Norah playing dressup after church - with cake on her face

sisters

Our new cousin!

The kids have a new cousin. Katie was born Feb. 25. 8lbs 14 oz. That's all the info we have so far. Can't wait to see the pictures.

the kids watching Dora together.  Ignore how Norah's dress is

hiked up in the back.  They love to cuddle while watching tv.

Ruby's new-found skill

Video Sharing at DropShots.com

Today's craft project.  Isaac's hands are on the left, Norah on

the right.  I always forget how messy painting is until it

begins.  Norah was stripped down to her diaper, and was bathed

afterwards.  Isaac's only casualty was the right knee of his

pants.  Thank goodness for spot remover!

 

Norah recovering from chicken pox

Isaac wanted me to take some pictures of him.  He really needs a haircut.  Note the beloved Vancouver Canucks socks.

Norah at the start of the chicken pox.

The pox just keeps on slamming our family. The girls are in bad shape. Bad. We didn't sleep well last night, Norah was up crying most of the night. She was so uncomfortable. Took the girls to get looked at today, Ruby has an ear infection and Norah has something brewing in her eye. It may be pox actually on her eyeball, we are watching it closely. They are both pretty miserable. It's not fun around here right now.

poor Ruby...

this photo doesn't even show quite how bad it looks.

chicken pox are horrible

we woke up to this all over our windows.  Ice.  It was -36

this morning, with a wind chill of -48.  And that was AFTER it had

warmed up a bit!  We're not going anywhere....

ug. It's looking nasty around here. I tried to get Isaac to count the pox on Ruby's head (only on her head!) and he stopped at 40 something. Her upper body is really looking bad. Norah isn't as bad, only a handful so far. Ick, ick, ick.

Now the girls have the chicken pox. The spots are spreading as I type. arrrrgggghhh. Praying for light cases...

This afternoon's activity. Cookies for the Valentine's party at
preschool. The party that got moved, due to the epidemic of
chicken pox. Isaac wants me to add his name here. Isaac
Matthew.

Once again, ignore the kitchen mess. One day, we will have a
kitchen that also looks nice when it's mostly tidy...not like now where
no matter what we do, it looks like a bomb went off.

The baked results.  Not quite as colourful. 

Pre-baking.  Check out those wild colours!  Gotta love neon food colouring.

And enjoying the cookies with a nice mug of hot chocolate

Add a  sheet, a dozen clothespins, a crib and an easel





Result?  One fun fort!

Arts and crafts nicely fill up a snowy day





Ignore the messy kitchen...

It was only -12 today, so we decided to get the kids out for a walk. Ok, I did, Rob was working. Took the better part of a half hour to get everyone dressed and ready to head out. Layers of warm stuff for everyone, including mom. And a big boot war with Norah. Apparently, she has outgrown her winter boots. They were NOT going on. So, out she went in Isaac's recently outgrown hiking boots. Not warm enough, but she had 2 pairs of socks on instead.

Got both girls into the stroller, and we were off for a walk. The jogger handles snow really well, but we were enjoying the plowed sidewalks. In theory. It took forever to go anywhere, Isaac wasn't too keen on the idea of walking. Pokey, pokey, pokey. Finally we got to the mailbox...and he was done. Didn't want to go any further. Didn't want to run with me. Didn't want to play in the snow.

When we got home, he wanted to scrape the car windows. So that's why he didn't want to walk! I let him scrape away while I managed to shovel the hardpacked snowplowed snow at the end of the driveway. (fun...) We did get at least a 1/2 hour of outdoor time in, before everyone decided they needed to go inside and have lunch. Isaac got inside and convinced Rob to make him hot chocolate "I need hot chocolate, that will warm me up, I'm so cold Daddy".

At least it was a change of pace from being inside!

Our new snow, and neighbour-plowed driveway (and dirty van)

She's such a doll...

and that smile...

Norah playing with the ever-growing pile of shoes and boots. Oh,
and wearing a hat....which she won't do outside. Figure that one
out.

It's a boy!

Linden Paul arrived February 2 at 3:50 am. He weighed in at 8lbs
9oz and is 22 inches long. He's gorgeous and we can't wait to meet
him!

Red, itchy spots have infiltrated our home. They are slowly, but surely, creeping up Isaac's body. Leaving their marks on his torso, face and arms. Norah and Ruby are both showing some signs of a cold, but it could be more than that...

DARN CHICKEN POX!

As Kristin is of dubious immunity, this could be interesting. Isaac's being quite the trooper though, barely scratching at all. We're expecting that all three kids will probably end up with the pox though, can't keep them from hugging and kissing each other. We're currently on spot patrol with the girls. Isaac is missing preschool this week, and is apparently one of 2 confirmed cases so far.

We finally got a nice dumping of snow in the last 2 days. 7 inches seems to be our total so far, with more potentially on the way. We're hoping to get Isaac out to the local sledding hill this week if we get the promised temperatures of -4 tomorrow. Sunday afternoon, Kristin got all 3 kids outside for a front step and walkway shovelling. That's as far as we got before Ruby needed to eat and Norah pooped. *sigh* 1/2 an hour of getting everyone dressed and only 13 minutes outside. Oh well, we had warm cider inside waiting for us. Then Rob had to shovel the driveway when he got home because even with snowtires he was spinning out trying to get into the driveway. So glad our snow here is so soft and light. Everything is so pretty right now covererd in a thick white blanket.

Ruby

Ruby HannahMay - Precious and gracious.


Our lovely baby. Who is HUGE! She's weighing in at 19
pounds. Yep, 19. She's tall too. Lovely chubby baby
legs and arms. Ruby is one of the most laid back babies
ever. She sleeps really well and is so happy when she's
awake. She really is a joy and we're so thrilled to have her
around. She gives the biggest smiles, especially to Isaac and
Norah, and coos little songs all the time.

Isaac

Isaac Matthew - Laughter and Gift of God. Suits him well.

This photo was from Christmas. He loved Christmas this
year. It was amazing to see how excited he was about Vancouver
Canuck socks and Sesame Street underwear.
Loves knock knock jokes and singing. Enjoys preschool and books,
especially when he recognizes words on the page. We read a lot of
Green Eggs and Ham here these days; he knows all of those words.
Finds pleasure in playing hockey around the house, but has been
suspended from playing upstairs due to some wild shots and some unsafe
stick handling. Has almost completely mastered the bathroom, but
still needs reminders to use soap when washing hands. Loves to hug his
sisters.

Norah

Norah Abigail - Light and Father's joy. Very fitting.

Norah is now 16 months old, and growing up so fast. She loves to
play dress up with clothes and hats. Loves Dora the Explorer and
Miffy on tv. Dances all over the place and is liberal with kisses
to family members. Has great coordination when it comes to
kicking balls around. Likes to eat crayons and cheese. Lets
Isaac know when he's in her way.