Isabelle

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June 27, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Craig and Katie Visit

I’m a bit late on the post, but we recently had a visit from Craig and Katie! Katie arrived first to attend a conference in town, and then a few days later we received a Craig as well. We took them, most importantly, to the playground a number of times, but we were also able to take some strolls around the neighbourhood, visit the St. Albert Farmer’s market (and playground) and spend some time in the backyard BBQing and splashing in the wading pool. We were so happy to have them out to meet the new addition, and they even helped Belle and Elodie make a fantastic Father’s Day brunch for me. All in all a fantastic visit, and we hope they come back soon!

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June 12, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Gymnastics

Today was Isabelle’s last day of gymnastics! We’ve been going once a week since April, and it’s definitely something we’ll keep on doing. Since it was the final day, we even got to spend 10 minutes of free time throughout the entire facility, which was definitely fun for me.

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June 8, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Puddle Jumping

On Wednesday, we let mom have some shopping time, so I stayed home with Belle and Elodie while Michelle headed off to THE mall. Conveniently for me, both the girls napped for the majority of the trip, but once they woke up, Elodie had a bottle and then we headed out for a walk. It was quite windy and, if you read the Curly Sue post, you can see the hair styling differences between mommy and daddy (ie. coiffed vs not). Belle particularly enjoyed the puddles, and we were totally busted as mommy drove up to the house mid-splash.

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June 8, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Facepainting

During the school year, our community league puts on an indoor playground that we’ve been going to on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s basically a gymnasium full of pedal cars, toys, playsets, slides and books. There’s even a whole bunch of exersaucers for those with really little kids. The parents and nannies all sit around drinking coffee and chatting and attempt to ignore their kids; it’s fantastic. On the last session of the year, they hold a big party, and it just so happened that last Tuesday was that party. Everyone brought snacks to share, and the league rented inflatable structures (a bouncer, a ball pit castle and an obstacle course) and there were balloon animals and an amazing face painter. After Belle saw another little girl with her face painted she decided that she’d also like her face painted. After a brief wait in the line-up, Belle sat down on the chair and the face painter went through her repertoire. Belle picked “princess” and the woman went to work. The results were pretty amazing, and while we forgot to bring the camera (the pics there were taken with my phone), we were able to take some great shots once we were back home.

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June 8, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Curly Sue

Belle has some seriously curly hair, and recently Michelle made an attempt to tame it. Fawning over Belle by strangers went up 27%.

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June 7, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

The St. Albert Children’s Festival

We’d heard from a few different sources that the St. Albert (a small community north of Edmonton) Children’s Festival was definitely worth the admission and drive, so last Friday we headed up for the morning. We almost went to one of the main shows, but instead settled for simply exploring the festival at large, and visiting the Telus Toddler Town, figuring that Belle’s attention span might not last for one of the larger shows. It seems like we made the right decision, because she only lasted half the puppet show that was happening in Toddler Town , though the rubber ball and crafts areas held her attention for the rest of the show. Also to be found at the festival were playgrounds, kettle corn, stilt walkers and mini-donuts, so we all had a great time exploring and eating. We also checked out a bridge that one of the Canadian Forces Engineering units set up specifically for the show, as well as the muskrat that happened to be swimming under it as we crossed. It was a great morning of entertainment and terribly delicious snacks.

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June 5, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Isabelle Gets Over Her Hippophobia

Last Saturday we went to the annual Picnic in the Part event, thrown by our neighbourhood community league. We had a great time and there were face painters, a bouncy castle, various entertainers, lots of great food and most importantly, pony rides. After our disastrous trip to the horse show, we were somewhat surprised when Isabelle decided she wanted to go pet the animals, but we went over and she pet the miniature donkey. After we spent some time playing on the playground, eating dinner, and watching other kids ride, Isabelle decided that it was her turn to ride the donkey! Before we got in line, I made sure she understood that she’d have to wear a “special hat” (helmet), and while that’s usually an issue, she assured me that it was no problem this time. And much to our surprise, that was it! When it came to her turn, we put the helmet on, I lifted her onto the donkey, and around we went. She didn’t even want me to hold on to her or anything, so I was free to take a short video.

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May 30, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Around and About in May

We’re settling in to life as a family of four, and here are some pics from around the house and at the indoor playground. Currently we’ve adopted a “divide and conquer” strategy, as Michelle looks after most of Elodie’s needs, while I keep Belle busy, and it’s working out well.
In terms of Belle adjusting to the new invader, she constantly wants to kiss, hold or rock Elodie, so that’s a relief. Unless she’s just lulling us into a false sense of security before she mails her sister to Australia or Tibet while we aren’t looking. We wouldn’t put it past her.
In terms of us adjusting to the new invader, things are going quite smoothly. Michelle gets the vast majority of the nighttime work, however Elodie seems fairly content to simply feed, then fall back asleep. That was not our experience with a previous child, though we won’t name names. Other differences between the two girls are that Elodie won’t take a soother, doesn’t like to be swaddled and does like to be cuddled. It will definitely be tons of fun to what differences they have in personality as they get older.
In terms of the pics, the wine is the traditional 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Michelle receives from her father for delivering him another grandchild, and the rest are mostly us trying to sleep with children draped over us.

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May 30, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Fun in the Sun in May

May in Edmonton has been great! Not only did we gain a new baby, but the weather has been fantastic. Whether it’s the horse show, the farmer’s market (where Belle got her balloon elephant) or the local playground, we’ve been out and about having a great time. Even with other trips and gymnastics, Isabelle has been going to the playground almost every day, sometimes twice in a day. For really hot days, the playground also has a spray park, and we’ve set up our little inflatable pool here in our backyard, so it’s summer livin’ in May here in Edmonton.

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May 30, 2012 by Isabelle and Elodie

Horses

Isabelle loves horses. Or, at least, we thought she did. Since she loves to point horses out from the car, and in books, and on tv, etc, etc, we thought she might like to see some horses up close. Michelle found a horse show that was happening nearby, and we headed out to treat Belle to a morning of equestrian wonder. Or terror, as it turned out. Belle does not like horses. She doesn’t like the sounds they make, she doesn’t like it when they look at her, and she doesn’t like to be within 10 meters of them. She was more interested in the bleachers than the draft team we watched, and I think the highlight of the trip was the playground we found on our way out. Though, if you ask her now, she still claims that she loves horses.