When we first open the doors to our house, Ava had a big smile from ear to ear, happy reunion with her toys and I must say I was happy too, first I hug the remote and then my sewing machine. I was very very anxious to sit behind the sewing machine but we had tons to unpack. It took us 3 days to put everything away.Though I am clutter freak, can’t stand seeing it and must immediately clean, I let them do this, it was a mess, hardly can see Ava in this pic.

Sometimes its hard for me to believe Ben is only 10 months, we seem to treat him and he dont seem to mind to be treated older than he is. I put a mental age of him at around 15 months. He is walking exclusively now and I can’t be happier since I dont have to keep the floors squeaky clean anymore, enough with daily sweeping minus daily mopping. He can give us wet open mouthed kisses, he dont really put things in his mouth anymore except..wait for it….garlic! I dont know what is it with this boy, he chews garlic like they are gum. First thing when he is in the kitchen is go to where I keep my garlic and onion and peel them off and popping them in his mouth..very odd.

dancing to the wiggles. We had Ava on overload mode watching the Wiggles, I can see those “anti tv parents” squirming but we got tons of stuff done and now even before we switch on the DVD player, she will say “wiggles” and its the cutest thing since it sounds like she puts an aussie twang to it.

when we were still Iqaluit, Frank had one of those moving chairs in the house and the kids can spend hours pushing that around. Ben got a little bored with the easy challenge so we put an orange on top of it. Needless it was a whole different ball game to him, he learned quickly he had to be careful pushing it around or the orange will roll on the floor. I must say he was really good, he dropped it once and that was it. Its just too cute looking at him intently watching to make sure the orange was still on the seat.

The kids dont hv too many battery operated toys, I dont think they have any anymore except for a leap frog radio they got as a gift from an aunt. I’ve put the last one (Baby Einstein music fun book we got as a gift) to rest. It was the most annoying thing ever. I find battery operated toys with no off button or volume control will lead a very short life in our house. So they are really good at improvising..lol

I can’t say they are too impressed with battery operated toys when they see them, this pic was taken at a friend’s house.It sure keeps me way way sane, though Frank said I should cut them some slack, easy for him to say since its not him staying all day hearing to multitude of annoying high pitched music from a machine all at once. As I am blogging, Ben is pushing a small plastic wagon, picking stuff along the way and putting it in the wagon and Ava is being a little mommy with her dolls, quietness….aaaaahhhhhhh

I think this is a “kids thing”. Ava did the same thing, when she dont have her hands free, it goes in the mouth. Ben is doing this too when his hands are full except he didnt crawl with it but Ava did for ages.

We took Ava skating this past weekend, we have a patch of ice next to the house. I can’t say she was impressed, I think she needs some getting used to on her skates since she will walk just fine on ice with her boots on. It was too cold to see if Ben will walk on ice but hopefully we will get to do that soon with Ben. Its been crazy here, temps have been steady -15 C to -20C and the windchill is now in the mid -30C I think by next week, it will be in the -40C range.

If she dont like her skates, I wont feel bad, got it at a yard sale for $2 and its gender neutral so Ben can always wear it later.