January wrap-up

Can't believe it's the last day of January! Here are some pictures from our month..

We got a lot of snow. Here is the jumbo snowblower making a huge cut to the drifts along the road.

The kidlets

Bronwen got a little chair and easel from our neighbour for her birthday. She quite enjoys it.

We had a birthday party for Brian. It drew quite the crowd! Here is Bronwen with her buddies... they just turned 5 and she loves to run around with them.

Happy birthday dear husband of mine!

This is his "it's my birthday and my wife made me a cake" face.

Went downtown for a walk.

Sometimes Bronwen hates the stroller.

Love me!

And me!

Oh Charlie, can we be friends forever...

It's been a bit of a long month especially this last week. The nights are loooong which makes the days long too. The kids have both been waking very, very frequently.... consequently we are running on very little sleep. Makes it hard to write a thesis or spend your day with a sometimes very strong willed toddler and a sensitive little guy! But we'll get through it... right? :)

Enjoy your weekends everyone! We recently acquired a waffle maker which makes Saturday morning breakfasts even more fun around here. Hurray for Saturday morning breakfast!

Latest pictures

It's been a while since I posted some pictures.. here are some more from the holidays before we get too far into 2014!

Dad and his babies

My annual gingerbread house

Our Christmas Eve treats

Delicious Christmas dinner with good friends!

My boys... John sans pants since he had an accident ;)

The spread... all this for 4 adults and 1 toddler! We took home many leftovers.

Their beautiful tree

Basking in the dry warmth of a woodstove... aaah.

Bronwen's birthday cake!

Early morning snow clearing

her favourite spot

We get all our exercise shovelling these days.

Bronwen's mini-birthday party last weekend

'What is it you're asking me to do here, Dad?'

I love cake.

Little brother taking it all in.

more to come!

Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures from our tree hunting adventure on Saturday. Due to Brian being away and the chilly weather, we didn't have a chance to get the tree until 4 days before Christmas. But we have been enjoying it very much ever since. :)

Here we are driving up snowy Mount Scio. This is less than 10 minutes from our house!

Bronwen figuring out how to walk in the deep snow. Our kids are lucky to inherit a series of red MEC snowsuits from their Prince George cousins.. thanks Krista! :)

Superdad cuts down the tree, then carries back heavy tree and heavy toddler through deep snow. The logistics of getting a tree with a baby and toddler are a bit tricky but we figured it out. :)

Investigating the new decor

Bronwen loves to take decorations on and off

Making pecan and butter tarts

Little guy likes the tree too!

And back to the tarts in the oven...

More pictures to come from our Christmas celebrations :)

Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ the newborn King!

December has begun

It's about time I posted again! It's been a little busy around here... and I haven't really felt like writing much, to be honest. It started out with a nasty cold that knocked all of us off our feet- toddlers have no concept of infection control and it quickly spread to 3 out of 4 of us. John was spared.. the only answer I have for that is the antibodies in breastmilk must really and truly be there, given the amount of times Bronwen gave him snotty, sloppery kisses and coughed and sneezed directly in his little face. And poked his eyes. Yes.

December is upon us and I am enjoying the holiday season so far. We are playing it low key this year, with nowhere to go but stay home in our cozy little house. While some may feel it rather unfortunate to have the closest family 3200 km away at Christmastime (and it would be great to see them, of course)- I am looking forward to a quiet and simple celebration with just the 4 of us. This weekend we're planning to go chop down a tree somewhere (weather permitting), and the Christmas baking has already started. There's a delicious fruitcake aging in our fridge right now, and some gingerbread dough all ready to be rolled out, yum!

This past Sunday we had John's dedication at our church. For those unfamiliar with such practices, it's where he is 'officially' welcomed into our church family.. but more importantly, where we dedicate him to God and promise to raise him to know about our faith. In the hope that one day, he will turn around and make his own choice to follow Christ. We are very thankful for our church family at Mosaic, they truly are like family to us. They love our kids too.. there's always someone to hold them and play with them and have a bit of fun!

We also went to an Advent service last Sunday, which was a great way to start off the Christmas season. The Newfoundland International Gospel choir sang a couple of songs.. wow, can they ever sing!

Brian will likely be gone for 5 days next week, doing fieldwork in northern Newfoundland. The prospect of being alone with the kids is not quite as daunting as it was when John was 6 weeks old, but I'll still be glad when he's back.

John with one of his friends at church

up front with our squirmy kids

prayer of blessing

ps- a few more pics on my other blog!

A couple of changes

It's been a while since I posted... kind of falling behind on this blogging train. I don't even have that many pictures to do a big photodump. (Note to self- must start taking more pictures again or John is going to suffer from the second-child-lack-of-pictures syndrome! And his scrapbook will be bare..)

I think I'm going to revive the second blog, "Days in the Life of Bronwen (and now John!)".... for more in depth coverage of the kids. And make it for invited readers only. I know that's a bit of a pain.. e-mail me if you want to be 'invited'. I tried to invite some of you already.

Sorry random internet people.. you can read my musings and see a picture here and there but I'm not sure I want you to be able to see as much of my kids as their grandparents can (which is not even a whole lot, considering all the grandparents live far away). I mean, I am all for internet strangers, and am glad you came to visit.. but still. :)

Photo Update!

It's been a while since I posted.. but here are is the latest crop of pictures! Starting off with before Halloween when we went to a 'fall festive party' at a local church. 

This little boy said, "Hey, that baby firefighter stole my cookie!" Because she did. But, I don't think he really minded.

John took it all in for a while with wide eyes, and then fell asleep for the rest beside the sad pumpkin (it was a pin-the-smile on the pumpkin game).

We went to a couple of Halloween playdates. This is the toddler one. A pensive ladybug, our own grumpy firefighter, an itchy tiger... a little devil with his fork in the air, and then quiet little Thomas the train.

This playdate was with the younger babies.. they sit a bit more nicely.

Dad came from Ontario to visit... he also brought along our new ride! A double stroller.. it's a dream.

At Tim Horton's in the rain.

Spending some time with Grandpa.

Mr Blue Eyes

Bronwen anticipating Saturday morning breakfast.. notice the large stack of pancakes!

We went to Cape Spear, and it was really windy but not cold at all!

Jab, this one's for you... :)

One more Halloween party.. here are all the little characters in the backyard. Bronwen is defending herself from an ice ninja.

Bronwen discovered this slide.. she then wanted to go down it over. and over. and over.

Sporting his cute hairdo! Our handsome little guy.