The Brands go to Caslan

Has anyone read the youth novel "The Watsons go to Birmingham"? Totally unrelated to the content of this post, but the title of the post reminded me of the book title. Anyway, "the watsons" is a HILARIOUS book. I strongly suggest finding it at your local library. Be prepared for out-loud guffaws, chortles, snickers and chuckles. It is seriously amusing and funny.

So, our friends Steve, Jen, Juliana and Evan Brand came to visit on Saturday and Sunday. We met them while we lived in Calgary and were in the same 'small group' at church. They moved to Lloydminster a while ago. I think it is funny that they live a 3 hr drive from us, but are in the same phone book as us. (A rather small phone book at that!)

I took the kids for a short visit earlier in the month while Ryan was in Cold Lake. Since that visit, Ethan has become very mobile, and Evelyn has started to use much more complex sentences. She also has started saying "I do it!" and is becoming more independent. She saw Casey dress himself and brush his own teeth last week, and has decided to do that stuff too. She really tries to get her clothes on properly, but they usually end up backwards, or both legs are in one pant leg, or (this was funny) she'll put both legs in one leg of her panties, and pull them up around her waist like a belt. What is funny is that she did not seem to notice that anything was amiss.

So, they arrived around lunch time. Evelyn was so excited and started yelling "Hi 'Juwie-jana" as soon as she saw their van. Never mind that we were inside with the doors and windows closed. She was determined to give an enthusiastic welcome.

After lunch, we decided to forgo the girls naps and visit a "Harvest Fair" in the nearby hamlet of Hylo. The girls spent a good time petting goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, ponies, a calf, and even some tiny baby pigs at the petting farm. They also held a 'pig catch'. For an entrance fee of $2, you bought the chance to chase a herd small pigs around a large corral with a bunch of other people. The goal is to catch one of the pigs. Here is the great part: You catch it, you keep it! I had never heard of such an event before. They started out with the 2&3 yr olds. They mostly followed the pigs around and tried to pet them. Then, the 4&5's gave it a try. One little boy actually caught one of the pigs! We did not stay for the rest of the age groups, but I think we will enter Evelyn to give it a try next year. I heard that the trick is to catch the pigs back leg and lift it up that way. They will just wiggle away if you try to hold their belly.

That afternoon and evening, the girls played really well together with Evelyn's new Doll house from her Nana. They set up house and moved the baby around in the stroller and put it in the little swing. They did some puzzles, coloured some pictures, and watched their parents play Wii bowling (I came in last place). After the kiddies were in bed, we played the bean game and hit the hay.

On Sunday, before we had to leave for church, Evelyn had one of the biggest meltdowns she has had in a long time. She had closed the door on Juliana's face and needed to apologize. I think she was feeling really guilty and she just lost it. About 15 min later, she had calmed down enough to breath and was able to say sorry and share a hug with her friend.

Evelyn was very excited to introduce Juliana to her friend Elizabeth. The three of them had a good time in Sunday School. Then, back to our house for a spagetti lunch, a few family and group pictures, and time to say good bye.

It was a fun visit.

Ryan started back at work yesterday and the kids start school on Tuesday. His co-worker Melissa is staying with us until her rental house has its renos completed. Evelyn calls her "Miss. Melissa" which sounds more like "Missmissa". We have tried to have her address Ryan's co-workers in a semi-formal way because she will be a student at the school in a few years, and they will be her teachers.

Sahota's come to visit and My Day Off!

Our friends Bettina and Shane Sahota came up for a visit with their kids Casey and Lillian on Friday night.

It was a nice visit and Evelyn seemed to really enjoy having a playmate in Casey.

Lillian seemed to enjoy the jolly jumper. She looks so much older when she is in it!

After the kids went to bed, the adults played a Settlers of Catan expansion called knights and cities. Bettina, Shane and Ryan kicked my butt. I realized near the end of the game that the way to win it was to get as many knights as possible and as many cities as you could. Perhaps this explains the title of the expansion... It was fun (once I got the hang of it).

On Saturday, while the kids were napping, Ryan and I taught them 'the bean game' (correctly known as Bonanza). That turned out to be a close game. I will try to remember to bring it to the lake next summer - or to Victoria in October!

Once the kids were all up, we took them to the park at the school where they played hard for about half and hour, took some family portraits, then we said our good byes.

I was nice to have visitors and show off our rural home. It is quiet, and perhaps a bit boring, but we really like it here!

Yesterday, I took our vehicle in for a big maintenance appointment. What I thought would be a 4 hr appt turned into a 7 hr appt. I spent the day getting my hair cut and browsing through just about every store in Lac La Biche. I was disappointed that the thrift store was closed for all of August. I had planned to spend a good hour in there. I had a leisurely lunch, went to a chiropractor appt, shopped a bit more, had some tea, and went to pick up the car. But wait! there is no car for me to pick up! They did not have a part that they needed to complete the maintenance and the car was undriveable in it's partially complete state. ERK! But, they gave me a courtesy car(a Ford Taurus), and I was home by 6 pm. I think I can pick our car up late on Wednesday or Thursday.

Overall, it was really nice to have such an extended time to poke around and do whatever I wanted. I can't remember the last time I was totally by myself for more than an hour.

Ryan had the kids all day and did very well. Ethan is now taking a bottle of enriched Rice milk at lunch, so he does not breastfeed from the time he wakes up, until Supper. I am liking the increased flexibility that is giving me. I plan to start subbing his supper feed for rice milk in the next month or so. That way, I will be able to work the day shift without having to pump for him. The evening shift will be a bit trickier because I will miss his bedtime feed.

So, Ryan is off to Calgary tomorrow morning and will return late on Friday. Yet another workshop. Our friends Jen and Steve and their kids Juliana and Evan will visit on the weekend from Lloydminster. And, Ryan's co-worker (and our friend) Melissa will be coming to stay with us on Sunday evening until her little house is ready to move into (some time in September).

So, check back in a few days for more pictures of our next visit!

Looking ahead

I just posted several posts from our adventures of the past 2 weeks. If you are just checking, look and read from the post "playdate" through to this one.

The past couple days have been intentionally low-key. Ryan took some pictures of Ethan and Evelyn playing in a laundry basket that turned out well. I made a deal with Evelyn that she could play outside after she cleaned her room and put all her puzzle pieces away. I was very impressed with her efforts. She put things where they belonged and tidied her puzzles really well. I like that she knows that everything has a place and can put things back.

We are looking forward to a visit from the Sahota's tomorrow night and Saturday. I hope the weather co-operates and we can visit Long Lake. Evelyn wants to play with the train set with Casey.

On Monday, I have to take the car in for a big maintenance that will take about 4 hrs. Ryan has offered to take the kids. I am VERY excited to have 4 hrs of puttering and window shopping and visiting the chiropractor without kids in tow.

On Wednesday, Ryan will be going to Calgary for another workshop. Thankfully, they are car-pooling so I don't have to drive him.

On Friday, Ryan gets home from Calgary, and we are expecting a visit from the Brands (Juliana's family).

Then, Ryan starts back at school and the next year begins! What happened to the summer?

Auntie Dawne Visits.

Ryan's sister Dawne saw that she had an empty few days in her work schedule and decided to fly out to visit and babysit the kids for our anniversary. Dawne has most of the pictures on her camera, so I'll have to post them later.

Evelyn loved playing with her Auntie. They had a great time while Ryan and I went on a 12 hr date to Edmonton. We went to the waterpark at West Ed Mall and rode the water slides and played in the wave pool. Then, we went to East Side Mario's for supper. 7 years has already gone. Wow!

The next day, we drove back to Edmonton and visited Chuck E Cheese for lunch. Evelyn was SO excited to "Ride the Bob the Builder" and "Ride the Merry-go-Round" and "catch a popcorn" (one of the games). She had a blast. After lunch and a bit of shopping, we dropped Dawne off at the airport and drove home.

While Dawne was here, Ethan made some big developments. He has figured out how to pull himself to standing at the coffee table, and he is getting even faster at commando crawling. He has started to pull his knees under him and is rocking on his hands and knees too. He also started drinking dilute apple juice from a bottle and is pretty much weaned from his lunch time nurse. Now, he drinks 4-6 oz of 'juice' at lunch instead of breastfeeding. I am going to try rice milk soon. He also is getting better at grabbing cheerios and is starting to use a pincer grip.

I love this picture of the two of them. Evelyn loves to give Ethan hugs.

Fish Hatchery

While Ryan was in his workshop, I had to keep the kids occupied in Cold Lake. I had noticed a sign for the fish hatchery on the drive there, and thought a tour might be fun. So, I checked out of the hotel around 10 am and drove the 20 km to the hatchery. Of course, the kids (who has slept very poorly) fell asleep on the drive. So, I let them sleep and read a book while they slept in the parking lot of the hatchery. After about an hour, they woke up and were refreshed and ready to explore.

The hatchery supplies trout and wall-eye to the thousands of land locked lakes of Alberta. They harvest the eggs in the wild, and bring them to their facility to grow. The lady who gave the tour was very knowledgeable. She said that they have a 60% survival rate for their eggs compared to about 1% in the wild. She also said that for every dollar spent by the province on the hatchery, $35 is made in sport fishing related activities, equipment and licenses.

Some of the Kindergarten classes that had visited over the years sent really neat thank-you crafts. One was a mobile of fish made from 2 CD's and some paper. Another used 1 Ltr containers that they painted on the inside and cut out tails from the ends. I took some pics because I thought they would be fun crafts to try.

When we visited, all the eggs had hatched and the last of the baby fish were maturing. We were encouraged to handle some of the fish. Evelyn loved to catch the smallest ones in a little net. We also got to feed some of the bigger fish and touch some mature Rainbow trout.

Evelyn has been reading "A Fish out of Water" with us and called the baby fish "Otto" like the fish in the book. When we fed the fish, she was bit concerned that we feed them 'a little, but not a lot' so they would not grow and grow and grow like 'Otto' does. It was pretty cute.

After the Hatchery, we had a late lunch, shopped a bit, then picked up Ryan and drove to the Edmonton Airport (about 3 - 3 1/2 hrs away) to pick up Ryan's sister Dawne.

We go visiting

After a day of rest on Wednesday, we (the kids and I) drove to Lloydminster to visit Evelyn's good friend Juliana, her brother Evan, and her Mom Jennifer. We made the drive in 2 hrs and 45 min and arrived around 10 am. The girls enjoyed their time together. They did a lot of puzzles and played with their brothers. After lunch, everyone but Evelyn had a nap (she slept in the car on the way there) and I got a migraine complete with nausea, light and noise sensitivity. I think it was just from driving. Anyway, I laid down for a bit and took some Tylenol and Advil. The Advil really helped and I was ready to join the world again around 2:30.

After Juliana woke up, the girls did some much anticipated and much enjoyed puddle stomping. When we visited in March, the snow was melting and it was very mild. The girls had a blast splashing in the slushy run off. They both remembered and wanted to do it again. Luckily, the weather complied and the day we visited was wet and perfect for puddles.

The boys played together in their own way too. They both tried to conquer and possess a little chair. Over all, Ethan was the more aggressive boy and won that little battle ;-) They also did a bit of parallel play and Ethan played with a doll by hitting it on the head with another toy!

We drove to Cold Lake (about 90 min from Lloydminster) and met Ryan for dinner. We decided to got to Humpty's for dinner. As we pulled in, Evelyn started reciting "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a fall". Ryan and I looked at each other with a questioning look to say "Have you taught her that?" Neither of us remembers ever reading or reciting that verse to her. I think one of the baby Einsteins recites it, but does not show the picture of Humpty. There is also a Dora episode that shows Humpty, but does not say the verse. So, somehow Evelyn matched the verse and the picture of an Egg on a wall to go together. Kids minds are such sponges!

So, we spent the night with Ryan in his hotel room. Evelyn was awake until 10:30 at least. Ethan was up every 2 hrs. They both woke up at about 7 am. It was a GREAT night :-P

Playdate

Lots has been going on, I just have not had time to blog about it. When I have had time, I have not felt like doing it because I have let it go so long, so I let it go a bit longer... Anyway, I have psyched myself up, organized my thoughts a bit, narrowed down my pics to a manageable amount... I am not up to tackling all the video right now. I think I will post several smaller posts for each event - that seems more manageable.

Okay, so since we dropped Tim off on Aug 3rd, we had a couple days at home, then I drove Ryan to Cold Lake on Aug 6th for a workshop on community building. We came back home and Evelyn hosted her first 'playdate' on Tuesday, Aug 7th.

I have always thought making a date to play was kind of hokey. However, there are no little neighbor kids to play with, so playing with peers has to be planned. We had Elizabeth and her Mom Jennifer over. Elizabeth is turning 3 next week. They play together at church every week and Elizabeth is the highlight of church for Evelyn. The girls played on the swing set and played dress up. The popular outfits were the cowboy hat and the fairy princess stuff. Evelyn did well with sharing until Elizabeth put the 'little people' animals in the 'wrong' stalls of the barn. (Evelyn is pretty particular about her barn and where things belong). We enjoyed a good ol' PB&J lunch, they played a bit more, then it was nap time and we said good bye. Evelyn really enjoyed herself and I hope to have them over again.

He is on the move!

We took Tim to the airport yesterday. I think he enjoyed his visit overall, but it was probably a bit boring for him.

We took our kite to the school on Wednesday and Ryan and Tim (and Evelyn) flew it. It was a perfect day for kite flying. Windy (Duh!) and comfortably warm. Ethan rode the little teeter totter for the first time and went down a slide (with mommy holding him). He loves having his big sister play with him.

Ethan has made some huge developmental strides the past few days. First, he started eating easily dissolved rice crackers, and then cheerios! He loves eating Cheerios. His whole face lights up when he sees them, then, he grabs at them with a raking motion and stuffs them in his mouth. This is usually finished with a big grin and a look of pride. He will squak to say "more mommy!".

Then, around Wednesday, Ethan started to really move on his belly. He has figured out how to drag himself forward on his belly and he is getting fast! He sees his desired target, and goes straight for it. We have to make sure we keep our gate closed across the stairs. We don't want him to discover those by accident! I will put him down on the floor across the living room from me with a box of toys to play with. I'll sit down on the couch and about 3 minutes later, Mr. Ethan will be grabbing my ankles and peeking up at me from under the coffee table! He has a huge smile and looks so proud of himself. He even 'came' when Ryan called to him this morning. After he went to Ryan, he asked Ethan "Are you proud of yourself?" and Ethan replied "Mmm Hmm!" We both looked at him, then each other, "Did you hear that?" Ryan asked him again, and he gave the same reply! He would not do it a third time when I asked him though. He is becoming a real PERSON! It is so cool to watch.

Evelyn went all day yesterday (we were out the whole day) without an accident. She stayed dry and used the public toilets consistently! Yah for Ella! She has also started to use longer sentences. We have trained her to say "May I have some ____ please?" and she can tell you she is 2 years old (though I am not sure she knows what that really means). Last night after we got home (around 10 pm) she put together about 70% of her Barney puzzle by herself. This puzzle is a 24 piece jigsaw puzzle. She looked at what was on the picture, then would pull out all the related pieces, then try to fit them together. I was so impressed by her reasoning skills.

She has started to hum the 'Danube Waltz' when she plays. It must be on a Baby Einstein or something, but she even gets the key change when it moves up in tone a bit. I'll try to get a video of it.

In the car yesterday, she studied (seriously studied) a page from one of her Sesame street books for about 30 min. It was a page showing a Doctor visit and all the stuff in the office. I love that she has such a good attention span.

Evelyn also cut another tooth this week. Her Left upper second molar. She is almost caught up now. Only 2 more teeth to go. (Both her lower second molars). She has been saying "teeth hurt" a lot and asks for medicine, but that is it for teething related complaints. (Ethan's teething seems to have gone into remission again).

This is Ryan and Tim playing Wii boxing. Apparently (according to Wired magazine, May 2007 issue) 30 min of Wii boxing burns 250 calories! That is better than 30 min of Aerobics (which only burns 242 calories) or 20 min of jogging (which only burns 198 calories)! Ryan gets tired after playing and can work up a sweat! Again, good job Nintendo for creating an active gaming system!

That's all folks!