Cecilia turns one!

Well, actually CeCe's birthday is tomorrow, but we had all the festivities this weekend.  All of her grandparents were able to make the trek for her party which probably meant a lot more to Julie and I than her, but she was happy nonetheless.  She got to stick her fingers into her cake and yes, she likes cake.  And ice cream.  I guess the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree.  Julie decorated the cake which was in the shape of an elephant.  When I get the pictures off the camera, I will post them.  CeCe wasn't too concerned about the presents though - not nearly as into that part of the party as her sisters and cousin.  They were all over that. 

It's hard to believe a whole year has passed already.  At this time a year ago, Julie and I were anxiously awaiting the arrival of her parents, so that we could go to the hospital.  The got here around midnight and CeCe was born by three.  It was a little closer than we had planned.  That was the beginning of my parental leave -37 weeks at home with all my girls that I will be eternally grateful for.  It had it's moments, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Ginny is still not that comfortable with the whole pooping thing.  She finally went Thursday evening and now hasn't gone since.  She's starting to look like its uncomfortable and now she's getting a cold again.  She's been coughing quite a bit this evening.  It can't be easy to keep that sucked in there while you're coughing like that.  I don't envy her that feeling.  It'll come I guess, one way or another.

Speaking of Ginny, we tell her that she need to listen to her body when she has to go to the bathroom.  It's actually a saying we picked up from 'The bear in the big blue house.'  He's pretty smart that bear.  Anyway, she says this quite often - Dee gets quite a kick out of it when Ginny says that her body is telling her she has to pee.  This evening though, she started to use this logic to play me.  She was procrastinating going to bed, like usual and wanting one more drink of water.  After several strong no's by me, she said, "Dad, my body is telling me I'm thirsty."  Nice try.

Jorja is so close to losing her first tooth.  Most of her friends have lost some already it seems, but she's hanging on.  One is literally hanging on by a thread though.  It's driving Julie nuts I think.  She is always wanting to wiggle it and pull on it.  Jorja lets her for a bit, and then has enough.  It won't be long now though.

I guess I should get to bed now.  Another work week awaits.  I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not, but every day when I get to Dee's house to pick up the girls they ask me what kind of beer I tested that day.  That just seems odd coming out of a two year old.  Anyway, on that note I'm off.  Later.

Sand blasting

I was feeling a little under the weather the past couple of days - I was in bed by eight o'clock on Thursday night. I'm feeling better today, so I'm not sure of it was some sort of bug, or just severe sleep deprivation.

My parents ended up stopping in this evening for the night. They were on their way from Alberta to Manitoba intending on taking the trans-Canada and we all know how that is going. There are some pretty devastating pictures coming out of there today - my prayers are definitely with those families. We had a nice visit this evening, and were able to get our brunch reservation tomorrow increased by two, so that was good. I had a really nice talk with my Dad this evening about his childhood and growing up - I'm glad he could be here for Father's day. Mom and Julie went to Walmart in case you were wondering where they were.

This afternoon we bought some sand to finish leveling off the base for the pool. We bought some extra to fill up the sand box for the girls. Boy, did they have a blast. They were covered in sand from head to toe, and loving every minute of it. We decided to just get some McD's takeout, hose them off enough to eat outside, and then bring them straight in for a bath. So after supper, I got them to strip by the front door while I went to get the tub ready. Poor Ginny had so much sand down her diaper it wasn't funny. Her poor little butt crack must have been just chafing. So I go inside for a minute and come back to just a pile of clothes on the step. I yell for them, and there is no answer. I go around the corner to the back yard and here Jorja is on the swing, and Ginny was about to go down the slide (that would have hurt) both of them butt naked. It's a good thing we have a high fence.

Anyhow, I need to go to bed. Later.

The weekend at my parents' place

We arrived in Tofield in time for supper on Thursday. We had left here right after lunch, thinking the girls would nap right away. Well, that didn't happen. We were well past Battleford, and I think it was after 3:30 by the time they fell asleep. Needless to say, it was not an early bedtime. However, for our girls (Jorja especially), a late night does not translate into a sleep in.

That was all right the first day, because we were going to Edmonton to do some shopping. Let me tell you, trying to shop with a four year old, a two year old and a two month old in the West Edmonton Mall is an exercise in futility. One is touching this, one is running that way, one is waking up and wanting the soother...a general gong show really. I had brought the stroller that seats two (the car seat with CeCe and one more), but trying to get Ginny to sit in it was not happening. So we tried to shop a bit in the morning, then met a friend of Julie's for lunch, and then we were pretty much drained.

The girls had fun playing with Nanny and Pappa. At one point, Jorja and Ginny were both sitting on Dad's lap, and he was drawing them pictures on one of those magnetic boards. "Draw a house Pappa."...pause while he draws..."That's not a very good house Pappa. Draw a cow"...pause while he draws..."That's the weirdest cow I've ever seen"...ahh, the honesty of a four year old. Later on, Ginny and Mom were doing a wooden puzzle. All the shapes were in, except one. "I think it's under your bum," Mom says. Ginny gets up and looks, "No, it was under my 'gina (she kind of loses the first syllable of that word)." Ahh, the honesty of a two year old.

We woke up this morning to snow. What's up with that. Then it snowed off and on the whole way home, and now it is still snowing. Last week, we were wearing shorts and sandals. I'm not impressed. Here's hoping it warms up soon.