What have I created?

At the beginning of September I decided that I was going to do breakfast different this year. Aiden was eating not eating enough when he chose cold cereal so he would go to school with a full tummy I had to come up with a plan. I got my idea from a friend and didn't know if I could do it but I have and it's going well - maybe too well. You see I decided that I would make pancakes one morning, which would do for two breakfasts, have eggs and sausage one morning and then on the other two mornings they can choose b/w toast, hot cereal or cold cereal. My little 3 year old doesn't remember life pre pancakes in the morning. B/f this idea took hold of our life, pancakes were reserved for an easy dinner but now they're for breakfast and Christian figures they should be for breakfast every day (or almost). This pic. was taken a couple of days ago after I told him no I can't make pancakes (wasn't quite in the groove after our trip) and you would've thought I had just told him that trains don't exist! He asks almost every morning for pancakes -he usually takes no okay as long as we've had them within the last couple of days!! Man, what have I created?

7months

Here's another update of our Princess;

-sits by herself (only topples over every once in a while, we still put pillows around)

-weighs in at 12lbs 11 oz (yeah you gained a pound finally)

-been on an airplane

-eating a variety of veggies and starting on fruit

-love mummums and stars

-still nap 2-3 times a day

-still love your brothers

-love to touch all of our faces, hair

-don't play strange

That's about it. You make me smile every day and melt my heart. Every once in a while it hits me "wow, we have a girl". I love seeing you eating new things and being able to do new things!

A Lesson Learned

The forbidden ride.

"Ah - it feels so good to confess to the genie"

Rich and I learned a big lesson while away. Christian is almost 40", the magic number at Disney, so sometimes we had a few tears when he wasn't able to go on those rides. There is one ride we figured he would love to go on, Thunder Mountain Railway but there was the 40" rule. We came up with a brilliant (or not ) idea of folding up a couple of maps and sticking them into his shoes to see if we could get him up to the magic number - and we did. However, we miscalculated the repercussion of our decision. Christian was fine - he survived the ride, he liked it - don't think loved it b/c it is pretty intense, however, Ethan was not so fine. He was soooo upset - he couldn't believe that we would stick something in Christian's shoe to get him on the ride - he couldn't believe that we would lie. At first Rich was trying to reason with him - oh Christian really would like the ride etc, etc but I just said look it, we weren't honest there's not excuse for it. We can't make excuses or we're teaching Ethan that if you really want something it's okay to cheat a little. As adults we rationalize little "white" lies, it something doesn't quite suite us we can sometimes bend the rules but to a 7 year old who clearly sees life as black and white there is NO excuse for little "white" lies. We both felt horrible for letting him down. I know how he feels b/c I'm a very black and white person, however over the years I've come to realize that not every views right and wrong the same as me, even Christians (can you believe that;0) and so I've come to see other people's point of views (don't necessarily agree with them but can see their point). Parents out there, our kids are looking up to us and we need to make sure we're living a life that exemplifies how we want them to live. I'm glad he called us on our lie b/c in a few years I don't want him to be able to say "But mom I really wanted to do that so I thought it was okay to...lie, steal b/c remember Christian really wanted to go on that ride and you lied to get him on. I know that's a bit extreme but really we have to model the behaviour and lifestyle we want for our kids.

Ethan held on to this for a couple of days. We apologized, Christian was not allowed to go back on that ride and we told him we would never stick maps in Christian's shoes again.

There was a funny part to the story. The next day when he went up to get Aladdin and Jasmines' autographs they asked the kids what their fav. rides were and Christian said Choo Choos. So they asked which one and that's all it took to prompt Ethan to explain that Christian went on Thunder mountain b/c his mom and dad put maps in his shoes. Aladdin's answer - What a trick! We were all slowing walking away b/f the Disney police could come and capture us.

oops

Just realized I wrote about Ethan twice. Oh well! Kind of funny that they both say almost the exact same thing!

7 years ago....

some of the can good he collected

star wars dudes on his cupcakes

we welcomed Ethan James into our lives. Sometimes I really feel like the poor kid is our guinea pig - he's the one that we are trying out all of our parenting skills (or lack of) on and sometimes I worry that we're screwing him up. Hopefully, God is hearing our prayers and doing His own work on Ethan to compensate for our mistakes! Ethan is a great little boy. He can SO frustrating at times and then at other times he is SO amazing. He can drive his sibs insane and then he can be so kind and gentle with them that I can't believe he's the same kid. He has a memory for everything (sometimes a good thing and sometimes not so much). We are learning that he has a very strong sense of what is right and what is wrong (tell ya more in another post). He loves star wars, lego, soccer, hockey - basically anything his daddy is into he is into. He has lots of friends - he loves to play football and recess and give me loads of grass stained clothes and stinky socks. He loves his sister so much as well as his brothers. Ethan always willing goes and gets things for me when I need help with Callia - he never argues about it. I love him so much and love to still get in the hugs and kisses when I can b/c even though he is growing up quickly he is still only 7!

For his bday party we went to a pool. They spent an hour in the pool and then some time at the poolside eating and then went in again. He wanted to invite the max. number the pool allowed - 11 - I said okay but gave him a suggestion. I suggested that instead of receiving 11 presents (no space for that) why don't we ask for 5 bucks and a canned good that we would take to the foodbank. He agreed. So on his birthday the kids all came with canned goods and Ethan collected 19 items!! We didn't have time to go to the food bank b/c of our vacation but now we will. The kids all counted the items as I pulled them out of the bag and they seemed pretty impressed with themselves. When we got home Ethan opened up the cards and was so excited b/c he was so BLESSED. Many of the people didn't just gave 5 dollars - some gave 10 or 15 or even 20. So instead of receiving 40 dollars (some couldn't come and one had already bought a present) he received 80! Not that you give to get but it's not every 7 year old who will willingly give up getting a bunch of toys so that he can buy probably just one and then give to those who need food. Anyways, it turned out to be a great day for him. We look forward to another year with our eldest - hoping that God's influence on him surpasses ours!:)

Legoland

standing in front of New York - the models moved - were lit up - played music - some were interactive

Giddy up bad boy!

Ethan went on this ride four or five times. The kids drove the cars themselves -no track and were suppose to follow signs and lights.

the smaller version for kids 5 and under.

We decided to also go to Legoland since we had heard that it is good for kids 10 and under. We had a fun day - the lego creations were amazing - the kids LOVED looking at them all and we must have spent a good hour or more looking at them all. I'm not sure that we'll go there again - the rides were not that great (well in comparison to Disney) but the kids didn't seem to notice or care (which is what's important). When the park closed we went into the store and Ethan and Aiden were able to pick out their bday presents. The both picked special edition sets and were so excited. Thankfully the next day was going to be a relaxing back at the hotel day and so Rich spent most of the day assembling their sets. They had lots of fun playing with them when they had a moment or two. I'm glad we went b/c the boys all really enjoy Lego and they were a great age for that park.

Couldn't have done it without ya!

For our trip we had both sets of parents come with us. When we thought of going we sent out an email to both b/c we couldn't invite one set without the other and they both let us know that they would love to come. We are so glad they did. At first I was a little nervous wondering how it would be with two sets of grandparents - how would we "share" the kids, how would we stick together but it worked out awesome. We all shared the kids at diff. times - we took turns staying off the rides with Callia and Christian (especially the moms). THANK-YOU! The kids loved having different people going on with them for the diff. rides. Callia was spoiled with being held and rocked when a little fussy. She was so good on the trip but I think part of that was due to the fact that we could phone up a grandparent in the morning to take her while we were getting ready or that they would hold her in the evening when she really wanted to be sleeping or just had had enough of the stroller. Rich and I got to go shopping one evening by ourselves (which was so nice) and one other evening we were able to stay later with the older two and the grandparents took the youngest home to bed - that was so much fun to be out with just Aiden and Ethan . At home our kids see their grandparents on a regular basis but by no means everyday so this in itself was a special treat for them. It was great seeing them build memories with their Poppa, Grandma, Nana and Grandad. It was also fun to see the parents interact - we are blessed that they get along. Some people are a little surprised when we say we went with both but we wouldn't change what we did for anything. Thanks for making it an awesome trip - without you it would have been pretty stressful taking four small kids to Disney.