Showing posts with label Kelsey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kelsey. Show all posts

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Anniversary Celebration

This past week we spent 3 nights (4 days) in Christchurch with Marco's side of the family celebrating his parent's 40th wedding anniversary! Wow, 40 years... 

40 years is the same length of time that God had the Israelite's wander around in the desert before bringing them to the promised land. There are a few conclusions we can draw from this comparison.  
1) The Israelite's wore the same pair of shoes for those 40 years, surely I can keep the same spouse!
2) If I had to walk for 40 years, I'd probably be a lot skinnier. 
3) 40 years is a REALLY long time :)

So, we went down on Sunday morning and immediately my girls slotted in with their cousins, picking up where they'd left off 6 months ago (having a baby has meant we haven't gone down to see family as much as normal)
On the Monday, we all went to a wildlife center.  Morgan loved it! She got to feed the giraffes and while at first she was a bit timid, she warmed up quickly. 

 Unfortunately, Owen and Addison didn't get quite as close to the action as the others. This is them feeding the giraffes...
 Kelsey enjoyed herself if the animals stayed a safe distance and if Oma stayed close. Oma was very obliging!!
 Master Owen got quite the preferential treatment. This was his bed in our "house" for the week. There was a playpen for him to sleep in, but one of the sides didn't go up entirely and there was no mattress or blankets for it.. so.. the bed worked just as well.
 And of course, everyone had turns holding the newest family member, even if he did always have to have one eye on where his mama was. (Ok, I like it that he's a bit of a mama's boy. The girls have always preferred their daddy and now I finally have one that prefers me.)
 On Tuesday, the men folk took the older kids to the beach for the morning. Kelsey took a bit of an accidental swim! haha! But she was great about it and got up and started smiling right away. However, that ended that trip!! Meanwhile, the women & babies were having a lovely quiet time at one of the houses.. ahh, peace and quiet.
 We had 2 of our dinners catered while we were there so that it could be a holiday for all of us. Here's Kelsey chowing down on the dessert platter on the second night.. Mmmm!

We also taught the big kids a song to sing for Oma and Opa:

Congratulations on 40 years of marriage. May God bless you with many more.. 


Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Kelseyism - April 2nd

"Ahh.. I'm devasted!" I hear the dramatic cry from the lounge while I'm prepping dinner in the kitchen.

"Devasted?" I reply, "why, what happened?"

"Mom LOOK!" she's close to tears at this point as she shows me that her flashlight's batteries have died.

Thankfully, I'm super mom. I change the batteries and a major crisis is averted.

Phew!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

2 months on..

Well.. Owen's getting SO old that I've decided to switch from weekly updates to monthly ones. This decision has nothing to do with how busy I am. None whatsoever. (insert sheepish grin here)

So, here we are with a 2 month old. And, he's doing great! We don't get weekly weigh ins anymore so I have no idea how much he weighs, but I can see evidence of constant growth - no worries with this kid!! 




He's starting to smile a LOT more. Which is lovely for his mommy. 


He's also starting to sleep a lot more. Which is even more lovely for his mommy. Last night, for example, he went 10 hours between feeds!! Woo hoo!! 
I love watching a sleeping baby. 
Owen still has a few "grumpy" periods - but I use that term loosely because after having 2 girls going through 3 year old hormone tantrums, NOTHING this baby does seems that bad. And, I know, the worst thing in the world is for someone to say to you, "you think THAT's bad, wait till they ..... " but honestly, a baby crying for a few hours is nothing compared to irrational 3/4 year old girls! Sheesh!
Anyway, typically, he's pretty fussy around dinner time - which is a bit unfortunate and difficult (especially when I'm solo parenting through the dinner hour) - but its still doable. And, if all else has failed, I chuck him in the bath - a nice warm bath. I made the mistake the other day of making it a bit on the cool side. Master Owen wouldn't have a bar of it. Fuss pot.


However, this blog wasn't supposed to be soley about Owen. It was supposed to be about our whole family and everything we do. So, let's not forget these 2 goons! 

Kelsey & Morgan are best of friends. 
Kelsey and Morgan are worst of enemies. 
Kelsey and Morgan are typical sisters. 
But they are definitely goons!! 
We just got all the bedrooms moved around last week, and now the girls are finally in single beds. (SOooo much easier for sheet changing!). The new room has lots more room for playing too. So, they're pretty excited about that. And, of course, they love sharing a room (not that they have a choice). 

Kelsey is 4 1/2. She is still highly emotional. We're praying this changes soon. Kelsey LOVES drawing & coloring. She spends hours every day at the chalk board or at the table just creating her little masterpieces. I love watching how her people drawings are constantly evolving over time. Just in the last week her people have stopped getting round circle noses and have started getting C's for noses.
When Kelsey's trying to pester her little sister (which is pretty much always), she'll tell her that's she's drawing a picture of Kelsey but not Morgan. Ugh.
But, in this picture she drew (from left to right): Daddy, Kelsey, Mommy, Morgan, Oma, (and bottom row) Opa and Owen. Grandma and Grandpa are on vacation (she said. I laughed). I'm not sure why only 2 people have fingers. Nor am I sure why Owen has no arms. 

Morgan is hilarious. I'm curious to see if this will change as its usually a last born trait, but I won't be surprised if it doesn't, she just seems to have a unique (and pretty cool) sense of humour. Just yesterday, I went into her room to wake her from a nap and I just paused to watch her for a minute. She's often difficult to tell if she's sleeping and just the day before I'd walked in and watched her fully talking in her sleep with her eyes open. So, on this day, I watched her for a minute and she was just lying there really still with her eyes opened but they didn't seem to be fixed on anything. So, very quietly, I whispered, "Are you awake?" There was no reaction from Morgan, but very slowly her eyes started to get wider. And, just as I was about to walk out of the room, her eyes got really wide and she shouts, "BOO!" and jumps up. I laughed. 
Morgan is, however, just starting to get highly emotional. She'll burst into tears at the slightest confrontation, or if her feelings are hurt in the least. I hope it is much more short lived than a certain older sister!! 
Morgan loves being the center of attention. She'll do anything to get her picture taken. She'll do anything for a laugh. I realized the other day that she only wants to hold Owen because she thinks I'll take a picture every time (which I pretty much do). 

And, last but not least, there's Piper. Piper had a big week this week. She got spayed. She was so completely docile (and drugged up) when I picked her up from the vet that she could barely walk the 2 blocks home and I was actually contemplating putting Piper int he pram (stroller) and carrying Owen the rest of the way!! Thankfully, it didn't come to that. However, I seized the opportunity for a picture while she was all drugged up and not moving much!! 


And then today when I was taking Owen's 2 month pictures, Piper wanted in on the action too!! At first she gingerly crept on to the blanket... 


but within seconds she was trying to completely cuddle up to Owen. Oh brother, what a suck!!


I had to answer a million and one questions from Kelsey in regards to Piper's operation. 
what's an operation?
Its where a doctor cuts you open and takes something out
what does Piper need out?
The doctor will take out the bits to make babies. 
Ooh, but babies are so cute. Why can't she have babies?
Its irresponsible pet ownership. 
Why?
Because there's too many puppies already and not enough good owners. 
But you're a good owner?
Yes, but we don't want anymore dogs. 
{insert new thought}Will Piper look different?
No, she'll just have a little line on her belly.
Why?
Because that's where the doctor went in to get her bits out. 

It seriously kept going. I'd like to wear one of those clicker counter things one day and count just how many questions I actually do get asked in a typical day. I just try to keep telling myself: It shows she has a brain. It shows she has a brain. 

Anyway, clocks go back an hour tonight.. let's pray the kids' clocks move back an hour too!! 





Sunday, March 11, 2012

"Amazing Grace"

Ok, sometimes it takes longer to learn songs.. or rather, sometimes it takes longer for mom and dad to teach the songs. Yikes! I think we worked on this song (on and off) for 4 weeks.

Anyway, here's the girls singing "Amazing Grace"


Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Picture Post!

Be aware... here's a barrage of random pictures!!

So, Owen has lots of different facial expressions. Every day he makes me laugh! Most of them are quite serious or disgusted or very old man-like.

no more flash, mom!!
all wrapped up!
sleeping angel..
What are you looking at? 
"Hey all, look at this awesome blanket!"
















"If I hold my head like this, can you still see my double chin??"
I try to get pictures of everyone holding Owen.

Kelsey loves holding him and is CONSTANTLY asking if she can. She's pretty good at it, actually, but I have to watch that I don't tell her to "hold his head", otherwise she will, quite literally take her hand and hold his head.
Kelsey takes holding Owen very seriously
Marco isn't getting as much cuddle time with this baby as he got with the girls. Probably partially because of all the people we've had here , and partially because he has to share with the girls as well. But, perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that if I get an embarrassing picture, I WILL post it! HAHAHA
I tired to get a nice picture with daddy..

until I discovered the ears sticking up behind the couch!! HAHAHA

Morgan likes getting in on the cuddle action as well. Mostly, I think, because of the attention lavished upon the person holding the baby.   :)
serious...
happy!
We've been doing stuff other than holding the baby and taking pictures of him. (Hard to believe, I know!)

Marco picked all the pears from our pear tree and so one day decided to can them all. 2 large buckets of pears turned into 14 large mason jars full. Not a bad effort!

canning pears with welding gloves - how men do it!

And, of course, we also have to do "the tourist thing!"
While the girls were at preschool one day, we went up to Te Mata peak. Jeanette closed her eyes on the way up (and down), but once up at the top, it was a STUNNING view! Actually, it was one of the best days that Marco and I had seen. Usually on warm days its also quite hazy, but this day turned out sunny, warm and clear.

taking pictures of tourists taking pictures! 

I wanted to perch Owen atop the rocks, but passing tourists wouldn't let me

Jeanette's on the TOP of the WORLD!!

Actually, we take a lot of pictures of each other taking pictures... that's a bit odd, isn't it??!!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Funny girls

So, Jeanette & I decided to teach the girls a bit of cooperation one day. Actually, we just needed a giggle, but either way, it was fun! 


Step 1: insert one girl into each leg hole. 

Step 2: smile for the camera

step 3: fall down and wave to the camera

step : RUN!! (well, try to anyway!)

Sorry, you'll have to tilt your head.. 

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Obligatory Owen pictures

Ok, so here's some Owen pics from my phone from the first 2 weeks...
sleeping baby.. 
Morgan holding Owen
newborn pic :)

Kelsey holding Owen
Aww
Mommy & Owen self portrait

Monday, February 13, 2012

"Whiter than Snow"

Next song in the list: "Whiter than Snow" aka "Lord Jesus, I long to be Perfectly Whole".
We spent 2 weeks on this song, mostly due to being out and about on a lot of nights and interrupted family devotions.
And, this week, I thought I'd have both of them sing it together.. :)


Saturday, February 11, 2012

Bad, Sad days

So, I had a bad day today.
Yep, they happen.
I've always been told something about "3 day baby blues", this however, is more like "day 12 baby blues". Ugh.

So, I woke up crying. And cried everytime anyone said anything to me. Wow. Such fun.

So, there I am on the couch, feeding Owen and years are escaping silently down my cheeks. My ever curious 4 year old approaches.

"mommy? Why are your eyes wet?"

"mommy's just tired, Kelsey"

"oh. Mom? Why don't you cry like me?"

"what do you mean, Kels?"

"well mom, I cry really loud but you cry really quietly."

I smile.

Curious, talkative children are good for something I guess. At least she can get me to smile. And tomorrow I may even laugh!

Friday, February 10, 2012

"Glory Be to the Father"


Continuing on with teaching the girls "church" songs, the second week, we taught them "Glory Be to the Father". 
Here's Morgy: (and yes, as usual, Kelsey interrupts her when its not perfect - we're working on it)

And, here's Kelsey: (one of these days, I'm going to tape her hands at her side.. )



Friday, January 27, 2012

Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow

We've decided, as parents, to be a bit more proactive about allowing our kids to engage in Sunday worship. One of the easiest ways to do this, we feel, is to help them learn some of the songs that we sing in church. Unfortunately, there are a lot of songs, and we don't know which ones will be sung before going to church. So, we decided that this year, we'd teach our kids one verse to one song every week (or most weeks).
To keep it a bit fun/easy, we started with a simple one: "Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow".

Here's Kelsey (at the end, I cut her off as she started singing "The Three-Fold Amen", sorry):


Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 in Review

So, here we are the last day of 2011. What's all happened??

  • We got pregnant with our 3rd baby
  • We got a our Piper puppy!!
  • Kelsey turned 4
  • Morgan turned 3
  • We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary
  • Marco and I had our birthdays, but frankly, numbers don't matter.. :)
  • We learned all about rugby at the 2011 Rugby World Cup
  • Marco built a new deck on our house
  • He also stripped, sanded and painted 2 sides of our house
  • He started 2 bedrooms and a hallway renovation
  • Kelsey started to read
  • Kelsey got a new bike at the beginning of the year
  • Morgan got a new bike at the end of the year
  • Marco bought  4 vehicles and sold 5 (and looked at 4,692,231 covetously). 
  • Kelsey learned to stay dry at night
  • Morgan learned to stay dry during the day
  • I stopped working. Again. 
  • We went to Nelson 3 times, & Christchurch once (where we got a new neice/cousin!)
  • Or, in summary: we got our socks blessed off! 
Here's my 2011 in pictures:

Here's our house renovations from 2011 in review:


So. I hope you too had a great 2011. And, I'm looking forward to all that 2012 is bringing, Lord willing. I'm looking forward to having a baby, a visit from my sister, and a trip to Canada. Kelsey is looking forward to starting "big" school. Morgan is looking forward to starting preschool. Marco is looking forward to finishing some renovations, having a baby (same one as I'm having), and buying and selling a few more cars!!