Hot off the Presses...

They're here! Our annual "sit Griffin somewhere and make him Christmas-sy" photos are hot off the presses. Lucky for me he's so cute.

The hardest part is choosing one...

But I think this is my "photographer's choice":

And tomorrow is December first, which means we can officially Bring On the Christmas!

Joy!

Cats, Muffins, and Hyacinths - LIfe is good!

Hello! Here it is, my last day as a twenty-something... So far, happily, just like every other day!

Griffin's currently snuggled onto my lap watching a Bob the Builder in a tiny screen on the computer, while I use the rest of it. He's fallen in love with Bob. Tractors + cats + happy noises + a super catchy theme song = one happy little boy. This is him pretending to be a cat:

We made it to the city this past weekend to attend the Awards Banquet for our playground award. It was really fun, and the food was AMAZING! I had four different kinds of cake for dessert. It was a little ridiculous!

Griffin did great getting babysat by his grandparents. He even went to bed for them. What a good boy! (and good grandparents, too!) Plus it means that now when we go to the city, we can actually go out at night! What will we do with ourselves?!?

And we had our first big snowstorm of the year (unfortunately right during our drive home!) It's mostly gone now, but the cold is hanging around. Brrrrrrrrr! On the plus side, it's good hot chocolate weather. Plus muffins. I made muffins! This is a big accomplishment for me - it took me about 3 hours. They're yummy though - all full of yoghurt and apple and dried cranberries. I'm not much of a food photographer, but here they are.

And on a final happy note, look what happened!

This flower is a total tribute to being lazy. Sometimes it pays! I bought this pot in the spring, full of flowers. I did trim them off when they died, and had every intention of doing all those things you're supposed to do (which I think involves closets and water???? Digging up bulbs??? Paper bags????) But then I didn't do any of those things. I just left it. For eight or nine months, this pot sat on our windowsill, full of dirt, but otherwise empty-looking. Anyway, lo and behold, suddenly of it's own volition, it started to sprout again. I watered it, just to see. And it rewarded me with hyacinths! Every time I'm at the sink, and I see it, or I walk through the kitchen and smell it, it makes me smile. I feel like I won the flower jackpot or something. Hallelujah!

CBC Radio Interview

Hey Guys, just stopping by briefly to let all you Nova Scotia residents know that I'll be on CBC Radio this afternoon at 3:00, to do an interview with Carmen Klassen about the Natural Playground! We're in Halifax today (so no photos) to pick up our Big Award! Should be fun :)

Racing Around, Occasional Progress is Made

It's not that late, but my brain is definitely screaming "Bedtime!!!" (you wouldn't believe how long it took me to type that sentence out!) It seems as though we have been on the go non-stop. Whipping up to Halifax to do a photo shoot, and whipping back to do Tween Night at the library. Whew! I also managed to squeeze in some time (thanks, Bob the Builder!) to finish up a couple more new pieces to take to the Gallery in Mahone Bay. Et Voila:

They don't have much left in their year, but it's worth a try. I think Christmas is usually a busy season for them.

The week coming up will be much of the same, as we are whipping off to Halifax again, to go to the Awards Banquet (yay!) and then whipping back to run a Geocaching workshop. Holy smokes, sometime I look around and think "how do I get myself into this?" But it's all good. Look at how fast the little one is moving these days!

A Small Step in Some Big Shoes

Speaking of walking, check out this melt-your-heart-moment...

Griffin put his little feet inside Daddy's shoes, and proceeded to walk all around the kitchen in them...

Those are some mighty big shoes to fill...

But if anyone can do it...

Griffin can!

On a totally unrelated note, this is post #300! (two posts in one day, no less)

He's a Rambling Boy

He's walking. And walking. And walking! I think it's his favourite part of the day, most days. We go for a walk around the neighbourhood. Sometimes we end up at the park, sometimes we go to the grocery store, sometimes we just do a loop. The destination is unimportant (until it's the most important thing in the world, that is, usually just when Mommy wants to go the other way.)

There's rocks to pick up along the way. Driveway rocks. Road rocks. Sometimes the occasional pebble. There's leaves to crunch, flowers to smell, and puddles to study.

Mostly he is absolutely uninterested in holding my hand. But every once in a while he just reaches up, trusting I'll be there to catch his little fingers with my own. It makes me smile every time.

We've had a few tantrums in the middle of the sidewalk, and I've definitely had to resort to the old "scoop and carry" a few times, but mostly he smiles and even sings his way along. It's become one of my favourite parts of the day, too.

Grrrrrriffin the Tiger

Hello! I just had to post some pictures of Griffin in his costume, for those who couldn't be here to witness it in person.

We had a very fun Halloween, with friends and pumpkin carving, and home-made pizza. Even with all that (and so much more) I think the highlight of my night was taking Griffin out to go trick-or-treating. We only did the five houses on our street, and at first he was a little hesitant. He didn't quite understand what was going on. By the last house, however, he was banging on the door with his little hand, taking the candy, and then announcing "all done," and trying to close the door on poor Mrs. Irving's face! We may have a Halloween monster on our hands!

Last night was also the first night that Jai put Griffin to bed without me, as I went out with some girlfriends to see The Good Lovelies play in Annapolis. It was an amazing show, and so worth the trip. And Jai, Griffin, and Uncle Brandon did just fine, in the end, as I knew they would!

The Haunted Bookmobile Story Time

Happy Halloween! Thanks so much for all your kind comments on the last post. I'll let you know if I can figure out a way to make it to the Banquet. For now, though, I'm just stopping in to share this video, which Jai and his boss Katie made yesterday on their Bookmobile run, in the Haunted Bookmobile...

It's a Major Award!

Hey, I've been meaning to share this video for a little while now! My friend Andre filmed it for Club 400, and I just love it!

Also, we just got some exciting news today... Unbeknownst to us (how often do you get to use that word?!) my name, as well as the names of the two other Moms who helped me get the playground built, was submitted for an award with Recreation Nova Scotia, and we won! The Executive Director of Recreation Nova Scotia called me today to tell me. It's the Bluenose Achievement Award. There's an Awards Banquet in Halifax, and everything. I'm supposed to work at the library that night, and I don't know if I'll be able to get out of it, but still... that's pretty cool.

skipping and plodding, weaving and dancing along

Hello Again! I can't even believe that October is more than half over already. In one more month, I will be turning thirty. It doesn't bother me at all, but it does feel oddly like some sort of milestone. My last month of being a twenty-something. Hm. I hope in my thirties I am able to mellow into myself a little. I'm quite looking forward to it!

Anyway, there's nothing to remind you that time is passing quite like vivid autumn leaves. This year seems even more spectacular than usual. Everywhere we go, I'm awestruck. Griffin has been loving picking the leaves up off the ground and twirling them around. He just wants to walk absolutely everywhere now, and we've had a few meltdowns when he didn't want to hold my hand. He's definitely getting of an age where he can decide what he wants, and let you know in no uncertain terms. And there's a lot less sitting still, and a few more blurry photos.

Anyway, we're mostly skipping and plodding, weaving and dancing along as usual. The big news this week was that Jai built us a gate to go around the fire. It's not the prettiest thing, maybe, but it's built from what we had lying around in the yard, and it does it's job quite well. Prior to this, we had an overturned Exersaucer blocking off the whole part of the room, so we're really enjoying having free access to the couch and the windowseat. Not to mention cosying up in front of the fire again. Personally, I'm loving it! It makes me want to snuggle and knit and sip hot chocolate from my favourite mug. Of course, I haven't actually had time to do any of those things yet, but just wait! Maybe when I'm thirty...

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Hi! Geez, I practically dropped off the face of the planet there last week. We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Halifax, which was great. We got to relax, picked up some treasures at VV, spent way too long in Chapters, ate delicious food, and enjoyed wonderful company. What more could you ask for in a Thanksgiving weekend? It was great.

The next day, however, was not so great. I didn't feel very well that night, but thought it might have something to do with a lack of sleep (Griffin spent Thanksgiving weekend growing some new teeth.) Tuesday I was in agony. We ended up driving up to the hospital when Jai got home from work, and after a 3-1/2 hour wait, I was diagnosed with a kidney infection. Huh. Not great timing, because the other thing that happened this week was I started a new job doing Programming at the Library. Anyway, last week was a bit of a struggle, but here we are at the other end - a little bruised, a little battered, but for the most part all in one piece.

Of course, I'm totally suffering Mother's guilt for leaving Griffin while I go off to work. Last night he kept waking up and screaming, "Mommy!! Mommy!!" and I would go in and hug him and lay him back down and rub his back, and he would go back to sleep, but then 15 seconds later wake up screaming "Mommy!! Mommy!! Bye Bye!!! Mommy!" It was a little bit heartbreaking. Today, we spent the whole day together, and loved every second of it.

Every last second!

Well and Truly Autumn

Hello! Whew, time is whooshing by! I think it has something to do with the time of year. Fall always seems to go too quickly. It's my favourite season, and we're trying to enjoy it to the fullest. We've been stomping on leaves, and playing with fallen chestnuts, wearing our wellies, and lighting fires in the woodstove, admiring the pumpkins, and picking the apples. Fall seems to be about "fitting it all in" whereas we know that winter coming means having some delicious down-time.

All that good stuff came with the first cold of the season, though, so we've had a steady supply of kleenexes pass through the house. Everyone's on the mend now, though. It's the perfect excuse to bake a batch of cookies, and then scarf them all down. Last night I brought out the quilt and threw it on the bed. It will be with us now for the next six months, at least. The toques and mittens have started to creep back in to the closet, coats have been dusted off, and soon we will have to admit that the time has come to pack away our shorts and sandals for another year. Maybe it's a leftover from my school days, but September has always seemed to me like it should be the start of a new year. Things change so fast in the fall, it can be summer one day, and fall the next, just like that. The light changes, schedules change, the very smell of the air shifts. The next three months will be crazy busy, so we will have to continue to make sure we take some time every day to look up at the sky, and reach down to the earth.

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree" ~ Emily Bronte