Our Blessings: October 2008

As per usual, it's been weeks since I last posted, so this is just going to be lots of random updates:)
First, our trip to Winnipeg. We left Fri. after work and drove straight through, getting to my parents at about 1am. Had a great time visiting friends and family all day Sat. and Sun., had a delicious turkey dinner Sunday night, and then headed home on Monday. We stopped and had a great visit with friends of ours in Emo (right by the U.S. border), and got home after 11. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but so much fun:) And since I am ever so clever, we have a lovely souvenir...I knocked over the container of milk that was at my feet (without noticing) and so we are now struggling to completely eliminate the smell of sour, rotten milk from the truck. Awesome. :)

Kallie and auntie Dana enjoying some apple crisp

Handsome little guy:)

Kissing (aka squishing:) sweet little Anthony, Kallie loved him!

It was tough to get a good picture of these active toddlers!

Lyndon and 3 mo. old Sadie...someone looks ready for another one:)

Next, Kallie! I really and truly cannot believe how much she is talking, doing and understanding. I'm sure that this is the age where it's supposed to happen (she just turned 17 months) but seeing your child grow up like this is truly awe-inspiring! She started doing two new things on the trip home: 1. She fell in LOVE with her dolls! We've had dolls for her since she was 7 months old, and she calls them baby, and will kiss them, but that's about it. Well! On the way home, for at least 3 hours, she couldn't stop hugging, kissing, swaddling (with some help from mom), and giving her baby her bottle and 'choochie' (Tbay word for soother). It was so adorable! And still is! She hasn't let up, she's always looking for her baby, so she can love and take care of it. And 2. She started to pretend to be asleep:) It is so ridiculously adorable! She'll turn her head to the side, close her eyes really tight, and try not to smile:) And then we'll say 'Kallie! Wake up!' and she'll pop up with her eyes open and yell 'wake up!'. So funny!
Some of her newest words: cup, opa and grandpa, with a tiny bit of oma and grandma thrown in there, Jacob, Owen (children from daycare), hot and cold (which by the way, whenever she doesn't want to eat anything, she informs us that it's 'hot! hot!':), water, pizza, pop (NOT b/c she's drinking it, but b/c she saw someone with it and called it water, so we called it pop:), ice cream (again, NOT because she's eating it...well, maybe a little;), she's very good at saying please and thank you (peeeese, tank-oo!), there are probably more, but those are the ones she's added in the last few days. I was reading some updates on language progression, and around 18 months, toddlers can start adding a new word as often as every 90 minutes! Isn't that amazing?
Lyndon and I are doing well, he's still working hard on the house, in the next few weekends we're hoping to having the entire upstairs done (flooring and trim), which will really make life a lot easier! The only bedroom that's finished is Kallie's, so it's a little stressful right now.
This past weekend I got to go on a girls' getaway to a cabin with two of my friends. We went out Sat. evening and came back Sunday afternoon. It was such an incredible time of visiting, sharing (until 7am!!!), and just relaxing together. I had such a wonderful time:) And while I was gone, Lyndon, being the awesome dad that he is, took Kallie fishing. It's something he's been wanting to do since she was born, so he finally got the chance! They went out to the Nipigon river, and Lyndon fished while Kallie played on the shore and chilled in the backpack (see pictures:). She even fell asleep for awhile back there:) They both had so much fun, Lyndon was just so excited to tell me all about it when they got home! They were gone for over 5 hours, so that was a pretty big day for Kallie!