I know you all are just asking for a dose of cuteness. Well, here it is!

Aarrrgh! So Cute!!!!
The princess and her lil' bro. He who likes to cry. And now he's starting to smile.

How to Scrapbook with a Sleeping Baby.

1.) Make sure the 2 year old is napping safely in bed.
2.) Lay baby on cushion positioned on lap with spit cloth handy.
3.) Nurse baby and surf internet until thrashing dissapates and baby falls asleep.
4.) Have all needed supplies within handy reach.
5.) Be sure to be sitting in rolling chair in order to manuver across floor to get anything that you may have forgot.
5a.) If you've forgotten something that is high on a shelf, learn to live without it.
6.) Make sure path across floor to scrap supplies is clear of obstacles such as toddler chairs, dogs, toddler artwork and art supplies, play monies, plastic food and play-doh apparatus. Oh and get that darn doctor's kit out of the way too. It seems to follow me around.
7.) Reiterate: have all scrap supplies within easy reach of sitting position.

8.) Start scrapping.
9.)If your foot falls asleep or numbness occurs in leg...live with it. One move and you may not be scrapping anymore.
10.) Forget flawless and embrace eye-balling. Stuff is going to get stuck on the page crooked whether you like it or not.
11.) Using border punches is not an option (noisy and more easily done in the standing position)
12.) Forget fidgety tools like the brad maker or the bedazzler. Believe it or not, you require more than just your hands to operate these tools. (Knees and body positioning is important)
13.) Be careful of sharp scissors, in fact just put them aside. Let's not tempt fate. Besides, 'ripping' the paper is considered shabby chic and is the trend right now.
14.) If something falls on the floor, it gets left there. Find another embellishment.
15.) That chocolate stash in the drawer is no longer in reach.
16.) Glimmer mist can work if your baby doesn't mind being sparkly.
17.) Oh and now the toddler is up. So much for scrapbooking. Unless you want a helper.

The new one has arrived. Needless to say I'm now kept quite busy with 2 in the house. Lil' Miss loves her new brother. Covers him in kisses and can't keep from touching him. He doesn't seem to mind too much. Has even been seen to smile at her and stare at her....as much as one is able to stare at a shooting star traveling at top speed.

He's a handsome little guy if I do say so myself...but then again, I'm biased. And he likes to be cuddled. Should probably be taking full advantage of that while I can. Already in 3 month sleepers. If he actually stretches out his legs, he's almost to the end of the 3 month sleeper. Currently 56 cm long and 9lbs, 6oz. I still can't believe he's a boy. Funny.

The day is getting near when number 2 is going to arrive. Thought I just post a picture of number 1 at about 3 months old. Or how about at just over a year old (probably about 13 or 14 months.)The curly hair hasn't kicked in yet...or maybe those little feathers of hair on the side are just a warning of what was to come! And in this picture she's already showing her love of 'accessories'!

And now at 2 years old!

A full head of hair and a full set of teeth and a whole lot of attitude!
And apparently this morning, daddy was off to the jungle.
Mommy: Good morning Little Girl.
Lil' Miss: Daddy's in the jungle.
Mommy: Oh, is he?
Lil' Miss: Daddy's gone to the jungle.

People! Lil' Miss spent her first night away from home! At Gramma's house! Did she survive? Did mommy survive? We'll find out soon enough....she should be strolling home with Gramma in hand here soon.

It's cold here again. And lightly snowing. Back to winter for us. Guess it's time to go clean those bathrooms.....blah.

How is it that the temperatures can go from -25 degrees C plus wind chill, and 3 days later we're up around -2 degrees C with no wind chill or westerly/southern winds? Well it's happening. I'm not complaining or anything, but it is January and I expect a whole lot more of the cold to be a-coming our way. Having said that, we've tried to take full advantage of the lovely weather. And of course with lovely weather comes a slight melting of the snow. Not super good for building snowmen, but partially good. I hope Mrs. Frosty lasts longer than just today.

Notice that Mrs. Frosty has a little Frosty beside her. Courtesy of Lil' Miss. I almost though we might be making an army of Frosties....then she got side tracked. (Of course the army of Frosties takes me back to a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon were Calvin makes a city of snowmen, then comes along and 'godzillas' them - just popped into my mind as I was building little Frosty).
We got sidetracked by the toboggan. Tobogganing for us right now consists of pulling Lil' Miss around the block on the toboggan. It took me a bit, the first time, to convince her that this was indeed actually a fun thing for her. But the snow was so deep that the toboggan would keep trying to tip over and she did not think that was enjoyable. Plus it was -25 degrees C and some extra wind chill on top of that, and I don't think she liked any part of the situation. I would have to agree with her partially. Walking into the wind chill, even just for a block, sucked. Anyhow. She likes the toboggan now and would probably ride in down a small decline....if I had the energy to actually take her to a hill and try it.

Note: She insisted on having her sunglasses on this afternoon. I didn't blame her.

And one last picture, posing with the Frosties.

It's the new year and I'd like to try and keep up with this blog a little more regularly. So I'm thinking on a new feature.........

"Things your child says"

Little Miss comes up with some of the funniest stuff. It's like she takes in everything around her, then lets it spill out her mouth before she can think it through or censor it. Well, I guess she is two. Everything to her is new and amazing still. When was the last time I felt like that? So I'm hoping that by posting these bits and bobs that come out of her mouth, that I'll actually post more on this blog. Then all the family can hear about it at the time it happens. Like this morning for example....

'She gets up at just after 7am (a good time I think) and I take her into bed with me so we can just hang out for a bit. She's laying in bed and begins to tell me...."Spiders scratch the walls" Oh really, I ask. "Mommy, spiders make scratches on the walls". I ask, Spiders can scratch the walls? "Yes mommy, spiders scratch the walls. But not the monsters. They're outside in the snow."

So she's had this bit of an obsession with monsters lately. I try not to encourage it because it makes me think she's scared of monsters. But I don't know if that's true or not. But she likes to talk about them. Anyhow, the scratches she's referring to are a couple of scratches on our bedroom wall from where our bed headboard used to sit. The corners nicked away some of the neutral paint to reveal the bright red underneath. She always picks at them when she comes to jump on our bed. Who taught her that anyhow...that it was ok to jump on my bed????????

Ok, lets just mosey on to winter....Yes it's cold out and there is snow on the ground (although by now we could use a fresh layer....the brown is showing through). It seems like everyone around us has their christmas lights up. We have ours up but they are not plugged in. The gigantic Frosty inflatables do inflate every night though. Little Miss loves them! Every day when she sees them it's a huge exclamation..."FROSTY!!!!! Hi Frosty!!!" And we're always on the look out for twinkle lights. She still has visions of pumpkins in her head though. I tell her Halloween has passed and it's time for frosty the snowmans and twinkle lights....but at least once a day she asks me where all the pumpkins went. What can you do?I know....make snow angels! But don't touch them!
"Mommy, don't touch!"

So we're coming up on Halloween, but of course when you're a little kid, you don't wear your costume for ONLY Halloween. Earlier this month we went to the scarecrow festival and she wore her costume there..........Who's the cutest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch???? So we'll we decked out again tomorrow night. Hoping for warmer weather and a good night. We'll only hit a few house. I think that is enough. But I'm expecting many many many kids to be showing up at our house. We shall see how it goes......

Let's just pretend that it didn't snow here two days ago, and that it's not that cold outside (although it's only a couple degrees below zero). I prefer to remember the lovely October days we did have. Halloween is coming up. Maybe the snow will be gone by then. Let's hope.

Tea Time!!!

No, wait...Coffee Time!!!

As you can see there is a very serious tea party happening here. Lots of concentrating. Elmo must be a tough customer to please....
Adding some sugar or honey to the tea. I think it was actually 'coffee time' that was announced, but let's stick with traditional and think that it is a tea party.

Time to sample the wares oneself. She has a bit of an obsession with toast. Good thing the tea set came with toast. Although I'm sure cookies would have done the job quite well too.

Gramma came over with this tea set last week sometime and we've been having tea/coffee parties since. What a hit! Just so you know....yesterday there were 2 Elmos sitting at the table having coffee.

I woke up one day to find that one little girl has decided that she is now....

Super E!!!!!

Blasting around the house with her special 'blanket cape"!

Saving little kids around the world from yucky lunches and crappy snacks.....(look out bike, you're about to get tripped over!!)

And making sure that bedtime is fair, and not just what mommy decides it should be!

And of course just showing off sass, and being awfully cute in the process. Also spreading love, hugs and kisses where ever thou shalt need such.

Birthdays....

Birthdays are a time for smelling the flowers.....Encouraging others to take time to smell the flowers too......Colouring your favorite pet pink!

Taking the time to go to exotic places......

Trying something for the first time...all by yourself!
Indulging in a tasty treat!
Helping to make a special treat for a special person for a special day......
We made double chocolate cookies to celebrate...

Happy Birthday Auntie B! We love you!

Yes I think winter has returned. I'm freezing and my fingernails are blue. Really, they're blue. I just noticed that. No, there is no snow in our backyard....yet. I'm waiting for tomorrow morning as it's supposed to go below 0 tonight. This morning it was trying to snow flurry. Yep, love the May long weekend. Never plant your plants in the ground until after the May long weekend. Alberta rule of thumb. I didn't listen and I think I may have a few causualties. We'll see after tomorrow. My tulips are alive and well as we speak. Some have finished their bloomings....I think we should all just take time to smell the tulips...even if they don't really smell.

Some funtastic times

We went golfing on my birthday.We played nine holes and on the 9th hole....the above is what we got. Tired little kid. All she wanted to do was lay in the grass. Can't say I blame her. Even I have a tough time getting through nine holes sometimes. But she did very well and hardly even a complaint. Actually I don't think we had any complaints!

What do you think has happened in this raspberry bed?Let me give you a hint.......Apparently one doesn't need snow to do a little bum sliding! I had a helper today while I cleaned out the raspberries. She was dressed in pink and not afraid to get her little hands dirty. Was she really that helpful? No, but she was awfully funny to watch. And nothing but a steady stream of conversation from this garden helper. I'm not all that sure what she was saying, but I think there was alot of 'help' being said. "Help, help, help, help, help, ok." "Mommy, Ellie!" "Thank-you!" Dirt was flying!

I want to know.....I read a few craft blogs of very busy, multi-talented, mult-mediaed (is that a word???) crafty people, and every time they show a picture taken in their house, it's beautiful. And not just beautifully decorated, but beautifully clean. They all have kids and husbands and some have pets. HOW DO THEY DO IT????? I can't. I try and I can't. I don't have enough hours in the day. And that is that!

Ok, am posting just for posting's sake.

The weather has taken a turn for the worst. What the???? Snow, driving winds, cold air. This is not spring like. My tulips were coming up for goodness sake? Now what's to become of them? They'd better still be there when this is all said and done.

Anyone know how to deter wrascally wrabbits from eating new spring growth...ie tulips and said new greenery in my garden? I wondered if I placed a bit of doggie doo around them if that would stop them. Someone told me that rabbits fear to tred where doggies do their business. Now how to get a doggie to pee on command. Not sure. Or perhaps mark the x'd spot. Still not sure. Maybe if I strategically placed doggie doos around the garden it might help the 'stop rabbit. don't go there!' program. And it would blend into the colours of the dirt. Am I weird to think that? Maybe.

We're leaving for a week to go to Vegas. I'm worried for my spring greenery.

When a house is quiet.......

And the toddler is NOT sleeping.....

What do you think she's doing?

Yes.....do you think she wants to do what mommy does? I was busy sorting laundry or something like that, upstairs, and Lil' Missy had made her way downstairs to get into some sort of trouble....of course. But then I noticed that the house was awfully quiet. When I went downstairs, this was what I found. She had climbed on the couch, pulled my laptop off of the side table, and sat herself down on the couch with the laptop and was busy pushing buttons. Thinking that she was the greatest thing ever (which of course she is!) Then she pushed the blue shiny button that turns the laptop off. This is what happened next...

She's actually starting to get mad here because the screen has gone blank. Then she started pounding on the keyboard and I had to take the laptop away.

I tried to participate in another My Mind's Eye layout contest. But the layout I made didn't feel inspired enough to send in...so I didn't. Instead I'll post it here because the picture I used is pretty cute. The title says "Sweet like sugar" but the one thing I really dislike about acetate embellishments is that sometimes the colours they use on the acetate do not show up against anything (cardstock) put underneath. And My Mind's Eye does a lot of acetate embellishments unfortuneately. Anyhow.....I'm still plugging away on scrapbooking our Arizona trip we took last year at the end of April. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll get it finished before the end of April this year. I really hope so.............

I've got 2! Count 'em....2! More halloween layouts. I just have to photograph them. So instead I'll show my solution to putting multiple pictures on a 12x12 page. I like this solution as it's quick and easy and gives the ability to just fill the scrapbook with necessary pictures.

So the first picture is one side, and the next picture is the flip side. I had 7 pictures that I didn't feel like devoting layouts too, yet I really wanted them in my scrapbook. So this was my solution. I'm rather proud of myself and I think they turned out great.

Some random thoughts: 1.) I think blogger has a mind of it's own. Kind of sucks. 2.) Yes...I'm ready for spring. 3.) My days fly by way too fast. 4.) Right now I have a thousand projects flipping through my head....and no time to actually accomplish them. 5.) I'm going to work on my masterpieces for submission to Canadian Scrapbooker.....now!