Lost tooth

Actually the tooth is not lost at all. We know exactly where it is. This is the first tooth Gaelle has "lost". It's been loose for a little while and tonight she could not go to sleep because she kept wiggling it. I didn't think it was close to coming out because it was not hanging by a minute thread... but apparently Gaelle thought it was ready to come out.

She called down the stairs, "Mom... my tooth." I ignored her, so she called out to Emily who has been prepping her with what to do once the tooth comes out. We all headed upstairs and sure enough, the tooth was in her hand and not her mouth.

Short & Sweet

Sunday night we all bundled up in our winter gear and took the kids to a Christmas parade. It wasn't too cold but it was cold enough. We had our hot chocolate so it was all good. Some things were lost in translation; like greyhound dogs, boy scouts,
little girls twirling batons, and the mini fire engine.



Gaelle was just full of excitement. She kept asking for Santa. She would throw her arms out and say, "Where is Santa?" And Peter wanted to know how we knew that Santa would be at the end. Anyway, the parade was nice and short. Just the way I like a parade.

Santa Talk

When Josh, Emily, and Kaylin were little, Santa wasn't a part of our Christmas celebrations. When Josh was 3 somebody asked him what Santa was going to bring him for Christmas and he just looked at me... totally confused. What? Santa brings presents?

Fast forward to 2 more little kids in the house and I'm afraid Robin's inner child is coming out. Peter and Gaelle were at the mall this weekend and were thrilled with all of the Christmas decorations including the big chair Santa sits in. So tonight they told Robin they were getting their picture taken with Santa.

Then Peter asked Robin, "Are you going to be Santa? Are you going to drink the milk and eat the cookies?"

Gaelle looked a little concerned. So Robin said to Gaelle, "Where does Santa live?"

Gaelle meekly said, "North Pole?"

Robin said, "Where do I live?"

She said, "Here."

So Robin throws out his arms and said, "Welllll....." as if he couldn't possibly be Santa.

Her whole spirit transformed as if the light suddenly came on. She joyously shouted out, "See Peter!"

Of course Peter wouldn't give up, but Gaelle was satisfied and Robin walked away with a little grin.

No question day!!!!

I woke up this morning and the first thing out of Peter's mouth was,"How come Emily isn't here?"

And I lost it a bit. So I declared today a: NO QUESTION DAY!!!

Robin and Emily are in Yarmouth visiting Robin's mom. For various reasons, the rest of us didn't go. Work...school project...birthday party...etc. And yesterday it was really starting to get to me how much the kids ask and

1) They really don't need to know the answer because it's
a) over their head.
b) just not important.

2) They already know the answer.

3) It's a statement couched in a question.

4) It's a way of engaging the adults around them and distracting the adults around them from another conversation they are currently engaged in.

This mom over at "The Least Complicated" has a great idea using tickets. She gives out so many tickets each day and if the child wants to ask a question, he has to hand over a ticket. When the tickets are gone, no more questions for the day.

"Beth, what's the big deal? Just chill out! How else are they going to learn?"

It is just all so draining and just a way to exert control and to show that they don't trust us to take care of them. And did I mention how draining it is?

So, today is NO QUESTION DAY. Maybe tomorrow I'll break out the tickets.

Nothing better than a big sister

There are 2 big sisters in this family, and both of them have been AMAZING since Robin has gone back to work. They are both willing to pitch in with Peter and Gaëlle and I don't think we could manage without them. We really haven't noticed a change in behavior with Robin going back to work and I know Emily and Kaylin have a lot to do with that.



This week there was a hockey game betweeen the RCMP team and Sackville High School so Robin took Peter and Kaylin and her friends came along. Peter and Robin did their best not to embarress the teen girls with their hooting and hollering.



Nothing better than a snuggle and popcorn while watching a movie.

Remembrance Day

I think I come from a fairly patriotic American family but when I moved to Canada I noticed a huge difference between the observation of Veterans Day versus the observation of Remembrance Day. There's just something BIG about the way Atlantic Canadians celebrate Remembrance Day. The veterans distribute poppies and almost everybody makes a donation and wears a poppy. Almost every community we've lived in has also had excellent turnout for their Remembrance Day ceremonies. We make sure we attend and have only missed one that I can remember. Robin often participates in his uniform. This year he chose to go into Halifax and he volunteered to stand at the Nova Scotia Fallen Peace Officers Monument at the Grand Parade.



I warned the kids ahead of time that it would be long and we probably wouldn't be able to see much and we might not hear anything. But this was a sign of respect for all the men and women who serve in the military. It was long for them, but at least we could hear. And when Gaëlle broke out, all by herself, with a rousing song of "Oh Canada", she had our section of crowd in laughter.

Mommy's little helper

Gaëlle loves loves loves to help out with household chores. She doesn't see them as work at all, but FUN FUN FUN. These are just a few of the pictures from this past week alone. I recently discovered that she can actually peel vegetables. As long as I give her enough time, she's perfectly content to stand at the counter and peel away. And she does a great job!!! We don't need toys when we have a vegetable peeler.



I've mentioned before that Gaëlle loves anything to do with water. Cleaning the bathtub involves water. And a brush. What's not to love? I do the bathrooms on Saturdays and Gaëlle is right there always ready to help. I'm sure I don't need to add this, but she does a great job.

A little snuggle

Last night we had heavy wind and some rain. At times, the sound was quite intense. When Gaëlle went to bed she was expressing a little fear. So we made a bed out of blankets by the side of our bed and told her that if she woke up, she could come to our room. Sure enough at midnight she dragged her pillow to our room and laid down. At 12:30 she asked if it was time to wake up. Surprisingly we didn't hear another peep from her until 7:30 this morning.

Now she is reading and snuggling with one of her dolls and some stuffed animals. It's great to see her provide comfort and love to her toys. So cute.

Weekly update

Just a few photos from the last week. Peter learned the joy of candy apples. A little tricky to eat, but oh so worth it.



This was Gaëlle's 2nd candy apple of the season. This time she tried a caramel apple. Yummy!!



We really try not to set the anticipation level too high in the house. So we kept Halloween as low key as possible. We didn't carve the pumkin until Sunday. Gaëlle had already done one in school but she was game to try another one. The faces as they scooped out the goo was priceless.



Robin gently guided their hands through the carving process. They listened well and did a great job.



Gaëlle was a fairy and Peter was a pirate. We just used things we had in the house for costumes. I think Peter was a little disappointed we didn't have a spiderman costume. Maybe next year, we'll try to do a little more in the costume category.

Robin and Emily took the kids around to the local houses while Kaylin and I stayed at home and oohhhed and aahhhed at the little kids who came to our house. There were some real cuties.

Peter and Gaëlle got the hang of running up to houses right away. They came home and Gaëlle was ready to go out again. She wasn't finished. But we thought they both had more than enough. Gaëlle has already been cut off from her candy once. If she obsesses again and disobeys again, I'm afraid we'll have to dispose of her loot locally. That's police lingo for "mommy and daddy and the 2 big sisters will eat it." So, she's controlling herself as far as her candy goes.



Speaking of police, Robin has never worn his uniform around the kids. They've been to his workplace so they've seen other people in uniforms, but not daddy. So this week, Robin wore his uniform one day when he picked up the kids from school. Gaëlle ran out of school and looked all around but couldn't see her dad. You could see the look of confusion on her face. Both kids had lots of questions for him like, "Why do you need a gun?"

When I came home, Peter told me he saw daddy in his "costume". So funny. He also told his teacher the next day that daddy was wearing his "costume".