Living with statues

I grew up with art around me, so I've been living with statues all my life. And my parents have great stories to tell about us living with statues: The questions whether a particular statue had just pooped in her pants, or the Christmas ornaments hung from another statue...

We got a lovely statue as a present a couple of years ago: two kids reading a book. And Liam and Anouk really identify with the statue. They put little things onto the book pages for the statue to see or they turn it around to see something in the room better.

Lately Liam's been weaving yarn around them - maybe to warm them? to bond them together?

I'll try to take pictures of the different interactions with the statue and post it here.

Snow day 2

It started snowing late in the afternoon and this morning we woke up to about 15-20 cm of snow:

 There was a sidewalk that needed to be shoveled:

We pulled the sled out and the kids enjoyed the snow in the yard:

(Yes, that's the little sister pulling the big brother!)

Giggles while pulled my mama:

Pulled through the neighbourhood by daddy:

We don't get cold snaps often, but when we do apparently we go a bit crazy with wrapping everyone and everything in knits. This is a yarn-bombed sign post:

At the park:

Sliding into a snow wall:

Fresh tracks to the swings:

And now a nice bowl of hot soup for everyone!

It doesn't snow often here - and when it does, we need to pack an entire Canadian winter into one day!

Snow day

It doesn't take a lot of snow for us here on the West Coast to feel the hardship of winter. We're used to rain and relatively warm weather, so snow always makes us feel like the rest of Canada...
February usually brings the first blossoms in the front yards in our neighbourhood, the first blossoms on trees, crocuses... This year the snow bells came right on cue for the beginning of February, but then the cold winds came in and today is not a first glimpse at spring, but a grey, cold and snowy winter day.
So we decided to turn up the heat and make it into a cozy home day with the possibility of playing in the snow after nap (this may not work out, the snow is constant, but not a lot, it's more like a sustained dusting - if you're reading this anywhere else in the Northern hemisphere you're laughing, but really, we don't do snow here!)

So what to do on a snow day?

Maybe work a bit more on this?

The kids played with the snow fairy - who was very cold since she only had her ear muffs on an no warm clothing, but then the rainbow fairy brought her a warm blanket, so all is well now:

And you gotta admit that nothing warms you up more than chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven:

Now everyone is under a warm blanket having a nap. We'll see what the afternoon brings...

Puppet show!

Over the past couple of days the kids have been having a great time putting on puppet shows for us:

Here's the sign to the puppet show - $1 admission price:

And here are some impressions of the shows from the past few performances:

Usually there were two parallel story lines: Trolls, fairies and unicorns with Liam:

And a farm story with Anouk:

Troll boy and Rumpelstilskin flying in a rowboat:

And the farmer's wife and the donkey flying high up into the sky:

In this performance the fairies were flying high in the air:

And here everyone was getting ready for a long journey on a big boat:

The second story line was dwindling a bit at this point:

The farmer standing next to the pussy willow tree:

Liam says the best thing about the puppet show was when everyone was on the boat sailing around.
For me the best part was the lightning storm when pieces of yellow yarn came down onto the boat as lightning.

Things that scare me

Last week we had an Earthquake Awareness Day in BC. Everyone was supposed to practice what to do in case of an earthquake. I didn't dive under the desk at the prescribed time, but it did bring us to think about what to do in case the Big One hits the West Coast. And it terrifies me. For no rational reason. The buildings are well-built, a big earthquake in New Zealand caused damage and scared people, but didn't kill anyone. But, an earthquake is so completely and utterly out of anyone's control - and that's scary. I've been in a couple of minor earthquakes, so I know what shaking ground feels like, but still cannot imagine the Big One.

For the kids it's all a bit more pragmatic: Liam said they practiced getting underneath their tables at school and then "we need to faire la file and go out to the big field".
Anouk told us that they practiced a safety drill at daycare today. When we asked her what it was about she said: "We sat under the table and sang songs."

At least duck and cover doesn't apply to when you "see the flash" anymore...

So, maybe that's the best solution when things are out of your control: to sit under your table and sing a song and wait until the world stops shaking. I think it might work in non-earthquake situations as well.

Have you ever sat under your table and sang a song?

Hooked

I'll admit it, this is quickly becoming a crafting blog. Bear with me. It's what I do when I have a ton of work to do. It relaxes me, it distracts me, it keeps my hands busy while watching really bad TV...

So far, I've explored the world of knitting, then came sewing and now someone has hooked me. With a crochet hook. Up to a week ago the only use I had for crochet hooks was to pick up dropped stitches when knitting. Then a friend shoed me how to use the hook and yarn to make things. Wow.
It's fun, it's faster than knitting, it keeps you engaged differently than knitting.

I got some cotton yarn and started experimenting: single crochet, double crochet, square, round, and then some granny squares. Fun. :)

So within a week I made six different wash cloths. They will all go into the mail for my sister's long-distance baby shower. She's expecting her first baby in June and I want to make a few things for the baby. I sent her some baby socks the other week and have many ideas for more things and am working on this other super-soft and colourful project... But I don't want to disclose anything until it's done.

These are done:

There were a few things I received as gifts before Liam was born that I had no idea I would need so many of - and washcloths were one of those things.

And now that I know how to crochet, I am thinking of crochet project to do and the Babette Blanket has caught my eye...  I'll think about it some more, think about colours, who I would make it for... It would look great in teal and brown over our sofa or it would make a great baby blanket... hmmm...

Anouk's fashion sense

Anyone who has a toddler knows that they have a fashion sense. Whether it was Liam demanding an orange sweater with a blue monster or Anouk dressing herself in the morning.

Anouk insists on dressing herself most days: "I do it self! I choose!" OK...

This is one of my favourites from the last few weeks:

Snowman pajama top, a dress that fit her when she was 1, blue pants and red rubber boots. And yes, she did go out of the house like that. With a jacket covering up the PJs and the dress. :) And yes, that's a full basket of laundry in the background that contains lots of clothes that are actually her size...

Here she is playing in a box in the kitchen - note the foot sticking out:

They both had a lot of fun in their boxes, cutting out windows, colouring the inside... It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon!

Here's another shot of Anouk "all dressed up":

The daycare had asked me to make some dress-up clothes for them and I had a great time choosing iridescent and sparkly fabrics and lots of tulle. I made them into easy pull-up skirts and tutus. Anouk just loved the fabrics and wrapping herself in them. :)

And here is a blouse I made for her with some corduroy that I have had in my stash for a while. It's one of my favourite Oliver and S patterns: the 2+2 blouse. The great thing is, once you have sewn a pattern a couple of times it really is easy. 

A new addition to her wardrobe, something to distract her from the dress that is two sizes too small now and an alternative to the PJs.