The Tall and the Short of things

Every morning my kids have the same routine (mostly Emily, but Jacob usually just mimics his sister...)
They wake up and come downstairs and they get to watch one show while still in their pj's. You see, Emily needs time - a lot of time - to "wake up". She hates to be rushed in the morning and as long as she is left alone for about half an hour, she's fine. Then we do breakfast and the kids get dressed and Emily gets her hair done.
I don't mind this routine. It gives me time to have a coffee, do any cleaning up that wasn't totally finished the night before, get dressed, etc.

Well. On Monday, our TV broke. It won't turn on anymore. It is still under warranty, so it's really not a big deal. The TV repair man is coming on Friday. So a week without TV. No big deal. It will be good for all of us.

Wrong. Poor Emily. Her life was turned upside down. No show in the morning? No time to herself? Tuesday morning was NOT a pretty sight.

But there was NO way I was going to haul our old HUGE TV into the living room and hook it up. It is way too heavy and way too monstrous. (I know what you're thinking - can it be any bigger than the other TV in this picture? The answer is yes. It's not wider, but it's an oldie, and so it is DEEEEEEEP.)
So this is the compromise. A tiny little TV dating back to my university days. Won by my sister at the local Shoppers Drug Mart.

But the kids don't seem to care. Curious George looks about the same on a teeny tiny screen as he does swinging across our plasma..... :)

After the Storm...

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.


It POURED this morning. We had all the lights on during the day because the sky was so black. I thought it would be a good day for baking and catching up on my least favourite chores. Which we did. But then, all of sudden the clouds disappeared and the sun shone down warming up our dull day.

Emily quickly noticed the change in weather and ran to our electronic thermostat in the dining room. "Mom! It's warm out. And sunny. Can we PLEASE go outside? It rained ALL day, which means.... PUDDLES!"
Ugh. Puddles. I, personally, am not a huge fan. But my kids love them and you're only a kid once. So, we put on our rain boots and headed into the backyard.
My children also received big bubble tubes lately, from a Grandma who shall remain nameless, and so they were also eager to try them out.

I have to admit, we had a pretty good time. The sunshine was such a blessing, making us all so cheerful and co-operative.
And it's true. The best part about rain is the puddles.
But the worst part of rain? Is ALSO the puddles.... example:
Even manly-man Jacob did NOT like falling in the muddy water. This was his face afterwards:
But he cheered up quickly with the promise of some trampoline fun.

"Come on in, Mom. It's fun....."
Taking a break :)

What did you do on your cold, cold wet day??

Spring beauty

These beautiful daffodils were growing in our ditch. I don't know exactly how many stems I cut, but there are hundreds more. Once our porch is a little closer to completion (all the heavy construction finished) we will dig them up and transplant them to our new garden which will run along the length of the porch. But for now, I will continue to cut them and bring them in. They make the perfect Easter dinner centerpiece.

Two Little Monkies

Or maybe I should say wolf pups.

These cousins had great fun today while Clara was visiting with us. They ran around howling and Clara yelling "scawwy woof! scawwy woof!"

They are great friends.

The Sound of Music

We finally got a piano.

Emily has been taking piano lessons for about 2 months now and is already at a stage where she needs a piano at home in order to practice.

Both Justin and I wanted to have a piano in the house anyway. Even though neither of us can play, we both think a piano makes a home much more "homey". Having a piano in the house really makes me wish I knew how to play. It's never too late to learn, right? Maybe I'll get some initiative and either learn online, or really get out of my comfort zone and take lessons.

But for now I hear the sweet (?) melodies composed by my two littles. Emily can play a few very simple songs and likes to make up her own songs, too. Jacob just bangs his little "old man hands" on the keys and laughs when he plays really low notes.

We think the piano looks at home here. It needs to be tuned, but we want to wait a while until it acclimatizes to our house. Anyone know a good piano tuner?