Snow at the end of April

~It is currently snowing. We are expected to get a cm of snow in the next 24 hours. It's pretty, but I was really enjoying the sunshine and warmth of the past few days. Of course, it will be like that again in a couple days. Spring...
~Hannah stayed up until I forced her to cry it out after midnight last night. This was after she was up at 2:15 in the afternoon. She didn't even sleep much past 8, and this was after she had wakened up at 6:45 and I had to convince her to go back to sleep. It felt like a full moon (which of course is tomorrow night!).
~This weekend, we enjoyed a fabulous short visit from a friend we met in the Boston area a few years ago that now lives in Edmonton, Pam Beavan. She was here for a conference. She enjoyed a day of touring the city with me and the family, and we had a great time out together in the evening. The weather was especially great. It's always nice to catch up with dear friends. Too bad her family couldn't join us. Hopefully we will see them sometime soon.

News, and other excitement at the Scott home

~We are so excited to share that we are expecting another child! Baby #3 is due around November 2, 2010. We just told Hannah and James. James has declared that he really, really wants a brother. Hannah is obsessed with babies, so she will be in for a great time.
~Today we celebrated the Olympics again while watching the Canadian Olympian parade travel down St. Catherine Street. Gold medalist, Jon Montgomery, told James that he liked his Team Canada hockey jersey; James gave high fives to a bunch of people; and we all cheered for everyone. I didn't see Joannie Rochette (who was supposedly there), but we saw Alexandre Bilodeau and the pairs figure skaters among so many other medalists. What a beautiful day it was for a parade.

What's going on...

~"Daddy, Hannah's being 'disofience'".
~When Mark went to check on Hannah at night, he found her sleeping on her back with her hands behind her head, like she was relaxing. When he adjusted the blanket, she rolled over back to the fetal position.
~The other day James and Hannah played dress up. Hannah was a giraffe and James a cow. They both wore the costumes the entire day. When we went for a walk in the evening, James wouldn't ride in the stroller to go down the street, because he wanted to show off his costume. He even gave up icecream to walk. People kept stopping and talking about how cute he was. His response, "Moo!".

~James is becoming a big time rhymer. He spent an entire walk to the park (3 blocks) rhyming.
~James has "sharp" eyes, and a "sharp" memory. He also loves the word sharp.
~The newest favourite sleeping location, the couch. Who'd of thought?
~Hannah's currently loves to lie on her stomach-on top of toys. I wouldn't think that this would be comfortable, but she seems to enjoy it.
~We went to the Biosphere again. James still loves talking about the "Brain Shaker" where (on video) he gets eaten, gets flushed down the toilet and goes through the pipes. boys...

Newest feat by a little girl and some responsibility for James

~Hannah successfully climbed onto the big beds today all by herself. This is quite terrifying to me, as she loves to jump on the beds. We will have to be even more vigilant. She is already able to open doors and scares us almost daily with the staircase while she is looking for daddy.
~James and I planted vegetable seeds and sunflower seeds yesterday using our compost soil. We'll see where they end up in the next month-probably the in-laws. They are only in an egg carton, so they won't be able to grow very much. James is enjoying learning about taking care of plants and I am looking forward to the potential yield.
~I made a chores chart for James to get him helping out/learning about helping out more around the house. Today, he helped clear the dinner table, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, stripped the sheets off his bed/pillow and put his clothes and sheets in the hamper. Perhaps this is standard for other 3 year old children, but we are about to start a new era in this house. His chores list also consists of: drying plastic dishes, putting away clothes and toys, using the small vacuum cleaner to do small jobs, dusting simple surfaces, helping water plants. We'll see how this goes. I am optimistic. The biggest catch (I think) will be, is my consistency in making sure that they are done each day. I think that he will feel more responsible with these tasks. Certainly, adjustments will be made as necessary.

Favourites

~James' favourite song for me to sing right now is "I Come to the Garden Alone~". I sang it for him the other day during a devotional, and now he knows the chorus and asks me to sing all of the verses.
~James' favourite book these days is "10 Apples Up on Top".
~James declared at dinner tonight that he didn't like green. Therefore, he has taken "away" Mark and my favourite colour. He says that my favourite colour is now pink, and Mark's is black. By the way, his is red. He also told me what Hannah's favourite colour is, but I can't remember it right now.
~Potty training might go on a back burner for a little while. Hannah has started preferring to stand beside the potty and going, rather than sitting on it.
~James and Hannah played on the deck together tonight and it was so cute to watch them interact with each other. I love watching them laugh at something together. Nothing beats childhood laughter.

Potty time!

~Hannah has started using the potty successfully again, but on her own turf-the pantry. She loves to play with the recycling while she is sitting. Her positive attitude toward this is making me realize how much work I have ahead of me over the next weeks.
~James and Hannah painted rocks today. James got to use the big boy paints and was so pleased.
~Dance party at the Scotts! Hannah and James start dancing at the mention of it. What a lot of fun the three of us have together.
~We made banana muffins today and James is becoming quite the banana masher. There is one muffin left. If James hadn't already asked for it, I might be eating it right now.

Obsession-no?

~Hannah's daddy obsession continues. She had at least 2 meltdowns tonight because daddy left the room and she had to do something else.
~Hannah also is becoming obsessed with books. She found a devotional book of mine tonight and has barely put it down. She keeps saying "book (without a k sound)" over and over and sitting down turning the pages. Also, she absolutely loves the "Daddy Hugs" book by Karen Katz. She is starting to recognize every page, doing actions and helping me "read" it. So cute.
~James sat nicely with me (big feat over the past week with him being sick) and did a devotional, learning about speaking properly and not making wrong choices when we are mad. Afterward he asked me to sing the song from Robert Munsch's I'll love you Forever. After I sang it to him, he asked if I could sing it like I was sick (this is part of the story if you haven't read it before). I did it, and then he pretended to rock me and sang the song to me like at the end of the book. SO CUTE!!!
~We went to the Ecomuseum Zoo today. It was a little lame. Most of the animals were sleeping, and it was cold and windy. Not quite what I was going for; although, the kids seemed to enjoy it. James did say on the ride home that he did not have a favourite part of the trip, so maybe he thought that it was just almost as lame as I did. He was so excited to see the black bear, but when we got there, it was laying down far away from us. We did end up seeing a coyote and a wolf up close, and there were lots of turtles and owls.
~James has been practicing his crokinole game. He is getting better. He has a current obsession of flicking things. Every time he flicks something at the table, I suggest he go and play the game. I wonder how long this will last...
~James loves to show how strong (and mighty) he is by tightening his fists.
~Tower building and block bin dumping is a regular affair each day. It's almost rare to see the whole floor in the basement these days.
~Mark just got back from giving a "key note address" in Florida. He had a great opportunity to talk about suffering and the crisis in Haiti.
~James and Hannah enjoyed spraying water all over the deck yesterday morning in the rain. Hannah is starting to want to go outside first thing in the morning these days. Unfortunately, the weather was not as warm today as it has been over the past week. While inside or outside, she often enjoys watching the squirrels and the birds behind our back deck.
~Mark just complimented my spaghetti. This is a big deal. He thought that it was Ryan's sauce from a week ago! This is the first time he has REALLY liked my spaghetti. I've been working on it for many years now, but I think that the key comes down to Italian seasoning. I'm pleased.
~My current, well, I guess it's sort of been a life long obsession, is cheese bread toasted with butter. I just bought a loaf and am trying really hard not to eat the whole loaf in one sitting. Yum.

More company

~Hannah loves to raise her eyebrows and smile, like she is surprised. She loves the attention that she gets from it too.
~Easter with the Whitleys was extra special. We had a great time relaxing and touring the old city, plus, the kids played together really well. The weather was especially nice.
~While playing peekaboo with a blanket, Hannah discovered that it was way more fun just to glance to the side and find mommy peeking at her. She laughed hysterically and did it repeatedly.
~James spent a half hour spraying the deck and everything on it with water. Oh, the simple pleasures of childhood.
~James got some special time with playing hard with Uncle Ryan.

Some gems...

~While sitting at the table for dinner, James says: "Mommy, I have so many hugs in my pocket." He proceeds to pull them out of his pocket and then asks me to help him hold them because they are heavy. He then asks me if I want a hug. He also gives Ryan, Hannah and Mark a hug.
~After a visit to Dairy Queen, James looks at Mark's ice cream that has oreo cookie crumbles on it and asks why he has dirt on his ice cream.
~James still thinks that his dreams are lost-even though the snow is completely gone.
~James has started to think that he should "check" on Hannah while she is asleep. Not such a good idea to mommy and daddy.
~Hannah says no to Ryan about something, but says "ches" to James about the same thing.
~Hannah is obsessed with Daddy and with Grandpa. Whenever someone picks up the phone, she asks if Grandpa is on the phone. When we call Grandpa, she repeatedly says "Bampa", over and over saying barely anything else.
On the other hand, Hannah needs to "see" daddy every second he is home. She will wail until he is in the room. When he is away she will talk about him a lot, but when he is home she wants him near her-all the time. She also has begun to require him to snuggle her to sleep. I am really looking forward to his trip to Florida next week.