Friday, August 22, 2014

Two Two

It is a couple of weeks late, but I have a TWO year old to announce! 


I LOVE two years old. I think it is my very favourite age. And lucky for me, I get to experience it all over again. Learning to speak and communicate is so much fun! Being able to climb the playground equipment and go down slides, running down the sidewalk, helping with cooking and housework, making little jokes, running up to the window to watch the garbage truck go by, crying because the birds fly away, refusing to ever were shoes, getting soaking wet every chance she gets, I just love it all.

(I am not quite sure why Mina was wearing goggles. It is just how she parties, I guess.)

This little Two Two of ours is a sweet, happy, silly and strong willed girl. She has a lot to say. She speaks like a little southern belle, saying "ma" instead of  "my", and it makes me smile every time. She also adds "-ie" behind many of her words. She might say "holdie ma handie" if she wants me to hold her hand. Sometimes she speaks each syllable as if it were its own sentence. I really must make a recording of it, because it just melts me. She adores her big sisters and wants to have and do everything that they do, which is as it should be. She calls a knife a "cut" and a fork a "poke".  She takes her new baby doll everywhere she goes these days, and loves her blankies. (I made her 2 in case one got lost. But she knows there are two of them, and always wants them both.)I love seeing her right after she wakes up, trying to hold every single stuffie and blanket she owns, walking around the house with an armful of soft cozy things she loves to hug. She will make a bee line to any puppy she sees or hears so that she can love and adore it. She is afraid of the vaccuum, and terrified/fascinated about the blowdrier, which she likes to visit in the bathroom to make sure it is still there, and turned off, quiet and coldie.  Sometimes she requests it to be on the dinner table, and side eyes it suspiciously while we eat. I think it is a case of keeping her friends close, and enemies closer.

Leia, we love you and are so happy you jumped into our family!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Simple.

Our family just got home after a fun filled, while still relaxing holiday. We spent 2 days in Calgary, and got to visit 2 so-close-but-so-far-away sisters, and my dad. We had a fun time visiting and seeing the sights. We stayed in a hotel, which is always the highlight of any trip for my girls. The luggage carts, the lobby, the mini fridge, the ice machine down the hall. The pool, and of course, the elevator. Watching a great lightening storm from high up out of our window was pretty cool.we probably could have just stayed in the hotel the whole time, and the kids still would have had a blast. 

Then, we went to a little mountain town called Canmore. You know you are having a good time when you spend your down time on MLS looking at local housing availability! We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo. And I must say, having the amenities of home when you are on vacation is such a welcome luxury. We had a full kitchen and in suite laundry, also a pool. This was great.

Anyway. The point of this post is that we lived simply. We had a small apartment, one suitcase each with clothes and toiletries, and one backpack of entertainment. Plus pool noodles. Of course. And I was so happy. It was so inspiring to know that I can live, very happily, with much, much less. Less clothes, less food, less yard, less dishes, less toys, less house, less STUFF. 

I have also been inspired by our CSA weekly veggie baskets, and Keith's newfound desire to have a garden. We can grow our own food and buy less stuff! 

I want to have less. I'm not sure how to do this, but I am going to start buy not buying stuff. I think next will be to get rid of stuff. Here is a look at the random stuff that surrounds and suffocates me. 
This is just one room full of random stuff that takes my time and attention. There are many more just like it. 

So there you have it. Less stuff. That's what I'm going for. If I tell you I am headed to walmart, please stop me.