Day 14 - Happy Birthday, Maggie!

Maggie had a nice 2nd birthday. It was pretty low key. She and big sister had a lot of fun playing with a few new toys. She was not sure about the #2 candle on her cake - I think she would have been just as happy to have gotten right down to eating - but Carly insisted that she have a candle. Maggie really enjoyed her cake - eating 3 pieces before agreeing to leave the table. The cake was pretty pathetic - the only thing in the apartment that was somewhat cake shaped was an aluminum pie plate. Luckily, all she requested was a cake. I think I'm going to have a harder time pleasing Carly next week on her birthday...she's got elaborate plans for her cake.

Carly kept telling us that Maggie was the "boss" today. So, we pretty much let Maggie pick out many of the activities. The main thing she wanted to do was eat popcorn and watch a Barbie movie. All day we kept asking Maggie how old she was...The answer was always "1" or "4". Oh well. I guess we have a year to practice.

Day 13

Today we took Maggie on her first outing to the sledding hill. She loved it! She even went by herself a few times. Carly is very confident on the bunny slope and the greens. I think she is ready for a little more of a challenge. We were the only people out sledding today. I think most Montrealers have had enough sledding for the winter.

Day 12

It was a lovely sunny day here today...a lot of the snow melted away...lots of poodles. It's funny that 35 degrees now feels warm. The girls and I ventured out to find a post office and some velcro for an art project. Within 10 minutes of our house were 2 underground malls...nothing fancy - but food courts on nearly every level (~4 levels) and a pet shop (definitely Maggie's favorite part of the day.) We spent about two hours there and found a post office and some velcro. They had a store that was a cross between a home depot and a sears called Canadian Tire. We had a lot of fun in this store, too.

We ended this morning w/lunch at McDonalds. Carly was pretty excited to learn that McDonalds existed in Montreal...the menu is a little different but it has the important happy meal with the more important toy. We also got a blueberry muffin from McD's, too...it was actually a good bit better than the chocolate muffin we got at the coffee shop earlier in the week.

Mike went to his first ever pilates class at the YMCA. He was extremely tired and sore when he arrived home and told the girls that the teacher was tough and kind of mean. Maggie said "Want me go with you daddy...that not nice"....meaning Do you want me to go to that class with you and tell him that's not nice? It was so cute...then she added "Take me with you, daddy?".

Day 11

A pretty uneventful day. We visited another preschool. This one is very promising but totally different than their old preschool. There would be 19 children in the classroom - Maggie and Carly would be together. The school has 4 teachers. 2 of the teachers speak English and 2 of the teachers speak French. The girls would go 3 days a week. The play outside regardless the temperature or if it's raining or snowing.

Carly spoke with her friend Grace on the phone today. I was definitely eavesdropping on the conversation. Carly wanted to know all about a girl in her class - Madeline - who had broken her leg. She also wanted to know what the theme was for the week and what the snack was. She was very excited to tell Grace that she might be going to a new school and that she and Maggie would be in the same class.

Day 10

Maggie slept until 7:00 today...hallelujah! Carly - unfortunately was up at 6:20. Still, I will take it.

It snowed all day today! The girls wanted to get out of the house...so after about 20 minutes of prep we go down the 3 flights of stairs and Carly has to use the bathroom. She just can't wait, so back up the stairs we go, undress Carly, potty, redress Carly and head out again! By this time it's almost 11:00. We head to the library 7 blocks away - snowing on us the entire way. Luckily, the umbrella stroller did okay in the snow. Carly has a love/hate relationship with her mittens - they are so wamr and water proof - great for the snow - but they also drive her crazy - too itchy. She opted for her cotten gloves since we were not planning on playing in the snow. Not a good idea. They were wet the minute we went down the stairs outside the building from holding onto the wet rail...and it's impossible for her not to stop and touch the snow. Maggie also had soaking wet mittens, too, because she decided to stick her hands into a very deep puddle - luckily that was on the way home, though.

The girls got their own library cards which was very exciting - Carly calls hers a credit card. She was pumped that we checked out our books using her card. She had a hard time only checking out 2 books, though...she used to taking at least 10 books. There was no way I was lugging more than 2 books home 7 blocks in the snow.

We left the library at 12:15 at which point I decided it was getting too late to have them walk home on empty stomachs. So, taking a huge risk, we walked farther away from home towards the retail area (Victoria square). We ate lunch at a small cafe. The girls shared a buttered croissant and a ham and cheese panini...I ended up eating most of the panini. I had an americano in one of those tiny espresso cups...the girls thought that was very exciting - especially since it came with frothy milk on top and a very tiny spoon. Maggie immediately took the spoon and dipped it in the drink...she then to my amazement tasted the spoon and said it was "yummy in my tummy". Carly couldn't believe it and thought I should just order Maggie her own americano. That was an interesting conversation. They were the only children in the place - which only had about 6 tables in it. Luckily the staff was super friendly - but I don't think the patrons were quite as happy about our crew. One nice man asked Carly her name and told her that she needed to come back. She totally agreed and has already mentioned to me that he wants her to come back. She had no idea that he probably says that to all his customers. He also asked Maggie her name and she actually responded. I think that is the first time that she has spoken to a stranger.

The trek home was LONG! and wet. I wasn't sure we were going to make it. Maggie even decided to walk some of the way. They ate a second lunch when we got home and Maggie went right to sleep. Carly even asked to get into bed for a while. She didn't sleep, but she was very quiet.

Another good day.

Day 9

Maggie made it through the night. She woke up at 5:45 but that's actually progress. The girls are not going to sleep quite as quickly tonight. They are taking turns yelling "I love you" at the top of their lungs and then chanting "Mom" simultaneously. It's pretty sweet - but it's obvious they are looking for a way to somehow extend the day a little longer.

The girls and I ventured out in the snow today. They have been begging to make cookies since we got here...but I didn't have any eggs. Le cinq seasons (the 5 seasons) mini grocery was again on our agenda today. We stopped by Oink Oink on the way. It's a two story toy store. It's similar to the toy stores in Columbia accept it's on two levels which made a big impression on Carly. The prices were very expensive, though - $20 for a simple puzzle.

Maggie was in the backpack for the outing. I didn't think our cheap umbrella stroller would make it in the fresh snow. I decided to let her walk home because my back was killing. I was glad to have it for the toy store, though. The walk home was probably the highlight. The girls ventured off the sidewalk into the fresh snow quite often. This was the first snow that was actually good for making snow balls...I guess it was a little wetter. I took a picture of them sitting against a very large tree surrounded by snow on my phone - but I have no idea how to get the picture off my phone.

I had brought a package of oatmeal cookies that just needed water and eggs. I looked all over the store today for more prepackaged cookies, brownies, and cakes...none! Yikes!!!

Day 8

I'm planning to make a daily entry on the blog while we are in Montreal...life is so different for us hear. I hope blogging about it will help me remember to laugh at all the craziness!

Today was a good day. No nasty letters. No french phone calls. No public tantrums. No run ins with snow plows.

The girls and I only left the house once today - from about 10:00 to 11:00. We all bundled up and headed out to the mini grocery store about 10 minutes away. We put Maggie in the umbrella stroller and Carly walked with no complaints (usually a rock is in her boot, or her mittens are itchy, or her legs are bothering her, etc.). When we got to the grocery store, Carly pushed Maggie while I selected a few items. You have to bring your own grocery bags or you get charged per plastic bag at checkout. Fine with me...the plastic bags are too hard to carry when you are walking with children anyway. The grocery is interesting because the carts are smaller - no seats for children in the front and definitely no cars or trucks! I needed a pound of ground beef for our chili tonight - well the only thing ground that was packaged was ground pork - didn't think that sounded very good. We circled the meat counter 3 times while I was gathering the courage to ask for a pound of ground beef - and I was trying to over hear if the man was speaking English to the woman at the counter. Luckily, I didn't remember that they don't do things in pounds here...The meat is packaged and priced by the kilogram. Laws!!! Thank heavens I forgot about that or I would have never had the courage. Luckily, the butcher thought it was cute that Carly was pushing Maggie around and took pity on me. One pound of beef was a little less than 1/2 kilogram. The items in the grocery store all have sticker price tags - no bar codes...and the credit card machine scares me to death. It always takes me 3 or 4 swipes because you actually have to wait for the cashier to select credit...I'm so used to swiping my card while the cashier is still scanning my food - and I tell the machine that it's credit. Anyway, we made our purchases and then headed down another block to a coffee shop.

Mom needed some caffeine and Carly needed a reward for her help. She chose the biggest chocolate chip muffin in the case and did not feel like sharing with anyone. Luckily, it was pretty dry and not all that tasty, so after a few bites she agreed to pretty much give the rest away. Maggie was released from her stroller and that's when things really went down hill...so we packed up our muffin and started the walk home...Carly pushing an empty stroller and Maggie walking along the snow bank. It took us about 20 minutes to get home.

After Maggie's rough start, we have decided to give her another go at sharing a room with Carly. She has slept for the past 4 nights in our bedroom. The last 2 nights she has slept through the night...so, hopefully, Dr. Debbie Downer next door will cut us a break and give us a day or two to get Maggie adjusted to her new room (that shares a wall w/Dr. Downer). The girls fell asleep easily...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can keep Maggie out of our room!

Snow Angel

Carly has been dreaming of making snow angels for years. It was fun to watch that dream come true today. She made about 4 or 5 before snow started seeping in her boots and mittens.

The Bunny Slope

Carly and I headed out in our head to toe snow gear to a place where we saw a preschool class sledding last week. She did great! I couldn't believe the risks that she was taking. I think she has mastered the bunny slope today. She even went over one mogul - and landed!

On The Road

Our plan was to take pictures at all of the welcome centers for each state we passed to Montreal. Well, we didn't even realize that we were in NC until it was too late. The West Virginia state line was only about 15 miles from the Maryland state line and then we were in Pennsylvannia about

10 minutes later. We decided to skip a few for the way home. NY did not have a welcome center. We plan to hit NC, NY, and Maryland on the way back south.

Leaving Columbia

We left SC one week ago today. Here's what our house looked like when we pulled out of the driveway. We saw more snow in SC, NC, and VA then we did the northern part of our trip.