Well, we have a conditional offer accepted on that property, which means I’ve been busy. Busier than I’d anticipated: setting up inspections, talking to our banker, arranging things with our realtor… It’s nice to be busy though, it keeps me from being terrified about this huge amount of money. 
So of course I’m behind in blogging again. Here’s a quick recap of the last little while. Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We went to an Enchanted Halloween event that was a lot of fun. There was a train ride that Meredith was very excited about, a magician, lots of crafts, games, a bouncy castle, and of course candy.
We went trick or treating in the evening with good friends around the neighbourhood. Meredith was a monkey. She has been asking to be a monkey since the summer, and was so excited when we went and got her costume. She wore it all over the place, including out to look at houses one time with our realtor! She has been eating bananas like crazy (because that’s what monkeys do!) and will randomly start going “oooh oooh, eeeh eeeh”.
The day after Halloween we had fun smashing our pumpkins in the backyard and then adding them to the garden and compost bins.
I finally roasted the two pumpkins I got out of our garden and made a homemade pumpkin pie. The filling turned out awesome. The crust wasn’t very flaky, but some friends/family have given suggestions on how to make it better next time. Unfortunately the recipe I used made enough for two pies so there’s another in the freezer already. Oh well, the filling makes up for the crust.
I joined a homeschooling group that is further up island, to ask some questions about living up there and start to get to know the group. I’m surprised and gratified to learn there’s actually a very active group and they plan a fair number of activities together already. There are quite a few other unschoolers as well. We’ve already done a few things with them, including going to Goldstream Park last week.
We ended up getting separated from the group near the end, but Meredith had a blast and spent over an hour playing in the water. This was sometime after she fell in the first time. It was a warm day and being wet didn’t bother her. I was surprised about some of the reactions of people around us. Negative ones, like kids wanting to join in and parents pulling them away and making snide comments about how “that girl is going to catch pneumonia” or “parents shouldn’t let their kids do things like that” within obvious ear shot of me. There always seemed to be someone around the couple of times she fell, which meant lots of gasps and Meredith wondering what was wrong and looking close to tears, but I’d go in (I had rubber boots too) and help her up and ask her if she was cold or wanted to go back to the van and she always said she was fine and wanted to keep playing. There were positive comments too. One dad who let his two sons join in and play with her, an older gentleman who made a comment about these being the best moments in life, etc. Regardless of everyone else, we had fun.
And Fiona ate leaves.
She is a happy, snuggly, sweet baby and we all love her so much. Meredith is still (mostly) really great with her, though they do have their moments. I don’t blame her. It must be tough to all of a sudden have someone else vying for attention and going after her toys! But she tells me that she loves her baby Nona all the time, and when Fiona wakes from naps Meredith is normally right there bringing her toys to try and make her happy. I’m so excited to watch them grow up together!
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Wow, lots of exciting things! I’m kind of sad though that you might be moving further away.
Sounds like Enchanted Halloween was fun. We wanted to go check it out but didn’t have the time.
Lets get together and chat really soon! I’ll email you!
SO exciting about the house. It does keep you busy though. I remember when we bought ours it was nothing but CRAZINESS for a week.
Sounds like you had a fun Halloween. Does Meredith like Curious George? Isaac loves him right now and is often found oooh oooh, eeeh eeehing.
Looking forward to hearing more about your adventures with the homeschooling group. It’s awesome to have that support. xo Debbie
Congrats of the new home possibilities!! I can’t get over how fast Meredith is growing. Fiona reminds me more of how I remember Meredith!
Natalie, yes it’s a bittersweet thing for sure! We’re really excited about it but a bit terrified too.
There’s been another potential set back, but we’ll see what happens. I’m feeling very zen about it currently: if it happens, great; if not, there will be another just as nice or nicer. The Enchanted Halloween was definitely fun!
Debbie, she loves Curious George. We got a bunch of the movies out from the library and she went through a phase of wanting to watch nothing but. Since Halloween and her being a monkey, it’s slowed down a lot again, though she still asks for her monkey movies occasionally. (And she likes me to tell her stories “about Mimi, and Mimi has a monkey, and tell me what the monkey does Mama!” (Mimi is her nickname for herself.)
Annie, Thanks! I feel the same way about Leif hehe.
We are that family too! Meaning the ones getting the snide comments for letting our girls play and even climb trees (gasp!). I’m glad you were able to ignore the comments and allow your daughter to enjoy herself. We just moved 2 months ago, so that feeling of chaos is still fresh in my mind. I hope this transition goes smoothly for you.
As for the camera that I use, it is a simple Nikon Coolpix L22. I don’t think it is fantastic, but it’s decent for the price. I would recommend a model with the ability to manually adjust the ISO. My previous one did, and it came as a surprise that this one does not.