What are you doing New Years Eve?

If you're anything like me heading to bed soonish with a good thick application of vapo rub on your chest and a fresh box of tissues. It's not all about the hacking though, We enjoyed a butter chicken feast spicy enough to clear my sinus for a little while and watched Rango on Netflix together before banishing the girls to bed to cough and sneeze themselves to sleep. In case you're wondering yes, we are all a little sick. Any strong healing thoughts are welcome, appreciated and currently high on my wish list for the new calendar year.

To end the year on a good note I give you my girls this last month:

One of my favourite wishes for the coming year can be found here It's better said than I could ever say myself and speaks to me in all the right ways. To you and all of yours I wish you safe and happy celebrations tonight. I'll see you in 2012.

Handmade Holidays

The only snow we've seen:

This holiday season I have managed to do a little hand made here and there. Our window decor for example. Also on that list hand painted lights on the tree (varying shades of turquoise and peridot green ranging from deep and rich to pale and delicate) sculpey wire and thread peacock ornaments (look for these in the shop sooner or later I had a lot of fun with them) and the barest minimum of baking.

How were your holidays?

Hand Made Holiday

So, I have this friend on facebook; I went to art school with her and her husband way back when. Today she posted on her status about how her holiday shopping this year is mostly made up of handmade treasures making this year's trip to the mall less stressful and as a result more enjoyable. In the comments she went on to say that if everyone in the small town where she now lives in made the choice to give one gift that was locally hand made the change that would cause would be astronomical.

Think of it, one gift hand crafted by an artist or artisan who lives in your own back yard; a kind of 100 mile challenge of the holiday variety. In large city centers this is so easy to put into practice, even in smaller communities getting a lovingly handcrafted gift can be as simple as keeping an eye open for craft fairs and gift galleries that specialize in local artists. A quick visit to Etsy can locate local artists and their wares within specific search parameters, so if you're looking for an iPhone case that isn't the same as every other hipster's; a t-shirt for your in house baby paleontologist, an earth friendly coffee mug for the caffeine deprived loved one or a special bauble to adorn the throat of your significant other, you can find one in your country, state, province, city or town.

If everyone made the choice to purchase one gift from a local artist/artisan think of the change that could create!

For the artists in our communities making a living from designing and creating.

For the people who receive the gifts that had a little extra thought put into them.

For those doing the gifting dealing with a less stressful shopping experience...

the list could go on and on because like the long long list of handmade gifts that can be gifted the ripple effect from buying one single handmade gift locally would just spread out and out.


This is a movement I can really get behind because it's one small purchase, it's a baby step towards bigger change; not a call for a belly flop into the deep end. Would making the choice to make one of your gifts handmade be something that you could add to your holiday gift giving traditions? I'm not suggesting you drop the most wanted toy (in our house that would be an easy bake oven) from your kids list in favour of a hand made toy but I am suggesting that instead of buying an impersonal gift basket of pre-packaged teas and cookies you think about visiting a holiday craft fair and picking up some hand-made soaps or artisan toffees.

I couldn't write a post like this without (as I've been known to explain to the Peanut) putting actions to my words. Our gifts to grandparents, cousins and even a few gifts to the Peanut and the Bean have been (or are currently being) lovingly handcrafted. I'd love for this to become a wave of small change for the rest of the season and next year and the year after that too. Spread the word, it's going to be a thing.

This year is a little different

Not least because the Bean's trying to pull down the tree at every opportunity. It may be because it's been less than a month since my Gran passed (on the 24th anniversary of my Dad's passing no less) and I'm just not feeling organized or like I have any grip on the holidays this year.

Don't get me wrong, we've had the tree trimmed and the lights out for a few weeks now. But the gifting, the baking, the planning to get out and do fun holiday themed things just seems beyond my reach. I need a kick in the butt.

Anyone else feel the same? how do you get the holiday fuse lit?

One Thing On Top Of Another

When last I posted I had a fluish daughter. Since then we have sent the Peanut back to school for two whole days only to have her shivering and miserable at the end of the second day with a renewed fever, more puking and another week of elevated temperatures.

On top of the Peanut being ill, the Bean got her first cold and spent two weeks coughing and honking like an angry little goose.

On top of that, the husband caught his own flu (luckily not the stomach emptying kind). On top of that I contracted another bout of mastitis.

The Peanut and Great Grandma hanging
out on the garden swing two years ago

And just when I thought things were at their worst, after taking the Peanut in to the Doctor for the second time in two weeks the phone rang and it was my Mom. She'd called to tell me that my Grandma had passed away in her sleep. So... We're a still a little sick around here, no more fevers, but coughing galore and we're sad too. And amidst the sadness life travels on. We learn from the girls and life as we move along with it.

This isn't the first time we've introduced the concept of death with the Peanut. My cousin gave up his fight to a brain tumor a few years ago, and there have been a handful of family and friend's pets who have passed on over the years so the explanations have been built on over time. So what did I get out of our conversation? A tear filled conversation about how many apple trees are in the Summerlands (definitely more than 20) and a reminder that when we lose someone important in our lives that we are not mourning the death of our loved ones so much as we are mourning the loss of the chance to see, hear and talk to our loved ones again.

So, while we brush away the odd tear here and there; if you have lost dear loved ones how has explaining that loss to your kids (if you have them) changed how you look at that loss?

An evening Out

So I'm still sans computer and because I've got me a sorry sad case of Mommy Brain keeping track of passwords is not my strong suit at the moment which means that I have a big rig-a-ma-roll to go through in order to sign in and upload a post here which is my long winded run on sentence way of letting you know that I'm still breathing and why it's been almost a month since my last post.

So anyway, Sunday night was my very first night out( that wasn't school related) since the Bean made her momentous debut last January. I went out for Dinner with one of my best friends and then out to An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer. It was awesome. Sitting in the packed theater it felt as though all of us in the audience had been invited into home, the effect heightened by the random false starts and stumbles made during songs, it was as if we were a group of friends all there to celebrate with song some dance stories and laughter. As a couple they are charming and the affection that is between them is damned near romance personified, the kind that allows for wisecracks, silliness, liberal use of the F-bomb and love poems.

Before last night's outing I had not been very well acquainted with Amanda's music but the moment she opened her mouth before the festivities began and then to sing the duet Makin' Whoopee with her husband I knew that I'd found my new girl crush. If you need to know why just take moment to watch this youtube video of one of the songs performed while I escaped for an evening (warning: the song below does make use of questionable language, if you don't approve of the f-word I'd love you to go and find Amanda's version of Radiohead's Creep"



And once my evening was over I was sent back to mommy land where the Peanut had been busy puking all over the place in my absence and the Bean who had been sleeping soundly since 7 had woken promptly at 11 to have to fight for attention from Daddy who was awash in sick Peanut (and the laundry that comes with a sick peanut) so she began to scream/cry herself back to sleep until I managed to get home at 1am.

It is Tuesday and the Peanut is still home with a delicate stomach and the Bean is out of sorts because the time change and I've managed to steal a few minutes to write about my amazing night and all that followed behind it... I'm hoping to steal more time here and there to post again soon but until then how have you been? I've missed keeping in touch you know.

And that's why I've been gone

So one day a few weeks back I went to sit at the computer to do something, it may have been to read a blog, check on facebook, read an article, look up a recipe or even to post here. I'm not even sure any more what it was I was sitting down to do, all I know is that I sat down, clicked on the space bar to wake it up, found it was fully charged but not on and tried to turn it with no response. None. My Macbook was done, finished, kaput. Logic board fried and ready to serve with some mushy peas and chips.


I'm still without access to my own computer as we try to locate finances for a replacement, at this moment I'm using the husband's which is not as me-friendly as I'd like what with the keys not quite where I think they should be and all the extra PC buttons and functions. So I've been laying low on the blog front with the hopes that we'd have a replacement sooner rather than later. So far it's been the latter with hopes still aimed at the former. (we like to think glass half full)

So while I've got a few seconds here's a little round up of what's been going on here:

The Peanut has had her first school pictures
The Bean started swimming lessons (which means Mama holds her in the pool while we sing songs and she tries to drink the pool water)
The Husband took the plunge and went in to get hisself all snipped up (for which I thank him for taking care of it and for putting up with the resulting uncomfortableness and pain involved in healing|)
I've been getting into a bit of a groove with school, swimming lessons, laundry, taking care of the family thing which finds me less on the computer than in the past which kind of ties into the death of the macbook thing.
We've had our first bout of colds and a second bout of Mastitis

We've had no major happenings, no earth shattering news and we're pretty much OK with that.I'll post again when I get another chance. Fingers crossed on that whole new computer thing

Osmosis

Sometimes when I read a really well written book (and there have been a lot of those over the last six or so months) I get so caught up in the experiences of the characters that I will identify very strongly with the characters. Sometimes if the story is one that I can really identify with, there can be confusion about whether I'm remembering feeling something that I've read about, or something I've done. Not often, but sometimes.

One thing that I've noticed over the last year or so is that I'm a big old sponge for soaking up the residual emotions of the people around me. Anger, depression, anxiety... it all seems to flow right into my frame of mind like water into a cup.

The trick is to know when it's happening, separate myself from the outside emotions as much as possible and keep on keeping on.

It's not easy. Hell no, it is so not easy. It's not easy because on top of that, I need to be there to give my support to those people in my life whom I love.  I've got to be there to listen to their bad days and hurts and frustrations. Not only do I have to be there, I want to be there, I need to be there. I love my husband and he deserves and needs my emotional support. I love my daughters and I need and want to give them my emotional support.

So where am I going with this? I needed to get it out, put it down so that it isn't so tied up inside me that I'm not sure where my anger, depression, anxiety starts (if it starts at all) and where the other begins. Things have been a bit (and when I say "a bit" I'm understating the case) tense around here lately and I've been writhing with the possibility that post partum depression is trying to set down some roots. And I'm breathing, deep deep breaths, reminding my self to eat, getting (well, as much as I can with an almost crawling teething baby) enough sleep and double checking with myself about how I'm feeling and how everyone around me is feeling.

And this is where I end this post.

She's Perfect

of course.
Of course she is.

I should know, I've been there for almost every single moment of her 5+ years. She's smart, funny, full of imagination, she knows how to push my buttons and as of yesterday she's navigating whole days without me. I'm proud, I'm so happy for her (there is excitement in her eyes every morning when we get her up) and I worry.

Of course I worry. Who (besides the husband) knows her better than I do? I know she's going to have some bumpy days. I know that there are going to be tears (there already have been right where I expected them to happen) and I know that she's going to be fine. In my head I know she's going to be fine. With her personal quirks, her ready to please attitude and her belief that every kid out there is a friend waiting to be made. And then there's her inner loner.

And then I sit outside the school grounds waiting for her first 1/2 day to be over scanning the school yard for her glowing braided head. When I finally catch sight of her she's wondering around by herself. By her posture and the look on her face she's pretending to be a T-rex, alone. This isn't new by any means. The husband and I have noticed her go of by herself at play groups and play dates. Both the husband and I are a little reserved around new groups of people so we get it. We get that large groups can be overwhelming, that sometimes doing stuff by yourself is more comfortable, sometimes it's the best fun and sometimes it's lonely. And there's the rub.

Growing up and even right now, I've found social situations a challenge. I can't help but to want better for her (In some cases she is better than I am. As an example: inviting perfect strangers the next booth over, in a restaurant over to our house, address included, because she's been playing with their kids for five minutes is so not something I would ever have done at the age of 3.5). To make friends easily. To fit in. Watching her play alone in a crowd of laughing yelling kids her own age and over was a little heartbreaking and also a moment filled with resisting the urge to run onto the playground to help her make a friend. And then just as I was wiping away a stray little tear one, then two then three other children surrounded her and then they were all off and running.

I guess what I'm getting at is that this whole sending our first born off to school has really been much harder on me than her. She's going to be OK, she's perfect just the way she is and she'll be alright. I just worry. That's a Mama's job right?

Getting Schooled

The Peanut has started school. We're not at the point where she's there full day yet since they work up to it in order to ease them into a brand new schedule. So far we've done an hour on the first day and three hours on the second. Starting Monday we go for a half day until Wednesday when she walks through that kindergarten door and I'm all alone with the Bean for six hours.

So how did she do? Well, she walked into her class and didn't look back. Her second day was the same (mainly because we were running late thanks to transit and she walked in the door at the stroke of barely on time). I'm loving getting to hear about what her day was like and getting a big hug as soon as she walks out the door.

Visual Diary

I've got school on the brain. Between the Peanut's first day this coming week to the yearly desire to go back myself.

First Day Jitters

I've decided to have them early so that we minimize the stress next Friday when the Peanut starts her first day of kindergarten. In fact in one week we go in for our first parent teacher conference where we'll find out which teacher we get and what her days are going to be like for the first few weeks before we dive right in to full days.

The Bean is going to be one lonely baby once that starts up, she adores the Peanut, beams rays of pure joy when she plays with her. We're looking around for some play groups we can join to pick up the slack.

We've got all our school supplies and new clothes and shoes compliments of Grandma's on either side and after a whirlwind trip made by my parents for my nieces baby shower last weekend the Peanut is also sporting a trimmed head of hair too.

I'll be posting pictures of her first day next week. Here's hoping that I keep the proud Mama tears to a minimum and that they happen after we've sent her off into class.

Visual Diary

Every year I start to think about Hallowe'en a little earlier. When making our costumes over buying one off the rack is a priority this is actually key. Now that I have two to dress up it's even more of a time grab hence the hallowe'eny theme this week, click the image for a closer look. Are you planning your costume yet?

Visual Diary

It's my birthday today. To celebrate, here's how I'd spoil myself given unlimited funds and a free hour on Etsy. What I did get was a lemon Meringue pie and a dozen roses from the Husband and a hand drawn card from the Peanut. The Bean let me take her for her 6 month shots. All in all one damn fine birthday, minus (you know) the part where the Bean got stuck with a needle.

A Visual Diary

Since the Peanut's been in a dinosaur mood lately it's leaked into my indulgence in her passion has bled into my list creation




Click for a closer look

A Visual Diary

Ten years ago today I tied the knot

and given the chance I'd run off to Tofino to do it all again just on the beach instead of in a hall. I'm thinking maybe we'll try for the 15 year mark for a little vow renewal.

Click the picture for a better look.

A Visual Diary

There seems to be a running theme in my lists





a certain longing....

Click the image for a better look

A Visual Diary

It's birthday season around here and there's been a whole lot of wishing going on:

A Visual Diary

of what my imagination's been up to

A little visual magic seemed to be called for, but with a dash of edginess for good measure. If you'll notice I ended things on an optimistic note

Click on the image for a better look.

A Visual Diary

of how I've been feeling lately:

I've been building treasuries a lot lately, especially when the Bean takes up a little more time with her teething and solid food eating ways. When I get a few moments here and there but not enough time to really get my make on; I put together a treasury of images that fit my mood as well as my need to make something.

So now I share.
Click on the collection above to get a super view of my curatorial activities

Just for me

There are a few things I've been up to lately that are doing a wonderful job of (to put it all smooshy like) feeding my soul.



Picking raspberries is one. Harvesting the lavender is another. I love the intense blue violet of the tiny blossoms, the smell is divine and a big sniff can undo any amount of stress for even just a second which is so worth it. Also there's a soothing drone in my garden that comes from the bees who come to visit for the lavender and thyme flowers.

Also feeding my soul is the few minutes here and there that I've been able to be creative again. It started for the Peanut's birthday with a Chinese lantern chandelier, a stick a hat on Quack poster and a tiny tissue cake banner. Since then I've been playing around with image transfers.

I've been using images from the Vintage Moth blog which are fantastic by the way. I've almost perfected a transfer technique using liquid sculpey and my mind is whirling around ways to put it to good use. I recently bought some small cradled panels that I want to make into shadow box art pieces which would work well with a little translucent imagery.

So don't let me air out all my soul feeding ways alone; what's been feeding your soul lately?

A Thousand Words

The Pictures that should have been in my last post

There should really be a photograph with this post

but rather than taking my camera out in the morning when I head into the garden, I've been focused on the much more important task of berry picking.

There's something intensely satisfying about the juicy thud that a raspberry makes when it's dropped into a large yogurt container. Also the glow of the red berries when the morning sun touches them through the leaves... like poetry to my eyes. I love picking berries. It's my latest just for me thing to do. I head out before the husband leaves for work and fill a container with those enticing ruby red treasures.

I also annihilate a few slugs, pull up a few weeds, pick some pees and disturb the ants that have decided to make the strawberry plants their home base. It's satisfying and I get to feel like I've gotten something good done at the start of the day since the Bean is still a big time napper.

I'm keenly looking forward to the wild blackberries at the end of our street to ripen...

Fingers crossed I'll take the camera out and shoot a few of those berries before they fill up my bucket

Change of Plans

So, since the number of entries for the Melissa and Doug giveaway was way below their requested number I decided to continue on with the draw and send the lucky winner a little something else.

Having made that decision I visited random.org and entered in the number of entries I had for the giveaway (including the extra ones I had promised to those who had commented on or before the original deadline) and out of the 74 qualified entrants number 37 was picked.

Congratulations to Seattlemom, who was the lucky name behind my random number! I'll post another day about what I'll be sending her.

It's Canada Day

and I'm doing laundry, changing the beds (the ones that aren't being slept in anyway) and getting ready to spend some time with friends at a BBQ later this afternoon.

I wanted to say that I love my country, I love that I am Canadian and that I know full well that we have a long road ahead of us before we can become as great as the potential within us hints at. We are a country built on diversity and tolerance but there are some of us who still hold tight to intolerance towards the aboriginals whose land this was before it was taken from them.

I have a First Nations friend who puts it best. Sonny is an amazing political artist and although I don't get as much face time with him (or many of my other arty friends for that matter) I always enjoy seeing what he's working on and hearing what he has to say. I invite you to click on the link to Sonny's blog.

Five Years Ago today

I woke up in the hospital (having spent the day before there on bed rest) and reminded the nurse that I wasn't able to eat the breakfast they had brought me what with the imminent c-section I had been emergency scheduled for two days before. Looking back I should have just eaten it, since the Peanut didn't make her grand entrance until after 9pm.

I had waddled on my extremely swollen feet with my super bloated belly, back, arms and hands) for my final maternity appointment and the high blood pressure (along with the extreme water retention) I had when she did the basic check up routine alarmed the Doctor enough that she took it again 10 minutes later (in the hopes that it had just been raised because of the physical activity of walking to the office) to make sure. When it was still high after the wait, she called the specialist who booked me an appointment for later that day where I was told that I had preclampsia, the baby was too big for me to safely deliver and I was headed to the hospital for a day of bed rest followed by an emergency C-section to take place some time the day after.

So I was told I could go in at 9 and then 10 and I had my fingers crossed that I wouldn't be going in until my Mom arrived. I needn't have worried since each slot I was put in throughout the day (5 times between noon and 7pm) was pushed back and my Mom and Grandma arrived in more than enough time.

When it was finally my turn, the husband was led off to change into scrubs and I was wheeled into the prenatal ward where I promptly threw up into a cardboard boat (you know, the kind french fries are served in at the high school cafeteria).

In the operating room I sat up on the table, hunched over while they tried and failed (what with the extra 25lb of water I'd been carrying around) a few excruciatingly painful times to give me the spinal. The Specialist (who was amazing) helped by holding me down while they jabbed the needle into my nerves a few more times before they hit the right spot and the lower half of my body went numb. Interesting side note: the room the Peanut was born in was in the Movie Look who's talking. To this day I will watch that show just to catch a glimpse of the dated pink flower wall paper that decorates that room in Lion's Gate Hospital.

The Husband came in and before I knew it they made the incision.
They dropped the curtain and I got my first look at the Peanut, "It's a girl! here's your baby!" the Dr said.

I took in her little old man face (I don't care what anyone says all new born babies have it; it's the scrunched up slightly bloated from swimming in fluid for 9 months about to cry from the indignity of being forced out of a nice warm safe place face), the shock of hair (there was so so so much of it) and tiny button nose and greeted her with the first thought that came to mind "Oh, there you are!"

She cried, I cried, the husband shed a few manly tears and they weighed her (8lb 5oz), measured her 20" and poked her in the heel to test her blood. Then I got to hold her as I was wheeled into a recovery room where the husband and I nixed all the names we'd short listed for her (River and Clara were the top two) all of which just didn't suit her; while we marveled at how perfect and beautiful our daughter was.

We finally landed on the perfect name when I suggested a name that just seemed to have been made for the Peanut and then, just like that 5 years just seemed to fly by.

She's grown into a simply beautiful little soul. She's smart and funny and creative and (along with her sister the Jelly Bean) the best thing I ever made. She makes me laugh, cry and sometimes so frustrated I wonder what I was thinking when we decided to start a family, but only sometimes. She also makes me bust with pride every single day.

So, five years ago today I stepped into motherhood; the Peanut was born and our lives changed, it's been one sweet ride.

Family, Owls and Kilns

Our time spent with the Husband's Dad during on our trip had some pretty amazing highlights. The Peanut had a blast plying with her cousins, is still talking about it and asking for sleep overs. This time around we were able to get a little extra playtime in with them which included (those are gasps and squeals of joy you are hearing) not one but two orange kittens.

There was also a family BBQ with family that (in the nearly 20 years I've been with the husband) I hadn't met as well as family that we hadn't seen much of since the last family wedding. We had a great time and a fantastic visit.

On a play date visit with the husband's cousin's family we were introduced to the family of owls who had taken up residence in our cousin's yard. The young ones have been named Hoot and Holler and they put on a pretty good show for me when I brought out my camera.

One of the best parts of our stay with the Father in Law is that he lives just down the road from the Reids who were in the Fine Arts program with me at Red Deer College. If you've followed my 5 question series you may remember that I featured Auvery two years ago. It's still one of my favourite features not least because I love the eclectic quality of her work. Where Auvery's work is as fun and full of ideas as she is Joe's work has a quiet strength to it that also mirror's his personality. My current favourite series of his, are the ceramic thermos that is used as the profile picture on their studio's facebook page.

Joe and Auvery are currently in the process of building a wood fired kiln just outside of their converted barn studio. We slipped down the road for a little visit and a studio tour. I'll be honest and say that I have some pretty extreme studio envy; their space is amazing as is their work. They also have a website and blog that you should totally visit.

Since our set of dinnerware has been slowly breaking piece by piece over the last few years I'm planning on starting a new collection. I'm hoping to buy a setting or a piece of a setting here and there and since I'm not to bothered about getting matchy matchy I'll be buying from Joe and Auvery.

and in completely unrelated news: yesterday was the deadline for entering the Melissa and Doug draw. Since we obviously didn't hit the 200 facebook fan mark (I'm in the process of emailing my contact with them) I'd like to still do a draw from all the entries I did get; including the extra entries I promised those who entered before the original draw date and send one of my sun catcher's to the winner. I'll post a little about that in the next few days.

Not my Forte

So when Melissa and Doug approached me about doing a giveaway I was thrilled. The sand toys they wanted to promote with the giveaway are; like all Melissa and Doug toys, awesome. I could totally see the Peanut putting all of them through their play paces. When they made receiving 200 new likes on their facebook page a requirement of the giveaway I thought I'd give it my best shot. So I wrote the post. I tweeted about it, and posted links on some social networks that I follow and I contacted some blogs that list giveaways in the hopes of driving the required number of entrants to my giveaway post and then; despite my footwork things kind of fizzled. So I rallied and tried again, I extended the deadline and tried corralling more entries but again; fizzle.

Right now the number of required entries is well below Melissa and Doug's required 200 which leads me to think that the whole giveaway thing isn't really one of my strengths. Either that or my readership doesn't quite fit with the Melissa and Doug target audience. I'll be doing a final little push for more entries today and I'll get in touch with my contact at Melissa and Doug with my entries on Tuesday. So if you haven't already entered please do so now, pass the link along, spread the word!

Dinos Galore

Some of my favourite photos from the Royal Tyrell Museum.



Our second leg of the trip was spent with the Husband's Dad. The highlights from that portion to follow soon.

Now I really hate to harp on this but I'm still looking for entries on the Seaside Sidekick Giveaway If you know anyone who loves to play in the sand, send them over! Deadline for this fantastic contest is on Monday night.

A Thousand Words

Air and Oil Edition:

First Stop

Before I start: the Melissa and Doug Seaside Giveaway has been extended. If you haven't entered there's still time, if you know someone who loves playing in the sand tell them about it too! It's an awesome prize pack and I'd love to gift one of you with it!


Because our families all live in the same area our trips are always split into three separate parts: The husband's Mom (aka my other Mother), the husband's Dad and my parents. This trip was brought to us by the Husband's Mom's boss (still following?) The trip was originally supposed to be for her to fly out and see us but things didn't work out for many reasons and her boss offered to have us fly out instead. So, we started our trip with Grandma. Other than a chance to have some prime Ma time and introduce the Jelly Bean to her Grandma we shopped and ate and enjoyed a little side trip into the Bad Lands of Alberta for a little Dinosaur time for the Peanut.

The house my other Mother lives in is one of the oldest in the city she lives in. It's haunted, and chock full of paintings, woodcut prints, and plants. I love staying there. Of course every place the husband's Mom has ever lived in has had a similar feel to it. The woman knows how to create a homey atmosphere.


On the way to Drumheller we took a secondary highway that took us by a stretch of wind farm. The juxtaposition between the almost lazy spin of ll the windmills and the bobbing up and down of the oil pumps dotted along the fields on the way was too much to pass up and I took some photographs along the way. I'll post some of those later this week.

The Royal Tyrell Museum was a huge hit for the Peanut. She was in state of bliss for days afterwards and she still talks about the Dire Wolf and Mammoth exhibits as well as the T-Rex and Triceratops exhibit that we visited first.

All in all the first part of our trip couldn't have been better.

And it ends.

The vacation. It never seems long enough.

We're unpacking, getting settled and starting some new routines and I'll be posting some recaps of our trip complete with extreme weather and prehistoric ocean creatures but not at the same time.

From the looks of things the giveaway that I posted about before we left isn't up to near enough entries to qualify for a prize from Melissa and Doug. I'm contemplating adding an extension on the deadline (I'll post an update to this tomorrow) to see if we can't add a few more entries because I'd very much love to be able to give one of those gift packs to one of you. If you haven't entered, please, please do! If you have, tell your friends and family about it and send them on over the more the merrier after all.

Amazing

So I'm hanging out with the Jelly Bean, she's sitting in her exersaucer and making bird noises. Chirps, squeals, long drawn out groans. and every time I turn to look at her to say something, " Hello Baby" "Is that so?" "Oh! Really" I'm graced with twinkle eyed shoulder shrugging giggles and drools. The child is a charmer.



But no one, and I do mean no one, can get her to giggle like the Peanut. The best is when the Peanut tries out her beat boxing a la Electric Company. The Bean stops whatever it is she's doing and grins her gummy grin which gets bigger and bigger until she lets out a baby guffaw and a squeal.

I am amazed by my two little beauties. I just want to squeeze them I love them so...