Farmer's Market Hideout

The kids made a great little hideout under Lucy's booth at the market. They ate a lot of honey sticks and growled at the neighbors. RAAAWRRR.

Pony Ride

Because new pigs aren't exciting enough for one day, we took the kids for pony rides this afternoon. Lily LOVED it. Wolfie declined thev ride, but enjoyed seeing the horses up close.

Lily practicesfor her Ballet Recital

An old one from Spring 2008, but ridiculously cute. At least to anyone related to her. I love 3 year old Lily.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugwtpnj1UQo

New Pigs!

We picked up the pigs today. The kids named them Thomas (the black one, which is a girl) and Speck (the pink one). Both are Mulefoot crosses that were purchased from our friends at The Piggery. So far, they seem very happy, if terrified of us. I'm not daunted, though. I used to tame feral cats. Pigs should be no problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uws7UxV7Mk

pigs rooting in their temporary home. We have them in a smallish (about 10x10) area so we can socialize them fot the first couple of weeks. Once they seem to like us, we'll set them loose in the 2000 square foot "pasture."

Lily and Wolfie Dancing Together

Last night we went to a friend's 40th birthday party (Happy Birthday Sam!). Lily and Wolfie had a great time - we had to drag Lily out of there at 9 pm. Here's a video of them dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOl9VlU17Ng

Clearly, I don't have this youtube thing down yet, but bear with me and turn your laptop on its side.

Wolfie Reads to Greta

or is it the other way around?

Spontaneous Dance Party

Everyone bursts into dance during a visit to Greta's grandparents.

Egg Hunt at the Museum of the Earth

Lily, Wolfie, and Greta went egg hunting together at the Museum of the Earth and T-burg Mini-Golf. Fun was had by all and there was a refreshing lack of refined sugar.

We're back!

I finally have my computer and camera interfaces smoothed out, so uploading photos doesn't make me cringe any more. Hooray!

Here are a couple of photos of Lily and Wolfgang at Eastlake on April 10.

Other Christmas Projects

Parmesan - developing it's rind after brining. We'll get to taste it in only 11 months!
Lacto-fermented beets. Mmmm...fizzy veggies...

The Tree

Ornaments
Lily made an angel for the top
Erich and Wolfie with the tree right before we took it back outside. In the spring, it'll join the others in the yard.

Christmas Morning

Craft Interlude (courtesy of Aunt Pam)
TAPE! Thanks, Uncle Doug and Aunt Tara!
Choo-choo
Have yourselves a naked little Christmas...

Ever get the feeling that your kid's not all there?

Me too. Spooky.

Scarves

Lily hand-dyed silk scarves (with Kool-aid, mostly) for the women on our Christmas list. She did a great job!

Sledding Party!

After the first big snow of the year, we threw a sledding party. Nobody last all that long, so we all came inside to play. It was crowded!

Lily, Julia, and Brian made about a million gingerbread men. Julia was a pretty good sport about it.
























Lily asked Erich is she could roast marshmallows (because, really, it's not a party if there's no fire). Like any normal father, he started a bonfire in the driveway.













Brr! I think it was about 15 degrees out during the marshmallow roast.

Black Toddler Undies

Did you know that the stores don't sell black toddler undies? Good thing I have black dye at the house! (these were part of Greta's birthday present)

Niagara Falls

Due to some, uh, technical problems, Lucy, Chaw, and Greta met us in Niagara Falls. Greta says "water LOADING"












Lily watching from the top of the falls. It was COLD. Seriously. Apparently we were there, on the American side (which is a little sad anyway) on the last day of the season. Pretty well everything was closed. I left everyone and drove to Forestville, an hour west of Buffalo, in pursuit of 250 pounds of frozen berries for the CSA. While I was gone, it was hailing, sleeting, and altogether unpleasant. They spent to day at the Niagara Falls visitor center, playing arcade games. Which may or may not have been better than driving to Forestville in that weather (it was an exciting drive. The top of the semi in front of me sheared off on an overpass). But we got the berries and made it home in only 7 hours! (it should take 3). In other words, we owe them a LOT of free babysitting. Or something.

Bye Bye Oma!

On Sunday, we headed back home.










Wolfie with Oma. He really liked to snuggle with her. For he past month, every time I call someone, he yells "Hi Oma!" at the phone for the whole conversation. She really made an impression!

Dinner with Anneliese and "Big Wolfgang"

While we were in Ontario, we visited with Auntie Anneliese and Uncle Wolfgang (who managed to avoid the camera). Lily and Wolfie went to Ikea and got their pod chairs - a Christmas gift from Oma. Of course, we set them up *right away*












Anneliese and Wolfie, playing "pull up Wolfie's pants and give him a wedgie" - at his request.













Yummy - Chocolate Ice Cream Bars! (you can see that he did a good job of cleaning his plate)

Visiting Oma

For American Thanksgiving, we went to visit Oma in Saint Catharines, Ontario. We had Chinese takeout for our Thanksgiving dinner - much easier than a turkey! Here is Lily with Oma - they're working on Lily's new sticker book.


Oma with Wolfie. He's showing her a puzzle.













What a big boy, carrying his cocoa all by himself!