Thursday 29 November 2018

Thankful Thursday - 159

I haven't really gotten into the Christmas spirit yet this year. I feel like it happens earlier for me normally, but I am excited to feel super into it! It's my favorite season\holiday. I think we're going out this weekend to do our traditional tree hunt and cut with my parents, something I look forward to every year. I hope I don't regret setting up the tree so early... toddlers. 


At least this dino is ready for Christmas!

Dom's face on our walk last night with the dog to check out some lights in the neighborhood.

Had to make a few trips through this tunnel.

This week I am thankful for...

1. David being home. Okay, so really this is bitter sweet, but I'm trying to focus on the sweet part of it. David has not had a job in over 2 weeks. He was supposed to have one today, but it was postponed at the last minute. Yes, it is great having him home and we are really trying to make the best of it, but it is also very stressful. We aren't really the type to argue about money which is a real blessing right now. Prayers that things pick up back to normal in January! It always slows down this time of year, but this is the most dramatic slow down (drop off) we can recall in his 6 years with his own business. 

2. My new Keurig! Our Christmas gift to me this year was going to be a new Keurig purchased during Boxing Week. I went into Costco last weekend (silly me, going to Costco on Black Friday...) and stumbled across an amazing deal on the Keurig Elite! Yay!! 


I tried really hard to get a cute selfie of me drinking my delicious first cup of coffee from it, but it just wasn't happening.

3. Winter get-up. Oh my babies. I am so so blessed to be able to raise these two babies. I went to the Roots Outlet during the Black Friday sales and stocked up on some cozy-wozy clothes for the whole family. Love awesome sales. I NEVER buy things full price. Also, I bought myself a Roots hoodie. I realized I hadn't bought myself a new cozy hoodie in... probably 3-5 years. Hand-me-downs for the win!



At least he'll try to smile for pictures now.

She thinks his hat is hilarious


I think her lips are going to get us into trouble when she's older! Haha... unless she gets my crazy pre-braces teeth!

4. Winter Fun list. This past Summer I made a "Summer Fun" list for things I wanted to do with Dom. We got most of them done, but a few things didn't pan out. I decided to make one for this Winter as well. I got a little carried away with making it look pretty (typical Renee). We've already crossed a couple things off, too! (See #5 and #6)



5. The Fort. David spent some time the other day building a huge fort in the basement for Dom out of cardboard. Way too much fun! Apparently I forgot to take a picture this week, but it's really cool. It fit our whole family in there! 

6. The Surrey Museum. Yesterday we went as a family to the Surrey Museum! I didn't get many great pictures, and Dom doesn't look like he had any fun, but I promise he did! It was an awesome way to spend the afternoon! Free, warm, dry, indoor, educational fun! They had a dinosaur exhibit set up which we went to first, complete with animatronic dinos. Dominic was NOT a fan. He was shaking and his eyes were so wide and at the end when the T-Rex popped out he burst into tears. Oops... Our bad! He recovered quickly when we went into the TD Explore Zone! It's a whole kids play area dedicated to sustainability, recycling, farming, protecting the environment, and other things like this. Super fun! Definitely will be hitting this place up more this winter with friends for play dates!




Short video of the animatronic Dino

Dom "hiding" from the scary dinosaurs all around while we try to get him into paleontology. 


We got there around 3pm, and it was really quiet at that time. It got a lot busier with the after-school crowd.

Dom loved driving the "DUMP!"

Checking out the sites in the tree-fort



Naturally loved driving the "Vroom" too!

And the "row row" of course.

"Hoo hoo!" Dom thinks Daddy looks like an owl up there.


Generating electricity

Building towers

The garbage truck has little disks with different items on them (paper towel, cardboard, spray-paint cans, etc.) and you had to sort them into the appropriate slot and you'd get a check-mark or an X. Cute way to learn what goes in Organics, Recycling or Garbage!

Picking some fruit off the trees 



My favorite part. A system of tubes with valves to control the course. There is air pressure blowing through them, so you put a scarf in the one side, and it shoots all through the tubes and pops out one of the 3 holes at the end. I thought it was hilarious! You can see a yellow scarf in this picture falling into that little boy's arms.

And of course an obligatory family selfie before leaving. I'd definitely like to go back to the museum just with Dave one time, too. Learn about the history of Surrey... why not!

7. Dinner with Amy & Brent. David takes their family photo in front of their tree every year, so we went there for dinner this week. We had a great time, and Dom ate 3 full bowls of the Dutch soup they made for the kids. I think he ate more than their three boys combined, haha. No wonder he is 35 pounds *hides face*. Dom warmed up to the boys quite well and played along-side them for most of the time. At the end Devin gave him a tickle-torture (what a strange word...) and then Dom was sold. He didn't want to come home! He gave all the boys big hugs, and is still talking about it today. "Thank you Dedin (Devin). Bye Dedin. Dedin TCKL TCKL TCKL!! HAHAHA!" He has never really made a friend like this at a play date, so it was very encouraging for us to see our quiet boy acting this way. 





8. Another blankie baby. I made Emilia a crochet blanket a long time ago, and just started putting it in her crib with her. She hasn't really cared or noticed it, but this morning when I woke up she was rubbing it on her face and snuggling with it. Yay! I love the blankie obsession. Neither of my kids really took soothers, so it's a great source of comfort for them I think. 



9. A little more cuteness.


Such a strange smile. She will roll alllll over the main floor living room area. She can get up onto all 4's now and rock back and forth. I bet she'll be crawling by Christmas. Where did my baby go?!

Cheeky girl wrinkles her nose and snorts at us constantly. I remember Dom doing this, too.



Tuesday 27 November 2018

"Boo-bees" & "Cock-ing"

Well if that title didn't get your attention, I don't know what will!

Dominic is turning 2 in one month and is having a language boom this week. All of a sudden he will try say anything you ask him too, and picks up on new words much quicker. As his language develops and becomes more clear, I think I have to document some of my favorite things he says.

Boo-bee: Blue Jeep
Cock: Cook (especially bizarre when he tries to talk about David cooking, "Daddy Cock")
Poppy-cock: Puppy, Look!
Dee: Dice/Poker Chips
Mou: Mouse
Muh: Milk
Ba-pa: Peanut Butter
Wa-wa: Water
Col: Cold/wet
Nana: Yellow
Tata: Tractor and/or Sweater
Va-voom: Motorcycle/Bicycle
Melmo: Elmo
Daja: Jaia
Fafa: Pizza
Tuh: Truck
DUMP!: Garbage Truck/Can
Yaya: Emilia
ZIP: Sweater/Jammies
Kelp: Please/Help
Ah-too: Thank you
Aschoo: Bless You
Moh-ma/Poh-pa: Oma/Opa
Mama/Bahpa: Gramma/Grandpa
Tat: Scott (often "Tat Vroom": Scott's Car)
Bubboo: Bubbles/Bath
NUM NUM: When he wants to steal my breakfast
Dedin: Devin (we were at Amy & Brent's for dinner tonight)
Fuckph: Fox/fork (we obviously had to test this one out a few times)

Hoo hoo: Owl
Teetch: Teeth/Toothbrush
Puddo: Puzzle

He has lots of other words too, but they sound more like the actual word and aren't worth noting.

He has started speaking in small sentences (that maybe only make sense to us)...
Ah see Vroom!: I see a car!
Daddy Home!: Daddy's home!
Ah-too Mommy cookie: Thank you Mommy for the cookie
Aschoo Daddy: Bless You Daddy
Puppy come: Here comes puppy!
Tat Boo Vroom: Scott's blue car
Go Dom!! (self explanatory, but adorable)

I could keep going and sharing all about my little (massive) toddler, but I guess I should save some for his 2 year post next month :) Despite his toddler nuances, we love him more every day. 






Thursday 22 November 2018

Thankful Thursday - 158

This week I am thankful for...

1. "Bo Bo Moma." We told Dom yesterday that we were going to visit Great Oma, or Omama. The whole way there he was saying "Bo Bo Moma". I love hearing his interpretations of what we're saying. We had a lovely visit with Oma, and I look forward to doing this more often. David was able to come as well because his work is... nonexistant (sad face). Also, this week Oma made us meatballs and gravy to enjoy! They fed us for a few days, and were so so delicious and appreciated!


Dom helped clean Oma's patio without us even asking! 


2. Visitors. It's been far too long since we had Rachel and Rebecca over. They came for a little bit the other day and it was adorable to see Em and Rebecca together. Emilia is dwarfed by her chunky cousin. Emilia was rolling all over the place and terrorizing her poor cousin pulling her hair. Just the beginning of us breaking up their little spats I'm sure ;).




3. Mom wins. It has been amazing having David home a lot more lately. The one benefit of him not having work right now. I keep reminding us that this Spring when his work gets crazy we will be looking back on these days very fondly. While he's home much more, I still have to come up with ways for the kids to be entertained.

Trying to cook dinner and she would not let me put her down while Dave was out. Desperate times... Questionable Mom "Win" haha.

Loving this!! Putting our TV box to good use! He spends long chunks of time scribbling and drawing family members. 


4. Dom's nurturing behaviour. He has very recently become attached to his baby doll, "Baby". He often goes through the motions with his baby that we do with him. For example, "baby pee," where he'll bring his baby to the potty and sit her on it and show her a magazine just like we do when he uses the potty. *used... he is no longer interested for himself*. He also brought his baby all the way upstairs and did half of the bedtime routine that we do with him, with his baby. So adorable!! Today he helped me give Emilia her bottle even!



I was sitting beside him pumping, so he went and grabbed a pump and tried to join in.




5. So blessed to have this little girl! Love this stage. Although a little worried she's going to be crawling soon. She is trying, but doesn't quite have the upper body strength. She can certainly get where she wants to go though. Yikes!


I have kind of fallen off the whole blogging thing. It's hard when my days are mundane and repetitive. Not a whole lot of excitement happening around here, just lots of family time!

This is how I spend my time. Greasy hair up, leggings on, sweater on, no make-up. Life sure has changed! (Just kidding, if I had my way I'd wear leggings and sweaters all day every day; I'd just shower more often.