random thoughts

well i braved the cold and brought the kids back to the festival du voyageur saturday. actually, it wasn't too cold... the sun was out and it didn't feel as cold as what's it's been all week.
we had a blast! matthieu's been to the festival before but it was the first time for the girls and for katlyn. they had so much fun i'm not sure if they could pick any one of thing out that they enjoyed the most. when i asked danielle what her favourite was she pretty much named everything she had seen and did LOL

of course they were impressed with the immense snow sculptures. those guys that are so talented!! copying from their models - all to scale! they're part of the international snow sculpting symposium. the kids loved the snow maze - they'd come out of there giddy and laughing, with their cheeks all rosy! katlyn even poked at one of the walls as we were coming in - she was convinced they were sculpted out of foam

our first stop was at the caisse tent where they had singing and, of course, food. tourtiere and bannock were on the menu. yummy! saw a lot of people from st-claude there... then the kids went inside a little igloo. they found furs, sleeping bags, dishes and food in there!! turns out you can spend the night in one for $250!!! not quite like a night at the fairmont...

we watched as some people were starting to line up for a toboggan run competition... but the toboggans were out of cardboard!! reinforced with good old duct tape. one team actually had actually wrapped their person in duct tape to the cardboard toboggan!!

towards the end of our day there we went for a sleigh ride - the kids LOVED that too! me, on the other hand, was freezing my butt off because, of course, i didn't think i needed to wear ski pants (since it was such a nice day out for a change) i was sitting on my gloves. that helped a lot - until i had to get my hands free to save chantale when she fell forward. i think that's when matthieu and katlyn fell off the sleigh - along with a few other people : ) they were running to catch up to us but it was difficult since the snow was almost knee-deep. they eventually made it back on... katlyn says the highlight of her day was falling off the sleigh! my favourite would have been watching angie play the washboard - but i missed it.... LOL

we're all looking forward to going back already - this time i'll be wearing ski pants!

click on official guide to pull up the festival's guide for this year if you're interested. and here's a write up about this year's festival in the winnipeg free press.

they're so looking forward to dance this afternoon because today is picture day. last year, only danielle was in dance, and she was in the middle of this shy phase. i could not get her to pose for picture - not even in the group photo!!! well this year she is so excited to do better! her and chantale can't wait to put their dance costume on. we steamed their costumes last night so the crinolins lay really nice - all pouffy!

matthieu is excited too because he'll probably have to stay at the school age childcare until the girls are done - that means he'll be there a little longer than usual : ) he'd go more often than one day a week if he could! plus he appreciates any time away from the girls.

the girls went for a little snowmobile ride in the yard again yesterday. i'm amazed how well danielle drives that thing! she can't steer a bike but she can steer a snowmobile LOL i don't think they'll get to go too many more times unless we get more snow soon... snow situation pretty sad out here. not as bad as along hwy 11 going to i-29 though... there's this section, by donaldson maybe? where it looks like they have drifts of DIRT and not snow in the ditches... the fields have had all the snow blown off... i'm glad we're more sheltered here!

well, i hope pictures go better this year!

still busy, still feel like i don't have time, still have a growing to do list..... one day i'll be caught up!? i'm starting to get the feeling that's one of those things that will just never be....

and to top it all off we couldn't get in the house last night! it was so cold yesterday - the doorknob was frozen stiff and the key wouldn't budge. of course, i had the three kids standing at the door with each of their backpacks, and i was at the door with my bag, my purse, the diaper bag, four bags from subway, the mail - trying to get the key in the doorknob!!! i always carry a butane torch with me because we have this cronic problem at work of our locks freezing and it has saved me many many times (like yesterday morning). but now that i needed it at home the flame wouldn't stay lit! AGH! get the kids loaded back in the van to keep warm and eat their subs while i could figure out to get the torch to work again. finally figured out that i just had to turn the setscrew (i think that's what you call it) in the bottom. i can't figure how that got turned?! so within ten seconds of thawing the keyhole, i was able to unlock the door! alright! it's just a keychain butane torch but it is awesome! i have to talk to guy about showing matthieu how to use one in case he can't get in the house afterschool one day - or maybe he'll just have to go to daycare if we have any more cold cold days like yesterday.......

danielle just woke up, right away she came to find me and asks me if now it's her birthday today. she just broke down when i told her that her bday is tomorrow. she's still so upset! wonder what her hurry is?

she has been so easy to get dressed this week-now that all her plain jeans are decorated with studs and jewels. we dressed up a pair of chantale's jeans too - chantale thought that was fun too. i got this thing that sets pronged studs and rhinestones, and it's so easy! i was looking for something to dress up jeans and stuff - without too much fuss. since fall, danielle's been on this kick that she didn't want to wear pants or jeans unless they were embellished in some way. even shirts - she won't wear a plain shirt. it's been that way for a few years already - ever since she could voice an opinion! it doesn't have to be much, just a little picture or a little bow but especially a little bling : ) so like i said, danielle now loves picking which bottoms to wear! she had it all planned out this week, which ones she was going to wear on which day LOL i think we're in for more t-r-o-u-b-l-e.....

the girls went out for a while. they can actually play in the snow without getting dirty now LOL... guy told danielle she can take matthieu's little snowmobile (120) out tomorrow. of course she kept reminding us of that all night : ) that matthieu's too big for the red snowmobile now but that she's big enough!

well i hope you've all had a wonderful holidays with your family and friends!

this guy, John Flaig, who's parents would bring him some coffee crisps from their trips back home to winnipeg REALLY wanted to have his coffee crisps available in the U.S. - so he started a petition and a huge campaign. it took six years but nestle has brought coffee crisp to the states as a result. i guess there's more of us out there that have a liking for coffee crisps! it sure made big news, like fox news reported here! if you like coffee (or even just coffee flavours) you'll LOVE this candy bar! it has "wafers with coffee creme centre". keep your eye out for something that looks like this...

since we're in canada all the time, it wasn't a problem to get a coffee crisp every once in a while. or a triple mocha coffee crisp... now i'll have to ask at the holiday gas station here in town if they can get some in so i can have it more often! maybe that's not such a good thing?! on the nestle website you can even print out a product request form for a store to start stocking coffee crisps : ) i think i'll start by just asking them.

nestle's coffee crisp ad campaign in the states: "how do you like your coffee?"

(answer: crisp)

AH, I LOVE IT!!!!