7 Quick Takes

I'm back and I'm joining Jen!

1. The weather has been amazing here lately. And by amazing I mean 72 degrees, with a cool breeze and rain. I absolutely love it. I've been able to wear pants without dying of heat.

2.

 

This little girl read her first words this week! She was so proud of herself and is absolutely loving school.

 

 

3. This baby and I have made it to 26 weeks, but I have no photo to show! I must get better at documenting this pregnancy.

 

4.

 

William and his cousin are the cutest. They are a year apart and love each other. We are so blessed to have him living next door!

 

5. Speaking of living next door, my sister and I have started swapping kids for an hour a day and it has been amazing! It is so nice to have an hour to do whatever you want. Alone.

 

6. I have been spending my hour swimming laps, which is so unnatural for me since I am really not a great lover of swimming, but its great exercise! And I figured I should take advantage of having a pool that is prefect for laps, plus it is much easier than running on this pregnant body. So it is working out great, except that I hate every second of it.

 

7. 

 

We went paddle boarding last weekend and Maria did so well! She balanced, steered, and handled the big paddle all by herself. I, on the other hand, was terrified and fell off. My excuse was that its harder to balance when pregnant?

 

 



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:)