I feel like I’m expending a fair amount of mental energy these days, and really just loving a day to decompress with my wife and children without interruption or concern. Today was one of those days. I woke up and read some of Steve Jobs biography and then did some pumpkin carving research. I read up on techniques and downloaded some templates I knew the kids would love—Angry Birds, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, Yugi Oh. Daria bought pumpkins and carving instruments earlier in the week so we set up and carved away. Dylan carved a Legend of Zelda Triforce pumpkin design and Daria and I helped Brigs and Noah. It was funny coaxing them into pulling the seeds and goo out as they really don’t get their hands dirty all too often. But they dug right in and did a great job. The designs the kids wanted were fairly demanding so we did most of the carving. I’ve decided that pumpkin carving is a total blast and I’m going to do this every year now. Later on I played some basketball and raked some leaves and just enjoyed the sunny day looking out at all the sailboats. Daria and I went into the office to cement an onlay, and then she came home and cooked a fabulous meal of wings, scalloped potatoes and garden salad. It was delicious. We read from Moroni 7:43-49 and had a good family discussion about charity, what it really is, characteristics of a charitable person and applied it. It’s really the ultimate goal, requirement, happiness and meaning. I love those last few verses. I’m excited that we have almost read the entire Book of Mormon as a family and now trying to think of a way to mark the occasion. It was a good day.
Category Archives: Memories
Our Teleporting Baby
This morning I was the first to wake along with Lola. As we made our way through the quiet house a mischievous idea came to me. We crept down to Joshua and Brigs room and then I placed Lola up on the top bunk beside Joshua (there’s a significant railing). Lola was in on the gig too, not making a single sound. Pretty soon Joshua became aware of Lola, “What the?” I heard as a grin crossed my face atop the stairs. “How did Lola get here? Brigs how did she get here? Maybe she did climb up here, or maybe I was sleep walking and brought her down here.”
That’s when I came down and told them I thought Lola was a teleporting baby. Classic.
UPDATE: Joshua just asked if we could rig up a camera over his bed so we could capture how Lola is ending up in his bed.
Painting
The past couple of nights I’ve stolen an hour or so to paint a room with my four boys. I love the feeling of working alongside my family on a project. The boys are all quite proud of their handiwork and the paint job turned out great. It was quite adorable when Brigs and Joshua painted their names on the wall. A classic moment.
A Weekend to Remember
We traveled to Calgary this weekend to spend more time with our soon-to-be daughter, currently going by the name of Serenity. Our time with Serenity kicked off at a Church Christmas party with a dinner, program, and dance. The highlight was watching Serenity dance– the girl has rhythm and energy! I even had my first dance with her which was a great moment. She has really already formed a strong attachment to Daria which is so cute to watch. Saturday Serenity came over to spend time with the boys at my in-laws. Joshua’s characteristic instinct to love and protect has already kicked in and he has been so tender and loving about and with Serenity. She is a fun little girl who loves to laugh and play and has a good nature about her. Noah loved seeing another little person smaller then him. I’m looking forward to them having lots of playtime in the coming months and watching that relationship form. Today we spent another hour with Serenity and we learned some of her favourite foods and that she is a very good copycat right now. She copied nearly all of my hand movements and facial expressions. We’ve decided we are going to do baby sign language with her as she has lots to express but no vocabulary yet which is visibly frustrating her. It was a magical weekend that we couldn’t have orchestrated any better. She recognized us, started to call us by names, and gave us all oh so many hugs and goodbyes. I’m going to really miss her this week and can’t wait till we can take her home for good. I have no doubts about her place in our family.
Halloween
I’m excited for trick-or-treating with my boys tomorrow. It’s always fun to enjoy their boyhood excitement.
We are dressing up at our office with a 101 dalmations theme. Bryan will be Cruella De Vil and Dan and I are the henchmen. The rest if the staff will be dressing up as the Dalmations.
I’ll try and get the pictures of all our costumes up here soon.
