Color me happy, my little baby girl is quite the entertainer. So many times throughout the day I’ll find her throwing her arms wide and up to the sky, while she sings long notes and spins in a circle (very Julie Andrew’s Sound of Music like).

Singing was such a huge part of my life as a child, I took lessons from the best voice coach Kathleen Taylor for several years. I joined every choir, every performance that I could, I performed in a Musical Event called “Music is My Life” at the Jubilee Auditorium when I was 8 and it was an amazing experience to be a part of. I still sing (under the radar), but I have learned that my nerves limit my performance ability, so I stick to singing in the shower or in my car now. I’ve always hoped that my children would love music, and enjoy singing particularly. Now it’s fun to see my baby girl so into the wild performance of song right before my eyes.

I hope to capture some video of Lola doing her singing thing to share, it’s just too cute for words! What’s next on the horizon??? Dance classes for baby girl, I can’t think of anything cuter than seeing her dance in a ballet class. These next few years are going to be FUN!!!!!

Yesterday Lola wore one of her new dresses from Christmas. Thanks to Nathan’s Mom for this fun vibrant dress, I love it and so does Lola. In fact the perfect headband to go with it was picked out by Lola herself, who reached into the basket and placed it happily on her head. That girls knows her fashion! I was like…”GO GIRL!!” Nothing like dressing to impress when you’re heading downtown, we were the HIT of the car service department yesterday.

My handsome little men showing off their new hairdo’s! Man are these kids huge now or am I crazy?! I can’t believe my little boys are looking more and more like young men.

By the way, I’m really loving using my favorite apps on my iPhone right now - Instagram and Camera+ they are the best for capturing life’s everyday moments when I don’t have my DSLR along for the ride. Trying desperately to capture a shot of my Noah today, but the boy is a blur when it comes to pics right now. He’s always moving.

Dylan (Tavis) is out on the ski hill today, snowboarding with a group of friends – lucky teenager! I wish I had pictures of that.

As I sit here this morning, New Year’s Eve creeping up on me with each passing moment. I wanted to take a moment and be thankful for all that has happened in 2011. It’s been a huge year for us, we moved from the warmth and closeness of our family in Alberta and started over. The island is lovely, we love it here – we are building some beautiful friendships and feel a closeness in our ward that is truly special. I’m back in Young Women’s – a calling in our ward that I love! I enjoy so much being with the youth of the church and sharing in the extra special moments with them when so much is on the horizon for these girls. It’s such a privilege.

I feel so blessed, it’s not been the most easy of years. We’ve been challenged, we’ve struggled, prayed, cried, and kept moving. We have worried about our children, who their friends are and who they shouldn’t be friends with. We’ve tried to be more diligent about focusing inward to our little family circle, and building our relationships stronger. We’ve read The Book of Mormon as a family, but slacked far too often at having regular Family Home Evening. We took family trips and took every opportunity to plan and execute “memory building” events that would last.

I have learned alot about myself this year, I know myself better. I know what I can take, and I must say that truly I can take alot. I have. There’s nothing like “sheer worry” for months and months on end for a loved one that will test your faith and your inner strength. I don’t always know what to do, or how to get through the walls of the teenage mind, but my love for my children has increased substantially this year as has my desire to steer my children in righteous and noble paths. I am Thankful for the progress we have made, I hope to make more. As my darling husband reminds me, with children it’s slow and steady, consistent, and small corrections – though wouldn’t it be wonderful to just dive in and have things improve in “MY” ideal timeframe? I always thought I knew my heart well, but worrying for a child makes you learn so much more about your heart and how far it can stretch, and how encompassing love can be.

The reunion was a true highlight of our year, sharing several days together in a huge house and having the cousins bond through constant play was awesome. Thanks to Nathan’s Mom and Dad we were able to give our family a wonderful memory of castles, kings, queens, and how far their Nana’s love goes for them. Every amazing detail was incredible. Then we had the added bonus of snagging a few days with Mom and Dad camping in the Portland area (and by that I mean far from humanity and civilization down the most winding road I’ve ever got car sick on). The epic water balloon fight of 2011 in the campground, as well as the snake have been talked about many many times since.

We have had the pleasure of several visits from our extended family. I loved the chance to show my own parents around The Island, acting as their official tour guide. We had alot of fun checking out the roadside markets for fruits and jams, the docks, the cute little town of Sidney and the sea wall together. It was not a long enough visit, and they need to come back for more fun – I have made a point of discovering and keeping a wishlist of things to see and do so we can enjoy it when they come back. It’s nice to know that the plane ride is only an hour and 10 minutes away.

Our family vacation to Mexico was the crowning jewel of our year! 14 days of bliss, togetherness, beauty, heat and sand. Oh it was a dream come true, and worth every penny and every day of missed classes in order to make it happen. We needed that family getaway – it was perfect.

Now the Christmas gear is starting to be packed away, the bills are surely in the mail, and life is heading towards it’s normal routine after an indulgent few weeks of holiday time. All that’s left of 2011 is a few hours to clean the house, shop for some food for tonight, and party like it’s 1999!

Thanks 2011 for all you have brought to our lives, taught me and filled me with. My real thanks however is to God, for the blessings of having my children and husband around me, and knowing where the source of all of the goodness, laughter and the lessons come from. Thank you Heavenly Father, my heart is full.

Christmas Eve this year ended up being in our home in Victoria, rather than at home with our family in Alberta. We missed everyone terribly, but there was something special about having our own family Christmas. I LOVE Christmas!

This year I fulfilled a long standing dream of mine to have these matching pjs for our family! They were the perfect touch to our Christmas, and made us all feel special. The kids loved them, and so did the big people. We goofed around in front of the camera, while eating delicious food and laughing.

To be continued……

My beautiful brown eyed boy is turning 7 tomorrow. Noah is our sweet little boy, with a huge passion for artwork. He loves to draw, and spends hours and hours immersed in his world of color and expression. It’s cool to see a little boy so serious about his drawing, he loves to show his art books filled with pictures to those who will sit still and allow him the pleasure of describing each one. Noah also loves Robots – they are TOTALLY his thing.

I love Noah’s sweet voice, his kind heart, his hugs and kisses, and the way that he refers to his brothers as “my friends”. He is a gift to my life and I think he’s so special. Happy Birthday to my youngest baby boy – I love you so dearly Noah. XOXO Mommy

Here’s a quick and dirt simple way to make a POTD (picture of the day) page in just a minute or two. I simply snapped some face shots of Lola all within a 60 second time frame. Then I uploaded to iPhoto, selected them and used an iPhoto email template and saved. Now I can print it and stick it into her scrapbook, or email it quickly to friends and family. I honestly didn’t even edit the shots, they just made me laugh so I went for it. Easy Peasy!

My kids totally crack me up! I took them for the very first time to a pumpkin patch this year to pick out our Halloween pumpkins. Lola was totally serious about the event, wouldn’t crack a smile she just wanted to wander and explore. The other kids were much more animated and hilarious. Love these pics of my funny little men and my little lady.

This afternoon Lola and I indulged in some girl time on our beach. I kind of hung back today and watched Lola picking up tiny pebbles, and then giving each a kiss and throwing them into the water. She was delighted with the water, the seaweed, the sunshine. Seeing her discover all the new sights and smells of life by the sea is truly a gift, even when each time as we approach the water she exclaims “Ewww, Gooossss!” (Ewww Gross).

Lola loves her pink glitter rubber boots, they are a staple of her wardrobe right now. If all else fails she’ll grab her rubber boots and start running.

Lola will be two years old in December, I can’t believe my darling baby is growing up so much. She still needs me, and is stuck to me like glue. I love it for the most part and don’t know how I’ll handle her venturing out beyond my grasp soon. Right now she is enamoured with my exclusive company, so I’m enjoying every second of it.

Life is sweet when you have a friend. Lola’s new friend was given to her by her Nana while she visited us last week. Her sweet face reminds me to much of my Lolabug, she even has the exact same pouty expression with her lips (and the hair is too perfect!).

We are taking name suggestions for Lola’s baby doll – leave your ideas below. As you can see they are best buddies already. I love seeing them curled up with Lola’s hand on her baby’s leg. Too sweet!!

On the way to school today Joshua was playing with his umbrella and said “Mom I’ve got my gatling gun full of happiness, it’s my mission to shoot it into the sky. And rid the world of depression!!” – oh you do Joshy, you totally do! HAHA