From Saffron & Grenadine 2011

There are constantly rabbits in the area of our house but this is the closest one has come to us. Grenadine was the lucky girl who got to go and tempt the rabbit with a carrot but the rabbit felt it was too significant of a jump in our relationship – maybe tomorrow we’ll be good enough friends to try this again.

From Saffron & Grenadine 2011

Our kiddos have entered a phase of doing things nicely together! We can leave them alone with each other for longer and longer periods of time and they will not constantly be screaming – it’s wonderful. Here’s some shots of them doing stuff together.

First successful sleepover – with real sleeping!

Doing Perler beads together

Dragging some chairs around and coloring in Grenadine’s room

Reading Calvin and Hobbes comics while I unpack

Snuggling together on the couch, like real friends do!

From Saffron & Grenadine 2011

Last night, Saffron and Grenadine got it into their heads that they now needed to sleep together at night. We let them try it and they were really good, whispering and giggling until well after Heidi and I went to bed at 11p. We thought that may buy us a little bit of morning respite but they were up just after 7a as usual.

Today they’ve solidified their expectation of sleeping together so Heidi had the good idea of putting them to bed an hour earlier so that they’d at least get some time in their bedroom to goof around. We’ll see how that all works out tonight but it sure is nice to have the second bedroom as backup in case it goes sour.

From Saffron & Grenadine 2010

Heidi and I haven’t skated much in the last while – I think once last year and already twice this year – the kids LOVE it! Saffron is sometimes skating on her own without the cage and Grenz is walking around on her boots. Both love to go in the stroller and go fast around the big kids loop.

I imagine that after the fun that was had tonight, we’ll be doing this activity again.

From the Flintstones Christmas episode, Dino the Dinosaur has an idea. This was the image that was burned into Grenadine’s head after watching the video so she would walk around the house singing, Dino, the Dinosaur; and make this face.

From Saffron & Grenadine 2010

Singing the Banana Song from Matthew H on Vimeo.

password is banana

This is the Banana Song from Strong Start; peel, slice, mash, eat, and GO!

Grenadine was going crazy singing this song so I put the camera on her and that brought out the singing in Saffron as well.

I’ve heard Grenadine wake up in the middle of a nap, sing this song and go right back to sleep; in fact, she’s singing it right now in bed.

From Saffron & Grenadine 2010

Heidi was helping out with Sunday School today for Thanksgiving and was asking the kids what they were thankful for. Saffron raised her hand which is always a bit nerve wracking as we never know what’s going to come out of her mouth (and she loves to contribute). Heidi asked her what she was thankful for and Saffron said that she was thankful for her little sister, Grenna. Prior, during and after this, Saff had her arm around her little sister to ‘watch out’ for her in Sunday School.

Heidi’s heart melted a little to see her little girl learning, doing and ‘being’ the things we try to teach and model her to be.

I, in turn, will echo my thankfulness for such an amazing wife and awesome kids! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

From Saffron & Grenadine 2010

We got to drive down to Seattle where we found a Fry’s that I had to share with my family. The hat selection was possibly the only thing that was enjoyed by them but as usual, I could drop whole evenings at this store.

Our family does a lot of road trips and although we’ve often had access to video playing machines during the longer ones, Heidi and I vastly prefer listening to kids audio books using the car’s speakers. The problem that I’ve found is that there’s not a lot of audio books available. Granted, we have a bunch of Dr Seuss ones and a few Winnie the Pooh ones, but they’re kind of hard to find and expensive when you do.

To solve that problem, I decided that I’d get Heidi and myself to read some of the books and record it so we could listen to ourselves read the books on the road. Not that I like listening to my own voice, but it’s the only one I have access to. That led me to the next brain wave that I need your help on…

I’d be so grateful if you would record yourself reading your child’s favorite book and send it off to me. I’ll make it available so that other people can download them and we can share from each others time and effort and listen to the voice’s of friends.

I’m pumped if I can get a couple of people to do this so I’ve started the ball rolling with a copy of me reading Three Little Pigs. Please email me an mp3 of you reading a story – thanks!

Matthew reading Three Little Pigs

If you need technical help recording yourself or saving the file to an mp3, let me know and I’ll try to give you a bit of direction.

From Saffron & Grenadine 2010

Heidi had a treat to do face-painting with the kids but for Grenz, it got a little out of hand. It took a lot of face scrubbing to eventually get all the mess off but this picture is one of my very favorites, so it’s probably worth it.