Miscellaneous Busyness

Today is Board Meeting day, which means I cook supper and dessert for a group of about 15. Right now all I have left is a couple of dishes to wash, put the food in the oven and make up some salad. Mueti came for a little visit and took the girls outside so I have some time to blog. It's been very busy around here, with now signs of slowing down. I will try to keep up with the bogging, we'll see how it goes. Anyway, here are just a few glimpses at what we've been up to the last couple of weeks or so. A couple of weekends ago we had visitors (one of Jeff's old climbing buddies). It was nice to catch up with them (he's now married and has a 7 month old baby) after almost 5 years. I can't believe I actually got a nice picture with all 3 kids sitting and looking so nicely. I just had to post it.

After a couple of nice drying, sunny, warm days we got another dumping of snow. About a foot in less than 24 hours. The most snow in one day all winter. It's been sunny but cold since so the snow is still here.

Going outside for a "walk" with girls. I did most of the walking, the girls did most of the sledding. Even so it was nice to get some fresh air.

Katie wanted a bandaid for her eye and I told her that you can't really put band aids on eyes...

...she proved me wrong.

"Feet off the table, Maya" is a constant refrain at our meals. I know I can barely sit properly in a chair, and Maya is definitely following my footsteps in that way. The ice cream habit on the other side is definitely Jeff.

Maya also takes after Jeff as far as climbing goes. I'm surprised she doesn't get hurt more often as she is constantly trying to get up something. She loves to get right on top of our table and it's a struggle to try to get her to stay on the ground. Future arborist in the making, I guess.

Katie is a hoot. She loves to hang out with Daddy when he's around. She will run around the house barking or meowing pretending to be animals. (usually waaay too loudly).

On one of the videos we borrowed from the church library she saw the story of Jesus' birth. She now likes to call herself Mary and Maya is Joseph. She would grab Maya's hand, drag her around the house "come on Joseph, let's go". Gotta love their little (or big) imagination.

March, Mud, and Lots of Fun

I've been back home for almost a week and haven't had time to update my blog. The last couple of days have been beautiful and I the time to take the girls outside. We went to visit our neighbour across the street and today we played/worked in the backyard. It's 8 p.m. now and everyone is tired. The girls are finally sleeping and I think Jeff and I will watch a movie and then head to bed at a decent time.
We hope you all enjoyed March/Mud break.
As we were heading out to get the mail and drop in on our neighbour I gave both girls a cookie. I guess Maya figured since she was wearing mitts she can't use her hands. (In her defense, with her big, snow-and-cold mitts she wouldn't have been able to hold it and today was the first time she had lighter mitts on) She did clue in after a while that she actually can hold the cookie in her hand.

It can't be spring in Canada without the mud. Our girls are discovering the fun of playing in puddles. Laundry, laundry, laundry...

Maya was keeping up with us very well, she walked all the way over to our neighbours and back without fussing or being carried. I know for a lot of you out there that's not a big deal, but up until now we usually took either a wagon or sled along and she just got a ride. Katie didn't really enjoy walking much, but now she'd doing much better and Maya is doing a great job keeping up.

Splashing in the mud and water all the way out our driveway. (Katie funny: On one part of our driveway the water was running down a bit of a slope so Katie said: "Look Mommy, the mud is rivering")

Katie is getting kind of sick of my picture taking, but when I asked her to smile for cousin Nate she still put on a big CHEESE.

This smile is for Grandma

As we visited with our neighbour Katie got comfortable with their giant schauzer Midnight. No fear or hesitation because of the size.

The girls playing somewhat nicely together. Play wrestling that actually for once didn't end up in tears. It started out with Maya deciding to climb on Katie who was just lying on the floor minding her own business. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera right handy and by the time I went to get it they have "digressed" to wrestling.

Our backyard is pretty messy and having a hyper dog running rounds around the perimeter made it very muddy. So I figured if Mom can make aprons out of table cloth, I can make some mud pants. So Jeff looked after the girls for a bit this morning while I got to sowing. They turned out pretty good, and they really did work (until Jeff coaxed Katie into a puddle that was deeper then her boots so the water went under the pants and into the boot, oh well, at least the mud was kept out)

This smile is for Grosi. Katie sporting a much to big coat and her new pants.

Maya doesn't have mud pants yet, but she does need them. I have enough material left over so maybe at sometime this weekend I can whip up a pair for her as well.

All those muddy trails are getting covered with some wood chips that Jeff's old company dropped off for us last year. I think it's going to work great. Katie was a very big helper today. In the morning she helped me bake banana chocolate chip muffins and some low-fat-high-fiber blueberry muffins. Then in the afternoon she got right into the yard clean up. Daddy is loading her up with wood chips...

...which she proceeded to roll to the mud and dump it. (Notice the size of that wheelbarrow in the next picture - my back would kill walking bent over like that)

Cleaning up the mess the birds and squirrels made with the corn and sunflower seeds below the feeder. Katie shovelled it into her wheelbarrow, then rolled it about a foot to the big one and then she picked hers up and dumped it into the large one. She moved almost that whole pile.

Maya also kept busy doing yard work, cutting grass like a big girl.

"Weekend"

No responsibilities, no expectations, no to do list, no plan = a little bit of heaven for this tired mom.

My "weekend" started Thursday mid morning as I drove off to meet my mom in Listowel for lunch. We met up at one of my favorite stores - the spinery outlet store where I can get some great deals on yarn seconds. After another successful purchase (enough yearn to make about 4 pairs of slippers and a pair of wool socks) we headed to a really nice restaurant. We sat, ate and talked for close to an hour and a half. It was so nice to visit with mom as woman to woman. She's become a dear friend to me and I enjoyed the time just the two of us.

After Mom left to go to the mission I had a couple of errand to run. One of which I have to mention and put in a plug for Marks Work Wearhouse. I had bought a pair of jeans there about a year ago and they completely wore through at the crotch. So without a receipt and a pair of old jeans I went in to see if they would do anything about it. They exchanged it for a brand new pair, no questions asked! I was very impressed!! They will definitely continue to get my business!!

Anyway, it was probably 4 p.m. by the time I got to the farm. Mom had the downstairs appartment set up so lovingly and beautiful. A couple of nice notes, chocolates, fresh fruit, a candle. I felt so loved! Thanks again Mueti!!

So what did I do for the next 40 hours or so. I did a 500 pc puzzle, read a book, slept when and for how long I wanted, spent some time in the hot tub (where Mom left another special treat for me), did some knitting, ate when I felt like it, slept some more, dyed my hair (dark mahogany) and just enjoyed the peace and quiet. I did not listen to music or the radio and I watched maybe 15 min of TV. There was just one small alarm clock downstairs so most of the time I didn't even know what time it was, and I didn't need to know and I didn't care. So nice!! All day Friday it was snowing, blowing and stroming outside. There was a 3 foot drift across the garage so even if I would have wanted to leave I would have been stuck. Thankfully a neighbour came to blow out the driveway Saturday morning so I could head out to go back home.

On the way home I stopped at Zellers and spent almost 2 hours browsing and got a few needed things. I enjoyed being able to take my time, not having to worry about being done at a certain time and not having the kids along made the numberous trips to the change room much relaxing.

I got back home around 3:30, in time to have a coffee with Mueti, say good bye to the group that was here for the weekend and play with the girls. Katie has come down with a fever, but is feeling better again now.

While I was gone one of the fun things the girls did was build their first snowman. Before now the snow was always too dry or the weather too cold.

I think Mueti and Jeff had just as much fun building the snowman as the girls did.Well, Katie wants my help with something, so I'll sign off for today.

Chocolate and more

Hello all, I thought it's time to put up another post. Both kids are running around and causing havoc so we'll see how much I get to write without breaking up fights, rescuing my sugar bowl or keep them from climbing tables, shelves, each other or me. Especially Maya is a culprit of the latter - anything that's taller than her is an open invitation to climb. Anyway..
The other day we had chocolate pudding for dessert. Maya insisted on using the spoon all by herself.

She did a pretty good job, open wide, aim, but..

chocolate pudding is only half the fun if you don't have it over half your face too.

Katie is getting better, but then it's probably more an issue of not wasting any of the goodness.

Katie was having one of her occasional afternoon naps and Maya and I got to spend some time in the kitchen together. First I had to do some dishes and she helped me by cleaning some bathtoys in the other sink.

Then on we went to so some baking. A very delicious, very rich, pretty simple Turtle cake.

Maya inspecting a chocolate chip before making sure it meets standards.

And of course you can't bake without licking the beaters. And since Katie did not want to get up, Maya didn't even have to share.
PICNIC SNACK

Today after I gave the girls a little snack, they both just sat down nicely together and had a picnic (so says Katie)

This is Katie's silly face. We had to teach her that a scowl is not a silly face. Maya's silly face used to be squinty eyes and a wrinkled nose. I don't know how but now if you ask her to do her silly face she shoves her finger up her nose, up to her second joint - not very picture friendly.

Anyway I hope you'll have a great week.

I'll be taking off Thur mid morning for 2 days and nights of quiet and solitude!! Can hardly wait.

Another week come and gone

It's been quite a week. Constant guests at the mission (including 2 little boys), the usual busy girls and last weekend I think my body just gave out/up. Friday evening we were playing games with our guests when I started feeling a little pain in my neck. I didn't think much of it, except that I was getting tired and should probably go to bed soon. However, it got worse and worse from there and by Sunday my mobility was pretty much ZERO with a lot of pain. Things are finally improved enough that normal life isn't torment in my neck anymore, but I still have to be careful with turning my head too much. Anyway, life goes one and by next week we are on our own again at the mission. Our two German volunteers will have left do to some traveling before heading back to Germany, and our mission guests will have returned home so that during the week at least it will be just our family. We really enjoy having guests, and the guys have helped a lot with projects and also with the girls, but we're looking forward to a slower pace.

Before my neck went on the frizz we did have some fun times outside. Let me share some pics.
Katie, Maya and I decided to bring the guys a little snack as they were working in the bush at the back of the property. Rather than bringing the heavy wagon this time I opted for the much lighter toboggan and sled. Worked great!

The girls loved it, especially going down the hill. "Run, Mommy, run" "Go fast" was the cry from the girls.

Maya having fun and taking it easy.

Katie was being a little lazy too. Not only did she want to get pulled, but laying down was her prefered mode of transportation.

Safety first!! When the guys come out from the job site Maya wanted to try on Andy's safety glases, and surprisingly left them on long enough to get some cute pictures.

At home, after a busy day the girls (and Daddy) love to cuddle during their "Schoggi Milch" (chocolate milk) and show time before heading off to bed.

Our snow was almost gone, but we got enough of a skiff again to do some more tobogganing. Maya liked to wander off and just play in the snow on her own.

My girls and I enjoyed using our little hill for some exercise and fun.

Sunday afternoon Grosi and Grosvati came to look after the girls while Jeff and I got to go for an overnight to ... wait for it... Guelph (about 15 min away;) Because of my stiff neck it wasn't quite what we were hoping for, but we still enjoyed a movie date (King's Speech), a night at a nice hotel (travelocity Secret Hotel saved us over $50), a leisurely breakfast and going out for lunch (and a visit to the Chiropracter) before heading home again.

Meanwhile the girls enjoyed hanging out with Grosi and Grosvati who are continuing to instill the importance of coffee time in the girls.

Even with the neck and all that it was so nice to get some time away and we're looking forward to maybe doing it again sometime soon. Thank you so much Mom and Dad. We are so glad that you can be such an active role in our girls' (and our) lives.