Catchup!

Months and months of photo's to post. This may be silly but Grandmas really wants photo's and such so here we go.

Beatrix's birthday was in October. Grandmas was in town which was fun and we had a few friends over for pumpkin woopie pies in stead of cake. Trixie loves treats so she gobbled up her cookie. She really loved the balloons (what kid doesn't) and we gave her a couple little gifts.







For Halloween Grandma made Anya a really cute Dorothy costume. She already had red sparkly shoes that worked perfect with the dress. We picked up a monkey costume for Bea and I attached felt wings to the back so that she would be a flying monkey. They looked really cute. We didn't make it trick or treating because we were in DC visiting friends but we did go to their ward's trunk or treat so they got a little candy and were able to show off their costumes. Anya has worn her dress a few times since then as dress up and to church (her pick).





Anya participate in the next gymnastics class and loved every moment of it. She did struggle with how slow the class would move around pretty slow. Her cute teacher was pregnant and there were seven little girls in the class so keeping then on track was pretty tough.








We have added another family member to our little gang. A week before Christmas we finally decided to get the dog we have always wanted. A little Newfoundland puppy who we named Tonks. She is really cute and has grown a ton in the last month and a half. The girls love her and she loves them so it works out well.



We had a really fun Christmas. Adam's brother David and his wife Meagan come up. We totally love them so it made our holiday great having them around. We got the girls a sled so we could take Tonks out for walks on our paths. It has been really fun exploring the outdoors a little more this winter.









Christmas dinner was really funny. We were kind of late getting dinner on so by the time I set the turkey on the table Anya was done. She grabbed the turkey leg and declared that it was HER'S! She got pretty far before the rest for the dinner made it on.


And some random cute pictures of girls. I shaved Trixie's head the other day so she is looking a little boy like right now.





I thought that you might like to see a couple of my latest craftings. I have been totally into wreaths now that we actually have a front door to hang them on soooo


This is our birthday wreath that we put up for.... birthdays. I know, amazing



and a couple of yarn wreaths that I made for Christmas. I taught a class on these for our ward RS Christmas activity.



and a cinnamon stick one that I pulled from a few different photos on apartment therapy.


These are pinwheels that I hung on the wall in Anya's room. They are made of scrapbook paper that match the colors in her quilt.

The banner that I made to hang in the playroom. It is just triangles of fabric that I sewed into store bought double binding and then hung up around the entire room.


And finally, the play kitchen that I made for the girls for Christmas. I got the designs from Ana White which if you have never been to her site you must. She has tons of free plans that are fabulous! This is the first time I have ever built something like this myself but I watched my dad build enough stuff over the years that I pretty much picked up a lot of info. The only tricky part was the fact that I have very few tools. Like only a drill and a saw, no clamps or anything so it is not all square. The building only took me a couple of days with Anya helping but the painting took a while since I have multiple layers and I could only do it at night when kids were distracted by Dad. I am pretty happy with it and so are the girls.

Fall Fun

Fall is my absolute favorite season, especially here in Ottawa. The trees are all beautiful and it is cool and raining everyday. There are fantastic bike paths that are all over the city where the trees are great. The path by our house is especially beautiful because it runs along the Ottawa river and through little forests. The girls and I have had a great time this week going for bike rides and runs along this path and through the fallen leaves. On Saturday we went as a family to Saunders Farm, a fun fall based farm located outside Ottawa. They have haunted hay rides, tons of play structures for kids, a pumpkin patch, and a whole bunch of different mazes. We had a fun time wondering around enjoying the cool weather and we found a cute little pumpkin that had to come home with us. Here are a few pics from the day.

Time Flies!

I have about a ton of pictures from over the summer that I have been meaning to blog about and I realized that if I don't get a post up soon the problem is only going to get worse. So, this is going to be big and probably missing a ton of summer info because I can't remember what happened. We will start off with the biggest news... we bought a house! The realization that we actually live here and will be staying here for the foreseeable future hit, so it just made sense for us to stop paying rent. Yay for me because even though it is pretty small it is WAY bigger than any apartment that we have ever had and we can finally use our kitchen table as a kitchen table! So here it is....


And a couple of the bedrooms because Grandma has been asking...

This the the play room.


And this is Anya's room, since this photo it has been painted bright green and has really cute white tissue balls hanging from the ceiling.


The upstairs bathroom.


Parent bedroom.

The girls and I spent a bulk of the summer hanging out in Utah at the grandparental house while Adam was here in Ottawa moving us and studying for his big Phd exam. Anya had a great time eating berries all day and destroying the house and finding all the dangerous places to play, such as this one....




Daphne spent a bit of time at Grandma's house as well, which Anya loved, and it is always great to have the grand-dog Roxy around as well.


Anya had a birthday while in Utah. It was super fun to have lots of Aunts and Uncles around for her big party and what little girl does not love a rainbow cake.











Some cute Bea

While in Utah I put Anya in swimming lessons. The first class was a mommy and me class. Anya has always hated the pool. Screams bloody murder every time we go in one. I know it is really weird, especially since she is not afraid of anything else but I guess that large bodies of water freak her out. So, we started the swimming lessons and for the first week she screamed and cried for the whole of our lessons. Then on the monday of the second week we had a sub teacher and for some reason Anya liked her and something clicked. Suddenly the water was not as scary to her and she slowly started to work her way deeper into the water and would actually go under. By the time she started the second set of lessons on her own she actually would have fun in each class.



Some cute girls at Thanksgiving Point






Halfway through August the girls and I flew back to Ottawa. Let me give you all a little flying tip.... Make sure when you buy tickets with multiple stops that you are given adequate transfer time. Never assume that certain online companies will sell only legal transfers. If you do not double check on your own you may find yourself stuck in the Vegas airport for 12 hours with a toddler who has no shoes because she broke her flip flop on the first flight and a baby, then you may have to take a red eye with said children to Toronto, then wait 3 more hours for your flight to Ottawa. Just warning you.
Since being home we have been keeping ourselves very busy. The house has about a million projects that I have been working on which I will show off my craftyness soon I hope. We have gone to a couple of zoos, enjoyed that last of the summer heat and have started back to school. Hope you enjoy the pics.