Snow in October

Yes, you read it right ... it has snowed in October. It started a bit on Thursday last week and we've had flurries on and off since then. Nothing has really accumulated, so its not that big of a deal, but I was really hoping we wouldn't see the white stuff until November. And - that's not just wishful thinking ... last year it didn't snow until mid-November! There is some hope that all of the snow that is on the ground will be gone by the weekend since we are heading back up to the double digits tomorrow - yay! Here, we had planned to finish work on the fence over the nice long weekend, and we did - except we were getting snowed on as we worked - not ideal : (

We also spent our weekend babysitting Courtnie (7), Caleb (4) & Kaylee (2 1/2) Colbourne while their parents attended a wedding in Regina. They are really good kids (aside from Kaylee's extremely strong will!), and we had a fun time with them. On Monday afternoon the little girls (Kaylee & Ainsley) napped and Courtnie and Caleb wanted Peter to take them behind our house to climb the 'mountain'. Its really just a big pile of dirt that was placed there when the land behind us was cleared for houses last year. Its such a lovely view ; )
Here are a few shots of them on the top as I waved to them from the kitchen door.



Other than that, we haven't much to report! Ainsley is learning new words everyday and is starting to catch on to words with more than one syllable in them, though she will usually only pronounce one syllable well while the other one is more of a jumble! Here are a few shots of her from the last few days.

Reading 'Pinocchio' with Daddy.


And, jumping around on the couch - a new favorite activity. She also loves to try and climb over the back of the couch to get to her toys ... I generally try and intercept in that situation!!




Well, it is currently 9:35 a.m. and both Ainsley & Olivia are still sleeping! Olivia goes to bed as soon as she gets here in the morning; normally she sleeps until 9 or 9:30, and by that time Ainsley has usually been up for about an hour. But, for some reason they are both really sleepy today and I am getting some extra time to myself : )

Team PM & Ainsley

Late update

I am overdue in updating my blog ... I haven't been myself for about a week now. I hurt my back (doing absolutely nothing, one of those weird, random things) and have been struggling just to get the basics done! I am slowly recovering, but it is taking longer than I expected. I'm at the point now where physical activity is a good thing, and laying down to rest my back every once in awhile helps me get through the day. I'm hoping to be 100% restored soon!!

That being said - a sore back does not mean that I haven't been taking photos! Ainsley continues to be the cutest 17 month old to be found. She is learning at an alarming rate and seems to understand more and more every day. It really is amazing to watch her grow and figure things out. She is very good at taking instructions now and almost always knows what we are telling her to do, and what she is/isn't supposed to be doing. Example: last night she accidentally knocked over one of the little speakers beside the tv - she knows not to touch these. She looked over at us to see what we were going to do, but we knew it wasn't done on purpose so we didn't say anything. She then turned back around, and dutifully stood the speaker back upright. It was super cute, and we were impressed that she knew to do this!

Here are some recent shots ... sporting a new vest from Grandma, playing in her tent downstairs and coming in the door from picking up Daddy from work.




On Saturday morning I went out to the big baby sale on base. When I came home I found Peter on the couch watching a movie, with Ainsley napping on him! This is so not like Ainsley - she isn't much of a cuddler, so you can imagine my surprise. She seems to be enjoying cuddle time more as she gets older - case in point! (Incidentally: Ainsley is a big drooler when she sleeps. Because of the way she was laying, Peter ended up having a trickle of drool all down into his armpit, ending in a pool on the couch!)



Later on, she decided to take a little break with Mommy - who was resting her back on the couch after a busy morning.


More photos to follow soon. We are off on our way to the park now!

Team PM & Ainsley

Nature Walk

Last week we plunged from 32 degrees on Monday - Wednesday to about 12 degrees on Thursday! Most people were pretty bummed about this ... I, on the other hand, look forward to fall's crisp sunny days. I thought it would be the perfect day to hit the Provincial Park (with my two sidekicks of course) and let them explore on one of the trails. Here are a few shots of the 'nature lovers' :)






Ainsley mostly wanted to run down the path as fast as she could ... Olivia preferred stopping to eat leaves, and listen to birds. They both enjoyed me hiding behind trees and jumping out at them : )

After our walk on the trail, we headed back closer to the playground. First we checked out the Peace Grove - which is a little monument to - you guessed it - peacekeeping : )




From there, we hit the playground! My brave daughter will now climb up the stairs, across the bridge, up onto the big platform and up to the big yellow slides and go down by herself!! She doesn't even care if I am there to catch her ... which, I did care about, so I made sure I was there to catch her anyway!! She is one determined little girl .... wonder who she takes after ?? ; )



Incidentally, I didn't get very many shots of actual playtime while at the park .. I was too busy chasing the girls around - mostly Ainsley - to make sure she didn't try and do something she couldn't handle!

Team PM & Ainsley

Pigtail-y cuteness

Ainsley sporting two pigtails and looking super cute : ) She is wearing a shirt my Mom bought for her because apparently she thinks I'm cute!



And for those of you who think Cold Lake is frigid year round, I just want to point out that when we were outside the other morning, it was only about 11 degrees out, but by the afternoon the outfit was changed because it got up to 25!


I wish I could capture Ainsley saying all of her words, but apparently when the camera is turned on, she chooses not to say them! She loves to say puppy (buh-peeeee), and everything furry is a puppy; shoes (shuse?), this word also applies to socks; ball (ba-h?), always said as a question; baby (bah-bee?), so cute how she repeats it! Her vocabulary is being added to daily it seems so I'll keep trying to capture some of it so I can post to share with all of you!

Team PM & Ainsley

The fence that Peter built

It would be an understatement to say that we've spent a lot of our summer working on our yard ... it seems that the work never ends! The fence was the one thing we were really anxious to finish up ... and its finally done! Ok, well not really - but we're all closed in at least. Peter still has a lot of finishing touches to do, including adding the lattice work on top of the fence, trimming the fence posts and adding the fence post caps. BUT - at least we can put Fletch and/or Ainsley out there to play and know that they can't wander off. Here are a few shots of the fence and yard, including our new canopy on the deck.







And a few pictures of Peter hard at work - he did most of the fence all by himself! I did help to screw in several of the boards, but he did all the planning, measuring, sawing and more! I knew I married him for a reason ; )



Aside from the grass we haven't done too much landscaping yet this year, but I do have a few things planted including an ash tree in the front yard, and a very tiny maple tree in the back.


Now don't go and get the idea that Peter has been working away all summer and I've just been sitting around watching! I've done some painting and I think the living room and kitchen are pretty much done being decorated now .. maybe a few more finishing touches to come - but here's the paint job.





We knew from past experience that having a house is a lot of work ... but having a brand new house is even more work! We're hoping to get our driveway done next year and then hopefully have a couple years to enjoy all of our efforts before we have to move on!

Team PM & Ainsley

Peter & I always complain that our least favorite part of living in Cold Lake is the lack of cultural activities. And, by 'cultural activities', I don't mean Buck-offs, Bull-a-ramas or Rodeos - because there are plenty of those to go to! Though we are surrounded by First Nations Reserves, we also live in an area that was largely settled by Ukrainian immigrants in the early 20th century. So ... there continues to be a strong presence of that culture in Alberta today - as we found out on Saturday when we attended the Glendon Perogy Festival! In its 18th year, the Glendon Perogy Festival celebrates Ukrainian culture with music, dancing, lots of perogies to eat and of course - a perogy eating contest. We drove down for lunch on Saturday afternoon and for $6 got a plate of perogies, sausage and onions.
'Good' does not describe how tasty these perogies were! Ainsley looks a little funny in the picture because she was mid-bite, but she loved the perogies too!



Glendon is a very small town, with only one restaurant and a main street that pretty much makes up their village. They do boast Perogy Park, the Perogy Café & Perogy Drive which is the main street through town. In 1993, the town unveiled its roadside tribute to the perogy. The giant perogy complete with fork, is 25 feet tall and is one of the 'Giants of the Prairies', which are a series of over-sized roadside attractions that dot highways throughout areas that were settled by Ukrainian immigrants. To read a list of all the giant attractions visit this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giants_of_the_Prairies.




As an aside, I have to point out that there are many spellings of the word perogy ... I've always spelled it with an 'e', and apparently in Glendon they spell it with a 'y'.

After we ate lunch, we went over to the little play ground so Ainsley could go on the swings. There was some local musicians entertaining the crowd, so after Ainsley was done her swinging, off she went to dance around! She certainly was the center of attention!!





It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. After we came home, we finished working on our fence and got it all closed in. We still have to finish the lattice work on top and a few other finishing touches. Pictures to follow soon!

Team PM & Ainsley

Dancing Queens!

I posted this video on Facebook also, so I apologize if any of you are 'double viewers'! Though, once you see it you may want to watch it again because it is too darn funny!! I laughed the whole time I filmed them ... what a pair! And, as I said on Facebook ... I promise that all they'd had to drink that day was milk and water : )
Enjoy! (If I haven't already mentioned this before - Ainsley LOVES to dance!)