Easter with the Sahota's

On Monday, we met Shane and Casey at West Edmonton Mall and took the kids to Galaxy Land. They had a great time. They went on the ferris wheel, train, car/helicopter ride, and carousel. We had lunch, and did a bit of shopping. Casey and Evelyn held each others hands while we walked through the mall. There were many "Awwhhh's!" and "Oh, look! How cute!" to be heard from the other shoppers. They really were very cute.



Back at the Sahota's, Evelyn and Casey played without getting into any trouble! This is a first!

Ethan and Lillian-Ruth also played well together. However, Ethan would try to 'hug' her and would knock her over in his attempt. His hugs look like he is leaning his back against her chest... I think we need to teach him how to hug face to face!

After the kids went to bed, we taught Bettina and Shane how to play "Ticket to Ride" then watched 'Enchanted'.

Both the kids slept quite well, so we were ready to go early the next morning to drop off our Passport applications. For those of you who are wondering why we need passports, Ryan and I are planing to go to Disney Land in July (without the kids).

It was a very nice visit, and a very tasty BBQ burger supper!

Please read the other 2 posts I have added today. 'Easter with the Brands' and 'Mustard and Snow'.

Easter with the Brands

We enjoyed a great visit with our friends Steve and Jen Brand, and their kids Juliana and Evan. They arrived from Lloydminster in time for lunch on Friday, and stayed until after supper on Saturday. The kids all played exceptionally well together. The girls only had one or two small disagreements to mediate.

Evelyn and Juliana helped make chocolate muffins (mix courtesy of K-A) then had a tea party - complete with tiara's and feather boas (courtesy of Grandpa and Grandma).



They also decorated plastic easter eggs with stickers. Once they finished that, the girls hid some eggs for their brothers to find. It was so sweet to watch them help their brothers find their eggs. (We filled the boy's eggs with teddy graham cookies and the girls had a couple small treats in each of theirs. ) Once the boys had found all of their eggs, and had enjoyed their treats, we hid the eggs for the girls in more challenging hiding spots.


We let the girls try to have a sleepover in Evelyn's bed. Juliana was at the foot of the bed, Evelyn at the head. We heard them giggling and talking for quite a while. They each came out for extra hugs a couple times, then, around 9 pm, Evelyn fell asleep, but Juliana remained awake. At that point, we called the sleepover off and Juliana was tucked in downstairs. I think they appreciated that they got to try having a sleepover.


Ethan and Evan parallel played a lot. They are both into cars and walking. Most of their time was spent side by side, playing with their cars. Ethan would try to give Evan a hug but he would just lean his back against Evan. (He tried to hug Lillian-Ruth the same way) Evan gave Ethan hugs a few times too. Those two played very well together and did not have a single fight. I think it helps that they are both used to having their toys taken from them by their sisters.

The girls played outside in the snow a bit. They each of them got stuck in hidden sink holes, but neither of them lost their boot, so I would call it a success. They had a snowball fight, which was basically a hit-Bev-with-a-snowball-fight. They certainly enjoyed it!





We went for a walk to the store on Saturday. The girls pet a friendly cat along the way and named it "Mr.Whiskers" (we're not sure if it's a Mr. or a Ms.)






On the way home, they got to have shoulder rides with their Daddies. I remember them being perched on their Dad's shoulders the day we moved to Lac La Biche. They have grown so much since then!


Steve and Jen introduced us to the board game "Ticket to Ride" and we played quite a few rounds while the kids napped or played quietly. We enjoyed it so much we bought the game for ourselves on Monday and introduced it to the Sahota's.

It was a great visit with great friends.

Mustard and Snow

Cute or what? Ethan really loves mustard. We gave him a tiny dab to dip his ham in. He just kept asking for more. So, we thought we would give him more than he would ever want. His response came as a surprise. Enjoy the video!

This second clip shows how much snow we still have. Edmonton is almost bare, yet we still have a solid foot and a half of the white stuff left. It has melted and re-frozen enough that Evelyn can walk on it. She loves the new-found freedom of being able to explore the yard again.

An update

Ethan's primary mode of transportation is now walking! He has gotten quite good at it in the past 2 days.

Here is a picture of Evelyn talking to her Nana on the phone. I can totally see her as a 14 year old. She loves to talk and is getting pretty good at conversation. Ryan and I love to see how thoughtful and considerate she will be toward others. She loves to hear how your day was and will offer us special treats "Because you woke up dry!". She is starting to do better on night time bed wetting again (by the way). She is dry 3-4 nights a week now.

Evelyn continues to impress me with her imagination. As this next clip shows, when she is pretending, the imagined objects are really there to her. She puts on her pretend oven mitts and passes out her pretend muffins. She is becoming my parrot and will repeat what I say seconds after the words leave my mouth.


We are getting ready for a visit from the Brand family. They will spend the night on Friday and will stay for supper on Saturday before driving home to Lloydminster (about 3 hrs away). We are going to let Juliana and Evelyn try having a sleep over in the Evelyn's room. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Both the boys have started to walk in the past 2 weeks, so they'll be fun to watch too.

Both the kids are on the mend now. Their coughs persist, but they are back to their energetic selves. I suspect we all had Influenza A. It has been going around and laying people flat. No nausea or anything like that, but a bad chest cold, fever, aches, chills.... I got it very mildly, Ryan and the kids were pretty sick. I think I can thank my flu shot for reducing the severity of my illness. Ryan and the kids did not get one this year.

Here they all are cuddling on the chair. It's kind of like 'dog pile on Daddy'.

So, I am starting a week off work!!! Yah!!! I've been plugging away at Evelyn's baby scrapbook. I only have 2.5 spreads left to do (plus journaling) I hope to get all the layouts done this week. On Monday, we plan to spend the day and the night at the Sahota's. On Tuesday, we'll submit our passport applications in Edmonton. We may take the kids to the West Edmonton Mall. I think I'd like to ride the ferris wheel and carousel. Wednesday is off, then I work Thurs and Fri.

I'll keep you posted on our visits....but, only if I get some comments first ;-P

ETHAN IS WALKING!!!!!

I am proud to announce that, at the ripe old age of a-week-shy-of-16-months, Ethan has started to walk!

He has taken a few steps, here and there, before now, but on Friday, (while Ryan and I were at work) he really started to go. All evening on Friday, he kept trying more and more. He will walk for about 3-4 feet before loosing his balance now. He is so proud of himself (and we are proud of him too!) That evening, I took him for a walk to the stop sign at the end of our crescent. He walked all the way there, and half the way back. It took us 20 minutes to go about 200 m (round trip).

I think Evelyn was almost the exact same age when she walked.



In other news, both the kids are sick. Ethan woke on Sunday morning at 3 am with a fever (the night that we moved the clocks forward....and lost a hour of sleep to begin with...and I worked the next day....) Anyway, he was miserable. I held him for about 45 min, then resettled him in bed. I could get not back to sleep :-(

When I arrived home from work, Evelyn had also become sick and had a fever as well. They were both screaming and miserable. Eventually, they perked up and ate a tiny bit, played a bit, and slept well. (It is 9:30 am as I write this and Ethan is still asleep!) They have what Ryan had last weekend and the first half of the week. Harsh coughs, fever, chills, sinus congestion. We've seen quite a few cases in Emerg. On day 2-3 they all seem to get chest pain...(Ryan included) . I feel well at this point, so Ryan did not give it to me. (Wait a minute, by 1 pm, the chills and sinus congestion and headache has hit me full tilt)

In recent news:

Our babysitter swerved her car to avoid a Moose and ended up in the ditch, with some whiplash. When I related the story to Evelyn, and explained that Serena had a sore neck, she understood that "A Moose stepped on Serena's neck!" That was why she had a sore neck.

Evelyn has become a bit of a hypochondriac. She has every ache and pain that anyone else has, plus a few she made up on her own! Shortly after hearing about Serena's neck, she decided that "A Giraffe stepped on my neck!" and she had a sore neck too.

The kids are both loving to take all the cushions off the couch and chair and have started to jump from the chair onto the cushions. The cushions also serve as a train, a dinosaur, a car, or any other thing you can imagine it would be fun to ride on.

We spent a Saturday afternoon at the school last week. Ryan and all the other teaching staff were hard at work preparing for the academic review that happened last week. Evelyn and Ryan played a bit of floor hockey, and I tidied up the equipment storage room.

Evelyn and Ethan both love to dance with 'Dora'. Evelyn was given a dance adventure kit for her birthday complete with costume and maracas. She and Ethan love to shake their maracas and wiggle their hips with 'Dora' on an almost daily basis. I find it entertaining to watch them and it is good exercise too!


Ethan cut another tooth. #9. He has mastered how to climb on the kitchen chairs. He has also figured out how to push the chairs to the counter and climb up there too... This is not a welcome development.

Ryan's academic review is over. The school did okay, I guess. I understand that they concluded that the kids liked coming to school, and the school was welcoming. But, the academic results were very poor. Hmmm, the staff could have told them that without all the stress involved in the review...

According to Evelyn, I am getting married. I will wear a big beautiful dress, and a tiara, and will go to a castle. She tells me this several times a day. She has started to pay attention to our wedding pictures and I think she feels she missed out on a neat day. I'll have to make a special tea for her and wear my dress and tiara. I let her try my veil on with my tiara. She looked and felt very pretty.

I can't think of anything else to write. Enjoy the pics and video of Ethan walking.

I love comments!

please read these stories

Alida is a former co-worker of mine. We worked together in Calgary for about 2 years. I admit I did not know her well at that time. On breaks she would occasionally talk about some of her travels. I always felt like I would like to know her better, it just never happened.

So, through the networking of Facebook, I caught up with her just before she left to be a missionary in Kenya. I don't think I knew that part of her life when we worked together.

She arrived there about 4 months before all the turmoil started in that country. Evelyn loved to look at all the pictures of exotic animals that Alida had seen in her adventures. I loved to live vicariously through her photos and blogs.

Alida really has a gift for writing and photography. The stories she shares are the ones that would never be covered by BBC or FOX news. Hers are the stories of people living their lives, responding to things out of their control, and struggling with things that people everywhere can relate to. The images she captures can startle you, open your eyes, and melt your heart.

I invite you to encourage her in her mission, pray for her (if you feel called to do so), and be another witness to what is going on in Kenya.

Her blog is called Everyday Grace she also posts photos to a picasa album.

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

February, so far...

Evelyn has become a superhero. We are not sure what prompted the transformation. Perhaps a bite from a radioactive spider, or some sort of chemical plant accident. That's how these things usually happen (or so it seems). But, we have a regular super hero running around our house, saving countless animals from the dreaded fate of being "Stuck in the mud" or "Stuck in a tree".
We will be going about our day in the usual way, when, unexpectedly, Evelyn will cock her head and say "Listen Mom! Do you hear the sheep! It's stuck in the mud! It needs our help!"

So, Super Ella is called into action, she dons her cape, grabs her trusty rope/lasso/kite string/dog leash/ whatever-it-needs-to-be and she is off to save the distressed animal.

More often than not, she gets herself 'stuck in the mud' along with the unfortunate creature. Apparently we are having an endemic mud problem. (I'll have to get the drainage fixed...) She calls for Mom to help her get free. She will toss me an end of her 'rope' and hold on -straining- as I pull her free. Then, it's the needy beast's turn. When they are clear of the mud, she pretends to lift them up and comes to me with her hands cupped saying "It's okay little sheep. I saved you. You're not stuck now." She will then pretend to place the sheep on the floor and give it a little pat as she sends it on it's way.

It is so neat to watch her interact with the void of space that is the animal in a completely realistic way. I have been looking forward to watching her imagination develop since she was still a fetus. It is exciting to see it bloom.

She has also been playing "Train" and "Race Car". In these games, she moves all the kitchen chairs into a line (for the train) or a cluster (for the race car). The train game goes like this:

"Mommy! let's play TRAIN! You can be the driver!" She pulls me over to the first chair. "Ethan, you can sit right here" And so he sits. "Make the train go Mom!"
"Chhh-ga Ch-ga, Ding Ding, Ding Ding, Ch-ga Ch-ga, Woo-Wooooo!" say I.
"Stop the train! We got to pick up D! (and B! and Juliana! and Casey!)"
I comply "Chhhhhh-ga, Ssssssssssss, Ding Ding, All Aboard!"
She crouches down and talks to a void of space about 8 inches tall. "Hi D! (B, Juliana, Casey) do you wan to go for a ride on my train?" "Okay! You can sit right here." She gently picks her friend up and holds them near to her chest. She carries them over to their assigned seat and carefully places them down as she says "Here you go. This is your seat right here." She takes her own seat and calls out "Let's go Mommy!" And off we go to pick up the next friend. Then, we head to Chuck E Cheese and go on all the rides, then we have ice cream, then, the game is ended by Mommy ;-)

Ethan has started to put hats on. He loves this red toque particularly. We think this picture makes him look like 'Papa Smurf'.

He is getting more interested in playing 'peek a boo' and has been sitting quietly while looking at a book. I will often find him in his room playing by himself with his cars and books. He usually has pulled his sleep sack off his crib - along with his blue knitted blanket - and will be sitting with his blanket wrapped around him and his soother in his mouth. He really notices textures and loves anything knitted or soft. Most of the time though, he wants to bite the knitted item and will pull loops of yarn out.

He continues to stand independently, he can even climb onto the kitchen chairs now. But, no walking yet.



Again, run your mouse over the film strip to see the captions. Please check out the 2 other posts from today as well.

A visit with the Brand's

On Feb 1st, Ryan had to go to a seminar in Cold Lake. I figured that while Ryan was at his thing, I would just drive the extra 2 hours and go visit my friend Jen and her kids Juliana and Evan.

When I dropped Ryan off, he asked when they would wrap up for the day. The facilitator chopped about an hour off the expected end time, so our visit with the Brand's was brief.

The boys took a bit to warm up to each other, but were soon playing with Evan's cars and practicing their standing skills.

Juliana and Evelyn played exceptionally well together. They did a bit of cooking with Juliana's kitchen, they played a bit of Play Dough, and finally, (when we were supposed to be leaving) they played Doctor. Juliana examined Evelyn's belly and listened to her heart. Evelyn in turn complained of a sore throat and asked her to check it out.















Evelyn and Juliana have known each other since the day Juliana was born! I had the privilege of attending Juliana's birth when I was about 37 weeks pregnant with Evelyn. When I held Juliana, Evelyn kicked her in the bum! Then, when it was Evelyn's turn to come home from the hospital, Juliana was there to meet her when she arrived home.

Over the years, I have taken a picture of the girls almost every time they have visited. I continued the tradition when the boys arrived (only 4 days apart!) Here is an edited collection of some of their pictures: Roll over the pics with your mouse to see the captions

Bev's Spicy Oatmeal Cookies

I just found a similar cookie recipe on AllRecipes.com and modified it with really good results. Your house will smell wonderful after you bake these.

Bev's Spicy Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/8 cup Panella (brown sugar)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups rolled oats (or quick oats)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or 1 cup of either raisins or choc chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
3. Combine the flours, baking soda, spices, and salt. Stir into the butter mixture.
4. Stir in the oats and raisins/chocolate chips. The mixture will look dry and stiff.
5. Form small balls of dough and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Press flat. (They will stick to your fingers less if you keep your fingers moistened with water.)
6. Bake 9 minutes until light and golden on the edges. Do not overbake.
7. Let them cool for 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Otherwise, they will break apart.
8. Store in an airtight container. (If they last long enough to need storage!)

Also, I just tried the Morrocan Tagine recipe I posted a while ago. It is really good! I may well make it at Magna Bay! Here is a pic of what it looked like. Both the kids and Ryan really liked this recipe.