I can’t believe it’s been two months since my last update.   Spring has a way of making things come to life… including life itself and we’ve been busy little bees.

Of course the best news is that the snow is long gone and the lake is no longer a frozen tundra.   It’s so good to hear the water lapping against the shore again.  The trees and flowers are already beginning to bloom.

Tabytha began her first swimming lessons last October starting as a Salamander and has just graduated from Swim Kids II.   What a difference a few months of lessons can make.   When she first started, she was scared to jump off the side into the shallow end. Now she’s swimming in the deep end and jumping off the diving board unassisted.

Austin, worried that his little sister would get better than him, joined in on the swimming lessons and completed Swim Kids IV.

Living on the water, it’s so important that they both be strong swimmers.   Now we just have to teach Dad to float.  ;o)

After a couple of days getting used to all the noise and activity around here, Nibbles finally braved the great outdoors and left her castle to visit us.   Geez… She’s hard to catch.

Introducing Nibbles…

  She is quite adorable and Tabytha just loves her new friend.

Today we picked out Tabytha’s birthday present… a guinea pig of her very own named Nibbles.  No pictures yet, she’s pretty scared, but we did get some of her fellow barnyard friends.

Today my little witchy-poo turned 6 years old… I can hardly believe it!  It seem like just yesterday I first met her as she lay swaddled up staring at me from across the room.

A moment that inspired one of my favorite and most touching pieces…

An day to remember in those 365 days a year.

So it seems I’m terrible at keeping any kind of structure… even my 365 days project.  Taking the pictures is the easy part, it’s uploading them to Flickr and posting them here that escapes me.

LOL… Along with paintings, reading a good book, taking a quiet nap and all those other things I had plenty of time for before the kiddos.  But this is the last year with my little one home before she starts school full time next fall.   I’m sure I’ll miss these busy times when I’m alone at home next year.

Hehehe… or maybe not.

I’ve had this miserable flu this past week and missed posting my continuing series of our winter adventures.   So here’s a little catching up.

Next on our agenda is a trip into the bird sanctuary where we’ve fallen in love with these two colorful fellows…

Then we’re off to the reptile section where we find the turtles all huddled together.  It’s very rare to find them all together like this.  Looks like a family of three…

Then we’re off to the scary part of our journey where Mr. Crocodile awaits us.  We’ve never caught him up close and eyes open before.   He’s a mean one…

Next we’re off to the widlife section.  But before doing so we have to feed the deer.   Eagerly awaiting some food, they spot us right away.

Our first stop is always the bouncy houses.  We sit and have a nice snack while the kids are busy burning off all their energy bouncing… and bouncing… and bouncing.

When they’re all bounced out, after an hour or two (lol!), we’re off to the rides and some buzzing around…

Gosh… I wish I were a kid!

Being the last weekend of Christmas vacation, we thought we’d take the kids to our favorite funland.   It’s a tropical garden and amusement park done in a maze of connected greenhouses.  It’s like being outdoors but indoors.   And it’s so nice and summery.

And we weren’t the only ones…

Santa was spotted hanging ten in the tropical garden center.  Where else in Canada will you find orange, pineapple and banana trees?

Many more pictures to come.
:o)

The living room is no more as the Rose Petal cottage goes up and the kids move in.

This tent-like house was easy enough for me to build in no time at all and worth hours of fun… and a couple of sleep overs.

I thought it would be fun to join in the 365 Days picture a day challenge.  What a great way to chronicle a year in a lifetime.

So here’s the first for January 1st, 2009…

Tabytha finally conquers her fears and leaps off the diving board at the community pool.

Before school broke for Christmas vacation, we received a call from the school inviting us to attend a award ceremony for Tabytha.

My fool of a husband didn’t even think to ask what the award was for (duh!) and it wasn’t until days later that Tabytha was awarded…

The kindergarten Math-Magician award!   Artistic and smart… heehee… just like her momma!
;o)

Like most Decembers, we’re busy preparing for the holidays and as usual… everyone is sick.   When I looked outside today, I just had to stop and pause…

Across the street…

Check out this new widget which allows me to add my Winkelf store to any webpage, blog or social networks like Ning and Facebook.

Shoppers can browse and search my store, make purchases and checkout without ever leaving my webpage.

Now I can sell where I play… I love it! :o)

Today there was a Halloween party at the local library for kids ages 4 to 6 and what fun did they have.   Tabytha (5) was treated to spooky stories, crafting fun and of course… candy.

Of course Austin (12)  tried to creep in on the last minute candy hand outs and score himself some treats.  That’s why we call him Slurpee.