Backwoods Wife

Giggles

Here are a couple of funny things from the last few days...

 

Overheard...Riley singing an original composition, "Apples keep the doctor away...and the ambulance..."

 

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Abby: The other day in the truck Hendrik said that he wished he had Riley's tongue.

Me: Really, why?

Abby: So he can spit better.

 

 

{pretty, happy, funny, real} ~ The Cabin Fever Edition

My apologies in advance, my photos are a bit out of focus this week.  I ended up taking photos after dark and in poor lighting.  Hopefully the colours are still cheerful!

 

{pretty}

 

 

These are my slippers and I love, love, LOVE them!  They are pretty, warm, and I can run outside in them to start the generator without freezing.  I just wipe off the snow on the way in the door.  They are made by a company in British Columbia called Padraig.  The kids and I each have a pair.

 

{happy}

 

Flowers!  I am tired of cold weather already.  Not so good when winter is still here for another 2 months.  These are keeping me happier this week - birthday flowers from my sister and brother-in-law and a friend.  I don't know if I've ever seen daffodils in February here before.  I love this little bit of spring!

 

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This last flower photo is of a flower Riley made to "make the daffodils even prettier".  She fashions flowers out of just about anything - tissue paper bits, masking tape, pencil crayons, leftover giftwrap and bows, etc.

 

 

 

{funny}

 

I was taking a shower the other day when I heard "BLORP, BLORP, BLORP" come from another part of the house.  My first thoughts ran to a plumbing disaster of some kind.  Then I realized it was one of the kids playing with a popgun.  I had a good chuckle at that.

 

(Nope, it wasn't this kid!  Haha!)

 

{real}

 Being inside for long periods of time and often can make you see things in your house you wouldn't normally see or cause you to wish to move and/or renovate.  I use the tried and true method of my mom and grandmother - move the furniture!  LOL!  Last weekend it was the upstairs - I moved around 5 beds and the corresponding clothing storage for each person.  Catch: I haven't put all of the clothes back into said storage units - quel disastre!  

 

I made progress in my kitchen though.  I did what made sense and shuffled a few things around.  Much easier to function, find my dining table, and put things away.  I don't have much counter space or storage space so when things get messy it is almost impossible to function or even put things away.  Sanity is returning to the kitchen.  Yay!

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Some drawings from my girlies

This first one is by Abby.  It is a drawing of me blowing bubbles!  (This doodle board gets constant use!)

 

 

This is a drawing by Riley that she taped to the wall on the way up our stairs.  The masking tape finally lost it's hold the other day so I photographed it against the couch.  It is even more lovely against the log wall.

 

 

 

Strange associations

Does a sensory experience ever trigger an interesting association in your mind?  I find it happens to me quite often.  Usually it involves lighting somehow but it can be a result of smell or touch as well.  The other afternoon the sun was on it's way down and I noticed sun dogs on either side of it.  The first thing that popped into my mind?  Peter Gzowski.  Strange!  My guess is I was listening to his program in the car when I was a kid and either happened to see sun dogs at the same time or perhaps he was discussing them with someone on air.  It hasn't happened everytime I've seen sun dogs though so I'm thinking it was likely the former.  Does this ever happen to you?

To glitter or not to glitter?

I may have let three small children play unsupervised with two large containers of glitter.  I would definitely classify these sweet children as glitter affectinados.  So much so, that when one bottle fell over without the lid, it was not cause for concern or reporting to the moms present, but rather them quietly rejoicing in quicker access to larger quantities of said glitter.  My living and dining areas look like they have been visited by an exuberant Tinkerbell on steroids!  And you know what?  That is totally okay.  The little girls had fun, us slightly older girls had coffee, and my floor/couch/dining room chairs got vacuumed. :)  I am sure we will be sharing glitter around the house for quite some time, but it is a happy sort of thing to clean up.  It's sparkly, pretty, doesn't damage anything, and you won't find it under a couch a month from now and go "Ew!".  To quote Martha, "It's a good thing."

P.S.  If one is inclined to partake in unfettered glittering, it is much easier to clean up the chunkier variety of glitter often found at drug stores as it all seems to fall to the floor and sweep up fairly easily.  The fine pixie dust variety is a lot harder to dispose of but if you want your house to look a big magical it might be the way to go! 

Here's a random wondering - why doesn't Disney market the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio?  They usually market as many characters as possible it seems.  The blue and silver glitter made me think of her today...

 

 

 

 

Smoothie mania!

I am so thrilled to finally be able to get fruit into our pickiest eater.  We've been making a lot of smoothies the last few days and she has been our number one smoothie consumer.  Hooray!  So far we've only made fruit smoothies with yogurt added in, but I hope to branch out into adding veggies.  It's nice to know the kids are getting what they need nutritionally regardless of the format. 

Some artwork

This is an advent calendar made by Riley that she taped to a cupboard in the kitchen.  It began as a sea serpent, and as the days went by, Riley added more check marks and numbers.  This is not a traditional advent calendar by any stretch, Riley designed it to be a countdown to Valentine's Day. :)  I love it!  (Isn't the purple polka dot masking tape cool?  We found it from kawaii goodies on etsy.com.  It's great for kids to create with and also for taping their creations to walls, appliances, etc., as it doesn't peel the paint or meld for eternity with the surface.)

 

 

 

Singing to the birthday girl

I'll post more photos another time, but here is a little video of us singing to Emma on her birthday.

Octopus hunts and other questions to ponder this week...

Riley: Mom, can we?

Me: Can we what?

Riley: Someday can we go on an octopus hunt?

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Some questions the kids want answers to (from the last two days):

~How far down in the earth is lava?

~What makes northern lights?

~How do birds lay eggs?

~Can lava kill a fish?

~Can we go to space one day?

~Why can we only see the bright part of stars? (Where are the points was more the question)

~When will our Angry Birds stuffies arrive?

~Can I get a Lego Death Star?

 

{pretty, happy, funny, real} ~ Valentine's Edition

 

A valentine for Mommy and Daddy from Hendrik.

{pretty}

The week leading up to Valentine's Day and Emma's birthday was a busy one.  We tried to stop and enjoy the roses along the way though. :)  My sister Christen and I found these lovelies at our local grocery store on Sunday, we split the bouquet between us.  Aren't the colours amazing?  These photos have not been enhanced, nor has a flash been used, this is their natural splendor!

 

 

 

{happy}

Dwayne and I went out to a formal event on Saturday night.  We have friends who are part of the RCMP and thought this a great chance to visit with friends, have a night out together, and have an excuse to dig out formalwear (we were hunting around outside in -20C looking for the storage bins containing our suits and formal dresses!).  Sadly, I didn't take a photo of us dressed up.  Silly!

 

 

 

{funny}

If I dig out my camera, so does everyone else.  Here are my sweet, funny girls taking photos too on their play camera and iphone.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

{real}

There is real progress happening in our yard these days.  If you look past the heart decorations on the window you will see menfolk milling lumber and splitting logs in preparation for the addition we will putting on soonish.  Yay! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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