Sam is 1!

I can't believe it's been a year.

A year full of so many wonderful memories.

A year full of love and time as a family.

A year getting to know this sweet boy that we all love so much.

How does a year go by so fast?

We are so grateful to all of our Winnipeg "family" for coming to celebrate Sam's first year.  We had an underwater theme for our little Morris manta ray and made 2 cakes in typical Mennonite fashion (plus a cake to "smash") and inadvertently added a little "Baby Shark" medley for good measure.  We had to explain to Granny what Baby shark was and that Granny shark has no teeth in the hand movements/verse of the song but she was game to play along. Sam had lots of "help" from his siblings who were so excited to show him what birthdays were all about.  They spent hours on his decorations for the big day.

I could write forever on how thankful I am for this last year but instead I will say "Happy birthday my sweet little boy".  I hope all of your birthdays are full of as much love and happiness as your first one.  Thank you for joining our family.  Thank you for your smiles and laughter and "clucking" when you blow kisses.  Thank you for your enthusiastic love of any and all fruit including grapefruit.  Thank you for how much you tolerate your siblings constantly yelling in your face and dragging you around.  Thank you for tolerating the endless kisses from your mother.  Thank you for being you - we are excited to watch you grow.  Happy 1st birthday Sam.

A Gorgeous Winter Day

This Christmas break I wanted to take the older two cross-country skiing.  Cian isn't that interested in skating and I wanted to try a different winter sport that might spark his interest.  What I didn't realize was that this would pose challenges that I would never have thought possible. It was a beautiful winter day (4 degrees!) the day we went to Windsor Park Nordic Centre so there was slim pickings at the rental counter.  Cian got the last set of skis in his size.  The bindings were stiff but what I didn't anticipate was how stiff Cian would be.  His cerebral palsy makes pointing his toes difficult - the exact position you need to get into in order to put on cross-country skis.  Emily's were easy and she clicked in right away but it was AT LEAST 30 minutes of us trying to get his ski bindings on.  I was on the ground under his foot trying to point his toe but far greater than my efforts Cian was trying desperately to get his foot to do what he wanted.  I cried telling Keith this story when we came home because Cian's perseverance is so inspiring to me.  He keeps going long after adults would have give up and I would have stayed kneeling in the snow all day to help him click his boots into those bindings.  Thankfully we didn't have to do that as we were successful!  Emily may have gotten into her bindings fast but she also lost her composure the fastest when she fell.  Lots of drama as she flailed her legs around twisting up her skis and generally making life more difficult for herself.  That's her way...like her mother before her.  I'm not sure what possessed me to take 2 kids cross-country skiing by myself when they had never done it before but I did and it went pretty well all things considered.  We didn't go too far - just a bit into the trees and on to the practice field but it was a good first outing.  Cian especially liked it and thanked me for taking him skiing.  He also asked if he could have his own skis and lessons so it was a very good day for winter sports in the Morris house!

After we went skiing the kids and I had lunch at Dairy Queen.  I think they have the best kids meal of all the fast food places - they don't have any stupid plastic toys and you get a drink, fries, cheeseburger AND a kids cone. It was nice to hang out just the 3 of us.  After DQ we picked up Keith and Sam at home and went to the hill behind our local community centre for some tobogganing. Sam wasn't so sure at first but he enjoyed his first forays into sledding especially if he was with Emily!

We came home from the community centre with some neighbours and met other neighbours outside our house already starting the snowman they wanted to build at our house so the kids helped with that until supper time.  They were outside almost all of the daylight hours enjoying some good winter activity on a warm, sunny, winter day.  I wish all winter days were as warm and beautiful as this one but I will be thankful for the gorgeous day we had together as a family.