Make Me Smile Monday

On friday it was R's birthday. She turned 7. Aside from the regular (for our family) celebrations, I had an extra little surprise for her. Last year I borrowed this idea from "Trey and Lucy" (which of course I came across on Pinterest) for all the kids on their respective birthdays and they loved it. I did it on their own personal bedroom door during the night and they woke up to it in the morning.

I forgot how much they loved it until I was driving the kids home from school and R and S both mentioned they were surprised I hadn't done it again. So, feeling a bit like I'd dropped the ball on this one I immediately began trying to figure out what I could do instead.

And I figured it out! While R and J were downstairs playing at the kitchen table S and I went upstairs and I blew up between 25-30 balloons and put them on the floor. I quietly let Jason know that S would be calling R up to her room and that he should come upstairs when she did. I got J to come upstairs with me while S went down to get her sister. J and I closed her bedroom door and piled all the balloons close to the door. When she opened the door J, S and I yelled "Surprise!" and balloons went flying everywhere. There was a lot of smiles and giggles and balloons flying everywhere. She was completely surprised and it was definitely a hit! It took about 10 minutes to pull off and she will likely always remember walking into a room filled with balloons when she turned 7. It was even worth the disgusting taste so many balloons left behind. ;)

Make Me Smile Monday

Last year the kids watched Elf with Jason and I for the first time. They thought it was hilarious and talked about it for days. I heard about Buddy's giant burp for days from my little man. So last weekend when we were walking home from the Santa Claus parade and Jason and I asked what movie the kids wanted to watch when we got home it was not a surprise to hear a quick and unanimous "Elf!". So, Elf it was! It's such a fun movie. As you may already know, our children have always known Santa isn't real, but we have fun as a family using our imaginations and making him a part of our celebrations anyways. This movie is one of my personal favourites and it's fun to share that with them. Besides, there's nothing like the sound of my children laughing and of course it's a lot of fun to snuggle up with some hot chocolate and laugh together.

This past week, I found it pretty cute to discover J thinks it's called "the Elf". :) What is it about kids and the way they talk? The way they word or pronounce certain things can crack you up or melt your heart. One of the simple joys of life!

I hope you too are having fun making memories with your family this holiday season!

Make Me Smile Monday

Children are very easily entertained. They are so full of life and quick to make a game out of everything. This morning as I was helping J (my 4 year old) make his bed I was reminded of that.

When S (my firstborn) was only a year or two I discovered something. Whenever I would be making a bed, she would think it was the greatest thing ever to crawl underneath the sheet or blanket as it's up in the air (everybody makes their beds that way, right?) and "hide" under sheet or blanket. It quickly turned into a game where I would smooth the blankets all around her and pretend I couldn't figure out what the big lump was. (I have a feeling this is a pretty common occurance among parents with young children.)  She would giggle and squirm until I would throw the blanket back and gasp, "That's not a lump! That's my S!!!".

And of course both R and J loved this game as well. This morning it occured to me that both my girls have outgrown this, and it won't be long before my son does as well. By now he knows he's not really fooling me. He's aware that I know he's the lump but he's still young enough to pretend that I don't. So for the time being I'm going to take those extra few minutes whenever I can and enjoy the golden sound of his laughter, the joy on his face over one of life's simple pleasures.