Three

That's right. My little Daniel is now 3. It's hard to believe that he is almost a sunbeam.

He was born in Winnipeg and I must say that I have fond memories of the whole labour/birth of him (I know it seems odd, but it's true). I was so sick a few days before he was born. I woke up on the 11th (a week early!!)with contractions and eventually made our way to the hospital. After being assessed, it was discovered that our babies heart rate was very high. At that point I almost became a high risk patient, but thankfully they realized that it was more than likely due to my dehydration. So they pumped me full of fluids and the heart rate came down. He was so small when he was born. At 6lbs and 13 oz and not even 19 inches long he was small. He seemed to stay tiny for so long.


He is such a blessing to have in our family. From a very young age his odd goofy sense of humour was very evident.


Happy Birthday Daniel

5 Years and Counting

It is hard to believe that Benjamin is already 5. He is so excited to finally be 5.

Just over 5 years ago, my husband and I thought it would be great fun to have one last date before our first baby was born. We purchased tickets to go see Les Miserables. Yes it was 1 week before my due date but I have always wanted to see it. My sister and her husband were coming up to see it with us. Well as you may have guessed, our baby decided to come 1 week early. (I have yet to see Les Miserables)

He is such a blessing to have in our family. He is always curious and up to something. From an early age he was on the go (crawling at 5 months and walking at 8 months). He has a wonderful spirit about him. We love him so much.





HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN

First day of school

Benjamin started school at the end of August. He was so excited to be going to school. He helped pick out his new back pack, his pencil case and other school supplies. He goes for a full day every other day.


It was a very foggy, cool morning.

I was sad to see him go, but excited that he is beginning a new chapter in his life. Daniel misses him like crazy. I asked him to make a sad face because Benjamin wasn't at home and this is what he gave me:




Sidenote: Jenna is crawling now. She can sit on her own, go from sitting to crawling and crawling to sitting. She is teething and is currently cutting 4 teeth. She has two teeth cut through completely and enjoys grinding her teeth.

6 years

This week we celebrated our 6 year anniversary. It has been an amazing 6 years. This year we went out to for supper and dessert. We were able to go without any children. Thank you to those family members who watched our kids so that we could go out.

The past 6 years have been fun and exciting.

We have moved into 6 different places.

Lived in 2 different provinces and 3 different towns/cities.

We have 3 beautiful children that keep life exciting.

We have made countless trips to the temple.

We have gone to visit were Andrew served his mission, been to Navuoo, driven down to Utah and gone to Alberta.

We have been able to go to 3 sibling weddings in the temple

Shed many tears and laughter

Through the years we have grown closer together and at time it seems like our lives before our marriage was so long ago. I love my husband so much. His love for life is contagious. I love his dedication to his family, church and his calling. He is such an example to me and to the children. Our boys always miss him when he is at work. They look forward to him coming home. They often ask me as soon as the wake up, "When will daddy be home." He is my strength and light. I am so blessed to have had him for 6 years and get to have him for the rest of eternity.

Tails of Ponies and Other Fun Times

I have done it. I have finally put Jenna's hair into a pony tail. She has sported pig tails and looked like a cute little bug.

The boys love having a sister. They are always picking out a hair clip to put in her hair and have fun picking out an outfit for her. They enjoy having her wear dresses because then she looks like a princess. Daniel has become really attached to her. He will often lay down beside her and talk with her.

Jenna is growing so much. She has begun eating rice cereal and has two teeth that came in a few weeks back.

Benjamin and Daniel continue to make up games that I don't understand, but I don't complain...especially when they are playing so well together. We have had lots of fun going to the playground and going to the library. They were able to make their very own Eye Spy page.

Benjamin's Eye Spy page

Daniel's Eye Spy page

And what a better way to end a summer night than to roast hotdogs over a fire.

The Art of Rolling....

Jenna is the master of rolling. She is never in one spot for long. I put her on the ground and she becomes a steamroller.

A few weeks ago she was working on her back to tummy rolling while she forgot how to do her tummy to back roll. This is what happens:

Starting off on her back

Rolls onto tummy

Cries because she no longer wants to be on her tummy




Puts her head down in frustration

The month in review

That past month has been fairly busy. Here is what we have been up to.

1. We have been painting Jenna's room and the hallway.

2. Trying to clean up our yard

3. Organizing our basement

4. Getting ready for vacation

5. Going on vacation for 2 weeks. We went down to Utah to visit family. We had lots of fun and spending too much money on stuff we may or may not have needed. And of course we had to go and find dinosaurs to look at and more dinosaur toys (because we didn't have enough).

6. Getting home and wishing we could take a vacation from getting home from vacation.

7. Gearing up for potty training Daniel....I don't think anyone here is looking forward to it (including Daniel).

8. We are hoping to get our garden in soon...as long as the weather finally stays warm out.

9. Playschool is done and kindergarten orientation is coming up in a few weeks.

10. Jenna rolled over the other day for the first time. She is growing like crazy. She survived her first immunization like a pro. She is now 12 lbs and is full of smiles for everyone.

Imagine

This morning I woke up to being told there was honey all over the place. Benjamin was having difficulties walking because it was soooooooo sticky. Luckily it tasted good as he was often licking the honey off of his hands.


It is not uncommon for our kitchen to be a skating rink and the boys are busy skating from one end of the kitchen to the other with all the grace they can find. On days when the kitchen is filled with skating, the living room is a winter wonderland. Here they usually have snowmen and snow angels being built. I am sure there have been snowballs thrown between Benjamin and Daniel. I know I have been known to throw the odd snowball at my children.


As you come downstairs to the basement, watch your step as you step into the dinosaur museum. Benjamin and Daniel set up their dinosaurs in a museum because an asteroid hit the earth killing the dinosaurs and that is how they ended up in a museum. Also, you may find a few Lego airplanes that were custom built by Benjamin.


If you feel up to the climb, feel free to climb the huge mountain in the middle of the TV area in the basement. If you are lucky you may even get to meet Jamie and Adam from the Mythbusters as they are testing out myths. Adam (Benjamin) is clearly the leader for the crazy duo. Jamie (Daniel) follows behind and goes along (mostly) with whatever Adam says.



Once you are done in the basement, come on back upstairs for a bike race. Here you can watch the racing duo of Benjamin and Daniel. Benjamin will be sporting a Hot Wheels bike helmet, elbow pads and knee pads. Daniel unfortunately does not have a helmet yet. Benjamin wins the race and receives a trophy with a bike on top. Being the good sportsman that he is, he willingly shares his trophy with his brother.

If there are any problems in the house, do not fear. Just call Batman and Robin to come and save you. These crime fighting superheros will come in and save the day with their capes flying behind them. They will more than likely save you from the evil pirates we have lurking in our home. Don't they look scary?

Once you are outside, you may run into a scientist digging and looking for precious stones and other precious items.

Can you imagine?

One year already

I can't believe that it has already been a year. So much has happened in this last year. It has been one year since Andrew and I moved from the land of Winnipeg back to the land of Saskatoon. Well actually the land of Colonsay. Andrew got a new position with his company that brought us closer to our families and off of the night shift. We had to sell our house and buy a new one. We didn't have much time to sell, but, pack and move. We had about a month to do all of this. I do not miss the packing of everything and the cleaning of the old house.

We had a week inbetween houses so we stayed with Andrew's parents for a week. And then the day came that we were able to move into our new house. Andrew had never seen the house before as he had to work back in Winnipeg while I was out here with Benjamin and Daniel house hunting. So the day we moved in was the first time Andrew saw what the house actually looked like. The moving truck came and packed our new house with all of our stuff. Boxes where everywhere. I think the only the worse than packing is the unpacking. Thankfully we had some friends that came out to help organize a few rooms. The beds were set up and made, the kitchen was unpacked and organized. Oh the joys of moving.

We were glad to come back closer to family. We still miss the many friends we have in Winnipeg. It feels like we moved so long ago, but it has only been a year.

Miss Piggy

Yesterday I took Jenna to get her 1 month check up (she is really 5 weeks old already). The doctor checked her over and measured her head and to see how long she was. We then made the journey to the scale where she was weighed.

Now for some background...

The week before Jenna was born I had an ultrasound because there was a lack of weight gain on my part over the last few months of the pregnancy. According to the ultrasound Jenna had also stopped progressing and was measured at being only 5lbs 12oz. After consulting my doctor and an obstetrition it was decided that it was better for Jenna to come out right away. So the next day in I go to get induced. After 4-5 hours of contractions and 10 minutes of pushing my beautiful baby girl was finally here. To the surprise of everyone she was 6lbs 7oz, not as small as they first thought. In the hospital she lost weight and was 5lbs 12oz when we left. After a week she was almost back up to her birth weight. At 3 weeks she was past her birth weight and was 8lbs 5oz. I thought man she sure is packing on the pounds. Well her weight yesterday was.....9lbs 10 oz. Yep, my child is no longer a small little baby.

I think I will change her name to Miss Piggy. She is also now 22 inches long. She has grown 2 1/4 inches in the past 5 weeks as well.

Snack Time

So tonight I had a library board meeting. Jenna came with me to the meeting so I could show her off. That left Andrew at home with Benjamin and Daniel. As I walked out the door, the children were having a disagreement over the extra xbox controller. I quickly shut the door so that I didn't have to hear it.

My meeting was about an hour. As I was driving home I got thinking that the boys should be in bed by now and the house will be quiet. I walk into the house and am pleased to notice that it is quiet, but there sitting at the kitchen table were Andrew, Benjamin and Daniel. They look up at me and say that they are just having a snack. In my mind a snack is something small and light, but apparently steak was their idea of a snack.

Who has steak at 8:00 at night for a snack????

Miss Jenna

On February 19, 2009, we welcomed Jenna Catherine Chantel Spencer into the world and into our family. She weighed 6lbs 7oz and was 19 3/4 in. long. Her brothers are enthralled with her and always want to be around her. Benjamin is always talking about how cute, beautiful and tiny she is. He is always willing to help get her dressed and tries to get her to stop crying. Daniel is always trying to get Jenna to hold his finger. They both have shared their stuffed animals with her. She is usually in pink. One day in the near future she will have hair accessories to put in her vast amounts of hair. I am sure that she will soon have her father and grandfathers wrapped around her tiny little finger. I am already loving having a daughter and am excited to have her wear all the cute dresses that we have.