Snuggle

Snuggle.
Its the new thing at our house.
Finn and wrenny are both fans.
Each have their favourite partners!

The last day of the year

We took Finn and Wrenny out for a winter's walk yesterday..to the nearby outdoor skate rink. Our friends the Hansens met us there with 17 month old buddy Paige. Good to feel so Canadian in these endeavors..all that was missing was a Tim Horton's coffee.

Home again

We are home..after 5 full and busy and fun days in Lethbridge.
Below are some pics of the last days. We were able to stay at a friend of Nana's..sort of a housesitting arrangement which was great! Good for naps and getaways.
Finn and Wrenny had a lot of time to see almost all of their Hepher Relatives (except for Grandad and GrAnne)..and Wrenny met Opa and Omi Schwarz for the first time. Auntie Irene who was also in Lethbridge during the holidays came by a few times. Hurray!
We are home...very pooped but happy for the good times gone by.
Mike has fallen asleep in front of the TV..and it is only a little after 9.
He's usually in bed at 1 or 2 am.
that about sums it up!!
hope yours was a wonderful Christmas!

enjoy the pics below.

Boxing Day

Opa and Omi from Calgary, meet Wreeny for the first time. Her first impressions were rather loud and demanding!
Auntie Irene comes to hang out with Finn too..as the Schwarzes all unite in Lethbridge for the day.
Mike and Anie go out for a date on Boxing Day..Finn and Nana do the bathtime/bed routine.
Nana's newest outfit for Wrenny!

Christmas Day at Nana's

The Grands (Great Auntie Rita and Greatgrandma Sperry-Maureen's Aunt and Mom) digging in to festive victuals)
Spiderman (Skye) and his sidekick (Superboy-or "Soupy"-as said by Finn) solving perplexing puzzles on Nana's floor and beyond.
Finn in Nana's sunglasses: surrounded by cheering rellies!
Robin (as seen with new DVD), And Rin holdin baby Wrenny.
Too cool for school...but not too cool to be the hippest librarian , ever!

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve PJ's back at our Christmas House-the Bolton's
Parum pa pa pum, Finn and his drum (and shaker, rattle, tambourine..)
Pops and the Family hepher
Robin, Rin and Skye on the way to the Christmas Eve service

Too early

the glare of christmas hype...it seems i can't sleep past 4 am these days.
This morning I decided I had better just get up and do something to tire me out.
so i am working out here on the computer
sectret christmas things.
in my sorels and bathrobe.
waiting for the light of day
for the salutation of Finn as I enter his room ("hi mama..nuggle? couch?")
for now I am waiting for thie sting to creep into the back of my eyes
so i'll be forced to lie down again
before wrenny wakes up with breakfast demands.

Need we say more?

We have a new baby in our town.
Kate has a little brother and Jenny and Ross are proud and very surprised parents of a certain
JACK SLATER WESTCOTT
October 12th, 2006
11 pm
6lbs 8oz

surprised:not about having a baby.
Surprised about it being a boy baby!
We had Kate over for a sleepover the night he was born.
Yesterday we had brought soup, buns and a big bottle of celebratory Merlot as Jack and Jenny came home. I am so excited to share the two child experience with such awesome friends. Picture of baby Jack to follow soon.

The snow fell all night and Finn and I went out to attack it with shovels this morning. We then came in and were revived by a stack of "cay-cakes" (pancakes). Now our little friend Paige is visiting..they are taking a 30 minute movie break while I blog!

Just returned from a weekend in Lethbrigde where Mike was drumming for his brother Robin's band (the darby and joan club: www.djcmusic.com). We stayed at Nana's. It was absolutely great! Nana, Wrenny and I went shopping on Saturday. A Girl Afternoon. Finn got to hang out with Skye and they played so well together. I was thrilled. I got to play a bunch of games with them like musical cushions and broom hockey in the backyard. The age gap between them has always been enough so that playing was not really do-able yet. And now Finn just is completely enthralled by his cousin. Although I did not get any pics from the weekend as the camera stayed home) I have some here of the day before we left.



The first one is his best friend Kate being their silly selves.
The next Finn was eating breakfast while I was in the shower. When I returned to check on him, he had added a new ingredient to his cereal! A Milk Duck.
The last one of Wrenny in a shirt from a hippy stand at a music festival from a few years ago.

a picture of my sister Moni and her hubby Richard and son Kai...who is celebrating ONE YEAR next week. WOW where did the time go?!!

First Advent.

Mike wrote a new melody to "Joy to the world" and it was a part of kevin's serman this morning. Very cool. I still haven't got my advent Calender up. Somehow I think we will be doing a fairly minimalist version of decking the halls of the house this year. Finn and I are listening to "Larry and Bob sing the 70's" (Veggie Tales cd) its keeping us in good spirits as we build a fort in the living room. Wrenny sleeps in heavenly peace.

We just had our friends Jack and Dale Ann for lunch. They brought homemade minestrone and Christmas cookies and we made Paninis in our new Sandwich Press i got a few days ago. Its like a grown-up version of our usual Tomatoe Soup and Grilled Cheese on Sunday lunch. Its like we are getting all Yuppie, as Mike commented.

Potato stamping, Dress up and long naps..that what we are up to in these days of cold. The hedge is plump with snow as we don sweaters and slippers regularily, not to mention porridge and tea for breakfast. Crazyness that Christmas is only a month away. Tonight I am off to a ladies tea at church. Its always alot of fun..good treats and tea and laughing. Wrenny is staying with her papa.
We've taken Finn's new wooden sled out a few times. It's taken some getting used to as he has a current fear of falling..and a miscomprehension of what mittens can actually do.

As the calender page turns to December, I am amazed how every weekend is already pencil marked with events. I am really excited about our Lethbridge Christmas this year. Nana has lined us up a place to stay (housesitting for a friend of hers) and we in turn have found our friends the Quimbies to keep the home fires burning in our butter yellow house. Not to mention cat-feeding and snow shoveling and pipes-from-freezing duty.

Mike is hoping to get the press ready to start on Wrenny's birth announcements. He is keen to make another run of something on the old press. We'll be sending them out with Christmas cards this year..which I guess could be another thing I could be doing this very minuute! Must make tea...

According to my "blogger dashboard" this is my 50th post! Holy cow! Where has the time gone.

Today I am flying solo for the first time with 2 kids. Mike went to play a gig with the band just outside of Calgary. Overnight. In the meantime "me and the chil'ens" are hanging out for the weekend. As it NEVER happens any other time, the kids are both sleeping. They picked the perfect day to do this for me. A little gift for their Mama, I'm sure! My friend Robyn is also flying Solo this weekend so we are doing supper together with all the kids at her house later on. Combining leftovers. Bringing the kids pyjamas etc.

We have a new sleeping arrangement, since Wrenny has taken to extended periods of sleep during the night, and I am still quite disturbed by every little movement she makes at night. She has her own little spot in the livingroom, by the woodstove. Nice and cozy.
While at Canadian Tire the other day, I bought Finn a little set of hockey sticks and a foam ball. He is pretty crazy about hockey right now. As soon as the sticks were unwrapped, Papa and him played on the kitchen floor with them. And now Finn doesn't ever want to play with out his (bike) helmet on. He is quite a sight. Wrenny, on the other hand, not quite so optimistic about "Hockey Night in Canada" got a new hat to take on outdoor adventures.

Wilson's have come to visit this weekend. Yipee.
Our little house is filled with cousins, Aunties and Uncles.
Lots of time to hang out and even a few naps here and there.
Moni and Richard gave us a night out on friday. Since Wrenny is now taking the occasional bottle, we were child-free for a few hours.
Mike and I wandered down the street where one of our friends were having a wine and cheese engagement party.
We partook with gusto.
It was the first time we went on a date in 6 weeks.
It felt like a novel concept!!!
We liked it so much, that Moni offered to babysit again tonight.
Don't we love it when the Aunties come to town!!


Here are a few pics of the weekend.

Wrenny is about to become a real Canadian.
Her papers are making their way to the mailbox tomorrow.
This is her "I'm a cute pink girl from Canada" passport picture.
Note white gloves by her head..those are my hands...since she can't hold her head up to government standard without some assistance.

As for me, I am also feeling terribly nationalistic, having purchased my first ever pair of Tall White Canadian Sorels.
The real Deal.
True North Strong and Free and everything Maple.
Finn and I performed a ritual "new boot dance" before dinner captured below.
This kid knows how to live the moment...pants or no..

Eating cheese.
Drinking wine (baby gift..from our pastor..YAY!)
Mike is playing guitar in front of the fire and the snow is coming slowly.
Filling our hedge.
Filling our heads.
Filling in the gaps of grass and weeds and dirt in the yard and making it a scene of grace. Covering up the spots not so desireable.
All for free.

wrenny is cooing in the corner.
Finn is snoring in his room.
we just returned from a potluck supper and the down duvet is fluffed, the bedroom is cold.
I am the richest person in the universe.
Time millionare.
If earth can be this great, heaven seems impossible...

Our Library is on the move.
Today was the last day you could go in and sign out up to 40 items and not return them til February. It's an attempt to have less stuff to move for the book movers. They gave out free and funky book bags to the first 1000 people to jump at this offer.
Sadly, we were late.
BUT we came.
In the snow.
With 2 kids under 2.
We came with enthusiasm. We came on foot.
It was today's stroller destination and we made it.
And we also made it back home.
(the picture above was taken at 10:30 this morning-and we were on the road at 11:00-in real people daytime clothes)

Anyways, now that naptime is upon us, and the fire's cracklin, the fan in cranked and the dishes are, in fact, done...its a great moment to "nuggle" up to a good book.
Must stop this blogging nonsense and retreat behind some pages of other people's lives.

Wrenny is one month old..and Finn is one month crazier.
Here's the proof.

Wrenny and I spent the weekend in Fernie with Nana and my friend Lloy, her daughter Charis and a bunch of other ladies from Lethbridge that call themselves the "Ya-Ya's". We stayed in a "cabin" (5 bedroom, 3 bathroom) on the ski hill that belongs to friends of Nana.
A totally relaxing time.
Toddler-free.
Lots of rain- condusive to doing a whole lot of nothing!
Wrenny was passed off to the other ladies between feeds and Nana of course had dibs on her most of the weekend! A wonderful trip.

Mike and Finn hung out at home and did manly things like buy hardware, fix things and watch Football. On sunday night, Wrenny had a baby shower at church and people gave us enough money for Wrenny and I to fly to Colorado to visit my brother and sister in law asnd nephews who otherwise would not meet Wrenny til next year sometime. I'm in the process of booking our flights. Very exciting!!

Sunshine
she's all that.

Wrenny.
Here to stay.

We had a few visitors for Halloween.

Hendrix and Finn giggled together for a few minutes before the little Pumpkin went on his way. We decided to wait for trick or treating until next year. In the meantime Hendrix, Libby, and Marissa stopped by.
Finn loved the bathtime entertainment!

We had a little birthday to go to last night. Finn got all fired up about the kids and had an absolute blast. On the snowy way home in the car, we heard a bad clunk, and Wrenny had an unprecedented scream, and when we got home (after aforementioned thunk was dealt with) Finn was, as to be expected, overtired. We gave him his"nuk" and bath, and, as seen here, a snuggle with Wrenny.
All ended well.
I fell asleep on the futon as the fire roared in the woodstove.

Oh, the small luxuries!

Some pics of the last few days..a visit from the "Greats" from Creston, and Auntie Irene who is here from Calgary this weekend. We are so enjoying all our family coming out to meet our new addition.