The Park in November

On Monday we went out to the park to enjoy one last warm day before winter came.

 

But on Friday the weather was gorgeous!  

The tunnel doesn't really thrill Helena but the first stair does, 

as it makes it so easy to get up on her feet!

What could be better than a ride on the swing?

Poor John

You know the homework is tough when John almost completes 2 Akkadian exercises in the time that I put together these three tables.

By the way, he has 10 more to do tonight.

Two things that make life easier in the U.S.

It's been awhile since I wrote anything about life in Canada.  That's probably because it has just become so normal for us.  We still do have moments in which we have no idea what others are talking about but now more of our focus is on how to live in the downtown of a very large city.  This led me to realize two things I really miss about the U.S.

1) Target - It seems to always have things in stock.  One thing I've learned about living and shopping downtown is merchandise goes quickly.  Not only are all the people who live downtown shopping in the downtown stores but so are all the people who work downtown.

For example, I went to the mall to find Helena a Christmas dress.  The Children's Place had 1/4 of the store full of 0-24 month Christmas outfits for girls.  Being the indecisive shopper that I am, I decided to talk to John about the ones I liked and then go back and buy one.  A week later I went back and there was a shelf about 2 1/2 feet long holding those same outfits.  Everything else had been sold!

2) Amazon.com - It's amazing how much shopping one does when she has a baby/has a new apartment to put together/has Christmas presents to buy/and more.  It would be so wonderful to just open up the internet, find the items I need (at lower prices too), and then have them arrive at my doorstep!  Amazon.ca has a LONG way to go...

But while those two things that make life simpler are missed, we are enjoying the community of university housing, all the free activities that we can now take part in, and being so much closer to friends.  So, despite the lack of easy shopping, we're liking city life!

She's all grown up.

Okay, so maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but I do feel like Helena has reached a major milestone in life that simply says "I'm Big!"  For some it's no longer needing the car seat attachment on the stroller, for others it's eating real food, but when Helena did those things it felt pretty normal.

For me it's having her be able to go from lying down to sitting up ALL BY HERSELF.

Now I look at her and she's lying down.  Three seconds later I look again and she's sitting.  Two minutes later she's lying down again.  Or I go in her room after a nap and she's sitting up!  All I want to say is "How has all of this happened without me knowing about it?" 

I know, I need to face reality.  She's only going to be doing more and more all by herself.  Like today she began to search out ways to pull herself up into a standing position! 

While the time is going quickly and it seems like only yesterday we brought her home wrapped as a burrito, I have to say my mom is right.  I wouldn't want it any other way.

Fall Leaves Fall

Helena LOVES reading.  She happily sits in our laps while we read book after book after book to her.  Of course, she does that when the books are ones that interest her, as some definitely do not.  One book that never fails to capture her attention is Fall Leaves Fall.

Today we decided to enjoy the gorgeous weather by going out to Queen's Park and letting Helena do just what the boys do in the book - play in those leaves!

 There were so many dry crispy ones.

Helena did lots of inspecting in order to determine which kind of leaf each was.

As you can see, it was so much fun!

Our time in the park also provided ample opportunity to get on those hands and knees.  No crawling yet but she's trying hard to figure it out.  She's concentrating so hard her tongue is sticking out!

Laughing with Mommy

She's got the best laugh.

Beware of an Up and Coming Addiction

A special treat that John's grandma makes is called Cracker Candy.  It's delish.  Saltines, butter, brown sugar, and chocolate chips - not hard to see why it's good, right?  But it's not just good, it's incredibly addicting.  So much so that I try to not make it very often because I know I'll eat way more than I should.

Yet John loves it and wishes I made it more often.  Being the ingenious and daring man that he is, he took on the challenge to come up with a 

personal-size microwave-friendly recipe.

Arrange six saltines on parchment paper in a glass container that will contain the future goo. (Parchment paper is crucial, as otherwise the cracker candy will be difficult to get out and aluminum paper doesn't mix with the microwave.)

Nuke 2.5 Tbsp butter and 2.5 Tbsp brown sugar until butter is melted.  

Stir.  Nuke it for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each nuke, until the caramel is thick and combined.

Pour over saltines.  Nuke crackers & caramel until the goo is bubbling all over, somewhere between 1.5-2.5 minutes.

Sprinkle 3-4 Tbsp. of chocolate chips on top.  

Nuke for another 30 seconds and then spread the chocolate to cover the crackers.

Freeze until solid, around 45 minutes.

Twiddling thumbs is a good activity to help fill the time while you wait.

Break into pieces and try to eat only one piece.  

The below photo has microwave cracker candy on the left and oven cracker candy on the right.  There's really no difference!

All photo credits for this blog post belong to John.