We just Froese your computer!

2011-05-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

Why one shouldn't turn one's back after giving paint to a toddler... :D

ZOO!

2011-05-15T22:37:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday, I took the kids to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was a unique experience in that it was set high on a mountain side -- you could look down at some points and see Colorado Springs very small and far away.

We started with the giraffes. I paid $3 for "crackers" which was really a handful of lettuce and we went off to feed the giraffes. Giraffes, I discovered, have very long, somewhat slimy tongues!

Next we headed to the budgie cage....on the way we saw the elephants walking to the back of their space.

The budgie cage. The idea: free flying budgies...you buy a little bit of seed that is attached to a popsicle stick and they come land on your arm/hand and have a little snack. Sounds cool. My experience = not such a good idea to do with Isaiah. The stroller had to stay out of the little area. Isaiah was so happy to be out of the stroller, he started walking, then crawling all over the bird-poop laden floor...touching every thing and then trying to drink the water from the little fountain they had. There were many many signs posted warning about the risk of disease transmission from animals to people and the importance of hand washing. Needless to say, I left our uneaten bird seed there and went out with the kids, trying hard to keep Isaiah from putting his hands in his mouth before I could wipe them off/sanitize them. ....ah, memories!

Peacock...

My little Tigers. Unfortunately, the mountain lion was the only one of all the cats to actually be visible. All the other cats seemed to be in hiding.

Next we had some lunch and explored the large play area that there was for the kids. Myra always seems to gravitate to the "fake" metal versions of animals. (Case in point, her favorite part of Arches Park was the metal mountain goats set up just outside the visitor center, that we ran by on the way to using the bathrooms.) She really did not want to smile for this picture.

Sporting new sunglasses...

First carousel ride ever! The smile could not be wiped from her face :D

In the reptile house...we spent a lot of time here looking at the fish. Isaiah was very intrigued by the tanks. He kept pointing and saying "oooh!" over and over again.

Checking out the primates. I managed to get some good video of a baby orangutan swinging and playing in his cage and then being whisked away by his momma.

We ended the day with the hippos. They make very pig-like grunting noises when going into the water. Apparently they are part of the pig family.

Finding some new friends before heading home...

So that was the zoo. We had a great time! :D

More Arches Park

2011-05-15T22:31:00.001-07:00

Oops! I meant to post these in the previous post :D

Arches National Park

2011-05-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

So far, I think my most favorite American state is Utah. And my current top three favorite national parks are: Zion National Park, Utah; Arches National Park, Utah; and the Iceland Parkway between Jasper and Banff. I just love the red dirt, I love the massiveness of the formations...it is fantastical! To think about how much power water has that it can create these formations. I also love seeing the tiny little desert flowers that are often so bright and growing so boldly.

It felt like a real treat to be able to be here today. We drove through the park, pulled off at as many view points as we could, took tonnes of pictures, and even enjoyed 3 different 30 minute hikes. Myra was very keen on the hiking..."so mommy, are we going to hike some more?...I love hiking"

Here are a "few" of our pictures in random order...

Day 2

2011-05-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - we travelled from Baker City, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah. Seems that the kids and I cannot help but succumb to napping while we drive. ...especially Isaiah and I. The days are sunny, I start squinting from the brightness, then I close my eyes, and then I realize I'm sleeping sitting up and reach for the little pillow so I can lean over a bit and snooze. :-) I guess it's one way to pass the time...

Classic Isaiah...a car for each hand and a cheesy smile as soon as the camera appears....

The highlight of the day, and any day if you ask Myra, was swimming at the hotel. On our first night, I opted to stay in our room and put Isaiah to bed while Tim and Myra went to try out the pool. I was surprised to hear that Myra had used some arm floaties that were for general public use, and she was swimming so well, Tim didn't even need to support her or hold her! She is such a water lover! Anyways....first stop at Salt Lake City was at Target to buy some water floaties. :D

Myra had a perma-smile on her face for the whole 45+ minutes she was in the pool, swimming back and forth, then, climbing up the stairs and jumping back in to Tim. I am feeling even more inspired now to invest in some swimming lessons.

Road Trip Day 1

2011-05-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! Road Trip! :D

We've been having fun....

Myra was sooooooo excited! At first, she was asking every few minutes if we were there yet and wanted to save her snacks for eating at the hotel. She didn't really grasp at first that it would take ALL day to get there :D

Isaiah sat forward facing in his carseat for the first time. At one point, shortly after we left I looked back at him, he smiled, and proceeded to point at all the cars and trees around him while saying "ooooh!". :D

Not really understanding how to use the camel back...

Running off steam at a view point...

The view...

The kids were quite content for most of the trip. It took a bit more creativity and effort to keep everyone happy between 4 -5:30 pm but I'm not complaining :D

We had Pizza Hut's "Happy Family Dinner" of pasta and breadsticks. Thankfully, I had thought to bring a few dishes/utensils. :)
Our hotel picnic....

off to Salt Lake City, Utah....

The Great Pancake Caper!

2011-03-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

One morning last week, it occurred to me suddenly that Isaiah was very quiet. After a quick search, I found he had managed to climb onto a chair and was in the process of sneaking pancakes. :D It was so cute I had to capture the moment.

A few minutes later, when he came to find me, I thought it would be prudent to quickly check where he had been sitting and assess the mess/damage. Surprise! - No mess to be found and half eaten pancake carefully placed back on the plate. haha.... these are the kinds of moments that bring smiles in my day.

Playing with Cars

2011-03-24T11:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I found five of the mini playskool/tonka vehicles, together in a bag, at MCC, for $1.00! :D They have been the toys of choice for 2.5 hours now and I am REALLY enjoying the quiet happy chatter of contented playing. Isaiah follows Myra around and tries to imitate where and how she is playing, all the while making appropriate vehicle noises and saying "Go! Go!". Myra has broken up the cars into family groups and has extensive conversations between them, changing her voice to be high pitched for the babies and lower for the mommy or daddy. .....the differences between boys and girls? :D

"the mommy car"

"these are the kids...and I'm making a house for them. The daddy is sick so he is at the doctor's..."

Vancouver Aquarium

2011-03-09T08:27:00.001-08:00

CREATING....

2011-02-19T10:27:00.001-08:00

FUN

hopscotch...

a dog house with a special tunnel entrance...

silly moments...

weights...

a superbowl snack...

ART

"Look mommy, it's me!"

"Lynnea, my daddy's mommy, and me"

"my mommy's mommy and my daddy's mommy" (note: though they look like snouts, Myra was trying hard to be detailed and make noses with nostrils)

"my mommy's mommy"

CRAFTS

Lindsey, from Filth Wizardry posted this craft on Alpha Mom's blog. It looked simple and fun, so I decided to try it here at home. I originally thought we would make many many hearts, put magnets on the back of them, and send them out as valentines. Instead, we made only a few, and on Myra's suggestion, turned them into little popsicle heart friends.

a valentine's card....

WORDS

Since taking "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom" out from the library and recently watching episodes of "Word World", it seems Myra's recognition of letters is exploding!

"mommy, does this spell drum?"

taking a front row seat to growth and creativity ...I'm LOVING IT!

2010-12-25T00:07:00.000-08:00

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"I wanna be like you...."

2010-12-02T22:44:00.000-08:00

2010-11-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

Fun with Daddy --

Fun with Crafts --

Marble Painting -- dollar store marbles, a cookie sheet, paper and paint. We made a few splotches of paint on paper, placed some marbles on top then carefully started tipping the cookie sheet in all directions to make a picture. Alternatively, you could put the paper and marbles in a tin box, close the lid and shake it to make a design.

Learning to cut with scissors --

Paper Plate Masks --

Fun outside --

Fun with new tights --

ISAIAH'S BIRTHDAY PICS

2010-11-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

My one-year old! :D Walking, crawling, teething, undoing things I have done, making big messes, giving me sloppy kisses, pointing, trying to talk, signing "more" and "food", climbing and being his mostly cheery self. Here are some pictures we took while celebrating his birthday. We had two small casual family dinners for the occasion.

Playing animal rescue/vet with Grandma Froese

"Yee-Haw!"

Dessert....(brigadeiros, cupcakes, and triffle)

'what is going on?'.....

Party #2 ....more brigadeiros and triffle

We love you Isaiah!

2010-10-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

PUMPKIN CRAFTS:

I saw an idea online to use a cut apple to make pumpkin shapes. It worked so well! We painted the apple half with orange paint and then stamped our paper.

Paper Mache....

making a "spooky" expression...

creepy pumpkin doll - haha!

COSTUMES:

Myra has been waiting and waiting for "spooky day". This is the first year we have participated in halloween "traditions/customs" and between Treehouse showing halloween episodes of her favorite shows all month and neighbors decorating with blow up ghosts and pumpkin lights, Myra has fully grasped the concepts of dressing up and going door to door saying "trick or treat".

Friday night, our church had a little costume party. Myra proudly and happily wore her cow outfit. Tim was a rock star. I wore a Jester costume and wig and Isaiah was wearing a Nightwing outfit meant for a 3 or 4 year old. The picture of him crawling away makes me giggle every time :D.

Tim and Myra spent some much needed father-daughter time carving a pumpkin yesterday. We put it on our the top of our front stairs tonight, with a lit candle inside, as our way of saying, "yes, in spite of the complete lack of any halloween decorations, if you climb to the top of the stairs, candy will be handed out." :D We actually had quite a few kids come by.

2010-09-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Spanish Banks a few weeks ago for a birthday party. It was perfectly sunny and warm and breezy. Myra absolutely loved being on the beach and played and played and played on her own. Many, many times I looked around to find her running this way and that and then laying down on the sand, then getting up and running again. I dumped out a 1/4 cup of sand from each of her shoes before we got in the car to come home. :D She had so much fun!

Lisa and Waylon and Jotham came to stay with us for a few nights at the end of August. ....so fun! :D

Pictures by Myra....

Update - long version :D

2010-09-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been in our new place for almost 2 months now and I am finally starting to feel somewhat settled. We are renting a 3 bedroom top floor of a house which has about the same square footage or possibly slightly less than our 2 bedroom apartment at AMBS. The closets are tiny but we've got 1.5 bathrooms and I am loving having a playroom. (Myra and Isaiah are sharing a room). The house is over 60 years old and originally was ground level. At some point it was raised up and a basement suite added. The floors in our place tend to be higher right at the baseboards than in the middle of the rooms and have many dips throughout. My time and mental/emotional space has been consumed with trying to bring order to disorder, and with downsizing our possessions to fit the limited space. It is starting to feel like home. :D

We (the kids and I) were kindly kicked out of the house this afternoon so that Tim could set up our sound system. I decided to attempt wandering a store of some sort and ended up at Canadian Tire. I found, to my delight, the perfect rug for our entry way on sale for $10 off the regular price - only cost me $20. woot!

Isaiah is growing and growing and growing. I keep referring to him as a "trouble maker" but he really isn't. He is curious and attentive and so quick to explore his surroundings ... just as he should be. :D Here he is learning about doors and hinges, cause and effect, and gravity, all while practicing his standing.

He has 6 teeth now, 4 on top and 2 below. He is eager to try "normal" food which has taken me by surprise since Myra was so very very opposed to solids in her first year. I've started showing him signs for "more" and "please" and "food". Today, he was screeching at me from his high chair as I was getting some banana ready for him and I said "Isaiah, would you like some food?" (making the sign for food while I said it) He promptly stopped screeching and put his fist to his mouth and moved it back and forth a few times - yay :-). It's really a work in progress.

Isaiah is pulling himself up easily these days on any furniture or toy within his reach. He loves following Myra around and playing with whatever toy she wants to play with much to her frustration. He has started "dancing" - doing 'the bob' up and down while standing and holding onto the couch or 'the twist' while sitting down - twisting his upper body side to side to music. He is still such a cuddler. I love it! He is a very fast crawler and makes a beeline to the bathroom or outside doors the moment he is aware that they are open. He LOVES being outside, especially when being outside means swinging on our recently acquired swing set. (Thanks again Leanne!)

A few weeks ago we had a play date with Auntie Anita and Nate and Laura. Spending the whole afternoon in the backyard with water running is expected and so fun for all involved...

Myra continues to be her mostly cheerful, energetic, creative self. She is easily entertained by her own imagination and I could fill pages of writing if I tried to keep tabs on all the different characters and scenarios she plays out in a day. My favorite this past week was while we were hanging out in the backyard... Myra was running around the swing set again and again. Then she stopped beside me to inform me she was a friendly bee who didn't sting but only gave bee hugs and bee kisses. Also, she made sunscreen in her stomach. At this point she pretended to spit on my arm and rubbed "sunscreen" all over me so I wouldn't get a sunburn. :D

Myra has discovered that if she needs "Isaiah-free" play time, she can go into the playroom and shut the door. The other day she found some muffin liners and promptly disappeared into the third bedroom. Here's what I found.

I'm hoping to organize Myra's craft supplies this next week so that when a crafty moment arises, everything we need will be easily accessible. I keep moving items, like her crayons, so it takes me 5-20 minutes sometimes to get her set up with paper and paints/crayons for drawing. :S
Anyways...yesterday, Myra drew a turtle with eyeballs. I know it doesn't sound like much but it was the first time she drew eyes that were first a circle and then a dot inside it rather than just two dots. She also drew what ended up looking like a foot - a roundish rectangle and then she traced her finger tips to make circles at the top of it - looked like toes. She decided to make it a rainbow foot and I captured her carefully coloring tiny little sections in a variety of colors. She was so proud of it when she was finished. :D

until next time...

Parks and painting

2010-07-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

Enjoying Stanley Park on a sunny day :D

searching for sea shells...

nap time...

water park fun...

Painting an empty spice jar that will now hold paint brushes...

Mixing colors....

Myra's photography...

In a rare crafty moment, I managed to make a camera for Myra out of an empty tylenol box, the inside of shelf liner roll and a glue stick -- i realized later that I put the picture button on the wrong side...oh well! Myra has spontaneously exclaimed how much she loves her camera at least 5 times this evening already and has been racing around the house taking pictures with it. :D

Finger painting is so much more satisfying than using a paint brush...

Ice therapy for swollen, bleeding gums...

ttfn!

TODAY

2010-07-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

Today Isaiah is cutting three of his top teeth. Since he is exceptionally fussy already, I figured, I might as well cut his hair. Yup, he cried through most of it but survived just fine. I just need to trim around his ears when Tim has a chance to help me - I want to avoid poking out his eyes or cutting earlobes if at all possible :D

Today we have a working dishwasher - woot! woot! There is great rejoicing in this Froese home. :D HIP HIP HOORAY!!! Now I can make cookies and muffins and all sorts of yummy foods without first considering how to obtain counter space that is being taken up by dirty dishes or whether I want to spend the extra time washing after said food is made.

Today Myra had raw carrot sticks and mushrooms dipped in ketchup for a snack. I figure, at least she's eating veggies, right?

Today I miss my AMBS family and wish we could go there for the day.

Today I decided not to worry about all the things I haven't blogged about and to just blog about today :D

A chapter is closing

2010-05-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

On the 22nd of May, Tim graduated with his Masters of Divinity from AMBS in Elkhart, Indiana. Here he is walking into the commencement ceremony. Tim's cousins, Allan & Marilyn, and their kids, came down to help us celebrate this big event. It was so great to have them there!

After the ceremony Tim proceeded to wear his masters hood, which is very long, and Myra thought it was a cape, so she called him "super daddy" till he took it off. Here is a lovely family picture taken outside after commencement.

We did what we could to say goodbye to all our friends in Elkhart & Goshen before and during commencement, since early the next morning we would begin our slow drive to BC. We've made a lot of wonderful friends during our time there, and we miss them already.

Packing up with two kids proved to take twice as long as our move to Elkhart was. Allan & Marilyn and their kids stuck around after our celebration to help us finish things off. Even then, Charlotte was up all night taking care of the last few details. Here is the trailer and the car all packed up and ready to go. When all was ready, we went through each room in the apartment and shared a favourite memory about each room.

Then we piled in and drove down the picturesque driveway of AMBS in a similar manner to the way we arrived - packed to the gills in our little Mazda.

And so we headed west to Illinois, to join that route one is supposed to take when you plan to travel west. To get our kicks on route 66 (or at least, a good part of it).

We spent our first night in Cuba, Missouri - the gateway to the Ozarks - which were, in fact, quite pretty. It was a little funny to arrive at our Holiday Inn to discover it had been bought out by Motel 6 four days earlier. Thankfully they still had our reservation, so we didn't have to make alternate arrangements.

They had a nice little pool there, so we took the kids swimming - a great way to tire out a toddler after a long day in the car.

Anyway, we realize we are way behind on our posting for this trip - we'll try to catch up - tune in next time for Kansas adventures & more...

Early Morning Photo Shoot

2010-04-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

5 months old!

2010-03-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

So Isaiah is 5 months old today - hard to believe he's that old already, but then, he sure has been growing! Here are a bunch of pics of him and Myra in no particular order:

Myra hugging Isaiah, who is relaxing in his baby bathtub.

Myra and her new favourite dog, Abby, who belongs to Jeff, Monica & Joah.

a random pic of Isaiah in the stroller, back in Feb when we still had snow.

there's a handsome lad!

Daddy & Myra reading together. Myra ended up focusing more on the drinking.

Isaiah and Myra in the laundry basket today.

Hangin out in the exersaucer and watching his sister have a bath.

Myra loving her new sleeping bag.

and lastly, Isaiah going to town on one of his toys. Yup - that's what he loves to do. If you know much about 5 month olds, I don't imagine you're surprised. :-)

COCONUT MILK :D

2010-02-13T05:21:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to have recently discovered the wonders of coconut milk! :D Coconut milk is made by grating the white flesh of the coconut, soaking it in boiling water and squeezing it through cheese cloth - not to be confused with coconut water which is the thin liquid found in the middle of the coconut when you open it up.

Anyways....Isaiah has had dry skin since birth and recently I've been noticing large dry scaly patches to the backs of his arms, knees and thighs. Turns out they are classic eczema patches. Eczema symptoms are often accompanied by asthma and food allergies and from what I've read, a dairy sensitivity or allergy is a very common cause of eczema. I consume A LOT of dairy - we easily polish off 2 gallons of milk a week, love cheese, yogurt, cream gravies, butter, whipping cream, sour cream, cream cheese...you get the picture. I would say that at my diet is 90% grains, dairy, and chocolate with some peanut butter mixed in at times. (Not balanced I know!) So, the decision to be dairy free for the next 6 weeks feels like a major life change.

My choices for milk: soy...has made me feel sick in the past and is also a common allergen; rice...I hear from friends that rice milk is quite gritty; almond...in the nut family and I've been encouraged to avoid nuts as well; and hemp milk - makes the most satiny delicious cooked chocolate pudding but has a strong aftertaste when just drunk. :( Then I discovered coconut milk - dairy free and oh so healthy!

Summarizing what I've read on-line:

Coconut milk is very high in saturated fat but because it is made up of short and medium chain fatty acids, it is easily metabolized by the body and converted into quick energy and can aid in weight loss. Plus it has a high content of lauric acid (50%) which is also found in breast milk and has potent anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties.

"Because the short-and medium-chain fatty acids of extra virgin coconut oil and coconut milk are easily and quickly assimilated by the body, they are not stored as fat in the body like the long chain triglycerides of animal products."

"While coconut milk is high in saturated fat, it is much healthier than other saturated fat products, and the fat is easily metabolized by the body. Coconut milk also offers some particular healthbenefits. It is anti-carcinogenic, anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral. The main saturated fat that it contains, lauric acid, is also found in mother's milk and has been shown to promote brain development and bone health. Some hope that coconut milk, with its powerful anti-viral properties, can one day be used in the fight against AIDS."

Here's what I do:

1 can of Thai Kitchen's coconut milk

2 cups of water

2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Mix together and serve.

It's pretty good (I don't mind the taste of coconut)....goes good with cookies and cereal and yesterday I used the coconut milk cream in my banana muffins and they turned out so yummy (no coconut flavor at all). I do feel it gives me quick energy - I took a small amount to work my past two shifts. Plus, it makes me feel full so I don't consume nearly as much as I used to with cow's milk. It's been 3 days and with no other intervention, Isaiah's dry skin is resolving so it looks like I'll be dairy free for as long as I continue to nurse him. I'm so happy to have found a dairy alternative that is yummy and healthy!

Myra's adventures

2010-02-06T06:19:00.000-08:00

So I guess we're supposed to post pic's of both kids now, but this one is all about Myra. Sorry.

Anyway, we picked up a toddler bed, second hand, for Myra now. Here she is right after we set it up. This also allowed us to finally set up the crib for Isaiah, since we picked up a new mattress for Myra's bed.

Tim & Myra also had a few adventures in the snow this week. We finally bought Myra some snow boots for this season (now that they're all on sale). Here she is making a snow angel.

Later, Myra and Tim built a snowman. Actually they built two. After building the first one, Tim figured they should build one in front of our window's so that we could see it from our apartment. Here is Myra touching up the snow.

Then they used a baby carrot, and chocolate chips to give him a face.

And here is a cute one of Myra giving him a kiss.

These are just some more pics of their adventures walking around.

And here is Myra trying to catch the snow flakes.

Anyway, that's all for now. I guess we'll have to post all about Isaiah next time. :-)

So many new activities!

2010-01-30T10:39:00.000-08:00

Myra has been having a lot of fun with her straws & connectors these days. Here is a lovely little house that she made with Daddy.

Isaiah has finally started to notice the toys hanging above his head on the mat.

We tried him out in the bumbo chair the other day too. He doesn't seem to sure about it yet, and I think we probably agree. Maybe in a few more weeks :-)

We did bring up the exersaucer though - and he sure seems to like this.

Myra likes to kiss Isaiah and bring him toys when he's in the exersaucer.

and this was just a lovely picture of Myra, all ready for bed, and looking fresh and clean after her bath.

Anyway, that's all for now...

Sunday Morning Photo Shoot

2010-01-17T10:40:00.001-08:00

a few things

2009-12-30T09:37:00.000-08:00

So here are a couple picks of us just before, and on our way to BC for Christmas.

Here is Isaiah having fun on his play mate:

We took the Amtrak from South Bend to Chicago. Myra loves trains, so here she is cheering with mommy to be on the train:

Isaiah seemed pretty happy as well:

Myra had a nice snack with Daddy on the train:

And this was the view from our hotel in Chicago! We had a free night with Holiday Inn. When we arrived they upgraded us to a nice room with a view, and I must say, we were quite pleased!

Anyway, we caught a flight out to BC, and we'll update with more pics from here sometime soon.

HAPPINESS

2009-11-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

I am loving not being pregnant! The contrast this time around is even greater than it was with Myra. Pregnancy hormones are great in that they keep baby alive and healthy but they have a very negative effect on me in general. I feel like a whole new woman these days - depression and apathy replaced with joy and motivation, irritability replaced with patience, nausea gone, able to sleep, .... and the list goes on. :-D

Isaiah is adorable. I've been enjoying many post nursing cuddles where he lies with his head on my chest and just sleeps so contentedly. :D His hair is soooo soft and he makes such cute little squeaks and noises. He is still sleeping 90% of the time. I wake him up every 2.5 - 3 hours during the day to nurse and at night he wakes me up around 2 0r 3 am and then again around 6. His most alert times are in the evenings between 5:30ish till 8 pm. We had a well baby check-up today and he weighs 8 lbs 4 oz - way to go little man!

Myra is adjusting to life as a sibling. She loves "baby brother" and likes to hold him and kiss him and touch him, but, of course, he's not really a playmate yet. Our most frequent conversation regarding Isaiah is something like this...

"Where baby brother go?"
"Baby brother is sleeping in his bed?"
"Why?"
"Cause baby brother is so little and he needs lots of sleep."
"Why?"
"Cause that's how he grows."

Luckily for Myra, Grandma and Grandpa Froese are here for a few more weeks and they have been showering her with attention - which is great! A favorite activity is to role play and pretend. During any given day and multiple times a day, Myra will announce: "I ______" (sheep, kangaroo, "ocatupus", rhinoceros, baby brother, Minnie Mouse, person, cat, baby cat, puppy, baby, mommy, ....) Anything and everything can be made into a swimming pool: wash cloths, blankets, and puzzle pieces laid out in a circle. She has a very active imagination and is happy to invite us to join in with her, though it comes out more as a command: "Come with me" (as she pulls your hand) "I mommy, you baby".... or whatever the game is at the moment. It's a fun stage to be in.

Another favorite activity is playing "hide and seek". Myra will almost always hide behind a curtain either in the living room or in her room. She will start behind a curtain and count "One, two, three...ready or not here I come" and then run looking for whomever is hiding with her. Once found, that person has to stay where they were found to count, while Myra runs back to the original curtain and hides there. No matter how many times she's hidden in the same exact spot it's still a favorite game.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa Froese...

Isaiah's first walk outside....

Myra trying on "mommy's eyes"....

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!
TTFN!

Introducing Iain Isaiah Froese

2009-10-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

Iain Isaiah Froese was born October 24, 2009 at 8:33pm EST at Goshen Hospital in Goshen Indiana. 7lbs 10oz, 20 1/2 inches long. (sorry everyone who I told 7.14 - that's what is written on his crib card, but apparently all his official documents say 7.10, oh well)

So here is Isaiah, lying in bed with Char, shortly after being born. I had to take this photo with my cell phone camera, because we had left the real camera at home - thought we were just going in for a check up. I guess Isaiah had other ideas :-)

And here they are again a little while later.

Myra got to come the next morning to meet her baby brother.

She sometimes likes to give him kisses - it's pretty cute.

And here he is today. I think he's a handsome little guy. We're super excited he's here!

New Orleans

2009-08-22T15:42:00.001-07:00

So after a great time with our friends in Houston, we headed home by way of New Orleans in Louisiana. Here is the lovely state border sign:

We stayed 2 nights there as Tim's Birthday gift, and so had a whole day to wander around New Orleans, see some sights, and have some new experiences. Here are Myra and Tim sharing lunch on the River Walk.

We then took North America's oldest continuously running trolly car over to the French Market.

Myra had a great time riding the trolly.

Here is a shot of the French Market. Apparently it is the oldest existing market in North America, and had been built on the site of a Native trading site, so there has been a "market" at this site from well before they kept records.

We then found our way to a French cafe that has been serving coffee and beignets (french doughnuts) since the 1860's. I'm pretty sure its the oldest restaurant we've ever eaten at. It was a very tasty experience, and there was a trumpet player serenading the patrons with New Orleans styled gospel music the whole time as well, which only added to the cool experience.

Lots of great, historic architecture here. There is the iconic St. Louis Cathedral next to Jackson Square:

Great big, sweeping, trees in the square:

And cool buildings in the French Quarter that you really don't see in other parts of North America - or at least I haven't - perhaps Quebec has a few things like this?

A nice paddle wheeler, river boat cruise ship

Anyway, that was a lot of our day there. Lots of walking and seeing cool architecture, and historic places. We had a fantastic Creole dinner at "the Gumbo Shop". We then found a cookbook by them, so picked that up to learn to make some tasty food. We heard some great music as we were walking around, but since we had Myra with us we couldn't really go to any of the joints in the evening.

The next morning we left early and drove across North America's longest bridge: The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Talk about long!

A great place to watch the sun coming up, however:

On the way home we added Mississippi and...

...Arkansas to the list of states we've been through.

Anyway, we drove through some more crazy storms on our way home, and we were glad when we finally arrived home in Elkhart. It was a great trip. We're really glad for the chance we had to go visit our friends, to see where they live, work, and experience life. It was also great to have some family time again, just the three of us; our last road trip as a threesome, since next time there will be a fourth person in the car. :-)

Texas and Troyers

2009-08-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

So we arrived at the Troyers to spend a few days with them at their home in Houston, TX. Myra noticed immediately that they had a dog, and even more exciting, that their dog had a doggy bed. Myra enjoyed climbing into it and pretending to be a puppy.

Charlotte & Myra, Hannah & Malakai headed out to the Houston Children's Museum while we were there. Myra and Kai enjoyed having tea together.

Myra also enjoyed watching herself in the mirror while she played the drums.

The tinker toys were pretty cool.

And later that day, the play place at the local mall served as a good distraction for the kids. Marty and Tim watched the kids while Char and Hannah wandered the mall.

The next day we drove out to Galveston to hang out on the beach.

So did many other. Though, perhaps this picture makes it look more crowded than it really was, cause it wasn't really that crowded - just a nice shot of the miles of umbrellas that colour the coastline.

We all enjoyed sitting in the water and getting washed by the waves.

This is what happens to a shot when Marty walks up and says: "Who wants to dig in the sand?" and then drops buckets and shovels in the sand :-)

Myra quite enjoyed digging in the sand with Marty.

Myra and Malakai enjoyed hanging out in the beach chairs:

What wasn't captured on "film" was the incredible sunburn Tim acquired at the beach. Apparently he didn't replenish his 50 spf often enough.

Back at the Troyers Myra moved from being entertained by the dog's bed, to being entertained by the dog - which was an important move because for a while she was quite scared of him. Here she is reading to him.

Myra also enjoyed building castles with the blocks and instructing daddy on just how it should be put together.

Tim and Marty took Malakai and Myra to a park while Hannah and Charlotte went to a movie. Myra found her way to the slide without a moment to spare.

She also tried out the teeter-totter.

She and Kai enjoyed racing across the grass so fast they were a blur...

...and then lying in the grass thinking dreamy thoughts.

Anyway, it was great to connect with the Troyers, we'll all miss them. After church on Sunday we had to mosey on our merry way. We headed off to New Orleans for our homeward route and to see the city as a birthday present for Tim. But I suppose that's for another post...

The Road to Texas...

2009-08-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

So we left Kansas behind and started another long drive down to Houston, Texas. Our drive took us through Oklahoma.

Myra was particularly helpful in this portion of the trip, and took it upon herself to navigate the map.

Part of the reason for looking at the map was to make sure we found this section of Historic Route 66. Yes, that's right, the same route referenced in Cars. However, this stretch was a little less hilly then the Cars section, which is probably in New Mexico or Arizona or something - I guess that's for another trip. In any case, we got to travel a little on a short section of this historic road.

There was a nifty round barn along the route:

And a rather fancy gas station with a large statue of a pop bottle out front.

Eventually we made it to Texas...

Gainesville was our halfway point where we stayed for night. Myra enjoyed her usual ride on the luggage cart.

For some reason, they also upgraded us to a Jacuzzi suite for free, so we made sure to enjoy the large tub.

The next day we continued on and our road brought us through Dallas. On a trip to Dallas last fall, Tim's brother Jon was unimpressed that Tim had only seen Texas Stadium, and not the new Cowboys Stadium (Jon is a big Dallas Cowboys fan, and Cowboys Stadium is their brand new Stadium). In any case, here is Cowboys Stadium, Jon you'd better appreciate this, cause we made 3 wrong turns while trying to find it.

About half the states we've travelled through have really lame rest-stops with one really fancy one (the other half have consistent decent ones, but no super fancy one). Texas would be one of these places, and the play place below is at their really fancy one. Myra was quite excited about this, as you can see by the following picture.

Anyway, we rolled into Houston later that day to the welcome of an incredible thunderstorm. The lightening was repeating in rapid fire triplets and quadruplets in the same arc. We've never seen anything like it. So we were glad to arrive at the Troyers, and we'll have more to tell you about our adventures with them later...

Kansas

2009-08-12T06:09:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday we entered Kansas for the first time.

Here is Myra continuing to enjoy her balloon bunny in the car. On a side note, while we were still in Missouri our air conditioning started acting up (not a good thing in 38C weather). We ended up visiting a Mazda dealership in Kansas city and had it serviced. It ended up being a problem with a wiring harness, which was covered by warranty, so we got that plus a whole air conditioner servicing for free! Cool!

We visited our Friends Alan & Katie or as Myra says: "Alal a Kakie". In either case, we visited their church where Alan is the pastor, as seen here:

Char & Myra got hot and so took some time to cool off in the little pool

We saw some cool Kansas sunsets:

Immediately followed by some big 'ol Kansas storms. In fact we had 3 separate storms inside of a 24 hour period. That's even more crazy than Indiana!

We headed out to the Zoo in Hutchinson:

Tim did everything he could to convince Myra to enter into the kids prairie dog tunnels. He was unsuccessful, but at least he got to poke his head out of a hole.

Instead, Myra enjoyed feeding the fish and ducks with Alan & Katie

In the afternoon we went to the "Cosmosphere" and looked at a whole bunch of American & Russian space program artifacts. Here is Tim trying to fly a space module:

He later contemplated purchasing this new computer:

Katie & Myra enjoyed drawing on some concrete:

And before we knew it, it was time to go. More later...

The Road Trip Begins!

2009-08-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

So we've headed out on our road trip to see some friends in different parts of the US. Before we left is was important to have the car all clean. Myra decided she wanted to help Daddy wash the car. Here she is being as helpful as she knows how to be:

We left on Friday morning. Our first night was in St. Louis, Missouri.

Since we were there we figured it was worth heading out to see the St. Louis Arch - it's rather tall.

We decided to go up to the top of the Arch. To get up there you take a rather small tram car up to a cramped space with tiny windows up at the top. Having travelled in one of the tram cars there (original from 1968 btw) I now know what it might feel like to be in an escape pod from the Starship Enterprise. Anyway, here is Myra looking down through one of the tiny windows:

This would be Myra posing for a picture with Daddy:

This is the Old St. Louis Courthouse (now a museum) at sunset. We didn't have time to go visit there.

For supper we found an Old Spaghetti Factory near the river front. They had a person coming around and making balloons, so Myra received a bunny rabbit. She did a good job of caring for it.

Anyway, we're in Kansas today. We'll try to post again soon.

Tim at MWC in Paraguay

2009-07-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

So as many of you know I, Tim, travelled down to Paraguay for this years Mennonite World Conference. I was there with a group of high school students, Pastors, Seminary Students, and Professors from AMBS. We were there for almost 3 weeks in total. These 1st pics are from the roof top of our hotel in Asuncion.

Asuncion a very old city, oldest in South America I believe, and there is quite a mix of wealth and poverty intermingled throughout the entire city. A ride in a taxi or on one of the city buses is an adventure of grand proportions. Make sure to try them if your ever there.

Here is the group I was with:

Before the conference I attended the Global Mission Fellowship. A fantastic experience, lots of great stories, testimonies and messages, as well as some fun connections made while I was there. It was held in a nice little compound that was very park like, and had some nice trees.

Here is the massive church where the General Assembly was held for Mennonite World Conference. It's a large Pentecostal church that is not quite completed. However, it was completed enough for us to meet there.

This would be the opening session. You can see some of the uncompleted rafters at the front of the worship space.

In some type of bizarre twist, I did not have any yerba mate for almost my entire 1st week in Paraguay, which was probably the first time in 7 or 8 years that I had gone more than 2 days without any mate. In any case, at the general assembly you could rent all the gear, with either hot or cold water, and the yerba for about 15c a use. A very good deal, and it was nice to finally have access, especially since the H1N1 scare in Paraguay had organizers discouraging the sharing of mate. Perhaps it was more than coincidence that a day after I did share in a group I managed to acquire a cough and a fever. Not a fun experience. Anyway, here is the fun Pajarito stand:

We were also served a tonne of meat while we were there. Especially beef. I probably ate more beef in my first week there than I usually do in 3 weeks. As you can see by this large platter they served us at a dinner our first week there, they like lots of BBQ beef.

Since we were nearby, we took the opportunity to go visit Iguazu falls in Brazil. So this is our group at the falls. From the Brazilian side you walk along for a kilometre and there are large and small sections of falls along the entire stretch.

You eventually end up here - a place called "the devils throat". As you can see, it's an intense section of water falls, pouring tonnes of water into this massive u-shaped area. There is a walkway going out toward it, that enabled me to get the second picture here.

Yup - it's quite an amazing waterfall - well worthy of being one of the 7 natural wonders of the world!

We went up to the Chaco following the main assembly. They have a lot of these "Bottle trees" up there.

We also stopped at one of the small churches there.

Todd is here hoping that they change the water in the baptismal tank before they use it...

Finally, here is a nice shot of Andy B.K. and I representing Canadian Hockey in South America.

Anyway, this is only a fraction of my pictures, and only a very brief outline of my trip. Should you want to know more, you'll have to call me, or take me out for coffee :-)

computerless

2009-07-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

So many things to blog about and our computer is not available - sorry!

Much ado about nothing

2009-06-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I've only been up for an hour but so far this is turning out to be a really nice morning. :D Rain is pouring outside. Myra and I slept in till 9 am! Then I had the perfect cup of coffee for breakfast.....mmmmm! Plus, I'm in a blogging mood, which hasn't happened in a long time - so that's fun :)

Myra is growing and growing. Last summer I found a really cute pair of jeans for her at a consignment store for $8 and decided to buy them even though they were much too long at the time. I used to roll up the bottom of the jeans a total of 3 or 4 inches for her to wear them. A few weeks ago I was still needing to roll them up. This morning they fit her perfectly. Wow!

A few mornings ago Myra was eating breakfast and we were watching some morning news. Suddenly Myra started pointing to the tv and yelling something but I wasn't sure what. I looked at the screen and realized she was saying "hockey! hockey!" (they were showing hockey highlights). I didn't know she knew that word! Made me feel proud and Canadian - my toddler knows what hockey is. :D. Her new word this week is "empty". She'll finish her milk and say "oh, oh...empty!" She's also taken to fake sneezing into her arm and then saying "bless you". (So CUTE!) Not so cute is when she picks her nose and brings me the booger on her finger and says "look mommy" expecting me to clean off her finger.

So far I've been avoiding potty training - it's more like "mommy training" - having to be so diligent in putting her on the potty regularly and all the dirty laundry. I guess I'm more lazy than anything. A few mornings in the past few months I would start with cloth underwear and by lunch time it would be "Come here Myra - mommy's going to put a diaper on you - I'm all done potty training today." Plus, I love the convenience of going on long errands and not having to think were the nearest bathroom is. I figured the longer I would wait, the easier it would become. She's definitely showing signs of readiness these past few weeks. She pees on the potty every morning and often her night time diaper will still be dry. She tells me when she needs a diaper change and she seems to be able to hold more in her bladder for longer stretches of time. So, I foresee the transition from diapers to underwear in our near future.

When I started working nights in January a few things happened - I started weaning Myra and she started coming into our bed in the middle of the night to sleep. At first I really couldn't sleep with her in our bed but I was absolutely supportive of the practice when I was at work because then both Tim and Myra would get a better sleep. Well, a few nights a week turned into every night of the week and I noticed, that while Myra was in our bed she would sleep through the night. Some nights, I was so tired, I would just bring her into bed at the beginning of the night so I wouldn't have to get up half way through. Now, I feel I need to help her sleep in her own bed through the night and it makes me kind of sad. I've really come to love having her sleeping with us. Tim is going to Paraguay for 3 weeks in July and I'm not sure that my friends who will be watching Myra for me when I work will be as keen to have her sleeping with them. :D

When Myra's having a hard moment, she'll sometimes come up to me and ask to go to "mommy's bed". So I take her to our room and lay her in our bed and lay down beside her. She sucks her soother and puts her hand on my face and I rub her back and tell her I love her. Then after about 3 minutes she sits up and is ready to play again. I guess she just needs some cuddle time sometimes. :D

For the most part, I can trace almost all "negative" behaviors she displays to being too hungry, too tired, or needing my attention. The one thing I had been struggling with was how she seemed to constantly turn her sippy cups upside down on her high chair to make a puddle of milk or water. I tried everything....ignoring it, calmly saying no, forcefully saying no, and a few times in anger I slapped her hand which had no effect except leaving her very offended and me feeling guilty. After chatting with some other moms on Kellymom.com I decided on a new strategy. I started by explaining that we don't spill our drinks and then handed Myra a washcloth and asked her to clean up her mess. She eagerly cleans whenever I do this and the behaviour has almost disappeared. Was it just a phase? I don't know but I figure anything that helps me not react with anger is worth it.

I've also discovered that many meltdowns can be avoided by ensuring that Myra knows I have understood her. For example: we have conversations like this regularly:

Myra: "Gigi! Mini! poo! pleeze! mommy poo pleeze!"
Me: You want to go to Maggie and Miriams house and play in the pool?
Myra: "YAY!" (clapping hands and running around with excitement)
Me: Not today. We'll go visit Maggie and Miriam tomorrow.
Myra: moves onto another activity.

It seems kind of cruel - like I'm stringing her along, but if I don't acknowledge her original request, she seems to keep repeating it and is unable to hear my response. It often works when she's in the middle of a tantrum too.

Myra: crying/yelling in frustration
Me: You want to keep going down the slide
Myra: stops crying to say yes
Me: Myra says 'More slide' ' More slide' but mommy says "all done slide"
Myra: "more slide pleeze" "more slide"
Me: all done slide. We'll come back again another time.
Me: say bye bye slide
Myra: bye bye slide - (still crying a little but settling down)

Anyways....it will be interesting to see what kind of personality this next baby will have - seems parenting is all about finding what works for you and your child and each child can be so different.

Another strategy I've been trying to implement is "Time-In" instead of "Time-out". So, when she's frustrated and acting out - I move close to her and give her ALL my attention. Sometimes, just acknowledging that she's frustrated will change her anger into tears and I can cuddle her and help her try again or move onto something else. I'm amazed at how effective this is but I often forget to try it. In the moment, I tend to have an initial reaction of "oh my word!" and wanting to just not deal with it or get her away from me.

Anyways....that's what's happening in my life as Myra's imperfect mommy. :D

I've been feeling better nausea-wise. Yay!. I'm still finding it hard to figure out what to eat since with this pregnancy my tastes keep changing. One week, all I wanted was fruit, now it still doesn't appeal to me. For a few weeks, taco salad was the best thing - no desire for taco salad or meat anymore. Next time, I craved fresh veggie sandwiches and now I'm all sandwiched out. So most times I feel hungry but don't know what to feed myself. I have an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow which is exciting.

Okay....that's all for today....Thanks for reading all my ramblings :)

Here's Myra posing in front of her "fort" (crib frame with mattress taken out).

Conquering the Big Slide!

2009-05-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

So a couple weeks ago we went to a park in Goshen with some friends. We found this nice big slide, which Myra just had to go down.

Fearlessly approaching the big slide.

Our friend Jeff spotting her climb up the many many stairs.

And she didn't even hesitate! She got to the top and down she came!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Hi Daddy, can I go again?

Sorry - you'll have to tilt your head sideways to watch this.

Adventures and Parties

2009-04-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

We're starting to have some nicer weather around here these days,

so Myra likes to go exploring:

Here she is following a lovely trail in the grass while proudly wearing

her Canucks t-shirt to support their playoff run (Woo-Hoo!)

And here she has found a patch of dirt

And a little flower in the patch of dirt.

I guess she ran out of energy on the way home, cause all of a sudden

she lay down on the sidewalk for no apparent reason...

Of course, as you all know from below, her birthday arrived on Sunday

so we had a party for her.

Here is her birthday cake

And of course, here she is, smiling after blowing out the candles.

she did this surprisingly well, apparently kids can learn things from

Curious George...

And of course, here she is eating the cake. No concern for

proper etiquette as you can see.

And, smiling with Mommy

"For me?!" Yup, she got lots of gifts.

Very impressed with the Polly Pocket cars from her friends.

And enamoured by the "quiet book" from Grandma Froese.

And playing with her very own computer from Uncle Dan, Auntie Lynn,

and cousin Ethan. We're just glad it's not a Windows machine :-P

No fancy dress could keep her from playing

Fun with friends all evening long.

Yup fun fun fun. A good time was had by all!

Birthday Morning

2009-04-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYRA!!!

This pretty princess dress was a Christmas present from my friend Becky - thanks Becky :D I thought today would be the perfect occasion to wear it.

Exercise +

2009-03-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

So sometimes Myra gets to ride in the running stroller when Tim goes on a run. Since she has "participated" in the run she is learning to participate in the stretching afterward. Here are some fun shots of her stretching with daddy:

Stretching her calves.

Stretching her thighs.

and touching her toes.

For her own exercises, Myra likes going up and down "hills". This is the little hill she likes to go up up, and down down. We're proud of her for trying to tap into her B.C. mountain heritage even in this land of flatness. Here she is going up up.

Smiling at the top for daddy.

And going down, down, down.

Finally, here is the new little bed Myra discovered when daddy was making her supper yesterday.

17 Degrees

2009-03-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

So on Friday it was a full 17 degrees here and sunny. We were pretty pumped cause it was a nice change from the below freezing temperatures we've been experiencing for the last three months. To enjoy the warm weather we decided to take Myra to the playground at a nearby school. Here are some fun pics from that trip.

We also turned Myra's car seat around for the first time on Friday also. Here is a slightly cross eyed pic of Myra enjoying her first experience of riding facing forward.

That's all for now.

Mostly Myra

2009-02-18T13:31:00.001-08:00

(a quick post before we leave for our evening commitment)

I spontaneously re-arranged Myra's room yesterday and thought, while I was at it, I would tighten the bolts on her crib rail. Myra totally loved using her screw driver "fisher price wand" and playing inside the crib frame. (Mental note for the next cranky episode....) :D

A good friend made Myra this great bean bag chair. So fun!

(she fits completely underneath it!)

I was inspired to do more crafty things with Myra (thanks Lisa!) so yesterday I pulled out stickers and paper. Myra spent almost 20 minutes transferring stickers onto her paper! I was surprised at how much she enjoyed the activity since previously anything "sticky" resulted in many many tears. Today I made play dough - again Myra LOVED it! She kept saying "mo mommy" so I would keep making her more balls. :D I found some edible finger painting recipes online so maybe we'll try that soon too.

Madagascar has become a favorite movie here at home and Myra is often crawling around the house roaring like Alex the lion. She loves it the most if she can get us to join her :D

In other news...Tim noticed our ceiling was bulging so he poked it and sure enough it made a hole and was leaking. This is the hole now - the leak was fixed and we're just waiting to make sure there are no extra leaks before the ceiling gets patched. The pail hanging by the window is catching a separate leak - they'll have to replace the siding and whole window to fix it so it will take a while yet.

until next time...

ANTICIPATING SPRING

2009-02-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

It was a wonderful 17 degrees celcius today! I just couldn't resist picking up a few summer-y things when I was at Target this afternoon. :D

I also got some sunglasses and a bright pink sun hat for Myra but she was unwilling to pose with them today.

:D

OH! She is sooooo CUTE!!!

2009-01-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

Early Christmas

2008-12-22T06:33:00.000-08:00

Since we're travelling on Christmas, and since Charlotte is working the three days leading up to Christmas, we thought we would have Christmas early. The preceding photo was as it looked before Myra came in. The following is her coming in to see it all:

Castle from Uncle Dan & Auntie Lynn:

Watching the truck from G&G Froese & Uncle Waylon & Auntie Lisa emerge from the bag:

"See daddy, it comes with blocks too"

"Oh, better get back to my castle"

"Daddy, this radio from Uncle Jon & Auntie Angelama makes cool sounds!"

Dancing to the trailer music.

Letters from Auntie "Zanna" (Rosanna) stick to the wall at bath time.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Merry Christmas.

Pictures Galore....

2008-12-15T04:57:00.000-08:00

Discovering how good icing on a cake can be....

Posing in front of the Christmas tree ....

Having fun in the snow....

Super Myra!!

An empty recycling hamper, kleenex box, and ziploc sandwich bag box (on the feet) .... hours of fun!

Play time....

Until next time...

2008-11-20T05:48:00.000-08:00

This was the sight on campus 2 days ago - I stole the picture from my friend Alicia. Isn't it beautiful?!

Myra loves playing in the "no, no" :D (she can't seem to say the "s" in snow - LOL)

2008-11-14T08:47:00.001-08:00

It's a rainy drizzly grey day today. Makes me homesick for BC. :D

Good news! I start my new job on Dec. 1st. :D It's a nursing position on a very very small pediatric unit - night shifts from 5 pm - 5 am - 2 shifts per week. I'm actually looking forward to working again - except for the night shift part - but we'll manage.

Myra's communication skills are improving daily. Here is a snapshot of our mornings this week....

1. Myra wakes up and calls "Daddy, Daddy" (which in this case means 'i'm awake, come and get me')
2. I nudge Tim to see if he could get her out of bed - hoping I can sleep for another 30 - 60 min.
3. Tim gets Myra out of the crib.
4. Myra says "mamma?"
5. Myra runs into our bedroom, to my side of the bed, and says "Mamma!" "Down, Down" while pointing to the carpet with her finger (meaning 'put your feet on the carpet and come with me please/get out of bed')
6. So CUTE and disappointing all at the same time ... no sleeping in for me... :D

Well that's all for today,
Until next time....

2008-11-07T04:26:00.000-08:00

Auntie Rosanna came for a visit this week - it was WONDERFUL! Mostly we shopped, enjoyed treats, and savoured the opportunities to be in each other's company.

Here's Myra coming in for a kiss "mmmmaa"

Modelling some new clothes :D

On Wedesday we took Myra for her first haircut. I chose a place that was specifically for kids but in the end she cried with fear the entire time anyways. It probably would've helped if the 1) the boy in the other seat wasn't also crying very loudly and 2) if the hairdresser had taken the time to actually make eye contact with Myra, introduce herself, show Myra the cape before just coming from behind to put it on her...etc. Thankfully, once the haircut was over, the tears resolved fairly quickly. :D

Here are two short videos...feeling so sad :(

Post haircut....

Hope you have a relaxing weekend - it's supposed to snow here so that should be exciting :D

Fun with an 18 month old

2008-10-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

Wow! Sometimes it just feels crazy to think that I am the mother of an 18 month old! Myra is definitely wanting to try more and more things on her own. :D

She has started climbing onto things like our coffee table and recently figured out how to manage the big plastic climber that we have in the basement. It makes me nervous every time, but she can climb up the vertical ladder about 5 steps, transfer herself horizontally to the platform and then proceed to slide down the slide. She's so smart! :D

Her vocabulary, though usually indiscernible, is expanding daily. Lately I've noticed a lot of "clicks" in her vocalizations.... it's very interesting. One of her favorite games is to pull the door of one of the bedrooms closed (making sure either Tim or I are inside) and then she knocks and knocks. We say "Hello, come on in!" and then she comes in and shakes her own hands together. :D

Myra has always loved talking on the phone and nothing has changed in that regard. Yesterday when the phone rang, I answered it and simultaneously Myra quickly grabbed a pen, put it up to ear, and started "talking".

I've noticed that Myra likes the feeling of having her eyes closed while wandering around the room and running into things - makes her burst into giggles - sometimes she'll take the tea towel hanging from the stove and put it over her head first just to spice things up. She also likes to turn around and around in circles until she falls cause she's so dizzy. - crazy kid!

Myra just learned to like fresh tomatoes and apples in the past 2 weeks. Mealtimes are definitely more successful if I let her feed herself. As you can see - it can get quite messy. ....and who needs a spoon when your thumb works so well?

I love it!

Happy Reunion!

2008-10-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky and excited to have Marty and Hannah and Kai spend the weekend with us! :D I feel especially excited for Myra to have a playmate.

Myra and Kai "sharing" the boat - I put them on the seat side by side...

Myra determined to sit in the boat even if it means sitting on top of Kai....

I, of course, had to digitally capture the moment before resuming the lesson on "sharing" :D

Fun with Colors

2008-10-15T12:59:00.001-07:00

2008-09-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

Myra likes to study with daddy. Last night, Myra found Tim's books and mechanical pencil on the bed and promptly took the book, opened the cover and moved the pencil across the page just like she sees her daddy do. It was so cute!
On this particular day, Myra found a box that she could wear as a hat - apparently it was daddy's turn to wear it.

2008-09-16T20:37:00.001-07:00

Finding new ways to use a strainer....

I burst into laughter when I walked upon this scene...Myra, proudly sitting in the stroller meant for her dolls and happy as can be.

"Cheese!"

Myra just started saying "cheese" to the camera today - so funny! And it cracks me up that if she knows the sound to something, then that sound equals how you say the word. For some reason every time I ask Myra to say "water" she lowers her voice to a whisper and lately each meal time Myra will point to her cupboard and say "cup" then I have to give her a cup and lid for her to play with while she eats. She's been practicing the twisting motion of twisting lids on and off. :D Oh! I just love her to bits!

2008-09-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

Looking so cute - I just had to take some pictures. She's actually posing in the first two shots which surprised me....I mean I did say "hey Myra, turn around and smile so mommy can take a picture" but I didn't expect her to actually do that and then to hold the poses until I was done. :D

Another long one...

2008-09-07T06:39:00.001-07:00

On Monday we headed out to Ohio to see our good friends Marty, Hannah and their son Kai. It was so great to share the same space for a few days!

We arrived in time for supper on Monday .....mmmm ribs and yummy potato casserole and blueberry desert - it was so yummy! After putting the kids to bed, we chatted and chatted and chatted, catching up on all the happenings of life since summer.

Tuesday morning we decided to go for a walk/hike in a local park. The weather was sunny and warm - perfect for a walk outdoors.

Here's Myra enjoying a little freedom before being set in the stroller. She fell asleep almost immediately and slept for the duration of our walk.

Cute, cute Kai! He finally surrendered to sleep in the last 5 minutes of our walk but of course woke up the moment we got in the car - :D

We came home for lunch and naps and then when the kids were awake we packed up for another fun adventure in a nearby water park.

After changing back into dry clothes, we drove into Columbus and had the best Greek food and later ice cream that Tim and I have ever had. It was delicious!

The next day we enjoyed a yummy breakfast out, did some shopping for picnic goodies, had lunch and naps and then packed up to go on a tour of a famous Ohio Cavern. Being in the cavern was kind of cool but mostly I was distracted trying to keep a curious, independent toddler from walking and touching everything. Needless to say there was a lot of frustrated crying and squirming coming from Myra's direction making the 45 minute tour feel VERY long. At least we got some good pictures :D

Then after enjoying our yummy picnic in a nearby park, we said good bye to our friends and drove home. :(

Now, it might be an unfortunate coincidence but I think enjoying water parks equals catching a bad cold. At the end of the summer in BC, Myra caught a cold (her only cold while we were there). The three days prior to this we had enjoyed a water park or sprinkler or something each day. This week on Friday, Myra suddenly started sneezing and oozing rivers of snot in the process - we were in water parks on Sunday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday Myra played in a small stream in the park. So I'm not sure but it seems that 3 days of outdoor water fun, specifically water park fun, results in Myra being sick. Poor kid - this one is a doozy! She tries to drink but has to keep taking breaks to breathe cause her nose is all plugged up. Same with sucking her soother - I feel so sorry for her when I know all she wants to do is relax and sleep but she can't breathe normally and then has a coughing fit and wakes herself up. I also think her eye teeth are making their way up adding to fun.

So this morning Myra and I went for a breakfast date to Panera's to celebrate the lack of sleep and the inevitable sharing of germs. :-) Hoping my symptoms will be mild and that the Advil will help her out and not make her hyper in the process.

And finally, a random picture of Myra cuddling her doll - just cause she's cute. :D

Hope you have an enjoyable Sunday however you choose to spend it :D
Until next time....

Chicago Fun (long post)

2008-09-05T04:42:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I am so behind on my blogging!!!
Tim and I decided we needed to spend some time in Chicago before classes started, so on Sunday we joined up with Rob and Sandy and Chang (their international student) for a day of sightseeing and eating famous Chicago style pizza.
The plan was to take the 9:30 am train from South Bend but due to the mismanagement of time on my part we missed the train in spite of running so hard I almost threw up. Since Rob and Sandy were already on the train, we decided to drive to Michigan City to catch the train there. We barely made it. Needless to say it was a very stressful beginning to the day and Tim and I are more certain than ever that we will never compete in the Amazing Race as a team.

Here we are so relieved and happy to be on the train.

Keeping Myra entertained ...the cards had animal pictures on them.

First stop: Lincoln Park Zoo and lunch.

Enjoying a foot long hot dog...

Myra was so tired by the time we started going around to see the animals that she fell asleep within the first 5 minutes and stayed alseep the entire time. Guess we'll have to go again sometime :)

(We took quite a few pictures of the animals and stuff but it who wants to see animals when you can look at pictures of cute Myra?)

At the end of our zoo fun, I woke up Myra so that she could enjoy a small spray park. I didn't think she would mind seeing as how much she LOVES water. :D

I just love watching her having so much fun :D

So next stop....we went to the Hancock Center and spent time in the observatory that was on the 94th floor. Very cool!

And finally...the best pizza ever! Giordanno's Pizza...mmmmmm!

So that was Sunday - ended up being a really fun day in spite of the stressful start :D

TTFN!

Watterton/Glacier National Park

2008-08-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of driving home was witnessing the varying and amazing scenery around us. The first park we drove through on our journey to Indiana was Watterton/Glacier National Park. (The Canadian side is called Watterton) We crossed the border officially in the park and thankfully everything went smoothly. Here's a few pictures for your enjoyment....

Water Baby - Part 1

2008-08-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

To say that Myra loves the water is an understatement. She LOVES the water. In the past few months we've had many opportunities for her to play in water....here are some my favorite moments.

Enjoying the kiddie pool grandma brought to the deck where we lived for the summer...

At Auntie Irene's house with Kyra...
Myra must have slipped and fallen under the water at least a dozen times and each time after I'd helped her up again, she'd shake her head side to side and keep playing - it didn't faze her at all.

Enjoying the sprinkler with Parker and Veronica....

Having fun with a basin of water and some garden toys....

2008-08-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

Road-tripping through the United States has been quite enjoyable so far. Favorite moments include: the plethora of beautiful scenery, interesting and surprisingly delicious foods (like elk and buffalo chili), swimming with Myra at the hotels, and just being together in general.

Here are just a handful of the 200+ pictures we've taken so far. :D

Old Faithful...

One of Myra's favorite activities -- riding the luggage cart in the hotel...

Getting the wiggles out before another long stretch of driving....

extreme cuteness!....

Myra at Mount Rushmore....

okay...got to go
wishing y'all laughter in your day today :D

6 days in the Wilderness

2008-08-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know, I spent 6 days canoeing in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and Ontario. I did this as part of a course from AMBS (Creation & Spiritual Renewal) which ended up being an independent study. We went with a Mennonite Camp in Ely, Minnesota called "Wilderness Wind". There were only 4 of us, as you can see by the first picture - this is us coming out of a river into our first lake, Nina Moose, that's Sharon Reimer at the front of the left canoe, and her husband Paul is at the front of my canoe on the right. In the back of the left canoe was our fearless guide, Luke Keller - the two of us were also tent buddies - had lots of laughs - it was great. We all had a really great experience out there - I highly recommend doing one of these trips!

Like I said - this is us setting out on our first day. There was beautiful wilderness everywhere, and lots of cool wildlife.

This is looking out across lake Agnes from our first camping spot.

On our second day we headed up toward Canada (Ontario to be precise). There was a nice big cliff on the Canadian side of the lake (Lac la Croix) that had some cool pictographs on it - here's a nice one of a moose. In the lower picture you can see the cliff on the right hand side. We actually camped on a beautiful point of rock about a mile from these cliffs, just on the U.S. side of the lake.

for about half an hour that evening the breeze died down, and the lake became smooth as glass. These are two of the pictures that I took of the stunning reflections. I took many more than this.

We had many adventures with inaccurate maps as we tried to get out of this lake into the next one (Iron Lake). It took us many hours and 3 attempts at different routes - but we finally made it. The next day we were not moving camps though, and some morning storms on our second day in Iron Lake forced us to have a nice long rest. In the afternoon we set out for Rebecca falls (seen here, and in the next picture). They seemed more like "slides" than "falls" to me - but the amount of water coming down was pretty impressive. You can't see well in the pictures, but water was forcing itself through crags in the rock all the way down - it was pretty cool!

this is me infront of one of the 2 falls (Rebecca falls is actually two falls on either side of a small island). As you can see I'm sporting a nice pair of rain pants :-)

When we arrived back at camp we had this visitor: a massive snapping turtle. This was easily the largest turtle I've seen outside of a zoo. Paul affectionately named him Freddy. Mostly he just sat there, we took a picture with this water bottle for scale. By the morning he had gone.

This rocky point was our final campsite on Stuart (or maybe it's Stewart) Lake. Most of our campsites were on rocky points. I found them quite nice, as the points tended to catch a bit more of the breeze, which kept the bugs down, and it was nice to lie around on the rock in the late afternoon and evening sun. very cool!

Near our last site there were these nice big slabs of rock that something had forced up on top of each other - presumably ice? At any rate, I thought they looked kinda cool, and it's neat to think about the powerful, natural force that must have occurred to force these massive slabs up and out of place.

Like I said, it was a wonderful experience. We got to see lots of beavers, and beaver dams and lodges - even had to lift our canoes over a few dams. We saw a deer swimming - they swim very well! as well as a little river otter. We heard wolves, and had the privilege of having loons sing us to sleep almost every night. We didn't have watches, so we were up and down with the sun, getting more in tune with a natural rhythm and pace of life. It was a bit of a shock to get back into a van and zip back to camp after it all, and then to fly 3000km's the next day! It was a fabulous experience of 4 people coming together from different parts of N.A., building friendships, experiencing community, creation, and connecting with God in quiet and the wild, far from society. What a blessing!

2008-08-04T10:02:00.001-07:00

Introducing my one and only niece (so far), Lynnea Rachel Froese, who was born on June 30th. She is soooooo ADORABLE and CUTE and I just love her to bits!! (the picture doesn't do justice to how cute she really is).

I've been so inconsistent with blogging lately that I totally missed announcing her birth. Sorry Lynnea!! We love you and can't wait to see you sometime this week. :D

2008-07-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

"Who wants to be awake at 6:30 for three days in a row?!?"

"NOT ME!" said Daddy.
"NOT ME!" said Mommy.
"I DO! I DO!" said Myra.

Long time no post!

2008-07-12T09:28:00.001-07:00

So it's been quite some time since we've posted. If you're not aware, Charlotte has been hanging out in Abbotsford for the last few weeks, while I stayed back to finish a class (if you're from Abby and haven't seen her, it's cause she's been working a lot). Anyway, We're all out in Abby now, and I thought I would take some time to post some pics of Myra's time here so far.

This would be Myra playing with toys at Grandma and Grandpa Loewen's place

This is 4 generations of "Peters" ladies (the Peters are Char's moms side of the fam.)

Myra is barricaded from the water by a chain link fence.

This is Myra playing in the kiddie pool on the deck at our place here.

Here is Myra and Cousin Ethan with Grandma Loewen. Fun times putting feet in the sink.

And here is a cute picture of Myra lounging in her bathtub. I thought it was kinda cute that she was sitting in it like this.

So yeah, that's it for now. We'll have to take more pics and post again.

Chicago Fun

2008-06-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

At the Museum of Science and Industry

Jet engine of a Boeing 727 (the whole plane fit in the building!)

Hanging out at Navy Pier ...it was VERY windy!

...Going swimming last week - can you tell that she LOVES the water? :D

"Oh Myra, Oh Myra, we LOVE you so much!" :D

Hugging Jotham

2008-06-05T07:35:00.001-07:00

Play-time

2008-06-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying watching Myra play. She has started imitating what we do ....for example, if I make the penguin walk along the bathtub and then jump in the water - she'll take the penguin and try to do that same thing. Tonight she was content for at least 30 minutes to put all the blocks into one container and then to take them out one-by-one. And the cutest thing is her developing sense of humor. Like when she takes the corner of the blanket and puts it in her mouth and then shakes her head making the blanket shake and bursts into giggles - it's as if she knows she's being silly. :D Another favorite pastime these days is talking on the phone. Yesterday, Myra got hold of the phone and before I knew it, I could hear the speaker phone on and the phone ringing -- she'd unknowingly called Uncle Dan and Auntie Lynn and for at least 5 minutes she walked up and down the hallway with the phone to her ear saying "DADADADA..." "OOOOHH". :D

Here are some snapshots from our week...

Having a picnic with our friends Marty and Hannah and Kai...I found it amusing that Myra kept her feet on the picnic table while sitting back and enjoying her water.

Bath time ...always brings a smile even on the grumpiest sort of days :)

I was folding clothes and putting them in this laundry basket in piles when Myra discovered what I was doing and start signing "please, please". So out came the clothes and in went Myra. Who wants to watch tv from the couch or floor when you have a laundry basket to sit in? :D

Today we spent the afternoon at an outlet mall in Michigan City with Lisa, Waylon and Jotham. Here's Myra playing at the kiddie table in the Carter's outlet store.

We ended the day by having supper together with Rob and Sandy. Sandy pulled out some of her childhood toys for Myra to play with - Myra had so much fun! She especially enjoyed this doll's bed ... Thanks Sandy!

Myra cut 3 new teeth this past week! - two upper molars and one bottom front tooth and it appears that her 4th bottom front tooth is making its way up as well. Crazy times here in the Froese house! :D

:D

2008-05-25T18:30:00.001-07:00

Having some fun with Photo Booth :D

2008-05-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a very exciting afternoon! :D I am now a licensed Registered Nurse in the state of Minnesota - yay! That means that I passed the NCLEX (the big USA nursing exam). So....one more item off the list of things that need to happen before I can work here.

Oh! and for those of you who don't know yet ...it's official! We will be spending the summer in Abbotsford! Crazy news, I know, but I wasn't sure how long the job hunting/licensing/work visa process would take so we thought that I could work in Abby and spend time with family while the paperwork gets sorted out. Tim will be back here for 4 weeks of classes but other than that he will be with us. We are definitely looking forward to seeing friends and family and being in familiar places. :D

So that is the news for the day :D

Here are some pictures of Myra for your enjoyment.

Bathtime fun...

"I wear my sunglasses at night..."

Having fun playing outside with daddy...

After inspecting the bike, Myra turned around to walk the other direction and promptly tripped and fell. Unfortunately her hands weren't quite quick enough so she banged her head on the cement and got quite the goose egg. This is my attempt at keeping ice on the wound ...it didn't last long. :D Fortunately, baby wounds heal quite quickly and Myra was ready to explore the outdoors within a half hour. Her goose egg faded in a day and now is barely noticeable. (Tim thinks she has healing qualities similar to Wolverine - ha ha)

Having a play date with Kai... Both Kai and Myra squeal with delight when they see each other and then proceed to "play" by forcefully grabbing toys from one another's hand. :D Neither of them seem to mind this form of interaction which is quite amusing for Hannah and me.

Chillaxin' in the swing...

Until next time... :D

The Goodness of Spring :D

2008-04-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Having fun with kleenex :D