Summer is finally here, and well… so is the heat! But given that our summers last around two months before the chilliness returns again, we’re trying not to complain about the heat too much. Last Wednesday Natasha graduated her first year of kindergarten and brought home an outstanding report card, and of course we’re very proud of her and did not expect any less! She’s now happily awaiting September when she’ll begin her second year of kindergarten and also turn five aka “a whole hand!” She has already prepared a whole list of toys & clothes for me with items she’s expecting to get for her birthday.

Veronika is doing great too. She’s happy to have her sister home again in the mornings so she has a buddy to play with. She’s growing like a weed and is a non-stop chatterbox!

Fortunately or unfortunately (I can’t decide which), Natasha’s school is implementing a dress-code next year so I have started buying her appropriate clothing to prepare for an entire school year. Goodbye bright & colourful clothing and welcome white & navy blue!!! This is the first batch of her clothing, although today I bought a second batch so her school-appropriate-wardrobe is growing and hopefully will be ready by early September! Today’s batch included more blouses and decorative shirts so it’s not so formal for every day…

Otherwise, we have been spending our days baking – these Cappuccino Muffins are amazing, by the way! Try, try, try them!  They were moist and filled with that coffee flavour mixed with chocolate chips – yummy goodness. We all loved them and they were gone fast!

And painting! Which the girls LOVE! Especially cute little dollar store figurines.

And last, but not least, we’re also preparing for the arrival of “snowflake”! We’re excitedly awaiting the next ultrasound on July 14th to determine whether “snowflake” is a boy or a girl. We have no preference, but would love to know! I have been feeling him/her “kick” for about a week now and I have forgotten how great those little kicks feel. Hopefully soon the girls will be able to feel him/her as well

This is an outfit Natasha picked out for her baby brother/sister a few weeks back. She LOVED the little trains on this sleeper and we decided to bring it home and save it for the baby. I figure it’s relatively gender neutral to match either a boy or a girl.

Today we went to see Thomas the Tank Engine Live show. The girls (particularly Natasha) have been looking forward to the show for months now, and were extremely excited to see their favourite engine on stage. We weren’t too sure as to how Veronika would react being as it was her first theatre show, but she did wonderful – was on her best behaviour, paid attention, listened, and was truly interested in what was going on on stage. And Natasha naturally loved everything. She sang, made choo-choo whistle sounds, and followed all the instructions the actors gave the kids.

And of course, they were selling a ton of Thomas
related items in the theatre – watches, glowing sticks, bags and t-shirts. The girls REALLY wanted the red t-shirts and of course we caved in and got them each a bright red Thomas t-shirt!

Thomas the Tank Engine is still definitely one of their beloved, and most favourite toys. It’s one of those obsessions for them that isn’t a phase, but has been going for years and there isn’t an end in sight! They truly love this train and play with Thomas and “his friends” every single day. It’s pretty exciting to see this through their eyes.

It appears spring temperatures are finally here and the girls are definitely enjoying the warmer weather; March Break is about to end and I think Natasha is really missing school and excited to return there on Monday. Thursday, we spent an hour at the playground while this warmer weather lasts and both girls have really missed the playground!

And this morning we headed to Toys R Us so Veronika could pick herself a new toy to celebrate a completion of a reward chart, and Natasha… well Natasha is 4½ today so she got a toy just because! =) We also picked something for daddy for his upcoming 30th birthday but it’s a secret… shhh..!

The weather has recently warmed up, which is a little surprising for mid-February, but warmer weather evidently also brings more rain with it. It’s been extremely wet, not just from the snow/rain but also from the melting snow that was already on the ground.

A few days ago, I took the girls out to splash in some puddles – they had a blast!

On Friday afternoon, the girls enjoyed a good two hours of baking and decorating holiday cookies. I think it’s one of their favourite things to do, and they had a lot of fun being little helpers. We found a great sugar-cookie recipe and a homemade icing recipe, both of which are not super sweet and we found that everyone here enjoys them! (even Natasha & Matthew who are super cookie-picky).

We rolled out the dough & the girls cut out the heart-shaped cookies

While the first batch baked, they enjoyed playing with the leftover dough – eating some and making a big, big mess from the rest. Eh, the playtime is worse the mess!

Then, once they cooled off and pink & white icing was made, they went to town decorating.

And after all their hard work, they were ready. Yum!

Curious George (that silly monkey who belongs to the man in the yellow hat) is the current obsession in this household. The girls own several Curious George books and for Christmas Veronika received a cute stuffed Curious George while Natasha received a different stuffed animal, and this caused some… jealousy. I have never in my life seen Natasha this obsessed with any stuffed toy, even while she was in her Panda-phase as a toddler. And so she kept stealing borrowing her sister’s toy and hugging it, holding it, kissing, it… it had gotten sad & cute enough to go out and buy her an identical stuffed Curious George… and she has loved him since!

But while Natasha spends 4 hrs away in school every morning, Veronika definitely takes advantage and plays with both Curious George monkeys together.

… she admitted that Nemo is still her #1 favorite toy, though, with Curious George being a close 2nd!

Holidays are twice as fun when you have kids! And now that our kids are a bit older and understand the meaning behind holidays more, it’s even more exciting. This week Natasha has been telling me about all the “heart crafts” they are doing in school in prep for Valentine’s Day and she is super excited for anything V-Day related.

We decided to do goody-bags for the kids in her class this year since she’s constantly bringing home goody-bags from other children after different birthdays and holidays (it’s weird how many kids in her class are turning 5!); so we decided it’s our turn to make these. They were super fun & easy to put together and each baggy includes a V-Day pencil, eraser, heart-shaped lollipop and 5 cute stickers. She’s excited to have her teacher distribute these…

This year we also sent our Valentine’s cards for both sets of grandparents and for the girls’ cousins. I saw the idea online and created our own cards in Photoshop. I think they turned out pretty cute =) A “real” lollipop went were the hand is.

And the finished cards (… bad quality, it’s a photo of a photo!) I kept 2 for their memory box!

We will most likely do some sort of baking before the weekend as well, but I haven’t decided what just yet. And each girl will receive a small V-Day present from mommy & daddy. Did I mention holidays are more fun when you have kids? They sure are

Every once in a while my husband comes home with an unusual fruit. It’s usually something strange and exotic that we have never tried before. For instance, between the months of September through November it was the pomegranate (which wasn’t unusual to me since I grew up with them), but it was unusual to him; and during those three months while the pomegranates were in full season, I frequently caught him spending 20 whole minutes peeling the fruit and then 2 full minutes eating it. Yeah, not worth the effort (to me) and definitely worth the effort (to him).

And today it was a brand new experimental fruit – dragon fruit (Pitaya).

It was interesting to say the least! The fruit was soft and white inside with tiny black seeds and had a very mild taste that was a good cross between a kiwi and a pear. Natasha refused to try it, but Veronika tried some after Matthew explained that not trying will result in her getting eaten by a dragon… AHHH! But it worked, she tried, she ate, and she liked! Score.

I knew that having a child in school will guarantee all kinds of new illnesses entering our home and so far this winter has proven to be just that. We know it’s entirely normal but that doesn’t make it any less easier to deal with.

Saturday of last week, Natasha came down with what appeared to be a typical cold. But that was short lived after we realized she had something going with her eyes as well. A trip to the Paediatrician in the next day or so resulted in my poor girl having Tonsillitis and some viral eye infection. She ended up missing an entire week of school, but is now doing much better.

Well, naturally during that week both Veronika & I ended up getting a bunch of the cold-like symptoms among with the eye infection which proved to be incredibly contagious. It hasn’t been fun and I am still not seeing an end in sight, since our youngest isn’t fully recovered. At least the girls are pretty good about taking their meds. Is it spring yet?

“Like father, like daughters.” – summarizes this picture pretty well.

My two daughters, with inspiration from their comp-sci daddy, have become little iPod/iPad experts. They love those two little gadgets and beg to use them the moment Matthew steps foot in the door from a long day at work. Of course, both prefer the iPad being as it has a much bigger screen, but the iTouch is a nice alternative. And that they do – alternate daily. Twenty minutes before bed time is their time… Drawing board, memory games, ABC and number riddles, and jigsaw puzzles are just a few examples of the many app’s they love using. They know how to navigate the thing better than I do, even little 2.5 year old Veronika has no issues finding her way around. I suppose this is what growing up in 2011 is like. =)