Monday, November 10, 2014

To Market....

     From the May long weekend to Thanksgiving in October, we spend many of our Saturdays on the square in Goderich. We really enjoy being able to make great connections to the people growing or making the foods that we eat. Farmer's Markets give you the opportunity to ask questions about how things are grown or made directly from the source. The grocery stores cannot compete with the freshness of produce, meats, breads, pastries, and of course coffee that all can be found at markets.
 
Ryan selling some Coastal Coffee



 While Ryan is busy making and selling a great cup of coffee, the girls and I usually spend some time wondering around the courthouse. The town has down an awesome job at revitalizing the Square since the tornado went through a few years ago.

Penelope thinking about a possible career in law.




Looking back at the pictures I cannot believe how much the girls grew over the market season. I don't have any early pictures of Charlotte seeing as she was only 6 weeks old when market started and so was usually asleep in the carrier.

Penelope loves her market snacks. Blueberries, apples, carrots, and her all time favourite, chocolate buns!
The last day of the 2014 Goderich Market season.
Penelope and Daddy heading out to get some breakfast.

Penelope really likes to "help". 

It's kind of nice to have Saturdays back to get a few things done around the house but, as we do every winter, we sure will miss all the vendors, customers, and delicious provisions of the market! 


 

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

For Those Faraway People...

For those of you that live far away and would like to see a little bit of the girls in action, here's a few short videos... Enjoy!

First up, is Penelope and Hunter hanging out in the backyard in the spring, after all the snow had finally melted and they could actually run around the yard. 
 
 

Next up is another of the goofy little girl having some fun getting dizzy. 


Finally, here's one from this morning. It's a bit on the warm side today and so a little jump in the pool was the perfect thing to cool us down.


Friday, July 11, 2014

The Little House (and the long winter...)

In late October we moved into our little house. It wasn't something that we had really expected to happen but we are very glad that it did (I am anyways, though sometimes Ryan complains... mainly when it rains and water pours in the basement, but I think we have solved that problem). Having an aunt and uncle as realtors can be pretty awesome, as was the case for this house. We weren't actively searching for a house but keeping in more of a "if something comes up, then sure" mindset. Well this little thing came up... (the next few pictures were taken from a phone. Apparently, I didn't think a new house was worthy enough to use a real camera for photos). 

 

My uncle had let us know about it the very day it came available and, though it looked small, we had already decided that if it was even the same size as our apartment it would be worth it for the price. The mortgage is actually cheaper per month than what we were paying for rent. From the outside this house looks tiny, and in comparison to most it is, but the use of space inside makes it feel much bigger. Amazingly, it has 3 bedrooms (technically 4 but we are currently using one as a dining room), a good size living room, and lots of storage space in the basement and bedroom closets. So that night we put in an offer which was later accepted. Bam! Just like that, (and lots of paper signing and packing), we were moving. Good thing too as Charlotte was on the way and we weren't sure how that was going to work in our little apartment.

The little kitchen

A little Penelope and Ryan in the living room

A compact staircase at the back of the house, complete with hole in the wall.

One of the two upstairs bedrooms
Since moving in, my mom has discovered that little houses like this are called "Wartime Homes" and you can learn about them and see different plans for them here.  

Then we had an interesting first winter here. 
It was a very cold, very long winter. I personally like snow and think it's so beautiful and fun to play in, however, this year was almost too chilly to get out and enjoy it much.

Many days were too cold for the little one year old to be out for longer than 10 minutes or so at a time.

 

Even the dog thought it was too cold and would hide in the tunnel that Ryan had dug out in the back yard. 

Hunter in the giant snow drift fort
Hunter, Ryan and Penelope hiding from the cold in the fort
The winter did offer up some beautiful scenes though!

Clouds early in the morning
A winter full moon
A full moon shinning down our quiet street
Snow coating the trees
 There were times when it felt like winter would never end! We didn't think that we would need a snow blower, but we did get help a couple times. It would have taken a very long to time to shovel this out! 


Now I sit and look out the window to a much different view. 

 It needs a lot of work, but we are really liking this little place we now call home.


Friday, June 13, 2014

The Little Girlies...


Since it has been so long I will give a general update of the little girls that we have been so blessed to call our daughters. I'll start with Charlotte....

Little Charlotte
 Charlotte is our little April Fools baby. She was born on April 1st, weighing 6 lbs. 6oz. Just a few ounces smaller than Penelope had been. Both our girls were born in the same small hospital in Goderich, in the same room, and both times it was supposed to be the same doctor, who, due to the speedy delivery time, missed both births. However the hospital has great nurses and staff who did an excellent job with everything!    

Ryan and Charlotte in our room at the hospital in Goderich.


So far her personality has been totally different from her big sister. She's more quiet and cuddly than Penelope but just as cute!


She's also got quite a bit more chunk on her! 
 

Then there's Penelope. What a girl! At 18 months she chatters non-stop about who knows what (although she has quite the vocabulary for her age), loves to sing and dance to her own songs, is very independent, super shy when confronted by most, is crazy about animals, flowers, and rocks, and loves her little sister soooo much.


Constantly has dirty feet too...


We just love this little goof. 
 




It's pretty awesome to have been given these two little people to look after. I foresee lots of giggles and laughter in my future.