Blaise's 2 year letter

Oh my dear, sweet, Blaise.

My baby. How is it that you are two years old? No longer technically a baby, yet I still call you "baby" all the time. When will that stop? Not in the foreseeable future. When you are 14 years old I may still call you baby and it will embarrass the heck out of you. But I hope deep down, you will feel loved and secretly love that I call you baby.

Anyway.

You are two. Loving trains, planes and automobiles. For real. All things that move, you love. You shout out "bus" or "car" or "truck" or "airplane!" or whatever it is that's passing by. Your Dad gets a kick out of the way you say "truck" as you've replaced the "tr" with an "f". So that's always good for a laugh. Sometimes you mutter it to yourself and I can't help but let a giggle come out.

You love your soother (soosee) and your two hippos and now you even sleep with a pillow and a blanket and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

You love being silly and making people smile and laugh and you love joining right in with any merriment you happen upon. Today you charmed your way through three different offices that we had to go to, making people smile and laugh and immediately relieving any boredom of having to sit in a small office with a bunch of strangers. You do this all the time.

You are becoming quite an independent player when the mood strikes you. I'll often find you lining up your cars along the middle bookshelf in our living room or sitting on the floor or couch with a book or two. And so far you don't seem to mind that your brothers are missing for most of the day now that school has started, but you do often talk about them or reference them when you see a school bus. 

And speaking of school buses, every morning when we take Noah and Jude to the bus stop, you shout at the top of your lungs, "BAH BYE!!!" over and over and over at the bus driver as soon as he pulls up and opens the doors. It's hilarious and adorable. As are most things you do. 

You are starting to venture out into eating more foods which is really just a lot more convenient. And usually means a little less screaming. (Also how is it that I've ended up with three kids who don't really like oatmeal? Weird. It's probably my own doing, but whatever.)

You sleep like a champ (Seriously. That was 18 months coming! Glory Hallelujah.) and prefer "Mama" to be the first one in to greet you, but you'll usually perk up for "Nono" (or Noah) to come and pick you up out of your crib. 

You are talking nonstop and I hear "who's that" or "what's that" or "what's this" or "who's this" about eleventy million times a day. It's adorable, albeit exhausting. (Not gonna lie.)

You are testing boundaries big time these days. Always looking at me after I say no or try and redirect you elsewhere. You will look at me like a dog does with a slight head tilt and then say, "Hm?" and point to what you want to do, often doing it even after I say "no". I am trying to crack down and hold firm, but often you are so hilarious, that it's hard for me not to smile or laugh at you - even when you're flat out disobeying me! Oh the joys of being the third born! (One day Noah will tell you, "Man! I didn't get away with HALF the stuff you do!" and he'll be completely right. Sorry, Noah.) 

I wish I could write down all the funny and hilarious and adorable things you do from the way you pick out a book and then walk backwards towards me and then sit in my lap. Or the way you press your cheek against mine and think it's hilarious. Or the way you often break into song and dance just to the music that plays in your own head. (I LOVE this!) You are crazy about your brothers, but often take advantage of any time they are lower than you, whether it's sitting or lying down, because you'll whack them on the head or face. But you love them. And they love you. Your relationship with Noah is so different from the one you have with Jude. I love the complexities and dynamics of each relationship and watching it all play out. I pray your relationships with your brothers will be strong and the kind that sharpens each other and challenges each other for the good, spurring one another on to love and good deeds. 

I love love love love love you, you crazy Blaiser. You melt my heart and keep me laughing. You keep us all laughing and can perk up even the grumpiest attitude in this house with your antics and I praise God for bringing you into our family on that hot evening in Kampala, two years ago. 

Love, 

Mama

Banana Donuts with Chocolate Glaze

We started with donuts. And when you think about it, any day that starts with donuts can't be that bad, right?

There were no tears (from anyone!) and the boys happily reunited with friends from last year. I left feeling like two adorable pieces of my heart were left behind at school, but went on to have probably the most productive day since school ended! 

Anyway, back to school breakfast has always been something I wanted to do for my kids and last year I think we did waffles or pancakes but this year I made banana donuts dipped in chocolate with sprinkles on top. I actually made these up last night and they kept just fine overnight. These are definitely better the day you make them, but I've made them three times now and they are so easy and so delicious that making toast for breakfast almost seems like more work!

Banana Donuts with Chocolate Glaze

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 large egg
1 banana
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 heaping tablespoon plain greek yogurt
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon flour

Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray your donut pan with nonstick spray or grease with butter. Whisk together the egg and the sugar for about a minute, until it starts to lighten up in colour and really comes together.
Stir in the banana, oil, vanilla and yogurt.

In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients and then add the dry into the wet ingredients. Mix slowly and until just moistened. Do not overmix!

Using a ziploc bag, pipe the batter into the donut pan and bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven (mine were done after 9 minutes). Donuts should be fluffy and spring back when gently poked. Let donuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.

While the donuts are cooling, you can make up the glaze. Basically take about a 1/4 cup chocolate chips and add 1 teaspoon corn syrup, 1 teaspoon water, and about a tablespoon of butter. Melt it all for about 30 seconds in the microwave and then stir, stir, stir.

Then once your donuts are cooled, dip, dip, dip.
Then sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle with your choice of topping. I chose the milk chocolate sprinkles we picked up while we were in Amsterdam.

This made exactly 9 donuts so double or triple if you want enough to give away.

Jude's 5 year letter

My darling Jude,

I'm sitting at my computer and typing this letter up to you. I haven't blogged in a million years (okay, a few months), and it's a few weeks past your birthday, but I'm doing it.
Ah Jude. Where to even begin!?

You are a plucky 5 year old. You are tender and can be sensitive, and then the next minute you're terrorizing Blaise. You do have a compassionate heart, though, and there have been multiple instances of you seeking out a new kid in your class (whether it's the YMCA or church) and playing with them, or offering them a toy or trying to cheer them up when they're upset and scared. This speaks volumes to me about who you are and that you are listening to God's still, small voice inside you urging you to show love and friendship to those who need it most. I love for this. Seriously. My heart almost explodes a little when I hear about these occurrences.

But there's a sassy mouth on you too. You love shouting, "FINE!" or "OKAY!" when things are neither fine, nor okay for you. It's hard for you to receive instruction or criticism, but I do see growth in you in this area.

You played on a soccer team for the first time this summer and you learned so much! We watched (and okay, we laughed too) from the sidelines as you would run up to the ball but only really hover around it and the other players instead of just going in and kicking it. This was a bit surprising for me as I wouldn't have thought you to be tentative, but by the end of the season you did end up going in for a kick or two.

You learned so much at school this past year too! Junior Kindergarten wasn't too difficult of a transition for you, but you did have some teary goodbyes in the mornings for a few weeks. Your teacher, Mrs. Fulton, was an absolute gem and we are so super excited that you'll get her again in a couple weeks for Senior Kindergarten! You learned tons of songs and loved gym and recess and you can even read a bunch of words. You made a bunch of friends but I think struggled to find that one friend that you really clicked with even though we would hear you talk about many different kids in your class. I'm praying for one really good friend this year and that s/he would be someone that would be a good influence on you and vice versa.

You are one smart cookie and I often hear you sounding out words or when Noah was learning to read this past year, you would intuitively guess the ending of the sentence.

You are my affectionate boy. You love saying that you love me and that I'm "the best" and giving hugs and cuddles. You definitely need to hear words of encouragement and affirmation and I'm constantly reminding myself to give you those as it's not my first instinct to do so.

You got a scooter for your birthday and you are getting so good on it! I'm so proud of you and your desire to stick with it and get "really good" at it. It's really cute to see you bombing down the sidewalk and learning to balance with both feet on it at the same time.

You are musical! You love clapping out rhythms, you pick up on songs and lyrics (and even was a voice of conviction in a Lumineers song when the guy says, "Oh my God", telling me that you didn't like that song because of it.) and you have lately started requesting jazz music. Which totally melts my heart. You pick up on moods and feelings in music and it makes my heart so happy to discuss music with you!

You love Noah. You miss him when he's not around and I'm so thankful you have each other, even if it does mean that you fight with each other a good deal of the time.

And you're really calming down around Blaise which is good for all of us. I know you love him, but how it comes out is sometimes a little too aggressive. Regardless, you have a really special relationship with your baby brother and I see it in how you and he interact and make up games together and the giggles you share as you engage in things like jumping on top of each other from the armrest of the couch. Yeah.

Sometimes you seem older than a five year old and I know I expect a lot from you. You are just my favourite Jude ever and I am so thankful you came into our lives on that hot, July day five years ago. Such a calm, (quick), chilled out entrance into this world and yet you have one of the biggest personalities in this family. I love you, Super Jude!

I love you, Jude.

Love,
Mama (Mom, Mommy)

January THREE {2014!}

It's a new year and I'm still taking pictures on the third!  Blaise is always, always busy, moving, doing, getting into trouble. He can pull himself up onto the dining room chair and then climb onto the table from there. It's pretty intense. He learned how to say "NO!" this week. Which is awesome. Right? Uh. Yeah.
He's my pickiest eater yet. I never know what he will or won't eat. Except sugar. He will always eat cookies, cake, chocolate or anything else he somehow just knows is full of the good white stuff.
He's my hitter. My scratcher. People, it's not easy having the rough kid. We were at a friends' house on New Years Eve and I had to follow Blaise around to make sure he wasn't hurting the two other babies there. The kid is a bruiser, I tell ya.

Jude. Still marching to the beat of his own drum. Or the toot of the horn. Whichever. He's had a major case of the whines this last week which is driving me bonkers and yet he's still so adorable with his floppy hair and squinchy eyes and belly laugh. I love the kid, but he certainly knows how to push my buttons. He got his beloved "big rocket!" for Christmas which he and Noah have been loving playing with all week. He hates the cold and would rather be playing inside than outside in the cold although he does oblige Noah {who incidentally loves the snow!} and will bundle up and go sledding or shovel the driveway.

My first born, Noah. I love him so but we have been butting heads recently. He's so sweet and tenderhearted, though. He usually helps around the house, willingly {though often needing a reminder} cleans up the toys, even if it wasn't his mess and is slowly learning to read. We have totally slacked in helping him with "homework" this holiday and I need to get on that. It's hard finding time to hunker down and do school work over the holiday with three kids. And it's a holiday so I want to let him watch tv and play with toys and go outside and not have to always do school stuff. I'm so motivated by education, can you tell? Ha.
Anyway, we'll put in a decent effort in the eleventh hour, I'm sure.

So this is the new year and I won't make any resolutions {I've never been the type}, but I will make lists and dream dreams and have hopes and as always, I don't want this year to just breeze by. I'm making it count and living it to the fullest that I can.
Happy New Year!

Every month I take pictures of my boys on the third. You can see past months here. 

Merry Christmas from the Stricklands!

Wishing you so much love and joy and peace this Christmas and in the new year!

These verses have been stirring in my heart with hope and sometimes I feel like I might explode with the kindness and love of God. We were in dark. Lost. And then He came. The Word became Flesh. For me For you. 

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
Isaiah 9:2

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-4,14

It's because of the Word becoming Flesh, it's because of Jesus that there can be peace and joy. No matter the situation, no matter the circumstance. There is peace and joy because of Jesus. 

Merry Christmas to you!

weekend {before Christmas} links!

It's the day of our Christmas party and I'm excited and happy that I got a lot of what needed to be done ahead of time so I can enjoy the day with my family.
The boys and I built a snowman this morning and I got to Facetime with my friend Kelly and see her brand new baby girl!
About an hour before the party I'll put together the cinnamon infused hot chocolate in one slow cooker, and the wassail in the other {thanks to my friend Christina for lending me hers!}. The cookies will get put out, the candles will be lit, the music will be playing and we will wait for our first guests.

You like the way those cookies above look? They're gingersnap s'mores and they were ridiculously easy and the perfect party food as far as I'm concerned! While I'm all for making everything from scratch, when you have a lot to do and you're hosting a bunch of people, sometimes it's best for your sanity to do things the easy way. There ain't nothing wrong with easy now, is there? Check out the instructions here for Gingersnap S'mores.

Have you seen the video with Jean Claude Van Damm where he's standing between two trucks and then does the splits? If you thought that was impressive, you can be sure Chuck Norris can make that look like doing hopscotch! Merry Christmas from Chuck Norris.

I read this blog post from Jamie the Very Worst Missionary about how Christmas isn't always candy canes and presents for everyone. It can be a difficult and painful time and we need to be aware of this {if you aren't already}. Sometimes Christmas can be sucky.

My friend Beth wrote a post the other day that speaks to this balance of experiencing joy and peace in our own lives, and yet holding in our hands the pain and suffering of those around us. She quotes CS Lewis in this: To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. Check out her post here. It is both beautiful and vulnerable. 

On the same note, if you are the praying type, would you please pray for my friend Andrew? He is battling Leukemia for the second time around and his situation is not looking good. Just today, his white blood cells have jumped to a very dangerous level and there is risk for stroke and brain hemorrhage. He's married to a close friend of mine, Suzanne and they have two little boys (aged 3 and 8 months). My heart is breaking for them and we are praying our hearts out for a miracle for Andrew.

I've posted this video before {this is a typographic version}, but every year it speaks to me so strongly and I pray it encourages you and reminds you of what we wait for during Advent season and why we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

a kindness

We survived 10 days without Jamie! He got in last night and we were all super psyched to see him again. I love watching my boys love on their Daddy. Seriously. Is there anything more adorable?

And this morning it was as if my body knew Jamie was home and I woke up feeling nauseous and with a migraine. I slept for a bit and now I'm feeling a bit better, but honestly I don't have time to be sick! I want to enjoy every last second of this season and I also have a bit {okay a horseload as my friend Tamsin would say} of baking to do before our neighbourhood Christmas party on Friday.

Also my brain has gone completely mushy and I totally thought yesterday was Friday and almost wished Jude's teacher a good weekend. Goodness. And then because I was all mixed up, I forgot that we had made plans to visit our neighbour who has chickens. But being the sweet lady that she is, she came over with six lovely eggs for us! I felt so bad, but we're going to try and head over there on Thursday during the day some time and meet the chickens.

We had scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Yesterday I lost my phone and I almost had a full-on cry in the parking lot. I had Blaise with me and had thought my phone fell out of my pocket and so there I was, walking around staring at the snow and slush covered parking lot for my white and brown phone. Awesome. I must have traced and retraced my steps three or four times. And I wasn't really upset about the phone itself. I meant I would have been sad as it was expensive and I've only had it for a few months, but it was everything else! Lists, to-dos, people's numbers, pictures, videos; everything is on there! Eventually I went into a store and asked to use their phone so I could call my phone. And then mercy of all mercies, someone picked up! A man had found it and had come inches away from running it over. He was working in the pizza shop and I could pick it up there. Thank you Jesus!

I have just experienced the sweetness and love of God in so many ways this past week and it's been in the little things and some unexpected blessings. One thing I've wanted to do forever is pay for the person behind me in drive thru so while the boys and I were picking up hot chocolate for a friend we were about to see, I decided I would do it. Well the lady at the window was such a sweet heart and ended up giving me three large cookies for the boys for free {especially cool as we were able to share a cookie with our friend's son too!}! It was so sweet and a cool way to show my boys that sometimes when you show kindness to those around you, people often will show kindness to you.

So all that to say, I'm hoping that our neighbourhood party would be a kindness to the people we live near and that this would be a fun first step in building a true community of people who look out for one another and freely show kindness to each other.

If you remember, pray for our little party this Friday night between 7-9pm!

weekend links! {let it snow!}

Of course it would snow practically every day that Jamie's been away. I haven't shovelled the driveway yet. Eep. It is beautiful and it seems like it's here to stay so we'll have a lovely white Christmas!

I'm sure you've seen this video, but if you haven't please watch it! It's happy and it made me teary. Well done, WestJet!

So I wanted to share how excited I am about something big coming up: we're doing a Christmas drop in for our street next Friday! Me and the boys will hand out the invites today after school and I'm hoping we'll get to know a bunch of people on our street! We'll be serving hot drinks and Christmas goodies and I'm thinking I might serve up this awesome cinnamon infused hot chocolate! I mean, it's Joy the Baker. You can't really go wrong with Joy.  Although I might have to test it this evening. You know what they say, never try a new recipe when you have people coming over. Right?

Another great post from the Art of Simple. Three simple tips to keep the joy in entertaining and at this time of year, it's always a good idea to do a heart check.

So I have really dry hands. I think it's a combination of my skin adjusting back to this cold, dry weather and perhaps just getting older {eep!}, but I have never seen my hands look and feel so cracked and dry. It's horrible and makes me want to weep. I'm constantly moisturising but what I really need is a pair of dish washing gloves. Yes. That is what I need. So anyway, I came across this list of 7 ways to keep your hands soft this winter and I might try all of the things. What do you do to keep your skin (specifically your hands) soft and moisturised? Please tell me you have a magical cure and what it is.

And one last video. Check out The Lower Lights for some fabulous, folksy tunes. They have two Christmas albums and I can't get enough of them!

Happy Weekend!

weekend links!

Today we went with my family for the annual Christmas tree hunt and chop. It sounds so barbaric. But it's always so much fun, even if it is ridiculously cold and the baby is melting down by the end of it. And this year's tree {my parents'} is bigger and better than ever before. At least I think it is. Noah snagged a stray branch and I just finished cutting it up into smaller pieces and placing them in jars around the house. My house smells like a Christmas tree and I'm loving it!

Have you started listening to Christmas music? If not, WHY!? If so, check out this free album from Sleeping at Last on NoiseTrade {you can leave a tip if you wish}. It's a great acoustic album and if you like Sigur Ros or Bon Iver you may like this too! Plus, it's free. Just sayin'.

I have a confession. I don't like egg nog. It kinda grosses me out. But egg nog waffles? Now that I can get on board with. For reals. I do feel bad about not liking egg nog as it just seems so festive, but with these, I can partake in the merry without feeling like I'm drinking a raw egg {which is what egg nog has in it, folks. Just sayin'.}.

My friend wrote this blog post a little while ago and it went viral. If you're buying presents for a child this Christmas, please read this.

And on a materialistic note, I am absolutely in love with this shop and this shop on Etsy. Such lovely, beautiful things on Etsy. I can't go on there too often. It makes my heart want, want, want.

Okay, it's 9:45pm on Saturday so I'm going to just post this and call it a night. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

December THREE {on the fourth}

I've been dog sick for the last two days. It's kinda weird, actually because I wasn't hugely congested although that was part of it, it was mostly a brutal migraine that made me want to pass out and throw up all at the same time. So that was fun.
But I'm so over-the-moon thankful for my husband who happened to have this week off. And although shuttling around kids and cleaning wasn't his idea of how we'd spend this week together, it was exactly what I needed. Because if I'm going to get sick, let it be now when he's around! He flies to Tanzania on Friday and it's just me and the kiddos for the next 10 days.

Oh yes. These three crazies. Jude had a complete meltdown tonight when we had our friend Trevor {who we lived with for our first year in Uganda} over for dinner. He refused to come down and ended up going to bed without dinner because he just didn't want to come and see Trevor. I felt bad for both of them, but I think Jude was just tired after another long day of school. These long days really tire him out! Hopefully the early bedtime will mean a more rested {and happy} kiddo for me tomorrow.

You can see Blaise & Jude really enjoying the window stickies. That was yesterday's advent activity. Simple, yet enjoyable. Today's {paper snowflakes} just didn't happen. Oh well. Tomorrow I am excited to teach them about St. Nicholas and leave out their shoes at night and see what happens {a chocolate coin in the morning!}. There seems to be confusion about Santa around our house these days. They know he's not real but sometimes liken him to God because they can't see either. So what's the difference?
I tried explaining it to Noah tonight and talked about how if God doesn't exist then we've wasted our lives ambition and especially the last two years in Uganda. Persistence in teaching what is true and consistency with how we live our lives as parents I think is key in guiding our children and teaching them God's Word. The rest is prayer and the mercy of God.

I've been a bit emotional these days and I'm sure there are many contributing factors but I am trying to be more introspective and as I listened in to Jamie explaining communion to Jude in church this past weekend, I almost burst into tears as the sacrifice that Jesus made was revealed in a fresh way to me. Skin and bones and blood, just like my little Jude sitting on the chair next to me. And for me He died! Gratitude overwhelms my heart and the tears spill over.

I love these kids. My heart yearns for them to love Jesus and know Him as I do. Some days I feel like I'm not doing them any favours by planning fun little advent activities. I should be reading the Bible more to them. I should be seizing more opportunities to explain the gospel to them. I should pray more for them. I should pray more with them.

I am never going to be a perfect mother. I was never meant to be. Again, thankfulness overwhelms that I don't have to be perfect. Jesus already did that.

He's so good. Every time. All the time.

every month I {try to} take pictures of my boys on the third. see past months here. 

weekend links! {Canadian version 1.0}

Weekend links are back, folks!

Blaise's hat / Joe Fresh {bought in store}

The tree is up, the candles are burning, some presents are even wrapped! I have not started any Christmas baking but in an attempt to curb my sugar intake, I'll only be baking for specific events and not to stock up and just have lying around our house. But I'll for sure be making the ever-favourited Cheese Stars. Other than that, I'm not too sure. Definitely some sort of shortbread, possibly a Vanilla Bean Shortbread since I still have tons of vanilla beans from Uganda. I'm on a charcuterie/cheese platter kick right now so it'll be lots of lovely cheeses and fruit and yummy crackers {like these} and meats that I'll be bringing/putting out for different events.

Advent envelopes are assembled and our first activity on Sunday will be to make bird feeders. We have this lovely bush in our backyard that tons of tiny little birds love to gather and sit upon so I'm hoping it'll be the perfect addition and a nice treat for those sweet little guys. There are also three squirrels {two black and one grey/brown} and a chipmunk that like to terrorize each other and the neighbourhood so I'm kinda looking forward to seeing what they'll do with the feeders. So anyway, I dug up an old Weekend Link from last year because I had remembered posting this sweet tutorial on making your own bird seed hanging. We'll be following from this one and possibly making this one too. Stay tuned for pictures on the outcome!

Finding your way through the commercialism and loud materialism during the Christmas season is not easy or pretty. I know in my own heart I yearn for simplicity and a sweet, simple focus and anticipation of the return of Jesus and the celebration of His birth. And yet I am a walking contradiction because my heart also longs for all the pretty things in all the stores, sparkling and gold and white and oh! How I want it all. And so my friend Kelly posted this exact same thing on being torn between the two things this season and how ultimately we want Jesus and we want our lives to reflect Him. I also found this post helpful with 5 things we can choose to do with our families during Advent to help us eagerly anticipate Jesus' birth.

My friend Barb blogs about the lost art of letter writing and all things relating to it. {You can check out her blog here.} This relates in that I bought a little something special and exciting - a personalized return address stamp for all our Christmas cards {and other letters and cards we send throughout the year}. It's lovely and it makes me happy. You can check out tons of designs on Etsy but the one I bought was this one. And it's on sale today!

Happy first weekend of Advent, everyone!

things i'm loving, lately...

The smell of Christmas. I've been simmering a pot on my stove and it's making the whole house smell delightful! 

All you need is:

1 orange, quartered

a handful of cranberries

a few cinnamon sticks

a tablespoon of whole cloves

Put all the ingredients in a pot, fill it with water so everything is submerged and then simmer and enjoy the glorious smells wafting through your house.

Songza Christmas music mixes. My current favourite is Lauren Conrad's Holiday Soiree. Check it.

White Christmas lights on our tree and around our big bay window. So magical.

Bath & Body Works Candy Cane Bliss hand soap. It's in our powder room and my boys can't get enough of it. They'll wash their hands {bonus!} and come out waving their hands in everyone's faces saying, "Anyone wanna smell mint!??!" But seriously. Next step is to buy a candle in the scent because it's amazing.

My new advent envelope artwork by Naptime Diaries. So gorgeous and now I don't have to decorate new envelopes each year. 

Now to figure out the activities I'll be doing. I still have a week, right?

Having people over in our house. Okay so I've loved that for a long time, but it's nice now that we're more settled to have the space to accommodate them all! We had both our families over after the Guelph Santa Claus parade last weekend and with 10 adults and 3 kiddos it was a full house and I loved every minute of it! 

Can you believe my boy are the only kids on both sides? So far! I'm loving the fact that I'm going to be an Auntie come May! My sister is pregnant and I am thrilled at the prospect of being an Aunt for the first time! 

I'm attempting to do an Advent devotional this December and I'm using this free one from Desiring God. 

So technically I haven't started yet, {although I have read the introduction} but I am looking forward to taking time each day to focus and still my heart in preparation for the celebration of Jesus' birth. I'm loving that I get this privilege of talking to and hearing from the Creator of the Universe who came to Earth as a humble, helpless baby for me and you. Amazing.

And I'm loving that my boys are so ecstatic about the snow. Noah proclaimed yesterday as the snow fell and stayed on the ground, "This is the best day ever!". They want to go outside and play every day and I am definitely loving the fact that we have a built in sledding hill in our backyard. Yet another reason God picked this house for us. 

I am loving spending time with friends and family. Being in their homes and having them in mine is such a lovely blessing and I am soaking it all up. 

What are you loving, lately?

a 14 month breastfeeding journey

Blaise has been such a ham these days. It's such a fun {but ridiculously busy} age. He's dropped his morning nap and has started to self-wean from the breast. I'm sad, but also happy about how it seems to be going. I've just sorta let it be whatever it is and the other night he rejected his bedtime nursing so I just cuddled him for a minute and then put him in his crib and left.

Even though he's still not sleeping through the night {so far that's only ever happened once} at least he goes to sleep super easy and will go down for others too.

Last week Jamie and I went out with a bunch of friends to a concert in Hamilton. It was the longest I've left Blaise during the evening. If I'm gone in the day, I'm usually back to put him down for the night. But we left at 4pm and my Mom single handedly fed the boys and put them all down for the night. Even Blaise!

So...weaning. We'll see how it all goes. I'm happy it's lasted this long as he's likely my last biological child and so there's that sentimental part of me that is soaking up every last minute nurturing him from my body {I'm still amazed by this} and wondering when it will be my last time to breastfeed him.

It does make sense that he is self-weaning though, because in the last month and a bit his appetite has increased dramatically. It's like he realized how awesome solid food is and he just can't get enough of it. He still is picky {I would say}, and he definitely has his Mama's sweet tooth, but he eats a lot now. I believe this is the part where we enter the whole "three boys are going to eat us out of house and home" part of life.

So that's my journey so far. It's been incredibly liberating and empowering to be able to breastfeed all three of my boys and to get to the point where I don't feel the need to "cover myself" in public while breastfeeding. I'm so thankful for all the bloggers and friends and online resources I had access to that encouraged me. Oh and living in Uganda. Cuz that was awesome.

Happy 14 months to my baby!

November THREE

Nobody sits still in this house any more. Not even me. Only I wish I could.
But I digress. Needless to say, life is BUSY!

Blaise wants whatever we have. Gone are the days of sneaking sweets or other food in front of him {and away from the big boys}. He knows. And he wants it. Whatever "it" happens to be. Today it was Jamie's Pepsi and the old camera the boys were playing with. And he knows when he's touching something he shouldn't. The other day I had a box of tampons sitting at the top of the stairs waiting to be put away. {Just add it to the list, please.} Well I heard him crawling up the stairs and so I went up after him. He heard me, scampered up as fast as he could, headed for the box of tampons, grabbed a fist full and ran down the hallway as fast as he could move those chubby little legs. I laughed so hard. Oh yes. It's on the blog. And you will be so grossed out one day, mister.
Also? I discovered the bottoms of his feet are super ticklish. It's really cute.

I don't know where he's getting it from, but Noah's Mister Pose these days. Seriously! He's got great poses whenever I've held up my camera. {Check out this post from Halloween for another awesome pose he did with Jude in their costumes. I love the hand on the hip and the other arm around Jude!}
He's slowly starting to sound out words and gain the confidence he needs to sound out words he doesn't know or recognize. He's been sounding out words and writing them in school assignments and it's cute to try and read what he's written.

Jude is still the family comedian and a full-time resident of Planet Jude. Today while I was out grocery shopping after church, Jamie sent me a text message with a picture of Jude taking a nap in his closet. Apparently it was his idea and Jamie helped him get set up with his pillow and blanket. Not that I'm surprised.

These boys. I've not been the most patient Mama {or wife} lately. I continue to be aware more than ever of my shortcomings and lackings and am learning to lean heavily upon Jesus to be my all so I can love my family better.

There is so much to be thankful for. The most recent and exciting? I'm going to be an Auntie! My sister is due with her first baby in May and I am so excited!
So there is much. I feel like I should have figured out life here by now. But I haven't. Slowly. And with much grace and humility. I'll get there. I hope.

Every month I {try to} take pictures of my three boys. Check out past months' here.

friends and birthdays and Halloween {o my!}

Last week worlds collided. Our best friends from Uganda came to visit us from New Jersey! The Hallahans {you can read about our times in Uganda here and here or you can check out Kelly's blog here} were doing a road trip across America and stopped in to visit with us for a few days. It was awesome and such a gift. 

Kelly and I. I was super pumped to be able to see her and her baby bump {a girl!}.

Happy {loud} times with these boys reunited. 

It was great to catch up and chat with friends who understand what life is like in North America but also what life is like in Uganda. That is a precious gift to me that I honestly didn't think would happen. So glad they came!

Their visit was perfectly timed with Noah's birthday {and party} so after school on Noah's birthday we had his party which included a couple friends from school, the Hallahan boys, a friend from church and Jude. Of course. 

Noah wanted to have a Star Wars Angry Birds party and I {of course} waited until pretty much the last minute until calling in a {HUGE} favour from my Mom to bust out the cake skills and make one for Noah. 

Right? I mean, mind = blown. 

So that was awesome. And we played Star Wars Angry Birds bingo and one of Noah's friends kept winning but he had THE BEST declaration of bingo I think I've ever heard which made me laugh every time so it was all good.

And then yesterday was Halloween! 

We totally rocked the group theme costume.

These crazy kids. Such troopers and highly motivated by candy. Seriously. They walked around the neighbourhood with no complaints in the wind and rain and cold. For candy. Reminds me of this:

"EVERYONE WE KNOW IS JUST GIVING OUT CANDY!?!?" Love it.

Noah was Clone Commander Rex {from Star Wars The Clone Wars}, Jude was Darth Vader and Blaise was an Ewok. Cute, eh? {I'm biased, I know.}

And then my family came over for dinner to celebrate my sister's graduation ceremony from University. It was such a happy night and I love my house being full of noise and love and laughter. Exactly what I had pictured in our living room {which is coming along! Hardwood laminate floors and white walls. No art or baseboards but it's getting there.}. Good food. Lots of laughter and love. Can't go wrong there.

Happy Weekend to you! I am trying to keep up with my blogging. Eventually I'll figure out a way to stay up to date here while also staying present in the real world. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Noah's 6th

Dear Noah,

You are 6 years old. Six! You are funny and smart and tender-hearted and likeable and curious and feisty and I love you more than I really could ever express.

This year has not been easy but it's been oh-so-amazing. I've watched you conquer fears, experience transition, become a big brother for the second time, move back to Canada and start school for the first time. You're learning to read and do math. You're making friends and it does my Mama-heart so good to hear friends calling after you. You are loved and it seems obvious to me why. You are kind-hearted. You care for others and that draws people to you.

You like being silly. Whether it's having a dance party or making up jokes, you love it. You can dance with the best of them and both your brothers look to you for the best moves.

And as for being a big brother - you are totally rocking that role. Seriously, kiddo. You are such a fantastic big brother. I always wanted a big brother and you're exactly the kind I would have wanted. You are funny and sweet and helpful and loving. You selflessly give up the toy or food or position you wanted for Jude or Blaise. You're not perfect and you definitely have the skill of knowing just the right buttons to push on Jude {and in a quiet, subtle way a-la-classic-eldest-child} but I have seen you time and time again give up what you wanted - whether it's out of the kindness of your heart or because you really don't want to have to deal with Jude throwing a tantrum, you still do it.

And I love you for that.

You and I have butt heads on more than one occasion. You are strong. And stubborn. You can thank me for that some day.

But I trust and pray that your strength will not blind you to your need for Jesus. That you aren't meant to struggle through this life on your own strength, but that Jesus came for you. To walk with you through this life. That you need him and that He loves you so incredibly much. He made you, He cares for you and He's going to use you. You just have to let him.

I am so proud and honoured and blessed to be your Mama. You have taught me more in these last 6 years than I could have ever imagined and I can't wait to see where the next 6 years take us both!

I love you,
Mama

october THREE

It's still the third! I missed last month. But I'm getting my blog groove back {I think}.

These boys...

I love them so. This morning was a weird one. Jude slept 'til 8. I felt groggy the whole day. And me, Blaise and Jude stayed in our pajamas until we had to go pick up Noah from school {since he takes the bus to school now!}.

Jude and Blaise are starting to "play" together on the days that Jude is at home. Sometimes. When Jude's not totally mauling the little guy. But Blaise is starting to be able to hold his own with Jude. Nothing is off limits. Oh they've got a bright future, they do.

Blaise still lights up when he sees Noah first thing in the morning and when we pick him up from school. It's really sweet.
And they all really have a lot of fun together. When they're not fighting with each other. Such is life when you only have brothers.

My three boys. They are full of life and love and joy and crazy and sass and I wouldn't trade them for any other kids in the world!

Every month I {try} to take pictures of my boys. View past months here.