“Saying ‘Good bye’ is hard”

That’s what Genna told us when we were preparing for this day, the day we would take Daddy back to the airport. However, we did pretty well, I think. It was a lot better than the first time he had to go.

After he walked away, Hannah burst into tears (and Genna followed). I leaned back and gave Hannah a pep talk (Genna was not listening and wasn't crying as hard.) I told her again that it was okay to be sad, but that to remember that he won’t be gone as long this time and then he’ll be working from home again for a long time. I reminded her that I am staying with her and we made it before and we can do it again. She started nodding her head by the end of my speech like she was gearing up for it. I turned on a Veggie Tale movie for the trip home to get their poor minds off of it. The rest of the day went smoothly! Praise God!

Now for the countdown, not till his return yet because that is still too many days, but until the next big fun event…going back to the states for the feast of family weddings. Here is our chain, 37 days left after today!

Hannah’s Patron Saint’s Feast Day

St. Clare, of course! I couldn’t let this feast day slip by again without a celebration!

St. Clare Sandwich-Apparently there is a Swiss cheese named St. Claire, and so we made sandwiches with Swiss cheese (and pretended it was the real thing) on Ciabatta bread since St. Clare was born in Florence, Italy.

Eclair Cake- I got this online and it was so easy and so very tasty! Layered Graham crackers and vanilla pudding with Cool Whip mixed in, topped with homemade chocolate frosting.

Dates with Daddy

Brian took each of the girls on individual dates today to get ice cream and pick out a little gift from him. Hannah came back with an ear to ear smile and was so very grateful for the gifts. Genna came back happy as a clam from her date as well. He gave them tissue box covers (that I had picked up in Belgium) because they are both obsessed with having tissues beside their beds and these soft dog covers were too cute! They each picked out a necklace and a kind of purse. I got a picture of Hannah when she came back, but I totally forgot when Genna came back to snap a picture of her too. In my defense, I was busy cooking dinner.

While Genna was gone, Hannah and I fixed up her room. She didn’t want the mosquito net anymore so we hung a quilt in these quilt clips that I made when she was a baby. We also hung her new heart shaped photo holder, but we need to get some more pictures to go in it. Here’s her bed.

She no longer needs the rail, but we are keeping it installed just in case. She also moved to a high back booster seat finally (she is tiny, but she is almost 5 years old and just barely under the weight and height limit for car seats)! She is growing up! Sniff sniff…

No day at the beach!

Isaac got 5 immunization shots today PLUS had blood drawn! Bless his heart, he was a mess! He screamed for the ten minutes in the waiting room after the shots. I told him we were “All done” and then he grabbed on to my shirt and was whimpering “All done” over and over as we left the office. Poor baby!

He is not off the charts anymore, about the 80^th percentile in both height and weight. He is thinning out a lot. His stats are: 30 ¾ inches, 25 lbs, and 47 1/5 cm for his head circumference.

His vocabulary includes 22 words. This is about the same number as the girls at a year, but as I recall they were clearer and talked a lot more. Here is the list of his words:

Mama

Dada

Hannah

All Done

Uh Oh

More

Mur (for Murray)

Ball

Book

Thank You

Hi

Bye bye

Up

Night Night

Around and Around

Tickle Tickle

Horse

No No, Uh Uh

Banana

Ow (usually says this as, not after, he hurts someone)

Down

Dog

Peas (for Please)

He is quite the signer. He signs 9 words, which is more than the girls at this age. Here is the list of his signs:

All Done

More

Please

Eat

Drink

Outside

Ball

Book

Thank You

Physically he seems to be capable of walking, but he’s just not ready to try. I can get only one step out of him if I really try. His balance is excellent and he can literally run with a push toy, but his head isn’t ready. He is climbing a lot, on furniture, up our little slide, on small chairs, and on the couch. We thank his Guardian Angel everyday for saving him again!

If climbing is his most dangerous past time, then his most disgusting interest is eating everything including bugs, sand, mulch; anything he discovers will fit in his mouth. We have had two close calls with poop! I barely reached him before his hand made it to his mouth! Once was dog poop that I had missed, and the other was straight from the toilet. Oh, I am a bad mother! He’s really fast! I do watch him closely, I promise!

He is drinking much better from a sippy cup and can even tilt it up on his own. He is down to only one nursing a day now when he wakes up in the morning. He is definitely active and curious! He is a joy! He is very expressive with his face. He makes sure you know how he's feeling. He is super cuddly and is now giving the girls spontaneous hugs and slobbery kisses too. So sweet!

Happy first birthday Isaac!

It seems like only yesterday that I was in labor with him, and now he is a one year old! We just had a family friend and their kids over for a small birthday celebration for him.

The Menu

Reuben Dip with Fritos

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Baked Beans

Sweet Potato French Fries

Cucumber Lemonade and Regular Lemonade

Football Cupcakes

He didn’t really just love the cupcakes, but he enjoyed mashing it and spreading it all over his head.

He got a couple books and a stuffed Pinocchio from us.

The shirt he wore the day after his birthday (pictured below) came from Aunt Leah and Uncle Kent. He got more clothes and books from them as well. It was a nice and simple. I love my boy!

My one year old!

A Braveheart Adventure

Stirling Castle was very worth the money and the time to get there. The tour guide was enthusiastic and interesting even for a non-history gal like myself. The highlight were the Scottish dancers (Canadians, no less) inside the chapel.

Hannah is up on in the wind above the town of Stirling.

Here are the Canadian Scottish dancers. The kids loved this part too!

The bagpiper for the dancers did a solo. The bagpipes are totally growing on me, by the way!

The Canadians gave out Canadian flags and tattoos to the kids.

The girls sat on the king and queen thrones inside one of the castle halls.

A picture of Superdad with his girls. Hannah looks exhausted!

The kids take a photo with daddy and Robert the Bruce outside the castle.

A sheep adventure and the Kelso Abbey

We had an interesting sheep experience on our way down south of Edinburgh. There were sheep everywhere just free for the most part. We were way out in the middle of nowhere and there were not many cars at all. I only remember seeing one or two. Anyway, as we drove by them we would slow down and Brian even stopped the first few time to take pictures of them. Then Brian came up to a fenced area with a bunch of sheep near the fence. We thought they were inside the fence and so we did not slow down quite as much. Well, there was one sheep on the outside of the fence for some reason. The sheep got spooked and panicked. He was trying to force his way through the fence and got stuck half way for a while there. It was so very sad! At first I thought it was barbed wire, but, thankfully, it was not. I thought Brian was going to have to pull over and sew up the sheep for a second there. Just kidding!

Forgive me! I just couldn't narrow down these pictures of the kids at the Kelso Abbey. It was a small abbey, but so serene and peaceful. The kids enjoyed getting down and running around too. This was a big fishing town and Brian explored a few of the fishing bate shops.

I love these group ones! They show their personalities a bit.

Here's my big boy giving my back a break. (I still have the sling on in the picture that he rode in so much of the time since his sisters hogged the strollers.)

Here I posed the kids for a couple of cute pictures.

I like the ordering of them here from big to little with the perspective.

Daddy and Isaac

My big boy showing off his standing skills in the midst of the abbey.

The girls posing for me as it started to sprinkle a bit.

Kelso was in the south and so was Duns. Neither of them were exceptionally interesting except for the fishing (which Brian did not get to do since we were very limited on the luggage we could bring, and this was a trip meant to spend together as a family.)

One more post of Scotland pictures to follow. We were there for 8 days, you know!