We bought an extra large pumpkin to make a traditional Jack-O-Lantern. The girls were very eager to get their hands dirty. Estelle is starting to do a lot of mimicking. Good thing she has such a great role model!
Estelle has attained the status of biped. We still need to trick her to get her to walk (items in both hands and a moving target...) but soon she will be trotting around following her big sister.
Have you been waiting 20 years for a good reason to grow a moustache? Well lucky you, we have found a good cause for your upper lip: to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer. Take 5 minutes to watch this (click on the TV link when it pops up (page 2)): http://ca.movember.com/ If you want to join our team it is quite straightforward 1) Click on the link below to sign up to the “Nickel- Stashios ”. 2) Compel people to visit your “Mo Space” via email or Facebook and they can choose to donate to the cause or learn about it. 3) Shave off clean on November 1st and grow the stash of your choice. http://ca.movember.com/register/24015 Ladies can sign up as Mo- Sistas (as opposed to Mo-Bros). You can follow the progression of my upper lip right here. Stay tuned. We have more than once grown facial hair but never for a good cause.
While Estelle herself is not all that fond of milk in a bottle, she was feeding this little dolly this morning, just as she's seen her big sister do so many times.
What to do on a rainy Saturday morning when we are too sick to visit friends and too bored to stay at home? Ride the metro! We rode all the way downtown, went to a music store for a few minutes, ate our snack on the subway platform and rode home again!
Lately we play school - a lot! Mostly we go around picking up Alice's school friends (played by her dolls) and driving them to school (bus driver played by Lucy)
Auntie Katherine and Lucy got together today to express their inner domestic goddesses . We peeled, chopped, boiled and sterilized our way to three lovely batches of fall fruity preserves. For those of you who haven't seen Katherine's belly (or didn't even know she was pregnant!) here she is in all her 23 week glory. And now we know what to do with all of Estelle and Alice's clothes that they've outgrown (yes, it's a girl) The fruits of our labour included maple apple butter, apple sauce and pear jam.
No, but we recently bought a tent trailer (end of season special!) so that we can hit the road early next spring. There are so many beautiful parks to discover in Quebec (and Stratford ? and Fredericton ? and ... Winnipeg?!?) and we want to do it in style and comfort. In the meantime, we have tea parties in the trailer as it is drying/airing out.
Estelle was hit with a bad case of roseola over Thanksgiving weekend. She had a fever from Thrusday to Sunday, and then broke out in a spotty rash on her neck, face and body. She also had a yucky case of the tiredites and the crabbies. Interestingly enough, Alice had roseola at almost exactly the same age - 1 week before her 11-month birthday. Can you blame her? Does anyone like having their picture taken when they are feeling sick?
Auntie Jean came a long way for a squeeze of those little legs. Estelle is more interested in holding her fingers to roam about the house, but Jean manages the occasional grab. Getting hold of Miss Busy Pants (Alice) is a bit trickier... but we're working on it. Sorry you couldn't be here too, Uncle Brian.
We ate Thai takeout for supper the other night and Alice used chopsticks, quite successfully, for the first time. Notice, however the slightly runny nose, since her Pad Thai was a little spicy! For historical purposes, here is a photo of our new dining room table, extended to its full, ridiculous length! Any time Kate and the kids are in town, they are welcome to eat at our table (plus or minus Jon)
We don't normally expose Alice to much candy, so she hasn't quite discovered yet how much she loves it... But the other day we were up north and stopped by the local mini putt for a big bag of fries. When the owner quickly handed over this treat, we couldn't very well refuse, since we were planning on feeding her some tasty, ketchup smothered fries. Just so you know we're not all hypocrisy.