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Daddy and the Kids

Colin, Connie, Dougie No Comments

We’re already adjusting well to life at home as a family of five. You’d think Scott was used to it though because he clearly has adjusted well.

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The kids are still as enamoured with Colin as ever. They hardly give him a minute to himself. They are constantly rocking him, turning music on for him and suggesting thoughts for him (apparently, he already has a favourite song).

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It’s so nice that everyone is adjusting so well. It really does seem like he has been a member of the family forever.

Colin Meets the Rest of the Family

Colin, Connie, Dougie No Comments

Day 2 for Colin and he got to meet his new brother and sister. To say they were excited to meet him would be a huge understatement. Dougie already had a big list of plans for his new brother. He was going to teach him to say “Dougie” and make sure he shared his birthday cake. Connie just wanted to sing the Rock Baby song (you may know it better as Rock-a-bye baby).

The kids weren’t allowed to visit until 11am so Scott brought them by shortly before lunchtime. They were so excited to meet Colin. They both came in and immediately started to look for him. Once they found him in the bassinet, they were desperate to hold him and kiss him.

The kids showing Colin the gifts they brought him
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SO excited to finally get to hold him
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He’s looking pretty happy to be held
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Dougie loves his new brother
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As does Connie
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After all that holding, he was finally awake enough to get a picture with his eyes open
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Not long after Scott and the kids arrived, the nurse came to discharge us. I was thrilled to go home! We got Colin dressed in his going home outfit and we were on our way.

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Daddy and the kids made cupcakes to welcome Colin home – Dougie’s favourite, carrot cake

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Poor Colin couldn’t get a minute to himself
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It’s so nice to be home though with our new little guy
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Dress-up

Connie, Dougie No Comments

For Christmas, Connie received a box of princess dress-up clothes and some fancy princess shoes. She was thrilled! Connie loves to look “pretty” and this was exactly what she needed.

Fast forward to today, we were busy upstairs organising the house and both kids were downstairs playing. Connie called me downstairs to help her put on a dress. Apparently, they had managed to pull one out of the box through a small hole (we hadn’t opened it yet). I opened the box so we could get the other part of the dress out and Dougie decided he wanted to dress-up as well. Next thing I knew, we had this:

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All dressed up, down to the shoes.

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They were both thrilled to dress up, but I think we may investigate getting some non-princess dress-up clothes so they have a few more options.

The Big Piano

Connie, Dougie No Comments

For Christmas, Dougie and Connie received a Big Piano from Santa. We’re planning to get a real piano in the spring but we thought this would be a fun toy for them until then. They both took to it immediately. Scott taught Dougie how to play Twinkle and he’s been playing on it ever since.

Dougie then tried to teach Twinkle to Connie. She still needs some practice.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Connie, Dougie No Comments

It’s been a long time since we’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day around here. It just not something Scott and I were into and with it being so close to my birthday, it was easier just to skip it. This year, Dougie found out about it and has been wishing people “Happy Valentine’s Day” for months. Clearly, we would have to do something in recognition of the day.

So, off to Michael’s we went to buy some craft supplies. We decided that we would make some special cupcakes to celebrate. So, one heart shaped pan, some cake mix and some icing later and we were ready!

While the kids were napping, I made the cupcakes. Once they were up, we pulled the learning tower over to the counter so they could decorate cupcakes for Daddy.

Connie went first (please ignore the big bruise, she had a run in with our slide and the slide won)

First, she iced the cupcake

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Then I gave her a bowl of sprinkles to decorate, they went directly into her mouth

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Good thing she’s cute

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A little demo from Mum and she understood. First get the sprinkles

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Then sprinkle on the cupcake

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A few more sprinkles and the cupcake for Daddy was done

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Just need to make sure it tastes okay

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After that moderate success, I was ready to give it a try with Dougie.

He showed a bit more skill in the icing department

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Until I turned my back for a moment

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I took over the icing from there. Once that was done, it was time for sprinkles.

“Dougie, maybe you could use your hand and sprinkle them on.”

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A little sprinkling lesson for him too and he understood what he had to do.

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Wait wait wait, that is not it!

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Hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Do You Need Cleaners?

Connie, Dougie No Comments

We’re hiring the kids out.

Connie is an expert on floors

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She can even vacuum

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We thinking of moving her into a supervisory role.

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They’ll work for cookies!

The Christmas Tree

Dougie No Comments

In Dallas, we have lots of special ornaments that go on the tree each year. There are several I made in Grade 1 (including a very pathetic looking popcorn and cranberry string). We haven’t let Dougie get too involved in decorating because he has played with the various things and broken several of them. We didn’t bring any of our special ornaments out to Calgary though so we had to get something new. Since the new ornaments have no sentimental value at all – enter Dougie, the decorator.

We started off by letting Dougie have full creative control of where the balls went. But he put them too low.

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Too low is defined as anywhere that Connie can reach. So, we asked him to put them higher.

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Better, but we weren’t going to get a lot on that way. So, in stepped Dad to help.

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That was better, but apparently, Dougie felt his creativity was being stifled. So, he dragged his learning tower over to the tree and took matters into his own hands.

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There we go, high enough to be away from Connie but still allowing for that “Dougie Flair.”

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We would move the tower occasionally to give him access to another area but it worked out perfectly. Here is Dougie showing off his end result.

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The whole tree

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Hang on, let’s get a better look at those branches.

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Hmm, that’s certainly some ornament density. On the average branch, there were at least 5 balls. We’re not even sure how he managed to fit them all on there.

After Dougie went to bed, we made a few modifications – purely for structural and safety reasons – honest. :)

Christmas Cookies 2010 — Two Junior Chefs Are Better Than One

Connie, Dougie No Comments

Time for a classic Sharabura family tradition… making Christmas cookies! By this time, Dougie is an old pro at making cookies (heck, he has his own apron!), but this was Connie’s first shot at it. We’re happy to report that the cookies were delicious, nothing burned, and we only had a couple of over-sprinkling incidents (see below). First, we make the dough:

Measuring the lemon extract requires a steady hand:
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“How does this thing work anyway?”
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Salt — another tricky ingredient:
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“Making snow” (also called sifting flour for those not used to baking with Dougie)
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“I’m going to eat FIVE cookies!”
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“Man, this is hard work…”
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“Oh, gee, I’m not sure Daddy… let me taste one more!”
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“Umm…. Daddy, I’m not so sure about this stuff…”
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“Wait… you mean I can eat this??”
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“That’s more like it!”
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Then, we put the dough in the fridge for a couple of days (hence the costume changes for those who are paying attention!) Onward to cookie-making!

“I can make just one big cookie, right?”
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Making cookies for the Cutie Pie Ranch
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“I’ve got seven teeth… I can eat all KINDS of cookies!”
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“What, these aren’t toys?”
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“We can TOTALLY fit more sprinkles on here….”
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If it’s Christmas, we need lots of green, right?
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Once the cameras stopped rolling, Dad applied a little bit of sprinkle equalization. The things we do to uphold a family tradition…

Dougie’s 4th Birthday

Connie, Dougie No Comments

It is almost impossible to believe that Dougie is already four. I can remember holding him in the hospital when he was just a little tiny thing. He’s still pretty tiny but he sure is a lot bigger!

This year, we kept Dougie’s birthday pretty low key. We’ve only met a few people here and didn’t want to plan a party like last year for just a handful of kids. So, we decided to just invite family and keep things calm.

The day started like most of our days do. I tried to get a picture of Dougie holding up 4 fingers but he wasn’t quite into it – so we settled for a sweet smile instead.

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We spent the morning playing and hanging out. Dougie inspected the gifts that were out. This one in particular caught his attention. He was convinced it was a cake.

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He hasn’t learned the skills involved in present guessing. I assure you, it wasn’t a cake.

Dougie selected his own clothes for the day. His fashion sense is really developing.

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Then, he counted the minutes until Auntie Lou arrived.

A small aside here, we told Dougie that he couldn’t open presents until Auntie Lou got here. Somehow, that got her associated with Santa Claus. We’re going to have to work on clearing that up.

Anyway, once Auntie Lou got here we had some hors d’oeuvres and then had some cake. Shockingly, we opted for a Thomas theme.

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Connie hung out with Auntie Lou while Dougie blew out the candles.

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Even Connie got into the cake experience.

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Then it was on to presents. Dougie is a lot more into opening gifts now that he’s a bit older.

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Connie and Auntie Lou helped a bit too. Dougie was so excited with every gift. He wanted everything removed from the packaging immediately.

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It was a great birthday! We’re so excited to see what the next year holds.

Almost Four

Dougie No Comments

Tomorrow, Dougie is four years old. The future is so bright, he has to wear shades.

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