Beautiful Snow Day

It's been snowing all night.  We're so glad because it had been so warm this week and the snow was melting into a disgusting mud mess.  Along with the mud mess came a disgusting entry way and floor in my house.  This snow is so clean and fresh and beautiful.

Originally I was going out to bring our big stroller in because it got super wet yesterday in the rain and it had frozen. I was going to let it defrost and dry in the house. To get the stroller into the house I had to clear a path with the shovel. After a few minutes of being outside I decided it was too beautiful for the kids to miss out watching dumb t.v. so I made everybody (except Oliver who was sleeping) go outside.

We buried Tati like she was at the beach.

We cleaned off the cars.

While she was working, Chloe turned one car into a snow slide.

Gavin was determined to pull the sled around but that was hard work.

I could barely pull just him on the sled.

And in between having fun,

and getting tackled,

we made some snow angels.

It was a perfect morning. I love how quiet and beautiful everything is in the fresh snow.

Then we came inside and enjoyed some hot chocolate.

Bad Day Blues

Tati had a bad day at school recently. There's a girl in her class (we'll call her Twyla) who is a bit of a butt. Tati has told me about Twyla a few times.  On this day, Twyla apparently told Tati that she doesn't like her and also that she was going to have a girl playdate at her house and went out of her way to inform Tati that she wasn't invited. So I'm doing the afterschool pick up and I see Twyla's mom wrangling all these other girls with her and she's talking all loud saying, "Oh Twyla has been wanting a 'girly' playdate forever with all her 'FRIENDS' so I had to organize it."  I just smiled even though I realized that this scene was probably going to make Tati sad. 

I was right.  When Tati came out of her classroom, she was on the verge of tears as the girls all walked away. She was heart broken that she wasn't invited. I was sad for her too. Part of me wanted to say something to Twyla's mom but then I started to think about it.

Did I really want her to go to Twyla's house? No.
Does Twyla's Mom strike me as awesome? No.
If Tati had been invited to go to Twyla's house, would I have let her since I have no idea where she lives or what kind of parents she has? Probably no--maybe if Twyla's Mom made some effort to show me she was nice/normal.

Then I started to teach Tati some important life lessons:
-Sometimes things don't go as we want them to but that is a part of life.
-Sometimes people are mean for no reason.
-Even if Twyla says mean stuff to her, Tati should still be nice to her--having said that, she doesn't have to be "friends" with Twyla and that is fine.
-And finally, we don't tease people or rub in the fact that you have something or get to do something that they do not because it is mean.

Let me say, that I know there is always some sort of conflict always out there--you can't avoid it.  This experience brought out my Mama Bear a little bit and also helped me to put into perspective that it's ok and we can just move on.  I told her how much we love her and no matter what bad stuff ever happens in her life, she would always have us and we love playing with her. Despite the pep talk, she was still a bit bummed and she needed something to cheer her up.

So I busted out our secret weapon:

And that did the trick.

My Buddy and Me

One of the fears we had when I was pregnant with Oliver was that Gavin was going to be jealous of him or mean to him.  We really had nothing to worry about.  Honestly he has never once been mean to him or complained about him.  He loves his brother.  He sings to him, he talks to him, he hugs and kisses him, he even tries to give him his toys.  Here are some cute shots I've gotten of the boys together recently.

Aren't they cuties? Hopefully they'll be buddies forever.

Rockin' Grad Party

This post is old and was unfinished but I've been determined to finish it because it has some great news and a fun part.

The great news is that Greg has officially finished his PhD.  That means his dream of being "Dr. Daddy" have finally come true.  He was also able to snag a temporary teaching job at the U of Alberta this semester while a professor is on sabbatical.  It has been great.  It is the class that Greg has been the TA for for like ever and he loves the subject matter:  Igneous Petrology.  To celebrate this milestone in his life, we enjoyed a great party thrown by some friends.

It was a geology themed party and it was super fun.  Some of the desserts were:  a layered trifle, "stone"ground tortilla chips and dip, a huge slab of fudge cut and then set like a fault line, lava caramel popcorn, etc.  (I wish I took some pics--really fun).

Anyway, we mostly mingled and ate the food which is my kind of party but there was also rock climbing in the garage and what geology party would be complete without a little quiz? 

So dust off your pencil and grab a piece of paper because you are now going to see how much you know about rocks.  I'm wondering who besides my Mom and Melissa are excited about this.

First:  Write down the following options at the top of your paper: (Answers at the end)
Basalt, Granite, Limestone, Marble, Sodalite, Ggypsum, Rose Quartz, Topaz, Geode, Obsidian, Pumice, and Peridote

Now number your paper 1-12.

Here you go.  I would click on the first photo to zoom it and then you can scroll left-right to see them bigger.  Good luck!

Want the answers? Scroll down.





















1. Rose Quartz (the color was a giveaway)
2. Geode
3. Marble (this is also known as Calcite so if you knew that, you are extra smart)
4. Granite
5. Topaz (these vary in color)
6. Sodalite (the blue was a giveaway here)
7. Gypsum
8. Limestone
9. Obsidian
10. Peridote
11. Basalt
12. Pumice

For the record, I (the wife of a Geologist for some 12 years) got 10/12.  For fun, put your scores in the comment section.  

Gavin the Builder

They've been putting in a new power line right outside our backyard.  It has been both interesting and irritating.  Our windows shake most of the day and it is quite noisy.  But there are some bonuses too.  I noticed this dude was just chilling in his backhoe waiting for his turn to work so I went outside and asked if Gavin could take a picture in the backhoe.  He was really nice and Gavin LOVED it!

He brought out his little toy backloader to show the worker.  The worker was nice and told him it was cool. He was smiling non-stop while Gavin was out there. I couldn't decide if he was happy someone was appreciating his work or whether he was smiling because he was remembering how awesome it is to be a little boy. Either way, I was really glad he let us have this experience.

Snowvembrrrr II

It snowed on Sunday.  The kids were SO EXCITED!  It was beautiful and soft and oh so white.  But it was cold.

This idea of running outside in jammies and bathrobes seemed like a good idea in the moment.

But after several minutes, the hands reddened and froze and they came in a bit cranky.  Yup, that pretty much sums up Winter here.  It is really beautiful and fun at first and then it gets old and people get cranky. 

Halloweeny 2013

This year we were Vikings with our 2 little dragons.  The kids love that movie, "How to Train Your Dragon" so that was kind of the inspiration.  I bought Oliver's baby dragon costume before I was even pregnant just because I knew we were going to have another baby.  That and it was on clearance at Carter's for $2.  How could I resist that?!

Tati decided that she really didn't want to be a Viking at school.  I agreed since I had no plans to go to the school and help her with her hair and all her accessories that I didn't care if she wore something else.  So she dug out her old kraken costume (that is too tight and short) and wore that.  Here she is right after school.  Something so hilarious about a kraken with a backpack and a scarf on, eh?

We usually have gone to the costume parade at the kids' elementary school but since Tati already strutted her stuff at school with the other kinders and it was right during nap time I told Chloe we probably wouldn't make it.  She told me she was fine with it and that it actually made her feel a bit more grown up if we didn't go.  (tear)

For Halloween night, we were dressed up in all our glory.  Honestly I thought I ended up looking more like Pocahontas than a Viking but oh well.  I really enjoyed fish tail braiding the wigs.  It was especially funny because Greg was my head for the wigs as I detangled them.  Note:  Always store wigs in bags when you pack up your Halloween crap.  Also, supposedly lotion is a great detangler but it sucked.  The other idea said vegetable oil but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Here are some fun pics that my friend, Jeanette took:

The weather was favorable for here. No snow like last year and the kids made out like bandits. Our favorite babysitter even accompanied us and helped Gavin with his bag. Mostly Gavin just enjoyed ringing the doorbells and screaming "Happy Halloween" at the end.