November selections

Look who's sitting!

So much for my return to weekly blogging. Everything these days just seems like so much... effort. Especially in a constant haze of sleep deprivation, as only those with a 4 month old crappy sleeper can relate to.  (And also from the added haze/grumpiness of someone who is on day 4 of giving up her one morning coffee in hopes that it will improve things).

During the week of constant tongue.  Was she mocking me?  Perhaps we shall never know!

 Anyway, I did not post this to complain, but rather to offer a few glimpses into our relatively mundane but happy November.  Though she has not yet gotten the hang of sleeping for reasonable lengths of time, Hazel is honestly pure sweetness. She is a happy, smart, strong, hilarious baby, who adores her siblings, and loves being part of whatever party is happening.  And the older kids are pretty great as well - they are always asking to hold Hazel and play with her, and Linden can make her laugh like nobody else.  In fact, once, she was full-out chortling at Linden's antics, and then when Clark tried to do exactly the same thing, she gave him a stone-faced stare. Hahahahaha!

Sister time

Anyway, here's a smattering of November pics, and, for those who would like a little more,  at the end of the post you'll find a little movie I put together, composed of a bunch of clips I've taken over the last couple of months.  One beautiful theoretical day in the distant future, I will own a brand new Apple desktop where doing things like creating movies doesn't take an entire day.  Until then, these movies are becoming rarer and rarer treats, so enjoy!

1. Trip to Lunenburg

A couple of weeks ago, we shlepped off to Lunenburg in celebration of Will's birthday. It was loads of fun, and included the very first performance of the JELS - a band that the kids have been working on putting together for some time now.  It is actually kind of amazing - the name is composed of their initials (Juniper, Eva, Linden, Sylvie), and they send lyrics and song ideas back and forth via snail mail.  On this particular day, they decided on costumes (involving stripes, toques, and tartans, clearly), wrote a brand new song in honour of Will's birthday, and then performed it for us.

Mid-performance

Album cover shot

Just a typical couch scene

 2. My Parents Visit

 This Christmas, my parents are going to be traveling to Vancouver to spend the holidays with my sister Andrea and her family (and my sister Faye, who'll make the trip as well!).  Anyway, that means we won't be seeing them, so they came up for an impromptu weekend.

My dad and his youngest grandchild

Mom and the girls

Isn't this a pretty shot of mom and Hazel?

Mom helps Linden with his reading

3. Random day-to-day:

Hazel was clearly enthralled by this chapter book

She LOVES being played to.  Clark has had his guitar out all the time this last month or so

Snuggles

Practice sitting...

... and SUPER EXCITED practice sitting

Linden and Clark craft a Linden-sized paddle for the new canoe

On an ill-fated walk where Hazel didn't sleep like she was supposed to, and it rained on us. But... the woods were gorgeous, and she's pretty adorable, even when she doesn't sleep.

Look who has a new trick - eating her toes!

 And finally, here is the Hazel Evolution video, as promised.  See you next time!