The Talens' Tales

From a rather early age, I have always thought that Mataya must have some pretty vivid and even scary dreams. She is not a kid that gets scared easily during the waking hours, but from about 18 months to age 2, she would wake us with her screaming and crying. When one of us would go and see what was going on, it was pretty clear that she was actually asleep. We found the best thing to do was just hold her and talk to her or rub her back and she would settle back into a more peaceful sleep. But I think we entered some new territory last night - sleep walking. Last night we woke up to her crying and then heard little footsteps walking past our room. We called to her and picked her up. Over and over through her tears, she said, "I want to go to the park." We just talked to her and asked some questions about what she would do in the park and after a few minutes she said she wanted to go back to her bed. We didn't hear another sound from her for the rest of night, but it...

Some other fun things from March Break. Mataya really wanted to have slippers "like Mommy." Joash helped her out with the tape.  Joash did some great colouring during our Good Friday service. He gave it to me afterwards. The sentence he wrote on the bottom says. "This belongs to  Mommy. Five (because he is five years old).  We did a little Easter egg hunt Sunday morning before church. I told the kids we had to be already to go to church before we could start. Joash was ready for church by 7:30 am.  We also stopped in at the North Shore Community Centre today for a little free Children's Easter Party. They had a little egg hunt and different crafts and games. It was nice for a free family event so close to our house. My favorite part of the weekend was how Joash kept reminding his sister that the best part of Easter is that Jesus is Alive!

It is March Break (or Spring Break to you Americans) this week. We are having a pretty relaxing week mostly hanging out at home.  I have been busy doing some pre-baby freezer meal prep. Here is three meals of Sweet Potatoes Burritos ready to roll up and go in the freezer.  But, not everything goes as planned. Today's bread for lunch accidentally unleavened. Fitting for Maundy Thursday, but not so great for lunch. We have been doing all sort of fun things at home to pass the time. Today we have Super Joash and Super Mataya!

Serena Jones,has a passion for recovering lost and stolen art–one that’s surpassed only by her zeal to uncover the truth about who murdered her grandfather. In A Fool and His Monet, she’s joined the FBI Art Crime Team with the secret hope that one of her cases will lead to his killer. Now, despite her mother’s pleas to do something safer–like get married–Serena’s determined to catch thieves and black market traders. When a local museum discovers an irreplaceable Monet missing, Serena leaps into action–and a whole heap of trouble. This was a great book to read if you are looking for something to grab you and keep you entertained. It is nice light read with just the right mix of action, crime and romance. The characters were diverse, interesting and believable. And I also really enjoyed the look into the world of museums and fine art. It is not your typical crime novel and I found that a refreshing change. It also is not your typical romance novel and that is a nice change too. Whil...

Yesterday afternoon, Joash and Wilbert were playing with some blocks when Joash looked out the window and said, "Daddy, I see something black outside. It is not a crow. Is that a skunk?" Sure enough. This guys apparently felt right at home and very comfortable with his surroundings. We watched him root around the yard and walk around the perimeter of our home for  close to an hour. He walked right up to two of doors and dig in all of our flower beds.  Once he headed back out toward the fields and away from the house, Wilbert decided he better go and take care of our visitor. If a friendly guy like this wandered into our barn, it could certainly do some damage, not to mention make it a really stinky and unpleasant place for both the cows and those who take care of them.

I will admit that I have been pretty terrible providing any updates about this pregnancy, It is hard to believe, but we are creeping up on 32 weeks already. This is a picture of me from around 30 weeks. It no longer surprises or bothers me when someone assumes I am due any day and then seems rather horrified to find out I have 8 weeks to go. I am rather large, but it is my third pregnancy. If this baby is anything like his or her siblings, we actually have closer to 6 weeks to go, so we shall see how that turns out. Overall, I feel pretty good. I have learned that I have to rest during the day though, otherwise the next day is not very good. So, I am working hard at taking care of my family and myself and some of the extra things are falling to way side, which is okay.

While the weather has been quite mild here, lately, we had a rather blustery a cold day last week. And both kids decided they wanted to do some drawing and colouring, The window sill in the kitchen makes a nice colouring station.  Here is Mataya's colouring for the morning. I did the dot to dot for her, but she coloured the rest. She really, really like to colour and we are often quite impressed with how well she does.  Joash and Wilbert worked on this one together. Joash wanted to have a drawing of a tractor that he saw in a magazine, so Wilbert traced it and Joash coloured it using the picture as a guide. It is so fun seeing what they can do!

It was another dress up day at Joash's school last week. Each class had a different theme and Joash's class was Noah's Ark. His teacher dressed up as Noah and all the kids were different animals. Joash really wanted to be a cow, so this is what we came up with. These dress up days are fun, but they certainly test my creativity a bit. Joash likes to help make them, so it usually works out to be a fun little project.