And it begins

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Monday, November 17th, 2014

Look what arrived today!  No, not him.  He's been around for ages.  The snow!  The snow!  This is met by some with fear and trepidation and by others with unbridled excitement.  In all honesty there is an element of apprehension - winter is long and the cold gets painful at times and the snow and ice can be relentless and tiring.  But... it is spectacular and we live in a city that has access to one of the best cross country ski facilities in the world.  If you don't believe me I refer you to last season's photo of Shilly Shally hut.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  This may be a flash in the pan.  In the meantime what has we been up to?



I don't do the blog at weekends mainly because its purpose is somewhat negated.  I have Crystal around to share my experiences with in real time and that's how I prefer it.  The blog is to some extent my sounding board.  I've always been someone who wants to share experiences with people, to have someone to turn to and say 'wow!'.  Not that the kids aren't wonderful company but they see things through different eyes and the sympathy is limited.  The weekend was decent - a trail run at Wolf, a birthday party at Crystal's co-workers and a tree transplanting brunch on Sunday.

Monday dawned not only with snow but also plans of the EYC playgroup.  But Felicity got up late, showed no interest in leaving the house and discovered a big box.  So we stayed put, Toby napped at 9am and Felicity wore her pyjamas until noon.  Having been up since 5.15am I was happy just to gently steer the youngsters through their day of free play and merrymaking.  It felt like an experiment in what if we do nothing?  And today it worked.  We did go to the grocery store and it helped hugely that Toby had two naps because there is only so much that the two of them can tolerate of each other.



On the way to the grocery store Felicity picked up some snow.  "Daddy can I take the snow into the mall?".  Dad: "Well what does snow turn into when it gets hot?".  "A ladybug (ladybird)!".  "Well not exactly but I can see where your thinking is at".

Felicity helped me to make dinner while Toby had Nap II.  She did an incredible job of peeling the garlic cloves of an entire bulb.  Now I know why they get kids to stitch soccer balls (footballs).  Such patience and dexterity.  And I didn't pay her a cent (penny).




Things finally started to unravel after Nap II.  Everyone is getting tired and Dad is now frustrated by the insurmountable mess but Mum gets home just in time to whisk the kidlets upstairs and let Dad restore his cherished order, somewhat.

Tomorrow is a busy day with swimming, grandparents visiting and Grandma's birthday dinner at Kristy's.  Expect tantrums and timeouts.

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