What a nice Saturday at home...

Emily gave us another example of her ingenuity today. It's hard to see, but the string is threaded through the holes in the support post. Yippee, she's three!

We' ve had such a nice day today. The house is clean. Aunt Ana is here. Most of our clothes are packed for Christmas travelling. A gingerbread house was 'mantled' and dismantled (see picture below). We've had the most beautiful, restful, yet productive, day. Now there are just a few last presents to wrap. And an early start to tomorrow as I am producing.









Our first gingerbread house. Made from scratch, decorated by all. The only thing missing is the lovely smokestack that Paul created out of Ovation sticks. How fun. We had it for dessert. Not all of it! We've saved the rest for tomorrow.
That's the idea, anyway. I'm not sure why, because we still have butter cake to eat tomorrow. Oy! Christmas is so fun!

Well, must go light advent candles.
How amazing that He would come to us.

Emptying Groceries

I asked her to take the groceries out of the bag and just put them on the floor. She is such a treasure. Here's her interpretation of "on the floor". If I left her long enough, she probably would have made a tower out of the cans, too!

What a treasure.

Overheard during supper last night...

Emily : " I don't want to eat this. I don't like it."

Nathan : "If you don't eat it, then you won't grow big. Do you want to grow big?"

Emily : "Will I grow little?"

Bizarre

It's just occuring to me how ridiculous it all was. Two newlyweds, already pregnant, some shephards rattling on about vast amounts of angels in the sky and some rich guys with presents worshipping a baby that was born and placed in a feeding trough. I've spent some time trying to find the right word. One that conveys the idea of supernatural invading the natural. And the idea of how perfectly confusing yet appropriate were the circumstances of His birth. And therefore, His Death.

Foolish things that confound the wise.

I like Christmas. It makes me think.

Retail Schooling

Today we covered the subjects of math and science.
As we waited to check out at Michael's, Nathan worked on number recognition and sequence while observing the Soduku booklets (numbered 1 thru 8).
As we meandered through Home Depot, we observed the various plants which are transformed into Christmas greenery, such as rosemary trees. Nathan reviewed his Science lessons by naming the parts of an Amaryllis flower and describing what happens after a plant is pollinated (makes seeds) and how it protects it seeds (makes fruit).

This school day has been brought to you by the letter A and the numbers 1 thru 8.
We would like to thank our unwitting sponsors, Michael's and Home Depot.

Have a great day!

Remember Thanksgiving?

Remember the trip to Sarnia?

Brooding

Oh how I wish I had more to say.
I frequently get frustrated with blogging. I have so much up in my head and
it's so much work to get it out into words.
I've just started to read a Kierkkegaard anthology and I'm struck how people
can just write down their thoughts. I read blogs, letter, journals and
emails and I'm struck how so many people write so coherently. I just flit
from thought to thought, never quite slowing down enough so others can see
what I'm thinking. It's also that it's terrifying to share. But K. was an
original thinker, shamed and ridiculed for his thoughts which are now
heralded as RIGHT THINKING. So, I'm considering being braver. We'll see.

Will there ever be pictures?

Well, still so much to say! But pictures would be ever so much nicer. A
birthday cake, a tent, a few beautiful little girls and a very happy Emily.
Yup. She's three.
We had her party yesterday, but today was her big day. It was quite a
bummer for her compared to yesterday. Hopefully the trip to McDonald's for
supper helped!

Ah, so here's the truth: I'm trying to see if I can email to my blog.
Here goes!

Quite Cute Quotes

I've been trying to get some pictures up, from our trip to Sarnia and Thanksgiving...not quite working out yet. Oh well. I'll try some Quite Cute Quotes instead.

Earlier this week...
Nathan: "Mommy, I heard on the news that the giants were going to meet the cowboys."
Eyes on Mommy with an inquiring gaze.
Mommy stifles guffaw.
Mommy: "Oh, really?"
Nathan gives up his unsuccessful attempt to read Mommy's expression.
Nathan: "Yes, isn't that silly?"

Oh the things that they put in the news these days! Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (breathe) ha ha ha ha!
I haven't explained it to him yet. I just handed him my cell phone and let him tell his daddy. Daddy didn't explain it either. It's just too precious.

Mommy: "How do you want me to decorate your birthday cake, Emily?"
Emily, with great frustration: "I don't want you to decorate my cake, Mommy. I want to EAT it."
Long pause while Mommy is laughing.
Emily, using a Mommy-you're-so-dull-I-guess-I-have-to-spell-it-out-for-you tone of voice:
"I want a BIRTHDAY cake, with SPRINKLES on it. And I want CANDLES. And I want people to sing happy birthday to ME."
Some time later: "And I want to EAT my birthday cake."

Hee hee, I'll guess I'll just enjoy the ride as we careen wildly towards the Age of 3.

And here's the latest from Nathan:
"Mommy, can you help me read this part?"

Yippee!Yippee!Yippee!Yippee!Yippee!Yippee!
We now have a Beginning Reader! WaHOO!

Paul and I are heading to Stratford on Saturday to make use of our Christmas gift certificate (Christmas '05). I don't know what we are going to see, I'm not trying to find out, but it shall be glorious! Wonderful Aunt Ana is hanging out with the kids.

That's it for now!

32 years, up in smoke

I have embarked on the journey of a lifetime....no, a journey of a year. My 33rd year, to be exact. Not much to report so far, wandered in the woods, danced in the snow, yelled at some kids. I know there is a deeper thing going on in all these activities. I know that God is at work and right here with me. Sometimes the daily life I see with my eyes filters the reality of His Son's life in me. It really should be the other way round.

ReJoy!

I have Rediscovered the Joy of being at home! I went from "grump, grump, ho hum, not-so-how" to "wheee, this IS fun!" in the space of, oh, about 1 second. I was in my kitchen. I was miming. I was holding a cucumber in my hand. Blue Man Group was playing on the stereo. You figure it out!

Yippee! Just gotta find those pearls.

Amy

Some pictures we DID take!

See the excited groom? See the groomsman on the right? He's mine!















Al and Nadine cutting the cake - "Lebanese stye"













Aboard the ferry, approaching Centre Island. They still don't know Centreville exists...we just walked around the island!

















Nathan's new friend. He lives at the lighthouse with his family. He didn't talk much.

Our trip to the Library

I asked Nathan tonight if he wanted to go to the library. He suggested I could walk and he could ride his bike. He got a two-wheeler avec training wheels last week and there's been no stopping him. That is, until Paul put air in his tires yesterday! After a bit of clever and loud Mommy negotiating ("Nathan, GO! Yes it's more wobbly....GO! NOW!") followed by some logic (Nathan...you can do it), he got going and has gotten used to his now wobbly bike. So off we went to the library.

This involved crossing at two intersections with lights and one with a 4-way stop. He did super well and pedalled his little heart out. Once at the library, we discovered it was closed ( I didn't check before leaving as I thought it was a worthwhile excursion anyway). We figured out how to lock his bike to the bike rack, went pee and came back out. After a small but traumatic mishap on the ramp downhill, he pedalled his little heart out back home. Oh the proud mommy moment!

When we got home, we found that Paul had begun to give Emily a bath. How great that was! He got to ride to the library and is now clean to boot!

It was fabulous. He's really tired and his bum hurts, but he is so happy.

Bikes. Hee!

We go ALL OUT!

Yup. Just couldn't stay home. Nope. Needed to get to higher ground. Ahem. Sky? Concrete?
Whatever.
We went to the CN tower today. Kids loved it. Nathan's fave: the Lego Racer simulator ride. ( I think he liked looking out from the SkyPod too).
It was quite all right, even the long line for the elevator up to the SkyPod.
Once we were finished, we exited the tower and walked in the direction of the old roundhouse just south of the tower. We were distracted by the OPP display of various cars and such and the bipedal furry dog and elephant. The kids got a couple of photo ops (not with our camera - which I left conveniently attached to the computer in an attempt to download pictures before we left this morning - HA!). And THEN, this cop lady asked if we got any treats. Then she got us the treats : hockey puck, tattoos, OPP badge AND a Junior OPP cap - in stylish black plastic! They were thrilled. The cops AND the kids.

When we finally made our way over to the round house we stopped to eat our lunch on a bench. We sat down with the CN Tower in the center of our view with the 'roger centre' off to the left. Emily's fave memory of the day was watching the elevators go up and down in the glass shaft. After lunch, Paul and Nathan disappeared into the tall grass in order to check out the roundhouse. Emily and I climbed some concrete thing while we waited for the boys to reappear.

While we were walking back to Union we saw a crew which was putting down some new track. Twenty minutes later, we finally got to Union, bought some candy and headed onto the subway.

It's so good to be back home. I've really enjoyed the extra special events but it was especially nice to get home, give them naps, do some errands and sit down to a nice dinner. Home is good.

Anniversary at the AGO.

It was just like 9 years ago. A little rainy, a little sunny and just the right temperature. We drove down to the AGO, just the two of us and wandered around the downright limited selection of the AGO's holdings. But it meant that we did the gallery in an hour ( it was free from 6-9pm!) and got to wander in the gift shop. We bought a fun looking card game for the kids where they get to build snakes!
Then we drove around trying to find a new parking spot ( the garage we had originally parked in was being used for filming) and ended up right in front of the CHUM City building at Queen and John at the ONLY parking meter directly in front of the Breakfast television/CityLine studio. It was a little weird. AND we didn't even have to pay because it was after 9pm.
We wandered east on Queen and found ourselves at the Indian Palace which was a simple but welcoming restaurant with very yummy food. It was such a nice evening.
And, Paul, "Happy Anniversary! Thanks for wandering the gallery with me. I love you!"

Spontaneous adventure

It was Sunday, around 11am. We had just come back from church. The children were playing happily but we, the parents, were unsettled. So we made a decision.
About an hour and a half later we found ourselves at Black Creek Pioneer Village.
What Fun!
Trouncing around on gravel paths ( much gentler on the feet), smelling spices, watching how to card and spin wool --oh so much fun! It amazed me how they just glowed as they ran around.
Nathan is just the right age to take in the information the village-people (non-YMCA types) shared. Emily enjoyedthe sheer energy of the excursion.
Paul and I found it wonderfully relaxing.
But, we didn't bring the camera.
Maybe next time!

"Mommy, look! They're playing coconut!"

Coconut? Ahem. Cricket, it is.
Hee hee. That one should be written down. Oh look. I just did. Oh Emily.....one day maybe you'll play coconut too!

oooh, the backyard....

We are having such fun this summer. Especially in our backyard. Emily really enjoys The Digging Spot.
















Look! Look! There's grass!
Beautiful! Restful!
Aaaah. Feel the softness under your bare feet.













My friend Sue called to say her cherries were ready. So, we grabbed this bucket and two Narnia popcorn buckets and headed over.
Paul climbed the tree, Emily sat on a chair, terrified of the dogs, and Nathan and I fought for time on the ladder. We filled this bucket and one popcorn one. Lotsa cherries.
These lovely cherries have now been apportioned to share, consumed in a pie and transformed into jam. Yippee! What fun!

Once upon a time we went strawberry picking...

Grumpy, here, didn't want to pick strawberries.
She wanted to see the goats. But, her brother was busily getting nice red fruit! Next time we'll try to find a farm without the goats.











Proud picker, Nathan. Proud straw twirler, Emily.



















We picked this much!












Mr. Scarecrow.



















Miss Scarecrow!

Antics

"Mom, look!"
"Oh, you're playing a french horn!"














"Look!"
"And so are you."














Summer means sprinkler time! What fun we are having in our fabulously sodded back yard. Thanks, Paul!



















Happy, wet munchkin. Lovely.















These are little Playmobile people, wise men actually, from Nathan's Nativity set. Emily enjoys playing with them too. On this day, they decided to take a jaunt out of the bedroom, aided by Emily. Do you suppose they were tired out and needed to sit down? I wonder....

Kids try new things every day!

My fabulous 4 year old. He's grating cheese! I see a budding kitchen helper. Yippee!!












Oblivious to gender stereotyping, the little lad sets up a venue for serving tea.













Hee, hee! Lemon face! This initial taste did not deter him, however. He continued to 'eat' it!

















She wanted to try it too. Missed getting the pucker, though. You'll just have to imagine it!

So, I thought I would post a quick one. It's taken me 15 minutes to get to this point of typing my words, from the initial click to log on. GRrrrrrr. So, I have pictures I taken.....but loading them on to the computer takes a conscious time commitment. It's like working with a 486 again. Turn it on, go have a coffee. Click a program, go make a snack. Type a few words, make a phone call. See the words appear, try to correct the spelling mistake, take your empy coffee cup to the sink while the computer thinks.
BAH!
Maybe my computer is PMSing too!
Hee.
Ah, well, kids are cute, wish I could show you. We're having fun, lots of stories to tell.
But, alas, I have to go vaccuum.

Bye!

It takes a LONG time to post!

So here I was thinking that I could just write a quick note to update you all. But NO, it took me far too long to even load up the login page. Aaaaagh.
Paul got a birthday present. A new hard drive. My computer has not been the same since....hence the lack of updates. Theoretically, the computer should be even faster.
Guess it's not well versed with the theory. I'm a little sad that it's not working quite as it should.

You really should have seen his face when he got his birthday money from his sister (and parents). "Oh, I know what this is for. A hard drive!" Kindof like Nathan's face last night when we told him he had to sleep in the same room as his sister. "Oh Thank you, Mommy. I've wanted to for....ummmm.......for a long time really! Oh thank you!".
THEY didn't get to sleep until 11pm. And my computer is SSSSSSSSSSSSLLLOW. Ah well.

The reason that Nathan slept in Emily's room was that his room is entering the final stages of transformation. The peeling paint has been scraped away. The ceiling and walls are all primed. And now, we'll see just how much painting a stay-at-home mom can accomplish, in a day, without sitting the kids in front of the tv for hours and hours. He might sleep in Emily's room yet again tonight. I'll have to be ok with that.

Yup, I have been working on his room, wall by wall, for 2 months. I'm a little impatient to finish, but still have to pace it.

Now, it is Nathan's turn:
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfrjyhytyy hy tf yhy yrt tufgerrewgwaevytvb4wetgvv r tg few fyerte fsgcdydf
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnhhgjgfhfhgnbfgjfhgfgfdghyuiyuiunbhui5tiyhgfbnjhujghgyhujygh ut
b mnbhngfnytghjhutyyuuug
nathan

Ok we're done.
Bye

The tale of Sir Nathan, Princess Emily and King Mommy

Look, they are pre-"reading" their naptime stories! Awwww. A quiet moment in our day.
This pic belies the energy of the day. I gave Nathan a new toy. Oooh, he was thrilled. It was a a breastplate, a shield, a helmet and a sheathed sword - all plastic. He put it all on and went to the front mirror to admire himself. He declared that he looked "wonderful!" I agree. Then we had to figure out what knights did....we decided that they weren't supposed to kill people. Just have sword fights and win. And they could kill animals for lunch and supper.
Emily discovered the dressup box at this time and came over all decked out in a pink sunhat, chunky bracelets and a purse. We decided she must be princess Emily.

That's it for today. Just have to get to sewing those Easter outfits.
me

Random thoughts

When we were coming back from a weekend at my parents' house, we stopped by "The Country Store" to pet the chicks.









This weekend, Aunt Ana decided to french braid Emily's hair. She looked beautiful.

















We've all been sick and today is my turn. Emily is on the second fever portion of this virus and Nathan is all better, but irritating. I'm just starting....I have both fevers to go through.
I've just finished two books - one on child-rearing (Romancing Your Child) and one on church (THe Passionate Church) . Yay! I'm reading again. Now I just have to finish At the Crossroads. And the complete Thomas collection.

Must go be ill.
me

From the mind of a 4 year old...

...emerges Spider -Prince (the dog).

Scary or sweet? I'd vote for sweet.

toboggan!!

It snowed! And we went to the park, found a hill and Nathan and Paul went down. And up and down. Emily couldn't be convinced to join in the fun. So I pulled her around in her toboggan while Nathan scooted down the hill on his own. The only downside (hee) for him was losing his mittens on the way.
Emily went down, once with Daddy. She was too scared. Maybe next year for her.
Then Nathan and I log rolled around for a bit, made snow angels and just plain goofed around. My loving husband's only comment was "You're really snowy. You'll need to brush off before you get in the car." Hmmm. Fun guy.
(Well, yes, I did see him earlier, emerging from the trees at the top of the hill in a full out run with arms outstretched over his head, yelling, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh" as he galloped down the hill, toward Nathan who was at the bottom. I think it was a male victory whoop. But did look like he was having fun. )

It was a wonderful family time. No housework had been accomplished. There'll be another time for that.

A new one.

Hiya!

I added a new post that I've been working on about our trip. Just a small tidbit, but it's something more!

Now we are trying to survive the winter. The actual winter with cold and wind chill and not quite enough snow to do anything with. I was surprised by the winter blues ( didn't see it coming, lovely mild winter and all) and spent much of last week trying to adjust. Opened curtains, sat in sunshine, and trekked the family out to Kortright conservation area.
The kids have been enjoying puzzles, colouring and play-doh.

Today, after I make some icing, we will decorate Valentine cookies.

Oh yes, and today is my spiritual birthday. That is, the 15th anniversary of a life-receiving decision to let Jesus do the leading and changing of me. Never would have made it this far without him.

Well, there is a small girl announcing a need for a diaper change. Does immediate biological need precede philosophy? Now, it just weaves together, and becomes part of an interesting day in the life of...me!

Amy

Travelling - just Nathan and me!

Ahhhh, finally something exciting to report. It started very early on a Thursday morning. First I dragged myself out of bed. Then I dragged everyone else out of bed. We got ourselves into the car and on our way

to ...



the ....


airport!

Paul, though sad to miss the trip, was gracious enough to care for Emily while I took Nathan on a trip cross country.
OOOOOOOOOOH, it was FUN! We got to our gate, just in time to find out that it wasn't our gate and our flight (which was clear over on the other side of Terminal 3, of course) was delayed.
Undaunted, I hustled Nathan and our carry-on gear over there. Our plane was 2 hours delayed. "Oh. Now what do I do with a four year old in an airport for 2 hours. Oh, right, this is Nathan. We watch planes!" And we did. For 25 minutes. Then we went to the book store, had snacks, played with trucks, and read books until our plane arrived.
Just before we were called to board (yay for pre-boarding courtesies with small kids!), Nathan said, with a worried look on his face, "Mommy, I don't think I want to go on the plane. I don't want my ears to pop." "Too late now, honey. We're here and we have to go. It will be okay." They called us to board. Nathan asked if it was time to go to the gate. "Yes," I said. I didn't see his face until we got to the doorway of the gate. I looked and saw that face. You know, the face that thrills us all to the insides of our bones. Full of wonder and excitement. It filled me with wonder and excitement, too.
The actual flight was very pleasant. Nathan is a great traveller, and how could he not be, with a TV screen no more than a foot and a half from his face! I still managed to limit his viewing to an hour on the almost four hour flight. WHew! Besides, he needed time to open and enjoy his plane presents.
I really enjoyed the flight. I loved seeing the clouds from the other side and the fields of white cut through with dark lines that I assumed were roads. It was sunny, warm and very nice to get away.
Once we arrived, we were met by my friend Sarah. She and her husband Ryan were our hosts for our trip.
Oh, didn't I tell you where we were going?
Hee.

Calgary.

Brown. Very brown.

Calgary was, well....brown. I was shocked by the large expanses of dormant grass. I wasn't quite aware that Calgary was still prairie-land. The mountains, the little mountains way off in the distance were quite pretty. But they were really far away. Not to far for driving, just far for seeing.
Anyway, after we met Sarah at the airport, she whizzed us back to her house and scooted back to work for a meeting. Nathan attempted to nap and I re-organized the items in our suitcases. We didn't do much that first night but Nathan really enjoyed getting to know Sarah and Ryan a little better.

On Friday, we headed downtown. We discovered Aslan lying outside of City Hall, said "Hello," and went up to see Ryan's office. After Nathan explored Ryan's office, we meandered over to the C-train stop and went to the Science Centre.





My lasting memory of the Centre will be the coat hooks. No lockers. No need to cart our stuff around. Free coat hooks. Safe coat hooks. It was thrilling!!
Nathan's best memory of the morning was working a 'crane' with sponge blocks to transport. It was a very fun morning.
We then grabbed some lunch and met my longtime friend Bea at the Calgary Tower. Though there were magnificent views of the mountains and the river, Nathan most exciting moment was watching the train pass by and stop at the train yard. Such a boy! We headed back home, with Bea in tow, and whiled away the time at the Fish Creek bus stop.

There were lots of firsts for Nathan on this trip. First time on a plane, on a train, in a bus and on a mountain. Yes he likes it, Sam I am!







On Saturday, we travelled to Canmore and Banff. Now I can say I've been to Banff. It was a nifty tourist spot but I'm still a little scared of mountains. They were cold and grey and mockingly inviting. Yet beautiful.

Here we are! At a small waterfall, amidst the mountains. This spot was beautiful.

I know this is just a taste of our trip. More later, as I get the chance.

Amy

just chattering

Ahhh, winter. A little chilly today, but sunny. We had a nice Christmas but things got a little busy the first couple of weeks of this year. It might be calming down. I've started sewing again, working on a coat for Emily. After Boxing Week sales proved fruitless, I decided to try make make her a 'Sunday' coat myself. The only negative of this whole situation is that I am becoming more aware of the limitations of my sewing machine. It doesn't actually do a basting stitch. Agh!
Nathan starts gymnastics again tonight. I hope he listens well. He still is wiggly and struggles to follow the routines after a while. It's exciting, though, to have something that he takes so well to.
Today, we played with marbles. What fun. We found many different containers to plop marbles in. I think Nathan suspected it might have been related to 'school'. Don't tell him!!

That's it for the first post of '06. More exciting news next time!

me