What have we been up to?

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We were looking after our niece for three full days last week (that was a lot of work, maybe one kid is good enough???) But it was lots of fun and Anushka loves other kids, so she was entertained just following her around. We went to see our other niece compete in Irish dancing and I got to see her to her two-hand and three-hand (dancing with 1 and 2 other girls). Anna got to hang with her Grandma's this weekend and saw both her Great Grandmas in the past week. Jeff and I went to the Leonard Cohen concert (below is Hallelujah, one of the best songs of the night, and it is a much better view than we had!). It was beautiful and thoughtful and generally just a great show all around. The best sound I have heard in Rexall. And we got a bonus visit from Vik, which is always nice. We had a late Easter dinner (hurray, ham, finally!) this past weekend as well. This week has been awesome for school, I am on a roll and am excited about getting work done. The clock is ticking for Jeff to go back to work (25 more days!), so the fire has been lit to get as much done as I can. And now this weekend we are celebrating the big 3-5 for Jeff. A weekend filled with family and friends. And I decided, at least temporarily, that money can buy happiness. We bought a king size bed, and the thought is making me very happy! Enjoy all of the new pictures of the kid - she is keeping us entertained every minute of the day.

The beater monster

Tonight I made chocolate cupcakes for Jeff's birthday this weekend. This is the first picture. Check out the rest in the album. I was in the dining room pouring the batter into the pans, so I missed some hilarity. Jeff put Anna down to go run a bath. He left her on the kitchen floor with the beater. He then heard a clink, clink, clink, as she crawled towards that bathroom, beater in hand. Chocolate hand prints all the way to the bathroom. The beater came with her, until she saw that the bath was being run. Then she ditched it in the hallway and headed for the bath, where she proceeded to leave chocolate marks all along the edge of the tub while she waited to get into the bath. Mom and dad were left with a big mess to clean up, but we had lots of laughs along the way. Man, she just gets funnier and funnier.

Trail of destruction

Anna discovered the lazy Susan today...

Bubbles

Anushka and Great Grandma Marge

Tada!

Anushka has mastered her new trick. It took a while, but she does it most of the time now when prompted.

Video rotating solved

Jeff found a program called MPEG Streamclip to rotate video. I will add some of the good ones we have taken in the last couple of months. But first, here is a video from last night. Anushka got a new toy from Auntie Gabby and Uncle Chris.

X-Box

First ride of the season

This week I rode my bike to school for the first time in a long time (I didn't do much riding when I was pregnant and then last summer Anna was too little to go on a bike with me, so I didn't do much riding either). It was awesome to not have to deal with traffic and not pay for parking. The streets still have a lot of sand on them, but once they are cleaned it will be a smooth ride. I forgot about how cold the wind can make riding, but it should be only warmer weather from now on. Now we just have to get the chariot hooked up to the bike and we can get some riding in with Anna in tow. Hurray for summer!

Wrestling

Easter Chocolate

Playing outside

Yesterday Jeff and I were doing some yard work, so we let Anushka explore. She was playing with rocks, leaves and was very interested in crawling towards the garage. It resulted in a very dirty girl, since she drags herself around. She wasn't too impressed by the hat, either, so we will have to work on it. More pictures of her backyard adventures are in the album.

Crawling

Strawberry

Tissue tossing - the video

Anushka is famous

Jeff and I were curious, so we googled "Anushka" and her first haircut is in the top ten. I didn't realize her name was that rare.

We decided to go the youtube route for videos, since I haven't had success in posting them through blogger. Enjoy them, there is some pure comedy.

Video test

Maracas and drum

Anushka loves music, so she has been thoroughly enjoying the maracas and drum she got from Grandma. And we're not sick of it yet, so that's good, because she likes to keep it going and going and going. Shake it up!

Teeth!!!

My favorite food is strawberries, can you tell?