Welcome Baby Frankie

I'm home with a pukey Cedric today so have a little unexpected blogging time in between laundry and Konmari'ing our dressers.

It doesn't get much more glamorous than that folks.

Our dear friends added a fourth to their family in June.

And she is a doll.

We had a situation with a proud Auntie here from England for a short time period so ended up throwing together this party in 8 short days.

Thank goodness the kids were in yoga camp.

 In an hour at Fabricland I acquired most of the decorations.

These fabric covered balloons hung with fishing line added some whimsy to our plum tree.

 Never underestimate the power of ripped fabric strips and twine.

I also gave my Gram's tea cart a real workout as the drink station.

We kept it simple with some pink lemonade punch and lemon water.

I can take credit for about 10% of the food.

My co-host Grandma Shirley was amazing at putting this spread together.

I did, however, bake that cake for the sole purpose of using that Hello World cake topper from Confetti & Sparkle Shop.

 Ribbon and fabric served as drink identifiers but also ended up looking very sweet.

 I have no pictures of Mama and Mom but found this one of Prince Charlie in his shower throne.

 We had a second food table with quick grab kids food which gave me an excuse to hang these lace curtains that I purged from the cabin.

 You always need bike parking right?

Instead of a guest book we had everyone write a message on a strip of fabric (I had ironed a small piece of fusible interfacing on each for this purpose).  

Afterwards we tied them all on a stick and the resulting art piece is now displayed over Frankie's crib.

The guest of honour was the sweetest little thing through the whole party.

And has been ever since.

Life Update

I have so much to say about these two amazing creatures.

Of course when I finally have a minute to write, much of it has left my head.

Worth a try though so here we go.

 One thing I will never forget is this conversation.

Me: {Reading an article about a woman who is dying of cancer and has two young children with tears streaming down my face.}

Fiona: "You ok Mommy?"

Me: "You know Mommy loves you guys so much right?"

Fiona: "We know Mommy."

Me: " And you know that Mommy would do anything for you and your brother right?"

Fiona:"Yep."

Me: "If there was anything I could do that would make your lives better I would do it, ok?"

Fiona: {Pause} "You're doing it Mommy."

 As we prepare ourselves Fiona for kindergarten I'm noticing some pretty big bravery.

The babe that I wasn't sure would be ready I now have no doubts about.

Cedric on the other hand is a huge personality contained in a tiny {yes still} body.

He has an obsession with underwear and has been known to change into a pair of his playdate host's undies from time to time.

He loves singing along to Annie.

He calls all cranes "Cranky" from Thomas the Train.

As in "Whoa Mommy look at that big Cranky!"

He will often approach me and say "Twoo {true} wuv's {love's} kiss" and plant a big smooch.

Him and Bunbuns are still semi-attached and can usually be found nose to nose.

He has a wicked sweet tooth.

He has also had two black teeth from his many falls.  

Did you know teeth can fade back to white? You do now.

His nicknames are Ced, Cedced, Mr. Ced, Ceds and Super Dave.

The latter is probably the most fitting.

The lake has given us some great moments as always.

Though we wish there could be more of them.

It seems wrong that the summer is half gone.

 We still have the cabin listed as we're hoping to become lake neighbours with our besties.

This summer we watched them welcome another member to their family {more on that later, no promises on a timeline}.

Our desire to share those lake memories became even more apparent.

Our Alberta prairie day trips to see them will have to do the trick for now.

And they are.

Last Weekend in Pictures {and some words, but mostly pictures}

Dress rehearsal for The School of Alberta Ballet Edmonton Studios.

 Pride parade with some of my favourite people including this one in the womb (can't wait to meet this one Kerry).

 We paraded down Whyte Ave into the heart of Old Strathcona.

I've always loved Pride but pride in our neighbourhood was the icing on that cake.

 Please keep these rainbow cross walks Edmonton, they're too good.

{If you think so too you should sign this petition.}

Immediately after this pic was taken we raced home and got these two off on a road trip with the grandparents.

After that we had beers with friends then dinner with friends then more beers with friends.

And even after all those beers we woke up for a great brunch date at Bluechair Cafe.

If you live in Edmonton and haven't been it's a must.

The weekend delivered the perfect balance of time to rediscover why we like each other so much and time to miss the kids.

And of course be reminded why we like them so much.

"Fiona's Five" a Fairy Fête

It's happened.

I have a five year old.

And she's fabulous.

But you already knew that.

Fiona decided on a fairy theme after a heart to heart discussion about too much of a good thing.

We still love you Frozen but I just can't anymore.

I may have added a little "woodland" to the fairy mostly so I could grab 90% of the decorations on a cabin nature walk.

Some ripped fabric added some whimsy to this branch.

This ended up being one of my favourite decorations and has gained a permanent spot in Fiona's room.

 These pre-bud willows will also take up permanent residence in our home.

{Sans pink flowers.}

 Fiona couldn't even handle this cake garland.

As I was making it she showered me with positive reinforcement.

We did flower crowns and woodland elf hats.

I found this foam covered gardening wire at Dollarama and wrapped it around itself to create places to stick flowers.

The flowers and ribbon were also all Dollarama.

After the girls were done decorating I went over the ends with flower tape to prevent my-flower-crown-is-falling-apart meltdowns and secure the sharp wire bits.

They all looked precious and had fun making them but I may have enjoyed it even more.

This craft will have to make a comeback.

 Flower garlands...

 And mossy wood hanging from the light fixture.

Obviously.

 Our picture frames were filled with pink and purple fairies.

I also changed up the chalkboard but neglected to photograph that with the real camera.

I refer you to Instagram if you just can't handle not seeing it.

 Make a wish baby.

 There are the little hats I mentioned before.

They took approximately 1 minute each to sew on the machine with little pre-cut felt pieces.

 As always we had so much fun decorating and preparing but our fabulous friends make the magic.

Thanks to all who celebrated with us.

Cedric is 3! {And Has Been for Almost a Month}

When I asked Cedric what type of birthday he would like he gave his answer without a hint of doubt.

"Mota-cyco!"

Motorcyles that is, for those who don't speak Cedric.

After some thought we expanded a little to motorcycle racing.

Mostly so I could fill the house with these sweet banners.

He didn't mind, of course.  As long as something was "vrooming" he would be happy.

Our new chalkboard wall got it's first workout.

A calligrapher I am not, but I had some fun with it.

This balloon and streamer combo is always a hit with the kids.

And who needs party games when you have toy cars and tracks.

I have been rotating the prints in these frames with free online printables to suit the occasion.

Freepik.com had plenty of choices.

The cake needed to be motorcycle themed of course and after scrapping many a Pinterest idea I copied this graphic from one of the birthday boy's old onesies.

We had a great turnout of family, friends and neighbourhood kids and Ced definitely felt the love.

Thanks to everyone who celebrated {on that day or any other} our boy turning 3!

Fiona the Fabricator

Let's call it story-telling.

Sounds much nicer than what I was originally calling this phase.

Which was more along the lines of blazing trousers.

Fine line there, right?

I have heard other moms talk of how their littles lie so was expecting a few falsehoods.

Nothing really prepared me for what we are now experiencing though.

I mean, these are no ordinary lies.

She's not just "no I didn't write on Cedric with Sharpie."

Or all "I didn't mean to violently thrust my leg into Cedric's path as he ran by."

Oh, I've heard those too but what I wasn't expecting were the convoluted tales this girl can weave.

For example:

Me: Feefs, how was gymnastics.

Fiona: Good.

Me: What did you do?

Fiona: Well...<pause>...we went to the roof {it was December}, to the roof trampoline, then it opened and we went under it and there was a pool so we went swimming!

Me: Uhhhhhh...

Fiona: Really Mommy, really, I'm not even lying.

Me: That's nice babe but we didn't bring your bathing suit.

Fiona: Oh...yah...they have some here so I got one and went swimming, really Mommy, really.

You get the idea.

But wait, that's only the beginning.

I don't mind an active imagination aimed at me but it's expanded beyond our household.

As I picked Fiona up from a playdate I was asked if I had a friend who was incarcerated.

Or had we maybe had a break in at our house?

A week ago I arrived to a birthday party that Fiona had been at for a matter of 5 minutes.

I said hello to the birthday girl's Nana who commented how nice it was that Fiona was learning volleyball.

Me: <sigh> She isn't.

Apparently she was boasting how she was learning "bolleyball" from someone who knows everything about "bolleyball".

But friends aren't the only culprits you know.

I was asked by one of her teachers if she has an older sister.

She had been raving about "Leasha" all day.

The cherry on top however was how my Mom was greeted at the school last week after returning from a 2 week vacation.

It was something along the lines of "Oh, thank goodness! Fiona said you had passed away! I'm so glad to see you!".

So, needless to say, we've opened up a conversation about what type of story is appropriate.

Having said that I'm not pushing it and hoping that this too shall pass.

It always does right?

RIGHT? 

Our 2014 Christmas Gift

Now that it is well after Christmas I feel safe in sharing our family Christmas gift.

I mean, it's January 16th, were you all aware?

I feel like I was just introduced to January and she's halfway out the door. 

We decided to do a calendar for our family this year.

I have been enjoying having a DSLR so much and, even though I'm far from a pro, felt like sharing some of my favourite shots from the year.

Dusseldorf and Amsterdam were a huge highlight so kicked off the first two months.

Yes I am aware that the door this is hanging on is "distressed" and has a mystery splatter from a recent food incident on the right hand side.

Just keeping it real you know.

And who am I kidding, that splatter is probably not recent at all and may or may not still be there.

Moving on.

The birthday kids were featured for the two months following.

Just a handsome boy in a bow tie.

And a beauty in the boat.

Post ice cream at the general store.

Raspberry picking.

Apple picking with Charlie.

Elsa and the Lion.

Down by the creek.

And finally, Christmas jammies.

I created these on the Apple.

I searched many websites and kept coming back to Apple's simple style and large size.

They were amazing quality, a decent price and were delivered within a week of ordering.

We have heard rave reviews from all of the family which I'm sure has nothing to do with the super cute subjects.