As I was walking around our lawn, I heard our neighbor across the street, as he was getting into his car.
“It’s not that interesting!” he called out.
“I know… you must think I’m crazy!” I laughed.

Yet, the rays make waves in the snow and just the right amount of warmth fuses and balances the cristals just so…

She’ll also empty her bottom dresser drawer and pull clothes over her head. Here, she is wearing two skirts and two dresses, as well as a sweater and necklaces (on TOP of her normal clothes!).

This is some of her button collection.

And here we are playing with legos.

Happy weekend to everyone!

If cold weather is good for one thing, it is snow sculptures.

My Dad has always loved cement, and I bet I’m one of the few women at Festival who recognized the logo, and knew that this is a cement truck, and not some kind of cab hauling a boulder.

It was so cold, the dragon had no fire.

And, if I were tall enough to reach up and lift the mask off that knight, I’m sure I’d find Christian’s likeness.

See how Marie-Hélène’s changed in a year?

Well, Anna. Not too much is happening over here. I nearly had a car accident the other day, but I’ll tell you about that next week. This morning, I woke up at 6:45, did my pilates “Sunrise Workout” and wrote three pages. After my shower I came upstairs to hear Christian cough and Marie-Hélène squeal. Cough, squeal, cough, squeal. Cough, “Christian! Stop it!” I say. “She’s crazy!” he tells me with a grin. He prepares her bottle while I dress, and we go in to give her big kisses while brushing back the hair from her eyes. She has morning breath, and at the risk of sounding disgusting, I like it. It smells so cute. I do my hair after Christian leaves for school, and we wave goodbye to him through the window. I prepare toast for her, and show her the Nutella spread we bought for her yesterday. She loves apple jelly, but I figured Nutella has more fat in it, and so would be better for her. She loves it and licks her way through three small rye bread slices while I spoon down my breakfast shake. It’s a cold sunny day and I decide to go to the mall with Peekaboo.

I pick up some Sharpies and soap then we head to the play area in the mall. I’m accosted by Child Safe Canada, where the guy seems to wish I had more kids. I can have Marie-Hélène registered with a card, a photo and code in case she goes missing. All that for 6$ a month, by the way. Same price for one or more children. A good thing, he tells me, since it used to be 6$ per child, but with the 31 thousand children gone missing last year, they reduced their price to include the whole brood. I have a pen in hand to fill in a form, but then pull out my best excuse: “Could I talk to my husband about this first?” He’s glad to oblige, so Marie-Hélène and I head to the play area. She’s all excited.

She runs about, circles around me, uses the slide plenty of times, plowing her way through kids, not really aggressive, just determined. Some little boy a little older than her, pushes her back down the stairs, and his Grandma doesn’t say anything. As he’s about to do it a second time, all the hairs on my back rise up, and I firmly warn him, with a finger raised, NOT to TOUCH the girl. Hear me ROAR. Hehe.

Marie-Hélène notices a pretty red knit sweater in a corner. She likes it, inspects it, and tries to put it on, before a rather concerned Grandma comes over to make sure we don’t take it with us. I tell Marie-Hélène the sweater belongs to the Grandma, so she gives it back. Throughout the half hour we’re there, she is particularly drawn to another mother who has shoulder-length brown hair. She calls her “Na”, and so I explain to the lady that she looks like my sister.

We come back home in time for lunch. We had a blizzard last night. See:

Marie-Hélène hears the camera and starts posing for me. I tell her to smile.

Show me your toys, I ask.

A squirrel from John and a poodle from our neighbor, Lily. We eat. She has pasta shells with ham and ketchup and apple juice. I have an egg on toast with tomatoes and ham. I clean her up for bed and tell her not to poo in her diaper, which she does immediately after I leave. I change her, and decide I’ll have to start bribing her to poo on the potty. She loves chocolate chips, Oreos and Nutella.

That’s been our day so far, my dear. Hope it’s nice and sunny wherever you are! Have a lovely weekend!

Then, in preparation for the Festival du Voyageur, I found costume makers. We talked for two hours but it felt much shorter. I came home inspired and told Christian that we must find such a hobby to work on together in our retirement. He shrugged his shoulders.

Together, Judy and Barry founded Manitoba’s Living History Society. Originally, Barry was a history teacher. The Travel Manitoba post is here, along with pictures here.

Last Saturday, I went to Oak Hammock Marsh, to check out the Kite Boarding class that was being offered. I didn’t even know such a sport existed until last winter. Talk about missing out on fun! The post for Travel Manitoba is here.

Considering the fact that I haven’t watched Star Wars in years and John is just about as rusty, Anna excelled.

We weren’t even threats… not even minor competition… In fact, she’d give us hints and accept sloppy answers.

She also tried not to laugh too hard as she accumulated points and left us in the dust. At least she didn’t dress up in costume. And for all our differences (I like Glee, she watches hockey), she’s fun to have around. I’m going to miss her…

Marie-Hélène will too. In fact she gave Anna a parting gift… Marie-Hélène caught a flu Sunday night and is just getting over it. Anna got sick Tuesday. Remember when she had appendicitis during her visit here? Dear Anna, please don’t be afraid to come back!

In the bookstore I nearly bowl people over. I find the book I need “Seed Catalogue” by Robert Kroetsch, a slim 43 pages of poetry. We pass greeting cards on the way to the register and she notices dogs, so we slow down just a little, before moving on. As I pay, a pair in another line smile down at Marie-Hélène, and as I leave I ask if she smiled. “No!” says one. “I think she’s shy!” says another. Like me, Marie-Hélène’s face can be severely serious.

We re-pass the line of cars outside, which has grown twice as long. I buckle her back into the seat to notice someone waiting for my spot and fold the summer stroller into the trunk. At home, after her pee on the potty, I read “Seed Catalogue” in one sitting, while Marie-Hélène climbs up or slides down the couch. Twenty minutes getting to and from the bookstore, not including the driving, for twenty minutes of reading. I am a devoted student! Tra la la.

After nap time, we take the sleigh to go to Sobeys to buy mushrooms, because Papa has a meeting tonight. Marie-Hélène doesn’t want to wear the snowsuit from her Matante in Quebec, so it becomes a dramatization: “But look! Marie-Hélène, it’s BEAUTIFUL! Look at the RED, and the FLOWERS, and it’s so WARM!” She sputters as I stuff in her legs and then her arms. The sleigh ride makes up for the lost battle. She’s more than happy to be at the same height as the dogs we meet out for their evening walk, owners in tow. At the store, I put the sleigh into the shopping cart and hurry through the store, because I don’t want to undress her, my 30 inch blue snowman. I don’t wait for the old lady to find the perfect carton of mushrooms, and dive under her arm to pick up the first two I see. Sorry lady, I’m crazy. We arrive home to find John and Chantal, and John asks where I’ve been. I tell him. “That’s it? You went to the store just for mushrooms?” Oh! But it was a wonderful trip… Marie-Hélène saw the moon in the sky, heard the train blow its horn in the distance, saw the snow sparkle as we passed, listened to the silence on the trail and met FOUR dogs. The mushrooms were just an excuse!