Chugging Through Life with the Northcott Family: 2013

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Time

Time is an interesting thing! It is 6AM here in Ashern, Manitoba the sun is just rising. I was just talking to my friend Nicole, she lives in Harvey, New Brunswick, it is 8AM. I noticed Raymond's cousin Patrick was online, it is 4AM in BC where he is! Yes I know that is happening all the time, but I just found it interesting.

What is time spent doing?

Well this morning time is getting ready to head into Winnipeg, to spend time with family!

Raymond's sister Jacquie and her husband Wes, and two children Jared and Arianna are here from Calgary! Can't wait to spend some more time with them this week!

Beth (Doug's wife) is celebrating her 30th birthday today!

This is not her cake! Happy Birthday Beth!!!!!!

Dennis and Amanda will also be joining in the festivities! What a good day!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Kids say the Cutest Things

We've had a painting by Greg Olsen called Forever and Ever that we've had in our entryway since we moved here and put up pictures, and I'd wanted to move it to Abbey's room for the longest time, but hadn't gotten around to it!

When we changed Abbey's bed we decided to move the picture as well. Raymond was preparing to hang it, and the picture was on the spare bed in Abbey's room. She climbed up and began looking at it.

Pointing to Jesus said, "Jesus"

"Yes that's Jesus, Abbey."

Then she looked some more and pointing at the little girl said,

"Abbey"

Awwwwwwww.......... love it!

Can't wait until we hang the Greg Olsen print we got for Jack's room

"Take my Hand"

The Time Out

There once was a girl with a curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she good she was very, very good,

But when she was bad she was horrid!

Okay so we don't exactly have Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde for a daughter, but lately Abbey has had a great deal of frustration trying to communicate and as a result she's been hitting Jack or us, throwing toys, or whatever... we've decided to try time outs!

After such an episode the other day, I put her in her crib. (This is not her crib, but her crib is identical.)

I put her into her crib, and went back to the kitchen for a minute. The phone rang it was my mother-in-law, I was just to head down with the phone to Abbey's room to get her when she appeared in the kitchen. I was stunned... how did you get here? With a gleam in her eye and a smile on her face, when faced with questioning she answered "No" to did you climb out of your crib? "No" to did someone lift you out? and "No" to did you fly?

Anywho after watching her scale it later that afternoon, we decided that her days in the crib were over, and we changed her into a toddler bed!

Abbey's has an extra piece on it though as we bought Jack the same crib so there are two rails to help keep her in her bed she is a mover and a shaker!

Abbey loves her new Toddler bed so much and the new freedom it gives her... although she hasn't figured out how to open her door yet!

Chilling with Abbey

Love this picture! Her hair has such curl to it!

How does one start this car?

Love this smile! Wow

Can I help you with something????

Just playing with the water and sand table!

Outside Fun with Jack

Not quite sure where to go with my wheels!

Perhaps I need some gas.

Perhaps I'll go right!

Or maybe I'll just back up and park here.

Jack was so cute in the car... he even managed to back up a bit on his own, on his tiptoes! He decided he was old enough to exit the vehicle on his own though, and took a tumble. Thankfully the BBQ cover was right there to break his fall.

The Phone Call

So one Saturday morning, I happened to be out mowing our lawn, it needed it!

Raymond was inside with Jack and Abbey... it was early, just after 8AM, and a police car pulled into our driveway.

So my first thought was that I breaking some noise violation by cutting my lawn at 8AM, and one of my neighbors had complained, not that we've ever had any problems with our neighbors! My second thought was that he was having some kind of computer issue and needed Raymond's computer expertise!

Nope wrong on both counts.

He got out and I had shut of the lawn mower at this point, and said, "Can I help you?"

"Did anyone at this residence call 911?"

"Not that I'm aware of... but my family is inside."

In we went, I summoned Raymond and Abbey out of the basement, Jack was blissfully sleeping in his swing. As soon as Raymond saw the officer, he was like... "oh as soon as I heard the beep beep beep I knew she'd called 911. I was waiting for them to call back, but they didn't."

"They tried the officer said but the line was busy... so they sent me."

He took down our names and birthdates... it wasn't like he could give Abbey a lecture or anything, told us he was glad we were okay, and left.

Sigh... the only #'s she knows are 1 and 2... I didn't think we had to worry about 911 for awhile but we have one phone where it was preprogrammed in (on account of insane neighbors I had in Brandon, when I lived there, who had very loud parties, would break their own windows, and who had screaming matches at 3 and 4 AM in the morning!)

Abbey- Sign Language and Talking!

So we taught Abbey a few signs to help with communication, I managed to catch please on camera... My baby girl has lost her cute smile and is now doing weird smiles... I love and miss her ear to ear grins!

Abbey learned your basic, please, thank you, more, milk, water, up, down, cheese (although she rarely used it).

Now this cute girl is talking and babbling and singing all the time! She's done the actions to the Itsy Bitsy Spider forever, but now she is saying spider! Yeah.

The ABC song is super fun... the Upper Case letters are what she sings...
ABcdefGhijklmnoPqrStuVwXyZ now I know my abc's next time won't you sing with ME!!!!!! Loving it!!!

She also wants to help with everything! Helping with the laundry is awesome, she'll fill the laundry hamper with dirty clothes, she'll unload the dryer into the hamper, and if I pass her the stuff from the washer, she puts it in the dryer! I love her helping with laundry! Wanting to sweep the floor not so much... oh she wants to help but the way she wields a broom, leaves a lot to be desired.

Jack gets Teeth

We happened to stay home from Church on the 23 because we were all sick! I was playing around with Jack when I noticed something hard poking out of Jack's gums on the bottom! A tooth, it was quickly joined by a second on the bottom, and a week later we noticed that two more teeth were coming in on top!

Jack has an amazing smile as well! He is such a joy!

Friday, March 29, 2013

The Cacti Garden

I love to shop! There is definitely no doubt about it, however, I don't "like" to shop, as a lot of shoppers do... I like to shop in that I have somewhere to go and I go and find bargains there... for example, last week the family headed to Minnedosa for appointments in Brandon. I had to run into the Co-op in Minnedosa for milk for Abbey... however, once I got into Co-op, I was in awe... it is so much larger than our Co-op, and has so many more exciting things... you can tell I've lived in a small town too long when I'm excited about things like a deli, a bakery dept, and vegetables like crazy... and extra stuff... like today!

Today I found cacti plants, and I fell in love, so I bought 4! I bought a Moonflower cactus, it is neat, green on the bottom with pink on top! A different kind of Aloe plant called "Aloe Freckles", a golden barrel cactus which I have poked myself with more than once (good thing it isn't poisonous), and Dondo. Then the next day my mom decided that instead of buying me some easter flowers, she'll add to my garden! Yippee. Back to Co-op I went and I got three others, the coolest by far is the Baby Toes, they have a translucent window (toenail) so they can photosynthesize! I also got a Rainbow Elephant Bush, apparently they grow a whole lot bigger in Africa, because the elephants eat them, and I can't imagine them eating my little bush! I'm not sure what the other was called right now! But here is my garden!

Jack--> 4 Months Old??!?!?!?!?!?

Wowza!!!!!! Where has the time gone! Jack is 4 months old! ;) We love him so much! Hard to believe he should only be about 2 months old and we wonder just where he'll fall on the development schedule, will he do things when he is 4 months old, or will we have to wait a little longer for those developmental milestones? Whatever his schedule, we'll just keep enjoying him!