Getting Closer to Spring (Kinda)

I can feel the fog of winter lifting. We are over the 'hump' so to speak and warmer days are only weeks away. While it's still unseasonably cold, we're getting out more and doing more these days. There's more sunlight, and it's not dark at 4:00 pm anymore.

Every morning lately I wake up to sweet calls of, "Mommy! Mommmmmmm-eeeeeee!" followed by Cailin's version of Bailey's howling, "Ahhh-woooooo!" So she calls me and howls like a dog until I bring her a bottle. It's pretty funny. And so our day starts.

Since Ryan has been on days off, we've really been enjoying going places with him. Cailin and daddy even did a special trip by themselves to the Rhino dealership to pick up parts. She enjoyed herself thoroughly (actually they both did).

We did a quick trip through the laserwash carwash yesterday. Cailin freaked right out when the water jets started. I was completely surprised; the last time I took her through the carwash she was fine (Ryan pointed out that was a very long time ago according to the state of my car. Humph). I ended up unbuckling her from her carseat and pulling her onto my lap. She liked the soap part since it's rainbow colored, but once the jets washed over the cab she slammed her hands over her ears and pushed herself hard against me. By the end of the wash she was perfectly fine. And the truck looked pretty sparkly too.

We spent a couple days out at the farm this past weekend, working on the Rhino and the truck. The Rhino got new exhaust (it's loud) and the truck got new chrome box rails. We stopped at Tim Horton's on the way out to the farm for a sandwich, cup of soup and some Timbits. Cailin was napping so I got back into the truck very quietly. As I was handing the box of Timbits to Ryan, Cailin's eyes popped open and she demanded a num num. She savored that Timbit halfway out to the farm.

Cailin got to spend lots of time with Nana and Papa, and even went shopping in Beaverlodge. We went to Fields where Cailin found a bag of cheesie poofs and developed a death grip on the bag. "Yummy yummy num num!" she said as she brought the bag to me. She packed the bag all over the store. We bought it for her of course.

Cailin also enjoyed sitting in the rocket ship cart at the grocery store and spinning the steering wheel. She has discovered a new love of Chewy granola bars and we were sure to pick her up some. On the way home, she fell asleep with a cheesie in her hand. The first thing she did when she woke up was to take a bite out of it before being carried into the house. Girl's got priorities.

This morning I decided to make blueberry muffins and Cailin was right there helping me. I pushed a chair up to the counter and let her help away. She started out in her jammies, but quickly covered herself from head to toe (and the whole corner of the kitchen) in batter. She helped me stir the batter, taste it and pour it into the muffin tray. She loved every minute of it too! Then she thought maybe I needed help sorting the mail with her jam hands:

You can see her 'battered' jammies on the counter right beside her. Naked baby in the kitchen, oh my! Bailey also had a heyday since all sorts of batter was flying from the counter above (you can see her head right behind Cailin). She came away from that splattered corner of the kitchen with blueberry muffin batter on not one, but both of her ears. Lucky dog!

There was absolutely no help for Cailin's mess; she had batter gluing her hair to her cheeks, down every side of her and she was standing in it on the chair. I had my work cut out for me scouring the kitchen after! As for Cailin, she went straight to the tub for a very early bath.
I love that since Cailin is older now we can do more stuff like this all the time. I have the fondest memories of baking with my mom and grandmothers and I'm so happy to share these moments with my own daughter. We have a lot of cake decorating in our future, I can tell.