So guess who got a hair cut and now looks even more like a little man??? Yes - he did...

When Declan was a wee little babe, he was pretty much bald. It took him a while, unlike Mckenzie, to grow out his hair. I mean, not a big deal because he's a boy, right? Wrong. Obviously, Mike and I (without having any discussions over it), both wanted our little boy to have hair just like daddy - long and curly. For the longest time, Mike would always tease, saying, "Declan, when are you going to have hair?". Then his hair finally grew out. I was so happy seeing his curly hair grow out. Both of us were. But his hair grew out very thin and for a while, Mike would always say, "Declan, is your hair ever going to get thick?". Such a tease. But he was right, his cute little curls looked more like he had bed head all. the. time! It was cute, but I could never get it to style a certain way because little wisps of hair would go one way and the other wisps of hair would go which ever way they wanted. It was just so thin to do anything.

Mike and I decided to get his hair cut. We both talked about shaving him bald and letting it grow out thick. And apparently, that's just a myth, that I didn't have to shave his head bald. That was a relief to hear because honestly, as much as Mike and I talked about shaving it, it almost gave me a little heart attack just thinking about him with no hair. Declan's hair dresser said that he could just get a little trim and that way his hair was one length which could now grow out evenly. SO relieved!!!

 So here are some before shots. It was so hard to keep this on-the-go babe still.

She had him sit in a little hot wheels car. So cute. He was so good. His first hair cut and there was no crying. Just a lot of looking back and he was making faces, as if to say, "who keeps touching my hair?". His hairdresser kept saying, "Yeap, I'm still here.", haha. She was so good with him. 

I, on the other hand, had to hold in some tears. I was ready to cry seeing him get his haircut. I don't know why.  I have never been emotional with the girls when they got their haircuts. But with this little guy, I was ready to just ball and my heart was aching. I have never been this emotional about a haircut... ever. It was the weirdest thing but I am so happy with how his hair looks now.

Declan's new-do. He actually sat down nice and stayed that way, so I could take a picture. How handsome does he look??

 And just a few more shots. Just because he looks so handsome. I can't believe this haircut has made him look so much more like a little man. He doesn't look like a little babe anymore and I could cry.

Yes, I'm back - or should I say, we're back! With us being back, I thought I'd share some pictures (of what I was able to take), over the holidays. Enjoy :)

So over the holidays...

these two played together, nicely. *happy mama*

 we played with blocks.

 daddy painted little nails.

 we had this girl fall asleep at 6 pm, NYE,

 while this little guy made it up passed 10 pm. all smiles, cause he's up passed his bedtime.

 and this girl, well she ate with chopsticks for the first time. can I also add, with no one's help.

 and Sushi for mommy and daddy. it's become a NYE tradition.

 this guy took a power nap and was up an hour, just in time to ring in the new year with mommy and daddy. we did have a talk about him being allowed to stay up this late, only because it was the new year. 

he passed out soon after.

this little kindergartener also had her very first school Christmas concert. adorable, right?

So that's that. A little late, but you know what they say, better late than never. From my family to yours, we hope everyone had a great holiday and that you all have an amazing new year filled with love, laughs, family, friends.

  

xo, JM&3

7 months old!

.23 lbs

.sleeps thru the night, 14 hrs is his record

.sitting up on his own

.mastered his rolling

.joined his big sisters, eating his cereal and solids

         favorites being: wheat and mixed fruit (he could eat it all day... and I mean all day!)

                                 sweet potatoes

                                 squash

                                 brown rice and green beans

                                 apples and blueberries

.the amount of drool that comes out of  his mouth a day can fill up the kids mini pool. seriously so much!

.did I mention, he sits up on his own? growing so fast *sad/happy face*

.caught him on his hands and knees/(sometimes feet) the other day and that's all he does now

          (i see crawling in the near future) *another sad/happy face*

.i'm not sure who talks more, him or his oldest sister

          (Sadie still wears the crown for being miss chatty kathy, but Declan is right behind her, 

           but I do love hearing his "bah bah bahs" and "da da ah ahs")

.spitting. it's his thing

.his laugh, it melts my heart

.he smiles all day, up until he wants something, then he makes it known with big cries

.so curious

.he loves his daddy, can't stop staring at daddy once he has walked in the room

.no more random cuddles for mommy, he is always moving and on the go

            mommy sneaks in cuddles before his naps and bedtime tho

.water baby

.loves fart noises, such a boy

.holds his own bottle, my independent boy

.hates shoes, they get in the way of playing with his toes

.refuses to drink water from his sippy cup, just another chew toy for him

.always knows how to put a smile on his mommy's face, blessed

A little girl in our house turned two a few weeks ago. May 21st to be exact. 

 

We do the whole balloon thing every other birthday. It's so funny and exciting seeing their faces light up when they walk into a room full of balloons. Mike and I had fun blowing the balloons up the night before. When we finally ran out of balloons we had a bit of helium left so of course, Mike decides to suck up whatever was left out of the tank and goof off. I have never laughed so hard in my life. Probably the funniest thing I've seen in my life. I wish I had taped him so I could put it up but then again, he'd probably shoot me ha ha.

She loved the balloons. It's the one word she can say that you can understand "balloooooons". That and the word "two". If you ask her how old she is she'll hold up all four fingers (she's really trying to just hold up her two, but she can't) and says "twoooo". Cute enough!

Her birthday cake. I'm happy how it turned out. The last birthday cake I made was for Sadie's 3rd birthday and it was such a disaster! I also made her cake at 2 in the morning (the day of her party, not a good idea). This time I was prepared. Made it the day before and started early afternoon. Even tho I had 3 screaming kids who refused to nap, I was still able to make all the treats. I baked a chocolate cake for the bottom and vanilla cake on top with a vanilla butter cream frosting. I also made fondant for the first time. Thanks to a great friend who came over and helped me finish off the cake with mini paint easels saying "happy birthday Mckenzie". Mike mastered icing the cake. He was watching me try to make the icing on the cake look nice when he said, "that looks just like how I would smooth out cement. Do you want me to do it for you?". Sure enough, he smoothed it all out and made the cake even. I ended up putting finger prints and marks on the cake while I layed the fondant pieces on but it still turned out great.

 

 Mike made a display paint easel for the chocolate cupcakes I baked. So grateful for a handy man with tools. I also made rainbow colored cake pops, rice crispy "paint brushes" and red blue yellow and green chocolate chip cookies.

 Once all the painters arrived, we made our way onto the deck and started making our masterpieces. 

It's been raining here for 2 weeks so I was worried that it would rain on the day of her party. Everyday leading up to her party, I would check the weather. It rained Thursday and Friday. Then Saturday came and it was beautiful!!! I was so happy!! Sun was out, and the weather was warm. You would have never guessed that it was raining the past week or so. The rain came back Sunday and it has been raining on and off all day today. So we were blessed to have such beautiful weather Saturday.

Cake time. She was so excited. The looks on her face were priceless. 

 It took her a few huffs and puffs before blowing her candles out.

We had family from Edmonton drive down for the party. One of my many fave little guys in the batman shirt (Theo). Seriously so cute. 

 Mckenzie had such an amazing time. Thank you to family and friends for sharing this special day with us.

Bigger and better is what they say...

In this case, we are talking about a house. This is probably the quickest decision we've made by far. We never ever talked about moving, building or living in a smaller town unless it was moving to Newfoundland. I always thought we'd stay in the house until we did move there. Change of plans, I got a phone call from Mike two months ago talking about the area in Okotoks (20 minutes outside of Calgary) he was working in and how much he really liked it. He loved the fact that there were a lot of families with younger kids. He would always tell me about the park being filled with kids playing on the nice days we had. After that, everything just happened so quick. Looking at different show homes, buying a lot, going over plans and what we want in the house. And just like that, the decision to move was made. I don't even think Mike and I even sat down and really talked about whether or not we should do this. The decision was pretty much made (by Mike, of course).

Last night we finally received our plans for the house. We pretty much spent all night looking over every little detail and switching up a few things, adding a foot in rooms, adding stone where ever we thought would look good (we have about 4 or 5 walls plus a fireplace that will be covered with stone. good thing this is Mike's thing.), and so much more. I'm actually a little excited for our blue print review coming up this week. Once our review is done, everything will be finalized and they will start breaking ground. It's all happening fast... excited and kind of looking forward to the house being done. But there are still a lot of things to do around this house that I am not looking forward to do. Oh joy. Let the packing, de-cluttering, cleaning and replacing begin (not my thing).

She's ours!!!

 

One of the many places Mike plans on putting stone.

Our floor plans for the main and second floor.

I'm so glad Mike will have an actual office for his stuff. The kids have way too much fun going thru his files, plans and pressing buttons on the printer.

Looking forward to more space in the kitchen. Not exactly my dream kitchen (fingers crossed I get it in Newfoundland) but I love the amount of cupboards we will have and the prep space for me! Another thing I am looking forward to is the deck Mike will be building. By the way, have I mentioned that I LOOOOVE having a handy man. I am so grateful for everything Mike does for me and the kids. Blessed in so many ways!

The reason why I agreed to move on the spot. Bedrooms for each kid. The girls share a room and at first we thought it was such a great idea. The girls are so close, they just love each other so much. Pretty much inseparable, Mckenzie gets so upset seeing Sadie leave her. And after being separated for a certain amount of time (even for 20 minutes); when they are together again, they will run to each other with open arms yelling each others names until they've reached one another to finally give each other big hugs and big kisses. Sweet, right? But bedtime is such a nightmare. The week Mike was gone on his sledding trip, the girls would be up till midnight playing and tearing their room apart. I have never been so exhausted in my life, that week was full of A LOT of crying, late late.. late nights, banging on doors, banging on walls, boo boos and more. So after that experience we now have Sadie sleeping in our bed and Mckenzie in the girls bed. Then when Mike and I are ready to sleep, we move Sadie back in her room. We've been doing it for a couple months now and it works like a charm but it would be nice to not have to move Sadie into her room on her own bed every night. So I am looking forward to the kids having their own room and decorating their rooms that fit their personality. Also, a bonus... their rooms are on the other side of the house. A bonus room, kids bathroom and laundry room separates their rooms from ours. Happy parents we will be!

And the rest of the house. I love that the laundry room is on the second floor and the fact that I have more space to store MORE laundry to sit in for a week or so. ha ha! Mike knows how much I love doing laundry (insert sarcastic laugh here).

And there we have it folks, a 2445 sq ft. house that will be ready to be lived in by next year March. Looking forward to the new house. Not looking forward to everything leading up to it. Our "to-do list" is VERY long. Where do I even start??? Help!