Farewell Hair

He was the most patient, charming little hair-cut-ee in the history of children's haircuts.  Right away he found something in common with his stylist = animals.  See her kitty pictures? Just try stopping him talking after he found out she had a cat.

Luke's first professional haircut.

Decorating the Womb

little hands

it was hard to get a profile shot because baby kept looking at the camera.

These ultrasound photos are almost two months old, but I finally scanned them in and thought they'd illustrate a point.  The point is:  my womb is a tight fit for this baby!  See how his/her little legs are all scrunched up?  I know I don't look big, folks, but this baby is just as big as s/he should be and my uterus is measuring right on track and I feel just as pregnant as the woman who looks like she can't touch her fingertips around her belly at 27 weeks.

The most interesting sensation so far has been the one just as I'm falling asleep at night.  I am certain, in those moments when I feel dizzy from all the baby's tumbling, that this baby is redecorating the womb.  Maybe we have an interior designer on our hands.  There's paint rollers going up and down.  There's nails being hammered into the walls for newly framed photos.  There's furniture getting pushed out of the way, and almost inevitably my bladder is in the little one's way and before the decorating is complete I have to make a trip to the bathroom.  I know nothing about fung shue ( I probably didn't even spell that right), but this kid's got a big job trying to decorate in such a tight space.

Living in Manitoba ain't so bad.

This morning Adeline had us over and before heading out to play in the snow and try out her new snow shoes she fed us delicious cheese biscuits with honey and oranges from California!  I nearly fell asleep in her rocking chair with my cup of tea, but after getting out and making snow angels, digging and climbing through a tunnel (a first for me!), and trying out her snow shoes (also a first), we were all rosy cheeked and hungry for another meal.

A Drift to Remember

Luke drew these whales this morning.  I was really impressed with their resemblance to actual whales, and sad that they were drawn on a white board and not on a piece of paper to put in his scrapbook...(um, does he actually have a scrapbook? -no.  But maybe someday...)

We have friends over to pass the January time.

Today was finally mild enough to go outside.  So into the backyard we went!  After Derek scraped off the deck, that is.

I don't know if you can tell how HIGH up Luke is on that drift.  He's above the cold frame that I left in my vegetable box, and at about the same height as the top of our compost bin = 4ft!  That drift is deep!

You may look at this picture and think it's cute until you see the next one...then you'll think I'm a terrible mother.

Yep, he lost his boot in that big drift and I didn't notice until he had run across the entire backyard in his stockinged foot.

But I redeemed myself by digging it out for him.  That's what Mom is for, right?

This is what I was doing while Luke was losing his boot.

Today was sunny and frigid. I hate to say it, but these clouds might be welcome.

Tonight

•  
• -29°C
•  

Sun

• -3°C
•  windchill -35 in the morning
•  

Mon

• -12°C
• -10°C
•  

Tue

• -5°C
• -18°C
•  

Wed

• -5°C
• -11°C
•  

Thu

• -7°C
• -17°C
•  

Fri

• -7°C
• -13°C

I never have to do my hair again!

Our empty day.

Luke's big boy bed is complete - handles and all!  Doesn't it look sharp?

We went out and bought yarn.  I need a new toque, and there's a sweater/shawl I want to try with this blue stuff.  I loved the brown but couldn't make myself buy something so...drab, especially this time of year.  So blue it is.

click on this photo to see the yarn up close.  It's got amazing little strings and textures in it.  I just love it!

Cheese thief.  We made pizza and black bean salad and I ate and ate and ate because it was all TOO delicious.  Then I ate Tums.

Too cold to go outside. Don't want to stay in.

I think my theme for the last few weeks has been food.  And I have to admit, now that our company for tonight has cancelled due to the flu, I almost don't know what to do with myself.  I got really depressed this morning when I walked into my dirty bathroom and thought, "Well, I don't have to clean this today because nobody's gonna care or notice if my mirror is speckled."  Wow.  Am I sad or what?  I need a hobby...other than cooking and hosting!

I ordered some books from the library but apparently they're very popular and I'm on a waiting list.  They are the books by Pseudonymous Bosch.  My Mom recommended them and I'm looking forward to them, but for now I've read through all my favorite series on the shelf and am stuck in hibernation mode without a book!  Tragedy.

The other hobby that I could engage in is, of course, crocheting.  But I need some inspiration.  Some new yarn.  Something.  So here it is, a Wednesday, 10am, and I'm still in my pajamas looking at an entirely free day...I suppose I should be excited and plan something fun and relaxing and fresh!?  Really I just want to go back to bed.  Ideas people. I need ideas.

Enough is a feast

I don't have the type of memory that can draw up adages, phrases, or memories at short notice.  It takes a lot of work for my brain to recall things I've learned...unless I get a chance to use them frequently.  One of the phrases that has stuck with me for years, and to which I've grown very fond, is an old Indian proverb that says, "Enough is a feast".  I have had this phrase posted in my kitchen in most of our homes to remind me that my Mennonite habit of over-preparing food is unnecessary, and to remind me that sometimes simpler is better, and less is more.

I consider one of my gifts to be hosting.  I love having people over, feeding them, giving them clean towels and letting them use my conditioner and toothpaste.  But mostly I love feeding people.  Especially hungry people.  It's just so rewarding to see hungry people eat.  I realized the other day that I consider certain foods to be "company food" and others to be more casual, fly by the seat of your pants, make-it-up-as-you-go kind of meals.

One of my favorite meals to serve company is pulled pork.  Then of course there's chicken enchiladas, chicken divan, BBQ hamburgers, and my favorite potato soup with fresh rolls.  We always end up with LOTS of leftovers, and all kinds of tasty side-dishes.  But the quick and easy meals that we make often, which I often enjoy more, are not as pretty and don't usually have side dishes.  They are: sausage and beans, fried burritos, grilled cheese and tomato soup, macaroni and cheese with hot dogs, chicken alfredo pizza, fried eggs and hash browns, and BLT's.

Every now and then I wonder if my company wouldn't prefer one of my more standard, casual, weeknight meals.  And every now and then (like last night) I am reminded that Enough Is A Feast, when we wipe the pot of sausage and beans clean with our zwiebach and then sit back and rub our bellies, sighing with content.  Perhaps it means giving more thought to foods that compliment one another, and simple additions (like a glass of wine, or bread dipped in oil and vinegar) instead of tossing salads and vegetables into the mix willy nilly.  Perhaps I will spend more time shopping for more nutritious main courses that need/beg very few "sides".  Perhaps I will totally overhaul my idea of what an abundant dinner table looks like.  But here I go...  Forth into hosting with a fresh resolve to cook as though I believe, "Enough is a feast".

Like father, like son....Like son, like father

Luke is Derek's biggest (most adoring) fan.  Derek is, by far, Luke's most attentive admirer.  The combination is a very special relationship in which, on any given day, you may find one or the other of them copying eachother's habits and actions including, but not limited to: picking onions out of the casserole, doing mad dog in nothing but a towel, rubbing the back of the spoon across their lips to get all the yogurt off, pulling on their bangs, stealing grated cheese off the counter where it's waiting to be used in a recipe, and pestering me to read their favorite book.  I love being a witness.

what we woke up to on a friday & two's tragedy, in green.

When we got up this morning we were greeted with a fresh dump of snow, and great big beautiful flakes falling from the sky.  I love to watch the snow fall, but I'm seriously beginning to miss the sun!  Ironically, I had a dream last night that Derek sold our snowblower...in January.  How dumb would you have to get to sell your snowblower in January - in Manitoba?!

Luke's heartbreak.  The playdough was left out overnight with a very interesting scene enacted.  This morning we not only woke up to snow, but a very very crusty pile of playdough trampled by teenage mutant ninja turtles.  J'mark would be proud...of the turtles, not the irresponsibility of wasting a pile of perfectly good green playdough.

I got to sample a cupcake of the Far from disaster cake this morning and it was good.  Like, really good.  Like, go and make it right away for yourself to eat because I'm not sharing mine - good.

Luke has decided cutting is the new "hard work" he will excel at.  When it's been too quiet for too long and I go to check on him, I usually find him at his desk in his bedroom hacking away at paper.  When I ask how it's going he responds light-heartedly, "Good.  I'm just working hard at my desk."

Far from Disaster Cake

Just in case you ever need to know: 1kg =2.2lb, 16 oz = 1lb., so 2.2kg = 16oz....appx.  For the record, I did not figure this out on my own.  I had to call my Dad and he had to get out the calculator and with our combined brain power we decided it would be best if I just started splitting the package of chips in half until I had 16 pieces.  Really accurate?  We'll let the cake tasters decide how important that was.

Far From Disaster Cake.  We still have half an hour on the clock before we can take it out of the oven.  But the batter was definitely a hit.

Bedding and a Belly

Strangers don't ask me if I'm pregnant.  I think they're still afraid that I might answer, "No, I'm just fat."  But my belly is beginning to match my bum, which I think gives me a more balanced figure (say: figger...it's way more fun).  I like being pregnant once the nausea has gone!  25 weeks, folks.

These photos are doing double duty.  I bought new bedding in Grand Forks last weekend and here it is....the most "made up" bed we've ever had.  I love it.  I also bought a mattress pad (which you can't see in the photos, obviously), and the lamp for my side of the bed which is for when the baby's born and I have to get up to do night-time feedings.  I never used a lamp to feed Luke, but sometimes the dark can get lonely, so....

Cheap, good fun

For $1.50, we got all these playdough supplies from MCC this morning.  Luke has hardly stopped to eat since we spread them out on the table.  My playdough recipe is easy enough that we intend to make all our favorite colors - and practically free!

This is our house last week one evening when we had company for dinner.  We lit candles, turned on twinkle lights, and since I made a casserole, dinner was in the oven and dishes were all cleaned up before company even arrived!

We've had such nice visits with friends, and so enjoyed sharing our table and home the last few weeks that it feels silly not to have posted about those times more.  With my appetite back and energy on the upswing, our house is the place to be for dinner these days.  Come on by!  Here's the menu for the next few days:

Tue: Pizza and ceasar salad
Wed: date night! eating out
Thur: chuck roast and mashed potatoes
Fri: chicken enchiladas and wild rice
Sat: potato cheddar soup and touch of grace biscuits (from orangette)
Sun: leftovers
Mon: tacos
Tue: BLTs
Wed: salmon and chicken breasts, with roast veggies

and on the miscellaneous list of things to cook:
blueberry muffins
far from disaster cake (also from orangette)
fritters (will be a first for me!)
chex party mix
playdough!

Resolutions, Lists, Stories and Dreams

A story about a story:
Laura:  Oh Linus, you naughty dog *sigh*
Luke: What did Linus do?
Laura: He shredded some kleenex and made a mess.
Luke:  Is it tattered to shreds?
Laura: Yep.  Tattered to shreds.
Luke: Droofus's wings were tattered to shreds in the storm, and his neck was twisted around by the wind.
Laura: You've been reading Bill Pete!
Luke: I've been reading Pill Bete.
...........................................................
Luke the narrator, example one:
Luke aloud: The little boy says, "Oh no I am going to fall in the ocean!"
he makes the little wooden doll fall off the table
Luke aloud: The little girls says, "Do you want help little boy?  Are there whales down there?" 
"No" says the little boy, "I like to swim in the ocean with the whales.  Just leave me here."
...........................................................
example two:
Luke aloud: "Hello" says McQueen, "would you like to race?" 
"Yes" says McKing, and they drive and drive and drive.  "I am tired" says McQueen.  "Should we take a hot chocolate break, McKing?" 
"That is a wonderful idea.  Let's go sit at the kitchen table," says McKing.
and Luke takes his cars to the table and insists his cars would like a hot beverage.
............................................................

I've done such a terrible job of telling stories on this blog lately.  I've gotten some photos up, but even those have been few and far between.  I can blame some of it on being extremely uncomfortable and pregnant, but only the last five months or so.  Before that I guess my "slacking" was due in part to a busy schedule (made by me), and some depression (of my own) and perhaps a deep desire for change...but not knowing what that might look like, I just meandered and putzed.  Some very important changes have since begun for us (a pregnancy!), and others must still be shaped and dreamed up.

When I thought of coming home to Manitoba after two beautiful weeks in California with my family my sad, recurring thought was, "I can't get depressed.  I have to have a project!"  My brain was on stand-by while we were there.  It was just so lovely to live from nap to nap, visit to visit, meal to meal.  But now that I'm home I've had much more time to think about what to do to keep life feeling fresh and exciting. I am a perpetual list-maker, so bear with me as I divide these goals into lists.


General List of Things to Do:

• paint the dresser...white?  light blue?
• get new bedding for Derek and me (ours was a wedding gift.  The first year we had the light pink corduroy duvet cover I spilled hot chocolate on it and never got the stain out.  I've since dyed it blue to try to cover the stains...unsuccessfully, and reinforced the button holes...it's now it's just time for a new blanket)
• Choose and frame beach themed prints for our bedroom
• re-paint the green in the basement (we're not liking the green)
• organize bedroom closet (buy shelves?)
• Finish painting Luke's bedframe (just drawer fronts to go...and new handles)
• build shelves in the storage room and laundry room
• cook nice dinners and snacks for my family now that I've got the energy and the appetite back
• clean all the door knobs and switches...strange how that needs to be done so often with a two year old.
• organize the office
• update my website and the gallery photos hanging in Pembina Hills Art Centre

List of Things to Do for baby:

• sew shoes
• crochet some tiny sweaters
• begin a memory book with ultrasound pictures, belly pictures, stories, family history, etc.

List of Things to Do on a Daily Basis:

• shower (I know that sounds easy, but it's uncommonly hard to find the time!)
• stay on top of dishes
• take photos
• tell stories on the blog, still not sure if this is going to be daily, weekly?  I need a goal.

List of Dreams for the Garden:

• an arbor with a swing in the SE corner
• a fence around the garden so my dog will stop eating my fruits and veggies!
• move raspberries to S side of garden
• build one more 4x4 box
• plant LOTS of carrots 
• plan long-term shrubs for last year's new flowerbeds
• rotatill a flowerbed on N side of lawn in full sun just for sweet peas and roses
• a swingset for Luke (and monkey number 2)
• I'm not going to grow from seed indoors this year...just going to buy veggies already started.  I think it'll be easier to handle this project.

List of Dreams with Derek:

• more school for Derek...PhD
• more school for Laura...art degree/photography?
• setting new goals for paying off debt
• where our kids will get their education...homeschooling or public school/ where will we live?
• pursuing outdoor winter hobbies
• goals for our friendships with other adults
• goals for our church involvement

And that's all for now.  I guess I'll be attempting to blog more regularly in the next fifteen weeks or so before baby comes.  So hopefully we will all begin to see the fruits of my list-making.

2011, a year to catch up?

Apparently 2011 is not a year for me to be on top of things.  I have left these photos for nearly TWO WEEKS!  But they are finally  here for you to get a tiny idea of what our vacation in California was like.  Sadly I did not get a photo of the delicious clam chowder in a bread bowl which I got to enjoy TWICE!  Mmmmm. It's good not puking anymore.  

The last two pictures are from the day after we got home.  Derek got to test out his new mad bomber hat and Luke was his supervisor while he blew the driveway clear.  We had lots of blowing snow the week after we got home, which was icky.  We stayed inside as much as possible - which was the opposite of our time in California.  Even though it rained all but four (?) days while we were there (Shafter got a year's worth of rain in the two weeks we were there!), we spent as much time as possible outside splashing in puddles, tromping through rotten apples, falling and swallowing half the ocean, and feeding Grammy and Grandpa's doves.

men and their tools.

our awesome hotel on the ocean

Just before Luke drank half the ocean.

in the apples