My baby is a whole year.

 I find it fascinating to see the changes that happen during the first year of life. From this...

to this...

 to this gorgeous little man.

From baby to big boy, in the blink of an eye.

 

 Dearest Eli,

You are an absolute ray of sunshine. You are so amazing. You are calm and laid back, yet spunky and busy, all the time. I'm getting glimpses of how your mind works, and I'm pretty sure you are wired like your daddy. You are constantly trying to fit things together and take things apart. You light up when you see him and clap whenever he comes near. You really don't like toys, but would rather play with remotes, screwdrivers, pots and pans, shoes... pretty much anything that isn't a toy.

You are adored by your siblings. Chelsea can't get enough of you - she's always hugging and kissing and loving on you. When you cry, she cries. It's endearing and annoying all rolled into one big tear fest.

Gavin tolerates you, but honestly, he's a little afraid of you. Every time you get near him, you are pulling his hair or tugging at his shirt. I can't wait to see what kind of trouble you boys get into!

 

At one, you are napping for an hour every morning and two every afternoon. You go to sleep at 7 each night, only to wake at 3:00. Daddy goes in and gives you a cup of milk, then you sleep until 6:30. You still nurse first thing in the morning. You would nurse 64x a day if I let you. You are a good eater, providing you can feed yourself. You aren't a fan of being spoon fed.  

 

You started walking a few weeks ago. You went from doing your orangutan-crawl to chasing your brother in one day. You are so fast and so busy. You've also mastered climbing stairs and know not to come down. You will stand at the top of the stairs and call loudly until one of us come to elevator you down.

 

I love you so much. I could snuggle you all day long. Lately, I have this privilege, as you are very much a mama's boy right now. I really am struggling to get anything done, because I have to carry you with me all the time. Teething is awful and you are clingy. However, you are growing so fast that I cherish these times. Soon I will have to go back to work, and I am really struggling with the thought of leaving you all morning. You will be in good hands though.

 

Hey Eli? You pretty much rock. Thanks for being you and for making our family complete. Love you, Little Man!

 





Camping 2013

 We booked a 5 day camping trip this year to Minnedosa. We met my parents there and were visited by an aunt, uncle, cousins and my brother and sister. There was lots of action going on.

Let me just say that I really like camping, which with all my princess-like tendencies, some people may find surprising. I love all the family time and the relaxed sitting around the fire. Well, let me tell you, camping with a one year old is not relaxing. This guy was constantly motoring around the campsite, with a definite preference to the fire pit. I felt like 80% of our weekend was taking turns standing in front of the fire saying, "No Eli" over and over again.

We were lucky enough that my parents had the older two kids sleeping in their camper. This way when Eli woke up a gazillion times during the night, the other two would be able to stay sleeping. I might be slightly exaggerating when I say a gazillion, but at 5:14am, it sure didn't feel like an exaggeration.

 Eli was up very early every morning, and rather than try to force him to go back to sleep, I chose to get up and take him for a walk around the campground and near by cottages. Somehow, he got the better end of this deal - breakfast on the go, cuddly blanket, new sights to see, and alone time with mama.



We really loved the campground and will definitely go back (you know, next year when Eli is a little more relaxed!) There was a beach very close to our campsite and although it wasn't super hot, the kids had fun.

 

Chris always has a good time searching for treasures. Usually it's just coins, pull tabs and bottle caps, but this time he did find a buried hotwheels car that Gavin was super excited to find!

Chelsea and Gavin got to go tubing on the lake behind Grandpa's boat, which was a hit for them. They both enjoyed it! Chris and I did leave the kids with family so that we could do some tubing too. Somehow I managed to really injure myself! I guess crazy watersports at 32 isn't as fun as when you are 16!

Oh, Eli just woke up from his nap so I'll quickly post a few more pictures.

  Oh and a funny story about this girl that gave us all a good chuckle over the weekend.

Our campsite was right next to a playpark that had some old school monkey bars and swings. It also had an old horse toy, very similar to this one.

Well, Chelsea was playing happily and riding that merry little horse, until somehow her hands slipped and she did a face plant into the horse's head and split open the skin above her eyebrow. Being a head wound, there was lots of blood and we were all gathered around, trying to decide if we should go to the hospital and get stitches or if it would be fine. Chelsea was still screaming and crying loudly and once we got her settled down, she declares in an angry voice, "I'm never going to ride that BUCKING horse again!"

We all just burst out laughing. One change of letter in that phrase would have brought on very different results!

Eli is One!

This kid is seriously amazing. He is such perfect fit into our family. I can't believe he's already one! Sometimes I struggle because with him being the baby of three kids, his life is pretty busy! I feel like I haven't had the chance to fully appreciate him as I did with Chelsea when she was an only child. Remember the days of just laying around, cuddling or spending all that one-on-one time? Yeah, Eli doesn't get a lot of that! Good thing he's pretty laid back!

Eli got a water table from us for his birthday. When his older brother moves over enough so Eli can play, he really enjoys it! ;)

We all know I adore throwing crazy parties. We had a circus theme for Eli's birthday, because it really is a three ring circus around here most days! The party was kept really small but of course, I went slightly overboard for his birthday cake, but hey! He's only 1 once!

My favourite part is the hand painted name plate.

Of course, with a circus theme, we did have lots of fun food as well. These little popcorn bags were actually chocolate cupcakes with mini marshmallows twisted into popcorn. They were so cute!

I found giant lollipops at Dollar Tree, so I made cute little labels and they served as party favours.

Ah yes, what is a circus without cotton candy? I purchased some at Dollarama, but I do not recommend you put it on sticks ahead of time. The moisture evaporates quickly and you are left with dark coloured clumps of hard sugar on sticks. Not appealing.

More circus fun. Pinwheels, Pink Elephant candy, candy sticks, jelly beans and peanuts!

Oh and caramel apple slices! I opted for slices, rather than whole apples because who really eats a whole apple. Although it was a good idea in theory, the caramel really didn't stick well on the slices. The juice from the apple made the caramel all watery after a few hours. But they tasted good!

There was a little smash cake as well. I really didn't love the design, but Chelsea and Gavin helped me make it, so it's made with lots of love! Before and after!

Eli seeing his cake for the first time. He was ready to dig in!

Mmmm cake!

I'll end off with these gorgeous images from tlp photography. There will be a one year post on this little man soon!

Blissful summer

 Please understand that I don't mean to ignore this blog. I love writing and sharing our lives with you. However I've realized it's important to live our lives, too. As much as I love photos, I'm trying to put down the camera and just soak in the moment. And soaking, we are. I love summer and all the busy-ness that comes with it.

 

We've done swimming lessons - Gavin passed Crocodile (really? This is a swimming lesson level? Crocodile? What ever happened to the colour levels?) and Chelsea passed level 2. My kids are fish!

 I enjoy sitting on the deck, sipping iced coffee, listening to my two older kids play in the pool.

I could lay and soak up the sunshine, every single day. My happy place this summer is simply my back yard, staring up at the puffy clouds.

 I am ashamed to admit that I'm posting Canada Day pictures on July 22. But, here they are! This year, we went right when the street festival started. We had also painted Chelsea's face ahead of time, to avoid waiting in a long line.

 Okay, so I'm going to stop posting pictures of my kids to post this picture. I want it. I don't even know what it is. All I know is it's adorable. Adorable. Seriously, look at that face. I want to snuggle it.

 And back to cute pictures of my kids. This boy is also adorable. It was so so hot on Canada Day, as usual, but he did great!

And, there you have it. Canada Day and summer highlights! I'll try to keep the posts coming, but honestly, the sunshine and clouds call my name louder than the computer does!