I love children's art. There is evidence all over our house of my little one's creativity.

Imagine my delight when the older two went to a birthday party last week at a local art studio. Each child was able to create their own 8/10 canvas painting to bring home and experiement with different materials. There lacked the usual frenzy of a party and the atmosphere was calm, and creative. I enjoyed this time so much that I would definitely consider hosting a party there and will be putting my older two in art classes. Now if I could just start selling their art work, we would have it made!!

The final products.

Caileigh

Aiden

As Aiden was painting he kept commenting on how much he enjoyed being an artist. He was explaining to me that different people have different ideas and do things in different ways. He paused and then commented, "but I think my ideas are best."

Don't we all........don't we all.

Happy Birthday Nanee

We look forward to seeing you soon!!

15 months

A few things about Mikayla......

*unending energy and exploration

*Adores Aiden and Caileigh

*new owner of 5th tooth (top left)

*LOUD and chatty Some words being used are: dadda or daddy, momma, Aiden, Caileigh, cat, dog, duck, up, eat, night-night, Grandma, Gigi, banana, muffin, cookie, yeah, shoe and more each day

*Loves outside time and daily walks

*Loves bath time

*Friendly and waves to anyone

*Strong willed and determined

*Hates to be told no......will scream, bite and hit

*Still enjoys 2 naps a day but can get by with 1 or occasionally none.

*bedtime at 6:30, wake up 6:30

*eats well and enjoys all foods

*23 pounds 9 oz.

oh my

35 weeks with Mikayla

24 weeks with twins

Watch me Grow.....

21 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks

24 weeks

Fun with a stool

Mikayla really wishes that she could ride a bike too!!

Caileigh came downstairs the other day wearing this outfit. I looked at it for the longest time trying to figure out what she was wearing. We often receive clothing from a girl in Caileigh's dance class and I knew that she had passed along a pair of pants and a skirt. Suddenly it dawned on me. The skirt came with a pair of shorts attached inside. Caileigh had put that over one shoulder and was wearing the skirt as a shirt. I think we might have a future clothes designer!

Last weekend there was a dance competition on the island. Three of my dancers were competing and I really wanted to go watch. I also wanted Caileigh to experience the excitement of seeing so many dancers competing against one another. To this day, whenever I hear the bagpipes I still feel the mad rush of adrenaline and nervousness and I joked that I wanted to pass this down to my daughter. I am glad that we went and got to watch, however it was extremely ambitious and I felt quite exhausted for several days after. I forgot how difficult it would be to keep track of all the kids and keep Mikayla happy. She is at that age of relentless energy. My good friend came to watch and we were blessed that she invited us to her house in the afternoon. This really helped because the kids could burn off their energy in a child safe environment. My Mom traveled with me and I am pleased to say that all my dancers placed! I was extremely proud of them.

Here are the big three enjoying some playdough time.

Aiden has been experimenting with his use of similes. Some of his recent comments have been, "I am as fast as a seal in a race car!"

"I am as cold as a sea lion in a rug."

A couple of months ago my Dad took Aiden to a hockey game that Sean was announcing. Aiden got filled with tons of special treats and even got to try a slurpee for the first time! My Dad didn't realize that we have a family rule that there is no pop until age 10 so Aiden felt extremely lucky to have been able to have some. Last night Sean took Aiden and Caileigh to a hockey game and they too got plenty of special treats. When they arrived home Sean and Aiden were snuggling on the couch and Sean asked Aiden if he had a good time. Aiden replied, "Yea, but you know I had a much better time with Bupee." He then replied, "I gotta say, that slurpee sure made me happy!"

I visited with the OB on Monday and got to see another sneak peek of the twins! They are both still measuring a week ahead and the Dr. is starting to think that this later date might be more in line with my due date. Based on a lot of factors it makes sense that I am due around the 10th. The Dr. also mentioned that the babies will be born as close to 38 weeks as possible. This brings us to the end of June, beginning of July for a scheduled c-section. I am going for another ultrasound at 28 weeks and then I will have bi-monthly ultrasounds to check for signs of pre-term labour. They are still not sure if I have one placenta or two so they also need to check that both boys are growing equally. I am feeling good although I am extremely tired. I do find taking some quiet time in the afternoon seems to help tremendously and trying not to stay on my feet for too long at at time.

I have been keeping a list of names on the fridge and as Sean gets the time he can check it over and cross off names that he doesn't like. Every now and them I throw on a really outrageous name just to see if he is paying attention. I want names that are easy to say and fairly different from one another. The other day I told Sean that I had the perfect names....."River" and "Powell". This way they can always remember where they were born. Or, maybe not!