Mmmmmuffins

I feel kinda bad that I haven't baked with the kids much... Griff used to help me all the time when he was a toddler... but the fighting and messing that I knew would occur has kept me from doing the same with S, G & F.  The other day I decided to give it a shot.  Mostly inspired by the gorgeous aprons my good friend Tara made the girls for their birthday! 

Here's a shot of everyone ready to go - but before any ingredients were handed out.

And ya I bet you wish I had some shots of them actually making the muffins.  But that would be CRAZY! I needed all my hands and then some to keep the experience relatively positive... definitely not the time for a photo shoot.

So here's a shot of the final product.  We made 15 little whole wheat banana muffins... and they were delicious! (and nutritious too... which is why I didn't feel bad that we ate all of them in 15 mins flat!)

They were so good they deserved to be eaten with his eyes closed.

Sunny's apron :)

And Gibby waiting for another serving in her pretty lil apron:

And in case you were wondering... my first week back at work was amazing! I still feel a tad guilty to admit that... but it seems to be such a perfect balance for me.  2.5 days in peace & quiet and still plenty of time to spend with my loves.  And they LOVED going to the dayhome. Prepping for our 7:15am departures and 5pm supper is a whole lot of work... but totally ok once I'm in my office with a cup of coffee and a clear head!

2 Years Old x3

My babies are two! Wow! We had lots of fun this weekend celebrating their big day.  Now I'm not really sure how to refer to them anymore... we used to say "the babies"... now I'm trying out "the little kids"... I guess I could just use their names... I cringe a little when people refer to them as "the TRIPLETS"... doesn't really sound personable to me. They are so much more than that... three extremely unique individuals!

Miss Gibby is my soft spoken (with the exception of her ear-piercing cry) sweetheart... she loves her sleep and often asks to have a nap or go to bed... which we are happy to do cause she is much sweeter with lots of sleep!  She loves attention and is most happy if it is one-on-one.  Singing and cuddling are our favourite things to do together.

Sunny is a laid back bundle of personality and energy.  She's tough as nails, and sure knows how to work her cuteness to her advantage.  I hope she will always be so confident and eager to learn.  She is the easiest to reason with right now and always has lots of hugs and kisses for mommy.

Since day 1 I've labelled Fletcher as my big softy.  And I've tried to keep an open-mind and not decide that that's the way he will be... but he makes it tough...  he's just a giant mush-ball.  A strong little guy and very athletic... but if anything doesn't go exactly as planned his emotions get the better of him.  He's a real mommy's boy and it's hard for me to resist babying my favourite little red-haired guy.

I love love love my three little two-year-olds!  Here are some pics from their big day!

New snow hats...

A few of the kids colouring at the party... there were 9 kids age 2 and under so it was pretty busy! It went surprisingly smoothly I think though.

Some of the kids having lunch!

Sunny was the last one standing at nap time... Here she is posing in her "happy Nunny shirt" with her new backpack and boots!

And since I forgot to get a pic of the birthday table before it was emptied, here's an aftershot atleast.

The girls feeling pretty cool with their bacpacks.  They were acting all "high school".  Neither of them would let poor Fletcher stand beside them.

This is as close as he could get... poor guy, gotta be tough being the odd man out! This is the first time I've seen the girls so blatantly leave him out. (Yes, I know I have to clean my windows AGAIN!)

Waiting for Auntie Mila to arrive!

Sad "nunny" face.  Daddy looks pretty handsome though :)

Supper time! Yay!

Time to blow out the candles... ie. spit all over the cake.

Yum! Rainbow surprise cake!

Now it's off to work for me tomorrow! I'm sooooo nervous! 

Craft Time

We pulled out the paints the other day to work on a craft for the little kids' birthday party that is coming up this weekend.  They love to paint, and actually were a bit less messy this time around.  Gulp... I guess they are maturing.  The little guys will be 2 this weekend and I'll be heading back to work next week. I am feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment... my babies are officially not babies any more, I don't get to take Griff to preschoool any more, I don't get to stay home all the time any more.... hey... wait a minute... after a long day listening to whining/screaming/crying maybe not staying at home all the time isn't all bad.  Maybe my nice quiet office isn't gonna be so bad... hmmmm.... it is definitely bittersweet!  

Winter Fun

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the warmer weather we've been having.  We headed to a nearby toboggan hill slash ice skating pond.  Fletcher got a fancy new pair of itty-bitty-oh-so-cute-skates for Christmas from his Auntie Natalie so we thought we'd try them out.  This little boy has the physical capabilities of a star athlete... yep... I'm sure once he learns to control his "emotional reactions" to new things, he'll make a fine young hockey player.  Oh Fletcher... my little softy.

Sunny insisted she give it a try too...  the girls' feet are still so small we thought we'd wait to get them skates

Griff on the hill

The girls taking an easy ride back up to the top

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

The holidays have been busy, awesome, full of wonderful people we love, and lots and lots of FUN! I wanted to share a few snapshots since I haven't had much time to post lately.  We've been enjoying the company of lots of friends and family... just the way the holidays should be!

Grandma & Papa Aadland with all their grandchildren!

The girls in their beautiful christmas dresses my mom made

Every christmas my mom takes a pic of my sisters and I (her 3 "joys")... we included Gibby since she also shares the Joy middle name! She just laid there like a little ragdoll... such a funny girly!

I love this picture of Griffin.  I can still see a glimpse of baby face in it.

Miss Sunny looking very pretty... minus the perma-chocolate-stache

Gibby filled her stroller from Santa with all her stocking goodies

Christmas morning in front of the fire

Fletcher is overwhelmed with excitement... lol!

Gibby feeding her baby :)

Checking out the Park Meadows lights

PJ party on New Year's Eve with Auntie Tara <3

A visit from the Cuthberts!  Love you guys!

Aadland and Cuthbert kids

A special visit from my good friends Sara, Allyssa and Trevor and their precious new baby girl Miss Lydia. Such a beautiful little red-haired girl! I sooooo wish they didn't live way far away in Toronto!

If you visit our house, you gotta be prepared to hold atleast two kids!

All the kids loved little Liddy

Not sure if Liddy loves them back yet ;)

Now back to the regular routine... in two weeks the "babies" will be 2.  And a few days after that I'll be returning to work part-time.  I think we're in for another fun-filled/interesting/busy year!