Queen Evangeline and the Princess V's.

Hello. Here we are! Happy 2014! 

The other night whilst tucking in our precious three; Violet decided to enlighten us with the fact that Evangeline was the Queen! Todd and I both looked at each other. "Ok, lets see where this goes."

"Oh yes." said Violet. "Evangeline is the Queen and I am a Princess and Victoria's a Princess and Dada is a Princess..." M: "Violet Dada is a Prince, because he is a boy." T: "No, I'm a KING!"
V: "No Dada you're a Prince, and I'm a boy....hysterical laughter...I'm a girl!"

One day I arrived home from work and I was sitting on the floor playing with Queen Evangeline. A yawn escaped me and QE brought her small little cupped hand up to her face trying to cover her big grin and said "Mama, you look tired...hee, hee, hee. Then promptly ran away singing a tune of "Mama's tired, Mama's tired, Mammmaaaaaa, you're TIRED!"

Yes, I'll admit both Todd and I are tired on occasion. Violet has just now managed to figure out how to escape the confines of her crib when she is supposed to be sleeping. If one of her sisters cribs is close enough to her own she can put her leg up and over her crib and then hook her foot under the top rail of her sisters crib and then pulls her self up, pivots at the top and climbs down the other side. PRESTO! She is out. Bare feet slapping along the hardwood as she runs down the hallway to freedom.

So far she is the only one who has managed to maneuver this well orchestrated breakout. So, I suppose we are lucky in that regard as many other parents I know had to deal with their children leaving the crib of their own free will much earlier on. That did it however, beds are on the horizon; just waiting for the slats to be delivered and all three will be in their big girl beds.  I imagine that the routine of our nighttime will dramatically change. I already envision all three of them at the side of our bed yelling "Mama, WAKE UP!" For this is what they do if you happen to close your eyes for more then 30 seconds. Or maybe not, perhaps they will be so content in their own beds that we will no longer have all five of us in our bed by the time 7:00 am roles around and it's time for Mama and Dada to begin the day.  Although we do have a King sized bed, purchased in anticipation of these days, still, five in the bed (two of them usually sleeping vertically and inevitably kicking both Todd and I in the back) only allows for about 10 inches of room (each) for both Mama and Dada.  We could just leave them in their cribs crying when they wake in the middle of the night but we are under the illusion that this is all just temporary and time passes so quickly and they grow up so fast. Usually we can get a good 3 to 4 hours of sleep before the first one wakes. So for now this is how it goes.

We have had a busy year. Lots going on in our household. Potty training is an ongoing event. I actually attempted to do the 3 day Potty Training Program in November.  For the most part it went fairly well, Queen Evangeline and Princess Victoria were very motivated and started to catch on by the end of the first afternoon. Violet however, was a very different story. Part of the program is to have them drink and drink and drink. Apparently someone has a bladder of steel and doesn't care too much if she happens to pee her pants in the middle of the living room. She happily informed me "Mama, I peed in my pants, I'm all wet." Grinning from ear to ear. I would have kept to it the entire weekend but unfortunately some of us in the household couldn't quite handle the 'accidents' that were inevitably taking place. Thankfully our entire home is hardwood. You have never seen so many pairs of little undies in the laundry in your life!  Potty training is something that we continue to work on. It's still a little hit and miss for Evangeline and Victoria but Violet is a complete hold out. She will actually sit on the potty and make a noise as though she is peeing and then jump off and exclaim "I did it!" When if fact she didn't. Ah well.

Victoria was finally set up with her hearing aid this Winter. She was diagnosed shortly after being born with a slight hearing loss in one ear. It has been closely monitored every since then. We even took an overnight trip (just the two of us) to have a special test done while she was sleeping, to get some accurate measurements of what the hearing loss truly looked like. We have spent our fare share of time in a sound booth these last two years. The good news is that it is totally aid able and at this point it doesn't effect her day to day. She is still the first one to say "Shhhh, listen." When she hears a far off noise and always the first to pick up on and dance and sing to any music that she hears.  We are slowly, slowly introducing her to wearing it and trying to persuade her not to take it out after 2 minutes. It will become an important piece for her when attending a class room environment.

Evangeline. Well, she continues to be the smallest of the three but the feistiest by far.  She is quite the little package. The leader of the pack I suppose...hence Queen Evangeline? Completely strong willed and fearless but also the first to tell you that she wants a hug or that she would like to go to bed. I love a girl who says exactly what's on her mind. You never have to guess.  She is also a fantastic eater, pickles and calamari, what a palate!

Needless to say, we continue to have a lot of fun with these three. They love swimming and collecting rocks while on walks and sledding in the snow. Violet actually told Dada after sliding down a small hill on a lovely winter day"Awesome!". The things that these girls know to say is really quite amazing to us. They are starting to become real conversationalists.

Todd has essentially fully recovered from his torn Achilles. He did a bike race over the Summer and is currently skiing up at Big White. He spent last weekend down on the coast attending a hockey game and was on a 'work' trip in LA in the fall.  He bought seasons tickets to the Junior Hockey Team 'The Kelowna Rockets' and we are both getting out on occasion to enjoy a game. Myself I managed to pull off the training and completion of a full marathon last year, had a very quick trip down to Seattle for a friend's Big 40, spent some time in Toronto for Cousin Lindsay's wedding.  We took our first official road trip (all of us) and spent a weekend in Vancouver.  The girls had a follow up appointment at Children's Hospital so we all slept in tiny hotel room for the weekend and went to the Aquarium for some fun.  Todd and I also managed to get away to Hawaii (just the two of us...). We also continue to have lots of lovely family and friends visiting us both in the Summer, to take advantage of our official 'Kennelly Guest Wine Tour' and in the Winter where we head to the local ski hill and up to Big White for skiing or tubing or both. We are creating lots of great memories and it so wonderful that although we are a few hours away from our friends and family that everyone still comes to visit. That was the biggest draw back I think for Todd and I when we left Vancouver, the fear that we wouldn't see our friends as often as we would like. Everyone has been so supportive I honestly believe that it has made most of our relationships that much stronger.  I still miss everyone but they are only a phone call or a text or an email away and to be quite honest not sure how much 'social time' our evenings would allow anyway.

I do need to mention that we did sadly lose a few special souls over the past year. Two Grandpa's. Both of our Mom's had to say good bye to their dad's and we had to say good bye to two wonderful Grandfathers and Great-Grandfathers. They live on in us however. Everyday I think about how if it wasn't (in large part) for these two men...none of us would be here. Your are both greatly missed but your stories will live on and the girls will know them. Also our poor sweet French Bull Dog Dottie passed away in September. She was diagnosed with Cancer a year prior and although she fought to stay with us as long as she could God decided that it was time for her to become a guardian angel.  Miss you always.

Looking forward, this year promises to be just as full as last. We already have some 'camping' time booked up at one of the local lakes and Todd and I are planning another vacation. I also have some runs on the horizon (just half the distance this time!) and a few other adventures down the line including an extra long weekend away 'Celebration' with some special ladies in the fall.

I could go on and on and on but how about some pictures?
Enjoy! Lots of Love, The Kennelly's