Why I love Sundays

There are a myriad of reasons I love Sundays, but here are the two that top the list. I love dressing these two little cuties for Sunday mornings. Their wardrobes rock in comparison to mine and they wear it so well! On this particular Sunday Nick was at the Men's Retreat and we hit up Mickey D's for lunch. The girls got their rockin' happy meal toys, a microphone and an iPod. They didn't put them down all day, they were even in their beds for naptime.

Brooklyn has not yet learned the art of cheesy grins.

AHHHHHHH! The shoes, they're too cute. I can't wait for the teenage years, I can only hope we all wear the same size shoe.

Transparent & Vulnerable

Don't you love it when your spouse makes a suggestion that you can't find a way to back out of? Last week we headed out to get pictures of the kids taken and had planned again to get a shot of Katy, a shot of Brooklyn and a shot of the sisters. Isabella's hair was incredibly awful so when she said she wanted to wear a toque I said sure. I then attempted to negotiate with her on which toque she would wear. She wore her regular winter toque, not the cute one I had picked out to match her shirt. When it came time for the photo she insisted on a prop, hence the flower. It has no meaning or explanation other than the fact that Isabella is Three.



As we walked over to the photo studio I was thinking about Isabella's wardrobe choices. Just as I settled within myself that having a picture of her just as she is would be wonderful, Nick threw me a curveball.



'Honey, do you think we could get a family picture today instead of one of the girls?' (Cue batting eyelashes).



I stammered, I paused, I searched, I begged for a good excuse to say no. I think you could say I've been a leettle overwhelmed as of late with the care of my family and personal hygiene has been shoved back on the shelf a bit. I'm not proud of it and I'm not sure why I feel compelled to even share this detail. I only managed a spit shine shower before heading out for photos, not thinking anything of it, I mean I was not going to be in the picture!.



Yet in good conscience I couldn't deny this request. How could I put my daughter in front of the camera just as she is and not be willing to do the same myself. I may blow up that picture and paste it upon my fridge as motivation to do something about the fugliness, but then again I may be able to draw upon enough grace to realize that nothing in that picture is fake. Not my wardrobe nor my lack of primping, especially not my smile.



We are happy, happy as pigs in slop I suppose.



Hopefully next time that happiness will show up with a matching hair-do and not hiding behind her children. For this part of the journey there is waging a war and I'm a soldier straight out of training camp.

Wholly Moley

This is Kathryn's four month shot. Don't you just want to put that gaze in a frame and look at it all day long? This month she wouldn't pose any which way, all she wanted to do was snuggle her Poppa, so we let her. Kathryn has never liked a soother. I had an out-of-body experience in which I stepped back far enough to see how ridiculous I looked trying to convince her to take one so she could be calmed like every other baby I've ever met. She sucks on her fist. Not her thumb, not a few fingers, her entire fist. It's quite cute, even when she chokes herself. She's going to have a lot of fun with that in college. With those baby blues and stupid human trick the boys are going to have to watch out!

Strong as an Ox.

When I was pregnant with Brooklyn I was gripped with an inexplicable fear that something would go wrong while I was pregnant with her. For a few days I feared losing her, although I had no indication that anything could possibly be going wrong. That completely irrational fear abetted but in it's wake left me with a sense of uneasiness- an uncalmable dread that somehow she would not be 'quite right'.

I don' t know what caused that fear to hang around for so long. There are some days even now that I look into her eyes and tear up that I can still see their sparkle and relish in the moment the unequivocable thankfulness I have for her and that she's a part of my life.

Once I was gripped by that fear I began to pray. I prayed in earnest that Brooklyn would be strong in every aspect. Three hundred and sixty degrees of strong. We've always known that she is physically strong. Lately we've begun to see her strong spirit. It's not all that pretty sometimes. When she stands there with a smirk upon her face stomping her feet and swinging her fists it's almost as though she's laughing at me. I am a pretty stubborn person, but I don't think I have anything on Brooklyn.

I often try to romanticize her strong spirit. I imagine it keeping her from struggles in the arenas of peer pressure and body image. I imagine her doing amazing things with that strength like solving world hunger. I pray that it doesn't lead her down dark paths while she works out her faith. We watched the movie Flicka here a while ago and I can see her being that Wild Mustang, I wonder if there will be anyone who can tame her.

I am amazed at how thoroughly God answered my prayers for her, even the parts I didn't intend to pray. It boggles me how solidly she defends her turf, how stubbornly she sets her course and how fiercely she loves already. At only 18 months old she is amazingly strong, and although my prayer for her has been edited as of late, it's only that she would be able to be weak with one even stronger, and that she would always know there is a soft place to fall because we can't be strong all the time.

Sending up a Prayer.

This is my formal petition to the Creator of the Universe to intercede in a miraculous divine way for all moms who feel the way I do- CAN WE PLEASE HAVE AN 8th DAY IN THE WEEK!!

Life here has been moving so swiftly. Today I went to book a photo session for next week for the girls. Katy will be 4 months old, Brooklyn 18 and Isabella has truly entered the 3's. I looked back on the previous three months pictures of Katy and can't get over how much she's changed already! Brooklyn started "reading" this week. She turns pages while spewing forth animated gobbeldy gook. Katy started interacting with the world around her, she talks to the TV now and so far is the most vocal at this early of an age! Yikes. And if Isabella could have looked anymore like a teenager as we headed out the door to Pioneer Clubs I would have fainted. The days they are a whizzing.

I absolutely cannot keep up! Just as I get one room of the house clean another one seems to have adopted the clutter from that one and there's no getting ahead. My bathroom needs to be vaccuumed daily due to the amazingly large amount of hair my post partum body is shedding, (seriously how am I not bald?), and it irks me to no end.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm loving it. But I am craving a return to knowing I have all my 't's crossed and my 'i's dotted. Tomorrow I get the afternoon to go grocercy shopping to set up for my once a month cooking and I have no idea what I'm buying yet! The days feel so overwhelming, in a good way, and leave me reeling at the end of them.

When I found it easy to go from having one kid to two I naively assumed going from two to three would be the same. Man it's a whole new world with the three of them! With all this craziness there are days when I'm sure you'll all find me (in the near future) in the corner rocking back and forth sucking my thumb, but then I just pull out my camera and start snapping away and day dream about our family completed and as overwhelming as it is I know I wouldn't change a thing. Having our kids all close together is awesome, challenging but awesome, and I'm glad I get a few seconds to snap those pictures to remember all that I'm sure my mind can't absorb in the current chaos.

Good Things come in Threes

Aren't these three adorable?

I love scrapbooking and in an effort to make sure Kathryn does not get overlooked I take her to our closest Superstore once a month and get her picture taken. Usually it's just her and we get the one pose package. This month was also Isabella's third birthday and since there is not a two pose package we thought a sister shot would be the best way to complete our photoganza.

The day went just like any other day a mother plans to the tee- completely awry. These pictures don't show it but let me assure you there were boogs, tonnes and tonnes of boogs. Plus we arrived almost 20 minutes late much to the chagrin of the employees.

My uber fave photographer- whose name I do not even know- was there to take the pictures. I told her we were aiming for one of the eldest, one of the youngest and time/behaviour permitting one of the three of them.

Isabella walked in and asked for her close up.

Katy had just been fed and was happy to be prompted anywhere soft.

Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Five minutes and the majority of the pictures were done.

Then came The Sister Shot. I had tired to think of poses in which Brooklyn could not crawl/roll/slide/Hoodini away from before the click. This is her usual style. We got Isabella set up with Kathryn, Nick behind the photographers, all manner of whistles and wirly gigs out to keep their attention. I gingerly walked to place Brooklyn on the floor. Her toes hit the background.

Then she oozed out of my arms, literally slid right down the front of me, scooched as close as she could to her sisters, plastered this smile on her face and scrunched her shoulders thouroughly pleased with herself.

Ten minutes and three perfect shots later, we could not be more smitten.

Tripod

Kathryn is three months old already. Almost as shocking as Isabella turning three years old. I am currently reeling from the shock of how different parenting is each time around. With Isabella every 'phase' seemed to linger forever, (well at least the ones I wanted to pass quickly), with Brooklyn it felt like things went much faster and I had to take a minute to remember what life was like before she joined us. With Kathryn I am in simultaneous utter amazement that she's only been here three months and that she's been here three months.

I let her eat on demand and for the last month or so she's been sleeping from 7:30-7:30 along with her sisters. That is all now fantastically out of whack due to the flu and time change hitting our house. I feel like we've re-entered newborn land, but at the same time it feels like we were never there with her.

She is captivating. She seems to have been smiling since we brought her home from the hospital, but she is now smiling in response to things like being tickled by her sisters. She can roll from front to back, (I have yet to see it but she sleeps on her stomach and wakes up on her back some mornings), she tries to pull herself up to sitting when in the crook of your arm and has even made it up onto all fours a few times while playing. She coos as though trying to communicate in a manner neither of her sisters shared.

I had no idea that the speed with which she entered the world would only get faster. I hope it reaches it's peak soon so we can all slow down and enjoy being little together. But, until it does I have to try and keep up.

Let's raise a glass to three months, and re-arranging the living room to fit in the exersaucer, and play mat and baby toys and..........

Happy Birthday Bella!

On Tuesday my baby turned three. I cannot believe I have been a parent for three years.

I think it goes without saying that every firstborn is a guinea pig of sorts. Us parents get to test our 'theories' on them and whatnot. I can't imagine anyone who shoulders being firstborn more gracefully than Isabella. She has such a great demeanor and is constantly making me laugh. She is smart, has a great memory and her skills baffle me. She has taught me so much about selflessness and time management. About quality versus quantity. About the joy found in a piece of paper and the eleven billionth time you color on it.

Some qualities I've come to love about Isabella recently are her servant attitude. She is always asking if she can be of help and I can stop any tantrum by asking her to do something for her sisters. I love her sense of humor. ("No, no, no I'm Jane" is a recurring argument around here that sends her into peals of laughter). I love her artisticness, whether doing crafts, 'writing' words, or mimicing America's Best Dance Crew routines.

I love how she's such a big person, (yes she clearly pronounces Jabbewakez), and such a little person, (all bears are teddy bears didn't you hear?), all at the same time. How she wants to do everything for me but isn't afraid to admit when she just can't. That she wants to take care of her sisters but knows that sometimes they just need their mommy. How she cuddles up with us and the next minute asks for her space.

She is such a superstar in my books. And what do you get the superstar for her birthday? Why the flu of course. We've all been homebound and puking this week so she didn't get an actual birthday celebration yet. Next Saturday her, Nick and hopefully a few other friends will be heading to see 'Horton Hears a Who' for her first big screen movie experience. I know it will open another world of magic to her and I can't wait to be a part of her experience!

She really is the best eldest daughter I could ever have had! Happy Birthday Bella!

Six More, please!

If there were about six more hours in the day I would be in great shape. It's true that it's 2:00am and I am still up,(and for some reason on Blogger), doing a great many things. Finally getting caught up on dishes, finishing folding the laundry that's been hanging dry since Sunday. Actually updating my blog, making an exhaustive list of thank you's I still need to send for Christmas, (and yes even Katy's baby gifts), finding out info for the Murder Mystery I am hosting on Saturday....I could go on and on but really I should go to bed.

Do you ever find that you just need that extra day? I have recently discovered that the secret to a great day here is to have something out-of-the-house for Isabella and Brooklyn to do each morning. That doesn't always get accomplished right now because us girls only get the car once a week and it's been pretty poor weather for toddler walking. I am greatly looking forward to Spring, preferably non rainy mornings and rainy afternoons. (Did you hear that Big Guy, I placed my order...).

The thing about leaving the house in the morning is the inability to multi-task during that time. Being home I know where the girls are, and children learn so well from free play that it's easy to sneak in a few minutes here and there to do projects or cleaning. Not being at home takes away that opportunity. Being out and about is great, but it's a learning curve.

Luckily we've been going through some smooth transitions. Kathryn is now only eating 4 times a day, (around about the same time which she did all on her own, no schedules this time around-AHHHHHH), and sleeping through the night while sharing a room with Brooklyn. They all go to bed about 7:00 and Katy gets up for her "middle of the night" feeding around 9:30 and then sleeps until a blessed 8:00 with the other two! I was so afraid of moving her upstairs to share, but she's done remarkably well. It has only been three nights and I did just blog about it, but fingers crossed it continues anyway.

I should go finish up the last few things on my immediate to do list and head to bed, now that I've graced cyberspace with that adorable grin it's time to bid you adieu.

An Interesting Tag

I was tagged by Tara today with an interesting tag.



The Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.



Here goes.



"The Gospel According to Tony Soprano" by Chris Seay



"His death is always imminent. Indictments that could ensure that his days would end behind bars are probable and the teenage boy he will leave in his stead has to be picked up from summer camp for wetting the bed. These fears lead to depression and anxiety."



I tag: Jen ; Jill ; Karen ; Elizabeth ; and if you'd like to be tagged consider yourself #5.

Oodles

I have oodles and oodles of pictures from the last bit and finally figured out how to access them. For now I'll tease you with just a few:

One of Isabella's many photo shoots at Ikea. She now runs to the bunk beds and poses until we stop and take pictures of her. Lucky for her Ikea is a cheap family date. We wander the showrooms, wear her and Brooklyn out, stop for $1 hot dogs and Nick and I get almost two hours of uninterrupted conversation while driving to and from.

Brooklyn giving us just a second out of her busy life. Tossing her baby blues over the shoulder as though to say, 'don't you wish you were important enough for me to stop my busy life'.

And Kathryn trying to focus on life. Which she's doing a great job of. I can't believe how big she is already. But that's another post, and who knows maybe I'll get to that one tomorrow!

Period Sweats

Throughout our lives we meet a million people. Well maybe not a million, but we meet a LOT of people. Each person we meet touches our life in a different way. Some hang on forever, some do not. Sometimes distance separates us, sometimes changes in hobbies, sometimes we separate for no reason at all.

In my particular life I have had the opportunity to meet a million great people. People who sink back into my sub-conscious thoughts throughout the days. Whether I'm glancing at pictures, watching an old movie, thinking about highschool classes or digging deep into my psyche to deal with a particular life circumstance.

One thing that saddens me about my life is that I can't gather up all those people I know and put them in the same place at the same time and we can all live there happily ever after. I miss people; and I'm sure people in my current life would love people from my past life if only I could get them together!

I like to pride myself on being good at keeping in touch. I am one of those people who returns emails quickly, I do return phone messages-(maybe not as quickly), I write annual Christmas letters, do this blog, am on Facebook each day to connect, and I don't shy away from trying to hook up with 'old' friends if we're in their city. If you don't return the favor I try not to push myself on you, but I'll never forget to remember you.

When we do hook up again it's great. I'm not one that needs to know what you've been doing for the last ten years. Tell me what you did yesterday and the conversation will flow, the back story will fill in as necessary. Let's just pick up like we never left off.

If you were writing my tombstone today, I would hope it would read; "Amanda-She was like a good pair of period sweats.".

You always know they're there in the drawer for the bloaty days. Waiting for you after a long day's work at the office. They give in all the right areas. They're worn in and fit like they were made just for you. No judgements, no opinions. Sure they have experience and they'll share it with you, but never ambush you with it. A soft place to fall, a warm hug when needed. When you don't need them you shove them in the drawer and even though you don't wear them everyday, you always know exactly where they are when you need them. Waiting for you to call on them and feeling like they've fulfilled their purpose when you do use them.

That's what I want to be. A good pair of period sweats.

Grooves

I am finding it rather hard to get back in the groove of blogging. I desire to, I really find it a great way to document the little tidbits that might otherwise get forgotten in the constantness of life, but we currently are routineless and life is suffering. So while I try to get redirected and back on track, here are a few random moments in our life.

At church after the service our kids are all going bananas and Isabella will not stay still. Our sanctuary is in the middle of the building so you can walk around it in a complete circle. Isabella likes to do the half circle, cutting through the sanctuary and so we let her go for it. It's pretty easy to keep an eye on her knowing how long it takes her to run her route, and the church had mostly emptied out. A few too many minutes had gone by so I went to look for her. I'm walking and all I can hear is someone knocking on a door and a small voice saying 'Hello?'. I call out to that small voice; "Belle where are you?". "I'm stuck in the bathroom." She managed to push her way into the men's bathroom but could not pull herself out.

After a long day we went to McDonalds for supper before picking up Nick from work. We were in our booth and the girls were doing a great job of eating. A man with two boys entered and sat at the booth next to us. The youngest boy looked about Belle's age. They began making faces at each other et cetera. I noticed the man wanted his son to eat so I tried to coax Isabella into turning around to eat her food. I was met with this reply; "But mom, I'm checking out the boys."

Isabella has learned to use a book to push up her lightswitch and everyone knows when the lights are on it's time to play. We put her to bed at 7:00 and she was up playing until 1:30am. We tried several times to turn off the light for her and such, all to no avail. One thing we learned though, she has an amazing imagination.

You will notice Brooklyn missing from these tidbits. She still isn't talking and she will not sit still. I'm not exaggerating, we cannot get her to be still unless she is sleeping!

The First Month

The old adage is really true. This is my baby whom only a few short weeks ago was still safely nestled within my womb. She is alert, with big blue eyes, taking in the whole world at once. She holds her head up with ease for as long as she likes soaking up the images and colors around her; choosing when to rest her head upon my shoulder and settle into sleep. Her arms already support her torso as she looks up from the floor with a quizical expression trying to figure out what the other little people in our home are doing around her so busily. She is already so big, so strong, so established in our lives.

Kathryn is great. At her one month check up she weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz putting her around the 50th percentile- which for my children is amazing. She is shockingly strong and mobile in comparision to my other two at this age. Ofcourse there are still times of inexplicable crying which grate on the nerves, or when she screams to let me know her unfulfilled desire to be held at this particular moment that my hands are full with other childcare tasks.

Already I can feel the days passing at an alarming rate and there are many times I simply throw up my hands as I want her to stay small forever and hurry up and get big so we can interact with each other. I look around at other families who were in this place a few short years ago and I smile and I laugh for in the blink of an eye my life will go from doing everything to watching everything and it is all good.

I'm BAAAAAAAACK!

It feels good to be getting back to a routine which I hope will come to include regular doses of blog land really soon. I have about 600 photos from the last two weeks, and as soon as I can figure out how to access them I will. I am looking forward to catching up on everyone's posts very much-and there seems to be a tonne of them. I guess that's one of the joys of winter; everyone stuck inside near a computer!

Happy New Year Everyone!

A little disruption

My family is here visiting from Saskatchewan right now. I think I may need to recover from their vacation after they leave. Not that I don't enjoy their company or anything like that, but I didn't realize how much the routine varies when there is company! I think I"ll need an entire day with a good cup of tea to catch up on the blogs I've missed, (and post the zillion adorable pics I have), once they've left on the 18th. I guess I'm on a blogging vacation while they're here on their vacation. Variation is good for the soul, right?

This is how Wii do it.

The days since Christmas have totally flown by, but here are some pics of us enjoying the day at home.
The goofy grin Isabella felt needed to accompany the opening of each gift.
Brooklyn attempting to open a gift.
And the last gift Brooklyn had any interest in. Everything after this just wasn't good enough. She cuddled her glow worm the rest of the morning.
Me being completely confused as to why I was the one receiving electronics. Nick had to explain to me that it was a DVR before I got excited. Now I can tape the shows I want to watch while the kids are awake or I'm at other commitments and enjoy them on those weekends when Nick is at work and I'm home doing nothing.
Playing a bit of Wii before we headed out to Christmas Dinner. Isabella lasted four frames of bowling before she was done.
The 30 seconds she kept her cute pigtails in.
A little Brooklyn
A little Bella
Nick secretly wishing he was father to 5 year old boys so that he could be playing with Lego right now and not busting an artery blowing up the girls ball pit.

Don't Underestimate the Sneakiness

Somehow Christmas seems to sneak up on me every year. I sit back just after it's all over and think of all the things I had wanted to do and never got around to doing. I don't quite understand how it manages to happen, it's not like Christmas changes days or happens like a surprise birthday party! We did do some great things this season, but I am looking forward to next Christmas already. I am looking forward to doing the things I had planned to do this year and didn't get to because I was exhausted during the last weeks of pregnancy and now am stopping to feed an infant every 2-4 hours! We've already taken down all our decorations and have re-arranged the entire main floor to accomodate the Christmas gifts. Not that there were a tonne, but the ones we got require room. I'll post some photos to show you what I mean as soon as I get them off my NEW camera! I got the camera I have spent the last year salivating over. Our old faithful point and shoot kicked the proverbial bucket and so Nick got me a camera for Christmas. It's just sitting here staring at me, begging me to use it off of manual mode, but it will have to wait until my house is clean. I wonder if it has a setting for that......

Merry Christmas from the Franks

Merry Christmas!

For those of you who have been on our ‘mailing list’ for a few years now you’ll find this year’s update to be rather unusual. With no cross country move to document or major life changing decisions being pondered over; it appears that we lived a very regular life for the past twelve months.

However, in keeping with tradition, our family grew for the third consecutive year. Kathryn Elizabeth moved out of my uterus and straight into our hearts on December 3, 2007. She is growing quite well and spends her time eating and sleeping. We are absolutely smitten with our newest addition and amazed at how our love has grown for Brooklyn and Isabella as well.

Brooklyn’s personality has really begun to emerge in the last couple of months. She appears to love all things rhythmic; dancing anytime music can be heard, singing along and playing her instruments each day. She has been walking since the end of October and really gives Isabella a run for her money. She has a charming mischieviousness about her and a wonderful twinkle in her eye. I am so excited for this year coming up as she begins to talk and let us into her world.

Isabella, what could I possibly say to sum up Isabella? That girl needs her own reality show, she keeps me on my toes everyday. Belle has developed a real love for crafts and baseball this past year. We were blessed to be able to take her to four Jays games this past season and are hoping to do the same next season. She began attending Pioneer Clubs at our church this fall and is enjoying her special night out immensely. My baby has become a true big sister this year, how quickly they grow!

For myself this ‘regular’ year has relaxed and rejuvenated me. Having no stress about major life decisions this year has been such a welcome blessing. I’ve even begun to embrace the life of a stay at home mom; learning about stain fighting and feeding toddlers healthy foods; things I never thought I’d find myself enjoying. I’ve been working from home since July as a transcriptionist. The job really fell into my lap and the work comes in spurts. I have learned a lot through various assignments, making it enjoyable and it fits into our lives perfectly.

Returning home has been a blessing for Nick as well. Being surrounded by so much love and encouragement Nick has been able to refocus his journey on becoming the man God has called him to be. Although there have been many struggles and much to drain his physical energy he has continued to learn the lessons of ‘being’ in Christ this year. As Nick prepares for his accreditation interview at the end of January he is encouraged by his growth in knowledge of the Scriptures and of what being in ministry is really about. Nick has spent time with people from all age categories through different ministry experiences this year and it has been neat to watch him embrace each challenge, not only to complete the task but to learn more about himself in each situation.

Now that we’ve had some time to downshift and revel in familiarity we find ourselves really enjoying the settled life. We look forward with anticipation to the end of January to know if we’ll continue to settle in here for another year of ‘regular’ life or if we’ll be hopping back on the roller coaster we’ve been used to in previous years.

We’d like to thank everyone for the support you’ve given us over the last year. Whether you’re near or far: whether you’ve been able to support us with hands open or folded; we greatly appreciate your encouragement and love. We trust that this letter finds you happy, healthy and enjoying the holiday season!

Until next year, warmest wishes

Little Fishes

Isabella took to water like a little fish right after she was born. We enrolled her in her first swimming lessons at 6 months. I figured there would be a lot of other 6 monthers in her class enrolled by nervous parents not wanting to dunk their kids under the water for the first time without someone else to perform CPR should it be needed, (we were such parents). There wasn't a single child under the age of one in her class. It turned into half an hour of Nick and Belle floating around in the pool. But neither one of them would have given it up for the world.
This fall we enrolled both girls in their respective classes Parents and Tots 3 and Parents and Tots 1. We all got up early and headed to the pool on Saturday mornings. Me and Brooklyn would hang out and eat breakfast while Nick and Belle did their lesson. Then we would switch kids. It was a great time of individual bonding. I was sad when it ended the last week of November. We will probably enroll the kids again in the fall, but it wont be the same. The next class Isabella enters is one without parents. I"m not sure she'll be ready for that in the fall, we'll have to see.
Both kids learned a lot of new skills and had a super fun time. Unfortunately there aren't any pictures of it. Not because I didn't bring my camera, not because I wasn't snap happy and ready to document this precious time. The lack of pictures is due to the state of our society in that no one can take pictures in a public pool here, just in case you're a pedophile. Totally sucks that I can't share the way Brooklyn's eyes light up when she is in water, or the way Isabella throws up her hands in victory when she emerges from the water after going down the slide. Totally sucky that I wont be able to share that with them either, but I'll hold those memories dear in my heart, a photo album not open to those with dishonest intentions.