Fifteen

Hi!  I am fifteen months old today!

LIKES

-the blowdryer

-tinkering

-feeding myself ALL BY MYSELF

-also: watching my parents CONSTANTLY CLEANING UP

Papa!

 

Maman! 

Liliane!

Oh and books.  That kid loves books.

DISLIKES

-puffy star snacks

-milk

-barrettes

-expensive macarons

 aaannnnddd... party hats.

My sweet babboo, you fooled us with your super easy babyhood.  It's been quite something to witness your transformation from an easygoing little lovebug to a fiercely independent, loud and yelly yet snuggly toddler.  I hear from your teacher that NO ONE messes with you or your toys.  I believe it.  

Man am I glad you're our last baby. There is only so much, um, CHARACTER one family can take.  

 

Oh but when your chubby arms are squeezed around my neck and I breathe in your baby hair smell, I wish you would stay like this forever.   Character and all.

Sigh. 

FIVE

Dear Liliane,

Today you are five years old.  And guess what?  You still like cupcakes.

Except this year you did your own sprinkles, thank you very much.

We had a party with all the other Pandas plus a few more friends.  You are a popular kid, a social butterfly if ever there was one.  I was so proud that you made each one of your pals feel special when they arrived.

Your pink princess that was a little, um, traumatizing to create.  You wanted so badly for it to look like the teacher's example.  All the other kids had a good time, though!  And once Papa wisely suggested you take a break and have a snack, life was so much better.  

When you are older with your own kid(s), you'll understand why this is such a huge occasion for us.

And why your parents had to drink for the rest of the evening once your party was done.  Oooof.

I love you so much, my sweetheart.  Every challenge we encounter is balanced by your tender heart, brilliant sense of humour and lots of hugs and kisses.  You are so good with your little sister who wants to be just like you already.  Already!

I'm thankful everyday that I get to be your Maman and I pray every. single. day. for wisdom.  It's a big responsibility to raise girls to be the kind of women this world needs.  Strong, smart, kind, spiritual, curious, confident, courageous.

But you, little firecracker, are well on your way.  And I couldn't be prouder.

With all my heart,
Maman

How you like THEM apples?

September is apple-picking month out here.  It's also catch every gross illness that's going around your local daycare(s) month, but I wrote about that already.  If I sound bitter it's because I am now on my second round of antibiotics, thank you STREP THROAT.  Once I survived the gag-tastic torture of getting a throat swab (hey extra long pointy Q-tip, where do you think you're going?) my doctor was actually impressed that the penicillin didn't knock it out the first time.  Yep, that's me.  Keeper of EXTRA PERSISTENT GERMS.  Can I at least get a ribbon or something?

This adorable drawing is probably infested with bacteria - don't get too close to the screen

ANYWAY.  Before all the sickness came, one grey and crappy-looking Sunday we dashed out to Oka and literally went to the first orchard we saw from the highway.  Turns out it was really cute and perfect.  I may just stop planning family outings altogether actually.  

Oh and it was sunny out there.  Nicely played rural attraction, nicely played.

I have a recent resolve to stop "forgetting to include" certain pictures of myself with the kids as a result of this awesome piece.  I posted it on Facebook last week but if you didn't see it, it's a great read.  For everyone.  Just click the link.  Go ahead, I'll wait.  It's worth it.

The ladders were the highlight this year.  

Aaaaand of course Miss Breaky Neckerson over here was determined not to miss out.

It was right about here that I made peace with summer being over (fine, GO *sob*) and embraced all the great stuff about fall.  

So there you have it.  An impromptu, successful family outing.  With the added bonus of leaving with a bag of fresh produce. Everybody wins.  Except for maybe my pants because there was a LOT of good baking to be done with those apples.

It's Thanksgiving weekend and although I'm not doing a turkey this year, we had a lovely family gathering yesterday at my in-law's.  We're not having the usual Indian summer weather that we get at this time of year but the leaves are gorgeous and it's cool enough that I actually turned off the air conditioning.  I'm still a little homesick, though.  Hoping a mini pumpkin pie Blizzard from DQ (still open!) will help me feel better.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  Thank you for hanging out with me!  Enjoy your long weekend (Canadians) and don't forget to stop for a minute and be grateful.

Walk This Way

Hi!  It's been ages, I KNOW!  Sorry about that.  

My excuses very compelling reasons for not posting are listed below, in no particular order:

1. I had a contract for all of September that required me to WRITE STUFF.  And they are paying me! Yay!

2. Fall TV.  

3. Teething - Alice, not me.  Lack of sleep = lack of blog inspiration, but you already knew that.

4. Words with Friends. 

5. The runny-nose-sore-throat-generally-unhappy variety of cold/cough/who knows thanks to having kids at two different daycares which should really be called "arenas for optimum germ sharing."

6. I got tonsillitis and WANTED TO DIE.  It was so awful.

7. SOMEONE in our house has all up and developed some new skills as you can see in the video. BONUS caught on camera: Alice's special roar of irritation.  We hear it a lot these days.  Need some water?  ROAR.  Want a different toy? ROAR.  See a cat walking in the street?  ROAR but also giggle because she loves cats.  You get the picture.

I have accepted that it's fall now although I cannot CANNOT get on board with Thanksgiving already this weekend.  I vote for Thanksgiving to happen in the middle of October.  Anybody with me?  

Liliane's 5th birthday is coming up and her all-time favourite non-gifting holiday: HALLOWEEN! She's pestering me to put up the decorations already.  I have a bunch of fall stuff out (gimme a break kid) but apparently until you have every surface covered, you're not done.  We need something inna winnows, Maman.  

Yeah, I'll get right on that.