Thankful Thursday - 278

 This week I am thankful for...

1. Family trip to the zoo. On Sunday the weather was beautiful and Eva was having a good morning nap. At 1120 I said, "Maybe we should go to the zoo today!" Dave agreed, and in 20 minutes we were out the door! It was chilly, and the kids didn't last long, but that's the beauty of the zoo pass - no pressure to "get your money's worth". We were back home in time for Eva's next nap.

Our plan was to jet through the first half to go see the dinosaurs again. The kids were excited about this until we were about 100 feet from the dinosaurs. Wouldn't even go in there. D'oh!

She dislikes the car seat and stroller. It's an annoyance, but that's okay :)

This girl insists on wearing this toque I made many years ago (before she was born) even though it's too small for her and doesn't cover her ears. I've now crocheted her a new one that is super cute. I'll share a pic next time maybe!

She worked on this muffin all the way from the giraffes to the grizzly bear. Dom's was done by the time we left the giraffes haha

Spying Shadow the Grizzly bear!

And I spy two little teefers!

2. My body is my own. I am officially done breastfeeding now. My supply was dropping and dropping, and I made the intention on Monday morning that it would be our last time breastfeeding. Eva and I had a nice quiet morning together and I was glad I set that intention. I have some mixed feelings around it all, but mostly I'm grateful and proud of myself. 

3. A Mommy-Emilia date. Emilia has been acting out differently than usual, and having slight regressions in some areas. I feel she probably needs some more one on one attention, so I took her on some errands with me the other day. We went to Everything Wine, and then stopped at Toy Traders to look around. The next day she rode her strider while I walked the dog, too. 

Coolest 3 year old girl I know. Walks up to this display very excitedly and goes, "LOOK! JAWAS!" 

Playmobil heaven

Want a nice smile out of her? Just ask for her preschool smile. It's perfect every time haha

4. Fevers. What? Thankful for fevers? Yes... they came to our household last week and they did their jobs! On Thursday after preschool Dom seemed off. He went up to quiet time and crawled into bed and slept for 2 hours. That doesn't happen unless something is wrong in his body. After quiet time he brought all his blankets down and laid on the couch for 4 hours listening to Thomas audio books. He had a fever of around 103F. I recently watched a webinar about fevers and decided not to medicate. The next day he was back to 100% with zero other symptoms. On Saturday Emilia started acting mellow around noon, and I found she also had a fever. She had a long nap and then laid on the couch and watched Frozen. Again, her fever was around 103.5F at the highest. We didn't medicate, and by the next day she, too was back to 100%! No idea what that was, but fever was their only symptom. I guess maybe the fever did its job and killed the bug! 

Is it bad that I really don't mind when they're sick like this? It just means we cuddle more, they don't demand snacks every 10 minutes, they don't make messes, we guiltlessly put on the TV, and when I cuddle them they're like a heating bag haha.

She was a furnace. She kept insisting she felt okay, but I laid with her and she was just radiating heat. The human body is crazy.

5. A Christmas tree stand-in. Super first world problem, but I ordered a new Christmas tree from Wayfair in early November. Then the crazy storm happened and halted the supply chain and deliveries since all the highways were closed. My tree now has no estimated delivery date. I was hesitant about buying a fake tree to begin with, but finally caved and now this! I was feeling pretty mopey about it, but then Kirsten said her mom has an extra one we could use! It fits our space nicely and will totally work until we (hopefully) get the one we ordered. If not, at least we have a tree! 

I chose not to micromanage the decoration placement. Last year I could decorate the top half of the tree how I wanted. This year Dom discovered he could reach the top parts... So the whole tree is kid-safe decorations and many of my favourites are still in the box. 

Dom starting his favourite spot on the tree... This spot quickly became overloaded.

Me cringing every time I see the backwards K

She needed this. She was so quiet and focused the whole time. She's been having a rough go lately, so this bit of activity went really well.

Eves getting into the kids' toys while they're distracted

Dom's spot... Some spots are totally loaded, and the whole right side is basically empty. This is hard for me haha! I should have pulled a Monica and just beautifully decorated one half so I could turn it around

But they are so proud of their decorations. 

This year it was Wheelia's turn to do the star! 

Can't forget the snowman!

Ahhhh... I hung 5 stockings this year! These are the stockings I crocheted last year and I love them. :)

Wonder how long it'll take for Eva to realize the tree is interesting.

6. Flu Shots. Our whole family now is vaccinated against the flu this year! We have also registered Dom for his COVID vaccine, which he'll be eligible to get when he turns 5! Shots went well overall. Emilia was an absolute champ - didn't even flinch. Dom was really anxious and had a bit of a meltdown leading up to his inoculation. Once it was over he bounced back quick. I think it's all about the anticipation for him. 

7. Sweet mail for Dom & Emilia. After their sleepover a couple weeks ago I guess Rebecca was a little cranky in the morning. She sent a letter to apologize for screaming and she drew her family and D&E! Adooorable. I am trying to convince them to mail a letter back. 

I just can't with her people drawings! <3 Rachel said it's the first time she actually tried to draw people. It's now on our fridge :)

8. Survivor. Dave and I have finally found a show we mutually enjoy. Other than watching Survivor once a week, almost everything we watch is a compromise. This week we had Small Groups at Steph & Brent's and watched Survivor with the group haha. 

They called it "cheesy delight" Haha. Essentially nachos, but made with sweet chili heat doritos. Genius.

Steph & Brent's house looks amazing with their new renos!!

And here are a few more pictures from this week...

Today there's another atmospheric river, so we took advantage of every dry moment this week!

Creepers Kirsten & Wren

Moody skies!

Spectacular sunrise this week

These two love their preschool! I need to figure out how to get them to have some time independent from one another though now too. Even most "quiet times" is just them playing together upstairs since they share a room now. They're always together. Emilia doesn't even know how to play on her own anymore. 

On my walk with Emilia and Sherlock I peeked over the bridge by our place and saw a mini landslide in the ravine there from the big storm last week. Hard to see in this picture, but there are a couple trees taken down too.

Celebrating every one of Dom's goals <3. He plays hockey or soccer the majority of the day in our living room. It's nice because he cleans up all the toys first haha. 

Christmas light walk with Oma!