Winter fun

We have been enjoying the time off from school. We are trying to pack in as much fun as we can, while still kicking back and relaxing as much as we can too.

It has been mostly warm, today is cold though. Too cold to go too far.

Hoping everyone has a wonderful and safe new years eve.

Gift giving

I always feel fairly introspective after Christmas. I guess all the dust settles and I have time to think.

Every year I struggle with the huge number of gifts that our kids get. I bought small things this year, we have such a small house, the size of a lot of toys just plain scares me.

This year as I was cleaning up the wrap and all the extra packaging I reflected on how I am often more excited about them opening their gifts than they are. It makes me so happy to know that someone I gave a gift to really enjoyed it. I truly enjoy the process of giving gifts. I was awake many times the night before Christmas, just excited about all the fun the kids were going to have.

Do we have to much stuff, yes! Do our kids get spoiled, yes! But...

Maybe they have to learn the joy of receiving a gift. To truly enjoy a gift you have been given. To be excited and joyous. I realized that maybe that is the first step in the process of learning that giving is better than receiving.

It is the same with grace. It is something you have to learn to receive, not earn. Once you fully understand grace you can understand how to give it. The joy of it!

Family Christmas card 2010

Merry Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. I promise I'm not nearly as stressed and uptight as I look in this picture!

Please drop a comment and let us know how you are doing. We'd love to hear from you all.

God's blessings on your house in 2011.

The tree is up

I will post pictures later, maybe when Mari naps. But for now, just feel secure in knowing that the tree is up at the Davis house. I threw out about 6 balls that didn't manage to make it through the "consumer toughness" testing that my kids decided to put them through.

There are even wrapped presents under the tree, I may be horrible about getting the tree up early, but I am no slacker when it comes to presents and wrapping. I saved one gift for each of the kids so the other kids could help me wrap it up. So we did that too.

Here's to hoping the tree is still standing by Christmas.

Tomorrow is our big Daddy's (Wes's) birthday. Bronwyn asked me recently why adults don't have birthday cakes. That is what I told her on my birthday, I'm not making a cake for myself! I assured her that we could make a cake for Daddy. Maybe I should decorate it with toy story stuff or dinosaurs. Oh no, I know, I'll get a model house and pull some of it apart so it can look like its being renovated! That's it!

I best go get these starving tree decorators some lunch. They have worked up a real appetite.

We are here

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, it has been busy. I truly think time speeds up as we get closer to Christmas. The mother of all deadlines.

We are well and good. The kids had their last day of school today and they are counting the days till the big day. I have to admit I'm pretty excited too. Looking forward to all the festivities.

Christmas really is more exciting with kids. I used to think when I was a kid that it was so exciting that I couldn't stand it. But, little did I know that my parents were probably more excited. I think the planning and knowledge of whats to come, and the expected excitement of the kids makes it truly great. That is why people love Christmas. On that note, we hope to get a tree this weekend. We'll see how it goes.

I am looking forward to a lazy week next week. I have a few kids to contact for play time with Gavin over the holiday. But, I kind of hope he gets good and BORED. Maybe he'll be happy to go back to school.

As Wes and I plan and scheme for the future I am often reminded just how truly blessed we are. Our riches are great and our world very wide. I am thankful for all of this.

Now, next project is to get a family shot for our blog Christmas card. Wish me luck!

Getting in the spirit

This was a sort of Christmas kick off weekend for us.

Friday we watched our littlest neighbor for an hour or so. We did cookies and decorating. I put the icing in baggies with a tiny hole for it to squeeze out; thinking this would make it less messy. At one point I caught Mari with the bag in her mouth squirting icing straight in her mouth. Apparently that was more efficient than squirting icing on the cookies and then licking it off the cookie.

Saturday evening we trekked out to Airdrie. Taking in the festival of lights along with the warm and gracious hospitality of Grandma Joan has become a bit of a family tradition. She treated us to a super yummy meal (and healthy if I'm not mistaken) and then we bundled up and made our way to the park. There were fire works, a little train (a dressed up golf cart thing - but the kids don't care), hot chocolate and lots of great lights.

On the way back to Joan's, Gavin exclaimed, "I loved ALL of it!" It was a warm and fuzzy evening. I know this will be a warm memory for the kids.

Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa came with us to Oak Park and then back to our house for lunch. I had planned on taking advantage of the extra hands and having Grandpa take our family photo. I had dressed everyone in somewhat matching clothes before church and had big visions of getting the job done. On the way home from church Mari fell asleep. Just as she was waking up, Bronwyn, who wasn't feeling well, fell asleep. So... no picture. At least we all looked good. Heck, I even put on make up!

After my folks left we made some salt dough decorations for Grandma and Grandpa. It involved, rolling, stamping out shapes, cooking, cleaning (Mom), setting out paints (Mom), painting, cleaning (Mom), setting out sparkle glue (Mom), liberally applying sparkles to anything that didn't move fast enough, cleaning (Mom).. bath to remove all traces of sparkles from three little kids, (Dad supervised). And this is why I am not a crafty mom!! Keep moving people it wasn't pretty.

Monday we went to Langdon to help Grandma put up her Christmas tree. Or if you are Gavin, we went to force our Grandfather to play Wii.

See - could we have been more festive. I am so exhausted by it all that I think I'm done. We have done our bit. Unfortunately the kids are now asking "When can we have a tree?" In fact, Gavin asked me, "Mom why do we have to wait until the day before Christmas to put our tree up?" Making it sound as though we have been barred from early access to Christmas trees. One day son, you will understand.

Oh, and for the record we don't have a single decoration up yet. Not one. Just ask my mom what Mari does to them and you'll know why!

Fun Friday

Gavin is home today and Monday. Bronwyn has school both days, although I may have her skip Monday so we can "do" something together.

They are all happily playing for now. I wonder when that will end. I found some pictures on my camera. I haven't been taking very many these days. We just seem to be busy all the time.

With the older two busy with their schools and activities, Mari and I spend quite a lot of time together. She is so cute when she plays. I love watching her. Bronwyn would play "pretend" some but not like Mari. She is more about her imaginary friends and chatter chatter chatter. Mari, plays with her dollies, talks to them, feeds them. I love it.

She really doesn't talk much yet, but she still gets her point across. Life with Mari is one big game of charades.

Bronwyn is well, she has been tired this week and I have been a bit concerned about her, but she seems OK.

We had Gavin's parent teacher interviews last night. It was great. He has such a lovely teacher, I really like her. The only issue we have is with getting him to school. He is a good student and cooperative in class.

Deep Freeze

I haven't been blogging because, my fingers were frozen? No, I just haven't had the time, but here I am lucky world!! Back for another short report on our goings on.

This week has been a bit of a shake up in the Davis house. Wes has been taking Gavin to school. After a rather bad end to last week, Mommy is done trying to convince, cajole and force her oldest to go to school. Its Daddy's job now. He can do it for a while. After all, if Gavin refuses to go in what is Daddy going to do, take him to work?

So, the girls are enjoying the mornings of sleeping in and not braving bitter cold. Its a bit of a relief for me too, less conflict in my world is a good thing.

Today I was the volunteer for the morning at Gavin's school. It was fun. I discovered what a weird bunch of pickles grade oners are! Ha, its not just my kid - they are all like that!

Bronwyn had dance yesterday. Nearing the end of class I could tell that she had to go to the bathroom. There was only a minute left, so I just took her out. When she was done, I tried to get her to put her winter stuff on. She FREAKED out. She kept crying, "All I want to do is dance with the girls." I thought she'd understand that class was just about over, but no. All I can say is that I sure learned my lesson!

What has Mari been up to? Sheesh - got an hour! Lets just say she is a mischief and a goof ball.

I haven't been taking pictures. I'll try to get some in the next little while and post something worth looking at.

It has arrived...

So my prediction that this is the year that we finally evade winter is, well, wrong! Winter landed last night. Unfortunately and in typical Calgary style it came suddenly. So there was rain, freezing rain, slush and then snow.

How do I know this? Since it happened in the night? Well, I can tell by the layers that I shovelled this morning. By the way shovelling is man's work!

Luckily I didn't have to use the van until this afternoon and there was time to figure out how to get the van doors open. They were frozen shut.

This morning, I had to break in to get Gavin's car seat so he could go to school with the neighbors. The only door that would open was the driver side. So I got in and crawled over the front seat to the back. As I did this my butt touched the visor and I got stuck in the rear by the poppy I had tucked up there (so it wouldn't POKE ANY ONE).

So winter has arrived. Today is our busy day. So I get to do all our running around in the snow. Yeah!

Loose ends

I'm feeling a bit restless this weekend. Not sure why. My husband is likely right, it probably is just my "hormones."

I'm just sort of bored and feeling lacking in purpose.

I think we get going at such a pace that when life settles down for a moment or two I don't know what to do. And I have time to sit and look around... at ALL THE PROJECTS THAT NEED DOING! Then I feel overwhelmed and get up to find something else to do. Vicious cycle!

I've been trying to get Christmas organized, get photos etc uploaded and presents ordered. I try to do about 90% of my Christmas shopping on line. I'm not much of a shopper and I dislike crowds. The Internet is great for avoiding people, except Facebook, its littered with them.

I sometimes, while I am doing dishes (usually while I'm doing dishes) wonder what life would be like if we lived in Africa. Poor in Africa. I imagine myself trying to find ways to wash the one cooking dish I own so as not to use up any precious water. It would be like camping, except most places we camp around here have access to potable water. Then I think about how much STUFF we have. And how much of it is necessary. Very very little. That usually get me thinking about going through the kids toys and weeding them down, and OTHER PROJECTS THAT NEED DOING AROUND HERE!

I realize I'm rambling. But that is OK with me, if I wasn't rambling on here, I'd be sitting on the couch doing puzzles or making lists of ALL THE THINGS I NEED TO DO!

Sigh.

Falling back

The dreaded time change happened this weekend. It is so hard on the kids. Today Bronwyn fell asleep after school. You wouldn't think that shifting one hour would take such a toll on them, but it sure does.

They were up very early on Sunday morning, their internal clocks not being at all aware of the shift that happened overnight. So I took advantage of the extra time and the nice sunshine to get a few pictures before heading off to church. Mari is not the most cooperative. The other two are more than willing to pose, but, well... Gavin likes to have action shots, you know, of him throwing a football at the camera! Bronwyn loves to pose, it just involves a lot of odd faces and strange hand gestures. I don't know, all I ever did as a kid was stick my tongue out at the camera. At least I was predictable.

Speaking of predictable, I was thinking today that it is likely less difficult to wrestle an alligator than get Mari in her car seat. At least an alligator is predictable, Mari not so much. But, you say, alligators bite, well so does Mari!

I really feel in my bones that this is the year we will skip winter. I just know it! It won't come! I'm so sure of it. Just keep the great weather rolling in.

Parental discipline

Gavin has taken to "disciplining" us when he is unhappy. Today he told Daddy, when Daddy corrected him for not listening in the bathtub, that he would take away one of his privileges. "I'll take away your truck." I guess he is struggling with the difference between a privilege and a necessity, since Daddy needs the truck to work and feed the family.

He told me earlier in the day, when I refused to continue reading with he and his sister as they were fighting too much, that he would call my Mom and Dad and tell on me. This didn't cause me to shake in my boots. I asked him what they could do to me. He said they would make me stay at their house for a week. Well now! That would be punishment indeed.

Or course Bronwyn started crying because she didn't want Mommy to go away for a week.

He is trying to exercise his authority, he just needs to do some fine tuning on his methods.

Little story

Gavin is at school and the girls are just playing around. Mari has a little block of wood and is pretending it is a microphone. She can really belt it out!

I just wanted to tell this little story. Thought Bronwyn's many fans would get a bang out of it.

The other day Wes got up early to go to Rona to order some windows for a job. He asked me to help him find the car keys, since they weren't where I normally leave them.

We searched and searched. I was really distracted and frantic, not being able to find them. I sent him off with my spare key, and I continued to look for my keys. Bronwyn was the only one home with me since the other two went with Daddy. I was walking around muttering about needing to find my keys.

Bronwyn offered to help me find them. I thought that was so sweet of her and thought it might not hurt. So I started wandering around again looking for my keys. She came and took me by the hand and led me to the kitchen. She pulled up her little chair to the counter. I said, "Where are you looking?" She pointed to my green junk bin. I said, "Honey, I would have never put them in there." She nodded and said, "Try there." So I started digging. I was just proclaiming that they weren't in there either, when I saw a metallic flash and quickly grabbed my keys.

I turned to her with great surprise and said, "How did you know they would be there?"

She looked up at me with a beaming smile and said, "Because I put them there."

Hang on to your hats

We had the busiest week.

Bronwyn had her Halloween party for preschool on Monday. Mari tagged along and had a blast.

Gavin had a party on Friday at school and that was exciting too.

Saturday was his birthday party. The good news is no one called the cops in to shut the party down. A bunch of very excited young kids = a whole lot of noise! It was great fun. Gavin wanted a pirate party and was pretty specific about what he wanted for a cake. I looked and looked and looked for a little pirate boat. But couldn't find one. I know that now when I go shopping I will find three or four in each store. GRRRR!!

Wes helped me out and together we made a little boat. I did the bottom part he took care of the sails. Team work!

I was barely standing by Sunday morning, but off to church we went and then for lunch with friends and then home to get ready for trick-or-treating. Wes took the kids while I stayed home and handed out candy. One for the cute kid at the door, one for me, and on and on.

Today, I am working very hard at doing as little as I possibly can. That is my goal. I may have to do the dishes, but for now I'm putting that off.

Hope you all had a candy filled weekend.

Time seems to fly by...

This weekend seemed to take about 15 minutes from start to finish! I guess that is a good thing. We had a super great weekend, happy, healthy kids. It was productive and enjoyable. All the good things. We even carved a pumpkin yesterday, or a Jangoliner, as Gavin calls it (a confused Jack-o-lantern).

I'm tired tonight, I had so many things I wanted to blog about, but unfortunately now that I have the time my grey matter has fallen short and is offering up squat!

So here we go into a new week and all the surprises that it holds.

Big bad birthday bash

So we celebrated Mari's birthday yesterday. It was a fun affair. Things got a bit out of hand in the back yard. Some how, Jon and Scott ended up supervising all the kids. Not what I'd recommend. Good news is no one got hurt!

Mari was so excited. She seemed to get that all the presents were for her.

She loved her cake. Bronwyn decided she wanted Mari to have a monkey cake. I thought it was because we call her a little monkey and even Monkeydoodle. But when I asked her why a monkey cake she responded, "Because she looks like a monkey." She'll make a fine big sister. Right Aunt Mary?

The pictures aren't very good, and there weren't many as the battery died mid party. Oh well, she's the third child her expectations can't be too high.

Mari is two

The little monkey is two. She is a joy and a surprise everyday!

Bronwyn's first field trip

Bronwyn's preschool went on a field trip today to Butterfield acres. Its a little petting zoo/hobby farm (ish) place. We met at her school and took a big yellow bus all together. She was so excited about the bus she barely cared where we were going. She had to bring a lunch, which she proudly held for most of the trip. What a big girl!

They did a pumpkin search and decorated the pumpkins. A hay ride was included as well. She enjoyed her day so much.

It was a pretty special time.

In other news. Today is our anniversary. Nine happy years! I love my husband, he turned out to be a pretty good catch.

Thanksgiving has come and gone

We had a very busy thanksgiving weekend. We managed to get in yard work, house work, church, a turkey dinner with friends at our house, a turkey dinner at my folks house, and a movie night.

Whoosh! A lot for one weekend.

We have a busy week ahead of us now. Bronwyn is going on a flield trip tomorrow for preschool. She is SO excited to ride a school bus! So excited! I'll have to remember my camera. Mari can't come, there is limited space, so Mom will come babysit. I think they will have fun together.

Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. It seems that when we stop to really count our blessings and be thankful it is overwhelming.

Side tracked

I was on the way to having my most productive day ever. I was at Walmart by 10 am, with the girls. Which is huge, considering I dislike shopping and I dislike Walmart shopping even more. I had things that needed doing and I was going to do them. I had a plan to come home and do some really ugly jobs, like filing.

I told Bronwyn we could stop at the Tim's just passed the checkout counter and get a Timbit and coffee (coffee was for me). My cell phone rang, something my cell phone never does.

It was the school, Gavin was sick, could you come and get him, after talking to him. He cried when he told me he was sick. So there I was crying in the line as the teller asked if my sick child was in grade one. How did he know that? He told me he had a younger brother in grade one. I questioned whether that was physically possible, but it is a new world we live in.

Anyhow, I had to race home and get the boy, and then go by a Tim's as promised, so Bronwyn wouldn't have a fit. Home we arrived. I managed to do some pretty basic cleaning chores, but other than that NOTHING! So much for my ambition. Ahhh. Gavin was much perkier this morning, but I'll still keep him home tomorrow as he wasn't perky enough.

Wonderful day

The weather has been exceptional. I had intended that we would do a bunch of yard work and clean up, but we decided to go for a walk instead. After our beautiful walk we took the kids to McDonald's. They wanted to go there, for the toy of course. I had a thought, isn't it a bit ironic that McDonald's uses toys to get kids in to eat there food. And IKEA uses food (we love their cheap breakfast), to get adult in to buy their furniture. A pattern here!

I downloaded a bunch of pictures again tonight. And I found a ton on my little camera.

We have a lot going on, visiting etc again, too much to mention. But we are enjoying fall.

I love October

It is a great month. Leaves are falling, the city is beautiful. Fall is my bestest time of year!

October is always a busy month around here. I'm looking forward to it. I'm all for enjoying the last days before winter sets in.

No pictures again

I know I have pictures, I just don't have the time to go and download them. And I can't blame Peggle this week. It has been just crazy around here. I mean busy crazy, add that to the usual craziness of this house and it makes for an AGGGHHHHH!

Mari removed her pajamas and diaper this evening and proceeded to pee on the carpet. I caught her in the act. Now, with a dog I would rub its nose in the pee to make the point that it shouldn't do it again. I'm aware that one shouldn't do this with a child, but then what does one actually do? Does one just hope the kid figures out that the toilet is the bowl in the bathroom and not the flat indoor/outdoor in the basement or do you do something more "proactive?" Like yell in a frantic voice, "No, no not there. Not there. That is not a toilet, no pee, not there." Will that work? I guess time will tell.

Tuesdays are our BUSY days. Gavin has piano after school, Bronwyn has ballet just before supper. Gavin is loving his piano lessons, he is doing really well. We do his practice in the morning before school and he is super good about it.

Bronwyn loves her ballet classes too. Its pretty sweet. She is really loving preschool. Yesterday, they took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and took the kids to a park. She thought that was pretty spectacular. She got tired, the younger teacher carried her home. They spoil her there too!!

I went to the dentist today, but if I talk about it I'll launch into a diatribe on why I distrust dentists and could dental hygienists be any more condescending, which might offend some readers, so I'll just keep my mouth shut.

So life plugs along.

Every now and then I go back in time and reread blog entries. I particularly like to go back and see what we were doing at this time last year, or in 2007 etc. It seems impossible that this time last year we were in Edmonton for Bronwyn's surgery. Seems a million years ago. Just a memory that I have pushed so far back it seems like I just imagined it.

But it was real and she did do it and she is now amazing! We are truly so thankful.

Wasting time

We are still here. I am sorry for not blogging more. I like to think its because I find my deeper thoughts to hard to bottle, or we are all so busy adjusting to our new life as school attendees, but...

I have been spending my spare time playing Peggle. Really its shameful but true. I LOVE IT!!

At some point it will grow old and I'll get back to blogging. Is it to much to ask you to patiently wait for me?

Maybe I'll throw some pictures on today, to sweeten the deal! We'll see, it is Saturday and I will technically have more time to play peggle...

Big preschool girl

So Bronwyn is officially a preschooler. She had her first, slightly shortened time, on Friday and her first full class today. She LOVES it. She comes home, chattering, excited and pretending to be the teacher. She is quite a bossy teacher to be frank!

Bronwyn is so proud of herself, it really is priceless. These pictures were taken on her first day, last Friday. She loves to "pose" for the camera - so its a bit hard to get a decent photo of her.

Today Mari and I, thanks to an early nap, filled the time while the other two were at school by going and getting groceries. She was a very good companion. She has a great sense of humor talks far to much to strangers and demands I sing silly songs in the store. Altogether a pretty good buddy.

Other stuff

The girls and I are adjusting to having Gavin gone all day, and the early mornings.

Bronwyn had her first ballet class of the year. She was so excited and she listened so well. She wasn't nearly as shy as last year. Over the summer she has really come out of her shell. This Friday she starts her preschool. Exciting times.

Mari is working hard on developing her skills too. She is training to be a monkey. Yup. I am thinking gymnastics might be a good place for her, at least she'd fall on a mat.

I had my mom colour my hair, and she did a very good job of it. I, unfortunately, made a bad choice in hair colour. I look like I've been placed in witness protection. Oh, well it will go back to its natural graying shade soon. Sigh!

Life carries on in the Davis house. A bit of drama here, a bit there. But mostly its happy. And for that we are thankful.

Gavin's first day of school

Yup, our boy is a first grader. Crazy. I look at him now, and I just can't believe how big he is! Hard to believe that we just brought him home... yesterday.

He is also a totally different boy this year. He is going to school without big drama and when I ask him how his day was, he responds, "Just great!" He has even said, "I just loved today." WOW!!!

He also started piano lessons today. He is very excited about that too.

I'm still holding my breath waiting for the difficult times to reemerge, but who knows, maybe he's on a new path altogether?

Regardless of what happens, I am so proud of him.

Visit with Uncle Gerrie and Aunt Elaine

I, in an effort to help Uncle Gerrie get group photos (his camera had run low on batteries), I somehow managed to get very few photos myself. Here are just a couple.

I'll get to the pictures

Sorry no pictures today. But I have news. So here we are!

We saw Uncle Gerrie & Aunt Elaine off at the airport on Monday morning, the kids and I that is. We were thankful they could come see us. It was a lovely visit.

Yesterday we went out to Mom and Dad's to meet the newest edition of the family. Dad has got himself a new little tractor. Yesterday, Gavin spent a good part of the day, on his Grandpa's lap running the tractor, helping move dirt, and dig holes (yes, it has a backhoe, Dad has always wanted a backhoe). I guess there is no changing an old equipment guy!

It was quite a sight watching one little boy and one bigger big boy playing on the tractor. Like a giant tonka tractor. Gavin has decided he is ready to have a tractor. He'll be saving for a loooonnngg time!

I have a head cold, just in time for school. Gavin starts tomorrow, and Bronwyn starts next Friday. I was going to acquire and see if they would take Mari into Gavin's school, you know just a couple of year early! Actually, it will be nice to have some alone time with Mari. I'll get lots of exercise.

Wish us luck tomorrow!

Enjoying a visit

From Wes' Aunt Elaine and Uncle Gerrie. It has been lovely so far. We are busy busy.

I hope to have pictures by the end of the weekend and more time to catch up. I have not been blogging much lately. It was a tough couple of weeks for me and I didn't much feel like writing. But, fairer days are in the offing and I'll be back blogging about all our nonsense very soon.

Best run, stores to go visit!

Big big girl

Wow, Bronwyn turned four today. I can tell you honestly, that as I stood by her little crib in the NICU the first evening after her birth, I couldn't even imagine beyond the next day, let alone four years later.

She is a vibrant, amazing, chatty, stubborn little girl. And we just love her to bits. We thank God for her, half a heart and all.

A little video clip

I wanted to post this little clip of the kids singing one of the songs they learned at VBS. Mari is so funny! They are all pretty cute, if I do say so.

I have been busy today getting ready for Bronwyn's party. Gavin and I went to the Dollar Store, which happens to now charge 1.25 for everything, to get party decorations. We came home and I spent the remainder of the day trying to decorate a cake. I decided I'd do a Castle cake for her. I had great plans. I am calling my creation, "If Salvador Dali owned a bakery."

I hope it is still standing in the morning!

Wes took Gavin and Bronwyn to the Saddledome for a show called "Walking with Dinosaurs." The kids loved it.

There was a short period of time, where they were all gone and Mari was sleeping. I am SHOCKED at how much I can get done when I'm basically alone. It amazed me. I'm not inefficient and confused, I'm just distracted.

I am hoping to get a good night sleep so we can be all ready for the festivities tomorrow. The wee girl is turning four. Crazy business eh?

Oh my goodness time flies

I just realized this evening that it has been over a week since I last posted an entry. Oops.

We have been busy but not THAT busy. I just forget things. Blogging, laundry, children - you know the basics.

Earlier tonight I was doing the dishes after supper. Everyone else was downstairs, Uncle Jon stopped by to eat and play Wii with Gavin (his wife and kids left him - knew if would happen eventually - no fear they will return). I thought Mari was with them. I heard a clunk or two from the general area of the bathrooms and bedrooms. I made my way down, thinking, Mari must be playing in the bedroom. I never dreamt she'd be in the bathroom, we always leave that door shut (unless of course we forget).

The bathroom door was wide open. Mari was standing by the vanity, all sorts of goodies that belong in the vanity drawers scattered around her feet. She looked at me and smiled. She continued to smear, what appeared to be toothpaste, all over her face. I turned around and walked down the hall calling, "Wes, come take care of your daughter."

Ahhh. Mari can make more use of unsupervised time than any other child I have met.

A couple more picts

We are enjoying a pretty quiet couple days around the house. Doing a few jobs here and there. Mari and I have been engaged in what I like to call "Adventures in potty training." She is very eager and strips her diaper off whenever possible. I just run around cleaning up the mess behind her. Ahhh, good times!

Thought I'd post a couple more pictures from our trip.