Go Diego Go!

Turn around? But I'm hugging Diego?

It was more fun when I got to see Diego guys....

Ooooh, what's that over there?

Today.... Dora! Come see us :)

And if you haven't already, check out my husband's new blog.

Out of the mouth of my babe

• "Up up up up!" all the time, to anyone
• "get down get down get down" frequently said right after you obeyed the previous statement
• "thank you thank you thank you" said while crying and pleading for you to give him something, like his soother when it's not time for bed
• "oh no! oh no!" said in reference to his current favourite song:
  
  

Notice that nothing ever gets said once. That's my boy. He talks a lot, and loud. "Even more than Roanen" according to my in-laws, which is apparently very impressive ;)

Wordless Wednesday: two spoons*

*Where anything more than one is two. Which hey, is still pretty impressive because he's only 18 months old ;)

Easter at the cottage

Kiernan had his first ice cream cone

It was a resounding success

Kiernan's first chocolate was also well liked :)


Roanen is fun to play with!!

Making puzzles with Gloria and Josey

"All those older boys are weeeird"


The boys sitting nicely for a group shot of the grandsons. hehe

Winter sucks

I've never been a fan of winter - but this winter has been particularly brutal!

Seriously people - 13 feet of snow?? That's RIDICULOUS!

And now our mayor is proposing a snow removal surcharge for the year of $50 - I don't think so!!

At least this made me laugh - if you're feeling the winter GRRRs, don't miss it :)

And it's starting to melt, and I fear for our basement.... at least melt slowly stupid snow!

When I'm 64.... or you know, 80

Today we went to my great-uncle's 80th surprise party. He was so touched that so many people were there, and have traveled to be there to celebrate this occasion with him. And he got to meet Kiernan for the first time!

And I was touched for him... his family was there, and so were many of his close friends. Close friends from his childhood and young adult life! He's 80 and there were many of his friends there that were old friends of his (and of my grandmother's too in some cases) when my dad when little!

I can only hope that when I turn 80 I will be lucky enough to have maintained so many wonderful friendships and have so many people in my life who love me. Maybe they'll even throw me surprise party! (not before I'm 80 mind, but for my 80th, you can quote me on that statement ;)

Let's go!

Ok mom, I've got my hat and my snowsuit, let's go!

My husband the secret blogger

A month or two ago I discovered a whole bunch of new blogs, and some of those blogs weren't mommy blogs. They were daddy blogs!! Rude Cactus is one that posts a lot, and I particularly enjoy that his wife also blogs.

My enjoyment of these new daddy blogs made me decide to start harassing Eric to start a blog. He cracks me up, and the daddy point of view can be lots of fun. Daily I would mention the fact that he still didn't have a blog and how annoying that was to me... only to find out today that he was secretly blogging after all! eesh.

So, go read his blog, and find out about Kiernan and our life from his side ;)

Contests

I haven't done this in awhile, but I've got some contest news to share.

Check out Cynthia Lynn Custom Photography's blog and tell her I sent you (lara(at)apples-n-oranges(dot)com so I can be entered to win a photography package. I meant to take a quick peek at her portfolio and got caught up for a really long time - she has some really cool stuff and I'm addicted to photos, so, help me win! And if you're in Ottawa, you can enter too!

The other contest is Clean green with Shaklee.
I've been really interested in getting more environmentally friendly products in the house to clean with (when I clean, ha ha) but I've been lazy about getting out there and finding some. I hope I win and the product will come to me and then I'll know how to get more ;) Check it out!

I want to know...

- When does a baby get a pillow?
- When do you stop giving a baby a bottle?
- When will winter be over?
- If I will regret signing up for a learn to run workshop on a Friday night
- If I will regret it because of the Friday night part or because of the running part
- If it's bad that I'm not being more optimistic about that plan
- If they can make a patch for chocolate like they do for nicotine
- If plastic is bad, does that make all my Tupperware bad? My hundreds of dollars of Tupperware?

Pretty close to breaking that record!!

This year has been insanely snowy. And not in that "I hate winter so it always seems like too much snow" way. No in a "Ottawa now has had 410.7 centimetres of snow this winter, the second highest total on record. In 1970-1971, Ottawa had 444 centimetres." Kind of way. 410.7 centimetres, for those interested, converts to 161.7 inches. 13.5 feet people. 13.5 feet! Imagine if none of that had melted? We wouldn't have been able to see out of our windows at all.

Here are a few photos from today following the arrival of over 50 cms of snow since Friday.

This view out our kitchen window makes it seem like we live in a basement apartment! There's almost nothing of the play structure left.

You know it snowed a lot when you open the door to find this!


Baby in the snowbank!


Sliding. Weeee!

Helping daddy shovel.

The ultimate blog party!

Welcome to any new visitors from the Ultimate Blog Party at 5 minutes for mom - a great way to find new blogs, win prizes and waste hours and hours and hours exploring new areas of the mommy blogosphere.

I'm a thirty-one year old mom of one fabulous eighteen-month old named Kiernan.

I've been blogging since Kiernan was born and I blog mostly about him: the struggles with no sleep, with milk and soy protein intolerances, the funny moments, and lots and lots of photos! I also like to blog about thing things that make me go AS IF!!

I live in Ottawa, Ontario where it's been the snowiest winter I've ever experienced! (check back soon for photos of the crazy snow)

I've had less time for blogging in the last six months since I went back to work full time and started an online business selling children's clothing from Canadian companies with my good friend Vicky.

Say hi while you're here and I'll make sure to come and visit your blog. I also hope you come back - I'm looking to make lots of new bloggy friends!

And check out the blog party at 5 minutes for moms... I'd love to win some of the great prizes, especially:

INTL 11 –2 Night Stay for 2 in Italy from Cherrye
if I win this, I'll have no excuse not to plan our Italy trip :)

INTL 9 — Pocket Place Mat

And if you're in Canada and want to take part in the blog party, I've just donated a $25 gift certificate to Apples'n'Oranges because it's sad when we don't get prizes because we aren't in the US ;)

An Apples'n'Oranges photo shoot means...

... new cutie photos to share :)

Wordless Wednesday

idling cars

I read this blog post the other day about people leaving their cars to idle while they drop off their kids at daycare, and I swear my reaction was "no, people don't do that!"

I think one of the reasons I've never thought to do that, if not for the environment is that even though I don't think someone will break into my car if I leave it unlocked in my driveway, I have an irrational fear that they'll drive away with the car if I leave it running ;)

Either way, I really didn't think people would do this - you go inside somewhere, you turn off the car! And then this morning, as I was dropping off Kiernan at daycare, I noticed the car that pulled in right before me was running while she was inside with the kids. I was SHOCKED! I don't get it, I really don't.

It must be a mommy thing

The first time I remember it happening was when I was pregnant and the preview for Aquila and the bee made me almost cry...this sudden and overwhelming burst of emotion that can hit me out of nowhere.

I've always been particularly sensitive to kids and child/parent sadness in movies. The little boy in Finding Neverland, the little girl in Hope Floats - I did the gasping for air crying at those. But it's even worse now! One line from a preview about a mother and daughter about a mother really loving her daughter despite the hard times and I'm overwrought!

Is this a mommy thing? It's crazy! I'm not meant to be this emotional!