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! 

 

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.

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.

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. 

A Few New Things

Oops! It's been almost a year since I last posted on the blog. The last year has been kinda busy... ok more like I lost interest and got too lazy to write a new post. However, I know there are a few people interested in seeing some updates via my blog. 

Well I apparently didn't use my camera enough in the fall because I don't have many photos of it. It's not that it wasn't eventful it just seems as though I took more pictures with my phone than with my camera. One of the major events was that we moved from our small apartment that we had been calling home for the slightly over a year, to a little white house that came up for sale and was too good of a deal to pass up. I'll have to do a post on it later when I actually take pictures of it with my camera...

Here is a photo I did take of myself with little Penelope peeking over my shoulder while we wondered through the conservation area outside of town. 

 

Another occasion worth mentioning is my little sister M'lynn getting engaged!

Her and Taylor will be getting married this September and I'm excited to be a part of it! 

Aren't they cute! 

 

Next was the welcoming of a new little man to the Drudge family! 

 You can't tell from this picture but Jonah is pretty much the happiest baby ever! He is usually full of smiles and giggles. He's also huge. With 10 months between him and Penelope you'd think there would be at least some size difference. She may have a little height on him still but not much and he sure has some super cute chunkage!

 

After the fall came the long winter. With the long winter came piles (and piles, and piles) of snow! 

Our backyard drifted in quite a bit and was deep enough to build some pretty deep tunnels. 

We also had the opportunity to go hunting for sheds again; the antlers that drop off deer every year. My little possy included Hunter and Penelope. 

 

We were successful at finding one good size antler this year.

 

 

Finally there was the arrival of spring and with it we added a new addition to our family. Miss Charlotte arrived April 1st around 5 o'clock in the evening weighing 6 lb., 6 oz. We're all just in love our new little doll. 

So there's the quick version of what's happened over the last year. I will most likely go into more detail on some of these events as they continue to unfold.