Birthday Bash Weekend

This weekend we celebrated Camilla's birthday. The car trip out was a lot of fun, Hyrum was full of smiles for the last half of the long drive.

 Saturday was Camilla's party day. She got to wear a pretty dress and we took loads of pictures to document the day. My sister did a mini photo shoot with the girly and got some adorable shots of her in her party dress!  She officially turns two on the 11th! When we ask her how old she is she replies, "I'm free" without missing a beat. We say, "No, you're not three, you're two". To which she replies, "No, I'm free". We can't believe how fast time has gone! We are still in love with our spunky, fun loving, giggly little girl!



Sneak Peek

Here's a sneek peek at our family pictures taken by my very own talented sister. We figured using the camera on timer like we always do would be tricky with two kids, not to mention my sister has an amazing camera and some serious talent!! We went to some fun locations for family pictures, including railway tracks! It was a windy day, but we had a lot of fun! More pictures to come!!



We celebrated Camilla's second birthday at the Acreage with our family complete with cake and a party dress! She was also lucky enough to have a photo shoot with her Auntie Emma. More pictures from the party to come!!

Bright and Early

I seriously can't get enough of this kid!! This morning we were up super early. We made and ate a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs and a fruit smoothie. Then we had to jump in the car and drive Daddy to his big exam. The kiddos both stayed in their Pj's. I tossed a little jacket on Camilla to keep the pouring rain off her little arms and she decided she needed a hat too. Then I went up and got Hyrum from his crib and gently buckled him into his little seat, still half asleep. We quickly piled into the car so we wouldn't get too wet and drove Daddy to his exam in the downpour. He will be writing for 4 whole hours. It's the biggest, most intense exam that he has had to write so far. We are wishing him good luck on his CASB Mod 1 exam!! Right now we are at home packing and cleaning and getting ready to take a trip to the Acreage to celebrate Camilla's 2nd birthday with family! Here's hoping this dreary weather clears up! I have big plans for family pictures this weekend. I picked our outfits last night and I'm excited!!

Chubby Cheeks

 

 

Dear Mr. Hyrum,

I just love your chubby cheeks!

 xoxo

Mum

Thoughts on Nurturing

nur-ture

[nur-cher]

-Verb

1. to feed and protect

2. to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster

3. to bring up; train; educate

I read a quote last week, and liked it so much that I wrote it down and it's been sitting by the computer and on my mind ever since. As Camilla approaches the two year old stage, a few things have become challenging. I often find myself running out of patience. She's at the "Mine" stage, where everything is "Mine". "Mine leg" "Mine book" etc. She is also wanting to be more independent and use her agency. So, I've been thinking a lot lately about ways to help me be more patient, ways to help me be more loving, ways to discipline, and ways to distract when we have tantrums. As I ponder all of these things, this quote is always in the back of my mind...

"When women nurture as Christ nurtured, a power of peace can descend to guide when help is needed."

~Julie B. Beck

Nurturing is a big job! Although I know what the general definition of nurturing is, I looked it up just to get more insight (see above). What a special, sacred role we as women have been given. We get to feed our children physically and nurture their little bodies. We get to protect them from the worldly influences around them by teaching them and providing a home for them. We get to support and encourage them as they learn who they are and embrace life. We get to foster and help them build their talents. We get to bring them up to be members of society. It is our job to train and educate them and teach them values. I am so glad I have my Mr. Stannix to help me with this as we raise our children together!

For this week, my mission has been to learn/think about how Christ nurtured and try to bring myself up to that level. I think this quote is beautiful and a great reminder to me about the power of peace that we, as mothers, are entitled to receive to help us in times of need. Over these past couple of weeks, I have learned to recognize this power as prayers for help were said and answers given. As I've tried to put this quote into practice, there has definitely been an increase of peace in our home. I think this quote will be added to my collection of fridge quotes.

Milk and Cookies

A few nights ago, after dinner, we decided to bake some cookies for an evening snack. Camilla finally learned the art of dipping cookies in milk. The first pan out of the oven disappeared super quickly. The second pan got half eaten, and then the rest were for the cookie jar. Camilla likes to finish half of a cookie and then grab a new one. I think because we eat ours so fast and grab another, she thinks she needs another one at the same time. It was fun to sit around the table enjoying milk and cookies while Camilla chatted us up about her day.

Alphabet Letters

We have been super tired in the Stannix home since the weekend. Mr. Stannix was kind enough to give me a back rub last night. He then played with my hair until I fell asleep. I love that guy! I was up a few times with Hyrum last night, and finally brought him into bed with us for food and snuggles at 6:00am. Mr. Stannix got out of bed shortly after, so I went back to sleep while he showered, with good intentions of waking up in a bit to make him scrambled eggs and toast. I woke up again at 7:00am and decided I would sneak another 15 minutes of sleep and wake up when Mr. Stannix came up to get dressed. He was so sneaky I didn't even hear him. I woke up again in a little while and looked at the clock, 8:00am, Mr. Stannix would have already caught his bus by now. The house was still quiet, and kids were still sleeping. When I went down stairs, I found a nice little note on my fridge...

A Piñata and Emergency

Although the title sounds like it should have a funny story behind it, the two things really aren't related. Yesterday afternoon we drove out to Red Deer to visit friends and enjoy a 2nd birthday!

 All of the kids had a lot of fun with this piñata. It was hilarious to watch them try and whack it with a stick that was 3x their size. So much fun.

 Camilla had her first real experience with a huge trampoline! She jumped away the afternoon with her little friends.

I sat on my lawn chair in the shade envious of the fun the kids were having and had to run over and jump on with my little girl! It had been FOREVER since I had jumped on a trampoline and it felt oh so good!

Our sweet little boy chilled with Daddy in the shade (or whoever would hold him). We had a great time laughing with friends and watching the children play together. We finally decided to make the long trip home around 8:00PM.

We finally arrived home around 10:30. Mike carried Camilla into the house and I grabbed the baby seat. When I got in, Camilla was laying on the couch complaining. Soon after, I noticed that she couldn't walk. I looked at her little legs and her left knee was the size of a baseball with a big bruise on the knee cap. Mr. Stannix wasn't feeling good and I knew he needed his sleep, so I ordered him to stay home. He offered to keep the sleeping babe with him, but I had no idea how long we would be, so I just grabbed the sling and went to the hospital. I'm too cheap to pay for hospital parking, so I parked on the street and walked a block with Hyrum in the sling and my sad little girl on my hip. We waited so so long.

Camilla was super tired. In the waiting room she just wanted to snuggle me. I looked hilarious with both kids on my lap, but she was in pretty good spirits until 2:00am rolled around. The waiting room was loaded with mosquitoes. Camilla reacts really bad to them, so I spent the night keeping them off her. I've never gotten so many bug bits while being inside before. Finally we were let through to be assessed. After an hour of waiting in a chair with a crying 2 year old, we were brought into a curtained area with a bed. Camilla's head hit the pillow and she practically fell right to sleep. We waited an hour or so to be sent for X-rays, and when it was our time, I lugged the two kids and our giant diaper bag down the hall. The X-ray guy kept saying "oh no" "this is going to be tricky" "this lady has no help". Finally we got someone to hold Hyrum so I could go in and hold Camilla while she was X-rayed. She was very brave. I didn't bother putting Hyrum back in the sling on the way back because he was fussy and needed to be fed. Again, I lugged one child on each side all the way back down the hall. At this point they were both screaming and crying. In the waiting room they were kind enough to give me the bed again. Camilla layed down and went back to sleep, and I fed my crying baby. The nurse asked me if I was okay, and I swear I was until he asked. I said, "yes" and he said "Are you sure?". I lost my voice and got a giant lump in my throat. I nodded yes and turned my head away as I started to tear up.

Camilla slept for another hour while I nodded in and out at the foot of the bed bouncing Hyrum. Finally at 5:00am we were discharged and I got home shortly after. The walk back to the car was brutal and my body was so so tired. I hit the pillow and zonked out until 10:00am. Luckily the munchkins slept in too and Mr. Stannix has been taking good care of them and me all day today!  Her knee was fine, the X-rays were normal. She must have just sprained it or something on the trampoline or reacted really badly to the mosquito bite on her knee cap. Her poor ear swelled up really bad too. She looked so sad and in pain all night. Today she is walking on it and very happy after some sleep. After tomorrow, I'm sure things will be back to normal!

O Canada

We celebrated Canada Day with friends! It was a super fun day! I spent the morning dressing kiddos and packing up the diaper bag while Mr. Stannix was writing a case at the office. He called me when he was done, and I ventured out for my first bus ride to meet him downtown.

We toured his office building, and then had some lunch at McDonalds. After that we walked down to the train station and took the LRT to the Legislature grounds. Camilla loved her first train ride, it was "really fast".

Then we arrived at the Legislature. It was full of people and energy and I was so excited!

We walked around in search of our friends for a long time. It was a hot day, so we decided to dip our feet in the fountain pools at the front of the building to cool off.  Camilla was a bit hesitant at first, but enjoyed it much more later on when she saw other kids swimming and splashing. I forgot her swim suit, so she got soaked.

We walked some more and found some belly dancers to watch for a while. Camilla mostly just liked the music and danced her little tush off on the hillside.

I enjoyed snuggling my little man!

We finally found our friends at the little wading pool and let the kids splash around for a while. Camilla slowly immersed herself in the water and was soon wet from head to toe. When I took her diaper off after, it was so full I couldn't roll it up and weighed like 10lbs. Those things can really hold a lot of liquid!!

 Mike dipped Hyrums little toes in the cool water, and Camilla continued to splash and giggle.

I was so glad to be spending the afternoon with my man! He's so handsome! He worked really hard that morning so he could come and adventure with us in the afternoon!

Daddy and Camilla enjoyed dipping their feet in the water and sharing a special moment together.

 Camilla finally got so cold she was shivering and her lips were blue. I put her in the dry diaper and she wore her sweater (because it was the only piece of dry clothing she had). Jessica took her to get a balloon and she got a flower balloon! Hyrum enjoyed the afternoon snoozing in the wrap. He was so dang cute, but I think his arm got a little pink from the sun.

We came home and had a lazy afternoon with friends and then enjoyed dinner out on the deck in the cool breeze. We then chatted for a while and killed time before the fireworks. Camilla was excited and talked about them all night. She said they sounded like popcorn.