January 2017

Happy New Year! We had a really quiet new years this year. I think Matt may have been the only one that stayed up....

Aurora and one of her friends at school, Harry, wrote and acted out a play based on the book Beast Quest. Matt and I went to school to watch it and it turned out really well!

We closed on the new house! It is amazing. Going from the postage stamp size yard we have now to 2.5 acres is going to be incredible. We are currently trying to finalize the scope of work so we can get going on the remodel. I just want to be moved in!

The kids started ski school. Thankfully Connor was pretty easy going about it, and Aurora has skied enough to be excited. This was the first year we haven't had any tears before drop off.

Matt went to Special Friends Day at Paddington and spent an hour playing and doing a craft project with Connor. I don't think Connor wanted to talk about anything else that day besides how Dad had gone to school with him :) So precious.

Aurora has discovered a love for The Beatles. She learned about them in her Big Book of Who and asked to hear their music. It was love at first sound ;) She is only mildly obsessed. And Connor doesn't disappoint with the amusement factor when he sits in the back of the car and sings (very loudly) "We all live in a yellow summaveen a yellow summaveen..."

After a year and a half of violin lessons with Nico we have finally found the time to do something with the kids outside of lessons. Tara and I took just Aurora and Nico to dinner. The pizza place was doing a kids night with balloon animals, face painting and arcade games. What a blast!

-- Cooper at 15 months --

Cooper loves the plasma cars! They are technically for a much older kid, but I guess watching Connor zoom around on them has given him a leg up. He can totally keep up with siblings on that thing.

He is walking everywhere now. He still walks with his hands up in the air for balance but he has it figured out.

He is getting really tired of being carried in the ergo. He will cry and fuss when I put him in because he wants to walk on his own. If he even sees me put the carrier on he will start crying and run away.

Cooper is obsessed with closing doors. It comes in handy when we come in the front door, but now he wants to close every door that is open.

Cooper loves the freedom he has at the new house! He has stairs to climb (carpeted and very padded), rocks to climb and a huge yard to run in.

He has cut down his nursing to once a day in the morning. Any other time of the day I don't think I could force him to nurse even if I wanted to.

March 2015

Happy Fourth Birthday Aurora! You are turning into such a lovely little lady. I am continuously amazed by your intensity, curiosity and will. I know that they will serve you well in life. You brighten our days and provide a constant source of laughter. I love you with all my heart and am truly honored to be your Mama.



We took Aurora to the children's theatre for her birthday and she loved it! We saw Androcles and the Lion and she talked about it for days. I was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to be quiet through the performance but she was so enthralled that she didn't make a peep.



Aurora's birthday fell on Purim (Jewish Halloween) so she got to dress up like a princess for preschool and also got to skip around the room during Shabbat sing for her special day. I was so proud of her because I didn't think there was any way she would do it but she was so happy to be the focus of attention she skipped around with a giant grin on her face :)

Aurora got her very first haircut! It only took four years and her younger brother got one first, but she was very pleased with the results. It is soooo much easier to brush in the morning!

We were about to pull Aurora out of school because she was still having enormous stress and upset about separating at school. I had just had enough of the screaming and crying so we went in to talk to her teachers for next year and Aurora's eyes got all big when they showed us a picture routine for the day that they have up in their class. We made one for Aurora and that combined with ending her afternoon enrichment class has yielded an entirely new kid! For the past two weeks I have dropped her off at class and she smiles, waves and says "see you after preschool Mama!" Amazing.

We have started doing Aurora's reading lessons again which are going really well. She tends to want to do a lot of lessons all at once and then take a big break.

I'm pregnant! #3 is due to join the family mid September and we are all thrilled. I think it is still pretty abstract for the kids though because when we told Aurora she got a big smile on her face and said "Yay! Now can I go do stickers?" ;)

We had Aurora's princess party the end of the month and it was a lot of fun, but so much work! The kids decorated swords and tiaras with paint and gems which seemed to keep them happy for the entire party.



Aurora loved having all her friends over and we were very proud of how well she behaved the entire time. I don't think she had one behavior issue or melt down the whole morning. What a big girl!

-- Connor at 15 Months --

You want to walk everywhere. Often when I am carrying you you point down and yell "WA! WA!" until I put you down and let you walk yourself. You LOVE the playground. You are so much more fearless than Aurora was at this age. You will go down the big slide all by yourself and could probably do it over and over again for hours.

If you are ever too quiet it is a fair bet you are playing in the dog's water bowl and making a giant mess.

You are starting to really understand what we are saying to you now which is a lot of fun. You can follow some directions and definitely respond appropriately to what we say to you. It definitely makes things a little easier when we can effectively communicate.

You are talking quite a bit. I'd guess you have around 30 words. Your words so far are ::

Hi, Bye bye, Ball, Book, Milk, Doggie, Mama, Dada, Get it, Again, Cold, Hot, Snow, This, That, No, Banana, Apple, Cheese, Baby, Aurora, Nose, Mouth, Down, Walk, Boots, Shoes, Socks