Be my Valentine!

We had a fun Valentine's Day this year!  

Ian got me these beautiful flowers and I put together a nice candlelit dinner (would have been romantic had Hailey not been there refusing to eat the food ;)  

I made these fabric pocket hearts during the day to hold our love notes to each other.  

 

I will keep using them each year... and Hailey got some stickers, a glow stick, a heart pillow and a few (4) little kisses.  This kid is addicted to sugar :)  

It was sweet to hear how much we all love each other and to treasure our sweet family of 3 before it becomes 4 :)

Ponytail?

 does this count as a ponytail?

 

My vote is YES!  I'll take what I can get.

Hailey gets so excited for her 'etties' (pretties).  Maybe I can put a bow on for Sunday this week!

I love this little face.... she is such a funny kid!

Sillyness on Sunday!

This past Sunday Hailey informed us that diaper covers are supposed to be hats and that leg warmers should indeed be worn on the arm instead of the leg!  I forgot to get a picture of her leggings (one on her leg and one on the same arm).  She wore it like that through all of church.  I didn't fight it.  I am okay with letting her show some dressing independence (at least until it gets really crazy).

no she didn't wear the diaper cover on her head to church

 

time for a new camera.... or a slower child ;)

Hailey makes me laugh so much everyday.  She is so hilarious.  I can't believe the sense of humor she already has.  The toddler years are going to be such an adventure :)

Little girl apron

Made an apron this weekend for Hailey!  She loves to help... and I don't like to do laundry.  Win, win I say :)  It is made from vinyl fabric so it is wipeable.  She loves it and I love my little helper.  I plan on making a few more aprons out of fabric next so that they hang better.  The vinyl can be pretty stiff and I want to add on some embelleshments that I left off the vinyl apron.

 

Art 101

I haven't done very many 'crafty' things with Hailey yet.  She isn't quite at the cutting/glueing stage ;)  But this weekend Ian needed the house quiet to get some work done so I pulled out the triple header!  We did 3 new things that Hailey has not done before.  I think she really enjoyed herself.  First up we did some painting with watercolours (no pic of this).  I didn't keep this one going long because she was mixing the paint colours and it was bothering me (like it matters really).

Then I pulled out some markers... duh, duh, duh!  Something she will not use unsupervised for quite a while.  I have seen the 'wall art' other children have made and I would prefer to avoid that as long as possible ;)  I was really surprised when she tested out each marker - pulled of the lid, scribbled a bit, put the lid back on and put it off on the other side of her tray.  She did this for each marker and then said 'all done'.  It was kinda funny and reminded me of Ian and how methodical he is.  She reminds me so much of Ian everyday :)

Playdough was the finale of the triple header.  I have had this playdough for a year now but knew she was too young.  She had so much fun playing with the containers that we didn't need to show her what was inside :)  She knows now and had to try out every colour and asked mom to make a 'noman' (snowman) out of each colour.  We made it through 9 colours when all of a sudden Hailey took a chomp out of the red playdough.  I was expecting a grossed out reaction but instead heard 'num, num'.  I guess she thinks playdough tastes good.  I should probably not take it out again for awhile because she will just want to eat it right away.  She was too cute though as she squeezed the 'balls' in her hands saying 'uish, uish'  We probably lasted a good hour on these 3 projects and I had a lot of fun.  I am excited to do real craft projects with Hailey as she grows up!

So blessed!

My heart is truly grateful today for the blessing these people have been in my life!  Being a mother and a wife has been the biggest challenge and blessing. 

Last week when Hailey was helping me unload the dishwasher (one of her favourite tasks) I felt like I should really thank her for her help.  I often thank Hailey throughout each day as she does nice things because I want her to demonstrate the same behaviour but this time I felt that I needed to do more than just say the words.  I squated down beside her and asked Hailey to look me in the eyes.  She did and I told her what a great helper she was and how grateful I am that she always wants to help.  The love I saw in her eyes melted my heart.  I think I felt in that moment how much our Father in Heaven loves his children.  She gave me the biggest smile and an even bigger hug and went about playing.

The sweet tender spirit Hailey brings into our home is a treasure.  She is so loving.  I am so lucky to be her Mama :)

Ian is my best friend..... that sounds lame... I have always thought that phrase sounds lame.  He is more than that.  He is MINE and I can't imagine a day without him.  He has risen to such great heights as a father and husband.  He is so loving and works so hard.  I never get tired of talking to him and I love that we never run out of things to say.  I love how he drives me crazy pushing my buttons because it keeps things fun (I still hate the tickling/pinching Ian ;).  I love how he plays with his whole heart with Hailey and teaches her all about 'man' things.  I love how he takes care of me and thinks I am beautiful even when I go a month without dressing up.  He sacrifices so much (mainly soccer time) to make sure I have some time for me.  He is mine and I will never be whole without him.

Yay for February!

I'm mostly thrilled because this means we are one month closer to SUMMER!!!!!!!  Oh sunshine and warm weather.... how I have missed you :)

We have been busy at our house enjoying each others company these past few weeks.  Hailey and Ian have been playing up a storm, we have been cooking together and doing our best to get out of the house.  Ian comes to pick us up at any time of the day then we promptly take him back to work so we can have a vehicle.  It has been a huge blessing for my sanity (Hailey's too I am sure) and it only takes a coffee break from Ian's day.  Thank you sweetheart for helping me get out of the house :)

This weekend we pulled out Grandma Ethel's bun recipe to make flapjacks (scones) and buns.  Yummy!  Grandma you have great buns :)  H of course was right in there helping too!

This morning our street was FINALLY ploughed (first time all winter).  We had a good 5-6 inches of packed, bumpy, rutted snow all over the street which wasn't very fun to drive through.  H and I watched for over an hour as the ploughs went past at least a dozen times, along with numerous trucks to be filled with snow.  Just before lunch the digger finally got to the pile in front of our house and we watched excited as it filled the trucks with snow!!!!!  I got so distracted that I forgot to take a picture ;)  Every time a vehicle went past out of sight Hailey said 'go?, go?' with her arms held out.  So cute!

Looking forward to warmer weather each week so that we can go and play outside everyday!  I miss my walks too.