Weekend

We had a great day yesterday. After helping the last bunch of candidates get ready for Toronto we loaded up the girls and headed for Elmira. We had a great visit with our old neighbours Nick and Heidi and their little kids. It is so nice that we can still maintain this great friendship, even though we are much further apart now. It helps having kids the same age, and Katie loves to go and play with her friend Max (she's been working on separating friends and cousins - for a while she equated close friends and cousins). After a yummy lunch we headed to the new rec center to go swimming. Everyone h had a lot of fun (even though they had to close down the big pool after Maya threw up all over herself and Daddy while in there - oops). After swimming the two little girls had a good 2 hour nap, the two older kids watched a show and played and the adult were able to have some great conversation.
On the way home we stopped at Christian Chicken (aka Swiss Chalet) for supper. The kids were a little rangy and Daddy a little tense, but at least I didn't have to cook and clean up.
I stayed home from Church today since both girls are a little under the weather (they're both sleeping right now - Katie who wanted to stay up all day since she "is not tired at all" has been sleeping for almost 2 1/2 hours in our bed. Maya just went down for the afternoon nap about 1/2 h ago). Jeff is watching a movie and I finally finished my 2010 family digital photobook and got caught up on my blog reading.
I still have 5 loads of laundry to fold, plus about 6 loads of mission laundry to do yet, so I'll sign off for now. Cheers, until next time.

Bits of this and bits of that

Maya is having a nap, Katie is playing with her leapster, Jeff is out hunting, the group is in session and I have a few minutes to blog.
We had a very busy couple of days. Mueti and Vati came for a very short notice visit Sunday afternoon and were a God-sent help to me on Monday. We had to prepare the mission for our 10 German missionary interns that are here for their orientation before they are going into Toronto (Rudy and Sarah, the Eversbergs are Julia's in-laws). Plus we had the Liebenzell Board meeting that evening so I was cooking and baking for 30 ppl. I was so glad that Daddy was playing with the kids in the morning while Mom and I were in the kitchen. Everything went well, food was good, everything was ready when our mission guests arrived and I was in bed and sleeping by 9:30 p.m.

Sunday night both girls were enjoying playing with Grosi and Grosvati. During this visit both girls really gravitated to Grosvati, he always has a pen in his shirt pocket with is a magnet for Maya, and Katie wanted him to read stories to her.

Maya finally got a hold of that treasured pen.

Katie and Grosvati reading Dora - probably for the 100th time by now.

The next day we got some help from Nikki (our boss's daughter) to help with the girls while Jeff and I joined the session with the candidates. The girls both had fun in their "tub" having a toy bath.

In the afternoon we went outside for some snow fun.

Each couple built a snow fort and then of course you have to have a snowball fight after.

After a busy and cold afternoon outside, Daddy was very tired. Maya and I had gone to Kitchener to pick up Uncle Marc and when we got home Katie was watching a show and Daddy had some shut eye.

Bath time at night. Katie found her own water wings. The blue thing is actually a faucet protector, but I can see where Katie gets the idea of using it as a water wing.

Yesterday the girls and I went to St.Catherines to visit our friend Amanda and her new baby Hayden, but I didn't really take any pictures.

The group for this weekend cancelled short notice so we are looking forward to a slow weekend. Probably going swimming with our friends Nick and Heidi and kids, or else just going for a visit. It's nice to have a weekend off!!

Sunday Afternoon

The kids are down for a nap (if I'm lucky for another half an hour or so - I've already had an hour nap since I've put them to bed). The group is still here and I think Jeff is over there visiting and cleaning the mission with them. Tomorrow we're getting our new batch of missionary candidates in for a week of orientation here at the mission. So next week will be busy. (Oh and by the way, that half hours turned out to be 1/2 minute- they're both up and going, but I'm hoping I can still get this post done without too much interruption)
Anyway, here's what we've been up to these last few days.
Jeff and our two volunteers have been working hard to get our two skating ponds in tip top shape. I don't really get out there much, but if I do, the girls have lots of fun.

There's a little island in the middle which makes a great spot for Katie to watch the pick up hockey game in relative safety. Maya on the other hand was having none of that and kept running away to join the game. So we didn't stay very long.

Once again Uncle Marc joined our family. It is so nice to see how the girls get so much more comfortable with him, and he does a great job playing and interacting with Katie and Maya (he makes the best indoor climbing structure ever)
I caught the two of them watching Katie's bed time show. Katie was all snuggled in and leaning on uncle Marc. So sweet.

Too bad all the other uncles are so far away :(

SCRAPBOOKING WEEKEND

It was nice to get away for 2 nights, 1 1/2 days with out the family to just concentrate on getting my scrapbooking done. There's a 20% off discount this month, so I do have to get back to it for just a few minor adjustments, but the concentration-needed creative stuff is all done. Thanks so much to Shelley and her family for having me for a couple of days.

Jeff and the girls came for a visit before we headed out to pick up uncle marc so Katie got a little lesson in traditional scrapbooking.

I like the digital scrapbooking, it is much more small kid friendly. Just a laptop is all I need. Easily packed and moved, even though little fingers still like to get into stuff (esp. Maya seems to have the need to touch the computer)

Maya was tackling me while I had the camera handy. Little ham she is!

BACK HOME

The group that's here this weekend asked if they can come to our church this Sunday. "Sure, not problem, that would be neat". Then I got thinking, we always have coffee and snack after service. If I show up with 20 young men and women (almost doubling our small country church congregation) I had better bring some snacks so the person that's signed up to bring snack won't be emptied out in the first 15 min. So I spend the rest of the afternoon baking cookies and muffins. Turns out though, that this sunday we also had a baby baptism with lots of guests and the family hosted a luncheon after church. It was so crowded that we all left without even making it to the food counter. So I guess I wouldn't have needed to spend 3 hours in the kitchen, but hopefully the other guests to our church will appreciate the goodies.

Well, the group for next weekend has cancelled, so I should find some time to blog then.

Muetti and Vati are coming for an overnight visit tonight so we're looking forward to this very short notice visit.

Just a minute

That's all I got today. The girls are watching a show, well they were, I just had to go and rescue our adult DVDs that Maya got into. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I had a great time away, got my digital photo book 98% done, just need to tweek a couple of things, and now am back, busy as ever.
We're looking ahead to a very busy week at the mission (new missionary inters orientation) . Hope to carve out some time soon. The kids are rangy and hungry, gotta go before things go from bad to horrible.

Outdoor and Indoor fun

We're finishing off a busy week, BUT tomorrow after the group leaves we are going away for a couple of days. Grandma and Grandpa are going to look after the girls Sun afternoon - Tues afternoon. Sun evening we are going to visit with friends and get to enjoy some uninterrupted adult conversation and games. I will stay and scrapbook for a day and a bit with my friend and Jeff will go back to P-ville to go hunting. It will be a well needed time away from everything.
The pics are about some of the fun things we were up to last week.
We finally have enough snow to go tobogganing. If I do go out with the girls it's usually in the morning, before nap (9-10) otherwise I somehow always get busy doing other stuff that I don't take the time to get all dressed up and brave the cold and wet.

One of the old playground tubes that makes for lots of fun all year round.

Who said outdoor toys are for summer only?? The girls have as much fun on the slide now as they do in the winter. Manouvering the steps is a little more tricky with the books and winter getup, but they manage.

Cheese!!! Can't have outdoor close ups without some snotty noses.

Time to go in.

So we did some more water play in the kitchen. The floor stayed much dryer this time (I took the cloth away from Maya) But Katie decided that she needs to get herself all washed up.

She said it would make her all "liliful" (beautiful)

Sarah, this is for you. Maya loves to play with her little hat you made for her. Thank you so much. Unfortunately she enjoys putting it on a lot more than keeping it on so it is hard to catch her actually wearing it.

Hiding in the corner with a cookie.

TEA PARTY

Katie's new favorite playtime is tea time. Works for me because it gives me an excuse to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea along with the girls.

I can hardly believe that my baby is big enough to have her own special big girl cup. We got two little espresso cups with saucers from my Grosi who passed away last spring. Very special cups for the girls even though Grosi never got around to actually do her beautiful art on them.

Katie's favorite special treat these days: Marshmellows.

Jam works for breakfast and as a facial at the same time.

We finally got a nice picture of Gordie our dog. He weasled his way to a spot in the kitchen (he's not allowed elsewhere in the house, exept our front entryway). He's a good dog and very patient with the girls.

Gotta check on the group. Till next time.

A mess is just a mess

So one of my New Year's resolution is to be less fussy with my kids. I was inspired by my Dad who let Katie play in the kitchen with water and cups and floaty toys for almost 2 hours the one time he was babysitting, and by my awesome sister-in-law Mel who lets her boy play with cookie dough or whatever and then after what seems like hours of fun cleans up the mess and off they go. So I leaned that a mess is just that, a mess. Clean it up and that's that.
So today I actually put it into practice. I had 1/2 hour to get supper on the table, both girls were tired and cranky, but I wanted to get them fed before I put them to bed, so I gave this "let them make a mess" a try. And just to let you know, the pics don't really capture the whole, very wet picture.
Maya was busy grabing anything in her reach to play in the sink with.

Nothing tastes better than sucking on a day old dish cloth;)

Then Katie wanted to be part of the fun too. (Muetti, I think I need another one of those water proof aprons. The one we had worked great, at least for the part of the clothes that were covered by it.)

Big splashing everywhere, the counter was soaked, the chair was wet and standing in a puddle on the floor.

The fun ended when Katie dumped a whole tupperware containder of water all over herself, which she DID NOT like and burst into tears. Yes, it was getting closer and closer to nap time (they are both out cold right now, by the way). So they both needed an complete wardrobe change, the floor got an additional cleaning, I got to prep my lunch in relative peace and quiet and in the end the only consequences were 2 wet girls, a thoroughly cleaned sink, clean counter, clean floor and another meal cooked for my 4 hungry men (Uncle Marc was here today again). So, I think this mess was well worth it!!

Over the last few days

First off I want to thank Mel for all her many blog updates, it is so great to get a glimpse into your day and your head/heart. Thank you for being so open.
Second, I don't think I can follow suit. I would love to blog more often, and with the girls there would always be something funny to share, but life at the mission and at home is getting busy (in the entire month of January we'll have 8 days without somebody here). So I think I'll resign to reality that maybe once a week, twice in a good week is what this here mom can handle as far as blogging goes.
Anyway,
Just sharing some of the fun we've had over the last few days..
Katie is introducing Maya to couch jumping. Maya is a quick study and they both had fun until I had to get Uncle Marc's bed ready. (due to mission guests downstairs he's on the couch for a couple of nights)
Katie going all out now that Maya's having her nap.

Going for a walk/tractor/sled ride. It was beautiful and we got bundled up to play outside for a bit.

Maya is enjoying her present from Grosi and Grosvati, a cute little chair just her size. She spends quite a bit just sitting at that little table playing with whatever toy is handy.

Katie is enjoying her gift from Grandma and Grandpa. Both girls love climbing into the awesome cribs they got for Christmas.

Boxes are awesome.

And they come for free everytime I buy diapers. Which by the way I'll have to do less since Katie is pretty much trained. She's been in big girl underware since Wed afternoon, had one pee in the pants, was quite upset and probably scared by the experience and hasn't had an accident since.
This morning the girls and I went out to play in the fresh snow. We went tobogganing on our back hill and then went to hang out on the dock a bit.

Both girls did very well and went down the hill all by themselves.

Love this picture.

Time's up, Maya is REALLY wanting my attention.

Wrapping up the visiting

I should really blog more often, that way the posts don't end up so long. Yup, time management and aligning priorities is definitely on that New Year's resolution list.
Anyway, here's our pics and stories from our visit to Mom and Dad.
Our last batch of presents to open on New Year's eve. I kind of like having all the gifts spread out over a week. Much more managable for the girls.

Katie's helping unwrap the present from Uncle Marc. Chocolate! Of course the girls were all over that one.

A puzzle for Muetti and Vati, since they are bored and don't know what else to do in their retirement. NOT!!!

Maya unwrapping her present from Grosi and Grosvati. A beautiful wooden chair, just her size. Thank you so much for all your love, time, and presents.

Katie sporting her new waterproof apron she got from Grosi. It's brilliant, just used one of those cheap table cloths, cut out the shape, do the edges and voila.

Katie's also getting a lesson in washing lettuce. And going fishing with a big spoon.

Maya's discovered a new use for the drawers at Grosi's house.

She spent quite a while in there trying out the different bibs and face cloths Grosi stores in there.

HOT TUBBING

We did the hot tub in different stages, with different comination of swimmers. The plan was for just Katie and Daddy to go, but Maya wanted in on the action too.

Katie was the consistant one when it came to the hot tub. She would have gone 3 times each day. It's nice that we don't have to hold her the whole time she's in there now. She actually could stand in the deep middle and had lots of fun splashing and just playing with whoever was in there with her.

Maya's changed and ready to go play too now.

The next day, she wasn't quite as enthused about it and wanted out after just a couple of minutes. Gave me some time with just Katie. Lots of fun.

On our last day at the farm, Katie got to go tubbing with Grosi. I just didn't feel like going in again and was so glad that Grosi went.

They had lots of fun together.

We had a wonderful time at the farm, spend lots of time playing our new favorite game Carcasonne, had coffee time, nap time and just lots of fun. The weather sucked, it rained and all the snow was gone, so we didn't really go outside. Vati and Jeff weren't feeling the greatest but we still enjoyed the time we got to spend together. Thank you for a great visit.