Monday, January 29, 2007

Sir:

At nine months.

Two and a half.


Five Years Old.


Seven..... and..... Eight


And Eighteen

I met Sir the following year and we were married four years later. Since then, I've experienced the best days of my life. And today is his birthday.

I don't have any really recent pictures of him, but even if I did, I'm sure he'd prefer not to have them posted.

So, Happy Birthday Sir!
My Husband and my Best Friend.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Six Months Old!


Six months is a busy age. PC is into everything now that he can get to it himself. Sometimes I feel a little sorry for him as he re-crawls the exact same floorspace for the thirtieth time trying to keep up with me. Just as he gets halfway, I'll have to go back to the room I started in. By the time he almost gets to me again, I end up going somewhere else. I guess that's what you get when you pick a 'favorite mommy' to shadow.

And here's Dolly's six month picture as well.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

News Update - January 12th

I guess I'll start with today (Yesterday since it took me all day long to get blogger to upload pictures) and work my way backwards until I've covered the list of things to post that has been building up since December 29th.

Events:
Today (January 12th) is the 3½ year anniversary of Sir's and my marriage. That's 42 months or 182 weeks or 1278 days. I can remember when this date was our -6month anniversary. A lot has changed in that time - we've survived moving, job changes, three broken (beyond repair) vehicles, and welcomed two beautiful children. The best part is, I'm still married to my best friend and I wouldn't trade any of it!


Weather:
Just this past Tuesday (the 9th), when Sir got home from work we fed the kids, packed them into the van and took off to go shopping for miscellaneous things that we've been putting off for forever. It was going to be a late night for the kids, but I wanted to get out of the house and spend some time with Sir for a while. Earlier that day it has been unbelievably windy and the night before we'd been pelted with horizontally flying hail that coated the entire driveway and alley white in less than five minutes.

Anyway, we got to the first store that we were going to, and since we'd be parking way out in the middle of the parking lot, Sir stopped by the front of the store to let the kids and me out. As I was unloading the kids, the 'mist' or 'rain' that had been falling, turned into snow. We didn't think a thing about it assuming it was just a bit of snow mixed into the rain. Half an hour later, upon exiting the store, we were greeted with a white parking lot and fast falling snow. There was already over half an inch of snow on the ground. After heading to two more stores we finally made it home about an hour and a half later and it was still snowing. Fast.

It snowed all night long and Wednesday morning we were greeted to about four or five inches of powdery snow. The kids and I shoveled the walks, went for a walk in the stroller (not recommended for sane people - especially when snowplows bury the sidewalk with an additional 6 inches of snow and ice each time they drive by every half hour), shoveled the walks again and waited for Sir to come home. It snowed on and off throughout most of the day and by the evening there was close to a foot of snow. And it was still snowing.

The prayer/reading meeting was cancelled in Richmond. I don't think we would have tried to make it out with the snow falling the way it was. Especially since it was supposed to start freezing. That night it was supposed to hit -12° C (that's about 10°F for anyone who's wondering)with a -20°C (-4°F) windchill! Yeah. Cold.
Thursday morning everything was frozen solid including the snowbank that was surrounding our van so Sir did his best to ignore the kids and me while he worked from home. We did our best to stay out of his way too. We shoveled more snow and ice and played with the GG and the sled. When Sir finished his work he freed the van and went out to get salt. We had supper, put the kids to bed and then went out and shoveled everything and finished by salting everything down.
Today it's warmed up a little (currently it's ten after noon and -3°)- it's supposed to get up to 0° C and then continue to get warmer each day until Monday. Between the windstorm that preceded the snow and the weight of the snow itself, three sections of our fences have collapsed. So, you can guess what we'll be doing when the snow finally disappears.

Kids:
December 29th proved to be a milestone day. I discovered PC's first tooth. It really helped to explain the fussiness, sleepless nights, and a lot more.
I had been waiting for him to get his first tooth before starting him on solid foods, so that afternoon the kids and I went shopping and PC sampled his first other than milk meal. He loved every bit of it and looked at me like I was not playing fair. 'Come on Mom, I'm only getting a snack sample?! Three days later with increasing his meal amount at each meal, I finally found the limit to my son's hollow leg! He can really put away the food!
December 30th was also a milestone. PC started to crawl. By the next day he was doing well enough that I could show him off by tossing a desired toy just out of his reach and he'd go get it himself. Two days after that I found him standing up holding on for dear life to the table leg and box that he had used to get into that position. I guess he's in a hurry to get around. Like 'normal' people. He loves it when we hold his hands and let him take off. He looks like a little soldier marching when he walks because he picks each foot up so deliberately that the foot that's up is equal in height to his other knee. It's very cute. On the other hand, I suddenly remembered the joys of a crawling baby in the house. Everything has to be locked or picked up. We didn't have to worry about stairs when it was Dolly's turn.
January 6th - PC presented us with his second tooth. And demonstrated the 'bite'. He has sharp teeth I'll have you know!

Miscellaneous:
I have three weeks to put Dolly's 2 year birthday part together. I just started. At least I've already picked up a few presents for her over the past few months. I wrapped them the other day and put them on the top shelf of the bookshelf for her to see and anticipate. I know - cruel mom that I am.
And I strongly suspect that when we were out playing in the snow Wednesday morning, that Dolly lost her soother (pacifier) in the snow. Thankfully we have a spare, but it's a bit nerve-racking to be using the 'spare' all the time. What if that gets lost too? There are some days when she really 'needs' her soother. Hopefully, we'll find the main soother somewhere inside, or the snow will melt soon and we can take a look outside.

Addendum:Guess what,? Last night we managed to lose the 'spare' while visiting at a friend's house. I guess I shouldn't be so optimistic. For now Dolly is borrowing one of PC's soothers, but she knows that it's not hers.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

The Heart

My computer says that I wrote this poem late July of last year. Since I was smart enough not to put a date on it, I can't prove otherwise. I had completely forgotten about it and accidentally ran into it just the other night. Like most of them, this poem of mine was quickly jotted down and did need a bit of finishing, but I enjoy finishing them just as much as beginning them!

How True Is The Heart?

Do we show Him how much we love Him?
Do we love Him as much as we should?
Can we ever show in fullness-
His love in the way that we would?

The Saviour who died that we might live,
The One who will always love us still.
Is He the One that we would choose?
Do we daily seek out His will?

The Master of Love, our Lord is He!
The One who will always understand.
Do we allow Him in our lives?
Let Him lead us with His dear hands?

Is He truly the love of our life?
How true! Do we even really care?
Do we ever bring back to mind,
That He, yes He! He will be there?!

Friday, January 05, 2007

Winter - Cold

November 30th: Today was the warmest day we've had since Saturday last week. In fact, we've finally hit a high of +2°C (That would be around 35°F for those who don't convert). While on the other side of the country Toronto was enjoying highs of 13°C (55°F), we dropped to lows of -11°C (12°F)! To say the least- It's been cold.

Saturday evening (November 25th) we bought a replacement vehicle for the one I crashed. A RWD minivan. Our first test drive was - in fast falling snow. We got home, parked in the driveway and woke up Sunday morning to at least 8 inches of snow everywhere! Oh yeah, it was still falling. Fast.
Since the stairs outside were buried in snow, we went out through the downstairs suite. We loaded the kids and bible cases into the van, backed out of the driveway and - got stuck in the alley. Of course we didn't have chains. And why ever would we need a snow shovel? - or any shovel for that matter! So, Sir had me open the gate on the back of the van, stand on the bumper and jump for all I was worth while he drove backwards and forwards until the tires caught and we could make progress for a little ways before getting stuck again and starting over. That's how we got out of the alley... and the little side street, and the small street after that. By the time we got to the main street the van would go without me jumping on the bumper. I was glad - It was a lot of hard work!

The snow fell all day long Sunday and most of the night. Monday was clear, but cold and it just kept getting colder. When it did warm up again around Wednesday, it just brought more snow, but that snowfall didn't last quite as long as the first one. It took over a week for all of the snow to melt away, but it was fun while it lasted. The kids and I managed to survive the cold long enough one of the days to sled with Grouchy Girl. First I pulled both Dolly and PC, then Dolly got to pull PC, then GG (our dog)pulled PC for a little while and finally we were cold enough to go back inside!



January 5th: That was six weeks ago, and guess what we saw this morning? Yes, more snow! It was just enough to coat everything white, and by noon it was all gone. Dolly remembered it from before, and upon discovery, shouted at the top of her lungs 'Gog make the sgnow!' again and again as she jumped up and down in excitement on the couch by the living room window.