And so on......

So...........as a follow up to yesterday's pic of our next Canadian Male Model, and keeping my love of bears and Munchkins in mind..........here is today's picture. Christopher is coming for a visit this weekend. The plan is that Momma can have a soak in the hot tub. You see, while Christopher was in residence - she couldn't go in there. However, now that he has emerged into our world, she is looking forward to her opportunity to see why we all like it so much. Then, if there is any time left, she and I will do some Christmas shopping.

On another note, and in keeping with the snow reports - here is a beautiful picture of Auntie Colleen's back yard............yep, that is her house away up there at the end. She and Uncle Shaun have the most beautiful backyard in the summer - and apparently it is also beautiful in the winter (if you like snow that is!).

Nudity

OK - I know - it's been a while. There just hasn't been that much to report. Life has been plodding along as usual, which can be kinda boring to write about. We've had a ton of snow, so Poppa has been busy and is feeling kinda tired and sore by now - and they are still predicting snow every day for at least another week. I have been going to work and going home and working on a pretty little yellow outfit for Taffy since she is tired of wearing Squeegie's sweat suit which is too big for her (picture later). But, then today happened. I got this picture of an almost nude guy in my e-mail this morning...and felt the necessity to share it with all the girls out there reading this blog! So here, without further ado - is our next Canadian Top Male Model!

Long Trip

Christopher went on a long trip on the weekend. He drove, and drove, and drove.....down the highway, through a snow storm...further down the highway. Eventually he arrived at Gramma's house in Windsor. It was a terrible drive though...........partway there he realized he was starving! About this time Momma realized that the bottle for feeding on the road was packed in the trunk. Oh Dear! In her words "he wailed like I've never heard him wail". Oh Dear! Both of them were feeling bad by the time they reached a place to pull off the road and fetch that bottle. However, after some nourishment for Chris they both recovered. Once they got through the snow storm the rest of the journey was uneventful. Momma had her birthday while they were there, and she had a good day.........and got some nice presents..........and an Oreo cake. After a nice visit, Dada, Momma and the Munchkin packed their stuff back into the car and headed home. This time Chris reminded Momma and Dada not to pack his sustenance in the trunk, so a lovely peaceful trip home ensued.

Poppa & I had an easy weekend, though we did get most of our Christmas shopping done...which left Poppa worn out - he finds shopping stressful. I got a lot of the wrapping done too!

The cupcake longies I sent out over a week ago, still haven't arrived at their destination. I am worrying about them. Holding off on the new ones, until I see how they fit - and their new owner is wanting to wear them for her birthday party on Wednesday......so I'm praying they arrive today! Meanwhile I have finished a pair of overalls for Taffy and am working on a matching tee. She really needs winter clothes. She was born in Florida and has lots of summer clothes, but only a few that are suitable for a Canadian winter.

Added a couple of pics of Munchkin - just because I like them! This last one was taken this morning!

Munchkin and Snow

Heavens! We went down on Thursday to Christopher's house and stayed over until Friday evening after supper. Momma went to the Doctor where she was declared fit and ready to slowly resume doing all the things she did before - and she began immediately by going for a walk with Poppa and Christopher (and Nanna) to the mall up the street. Then later she took some laundry down and came back up the stairs..........nothing like hurrying things......but she says she is all right. Nanna stayed with Christopher while Momma was at the doctor and Poppa went off to visit his cousin. Needless to say the Munchkin was an excellent child and behaved to perfection! After supper he fell asleep quite early, so Momma decided to go to bed early. We carefully prepared to make formula since the milk tap was retired for the day. Dada and Nanna were going to do duty, making formula and feeding Chris when he woke up. He kept on sleeping, so I sent Dada to bed - still expecting Chris to wake up shortly. Well............here is what Christopher's living room looked like at 1am Saturday morning........! He finally woke up at 2am and then Nanna fed him...........only to have Momma wake up anyway and come wandering out to see what was going on. She sent Poppa and Nanna to bed, settled Christopher back down again and went back to bed for a nap until morning.

We would have stayed longer, but the weather forecasters were calling for snow in our area on Saturday, so we thought we should head home. Saturday turned out to be a rainy but mild day with no snow..........or so we thought..........until Poppa headed out to the hot tub about 11pm and discovered he would have to shovel a path to get there. He wasn't too impressed. He was less impressed the next morning when he woke up to find about six inches of the white stuff all over the place and had to blow snow to get Zipper out.

It looked like so much fun to sit in the hot tub in the snow, that he shovelled it out again and we both climbed in for a soak. It was fun........snow falling on my face while the rest of me was immersed in hot, bubbly water.

Back to work today..........still lots of snow on the ground. A large portion of the area surrounding us is without power due to snow-laden trees snapping large branches and knocking out the power lines. We were without power for about three hours on Sunday morning, but have had no problems since. I understand there are still about 36,000 homes without power - which they hope to have repaired later this evening. I don't envy all those people!

A few more....

Here are some more pics of the shower at Granny's place. Great-great Aunt Peggy looked peachy, Auntie Colleen looked quite picturesque, Great-Grandma Grace looked quite regal , as usual! It was so good of them all to attend the gala!

Also there was Gramma Linda and Aunt Karen. Gramma Linda was quite brave since she was walking into a room-full of people she had never met. She handled it graciously and everyone was very pleased to meet her. She came toting a huge toy box which she had decorated herself (she's an artist) and it turned out to contain a huge mountain of wonderful toys for Christopher. As you can see Auntie Cecile toured around serving goodies...and in the background you can see Granny Maureen with her youngest grand-daughter - that would be Trinity - who has just learned to walk and demonstrated for us so winsomely!

Here is Trinity's Mom, Lori who travelled from Belleville with her three little ones to honour us with her presence.

And of course, there was Aunt Bonnie, Auntie Tricia, little Cousin Ian and Aunt Linda . Also, I can't leave out Auntie Jean who also contributed a lovely box of butter tarts for snack time - which we all enjoyed immensely. I understand that Great-Gramma Eileen was in on that too - even though she could not be there. Speaking of people who could not be there - another special mention to Aunt Christine who sent a parcel too. And of course, we must remember Aunt Marcia from Toronto - we missed her, but she remembered us and sent a lovely package as well. You can imagine how long it took for Momma to open all of Christopher's presents with so many wonderful people contributing to the huge pile.

As for the guest of honour, he was so worn out from all the excitement visiting all those ladies and opening all those presents that he took a nap in Squeegie's swing and had wonderful dreams. Sleep tight little Munchkin!

Munchkin

Hello Munchkin! This is one of my favourite pictures ever. I'm quite certain he is looking for me - Hee! I do love this picture! His Momma took it and I was lucky enough to get it too! It's been a busy week. One co-worker is off seeking mooses in the backwoods up north. Another co-worker was off sick for a day. So I ended up being three people for a short interval...and two the rest of the week. Everything is under control though. Poppa & I are heading to the big city when I get off today, so Momma can go for her doctor appointment tomorrow morning without worrying about Christopher distracting the doctor. Taffy and Squeegie are looking forward to seeing Christopher again and have their clothes packed for the trip. And - for good measure - here is yesterday's picture - and yes I bought that outfit for him.

Shower Shots!

So...on Saturday afternoon Momma and Christopher arrived at Nanna & Poppa's house all bright eyed and ready for a party! Well.... Momma looks bright eyed anyway...the little guy -- maybe not quite so much, but he looks comfy anyway. We had supper and visited for a while until bed-time. Momma and Chris were up a couple of times during the night, so he could have a snack, but over-all had a fairly good night. Apparently the Munchkin liked Poppa's cradle just fine and slept well. In the morning we had breakfast and got Chris ready for his big event. Then Poppa had a little chat with him, while Momma & I got cleaned up and ready.

Momma, Chris and Nanna hastened over for a quick stop to see Great Gramma Robert and then made our way out to Granny Maureen's vacation station. We were greeted at the door by Granny & Auntie Tricia (Gramps was there too, but didn't hang around to get his picture taken).

Chris had a bit of lunch while the rest of us organized snacks for the older folks and got the coffee & tea ready to roll. Soon people started arriving and waiting for their chance to visit with the guest of honour...like Auntie Denise. After an interval of arriving guests - including Great Grandma Duffy, Gramma Mayhew and Great, Great Aunt Peggy, amoung others - it was deemed time to have snacks. Granny Maureen and Auntie Cecile had made ample amounts of appetizing snacks and some pretty yummy desserts too. Not to mention a beautiful cake emblazoned with the name of our guest of honour who just kept on snoozing while we all partook of the feast. I don't even remember all the presents - there were soooo many. Momma had a great time opening them all - while Christopher snoozed happily on someone's lap - didn't seem to matter whose! In due time Dadda arrived to help finish opening the last of the presents and load them in the car for the trip home. It was so nice of him! The guests slowly took their leave and Momma & Dadda took the little Munchkin and headed for home. A good time was had by all....and nobody was very hungry for supper. Momma spent all day Monday sorting through the stuff and putting it away...and still had some left for Tuesday!

Chicken & Stuffing

Here is Christopher's picture from yesterday......when he became officially one month old......isn't he adorable? I didn't have time last evening to download my shower shots....so hopefully I will get them on here tonight. Last night I got home after work and Aunt's to find that Poppa had made chicken and stuffing and the whole works.......it was deeee-licious! He can surprise me still after 41 years!

Showers

I'm at work already - so I don't have any of the pictures I took - but here is one that Auntie Colleen took of Momma and Chris. The shower was a huge success. The presents were piled high and the food that Granny and Auntie Cecile prepared was yummy. There were lots of guests including Aunt Tricia from Bermuda, and Gramma from Windsor, Ont. A slew of relatives that Dadda met for the first time and a few that he already knew. The little Munchkin got passed around and admired. Now he's waiting to get big enough to play with all the toys he got and use up all the diapers people generously contributed for him to fix up. Many thanks to Granny and Auntie Cecile and Auntie Tricia - and, of course, to all who attended with their generous gifts for little Christopher - and to those who kindly sent parcels even though they were unable to join in the festivities! Oh yes, and.............when I got up this morning there had been another shower - the ground was covered with snow - I almost had to get out some shoes, but decided that there was just a little and my crocs would suffice for today if I was careful. I'm hoping it is all gone by lunch time.

Smile!

Here is that elusive smile that we've been admiring for weeks, but couldn't seem to capture on camera. Momma caught it on Friday morning and sent it on to me for your viewing pleasure! Christopher is coming today to visit with Nanna & Poppa and tomorrow is off to be the guest of honour at a shower put on by Granny Maureen. Hopefully he will smile for all the guests and look just as cute as this! I have taken all the bears out of the cradle, now I'm off to put fresh linens in there for the Munchkin.

Getting Ready

I just finished wrapping a parcel for Christopher's shower - off to empty the teddy bears out of the cradle!

Here are the bears that came out of the cradle....and here is the cradle after I moved it into Momma's room and put in new linens....oh yes and just one bear! Didn't Poppa do a nice job on that cradle 40 years ago? I hope Chris sleeps soundly.

Strollers, etc.

Yesterday Christopher got all dressed up and took Momma to the grocery store. Of course, he made her push him in his stroller - so he had a lovely trip and Momma got a little road-weary. But, it was a lovely day for a stroll and the groceries were obtained without incident. Once again, the Munchkin was the "perfect" baby and behaved extremely well.... so well in fact, that Momma assures me she is going to "do it again". I didn't get a report regarding what they had for supper after that excursion - I'll have to ask! I finished off a pair of socks for Uncle Kevin F. to take hunting with him, but I forgot to take a picture and my camera is at home on the kitchen table....usually it is in my purse, for once it isn't. They were lovely socks too - made of cotton with yarn I bought in Florida last year in lovely heather-ey colours suitable for fall hunting...oh well... a description will have to suffice.

Finished Goods

Here is Christopher yesterday. Goodness - he looks so grown up to Nanna who hasn't seen him for two weeks! Momma says he is watching the fish who seemingly swim around over his head when he is in his swing now....he didn't even notice them when I was there. He sure did notice the teddy bear mobile over his change table though - very fitting that he loved the teddy bears first! Speaking of teddy bears, we had a recent spell of cold weather (though you'd never believe that yesterday when the temperature soared to summer-like degrees) - and Taffy was shivering - so I went to my stash and found her a warm outfit to put on. I thought she looked adorable, and she was feeling quite stylish - so I took a picture of her all ready to go for a car ride. Speaking of stash and finished things, the longies are all dressed up and ready to go to their destination state-side. I guess they're not too bad, Poppa looked at them and said "Oh - you put sprinkles on them - neat." And that is the effect I wanted - hurray! I also have the 100% pure picky wool sweater finished for my brother-in-law. It is packaged up and ready to go as well. I do believe I'm still itching from that one! But - that is the way he likes them - so he should love this one! Christopher is coming for a visit this weekend, since his Granny Maureen (my sister) is throwing a celebratory shower for him. I'm thinking I'd better get the 50 bears out of the cradle and get it ready so he'll have a place to lay his weary head when he's tired from looking after Momma and entertaining all the guests at the shower! He'll be about the sixth baby to sleep in that cradle that Poppa made over 40 years ago for our first-born! I'll have to get a picture of that for sure!

Cupcakes

Here is a cute picture of my Munchkin in one of his cute outfits - and he is being cute and posing for me - don't ya think? I'm on my way upstairs to block the cupcake longies, and also block a pullover sweater I made for my brother-in-law. As soon as I'm done and they are dryed out again .. I will take pics and post them. Poppa is outside raking leaves. He has to take them to the township dump since we don't get leaf pickup any more - what a PITA. He took one trailer-load this morning and says he has another two loads before he is finished....he is now questioning whether he should have planted so many trees.

Whew!

What a week! I got home from Christopher's house - and the chief financial honcho at work had a huge project he needed done "immediately"! That took me three days and had me going back to work after supper. Then along came inventory, swiftly ensued by Hallowe'en and I've been so busy, I haven't posted here for days! So kinda in reverse order here's the latest going's-on. Christopher and Momma went to a staff bbq at her place-of-employment-before-Christopher. Oddly enough, she didn't send me a pic of what she wore - but here is a pic of what Christopher wore. He is looking quite like Poppa's "little man", as he is proudly referred to each time Poppa espies the new daily update photo when it appears on my computer desktop. Momma reports that Christopher behaved like a little gentleman - and was admired by all. Now that I am finally caught up at work I am getting back to my knitting in earnest. Remember way back at the beginning of October I said I was working on some cupcake longies for a small friend of mine in the US? They are getting very close to done....they will look something like this only finished...Hee! I have also finished the dress that I started for Taffy when I was at Christopher's place, but I haven't put the buttons on yet...so she will model it for me when I get that done, and then post a pic. Apparently she wants some pantaloons to go under it, but she has quite a small butt, so that won't take long! And here is Christopher lounging around after a hard day taking care of Momma and Gramma (not Nanna - the other one - Hee!)