol 

Then off to see the sheep or as Priscilla calls the "Peets" 

We look at the chickens but Pea was not fond of them at all, the backed up as soon as we opened the door! 

Maelle was cool just sitting on the edge of the garage.

and Pudds!

Kapua & Lindsay"s cat.

Pea was kissing and hugging and just loving all over him!

all in all

it was a pretty eventful weekend. and we still have half a day left!

Brag, Brag, Brag

I am a PROUD mommy!

Is that bad?

I can't help but think my kids are the most adorable kids on the planet! And on any other planet!

I know, I know.

that's what being a mommy is all about! 

Every mom thinks that THEIR kid or kids are the cutest!!!

You CAN'T argue with a mom!!!!

So here I am.

A mom.

Bragging about how stinking adorable my little Pea and Ellie are and as you read, you are probably thinking 

"ya right, my kid is the BEST!" lol

That's what being a mom is all about! We love our kids soooo much that no one elses kid even compares! And to the people who are reading this and haven't had kids yet, once you do, you will understand and be like 

"oh remember that blog that Lee-Anne wrote once about her kids being the coolest? Well that was so not true!!! MY kid is the coolest!!!" 

Anyways....

We went for a little walk today and the girls were so darn cute! Hugging and kissing and laughing and happy screaming in unison. It was quite adorable and it made me so happy that I had them so close together. Already, they seem like best friends! 

They love like best friends AND they fight like best friends!

So I took a few pics of "the CUTEST kids on the planet"!!!

 

So there they are!

My adorable little girls that I love so RIDICULOUSLY much!!!

On a side note: Is it bad that I wanted Nutella SOOOO BAD today on my strawberry and banana crepes that I decided to garbage pick?!?! Luke "finished" the Nutella this morning on his toast so he threw the container in the garbage but I was jonesing SO BAD that I picked the container out of the garbage and scraped the inside till it was spotless with my spatula! ok...ok...the lid was on it when Luke threw it in the garbage...I'm not THAT gross! lol

Now that I have shared my secrets....please leave me a comment to let me know who is aware of my garbage picking adventures so I know that I am not alone!!!

SIMPLICITY

South Africa STOLE my heart.

Luke and I were having one of those late night talks in bed last night. We were talking about stretching ourselves and each other and I said "let's go back to South Africa next year!" I was half joking, half serious. I would LOVE to go back but I think I need to evaluate why I would love to go back.

I LOVE the SIMPLICITY!!!

I feel like North America has ruined any chance of having this word "simplicity" in it's living space. We are so consumed by media, by spending, by saving for the unknown, by owning the bigger and better, by always having something more exciting to do than the time before. We have lost the sense of loving the simple things in life. When we were in South Africa, that is one of the BIGGEST things that really hit me. They have nothing. 

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

 They don't go to movies on a regular basis, they don't own a 3 bedroom home with 2 vehicles. They sometimes don't know where their next meal will come from. And through all of this, they are the HAPPIEST people I have EVER MET!!! We would stand in a circle for HOURS playing games with each other, laughing hysterically and having the greatest time singing and dancing. Here in north America, people would think I am crazy. Their church service had no end time. It was done whenever it was done. It had no schedule. No routine. The music started from women in the congregation belting out the next song. They did not have a list of songs to be played that day, It was whatever whoever decided to start singing. It was probably one of the best worship times I have ever encountered in my life! They live in community. Families living with families. Here in north America, we HAVE to have our own houses. Living in community would be absurd! There is no internet, or if so, it is SO SLOW you wouldn't want to use it anyways. If people want to contact you, they use their PHONE or better yet, they go over to your house to visit!!! There is no facebook. I just feel like we have missed it. We have missed what life is really all about. We get so caught up in just working, passing the time till the next big event that we can be a part of. We have forgotten about the little things and how AMAZING God is in just the smallest of things. If all our possessions were taken away from us, would we still be happy? Do we TRUST God THAT much??? I would LOVE to go back to South Africa!!! ABSOLUTELY LOVE it! But God has called us here for right now. I need to accept that and just keep trying to show His love through the simple things. 

All in all, it's the simple things that should make us the happiest!!!

It's LOVE day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!


This morning we did a craft for daddy with some paint and toilet paper rolls! The girls did GREAT considering I thought Maelle would just eat the paint! lol They did end up painting themselves up pretty good!

I forgot to take a pic of the craft though before daddy took it to work to hang in his office. It was definitely bath time after our craft.

I have been working on a new little dress for Pea and I finished it today. I am pretty proud of this little piece because I made it from SCRATCH! No tutorial, no patterns, nothing. I got my wheels turning in this head of mine and this dress is the result. I have to say I am loving sewing MORE and MORE! There are endless possibilities to it and having two little girls to practice my creations on is PERFECT!!!

It's a little messy in a couple spots when you are really looking but I would have to say it turned out pretty darn cute! And Pea of course LOVES it. Anything with ruffles and frills and girly, she is ALL OVER. Now it's time to make Maelle a little frilly dress of her own! i have some cute blue material that will make her eyes pop!!!

I hope everyone has had a GREAT day so far full of lots of love from their special people!!! I know I have!!!

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing...oh AND pink eye!

Lately we have been stuck in the house a LOT! I would be going insane right now but sewing has kept me from screaming at the top of my lungs and running around throwing my hands up and down while doing somersaults just to keep myself from attacking my cat. Anyways...the girls have been entertaining. When are they NOT?!?! But sewing has given me that little side job to keep my mind off the fact that I have probably stepped out of my house maybe a total of  15 times in the last month! I HATE winter!!!!

Pea has been battling pink eye the last day or so. Poor little girl! She looks so goofy but adorable all at the same time!

 

Maelle has been lucky so far and hasn't got it much at all. She is a tad goopy in the morning when she wakes up but throughout the day, she has been pretty good!

I have been learning more and more about my sewing machine lately and have used less and less profanity at it and today I finished some adorable little pillowcase dresses for the girls for this summer! 

 

                  

Maelle's dress

Pea's dress