Its funny how I was thinking I was motivated and ready to keep my blog updated all through December and really it was all in my head. I still haven't even blogged about Christmas. Oh well, I will do that soon enough for my own personal records.

February is here and I am three days away from having our fourth baby. I can't believe how fast it has gone this time around. For some strange reason I am actually nervous this time around both for the c-section as well as having a third baby around the house to care for. Fortunately Philip is off work for two weeks so he will be able to help me chase Brayden around.

Philip has always wanted the gender to be a surprise so this time I went with it. I like knowing but it has also been kind of fun to wonder what it is for sure. Each time I went in for an ultrasound I looked away when they got close to the legs. After having so many ultrasounds with both Scott and Brayden I can make a lot of it out. I didn't want to ruin it. So far so good. So in a few days I will let everyone know what the little babe is a boy or a girl.

Anyhow, here are a bunch of pictures from the past since I have been horrible at putting them on here. Maybe it will motivate me to keep more updated with my blog so I will have better record of them.

 Brayden helping me clean the house or something like that. More like making snow angels but instead of snow the wet floor.

 Summer likes entertaining her brother. Suitcase ride anyone?

 This reminded me of Randy on A Christmas Story because Brayden couldn't get up off of the floor with his puffy coat on.

 Summer showing me her art from school. I love her to pieces.

 Brayden enjoying the skiff of snow we got.

 And a couple more inches makes it a bit more fun.

 Brayden in his office while waiting for a haircut. The haircut never happened because he was too wiggly.

 I taught Summer a fun way to use a sleeping bag. I remember doing it when I was little.

 Summer got 100% on her spelling and so I treated her to hot chocolate and a donut. She had worked really hard for a few weeks to finally get them all right.

 Finally a haircut! Still wiggly but a little more cooperative when given a sucker. The next day he doesn't seem to cheery. Maybe he doesn't like his haircut.

 Brayden loves holding an umbrella, the only thing is he still needs to master holding it with both hands so it doesn't tip over. He will get a lot of practice here as it rains a lot.

 My kids both love playing in the kitchen. I gave them each a piece of dough and they went to town.

 Philip had a birthday on January 10th. He usually requests peach pie so that is what I made him. I even used the peaches I canned.

 Not in love with the car seat. I wouldn't like being strapped down in a five point harness either.

 More skiff. They like playing in it no matter how little we get.

 Reading buddies.

Brayden's new favorite thing to do. He is a typical boy. The problem is it pushes his diaper down so when he pees at night it occasionally gets all over him and his bed while leaving his diaper dry. Very annoying.

 Just a happy boy.

 Brayden getting his hockey on. I guess he is a true Canadian boy.

 Summer had her first piano recital. She played Mr. Moon and A Tea Party. She was so nervous but did great. 

 

A new way of wearing a baby. LOL. Uncle Andrew going to check the mail with Brayden.

Somehow Summer has managed to break her glasses three times in less than a year. Fortunately we had the protection plan which made them inexpensive to replace. However, since her prescription changed we ended up purchasing new glasses all together. I'm crossing my fingers that she will take better care of them this year.  

 Here she is so excited to receive a package in the mail. What is it. Her new glasses of course. She is so happy. 

 Summer likes to draw and write poems. She showed me this one and told me it was the picture hanging on our wall. I was impressed by her drawing. Especially because I am 31 and I still draw stick people. She did a pretty good job. 

 Making a Valentine craft. 

 I like to call Brayden my Curious George. He is into everything and climbing on and inside everything. Completely different than Summer when she was his age. He is a busy boy who likes to run especially when I am trying to catch him. It's not easy being 38 weeks prego and trying to catch this little guy before he runs somewhere he shouldn't. 

I have such an amazing family and couldn't have asked for better kids. I love them so much and they keep life interesting. It will be interesting to see the changes come with another baby added to the mix. Wish us luck. 

December 1st

One of our traditions is to decorate for Christmas the weekend after American Thanksgiving. So, after going across the border and hitting up all the black Friday deals we got to work on decorating. We put up what we could which included these lights and garland that Brayden loved seeing. We also had a artificial tree which is in our basement but we really had to wait until today in order to finish. We were waiting for a real tree at Costco. Finally they arrived today so we decided to finish. Here is a look. 

Brayden loving the lights. Fortunately he hasn't bothered with them much. 

The picture is a bit dark, but here is the fresh tree we got from Costco. I love it! It is our first grown up tree. The one in the basement is the kids' tree full of our cheap handmade ornaments that Philip and I painted when we first got married. It is mixed with handmade ornaments from Summer as well as an ornament that we get each year to remember our son Scott. I forgot to take a picture of it. 

I love the red sparkly hydrangea flowers I found. Thanks Joann Fabrics for the awesome sales. 

 We hit up a Christmas party for kids that Philip was invited to. It was a lot of fun. Brayden tried out Bowling for the first time. Five pin bowling is great for kids because the balls are small. I am horrible at it though. I am use to the heavy balls with holes for my fingers.

Summer had a lot of fun. She is working on getting the ball to go a little faster. 

 Of course we have to start December off with a visit from Santa. I didn't realize it until I looked at this picture but my little Summer is not so little anymore. I can't believe how tall she is getting. She had fun sitting on Santa's lap and of course receiving a gift. Santa was very generous.

This is how Brayden felt about the whole sitting on Santa's lap thing. He obviously didn't like it. As soon as I picked him up he stopped crying and waved goodbye to Santa.

 He was not shy about peaking into the gift he was given. He was so excited to push some buttons on the truck. Thanks Santa you made a little boy and girl very happy today.

 Last but not least we can't forget the advents. Philip brought two of these Lindt advents home from work yesterday. One for Summer, and one for me. Summer didn't wait long to open her first window. She came in my room at about 7:30am with a big smile on her face. She is definitely Mary Harvey's granddaughter. I opened my window up and gave the chocolate to Brayden which he loved.

When I saw this Lego calendar at Costco a month ago I had to get one. Philip loves Lego so I thought he would really like it. That he did. He and Summer both put this little guy together this morning. 

So, I hope your December is filled with a lot of Christmas cheer. Remember that Christ is a key word in Christmas. What a wonderful time to reflect on his birth and also his life. I am looking forward to teaching Summer more about it this year as she will understand more and actually remember more details. Merry Christmas everyone. 

Crystal Gala

So Philip was invited to attend the Crystal Gala in Abbotsford. It is a fundraiser for the breast cancer center there. He asked me to go along with him. I am so glad I did. It was so much fun. This is as fancy as I was able to get because as you can see I am prego again and my nice dresses are not fitting at the moment.

When we arrived we went upstairs and it was all decorated in Broadway theme. Most of the ladies were done up in gowns and fancy jewelry. I should have taken a picture of the super cute decorations. It was fun and inviting. We enjoyed a nice dinner together that lasted for a long time. Following that there was dancing and more food which we decided to skip because it was already 11:30 p.m. and we needed to relieve Philip's sister and her husband from babysitting our kids. If we would have stayed it would have ended around 1:00 a.m. The majority of guests just had rooms booked which is smart since I'm sure most of them were drunk. Since we drank water and sprite we just went home. As we left we were given flowers and chocolates.

They also had a silent auction which I plan to donate some handmade items to for next years gala. It was a good cause and great to learn about it as well as have some fun.

Thanks Philip for taking me with you. I hope to go again next year.

October = Pumpkins

This weekend we enjoyed conference and the refreshing words spoken through the spirit by so many great leaders. Since it was also Canadian Thanksgiving we had a longer weekend which was nice. Summer had Friday and Monday off of school. So, Monday we decided to head to the pumpkin patch as a family. 

Last year when we went it was freezing cold and wet. This year has been a surprisingly nice fall. It was  sunny on Monday which was perfect for the pumpkin patch. 

 We really like this pumpkin patch since there are so many fun things to do there. Picking apples, pumpkins, playing games, hayrides, picking corn, picking pears, drinking frozen apple cider, and much more.

Here are the kids at the entrance. 

 Of course there are several places to hide behind and get your photo taken. There were toys, games, etc. but Brayden was not interested in any of that. He just wanted to run and explore the place. So we just followed. 

 He went straight for the large selection of pumpkins that had already been brought in from the fields. 

 Summer loves helping her brother have fun. She is so good to him. 

 We skipped the hayride this year and took the wagon to the field instead. Brayden only lasted a few minutes before trying to climb out. Finally I just took him out and began the chase. 

 I managed to get him to look through the hole in the pumpkin to quickly snap a photo before he was off again. 

 Brayden and his dad. 

 The kids got to feed the baby goats. 

Brayden thought it would be a smart idea to climb in the bottom of the pen and sit close. Then the sheep came right up to him and he quickly fled. 

It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad it wasn't raining or muddy. We found some nice pumpkins. This year Summer even picked a large one. Usually she goes for the tiny ones because they are so cute. I love October and all the fun festivities that follow. This year Summer is going to be Rapunzel for Halloween and Brayden a ninja. Should be fun.