Christmas in the Tropics

This was the first year that we stayed put in our own home for Christmas. While this was sad, since it meant we weren't at my parents' house with all my sisters, it was also rather nice and relaxing to wake up in our own home and enjoy our little family. This didn't mean I didn't cry buckets of tears missing my parents and sisters.... haha.

It was an absolute delight to watch William enjoy every part of Christmas - from seeing all the lights, decorating the tree, seeing Santa, and opening each and every present. Such an easy kid to please, and I love this stage he is at!

 

The girls were of course SO excited for Christmas this year. Maria was too excited to sleep on Christmas eve, and I fully expected a 5 o'clock wake up the next morning. I was pleasantly surprised when I was woken up by their little whispers at 7 o'clock, a completely reasonable hour!

 



Shane is very big on taking the present opening nice and slow, which was more than fine with Felicity, who liked to take the time to play with every toy, and read every single book before she wanted to open another. Maria on the other hand was so impatient to open them all up and then play with them!

 

 

All the gifts they got were a hit, really they are so easy to please at these ages! A few cars for William, a watch for Felicity, and a few crafts and books for Maria was really all it took.

 



We enjoyed a leisurely gift opening, followed by brunch with our sister and brother, which was briefly delayed by a power outage, (even though we were not experiencing anything remotely like an ice storm).  The rest of the day was spent at the in-laws opening more gifts and enjoying a lovely supper.

 

I hope everyone is still celebrating Christmas, like we are trying to do, even though Shane had to return to work on Friday.

Merry Christmas!!



18 Weeks

It's time for the old pregnancy update posts again! We are at 18 weeks, baby is moving lots, I am feeling pretty well and getting bigger by the second. I wish I could say this pregnancy is flying by but I already feel like I've been preggo forever. The second half should go by faster, right? Ha.

Life in Cayman

Its about time I write a little something about living in Cayman, don't you think? I know you all are waiting eagerly for it (haha), and so I shall oblige.

What I Love

The beach, of course! Soft white sand that stretches for miles, crystal clear, warm water...what's not to love? Only the part about cleaning all the sand off of kids when we get home...But really, I can't complain here!

My view:

 

 

Living across from my sister!

My sister and brother in law (who is also Shane's brother) live in the same apartment complex, just across from us. We can see into their window if we try (of course we don't;). It is absolutely amazing. We hang out pretty much every day, our kids play, we meet at the pool, pop by for coffee, borrow a cup of sugar... you name it!

 

Living near Shane's family

Shane has not seen much of his family since we've  been married, and so this is especially great for him. He has five brothers and two sisters, and the kids love hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 

 

What I Miss

 

The shopping. Any shopping. I miss it all. Especially Costco. And the mall. There is nothing here. Nothing.

 

You will hate me for this, but I am missing Fall and Winter! I never thought I'd really mind living in perpetual summer, but I do! I guess I like change, and the change of the seasons, and consequently wardrobes satisfied something in me. I'm dying to put on a pair of jeans (without dying of heat), wear some boots, and a nice cozy sweater. I know its not going to feel like Christmas without the snow, and bundling up, and drinking hot cocoa by the fire. I'm sure in January and February and March when Canada is still enduring a never ending winter I will count my blessings. Or at least I'll try to.

 

I miss my family of course! We won't be going home for Christmas for the first time ever, phone calls are expensive, Skype only works well sometime, and mail takes forever. So, even though I've never lived very close to most of my family, I am really feeling the extra distance.

 

The normal (to me at least!), North American way of doing things. Things are so slow down here, and when you need something done, this is really frustrating!

 

My things. It felt great to purge and get rid of it all, but I find myself missing at least some of it. Like my pictures for my walls, toys and books, my clothes, kitchen stuff.......I know these are just things, and of course they shouldn't matter to me, but I have to admit that sometimes it gets to me!

 

 

So it looks like from this list, that things are all even on the loving/ missing front, which is something I need to remember on the days that I really, really miss home. Because I do. Often, and a lot! Although I know I should be grateful to live in such a beautiful spot! But the grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it? Unfortunately.

 

Until next time, which hopefully won't be in too long!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Interview with The Kids

I am definitely someone who gets my best ideas from Pinterest. That is, once I get around to implementing them, which I do every now and then. I have been wanting to do an interview with the kids on their birthdays ever since I saw the idea, which was a couple of years ago now. Birthdays have passed, the kids are getting older, and I am forgetting everything. Ok not everything, but you know how things go! So I thought to myself, there is no time like the present. Why can't I do an interview now, with all of the kids at the same time, on no one's birthday? Well I can, and I did. This is how it went.

Maria is 6, Felicity is 4, and William is 18 months.

What is your favourite colour?
F: pink and yellow
M: pink and purple

What is your favourite toy?
F: Rapunzel Barbie
M: Rachel (her doll)

What is your favourite fruit?
F: watermelon
M: mangoes

What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?
F: Kraft dinner
M: Kraft dinner
* don't think I ever feed them this garbage, they just have very vivid memories of the few times their Daddy has fed them it......ahem...

What is your favourite outfit?
F: long skirt and purple flowered shirt
M: 'school clothes'

Favourite snack?
F: granola bar
M: crackers with peanut butter

Favourite game?
F: Old Maid
M: Monopoly Jr.

Favourite movie?
F: The Sound of Music
M: The Sound of Music

Favourite day of the week?
F: Saturday
M: Sunday

Favourite animal?
F: horse
M: horse

Favourite song?
F: My Favourite Things
M: Beautiful One

Favourite book?
F: Rapunzel
M: Meet Molly, An American Girl

Favourite cereal?
F: Cheerios
M: Mini Wheats

Best friend?
F: Emma
M: Lucia

Favourite thing to do outside?
F: swim
M: pick apples (she's really been missing Fall activities)

Favourite drink?
F: apple juice
M: fruit punch

Favourite holiday?
F: Easter
M: Easter

Favourite thing to eat for breakfast?
F: toast
M: mini wheats

What do you want for supper on your birthday?
F: spaghetti
M: spaghetti

What do you want to be when you grow up?
F: tennis player
M: tennis player
(our family may be a little tennis obsessed...

Since William's answer to all of the above questions was merely a grunt, I thought I'd go with some more age appropriate ones:

favourite food: this one is a toss up since he loves most anything, but I'm going to go with watermelon

favourite toy: his truck that he loads with his little cars, or a ball

favourite activity: playing ball with Daddy

favourite outfit: just a diaper, with his flip flops on and sunglasses on his head. He's got style.

favourite words (or only words....): "wa wa" (water) "ba" (ball) "mamma" (everything) "grunt" (so many different meanings!) "Mo!" (more) "chssssss" (cheese) "Dada" (Daddy) "high pitched scream" (any animal) "Baba" (bye) "da" (down) "rara" (Felicity/Maria)

favourite thing to get into: the snack cupboard

favourite thing to help Mommy with: unloading the dishwasher

favourite moment of the day: when Daddy comes home, he screams in delight and runs, laughing to hug him

Announcing.....

7 Quick Takes

 

I'm back! And I'm linking up with Jen for a very condensed version of our summer adventures:
1. We began our travels with a couple weeks at my parents where we shopped, took it easy, played outside, went to the beach, and more!

 



2. We then drove to Ontario to visit four of my sisters, first stopping at Sarah's where we celebrated my big girl's birthday:

6 years old!

 

 

3. Then on to Catherine's:

Niagara Falls

4. Next we went to my littlest sister Cecilia's:

 

 

5. Then we swung down to Ohio to visit my friend Heather but unfortunately didn't get any good pictures with her!

6. Finally we headed back to my parents where three of my sisters joined for some more sister/ cousin fun!

The five eldest

Watching fireworks

 

7. The final leg of our journey took us on a plane ride with three little kids (exciting! tiring! exhausting!) to our new home!

Were I a better blogger I would have updated this space along the way and given a much more thorough account of all the goings on, but alas a better blogger I am not!

Enjoy the weekend! I know I will:)



7 Quick Ones

1. Last Sunday for the first time ever I ran a half marathon! I only decided to do it the day before, and had only run maybe half of the 21 km before...so it was a huge accomplishment just to finish it! My time was 2:05:29, which might not be great but I really had no idea what I was doing! I am confident that if I ever am crazy enough to run another I could vastly improve on that time.

Sooooo tired!

2. My wonderful mother came to stay with us for a couple of days. It was sooo nice to spend time with her, and I am going to miss her sooo much when we move away:(

3.My little princess turned FOUR on Wednesday. How did she get so big? She is sweet as ever, is a wonderful big sister to Will, and a best friend to her big sis. She was sooooo excited to turn 4 because apparently it meant she could have gum. Of course I could not deny her her wish and so she was in absolute heaven chomping on her gum.

The beautiful birthday girl

4. More birthday pics:

5. For the birthday supper we went out to eat, which was a lot of fun and William was thrilled with the little mini ice cream cone Daddy gave him. 

6. For some reason Daddy finds it absolutely hilarious to take pictures of babies and beer bottles. Now thanks to Daddy giving his empty beer bottles and coffee cups to Willy, he flips out whenever I am drinking coffee or beer. So nice.

7. The girls found the bumbo seat and brought it upstairs and it has become William's new favourite seat. Which is funny because it means he is trapped in one spot so mommy can rest for a minute...

Check out more Quick Takes and have a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes

Joining Jen!

1. Little Will has had quite the week: first came a high fever for two days, then came a cold for the next two. And the cause of it all ? Four new teeth, two of them molars.

This is pretty much how he looked all week

2. The husband stayed home sick from work today, for the first time in his life I think. Although he was sick, it was so nice to have him around. And it meant that I could sneak out for a run by myself which felt so good. 

3. So far I have made $1500 selling our stuff on kijiji, and I haven't got to any of the major furniture yet. Not bad. 

4. Maria has been obsessed the past couple days with playing hangman. I am so tired of guessing letters.

5. Shane only has two weeks of work left! And then we have two months before he starts work in Cayman. So excited. 

6. I'm having a hard time coming up with interesting things to say (as if you hadn't noticed)...my mind is so busy with planning and organizing and packing......

7. It's a long weekend so hopefully that will mean we will make a dent in our packing plans!

Happy weekend!

Sunday Best

I haven't posted a What I Wore Sunday outfit in a while, but I thought the warm weather and therefore a whole new wardrobe of clothes being available to me was the prefect occasion to do so again! And of course I am a day late on this..but we had the company of my sister and niece and nephew this weekend, and were busy doing so many fun things! 

So happy to be in flip flops again! The dress is from Old Navy, and the shirt from Winners. The accessories are from who knows where?
Head over to Mandi at Mesy Wife, Blessed Life for more outfits!

7 Quick Takes: Fun Fun Fun!

Yay for Jen finally being able to host again this week!

1. I know I am always talking about the weather and I really have no right to complain considering our imminent move to the tropics, but it really really affects me and this whole waiting around for spring thing is getting annoying! I guess I should be happy there hasn't been snow in awhile, but the temperatures are just not very warm so far! I'm hearing it should be warmish on the weekend so you better bet we will take advantage and spend the entirety of it outside! It's going to be FUN!

2.

I love the different places I find Maria reading to Felicity. So fun.

3.

Giving big sister a hug

Loving this little guy as usual! He is at such a sweet stage where he is a great sleeper, loves playing with trucks, cars, blocks, balls, or anything that can be used as a phone. He loves making people laugh. Whenever he sees a pillow on the ground he dives onto it and gets all cosy. All day long he gives hugs and kisses. When Daddy comes in the door he crawls over saying "dadadada!!!" and then cuddles with him for like 10 minutes. Could he be any more fun?!

 4.

The girls are obsessed with playing Old Maid and Memory. We play them at least 5 times a day. Fun times! 

5. 

This is what my house looks like now getting ready to move to another country. Piles of stuff to give away/sell/store, and piles to keep. You better believe I am having fun.

6. We are having so much fun with our new Vitamix! I'll admit it was a huge splurge for us, but we justified that it was a good buy for us since it will replace a couple of our appliances (so saving space) and it will last us 25 years. The smoothies are amazing and apparently we are getting more of the nutrients because it grinds up all the seeds and breaks down cell walls or something like that? I have already used it today to make cranberry orange bread, delicious smoothies packed with fruits and vegetables, and I will be making a soup in it for supper. It was definitely a must buy for us. haha. I have spent years trying to convince Shane to buy me one and now he is more gung ho about it than I am. 

7. Grace recommended this workout dvd and as she is my role model in all things exercise, (she has three kids under three and has looked amazing throughout and after all three pregnancies. No small feat!) I knew she wouldn't disappoint. I got it, and I love it! I love that I can do it standing up so the baby isn't tempted to crawl all over me, and also for those days where I don't feel like jumping around and getting all sweaty, but still want a good muscle workout. Of course I have fun while doing it. I know, I'm funny! 

Have a great weekend!

Seven years ago........

 Seven years ago, I visited Cayman for the first time. Little did I suspect then that I would ever agree to move there. Yes, it is beautiful, yes, I love the sun, and yes, Shane's family lives there. But it is just so far away, and I honestly could not imagine actually living there. And yet, here we are, getting ready to sell most of our belongings, pack up a few, and make the biggest move of our lives. It is crazy, stressful and crazy crazy crazy. And yet it is an amazing opportunity, the kids will love it I am sure, I will be tan (ha!) year round, and we will be close to Shane's family. I know that if I heard that someone was moving to the Caribbean, I'd be all "they are so lucky, I'd love to move to a land of sun and no winter!", so I know I really should be excited! But it is so so so stressful and so so so so far away from my family. Not to mention that it means I have to get rid of most of our stuff.
    So now we must prepare for our fourth move in six years...help!

Hutch painting and yogurt making

 We are in the midst of exciting and major life decisions here which have kept me from posting for a while. I will talk about it soon...but not just yet. Instead for today I have a couple of mediocre DIYS for your viewing pleasure.

    First up we have our antique hutch which we updated with a few coats of white paint to produce a slightly cleaner? whiter? less ancient? result. We still aren't completely thrilled with it but it did brighten up the space a bit.

And next we have something which I am actually quite thrilled about: homemade yogurt. If you don't make your own yogurt I don't know what you are waiting for! I use this method , and it is easy, healthy,  economical, and delicious. I admit to being pretty obsessed with yogurt and a complete snob when it comes to buying it. There are only a couple of kinds I will buy, and they aren't cheap. So making it is the absolute best thing I have ever done. It costs me about $2.50 for 8 cups of whole milk, and from it I get this:

One jar of plain yogurt for the kids, one jar of delicious strawberry greek yogurt (all I do is strain the plain yogurt and add strawberries and a bit of honey) for me, and one jar of whey (that I use for smoothies). I repeat, if you are not making this and you are a fan of yogurt, start making it now! 
  Speaking of which, I better go start my yogurt!