Weekend at Auntie Anne's Cottage

All last week Elijah was excited about the weekend we were about to have at Auntie Anne's Cottage. He was counting down sleeps (as much as he can count) and kept talking about sleeping on bunk beds. And we had a wonderful weekend.

The kids played outside a ton. They went sledding and swinging and quadding and ice fishing. They built a fort and dug holes in the snow. At the end of the day they were TIRED. Always the best for a good night of sleep.

Always gotta get a McDonald's shot in.


They both loved the quad.


Poor Lillian. Hand me down snowsuit from her big brother. He was a little bit bigger than her at that age. (Did you realize that icicles are full of bacteria and shouldn't be eaten? That's what my expert husband tells me.)


Eating icecream with Elijah's cousin.

Why I love my house

Two of dearest BFFs made major house decisions this past weekend. One sold a house. One bought a house. And I, well I still live in my house. My house which I still love. And here are some of my reasons:

1. The Space - We essentially tripled our living space and we are all happier for it. (Elijah needs to release some energy? Let him run around the couch. Lillian is sure to join him.)

2. The Yard - I will admit that the flower gardens were a bit overwhelming last summer. I'm pretty sure that having removed half of them I will enjoy my yard even more this summer. I am also thrilled with the plot of land that we tilled up in the fall so I can once again have a garden. I missed having a garden this summer. I love being able to go outside and get fresh ingredients for supper.

3. The Garage - When it's -45 with the windchill? I get to park inside. I don't think that needs more of an explaination.

4. Two bathrooms - There are now four of us that use the toilet. Nice to have a second one. This has become particularly important since the fourth member of the toilet using group in our house is 17 months and really just enjoys the experience of sitting on the "Special Seat". It's not so much about actually utilizing the services that the toilet provides.

5. Location - Close to work. Close to the mall. Close to the grocery store. Close to several play structures. Close to schools.

6. The Layout - Back when we lived in the old house we had two children sleeping right outside our bedroom door. Lillian was born and was sleeping in a basinet. It was convenient to have her close by when she woke up at night. Elijah had his bedroom upstairs and he started to come down the stairs at night. The stairs were pretty steep without a railing so it was just a headline waiting to happen. Now they're happily living in their own rooms just down the hall.

7. The Windows - There are lots of them and they are relatively new. There is something wonderful about natural light. It just makes me happy.

8. Our Sunroom - The funny thing about this is that we didn't even look at it when we looked at the house the three times that we came here before we made an offer. Didn't even occur to us that we would care. We spent a lot of time in there this summer. It actually became the place where we ate most of our meals and spent a lot of time playing. We even put a couch in there so it became a cozy little place to read a book.

9. The Untapped Potential - There is room to work with this house. There are so many projects yet to be started. Having said that, we can live in it happily just the way it is. That's nice.

10. No Crazy Mortgage - We can live here comfortably. No crazy mortgage payments that make us house poor. Sure our property taxes are four times as much but it's a small price to pay for this much joy.

Yup. I really love this house.

My surprise photo

I randomly went into my pictures and selected an icon of a picture. The first one ended up being a picture of Lillian in the bathtub. (You know, the one that all parents take but shouldn't share with the world.)

This is picture #2. More clothes so likely a better option. Lillian was dancing and singing to some music in her head. (And also transporting Elijah's shoe around - as you can see by it sitting on the table in the background.)

They learn our tricks so fast

My trick to getting Elijah to do something has been to give him a choice. If he doesn't want to wear pants, I give him the option of two different pairs. That way he's had the chance to pick and I have a son wearing pants.

Lately Elijah has been doing a lot of mixing in the kitchen. He is always in need of more 'gredients. Today he wanted oil for his mix. I told him that I wouldn't give him oil. He came up to me with two different measuring cups and asked me which one I wanted to put the oil in. Seriously? How do they get so clever?

New Friends

Our latest family adventure has been getting involved in the host family program that our church has. It connects families with recent refugee arrivals to Winnipeg.

Last Sunday we got to meet our family. They are originally from Burma. They seem to be a very nice family. They have kids around our kids ages.

It was interesting to see how the kids interacted with each other. The little boy was so enthralled with all the toys that Elijah had that I'm not even sure that he realized that Elijah was there. Lillian and the little girl were just precious. At one point they were walking down the hall hand in hand. (It was all I could do to not go run and get my camera. Figured I should wait until at least the second visit to haul out my BFF.)

I anticipate that we will have many misunderstandings as they speak limited English and we don't speak Chin at all. But I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited to expand our world to see how other cultures live and experience life.

They're coming over for lunch on Sunday. At least I think that's what we arranged based on our limited language abilities. Guess we'll find out Sunday.

Elijah has the flu

It's not my favorite. I slept in his bed and then on his floor last night so I could provide a handy dandy bowl when he needed it. We spent the entire day watching TV from our couch in the living room. Wasn't exactly my plan for such a nice winter Saturday. Here's hoping that we get some sleep tonight.

(On a side note: He did feel well enough to mention when Lillian lifted up her shirt to point at her belly that it was actually a beer belly. If you've seen her belly lately it's kind of hard to argue that. She's so darn cute.)

Zoom

There it went. Another week.

It was good. Work was busy. Looking forward to being able to take a few days off once the busyness of February dies down. (Just as a side note: You don't have to wait until the end of February to do your RRSP deposits. I'm just saying.)

I changed my template to remind me (and you) that spring and summer really do exist and are just around the corner. That will be the extent of my comments about the weather.

Yup. We're doing okay.