The gift of paint.

This weekend we had a painting party, meaning our AMAZING friends gave up a day to help us paint our new house. It is always a huge stress for me to pick colors since I know I will have to look at it for a long while…

The one armed woman.

Going to the library was a bit of a fiasco. I get in these moods of ‘lets just get this done.’ where I decide to go and that’s it, no turning back. The library is one of my fallback places to go when the kids are driving me bananas, but today the car was out, the good stroller was in the car,and it looked like it was about the pour rain. Andy was looking at me, trying to assure me that the van would be returned soon, but I decided I needed to go, and that was that.

3 to 1. 3 adults to 1 child sounds awesome, the other way around it sounds looney. Matt is on his bike, Dahlia in her stroller, Olivia strapped around me in a sling. It all sounds very ‘contained’ until you try it. First of all, slings are great except when you have other kids, because it inhibits one arm…and nothing happens quickly if you are short one arm…so really the ratio is 1/2 to 3.

We finally get there. 20 lbs of books tied on the arms of the umbrella stroller, 3 kids in St henri. We get there and I get about 25 minutes of peace where the kids are looking at books. Whew. Then the chaos starts again. This means go time.

I shove 10 books in the bag, solve 2 fights over which DVD’s we will pick and explain why that demonic looking cartoon book is not appropriate, try and nurse a screaming four month old without flashing the family that just walked in, tell Dahlia for the 29th time to whisper, try to find library cards, and keep the umbrella stroller from falling over because of the weight of the books strapped on the back.

Done. We all get out of there, Matthew loses a training wheel, an old neighbour tries to catch up while the kids play in a phone booth, dahlia finds a dirty grocery bag which she insists on keeping, and then the baby falls asleep two steps from getting home.

This is a usual trip to get out of the house. Until you’ve been through it, you’d wonder why ever do that to yourself. If you can believe it, I actually like the craziness despite the sounds of it. I feel like by the third child I have realized that having only one arm only lasts a short while, since soon it will be free because Olivia will be crawling and then running. See you shortly arm…Olivia rolled over today! :)

2 Quotes

Quote:

Dahlia: Mom, what are our hands made of?

Mom: Skin, blood,muscles, and tha hard parts underneath are bones.

Dahlia: No, really…what are our hands made of?

(never understood what she expected!:)

Quote of the day:

Mom: Did you know that I picked

out your name,Matt?

Matt: Yeah, and you also picked

out our birthdays.

Spit up Queen

Olivia is the queen of spitting up. In fact most of our friends have gotten used to wearing full blankets to shield themselves. Others, have gotten used to yelling, ‘CHEESE!’ and running to get a burp cloth when I hold her because of the lumpy spits she does.

Matt is quite accustomed and will yell, “Mom she did a ‘pit up!” . Today he got it bad. I was reading a story to the the kids when all of the sudden a huge surge of white milky vomit came up all over him. He screamed for 10 minutes because he was so grossed out. I am pretty dulled to this whole experience since I change my outfit 3 times a day for this reason. Jess, a good friend, onc egot it all down and in the front of her shirt, but still kisses that baby’s cheeks non-stop.

One day, this girl will smell better but until then, we will still love you cuz your cute, Liv.

Le Musée des Enfants!!!

Went to a great place in Laval this morning! This museum is more like a theme park with lots of things to touch, and do. Every room was set up in careers or businesses: vet, grocery, cafeteria, grocery store, ambulance, police car, fishing boat, rocket ship, movie theatre, stage, caves, etc. It got a bit crazy when two school buses of kids showed up, and of course holding Olivia throughout made it challenging as well.

When we got home, there was full of tantrums, since M & D were exhausted. I really hate doing cool things with the kids and then paying for it!!! Oh well, still worth it.

Happy Birthday Dorrie!

We celebrated Dorrie’s birthday with her today..the day was spent cleaning the house top to bottom, which is exhausting but needed! We LOVE having people over and having people over to our house is a pleasure! Dorrie made us laugh when she said, ‘I am going have the party at your place, that way I can be sure that you guys can make it!’ So true, when you have three kids. No need to look for a sitter, no need to get all frazzled trying to get out the door. There was also more pressure that there was a couple coming who we didn’t know…and no pressure, this girl is an actual princess from Mumbai….great..lol. We actually love the external pressure of wanting the house to look good. Andy got his bookshelf done, shelves put up, I got paintings up, got bake with my new kitchen aid!

Two desserts later, a tidy house, and the scented candles on, we had a great party, watching the Canadians lose, eating two BBq’d salmons and catching up with friends…pure joy!

Mango Salmon: Smother a salmon in mango chutney or a mango spread (or combo)

Add a little mustard, bbq on a soaked cedar plank....delish!

'I'm not pretty!'

...is one of the things that Dahlia says almost daily now.. It all started one day when she declared it, put her head down, and turned her face downcast. Her Daddy rushed to her, picked her up and declared, "Yes, you are pretty! You are beautiful!" He spoke it to her as a gospel message, good news to awaken her! But she continued on.It breaks my heart to hear her say it, but secretly wondering if she just loves the attention that she gets from it because we always try and convince her otherwise.This is all very shocking either way, since this is a girl obsessed with princesses, can wear a pair of play high heels like nobody else. What's so wrong with pretty? Good or bad, I think the answer we are all happy to hear lately is..."I am not pretty.I am cute."

Black thumb.

Gardening Idea: Topsy-Turvy Tomatoes | Garden Crafts | Family Fun I mourned my tomato seedlings today when I saw the snow coming down (IN MAY!) I really want to grow tomatoes, but I don't think I have enough sun..This may work so I could have the best crop possible.

On anotther note, my mom came down and ripped up my garden to transform it into a thing of beauty!

Emiline & Annabelle

Checked out a new fabric store in Montreal…great to see that I could get my fabric fix satisfied and support local as well. They were so friendly and helpful. With a cup of coffee in one hand and a bolt of fabric in the other I could browse, shop, and take my time choosing without feeling rushed! Love it! The hardest part is choosing!!! I realized I had picked out the same fabric as my decorating savvy friend, E! I love her enough not to steal her inspiration!!

I am still trying to make up my mind about what colour scheme I should do. I have been very non committal with anything like this…I feel like I don’t want to rush into anything because I have to live with it for a while.

http://www.emelineandannabelle.com/studio-boutique/

The day that kept on giving.

Mom came for the second time this month and gave one of the best helps she could...a garden! She filled her trunk with perennials from her garden, brought her own tools, a tree trimmer and some elbow grease and together we tackled the garden in front and back. Now although my parents how green hands (not just thumbs) and I wasliterally raised in greenhouse

s, I have very little clue about how to grow anything. It looks amazing...I wish I had taken better before pictures since there was nothing but weeds, garbage, and cigarette butts. The inly ones who had profited from the neglect was the worms who were as big as snakes..feasting on the rotten,

buried, and neglected..Sorry guys, party is over, now you just have a regular garden to eat! (Triumph!!) Ok..As if that wasn't good enough...my friend took the kids while we were up to our arms in weeds and dirt... THEN..Yes there is a then...Poppy brought me a gift from angels...I would have never ever gotten for myself because a.)expensive b.)takes up a lot of space c.)I usually believe in getting your hands dirty. d.) it is a super indulgence. A NEW MIXER!!! I am a spoiled rotten child! I have almost wept even thinking about all the luxuries I have in my life right now...Thank you LORD for your goodness.

I can hardly express how grateful I am for all these things...

Children.

Woke up this morning with 15 minutes to get to Olivia’s vaccination appointment! I quickly bathed my barfy smelling baby so that I wouldn’t look like a bad mom, found her vaccination booklet, got her dressed, dressed myself, and walked to the clinic. I was surprised to make it with time to wait for the doctor and time to chat with another mom who was waiting for a walk-in appointment.

This other mom has 5 kids and wants one more, I always laughing when i can say I ONLY have 3! It is so rare nowadays to see families of more than 2, but I am encouraged. I love children and think I have had it pretty easy as far as pregnancy, labour, delivery, babies that are calm and sleep well. I get asked all the time if there wil be a fourth, and I think eventually I will be ready again, but not yet! I am trying to treasure my sweet moments with Olivia. In fact, a almost tripped coming out of the doctors office and shuttered to think that I may have harmed her by falling or whatever.

I have also been thinking how sweet a gift it would be to be able to surrogate for a couple I know so that they could know the sweet joy of parenthood. Now don’t panic…I will probably never do it because I would be a mess when it came to giving the child away, but I love the idea. On the other hand, I am IN LOVE with the idea of adoption, and would love people to see their infertility as a door opened to care and love for another. Take life’s hardships and turn it to His Glory! It is a beautiful picture of how God has adopted us into his family and called us his children when we are not naturally His. I would love to adopt 10 more children, if our house could hold them! Oh, so much to think about…

Thank you God for my wiggly Olivia, for their health, and the joy they bring!

Etsy Baby shoes. So cute I could eat them.

Found these gorgeous shoes on etsy today...Genius is that you can reverse them because they will be dirty in 10 minutes. I also think it would be good to sell them by 3 instead of two, because lets be honest, one is going to fall off or go missing! :)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/50394875/lola-ruffles-handmade-baby-booties

http://www.etsy.com/listing/46434264/reversible-mary-janes-diy-make-it?ref=v1_other_1