"Nuu - Nuu"

That's the answer anytime I ask Alia what I should make for supper! Noodles... a girl after my own heart! Even though I wouldn't mind eating noodles on a daily basis, my love handles would (and do!). So we have to shake the menu up a bit.
That being said, the other night Jonathan wasn't home for supper so spaghetti was a must!! And Alia was THRILLED!

To the rescue, again!

My Hutterite friends were such a HUGE help before Alia was born. In one day we made two sets of duvet covers (boy and girl) and matching pillows, a bumper pad, a crib skirt, and sewed all my receiving blankets for each sex. It would have taken me FOREVER to do it all on my own... but between three of us we had a ball, and got it done in a jiffy!
Well... the other day I was trying to make a flannel fringe blanket and happened to be talking to Roseanna on the phone at the time. Things weren't quite working out as planned and, despite my protest, Roseanne insisted that I stop and finish sewing it at their place. And I was to bring any sewing that I still wanted to get done for the baby! (Needless to say, I have learned that having the right tools makes a WORLD of difference! So I now have a few more toys in my sewing closet for the next time!)
What a huge blessing it was! I have some extra winter baby blankets ready and had such a great day with Roseanna and her family. It's always such a treat to head out to the colony and hang out for a bit!

Alia learning how to sew from Rose (Roseanna's mother)... a much better teacher than I am!




Roseanna with her beautiful girl


They have everything you can possibly think of to aid in sewing... but since they sew all their clothes, bedding, towels, etc. it just makes sense! Every time I sew with these ladies I learn a new trick of the trade!!


I forgot to get a picture of us cutting the fabric and laying out the pattern for the fringe blankets, so... this is the last strip waiting to be sewn!


All the strips sewn (for the girl blanket) and now it's waiting to be "fringed"


Roseanna "fringing" away... it took us quite awhile to do that on two blankets!


It never fails... I ALWAYS leave with more than I came with when I visit the colony! And every time I tell them it's too much they just laugh and help me to the vehicle with all the bags!

Look at these two...

I just can't get enough of them!



(They were waiting on me to finish getting ready so we could head to town... and I guess I was taking longer than expected. They ended up finishing a movie that's been ongoing for awhile!)

Only Daddy would think of doing this!

Jon is, by FAR, the more fun parent in our family equation! I think anyone who knows either of us could probably guess that without a whole lot of evidence! On Saturday I was organizing in the office and heard Alia squealing with delight, only to have her "pull up" to the door moments later to show me why!

Patiently waiting for Daddy to be off the phone

Let the "races" begin again!

Sitting in a chair

is just too boring apparently. Lately Alia wants to sit ON the table for snack time. We never sit on the table (I doubt our table would survive!) so who knows where she got the idea. She's had 1 tumble and 1 close call, where she caught herself inches from the ground with her arm getting stuck in the chair. You'd think she'd learn that sitting on the chair is safer... but nope. Then again... look who her Daddy is! He's not known for being the safest around (and I quite prefer it that way!)!

Office Climber

Since I spend a bit of my day in the office, Alia has moved her play zone into there at times. Thankfully she's no longer interested in the bookshelf, but this little "craft spot" has become her new favorite!
She sits on the box for minutes on end (which is quite a while when you're under 2!), just chattering away and having a grand ole' time. I couldn't find the silverware to her kitchen the other day, and after MUCH searching, found them in between the pages of her baby scrapbook. Why I didn't look there sooner... I'm not sure! But when things go missing I have a pretty good idea where they'll be from now on!

Little Miss Chef

For Christmas we decided to get Alia a new play kitchen. I researched until the point of ridiculousness (a word? I'm not sure!). After much hemming and hawing we decided on a plastic one, for a number of reasons! (Hopefully it stands the test of a little girl who's still learning to be gentle, and subsequent kids after that!)
Alia doesn't know when Christmas day is so, for at least this year, it didn't matter when we gave it to her! We decided to extend the festivities a bit and give it to her when we got back to MB. Boy oh boy, what a treat to see her eyes light up! I'm surprised... but she knew just what to do with it! She even closes the oven door with her foot - it's so funny! It's a big hit in our home, and I look forward to more "purple eggs" (that's what she made me today) in the future!

Barely White Christmas

As most back home were "complaining" about a barely white Christmas, I was just soaking it in! I didn't mind one single iota.... after having several dumps of snow before we left, it was a nice break in our routine!!
As I have mentioned we were so blessed to be able to spend the holidays with my family! But... despite being really glad to be there, I hardly took any pictures! I don't know what my problem was... at any rate I will share a handful that I did take!

Auntie Erin (my bros wife) was fantastic with Alia. I can't even describe to you how much Alia LOVED playing with her. She has such a way with kids... I know that if we lived closer Alia would be at her house more times than not! I was so blessed to watch the two of them together.... it was truly beautiful!


This is one of the very few shots I got of Alia in her Christmas dress. Let's just say she was NOT in the mood for posing! So, she's sitting on Daddy's lap (read "being held there"!) with the promise that after pictures she could help pass out presents!


Uncle Josh helping Alia with her new rain garb... the jacket even has little antennas! It's ADORABLE!!


Watching Alia open her gifts was way more fun this Christmas! Last Christmas we basically opened them for her, with her grabbing on randomly at times. This year there was no stopping her! She knew the drill and was giving her all she had!


Trying to get a pic of some of the unwrapping frenzy, but wasn't too successful!


Daddy and Alia just relaxing with some books.

It's 4:45 am...

... and I've been up for over two hours. Definitely not my original plan, but here I am.

Things that are going through my head include (but are not limited to!):

- Houses. The house down the road from us, that we thought FOR SURE we would be moving into this summer, is no longer. Well... I mean, it's there... but we weren't able to negotiate a price. The price our realtor told us was good and the price they want is about $70,000 difference. Needless to say, for a house that is straight out of the 70's and requires LOTS of modernizing, that's a lot of money. In addition, the people that wanted to buy our house have decided they prefer to live more in the country. SO... we're back at square 1. Again.

- Girl's names. We can't agree. It's just that simple! I told Jon, if I had my way we would have had a name months ago... but our tastes are SO different! I think that I should have like 60% pull vs. the typical 50% in this case. I'm not a huge "I carried this child, and gave birth to them, so you better..." kind of person - but I'm tempted to be in this case! Just until we choose a name anyhow! The name I have picked out is just SO lovely... and Jon's names are just so 90's (keepin' it real!)! But I know eventually (hopefully in like the next week or two) we will agree. I have every confidence that God will pop a really great name into both our heads. Until then I'm not even going to list the options!

- Toys. I'm clearing out Alia's toys. We were at a close friends house the other day and their once overflowing toy shelf was completely bare (minus a puzzle or two!). Her husband was sick of walking over & around stuff so he boxed it all up... funny thing... the kids have hardly noticed! So - operation "Alia needs to learn to play with what she has" will be in effect soon. I just have to buy a few more storage totes! (Don't worry - all her new Christmas toys have made the cut!)

- My camera. It's in manual mode 100% of the time now. So... pictures will probably continue to be lacking in most departments for the next ?? I'm not sure how long! Just wanted to let ya know. And ask you, once again, to overlook all badness and just see the hints of goodness!

There's more... but I'm getting on the yawny side. So up I go to try and get some shut eye!

Horses... once again

Our girl loves horses. It's been that way since she was the littlest of little tikes. Thankfully for us, her Auntie Jer loves horses too... so they will have lots to bond over when Alia gets older. I have VERY little desire to own a horse, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there... maybe by then her interests will change!
ANYHOW...
my mom pulled down our old rocking horse from the attic, dusted it off, and made the day for this little cowgirl!!

Showing off for the boys




This is what I call her "cheesy smile"...


Having a grand ole' time



Uncle Joel giving her some pointers on how to help Lukey have a more enjoyable ride


Just a girl, her horse, and her best friend... chillin' awhile

Winter Wonderland

Being the super aunt and uncle that they are... my brother and his wife wanted to take Alia somewhere special while we were home! We originally thought we'd go to the zoo to see all the lights (it's CRAZY what their hydro bill must cost!) but heard that most the animals weren't in view, so we decided to go with plan B. (And as we were passing the zoo entrance on our way to plan B, there were miles of cars backed up just waiting to get in! So it's a good thing we went somewhere else... otherwise Alia would have been asleep before we even got in the gate!!)
Plan B ended up being the "Winter Wonderland". The very same event that we graced several times as children! I'll be honest... I don't quite remember it being that cheezy when I was a youngin'... but Alia loved it - and that's what matters! It was so cute... her little pointer finger was out the whole evening!





Of course Uncle Josh let her TOUCH everything... not just point at it!


And here we have my husband modeling my bro's hat. You'd think, for being a Canadian, he'd be able pull the look off better - but nope! We promptly asked him to return it to Joel.... quickly!


Auntie Erin and Alia are like two peas in a pod - my oh my, those two have fun together!


I know the quality of this pic is horrible but I loved the expressions!


Every member of the family took turns holding Alia... as you can see! It was almost like setting a timer so a new toy can be enjoyed by all! "Beeeeeep... K, now it's my turn!"


The main highlight of the evening was the huge blow up jumping thing they had set up for the kiddos! Alia had a BLAST... until an older kid took her out. I wasn't there to witness the event (I'm preggo... remember... take one wild guess where I was!) but apparently after the tangle she was done with that event pretty fast!
Overall it was a fun evening and I'm so glad we went!

What 'cha eatin?

My Dad hadn't seen Alia since July so he was beside himself with excitement for her to come! These two are so fun to watch together! It probably helps that anything Alia wants, Alia gets!!!
I caught Grampa sharing some early morning cookies with Ali... on more than one occasion!! But... oh well - Gramma and Grampa only get the chance to spoil a few times a year, so it might as well be good when they've got it!

Pretending she's all surprised about what Grampa's eating...