Family Weekend at the Farm

It was family day weekend and we were invited to join my friend Torie at her family's farm and sugar bush. This was especially exciting because we went at this time last year and had a blast. It didn't disappoint, it was another weekend full of winter wonderfulness...

MOMENT: Terry and his ATV

Tavish grew quite fond of everyone at the farm last year and remembered what he did and with whom eagerly when it came up that we were invited to go again. It was Keva's first time there (unless you count last year when I was 6 months pregnant with her) and she fit right in. Tavish was keen to see and do it all ... with a special draw being to Terry (Torie's father) and especially to his ATV. In fact, an entire month after our visit, when packing up his toy ATV to take for brunch Tavish said: "I wish we had an ATV here. And Terry." When Terry offered Tavish a chance to "help him drive" last year, he made a friend for life...



FLASHBACK: Twice Makes a Tradition?

Family Day weekend last year at "Torie's farm" with more friends keeping us company for part of the weekend that included two other boys that Tavish played with. Here's a highlight reel from the sugar bush adventures 2012 style. Our camera was malfunctioning (fine, it was operator error due to a dead battery and full memory card), so these fine photos are courtesy of Jode and Torie. Thanks for capturing some great memories for us...

Bucket Loss

We started using a new car seat for Tavish in the new year because we knew that Keva (and her Mommy's arm) wouldn't last too much longer with her in the bucket car seat (she is moving into Tavish's seat). It made sense, especially since we had pretty much become accustomed to carrying her out of the seat rather than hauling her in it anyway. There was one disadvantage I'd forgotten though ...

MOMENT: Cart Concern

Right, grocery shopping. With the bucket car seat, I just plopped the baby secured to the bucket into the cart. Now, there was no special seat to keep her secure because she couldn't be trusted to sit securely on her own (this first shopping trip happened back on January 7th). A family has to eat, so I secured her with the seat belt, stuffed her upright with my winter coat, attached a toy, and was off to find food. It was a success. The bucket mourning period was short - the routine task of grocery shopping was more interesting with Keva's company because of it's absence. I've always enjoyed getting groceries with my kid (now kids), and with a face like this - who can blame me?

Valentine's Day

 Tavish enjoyed all of the valentine's he was given by his classmates this year. He also loved colouring hearts at school.

MOMENT: Skate Date

To start the official day of love, I sent Tavish to school with a lunch that included a heart shaped love note, melon cut into hearts, and a towel wrapping his warm food that was red and white hearts. Sure, he didn't realize the note was for him (he can't read yet after all), didn't seem to notice anything special about the shape of the melon, and saw the towel as being any ol' towel - but the extra love was sent. For Keva, we celebrated by skating the canal from one end to another with friends of ours. I guess Keva had two special valentines - Mommy who pushed the stroller, and Finlay who was pushed along side her by his Mommy.

Mommy & Keva on a skate date with Jessie & Finlay

There is no doubt that there is a whole lot of love to go around. Tom and I always say that no matter what, we can live on love. I sure do love this little family...

Love keeping us warm through the winter

Bix Neal

Back in the fall, Tavish was telling us about playing "bix neal" with a classmate named Arial, a new boy at school. Bix neal? We repeatedly sought clarification and came to believe he meant "big snail". Logically, we had to ask how it was played. Also logically, Tavish explained it the way any 3 year old would: "you run and "arr" and go "guuu" and run and yeah". Oh. Now, Arial also speaks Spanish, so maybe the game name was literally lost in translation? In chatting on the playground with Arial's Mom, she also had no guesses as to what "bix neal" was in Spanish nor in English. We even casually inquired with his teacher, who also had no idea what "bix neal" was. This was a sign. We needed to just accept "bix neal" for what it was ... a mysterious, but fun sounding game that pre-schoolers play to the confusion of adults...

MOMENT: "Bix Neal" returns

February 13th, several months after having not heard too much about "bix neal", Tavish excitedly tells us about the cookies they baked at school for the "bix neal tomorrow". My mind responded with a flurry of mental activity 'bix neal'? 'big snail'? no ... wait ...

Mommy: "Tavish, are the cookies for the Valentine's Day bake sale?"
Tavish: "Yeah, we made them for the bix neal for tomorrow and the elementary kids made stuff too!"

So, there you have it. These boys have been playing 'bake sale' on the playground. It is apparently common for the kids to 'bake' things in the little building and pass them to each other through the window and thus, you have a 'bix neal'.

Happy Valentine's Day!
We enjoyed our 'bix neal' cookies.

Rockin' Dos

Cute kids + Soap = Rockin' Siblings

MOMENT: Clean & Cute

The kids were given the gift of clean hair from Mommy and her creative washing ways...

Month 8

This month's photo was motivated by a gift Keva received from a long time friend of mine... not generally something I'd put her in... it's very girly, but also cute, fun, and was about to be too small. So, bring on tutu time!

MOMENT: Tutu Time

Keva was agreeable to the photos taken on our bed covered with a few white towels. I think the sequins were the tipping point between frustration and enjoyment. Our little ballerina was 8 months old on January 28th, 2013 with 8 teeth, functional rolling skills, solid sitting, and long hair (on top). It looked a little something like this:

Skater Boy

What would winter be without some skating on the canal and the introduction of a hockey stick?

Keva - the keeper of the chair device

Lacing up

He's off! 

MOMENT: Devices

We brought a folding chair to help Tavish with his skating. First, we offered him the back of the chair. He didn't move very far. We gave him the seat, it moved better, but was still unsatisfactory. The stroller seemed more promising, but Tavish eventually just stopped altogether. Hmm... so, we offered the chair again. "No, I think I'll just skate." And, he did. That was the last for the chair and our next time out - he was given a whole new device to skate with: a hockey stick!