Now that William has a tooth, he needs to brush!

He's really enjoying chewing on his toothbrush in the tub and doesn't mind at all when we brush his tooth and gums.

First Cracker!

Overall it was a yummy success!

Kids dancing! They were soooo excited for Christmas!!

Man these videos take forever to upload! Hope it was worth the wait!

More pictures of Christmas celebrations with Shaun's extended family - thanks to Shaun's mom for sending them.

Hugs by the tree:
P, K and W with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma 'Noot:

On December 18th, we enjoyed Haasnoot Christmas. Shaun's grandmother has hosted this for as long as I've been a party of the family on the 2nd Saturday before Christmas. She opens her home to the 4 kids and their families as well as other family members. There is always delicious food and great conversation and I honestly do look forward to it every year as it is often the only time we see the extended family on that side.

This year was lots of fun as we were introducing William to them. He was unfortunately in a bad way, experiencing some tummy gas, and we felt we spent a lot of time sequestered away in a dark bedroom trying to console him and get him to nap so he could be happy. Such is the life with small children sometimes!

The big kids had a blast. I am so glad they aren't shy! The just play with and talk to anyone.

We didn't get too many pictures.
Patrick just loves the new big fuzzy blanket he got from Karen & Leo. The kids were spoiled again with lots of great things including a blanket each! As well, they got new clothing, books, tickets to our local cinema and tub toys!

Congratulations to William on sprouting his first tooth!!! He's also sporting his new Christmas outfit from Grandma and Grampy. He's my little lumberjack!! Green is definetly his colour!

Today we celebrated Christmas with Shaun's family! It was a gorgeous, snowy day which really set the mood.

Kathryn loves this nativity set, especially baby Jesus.

Kathryn recieved a puzzle from Grandma and Grampy. I think she had some help putting it together the first time but has since been able to do it all by herself. Here she is posing with Abby and the finished puzzle:

Patrick got his first transformer! Daddy and Uncle James had a lot of fun trying to transform it. Its going to be a learning curve for sure - but he won't soon get bored of it!

William got an awesome teething toy, Sophie the Giraffe. She squeeks when squeezed and it makes him laugh every time. She is also very delicious!

All the grandkids got new matching jammies!!! Its hard to co-ordinate 4 little bodies at once so this was the best shot:

Merry Christmas!!

Patrick's artistic abilities just astound me. I couldn't draw to save my life, unless stick people/animals count. He definetly gets his artistic flare from his Daddy!!

HAPPY 6-months BIRTHDAY WILLIAM!!!!

I tried to do our traditional 'body parts' photo shoot (feet, hands, etc) but he was not into it. So, here is a selection of what I did get!

See how strong he's getting on his stomach?? He is our first child to enjoy tummy time. And he'd like to be mobile, please. When he's on the floor,he can scoot backwards after performing this 'bum in the air' manouver.

His favourite toys are still his feet. Which he can get into his mouth and loves to chew.

Such a sweet face.

Happy Birthday Little Guy!!!

There was much excitement under the tree this morning as Patrick discovered that I had put some presents under it after wrapping last night!!!
Let the anticipation and constant asking if its Christmas yet begin!!

We'd been getting bits of snow for a couple of days, and then a big storm hit!
The kids were so excited for snow!! They had a great time playing out back in it while Shaun blew out the driveway in the morning, and then in the afternoon they went out front to try and build a snowman. Unfortunately it wasn't packing snow. It looks like it should be though - see how its weighing down the branches on the tree in the side yard?

But they were happy anyway!

Check out the snow pile-up on the fence top and post cap lights!

Nothing says "HAPPY DECEMBER FIRST" like creating and painting egg carton caterpillars :)

Patrick brought a book home from school on how to create these as well as butterflies. So, that is todays craft project! We'll have to hit the dollar store later for things to decorate them with. Kids want sparkles... I'm hoping to convince them to use sequins instead.

A very exciting day in our household. Today, was William's first swing at the park!!! I think he enjoyed watching his siblings more than the actual swinging part.

But he was definetly content in the swing for a long time!

Now they can all enjoy the swings together!

And once he's sitting up on his own, he can try out the slide (with assistance) too!! Probably not until the spring, though.

Snoozin. Adorable.

We started spoonfeeding William a few weeks ago. He had started to show interest in what we were eating and often grabbed my spoon/fork when I was holding him to try and negotiate the contents into his mouth.

He wasn't too impressed with the baby food though, and every night it was a struggle to get a few spoonfulls into him. Right now its just practice anyway, so we weren't too concerned, just hopeful he would eventually take to eating solids. Because of his milk-protein allergy, we started with sweet potatoes which we not a hit, and then moved onto applesauce last week.

Tonight he couldn't get enough of it! He got excited when he saw me get out his bowl and spoon. He eagerly opened his mouth for each bite and cried when the bowl was empty until he watched me put more into it. He polished off that serving too and then I nursed him again to wash it all down.

All in all, I think he took in about 1/4 cup of applesauce and liked it!!

The kids just love baking with me. Usually we bake muffins, sometimes cookies but they are definetly a messier adventure.

Today we baked pumpkin muffins. They are Patrick's favourite to take to school. This is 1/4 of the batter, I froze the rest in baggies for future use. Its so easy to bake a fresh batch on a Tuesday morning - just toss the baggie of frozen batter into luke-warm water to thaw while the oven heats, then snip the cornor and 'pipe' it into the mini muffin tins and bake!

We're all decorated for Christmas now. The kids just love our tree. Shaun set it to 'spin mode' this year which has also helped us get out more of our ornaments.

I just love pulling out the ornaments. Its a walk down memory lane!

Picture of a picture... but this is the 'official' Santa photo!

William was too busy looking at all the lights/people to look at the camera. I'm just happy he's not crying :)

Cousins!
We took over 10 pictures. This was the best one.

Patrick LOVES his brother and I'm fairly certain William feels the same way!!

Is this not the absolute most adorable picture of William EVER!? I love that happy smile!!!

Getting very strong on his tummy!

In a bold move last night, William rolled front to back for the very first time!!!

He's also working very hard on learning to roll back to front. Soon he'll be rolling right across the room.

Happy 5 Months, William!!!!!

William fell asleep in my arms sucking his thumb.

Adorable.

Here's hoping he prefers it to his soother - so much easier to find in the night and even by himself!!!

Kathryn put this puzzle together all by herself with no help at all! Way to go KJ!!We had a bit of fun out in the first snow of the season. The kids made tiny snow balls and ran around trying to catch snow on their tongues.

William, however, was less than impressed.

Storytime!

Twas the morning after Hallowe'en and the kids wanted to paw through their loot. So I snapped a picture.