Happy 7th Birthday, Nya!

My Nya Bear is now seven years old and is such a sweetheart full of energy. She does have a touch of attitude but I would hope so because it's important to me that she can stand up for herself!

Here are some photos we took and some things that she said when I interviewed her.

Five Important Lessons I Have Learned in My 40 Years

Here I sit wanting to make an impactful "What I know about life at 40" kind of post but I'm hesitant. Why? I look at what I wrote ten years ago and shudder at what I thought was wisdom. I was so naive and life, parenting and marriage have kept me humble and have been great teachers over the past ten years. To spin this positively, I could say that at 40 I know that the next ten years should be filled with growth and more wisdom which is a gift as I then approach 50.

What are some of the major lessons I've learned in 40 years of life?

Weekend in Whistler

My 40th birthday is in August and my sisters and I were trying to figure out the perfect getaway. Well, you can never go wrong with Whistler! It's less than three hours away and offers something for everyone. I had three priorities for this trip (other than not parenting anyone): Peak Suspension Bridge, hiking Train Wreck Trail and eating good food. 

Nya Turns Six

Our "baby" is now six years old. I am so thankful for her and the huge dose of sweetness she brings to our family. She can keep up with her brothers on almost any hike and is eager to do whatever the boys are (except riding without training wheels–we'll get there). She loves all things pink, purple and sparkly and dreams of wearing makeup one day. She doesn't want to get married and would like to live with us forever. She doesn't want to have children (due to the labour/delivery part) but I have a feeling that may change over the years. 

What I've Learned Over the Years

Yeehaw! It's my 39th birthday today. What does that mean to me? First, it makes me think of my mom. Anyone else really feel that connection on their big day? I was not the easiest to birth but she did go on to have four more. Thanks, mom. 

In some ways I still feel 26 where I think I'm young and hip (do people say "hip"?) and in other ways I'm definitely feeling my age (turn down that TV so I can think, but wait, turn it up so I can actually hear it).  I'm looking forward to the big 4-0 next year and feel that 40 isn't actually as old as I always pictured it–I feel good! 

Life has not gone as I expected; it's even more complex and meaningful than I imagined. It has been a great learning journey and I'm thankful for the knowledge that I have – not the academic information which has sort of faded and gotten jumbled, but all that I have learned about life and family and love.  For this birthday post, I would like to share some things that I would tell my 20-year-old self. Well, I wouldn't really tell myself half of these things ahead of time because I do learn best through experience but oh do I wish I knew #3 and #23.

Nya Turns Five

Today our youngest turned five years old. I often forget the journey of how Nya came to be and took some time to reflect on it today. After our second son Koen was born, I became very sick with Graves' Disease. It was brought on by a combination of factors but one of them being post partum hormones; after taking over a year to get into remission I knew I did not want to go through that again. When Koen turned one we started the process of adoption. We chose an agency close to home for a local adoption and went through the entire process (homestudy, education classes, applications, references etc) and waited for our profile to be looked at and chosen. After one year of being active on the list our agency shut down. At this point we decided to try for a biological child. I got pregnant immediately (which was suprising since it took a year for Koen) and we were so excited! However, I had a miscarriage which was difficult emotionally and physically. I knew I was not alone as there are so many women who have experienced them and was thankful to connect with several women when I needed it most. Just two months later we were pregnant again with this precious girl. 

Nya's Third Birthday Photos

Our beautiful Nya Bear is now three years old.  It's a very surreal feeling as she is our youngest and it seems like it was not that long ago that she was born.  She is sweet and cuddly yet fiesty and strong.  She loves to do whatever her brothers are doing, and if they bother her, you'll hear her scream.  She loves her tickle time with daddy and to be held by mommy.  We all think she is the cutest little thing at only 30 lbs and are so thankful to have her in our lives.  Miss Nya, we love you!

Every year we take photos of our kids around their birthdays.  Photographs of my family are very important to me and I don't think I've ever regretted putting in the effort to get some beautiful keepsakes.

Here are 5 tips for taking photos of your young child:

1.  Choose a location that they will enjoy!  Nya's favourite colour is purple.  Purple flowers and a purple pram to push around? Perfect.

2.  Take photos during the golden hour which is an hour before sunset.  You don't want bright sun in their eyes and as the sun sets it makes everything feel warmer.  Try to have the sun behind them for some back lighting.

3.  Have the child interacting with someone or something.  She stood in the field for about 3 minutes before getting bored.  Thankfully I was prepared to be in some photos with her.  She also loved pushing the pram down the path.

4. Make sure they are comfortable with what they are wearing.  I offered her several choices for what to wear in her hair so she felt some control over it.  She helped to choose her shoes too.  She wanted a different, more colourful, dress for her photos so I took some pictures of her in that dress at a different time.

5. Treats.  After the photos were taken, we went home and had ice cream to celebrate.

Isn't she the sweetest?

Nya Bear, we are all so thankful for you.  Your giggles warm our hearts and your dimples melt us.  We appreciate your enthusiasm and dramatic expressions.   Thank you for your cuddles and always making sure to hold my hand with our fingers intertwined.  We love you so much.

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Kai & Koen.

Happy Birthday Koen

Today we celebrated Koen's birthday as a family.  Six years ago we welcomed this 9 lb 7 oz baby (10 days early) via C-section.  He adds such a wonderful dose of goofiness to our family.  I will add more to that once I take his six year old photos.  

Our family has been sick for weeks.  Almost 3 weeks now.  I was nervous because Koen had a fever yesterday but today he seemed fine.  They started with swimming lessons and they both passed!  Kai is now in Swim Kids 4 and Koen in Swim Kids 2. 

Koen's gift from us was a table top Foosball game and a game that he could choose to download on his Leap Pad.

I had won passes to Science World a couple of months ago and so we used them today.  Nya wasn't 100% so she stayed on the Ergo on my back for most of it.  The boys LOVE Science World.

{How long is your intestine?}

{Rotating climbing wall}

{Seaweed snack break}

{Kisses from Koen under the mistletoe}

{Bernoulli Basketball, pretty cool, right?!}

Koen weighs almost as much as a Giant Pacific Octopus (he's 50 lbs).  Our entire family weighs as much as a tiger, in case you were wondering.

The hard part about a birthday on January 2nd is everyone is sugared and partied out.  I threw this cake together yesterday so pretend it's decorated nicely.  Yes, the candles are `3' plus 3 individual ones.  And yes, my 6 year old son requested a `Hello Kitty' cake.  When his swimming teacher asked him if he loved Superheroes, he said `no' (she wanted him to swim like one).  She asked what he did like.  He said `Stuffies'.  She told him to swim like a Stuffy :)

We ended the day with the Birthday Bumps and I wish I wasn't holding his legs so that I could've gotten a picture of his face. Pure joy.  

We love our Koen.  He is our sensitive, goofy, energetic, and creative cuddle buddy.

Happy birthday, Koey.  We love you.

Love,
Louise/Mom

Kai's Amazing Race Birthday

For Kai's 8th birthday, he really wanted an Amazing Race themed one.  Fortunately the weather was decent so we could have it at a local park!  

Gary made the clue box using leftover wood at our house and duct tape!  We divided the kids into two teams of four.  It was easy for us to manage this on our own.  If we had more helpers, and more friends,  I think three or four teams would be more fun.

Kai does not love pickled asparagus.  Koen does.

This was a road block where they could choose to throw the frisbee in the bin or shoot the puck from center court into the net.  They were given the frisbees to take home and Kai wrote a little note in each one.  Koen needs to work on his form.

Okay, so we're not exactly sure how many freckles Kai has but I said 367 :)  It was interesting the ways that the kids worked.  One team had each member memorize two things, the other had each person try to memorize them all.

Checking in with Gary to see if they had the right answers.

The next challenge was to either search for a matching pair of hidden animals in the playground or to beat Gary in a game of `Guess Who'.  Both teams chose to `Search It'.  Searching for something was a good activity and if we did this again, we'd add more searching stations.

Everyone had a chance to read the clues.  This was a great age for this kind of party because they can all read it themselves.

They had to choose one `Ninja Warrior' from each team.  Kai and Ani were selected.

There was a football throwing challenge with led this team first to the mat!  The second team was just a minute behind.

Nya and her little cousins just played on the playground the whole time. Thanks, Maria!

We brought our barbeque and had hot dogs.

Kai opened his presents.  Yes, he loves collecting gum and pokemon cards.  He also got a Spirograph which is probably the first arts and crafts type thing that he loves, I think it's because it's a bit math-y.

Kai doesn't love cake and cupcakes so we just had ice cream sundaes instead.  Gary roasted some marshmallows so they could have `smore' sundaes if they wanted.  Part of me really wanted to make an Amazing Race themed dessert but it probably saved us a few hours by just doing this :)

If you are planning an Amazing Race party, I would recommend doing more than seven tasks.  Proabably closer to twelve would be good.  Also, I found free printables on pinterest and then just filled them out in photoshop and printed them as 5X7's at Costco.  Cheaper than running our colour printer!  Also, if we had more time we would've decorated more `Amazing Race-ish' with red and yellow balloons and had the `Amazing Race' logo on the envelopes.  I have to remember Kai doesn't care about those details so really it would just be for me :)  

Overall, Kai LOVED his party and I'm so glad!  Super easy, active, and affordable.

If you ever decide to have an Amazing Race party, you are welcome to use our mat and clue box!

Hope you have a wonderful week.

Love, Louise