Daddy....I want a puppy for Christmas.

Getting into the spirit of things

This, and of course, that.

Songs we hate to admit we love...

Are you going to tell me that you turn them off when they come on the radio?

Beth, by Kiss
All Out of Love, by Air Supply (I can actually play this one on the piano)
Total Eclispe of the Heart, by Bonnie Tyler
I Hate Myself for Loving You, by Joan Jett

Evelyn and her entourage

In all its glory...

Outside my Office Window

While reading 'Emperor Penguins'

Me: Then it's the male penguins turn to feast. They haven't eaten in months.
Evelyn: Why are they mail penguins? Are they 'livering the mail to everyone?

Artist at work

Trick or Treat

gone fishin'

Revised Lyrics x 2

The movie Happy Feet features many modified versions of songs from the 50's through today, including a version of Salt-n-Peppa's Let's talk about sex (modified of course to apply to the context of penguin mating season to 'let's talk about eggs').

Penguin: Let's talk about eggs ba - by. Let's talk about you and me - e.

Evelyn: Let's talk about eggs ba -by. Let's talk about you and I.

Quotables

We are playing tent in the living room with a very soft, very worn, very well-loved quilt my mother's mother made by hand. Evelyn says, from under the tent, "I need a cousin. Cousins make it better."

Quotables

As exclaimed by Evelyn, whilst describing the scene to the left:

"Look! A french fry table. People can come out of the woods and eat fries."

Evelyn and Snaily

I am able to laugh at this email sent out at my work yesterday, but only because I had a coffee at home this morning....

From: XXXX XXXXXX
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 3:35 PM
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: new coffee maker

Hi,

Please be aware that if you wish to use the new coffee maker on the 2nd floor, you must turn it on 30 minutes before it is required. The coffee maintenance person told me that it could not be left on all of the time or a fuse would burn out.

The on/off switch is located on the back of the machine on the left hand side.

Working the fields (queue Patches, by Clarence Carter)

Click here for musical accompaniment

Developing her bargaining skills

Evelyn: I'll make you a deal.
Elise: OK. What's the deal?
Evelyn: You come over here and colour with with me.
Elise: And?
Evelyn: (staring blanky at Elise)
Elise: (suddenly realizing there is no second part to the deal) I'll make you a deal. I'll come colour in 10 minutes.
Evelyn: (shaking her head, unhappy with the terms of the proposed deal) No.

Tall tales

Yesterday, Evelyn told Gramma C all about the incident involving the moose at the cabin. Apparantly, it ran through the field, came over, and kicked her. Luckily, Mommy was near and was able to rush over and save her and make her feel better.

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

It's busy. It's fun. And it could be my favourite summer yet with Evelyn.

You won't hear too much from me in the month of July as we are away on two trips and have friends visiting from out of town.

However....I will post the odd photo and update with humourous tidbits as I find the time.

Hope you are all enjoying the summer.

Monkey Business at the ALS

Misc

Help celebrate Bob and Doug's 2 - 4 anniversary...

Cars overload

Evelyn now uses car speak to refer to the different body parts/functions, as follows:

"Put my tires on mommy."

"I want to wear my blue tires."

"Daddy back-fired."

Mom and Evelyn watching fireworks

The Getaway Car

In the dressing room

Not many make-up counter staff would allow your child to experiment with all the samples, and even get a camera to capture the spectacle:

Me(to the tune of Blue Suede Shoes): hmm hmm hmm hm hm hmmmhmmm....hmmm hmmm hmm hmmm....
Evelyn: Stop moo-ing mommy.

imagini

My Visual DNA

hot damn

They make Lightening McQueen PULL-UPS? Just when I thought life was perfect, it gets even better...

Year Two

On March 17th, Cory turned 38. On March 29th, I turned 33, and on March 31st, Evelyn turned 2. Our month was full of friends, family, cake, and ice cream. Then, Evelyn became sick with a nasty flu that lasted about 5 days and knocked the life out of me.

So...this month Evelyn started her love affair with ice cream. Vanilla ice cream, to be exact. She wants ice cream for breakfast, ice cream for lunch, and ice cream RIGHT NOW. Over the course of the three March birthdays, she developed a sneaky little tactic to get her hands on as much ice cream as possible by offering up her cake in exchange for another's ice cream..."You work on the cake, Daddy, I'll work on the ice cream."

Evelyn's indepedance continues to rear it's head - and she is very particular about choosing her clothes (one of her fashion statements, featured above).

Cousin Dylan introduced her to the movie Cars - and it's now replaced both Madagascar and Winnie the Pooh as her favourite. She's taken to calling Cory 'Daddy Mac' and herself 'Lightening McQueen'. I'm just mommy.

Other than that, we are just patiently awaiting warm weather.

The best birthday card yet

Spring is in the air

Quote of the Day

"...cuz, you know Anya, you're kind of like a cross between a teenager and an adult."

Dylan Douglas Crain, Age 6

March Break, Day 2

Me: Daddy is losing his marbles.
Evelyn: Daddy! You have marbles? Let's find them.

hmmmmm

Guaranteed to make you smile...

...or maybe give you nightmares.

Magical Trevor

Strawberry Pancakes

Salad Fingers

Nearly two

Evelyn: my birthday is coming soon.
Me: How old are you going to be?

Evelyn: two...TWO

Me: Who's coming to your party?

Evelyn: a cow

Me: What will the cow do when he gets here"

Evelyn: take his shoes off, have some dinner, hear some music....

PLEASE tell me this isn't true....

If the reports that Karla Homolka has given birth to a child are in fact true, I am utterly angered and disgusted for the reasons that follow:

1. I'm not convinced that sexual deviants and murderers of a malicious nature can be reformed.
2. What type of man would hook up with, and father a child with a convicted sexual slayer? What implications does this have on both parent's character and mental health?
3. What about the health and welfare of the child?
4. Even if, by the grace of a higher power, Carla is reformed, that child will have to carry the burden of her past for it's entire life. Let's be realistic. Some things people do not forget.

*insert a series of words starting with the letter 'f' and ending with an exasperated shriek of disbelief*

The torture and death of both Leslie Mahoffy and Kristen French had a large impact on me being that I was born and raised about an hour and a half outside of St. Catherines, and was myself, a teenager at the time of their death. As a matter of fact, I remember being in the station wagon of my friend Tania's parents listening to 102.1 when it was annouced that they had found the body of Kristen French.

They played Forever Young, by Alphaville, in her memory.

Chatting on msn

Cory says:
is baking soda the same job as baking powder
Cory says:
?
Andrea says:
no
Cory says:
u know that magic stuff
Andrea says:
you are making banana bread?
Andrea says:
no it's not the same - you need both
Cory says:
ya,maybe it will work
Cory says:
i had to get innovative,on measurements and ingredients well we'll c how it goes in 'bout a half hr

I guess I can choose whether to laugh or cry....

Evelyn has a Fairytale pop-up that she enjoys reading quite regularly. In the Hansel and Gretle tale, as you turn the page, a witch pops up from inside the famed cottage in the woods. EVERYTIME THE WITCH POPS UP, my darling daughter says, 'That's mommy...Hi mommy!"

Mid-January in Southwestern Ontario

Quotables

As said by Evelyn Rose when she first set eyes on the mighty waters of the Grand River:

"I need a boat."

A witness to the development of language

Those of you who listen to me ramble on endlessly about Evelyn already know of her advanced linguistic ability.

Over the past month, she's learned and implemented the proper usage of possessive nouns. I couldn't help but giggle with delight yesterday when she sauntered over to Cory (who was busy patching the hardwood floor) and pulls the chisel out of his hand, looks him square in the face and says mine's - as if there were any doubt whatsoever that every single thing in this house belongs to her.

Time at home

It's been a while since I updated! The truth is, I've just been so busy that I haven't had a moment to sit, reflect, and be inspired to write anything.

We had a nice christmas with the opportunity to visit with both sides of the family. Evelyn was able to actually 'bond' with Cory's parents this time around, and spent most of christmas eve leading papa around the house so he could get some real insight into how it is she spends her time.

In fact, papa spent so much time in Evelyn's kitchen heating bottles, pouring coffee, and checking the timer that he had little time to do much else.

We checked out the Chagall for Children exhibit at the Children's Museam and I don't know who liked it more! It's completely interactive, and provides the opportunity to compose music, weave, complete paintings, and apply Chagall-y techniques to your own photo! Very cool.

Do you see a resemblance?

I don't like mondays

This morning was a perfect example of why things like this happen.

Luckily I have just a little more self control and have resolved all of today's issues and it's only 3:00 pm.

For lunch, I had an expired yogurt mixed in a bowl with Special K. If you never hear from me again, at least you'll know why.

A protrait of beauty

Hands free

I've freed myself from the restrictions of the traditional purse and moved on to something that says "HEY - I'M ALL ABOUT FUNCTION". It's a wallet, it's a camera bag, it holds my lunch AND Evelyn's necessities....."

agua

We are all sick and my throat feels like the desert. Cory and I had NO energy last night to entertain Evelyn, so we went to the mall and let her run around looking at everything.

Her favourite store was Sport Check - where she actually took a pair of children's ski's, sat on top of them, and tried to ride them like a sled. Cory was so excited - but then slightly disappointed when he learned that the smallest size ski boot is a 12. Evelyn is a 5. Now, I can't recall how kid sizes work so I have no solid estimate on how long it will take her to get to a 12 - but looking at the boot, I would say at least 2 years.

At least we'll know what to get her for christmas the year her feet are a size 12.

Shamed by my own hypocrisy

And you can't even see the cowboy boots in this picture.

See http://theroostersbeak.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-rule-of-thumb-when-dressing-baby.html

Well put...

Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.
~ Edgar Allen Poe~

There's nothing quite as appetizing as this...

So. Cory is upstairs putting Evelyn to bed and I decide to take a moment to download pictures from the new and improved camera. I hear this bang bang bang on the door that makes me kind of afraid to go and look to see who it is - because you know, we have a doorbell and IT didn't ring. SO I peek around the corner and see the neighbour's dog, so figure it's safe to answer the door.

It IS the neighbour. Standing out there, at the god-forsaken hour of 9pm, wielding two zip lock bags in each of which resides a thawed bloody roast.

"Want to buy some meat? A friend of mine got a deal! Catch is...you can't refreeze it".

Ummm yeah. I want to buy some meat. I also want want to spend the next week glued to the toilet with my head in a bucket puking my guts out.

Catching up

It's been a while since I've found the time or the inclination to write anything semi-personal on this blog. The truth is - it's been a crazy few months! We're busy trying to complete (most of) the main floor before Christmas. While there is still a lot of work to do, we can now see it coming together - which is very rewarding. (Maybe next summer we'll do the basement? Or maybe we'll buy a few thousand trees and plant them at the farm? So much to do).

My personal journey to become a complete person continues (as it does, because the moment you stop trying is the moment you become less complete). It's amazing, when you get into the habit, how clearly you can reflect on yourself, your life, your actions, your reactions - and the insight it gives you into other people.

My new job is fantastic. I really enjoy it (for now? that can change so fast). I appreciate the fact that I can walk to work in the morning, have enough to do to keep me busy all day, and get to delve into new avenues of communication.

The weekend flew by as usual. Thanks for the coffee/cake/talk B.

Encounters with nature at work

A few inspired moments I had whilst walking between the two offices....

Getting into the spirit of things...

As usual, we had a spectacular weekend, one thing aside. The wallpaper has beaten my spirit into a sticky and gooey pulp.

A tongue

Evelyn has recently become obsessed with her tongue - seeing how far she can stick it out, touching it, licking her lips, and running it all over her mouth full of teeth.

We are enjoying my favourite season (meaning halloween) and getting 'into' the spookiness of it all.

We have way too many house projects on the go - and I predict another 6 months of hell before we actually get anywhere close to livable.

I am now an employee of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. I am the 'Communication Materials Producer' and this includes everything from website design and copy, advertising, graphic design, promotional materials, information packages, educational materials etc etc etc.

A heart-warming surprise

The best kind of friend is one you've had your whole life.

The trouble with time

It's hard to believe that I can hardly find the time to download my photos, sort through them, publish some, and write about what I've been up to. It's really hard to believe - but that is the way it is.

We spent Thanksgiving in Havelock at Cory's brother/sister-in-laws cottage. The weather WAS the quintessence of an indian summer and permeated this kind of a notion that you never, ever want to leave this place. That you'd like to freeze this moment in time forever, and just relive it again and again.

Evelyn enjoyed the rocky terrain of the Canadian Shield, the ride across the lake in the pontoon and the exploration of the uninhibited island lush with wild cranberries. She was so excited to first hear, and then see the woodpecker causing a ruckus and listening to the crickets later in the evening.

Watching her delight in nature and the opportunity to share it with her family was remarkable. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....quissets...shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" [translation: Shhhhhhh.........crickets....shhhhhhhhhhh].

As an aside, I stayed up too late last night watching part of the Courtney Love biography. What a life she's had. Pretty interesting - and she's got a lot more nerve/courage than I'll ever have. Anyway...it prompted me to google Frances Bean to see what she's been up to...I came across an interview in which she mentioned her love for Mariah Carey. MARIAH CAREY! Oh the humanity. I know. I know - everyone is entitled to their preferences.

Evelyn in the wild, yet again