lovely day

a relaxing afternoon

2012-02-13T15:38:00.001-06:00

Who doesn't love reading books and eating lasagna noodles?

Artisan bread

2012-02-11T20:09:00.001-06:00

I realized I haven't made an obvious post. It's my new love & what I'm telling everyone about: artisan bread in 5 minutes a day. That's a book title, get the book & your life will improve upon baking then eating this bread! I'm serious.

Another table cloth

2012-02-05T18:25:00.001-06:00

I love table cloths and table runners. So I thought : why not combine it? The fabric is from one of Joann Fabrics great online 50% off sales. My fingers were crossed that the online colours would be a match and thankfully they were true to what I wanted.

Al's kitchen party

2012-02-05T10:54:00.001-06:00

Aleida, for the first time, has set up her babies around the table and is preparing food for them. Pretty cute.

P.s. I downloaded an app onto my phone that allows me to update this blog on my phone, hence the more frequent postings as of late.

Puzzle project

2012-02-04T14:25:00.001-06:00

This 12 puzzle project has taken us about a week to complete. Owen did some on his own and most we did together. It was fun and I am glad we can now put away all the puzzles.

Upon seeing this photo, Owen just asked my why there are cheerios all over the floor. I had to laugh; it's just the setting I had on my camera that apparently makes my floor look very dirty. There aren't cheerios all over the floor and on Owen. I promise. (i will add that living in our new apartment with a new floor, I notice dirt a lot more and I happily clean my floor more frequently than I ever have in the past)

Some colour in my life

2012-02-03T09:03:00.001-06:00

A new shower curtain and table cloth make me smile. It's the little things for me. Aleida helps her babies go to bed ... in her doll crib. I can hardly bear having to tell her she's too big to be doing that.

Big kitchen cupboards means play happens in the pan cupboard.

Best Ride EVER

2012-01-22T19:38:00.001-06:00

This video is on repeat at our house right now. Thanks to Grandpa for constantly driving the 4-wheeler. Owen had the time of his life. Also, I'm grateful that Ry thought to record it.

roses for mama

2012-01-22T19:29:00.001-06:00

I should have blogged about this right after it happened, but I think everything about our move made me put things off.

Owen told me at lunch one day that when Dad got home, Dad, Aleida and Owen were going to go to the store and I would stay home. I wasn't allowed to know any more details than that. My curiosity was peaked! After supper, they went to the store while I stayed at home. When they arrived back, there was a knock on the door, and when I opened the door, Owen was holding a dozen red roses!

He wanted to get me red flowers and thought I would like roses best. It was so very sweet! It makes me smile every time I think about it.

Finally able to settle

2012-01-22T15:03:00.000-06:00

Well the big anticipated move happened; what we thought would take place in September has finally happened in January. We moved into our lovely nice new apartment on January 13. My parents drove here to help us move and we couldn't have done it without them! They were a huge help and their motivation to get things done made it so we are way ahead of most people and have settled in quickly. This place makes it easy to settle: the spacious fancy kitchen (pantry, granite countertop, open concept with bar into dining room), two bathrooms, stacked front-load washer and drier located in apartment! I've never been so spoiled! No traveling up or down stairs carrying laundry, also, my clothes have never been so clean. Our windows face south-slightly-east and south-slightly-west which means: we get amazing light. Our bedroom has two huge bright windows and we set our bed up right in between them. All this to say: we're thrilled.

In other big news, we got about 2 inches of snow! We're thrilled and spent some time playing in it.

Christmas Eve!

2011-12-20T19:32:00.000-06:00

It's nearly Christmas and there is a lot of excitement in this household! Yes, that's parent and kid excitement. It's just so much more fun creating traditions, carrying on old ones, giving presents, decorating, listening to music, etc, when there's kids who are loving every minute of it and glowing with Christmas spirit! We leave for Ontario on the 22nd (woohoo!) so that means we're doing Christmas morning tomorrow. We bought the Lil Smokies today, I just made Polly's Eggs (egg milk cheese oven bake which will sit overnight in the fridge then it just needs to be popped into the oven in the morning and voila breakfast is ready without anyone having to work on it in the morning = time to open presents), we will soon lay out all the presents under the tree. We ate shepherd's pie for supper tonight and read the part in Luke 2 that talks about the shepherds. All this to say: I love having family traditions that I can be excited about year after year, and having them be something the kids anticipate, too. Sadly, we couldn't make gingerbread cookies this year. Our baking supplies aren't all unpacked yet - they weren't initially unpacked because I thought we'd be in our new place by now! *sigh. We did find out our new apartment number, though. It's the apartment we wanted so we're eager to move. However, we aren't sure yet when we'll get the go-ahead on that.

Merry Christmas to all! To those in Ontario: we hope to see and visit with you soon! And to those in Minnesota: we are so sad to not be there as there so many dear people we are missing.

2011-11-27T08:59:00.001-06:00

This past Thursday was American Thanksgiving. We spent the afternoon with Trip and Kira and their kids. We had a lovely time visiting while last minute preparations were made, and the kids really played excellent together. The meal was a genuine feast! It was delicious and in true Thanksgiving fashion, there were plenty of leftovers. We were grateful to be invited into Trip and Kira's home for Thanksgiving. It is a holiday that we usually spend with Ry's family; since that wasn't a possibility this year, it was a blessing to be able to spend it with old friends from Minnesota!

Ry got back from his AAR conference weekend on Wednesday at 1:30am. It was a rough drive to the airport to pick him up, but I am indebted and thankful to our friends who came here at midnight and stayed till 2:45am to listen for the kids so that I could bring Ry home! The kids and I faired alright for the 5 days that Ry was away, but it is really great to have him home again.

I decided this year that I would make myself a stocking. The kids and Ry have their own stockings so I'm the only one without one. Since I've been wanting to get into quilting I decided to use fabric I had sitting around for a while intended for a project which I have abandoned. See it pictured below; one stocking, different fabric pattern on each side.

a winning recipe

2011-11-07T19:12:00.000-06:00

Since being a stay-at-home mom, I've been investing more time and energy, and enjoying doing so, into meal planning and cooking. It has been a source of joy to find recipes that the whole family not only likes, but eats. We've noticed and heard that New Jersey is one of the most expensive places in the country to live. Thus, to find great recipes that are also cost effective is a plus.

I've discovered my new go-to soup recipe. It is easy to have all the ingredients always in the house. Another reason this soup is a winner: the kids LOVE it and eat a lot of it. So, it's an easy and pleasing lunch or with a loaf of nice bread, supper.

from The Soup Bible with my own revisions/remarks.
serves 4-6
Lentil and Pasta Soup
3/4 c brown or green lentils (not red! you want the lentils to retain shapes)
3 garlic cloves
4 cups water
3 Tbsp olive oil (I used all butter)
2 Tbsp butter
[1 onion (I omit this)]
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 Tbsp sun-dried tomato puree (I use extra, and I also puree my own so it's a little chunky)
7 1/2 c vegetable broth (I use water and add 1 Tbsp of vegetable Better than Bouillon)
a few fresh marjoram leaves (I use 1/2 tsp dried marjoram)
a few fresh basil leaves (I use 1/2 tsp dried basil)
leaves from 1 spring thyme (I use 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
1/2 c small pasta shape, such as tubetti (I used 1 c alphabet shapes - part of why kids loved it - , or brown rice or barley would work great, too!)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Put lentils in a large suacepan. Smash one of the garlic cloves and add it to the lentils. Pour in the 4 c water and bring to a boil/simmer for 20 mins till lentils are just tender.
2. Tip the lentils into a sieve, remove the cooked garlic clove and set it aside. Rinse the lentils with cold water. Leave them to drain.
3. Heat 2 Tbsp of oil and half butter in a large saucepan. Add the [onion and the] celery and cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, for 5-7 minutes until softened. Crush the remaining garlic and mash the reserved cooked garlic clove. Add to the vegetables with the remaining oil/butter, the tomato puree and lentils. Stir, then add the stock, herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, stirring. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the pasta and bring to boil again, stirring. Simmer, stirring frequently, for amount of time of pasta cook time (approx. 7-8 minutes). [If using rice or barley, add in step 4 so it can cook for 30 minutes.] Add remaining butter and adjust seasoning.

Impromptu visit to NB

2011-11-03T09:14:00.001-05:00

When we noticed that Ry's reading week coincided with the visit our friends' band, The Geese, to New Brunswick, we knew we had to make the 11 hour trek to be there at the same time! We hadn't been back to NB in 3 years so it was high time we got back to see everyone and the land. It was an excellent visit with dear friends, not to mention it just felt *good to be back in the Maritimes. We stayed with the Rouleau family and we enjoyed preparing meals together, eating together, relaxing and staying up to late - it was awesome. Our kids got along really well, and Ali and Jeromy took excellent care of Aleida and Owen. Seeing and hearing the band was a treat (thegeese.ca), not to mention visiting and hanging out with them.

On the way home, we had to stop and stay overnight in New Hampshire because there was a major snow storm. We didn't even think that we needed to plan around the weather, but apparently we should have! Owen was absolutely thrilled, though. He's been wishing for snow for a long time.

Halloween was fun! We went trick or treating in the area and it was a lot fun. The kids really enjoyed it as well.

Aleida walked around the house like this the morning of Oct 31.

I decided she'd go out like this for Halloween as we didn't have a costume idea for her. I just added a couple other things to make her more 'hipster girl'.

Sadly, I don't have a picture of the both of them before they went out. Owen was so excited about it. He wore his spiderman pajamas and his spiderman mask. He looked great and he had so much fun. Aleida enjoyed it as well. I don't think she knew what she was doing, but she did what all the other kids were doing, and didn't want her treats in her bag, but wanted to hold them all. Obviously this didn't work very well. It was only when someone asked her, "Do you want some chocolate?" that she gave me her treat and asked me to open it for her so she could eat it. She was hooked! She wanted all that candy! Silly girl.

Conveniently neither kid has asked about the candy anymore. So, on the fridge it sits.

Okay, so I just got a picture of the kids from someone else. Here they are, with their friends:

Aunt Heidi

2011-10-18T12:20:00.002-05:00

So I finally gathered photos from my phone and from our camera so I can document some of the fun we've had with Aunt Heidi. She came and stayed with us for a weekend, and then we met up with her over Thanksgiving weekend in New York City at Central Park.

Heidi worked a long time on this "Abstrakt" project but without luck of finishing.

At Terhune Orchard.

Central Park, NYC

Carousel in Central Park

Turkey Swamp Park

2011-10-15T19:51:00.000-05:00

We visited Turkey Swamp Park located about 35 minutes from our house. It was a gorgeous day and quite windy. It was too good of a day to just stay inside! We all had a wonderful time being out in the fresh air with the smell of leaves and pine needles and the occasional whiff of swamp. We hope to get out a lot before the cold gets to be too much.

making new routines

2011-10-13T13:43:00.000-05:00

We're settling quite nicely into our new home. There are still details to sort out which will just take time, energy and money (of course, there are fees for everything!), but we've already put most of that behind us.

We live in an older apartment complex which will soon be replaced by new buildings which are currently under construction (http://www.ptsem.edu/offices/housing/floorplans.aspx click on a box link & scroll down to see pictures). We are very excited to live in the new building, not happy about having to move again in a couple of months, but we are pleased to live where we are currently living. The two complaints I had about our previous though very loved St Paul apartment, was that we didn't have a porch and that there wasn't a good yard in which the kids could play. So, while this apartment doesn't have the character and charm that our old place had, it does have a lovely balcony that we all spend a lot of time on and there is massive yard with a huge play structure and pavement space where there are tons of wheeled riding toys for the kids. We are grateful for these things.

It has taken us some time to adjust to our new schedules. It has been a couple years since Ry was a student, so we have to remember to how allot time for all that need to do. He has a couple part-time jobs for which he clocks & makes his own hours. I am home full time in addition to watching a sweet boy, 2.5 yrs old, two days a week. It is fun for the kids and give our week structure. I am grateful for the opportunity to 'work' at home.

A month after we moved, a very exciting HUGE parcel arrived at our house. It was Owen's birthday week (who are we kidding, right; child birthdays spread beyond one day) and something arrived for him as well as for me! My very kind sister got me a crock pot & a cookbook to go along with it! Woohoo for me! I have been having so much fun planning what to make and being thrilled with the results thus far. Some recipes take all day, or all night, or a couple of hrs. I'll share a recipe that worked great for my family's schedule and for our taste buds.

Crock-Roasted Summer Vegetables

from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook

cooker size: medium or large round or oval

setting and cook time: high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours

2 large bell pepper, any colour, seeded and cut into strips

2 large red onions (this was omitted from our meal!)

3 medium size yellow crookneck or pattypan summer squash, ends trimmed and sliced 1/2 inch thick

3 medium size zucchini, ends trimmed, cut into thick matchsticks; or 1 lb baby zucchini with blossoms attached, left whole

5 oz fresh green beans, stem end snapped off

4 cloves of garlic, peeled (i quartered them)

2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil or savory (I used basil and I used more than 1 Tbsp)

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

about 3 Tbsp chopped fresh flat leafed parsley

2 to 4 Tbsp white or dark balsamic vinegar

1. Put all the vegetables in the slow cooker. Add the oil and basil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat evenly. Cover and cook on high until the vegetables are just tender and still hold their shape, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

2. Serve sprinkled with the parsley and vinegar.

Owen and I prepared this meal while Aleida was taking her afternoon nap. Then ta-da it was ready when it was time for supper! Fantastic.

A meal for Sunday that I am super pumped about is an old Colonial meal: Boston baked bean (recipe from 1700s) served with steamed brown bread. Fun, right? Yes, I know. I can hardly wait.

I don't have very many great pictures to post about our new life here. The big picture at the top of our blog was taken at a family day at the Seminary.

When Grandma and Grandpa visited, we went to the ocean (an easy hour drive away!).

We explored Princeton Theological Seminary campus as well as Princeton University's campus. The below picture is at the University.

It is also very important to mention the community garden across the street from our home! We hope to get a plot in it next spring. These chickens are very friendly and appreciate when we bring them stale bread.

Aunt Heidi visited us! We went to Terhune Orchard and had fun playing with animals, getting a tractor wagon ride, and running around.

Aleida's new sleep habit is laying and sleeping on the rug on her bedroom floor. Apparently this is more comfortable. Or something. When it is bedtime, she always lays down on the floor. Since bedtime has been SUCH an incredible struggle with her, we decided to go along with this odd desire and believe it or not, bedtime has been going okay now! I move her into her bed once she's been sleeping for a bit assuming the floor could only be comfortable for so long.

We're an hour and 20 minutes from the grand New York City. We took a family trip in on Sunday because Heidi was there! We met up with her at Central Park and had a lovely afternoon with her. We rode the carousel and played in a playground (well, by "we" I mean Heidi and Owen).

Well. There you have it; a doozy of a blog post. If you got through it all, well done. I'll try to post more frequently and less lengthy.

Owen as Lightening McQueen

2011-08-11T15:26:00.000-05:00

I found Owen trying to color his legs with crayons. So, I gave him the leftover halloween face paint.

ch ch ch changes

2011-07-20T13:54:00.000-05:00

Well, Aleida mastered climbing out of her crib. She'd wait for us to leave the room and she'd immediately get herself out. About a month ago we bought a bunk bed set from Craigslist, and have had that set up in the kids room. Owen has the top bunk and we figured we'd move Aleida to the bottom bunk eventually - perhaps once we'd moved this fall. But, with this battle of stay-in-your-crib underway, we decided we should just transfer her so the battle became the inevitable stay-in-your-bunk-bed battle. She was tired enough after lunch today that I thought it could actually work to put her down for her nap on her bunk bed. It took quite a few times of me laying her back down and getting upset with her (and having her laugh at me in response - she really was excited to be on her bunk, I guess) before she got the hint that it was nap time and that I didn't want her getting out of her bed.

Halden, our friend who stayed with us a couple weeks ago, had funny shoes (well, we thought they were funny, I doubt he thought so) and Owen put them on. He looks pretty hilarious, don'tcha think?

thanks Grandma!

2011-06-30T16:31:00.000-05:00

Grandma made Aleida's sweet dress. There's also a hat and bloomers not shown in this pic. The 102°F day meant those items were not put on her yet.

photo blog time...

2011-06-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

Owen caught a fish and was about to hold it (below picture) it flopped out of Ry's hand which made Owen VERY scared of it! It took a lot of convincing to get Owen to pose near the fish (see next picture).

Owen loves writing on top of words I've written. He'll do this for long periods of time.

lazy hazy sunday

2011-06-26T17:39:00.000-05:00

I haven't updated our blog in FOREVER! Yikes. Life has been busy, but I don't have an good excuse - I've just forgotten!

We're having a nice Sunday today. We've been relaxing and playing quietly. Aleida took apart her bed after her nap today (meaning she tossed out everything in it, including her mattress) and was sitting very content on the wood slab bottom. So, I gave her some books and 30 min later, she's still babbling happily. Owen is crafting away, the dining room has never looked so fulfilled. I touched up paint in the kitchen and front entry way. Those are areas of the house that seem to always need paint touch-ups.

Last night I used a couple of shirts that Ry and I don't wear anymore and I made myself a brand new shirt. I'm happy with the results! It will be a fun new summer shirt.

catch a cold.

2011-04-19T11:12:00.000-05:00

We've run into a bought of sickness this past week. The kids are fighting a snotty, deep cough. Poor kids. Their moods have been amazing given that they feel crappy. We've been doing a lot of tea drinking, movie watching, and taking it easy. Now so long as Ry and I don't catch it . . .

we will move.

2011-03-11T10:21:00.002-06:00

I realized I should update the blog with our latest big news:

Ry was accepted into Princeton Theological Seminary's PhD program, to begin fall of 2011! This is the school that he most wanted to be accepted into, so we're thrilled about it. Though less thrilled about the move, of course. But alas, at the end of the summer, we will pack our lives up into a big truck and head East, to Princeton, NJ. We'll be one hour from New York City, an hour from the ocean, 7 and a half hrs from my parents, 10 hours from Toronto, and 10 hours from New Brunswick. It will be a treat to be East! Certainly we want as many visitors as possible. And we have hopes of making as many road-trips as we can manage. It will be a major transition, but it is one that we've been gearing up for ever since Ry discovered his passion for theology. We're so glad to be taking this major step toward him obtaining his PhD.

owen's brilliance revealed.

2011-02-28T19:46:00.003-06:00

Oh, Owen. What a kid. And Aleida is being her sweet, smiling self.

hibernation

2011-02-09T22:09:00.003-06:00

The cold continues and our time indoors has remained sane. We've gone our for walks and time outside when the temperature has been about 20F. That's not too frequent. But we have 'school' on Wednesday morning and church on Sunday and I think those activities have been really key for our winter survival.

To pass the time and really feel cozy I've been making a rug. My progress is slow but I hope to be done in the next couple of months.

lazy hazy sunday

2011-01-23T15:17:00.008-06:00

Owen has a bit of a cough and runny nose, and Aleida is getting some molars in. Both kids (and parents!) are worn out! But we're in good spirits; it's been a lovely January thus far. We had a long, full morning at church today. The kids are responding so well to our church activities lately (being the past 2 weeks). Owen is really embracing and enjoying his preschool Sunday school class. It used to be a struggle & fight for him to attend nursery and his class so we're very grateful to have him excited and happy about his activities. He really loves his friends at church, too. Aleida can get upset at being left in nursery, but she settles quickly and plays well and seems to enjoy participating in new things. There's another little girl at church who is a number of months older than her -- they've had some bonding moments, it's very sweet.

Ry is marking exams. Owen is building a parking facility for his cars. Aleida is taking a nap. And I have a kitchen to clean, but before I tackle that, I thought I'd roam around our place and capture images that I enjoy seeing. (Aleida is asleep so she didn't make it into the mix... perhaps I'll find a pic of her from a different day :)

* Music of choice for the afternoon: Edward Sharpe & the Magnet Zeroes, as well as Local Natives (thanks Charlie for the recommendations) *

:: sunday school art project ::

i just read an article that our pastor wrote for our monthly newsletter in which she talked about storytelling & how it shapes our souls (a Thomas Moore idea); it isn't just the life experience itself, but the recounting, remembering and reprocessing that is important for our life-source. I think part of this process is intricately connected to our familial history as well -- it is crucial that we keeping the stories and experiences of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents ongoing and current.

:: my lovelies ::

keep it simple

2011-01-04T14:52:00.003-06:00

lessons learned so far this new year: slow down, smell the flowers & hydrate.

i don't believe in new years resolutions because i don't find them helpful or constructive. But, I do want to keep the above ideas in mind (for my & my family's sanity & health!)

frimas!!!

2010-12-14T21:50:00.006-06:00

it's almost frimas (in Owen-speak). We are all VERY excited about this (aleida's excited by osmosis). We got our Christmas tree up and Owen plugs the lights in every morning. So our electricity bill will be higher this month . . ..

Owen got to meet Kris Kringle/Santa Claus; he was shy at first but then got very chatty! Aleida was slightly interested in him but did NOT want to sit on his lap. So Santa had an idea . . .

We had a lot of fun decorating our tree. The kids both enjoyed the process.

One thing I love to do at Christmas: lay under the tree and look up into the tree!

Ry is a busy busy bee right now! His PhD application (to start a program fall 2011) are coming due! He's finished applying to 3 schools, and has 3 to complete. The rest of us are just going about our daily routines: playing cars, playing trains, putting objects in other objects, laundry, cooking, Christmas baking, 'school' (ECFE) - which both the kids enjoy a lot, and now more recently, we've been enjoying lots of snow. We got 23" in a day! This is how winter is supposed to be :)

she's 1!

2010-11-16T22:04:00.006-06:00

Our little girl turned ONE on Saturday! She had a busy and fun day. We made pancakes in the morning and put a candle in hers.

Here's Aleida doing one of her favorite things: walking with her purse.

little walking lady

2010-11-05T13:32:00.002-05:00

We are now a household of all walkers. Aleida has joined us to move on 2 feet. And she LOVES it! She is very good at regaining her balance, and when she falls, she knows how to fall well and she quickly gets back on her feet again. And lately she's quite taken with one of my purses. It has a short shoulder strap and her favorite thing to do right now is walk around with it, a smile always on her face. Phones still excite her; she frequently needs to talk into her hand if ever anyone of us is on the phone.

Owen has been different people these days. We might wake up to find that Allie is visiting us. Or the past couple of days it has been DookeeDookee (sp?). These kids are usually older than Owen, just by a little, and girls. Obviously when Allie or DookeeDookee addresses Owen's parents, the names Marcia or Ry are used. This is the first telling sign that it is not Owen talking, but rather a visiting guest.

We have settled into a bit of nighttime routine. We get Aleida ready and in bed by 7. While that is happening, depending if one or two parents are home, Owen might watch a bit of a show while he eats some pear or apple or yogurt. Then once Aleida is down, it's Owen's turn. He's been in bed by 7:30. It's amazing! We had an extremely hard time with bedtime there for a while. Well, with Owen's bedtime. He just wouldn't want to go to bed, and once he had been 'put to bed' he'd come out again and again. This would sometimes happen for 2+ hrs. NOT OKAY. We've cut out his afternoon nap and that has helped immensely. It is so amazing to have bedtime be completed at 7:30. (Wake time has been earlier than desireable but we'll have to sort that out after this time change . . . rise time could be 5am for a while here...)

they like each other.

2010-10-05T16:43:00.002-05:00

ontario

2010-09-17T11:19:00.005-05:00

Our time in Ontario was wonderful, as usual. We had time on the farm and at the cottage; we were able to visit with family as well as friends.

My grandmother crocheted us a beautiful blanket! We now have that on our futon, keeping us warm when we watch movies. Owens cars also like to play in it.

Heidi spent a lot of time with Owen; she has the incredible energy of a 4 year old! I don't know how she kept up with all his games, races and activities. Owen was in constant-playmate-heaven. We got to see my brothers place, which is the newly repaired and remodeled bungalow that my parents built. It's a beautiful place, perfect for Glen.

And now I'll just let the photographs tell about how our time was.

the cards are a hit . . .

2010-08-11T09:48:00.003-05:00

in case you didn't know, aunt heidi, owen still loves and plays with the musical cards you've sent him.

Mountains! Ocean! .amazing.

2010-07-25T14:30:00.012-05:00

Aleida is 8 months old! She is so smiley, determined, strong and squirmy. She really dislikes when she cannot do something. She works really hard at moving around quickly. She isn't a fan of baby toys - Owen's things are super appealing. She's a lot of fun. She also is teething right now. There is a nice little bite on my shoulder that looks like it is from a blackfly. No no. It is an Aleida bite. Yikes. She now has three teeth and the other top front tooth will hopefully emerge soon. Poor girl.

Aleida: a couple weeks old

and here she is again, 8 months later.

We arrived back to our home on Thursday night. It was a long trip home, as Owen continually reminded us. We're all pretty tired out, but that is the consequence of taking a fabulous vacation to a city chocked full of friends! We had a great time being with dear people we don't see often, and we also explored the area. We had a fancy double stroller during our stay and that made getting around possible. I'll let the photos tell you more about our time.

Steph and Dan got married! Woo, what a lovely day.

We drove into Washington with Katie and Joel to visit Mount Baker.

We (along with Mel and Tyler) took a ferry to Bowen Island.

owen's self made videos

2010-07-11T16:35:00.002-05:00

Sometimes owen wakes up and is really quiet. He goes on the computer and makes videos. Here are a couple of them.

Ry, Charlie and Erin had to learn Ray LaMontaine's "You're the best thing" for Jordan and Alex's wedding. Owen since has sung the song. (The lyrics he is singing are: You are the best thing; You're the best thing Baby)

He likes to play with different effects on the videos.

sewing project

2010-06-26T17:43:00.002-05:00

Lillian's birthday present:

Marian's Doily Dress

It was made with items from Granny: her doily and her bed sheet (cut from the corners as to use the best part of the fabric). The pattern and design is from Junko Okawa (her book Carefree Clothes for Girls).

winding down

2010-06-25T14:22:00.003-05:00

It's been busy lately. not too busy; more a fun kind of busy. Our church had VBS last week and i was part of the planning committee. Both Ry and I put some time in that week, helping out with this and that. Aleida and Owen were not old enough to participate but they both spent some time in the nursery while we helped. The first day I was actually doing nursery care, so the kids and I were together. When Ry helped out on Thursday, Owen didn't want to go to nursery by himself (it's 2.5 hrs, so it's quite a while!), thus I brought Owen to work with me while Aleida went in the nursery. She unfortunately did not do very well. She cried most of the time. Poor girl, and poor nursery helpers. And so both kids stayed home when I went to help on Friday.

We went to the cabin Fathers Day weekend with the entire PS gang. It was a really nice and relaxing time. It was fun to all be at the cabin together! That was the first time we'd all been up at the same time. And, I'd like to add that we all slept comfortably.

Also, during these events, the Geese (and significant others) were in town! and also Heather and Ina Bartlett. Yes! It was a fun time of visiting and socializing and listening to music.

Lillian is 6! We celebrated with her and family and friends last night. The Flyers were at the party and they put on a fantastic concert (as always). It was a fun time together.

Now things are slowing down. Our house hasn't yet seen the effects of this, though. It's in need of a good clean but we're in need of some 'nothing' time. So I guess that comes first.

Aleida, as you can see from the previous post's pictures, is pulling herself up to stand by (or kneel) at the coffee table. She takes great satisfaction from this and she is getting better at balancing once she's up. She even likes to try it one-handed. She's going to have another tooth poke through soon (on the top). She's eating 3 big solid food meals a day, and 3 big drinks a day. She still gets up at night - especially right now. I blame that on her aching gums. But besides that, she does like a drink somewhere between 1 and 4.

Owen is clearly an almost-4-year-old. His sentences are more complex. He is using more words all the time. I find myself often surprised by the words he is using. He's really into saying: "That's how it goes sometimes." Also, when cleaning up his toys yesterday, he told me: "It doesn't feel very good when I do this but it's good to get it done." He initiated cleaning the toilet the other day. And, at a gas station, he wanted to clean their toilet. I managed to talk him out of performing that task. He is currently really into playing games on the computer. Actually, let me correct that. He asks to play games but the games he wants to play are too difficult. So what he's really asking is for Ry or me to play that game and he'll watch. Much to Owen's disappointment, this doesn't happen very often. He is still as into Cars (disney pixar movie) as ever, and he plays with his cars daily. I think we need to be more intentional about reminding him of his other toys. He got out his puzzles the other day, and yesterday while I was sewing, he was making me sandwiches out of his play food.

Sewing - I want to make this more a part of my life! But now that Aleida moves quickly, I'll have to be careful (as my sewing-setup is not kid friendly). At any rate, the last two sewing projects I have done I found myself enjoying the actual process of sewing, and this is resulting in me being more careful than I usually am. This is good! It means I am happier with the end product (and the end product is nicer). So I'll have to work at making my sewing machine more accessible. I may have to sacrifice some of the order that we have in the dining room.

determination

2010-06-23T18:12:00.003-05:00

Webb Lake, Wi

2010-06-02T22:18:00.004-05:00

of hair and teeth

2010-05-21T11:03:00.003-05:00

Last saturday a tooth emerged. Bottom right. Sunday the bottom left was there. Good job, Aleida! She is also arm crawling. She's using her arms to pull her body around, and her feet provide some push as well. She can get herself around the room pretty quickly! I turned my head for a little bit and the next thing I knew she was under the coffee table. Silly girl - and determined as well. She likes her toys alright, but Owen's are far more interesting. He is very good at taking things away from her when she gets into something she shouldn't. He's also quick at preemptively moving things out of her reach. We're trying to have him see that moving everything out of her reach isn't so nice; we're trying to encourage sharing and teach the difference between keeping her safe, and never letting her touch his toys.

Owen finally got a much needed haircut. Professionally done this time - I've decided that's a way better route than me trying to get him to sit still and listen to me. Not to mention someone trained in the art of hair cutting is A LOT faster than I am. For a 3 year old boy, this is a great advantage. Anyway, he received a new car and a sucker out of the deal. He was pretty happy with all the end results.

these days...

2010-04-23T20:42:00.003-05:00

techie boy

2010-04-23T14:41:00.003-05:00

a friend of ours is graduating from an M.B.A. program and we were asked to make a video of ourselves saying congratulations. Owen has now made many many many videos of himself saying congratulations, nate! It's pretty cute, and this one is particularly funny.

thank you, heidi

2010-04-18T21:41:00.003-05:00

baseball and sun

2010-04-15T16:29:00.001-05:00

rice cereal

2010-04-15T08:13:00.003-05:00

Well, we started Aleida on brown rice cereal. She absolutely loves it and eats all that I give her. We started her on it because she seemed to be quite hungry and she was (is) getting up a lot at night right now. We're hoping that the rice cereal will help her sleep longer at night. So far - no go. I do believe that her night time wakefulness is due to the two bottom teeth that are soon to appear. She's a growing girl! She's getting so big so fast.

Owen is getting better all the time at constructing sentences and communicating with us. He also is getting quite good at using the computer. He likes to watch the little videos we take with our camera. He knows how to do this. He also figured out how to take pictures of himself - I found these on the computer yesterday.

sickies

2010-03-30T10:17:00.002-05:00

We've all been hit with a lingering cold. Ry got it first, and still has a bit of a snotty nose and cough, but he feels fine. Owen got it too, but he's not over it with the same light symptoms as Ry. Aleida and I are still in the thick of it. I'm not feeling too run down which is good. Aleida is also teething and feeling whatever that feels. Last night she slept the longest she ever has - from 7:30 to 6:30! Yes! I was up a couple times just cause I usually am. She needed to sleep that much as all yesterday she did not nap well, and the previous night, she was up a lot crying and upset. Anyway, we're off to a good start today - she ate well and is napping. Hopefully that will continue throughout the day.

My parents arrive tomorrow! We're all excited to have them stay and play and hold the baby.

Owen discovered a fun game this morning. Can you find the slipper in each picture?

very cute kids show

2010-03-27T10:27:00.001-05:00

fav.

2010-03-25T15:10:00.004-05:00

Well i am back to work. My first day was monday the 15th. Unfortunately, Ry had just gotten a cold and thus he felt quite terrible his first day of being home with the kids alone. It was aleida's first day on the bottle, too. It was a rocky day but they all made it through.

I did well being away and at the office. Pumping was fine - lucky for me I have a lot of experience pumping (Owen never latched - I pumped for 9 months for him), although I certainly prefer NOT pumping. I only work 2 days a week, which is great. I am so grateful for my job and that I can be home 70% of the week. Also, I am grateful that Ry's job is such that he is the one home with the kids whilst I am at work. It is really fun for Owen and Aleida to have concentrated times of mommy AND daddy.

Spring arrived officially March 21, but we've been experiencing very spring like weather since the beginning of March! It's been heavenly. Although today is a big shock of cold - at least it is sunny. The parks are clear which is great news for Owen. He can expend his energy much more effectively now. It feels so amazing to be outside and let the sunshine touch more than just our noses, cheeks and eyes! Aleida really loves being outside, too. She actually turns her face, eyes closed, toward the sun and seems to get great contentment soaking it in. It's really sweet. When we go outside, she's in a baby carrier. She really loves this mode of transportation.

Meal times have developed into a time where both Ry and I can eat our meal with both hands free.

This was the first -and only- time she's done this.

These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago. It was glorious outside! A family walk replaced nap time. It would have been silly for us to sleep through the beauty, warmth & freshness.

success!

2010-02-27T13:30:00.002-06:00

and this is how it came about:

We've been working on the poop-in-the-potty issue for months. But he was soo anti. He didn't even want to talk about it, let alone sit on the potty. But at last. All day yesterday and all the previous day he had to poop. But he wouldn't do it. And finally, when he asked to play in his tent, it struck me -- perhaps he'd poop in his tent (i mean i would set the tent up in the bathroom around his potty)! and yes yes. yes he did.

Now, owen in the proud recipient of a piston cup (if you've never seen the disney movie ''Cars" then you won't know what this is. but to Owen, this is kindof the ultimate achievement. and he's obsessed with the Cars movie.). He's been playing with it all day today. AND he pooped in the potty again today. It was his own idea. Hooray! We're all very excited - including Owen! Oh, and he didn't need the tent surrounding him while he pooped this time, which i am glad for.

playing together. ..almost

2010-02-16T21:51:00.003-06:00

on the mend

2010-02-11T10:11:00.007-06:00

well i have gotten over my bout of sickness. strep throat and sinus infection. sheesh. i am grateful for antibiotics.

While i was sick, ry had his first week back teaching. new semester, 3 new classes teaching the same material from last semester.

Not this past Sunday, but the Sunday before, Aleida was dedicated. This is a photograph that someone at church took, and shared with us.

Just a week or so ago (probably longer, as i have no sense for time anymore), my friend Rachael posted a similar photograph of rows of bottles on the kitchen floor. While Owen had not seen that picture, he had a similar idea of fun, I guess.

Stamping is a pretty dirty occasion. We've discovered that it is an activity that requires pretty close supervision. I don't have a photograph of the end of that stamping session. He had removed the ink pad from the case and rubbed it all over his arms. Let's just say he was rinsed for a long time under the bathtub facet.

Aleida is quite the cute kid. She's very expressive, as I've tried to capture in the below photographs. Unfortunately her facial expressions are full of body movement so she's hard to take pictures of.

charlie's birthday was a couple weekends ago. here are some pictures.

new developments.

2010-02-08T13:31:00.002-06:00

aleida is getting so much better at sitting by herself! this is a relief. not only does she sit by herself but she does enjoy it! she'll laugh and coo at things, toys, or us. It's great. still, this doesn't last more that about 15 min, but well, i don't know that many babies do that?

Owen has been pretty serious about Lightning McQueen (from movie, 'Cars'). He loves that car, and often is that car. He's really into the opening song of the movie, too. It's Sheryl Crow's "real gone." Anyway, this video is what has been happening non stop in our for days. (the real gone song has gotten nearly 100 plays.)

2010-01-30T12:01:00.002-06:00

making progress

2010-01-20T17:29:00.003-06:00

so owen is completely capable of going pee in the potty all by himself but he refuses (to the point of crying and tantrums). And so, this photo illustrates how we are handling it. perhaps not the best way, but it seems to be working -- i haven't helped him yet today!

you'll also note there's the issue of poop in the potty on that sheet of paper too. He's not so eager to do this one, but we're working on it. if anything would motivate him, it's cool characters from the movie Cars, waiting for him. here's hoping.

2010-01-17T22:19:00.003-06:00

we had a rough night last night. owen was sick, as in puking sick. poor guy. we all did get sleep eventually, though it was after a bath, pajama changes and bed sheet changes. he woke up saying that he felt better though his appetite today was super small. but, he does seem to be on the mend. other than feeling sick last night, owen has been doing very well. he's putting together sentences beautifully, and he's quite the conversationalist.

due to having a 2 month in the family, we don't get out in the snow much, but it's been quite nice lately so we'll have to bundle up and get out there.

aleida is doing very well. she's almost at 13 lbs now, and 23 inches long. she's a happy baby though she can get rather bothered at times. this usually does not last long, though. she likes being walked around - if you stand still while holding her, she'll start to fuss.

ry caught some of her smiles & facial expressions on camera.

sequence of a smile

2009-12-28T12:33:00.000-06:00

getting into the spirit

2009-12-13T21:46:00.005-06:00

we had our christmas pageant at church this evening. it was an enjoyable time. we played the holy family. owen was a 'sheep' - he didn't want to dress up, so ry wrapped him in a fuzzy white blanket and held him . . . like a sheep. it was a good time. aleida slept the whole, thus playing a very serene baby jesus. she even slept in the nice manger. what a good little actress. then after the pageant, there was the cookie social. many people brought delicious cookies and we all ate them. hot apple cider was served, too. it was a yummy and christmassy occasion.

aleida just fell asleep on me without me putting effort into getting her to go to sleep. usually when she's really tired (and at this time of night) she gets kind of cranky; having her fall asleep will involve pacing the floor and little patting her back. but not tonight. yay!

we made christmas cookies for church fellowship time. and for our new family tradition. delicious ginger cookies. owen LOVED cutting the cookies. he did a fine job of it, too.

sleeping happens whenever one can get it. (though i have decided that i must refrain from afternoon naps because no matter how tired i may be, sleeping in the afternoon means i will not fall asleep until too late at night.)

2009-12-10T16:09:00.004-06:00

there is a hearty, thick layer of snow on the ground. I am glad! i love that snow has arrived, and given the temperatures, it will remain for a while. We're decked our apartment with the warm glow of Christmas decorations. Our tree is up and beautiful. Owen requested purple lights (cousin lillian's fav colour is purple and so he seems to like it a lot right now, too) but we settled with a string of lights that has yellow, green, red and blue. He loves the tree and the ornaments. The first thing he does in the morning is turn the tree lights on. We very well may burn out all the lights on these string of lights cause they are always on!
We had talked that we wanted to go for evening walks to look at the lights but the cold has settled in in true minnesota style and it doesn't seem like a good idea to take Aleida out. And so she stays in while one of us takes Owen out to observe the beauty of winter at night. There are a couple houses a few blocks away from our house that are especially decorated for Christmas. Owen LOVES these houses! The last time he and I walked to look at the lights he sat down on the sidewalk and just wanted to sit there for a while. It was super cute.

I have hopes of baking Christmas cookies soon, and other holiday treats. Baking, to me, is an integral part of the Christmas season. I am excited that Ry and I are forming family traditions and I want to be sure to incorporate certain things within our family tradition. One thing that I want to do is make ginger cookies, shaped and decorated appropriately. Another, which will involve a little digging, is getting a recipe from my Aunt Japke - she always made these fun little mice cookies at Christmas. They were so delicious: the body was a soft chocolate cookies (not baked), the eyes, ears and nose were little candies, and the tail a piece of licorice. I looked forward to eating these cookies. Certainly the kids in my life would like to eat these, too.

We haven't taken any photos lately, but there are some older pics that we haven't posted yet.

Aleida at 5 days old:

a little over 1 week old. Bundled up after a bath:

Aleida at 2 weeks old:

aleida marian

2009-11-15T19:37:00.006-06:00

she's here! and by 'here' i mean outside my belly! I am grateful. And she is perfectly amazing. she is super relaxed and calm. She gnaws on her hands when she's hungry rather than immediately crying. So, she hasn't cried since being home. And in the hospital, she cried when a nurse with cold hands picked her up, or she didn't like being poked - all very good reasons to wail. She spends a lot of time sleeping (in her bassinet or in someone's arms). She does open her eyes and look around. She has spent some amounts of time totally content and awake. But usually she's sleeping. Except in the wee hours of the morning. Last night she really was not content being alone in her bassinet, and she really wanted to eat all night! I was glad that she wanted to eat, but certainly I did not love having to be awake for it. I was tired. I am curious about how she'll be tonight. Perhaps 3-6 am is her choice wakeful time right now.

Well that is probably a whole lot of random information. I am pretty tired but I did want to put out a little information about our sweet little girl!

Oh! We can't forget to say that Owen is awesome with her! He is very intrigued by her and he is super gentle and sweet with her. He'll walk over to her little chair, or where ever she is, and talk to her is a soft high voice (the way most people address babies). He likes kissing her on the forehead.

Some details: arrived at 9:53 pm on Fri, November 13. She weighed in at 8 lb 8 oz, and measured 21" long.

And now some more pics.

*a couple days before she was delivered.

This is before she was cleaned up, and right after the drops in her eyes (which explains their glossiness).

dancing and zerberts?

2009-11-12T14:36:00.003-06:00

well last night we thought we were close to having this baby. i've been having contractions on an off, and they're all getting stronger (to put this in a time frame: i've been having this for about 2+ weeks). Because a contraction is not a new thing, I try not to think anything of it. Last night though, for about 3 hours, I was having regular 1 min uncomfortable contractions every five minutes. Since they weren't progressing, we thought we'd see if we could sleep. And alas, we did sleep and there is still no baby. And so -- we wait. And I don't know if I should start counting contractions until they're unbearable. She will come out, I know that. I guess I'll just be overly hopeful while we wait.

Owen and I danced around to fun music this morning - partly because it's fun, and also because I thought it was just one more thing I could do to encourage this baby to come out. It was enjoyable, and felt good to move. Then, after Owen inquired about why she wasn't coming out yet, I told him to talk to her about this. And to give her some zerberts - that would surely encourage her to come out. He thought this was a good and very funny idea. He does love giving zerberts. And really, can one blame him?

today's agenda

2009-11-10T10:11:00.003-06:00

Well, Ry works all day today. I want to make sure Owen and I stay busy to thus keep my anxious self amused.

It's a beautiful day today - or at least it looks really nice. It could be super cold for all I know, but at least it is bright and sunny out there.

As soon as my load of laundry is done, I think Owen and I are going to walk to the park. We haven't been to the park in a little while and I think it will be good for both of us to be out in the fresh, sunny air. Then I want to make granola. That's all the activity that I can come up with until it's time to make supper.

Any ideas on what a very pregnant lady with a three year old should do to pass the time?

--

So we walked to the park and had a really wonderful time. It was super warm out- no mits, toques or scarves were needed!

I didn't make granola after all, but I enjoyed a quiet afternoon of relaxing, and I got some cleaning done. It is really nice to be able to stay on top of household duties right now as I feel like that is not something I will be able to do very well once the baby arrives!

Here are some pics of our time outside.

no news is . . . well, no news.

2009-11-08T12:45:00.005-06:00

The phrase 'no news is good news' isn't applicable here. Today is baby girl's due date but she, so far, has made no moves to remove herself from me. I suppose there are good things about this, such as I have really been enjoying this time with Owen and trying to be really intentional with him as I know that doing that over the next little while will be more difficult. And Ry and I have been able to do some 'together' things as a result of her not arriving yet. However. We're finding sleep difficult. My mind is constantly busy and it is hard to turn it off. I am far too aware of what my body is doing and it isn't that I jump to conclusions but rather it's that I hope too strongly. And yet: i do know that this baby will arrive - I'm sure of that. I just need a little more patience around that truth.

Ry and I had a lunch date yesterday, as Erin took Owen to the Children's Museum. He was very excited to go with Erin and Lily, I don't think the Museum had much to do with his excitement - even though he does love it there. So, they left, and Ry and I decided to do lunch together at Trotters, a great local yummy place. We had a good meal together then we topped it off with a round from Cahoots Coffee Bar. I had their most delicious hot chocolate and Ry had coffee. Then we spent the afternoon, back at home with Owen napping, just visiting with Erin. It was a good low key day that finished with the Siggelkows gathering over supper to celebrate the fall birthdays. It was really nice to see everyone, eat together, and converse about life and such.

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot to update on. I just wanted to put in a post here to confirm that she has not yet arrived.

I was thinking of whether we had any new photographs to post, and I guess that I haven't yet posted our halloween pictures. So, here they are. Ry and I went to Daryl and Sandy's halloween party and Owen went with Erin, Ben and Lily to a different party. We all had a fun time!

I was a tree with an owl in a 'hole' or whatever.
Ry dressed like a t.v. character (Jim Halpert from 'The Office') did for his office halloween party: 'Facebook'
Owen dressed like a farmer. A bearded farmer, of course.

she's already a part of things

2009-10-30T14:40:00.003-05:00

it made me so excited to soon see owen as a big brother when this morning, as he was jumping on his bed and singing a song about our family, his little baby sister was given mention along with mama, dada and owen. he's such a great kid!

i'm surprised at how well he is understanding the concept of 'sister' and of a new baby soon coming into our family. i certainly am expecting that the real, physical presence and sound of a baby, day after day may not be so easy for him to embrace, but he's entering into the situation with a great attitude. He's felt her move in my belly a couple different times, now. He thinks it's really funny. And I am grateful that it has worked to have him feel her 'knee' or 'elbow' as it really proves the fact that there's a baby in there! well, proof beyond my still-growing massive belly and my gradual inability to do regular things easily (like move from sitting on the floor to standing up).

we're all doing well, and we're quite aware the the official due date is nearly a week away. come on little one!

fun times for all

2009-10-27T20:49:00.007-05:00

ry and i were treated to some time to ourselves this week! first came wednesday evening, where friends Jessie and Justin took Owen for a couple of hours so that Ry and I could check out our friend's new place, 'the anchor fish and chips'. it's an irish fish and chips place - absolutely delicious (best we've ever had) and they do guiness right, too. it's all really yummy and tactfully done. We had a nice time out together.
Then, Sunday afternoon Erin, Lillian and Ben took Owen home with them. Ry and I were then off for an overnight stay in downtown Saint Paul. We thought - we never have the opportunity to stay and hang out all night on our city! so we decided to drive a wee distance from home to enjoy our own city. And we had a fantastic time. It was really refreshing to just be with one another outside all our usually commitments. It took me back to the times we used to share on a daily basis, way back when we first met! No kid, no finances, no jobs, etc. There's a little old towboat on the mississippi river, downtown saint paul, that now operates as a bed and breakfast (www.covingtoninn.com). We spent the evening walking around saint paul, dined at a place called Senor Wong, and tried to get dessert at a nice little cafe but it was closed. we ended up walking A LOT which was great and part of what i wanted to do, but we kindof set ourselves up for a lot of extra walking. It was a good time together. Monday morning, then, we went a nice tea shop, sampled some and purchased some. We went into bookstores . . . we did things we can't easily (or enjoyably) do with a 3 year old.

The great thing about of all this, about our fun times, is that Owen had really awesome times, too! He loved his time away and didn't really want to come home with me when pick-up time rolled around. We're glad he likes his time away from us. He'll have more Lillian sleepovers soon.

he can sing the whole song, really.

2009-10-16T14:37:00.001-05:00

owen is 3!

2009-10-13T14:37:00.003-05:00

This past Thursday, October 8, Owen had his 3rd birthday! Ry had to teach 3 classes that day, but we still spent much time all together (Owen's favorite thing - he likes to point this out, he makes circle motions with his hands and announces very excitedly, 'we're all together!') as he came home during his lunch break.

Owen started the day pretty early, getting up at 5:30 but going back to sleep again, he crawled into our bed at 6:30 and we all were able to sleep a little more. He did so well to wait until I said Happy Birthday to him, then he sat up and said, "Now? It's my birthday now?!" We had apple spice waffles for breakfast and gave Owen his birthday present. He received a buffalo to add to his farm animals and barn; magnet numbers; and write-n-wipe letter cards. He had fun playing with all those things that day. We had a little party for him that evening. Erin, Ben and Lily, Granny, Nain and Poppa Sam, and Nonny and Taid all came over. It was a fun time together! Owen received many fun things that evening - and by mail throughout the week, too! He certainly is a lucky lucky boy who has many generous people in his life. He has many beautiful things to keep him busy, amused, challenged and smart.

book singsong

2009-09-17T21:07:00.004-05:00

i absolutely hate what our camera's video recorder does to my 's' sound, but wev. this video is full of horrid 's' sounds. owen is cute in it.
AND you can see the crib that we just bought. it's a very mildly used compact crib that i got through craigslist. i am really happy with the condition (completely like new) and with the size. it will serve us well, i think.

and here's owen being very stylin. thanks steph!

here's owen after a bath - this happens to be a fingernail cutting session, as well.

sunday

2009-09-13T14:32:00.003-05:00

it's another july type september day. muggy and hot - here we go again; this has been our week lately, and i was informed this morning, that it's also our week to come. yick.

our day started by owen waking far too early for it to be okay for anyone's energy levels. But thankfully he settled down and went back to bed for a couple of hours. We had our usually Sunday breakfast: pancakes. we switch between thin swedish pancakes and regular fluffy wheat pancakes. this morning we hungrily and happily ate swedish pancakes. yum.

church: owen, for the past year, has happily gone into nursery after 'children's time' at the front of the church, with all the congregation's children. Last week and this week, he has strongly resisted going into nursery. Last week I stayed with him, hoping that he would settle in and remember how fun it is to play with all the toys that he only sees once a week. Last week he was very aware of my presence and made sure that i did everything with him and that i did not leave his side. This week, I handed him, very upset, to Megan the nursery coordinator and she took over for me and tried to calm him down. After about 10 minutes of me being in church, someone came to get us - he was still inconsolable in nursery. So Ry got him out, and he sat quietly with us in the sanctuary for the remainder of the service. poor guy - he was so worked up and sad.

This week was the started of adult and children education. Our church service runs till 10:45 then education hour starts at 11 and goes till noon. Owen will start a 'preschool' class; it begins with singing, then there's a fun class with 2 to 4 year olds. Owen has never been in a class setting before where one sits on a rug, listens to the teacher and follows instruction. I stayed with him the whole time (given his previous nursery experience) and he did wonderfully! he was very attentive to the teacher, he was not latchy to me, he did all the song actions, he held hands with the kids next to him, and he sat longer than most kids to complete his craft. It was fun to watch him engage and enjoy!

After church, to kick off the start of education week, there was a potluck. Owen did well, and he 'bonded' with a boy, Iver, who is 3 months older than he is. They played very together for at least an hour. They played tag, hide-and-seek (of sorts), they played the piano - it was great to see him make some major breakthroughs after having such a hard time in nursery earlier. I hope that he will remember his fun time with Iver, and that he liked his preschool class and perhaps he'll be excited about being at church next week.

big big day!

2009-09-10T17:44:00.004-05:00

Ry had his first day of teaching today! He teaches 3 classes today, one in the morning, two in the afternoon. He has a break for lunch and he came home to report how things went and to eat and spend time with us. I love that we can see him at lunch!

Owen had a fun day playing with his toys. And I had a relaxing day at home. I was able to finish my book (Run, by Anne Patchett) and take my time cooking a yummy supper (tomato goat cheese pie and corn on the cob). Good good day!

summer fun

2009-09-01T21:04:00.006-05:00

awesome visit with the firths. the kids seemed born to play together and we parents seemed born to share time and life together.

home on the farm.

believe it or not, but this is our garden. oops. this is a month and a half of complete untending. there are loads of tomatoes and squash growing in there . . . somewhere. the trick is finding them then picking them.

Owen and i visited a farm this past Sunday. He loved the tree house.

oh procrastination

2009-09-01T12:32:00.002-05:00

i've almost sat down a couple times to write a new post but the fact that so much time has past since my last update, the next post should be a doozy! This has caused me to not update and thus only further fester the current problem.

with that acknowledged, the point of this post will be to quick give an idea of what our 'now' looks like. when i'm on our home computer, and i have all the pictures at hand, i'll do a post of pics and let the pictures do most of the talking.

owen and i drove way out into the country on sunday and visited a friend's small family homestead. There was lots of space to run, beautiful flowers and vegetables to observe and envy, we took a hayride around the fields of tall grasses, wildflowers and corn, we climbed up to the tree house, we were amused by and imitated the chickens and roosters, and we pet and fed the horses. It was a good escape for both heart and mind. We arrived back home refreshed and happy, and owen carried along his 3rd tick of the season. Goodness, that poor child is apparently very delicious to those damn deer/wood ticks. Luckily his skin is so freckle- and mole-free that those ticks are easily discovered.

Ry has been working like crazy to wrap up his M.A. degree. He's nearly there! He has to do the oral component to his comprehensive exams (waiting for the profs to set that up), and he takes his German exam this Friday. His advisors have gone through his thesis so he just needs to get that finalized and bound (i think?). AND he starts teaching, he'll be an adjunct professor, next week. He will be teaching three classes, and they're all the same course. He is excited to be doing what he's been working so hard to do. He'll be a great professor. This does mean, though, that he won't get a break between his M.A. being finished and his work starting as an adjunct professor. Whew!

FallBall. fun fun fun. Ry's playing softball on Monday nights. Fun team, fun fans, fun to watch. Owen and I love going to the games to hang out with friends and to run around. Owen is a great cheerer, too. He loves shouting, "Nice job, dad!" He'll hear what we, the fans in the stands yell and then he'll shout it out, too. Pretty cute.

I am currently at work, writing here and there throughout my work day. I have been putting in three 8.5 hr days a week, but that's now going to drop to two 8.5 hr days a week. I'm changing my work days according to Ry's teaching schedule, so I'll be working Monday and Friday now. I'm really excited about this change. It will be good to be at home more! I can keep on top of house things with better ease, and I can get through my prep-for-baby list. And I just would rather be at home with Owen than in an office.

Granny is moving today. She is going to leave the house that she's lived in for 50+ years and move into a nice small place in Cannon Falls (where Ry's parents live). It will be a good transition for the family, and Granny seems to be doing well with the change. Ry is going to help out with that tonight. Me, in my prego state and with my almost 3 yr old boy, will be staying home so I will not be in the way.

So that's us right now. Busy and in transition. Enjoying the cool weather. Nesting into our home. Cooking fresh food from our garden or from the market across the street. Content and healthy.

kitchen

2009-07-24T10:32:00.004-05:00

here are photographs of our kitchen! i have yet to make red balances for the door window and for above the sink (i like creating the illusion of a window there). I searched for some fabric today but did not have any luck yet. I think I have something too specific in mind.

Here are a couple before photographs:

And here are some 'after' -current- pictures!

produce .. productivity

2009-07-22T09:33:00.003-05:00

these days have been days of productivity. our three july weddings have come and gone. we've hosted wonderful guests from afar in our home and visited and played together, and ate good food.

i've been dreaming up - and slowing acting out - how to make our apartment more like our home and how to organize things better. our disgusting kitchen, which was stained and greasy and just plain yucky, has now been given a makeover. It is not finished yet and so I will hold off on posting photos until I have a couple more key things done. But WOW! does it ever look amazing! There were gaping dusting holes along the top of the trim, the radiator had a lot of food stains running down it's front, all the trim was seriously chipped to reveal the dark green paint underneath the creamy topcoat. The walls were a yellowish cream colour that just looked dingy and dirty (because it was). Anyway, now the walls are coated with a fresh 'coventry garden' colour, and the trim is bright white. This is offset by the nice oak cupboards and white tile backsplash (two good traits that were previously in the kitchen). It truly is amazing what paint can do! Oh, and I have filed in the gaping holes all along the trim and that really cleans the place up. The radiator is also bright white now, and completely clean!

When we initially moved into our apartment we didn't do a good job of storing items that we didn't need to unpack. However, since we just stuffed everything into a storage closet, accessing any of it was not possible unless you emptied the entire closet. That is not ever fun. So, I finally gave that closet a redo. I added some shelving and now everything is accessible and stored properly. I also went through a couple boxes and purged some things (always a good feeling).

I am beginning to form plans for Owen's bedroom. His closet is very 'thin' - there isn't space for a rod to go lengthwise across, so there are two mini bars that go from the back wall to the front, on either sides of the closet door. Well, there isn't a door, it aught to be opening. I'm going to build a little thin shelving unit to put in there for his clothes. His dresser functioned as a changing table for owen, and it will be revived as such for this next little one. This means Owen needs a place for his things and the room isn't big enough for another dresser so I will utilize the closet space.

I could go on, but I think that is all that any of you care to know. In addition to these details (that are exciting to me), we've been getting in a lot of park time, and time outside. We recently had a stretch of cool weather. This was very welcome as neither Ry or I are people who tolerate heat very well. But it makes being outside not just easy but very enjoyable.

We have a Farmers Market across the road from our house, which is amazing! We just go for a wee walk every Friday and then we come back to our house with arms full of fresh produce. I even bought a lovely bouquet of fresh flowers last week. It is wonderful to have close and easy access to fresh produce.

some videos and pictures

2009-06-24T19:34:00.004-05:00

owen's baby. given to him to represent the baby growing in mama's belly (i'm now 20 weeks!). he likes to take care of her and carry her around.

our garden at granny's house! it's a good time to get dirty and hot.

weekend wedding

2009-05-28T21:24:00.004-05:00

it's been a blur these days! we had Erin and Ben's wedding this past weekend (Ry's sister). It was a beautiful, fun, enriching occasion that lasted from Thursday night to Sunday night! So we were pretty wiped come Monday, but it was a good feeling.

We all were involved in the wedding, which means I unfortunately don't have any photos of us in our wedding wear. But here is one of Owen at the dress rehersal (as well as cousin Lillian) (note his new short spring haircut):

Ry did the music during the ceremony. He played guitar beautifully, and sang full and strong and awesome, as he usually does. Owen was the ring bearer that bore no rings, as we weren't sure he'd even make it down the aisle. BUT he did make it down, holding my hand. He wanted me to carry him, but I promised him goldfish when we made it to front if he walked so he obliged. I was [one of] the maid of honours, and owen escorted me down. I kept him in line through the ceremony, which involved taking him to the potty, retrieving him from the sacred alter at the front of the anglican/episcopal church (in the middle of the vows), and ignoring him when he started to say poop and fart loudly in hopes of getting some laughs. But he did great, all in all. Pretty low interruption, really. And the ceremony was beautiful; I was able to enjoy it.

This week has been pretty low key, thankfully, and now we're getting ready to go the Granny's cabin, to open it up for the season. We're really looking forward to this getaway, as the cabin is such a beautiful, quiet recluse location (except when the neighbours are there). Roger and Marnie will be there too, it will no doubt be a nice time together.

grandparents.

2009-04-06T15:52:00.007-05:00

we just spend a wonderful 5 days with my parents (or rapa and rama as owen calls them). They stayed in our living room so we could spend as much time together as possible. Owen got along with them splendidly and couldn't get enough of the tractor, animal, and reading time. I can see that the next couple of days will be difficult as he has grown accustomed to constant attention.

Here are some pictures in the days before Rama and Rapa's arrival:

Here are some pictures from our time together. We took a lot of walks down Grand and Summit, and we visited the zoo and conservatory.

and finally:

glorious day

2009-03-16T20:43:00.004-05:00

we had a gloriously warm day today. temperatures reached 17 C and our windows are still open. It's wonderful what fresh air and warm sun will do to ones mental, emotional and physical state. Owen and I went to the park today. Much of the playset was inaccessible due to the incredible amount of water around the slides and steps. He had so much fun any way. He slipped on some ice and fell in the water, but he reacted well and did not even want to go home after it happened. We had a lot of fun.

owen has mastered the potty, at least as far as pee is concerned. he tells us every time he needs to go, even if it's at some place that isn't home. we still put diapers on him to go out, but usually they are dry the whole time. we're so happy about this new development! and owen is, too. he applauds us and encourages ry and i when we pee in the potty, too.

This is Owen enjoying his bath.

Owen set this up: after I remade his bed, he set all his teddies to go night-night with him.

shome!

2009-03-04T11:55:00.004-06:00

we've all been fighting a little lingering cold that doesn't want to shake itself entirely out of our bodies. it's nothing major but it's slow nose drip and throat tickle are annoying. Perhaps it is merely coincidental, but since Owen has caught this little bug he's become more of a bug himself. His stubbornness has gotten stronger and his desires with it. So, if he wants chips then you better believe he will make that request known. He gets this look in his eye that I am sure he's mimicking from a time when I was determinedly telling him to not throw his food on the floor. But he looks at you, eyes kindof slanted, and says, '..i...want...chips!!!' The fact that there aren't any chips in the house doesn't matter whatsoever; no, he doesn't care about that little fact. But at any rate, these little episodes ('sodes as i like to say) usually pass after his fall-straight-onto-the-floor-while-yelling fit, followed by some quiet time in his room. He usually emerges feeling calm and happy and, gratefully, the chips forgotten.

obviously our little owen is becoming more aware of the possibilities one uncovers when one exerts his will. as parents, we are trying to allow the space he needs to be determined, forceful and then upset. he certainly balances out his tantrums with his still-intact sweet disposition (despite all i've said). He's becoming quite the little talker, as well as a caring boy. If one of us coughs, his immediate question, 'you okay?' never fails to make us smile. His laugh and smile, as contagious as ever, emerge easily. He loves wishing us 'big days' when we leave for work, and his uncontrollable excitement when we arrive home is marvelous and is like no other homecoming. one of his forms of play has been to pretend to go to work. he has a couple bags that he puts over his shoulders, he gives kisses and hugs then says bye and have a big day, then he's off 'to work'. Sometimes this involves putting on shoes, mitten and his tuque (all of which he has to do himself), but he's never gone long. His work days are short. He gives hugs and kisses all over again as he happily announces that he's home (shome!).

life is busy and full; we're content while tired.

2009-03-04T11:38:00.001-06:00

it's called 'winter song' and i love it.

and the walls have colour!

2009-02-21T11:08:00.008-06:00

Well it has been awhile (again) since my last post. Ry is in school again and working. I am working as well. We both work on Tuesday, so Owen gets to hang out with Daryl (aka dee) for about 5 hours during out overlap time of work. He really enjoys that time as he thinks daryl (and sandy) are the coolest.

we discovered an 'open gym' 6 blocks from us. owen is in love with it, and it's nice for ry and daryl, too, because there are basketballs to play with. It's open on Tuesday and Thursday. There is a family open gym on Sunday that we have yet to visit. It has been a good discovery as the winter is now beginning to feel long.

owen is in the process of being potty trained. He is now at the point where he completely gets the whole peeing in the potty thing, and he is very excited about it every time it happens. He doesn't like to wear diapers. Usually when we go out places now, when it is not for a very long time, he won't go pee until we're back home. He doesn't love going to the potty when he's having fun, though. I think that is a problem for a lot kids - the potty isn't quite as exciting as his cars. But he's getting it and hardly has accidents anymore. At first, as incentive to use the potty, we would give him a balloon every time he would pee. Now he doesn't need the incentive so much so we've cut that part out (unless he asks for it). There is a picture below of him with balloons and that is the story behind the amount of balloons.

And here (finally!) are some pictures of our apartment. I got a couple rooms painted, making me feel better about posting these. I was not going to post pictures until we had a mattress for our futon, but I decided that it doesn't matter. The frame is big and unattractive, but you get the idea. We've made a couple places to sit on it with pillows, and it serves as a functional clothes-drying rack.

bathroom:

Our dining room (wallpapered when we moved in) [with our clothes drying on the rack], and our living room & front hall:

play the 'tar

2009-01-26T00:04:00.005-06:00

as owen calls it, he played the 'tar tonight. first he tuned. then he sang, oh boy did he sing (warning: 2nd video is immediately loud).

so this is christmas . . . a late report.

2009-01-25T23:33:00.007-06:00

though i know it shouldn't matter, i cannot put up photos of our new place until i have it in better order & done-ness. I will post pictures of our new abode soon.

That being said, there certainly is a lot that has happened since i last posted.

We visited Rachael, Andy, Tegan and Leyna at their new Mississauga residence. It was so lovely to converse, drink nog&rum, watch our children not only play, but get along really well. It absolutely was sad to only have one night's stay with them.

We then continued by train to the next Christmas celebration: Christmas at Tibben Farms. This was really relaxing and enjoyable; it was super to reconnect with relatives and old friends. Owen loves Grandma and Grandpa (though he cannot say their names: they are both called renon which is his word for what he cannot pronounce). Owen grew comfortable fast though he played with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Glen and Aunt Heidi best when we were not around. But this gave Ry and I great opportunity for some time to ourselves. We had a great time with my family. It certainly is painful having families spread far apart.
The game Owen played with my mom: the white dots are pins and the red thing a chair - potentially prick-full, but he's a careful boy.
And the awesome barn: build by my dad.

We journeyed back to Minneapolis only to move, the next day, to St Paul. We have our apartment close to Ry's school. We've been enjoying setting up home & rediscovering things we owned that have been packed up for a couple years.

The day after we moved friends from Winnipeg drove into town to hang out for New Years. It was super fun to have people stay with us, to host so soon at our new place. We had a blast celebrating together and ringing in the new year with song, champagne (spiked with creme de cassis!), and the ol' year-old christmas tree burning -- all down by the lake.

That weekend we had our Christmas celebration with Ry's family. It was really great to be with them again, and to see Lillian and Owen play. They are obsessed and in love with each other! They kept one another amused, and in turn we were entertained. We spent a relaxing and enjoyable day together; there was no set plan for the day, we just soaked in each others' company.

(you can see i did well documenting our Christmas with photos at the beginning . . . and sadly not at the end.)

it's december?!?

2008-12-06T13:59:00.005-06:00

so big change: we are moving. our time of living in-house with ben and jen is coming to close. this is a sad event that i suppose needed to happen eventually, only it has arrived a little quicker than foreseen. Ry has been feeling the weight of his almost daily commute to St Paul for homework, school time and work. A lot of what we do centers in St Paul and so we've decided to locate ourselves there. We are excited to have a place of our own, as well as the prospect of not relying on our car for daily life. There is a park, grocery store, beautiful walking street, window-shopping shops, Ry's university, Ry's coffee shop (2nd home), and many friends are all within walking distance! Our apartment, in a 5-plex, is on the upper level which will take some time to adjust to, but owen loves the steps. We'll have 2 bedrooms and a small office so Ry can a paper-writing place to call his own (also will function as a room for guests;). Oh, and the bathroom has a heated floor and a claw foot tub! It's a beautiful apartment though it needs a little love, like a fresh coat of paint, and some good decorating (erin is helping me here).

and so, this advent season is a little more stressed than usual. Stressed is the wrong word. I would like to be able to take care of all details about the apartment now, and have all things I need to do before we leave for ontario DONE however that is not possible. So, I am making myself feel stress while there actually aren't the circumstances. Oh well. I will putter away at what i can control and be content with that. we move into our apartment the day after our flight back from ontario so we plan to be packed before we leave. we'll see if that happens...

ry is writing and writing and writing his final papers. we leave for Christmas in Ontario on dec 16 and we've decided that he really must be done this semester's class work by that point because there is no way he will have time while we're away.

Come the new year, I will pick up a third day at work. This feels fine at this point; i certainly have been spoiled to only need to work 2 days. But with having our own apartment comes more financial need. And so I will work one more day. Also: Sandy now works at my office! yay! and so, my job is sandy-erin pleasant. perfect.

owen has been doing well with this whole cold-weather thing. i wasn't sure if he would be okay to staying inside more (he spent SOO much time outside while it was warm), but he's been doing fine. Also, he really loves playing outside in the cold. He also is a-okay wearing mits, tuque, and boots. He actually loves his boots (i think this is partly because boots = outside). He rides his bike outside, though i do see this option coming to an end soon, as we just got a little dump of snow last night. Parks are still fun for him, even though he slips around on the ice and snow and his arms and legs are more padded and thus harder to maneuver and control. But he just wants to play play play.

We drove to Winnipeg one weekend, to visit Steph. It was a good time, and a lot road time. Lucky for us, owen is a good traveler.

my apple pie

cozy & enjoyable thanksgiving (US)

autumn

2008-10-21T09:37:00.009-05:00

a few random photos from the past while. our autumn has been fun, full of lots of adventures outside, birthdays, visiting friends, and good time spent at home.

He LOVES parks, especially slides.

When Ry was a boy, he had a teepee, his size, to play with. That has now been passed on to Owen, who mainly uses it now to put his new teddy down for night night. This process involves whispering and tucking in with is blankie.

Owen is in love with apples; he eats them whole, and down to the core. Also, raw carrots and cucumbers are a favorite. The carrots must be raw, though. Cooked vegetable (unless pureed) are not okay.

Owen's birthday was on October 8th. He really enjoyed opening the present we gave to him.

Turning TWO seems to have made some changes in Owen's disposition. He's way more outgoing, and he has times of serious craziness. He has an easier time being with other people when we are not around.

This video is an example of his craziness. he did this about 10 times, until i made him stop. I was afraid of him smashing his nose, or breaking a limb.

The Slide

2008-10-18T17:16:00.003-05:00

Owen is obsessed with this video! He asks to watch it all the time. Not kidding. And when he watches it, it's not just once, but as many times as we will allow. He smiles at the same spots in the video every time he watches it. It's hilarious.

a whirlwind september

2008-09-25T23:07:00.006-05:00

What a month this has been! It was kicked off by the rouleau's staying with us for a while. That was a treat! It was amazing to be able to relax and just spend time together. A couple days after they left, I say goodbye to Owen and Ry, and flew to France. I was away for 8 days, helping my boss put on a workshop. It was a good experience, and super enjoyable to have personal relationships become a part of my job (rather than it just being me and the copier). Erin was there with me, and we had a lot of fun together. Her fiance, ben, came on the scene at the end of the week, and we had good time with him and exploring the beautiful city of Beaune. On the final day of the conference, a sinus cold settled in on me; i felt terrible, but i was so grateful that the cold held off until my work was over. the next day i flew home. And WOW was it ever wonderful to be with ry and owen again! I missed them so. But we weren't home for long! We all hoped on a plane in a couple of days, to fly to St Stephen for a week. It was really great to be with our friends there. We miss it out there! We never made it to ocean, but we were able to reconnect with a lot of people, as well as see some of what we love about New Brunswick. Now it is the last week of September. My job for the week is done, and Ry has some hours to put in tomorrow, but then we'll be able to relax. It is so nice to go through mail and paperwork here and feel organized again. Travel is fun, but i certainly do feel scattered around and thinly spread at the end of it all.
Our church retreat is this weekend, but we're only going for one day. We are excited to get to know more people at our church; it's a slow processes, getting acquainted and establish relationship, but there are amazing young families that we foresee future friendship.

Here are some photos from my time in Beaune, France:

Here was our 'station', the "SCC Initiation Workshop" registration desk.

One of the reasons that I'm happy to be home:

vive la france

2008-09-08T09:05:00.006-05:00

well i am currently sitting at my registration desk at the mercure hotel, in beaune, france. i thought I would take some time (now that i finally have some!) to post some pictures and to write about my time thus far.

We departed Minneapolis at 3pm on Friday. There is a 7 hour time difference with France, it is earlier here, as it is East and the sun rises on French ground before Minnesota. So we basically flew and fastforwarded time so instead of landing at 11pm, we landed at 6am. We had planned to sleep on the plane so we'd 'wake refreshed' and ready to play in Paris. Well, we didn't sleep on the plane. Our little France jaunt was fun because we were in Paris and we stopped and the Louvre, walked along Rivere Seine, and we could the see the Eiffel Tower close by. Our TGV (fast train) ride into Beaune from Paris was 2 hours, and finally arrived at our hotel at 7pm. We met up with the other meeting organizers for supper at 9pm and we got into bed at 11. It was a super long long day(s), so we slept hard that night. On Sunday we put in a 13 hour day. And yet, with all that said we could not, for the life of us, fall asleep. We were up until 5:30 am. no joke. We slept in, didn't hear the alarm at all, and woke up to Roger's phone call. He was wondering where we were. We shot out of bed so fast and got into work mode but have felt crazy all day. But we're in good spirits. Tonight is a 'free' night, meaning there are no evening events planned. We aren't going out for supper, but we're going grocery shopping to bring some food and wine to our hotel room. We'll watch a movie and call it an early night. We're excited to have a quiet night. and HOPEFULLY sleep. I'm afraid that we're going to get sick, with all this sleep-loss.

Our spirits are high though our sleep levels are low. We miss our families like CRAZY but we have each other.

So I'll leave you with pictures of Paris.

he can see!

2008-08-07T09:57:00.003-05:00

well, we decided the barrette and top-of-the-head pony tail were too confusing for people. I'd been asked, "oh, who is that?" by neighbors that would see owen all the time. Apparently when just wearing a diaper and barrette his looks change drastically and he's not recognizable.

Anyway. I cut his hair. He looks so grown up now! i can hardly believe it. Here he is!

In other news, we're super excited to get ourselves to Ontario. We'll soak up the family time, farm time, and from the sounds of it, some lake-front time. We leave Friday evening, with Daryl and Sandy, and we'll drive drive drive. We're stopping for breakfast at Mike and Brenda's - it will be great to see where they live, and to visit for a wee while. And so, I just have to get through another day of office work. woop woop!

see ya later oldie

2008-08-01T18:35:00.002-05:00

dear old trusty car:
you served us well, taking us from minnesota to new brunswick to nova scotia to ontario. you drove so well, but now your final days have been set.

and so we've retired you from our family and now drive:

We love our new car, it's an upgrade and is 10 years new rather than 17. we just bought the car yesterday and so far i've driven it to work, and we took it to cannon falls. it's a beauty and it drives great!*

Tonight we tried to take a couple pictures together. owen was NOT into it. so this is what came out. some good ones, but keep in mind i've kept off the 8 that were terrible.

it's a garden day

2008-07-22T11:31:00.006-05:00

owen has been IN LOVE with playing outside. i have no problem with this. today was a beautiful morning, though i can feel it's going to be a scorcher soon.

we have a screen door that leads to our outside step. owen always pushes on the screen, and he's pushed so much that there's now a portion of the bottom part of the screen that is not attached to the door. anyway, this is owen's drop-spot. he likes to pass things through this little hole; his cars, his water, his little yarn ball, etc.

owen and i like to sit on the steps together. he usually will take my hand, from where ever i am, and have me sit here with him.

and, since it was such a lovely day, i decided to photograph some of our garden.

2008-07-07T12:55:00.004-05:00

Owen built this tower! I asked him to smile for the camera, and i snapped this once his smile toned down a bit - his smile was soo huge, and his eyes were closed! really funny.

We went the cabin a couple weeks ago. It was a relaxing time, the kids did alright, the boys fished a lot, jen and i read, went on a walk . . . it was a good time.

I like this photo because it shows the seriousness that Ry and Ben have when they catch a fish. Ben said, "i got one!" ... "It's a big one!" then ry went to grab the net. If you zoom in on their faces you can see how determined they are.

HIMSELF & our garden

2008-06-14T16:39:00.008-05:00

i've been meaning to post some photos of our garden. We're all really excited about it! Everything is doing well, so far the squirrels have left things alone (they're the major predator here), and it's been not too hot yet. This is the view from our back door.

We're growing our tomatoes in pots, with mint alongside.

Yay Kale!

Mmm, red greens...

and here's a full view.

This past Friday Ry took Owen and Lillian to the park, while I was at work. It looks like they had fun!

Owen is very into building towers. He built this one completely by himself!

Owen climbed out of his bed all by himself this morning! I think he used his little rocking chair as a 'step'. But this is very much how he is these days: independent. He loves doing things by himself, and he will tell you, usually frantically, "no!" he does not need help. It's pretty cute, verging on obnoxious. We're constantly having him repeat, "No, thankyou" after he so rudely swats and yells No! He'll get it down.

new bed.

2008-06-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

cherry almond scones and cement stairs

2008-05-20T07:36:00.009-05:00

We have been busy busy these days. Ry is wrapping up his semester, he should be done by the end of the week. Yay! We're all very excited about that. He's going to be work at the University through the summer, 2 days a week. I'll be working at my office 2-3 times a week (depending if I can fit a Friday workday in or not).

Owen and I have been spending loads of time outside. He is obsessed with climbing our front and back steps. Unfortunately these are cement. so it makes for a boring time outside for me; he goes up, then he goes down. Sometimes my heart quickens when I think he's about to fall. So far so safe, though. He is such a busy bee these days. He loves building tall towers with his wooden blocks. He really enjoys his little cars and trucks. The trucks Heidi gave him have little magnetic ends so they all stick together in a row. He now lines up his 3 cars as though they have those little magnetic joining points. It's pretty cute. Besides the stairs, he's really into climbing now, too. He loves our kitchen stool. He knows that he can put that where-ever he wants to make himself able to reach things he couldn't otherwise. He's very responsive when we tell No to certain areas that he tries to use the stool; first freaks out, but then he's okay with it and he moves the stool somewhere else.

We're getting our garden ready! We're hoping to have all our lovely seedlings out in it in a week or 2. The seedlings are growing strong. We have yet to prepare our garden beds. We're going to do several raised beds in hopes that we can tend to things better, that we'll be better organized, and if we need to put chicken wire over everything to keep the dang squirrels out - we can.

I made cherry almond scones last night, and they were really good! I made up the recipe and the only form of sweetener in the them is maple syrup. I'm so excited they turned out, and that they're basically pretty healthy (they're still butter-full and mostly white flour)! Next time I make them I might tweak a couple things, but I'm mostly excited that something I made up worked out. I'm such a recipe-follower, and that's fine, but I've always marveled at how some people can just bake by the ideas in their heads. Pretty cool.

Jen, Esme, Owen and I watch Ben, Ry and Daryl play on their softball team last night. It's become our Monday thing now. It's so much fun! We head out after supper to see the guys do their thing. Their team isn't very good compared to the teams they play but they all have a lot of fun. It was actually quite cold last night, so we a left early, really chilled, and it was nice to come home to warm scones, and we made some decaf coffee. Mmm, it was a good treat.

Owen really wanted to wear his rainjacket, so he wandered around the house wearing it.

Owen in his room, after a nice bath, playing with his farm blocks, farm, and closet (he was moving the blocks into his closet, then into the barn's haymow).

Ry sent this to me while I was at work. Very fun to receive.

getting along and having fun

2008-04-11T13:37:00.001-05:00

lillian and owen: enjoying their friday together.