My baby is three!!!

But don't you dare call her a baby anymore!! Grandma Anne got straightened out when she said it, as have I (many times) and anyone else who let's the "b" word slip.

It always amazes me how much she's changed over the past year. It seems more noticeable than Amelia sometimes, I'm not sure why - maybe because Ember is the "baby"?

Miss Ember is getting much taller now (97.5 cm - almost a whole 10 cm since last year!!). Her long legs have lost the last bit of baby pudge, and she doesn't have the baby tummy anymore either.
** single tear rolls down my face***   sigh.

She's talking as well as Amelia, learning to sign her name (E's are her specialty), and has officially entered the terrible threes! Her favourite things to do (for both girls actually) is to dress up in fancy dresses (even if they are already wearing a pretty dress), running around naked/in underwear, playing with each other and alternately fighting with each other.

Ember has been loving a superhero from a TV show called Super Why so I made her a cape and mask for her birthday. I thought it would be a hit but she's not as enamoured as I thought she would be. But she did say she would wear it at Halloween.

The cape has since been adjusted so it fits much better.

Anyway, enough yammering - here are more pictures of my young lady.

the kids woke up at their usual time (6am) but the party wasn't until 10am. Em was getting bored of waiting at this point (9:53am) 

This was on her actual birthday (Thurs) while the party was on a Saturday, hence the different dress and hairstyle.

I just love this picture.

This would have been a really cool shot if anything had been in focus.

Melted dog poo smell - the surest sign of spring

Well it's been a while since I've written anything, so here goes a try to catch up on what we've been up to.

We did a back yard clean up this afternoon, hence the title of this post. We almost never go into our back yard due to the perpetual state of gross dog poo, uneven terrain, big ankle-twisting holes, and general lack of shade on a hot day. I'm hoping to remedy that this year, but we'll see if I can since I am not a great gardener/landscaper and also very lazy.

The sun was shining and it was warm for the first time in what feels like forever, so we dug out the girls' tricycles and went for a ride around the block. Ember has now got the hang of pedalling, and Amelia is getting to be a pro. She can now steer, while pedalling, which is a feat in itself. Ember will probably get there but the end of summer (hopefully).
When you are an adult who knows how to ride a bike already, you take for granted just how many things you have to focus on and coordinate your body to do. I have to constantly remind both the girls to face forward and to steer so they are not in the middle of the road, nor are they crashing into cars or the curb. It's pretty tricky!!

We are also finally getting over our colds. Ember has had a croup-y cough for over 3 weeks, which still shows up at night. Ron has had his for a few days less, and Amelia had a much milder cold and slight cough which is finally clearing up. We also had a flu bug go through the house two weeks ago that Amelia and I caught, but thankfully Ron and Ember were spared. With all the sickness, combined with March break Amelia barely went to preschool this month. We did however make it to pyjama day. Here is a picture with Ms. Pat, her teacher.

She has been enjoying preschool a lot more lately since I've arranged a few play dates with a couple of her school friends. For a while there was some reluctance to go to school each morning, but having a few buddies to look forward to seeing has made a huge difference. She always enjoys going and has a great time at preschool (in fact, she often doesn't want to leave at the end) but just the convincing to get going in the morning was hard. I'm so relieved, as Amelia starts Primary (kindergarden) next fall!! We have registered at the school near our house, so we will be walking there each day (remember in the olden days when kids walked to school?)

I don't have any other pictures to show, since I don't take as many now. I suppose it is nice to just experience and remember the actual moment, instead of trying to always capture every moment. Of course we do have pictures of Miss Ember's birthday, but you will have to read the next post to see those. I will however include some goofy photos that we took with the ipad.

Our first Nor-East'r

We've survived our first real East coast storm, and I have to say, it's not that bad. The weather is warmer today than it's been in weeks and the kids had a great time playing in the snow (after much convincing just to get them outside) I complained about not having a white Christmas or a "real" winter, so here it is! I won't complain any more :)

Our back yard

I'm just glad we didn't get it as bad as New England with 1m of snow! Our back yard has a lot of drifting and I'm sure it would almost come up to my waist, if I were brave enough to venture out there. I've cleared a path so the dogs can go do their business. I keep telling them if they learned to use toilet they wouldn't have to go outside (both my dogs are wimps) but all I get is a cocked head and questioning looks.

The howling wind is not so pleasant, but again, it wasn't as bad as some areas. In Yarmouth they clocked 164km/hr winds which is just over 100 miles an hour. Yikes! My new snow shovels are getting a lot of use and I have the sore back and arms to prove it. Cheers everyone!

So I went and said it...

I commented last night how remarkable it has been that the girls haven't been sick yet, when our friend Izzy has been sick sooooooo many times the past few months. Guess who woke up sick this morning with a sore throat? Miss Amelia, soon to be followed by Miss Ember, I'm sure since we share everything.

Why do I do this? I seriously think she's sick as a direct result of me saying that. What else could it be? Certainly not the fact that she's at preschool three days a week and we are exposed to 9 other kids that could at any time have the makings of a cold.... nope that's not it.

You know your kiddo is sick when you suggest they are tired and they say yes and then agree to have a nap at 10am. Wow.

Winter doldrums

So here we are, three weeks into January I'm hoping this month and the next will go quickly. We haven't been up to much lately, getting outside whenever the weather allows (which it has lately, it's been fairly nice except for a few days of -20 celsius) We've had the snow stick around for a few weeks now, so we've finally been able to use our sled.

Lately we've been working on trying to encourage Ember to use the potty and getting Amelia to wipe here own bum after a poo. There has been lots of resistance, to say the least. Amelia and I had a 40 minute stand off tonight and Ember... well lets say that diapers are still a large part of our lives. She spent 2 hours in a poopy diaper this afternoon because she keeps denying that there is anything there and won't let anyone change her. I'm not fighting things anymore. Sorry to anyone that is grossed out by this (I'm talking to my child-free friends and family) Hope you weren't eating! haha

We've made great use of our annual passes to the Discovery Centre and the Museum of Natural History the past few months. The girls still like going and even though I'm sick of seeing the same displays, they still find something interesting each time we go. Sometimes they will actually stop long enough that I can read the signs to them. It's hard to find things that are cheap or free to do. If one had unlimited funds it would be easy to keep the kiddies entertained! We do go to the library at least once a week, and I have a few more activities that I've signed one or both girls up for, so hopefully that will help the time pass quickly too.

Amelia is still enjoying preschool, most days when I can get her to tell me how it went, things were "fine". Sometimes she will say more, but it's usually about something that happened a few days before. Maybe it takes a while to process things??
Her teacher says she's really well behaved, helpful, kind, follows directions, prefers to play by herself but will play with other kids too every so often. She must be saving up all her good behaviour for school, because I see none of this at home!
I have noticed that she's less shy, which is good. When we were at the Museum of Natural History last week, I noticed she didn't stand back or let the other kids push ahead of her like usual, she went right to the front so she could see. This made me very happy to see her being more assertive.

This week we also said good bye to another family that we are acquainted with who have left for the greener pastures of Ontario this weekend. The second family since we've moved here - and not even military! The other military family that we know on our block are potentially getting posted soon, so we will likely be back to where we started, knowing only one family. It's kinda weird.
We are hopeful that we are going to find out what the military wants to do with Ron asap, and who knows, we might be the next family to move! But I get ahead of myself. One day at a time.

So what's new with you?

Post Christmas debriefing

Well, there goes another Christmas. All that planning and preparation for one day! oh well. We had a great Christmas with our little family of four - it was quiet and relatively calm. Despite eating an entire jumbo-sized candy cane, Ember was pretty good (Amelia still has most of hers).

Opening stockings

Dino girls! 

Co-captains Ember and Amelia, ready to blast off! 

Decorating the ship

You might notice, no barbies or princesses. There is a reason for that. I debated whether I should get them one, since they asked a couple of times, but decided that I will not go down that road. I want to encourage other interests besides consumerist/fashionista barbie and "my life's goal is to get married" princesses. It may be harder next year, but I don't think that you have to cave to every demand your kid makes and I don't feel that either of those toys reflect our values. Maybe I'm way off. Any moms of girls, I would love to hear your views on the topic! Email me!!

Even though this one is a little out of focus, it shows a lovely Ember, the neat tent building toy that I wish was around when I was a kid and one of the beautiful quilts that Auntie Jen made for the girls.

The new siding and windows on our house! It looks like a new house :)

And we finally did get a white Christmas.... two days late! It started raining shortly after we took these pictures and almost all the snow was gone by morning :(

I never thought I would miss snow, but I do! Nova Scotia doesn't have real winters and when it does snow it's so wet and sloppy it's not even fun to play in. I'm sure all my family and friends are saying boo-hoo right now. Oh well, maybe some day we'll get to a place that has real winters again :)

Bailey's and coffee

Mmmmm, my favourite drink during the holidays. Is there anything better? I picked some up last Friday and the cashier at the liquor store made my day by asking for ID!

"Really???" I squealed (literally, I squealed like an excited school girl) to which she laughingly replied, "you're over thirty aren't you?" I don't care if she asked because they are being extra vigilant, it made my day. I told her that was the best Christmas present EVER!

That, combined with getting $150 of free groceries ( PC points- yes!!) made for a nice holiday present. I don't ask for much :)