Halloween!

I honestly do not know how many times I was asked "Mama, when Halloween coming?" this year. I think I lost count after about 100. I'm not joking. My kid was extremely excited about Halloween. I don't know how since we don't really put too much focus on the holiday. I don't go all out decorating. The only decorations were little window decals that my mother picked up for Emilie at the dollar store (that may or may not still be on the front door...). Even our door decoration is fall focused instead of some witch or goblin.

Regardless we had one very excited little girl on our hands. All she could talk about was going trick or treating, getting treats and getting dressed up like Rapunzel.

Here is a picture  of Emilie on the big night:

Yeah, not so much with the Rapunzel. She had a meltdown when I dared to make her wear a pair of pants and a jacket under the dress. The nerve!

So as a last resort she ended up wearing her cupcake costume from last year. Thankfully it still fit, and bonus it has a matching fleece hat and pants so she was super cozy.

But lets rewind a bit.

We had originally bought two pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Two big ones. One started to decompose all over the back patio, so that left us with one.

This was the first year that she actually wanted to help us clean it out.

That was until she realized that she would get dirty while cleaning it out.

I had fears that she would want an elaborate Disney Princess based design. Her request? A happy face. She chose the shape of the eyes, nose and mouth and we got to carving. She helped to poke out the pieces.

She loved her pumpkin.

The day before Halloween she went to our friend Bev's house while we were at work. While she was with "Bevie" they carved me a pumpkin. She was so excited to bring her other little pumpkin home with her. Here are our two happy pumpkins.

On Halloween she was so excited. Then it came time to get ready. She is used to wearing her Rapunzel costume just as a dress so she was not impressed that she needed to wear an outfit underneath, but we live in Canada and it gets cold on Halloween.

After refusing to wear a costume at all Andre suggested her cupcake costume from last year. Thankfully it still fit so she got dressed and we were ready to go!

It had threatened a downpour of rain that day but thankfully it was just misting and she really enjoyed herself. About halfway through trick or treating she kept asking to go to Bevie's house so we walked over and Bev had a special little treat just for her. Emilie's favourite a Kinder Egg (for those in the States it's a hollow chocolate egg filled with a plastic egg with a little toy inside). She gave Bevie a hug and then we were off to walk down the street to her daycare.

On the way back Emilie told me that she had too much candy, and wanted to go home and have her "Kindergarten Egg" and some milk. So we walked home and she did just that :)

I hope everyone else had a great Halloween!

From the Archives: Easter in our house

**After publishing the post on the Pumpkin Patch I found this post that I had written months ago about Easter, but never published, so here you go!**

Before we knew it, it was Easter. This year is flying by!

Last year a friend of mine invited us to join her and her family for her town's Easter Egg Hunt. We went and even though the girls didn't really get the hunt, they had fun. This year everyone was a year older, and they definitely knew what was going on. My sister and her family went to the hunt this year as well as more friends of ours. It was a lot of fun for all the kids, young and not so young. 

Emilie's cheese face.

Emilie and Josh, partners in crime.

Someone got a little camera shy while Papa snapped some pictures of us together.

Showing Papa her haul.

She needed to sit in the middle of the field and taste test.

Thankfully this year I was feeling much better than last year so I was able to actually snap some pictures. Andre and I really try our best with each holiday to really get across the true meaning of the holiday. We have quite a few books about Christmas, which Emilie loves, but I was at a loss about how to handle Easter. I just felt that explaining the Crucifixion of Christ was just a little too much for a three year old to handle. So we decided to let Sunday School handle that issue this year and just focus on the fun aspect this year. Next year I plan on doing a little more research and try to find some age appropriate stories/activities at home as well. Anyone have any suggestions?

The Easter Bunny left Emilie's little basket in the livingroom and also some chocolate eggs hidden around the house for Emilie to find. It was so funny to see her run out in the hall and see the trail of eggs on the stairs. She thought the Easter Bunny was very silly!

A few weeks before Easter Emilie had gone shopping at Target with Carrie and my mom. We love checking out the dollar and $5 sections and this trip was no different. Emilie came home talking about this Doc McStuffins camera and how she wanted the Easter Bunny to bring it for her. I had totally forgotten about it until shopping the Thursday before Easter and I saw it. I figured why not, and bought it for her basket.

On Easter morning Emilie came running into our room, sat on the bed and let out a long sigh. "Welp (her way of say welllll). I don't think the bunny will bring my camera. ::sigh:: He bring it next time"

We went downstairs and she was so happy to find the camera in her Easter basket. Mom Easter Bunny for the win! She had to line up all of her new jammies on the floor and snap pictures of everything with her "camera".

We finished off the day with a big Easter dinner at our place. The weather was so beautiful and sunny that afternoon. Emilie's favourite part of the dinner was the ham. Our girl get not get enough of it.

It was a long day full of activity (and chocolate) and the night ended with me having to rock her to sleep.

Loss

It has been a rough two years.

Just over two years ago my Memere passed. I think my mom best described her when she said that God broke the mold when he created her. She was one of the most loving, giving, warm people you would ever meet. Her greatest loves were her husband and her family. She didn't speak a lot of English, and unfortunately we never spoke a lot of French, but we found a way to communicate regardless. Even with the language barrier, we never doubted that she loved us, and we still loved her.

Andre and I with Memere and Pepere.

Just one year ago we had another loss. This time on my mothers side of the family. Our cousin Leslie passed suddenly while on vacation. We were all in shock when we got the news. Leslie was always the life of the party. You were always greeted with her infectious laughter and a warm hug. It's still hard to believe that she is no longer with us, even a year later.

Ron, Leslie with Kevin and Rose

Today we unfortunately had to say good bye to someone else. Another sudden death. Another loss that we're still struggling to understand. It's one of those situations when you just can't understand it because we just saw her. Two weeks ago she was just having tea and chatting with one of her friends. A week later, gone. Today we said good bye to my Step-Grandmother, Joan.

Let me start by saying I hate the term Step-Grandmother. I feel that when people asked who passed and I said the word "Step" that they almost stopped listening, or didn't care as much. People hear that word and for some there is a negative connotation. Instead of someone saying "I'm so sorry" They said "Oh", or worse yet, nothing.

Joan has been a part of my and my sisters lives as long as we can remember. We can't remember a time when she wasn't with my grandfather. There was a never a time when we can't remember her not being there. She was the type of person that when you went to visit her and my Poppy she was always up and about. She never sat down until everyone else had their food, and was taken care of. She was always taking care of everyone else, and her cat. She loved her cat.

Today her daughter Dorothy gave her Eulogy. I don't know how she managed to hold it together long enough but she did, and she did an amazing job. It was great listening to stories about when her children were younger, stories we had never heard before. She shared one story about when her and her brothers were just children. Joan had found an abandoned lab. She nursed him back to health and then posted that she had found a dog so the owner could claim him. No one did. They lived in a small apartment that didn't allow pets. So what did Joan do? She bought a house. It makes me smile whenever I think of that story because that was so her. She was always giving and thinking of others.

Today we said good bye to my Grandmother Joan. She was loved and she will be missed.

Joan when she met Emilie for the first time.

New Year, New(ish) Projects!

With the beginning of a new year comes the motivation to get things done, a sense of I CAN DO IT. If you're anything like me, that quickly passes, you don't get anything done, and then six months later you kick yourself for not crossing anything off that ever growing to-do list.

Every year I promise myself that this new year will be different, and then a friend shared a link for another blog, Apartment Therapy . They are doing what they call "The January Cure". Basically every day during the month of January she assigns a project to complete to get the ball rolling on all those things that you were meaning to tackle during the month, and a few other more practical little things. It all started on January 2nd, so you still have time to sign up for yourself and have each daily assignment sent directly to your inbox! For the first assignment, and more information, you can go here.


The first assignment was an inventory of sorts of all the little things that you need to get done around the house. I'm ashamed to admit that my list was a page and a half long. It includes everything from touching up some trim paint, and hanging some pictures, to finally painting the basement stairway. All things that are totally doable. So after January is finished I have a whole list of things to work on this year. I can't wait to start crossing things off that list!