Salamanders, baby birds and bugs

For those of you who have witnessed me do the freak-out scream-y dance when a bug lands on me, you know that I'm not a fan of bugs. It's involuntary, but I'm trying to control my ridiculous tendency to scream or flail about when I find a bug on my person. It's embarrassing. I also don't want to pass on my fear of bugs and creepy crawlies to the kids.

Digging in the garden isn't bad, if I have gloves on or I don't touch the dirt (and worms and slugs) with my bare hands. A garden tool will suffice when gloves are unavailable.

Yesterday we found a salamander in our kiddie pool, very exciting! I love salamanders, frogs, turtles... but I'm still scared to touch them. So lame, I know. I'm working on it. At least I got the girls to touch the salamander, they weren't scared. My girls are so brave!!

As cute as the salamander was, and even though I wanted the girls to not be scared of it, all I kept thinking was "do salamanders bite? I hope it doesn't bite them... I don't think they can bite..."

Ember's stickered hand petting Mr. Salamander.

Amelia trying to get the salamander out of the pool.

Could he be any cuter????

I also found some beautiful blue egg shells in our front garden a few weeks ago. They don't fit into the creepy "I'm scared of it" category, but they do fit into a nature category so I thought I would post a picture of those too. We haven't been able to find a nest anywhere, but it was fun to read up about birds and eggs. I've never been fortunate enough to find intact bird eggs, so this was a special treat.

So delicate and the color is exquisite!

And since we are on the topic of bugs etc, and I've been doing more gardening... I'll ask the question that gardeners have been asking for years: Why don't slugs eat dandilions??

Long Weekend Update

I know it's 3 days after the long weekend, but that's just how we roll in the Smith family household... always running late topped with a dash of procrastination.

We had a great weekend this past Victoria day with great weather, lots of sunshine, and one run away dog. Also the girls got sick, so I guess it wasn't as fun as it could have been. Amelia had a fever with aches and chills, while Ember had the runs for about 24 hours. We all felt a little under the weather for the past few days, and felt sick on Tuesday - perhaps leftovers from Amelia's fever. (Now I know why she was so whiny, it really sucked - I was soooooo tired and sore!)

We did manage to get out and do a few things, but not as much as I would have liked. We made it to Point Pleasant Park on Monday for a picnic and a good long walk. The girls and I planted some flowers in our barren front yard. My little gardeners have been having a blast planting seeds and plants; Amelia was asking daily last week if she could garden. I have to admit, I love gardening this year too, now that I feel like I can devote a bit of time to it (and two little helpers to boot!)

Point Pleasant Park, sitting on an old cannon.

And oh yes, the runaway dog. Melvin escaped, yet again. Our fenced back yard is falling apart, and while it is on our to-do list to fix, we need to win the lottery to do all the things we want with this house. We usually tie him up, but someone forgot. We won't mention names. Usually he comes back within a half hour but this time he ventured further and someone called animal control. Long story short, he spent the night in puppy jail and we had to spend a good chunk of money to bail him out. I told him if he doesn't like living here, the next time he wants to run away he can stay run away. I'm not sure if the message had any impact on him.

Our little piece of poo, Melvin.

Fairy house

Yesterday we went for a nature walk to collect nature-y things (pinecones, moss, twigs, etc). There is a nice little path just off the park at the end of our street where you can almost forget there is a major road only 150 meters away. We found a little path that we'd never been down before and decided to explore. We ended up behind some houses in a wooded area with lots of trees, rocks, the usual. Someone had built a fort and there was a toppled tree with large rocks still stuck in the root system.
It was great to explore and much more fun to do now that the girls can climb over obstacles safely. We had a great time.

When we got home, I wanted to try something that I read about in a book - building fairy houses (or Faeries, as some like to spell it.) What fun! I wish I had done this as a kid!! We built it right next to our front steps, so we can add to it and keep an eye on things.

Of course, I have pictures....

Our finished fairy house!!

And I can't not put pictures of the girls up.... It's mostly for the grannies, not because I think my girls are the cutest things to walk the earth, no, that's not why at all....

And here is the best part. After they went to bed, I decided to take it a step further. I wrote a note from the fairy reading "Amelia and Ember, thank you for building me a fairy house. I love it! Love, Fiona Fairy". After searching for 15 minutes for my fairy dust (sparkles to the layman) I dusted the fairy house with the fairy dust and left the note. We found the note this morning and Amelia was pretty excited. She carried the note around for most of the morning (it's now probably lost in my messy house though) Ember... she didn't care too much one way or the other. But it was still fun, at least for me.

Home at last

We made it home last week from our trip to Alberta and phew! It has taken me almost the full week to recover!

The first of many presents for Amelia and Ember

All in all we had a great visit with our family and friends. We were originally going to only stay 2 weeks, but that went by way too quickly! We ended up staying for 4 full weeks and even that seemed to go by too quickly. I did manage to see all my friends, even if only for a few hours while I was there. It's amazing to see how their kids have grown and see how our munchkins play together.

Playing with our friend Rylee!

The girls loved seeing grandmas, grandpa, great-grandmas, aunts, uncles and cousins and of course what they loved even more was getting completely SPOILED by the above relatives! I ended up having to bring home a third suitcase full of stuff, as well as leaving some stuff behind for Grandma and Grandpa to bring when they come out for a visit later this year. Yikes!! Thanks to everyone for the Easter treats, Ember's birthday gifts and general "just because" presents. The girls wanted to wear the special dresses from Auntie Jen every day that we were there.

Cousins Matteo and Natalia, you know that last two

Although I miss everyone and especially miss all the free babysitting that 2 grandmas can provide, it was nice to get home. I was actually starting to miss my hubby (hahaha!) but I really missed my dogs! I have never been separated from them for more than a week, whereas Ron and I being apart for long periods of time is old news (one of the "joys" of being a military wife).

baking cookies with Uncle Brent

I'll have to write more later, because both the girls are bugging me for attention. They can't seem to understand why I would want to stare at a computer instead of playing with them.

Spring is finally here!

Today I'm taking advantage of the fact that Ron has the girls at the gym, so I can actually type this without two kids on my lap trying to push buttons (both mine and the keyboard ones)

For those of you who don't pay attention to the news in other provinces (like me -I have no idea what's going on in the world) we had some beautiful summer-like weather last week. Not just spring, but summer like! It was amazing while it lasted.

We took out the tricycles for a few days and I got some photos and video to share.

First ride on the hogs!

And we were very excited that Amelia has learned how to pedal. A big step, since it's really hard to push both of them with the parent handle bars.

We had a lot of fun last week, and got out as much as possible since we knew the beautiful weather wouldn't last (we are back to seasonal temperatures this week) We have went out walking quite a bit as I am trying to transition the girls to getting used to walking instead of riding in the double stroller. We pulled out the new kite I bought last year for them and flew kites as well, which is something I haven't done in years and years. You forget how fun and magical these things can be when you are an adult.

Speaking of fun and magical, we have recently discovered hide-and-seek, which is a new favourite game with the girls. They want to play it all day, especially with Daddy. He barely walks through the door after work and they are demanding that he start counting and then go find them! Ron and I were laughing because even as adults we both still get that excited feeling when you are hiding and waiting to be found!
It's also funny to watch the girls play by themselves. Amelia will tell Ember "go hide under my bed" before she starts counting. Ember just says "ok" and runs obediently to Amelia's room and hides under the bed.

Awesomest blanket fort ever!!

We've also been making a few blanket forts, and have made some pretty good ones so far. Even I could fit in this one with the girls. It's always such a shame to take them down. If we didn't need the chairs for dinner I would leave them up for a few days :)

I hope the weather stays nicer from now on. I suppose all we can hope for in Canada is that we don't get too many freak snow-storms in the next three months - but don't count on it! It makes such a huge difference when we can go out and burn off energy without freezing our butts off. I'm not a fan of cold weather so it's hard to make the kids go out when I don't feel like going out either!

I also wanted to mention that we will be going out to Alberta next month, we arrive on April 4, so to all my DV friends I'll see you in a few weeks! We are very excited to be heading out to visit family and friends. I can't wait to see you all!

Our Little Lady(bug)

My little baby is becoming a little Lady(bug)! Miss Ember has turned two!!


I started this post two weeks ago, and have not been able to finish it for some reason. We haven't been that busy, I think I have writer's block (after only a half-dozen posts! -how sad)


To be honest, I'm also having trouble finding positive things to say about my little "terrible two". The 2-year-old switch has definitely been turned on.

The main problem stems from trying to get her to sleep through the night- in short it has been a nightmare (pun intended). She's making me crazy. 

For the past few months I would have a talk with her each night before bed and just ask her to stop screaming if she woke up, to snuggle up with blankets/stuffies and go back to sleep, and she was actually doing it! I knew she could understand and follow directions, so it was working, for a bit...  She would sleep through for 2-3 nights in a row, then go back to waking up and screaming- this horrible, ear piercing shriek that wakes up everyone in the house, and possibly our neighbors too. 

I don't think she's scared or anything, it has become a game to make mommy come running. She will ask for a teddy, or water (which are both beside her in the crib and she could get herself) and if you pass her the wrong teddy she screams some more. Or she will change her mind and throw the water out of her crib. I'm trying not to let these night time antic affect how I see her, but some days it's hard. I need to review my photos more often  to remind myself that she's not always terrible and to remember that this will (hopefully) only last a short while. 

My favourite look, the crazy post-piggy tail hair style! 

Needless to say, both Ron and I are losing our minds and patience. Last night she coughed for one hour straight at 2am and again at 5am, so we have another cold on our hands to boot. 

Other than that, she's a really sweet kid, for the most part. She's very agreeable with other children and generally just does what Amelia wants her to. She's happy to play quietly either by herself or with others. If you want to have a conversation with her, you need to distract Amelia to another room so Ember can talk. But she will talk up a storm once you get her going. I love hearing her chatter and sing. She's silly and impish and not afraid to be goofy.

Our Miss Ember has grown a lot and people often comment on how tall she is. She may end up being taller than Amelia. She certainly seems to be growing out of her 18 month-2 year clothes before Amelia did. Or maybe it's my imagination, I can't remember.

A photo from this past July to compare. She's changed a lot :)

We unfortunately misplaced our camera for a few weeks, (just found it a few days ago) so there aren't many pictures from the past month. I can't believe it's been so long since I posted something!! 

Robots are cool

Today we made robots! A fun craft to fill up the time between 7:30 and 8 am. I altered an idea from a kiddie magazine so I could use up all the milk jug lids I had been saving. I am a habitual collector, and I can't throw the milk lids out. There are so many colours and they are such a neat size, I knew I would find something to do with them! The same goes for egg cartons, foam trays, popsicle sticks and the like. Most of these things cannot be recycled and I feel bad tossing them. Granted most of the crafts we make end up getting tossed after a while, but at least the kids have fun making crafts before the reused items get trashed :)
 

After that we walked to the library for a puppet show. It is only about 4 blocks away, but a longer walk than the girls are used to, since we usually take the stroller. I am working on getting them used to walking more, since 1) they need the exercise and 2) I'm tired of pushing a 75+ pound stroller around. I also want to get them built up for the summer so we can go places without always having to pack the stroller. Mercifully, they are both napping now, so all that walking turned out good. I think we will go for another walk around the block this afternoon!

On a job-related note, I finally got official word back that I didn't get "the job". Oh well, now I can start planning my trip out west with the kiddies!! I can't wait to see my Drayton Valley friends! We are looking at the first two weeks in April, which will cover the Easter holiday.