A few more fall leaf pictures (when my friend Sarah was here for the weekend) can be seen on her blog: goingsarah.blogspot.com

We enjoyed the snow today! In fact, Grace wouldn't leave me alone until I let her go out to explore it! She wasn't about to wait all day until NiNi came with her snowsuit, so I managed to get her into Jasmin's and let her out. She was so excited - and then shocked and upset at how cold it was :o) She didn't like having mittens on - she took them off to properly play with the snow! Of course, it didn't take us too long to pursuade her she did need them on. Even so, she still prefers to have them off for the first little while. This is her third time outdoors, this time with her very own snowsuit and boots that NiNI brought with her.
Jasmin was not too impressed with the whole affair. She found it highly annoying that she has to relearn to walk! Boots, snowsuit, and snow all make it a new exercise entirely. She never moved from where Daddy put her down! And, of course, the only thing she thought snow was good for was eating!
The promised event! Daddy came out to play too! And to build that snowman Grace had been pestering for all day. She was quite intrigued by the whole process, but was a bit too rough with her additions - the poor man had to be patched a good number of times. They built another after this one, then they had to come in for supper. Grace was beside herself with tiredness, but came in with great protest because they needed to make a mommy snowman; after all, they had a daddy and a baby one...
Grace actually fell asleep during supper. She ate some and then curled up on her chair making fake snoring sounds. Daddy took the hint and settled her on a beanbag chair with her blankie. She is still there now at 9, waiting for Daddy to transfer her to bed.

An all morning pastime - sorting and resorting, pouring and spilling beans and pumpkin seeds. Grace was too absorbed to bother looking up, but Jasmin knows exactly what to do for a camera: "cheese" :o)

Random thoughts before bed

It's snowing!! A proper storm, too; no starting off slowly with small dustings!

I guess this answers my question as to whether or not we should rake the leaves off our front grass.

And puts an end to my makeshift compost pile... I'll really have to make a proper enclosure now, if I want to use it this winter. How could I have forgotten so easily about the practicalities of Canadian winters? Even while looking forward to it?!?

I'm excited, but it has caught us quite unprepared...
As in, tomorrow morning if we want to use the car, we'll have to shovel the driveway with a toy shovel that Grace has - bigger than a trowel and with a longish handle, but what a sight that'll make :o)
As in, should we even use the car, since it still has summer tires only?
As in, Grace and Jasmin both don't have winter boots, nor do I have a proper winter coat.

Last week, Michael's computer died....
It began as an annoyance - overheating and needing to be put in the garage to cool down so it could be used again. But annoyance quickly became an I-can't-work-with-this type of problem as it began happening too often too quickly after cool down. So, we lost 2 and 1/2 days to buying a new computer, setting it up with all the needed software, and recovering data.
I say we, because of course it meant that mommy had to give daddy concentrated time with no interruptions to get it all done - meaning mommy had to keep girls happily occupied all the time instead of the usual calling on daddy from time to time. Not all that hard (they're great girls to hang out with), but a bit challenging with the restrictions on my movements still!
Of course, once the computer was bought, the old one functioned fine - for a while. Once all the data was switched over, the old computer died completely and refused to turn on. So we made the right decision!
The whole thing reminded me just how blessed we are that we can, at a moments notice, go out and buy a new laptop! Wow! Now that deserves some serious gratitude :)

Did you notice the haircut?


She was getting a little bit too wispy to look brushed - even when she was :o) I kept seeing this cut hidden in her looks, and one day after cutting Michael's hair I gave it a whirl. If you don't look too closely it is a neat cut :o)

More pictures I'm catching up with...

Grace "walking" NiNi & YeaYea's dogs. She was so proud of herself!

We had an evening at the park with Bu and Ming (Uncle and Aunt) before they left for Vancouver enroute to a new job in Korea...
Mommy and Daddy have a lot of playing to live up to on the playground now! The girls loved all the attention of course.

And Jasmin here insisting that she CAN do it by herself...

She did actually make it all the way to the top - but not without a hovering saviour or two :o)
This is how high she was climbing.

We've had a peaceful weekend with a great friend visiting from Sherbrooke. It was so nice to share a few days with her - and them not to be horribly busy ones too! We went for an explore in a patch of forest near our house (yeay!) this morning before she had to leave. It was so cold we had hats and mitts on the girls (which Jasmin was NOT happy about) but we still had fun. I don't think Jasmin liked it though - we had to hold her or she would cry! But after awhile she settled down and looked at the towering trees rustling with yellow and orange leaves with interest.

Random pictures from the last month or so!

Jasmin enjoying breakfast on the train coming back from Toronto (Sept 29th).The truth of the matter: kids left to themselves just a little bit too much during the move. Jasmin started her nap underneath their kitchen table... once she got bored of the playdough stars Grace had made. A bit like a cat, don't you think? Finding an out of the way sunny warm place for a nap :o)


Grace and Jasmin both really like playing wiht the camera. Here are a few of Grace's attempts:
A great one of Jasmin anxious for her turn!

and I'm not too sure how she managed this one...

And more to follow...

I'm finally getting to my pictures! Here's a random one from getting our new house together...Michael was trying to rehang the cupboard door and needed to see it from inside. The girls thought this was a great idea! This kitchen has some BIG cupboards!

Still no pictures as the one room as yet unpacked is the computer room :o} That's because we have to do the floor in there as the carpet is bad enough that Michael can't work in there without triggering his allergies.

We are in our own house now and things are finally settling down enough to enjoy it and feel it becoming home. Grace and Jasmin are particularly fond of the backyard and the place underneath the chimney: it is full of chipped rocks... and, of course, the strip of dug over garden: almost as good as the sand in the park! We've finished painting the main floor, and are leaving the rest until we've had a bit of a break. "Mostly" is the answer mommy has to give to questions of "all settled in/unpacked?" There is still plenty to do, but now it can fit in with living rather than living needing to fit in around it!

Ming Christina and Bu Sangi took Grace and Jasmin to buy some pet fish for the fish tank they gave us. In the end they came back with a small fish bowl and a fighter fish... the big fish tank turned out to be too much work, they thought. Thanks for thinking this way for mommy and daddy :o) The fish got named Jace (JA - smin and Gra - CE), which Grace already calls him consistently. Grace reminds me every morning to give breakfast to Jace, and during the day excitedly says to me, "Let's go see Jace!" and carefully reminds me not to scare him :o)

I had a check up with the surgeon on the 2nd, which was very encouraging. He said that the amount of strength recovery that I'm already showing means very likely I will recover all my leg strength in time. I begin physiotherapy next week to speed that along. Such big thanksgiving this causes in us as it has been such a long wait and so many prayers have been offered for this very thing! Now I just have to discipline myself to continue to be careful even though I mostly feel normal.