Party time

This morning was A`s birthday party, which was so much fun. A`s mom and dad had planned many fun games involving music and balloonsWhen it was time for the cake, L. thought nobody was looking and he could get first dips... Someone managed to stop him so that A. could blow out the candles on an untouched cake, while a very attentive audience was anticipating their first bite....

Happy third birthday, girl!

Sun and Ice

We've had some amazing weather these past days and enjoyed going for walks on the beach. When the tide withdrew, it left behind a layer of ice on the seaweed, rocks and mudflats, which is much fun to explore.

Little S. slept through it all: L. likes to grab a handful of ice:

And then explore it further in his mouth...:

Horse for St. George the knight

For Christmas I gave my son L. a knight, created by my friend Anna. We called him St. George, after the knight in the book 'The Reluctant Dragon'. Of course a knight needs to have a horse to fight dragons, so I pulled myself together and started working. As I still get up twice a night, sometimes even three times, to feed little S. it's hard to keep my eyes open at night, but with little bits here and there I managed to get the horse ready: It turned out a bit crooked, but it has character, and L. loves it and that's the main thing.

Snowy start of 2009

To our surprise we have had a very white holiday season. These are part of Canada, but because of their location in the ocean we usually don't have a very white winter, more a grey and wet winter. It was a treat to look out of the window and find this magical white wonderland had all of a sudden surrounded our house: L. explored the ice and snow, he jumped on little pools of ice when it first formed, he slid on the frozen lake, he tried out a tobaggan with a friend, made a snow angel but refused to make a snow man.

Wishing everyone a very happy, healthy and inspiring new year!

Creations for Christmas

As I haven't been able to create much myself this year, apart from creating a little human being, I have been enjoying the crafts, gifts and creations of others. Here are some examples of beautiful creations that entered our house for Christmas.

This is Saint George the knight, who protects our household from dragons, made by Anna: Oh and I couldn't resist these cute ceramic owls, made by Bottle & Jug pottery studio in Tlell, on the islands here:

And these are some wonderful gifts and presents made by talented friends Ella and Jane. The wooden house is made by John Broadhead, who lives and works in Queen Charlotte:

A beautiful crown for our prince and a Christmas sweater by his Oma:

My mother has been quite creative and productive while she's been visiting and looking after our little ones. This white felt angel is one of her many angel creations, to bring peace:

We're very blessed by all these and more creations, thank you!

Journey into the world

We had quite a different birthing experience this time around. Instead of a smooth natural home birth, we were introduced to the emergency procedures of trying to give birth on Haida Gwaii. As the baby indicated that he wasn't happy during the contractions, I had to be flown in a huge Sikorsky helicopter to Prince Rupert Hospital:
An emergency c-section brought little S. into the world:After two short days of recovery we flew back home in a seaplane:

Where L. waited to meet his new brother:

Agate Beach

We went on our first camping trip this year, on Agate Beach near Masset. Beautiful spot, the campspots are right on the beach, you hear the waves coming and going continuously. Lief just loved exploring the beach, and especially going in and out of the water. It wasn't very warm, but he didn't seem to mind, as usual. I'm always surprised how well kids can deal with cold water.
Camping with little ones is hard work, especially at night time. Because of the light and the sounds, he didn't want to go to sleep until 10.30pm and he was up at the crack of dawn, 6am...