Playgounds and playgroups

         Earlier this week Steve and I took George to a little park down the street from our house. She and I had gone on our own a couple of times before but it's hard to do certain things with her being so little and me being on my own. Having Steve there meant that I could send Georgie down the small slide on her own and Steve would be there to catch her.

        It was awesome! The first time I sent her down she wasn't really expecting what was going to happen and fell over, riding most of the way on her back. The second time she was a bit more prepared and managed to sit up the whole way down. By the third time she was wiggling out of my arms before her dad could get back to the bottom. She was going down that slide like she was born to do it, and loved every minute of it!

        George also rode on the little dinosaur bouncer, and climbed up on and around the equipment. The floors were mostly made of perforated metal and the ground was all pea gravel, which became a bit of a problem. George didn't particularly like climbing on the gravel, but because the floors were covered in tiny holes the gravel would get stuck all over the place. So when we plunked Georgie down in front of the steps we were expecting her to scamper off at full speed.  Instead she got a little OCD on us. She stood at the bottom step and systematically tried to remove all the rocks from the next platform. At first trying to just wipe everything away, but being that the gravel continued to get stuck George resorted to picking up and tossing each rock individually. Thankfully after a while we managed to convince her to come play, although she would occasionally get distracted and go right back to picking and sorting rocks.

        A couple of days later George and I decided to venture out in another direction from our house, to go searching for a park I had spotted while out driving. Not even two blocks from our house we spot yet another park. Seriously, I think there are at least five playgrounds within walking distance of the house, it's kind great. We decided to stop at this park, it's littler than the one we were headed to, and I think, had more things George could actually do.

      It was a nice little playground on the far side of a schools grounds. It had baby swings and a variety of slides as well as a lot of climbing stairs. We started at the swings but got bored with that very quickly so we moved onto the mail structure. George had a bit of a repeat performance with the rocks but gave up quickly when she noticed me climbing higher and higher.

      George has no fear when it comes to climbing, shes been climbing up on the back of the couch since before she could crawl, and once scaled the side of a booth at the keg. She tried to go right up and over. This apparently also translates to no fear of ramps and slides, she rode in front of me down a couple of the big slides then did the smaller one on her own a few times. I just set her at the top and she waits for me to get to the bottom before wiggling her but onto the slide and zipping down. But of course the love of climbing combined with the love of the slide and having no fear, means I was soon chasing George down as she attempted to climb back up the slide.

          She had gotten about halfway up before loosing her grip and cracking her head on the side. She was hurt and she cried, but being that it didn't last all that long I figured she was fine. I loaded her up and headed home. By the time we got there, the poor kid had a big 'ole goose egg in the middle of her forehead as well as a nice purple bruise. Ooops. And in accordance to Murphy's  law, she has bonked her head twice more since then. Once on the grocery cart and once on the back of the couch. I fear for her brain.

        Her little accident doesn't seem to have phased her much though, as we went to playgroup today down at the Lethbridge family center. It has indoor play equipment for toddlers and bigger kids, as well as lots of play stations, including a sand table, a water table, art stations and dress up clothes. George and I were the first there and she bolted right for that little playground and its slide. she was up and down and all over that thing with barely a look to me. It was awesome!

     It turned out to be pretty busy there today, it's the drop in playgroup so it's always a bit random as to who or how many people will be there. It was great for Georgie, she's a little social butterfly, although she is at that age where she'll just take anything from anyone, but most of the other kids are at that age as well, and there's so much going on that no one is really upset when something is snatched from them.

      George was very brave today and explored other areas other than just the toddler section. We played at the sand table for a bit, which turned out to be rather stressful. Because A) her hands were getting dirty (Never a problem before) and B) it was full of trucks and toys. Apparently the toys shouldn't get dirty either. We didn't play with the sand for long. George did however play house with a two year old for a good chunk of time. And by play house I mean followed her around and mimicked everything she did, then took all her toys and handed them to me.

     All in all it was a good day. The only real problem is George is easily the smallest kid there, although not the youngest. She's so tiny that she get bowled over by the other kids. Seriously I saw a couple of little boys crawl over her. She didn't freak out though, just turned and chased them down, because obviously whatever they were doing it must have been good. She really seems to enjoy hanging with the other kiddos. The family center is closed next week and we'll be away. But I hope to start going more often, maybe I'll even make some friends!

Halloween 2012

  This October 31st, we celebrated by reverse trick or treating. And by that I mean, we dressed George up and went to all our neighbors houses and dropped off cookies, that I had made earlier in the week.

Pumpkin chocolate chip, gingerbread skeletons and gingerbread mummies

The googly eyes make me very happy.

           It was neat getting to know our neighbors, most of them are retirees, with one young couple next door. George is the only child on the block. Apparently this is an older neighborhood, with very few kids. Which I find surprising, as there are a lot of parks within walking distance. At the very end of the block lives an Italian couple, who invited us in to have a glass of wine, which we had to decline as I was carrying a stack of cookies, and it was getting past dinner time for George. We were on the verge of melt down city, so sadly no wine for us.They did however spoil George rotten with treats and invited us to come back anytime for a drink. It was pretty cool.

  We also carved some pumpkins and put up some last minute decorations, as it had been fairly snowy up to this point and a lot of our decorations really shouldn't get wet.

Hanging at the table, waiting to go outside.

This photo was taken for twitter, to show off my breakfast companions. I can't believe I don't have a better photo of these two!

             After our little adventure we returned home to have some Kraft Pizza,from the box. It's one of my favorite things in the world, and completely silly. Always makes me feel like I'm a little kid again. We then went about our regular routine of getting George to bed. the whole time listening for the doorbell, waiting expectantly for trick or treaters. Put George down with little fuss, opened our bottle of Champagne (Happy Anniversary to us!) and popped on Rocky Horror, as tradition dictates. I've watched Rocky Horror every year on Halloween for at least the past 10 years, I think a bit longer. The one and only time I've missed it was for the wedding. Just saying.

     We had settled into the movie and the night was ticking on when the doorbell rang. Both Steve and I jumped up and looked at each other like, "Who on earth would be calling at this hour?" Then realizing that we finally had our first trick or treaters! At 8:45pm. They were two boys, one dressed in one of those oversize ghoul heads that make it impossible to see them. I have no idea how old that kid was because the mask really obscures the features. I think he may have been in his teens.

    The other boy was fantastic. He, and it did take us a minute to determine that it was a he, was dressed like Snow white. At first I thought it may have been him trying to be ironic or funny, but upon closer inspection, his makeup was perfect. He had obviously had put time and effort into this costume and really did want to be Snow White for Halloween. It was kinda sweet.

      Being that they were the first, and last, kids that we had all night, they each got two huge handfuls of candy. We had bought a rather large box, and then received another rather large bag from Mom and Dad, so we were practically swimming in candy. They did rather well at our house.

    Now I didn't take any photos of George that night, but I did take a few earlier in the month of all of us. And being that I like to show off both my photography and my daughter, here are some super cute photos of my super cute baby.

 

So ya, Happy Halloween!

Boo at The Zoo

     Being that Georgie is only 13months old, Steve and I didn't really see the point in taking George Trick or Treating. Really it's not like she's going to be the one eating the candy anyways, but being that we love Halloween (Happy Anniversary sweetie!) we thought it would be a waste not to dress her up and parade her around a bit, so this year we went to, Boo at the Zoo.

 It turned out to be a great alternative to actually trick or treating. My Brother and his wife came as well as Steve's sister and her little guy. It rocked, you get all dressed up and you go trick or treating at the zoo. They have five or six stops where you can pick up candy, as well as a couple of free food carts, face painting, hair styling, lots of information stops and arts and crafts. Plus you get to see all the animals.
       I almost forgot, they also had an indoor carnival that Ethan (My nephew) and I hit up while waiting for everyone else to grab food. Ethan rocked it, he has a natural gift for games, and was super polite and helped clean up after every game he tried. He's so cute.

Uncle feeding her "Bloody Fingers" Aka french toast in strawberry sauce.

Little Monsters

 

 

 

Uncle and Daddy "helping" George pick out some chips.

        George is really becoming aware of things going on around her, so the zoo is more fun every time we go. Her favorite animals have been the penguins. The new exhibit is super cool and you can get really close to the animals. So close in fact that George and I got thoroughly splashed by a King penguin, The largest of the penguins at the zoo and second largest in the world. Dwarfed only by Emperor penguins who look fairly similar.

 She really loved these birds and was all about getting up close for a look. George was clapping and waving as well as yelling at them. It's super fun when she gets excited about something. Particularly since she's at that age where it's new every time, and the bigger she gets the more she'll learn and understand, and the more excited she'll get.

            And yes, if you're wondering, Georgie is wearing socks on her hands in these photos. She will not keep gloves on, socks are magic, and although she can take them off she won't. Sock gloves, don't judge me.

         This was however the first zoo trip where George really took note of the other animals. The Red River Hogs and the fish were very exciting, and she went berserk when we visited the elephants. As soon as she figured out what she was looking at, that little arm shot into the air and she burst forth with some epic mouth trumpets. And then she did it again, and again, and again, interspersed with some yelling and pointing. She had only learned about elephants a couple of days before, and even then, just her little plastic toys, so the fact that she was putting together the fact that these giant pachyderms were the same thing as her little pink squeeze toy was pretty mind blowing. I'm constantly amazed by how quickly her brain works, and the light in her eyes when she's figured something out.

     Being that it was Halloween a lot of the animals got pumpkins as a treat or decoration. The hogs were going to town, it was pretty cool to watch. Apparently the new hippo got one too, because it was his birthday, we missed that though because it happened on Halloween proper, and we were there on the previous Sunday.

  After the elephants we went over to the events tent, where they were doing free hair styles on the kids as well as face painting and palm reading. We ended up getting the kids hair done but not much else, George was hitting the end of her rope and Ethan really just wanted to go find more candy. Plus nobody felt like standing in line for face painting, and palm reading is a bit over the heads of the littles we had with us. 

Getting some color.

I can't believe you guys!

Some blurry blue

Ethan's hair turned out great! 

     After this we said goodbye to Erin and Ethan, who continued on to look for more treats and finish off the zoo. We however headed back to Lethbridge. Layne and Karalee called it quits as well. Karalee is due in February, and suffers from the pregnant sleepies.  All in all it was a pretty good, if not long, day. George and Mom slept most of the way home. Sorry Steve!

Snow for Halloween

        A week before Halloween it snowed, a lot. We got at least six inches overnight, meaning we were snowed in. the car was trapped on our parking pad in the ally,we don't have a shovel yet, and the buses weren't running. Apparently the buses in Lethbridge shut down fairly easily when there's snow. I can't say I blame them, Lethbridge is made up of coulees, really be careful  where you step, if you slip in this city you could end up twenty feet down from where you started. So shutting public transit down when the ice hits the roads is a very good idea.
    After waiting for the bus for about half an hour and finding out that there was no way it was coming to get him, Steve phoned me up, "Put the kettle on, I'm coming home" By the time he got home I had tea waiting for him. He emailed his boss to explain there was no way he'd be able to make it until the afternoon. The response we got from James was, "Welcome to Lethbridge!"

     Being that last year George was far to little to care about the snow, I was rather excited to get her dressed up and let her experience the pure joy of fresh snow! Or at least that's what it would be if you were a four year old, a one year old who's never seen snow before is terrified! It probably didn't help that, although her snowsuit was warm and fit nicely (Thanks Grandma Che Che) it rendered her mostly immobile. Which was adorable, but ticked her right off.

      And then I put her down in the snow. Because I am the worst mom ever! The snow plus the suit held her up rather nicely, but apparently having half your body disappear into white powder is a little too freaky for those of us under 3feet tall.

     Although she may not look terribly sad in this photo, she liked being laid down on the snow about as much as standing in it. I tried making a snow angel to demonstrate how not evil the snow was, but apparently the Devilish white powder was going to consume her mom, leading to further baby sized freakouts.

If you look close you can see the tears of snow fear.

    Thankfully when everyone was standing up and acting cool about things, George was kind of alright with the snow. She even went so far as to touch some of it, on the fence, well away from the large piles on the ground. It'll be interesting to see what happens the first time we go sledding, if we can find somewhere not so steep that you feel you're going to break the sound barrier. Coulees, I tells ya.  

      

Pumpkin Picking

     Inspired by my friend Nancy's blog, I thought it would be fun to go pick a pumpkin this year. We often carve three or four pumpkins (each) at Halloween but had never gone and picked our own, so no time like the present.
          
       I scoured the internet looking for a farm near Lethbridge, but A) Lethbridge and area have terrible internet presence. and B) apparently there is nowhere that is just a field that you can go walk through and pick one yourself. There are however a number of corn mazes in the area that also offer pumpkins. Of course the pumpkins are pre picked, priced, and placed for the public to just come and pick up.

     So we ended up going to the Lethbridge corn maze, which is just a small ways out of town. Thankfully if you're going to buy pumpkins you don't have to pay the full entrance fee, of 12 or so dollars. Just a three dollar grounds/ petting zoo admission. Which was fine, they were also having a buy one get one half off sale, so the sticker shock was a little less.

 The petting zoo was nice though, we've been trying to teach George animal noises, so having a visual aid was nice. George is also getting more attentive as to what's going on around her, so watching the animals was a ton of fun.She particularly enjoyed the pot bellied piglets. She kept grabbing hold of then pen, and probably would have catapulted herself right in had we not been paying attention.

What does the cow say?

      
         After the petting zoo, we went over to the barn to choose our pumpkins. Because we didn't really have a vision of what we wanted and we tend to be rather picky, it took us forever, going back and forth between the inner barn, the outer barn and the hay bail display by the door. And although George liked the pumpkins in theory, in practice she wanted nothing to do with them. So we didn't get any cute pictures of my little pumpkin in with her brethren, but instead got a few photos of a crying baby, or her on our lap. No group shots either, oh well. We took some very nice ones earlier in the month.

I am not a pumpkin!

This pumpkin is alright.

We did end up buying this little guy, as it was the only one she'd touch.

There are so many to choose from!

     

Georgie Collins and Great Great Grandpa.

       My Great Grandpa is 98. He is exceedingly old, and is hilarious and I love him greatly. Lately he's been starting to slip. Now he has been in a retirement home for a number of years, and for the last few he's been in a locked ward because his short term memory is going and he likes to wander. But recently it's become more than that. Which is sad and it's hard to watch. So last time we went up to Calgary we popped by with the family for a visit.

  Grandpa really loves babies and really loves George, so it's always fun to see them together. I have a wonderful video from his last birthday where he is dancing with George and the two of them are giggling like mad and having a great time. I did however film it on my smartphone, which apparently would like me to film on it's side, not being held upright. Fail on my part.

George at 1year, Great Great Grandpa at 98!

              Another one of my favorite things about going to go see my Great Grandpa, is the fact that Georgie Collins has moved in in the last couple of years. Georgina (Georgie) Collins is one of the founders of Pleiades Theatre. Which, when it moved to Tower Centre from the Science Centre, became Vertigo Theatre, my theatre. I always find it really exciting to talk to her, to hear about the old days of Calgary theatre. She is a living piece of theatre history, in a story that I've become apart of which makes me really happy.

   Georgie is also quite taken with George. It makes her endlessly happy to have met a Georgina from the newest generation. And the two of them get along really well. the last time we saw her she scampered off to her room, to retrieve a gift for George. A little porcelain angel  from her collection. It was very sweet. Hopefully one day I'll be able to convey to my Georgie, why the little angel is so cool to me.But then again, she might just wonder why I'm so sentimental and why the angel doesn't have blue tooth.

Georgie talking to my Mom. Georgina talking to her angel. No idea why Great Grandpa is looking so freaked out.

    

Thanksgiving 2012

     So I was going through photos on my camera and realized that I have all sorts of things that I really should be sharing, like Thanksgiving.

       We mostly celebrated Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house, (although we did have supper with Joyce as well).  Parts of both sides of my family were there including my cousins Soph and Em. who were charged with the task of decorating the house for fall. This was kind of awesome, as George really needed in on that action. She's become such a little copy cat/ follower that she needs to be involved in everything. Which is both adorable and super annoying. Mostly adorable

 Thankfully, the girls love George to bits, and were really good about letting her help out. And by "help out" I mean they thought it was cute when she went around undoing the decorating they had just finished.

        Other pre-dinner activities included cookie decorating. This one I'm rather proud of, mostly because I organized it and did all the prep for it. Thankfully I have a loving and talented husband who actually participated in the project, because by that point I was a little stressed out and a little bit done with being creative for the day. I'd had multiple accounts of icing failure already that day and was so not even going to try at making something pretty. So instead Steve and Layne helped the girls decorate sugar skull sugar cookies! Not that they needed much help, they are super talented and went to town after briefly glimpsing a photo of what they were going to do.

  This is why I love smartphones, I had found the idea for this project in a  magazine, and fully intended to bring the magazine with me, because the undecorated cookies mostly looked like lame snowmen. So out comes the smartphone and within seconds I had photos of sugar skulls to show the girls. I had made the cookies in advance with a cookie cutter that Steve had made for me, (That's right, a homemade skull shaped cookie cutter, I am spoiled) and also went to the bulk barn and picked up a bunch of candy and sprinkles to decorate with. Then quickly mixed up a batch of royal icing and away we went!

The whole gang busy at work

I promise she was having a good time.

Steve's creation in the works

I think, starting at the top left, it goes, Emily, Sophia, Sophia, Emily. Bottom left, Sophia, Emily.

This one is easier, from the left it goes, Emily, Steve, Layne, Sophia (I think)

   
          We also celebrated Sophia and Bubba's birthdays. Which was great because at the dinner table, as the rest of us were eating and chatting, Georgina was learning how to blow kisses to her Great Bubba. We had been trying to teach her this for MONTHS, and she pulls out the aces for greatest effect. It was adorable. We also had cupcakes in ice cream cones. This is where my epic fail happened, and fail it did, nothing went right with these, to the point that I gave up and Dad, Layne, and Karalee stepped in to fix/ finish the project, which I'm super grateful for because apparently I can't bake while being watched.