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!

More from Auntie Em

Continuing on with my last post, Emily was here this weekend and took the cutest (CUTEST!) pictures of young Evelyn. Here you go: Enjoy! Thanks Emily! I hope I don't have to start paying you!

We had a very nice weekend and another great day today - it was 26 degrees! Summer! Crazy! Madam Evy was looking pretty darn cute in her little shirt and tiny shorts today... of course, I didn't take pictures - I forgot. I blame it on heatstroke after having my strollercize class this morning and running up hills in the sweltering temperatures! Bleh! I think we're back to 'spring' tomorrow, so, that should be nice.

Lookit this girl

This picture was taken last month by auntie Emily. It's one of my favourite pictures of Evelyn - I could stare at it for hours.

Thanks, Em, for taking yet another amazing photo. Evy is lucky to have her childhood documented by such a great photographer!

For Lee

For some reason, when Lee sees pictures of Evy wearing Charley and Sammy's hand-me-downs, it makes her all teary-eyed and nostalgic (even though Sam is only 4-months older than Evy!).

So, just for her, here is Miss Evy wearing a hand-me-down shirt. I'm pretty sure Lee can find a picture of Sam wearing this not too long ago, and it'll be fun to compare. It's WAY too big for Evy, but we're low on long-sleeved shirts, so, she's going with a 'baggy' look for now.

Here she is, looking pretty cute, with her new favourite toy - a toothbrush. Every time she sees me brushing me teeth, she's hypnofreakintized, so, I got her one. She luuuurves it. Man, kids are weird.

"I shall point to this knot on the floor that I'm trying to pick up"

"Wheeee, I love to brush my teefs!"

"Freeze!"

"Oh, mummy, stop taking pictures!"

"That's it, I'm outta here"

Standing tall

Madam Evy has decided that her favourite thing to do is stand. In fact, she refuses to bend at the waist if you try to get her to sit - it's kind of like trying to fold a piece of wood in half!

She's still not really trying to crawl, but, she DID try to walk yesterday. She was standing at her little play table (lent to us by Lise and Jarvis!) and suddenly decided that she'd like to get a toy that was on the floor a few feet away. So, before I could react, she started to take a step towards the toy. Of course, she fell immediately, but it was amazing to see her try to take her first steps! (One small step for a baby, one giant headache for mum who will soon be chasing her all over the place).

Here she is, playing with her lil' table. Doesn't she look SUPER proud of herself in the 2nd picture?:

That's all the news for now - we've been having a quiet week so far.

Happy Earth Day!

Fun times

We had a lovely weekend - spent most of yesterday outside in the sun watching daddy and friends put the floor down in the chicken coop (aka Rob's office). It looks BEAUTIFUL - they did an amazing job. So, hopefully Rob will be working out there pretty soon. He's been trying to get the last few things done for months, but alas, me and miss Evy are pretty demanding on his time. I know he's sooo happy to have the end in sight!

It's freeeezing cold again today (had some lovely hail/rain late this afternoon) but it was sunny on Saturday and Sunday. Here is miss Evy playing outside yesterday:

a cozy outdoor nest for the wee birdie

little smug smiley girl

On Saturday night we had a fabulous visit with the girls and their girls at Lise's house in Ajax. It was soooo much fun to get caught up with the ladies, and even though we stayed up WAY too late (I'm still not sure how I managed to keep my eyes open until 2am) the laughs were totally worth it. I'm still laughing thinking about some of the topics of conversation!

Here's some photos from the fun in Ajax:

Four little ladies on the couch
Evy, Jarvis, Felicity, Bernadette

Felicity and Evy have some tummy time

Bernie can't put down her book!

It must have been a real page-turner!

We're hoping to have a quiet week here. It looks like Evy is cutting 3 top teeth all at the same time, so her mood hasn't been great. She's still sleeping well though (a few lapses, but much improved on the whole) and we're keeping our fingers crossed that will continue. Ta ta for now!