Random Entertainment From the Lily Pad

I haven't written a Life On The Lily Pad in a while and I'm not really sure why. I haven't had my camera out as much as I normally do so I'm sort of short on pictures. And with no pictures, there's no Lily Pad posts. The girls are just as cute and sweet and unpredictable as ever but I just don't seem compelled to photograph them as much as I used to. It's really horrible. I have to find a way to snap myself out of it because I like having a pretty continual photographic record of our lives. I think some of the issue is that we seem to do a lot of the same things that we've done before and, for no rational reason, I don't feel that repeat occasions require more photos. Claire's birthday is in a couple of weeks and I'll have to take lots of photos of that. Maybe I'll snap out of my funk then. In the meantime, if you have any concept of how I can possible make a Disney Aurora cake for her birthday I'd be forever grateful.

Anyway, this morning I took a little video of the kids and I thought I'd share (since they haven't been here in movie form in a looooooong time):

Miss April

I've never had the physique (or the nerve) to become a calendar model but I always thought it would be sort of neat to walk up to someone and introduce myself as Miss Whatever-Month-Of-The-Calendar-I-Had-Been-Relegated-To. This, it appears, is my chance:

Hi, I'm Miss April, pleased to meet you!

Back in August I submitted a few pictures of my Lizard Ridge afghan to the Knitty 2009 Calendar Contest. A couple of weeks ago I found out that one of my pictures was chosen to be in the calendar. Yesterday, the thing was released. It would have been super-cool to win the grand prize (get your picture on the cover and win a huge box of yarn and books and stuff) but I'm happy being a runner up.

Here's the link to the calendar. If you click on View Calendar Pages and then April you'll see my shot there. If you don't have the time or energy to do all that clickin', this is more or less what they put in the calendar:


I took this photo when we were in Rose Blanche, Newfoundland this summer visiting family. On the morning of our departure, I hung the afghan out on the clothesline at my aunt's house and took some photos of it both looking out to sea with some boats and an island in the background and some like this, looking across the harbour at my grandparents' house and my uncle's fishing boat in the background. I took a bunch out by the lighthouse with the girls too but trying to get kids to pose on/with a wool blanket in August when there are rocks and the ocean and a lighthouse and cousins to be with....well, it was an exercise in futility.

I'm glad they put my photo in for April because that's when our #3 is due and that just seems right to me. Anyway, I'll stop gloating now. Hope everyone has a good weekend (tip for a good weekend...don't watch CNBC...seriously...it's ugly).

Better Than Prison...Worse Than A Fine

A snippet from the Maclean's magazine I got in the mail today:

Wowzers. I'd prefer to pay the fine than have to knit and give away sweaters. I dug around a bit on the net and apparently she slashed approximately 50 tires. The woman is 89-years-old! Unless she's a heck of a lot faster than me I somehow doubt that every victim of her crimes are going to get their compensation. Personally, I think I'd probably go all passive-aggressive and make 'em all neon orange acrylic with random intarsia horrors in various shades of pink.

Get Your Hand-Me-Downs Here

Jillian in Claire's Cherished Pullover from last year. Claire in my barnyard pullover from either the late 70s or early 80s (I wish I had a picture of me in it):

CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!

They are both holding their new whistling Shaun the Sheep (click the link...hear the tune) toys that their friend (and mine) Anne brought them from the UK. We've only had the sheep for a few hours so my sanity is still intact. Not sure what that tune will have done to me by tomorrow this time though (do do do daaa...da do do daaa).

Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood

Thank you all for the lovely congratulatory comments on the announcement of upcoming #3. I'm so glad to have you all out there reading about my trials and tribulations...it keeps me writing.

We had a very quiet, but very lovely Thanksgiving weekend. I've been suffering with a nasty cold turned nastier cough (imagine full, five-minute long fits of hacking) so I wasn't up for loads of activity. We did manage to take the kids out of the house a couple of times before they went all "Lord of the Flies" from cabin fever. Seriously, sometimes I want to get a huge conch shell and put it on the table so I can occasionally wield it over my head and holler "I got the conch!" in an attempt for undivided attention and a little bit of quiet.

It was 30 degress Celsius (that's about 86 in Fahrenheit) here yesterday. Despite the fact that it wasn't a crisp fall day, we decided to take the kids for a nature walk under the turning leaves. DH gave me a new macro lens for my birthday and I have been looking for excuses to play with it (it is an AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm for those into such things). I'm learning that the best way to get some photography play time is to make sure the kids are occupied too so I dug out their Little Tykes digital cameras that they got for Christmas last year and told them we were going out to take pictures. They thought that was a cool idea (even though Jillian didn't take even one picture).

Here's Jillian stopping to smell some flowers on our way into the forest:


The kid sniffs like she means it.

Claire started taking photos immediately:



I thought it was really beautiful in the woods and had several Robert Frost moments. Jillian, on the other hand, started telling us the forest was scary, complete with actions:


She kept saying it was a jungle and asking about monkeys and DH did freak her out once when he joked with her by saying "oooh oooh aaah aaah aaah". She didn't realize it was him right away and went into full red alert looking for monkeys.

She lightened up after a while:


We really like seeing all the bugs and beasts when we go out walking. I tried to get photos of all we saw:


A Monarch butterfly. Looks like a bird got a chomp in at him once.


A bug we decided was a praying mantis even though we really don't have a sweet clue (I bet someone out there in blog land does. Let me know in the comments if you do, ok?).

We saw snakes too. This one was tiny:


This one was bigger (we figure he was about two feet long). He was basking in the sun in the middle of the path but when we tried to point him out to the girls they couldn't see him. DH thought this was a learning opportunity they needed to have so he picked the little wiggler up (remember...we are from a snake-free province. We think snakes are novel.). When he tried to show the girls they squealed just like you expect little girls to do. It was hilarious. Anyway, I sort of like this photo of him even though my depth of field is awfully shallow:



There is a pretty steep learning curve with the new lens so I didn't get the most fantastic photos ever but I'm pretty sure I'll get there. Same goes for Claire and her photography (I love that she had so much fun with this):

Her view of a caterpillar. I had touched him so she could take a photo and he was in "I'm dead...nothin' to see here...move along" posture:


She took a lot like this, with her foot:



And a lot like this, of the path in front of her. I think she took these because she saw me with the camera pointed straight down at leaves and mushrooms and snakes and such:



She took this one of us and said "Ooops...I got Jillian's body and your legs. I'm gonna try again":


Her second attempt was a lot better:

You gotta love how I managed to convince DH to carry the camera bag while I just toted the camera.

She told me once to stay still for a photo (I think she was tired of chasing things down) and that worked out:


Just before we went home I set us up for a self-portrait. Claire has been sad a few times at school and her teacher asked that I put a photo of the family in her backpack so she can look at us when she misses us. I came home to get one and did not have even one recent photo with all four of us in it. I'll have to get this one printed for her. I like my little remote control shutter release way better than the self-timer. The timer always makes me scramble around like a fool. At least with the remote I can tell the kids to smile and then press the button myself. Overall, it was a great day despite the strangely warm weather.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Announcement time. We are going to add one last wee person to our family (some days "pack" feels like a more appropriate word than "family" but that's the way things are round here sometimes). Here's an ultrasound pic from last week as proof:



Worst 12 week ultrasound pics I've ever been given but in real life this babe was as cute on the screen as his/her sisters. Everybody asks if we are hoping for a boy and I have to say that I'm fairly indifferent about sex. I'll be content with whoever it is. I know what girls are all about and I like girls so that's fine with me. A boy would be different and I can see the allure but I'd find it hard to imagine myself as the mother of a boy (truth be told, I'd be happy never to own a Tonka truck).

For the most part, I feel great. In fact, I feel better than I did when I was pregnant with the other kidlets. I'm a little bit tired (but isn't every mother of a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old) and always hungry but my strangest symptoms are an overactive sense of smell and a completely unslakable thirst. On Saturday, I could smell the strawberries at the grocery store long before I was within sight of them and then I neeeeeeeeeeded to buy some who-cares-if-they-were-shipped-from-California-and-look-a-little-overripe. The thirst is the most irritating symptom and I've taken to carrying a huge water bottle laced with the tiniest bit of cran-raspberry juice with me everywhere I go (I hate water). I was worried about gestational diabetes but was reassured by my doctor that my sugar levels are fine so I guess it's just another symptom.

It's a bit of a different experience this time because Claire is old enough to understand that she is going to get a new brother or sister. Jillian doesn't really get it but Claire talks about it almost every day. She has a bit of trouble with the idea that there is a baby in my "belly" though. Last week she put her hand, with all seriousness, on my left breast and said "Mommy, Nanny says if I put my hand on your belly like this the baby will kick me". It took all my power not to laugh at her. I told her that the baby is too little for her to feel yet and she delights in holding her hands apart and asking if is it this big (hands as wide as a loaf of bread) or this big (two fingers held so they almost touch). Yesterday I resorted to taking a lime out of the fridge and handing it to her "that big!" I announced and she was finally satisfied. She has rooted around in both her own and Jillian's bedroom and found some things that she wants the baby to have and I'm convinced she's going to be a great helper (please, please, let her be a great helper).

I'm due around Easter and I'm sure you'll be hearing/seeing a lot more about this wee one as time goes on. There. Now you are allllllll up to date!

My Latest Finished Knitting Project

A couple of weeks ago, I finally finished my Sirdar Eco Wool sweater. I love it. It fits me nicely and is toasty warm. When it gets a touch cooler I can imagine myself wearing it a lot instead of my coat. For right now, it is living on a dress form up at Main St. Yarns. One day I brought my camera in and had a photo taken:



Gah! I hate pictures of me. Anyway...you get the idea. A quick and easy knit for sure.

Carolyn recently added Cascade 220 to her stock and I insisted I get to stand in front of the glorious wall of colour. I could sit and stare at them all day.

Things have been really busy around here lately and so I haven't had much time for blogging. I hope things will slow down soon so I can get back at it but till then I'll try to pop in every now and again.