Hee hee

Miss Evy has recently discovered that bouncing balls is, in fact, hilarious. Here's the evidence:

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. We've been busy. Of course, I can't really say WHY we've been so busy - just life, I guess.

We've been working hard in the garden, and have been going for lots of walks, and we even got to take care of Kismet (Lee's doggy) for a few days. Here's Evy and Kizzy having fun:

In other news, Granny Alice is home from New Brunswick for a week. We went to pick her up from the airport on Thursday and Evy was waiting for her outside the luggage hall and did a happy dance when she saw her. It was pretty cute!

Here's a few pictures Granny took of Evy on Friday:

little crawler

having a pensive moment

We've got another busy week planned, and lots going on in the next few weeks, including our trip to New Brunswick in 17 days! Yip yip yippeee! We're also hoping to get up to the cottage - maybe this coming weekend, and we're looking forward to dogsitting Kizzy for another few weeks.

And, we have recovered from a very very fun visit with Lee and the boys when they were here on the long weekend. It was, as always, a chaos and action-packed adventure:

playing in Uncle Ben & Aunt Kristin's backyard

the cousins get a music lesson

Ben's birthday dinner - what a good-looking gang!

So, that's the update from here! I hope everyone has been enjoying this fabulous weather. And, am sending lots of love and courage to Lee & Chris as they embark on a trans-Atlantic flight with the two boys tomorrow. May the force (and the gravol) be with you, brave parents! Have a great trip!!

Long weekend begins

We had a great day today, lunching and then shopping with Drothia and Thomas. It was the perfect start to the long weekend. Here are Evy and Tom having a snooze on the walk home:


After that, I did my good samaritan duties and went to Al & Jim's house to check on things and feed the birdies. The tulips in their garden have reached the stage of perfection, as seen here with a view down the throat of this fine specimen:

And then we came home to a feast of home-made pizza, play time with daddy, and some jolly jumping:

I hope everyone has a fine Victoria Day long-weekend!

6 teeth

Miss Evy now has 6 teeth! And to go along with that, she's been eating a whole new array of foods! Beans, blueberries, and even some pasta! She's loving all of it so far.

All of this food is fueling her newfound tricks - crawling at the speed of light. She tries to follow me everywhere, and is even practicing on the stairs. This is exciting, but opens up a whole new world of chaos. I now have to watch her every millisecond, and will also be forced to be a bit tidier - I don't really want her eating dead bugs, dirt, and lint off the floor, even with her 6 little teeth.

Mummy - I'm coming to git' you!!

Gotcha!!

And here's a pic of 'miss crazy' from this morning. Her eyes are almost totally brown now! She's looking pretty cute! (And might I say, that in this picture I can almost see a little bit of myself in there - that's a major feat considering she's been 100% tiny Rob so far!).

A crazy early-morning smile

All three of us are sick with colds, which sucks. I was sick for most of February and March and it's not fair that it's happening again. It does seem like a milder version of our winter cold, so that's good, and hopefully it won't last long.

Otherwise, not much is new. We're hoping to get up to the cottage for a visit this weekend - not sure if we'll stay overnight - it'll depend on the weather I guess.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Laundry day

Harooo. We've had a busy week, and were very sad to say farewell to Granny and Poppa, who left for New Brunswick on Wednesday. Here's a pic from our lunch on Monday (we were celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary! They are soooo old!) We were at the Silver Bean cafe in Peterborough, right on the Otonabee River, and if you haven't been there yet, I highly recommend it!

Jimmy, Alice, Miss Evy and Granny B.

Yesterday afternoon brought the craziest hail/thunderstorms, but before that we were able to get some laundry done. Evy gets in to everything lately, so to keep her from eating bugs/leaves/dirt/grass/gravel, I keep her close and she "helps". I told her to fold the laundry, but no go. I suspect that she understood the instruction but was just being obtuse.

Hello! Aren't I cute? And downy fresh?

I think daddy's jeans are going to topple on me!

Mom! Get me outta here!

In other news, Rob and I had our first "date" in more than 10-months yesterday! I'm not sure if it counts, because we drove seperately to the movie theatre, sat in silence while we watched the just-out and freaking-amazing Star Trek movie, and then drove home seperately (Rob was running errands, thus the 2-car scenario). So, it wasn't exactly 'romantic' (it was the 4pm show!) but it was great to get out of the house. Huge thanks to Auntie Em and Beau Tighe for babysitting. I think Evy misses you!!

It's a very grey and miserable day here - I wanted to get more accomplished outside in ye' garden, but, it's more of a "lay on the couch and watch Grey's Anatomy" kind of day.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and big hugs to the N.B contingent. We miss you!!

A special girl

Rob, Evy and I are very proud to be sponsoring a wee girl from Malawi through Plan Canada (formerly Foster Parents Plan).

Her name is Tsalai and she lives in the Kaluluma area of Malawi with her mom and dad and 8 siblings. She's almost 4 years old.

Little Tsalai

Tsalai, her mum (Christina) and her sister Esta and brother Diana

We got an information package along with the pictures and found out that Tsalai and her family of 11 live in a mud house. They get their water from an open well about 1km away. She walks 30 mins to school each way and their nearest healthcare centre is 2 hours away.

We're getting together a little package to send Tsalai and are going through pictures trying to pick ones to send - maybe ones with lots of snow!?

It's not exactly cheap to do this - about $420 a year - but it will make a huge difference to this wee special girl and her family. I think it's a great opportunity to teach Evy about other cultures and about sharing what we have with other people.

Thanks to Lee, who inspired us to do this. The boy they sponsor also lives in Malawi, so maybe someday we can do a trip there to visit our new friends.

May!

Happy May! It seems like Spring is finally here. Yay! I'm READY!

We've been having a great month so far. We've been puttering in the garden, planting flowers, taking lots of walks, and enjoying the sun (and dodging rain drops on occasion).

Here is miss Evy on Thursday, playing in the garden:

The hat is too cute for words, isn't it? It was a gift from Auntie Jessica in England and every time miss Evy wears it, she recruits new members to her fan club.

Yesterday, our friends Chris and Marianne came from Toronto with little Sophie, their 10-week old lil' baby. She and Evy got along great and it was pretty cute to see them looking at each other.

Sophie and Evy sitting with Chris

Two dads and their daughters

Enjoying some dessert

Four gals sitting on the steps

It's hard to believe that Evy is 10-months old already! Sooo crazy! Maybe it's hard to remember that because she's still tiny. At her last weigh-in a few weeks ago, she was 14lbs, 3oz. She's just our little petite sweetie!

We've got lots going on in May, and are already looking forward to June when Evy and I are heading to New Brunswick for a week! Yay!

Also, must mention that my very talented bro-in-law Chris won a national magazine award on Thursday night. This is a huge honour and we're all so so so proud of him! Lee and Chris were in New York for the award ceremony and had a great time. You can read about it here, and can also read the award-winning article here.

Have a great day!