Day thirty

Last year, I asked the girls to draw pictures to show me how they'd like their pumpkins to look - because I want them to help with carving them, but they obviously can't do any carving themselves. This year we didn't have time, so I just asked Cecily to make a face and I'd carve it into the pumpkin. So, here's her face!

Angry princess

I love this picture because Cecily and I had a REALLY trying day. She's our middle child and always the one who goes along with everything and tries to keep everyone happy. Sometimes I am worried because she doesn't seem to know what she wants unless someone (usually Madeleine) tells her. But, when she does decide to take a stand on something, there is no changing her mind. Today she flatly refused to wear her pretty Cinderella costume and ended up going to her school Halloween party dressed as herself, in her regular clothes, just to show me how sure she was that she DID NOT want to be Cinderella for Halloween. This was news to me since she has been Cinderella-obsessed for as long as I can remember. I had the 'this is the costume you HAVE, so that's what you're going to be...' opinion, and she decided she'd rather be nothing than wear that thing.

She did end up being Cinderella for part of the day - I went to her classroom to see if she might want her costume for the carnival and she practically jumped into it. But as soon as she got home, the fight was on again. I gave up and dragged out a lion costume from a bag of hand-me- downs and she was happy for the rest of the day.

Smugly satisfied lion

Day twenty-nine

The mystery of the babysitter.

This is Annique after a day at the babysitter's house. She was wearing that white shirt when she left in the morning. Note that the white parts are still white. How does the babysitter do it?!? And even more perplexing - I am sure you noticed the hairdo. Now, in the morning I manage to get ONE ponytail, lopsided and lumpy, with hair sticking up everywhere - but I hold her down kicking and screaming and I get that ONE ponytail in, so that she can see because her bangs would be in her eyes otherwise. And she looks like an orphan without a ponytail.

The babysitter on the other hand, not only can get ponytails in her hair without a fight, but she's obviously a show-off. I count SIX ponytails, in some sort of neat pattern. I do not understand how she does this. Its also worth noting that Annique spent an hour in the van with me (and two tantrums) and we were trekking around town buying halloween stuff and groceries - her hair was MUCH neater when I picked her up.

Day twenty-eight

It WAS going to be such a sweet picture! I caught the girls playing the Leapster together at the end of the hall and I tried sneaking up to get a picture. Cecily caught me at the last minute so its not the loving sister photo I had in mind, but I like it anyway - shows off Cecily's spunky side.

Day twenty-seven

Waterpark at the hotel - Annique went down the slide about one million times. This is one of those times.

Day twenty-six

I call this one "Here, have a napkin."

With five kids in a hotel room after a long day of swimming and shopping - going out to eat didn't seem like a good idea so we ordered a pizza. Of course, there's no table in the hotel room but otherwise its a good idea. Annique eats well enough that we didn't think twice about letting her eat on the bed. She had her little plate and her napkin and did just fine. However, Cecily slopped pizza sauce on her pink pyjamas on her first bite.

Day twenty-five

This one is for Erin, who sent me a link to this life size 'doll house' that is not very far from here, and we've passed it on the way to Minot before but didn't know what it is. Friday was a beautiful day, especially for October. We took a little detour on our way to the U.S. and checked out the Doll House:

Day twenty-four

Today is a day I've been waiting for FOREVER! Finally, finally the Trans-Canada highway is twinned right across Manitoba and today they just opened the section we drive most - I used to hate every inch of it. The #1 highway scares the crap out of me and I avoid it like the plague. But twinned, that's a whole different story! I had my first bad accident on that portion of the highway, I've been terrified in snowstorms, I can never relax until we turn off or get onto the twinned portion. I hated all the big trucks and I always wince as they speed past just a few feet away from my door. I hate the shuddering feeling as they go by. I don't have to feel that anymore! I might actually DRIVE east now. And in a year or so, it will be twinned all the way west, too.

Day twenty-three

My new photobook finally arrived in the mail!

Day twenty-two

Not a good day. I had to quit my job that I really like, today. Because its two weeks before the time changes, and things are just going to be impossible when I can't leave here at 9 a.m. and get to work at 9 a.m. - which was nice and everything was perfect. Well, work-wise, it was perfect, and Annique's daycare was perfect - I couldn't have asked for better that way. It was just all the other details that made it too hard to keep doing it after DST. So I had to quit.

Anyway, today's picture is just what I need when I have a sad, bad day. A good movie. Today's selection:

I've searched all over for this DVD in Wal-mart and Blockbuster and wherever. I went to the gas station and they had it on the rentals rack so I brought it home. I really need my own copy - I usually only buy DVD's out of the bargain bin, and I've never seen this one there. But I've rented it often enough that I could have paid for a full-price DVD by now.

Day twenty one

I didn't take this picture, but it still means something to me. I had to go to a meeting 2 hours away and so I had to miss Annique's birthday party with my husband's side of the family. I'm exhausted from all of this going back and forth, and getting home at 7 at night, and running off to somewhere else half the time, and not getting home until long after the kids are in bed. It bothered me that somehow we weren't able to find a day to get together with my husband's family - who live right in town - where we all could attend her party. So - it happened without me. Not the biggest tragedy in the world I'm sure - we celebrated her birthday more than once so I am sure she's happy, and that's all that counts. But I'm just frustrated with all of the things I'm missing that I normally wouldn't miss for anything.


Oh, and by the way - you can see she did allow the candle on her cake this time. I hear it was even LIT.

Day twenty

Sunday drive.

Day nineteen

It looks like she's blowing out a candle, and she knows that's what she's supposed to be doing, but we weren't allowed to put a candle on her cake. We weren't even allowed to hold an un-lit candle anywhere near her cake. And its her birthday, so if she has a thing against candles, I guess we'll go along with it. She's two. It doesn't matter that she's never been bothered by candles before, and that she probably won't care next week if someone lights her hair on fire, but TODAY, she's having nothing to do with candles and will go off completely if you put one on HER CAKE.

Day eighteen

My oldest daughter wearing my glasses.

Day seventeen

I was asked to venture into the dungeon at work last week - a lady was looking for a copy of the newspaper the day her husband was born. So I found it- this one is so interesting because there was a vote on Prohibition the next week (Oct. 25, 1920) and the paper is full of ads explaining the evils of alcohol and where you should put your X to ban it. This particular part has an example of the ballot and voter information . It shows exactly how the ballot will look so that people will know how its worded when they go to vote - or maybe for people who can't read, they can just see where the X should go - note that they've also supplied the X in the example. The "who may vote" would have included women, as they won the right to vote in March, 1916

Day sixteen

My baby is two today. It might be time that I stop referring to her as 'the baby'.

To celebrate the occasion, I used the timer. Annique is wearing the shirt that Madeleine wore on her first birthday. Cecily probably did, too - but I'd have to dig out the pictures.

Day fifteen

I certainly hope these are from my husband.

Day fourteen

Locked out of the grocery store! After lunch I pulled up at Ben's (officially Decorby Store, but nobody calls it that, because its Ben's store, so you call it Ben's) - anyway the grocery store is closed at lunch, should open at 1:00 - but this is the scene at 1:13. The lady holding Annique and the lady in the black shirt work there, but they can't get in because Ben has the key, and he's nowhere to be found.

Day thirteen

My sister gave Annique her birthday present a few days early. It seems to be a huge hit with her - I wish I had a picture of her smile when she opened it - who knew she NEEDED a Cabbage Patch doll so badly? I guess my sister did. She hasn't put it down since. I guess I'd better phone my sister tonight and get her to tell me what its name is. The birth certificate is still in the box which was tossed aside as soon as we managed to get the doll and her accessories out of it.

Its been a long time since I *smelled* a Cabbage Patch doll. They have that vague baby-powdery smell that I remember so clearly from when I had my first CPK - Scarlett Robin if you're curious.



(Its morning now, I found her bouncing in her crib this morning with a chokehold on the doll - she wanted out but wasn't going anywhere without her baby. And now they're having breakfast together....)

Day twelve

Pansies get no respect. They're commonly associated with fragile wimpy-ness, when they are actually quite hardy. I love pansies because as the lady at our greenhouse says, they are 'flowers with faces'. But I also love them because they're bi-annuals which means that if I plant a whole bunch of them every year (which I do) - the next year some of them will always be back to greet me in the springtime, sometimes even before the snow is gone I'll see them poking out, looking all healthy and green. In the fall when all of the other flowers are wrinkled up and dried and dead after the first frost, the pansies still look perfect - nothing wrinkly or wilted or brown about them. The first snow will come, and the pansies will still be peeking out until they are covered up. Everything else in my garden is finished for the year, but the pansies are still going strong. And then they'll survive a harsh prairie winter and come out swingin' in the spring. I absolutely love them.

happy yellow pansies

My favorites, the antique blues

Day eleven

Its Friday, so I'm at home with Annique. We might stay in our PJ's all day!

Day ten

Why, yes, I DO have three daughters, not that anyone would know since this one is hard to get photos of. But here she is showing off some of her artwork from school - the boat is made of little teenytiny shells. I really like it and if I can get it put away before its wrecked, I'll keep it forever.

Day nine

This one is actually a few days old, but when I finally downloaded the crappy Nikon camera to get yesterday's picture, I found this one. The Nikon is my purse-camera and I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love it when I don't think I have a camera and I reach in my purse or diaper bag, and THERE IT IS! I love this camera! YAY! I don't love it so much when I download the pictures and they are crappy. I hate it when I am trying to take pictures and I don't have a viewfinder and the flash and shutter goes off whenever it wants to instead of when I push the button. But, whatever. I wouldn't have this picture (or many others) if not for the handy little Nikon.

So, here we are at A&W. There is something about A&W - I won't eat hambugers anywhere else (except a small town skating rink) but I love A&W Teenburgers. So now and then we go there for a quick lunch when we're on the road - and it never fails that SOMEONE has to gawk at our table like there is something weird about us being out with three little girls. "Oh, what a nice little family! Three little girls! So much fun..." Yes. Complete strangers are so struck by this scene that they feel they must come over and comment. EVERY. TIME. Its like we're a basket of puppies or something.

(Most kids would dip their fries in ketchup and then just lick off the ketchup, but Annique doesn't fool around. She uses a STRAW)

On this particular day a woman stared at us for so long I was feeling uncomfortable, like maybe she knew me or something. Finally she saw me catching her staring at us, and she started rambling about how her dad had three daughters, too, and she was the youngest.... WHAT IS IT ABOUT A&W that compels people to share these things?? The nostalgia? Old fashioned burger restaurant atmosphere and vintage photos everywhere of perfect 50s families out for burgers, something about a dad and three daughters just strikes a chord? OR, perhaps it is that the food is so good that my children are quiet and well-behaved, and people can't help but notice? Whatever it is, I can pretend to be annoyed at people butting into our business and disturbing our meal to tell us how cute we all are - but you know, I don't mind at all.

Day eight

When Monday is Tuesday at work:
I never work Mondays, and that is when everyone puts the labels on the papers and bundles them up for mailing/delivery. But on long weekends, Tuesday is the new Monday, and I get to help with it. Never mind that I don't know what I am doing, but as long as its as simple as peel label, stick, peel label, stick - then I can feel like I am helping. One might imagine that all of these papers are labelled by some big fancy machine - but the unglamorous truth is, we do it by hand.

I like when Mondays are on Tuesday because everyone spends the first half hour or so of the morning working together in the back and since its kind of mindless, we all visit and chat about the weekend or whatever. Since I only get to do this every once in awhile, the novelty hasn't worn off yet.

Day seven

Six steps away - there are many things I love about my parents' cabin at the lake - but the distance between their cabin and my aunt and uncle's cabin is something we can't have anywhere else. My parents bought their cabin when my grandparents had the cabin next door, and as a child I ran between the two countless times in a day - now my children and my cousins are running back and forth every day, all summer long. And the grown-ups are going back and forth all the time - for a beer, a cup of coffee, a game of cards - if you phone one house and don't get an answer, phone the other one because that's probably where everyone is. We share a lot of meals together throughout the summer, every now and then we have to go through the cupboards or the utensil drawer at one house and return all the cups and bowls and plates and cutlery that belong to the other house. These bricks have only been in place for the past five years or so, but the path between the two cabins is very well-worn.

Day six

Thanksgiving! We were at the lake with 30 of our closest relatives. I stood on a chair and took a picture of the kitchen activity about 20 minutes before supper was served. The cabin doesn't have a big kitchen but we managed to get everyone fed and all the dishes done without a lot of trouble. Here's my mom, grandma, aunt and cousins managing to share about 10 square feet of kitchen space.

Day five

My dad and Annique playing some combination of peek-a-boo and house.

Day four

Today I went to the school to help make a surprise for Cecily's teacher - we decided to make a poster with all of the kids' handprints and their names. I am sure she loved the part where we came in and told her she could go away for a half hour or so and we'd take over her class. She may have preferred we did something less messy in her absence but I think the final result will be worth it.

Anyway, I snapped about one million pictures, including this one of Cecily writing her name. I'm shocked at how big those handprints are. When did she get so big?

Day three

Ok, so its Annique again. She thought it was a great game to crawl through my legs, and I blinded her with camera the flash just about every time then she'd giggle and squeal because she thought it was hilarious. I just wanted to catch her expression but the angle was awkward (to say the least) and she was always on the move, so this is the best of the bunch.

Day two

Annique saying Happy Birthday (or something like that) to her grandma on the phone.



Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!!!

Day one

Maybe I should call this "five" instead of 365 - because knowing me, I'll start skipping pictures by the end of the first week and abandon the idea entirely before the month is out.

Anyway, here goes, number one!

I guess a good place to start is where I am right now - having lunch at my desk at work. There happen to be three cameras within reach, so, no excuses! I grabbed one and took a picture. It was that easy. One down, 364 to go!