The past month

Here I am at the computer equipped with words to write about the past month.
Our month began with a family reunion in Winnipeg at our small apartment! Mom and Dad Colvin arrived before everyone else and helped us with some much needed apartment improvements, as well as basic cleaning and prep for the arrival of the rest of the Colvin's!
Here are some photo's highlighting the time we had together!





Dave had the brilliant idea of having an all-Holidays dinner with the a Turkey and all the works, including decorations:




I don't have a picture of the outing but the all the girls set out one afternoon to paint ceramics! It was neat to sit together and see the creativity come out of my family members! Everything turned out beautifully (the girls haven't seen their pieces yet so they will have to trust me on this one)! I think while we were painting the guys were racing cars and I heard it rumored that Dad actually got up to the highest speed (correct me if i'm wrong)!




It was really great to play, bake, eat, talk, laugh, and shop! We also had family photos done, which I am very excited to pick up in a day or two!

Thanks everyone for your visit with us. Claire, I hope your new place is coming together in a new and fresh way. Mark and Rachel, we hope you are feeling more settled and making new connections daily. Mom and Dad, we hope you are still finding time to relax together with you new busy schedules. As for us, Corrina and I are sick, Dave is so busy with his art class, youth group, and other church responsibilities, and everyone keeps asking if Corrina got a hair cut. She didn't!

This is turning into a LONG post, so I better get some good comments!
My birthday also passed last week! Thanks to friends and family for making it a special day/weekend. Dave and I went square dancing at Bre's church's Annual square dance! It was a hoot. I wish I could join a square dancing troop without being mercilessly mocked! Dave gave me some fabulous presents for my birthday: a lovely serving tray (picture to come), candles, some delicious liquor (bailey's, and melond liquer), an itunes cd, a gift card for a book store, and a Mystery science 3000 movie! I also had a very meaningful lunch with my friend Allison and enjoyed our time together dinning, shopping and talking!

And lastly, we went to look at another north end housing project house, on a very lovely street (although the surrounding neighbors hoods are quite scary), with a big yard! The house has three bedrooms, a drywalled basement with no cracks or problems, an open concept kitchen and living room (well, there is a halfwall between the two so one can see the living room from the kitchen), a small dinning area, a big bathroom upstairs, and a half bathroom on the main floor. The kitchen is a great shape and size, the living room is a little less than we have now, but there is potential for doing more with the basement! The house has a high efficiency furnace, new windows, new electrical (very nice light fixtures), and is very modern looking! We are currently trying to decide if we want to make an offer to purchase.

Back?

We are back in a normal (some may say boring) routine of life, school, daycare, work, therapy, cleaning, baking, singing, laughing, yelling, tantruming, creating, eating, and making playdoh.
We had such fun with our family visit last week. I have photos to upload and will blog about the time soon!

My thoughts for the day: if only life were as easy as making playdoh:
mix:
1 c. flour
1/4 c. salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar

combine and add:
1 c. water
2 tsp food coloring
1 tbsp oil

stir while heating on medium heat in pot on stove. it will appear all lumpy and funny and you will think it isn't working out, but it is! Soon, 2-5 minutes, a ball/lump will form in the center. Work the spoon around the pot to combine most of the dough, then dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed it! it will be wonderful, smooth and colorful. Remember to let it cool a few minutes before little fingers squish into the fun.

I know this playdoh post merits a picture, but Corrina was 'washing' dishes (or the floor!) and I didn't have the camera at hand. Trust me though, excellent recipe!