Night Off!!

No pics today, since I don't have the kids!! and who wants to see pictures of me anyway?
So after a busy weekend, I packed up the kids this morning to take them to my parents for a couple of days. We have a full team meeting tomorrow in Toronto most of the day so it wouldn't have been a great idea to try to take the kiddies along. So now I'm not only able to participate fully in the meeting tomorrow, Jeff and I also have the night off. The plans are to go out for dinner and then do some Christmas shopping (I love our PC mastercard which provides us with just enough PC points to do most of the Christmas shopping we have left to do). I'm so looking forward to a quiet, uninterrupted, unmessy, feeding only myself kind of meal!!! I do miss the girls already though. Pathetic I know.
Oh yeah, on the way home from the farm I just had to stop at the spinery outlet store in Listowell where they just happened to have a sock yarn sale. So Sarah and Mel, you got a pair coming eventually. I got some Christmas orders I need to work on first, but after that it's your turn.
Anyway, gotta go, have a date to go to!!

A few moments

It's been a while since I had the time to sit down to blog. Life has been too busy and too mundane to write much. Now Jeff is gone for the day hunting, both girls have a nap and I have a few minutes before I have to get ready for our Moms small group that meets at our house Fri afternoons, plus I told Katie that we'll bake some Christmas cookies when she's done with her nap. Then in the evening we have a group at the mission that I'll welcome and do the intro etc.

Anyway, here are some pics.

Our two volunteers Andy and Marcel are doing a great job with the girls and are a wonderful help with all the mission work. (They cleaned the mission house to get ready for the group this weekend)

Our newest toy. One of Jeff's cousin had this vanity for us. Both girls love it. Katie saw that there's a switch and asked where the music was. I told her it's not working anymore. Smarty pants replies "Maybe you should go and get some batteries". Lucky her we were planning to go grocery shopping that day anyway, or in Katie's mind "battery shopping" she kept reminding me that we need to buy batteries.

Tuesday night is games night. We have Uncle Marc here for supper and games, and then he spends the night and volunteers on Wednesday. We always like having him around.

Piercings 101

Before I tell you about Katie's "piercing", I'll just share a quick glimpse into our potty training stage. Daddy introduced Katie to some quality, educational material to read while she's waiting on #2. If she learns from him, she'll be sitting for hours;)

NOSE "PIERCING"

All by herself, Katie discovered an alternative use for the links we use to keep cupboards locked.

The side view

And the attitude to go with it.

Marshall Family Christmas

I know it's early, but we've already had our first Christmas yesterday. We gathered like every year at Jeff's aunt and uncle in Fergus. Can't beat a potluck dinner - so many things to try, but the downside is that even if I don't try everything, I still eat too much.
The girls both had their share, but I think they were a little distracted by all the people and the wonderful Christmas decorations. Both girls are fascinated by the christmas lights. Not sure if that makes me want to put mine up early, or wait until the week before Christmas. Too many things for little hands to get into.

Katie was still a little bit unsure about Santa, but has been told that he has gifts so she did ok. Maya on the other hand started crying as soon as I attempted to get her near Santa. When I sat on Santa's lap with her it was much better. I guess the gift "bribe" doesn't quite work on her yet Everyone got these funny Santa earmuffs. Surprisingly Katie left them on quite a while. Her and Daddy both are enjoying watching Santa hand out presents.

FISHBOWL

A fun game put on by one of Jeff's cousin and his wife. Everyone grabs a ribbon and then on the count of 1,2,3...

everyone goes fishing, pulling on their string and untangling their gifts. Lots of fun. Thanks again David and Rachel.

Visitors

Our old neighbours from Elmira came to visit for the afternoon and supper today. The Daddys went hunting and the Mommys got to visit and play with the kids. Much fun was had by all.
I know a lot of people don't let their kids jump on the couches, but I figure there's a lot worse things that they could do and so far they've always played together nicely when they play on the couch.

Weehee.

Maya and Norah are sharing a snack. They are only 4 months appart (pretty much the same as Max and Katie). I'm sure they'll continue to have lots of fun together as they grow older

The two little ladies and moi.

Lasagne for supper, enjoyed by all, but most visibly by Maya ;)

Katie....

After a busy "single mom" morning routine and breakfast(Jeff had to go to Kitchener to pick up Uncle Marc early) Katie stepped into the mommy role herself and made sure that Peter Rabbit got his breakfast too. She got the bunny settled in the booster seat, got the bib on and got some food.

Very nicely she shared her cheerios with Peter

And when he was all done, she made sure he was all cleaned up before bunny could come out of the booster

BIG HELPER

Katie is starting to have to help and do some chores, well, I get her to help me set the table every once in a while. I give her the plates, glasses, etc and she puts them on the table for me.

The placement will need some work, but for not even 3 years old I thought she did a pretty good job.

UNCLE MARC

After missing last week, we were happy to have Uncle Marc at our house again today. Both girls are really warming up to him and had a lot of fun climbing and jumping all over him. Thanks for being such a great sport Uncle Marc.

PLAYING TOO QUIETLY TOO LONG...

Yup it was one of those! Maya was down for her nap, I was busy in the kitchen doing dishes and cleaning up after a rushed breakfast and lunch. Katie was playing nicely and quietly in the livingroom. Too quietly. When I checked on her this is what I found.

She had her groceries and cooking toys spread all over the living room and was pouring "it" from one container into another.

A close up of her busy work. And yes, "it" was rice that she aparently stole off the counter! All over!! I guess I can be happy it was dry rice and not cooked.

So, since she was playing happily and I still had more work to do, I just let her keep playing. The mess wasn't going to get any bigger, and whether I clean it up now or in half an hour didn't matter. It's all clean now and it's time to go cook supper. So off I go.

Filipino Feast

I think I did well, I've been blogging for almost a month and this is the first somewhat work related post. We had a Filipino group at the mission this weekend for their church family retreat. Sometimes it may be hard to figure out who's hosting who since we get invited to join most groups for meals and also some of their programs (since one of us has to be on premise whenever we have a group, Jeff didn't come to church with us, but joined them in their service)
Anyway, yesterday evening we got invited for supper. It was a feast: Pasta, rice, fish, chicken, pizza, veggies, salad, steak, ham, shrimp, you name it they had it it seemed. The neat thing was that most of them didn't use a plate, instead they had banana leaves spread on the table to serve as plates. Also cutlery was optional and knives were totally absent. We've gotten used that most filipino groups don't use knives, so we bring one to cut up the meat for the girls.

Katie and Maya both loved the corn - as you can see

..and the cake too;)

When we got back to our apartment, I had some laundry that needed folding yet. Both girls immediately proceeded to "help" with the laundry. Gotta love little helpers.

At the farm

Katie had a lot of fun with Grosi and Grosvati on her short stay on her own. Grosi was gone all morning for Bible study so Grosvati and Katie spent 2 hours "fishing". They have a little clay fish that Katie washed, dried, put in different jars with water. She used laddles, spoons and cups to play and splash water all morning.
In the afternoon after my co-worker Donna, Maya and I arrived Grosi took the girls to their friend's goat farm. Donna and I were able to enjoy an hour or so of peace and quiet.
After that Katie helped Grosi wash salad fresh from the garden.

Well, maybe it was more that Grosi washed and Katie sampled the lettuce. She did manage to completely soak her top though.

While Katie and Grosi were busy with the lettuce, and I was busy taking pictures, Maya got busy on her own...
getting into Grosvati's liquor cabinet;)

After a busy day the girls were getting ready for bed. Milk and a show and off they went.

MY WINTER SUPPLY

On our way to the farm Donna and I hit the Spirite Factory Outlet store in Listowel. A haven for knitters, and other crafty people. They sell yarn seconds for 35cents/0z. I got enough to make 5 pairs of adult wool socks, 3 kiddy pairs, and about 8 slippers and a scarf (or baby blanket - haven't decided). This should keep me busy for the next little while.

When Grosi and Grosvati were here..

After the last post I was gone for a couple of days, but I just thought I'll backtrack a bit and share some more pics of when my parents were here. It was another beautiful November day (that felt more like mid April) and we went outside for a walk and a wagon ride.
Our two guys Andy and Marcel had to dig some holes, looking for sand. Katie was busy chatting and supervising their work.While Maya was trying to help

Our family, complete with Gordie

Our girls were enjoying the ride in the sunshine

Grosi and Grosvati came with us for the walk, even though by the end of it Grosvati was sore. We're glad for every minute they can play and walk with the girls.

Nap time - Or that's what you think!

So this afternoon, after a busy morning of playing with Grosi and Grosvati I put Katie down for a nap. She often doesn't take a nap anymore, but we were thinking that we'd have a late evening so I thought I'll put her down. I promised her that we'd go for a wagon ride after her nap and so she went willing and didn't make a fuss when I put her in her bed. I didn't hear anything for the next 45 min or so and I thought she's having a good nap. I was going to take the time to take my laundry off the clotheline so I went to our bedroom and and this is where I found my dear daughter:
She was snuggled on the bottom of my bookshelf. She was awake when I walked in, but I'm not sure that she didn't actually have a bit of a nap there.

She's slept in some odd places and positions before, but I think this one beats them yet.

Playing with Grosvati

It was so nice to have Grosi and Grosvati for a visit. It has been over a month since we last saw them and Katie has been asking to go to Grosi's house for the last week.
Both girls were excited to see them and it didn't take Katie any time before she was all over them. Literally.
Watch me go!

Wheeee...

So much fun!!

It took Maya a little bit longer to warm up to Grosi and Grosvati (about 10 min, as opposed to Katie's 10 seconds). But after that she was happy playing with them.

Climbing and jumping all over Grosi and Grosvati was lots of fun for both girls.

When we were just about ready to say good bye, Mom mentioned that they could take Katie home with them since we were planning to go out to the farm tomorrow anyway. When we asked Katie if she wants to go she was all for it so we quickly packed an overnight bag and off she went. It felt kind of weired waving good bye to Katie. Usually when they stay with either set of grandparent we drop them off and then we are the ones leaving. Sending Katie off on her own was a little weird, and sad, and exciting. She is growing up so fast!!

The Bigger The Better

My new view from our bedroom balcony. Jeff and the guys built me these amazing clothelines. One is about 50' and the other 6o' long.

Between the two lines I can hang 5 lg loads of laundry.

The other great thing is that the line is so high up, that even when I hang bedsheets you can still walk, or drive underneath with the lawnmower without touching the clean laundry.

In the spring we're going to plant our garden again between the two laundry posts. That will give us the ultimate homemaker view from our bedroom ;)