Micah's eye update

Micah was scratched on the eye when he was just a year old and it turned out to be a pretty nasty infection, which developed into a large scar on his cornea. 

This picture shows very clearly the scar just below his right pupil.

He has been followed pretty closely by a pediatric opthamologist and it was discovered his vision is being comprised at his last appointment.  The recommendation was for  patching for a few months to see if the vision could be improved.

 

We patch for 2 hours each morning before we go to school and he is tolerating it well.  Next appointment is in December, so we are praying that the patching has been working!

Autumn

I love this time of year!

First day of school (grades 3, 4, pre-school and 3)

 

Homemade Minion costumes.

Sunset at the beach.

Laity Pumpkin Patch.

 

Maritimes

Here are just a few photos from our trip to the Maritimes in August.  Best trip we have had in a long time.  The kids got to hang out with their cousins and we got to see the beautiful scenery and hang out together as a family.  Thank you to everyone that hosted us!

Donating Hair

We have a tradition in our house of donating hair.  I know that donating hair doesn't save lives like donating blood does, but it is one way that we are able to give to those that are going through some major hardships in their lives.  Hair is just one of those things that makes a person feel better about themselves and a wig made out of real human hair is so much more natural looking than the synthetic hair.  It takes multiple donations (something like 10?) to make one wig for a person.  I have donated several times and plan on doing so again at my next haircut.  The girls recently donated 8 inches each.  So, if you are thinking about getting a big change in your hairstyle, please consider saving it for someone else to use!  There are many websites dedicated to hair donation, especially those undergoing cancer treatments.  Please look them up!

 

 

Caelan is 8!

Caelan turned 8 as well!  Caelan loves being a twin and makes sure to tell everyone he meets.  I think his sister wishes for a bit more separation, but Caelan loves the fact that he is 4 minutes older (and in his mind smarter, more mature, etc....).

 

Caelan really enjoys his sports teams and plays both basketball and soccer.  He does not enjoy piano, but does it for the sake of his Mama.  :)  He has been part of the Cub Scouts program since he was 5 and has really enjoyed learning about camping, tying knots and other life skills.  I am glad he has found another thing he loves!  His sister's are just happy he goes away for the weekend periodically during camp time.  He does know how to bug them!

 

Caelan loves to argue.  Anything he can be right about, he will prove his point.  Actually, he doesn't even have to be right about it, he just loves to argue.  He also love math and science.  I know these skills will take him far when he is older!

 

  



Ashlyn is 8!

Oh man!  The twins had their birthday in August and I am just now sitting down to write about it. 

I will start with Ashlyn first.  She is my caretaker.  If I ever need help with Micah, she is the first person I ask.  She is so good with him and he adores her because of it.  I love their relationship.

 

Ashlyn has been gaining confidence this year at school and has surprised me a few times.  She has always been my shy and quiet child, but this year she gained a spot on Student Council by making a speech in front of her class and she has a part in the school Christmas musical. 

 

 

 

Ashlyn plays on both a soccer team and a basketball, but sports do not motivate her.  Instead, she loves to draw and color.  She is creative and gentle.  She does very well at piano lessons and is planning on taking her grade 2 piano exam in June.

 

 

 

She has decided that she either wants to work with animals or little kids when she gets older.  She is leaning toward becoming a pre-school teacher and I think that would be a fantastic job for her in the future!

 

 







Micah is Three!

My baby turned 3 on August 13th!  I love this age and wish I could keep him here for a little longer.  Micah is full of energy and mischief.  He just makes me smile everyday.

Micah loves to be my little side-kick.  He is definitely a Mama's boy and I am totally OK with that.  :)  He tells me he does not want to go to school, but I think it is more because he doesn't want to leave my side, rather than being afraid of doing something new.

 



 

Micah has been potty-trained for months now, but he still refuses to wear underwear.  I have not figured out how to make this transition with him yet!  He has a major meltdown if I even suggest underwear, despite promises of reward.  We just continue to put on his pull-ups and he keeps them completely dry day and night.

 

 

 

Micah is still not a great sleeper.  There are many nights that he is up until after 10pm.  I have given up on trying to train this guy to go to bed earlier.   He is not hard to put to bed, he just has to be ready to go.  At least I don't have to get up with him in the middle of the night anymore.

 

 Micah has an extra special relationship with Ashlyn.  They adore each other and she is so good with him.  I love watching the way she takes care of him.

 

 

Micah loves Jake and Neverland Pirates.  I am pretty happy I have not had to live through another Dora and Diego phase.  :)  He also loves Blaze and Transformers.

 

 

We actually flew to the Maritimes on Micah's actual birthday, so we celebrated a bit early this year.  We decided to take him to the local miniature train station for a ride, which is always fun.

 

He is also obsessed with dogs (has to say hello to every dog we see), so the doggy cake was I big hit!

 

We are so glad to have Micah in our lives.  He makes our family so much more fun and interesting with his infectious smile and his energy.  This next year is going to full of new and exciting things and we look forward to watching him make new friends and learn new things.  



 







August

3 of my kids had birthdays!  I will do a special post for each of them to honor their birthdays, but I have discovered it is busy having to deal with 3 birthdays so close together!  We had a birthday party for Ashlyn and Caelan at a local water park with 18 friends.  I am so glad I didn't try to have a home party like they wanted!  We did it early to accommodate our upcoming vacation and then celebrated Micah the following day.  Grammy, Grampy and Cousin Grace were in town, to it was the perfect time to celebrate all three kids.

 

 

Ashlyn finally lost one of her front teeth!  This is a milestone at almost 8 years old.  :)

 

 

 

We enjoyed more local parks and hikes.  This picture is from Van Dusen Gardens.

 

 

Most of August was spent in the Maritimes visiting family and friends.  More on this soon......



 



July

We are pretty lucky to live where we do.  We are right next to an amazing new park just beside the PNE known as Empire Park. This field was recently re-done to accommodate the FIFA Women's World Cup players to practice on.  It is literally a 10 minute walk from our house and we spent a lot of time there this summer.  As an aside, this playground is very noisy under the roller coaste when it is runningr, so during the summer months it is not advisable to go during the day.  Playland closes at7pm in July, so it is a perfect spot to spend the evening.

 

 

 

I also won tickets to see a FIFA game, so we took the whole family.  It was amazing for the girls to see professional athletes do their thing.  I have a few pictures on my phone....hopefully I will remember to download those soon.  :)

 

I don't seem to have a lot of July photos of the family.  I think it is mainly because the 3 big kids spent just over a week at Grammy and Grampy's house on the Island and they were in 2 weeks of daycamp.  They were too busy!

 



June

I had such good intentions of keeping this blog up to date.  I am going to do my best to catch the highlights of our summer!

June was amazing around here.  We normally get a ton of rain, but we had nothing but sunshine and warm weather all spring.  It made it hard to concentrate in school, but we enjoyed it!  We spent a lot of time in our backyard enjoying our mini-pool.  Seriously, it was that hot!

 

 

 

Shaylah receieved an award for her outstanding performance at the Music Festival.  I never received any awards for playing the piano when I was a kid, so this was pretty special for me.  I finally got to see the other side!  I was very proud.

 

 

 

Ashlyn started her orthodontic treatment (poor girl!).  She is now the proud owner of a permanent retainer and headgear.  It is just the beginning of many years of treatment, I am sure.  Isn't she still so beautiful, even in headgear though?

 

 

 

Micah perfected what has become known as "the Micah face".  He now uses this pose in every photo. So much for me ever getting a nice picture with me and all of the kids!

 







BCCM Music Fesital 2015

Every year, the BC Conservatory of Music (where our kids take their piano lessons) puts on a music festival to show-case the local talent.  Kids from all over Burnaby and Vancouver come to sing or play their favorite instrument.  Scholarships are given to those kids that are extra talented to help them continue to develop their musical abilities.  All three of my big kids take part every year, just to help them get used to performing in front of people.  Each of them received a gold certificate (given if you receive a score of 88 or above) and did very well!  Shaylah even won her class, which was a pleasant surprise.  I am proud of all of them!

I was able to take videos of the two girls, but unfortunately when Caelan was playing, Micah needed my attention and would not let me use my phone.  :(

Here are videos of one of the three songs each of the girls played.

Shaylah playing King William's March

 

 

 

Ashlyn playing The Fifes

 



U2

There are a lot of posts going around lately about friends who went to the U2 concert last night or are going to go tonight.  Lucky them!  Johnny has always loved U2 and I learned to like them after we started dating.  Almost 10 years ago exactly, I bought 2 tickets to the concert they played here in Vancouver.  It was going to be our first U2 concert....actually neither of us have seen them live period. Unfortunately, my mom passed away very suddenly the week before and her funeral ended up being the day of the concert.  We gave away our tickets and ended up having Shaylah 11 months later, followed by 3 more children.  Our priorities have definitely changed since then and concerts are not part of our budget anymore.  I very much hope that I can take Johnny to another U2 concert in the future, but for now, I am enjoying listening to everyone else's experiences.  I am told they put on a great show!  If you have any U2 stories, I would love to hear them!

Micah's eye update

 

Micah had a major eye infection last year as a result from a finger-nail scratch from another child.  We were followed by an eye specialist for several months and gave him steroid drops during that time.  We were hopeful that it would heal nicely and that there wouldn't be any issues for him.  Unfortunately, he has developed s large scar on his cornea.  It is very visible when looking at his eyes.  The good news is that it sits right under his pupil, the bad news is that it can't be corrected and will very likely affect the vision in that eye as he grows.  So, we are referred to a new specialist snd will see what the future holds for him!  At this point it doesn't bother him and we are thankful he doesn't have any pain.

Shaylah's birthday party

I have been entering a few contests lately and I actually won a birthday party that was perfect for my nine year old "Pop Star Wannabe".  We were able to go to Creativ Music Studio in North Vancouver and make a music video.  What a great experience for the girls!  They choreographed a little routine, got some eye make-up put on and then filmed their scenes in front of a green screen.  There were 8 girls total and they all had a great time.  The song of choice was Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off", but we chose to use the Mini-Pops version to get rid of a few questionable words in the song.

After working hard at their video, we were able to rent a room at the studio for some snacks.  We had cucumber sushi, chips and owl cupcakes that Shaylah and I made together.


 Each girl got to take a copy of the video home as a keepsake, so it will be fun to re-watch it in the future.

I couldn't upload a final copy of their finished product, but here are a couple of short videos I took with my phone while they were filming.  So fun!