A Snowy Halloween

Halloween snuck up on us this year. There's been lots of crazy stuff happening in the Stannix home this passed week. I am glad we picked up the kid's costumes extra early so we were at least a little prepared. We began the morning bright and early with ghost pancakes for breakfast! Hyrum ate three of 'em, he must be a growing boy.

We then spent the morning gutting and carving a little pumpkin. It was super funny. Hyrum wouldn't touch the insides at all and last year we had to hold him back from eating it. Camilla got right into it this year, so we took our time and let her pick out most of the seeds and goo. When it was all out she started sorting the seeds into a pile of their own. She must take after her Daddy with that organizing brain of hers!

Everytime I take out the camera Hyrum likes to yell "Cheeeeeeeese!" So a lot of these pictures are super goofy. 

When our pumpkin was finished, we named him jack. Hyrum kept wanting to give the pumpkin kisses and hold it. Super funny! The kids were so crazy all day and they hadn't even had any candy yet! It made me laugh though and added some needed humor to my day!

 

After lunch we all went down for a much needed nap. When we woke up the kids got all dressed up in their costumes and we watched for Daddy to come home. When he arrived we all loaded up in the car and went to our friends place for dinner and trick or treating. I couldn't get over how handsome our little superman looked. He had a lot of fun with his little costume!

Trick or treating was crazy cold and I think we only knocked on a grand total of three doors! They were super generous though and gave the kiddos a handful each, knowing how cold it was and that they wouldn't last long. After that we called it good and went back to the house so the Daddy's could get ready to go to Hockey.

We finished off the evening by watching the boys play some hockey. I think the final score was 17-3 or something like that. Mr. Stannix got a hat trick (how appropriate for Halloween). I was able to grab a shot of him with his stick in the air after a beautiful goal from the blue line (be impressed, it's not super easy to watch hockey and kiddos at the same time). Sadly I missed his other two goals!

 

Snow white had fun running around the bleachers with her little friend. They were so hyped up on sugar it wasn't even funny. Luckily there was only two rows and hardly any stairs. Our little super man watched the game for a good chunk of time and then spend the last period climbing around and being all super hero. 

 

When we got home Hyrum was fast asleep holding his sister's hand. Everyone went to bed pronto. Camilla requested to sleep in her costume and put it back on over her jammies. Funny girl. 

Happy Halloween!

A Year and a Half

Today my little man is 18 months old! I can't believe how fast that went! He is growing like crazy in both personality and size. He loves to mimic his sister and try to do everything she does. Each day is filled with new words and expressions. A few new words he's recently picked up include "no", "mine", "maries" (smarties), "poo", "pee". He loves to sit on the potty and has been successful twice!  He is a total joy to have in our family and is always full of hugs and kisses. He has a total sensitive side and will stick out his lip and stutter his breath when he gets into trouble. He is one who needs extra snuggles and loves throughout the day. He is a pro at sleeping in his big boy bed and I am sure he will be a great big brother!

Already?

The snow and cold have arrived!

Thanks to my handsome husband for keeping up with the walks! 

Second Annual Fall Rake Up

Today we braved the cold and held our second annual fall rake up. I hope you're all ready for a picture overload. Camilla has been looking forward to this day for a very long time and talks a lot about Fall and raking leaves and how fun it is to jump in the piles. We tried to wait until most of the leaves had fallen, but the snow came a little earlier this year so we all had to bundle up with toques and gloves. The air was refreshing and gave the children the cutest rosy colored cheeks and noses.

Hyrum toddled around most of the time following Daddy or I with little interest in jumping in the piles. He had a lot of fun watching his sister though!

Mr. Stannix looked super handsome while he raked and I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of him! He's such a great Dad and was so patient with Hyrum while they raked leaves together.

Camilla had a blast jumping and rolling in the leaves! She was also a great helper when it came to filling up the garbage can to make our giant leaf pile in the back! I loved hearing her giggle and watching her play. Even though it was chilly, it was fun to be outside together.

Hyrum really liked to be a big helper too! For some reason everything has a motor though and the whole time he pushed around this shovel his lips were buzzing away.

My job at nine months pregnant was to fill the garbage can and move the leaves to the back. The snow shovel worked great for pushing the leaves into the can. It was a nice little morning work out (my legs thanked me later).

Every time a can was full Camilla would run to the back and wait for it to be dumped on top of her. She would giggle away as leaves fell on her head and covered her (and her baby doll). Sometimes when I would come to dump the can out she'd toss her baby on top of the pile and ask me to cover her.

When we finally finished it was time to have some fun! This year Camilla wasn't afraid to jump at all and was really good at it. We snapped a few good action shots and had fun playing in the leaves.

 "Watch this everyone!"

"Wanna see my sticking-leg-out jump?"

"Watch me be crazy, Mum!"

 "Wanna see my twirl jump?"

She got some awesome air with Daddy and loved it!  Soon Hyrum also wanted in on the action. He laughed hysterically the whole time. He wouldn't dare jump without an adult, but he tried to be brave. He would run to the very edge and then stick one foot over before pulling it back. Then he would scream with his hand out until someone would take him.

At nine months pregnant I even got in on the action. Definitely had to land on my feet though, so it wasn't quite as much fun as it was last year. My knees and everything else ached, but after some hot chocolate I felt much better!

 We ended with a family picture and a trip to Timmies to wrap things up. There is nothing that I like more than spending time with my family. Despite the chill in the air, my heart was extra warm! I loved every second.

A few things we learned this year:

Make sure you stretch before you rake, or you might have a sore arm after

Excessive jumping in leaf pile while pregnant may not be such a good idea

Leave Camilla's baby inside so she doesn't get lost in the leaf pile over and over

Until next year...

Weekly Check-up

Today brought another weekly visit to the Doctor. I am so glad to have such great friends who volunteer to watch my kiddos for me while I go. Everything was good except that I was measuring smaller than I was last week, so he's sending me for an ultrasound next week to double check baby's growth and make sure everything is well. Baby is still moving around well and I feel good, so here's hoping all goes well!

On the way home I wished I had a video camera in my back seat. The kids were playing so good together and using their awesome imaginations. Camilla was giving Hyrum some pretend food and asking him to eat it. He would delicately place the "food" in his mouth and then open his hand and shove the rest in like it wouldn't fit, then pretend to munch it. It was pretty cute. Then they took turns pouring and drinking "tea", sipping noises and all. I'm so glad they can keep each other entertained like that!

At snack time I washed and halved some grapes for Hyrum. He sat in his booster while I wiped up the counter and tidied the kitchen. When I turned around he was concentrating really hard, putting the halves back together and lining up "whole" grapes across the table. I laughed pretty hard. 

This is their new favorite place to play and hide together. When I am in the kitchen little giggles are constantly coming from underneath my table. I love when they get along so well!

And on a side note, Mr. Stannix and I started dating five years ago today! Time goes by so quickly!

Library Lovin'

 We love our library! We just started up a program again a few weeks ago. The first couple of weeks were a big adjustment for Hyrum, but today he actually SAT through most of it and participated in the songs and things. It was nice not to have to chase him around. As soon as we get through the door Hyrum starts excitedly yelling "ffffshy!" and we go to the tank to check out the fish and drive the boat. He has quite the motor for a mouth. His sister was occupied picking out new books and movies so there was minimal screeching from this little man.

The picture below just cracks me up. You can tell Hyrum was totally enthralled with the singing for once. He did actually smile and enjoy most of it! I was just glad he wasn't running into glass doors this time! Camilla is such a social butterfly and loves to be a goof! When the name song was sung at the beginning she introduced us all like a big girl, "Ca-milla, clee-to (her baby), Hyyyy-rum, Addie". Everyone got a kick out of it.

There's a few more weeks left and I think we'll soak it up each week until the new baby comes and it becomes too cold to walk there. We love our library!

My Favorite Moments

Today was kind of a crazy day, but I had a few favorite moments that I don't want to forget. Camilla has caught on to the whole "no I love YOU more" argument. Today we had a couple really funny ones, once in the car when we went to pick up Daddy, and once before bed. I love her toothy grin and her little giggles. Another one of my favorite moments was when I was singing Hyrum his song before bed. The lights were out and I sat at his bedside. Suddenly he jumped out of his covers and into my arms for a hug and a snuggle. He did that a few times today. He seems to need the extra lovin' lately. We rocked back and forth, his head on my shoulder and his fingers in my pony tail, while I finished the song and then I tucked him in. I love when he squeezes his little arms around me and hugs me back. It totally melts my heart.

Spook-tacular Crafting

Today the children and I spent the morning making some Halloween crafts! It went pretty good and kept everyone busy for a good hour or two. I had a bunch of saved toilet paper rolls that I wanted to do something with, so we decided to make bats. As I started cutting out the black paper to wrap around them, Camilla requested that she have a pink bat. I wasn't about to argue with her awesome imagination, so a pink bat it was!

Hyrum had more fun crunching paper and pretending to be scared of the bats then he did actually crafting anything. But he was entertained!

When we finished our bats we decided to hang them above the kitchen table. At dinner time the kids blow at them to get them to fly around. So far Daddy is the best at it!

When Camilla had finally glued, glittered and colored her bat to her liking she moved on to her pumpkin. She wasn't sure where everything went and I just let her make her own face. It turned out pretty great looking considering it had a uni-brow and a triangle for a mouth.

By far my favorite part of the day was coming into the living room after doing the dinner dishes to find the kids snuggled up on the couch together.

 

It's so nice to know they love each other!

Room Service

This weekend we had a mini-vacation of sorts. It was sort of spontaneous, but we were all looking forward to being together. Mr. Stannix booked us into the same hotel that he stayed at for training simply because it had an awesome pool and water slides. We pulled into Calgary just before 8:00PM, checked in, and grabbed our swimming suits. We spent the night playing in the water and going down the slides. Hyrum was in love with them, Camilla not so much. 

Mr. Stannix went down over and over with our little man. Camilla and I watched a few times and then headed to the warm kids pool. At one point Mr. Stannix came over to the pool after a slide holding a drenched little boy. Turns out they picked up a little too much speed going down and kind of shot out the bottom. They both ended up fully submerged in the pool, but Hyrum didn't seem to mind. 

The kids had a blast in the kids pool walking around and floating with their life jackets. They are definitely water babies. It was nice to just relax in the warm water and not worry about anything. Everyone had a lot of fun!

When we got back to the room we bathed the children and tucked them into bed with snacks.  Hyrum was in love with the big bed and cozy blankets. They watched a few cartoons and then it was time to go to sleep. Hyrum fell asleep right away, but Camilla just couldn't get comfy and ended up spending the rest of the night up with us.

Mr. Stannix wanted to do two things that he's never done before. First up was to order room service. A little pricey, but my chocolate dessert was worth every penny. Second was to rent a movie at the hotel. The three of us then cozied up in our bed eating food and watching a show. It was great!

One of our main reasons for our adventure was to go to the Calgary Temple open house. We woke up early this morning and got ready to go. The air was chilly and it felt like snow was coming. We grabbed some McDonalds for breakfast and then headed over to the temple. What a beautiful building! There was a bit of a line, but it wasn't too bad because it was first thing in the morning (and cold). We watched the video presentation and then took the kids inside to see the temple. It was such a special experience to be able to take them. Camilla loved it! I carried Hyrum and enjoyed listening to his whispered (very exaggerated)  "wow" and hearing him say "Jee-Jee" when we would walk by paintings of Jesus. Sadly because of the weather we weren't able to snap pictures! Everyone was too freezing and we made our way to the car pretty quick after. I can't wait to go back on a nicer day though and grab some photo's for Camilla's photo albums, just to remind her that she was able to go to the open house and see inside. 

We had planned to go to the zoo for the afternoon but some nice big flakes started falling and the weather turned really ugly. We decided it would be best to leave the city before the roads got too bad. It snowed all the way to Olds and then finally cleared up a bit. We stopped in Red Deer for lunch at Earls and then drove the rest of the way home. Poor Mr. Stannix put up with a very emotional, over sensitive, pregnant wife for majority of the day. After we got the kiddos to bed we snuggled up on the couch and watched our favorite show. Perfect end to a chilly day.

The Heart-Beep

Today I had another weekly visit to my Doctor. A friend of mine was kind enough to watch my kiddies while I went. It was supposed to be super quick, but turned into an extra long wait. Usually I barely have enough time to get in and settle the kids before they call me in to see my Doctor. I sat and looked at their new sign that read "Please ensure your children play QUIETLY".  I laughed in my head because I was pretty sure this sign was put up after our last visit. Hyrum screeched pretty good when we left the toy corner. I then watched the waiting room practically clear out twice and finally got brave enough to ask what was up. These hormones have been kicking my butt lately and I almost cried at the front desk over my 1 1/2 hour wait. Turns out they forgot to move my file to the back to be called in, so I didn't even really exist. This explains why all the 11:00 appointments to see the Doctor were in and out before my 10:15 appointment. 

The appointment was quick and easy. Baby's heart rate was at 136. A boy maybe? We've pretty much agreed on girls names, but boy names have been a little tricky. Names are always stressful for me. I want them to have meaning, or to be family names so that they have someone to look up to or feel proud of. This whole name game is starting to stress me out a bit though. He then asked a bit about my birth plan and scribbled some notes before ripping off a copy of my prenatal papers. I am now 36 weeks and baby could potentially come at any time!

I was definitely grateful to know that my kids were being taken care of. Camilla loves my friends little boy, and tells me so all the time. When I left the appointment I went quickly to take my kids off her hands. They had a lot of fun! On our way home Camilla was telling me about how they played doctor and she checked her patients "heart-beeper" because she had the "coughs".  I smiled and laughed out loud. I love that kid. She called it a "heart-beep" the rest of the way home as she chatted away.
 

Tonight we are picking up Daddy from work and then driving to Calgary for a mini-vacation. We booked an awesome hotel and are looking forward to going to the Temple open house tomorrow with the kids! So excited to be able to spend time with Mr. Stannix this weekend!

Mixing up Memories

This morning brought happy children to my bedside. Hyrum was the first to arrive and put his little chubby face right up close to mine as he stood on his tip-toes. In the dark I could make out his grin, wide eyes, and crazy hair. They ran back and forth and snuggled in their beds in our dimly lit house until we finally made it out of bed.

Cheerios were on the menu for breakfast with cartoons to follow. After I got ready for the day I made up some peanut butter cookies and bagels. As the cookies were baking I could smell something burning, and wasn't sure what it was. As I mixed up the cookie dough to get it ready for the next pan I noticed the dough in the bottom was all burnt. While I wasn't looking Hyrum had managed to turn on the gas burner where the cookie bowl was sitting. I quickly transferred the dough to a new bowl leaving behind all the burnt stuff.

The first pan of cookies was devoured by the children as they sat in front of the heat vent in the kitchen. Every time I would turn around, Camilla's little hand was sneaking another cookie or two off the cooling rack. I smiled to myself as I listened to them giggle and munch together. Camilla refused to get dressed except for her undies and sat cozied up in the fuzzy blanket I made for her (in fact she still isn't dressed). Hyrum was dressed, but still had his awesome bed-head from earlier this morning.

When their belly's were full they went back into the living room and I put in one of Mike's old mix CD's. The kids and I danced together before I was summoned by the timer to pull out the next pan of cookies. As I placed the cookies on the cooling rack I couldn't help but smile really big.

The songs that played reminded me of so many fun memories had with Mr. Stannix when we were dating. I thought about cruising in his white Ford Probe with the flip up lights, listening to the same " old" tunes and feeling like life was perfect. I was reminded of good-night kisses on the front step, surprise visits, sweet phone messages, winter skating, and chats in the library. I am so glad that music can bring back such wonderful memories! After searching our computer I can't for the life of me find a picture of the old Probe!