Do you wanna carve a pumpkin?

Do you wanna carve  a pumpkin?

Come on let’s get one from the farm

We never go far places anymore

Takes forever to you out the door

My hair is going gray-

It used to be peaceful around here

And now it’s not

I wish your brother didn’t always cry!-

Do you wanna carve a pumpkin?

It doesn’t have to be orange pumpkin

Let’s pick white

Do you wanna carve a pumpkin?

Stop rolling it down the hall

I think we have to wipe off that residue

That Sharpie is for the pumpkin not the walls

Its getting kinda loony

With you crazy kids

Just watch Daddy draw those eyes

Please, we’re almost done here

Then you can be that Elsa Queen

We say have patience, what’s Dad drilling into?

Here’s the arm for you, just put that in

Stop bugging your brother

Come over here and see

What did we just do?

Do you wanna carve a pumpkin?

Let's go show off our pumpkin.....

advice to my little ballerina on growing up in life.

To be little ballerina:

Did you know that I’ve been writing letters to you and praying for you years before you were born? Did you know that when the ultrasound technician first said we were having a girl, I wondered if one day I would get to take you all dressed up in your tutu and ballet slippers to ballet lessons. When did time go by so fast?

I peak in the curtains during your lesson and I see you listening intently to the teacher. Keep listening. You are so proud to show Dad when he comes home from work that you learned how to do a plie and curtsy. You still trip over your own feet when you do it but you keep practicing. I hope your desire to learn from others never ceases. Don't give up, you'll get it one day.

When you look into the mirror, I wonder what are you thinking. Do you know you are beautiful? Do you know you are fearfully and wonderfully made? When you grow up, the world is going to tell you otherwise, I pray that when you see your reflection you will see God's beauty and flawless design. So many people on a daily basis compliment you on your outward beauty. I pray that you learn that a gentle spirit, faithful heart and genuine love for others are marks of true beauty. I pray that your beautiful smile will draw people towards you so you can show them kindness.

 

 I love your laugh and joy in the simplest things like your funny face in a reflection. Keep laughing. Don't take yourself too seriously. Life is too short to be brought down by the small things. Don't let the small things rob your joy. Trust God with the big things and find humor in the small things. 

 You can't wait to see your friends at ballet. It melts my heart to see your eyes light up and squeal with delight as you hug your friends. I pray that you will learn to treasure your friends. A true friend is one of life's greatest blessings. Be a good friend. Be a friend that is quick to listen, support and encourage.

You can't wait til the teacher turns on the music and lets you run free. You run on your tippy-toes, waving your sash and I hope you never stop dancing. At home, even if there's no music, you sing and you twirl and you dance. I pray you will always be able to hear the music even if there's none playing.

At the end of class, you run out to hug me. I wish I could freeze that moment. I will always be there to hug you. You can always come running to me.

It feels like a rite of passage. Taking you to ballet. I am so proud of the girl you are becoming. And when its comes to the year end show, you bet I will be front row cheering for you. Even if you make a mistake and forget all the steps, I love you unconditionally. I hope you know that as long as I am your mama, I will never stop cheering for you in everything you do. 

I love you to the moon and back. 

Keep dancing. Keep smiling. Keep being you. 

Deere Noah: 1st birthday tractor party.

When you have two kids, you can't help but compare them. For Natallie's 1st birthday we hosted a huge party. I planned months in advance, hand-made the invitations, drove all around town looking for farm-themed decor and cooked for a week to prepare. So when it came to Noah's birthday, I had fleeting thoughts to just give him a high-five and a Popsicle but then feared that later on in life, he would resent this and hold it against me. And although it was a ton of work and neither Natallie or Noah will remember their 1st birthday at least I can rest assured that both kids had awesome themed parties. Natallie's first birthday was farm-themed and keeping in tradition, Noah's birthday was a John-Deere tractor theme. Come down Neufeld Lane and see...

I didn't know at the time but Noah was fighting a bacterial Staph infection during his birthday weekend, so understandably he was didn't want to be anywhere else other than on my hip. There were a few moments where I caught his usual toothy grin. I mean it's hard not to be happy when there are tractors and diggers everywhere right?!

 

Its also hard not to have fun when there's a bouncy castle and lots of friends...

And those sugar cookies that I painstakingly painted each by hand were worth it. The kids loved it. Dare I say, I may even make pumpkin sugar cookies for Halloween. What else am I going to do with half a bottle left of black icing?

 Then there's the cake smash. I made the exact same cake I had for Natallie's 1st birthday. A zuchinni cake with cream cheese icing with zucinni from our garden. I made a small smash cake for Noah and bigger 3 tier cake for the rest of us. Not sure how much of the cake Noah actually ate, I think he mostly just squished it in his pudgy hands.

And thank you for all the presents. Our house is now officially no longer a girl-toy zone. Noah now has a fleet of diggers, cars and trucks.

So back to the comparison thing. Here are a few shots of Natallie's first birthday vs. Noah's first birthday. Both looked ridiculously adorable in their plaid birthday outfits.

 Both loved ride-on vehicles.

 Both couldn't walk yet at 12 months but loved to 'walk' if you held their hands.

 and both loved cake-smashing.

But most of all, both are loved so much it is incomprehensible. Oh Noah, sometimes I just look at you and I am so filled with joy that it almost makes me cry.

Happy birthday my sweet precious boy. It makes my heart sad that you were sick on your birthday but praise God you are so much stronger than last time you were sick. We pray that we will be celebrating many, many, many more birthdays with you.

un-birthday

I wish I were blogging about Noah’s birthday but right now I am just trying to figure out what is wrong with my sweet little boy. What we thought was just a runny nose before his birthday led to a mild fever and then red spots starting showing up on his arm the morning of his birthday party. Despite being more clingy than usual, he seemed to enjoy his birthday. Yesterday morning, the spots had got worse. We went to the walk-in clinic and that doctor was not much help, spending less than 3 minutes and declaring she didn’t know what it is, gave us a prescription of some sort of antibiotic steroid cream and told us to come back. I was not impressed that she didn’t even take off his diaper to look at his spots and was so relieved to get an appointment with our family doctor later that day. She took the time to examine in and took some swabs to get it tested.

I am now reading up on measles, chicken pox, impetigo and not sure if its any of the above. Noah was scheduled to have his 1 year immunizations for things on Thursday this week. What irony if he were to get measles or chicken pox days before he was scheduled to get the vaccine for it.

The last weeks of nights have not been awesome. Noah hasn’t been an awesome sleeper to begin with so add some terrible looking sores on his arms and you’ve got an up-all-night sad, sad baby.

And today I got a call from preschool that Natallie had puked and has a fever. I brought her home and she has a fever of 102.5 F

This is not what I want. Two kids sick.

At first I was feeling so frustrated and mad that God would allow Noah to get sick on his birthday. I mean what a terrible birthday present.  Then after listening to some God-sent  lyrics by Matt Redman, I realize that every day with my children is a gift from the Lord, whether they are sick or well, I am thankful I have them.

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

But do pray for them. And Simon. And me.  For energy and patience and the right attitude during all this.  Just holding him brings me right back to the hospital room 6 months ago. I don't think whatever he has will lead us to ER again but caring for a sick baby is exhausting. God carried us through that and will carry us through again.