Playschool graduation

A bunch of girlfriends have been getting together on Friday mornings at Lynne Owens' house (our mega creative and super achiever friend) for our kids to attend Playschool - games, crafts, storytime and lunch all with a weekly theme...
This is our graduation themed (as you can see) airplane! So much for the kids but also for the moms!

Mother's day

The boys were so cute sharing their gifts of love... I am truly blessed to be a mother...

Easter at the Mpanu Mpanus

Gety Mpanu Mpanu has been part of our family since she moved into our area in October 2010. We met a few years back when we lived in the same ward in Alexandria and she was a recent convert at that time. When Gety arrived in Burke, she was very hesitant at going to a new ward, having only known HER ward in Alexandria. So I took her under my wings and made sure she kept her wonderful testimony alive.

We have come to be extremely close and she is an aunt to our boys. We love having her with us, as she comes to have FHE with us or just to hang out and have dinner with our family.

For Easter this year, Gety's sister-in-law Marie-Claire had her whole family (or mostly) gathered from all over the US and Europe. They invited us and the Riggs for an Easter celebration.

We had a wonderful day with them. The house was beautifully decorated and filled with children and laughter. It was great getting to know the extended family as well.

The children could not wait for the Easter Egg hunt in the huge backyard!

Random silliness

Random cuteness...

Turning 40...

Here are a couple of silly pictures of Mark and the boys the day of his birthday. 

 

I decided to throw a surprise Bar-B-Q birthday party for Mark for his 40th birthday at Gety's house.
I invited a small group of friends (Mark is more comfortable with intimate settings) and ordered a delicious and beautiful cake that, by any standard, was huge!

 The party was a lot of fun – but not entirely a surprise. The plan was for Mark and I to drop off the boys at Gety's house, then we were going out for dinner to celebrate. As Mark was getting the boys ready, Adam repeated the plan to Mark, but Antoine tried to quiet him, saying something like, you’re not supposed to tell him.”
Adam replied, “no, that’s what I’m suppose to tell him ! ” At that point Mark knew something was up, just not when and where. When it happened, he appreciated the “surprise” anyway!

Circus in town...

The boys had never been to the circus, so when it came to town this year, we seized the opportunity. We told them that the circus is one of the few places where it is appropriate to yell and scream as much and as loudly as they want. They regularly took advantage of that rare bit of permission, but
otherwise watched the rest of the performances in quiet fascination (of course).
Before the main show, early arrivals could go down to the circus floor and watch performers up close. The acrobats and clowns were terrific, but their favorite part had to be the elephant that drew a picture with his trunk. Watching our boys taking it all in was one of our simple parenting pleasures this year.

 

 



I love my Daddy...

6 months...

 

An awesome birthday party...

Antoine was SO excited to dress up as a pirate to attend one of his friends' B-day party (Riley)... 

We arrived to a magical setting... Wouah... I can't imagine the hours (or should I say days...) of preparation!

Antoine has such a blast, playing on his own in the inflatable house before joining the crew on their adventures...

The kids were having so much fun that I took a ton of pictures!

I will never put that much work into one of my boys' B-day party (am I a terrible mom for saying this?) but I thought it was an amazing party and I know who to ask for great tips!

Sweet Angel...

Happy chubby...

Growing like weeds!

I took these pictures to show Adam's funny teeth... He certainly does not look like a little boy anymore... I wanted to have our Family pictures taken in the Spring before he lost his top teeth but it did not happen!! Oh well...

 

 I think that sometimes Antoine looks so grown up... He is still our sunshine and a joy to be around...

But we also have another sunshine in our home... I love this baby so much!!

Victor is learning to sit on his own and is enjoying this new way of playing with his toys!

 

I love my Daddy... and my fingers!

Loving it!

Teething cheeks...

 

Full of expressions!

An UNordinary Christmas...

Everything started great. We had a beautiful month of December, where the boys enjoyed all our traditions, from setting up ALL our Christmas decorations inside and outside to making Bratzelis and attending our annual events (Mount Vernon bells Christmas concert, our white elephant gift exchange...), not to forget about our daily mini devotionals along with our advent calendars...

The boys were so excited for Christmas morning to come and we were all ready... Adam ran to the presents under the tree (and there were many!!) and started opening speedily his. But he started having a bad attitude envying his brother's gifts  or complaining about what he had received... I have to admit that it made me sad to hear theses negative comments. In the meantime, Antoine was thrilled with his toy animals and was playing with them, leaving aside his other gifts.

After a delicious breakfast and a little bit of clean-up, we had a great time together playing with their board games and the boys had fun discovering their new toys.

Christmas was Sunday this year and we had church at 3pm. By the time we put the boys down for their naps, they had been arguing and fighting. Then they resisted taking their nap and kept coming out of their bedroom. I had had it by that point and told Mark that the boys should not be able to keep their Christmas presents and that we should pack them away until Adam and Antoine would earn them with their good choices...
You might be thinking that it is quite a harsh treatment...
Mark and I even wondered at some point that night if it was too severe of a consequence for their behavior... Well, we really want them to realize that our Family Laws are in our home for a good reason and not just to decorate our walls. We are now going back to Basics and focusing on Obedience, Peace, Permission, Respect and Order. We have created a behavior chart to evaluate how their day has been and earn one present back per 3-score day!! This is quite a motivation for the boys and we have seen quite some progress in their attitude!!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Victor!

Victor is such a wonderful baby. To top it off, he has started cooing and smiling these last few weeks and it is a true joy to be with him!!

Our precious baby boy...

3 Brothers...

Victor - first 2 weeks

2-week visit with Peggy

Here we are at Peggy's birthing center for Victor's 2-week appointment. Peggy's daughter-in-law took some pictures during our visit and graciously gave them to us... 

 

 

While I am waiting for you...

My sweet baby boy,

You are still in my belly and I am longing to meet you... It has certainly been a journey, from the day you surprised us on January 1st, finding out I was expecting... That was not exactly what our plans were but your Papa and I were already thrilled at the idea to have another child join our family... 

You have been playing tricks on me for a long time... at 14 weeks, you decided to hide, you scared me because we could not hear your heartbeat... After my first ultrasound we found out that you were a boy. Another surprise... 

I have definitively had ups and downs during this pregnancy with a lot of pains and fatigue (it probably did not help that I had a whole summer with your two brothers at home, full of energy and mischief...) but I have always reminded myself in the hardest moments how blessed I am to be able to carry you without much complication. I would also envision the day when I would hold you for the first time and it always made me feel stronger.


Recently as I was driving to see my midwife late, I was overwhelmed with Love thinking about you and how special you are, not having met you yet but feeling your spirit and your strength already...


Everyone is waiting for your arrival, sweet baby, from your brothers to your Papa, your Babou and Papili who are also here to welcome you. But the one who is even more anxious to meet you is your Maman who loves you so much already.

First camp-out...!

Back at the beginning of the year, Mark and I invested in camping equipment (a 7-people tent found on Craigslist and deluxe air mattresses) in anticipation for the annual Fathers and Sons camp-out that our ward organizes each year in May.

We learned a couple of months later that the event was going to fall right in the middle of our "Baby-moon" in St Thomas (see previous post). Mark was quite disappointed because he was looking forward to taking the boys camping for the first time; so, we found an alternative to satisfy Mark and the boys: camp in our backyard!

It was a great way to try out our tent and see how the boys would react to camping. It ended up storming that evening, and the thunder with the lightening did not make Adam feel safe; but, after a lot of reassurance from Mark he eventually calmed down and fell asleep. Antoine was fine the whole time as he was cuddling with his Dad.

Here is a pick of our adventurers!