March 29, 2012

The girl guide cookies are here!  One of the secretaries at Mike's work is selling them and he bought her out of the last 6 boxes... Not all for us of course, my Mum wanted two...

Yummy.

March 28, 2012

This is our cat, Felix.  He loves to lie on paper and in boxes.  This one was perhaps, a little small.  Although, he tried hard to cram himself in anyways...

March 27, 2012

After preschool today, Claire was invited to the playground with a bunch of her friends.  This is her best buddy Keanen driving them around in the "bus". 

March 26, 2012

This is a picture of a bud on our Magnolia tree in the backyard.  After I had taken this photo, it was just screaming out to be turned black and white.  I'm looking forward to my Mum's Magnolia tree blooming.  It's been there a long time and gets thousands of flowers on it!

March 25, 2012

I love Spring and the budding new flowers!  This is our Flowering Almond in our front yard.  Always one of the first bushes to bloom.  I am sure there will be more pictures of this one to come when these burst out into their pink flowers!

March 24, 2012

With all this warm weather we are having the tulips in our garden have started to bloom.  This is the first one, in our backyard.  I love tulips!

March 23, 2012

My sleeping beauty!  Everytime I check on Claire before I go to bed at night, I'm always dying to get a photo of her sleeping.  She had a hard time waking up from her nap today, so after I had opened the curtains and she still was sleeping, I ran to get my camera!  So peaceful.

March 22, 2012

Ok it's killing me to be stuck at work during these summery March days.  So we propped the back door open at our station and sat outside to catch some rays!

March 21, 2012

It was HOT today.  Too hot to be working in wool pants and steel toe boots.  This was taken in Forest on one of our standbys.  Seriously 5:30 and still 30 degrees.  In March??



March 20, 2012

I promised Claire we would head down to the beach to watch the sunset tonight.  It started to cloud over around supper time and I wasn't sure we were going to get a nice one as we were biking there.  It was a warm night and just playing down by the water would be fun in itself.  Just as the sun was coming down close to the water, it broke free from the clouds and turned the sky this fantastic pink colour!  The south breeze that we had, made the lake just like glass, so pretty.  We even saw a jetski out tonight!  Imagine that, in March!

March 19, 2012

Ah Maverick.  We were playing outside after dinner tonight and our neighbours dog Sammy was outside.  I know he was dying to be able to play with her as he looked intently over to their yard.

March 18, 2012

What a busy day at work today.  We left our base at 8:30 and didn't get back until after 7:00.  I know the people that work in the "city" are used to this all the time, but I am not.  I like my slow pace out in the county, which is why I can get up at 4:15 to get a workout in and then put a 12 hour shift in.  Today it kicked my butt.  I am spent.  I walked in the door, took my boots off.  And this is where they stayed.

March 17, 2012

We have been having some beautiful weather lately and I stopped on my way home from work today to take this picture of the sunset tonight.

March 16, 2012

Back to work again today and after the last two days of 20 degree weather, the 10 degrees that it was this morning seemed quite cool.  It was very foggy too.  This picture was taken around 11:30 on our way back from a standby in Forest.

March 15, 2012

Claire and I found the first flower to bloom at our house today on one of the bushes in the front yard.  When I explained to her that all the other buds would soon turn into flowers she was in awe and had to smell each one.  What a sweetheart!

March 14, 2012

I think spring is here!  It is supposed to be 17 degrees here and we took full advantage of the nice weather and having the day off together.  In the morning we took the girls to the animal farm in Canatara Park.  This is Claire and Mike watching the ducks and the geese.

And Ava trying to feed the ducks.

Then in the afternoon we took a walk to the beach.

Then they both put their feet in the water, Ava, with her shoes, socks and all!

What a great day!



March 13, 2012

The time has "sprung ahead" and now I do not have to drive home from work in the dark.  It was a beautiful day today with a beautiful sunset!

March 12, 2012

So this is not a pretty picture and when Mike saw it, he was surprised and confused as to why I would pick this ugly picture to be my picture for today.  I am working days today, my shift starts at 7am and ends at 7pm.  I work in Thedford, it's not the prettiest town in Ontario by any means and today it has been raining, hard, for most of the day.  I wanted to try and take a picture of raindrops in some puddles, but by the time we got back from a call, it had stopped.  So I looked out the window at the creepy warehouse beside our base and saw this puddle with the piece of green tin reflecting in it. To me it symbolized the day. Kind of dark, grungy with a little bit of colour in it.

March 11, 2012

Mike has been working nights, so in order to try to keep the house quiet, (and because of the overlap of our shifts) I packed the girls up and we headed first to church with my mom and then to her house for the day, and for the girls overnight.  It was a beautiful spring day and we tried to spend lots of time outside soaking up the sunshine and the warm temperatures!  Boots on with their sunday dresses we headed down the lane in search of mud puddles.

So what do you think?  Looks like it's going to be a good crop of wheat this year.



I love being on the farm, it gives me peace.  And I love walking around looking at everything my Dad built and things from my childhood.  The last few months before christmas, it was nice spending so much time here and it was almost as though I re-connected with the place I called home for so many years.  Just being here has provided me with comfort when it seemed everything around me was falling apart. 

March 10, 2012

Yes Ava bites her nails, perfect for us, because I can't remember the last time they needed a trim.  Now if only she could do her toes too...

March 9, 2012

Needing some spring clothes for our kids, Christine and I headed over to America to one of our favourite shopping destinations.

Now that's a successful shopping trip to Birch Run!

March 8, 2012

It's been one of those days... I've been a bit of a hermit lately, finding it difficult to motivate myself to get out there.  The weather has been cold and a little bit dreary so we decided to watch some movies and to be honest, I've just needed some quiet for myself.  Claire crawled under her car mat to use it as a blanket and laid on the floor watching tv, sucking her fingers... Mental note, we've really got to work on that.

March 7, 2012

The weather is getting nicer, so we decided to venture out to the park near our house.  It doesn't drain very well and in the spring there are usually lots of puddles!  Perfect to try out our new rainboots!!

March 6, 2012

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Today is Mike's birthday and the house has been decorated to Claire's satisfaction with balloons and streamers!  The birthday boy's only request for the day was that we have a Dairy Queen ice cream cake with "crazy candles" as Claire calls them!

March 5, 2012

Claire had her last swimming lesson in "Sea Otter" tonight and proudly brought me her certificate afterwards stating she passed this level!  Awesome job Claire!!  On the last day you are allowed to take pictures and this is Claire taking instructions from her teacher.

Claire and I went over to "America" as she calls it, this morning, and picked up these bunny goggles at Target.  Ava got quite a kick out of trying them on!

March 4, 2012

The last week or so, I feel like I've lost my mojo.  I struggle with finding the patience to parent my two girls, motivation to complete the daily tasks around night shifts and the creativity to take a picture a day.  Today was one of those days when I wished I had never started a project like this.  It just seemed to hard and too much of a chore to think of something to be thankful for today.  After wandering around the house for a bit, I put my macro lens on, walked outside, and opened my eyes a little bit more.  This picture is from one of our bushes in the front yard.  It always one of the first to bloom these pretty pink flowers in the spring.  Looks like the buds are starting to come already and spring is around the corner.  I'll be happy when it's not so cold and dreary outside and the parks dry up, so it's more enjoyable to be outside.

March 3, 2012

The girls have been dying to get outside and blow some bubbles, so today we bundled up and headed out.  It was quite windy, so the bubbles didn't hang around long.  As soon as they were blown, they were already halfway across the backyard.  Ava was trying her best to get them to work, but it's hard when she insisted on using the wrong end...

March 2, 2012

Our poor snowman isn't fairing too well in these warm temperatures.  We noticed his head had fallen off this morning, this was him around 2:00 and by the time the sun went down he was almost gone.  Claire keeps asking what happened to the snowman and Ava just points outside saying "noman".  Claire is still optimistic that we can build another one, me, I'm not so sure.

March 1, 2012

Ah, empty diaper box can provide endless fun somedays!

February 29, 2012

There's been alot of princesses around our house since we went to see Disney on Ice.  Claire's been watching the Dancing Wiggles today pretending she is at "the ball" all dressed up in her princess outfit and fancy shoes, dancing the night away.

February 28, 2012

I have been working nights and Oma's been staying at our place while I'm gone.  Claire loves putting puzzles together and I must say, she's pretty good at them too!

February 27, 2012

My neighbours have gone away skiing in Collingwood and asked me to take care of their dog until their housesitter arrives.  This is Sammy, she loves playing with Maverick and I love how tired Maverick is after playing with her!

February 26, 2012

While Mike was getting all of his things together and loading up the truck for his week away, Claire was playing out in the front yard.  All dressed up in her new spring hat, new scarf, winter boots and ski poles!  What a character she is and she loves to dress up! 

February 25, 2012

We took Claire to see Disney on Ice today at the John Labatt Centre in London.  It was a good show and Claire loved all the princesses, Snow White especially!  We took some pictures while we were there, but they are on our little point and shoot camera, and Mike took it with him this week on his winter survival/snowmobile course.  It was a clear night when we arrived back home, and tonight Venus and Jupiter had aligned themselves close to the moon.  We could see them with the naked eye.  Very cool!