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When I take time to savour, I learn so much in ways I do not expect. From a precious three year old girl who would like to simply watch ducks than rush off to the playground, even though time is limited.

To not just take a quick glance but to really watch the ducks and the water and the leaves. To relax and take this moment in. To learn and to grow by experiencing creation. To sit contentedly in a wagon and watch the ducks puddle to and fro.

To take a trip to Stanley Park to spend time with the family even though we ‘don’t have time’.

To climb benches, to jump in puddles, to laugh, to play and to run even though we ‘don’t have the time’. To take the time to get to know each other better. To form bonds that can reignite by a hug and a tickle, even though months may pass without a word.

When I rush about, I miss all these moments I ‘don’t have time for’. I do it (usually) with the best of intentions. Let’s rush off to preschool for socialization and for learning. I have to get the bathroom cleaned and veggies bought before our friends come over. Shouldn’t making time for my children and my husband be ahead of these menial tasks?

Joel has learned how to climb up and down steps. On Sunday, I took the kids to a local park and let Joel climb his first play structure before I helped him down the slide.

Leah spent her time exploring the other playground equipment.

My sweeties swinging away.

That white stuff is snow. Leah really wanted to go sledding but the place that had the most snow was our back yard which I didn’t realize until we were in the van checking out parks. I took her for a few spins around the bark mulch as all the snow on the grass had melted.

Family time has become more limited lately, so we are trying to be very intentional to make the most of the time we have together. We went out to a local coffee shop the other night to get hot chocolate.

I picked the most child friendly one I know of. It has a little play room for the kids so we sat right in front of it but even then, Leah spent most of her time sitting with us. I wasn’t sure if she would want to sit still for half an hour and wanted her to have a good time as well. It worked out great as we all had quality time together.

I would smile each time she looked at me after she had her first few sips of hot chocolate. It reminded me of a bunny nose face painted on her.

This little dude showed off his stair climbing skills last night. He climbed up half of our stairs, with Morgan right behind him as after each step he wanted to look behind him and would have fallen down the stairs. He also likes to play with his spoons and sometimes I’ll give him one while feeding him to make the process go smoother (then he doesn’t try grab the spoon I’m trying to feed him with). Tonight, I put a small piece of cauliflower on his spoon and he put it straight into him mouth. He even put some rice from his tray onto his spoon and fed himself. He can confidently walk around furniture now and will stand on his on for a split second before grabbing on again. My little man is growing up.

Leah checking out Grandpa Tom’s big truck with Daddy. She had some super curly, crazy hair that day.

Leah had pink day at preschool this month and she sure does have a lot of pink clothing. I realized later in the day my boy was all in blue.

To get two kids looking and smiling at the same time is a challenge that couldn’t be completed in the couple of minutes I was sitting on the floor with my camera.

On Valentine’s Day, we spent the afternoon at the beach.

We played soccer and Leah jumped in tide pools.

Joel slept through most of it.

As I was unpacking the van, I looked up and saw this.

I said good bye to a friend today. It wasn’t good bye forever. I imagine I’ll see her and her family within the next year when they come to visit family. There will still be connection.

So I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of emotion when the time for good bye came. Maybe it is because I’m a little more emotional from being on my own this week with the kids. That may be partially to blame but I don’t think I realized how much I care for her.

Over the past few months, we’ve shared our hearts. Trusted. Cared. Prayed. Loved. I admire her in so many ways. I shouldn’t have been surprised when the tears threatened and I had to back away, bite my lip and stare out the window for a few minutes to regain composure.

I fully support their reasons to move. In fact, I said I am glad they are moving. I believe it is the best for them and their family. But my heart still hurts.

I’ve been learning more about gratitude lately and today was an emotional lesson. I am thankful for those in my life yet still complaints can come easy off my lips about others in my life. How can gratefulness and complaint reside in the same heart?

One amazing woman and her two awesome kids who we will now share through letters what we share around a table has made me realize how many amazing people are in my life who I need to treasure more. It is a lesson I’m slowly learning. Today’s lesson just cut a little closer to the heart than I’m really comfortable with.

We have had some gorgeous weather here. We generally go outside to play year round, especially when I have daycare kids. The past few days have been amazing as there are only thoughts of how long can I prolong lunch as oppose to how long till we go in to warm up and unravel ourselves of all these layers.

Poor Joel can’t play with much when his hands are keeping warm inside his snowsuit. It also makes crawling more difficult. I will have to keep my eyes on him much more closely than I ever had to with Leah when she crawled outside as Joel loves to put everything in his mouth.

There was enough snow earlier in the month to warrant several sled rides (or sleigh rides as Leah would say). She even got pulled by the neighbour’s dog on her sled.

The weather got quite cold (-10) for a few days so we took some snow inside, put it in a baking pan and added some paint. Leah and Joel both enjoyed watching the colours mix while the snow melted.

Leah and my mom built our family our of snowmen. What adorable snowmen. Leah decided she was the snowman that was the same size as her.

Joel is really getting the hang of saying ‘more’ when he wants more to eat. He puts his hands together very enthusiastically when he is really hungry. He is also starting to copy some sounds such as meh, ba and da. I am nursing him 3-4 times a day.

We went to breakfeast with Santa at my mom’s work and had a lot of fun. Even though we don’t “do” Santa at our house (he doesn’t bring presents and we tell Leah he is just for fun). she was still excited to see him, especially once he arrived with Grandpa as his chauffeur. The secretary lent Leah these cool reindeer antlers.

Leah decorated a gingerbread man cookie before getting her face painted. The face painter was pretty quick with amazing detail and even glitter too.

We did our annual visit to St. Mark’s Anglican Church to experience their outdoor nativity. This year, we had a large group of friends come along which added to the enjoyment. Leah liked going right up to each of the displays.

For the first time as a family, we went caroling with some friends. We had a lot of fun sharing Christmas cheer while spending time with some lovely people. Leah loves to sing (and knock on doors before quickly running to join the group in song). Joel stayed warm snuggled up to me and even joined in with his own babble.

Our family all together. I didn’t have a Christmas dress picked out for Leah nor did I have the time to make one so I asked my mom to sew one. She did a great job making a jumper for Leah. When you ask Leah to smile, this is what you get.

So much excitement (as well as disruption of a nap in favour of church on Christmas eve) resulted in this.

On Christmas morning Leah cut off the last link on her Christmas chain before we opened presents. Leah made me a lovely sandwich with her new felt bread, condiments and toppings.

Joel was getting hungry during present opening to out came the cheerios. (I would love a cheerios dispenser in my kitchen right now). Leah loved to cheer on and assist Joel with his presents. He loves his cars and trucks as does his big sister.

Leah and Joel received a crazy amount of gifts. My mom also made Leah some super cute snowflake pajamas.

Joel with his awesome frog toque. We made a little birthday cake and sang happy birthday to Jesus.

Before Christmas though to new year’s we moved and painted Leah’s room and Morgan’s office. Both room look great and everything is almost in place (no pictures on the walls yet). Leah slept in her new bed in her new room for the first time last night.

Joel is learning so much these days. Last Thursday, Joel learned to clap. He was banging blocks together and then I saw him putting his hands together without blocks. On Friday, I took the opportunity to teach him the sign language for more since he already had the hand motions. Now, he understands what it means at meal time and will do the action when I tell him to say more please. On Saturday he waved for the first time.

Leah has also learned how to write out her name without prompts. She surprised me but looking back I think she learned it from writing out her name (tracing dots) for so many Christmas cards.

Joel loves bath time. You really have to watch him now that he can pull himself up to a stand as he tries to do it in the bathtub.

Leah helping melt chocolate to dip our Christmas cookies into.

Joel loves to crawl with this play pot lid in his mouth. It is hard to get a good picture of Joel and Leah now that Joel is crawling.

Some Christmas pictures with almost the whole family.

Joel and Leah love to ‘drive’ in the Home Depot carts together. The carts are a beast to maneuver but shopping is so much easier when they are both contained and entertained.

Leah had her preschool Christmas presentation today. She did great, singing and doing all the actions on cue. She takes her role very seriously.

Jingle bells!

We decorated an ice cream cone Christmas tree after the mini concert.

Leah and I made this countdown Christmas chain together. She is so excited about Christmas this year and I love it. She glued most of the links herself and cuts one off every morning. She remembers lots of details about Christmas last year, like Grandpa delivering our tree in a trailer and we had to cut off the top because it was hitting our ceiling. I asked her if we get presents on Christmas and she said, “no, that’s silly, we don’t get presents on Jesus’ birthday”. She is was so excited because she thought lots of friends were coming over (including baby Jesus) to have a birthday party for him with cake and presents. We are going to do a birthday cake for Jesus, though I told her baby Jesus wouldn’t be able to attend in the flesh.

A little random, but here is Joel experiencing his first teeth brushing session.

Leah and I decorated a gingerbread house at Grandma Fran’s house while Joel played with toys under the table.

Joel was fascinated by the train going round and round the Christmas tree.

Here’s Joel checking out our tree. I was so sad to not get a tree from a tree lot this year and more specifically my grandpa’s tree lot. He passed away soon after Leah was born. I have so many memories from hanging out at the tree farm and searching the acres for the perfect tree, drinking hot chocolate and talking by the fire, giving out candy canes to the kids and earning a few tips by helping carry trees out to vehicles. My grandpa would have loved to see Leah roam around the farm and her excitement at the whole experience.

Morgan tied the tree down while I took a few pictures of the kids. Joel isn’t very mobile while in his snowsuit.

Leah put on the some of the lower Christmas lights herself. I can’t express how excited she was about putting up, lighting and decorating the tree. Joel watched from the excersaucer and the floor was full of ornaments, tree needles and lights. I don’t think there will be any presents under the tree with him around this year.

Finishing up.

And on another random note, I asked Leah what she would think if I put Joel to bed in her room. She replied excitedly, “Mom, when he cries you can just come downstairs and give me the soother and I’ll give it to him”. I did put Joel in her room and discovered at two in the morning that Leah can sleep through excessive, loud crying. Gives me great hope for room sharing in the future.