Monday, November 28, 2011

Helping with the Christmas shopping

It's that time of year when shopping at the mall is much easier on a weekday morning than a Saturday afternoon. So, last week we bundled sister off to school, and then we headed out the door to do some Christmas shopping with JJ. Thank goodness he was more than happy to ride in his car stroller while Buppa pushed him hither, thither and yon.
They stopped now and then to closely examine one display or another, but JJ was content to stay in the stroller, while Amma shopped for almost everything on her list.
Yes, a good time was had by all.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Christmas Carousel

Now that Sister is in school every day, JJ, quite often spends the day at our house. Sister is one bundle of activity and energy, and sometimes it feels like a hurricane has touched done after one of her visits. JJ on the other had, is much quieter, and things get a tad ruffled after his gentle wind of activity has passed through, but the house is not turned upside down.

The A-Team comes to visit next weekend for an early Christmas celebration with us, so I have started to get the Christmas decorations out earlier than usual this year. I want the house to look nice and festive when they arrive, and be filled with all the sights and sounds of Christmases past.

The Christmas Carousel made a re-appearance this week, and I had it turned on, with music playing, lights dancing, and animals twirling, when JJ got up from his afternoon nap. It caught his eye when he came down the stairs, and he made a b-line for this most wonderous thing. He climbed up on the couch, laid on his stomach with his elbows leaning on the arm of the couch and was mesmerized by the twirling, jumping, spinning sight before him.
He pointed at Rudolph, or the Polar Bear, or Santa as they spun by, but he didn't touch.
Mostly he just gazed in wonder, and kept saying to me " I love this Amma." "This is my favorite thing." and "What was his name again?"
"Rudolph." I would reply, and gazed in wonder at him.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Caught my eye.

The other day as I was bustling around in the breakfast nook in the kitchen I looked up and caught this reflection of the dining room in the picture hanging on the wall beside me.
Neat huh?
It brought back memories from years ago, when I would sit at my mother's dressing table and imagine going into the mirror above it, to discover a whole new world there. I created another house on the other side of the mirror, but not just a house, it resembled Manderley without a Mrs Danvers in residence, and my Max deWinter was nothing but charming.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Abby and Asha making themselves comfy

These gals sure know how to relax on a cool Autumn afternoon.
Put a blanket down anywhere, and Abby is sure to find it and snuggle down on it.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

It's that time again...

Some days it seems like it will never click, then all of a sudden the connection is made and we are on our way.
Today was a good day. Maybe it has finally clicked. We'll see tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Being Silly

We went over to the kid's place for dinner the other night and Smudge thought Daddy should sit on Buppa's lap too.
Such silliness!

Monday, November 14, 2011

The latest activity

The Christmas catalogue was delivered to the house last week, and Smudge has been spending hours, and I mean hours, making out her Christmas wish list. Page after page of paper is filled with the names of toys that catch her eye. In the few short weeks she has been in school, she has gone from printing her name and a few simple words to asking what every word she sees is, then copying it down on paper. I am amazed at what she is doing with pencil and paper these days.
While sister is busy at work with her list, JJ is content to snuggle with Asha.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Buddies

When JJ isn't bothering Asha, she is getting up-close and personal with him.
From time to time Abby comes over to see what Asha and JJ are doing, but she keeps her distance.
Not Asha, she gets right on top of JJ, and he doesn't mind a bit.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

When the cat's away...

...the mice will play.

On the weekend someone gave Smudge a bag full of dress-up clothes to play with. It was overflowing with purses, skirts, dresses, jewellery and other assorted fun things to play dress-up in. When we went over on Monday morning Smudge was doing a hula dance in a blue grass-skirt from the dress-up bag.

As soon as she went out the door to catch the bus, JJ, grabbed the skirt and wanted to dance in it too, so I helped him fasten it on, and went into the kitchen to tend to breakfast dishes, while he played with Asha.
When I glanced over to see what he was doing, I noticed that he had something draped over his shoulders...
and was having a conversation with Asha.
He looked at me and said "I'm a cowboy Amma."
Well, if you're a cowboy JJ, you need a cowboy hat to finish off your outfit.
He promptly toddled off to his room in search of a cowboy hat. He couldn't find one there, so he made a b-line for Smudge's room to see if he could find one there.

When I followed him there to see what he was doing, this is what I found. Yep, that is the perfect hat to finish off your outfit JJ. It even matches your skirt.
I couldn't resist taking this picture of him walking back to the living room. Goodness he makes me smile.
He went over to get Asha's approval, and was quite pleased that Asha liked his outfit.
When Buppa came back from dropping Smudge off at the bus stop, JJ modeled the thing that he had draped over his shoulders while he was a cowboy.
Who knew that it was the most elegant embroidered dress?
All this had taken place and it wasn't even 9am yet! What next?

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

JJ and Asha

Now that sister is in school everyday the cats are called on more and more to be playmates for JJ. Asha is a 14 year old cat who is very patient with the little guy, and she is the one who is called on most often to fill the roll.
She will take all the lovin' JJ cares to give her...
and even listens intently when JJ wants a heart to heart.
She could just jump down and go hide under a bed, but no, she wants to be where the action is...
and joins JJ for a game of cars.
JJ rolls the cars up her and over her when he needs to, and Asha doesn't move a muscle.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Our own little Mowgli

His mouth is full of banana, and his hat is just like Mowgli's.
How can you tell that King Louie was singing on the Jungle Book soundtrack while JJ was having his breakfast?

Monday, November 07, 2011

Snack time

These are some pictures left over from last week, and they are too cute not to post.

JJ, Winnie, Care Bear and Chicken are all lined up and waiting for their snack.
Then it was time to watch Jungle book, one more time.
JJ needed to snuggle real close to Winnie during the scary moments in the story.

Friday, November 04, 2011

More Halloween smiles

I think it is a thing of the past for kids to wear costumes to school, but theme shirts are allowed, so Smudge and JJ were all decked out first thing in the morning and posed for a picture with Buppa.
JJ wore this hat all day and looked very cute in it I must say.
Smudge opted for a hair band, and tried the "no bangs" look for the day.
A couple of cuties for sure.

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Some Halloween smiles

We were coming in from the store on Halloween morning when we ran into our neighbour and her dog Liam. It seems that Liam heard that JJ was going to wear a Tigger costume on halloween night, and he came over to commiserate. Liam was NOT happy about his costume, but JJ was all smiles.
Please kid, you gotta help me get outta this costume. JJ listened intently, but sadly he could not help Liam.
As you can see, JJ was more than happy to be Tigger on Halloween night.
Smudge was Belle, and finished off her outfit perfectly with her red purse. She stood patiently while Mommy did some last minute adjustments to the hem of her dress so she wouldn't be tripping on it all night. Tigger looked on and gave his expert advice on the alterations.
At last it was time to head out the door, and Smudge was beyond wound up about going out trick or treating.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Busy, busy, busy...

That's what JJ is these days, busy, busy, busy. Talking non-stop ALL day long, he moves from one activity to the next, and Winnie is usually at his side...or back, as you see in the pic below.
When we arrived at his house the other morning he had his suitcase open on the floor and he was singing Row, row, row your boat. He and Winnie sailed merrily down the stream while we helped Smudge get ready to catch the school bus.
This game continued until it was time to pack up and go to Amma and Buppa's house for the rest of the day. Of course Winnie had to come along for the ride too. It was a chilly morning, so we all had to put and extra sweater on, including Winnie.
Once at Buppa's house, JJ settled in for story-time in the big rocking chair in Buppa's den. What fun to read Winnie the story of Frosty the Snowman.

After story-time it was time for a snack, so we all went downstairs and JJ set to preparing a feast for all of us...
including Winnie, Chicken and Care Bear. He sat them all down on the couch, gave them each a sippy cup with chocolate milk inside, while he enjoyed his plastic ice cream cone.
JJ can spend ages playing with this bag of plastic food.
You can't see Buppa or me in this picture, but we are on the other couch with plates of plastic food to chow down on too.