Why they love fingerpaints - and why I don't.

Woohoo, Finn, did you hear - we're getting to do some fingerpainting!!!

Let's get this all set up properly.

Well, this blue is coming out quite nicely on paper.

And look, it's coming out even nicer on me!

You're right, it looks GREAT on us!

Two masterpieces!

Shortly after I took that last picture Neil walked in the door. Man, was I ever glad to see him. He had ridden his bike home from work and needed a shower, so he conveniently took the little artists in there with him while I tried to clean the place up. That paint dries really fast on a heated floor, and although it's "super washable" it can be hard to get off.

Needless to say, they had a blast. I'm kinda ready for summer and lots of outdoor fun. Easier to clean off mud with a garden hose. :)

A special treat

Neil took Thursday off work to prepare a sermon for church on Sunday, so it was a special treat to spend some time outside with him in the afternoon. The snow wasn't very nice anymore (it had melted some and then refrozen, so it was quite icy), but it worked well enough for sledding.

Ready to go!

Pull, mama!

"Run, horsey, run!" shouts Finn. ". "Let's make this a bit more exciting. I'll run a curve," thinks daddy.

Oops.



Summer or winter - the slide is always a hit.

Snow princess!

Goofy guys:

And since I like making my own mistakes I managed to tip the sled AGAIN after Neil already demonstrated how NOT to run a curve. :( Poor Lily's face got scratched up from sliding over the icy snow. Few things make you feel worse than wiping the blood of your baby's face knowing it's all your fault. Thankfully it's just a few scratches and Lily is a tough nut. She was a little hesitant though to get back on the sled after BOTH of her parents dumped her in the snow.

Knight in Shining Armour

This is what Finn looked like for his "Kinder-Fasching" at kindergarten. He enjoyed being dressed up so much! They had a great party with lots of food (that the mothers brought), little gifts, a carnival parade and lots more. That was last Thursday. Then on Friday they had a PJ party, so everyone (including the teachers) wore their PJs all day. Finn was extremely happy and excited about this as he loves lounging around in his PJs. It takes quite a while to get him dressed every morning. So he had an exciting (and exhausting) two days, which resulted in a major meltdown on Friday night when our good friends Lora and Manuel came over for supper. Having to share his toys with Veronica (1 month younger than him) and little Anton (2 months younger than Lily) didn't go down too well. But all in all it was a fun night!

Growing by leaps and bounds

Since Lily had to live with a blog title that didn't include her for almost two years the first post in the "new" blog will be about her. Here are some recent pictures of our little princess:

Feeding Baby#1 cranberries:

Pretending to sleep on the floor with Baby#2 (and looking SOO tall!):

Potty training Baby#1. It's quite the show. First she takes all of baby's clothes off (gets upset when she can't manage by herself), then puts baby on the toilet (complete with pushing noises - it's hilarious!), then gets upset because she needs help putting baby's clothes back on:

This is her "Lily, smile!" face:

And don't forget Baby#3, who is VERY hungry again this morning:

Lily is growing up so fast, sometimes all I want to do is hold her and make time go slower. I can't believe my "baby" will be two in a couple months! Lately Lily is all about babies. She mothers her dolls all day long, and whenever there's a real baby in the vicinity there is NO stopping her. She'll follow shopping carts with other children all over the store shouting "Baby!Baby!". (Doesn't matter much if the "baby" is actually about her own age. And of course SHE absolutely WILL NOT sit in the baby seat of the cart anymore. That's for babies, mama!)

One of her favourite places to be is the gym daycare right now. Babies big and small need Lily's undivided attention there. Sometimes I think she must drive the teachers nuts. And I've noticed that she has started carrying her dolls in exactly the same fashion the gymcare teachers carry fussy babies around - it's quite cute.

Lily has also started putting words together. Yesterday morning when Neil left for work she said to him, "Bye, love you!". She'll also say things like "nice music", "doggie bark" and all kinds of combinations that include either "Lily" or "my".

So our "baby" is growing up. She is determined, temperamental, affectionate, smart (of course :-), and a lot of fun to be around. She is also tall for her age (88cm / 35 in) and weighs 13 kg (28.5lbs), only 1kg (2lbs) less than Finn! And yes, she beats him up sometimes. :-)