The quiet moments

My daughters are perpetual motion machines.  Sitting still for extended periods of time is not in their repertoire right now and I'm not holding my breath.

Still, I live for those brief moments when their warm little bodies snuggle in close beside me for a quick story or a short stint in front of the tube.  I fight the urge to hold them a little too tight or kiss their heads a few times too many while I breathe them in.  It's bliss, I tell you.  While it lasts.

Trying out the new camera

The spring scenery around here consists primarily of two colour variants -- brilliant blues (above) and wistful browns (underfoot.)

In other news, my constant companion maxed out on play and ice cream and opted for a very rare afternoon nap.

The end.

One of the immutable laws of modern living

The perils of domestic clutter

This is the message board at our local fire department headquarters:

Great.  Now I have to worry about the house burning down.

Wildlife photography of the indoor kind

Is that a ladybug on a toddler's new, unused pull-up?  Why yes it is.

The thing is, when Nature wanders into your home on the last day of March break and offers your kids an entire hour of quiet, non-bickering, all-absorbing observation, there are only two things left to do:  you say "thank you, Nature" and you get out your camera.

Waiting for geese and a new printable card for spring

Pretty soon Canada geese will be holding up traffic again.

Every spring, there's one busy road in town that becomes a little busier.  Brand new families of geese arrive at the road's edge, line themselves up in single file -- adults at the front and back, babies in the middle -- and saunter across the asphalt, apparently completely oblivious to the long line of idling cars waiting for them to pass.  They're on their way to the vernal pools on the other side that have emerged during the seasonal thaw. Once there, they settle into the cool water and traffic resumes without incident.

It's one of my favourite spring scenes and it inspired the printable cards you'll find below.  Happy spring everyone!  Joyeux printemps tout le monde!  (Yep, I made a French version too.)

Download happy spring here.

Download joyeux printemps here.

Doodling and a new printable note card

Today there was doodling.

Which turned into a new printable note card design . . .

Which was then coloured two ways . . .

There was also some printing, cutting out, folding, and taking of pictures . . .

Which were posted here for posterity's sake.  The end.

If you'd like send out a little doodle to someone you know, all you have to do is decide whether you'd like green, yellow or black and white (to colour yourself!)

Wee photo tour

Husband and I got ourselves a new camera for our birthdays this year.  It's a digital SLR with lots of buttons.  Buttons all over it with little pictures that probably mean something to actual photographers.

My plan for today's post was to wander around the house all stylist-like and take some amazing shots which I could then use to describe all sorts of neat things about our family life and interests and so on and so forth.

Um, not so much.

It turns out that we have clutter that is in no way diminished when viewed via computer screen.  We also have a lot of bare wall space and I can't find any buttons on the camera with little pictures of clutter or bare walls to fix either problem.  So what follows is... not all that much, taken with a crackerjack camera on auto mode.



We begin at the kitchen table which features my daughters' early morning activities: paint and play doh.  We spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  This is where we cook and eat and bake and do homework and make stuff and fry up blueberry pancakes on Sunday mornings.

In your mind's eye, picture the rest of the kitchen:

• a white fridge and dishwasher covered in letter magnets, drawings and photos;
• a black oven with white stove top (the glass on the inside of the oven is cracked, but it still works);
• a beige-ish counter top which is a little more beige in the place where we make our tea each night;
• oak-veneered cabinets and two stainless steel sinks. 

Try not to picture all the crap on the counter top -- dishes, coffee makers, tea towels, random sheets of paper from school and activities, packs of spearmint gum and 5 cent Canadian Tire bills. 

Next we move to a corner of the living/family room, where some of my knitted things are.  See that huge gap between the shelves?  We're planning on fixing that.  At some point.  The living room is our tribute to the fine designers at Ikea.  Taupe ektorp couch, navy ektorp arm chairs and wall to wall billy bookcases.

This is the view under my seven-year-old daughter's bed.  It describes this stage of her life so well:  the most grown-up shoes she's ever owned (see the rhinestones?) flanked by two of her stuffed friends, all of which are dearly loved.

This bed belongs to our two-year-old daughter, who has just recently made the transition from crib to bed.  This is such a happy, sunny little place in our house.  She's the early riser in the family and wakens us every morning with the same question:  Is it going to be a beautiful day today?  How could you say no?

And there you have it.  An ever-so-tiny glimpse.  Next post -- a new printable card for your sweetie.