Does he have a hollow leg?

Rhys eating his first apple "like a big boy" back in February (ie. whole, not sliced by Mommy)

We just finished breakfast for dinner. Something that Craig and I have loved to do even before we had kids. Rhys had devoured his waffle (topped with cherries and blueberries), 1.5 scrambled eggs, his hash (hashbrowns mixed with red peppers, corn, green onions, bacon and ham), a scoop of plain greek yogurt with the waffle topping fruit. Craig and I sit on either side of him at the table. He turns to face me, leans in and whispers, "I'm hungry Mommy, I want more yogurt".
I turn to Craig in disbelief, he felt Rhys's tummy which was hard and said, "Rhys I think you're full. Do we need to test you for a missing gene?"
"My jeans?" Rhys asks.
He rubs his pants, "these are not jeans."
Craig: "Nevermind Rhys, I don't think you need any more yogurt."
Rhys turns to me again and whispers to me, "how 'bout some hashbrowns? I need some hashbrowns".
I laughingly turn him down.
Finally, he climbs onto Craig's lap and watches Brea eat her waffle, he eyes her and sees that she doesn't seem to want to finish it. He whispers to Craig, "I want some waffle Daddy."
Truly, I have no idea where he packs it into such a little body.
And yes, he may have snuck a few more bites of hashbrowns from me.

Make Believe!

We recently attended a magical fairy birthday party. The children were visited by Loria the Fairy Queen of Flowers who brought costumes to transform them into magical beings, painted their faces, and led them on a most rapturous adventure of songs and music. The kids were spellbound by it all. I love this age where the line between reality and fantasy is blurred and the most amazing things can happen.

A rainbow fairy and a wee but tough dragon.

Rhys was especially smitten, which has not been like him before. He loves his race cars above all else but will happily dress up with his sister in her tutus or princess costumes. However, lately he's been the one initiating it. Today when I got home he was happily running being a superhero with his cape flaring out behind him.

So I shouldn't have been too surprised when as I was putting him to bed he became all upset and suddenly started crying because he missed his "dragon face".

He's been talking about being half dragon and half Rhys since the party. But he was truly upset tonight despite the fact that I didn't have much trouble cleaning the paint off several nights ago. I tried to console him by saying that I could paint his face like a dragon for him. He replied, "no! I want the fairy lady to come do it. But not that one, a blue one, a dark blue one!" Hmmmm... anyone know any surefire ways to catch a blue-clad fairy to come paint a little boy's face?

Just sing a little tune.

Rhys has caught the music bug. He has been singing a lot lately. Anything from songs he heard on a show, songs I sing to him, one's that Brea sings, you name it! He especially loves singing them in bed when he should be napping in the afternoon or at night. He also likes to sing them really loudly!
I've thought to and tried to record him but he always seems to hear me by his door and he'll inevitably call out. It's super adorable though. His current favourites are "ABC", "Petit Poisson", and "The More We Get Together".

I love his version of the songs though:
Imagine his sweet little voice...
"The more we get together, together, together, together, together (he really likes the together part)...
'cause my friends are MY friends and your friends are YOUR friends."

Oh our dear Brea!

Some wonderful tidbits of words from our little girl. Too good to resist sharing.

I was away from home until late this past week with work so I didn't have a chance to see the kids until the next morning. I asked how the night went with Daddy taking care of them. It was a bath night and I know that Craig bought things to make a nice dinner so it was pretty full. So I was wondering if things went smoothly and that he managed alright and a little bit, I guess, to see if I was missed.

Brea looks at me and says in quite the tone: "Oh Mom, he's a big boy!"

Craig was very happy to have had that vote of confidence.

--------

The kids are getting sniffly again. I hate this season. But with the sniffles comes the difficult sleeping due to stuffy noses. Last night Brea awoke several times needing to blow her nose and just to get some comfort. By the time we woke for the third time, I had already bunkered down with Rhys and Craig had moved downstairs (Rhys is a bit of a flailer). I was tired and had given up on trying to get them to stay in their beds but there was no way it would work to have both kids with me. I suggested that she tried downstairs with Daddy.

She gave me an anguished look and said in a most pitiful little voice: "I can't sleep with Daddy! I'm more of a snuggler and my Daddy isn't!"

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas All!

Wishing you and yours the most jolly of holidays and the very best in 2013!

xoxo

Wordless Wednesday - Just for a smile

xoxo

Why Brea is a great big sister.

I had the pleasure of a bit of travel with my wee ones this past weekend to visit my cousin and to celebrate her son's birthday. Brea and Rhys were ecstatic to see their cousin and have a visit with him. They always seem to forget though that it is a bit of a way to go and involves staying a couple of nights away from home.

We arrived without a hitch and settled into my aunt's house for a nice few days. The party was a success, the kids had a great time, there was face-painting and cupcakes and playing.

A very happy angry bird!

The race car that he cried over later when I washed it off.

My little butterfly.

That night, as we lay down to camp out together, Rhys had a few things to talk about. Namely at the party, there was a little boy who was not so nice and spent quite a bit of time chasing Rhys. Rhys was on a push car and the boy was on a trike. At one point he sped up to Rhys, hit him from behind and was pushing him full-throttle for a good 4 meters or so before I caught up and managed to stop him from ramming Rhys into a wall. Nice boy! Rhys was apparently quite traumatized by it as he kept telling me over and over again about the big mean boy who chased him and hit his truck. I tried the best I could to explain that he lived far away from us and we would likely not see him again for a long time and that he was safe now and there was no harm done. After several minutes of listening to Rhys, Brea spoke up.

"When I have a party Mommy, I'm not inviting that boy because he is not nice. I will invite my friends who are not mean. And next time at Aidan's birthday, I won't get my face painted."

Brea had a fantastic butterfly that she waited in line so patiently for and was over the moon with. So I had to ask: "But why Brea? You waited so long for the face painting, I thought you like it!"

Here is her sweet reply: "I know, but if I don't get my face painted, I could keep Rhys safe. I didn't keep him safe today." My heart melted.

And that is why I think Brea is a most wonderfully great big sister. And why I so love my little girl.