Home Sweet Home!

We have been back home for a little over 4 days, and it is almost as though we hadn't left. We were greeted on Tuesday evening by three very excited little girls, and we very quickly returned to our usual routine:

1. Sleepless nights:
-courtesy of S3, a new runny nose
-by Friday, S1 had joined in with a cough of fever of her own
-thankfully S2 sleeps like a rock, otherwise we would be out-numbered!

2. Challenging mealtimes
-S1 has thankfully stopped throwing her food, but still refuses to eat half of it
-S2 won't sit still, and falls off her chair a few time per meal
-S3 just makes a big, cute mess!

3. And most importantly, fun and games the rest of the time, as evidenced by the tea party they had tonight:

San Fransisco, here we come

I write these words from an altitude of 36,000 feet, somewhere between Denver and San Fransisco. My husband sits by my side on the Airbus 319. We left our girls behind in the trusty care of Grandma and Auntie. 

I will be attending a four-day conference in San Fransisco and we will be on our first vacation since S3's birth, almost 15 months ago.

When we left the house, the girls were sound asleep, so we were not able to say a proper goodbye. However, earlier in the week we had prepared the older two for our trip. They made a list of things they wanted us to buy them. 

Although we have been in the plane for only 5 hours, I miss them terribly. Here is a sampling of my worries:

Will they be happy? Will the baby sleep through the night? Will they get sick or injured? Will my mom and sister survive? Will I be able to sleep, or will I worry too much? Will the house be a mess when we return?

I find it hard not to worry, even though I am fairly certain that they will survive, and we will enjoy our trip. 

Thank goodness for FaceTime!

the Double Halloween

Our lucky girls celebrated Halloween not once, but twice! At school, they trick-or-treated in the various departments of the Y. This was followed by a pot-luck party attended by the parents. The girls donned their indoor costumes for their day-time party: S1 as a cow-girl, and S2 as Abby. S3 stayed behind.

Later that afternoon, S1 and S2 helped decorate the house:

Artwork by S1

And after dinner, all three girls headed out for their very first trick-or-treating experience in our very own neighbourhood. The baby was returned to her Papa after about five houses, while S1 and S2 lasted the whole block. The girls also had another first: handing our candy. 

Our Baby, the Ball Girl

Thursday afternoon, we were invited over to play by our 7-year-old neighbour. He was particularly excited about some miniature hockey nets he had recently purchased. S1 and S2 made a bee-line for the play house, and started preparing a series of pretend meals. S3, however said "a ball", ran to the makeshift playing field, expertly picked up a hockey stick, and chased the ball!

This did not overly surprise me because she:

-bounced her first ball at 9 months of age
-spoke the words "a ball" before she could say Mama and Papa
-insisted on joining in with much older kids playing soccer and street hockey
-has her own tennis racquet

Here is our little ball girl in the neighbour's basement:

The Perfect Holiday Monday

We were both off work on Thanksgiving Monday, and we spent a terrific day with the girls. We had not planned too far in advance, but one thing we knew for certain was that we were not going to bake a turkey!

The sunny weather inspired us to spend the day outdoors: We headed to our favourite local farm for some pumpkin picking. It happened to be the last day of apple-picking, and although the girls and I had already been, Papa had missed out. So it was that we filled two large bags full fo Spartan apples after a pleasant tractor ride to the orchard. We had to use the ladders, as most of the remaining apples were high up in the trees. Papa, at 6'3" did most of the picking, but S1 and S2 also got to climb the ladder once each with their father. As for S3, she picked the most apples, all off the ground!

After our bags were full, we headed over to the pumpkin patch and collected a few small pumpkins, as we were already weighed down by two large bags of apples. S3 attempted to pick up the heaviest pumpkin she could find, whereas her sisters choices were more realistic.

Back at the farmhouse, we purchased some fresh corn and squash, freshly-squeezed apple juice, and snacked on some pumpkin cookies.

Back home, the afternnon breezed by: 2/3 of our kids napped, then out we went for a walk to the local park.

That evening, our hearty  dinner consisted of:

-corn on the cob
-spaghetti squash
-apples
-and barbecued chicken burgers for the non-vegetarians

And were it not for the incident in the bath that evening, it was a perfect day. Half-way through bath-time, S3 decided to poop!!!

Return to the Mundane

After a difficult week last week (between Papa being away, and another round of upper respiratory tract viruses), it was nice to return to the mundane: attending pre-school for the first time in one week; playing mostly indoors as the weather has not been so nice; running outside to check the mail; attending swim lessons...

But mostly enjoying doing nothing out of the ordinary...

Here are a few photos of the mundane:

building a fort with the outdoor cushions that were brought in 

Just plain cute!

Baby Goes Apple-Picking

Just a few days ago, we went apple-picking with the girls' preschool. Normally, I would have left Baby at home with Grandma while I attended the field trip with the older two. But with Grandma out of town, I headed down the the apple orchard with all three girls.

It was a nice end to a tough week. The weather was warm, and the girls enjoyed a tractor ride to and from the field, filling their bags with Spartan apples, playing in a farm-style park with toy tractors and labyrinths, and petting farm animals. I wasn't sure that I would survive the week as Papa was away on business. While my wonderful sister stayed over and helped tremendously, the nights were difficult. With frequent wake-ups by both S1 (another cold) and S3 (the usual).

Here are a few photos from our sunny apple-picking experience: