Feeding the Birds

Yesterday we took a stroll at one of our favourite spots: Lemoine's Point. We didn't get very far though; we stopped at our usual climbing log and spent the whole time there feeding the birds! What a fun activity for kids.

 

The girls were cold and tired after half an hour, so it was time to head home. A short but nice way to spend the afternoon.

Getting Started on Christmas

Christmas is quickly approaching, so everyone agreed that we should get an early start on our decorating. With the help of my parents, a 24' ladder, and mild weather, we were able to put up our Christmas lights on Monday. Steve and I had our first experiences with climbing up the tall ladder which was actually pretty fun!

 

Careful Grand-Papa!

Can I help?

I took a turn for the peek! Fun!

We did the same layout as last year for the lights. Maybe one day we'll figure out a (safe) way to get lights on the higher gable. I think it would look great!

Next up was the Christmas tree. After school one day Emily randomly requested to put it up, so we did! I love the tradition of turning on some Christmas music and hanging all of the ornaments. Our collection of ornaments is still pretty small, but it's always fun to pull out the meaningful ones and collect/make new ones every year.

Daddy -- the only one who can reach the top!

Enjoying her candy cane treat

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas indeed!

All About Jessica

- Jessica is 3 ½ years old. She weighs 31 lbs, is 38 inches tall, and wears 3T and 4T clothing.

- Ever since we took the wall off her crib (and then got twin beds), Jessica doesn't fall asleep on her own. After stories and lights off, I sit next to her bed and read (on my Kobo) until she falls asleep. Sometimes it takes just a couple of minutes, other times it takes over half an hour. I don't complain though -- she plays with my hair before falling asleep, so I get a soothing hair massage while reading a good book! Nice way to start the evening.

- I still sometimes end up sleeping on her bedroom floor if she wakes up in the night. That I complain about! Ha.

- Jessica knows all her letters and most letter sounds, and can print uppercase letters. She writes her name without assistance (sometimes with backwards s's). She can also count to 39 with ease.

- Jessica has gone from being an easy-going 2 year old to a somewhat challenging 3 year old. When things don't go her way, she gets upset, cries, or makes a big angry face. "No" is a common word in her vocabulary and it's often a struggle to get her out of the house, to tidy up her toys, or give something up when she doesn't want to. Lately she's also been a bit of a bully around Emily, and ignores us when we try to talk to her. Yikes!

- Another strange thing that Jessica does sometimes is talk and act like a baby. She'll repeat single words or speak simple sentences using a toddler voice. I seem to remember Emily using "baby talk" around this age as well, probably because Jessica was 18 months and speaking in baby talk at the time. Looking forward to this stage passing!

- We're not too concerned about Jessica's eating. While she loves her sweets, she has a varied diet full of healthy foods. Some of her favourites are: toast with peanut butter, tortillas, cheese curds, feta cheese, pistachios, pepperoni, ham, chicken strips, berries, apples, bananas, red peppers, carrots, and orange tomatoes. Her favourite lunches are French toast and grilled cheese sandwiches.

- This girl loves her Lego Duplo, crafts, and puzzles. She's also a fan of watching TV and helping Mommy in the kitchen.

- Unlike Emily, Jessica loves getting her hair washed. She actually loves to do it herself, from wetting her hair, to scrubbing shampoo in, then rinsing it out (I sometimes help for the top front hair). It's pretty funny to see such a difference in Jessica and Emily!

- Favourite... Movie: The Lion King. Colour: pink. Food: toast. Season: summer. Book: Going to the Doctor. Song: Let It Go from Frozen.

 

That's our girl!

All About Emily

- Emily is 5 ⅓ years old. She weighs 37 lbs, is 45 inches tall, and wears mostly 5T clothing. She's tall and thin like her Daddy: 15th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height!

- This girl is an early riser. She goes to sleep anywhere between 7-8pm and wakes up at 6am every day. Actually, she probably wakes up before then, but we told her she couldn't come get us until the clock says 6:00. She is usually in our room by 6:01.

- Emily likes school. She enjoys recess, playing with her friends, and even has a crush on a boy in grade 1.

- Emily told us that she will marry said boy. She said that she asked him if he would marry her and he said yes! So our daughter is engaged. Ha!

- Emily's reading is going well and she goes through phases of reading her childhood books without much help.

- Contrary to my desire for variety, Emily wants the same food packed in her school lunch every day: cooked bowtie noodles, Parmesan cheese for dipping, peeled and sliced cucumber, two chopped kiwis, four crackers, dry Rice Krispies, and water to drink. The only thing that may be substituted in is chopped strawberries, but they have to be ripe and delicious (she does not accept mediocre fruit).

- It's getting hard to find a baked good that Emily likes (no joke!). She complains about things getting stuck in her teeth, so she's cut nearly all of the things we bake (muffins, cookies, bars, brownies). It's pretty funny to watch a 5 year old refuse so many treats. Same goes for regular food -- she's about as picky as she's ever been!

- Her favourite activities at the moment are colouring and Legos. Next up are watching TV and playing outside.

- Emily is a ruler follower and gets easily upset when Jessica does not follow suit (which happens a lot recently!).

- She hates getting her hair washed. It only happens once a week, but there are always tears and resistance. She really doesn't like water getting in her ears/face and the discomfort of a wet/soapy head.

- Daddy is still her favourite man, followed by her Hulk dolls.

- She also has a fascination with villains. They are often her favourite characters in a movie. (Should we be concerned about this?? Ha!). For Christmas she's asked for a "villains sticker book". We'll see what we can find!

- Favourite... Movie: Tangled. Colour: green. Food: chocolate. Season: winter. Book: "Hulk books". Song: Mother Knows Best from Tangled.

That's our girl!

A Fire Truck

There were special guests at Jessica's pre-kindergarten program today: some local firefighters! They made a short presentation about fire safety then gave us a tour of their truck. Fun for the little ones!

Riding shotgun

Snowy

... Now that's more like it!

Snowy morning

A few centimeters of snow this morning means we got right into winter activities like building a snowman and sledding down hills. I'm sure the excitement won't last, but for now winter is pretty fun.

"Olaf"

We even had some outdoor play time at the grandparents' this afternoon. It's always enjoyable when the weather is nice and mild!