It Begins

It's Bagpipe Season.

Our Easter

Knit up a few easter eggs...

add a felted basket made by the Nana...

Add a note from the easter bunny..

And you have one very excited little girl!

Oh the utter glee that took over our house. Coffee and tea were not even close to being started and we were out the door.

Thank goodness the weather held off. It had rained and hailed the day before, so I...I mean the easter bunny wrapped the eggs in foil.

Izzie found all 5 of her eggs, but found one all by herself.

Do you see the egg?

And all to soon we were all done. All to soon for Izzie, not for the rest of us. We needed caffeine!

So we headed inside where I had set out the easter presents from our extended family. Everyone wanted to shower Izzie in easter love. The rest of the day passed in a sugar induced haze.

Her eggs and basket now sit on our nature table.

And we have all re-read that card to her about a gazillion times now.

Not bad for her first easter egg hunt!

Sunshine

The sun has been shining for a few days now, and we just can't get enough of it. All of us, including the cats!

Our snow is almost completely gone. So much that Izzie and I went to the park today. And stayed for a while! Oh it was glorious. Then we headed home....ran over a broken beer bottle and got a flat tire. And then I stepped in dog poop while walking home. But since today is baking day it turned into a great day with delicious homemade pizza and apple crisp. Nom!

Link time!

Trying to get someone to watch this movie with me. Anyone? Anyone? Oh, and to drink French red wine while we do...

I used to be a theatre geek. I would perform a 3 hour show (sometimes as the lead, sometimes not.) for two weeks and be so wiped and gross by the end of it. This just blows my mind. Never mind the audience, what about the actors?

I want to try this recipe...and this one.

Everybody else seems to be talking about this video, so I will too.

My dream kitchen.

I have been looking for a new purse for a long, long time. I could never afford this or have the patience to make it, but a girl can dream.

Because of my friend C, I am now addicted to the show Bones. Nards.

And lastly, tomorrow is St. Patricks Day. Here's a few tunes to get you through.

Dresses

It's almost that time of year again. Yup, wedding season will soon be upon us. And this season both Izzie and I have been called upon. I will be a Matron of Honour (sob! I can't be called a maid anymore) and Izzie will be a Flower Girl with her cousin W.

Last week I went to pick out my dress. And anyone who truly knows me knows that shopping for clothes is a special level of hell for me. Flat butt, round tummy, bodacious tah-tahs. It's not fun. But the lovely bride, she let every bridesmaid(matron) pick out her own dress. Now that is an awesome bride if you ask me!

Then today, we went flower girl dress shopping. Little girl dresses! Bliss. Here are the highlights:

So regal looking, then you notice the purple and green socks poking out from the bottom.

Just so sweet! This is the colour that B. the bride is looking for. Goes so well with Izzie's complexion if I do say so myself.

And this is when it started to go down hill. In the form of Daddy-hold-my-hand-while-I-climb-up-and-down-and-Mommy-tries-to-make-sure-that-I-don't-rip-the-dress.

Who cares if we don't end up getting any of these dresses. Just going and trying them on with my little one was fun enough!

Travelling Toddler

While driving to and from the US last weekend, Phil and I had an education. How To Entertain Your Exhausted Toddler Because She Doesn't Want To Sleep and She Hasn't Slept For 8 Hours Straight.

Ouch.
None of us are used to travelling in cars, which could be the reason Izzie was unable to fall asleep around her normal nap time. But we tried everything, and I mean everything. Including stopping for over an hour at a mall so she could play in the indoor playground. Surely that would tire her out? Normally, yes. But alas....
Feeding the backseat beast seemed to appease her. Playing with puzzles (ugh, puzzles while travelling) and reading stories over and over again also helped. And then, once the sun had set after the 8th hour of being awake, our backseat beast would quietly slip into slumber. We would sigh with relief....and then reach our destination 10 - 30 minutes later.

Moving on to my purpose of telling you this. Yesterday, Izzie, and I went to the Museum for some fun away from the house. Along came my friend and Izzie's Auntie. And her car. We strapped Izzie in and away we went.

Fun was had, slides were slid, stairs were climbed and we called it a day. Plunked Izzie into the seat and headed home. Two minutes into the drive, we look back....

Seriously?!

Cousins

Izzie's rules of getting to know your cousin.

Sit at the same table,
and play it cool.

Find a common interest,
even if it's only for a second.

Play a game of hide and seek,
and find your cousin. Points are lost for losing interest and leaving your cousin unfound.

Go for walks and dress appropriately.

Have a tea party.

And watch a show. Even if it stuns you slightly.

Greetings from the U.S of A. We're here visiting Phil's sibling and Izzie's cousin. (Also my siblings in law and my niece.) Happy American Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good weekend!

The last few weeks have been chilly, windy and overcast...but not the last few days! Imagine my delight when I awoke to sunny, sunny skies. I raced to the computer to check the weather...11 degrees Celsius? Seriously? SWEET!

Off to the park we went (I've avoided going to the park while it was cold and windy. Nothing like being at the park for two minutes then needing to leave because you can't feel your hands anymore.) and I finally remembered to bring my camera. I took many, many pictures so settle back and enjoy!

I was surprised that we were the only ones there. Come on people, the sun is out!

Full out run towards the slide.

Weeeeeee!

When she pushed off here, I think she was annoyed that I wasn't waiting at the bottom. Sorry peanut, but the sounds you made were priceless.

Done with the slide, time for other things.

Run away from mommy time!

HA! Love this.

I'm not a huge fan of the climbing, her boots get slippery from the park dust, but you tell her she shouldn't do something and see how far you get.

SWING!

SWINGER!

It looks like it's going to be another beautiful day here. I'm so thankful that we can enjoy the park a little more before the snow flies and temperature plummets.

Halloween is All About Recycling!

It's Halloween, and you know what that means....costume buying time. And I will admit that I had a hard time convincing myself that I should buy a new costume since I was pretty certain that we would only make it to a handful of houses before Izzie hit the "walking-and-new-people" wall.

Last year Izzie was a puppy dog and in a spotted snowsuit. Perfect for our chilly northern October weather. So perfect, that we decided to recycle! I knitted up some cow ears and a cow tail, sewed them on and we were in business.

Getting ready.

Cow tights are a must.

Leaving with a make-up-ed nose and refusing to put her hat on.

Getting some help down the stairs.

First house. (Can you see the tail?) She was shy until the candy hit the bottom of her bag. And then.....

All smiles!

She didn't last for long, so we headed home after 20 minutes.

The aftermath. She loooooves Cheezies.

And now she's full of junk food and beans! Way past her bedtime with no end in sight. Hope all of you are having and have had a wonderful Halloween.

Carving a Pumpkin Toddler Style

Last Halloween I was so behind with my planning that I purchased our pumpkin the night before and carved it by myself. I felt like I'd jilted Izzie out of a super fun and messy time that she would have loved. Well, I swore to myself, not this year. We bought our pumpkin from a pumpkin farm a week ahead...the following is what happened.

First incision complete. Toddler interference run by the Daddy.

I thought giving her a spoon would ease her into it, she was confused.

Interested and still confused as to why I am pulling things out of the orange ball.

Daddy tries to get her to touch the pumpkin guts. Yes, that is what he called it.

Weirded out by said pumpkin guts.

Peering inside and...

Pointing to either the guts or something she'd like us to buy from the grocery store. Who knows.

And she's done. Mommy is much more interesting since she has the picture box. Did I cause irreparable damage to her by denying her her first Halloween???