Cabin Fever and other non-exciting topics

I realize it has been awhile since the last post but it just seems that there has been nothing remotely interesting to post in the last while. It has been gray and rainy here, meaning that mommy and baby have been stuck inside for a long time and are starting to get a little crazy. Bekah is climbing all over the furniture and making lovely crayon drawings on the walls in an attempt to keep herself occupied and I seem to be just following behind her doing damage control! Today she was supposed to have a playdate but wouldn't you know it, we are having a freak snowfall making driving treacherous, so we are stuck at home again. This really does seem to be the dreariest time of the year. I guess that means you have to be that much more creative with your time. Maybe we'll have an indoor picnic lunch or build a fort. If the snow lets up maybe we'll take a walk. Sigh, ok I'm really ready for spring now!

Happy Valentine's Day

Despite the fact that Valentine's Day is known as a "Hallmark holiday", I've always thought it was kind of nice. Yes the card companies, florists and chocolate makers have all tried to convince us that it is THE most important day of the year, but even so it doesn't hurt to have a day set aside to remind us to let those around us know that we love them. We have always marked the holiday in our own unique way. When Dave and I were dating in bible college, he bought me flowers from the little flower shop on campus and took me to the Pilgrim for a burger! Sure it was crowded, and all the other college couples were there trying to have a romantic meal in their own little corner, but we didn't mind...it was fun! Then there was the year we went to Bonanza for all-you-can-eat shrimp and Dave ate so much the waitress was avoiding our table. And one year we went out for pizza with my sister and laughed so hard as we watched a man trying to romance his true love with a pizza and a bottle of wine...at Pizza Hut! Well now that we have a little one, dates have been few and far between. Hopefully we'll be able to get out and have dinner together one day, but Bekah's well behaved in restaurants for the most part, so we usually take her with us. Dave had a busy evening lastnight, going to church Bible study in New Westminster which is 45 minutes away from where we live. So we weren't able to do anything, but he did surprise me with some roses and Boticelli chocolates. So I thought I'd share the last one with Bekah this morning. She was very happy to receive it...VERY happy! So happy she ran around the apartment with it for 5 minutes before devouring it and getting it all over herself! And so ends another Valentine's Day! :)

This is more like it!!!

Well it was a drier and hotter than usual summer, a rainier than usual fall and a colder and snowier winter than it usually is in BC. So where is this fabled wonderful weather that makes BC such a paradise? Well we got some today. Today, February 1oth, it is blue skies, sunny and a balmy 13 celsius! The grass is green (mind you that's pretty much a permanent thing around here) and the tulips and daffodils are already beginning to bloom! When we lived in Saskatchewan, we were lucky if it was above freezing during February and as a kid in Northwestern Ontario, we were either cursing the groundhog who predicted 6 more weeks of winter, or we were laughing at his prediction that spring was just around the corner. If spring starts this early, I think I can manage through the grey, rainy winter!! Here's some pictures from this afternoon of Bekah in our yard without hat and mits, and in her fall jacket!! And my condolences to friends and family in Eastern Canada and the US and elsewhere who are still in the deep freeze!

The Evolution of Mr. Potato Head...

...according to Rebekah. Please note that the feet were added courtesy of Mommy so that he could pose for this historic photo documentation (which in actuality is a documenting of intelligent design! :)).

The Business of Play

I am fascinated to watch Bekah when she's playing. Although I know she's having fun, she takes it so seriously, studying every little thing and trying to figure things out. She is very bright for her age (she has an extensive vocabulary at only 19 months) and picks up on concepts very quickly. (Sorry if I sound like a bragging mother...I have actually been told this by other people, and doctors as well) Among her favourite toys to play with are her Fisher Price Little People playsets. She has a barn with horses, Noah's Ark with Animals, a little Zoo set and 2 toy trains. She isn't at the point where she's role playing or anything yet, but she loves to make the horses go in and out of the barn, pull their carts, put Noah and the animals in the Ark, and pull the train around. I must admit its hard not to envy her some days when her biggest dilemma is how to stuff all the animals in the ark, or how to get the train to go backwards down the hallway. Oh, to be a child again! :)