Ian & Helena

Well, we’ve had a sick couple of weeks here at our household.  It all started with Ian getting strep throat and tonsilitis two weeks ago and ending up taking nearly a work off of work before it started to get sorted out.  The following week Stevie was sick, and then this past weekend, Rory, Breanna, and I were sick.  The kids all had/have fevers & colds, but I managed to escape with just a cold, I think.  Breanna seemed to be worse again today though, so even though I thought we were all getting better, it seems it’s still hanging on a bit.  It’s so sad when they’re sick.  The kids all took their turn just laying on me or Ian and sleeping through most of the day.  The girls are also pushing out six teeth each, which I’m sure doesn’t help matters.  So we’ve been up numerous times each night as they struggle through whatever they have (we took Stevie to the doctor, but he said it wasn’t strep throat, which we’re pretty glad about). 

 I took my fitness theory test this past weekend, and although I haven’t received my results yet, I felt pretty good about it.  And I’m going to be starting teaching portions of my girlfriend’s class as soon as the kids are over their sicknessess (I was supposed to last Thursday but haven’t been able to go since then).  Anyway, against my better judgment, I’m posting this picture of Theresa helping me out when she was over a couple weeks ago by letting me lead her through a warm up.  Our ’steps’ were definitely sub-par, but we had fun giggling over it and Ian couldn’t pass up capturing the embarrassing moment.   Rory thought it was pretty fun, though…he was game to try all the moves!

 It actually reminds me of when Theresa & I were in Ontario visiting while we were at Ottawa U, and helping out with barn chores in some very sexy spandex and sweaters we were able borrow - we thought it would be a great look for a new farm themed aerobics video.  If only I could find those pictures to post (…as if I’m going to look too hard).

 I also just wanted to share with you all that my two year old son has officially outsmarted his mother already.  This kid is amazing.  While I may know the odd fact or two about life, Rory knows his cars.  We were going for a walk one day and he points at a parked car and says, “Pake’s car”.  Sure enough, I went over to have a closer look (truthfully to go and memorize the make of the car written on the back so I could go home and double check with Ian); it was the same vehicle that mom & dad drive.  And he’s done it not just once, but numerous times - when he sees a vehicle of the same make & colour of someone we know (even when we may have only seen it once or twice), he says “Amy’s car”, or “Campbell’s car”.  It’s ridiculously cute!  Unbelievable that my two year old has left me in the dust already…I thought I had a few more years to prepare for this sort of thing!  But don’t worry.  I’m still better at puzzles than him.  Haha.

In other news, both Breanna and Stevie have done their first pee on the potty.  We are NOT in training mode with them, but they just love imitating so much that they ask to go on all the time, and I guess they just got lucky!  So, we’re hoping this will mean early & speedy toilet training so we will be able to salvage our bathroom from the mounds of cloth diapers that our two little monkey’s manage to use up!  Yeah!

 That’s all for now!

I hope you all enjoyed a fun, relaxing Easter weekend, especially for those of you who got together with family!  We got lots done around here including lots of play time and some special outings with just one kid and mom or dad!  Pretty fun!  We also made Easter eggs, gifts from grandma & grandpa Kwantes, and worked on special wooden puzzles from them. 

Rory (Breanna behind him)   Stevie

 We also took a family picture since we happened to be up early Easter Sunday and had the time to get everyone dressed up a bit and even did the girls’ hair!  We tried to take pictures outside, but it was so sunny that everyone was just squinting in all the pictures.

And I just had to add these cute pictures of Rory and his friend, Campbell, when he came over to play last week.  It’s so neat to see them actually playing together now; they were taking turns on the track and building the tower together.

We have recently been making the switch to big beds for the girls; we started with Stevie and then Breanna too, in order to get prepped for camping this summer (we don’t want to have to lug the playpens around anymore!  I can’t believe we still needed three last summer)!  Anyway, it has been going quite well, although Stevie is really enjoying her freedom and pops out of bed at some of the funniest times.  It’s so interesting how different they all are; Rory & Breanna took to it by the book - repeated attempts and then once they got it they stayed, whereas Stevie just comes out at random.  Kinda cute though when she’s still half asleep and wandering out looking for you (as long as it’s not the middle of the night)!  The girls also just recently reached 100 words each - they are quite the little chatterboxes - one big part is how much they love to imitate their older brother.  Breanna also did her first pee on the potty tonight…we’re not working on training her, really, but she’s taken an interest in the potty, so we sometimes sit her on it when we’re changing her diaper anyway.  I don’t think she really knows what she’s doing there, except that she always gets books read to her for some strange reason!!! 

Rory’s doing really well, too.  He’s starting to speak in short sentences ”Sha-Sha (Theresa) sleeping bunk bed” (he was so excited that aunt Theresa slept in his top bunk bed when she came over), or “Stevie push Breanna” (he loves to ‘tattle’ already - nothing like his mother as a kid, I’m sure).  He’s also getting good at going for walks now that the snow’s melted and I can definitely see a difference from last year, since he’s not getting distracted every 10 seconds (which was cute, just now we can actually go places). 

 Anyway, I could go on about my cuties forever, but I’ll try to contain myself! 

We are really looking forward to some camping & other holidays this summer, especially time at the cabin!  What do the rest of you have planned for summer holidays?

Helena

P.S. I just thought I’d add that since this is the only blog I maintain, I give the address out to friends & family outside of the Vander Veen family, incase some of you are wondering why I add info about people you may not know