Isla in her Bear Suit from AlaskaNewZealand.com on Vimeo.

Isla Playing Peek A Boo from AlaskaNewZealand.com on Vimeo.

Just a couple of photos from the week (just for you Judy, no photos of the garage in this post!). Isla is only just still fitting in the sink for the occasional bottom bath. She likes sitting in there though cause she can see herself in the mirror.

Although now that she is getting so big she looks a little anxious about being in this small space.

No surprises, Isla is getting quite tall. Here she is demonstrating how apt she is getting at getting things out of the drawers- notice the tippy toes!

So I made this wood rack for the garage. On one side one can store full sheets of plywood on the other side is bins for small scraps and down the center can hold long things like 2×4s or whatever. It’s on wheels and should stow nicely against the garage wall, once I find the garage wall. The day I went to buy the casters the hardware store was having a 25% off sale, so as any man would do, I got 25% larger wheels. It’s hard to tell but they are massive! Fun weekend project. PT

In the mornings Isla and I like to have some oatmeal and usually I try to get her to use her baby spoon for a few minutes and then I go back to eating and she to using her hands.   This morning I left the spoon by the bowl, turned to make some coffee and looked back, she had chosen to use her spoon on a sloppy batch of oats.  It’s a small thing but its  the first time this small thing has occurred.  Go Isla!

Spoon Use from AlaskaNewZealand.com on Vimeo.

We have had a very pleasant weekend this weekend. On Friday night I met up with some friends at a friend’s house. We had a very nice time drinking wine and went in their hot tub outside in the snow! Saturday morning Isla and I went to a Valentine tea party after being invited by my friend Jessica, and Isla’s friend Lucy. We had a good time and Isla enjoyed drinking her apple juice out of the little tea set.

Saturday afternoon, Paul, Isla and I went for a walk in the snow along a trail in Primrose. It was very pretty and good exercise since I was carrying Isla and it was mostly uphill. Saturday evening Paul and I were lucky enough to have Mary babysit so we headed out for a meal at one of the local restaurants. We both found it very relaxing to have our meal without having to move anything out of  reach of Isla! Today we have had a relaxing day of church and Paul was helping his friend Ryan putting in the sheetrock in the house he is building.

Here are just a couple of photos from the weekend. Isla is trying to put lid on the pen in this photo- not before she had drawn on her face however.

Here are Paul and Isla waiting for me to get ready to go to church. It looks a little like a sack in these photos but this little dress that someone made her her is extremely cute.  And just after she discovered where the cat was hiding!

Have a great week!

Lots of love April, Paul and Isla xxx

No caption required!

So I had a look and there is was, in Paul’s bag (which he had checked twice already!!). So here are a couple of snaps from this afternoon.

We spent a nice afternoon at Howie’s watching the superbowl and eating a variety of tasty nibbles. Here is Isla all dressed up to walk back home again. She is waiting very patiently for me to put on my boots.

This was the sight that greeted me when I went to get her up from her afternoon nap.

After she was done playing peek-a-boo she put up her arms and demanded ‘ba.’

Love April, Paul and Isla xxx

No new photos today since our camera’s whereabouts is unknown. Not wanting to point any fingers but Paul had it last! I’m sure it will turn up in a pocket sometime soon. We have had beautiful snowy days this weekend. We got out for a ski on Friday afternoon and did the trail through the trees by Bear Lake. We didn’t get out yesterday since it was a little windy and cold for us. Today is Superbowl and Paul has big plans of sitting around eating and watching at Grandpa’s with the rest of the Tougas clan, so we might manage a walk but that will be about it.

In Isla news she has discovered the power of speech.  Up until recently all her words named things, doggie, kitty, dad, mum, etc or were greetings, bye-bye and hi. However the last week or so she has started to use ‘Ba’ as a command for being picked up and put down. Every time she uses it and we respond appropriately she is delighted. Very cute. She is still using the sign for more but it has morphed into ‘I want’ and she will do it and then point or vocalize what she wants. Also very cute, unfortunately Evie doesn’t understand sign language so it doesn’t matter how many times Isla signs ‘ I want’ and then says kitty, Evie doesn’t come over!

Have a great week!

Love April, Paul and Isla

P.S. Isla and I will be winging our way home to New Zealand the end of May and staying for nearly four weeks. We finished booking our tickets on Friday. Too expensive to buy Isla a seat so she will be a lap child all the way to NZ- yikes!

Hello guys.  I have a new phone that takes pretty good pictures.  Today I got three that I though worth sharing;

Isla loves to take down all the small bottles from the turn style cupboard in our kitchen.  The most fun are all of the small bottles in my hot sauce collection, far too low in inventory I fear but still quite a few.  She does this just about every morning while I check my email.  This morning she figured out how to take the cap off the big Tabasco bottle, she must have given it a great big pull because as you can see in the shot bellow, she was not very happy.

But I got her some milk right away to ease her unhappyness and it helped some.

Later the same day we were passing the pub so I decided to get her a first French Strong Ale!  I was visiting one of my advertisers, the Ale House, to discuss business of cource.

Missives of a Dad.  Paul