Linden is Two!

 On Monday Linden turned two years old!

It is a little bit surreal, for a few reasons. First because it always feels like kids are growing up too fast. In her own words, Linden is “not a toddler baby anymore, a two-year-old toddler!” Second, because the last social gathering that we hosted at our house was Linden‘s first birthday party, one year ago. It’s hard to believe that we haven’t had friends at our house for an entire year. And then third, the last year of Linden’s life, which is basically all she can remember, she has mostly been at our house or within walking distance. This is a strange time, and I wonder what Linden (and Maren) will remember about it.

But nonetheless we had fun birthday festivities including apple pie (Linden‘s request), helium balloons, party hats, and plenty of presents. Happy birthday dear Linden!

Sad, happy

Linden is in full toddler mode lately, and when something doesn’t go her way, she is at best morose,

and at worst flies into a rage, ready to bite or pull the hair of anyone in her path. 

But fortunately she is also very forgiving, and most of the time it doesn’t take much to make her happy again.

Spring?

 After a couple of weeks where we were colder than cold, the last couple of days have felt like spring. Sure there is still lots of snow on the ground, but yesterday and today we played outside in the backyard for a good long time and came in because it was lunchtime not because we were cold. Both days we went for walks in the afternoon and hats were optional. The days are getting longer, the sun is higher in the sky, and although we will definitely have more cold weather, it is starting to feel like spring.

With all of our playing outside, and just playing in general, I have failed to take a single picture all week. But I did take one video Colin

With all of our playing outside, and just playing in general, I failed to take a single picture all week. But I did take one video:

Our kitties are starting to really feel at home here. They are definitely still kittens, and we have the many scratches to prove it. Last night they pulled on some curtains so hard that they managed to knock down the curtain rod by pulling screws out of the wall. It is going to be a pain to fix. But they are just so sweet and way too cute to be mad at ❤️

Polar vortex

 Before moving here, if you had said “Polar vortex“ I would have thought you were talking about some strange sci-fi movie. But a polar vortex is a real weather phenomenon and we are caught under one right now. It has been cold, cold enough that Maren was not allowed to have outdoor recess for more than a week. Around here that means it has been consistently below -20°C at the warmest part of the day, and for the past week or so (longer?) with the windchills it has been around -40°C at the warmest time of day. So yeah, cold.

But life goes on, and during the past week we celebrated my birthday as well as Valentine’s Day. Today was lots of fun, starting with waffles topped  with vegan whipped cream and maple syrup. Then we set up the tent inside for some playtime, ate some chocolates, braved the outdoors because it was “warmer“ today and went for a walk/trike ride, and ended the day with a kid-pleasing lasagna.

My birthday was even better. I woke up to surprise decorations. We had chocolate cake topped with vegan whipped cream and caramel sauce. Maren bought me a present with her own money that she picked out all by herself - an ABBA greatest hits CD. In case you were wondering, I have never owned an ABBA song in my life, let alone a whole CD, and Maren has definitely never even heard of them. But somehow she thought it would be the perfect present and somehow it really is.

And Jeff got me a gift that was a complete surprise, and equal parts hilarious and so so strange:

Indoor playtime

 The last few days have been bitterly cold - this morning it was -35C, so we have been stuck inside. 

The kiddos are not stir crazy just yet:

But I do hope the temperatures improve soon so we can get outside!