Auntie Melody's Visit, Pt 1

We had a lovely guest come to stay with us while Josh was away on another business trip recently, and that guest was Auntie Melody!!! One can hardly call her a guest though... she changed lots of diapers, did lots of dishes, and made lots of meals while she was here with us! :o) Hopey took no time at all to adjust, and was immediately Auntie's little shadow. Joy took about 4 hrs, and then she was all in too! 

We decided we would watch our way through"The Sound of Music" with the girls in the evenings before they went to bed. 

 New stickers from Melody! Yay.

 Hopey asked almost every day to do them. Finally, I put them out of sight, so there would be some left for another time.

 Carefully pulling a lego tower behind Thomas. :o)

 "Peeeeeek.....

 ...a boo!" I was trying to wrap a wedding shower gift for a friend, and Joy kept running off with some of the items from it. Don't you love her toque? In May.... :)

 Oh Hopey, you won't call that a smile when you look back at this picture in years to come. Oh well. You're still cute.

 And you too, my little clown!

 This game is called "balance the ball on the rake!"

 Joy! So, we buy these larger plastic rakes for Hopey so Joy can have the smaller one we already had, but guess which ones she likes better? :o)

 It was a bit nippy outdoors, but the evening sunshine was so beautiful that day we went out anyway to blow bubbles.

Carefully watching Auntie Melody in hopes that it'll work for her the next time she tries it.

Little girl being a big girl....

At least this time she blew air out instead of sucking air in! Success was reached when one little bubble finally floated away from her wand.

Watching for that big one to come off the wand so she can pop it!

Meanwhile, Hopey Doodle plays with the lid of the bubble container.

Handfulls of grass - such fun to pick. Not such fun to pick out of hair though. :o) We had to have a little talk about what to do with the grass once picked!!

"See Mommy?"

Little ones, they learn so much by watching. I think we do too, though we might not realize the fact.

Sunshine at last!!!

That's right - finally, after the long winter, we got some sunshine and temperatures that whisper of spring and summer. It didn't take us long to get out and enjoy the weather either! 

 I had to get a coat for Joy, as I didn't have any from when Hope was a baby that would fit Joy.

 We picked up a couple soft bouncy balls at Canadian Tire, and the girls have been enjoying them greatly.

 In all sorts of ways.

 Joy was cautious at first on our deck with all it's little quirks, but she marches around it like a pro now.

 There - captured a smile. :o)

 Joy talks to herself almost all the time. 

 At first she would crawl down backwards off the deck onto the grass, but now she just steps down with ease. (It's only 2 inches difference.)

 "Yes?"

 Mmm, mmm, mmm - corn on the cob - a new favourite lunch food.

 Josh helped some friends move a couple Saturdays ago, so he took the girls seats out of the van so he could fold all the seats down for more hauling space. (We love the stow-and-go features of our van.)

 Car seats in the house provided a welcome diversion for the girls who are used to having Daddy around most Saturdays. :o) They played in them/around them for quite a while.

 "Look at Mommy, girls..."

 Later that day we had a tea party-lunch.

 Just for something different. :o)

 Hope is very good at pouring tea into the cups.

 After our late-morning tea party, we went out to the backyard together and pulled out the sidewalk chalk. I remembered how the girls liked having their feet traced last year, and this year Hope added her own letter "H" to her footprints.

 There were "H's" everywhere!

On that Sunday we hosted Care Group here and Joy very gladly helped Daddy move the chairs around to get set up. :o)

 Strong little one.

"There. You stay there, chair!" 

What fun she is. This is the same child who can push a full grocery cart around the aisles. And if Mommy tells her, "No, Joy, don't do that," then she pulls the cart and goes backwards instead. :o) I love my second born. :o)

Still waiting for spring

Spring has seemed to take a long time in coming this year, probably seeming that way mostly because I have two little girls who want to play outside, and Mommy has had to keep telling them it's too chilly to be out. 

 So... they keep finding things to do indoors to amuse themselves.

 They found the plastic pliers and hammer in their toy collection and have been fascinated with them again. I have to remind them that Mommy's legs are not a wall that needs hammered. :o)

 Good ole dolly. :o)

 They came up with this on their own. Joy goes on top and Hopey gives her rides.

 And when it all turns out nicely when Joy has good dismounts.

 Delighted by her big sister. :o)

 But poor Hopey here. Joy, you must learn that faces are not good things to climb over!

 Later, they went and amused themselves with the basket of dolly clothes and diapers we keep on the shelf in their bedroom. Generally, they pick the dolly outfits, and I dress the dollies in them. :o)

 A goodbye hug for Daddy before he leaves to look for office space to rent. (which he found, and he now has an office space on the west end of Edmonton.) If there's a hat lying around, pretty good chance you'll find it on Joy's head.

She wasn't going anywhere, but as you can see, she graduated to a different hat plus her new coat in this picture. :o) I let them have water in their tea set cups, which they thought was great fun! And hey - the floor got a little cleaner for it! :o)

And, when real hats are lacking, Joy finds other things that fit on her head instead. :o)

Home happenings

Spring is on its way here in Spruce Grove, but it's slow to wake up this year, so as much as we'd like to be outside playing, we find things to do inside while it's grey and chilly out. 

 Good old Play Dough. She really was having fun, minus a smile. :o)

 Her current favourite thing to do is to cut the Play Dough up into little pieces. :o)

 Which is good, because Joy likes running the Play Dough press, and Hope needs something to do while waiting for her turn. :o)

"If it won't come out, I'll just pull it!"

 Once it's out, it goes back in...

 "Now, I pull that lever down and..." :o)

 Josh's Mom sent two feather scarves for the girls to play with. Hope was dancing with hers like they were butterfly wings.

 And who knows what Joy was doing with hers. :o)

 No words needed.

 Our Home Group meets on Sunday nights, one of which happened to be on Josh's birthday. Some folks had left already, but the few that remained didn't mind sharing the birthday present opening experience with us. :o)

Joy-Belle, doing her part too. :o)