My Middle Child

They say middle children often do things to seek out attention and differentiate themselves from their older and younger siblings. I'm not sure if that is why Eric is the way that he is -I think that much of his show biz personality is innate. Whatever the case may be, this boy is sure fun and I love it!

Aversions

I really really dislike houndstooth check.  I sort of wonder if it's an association with something negative from my childhood -it's not a little dislike, it kinda makes me skin crawl and my eyes bug out. Strange, yes I know.

There ya go, a useless fact about me. Although, that should help narrow down gift giving choices. :)

Cutest Little Lady

A girl from church just had a baby and came over to have a few photos taken. While I had all the gear set up in my dining room I took a few photos of the little lady. Pretty darn cute I tell ya.

Mistaken Lyrics: Oh Canada

Jack has taken to singing more lately -random, spontaneous, hearty singing. I like it! The other day he was singing Oh Canada and I joined in. When we came to the line that  says 'true patriot love in all they sons command' Jack stopped me from singing.
Jack: "Mom, mom, mom, (accompanied by much arm waving), you are singing it WRONG, it goes 'two pages luck'!"
Me: "No, you might have misheard, it says true patriot love, it means to love your country."
Jack: "Well, that's not how we sing it at MY school." (in a very skeptical voice and he continued to belt out 'two pages luck').  A few moments later came the follow up question: "How do you know"
Kirsten: "Cause I know the song, I've sang it before."
Jack (with eye roll): "Well, that's not how it is at my school."

Fast forward ten years and I won't know ANYTHING. Those days are coming, I can tell already. :)

Cutest Pirate Ever

Not much more to say about this picture, she is pretty adorable. We are all still smitten with her.

Got Snow?

As the school year has progressed, the transportation to school has evolved. Jack much prefers if I drop him off at school rather than make him take the bus. And really -since I always drive to the bus stop right now (it's too cold and all the side walks are under snow) it's not a big deal to drive an extra minute to the school. Love that you can make a kids day at this age by doing something so simple. I also love that the days are getting lighter now, beautiful sunrise as I dropped Jack off at school this morning. So much better than a month ago. Really I think the lack of sun is the hardest thing about winter, worse than the cold. The dark is just so depressing. So hooray for the return of the sun!

And speaking of snow, yes there is quite a bit of it. According to the CBC we haven't had this much snow in the month of January since 1994. Nearly twenty years. We still have at least two (if not three) months of snow ahead and this is how much is piled in the front yard already.

And this is the neighbour's house across the street. Another neighbour has a small tractor and cleared the piles left by the grader so that they could park on the street. All that snow on the lawn makes a pretty spectacular pile.

And to give you an idea of the scale of the snow in the front yard -it's much taller than this 4 year old boy! Much of our driveway snow gets blown onto the front yard, hence the big pile. All I can say is thank goodness we have a snowblower!

Kindness Begins with Me

"Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle" 

-Margorie Hinckley

 

A friend had this posted on her blog and I thought it so profound, and what she wrote about it. That it has changed the way she thinks about people and how she acts and reacts to them. I want to be this kind of person too.

Grid Awesomeness

I so so so want to do this in our home. On the big empty wall in the kitchen. Darrel and I were brain storming and he suggested mounting it all on one big board/sheet so that you really aren't wall papering the wall or attaching the frame to the wall. (Then it could come with us if/when we move).

Either way, I love the idea and it's going to happen, some time in some home we live in.

2010 Favourites

Where did this year go? It was sure fun -I'm looking forward to some repeats in 2011. Time at the cabin in Cypress, hopefully some K3 time in there, a trip to Winnipeg to see Dale and Tina, and a trip to Mexico with them. (Okay, that's probably not happening again this year....but I can think back on it fondly as the snow comes down right?) Healthy, happy kids, a good husband. Life is good.

Getting the Wiggles Out

We sure do love the play gym. I tell you it is a sanity saver during a Canadian winter. As I wrote on the layout below, Julie was pretty amazed/impressed with herself. She spent an entire hour running from one thing to another, hmmm, a good workout for Mommy too! It is so interesting to me to look back at pics from your kids at different stages. I've been going to this play gym off and on since Jack was Julie's age. I remember spotting Jack, then Eric and now Julie on all the climbing equipment. And now Jack is jumping off things taller than himself. It is a reminder to me that time is precious -your kids don't stay little forever, so enjoy it. (A smidge of the pot calling the kettle black on my part -on this particular morning I nearly killed one of the kids due to his apparent total loss of hearing -really how often do you need to ask someone to get dressed?) That is definitely one of my goals for 2011 -to enjoy life, everyday life: the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright pokey. It is so hard amidst the day to day grind to just go with the flow.

I am thinking about joining an Ali Edwards online scrapbooking class for the year called, One Little Word. Basically you pick a word and it kind of becomes your mantra for the year. Something you focus on every day. I've been mulling this over for a couple of weeks and today my word came to me "abundant". I love these quotes by Joseph B. Wirthlin, "The abundant life isn’t something we arrive at. Rather, it is a magnificent journey that began long, long ages ago and will never, never end." "Brothers and sisters, the abundant life does not come to us packaged and ready-made. It’s not something we can order and expect to find delivered with the afternoon mail. It does not come without hardship or sorrow." "The abundant life is within our reach if only we will drink deeply of living water, fill our hearts with love, and create of our lives a masterpiece." (Ensign, April 2006). So here's to 2011, and living a joyful, abundant life!