Backwoods Wife

{pretty, happy, funny, real - Happy Birthday, Lindsey!}

Happy birthday to my dear sister Lindsey!  I wish we could celebrate with lots of cake in person, but that is a bit tricky seeing as we live on opposite sides of a very large country.  However, I propose that we celebrate AGAIN in August.  More cake is always a good thing!  I hope you have a wonderful day amidst the busyness of being a mom to two very sweet little people.  I love you!

 

 

P.S.  Pop on over to Lindsey's blog "Little Hearth" to wish her a happy birthday if you wish! :)

 

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{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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Hendrik's first ski race

This is a very picture heavy post.  Our whole family went to watch Hendrik ski in the Polar Cup a few weekends back.  GrandBarry and Aunty Christen also came out to watch, cheer, and help snap photos.  Hendrik was very reluctant to participate once we actually got to the race venue.  He was very concerned about winning, despite that not being our focus at all.  However, after a few chats and the promise of a participation prize from GrandBarry he got a bit more excited to give it a try.  (The prize was a photo frame with some pictures of him racing - Hendrik loved it!)  Here we go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the mood for baking and making

It is FREEZING here today (-40 to be more specific!).  I really don't want to go outside.  I want to stay inside and eat warm, yummy things.  We made some tea biscuits at lunch (the oven also helps to warm up the kitchen!) and I'd like to try some bread later today.  The kids would also like to try making "Wookiee Cookies" from the Star Wars Cook Book.  Just reading the cook book and looking at the pictures is fun, if the recipes are as well tested, we'll likely have to get its sequel as well.   

Star Wars is huge around here right now!  It seems to be the favourite topic of play and conversation amongst all 5 and 6 year old boys we know.  Yesterday, Hendrik went to a birthday party and came home with an inflatable light sabre and a plastic mask for some sort of trooper or other (Dwayne is the Star Wars expert around here).  It was a bit conflicting for him as the bad guy wouldn't have actually used a light sabre, but who wants to put down a light sabre?  His sisters didn't quite go for playing the bad guy either so he alternated between mask up and mask down and also morphed good and evil into one character for a time so he could wear both at once.

The little girls are very into paper and glue at the moment.  I think this afternoon will bring the creation of more paper chains.  I'm going to try to locate some scrapbook paper pads that I picked up for 80% off last fall at a craft store and let them cut and glue to their little hearts' content.  There are also some very pretty/girly/sparkly projects on our list from some of the Usbourne Make and Do Books as well.  Abby chose "Things for Girls to Make and Do" at the library the other day and has been perusing it every day looking for the projects that have pink and/or hearts.  We've found a few others inexpensively over the last couple of months and have been enjoying what they have to offer.

            

Riley has been making little things with assorted materials - paper, pipe cleaners, and pinecones.  She's already made an ornament which she is itching to present to its intended recipient.  

I'm feeling a bit excited as well, knowing that soon-ish I will have a bit more space and some room to sew!  

 

Back to school for Mom, sort of...

Yesterday the Rosetta Stone French program that I ordered arrived.  I was so excited!  However, I had to wait until today to give it a try, we were hosting the book club that Dwayne is a member of last night.  (For anyone curious, the book they discussed last night was Broken Arrow: America's First Lost Nuclear Weapon.)  So far, I am really enjoying it!  Some of the basic French I learned at school is coming back to me and I am finding the program great for working on my (horrible) pronounciation.  I understand much more than I am able to speak, and largely because I know my pronounciation is way off.  I'm hoping that I will be able to catch up with Hendrik and maybe be able to speak French with friends and my Quebec family members.  Yay!  We purchased the Homeschool Edition with the girls in mind as well.  

I'm hoping Dwayne will take it up as well.  He actually has a far better French accent than I do, despite not being able to understand a thing that he is reading!  Haha!  It is always immensely entertaining to me when the kids ask him to read them French stories at bedtime.  I love it!

 

A great Saturday!

Our sweet girlies

This afternoon Hendrik had Jack Rabbits (cross country skiing for the small set).  It was his first time of skis.  He had a blast!  Afterwards, he and I went for hot chocolate at a local shop that was also having its grand opening today - hello yummy goodies and a beautiful ceramic travel mug freebie!  Hendrik, Emma, and I also checked out a brand new shop this afternoon in town.  Much more exciting for me than either of them - a women's clothing store!  I've always admired the owner's sense of style and her clothing, so I was thrilled to hear that she was opening up a shop.  I picked out an awesome tunic and a funky silver necklace today.  I will be back again, sans children, to take a better look and find some pants to match.  Love, love, love!  While I was out with the eldest and the youngest, Dwayne kept an eye on the middle two.  Riley and Abby had a great time fashioning cakes out of Play-Doh and Dwayne milled more lumber for the addition (I will have to get some photos tomorrow of he and the mill in action). Tonight we are watching Star Wars Episode III with the kiddos.  It may be too much for the girls, we'll see.  Hendrik is beyond excited.  He goes to bed with a Star Wars book every night and Dwayne gets asked a multitude of Star Wars questions when he gets home from work each evening.  Off to enjoy some BBQ'd burgers before we settle in on the couch with our movie.

Hendrik and company (he's in the red jacket wearing a blue and white toque)

A little video

Halloween

We are not big into Halloween around here.  The kids play dress up pretty much every day so that aspect of things isn't novel for us.  The candy, however, is a very popular aspect of the day.  The pumpkin carving and roasted pumpkin seeds are big hits too.  We live in a rural subdivision (for lack of a better term) and have yet to have a single trick-or-treater come to our door in almost 4 years.  We've learned to buy candy that we like because we WILL be eating the leftovers!  In previous years, we haven't really bothered doing much.  I don't like celebrating the scary and gory so I'm happy just to hang out and eat piles of mini chocolate bars.  This year Hendrik is old enough that he knows much more about what other kids are doing for Halloween and so there was a lot more talk about it leading up to the day.  In the end, we decided to have a small bonfire in the yard.  We burned some brush that needed to be burned anyway, roasted marshmallows and enjoyed the firelight.  My dad and my sister came for supper (Dwayne barbequed hamburgers) and the early part of the evening.  The night before we had carved our pumpkin into one of the "Angry Birds" characters from a template I found at AlphaMom.  We sat our angry chicken on the porch and let him glow for the night.  It looked really cute!  The kids went to bed on a sugar high with two of them not having dressed up at all, and one who dressed as a fairy princess for about 5 minutes before she realized that going outside like that was just not a good option.  All in all, it was a nice family evening without any scare factor.  I think we've almost finished the candy. ;)

Our pumpkin

 

By the fire

Snuggling with Aunty Christen

 

Us!

 

Next year we'll have to try to get photos of Dad, Emma, and Riley outside.  Riley was back and forth between the house and the fire so many times that I missed her with the camera, Dad and I were taking turns being inside with Emma (no snowsuit yet!  Can't find the bin ANYWHERE.).

Belated Mother's Day photos

Mother's Day afternoon we took a little trek into our very local National Park (lucky us!).  The weather was beautiful, we saw a few garter snake stragglers who had moved along to their summer grounds yet, we had an enjoyable little hike, and enjoyed cookies and 7-up on the giant rocks bordering the parking lot. 

 

A pre-trip game of tag with Dad.

Fun on the lawn!

Isn't he handsome?

A princess leads the way

Look out for the ice Mom!

 

Into the wild...

 

Emma's first hike

 

It's fun in the forest, especially when you have a pinwheel.

 

Pondering something.

 

Looking for garter snakes

 

Scaling large boulders is one of this princess' favourite activities.

 

Family photo!

 

Photo credits for some of these go to my dad. :)

Ready to go!

 

 

Little Miss Riley had a sleepover at Grandma & GrandBarry's a week or so ago.  There was great excitement over going to their place "on my orn".  She had all the necessary clothes, blankies, a balloon, and her new lion puzzle, as well as some laundry soap for Grandma (we bought the wrong variety for our machine).  She had a fabulous time "on my orn" and enjoyed a leisurely morning with Grandma & GrandBarry that included snuggling up in their bed watching "Riki-Tiki-Tavi" on the laptop.  She came home quite content and acting a little bit more grown up for having had a special sleepover on her "orn".

 

 

Sunday Afternoon at Salt River