It's a Date!

I have one sister, J, (you have met/seen her at least once before here as the recipient of my one and only lace project to date) who is ten years younger than I am. When we were younger, I remember hearing her whining to my mother about something to the effect of,

“How come Patty gets to do everything?!? When do I get to do something?”

And my mother reassuring her by saying,

“Don’t worry, J. One of these days, Patty will be wishing she was your age.”

Well, at ages 29 and 39 respectively, we have reached the magic age that Mom was talking about.

J and I have not lived in the same time zone for years. She had her heart stolen by a nice American guy and, in 2007 when DH, Iain, the pets and I had just moved further East to NS, J, M and their not insignificant four legged family moved back to M’s farm in the mountains of North Carolina.

By virtue of the wonders of our modern age, my family and I got our first tour of their property in North Carolina only a few weeks ago when J walked us through their house compliments of their laptop.

When we were visiting Mudder and Fadder last week and speaking to J via Skype, I mentioned that she and I should try knitting together using our computers some time (she restarted again this past fall and has been a handknitting producing dynamo!). J was interested so we made a knitting date for this past Wednesday evening. Despite some technical difficulties (the keyboard on my HP Mini being dead so that DH and I could not get the ‘mute’ feature off for example), J and I managed our very own private knit night.

It was so nice to be able to knit and talk about knitting and life and everything in between. For. Free.

Five years ago, the thought of using visual media to meet up with somebody would have not been something I was even interested in, let alone instigating. Fifteen years ago, I refused to consider using email until I got a job in a work environment that demanded its use. I have learned to love what technology can do for me and that I can enhance an already firmly established love affair with yarn using my computer. Knitting together via Skype was freakin' cool. And we will be doing it again. Soon.

Ready and Waiting

I think the first time I saw clothes for sale in what I considered to be a grocery store was at a Tesco in the UK. At the time, I thought of it as a quirky cultural difference between the UK and Canada. The first time I saw the same type of set up in Canada, it irritated me. I do not know why but it did. Mudder tells me that it still irritates her.

Then I had children. Now, the concept of picking up clothing etc at the same place I have to go with the kids to get groceries seems imminently sensible.

Especially when said items are cute.

Here are the boys’ 2010 puddle jumpin’ boots.

Hello? Spring? We’re ready (and, guaranteed, that should bring on the last end of the season snow storm that I’ve been waiting for!)!

Splittin' the Rocks

DH left last Monday for another business trip. After living with Mudder and Fadder for over six months, it turns out that I do not enjoy being alone with the kids day in and day out. As his most recent trip is/was about a week and a half long, out to Upper Gullies we traipsed. The weather has been wonderful ever since we arrived. We head back to our house not a moment too soon this evening as DH is due in just after midnight.

The weather has been so nice that I have even managed to convince my 2 year 8 month old son that going outside is a good thing and worth getting dressed for (bit of a nudist, him. And the reason why you won’t be seeing a whole lot of indoor pictures of him for awhile).

Getting him to go outdoors makes me crazy as he loves it once we are outside and he is properly dressed. Dressing him can take up to 20 minutes of inside fighting and wrestling and he still often gets outdoors without a hat and mittens until the cold gets to him and he relents. Here are some pictures of one of our walks along the old rail bed (affectionately called ‘The Track’). Calling our excursions ‘walks’ might be a bit of a stretch though. More of an adventurous meander involving lots of puddle jumping, puddle sitting (no, I’m not joking) and icy puddle falling. We are sure that the child’s nervous system isn’t connected properly as he gets wet almost every time we head out yet he insists on staying out once we get there. Go figure.

Notice the bag in his boot? That’s because he soaked his boot earlier in the week and it still wasn’t dried out enough for this walk.

In other exciting news, my brother, D, and my lovely SIL, L, welcomed a beautiful baby boy to the world at about 2:00 AM on the 14th. So as not to pre-empt their right to post the first pictures of their son to the family (some of whom check into this blog occasionally), here is a picture of my son proudly holding the welcome balloon that we picked up today for the newly enlarged family’s arrival.

Just like us, they are buying and selling homes with a newborn so are going to be staying at Chez Mudder and Fadder’s for a couple of months. My crowd are like salmon, always coming home to spawn!

The sun has been splittin’ the rocks here all day and it is currently 8 degrees in Conception Bay South right now. Heaven!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day (or, as I call it, St. Patty’s Day when you get to celebrate all the great Patty’s of the world ;)!).

Firsts and Finishes

First foods:

First time feeding himself:

First time in a shopping cart:

Last time in his infant car seat:

Last time trying to carry him in his infant car seat (Holy crap is he ever heavy?!? My wrists, back and shoulders are screaming in this picture):

First shared kiss with The Baby in the Mirror:

First time playing cards with Grandma at our new house (Iain is a good little Newfoundland and Labradorian. He can already tell the difference between the different suits):

First identifiable crane that Iain has made with playdough:

First toe up sock: