Cutie pie!

Here's some more eye-candy for you Evy fans out there. We've been having a lot of fun playing lately, and (FINALLY) her little stubby legs are long enough to climb up on the couch. It requires quite a bit of effort, so once she's scaled the heights, she's gotta rest for a while:


After catching her breath, it's time for rolling and round and trying to launch herself off the couch. (I try to catch her when I can... we're working on choreographing a safer dismount!)

AND, because the wee madam has (FINALLY) grown a bit (the little almost-17-month-old-midge is now wearing some 12-month stuff!), she's fitting in to some of the clothing she received as gifts, including this very cute handknit sweater that came all the way from my former colleagues in England (thanks Grove Housers!):

Pretty cute, right?

out for a stroll

We had a few frosty mornings last week. So frosty, in fact, that the pond had a think layer of ice on it. Brrr! It was quite entertaining to watch the geese come in to land - most of them veered over to the open water in time, but some of them landed on the ice, like this poor dude.


Frosty weather also meant that we gave Evy's snowsuit a trial run. She stayed toasty warm and looked hilarious running around in it.

So, I guess we're ready for winter, at least from a wardrobe perspective!

failed photo shoot

We had a failed photo shoot on Wednesday morning. I was trying to get a picture of Evy to include in our xmas cards, however the model was not co-operating. Recently, someone has been showing Evy the magic of a digital camera (GRANNY!) and now whenever she sees the camera, she runs to see the display screen. Then, when she did finally manage to hold still, the facial expressions weren't exactly festive.

Enjoy the amusing results:

pensive and crabby

on the move

ready for a nap

scampy doodle

surly

Clickety click, barba trick!

Everyone in the Higginson family has a great love for all things Barbapapa. They were our favourite books growing up, and the cartoons was also a big hit in the Higginson household. (When I mention Barbapapa to people my age and they don't know what I'm talking about, it's always because they had cable TV and weren't subject to the strange shows aired by TVOntario! Willo the wisp? Green Forest? Dr Snuggles?).

When I was in France last year, I bought Evy a few sleepers including this one, which is possibly the cutest one ever. She wore it for the first time last night and I giggled watching her run around before bed:

I tried to find a YouTube video but could only find the french version. It's still worth watching, just for nostalgia's sake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax8nJqh2P2o&feature=related

A lazy weekend

We had a pretty lazy Sunday today (or at least SOME of us did... Rob and Evy both had 2.5 hour naps this morning while I cleaned the basement - good timezzz, I know). And my reward? Finding a whole bunch of mouse crap. Bless their fuzzy hearts. Once I was done my re-organizing, I left them a 'special' and 'nutritious' treat with a magical ingredient called 'warfarin'. I hope they like it!

In less macabre news, yesterday was busy busy! I shopped 'til I dropped at the St Lukes Xmas Bazaar (great knitted treasures for babies and grown-ups who happen to love knitted stuff). After enjoying my festive tea there, I headed over to work, where the Auxiliary was hosting a bazaar. While not quite as fancy as the St Lukes Bazaar, I did have the enviable opportunity to feed an old man his ice cream. I was there selling raffle tickets, and I'm not sure how I ended up feeding the infirm, but after 10 months of slopping food into Evy's mouth, I was a pro. Hey, at least I didn't have to change any depends... small mercies, ya' know?

Of course, after a full weekend of shopping, slopping, and poisoning small animals, I realized that I don't have any new photos to share, so you'll have to be happy with these ones from last weekend:

Madam 'E' the dog walker shows Kizzy who's boss

C'mon puppy, whether you want to or not!

And, as part of me M2M Campaign to convince Lee & Chris to move to Millbrook, here are a few more photos of our fabulous village.

Ladybugs on a cedar tree in the conservation area
(Ok, I know Ladybugs are not exclusive to Millbrook, but ours are BETTER and are definitely worth moving to Millbrook for).

And just another beautiful day on ye olde' pond

I hope everyone had a good weekend - Happy '40 days 'til Christmas' Day!

Swarm of geese

A gaggle of hundreds of canada geese landed on the pond this morning and I took a few movies and pictures because it was so cool. People complain about geese, but I actually like that they pass through on their way south. I picture them waving bye to their polar bear friends way up north, and then starting the long journey with a pit stop in Millbrook. Honk honk!

This amount of air traffic and noise lasted about five minutes! Millbrook rush hour!

Click here for Goose Movie 1

Click here for Goose Movie 2

Catchin' up

I finally took these pics, taken on Hallowe'en, off the camera this morning, so here are a few belated shots for your enjoyment.

As part of my campaign to get Lee and Chris to move to Millbrook (the M2M Campaign as I call it) I've been taking pictures of the village looking lovely. Here are a few from our backyard:

Autumnal sky and spooky clouds

The old School (now Library and Family Centre)

And, an example of the fine homes in the vicinity!

We also went a visitin' on Hallowe'en and stopped at Great Granny's house to show off the little poodle:

Granny, in turn, showed off her gorgeous ornamental cabbages at the front of her house. Evy was loving them:

"Hey, these cabbages are bigger than me!"

"Yes, momma, I'll sit here and be cute for 1 second only"

"Now Evy, you can't eat them!"

All is well here. Rob's gone on a 'mannymoon' (the man-honeymoon) with his friends Greg and Dennis and gets back late Tuesday night, so I'm flying solo for a few days.

And little Madam and I have been fighting off what I have dubbed the 'swine cold'. It's got all of the torment of the swine flu, but without the aches and fever. Evy has developed a cough, and thanks to all of the hysterical media coverage, I'm now going in to her room at night to make sure she's still darn' well breathing. Honestly, it's the FLU! That said, I've made the decision that we will go and get vaccinated. The flu season goes on for many more months, and I'm not prepared to worry myself to death every time she gets a snotty nose.

It's a gorgeous sunny day here, so we're going outside to enjoy it! Happy November, everyone!