New Found independence!

And here's the best attempt at photographing the 2 teeth! Blurry, but you can see the 2 white parts on her bottom gum! You can see them best when she's crying. Mean mommy taking a photo of a crying baby.

Sitting!

Rose figured how to sit up today. Her longest stretch was over a minute! I captured the whole thing on video, but had to clip the video in order to send it to email to post on the blog.

I'm very surprised that she is sitting already, but she is such a sturdy, solid baby! Such chubby legs!!

Chudleigh's Apple Orchard...

Another fun-filled family outing. We've been doing a lot of activities on the weekends, that's for sure. We're basically taking advantage of the non-stinkin' hot fall days to actually get outside without burning or exposing Rose to way too much heat. Although this time, it turned out to be a little more rainy than we anticipated. It was our first trip to the Apple Orchard. We'd tried Chudleigh's products in the grocery store, but wanted to grab some fresh apples and a pie. We made sure to get in the pony ride and trip down the slide at the beginning in case we got rained out. We weren't able to actually pick in the orchard. There is a wagon ride that takes you out to the orchard and drops you off for at least 15 minutes, which wouldn't have worked with both the weather, and with Rose and the stroller. We settled, instead, for a pre-made 5lb bag of honeycrisp apples. Paige really wanted to pick the apples off the trees, but was ok with getting them in the store since it was a bit rainy outside.

Love this picture of Paige...

Put this one in to show her hair. Look how ringletty it gets when it's damp from the rain...

Pony ride right through the rows of apple trees...

This sign said you can rent these ponies out for parties...hmmm...maybe grandma and grandpa's back yard??.....

Rose didn't have the best time...she was tired and getting misted by the occasional rain falls. Her tray had a pool of water in it...

Pumpkins are out but we'll save that for the annual family pumpkin purchase at Springridge...

Slide with insanely steep ladder to get to the top...

Face painting...the apple seemed to be the most appropriate and best drawn option... The girls...too bad Rose isn't looking, but you can see her cute hat from the St. Albert farmer's market! And, cute sheep slippers from Marilyn!

The end of the rainbow...

It all started yesterday in the grocery store. We were perusing the fish counter when Paige pointed out a large rainbow trout fillet and said, "this is good...I like this". "Ok great, let's get that", I said. It didn't really matter that we probably had a whole bunch of rainbow trout in the freezer from various fishing excursions....she actually wanted healthy food and I was going to get it. I baked it tonight, gave Paige her usual amount, along with some beans and potatoes and set it down in front of her. She took her fork and literally started shovelling bits of fish into her mouth. When the fish pieces became too small she started using her fingers. Finished it all and then ate all of her beans. Didn't touch the potatoes. Asked for more fish and beans, and even swiped a bean off my plate. Told me she still didn't like potatoes. Got down from her chair and sweetly asked to sit with me. I lifted her up and she started scavenging the skin of my fish for any last little scraps. This was like nothing I have ever seen. Ever. We will have to make this meal more often. I'm sure she likes the sweetness of the Taku Sugar Maple rub from Alaska on the fish.

The sounds of silence....

As I type I am sipping a herbal tea to quench my thirst from the long walk Rose and I just went on. Rose is in her crib and I am catching up on last nights episode of Dancing with the Stars. Where is Paige you may ask? She is at a new class--Jack and Jill. I will have 4 hours a week (Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-11:30) to do whatever I want. With only a baby in tow compared to having the 2 kids, it really does feel like I can do whatever I want. What will I do...the options are endless...shopping, exercise, vegging, laundry. Anything that can be done in 2 hours. And today is super easy as Rose went to sleep after our walk and Mike is home. I can just leave her here while I go to pick up Paige.

When I dropped Paige off she was a bit wary. A random instructor came out and asked the parents for their contact info sheets and told the kids to come in and drop off their backpacks in the bin. I think she was a bit confused by the unfamiliar face, but the teacher told her to give me a kiss goodbye, which she did, and then go in the classroom. She immediately spotted another teacher who she knows and loves-- "Miss Amy", and ran in with a big smile on her face and sat next to her at the playdough table.

Time to pick her up and hear all about it!

Update: Paige seemed to have enjoyed her time in the class. She played with 2 girls, jumped on a trampoline, sang "the more we get together" and "twinkle twinkle". I think that's about all I got out of her. When I asked if she ate her banana she told me she had one bite of it and then threw it in the garbage. She ate 4 arrowroot cookies, probably opened her banana and then snack time ended.

A trip to the photobooth...or did we?

Another fun app!

Paige circa 1960...

"digital photography never looked so analog"....

I was eager to post these pics that I took on my iPhone with the "hipstamatic" app. No super great photos, but I have been having fun making my photos look old school. You get to "swap out" different lenses, film, and flashes to create these fun looks. I'll post more if I get any great ones. You actually take the photo with the settings, rather than doctor them up afterward which is fun.

Dress Up...

Paige never really liked dress up...until now. We went to her friend Ellery's house for the first time yesterday. She had lots of really fun toys including lots of dress up stuff. Her mom, Shannon, said that she got the wings and wands at the dollar store the other day, so as I was close to the dollar store last night (by myself!) I ran in and grabbed a couple.

A Hidden Gem...

Isn't it weird when you discover some random cool place in your city or surrounding area? I was reminded of this farm by another mommy blogger in her blog. When I read about her trip there I remembered that I had heard of this place a couple of years ago but had completely forgotten about it. It is the Brantford Twin Valley Zoo. A much smaller zoo than the Toronto zoo, but an easier place to walk around with a 3 year old who won't ride in a stroller, and much less busy, and much much cheaper. It was $35 ish dollars for all 3 of us paying guests, and that included a free pony ride for Paige. There was barely anyone there and it was a nice warm sunny day that wasn't disgustingly hot. We even watched the animal show in the company of only about 15 other families. Every single kid got to touch the animals they brought out because it was such a small crowd (except Paige didn't seem to want to touch them and I didn't push her). The fact that there weren't any food stands, which forced us into bringing a cheap and healthy packed lunch from home was a nice treat. Like I said last weekend, Paige won't eat fast food. The zoo is about 45 minutes west of our house down the 403.

Right as you walk in you can purchase peanuts to feed the bears and monkeys, and grain to feed the goats and deers. This goat area was as soon as you walk in. The goats were a bit aggresive and would jump on anyone with a bag. Paige was treating them like Abby and saying "Down!"

Here she is telling Daddy that she wanted to get out. It was a bit intense. After the 1 gate they are going out, there was another gate, and 2 goats had gotten in the enclosure. It was bit better for Paige to feed the 2 goats in there than the huge group of swarming ones.

Tiny baby baboon....

Paige's favourite part...riding the pony (horse I would think, it was huge). She kept slipping and I would have to straighten her out.

Big smiles-- she's definitely into pony rides now.

Rose had a little nap after lunch (ours and hers--the "nursing area" was sitting on a closed toilet seat in the family washroom). She does much much better in the stroller by itself rather than in the car seat strapped in the stroller.

Bears make me a bit scared, but their fence seemed high enough. There were a bunch of trees on the one side of their enclosure though, and I dunno, I thought they could climb trees...

We got to chuck peanuts in there which seemed kind of mean, but they ate them. And I guess the zoo isn't crowded enough for them to eat too many.

Apparently the zoo is 25 acres, including a 1km nature trail (clearly we didn't attempt that). It was a really fun day. If anyone is interested in going, remember to bring food, water (although they sell drinks at the front), and leave time to see the creatures showcase, and go for an over-sized pony ride. The rides are only at certain times.