Time to Celebrate Blue Turning Eight

It's been an annual tradition to bake PUPcakes

each year on Blue's birthday.

I used to do this alone,

but now I have two wonderful little helpers!

Lots of fun all around!

xo

xo

Little Boy Blue in the beginning. 

Blue turns 1. 

Blue turns 2. 

Blue turns 3. 

Blue turns 4 and has a new partner in crime!

Blue turns 5 and has moved to PEI. 

Blue turns 6 and has ANOTHER partner in crime. 

Blue turns 7.

Ready to celebrate!

So many candles, Blue Bear!

He needed a little help blowing them out.

But he did not need help eating!

Blue turns 8!!
Party hats all around.

Lordy Lordy Daddy is Forty

Daddy turned 40 years young today!

xo

xo

Elliotte and Marley decorated our garage doors,
while their big sisters were at preschool.

40 brownies for 40 years!
Plus two peanut butter brownie pies!

Forty presents for forty years!

And forty candles! :-)

We didn't set off the smoke detectors,
but we came close!

Newfoundland Trip 2016 - Part 4 - Cupcakes!!

It's a tradition for us to go to Sugar Mamas each year

for cupcakes!

We used to plan our visit for when Cassandra was working, 

so that we could visit her AND enjoy a cupcake.

To make the trip even more exciting,

we'd take the city bus to get there.

This year we discovered that Cassandra has a new job

and it POURED raining on the day we choses to go.

Sorry little girls,

this sugar mama was not standing on the bus stop

in the pouring rain!

We had to break up the events,

but we did get to have Cassandra and Aunt Rhonda 

with us for our little trip to the bakery.

And the icing on the cup"cake"...

Poppy C and Aunt DONna showed up too!

What a fun fun day for my little girls!

xo

xo

Newfoundland Trip 2016 - Post 3: Feeding the Pigeons

When home in Newfoundland,

it's always necessary to head to Bowering Park to feed the ducks.

At least that's what we always did when we were kids.

These days it seems that it's much more exciting 

to feed the pigeons!

They're so brave.

Ducks or pigeons are no matter.

The girls loved it.

xo

xo

Brave little pigeons.

The girls practically attacking me to get more bird seed.

Piper was quite keen on having the birds
eat out of her hand.

Elliotte took a little longer to find the nerve...

... and with Mommy's help, she did it....

... until TWO birds fought over the seed in our hands.
That was NOT acceptable!

Happy Birthday Mommy

The girls gave me a run for my money

the past two days.

I'm not sure what's gotten into them,

but they haven't stopped fighting long enough to breathe.

It has made for a very very stressful time for this momma.

Thankfully I had an excuse to step away from clean eating today

and enjoy some cupcakes.

Chocolate salted caramel cupcakes!

It took me half the day to make them,

but they were worth it!

Thank you for my new earrings sweet girls.

Maybe next year you can give me a stress-free day?

xo

xo

Some other smaller people
may have been just as excited about my cupcakes!

A little help blowing out my Dora candles.

THIS was Mommy's true present to herself today!
Shish Tawook from my Lebanese friend's restaurant.
Beyond delicious! 

Newfoundland 2016 Trip - Post 2

We took a trip to Signal Hill

with all the grandparents.

Living in PEI with pretty low-lying flat landscape,

Piper was super impressed to be on the top of such a big hill!

Elliotte only cared about what Piper cared about...

as usual.

xo

xo

Sitting in one of the highest windows of Cabot Tower.

Puking Passenger

Well, there is a big gap in blog posts for the summer.

I'm going to try to go back and fill in some gaps,

but it won't be in order. 

Sorry.

I'll start with our trip home to Newfoundland 

on August 13th.

Mark sat with Piper.

I sat with Elliotte.

Piper puked.

Elliotte slept.

I won!

xo

xo

Happy Piper!
She's excited to be on the plane and flying to Newfoundland!

Happy Elliotte!
Not knowing what in the world is going on,
but excited because Piper is!

Piper after puking upon decent.
Poor kid.

This was Elliotte for the full flight to AND from Newfoundland.
She's the kid you actually WANT to sit next to on a plane!

Lazy Morning Movie

We are still having trouble with Piper

not sleeping through the night.

Since having a ten week string of headaches last year,

I've given up the battle of trying to keep her in her bed all night.

It just ends up making me sick, literally!

So now, when Piper comes out of her room after I've gone to bed,

(I do put her back in her own bed

if she comes out before my bedtime)

she usually just crawls in my bed next to me.

On nights that Mark works there is lots of room,

so it's not an issue.

When Mark is working day shifts,

it interrupts his sleep so that he is tired the next day.

It's a problem.

We're working on it,

but it is a problem.

One thing we're testing out is a toddler bed in our room.

This way, 

she can come into our room,

but not into our bed.

We tried it once before,

but it only worked for a few nights 

before she wanted back in my bed.

Just last night she asked for it again.

I don't even know what time she came out into my room last night,

as for the first time in ages I didn't have to get up,

and she crawled into the little toddler bed

at the foot of my bed. 

I didn't hear another sound from her until 7:00.

Fingers crossed this may help our sleep situation!

xo

xo

Elliotte joined her big sister for a cuddle and an episode of Word Party
in the morning while Mommy drank her coffee.
It was lovely!
xo

First Day of Pre-K 2016

Today was Piper second-first day of preschool.

Perhaps I should say her first day

of her second year.

Yes.

That sounds much clearer.

I was worried.

The last two months of preK last year

did not go well.

In May, when Piper had the undetected double UTI for a month,

she became very anxious 

and never wanted to be away from me.

Shockingly,

that was even the case with her beloved preschool.

Where once she would be in too much of a rush to go inside,

that I would have to beg for a hug a kiss,

by May, she was crying not to go.

Crying in the porch.

Crying for me not to leave her.

Her teachers had to pry her off of me one day,

and encouraged me to leave her there... 

crying.

It was awful.

The same thing was happening during her ballet classes.

It wasn't until after a full month

and three trips to the doctor that they finally discovered

two forms of bacteria growing in her urine.

Within 24 hours of starting her first of two rounds of antibiotics,

Piper was almost back to being her

wonderful outgoing self.

Only she wasn't.

During that time she learned to be more shy and timid.

It breaks my heart.

My once carefree little spirit,

now is a tiny worrier.

Her worries were what fueled my worries about PreK.

Over the summer, 

I continued to talk about her return to school.

She always gave the same response. 

"I don't want to go, Mommy.

I don't want to be away from you."

My heart broke a little more each time.

So today was a BIG day.

I've been preparing her in every way that I can,

but I wasn't sure it would be enough.

As a last resort, I spent the past few days

making her promise that she wouldn't have ANY fun at preschool.

I told her to be sure to sit on her hand and have NO fun.

This at least made her laugh 

and promise that she WOULD indeed have fun.

I promised her homemade chocolate chip cookies...

as long as she promised NOT to have fun.

She still insisted that she would have fun.

It became a running joke with us.

And today arrived.

We walked inside and she immediately clung to my arm in fear.

I held her hand and pretended not to notice what she was doing.

We delivered each handmade card that she had carefully created 

to each of her teachers.

Then we entered the art room.

One of her favourite teachers was so kind and patient

in talking to Piper about all the great things she had planned for the day.

She laid out some paper and paint 

to try to entice Piper to join her.

Ummm...

that's when little Miss Elliotte pulled up a chair,

sat down and started a masterpiece. 

Sigh!

Little bugger!

But it did help to break the ice a little.

Piper relaxed some

and her teacher was able to pull her over to join her.

Piper looked panic stricken for a moment, 

before she asked me for a hug and kiss before I left.

As if there was any question of that not happening!!

That was it.

She allowed me to walk away.

No tears.

Well, no tears from her anyway.

Elliotte wailed for ten minutes

because she wanted to stay and paint with Piper's friends too!

You win some.

You lose some!

It was easier to deal with Elliotte's angry protest

than it would have been to deal with Piper's fearful sobs.

Today was a success.

When I picked Piper up at the end of the day,

she was SO incredibly proud of herself.

I even had to stand in the porch and wait for her 

to finish up her snack and clean up. 

She wasn't in one bit of a hurry to leave. 

And she was very happy to announce 

that she didn't cry once for the entire day!

Hooray!

I'm so incredibly proud of you sweet sweet girl!

In the end, 

even though she went against me and did have lots and lots of fun at preschool,

I allowed her to help me make those chocolate chip cookies

when we got home.

I had happy happy girls!

xo

xo

My two favouite people on Earth.

I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up.
She says: an animal doctor.
PEI is a great place for her to be then. :-)

Showing off the cards she made for her teachers. 

Crying to stay with your big sister is exhausting.

Okay.
Make this photo larger by clicking on it.
You'll get a better look at Piper's milk,
which she held up to "show" me.
It's pouring down her arm, off of her chair and onto the floor right there.
Yep.
Just yep.

This one left her milk where it belonged.
But there was chocolate everywhere within arms reach
by the time she was done.