Author: Pam

L’s spring break has been a busy one so far. Monday we were in Pansy playing with cousins and Tuesday we headed off to the Royal Winter Fair. We met up with some people that we had met before….

We had lots of fun collecting freebies from the vendors, petting baby animals in the petting zoo and watching the animals show off what training can do.

K did really well with the animals too, even getting brave enough to pet them. She kept wanting to go look at the big horses, but only if the big horses didn’t look at her.

I think it might have helped that every other child their couldn’t wait for their turn, K didn’t want to miss anything. She even pet the goats although she did have to get over the fact that “I don’t like goats”.

We watched the barrel racing, horse jumping and 4 hitch heavy horse competitions. It was fun watching L watch the competitions his heart was in his throat for the athletes every time they rubbed the barrel or bar.

The Fair hasn’t changed much since I was a girl, but I did notice one thing. There is no longer bull and bronco riding or calf roping, instead we were entertained by the Superdogs and Acrobazia, which were very good too.

I hate it when things on my computer change. It always seems that my time on the computer is short and interrupted every 30 seconds. If I can’t do what I want to do the same way I have done it before then I don’t have time to learn a new way right now and therefore I can’t do what I want! All that to say that I no longer know how to edit my photos to a more reasonable download size. I have tried something new today so we will see how big the photos are.

Okay it is taking blogger forever just to upload my photos to this site, so I guess I didn’t win….have to try something else.

I just wanted to blog a general email about what we have been up to. K was sporting black eyes last week; apparently it is risky business to hunt for fairies with binoculars, you just can’t see them when they come charging into you. Although all the research leads us to believe that fairies should be the size of your thumb not the size of your big brother.

I have been sewing a bridesmaid dress for my dear sister in law. Hopefully someday there will be photos of a finished dress to show you. It has definitely been a learning experience in pattern altering, the dress that we are working on now is nothing like the original pattern so I think that we can say it is our own design. In the meantime I was needing a project that I could sit down in front of the sewing machine and finish just like I envisioned it to be without the use of the stitch ripper. We have a friend who loves all things star wars with a birthday this week and so between L and I we made a Jedi Knight cape. The recipient seemed to like it and it scratched my itch.

Lowell is trying to get work done on some papers for publishing that don’t seem to want to reach a satisfactory ending and L is very excited about his spring break, more on that another post.

For some the Christmas season is long over. We finished up Christmas in Riding Mountain last weekend so to me it still feels like Christmas. Lowell is back to classes so for him the everyday routine has resumed. I finally downloaded more pics today and thought I would share some with you.
My favourite Christmas presents were a bowl and mug handpainted by L and K (I was a bit teary).

K was happy with her cradle for her babies who have been alternating between sleeping and eating since.
L was very excited to get “what I always wanted” in his present from Santa, it’s wooden pieces that you put together to make a marble run.
One for Lowell’s presents was an apron that I made for him. He had remarked one time too many that he needed an apron to wipe his hands on when he cooks.

I did alot of sewing for Christmas presents this year. I thought that I was on top of things and enjoying my time in front of the sewing machine; I only worked on one project at a time and didn’t commit to another homemade gift until I was finished the current project. Somehow the last 2 weeks just hit me and truth be told I think that if I was given to anxiety attacks I would have had a couple those last few days. Now that I have had a few days to regroup my scattered thoughts I can actually enjoy looking at the photos of my projects and start dreaming of my next project. I got a serger for Christmas so I will confess that I was at the fabric store today, but I was just thinking, I didn’t by anything….yet.

So what was I working on; cousin C got a chef’s hat, oven mitts and an apron, but I didn’t get a picture of her in that. Opening the next present was on her mind. Aunty I has been asking for pajamas with feet. Be careful what you ask for you might just get it.

Aunty C also got an apron and some placemats.

Cousin T got a cloth quiet book. Aunty C and I worked on it together each doing 5 pages. We consulted several blog sites for ideas and then designed our own, just like the blog sites say they aren’t hard to make, but they sure are time consuming. We thought he might get some use out of it in the hospital and in the weeks to come.

The weather outside is definitely not frightful. We have been outside playing in the snow in Pansy. L and K discovered a new kind of winter fun; the four wheeler!

It was a hit with everybody, K informed me that she didn’t fall off when she went for her ride.
Unfortunately L and L and K came down with the flu yesterday afternoon and cut their visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s short. Thankfully I am not yet sick, not sure if it is just a ticking time bomb or if I will escape. Finally after L decided to go to the Philosophy Conference he ended up staying home this morning, perferring not to spend his time in Washington in a hotel bathroom.

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather. Saturday morning we built a fantastic snowman thanks to a kit that we recieved as a family Christmas gift last year. Yesterday L went to school and discovered the french word for snowman and now we talk about la bonhomme de neige and look for them everywhere.

L’s favourite tv show is CBC’s Artzooka. They have a contest running right now, the grand prize is craft supplies. L would like to win and I would like it if he did too, the paper drawer is always on the verge of running out. For the contest L had to make a muscial instrument and upload his picture to cbc kids. Of course L’s drum is decorated with a picture of a dragon breathing fire on some unsuspecting knight. Yesterday L wrote and illustrated a book entitled “Dragon”. The narration went like this; “Dragon is breathing fire”, “Dragon is attacking” (here he made a lift the flap, the top is a knight and underneath is a pile of ashes), “Dragon is attacking the castle”. By now I suppose that you are catching on to the theme in our house.

We had the F’s over on Saturday to celebrate K’s Birthday. K finally had a Happy Cake. I was quite proud of my decorating job, I think the characters were at least recognizable. Maybe I am actually learning something in the cake decorating department or I lucked out. It is no where near what others can do, but their accomplishments inspire (and intimidate) me.

Thank you everyone for the great presents and for coming. It is good to be so close to family and have you in her life.

We had a great Hallowed Eve with family. L helped make dessert; spooky cupcakes and skeleton cookies.

Then we went Trick or Treating with a knight, a horse and a ladybug.

I made L’s costume, but he decorated the shield all by himself I was very impressed.
K had a repeat of last year with her ladybug costume. Her aunty thought it awful that I had made something for L but not for K. I am sure the year that I have to sew a princess costume will make up for the this year.

But really she is just so cute with her little pixie face peeking out of her hood.

She may be 2 but she still loves her “Bee”(blanket). I had taken it away from her and tossed it onto the barstool, I guess that isn’t much of a deterent if you are looking for snuggles.

I was working this weekend so K hasn’t had a party with a Happy Cake, she will have to wait for that, but she did get to open a present. I made her a doll carrier. She was wearing her baby on her back with a scarf, I thought this might make her life a little easier.

I finally agreed with L that today would be a good day to make a jack-o-lantern. I finished his costume at the beginning of the week and so he wants to be all ready for Halloween. We even raked leaves today but he was very disappointed that I hadn’t found any of the decorated leaf bags.

L is back at school, but the whole move has disrupted his routine. He is finding it a little difficult to settle back into school and is suggesting most evenings that he probably shouldn’t go to school the next morning. We’ve talked with his teachers; L doesn’t struggle with his ABC’s but there are other parts of Kindergarten that L has to learn. K enjoys having L home in the afternoons.

Last Saturday we went to the pet store and bought Bubbles, he is managing to stay alive. I’ve never taken care of a fish before so I had some nightmares about my great fish surprise turning into a conversation about death.

As for the grown-ups of the household, I did up another batch of salsa today and Lowell is busy writing cover letters so that he can send away job applications.

As many of you know we gave our house a face lift. I am happy to say that the pile of dirt in the front yard is gone and has been gone for awhile now. Hopefully the garden that we made will look nice next spring and summer. The kids and I planted some spring bulbs and transplanted some perennials so that there would be something to greet us when the snow melts. It is hard to thing of snow and winter when the weather we are having makes me feel like I am living in Massachusetts again. Today is supposed to be a beautiful day so maybe we will spend some time outside again. The flower garden in front of the garage got destroyed by one of the painter’s ladders. I need to shovel up all that dirt and fix it, I didn’t want to do that yet since my impatiens look so good right now, but neither do I want to fix those 2×4’s when the snow is swirling around my head. L had a rough night which meant that Lowell and I had a rough night. Keeping busy in the fresh air will be a good way to clear some of those cobwebs from my head.