The family that plays together.....stays together??????

It is way past Lil'Missus bedtime. But I just can't help it.

Let me set the scenario up. Daddy has to do his exercise tonight. So he goes into the basement to ride his bike in front of the hockey game. Lil'Miss heads down there with him. I'm thinking she's going to ride her video bike (it's a bike that's hooked up to a tv and you pedal and play a video game at the same time.) or hit some golf balls around with her putter. Here is the scene I walked into when I went into the basement to get her to go to bed.

Dad has gone out to the garage, gotten her new pink bike, and set it up on a trainer next to his.

Now, take a good close look at Lil'Miss.....

She's got her exercising shoes on (thanks Gramma), her hat just like Dad's, her 'heart rate' monitor just like Dad's (but his is under his shirt because, according to Lil'Miss, his does not fit over his shirt like her's does), she's also got her towel and a waterbottle (although you can't see the waterbottle) on the table set up beside her. And she's exercising just like Dad. If you ask her, she's practicing for a marathon. But of course Dad corrected her as a marathon is just running. So she has changed her story and now she is practicing for a 'athalon'.

She does everything that Daddy does.

When Daddy has a drink of water, Lil'Miss has a drink of water.

When it's time to wipe your brow because you are working hard and sweating, get busy with that towel!!!!

It is now 9:30 pm. WAAAAAYYYYYY past bedtime. They've been cycling together for an hour. Seriously. Maybe one day she really will compete in a 'athalon.



More Hockey?????

*For the record, this goes back a ways........way back to the middle of January when we were struck with yon cold spell. A cold spell that knocked our socks off (or perhaps just made us put them on!), convinced me to sleep in my pajamas with my house coat on top, under the covers in my bed (I just could not get warm!) and gave us some serious cabin fever. Now having said that....the entire cold spell didn't last much longer than 2 weeks. But that was long enough!!!!!*

Yes, more hockey. Nothing better to do outside than practice a little bit of street hockey with dad.

For the record...the temperature is -18 degrees C. Still pretty cold.

But balmy enough (after previous temperatures this week!!!!) to get a little bit of exercise in the great outdoors. After the Big Guy had snowplowed the sidewalks (yay! fresh snow!!!!!!), he got out the hockey net and the sticks for a quick game.

There is always a 'She shoots, she scores!!!!' moment. Actually, there is always a few of those moments....

The Big Guy in goal. Lil' Miss gets to practice scoring. I think I was just freezing my fingers off here. Approximate time spent outside at this point...about 5 minutes for me....

Approximate time spent outside for Lil' Miss? I think maybe 20 minutes. Her cheeks were getting so red, we had to go inside. Definatley looking forward to some warmer weather.

Mommy, I'm an artist.

Alright. I fell off the deep end and let Lil'Miss play with PAINT. Yes, some might think I'm crazy...but if the dayhome mom can do it with 5 little girls, I should be able to do it with one....right?????? I do believe in her whole 3 years of life, this is the first time I've let her paint. And she produced two beautiful pieces of art. They can now be found in one of my scrapbooks.

We started out with some hand painting. See, I did have an alterior motive to letting her paint. Lil'Miss was actually helping me out with a scrapbook layout (I had an awsome brainstorm on a layout...hoping it turns out AS FABULOUS as it appears in my head). We did some hand prints on a page, then I let her loose with paint, paintbrush and permission to finger-paint more if she desired. And really, she wasn't all that interested in doing more finger painting. BUT she really got into using the paintbrush and creating a multicoloured, abstract, artistic piece. I think I should sell it on Ebay and see what I can get for it.

There was lots of concentration on getting the colours EXACTLY where she wanted them.

See how carefully structured that picture is?

Beautiful.

Let's try for a NICE picture.

Of course every year at Christmas I like to have family photos under the christmas tree. This year, for some reason, that didn't happen. So I tried a different approach. Trying to get a picture of the kids under the tree, so at least I would have that. And here is what my efforts produced.....

A lovely picture of Lil'Miss. She cooperated somewhat.
The GOOD picture.

Here is what I had to compete with....

This candy cane thingy that her dad bought her. A prop if you may.

Some questionable pictures of Mr.Mister. These are the good ones.

Take note of the comb I used to distract him so at least he would stay in one spot. Then he gave up on the comb and moved on to things....more his 'style'....

I tend not to argue with a boy and his cool yellow camaro car that Santa brought him for Christmas.

And.....some struggling pictures of the two of them together.

The tree looks like it's going to topple in this picture.
I tried, really I did. If this was video, you'd probably hear Gramma laughing at me in the background. And she was much too busy doing my dishes to help me out.
Ok, how about some doggies instead.

They look really enthusiastic. Kona just refused to pose or sit or do anything....but lie there defeated (maybe because I tried to make her wear a santa hat???????).

Polly, well.....she looked at me like I was crazy. Perhaps it was that nice Christmas collar I insisted she wear.

I should have done a self portrait of myself. That idea slipped my mind....

I tell you, I AM a cool mom!

In amoungst my turmoil to be good mommy, a fair mommy, a fun mommy, I get stuck on being a mean mommy sometimes. It's tough I tell you. I want the kiddos to respect their elders (yeesh...I'm an elder????) and know their boundaries and the rules of the house. And when those rules get broken, the boundaries get tossed aside, and the elders get 'told', I start to take privileges away. No cartoons, Lollydollys get shoved into a secret hiding spot in MY closet and the garbage bag comes out with the threat that what enters that garbage bag, exits the house. Of course this always ends in tears of some sort. And I feel bad. Partly because I don't back down, and sometimes (ok, alot of times) neither does Lil' Miss. So having said that, I do let some stuff slide. Like sleeping in the bed.
Lil' Miss loves to make camping spots. She gets out her blankets, pillows, stuffies, bags of important stuffs, dress-up clothes and jewels,  pretty much the whole toybox (you NEVER know what you might need when you go camping!) , and she lays it all out in some area of the house...the living room, in the middle of the kitchen, her bedroom, Mr. Mister's bedroom.....the hallway, where ever her little heart leads her. It is quite the production. But she doesn't just bring stuff for her. She packs stuff for Mr.Mister and me, just in case we need it.

(take note of the real little Mr.Mister swinging in the background. Yes, Lil'Miss has been doing the 'camping' thing for a long long long time.....usually when I should be vaccuming the floor....)

So she has been wanting to camp out and sleep on the floor for awhile. Tonight I let her do it. She got out an old yoga mat that I kept under Mr.Mister's crib (because back in the day when she used to sleep in the crib and she'd have such a tough time going to sleep and staying asleep, I'd unroll the yoga mat and lay beside the crib....and hold her hand....) laid it out, laid out her blankets, got some of her stuffies, got a book of fairytales (thanks Auntie S!), got a hat (????????? But thanks Auntie B!) and then got her pillow puppy and she was ready for her campout. She asked me if I'd lie beside her for a bit. In a weak attempt to get her back into her bed I said 'No. I don't sleep on the floor. But I would lay beside her for a bit if she got into her bed.'
Lil' Miss: But Mom, I've got this mat! (She pulls her blanket back to reveal the mat she's sleeping on)
Mom: No, I still can't sleep on the floor.
So she took it at that. I tucked her in, told her the same rules apply when she sleeps in her bed. No getting up, no thumping around. She was to read her book and stay in her camp bed. She agreed with me so I tucked her in and  said I'd come back in in a couple of minutes to check on her. 10 minutes later I hear the thumping. I go up to see what she's gotten herself into and she's tucking Sunshine Bear in beside her. I review the rules again and say she has one more chance. 10 minutes later.....she's out like a light.

So.
Now what do I do.
Do I go in and transfer her to her bed?
Do I leave her there until she starts to cry in the middle of the night because she's disoriented and scared or she rolls into the closet doors, and THEN transfer her to bed?
Do I just leave her and see what she does in the morning if she manages to make it through the night?
I also told her that tomorrow night she's sleeping back in her bed.
Do you think she'll remember our agreement?
I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Just a note....

December has now come and gone and my vow to post every day was ALMOST fulfilled. As of today I will no longer be posting EVERY day. I am going to try and be more consistent in posting though. Having said that I do have a couple more 'stories' left over from December that I will post in the next week (seeing as I did miss a couple of days towards the end of December, I will make them up to you!). So thank you to everyone who read the blog and was kind enough to leave comments. I read those comments everyday and thoroughly enjoyed them. Part of my New Years resolution for 2012 is......

ORGANIZATION!

This is a pretty big one for me. As part of that resolution I will try to keep you updated on the happenings and hooplah of what goes on in our family/household.

So good luck to me and thank you again to everyone who participates in said hooplah. This should be an interesting year.

Out with the old, in with the new.

So long to 2011 and onto 2012.

But first, a few words about 2011.

We welcomed a brand new little man to our family. Mr.Mister sauntered his way into our lives way back in February and changed Lil'Missus life forever (and mommy and daddy's too!), but for the better. Now she has someone to play with, to chatter too, to fight with, and most important to give impromptu squishy hugs to. Mommy has a little guy to hug and spoil, and Daddy has the 4th to his golfing foursome...and hopefully someone to watch sports with, golf with, play hockey with, be man around the house with in the future years.

Mommy got to be on maternity leave for the majority of this year. That meant playdates, sleep-ins (yes, I know, shocking!!!!) domestic work (booooo...), vacations, hanging out with the little ones, and cookie/cake baking!!!!

Daddy decided to try Ironman again (2012) so he's on a new routine with working out, dieting (again..booooooo.....but necessary) and trying to manage family life, work life and diet life.

Lil'Miss, well every day is a new day. She changes all the time, she's growing all the time (how has she gotten so big?!?) and her personality is certainly shining. Lots of dancing, running, golfing, dress up, being princessy, and now tantrums. But it's all part of being a whole 3 years old! Look out 2012, here she comes...
And what are the great plans for the New Year? Well I think I have a few suggestions.....
Play nice with your friends/family. Because if we didn't have them, who would we play with then????

Share. Because if you share with someone, hopefully they'll share back.

Remember to eat healthy, but still enjoy a treat once in awhile.

Get your rest. Sleep is so important! Naps are good, going to bed on time is good, and waking up refreshed feels, well.....REFRESHING!

And most of all, don't fear the unknown. Sometimes it's a good thing to go off and take a risk.

Just know that we always got your backs!!!!
Happy New Year Everyone!!!!!