TWO!

This week we had lots of excitement. We had a HUGE snowstorm that dumped about 2 feet of snow in less than 24 hours, closing the motorway and causing havoc in Blackford AND it was Isla's second birthday.

Kenna worked Monday, Tuesday and was all ready to go to work on Wednesday, when she just happened to check her phone on the way out the door to see that Alisdair had left her a message that the A9 had been closed and he was stuck on the backroad, and had been for over an hour, but wasn't going anywhere. There had been an accident and the police closed the roads (there was light snow). The road was closed from 8:50pm on Tuesday night until 11:40 on Wednesday morning (a sanding truck and two lorries had been in an accident with two cars). By that point, there wasn't a lot of reason to go into work as her boss had already told her to stay home. Thursday we woke up to more snow, and Alisdair again had to take the back roads to work. If it hadn't been for the truck he wouldn't have made it in (despite there being no snow in Stirling). It snowed over an inch an hour for most of the day. Luckily Emily was here and she and mum (being New Englanders) got the wood and coal and kindling in and then started the shoveling (people in Scotland don't really shover, or own shovels). We had the only shoveled driveway in town and we'd even cleared our walks. At one point on Friday a van of Polish workers tried to turn around in our driveway but got stuck on the road park. In the traffic jam was a gritting lorry that Kenna convinced to dump some sand/salt at the end of our driveway and we all got the van unstuck. The whole road in town was down to one lane (and still is three days later) and cars kept wiping out)

The motorway was closed all day and at night, the police only let Alisdair through the road block as he'd swapped his truck for Grannie's Landrover with the big field tyres. We'd expected him to stay at Grannie's for the night and he said in some points on the back road the snow was up to his window. He'd driven over multiple power/telephone lines in the farm tracks to make it home. His Wyoming driving skills came in handy! Most people thought he was nuts for even trying to get home though.

Power lines were down and 45,000 people were without power (we were lucky and only lost it for an hour, and having a wood stove and being out shoveling we were plenty warm). We lost telephone for three days (and internet). We were also happy we got the wood in early (we brough the wheelbarrow into the back hall way full of dry wood) as only about an hour later a huge dumping came off the roof, filling Cassie's kennel and covering the path and wood that was still outside. We've also lost three bits of gutter off the house (cast iron, so pretty dangerous if they fall on you!), some slates and chunks of the roof. A little scary!

Emily and mom taught Isla to eat snow however. She was VERY funny about it. Emily put it in a bowl, put powdered Hawaiian Punch on it and let Isla eat. Her hands and face were stained red (so we let her wash the dishes to get rid of the stain). As we kept shoveling the driveway she'd yell "Hey!!! that's my food!!!" and pretend to be upset. The snow in the backyard was up to her shoulders and Emily tried to get her to do snow angels, but she had to be lifted up to even fall into it.

The dogs (especially the terriers) weren't enjoying the snow as they really couldn't move in it. Cassie is loving living in the mudroom--but we have to sweep three or so times a day. Kiwi is such a little warm body that if you force her to go outside, she comes back covered in straw (she's managed to get into Cassie's kennel and hides inside when she is supposed to be "doing her business"). Today Alisdair managed to take them for a walk down across the railroad tracks for the first time since Thursday. The snow is very deep and Isla can't walk in it either. Tree limbs are down all over and Auchterarder looks like a war zone (we were so sick of being inside that by Friday afternoon we ventured out to Gleneagles to the poo-la. There was no place to park, but we were creative and had a nice swim.)

Isla has been making the most of her indoor time. In addition to eating snow, learning to wash dishes and helping clean (she's a wiz at bathrooms!) she made her own birthdaycake (with the help of Auntie Emily). Isla thought it was great fun and we've determined she now can make jello, no bake chocolate cookies, snow (with flavouring), and birthday cake. Not too bad for a just 2 year old! She also got a play vacuum for her birthday that she has great fun playing with.

For her birthday, as she has enough toys to fill the playroom, we decided instead to take her to the zoo for a family day out. All she would talk about on Friday was "Uncle Michael singing Happy Birthday" to her and "Uncle Michael coming to my house"...Saturday the big day arrived and we gave her some balloons here at the house and headed to Grannie's nice and early. The whole family then headed out to Edinburgh Zoo. She was very excited about seeing monkeys and it was great having so many hands to wrestle her and pass her around. She enjoyed the birds that landed on Uncle Michael, a slightly crazy deer that jumped around, the monkeys who were fascinated with her purple toy and the gorilla.

We went back to Grannie's and had her M&M cake and a butterfly cake that Claire had made for her. She was exhausted by days end, but had a great day. Clarie and Michael also gave her an adorable dress that she wore today to church.

It's been a long, but productive week. We're sure glad that Auntie Emily decided to stay a few weeks longer as we couldn't have made it this week without her!

Isla was also excited by her package from Australia this week from her Great Uncle and Aunt with a kookaburra bird toy in it. She likes to press its stomach and have it laugh for everyone. Neighbour Anne had taught her to do an evil laugh and put a flashlight under her chin, so this is the new game with her bird!

The computer isn't wanting to upload pictures tonight, but I will try again tomorrow.

Fun with the sheep!

Grannie and Isla

The littlest sheep of them all

Grannie showing Isla how the sheep will suck on her fingers! She loved it!

Isla hung out at the farm om Saturday with Grannie!

A New Bed

Bedhead!

Pillows

Isla got a new bed this week. She skipped out on lunch and dinner the first day she got it so she could go lay in it.
So far so good. She likes to tell you that she stayed in her bed all day and did not walk around. She is so good at following her Mother's directions!

Library on Tuesday and Kenny Rogers on Wednesday

Isla climbing the gate at the Games Park

More climbing

"Reuben James..." played on the slide whistle

Isla, myself. the backpack and I am not sure who is walking the dogs, since neither one of us have the "lead".

Isla, her Patsy Cline dress, her obsession with blue sticky tact and the heart she made Mummy and Daddy for Valentine's day!

On Tuesday (if I remember right), Isla and I (Emily) took the bus to Auchteracher to go to the library. At first she appeared to be fasinated with the books. Then she discovered the book displays that turn. So she just kept turning them and turning them. She then decided to find chapter books (we were in the children section) and bring them to me. However, everytime I went to read the book she said NO!
At one point it became necessary to change her diaper. While in the bathroom she discovered that the sink was her size! She was in heaven! Once, that discovery was made she then decided that she needed to "wash hands" and lost interest in the whole book part of the library. So, we looked at a few more books, then went and bought lunch. She ate a hot dog with mayo on the bread! I think it was her favorite part of the whole day!
We did a little shopping at the co-op, then rode the bus back to town.
Wednesday Isla woke up earlier than normal but was kind of slow the whole morning. We were suppose to go to Tiny Talk (sing language class) but we didn't get ready in time to take the bus and besides she had a little cold. So, instead we had a makeup party. Well not really. The truth of the matter is that I usually get ready before Isla wakes up but this time she woke up before I had a chance to get ready. So she "helped me".
She LOVES chapstick and makeup so while I was doing something I gave her my lip gloss to put on. I figured she would like it since she likes chapstick so much. So she put it on and I told her she was beautiful. She played around some more with some eye shadow applicators. Then she finally looked in the mirror. As she saw herself in the mirror her faced dropped and she looked horrified. Like a teenager girl would as they burst out "I'm so ugly, I'll never get a date". Well you see Isla had not only put lip gloss on her lips but it was above her lips, to the sides of her lips... etc, etc. She looked at me as though she was about to cry after realizing how horrible she looked. I quickly said "Oh, did you put too much on?" to which she replied "yeah, too much". I then said "it's Ok, it happens sometime just wipe some off" and gave her a towel. She wiped it off and went on with her day. But her horrified look made me laugh quite a bit. For a not even 2 year old to realize that she doesn't look very good with "too much" makeup was very funny.
The rest of the morning was spent singing and dancing to Kenny Rogers. Isla wore her Patsy Cline dress.
In the afternoon we took the bus to Stirling to meet Mom for lunch. Then took a long walk with the dogs!
Oh yeah other funny story, I had Isla in the "backpack" on Tuesday as we were walking the dogs in the afternoon. As we were walking I noticed some people walking through the back hills of town. I commented to Isla that I wanted to hike a mountain while I was in Scotland. I said to her " would you climb a mountain with me?" She answered back very matter a factly "No" I then asked why and she said "Too Big"!

Cooking on Monday

These pictures are in reverse order

Mixing takes a lot of concentration

Then we pour in the extra water; just a little

Ripping the squares apart

More ripping; I think this might have been the hardest job of them all! The squares are actually pretty tough to get apart.

So, on Monday Emily decided that Isla needed to learn how to cook. So, Isla learned how to make "Jelly" or as they call it in the states "Jello". There is no real difference in the taste of either products but the way they are made is rather different. In the states it is made with powder, where the water is bolied, powdered poured in mixed until is dissolves, then cold water is added. Once everything is mixed together you put the Jello in the fridge. Here the Jelly comes in little squares that are suppose to be ripped apart, thrown in a bowl, add 100 mL to them, place them in the microwave for 1 min. The sqaures mostly dissolve, then you add remaining water and refridgerate it.
Isla did every step in the process. She did so well the first round that I let her make a second batch; much to her mother's dismay! She is a great cook.
Not quite sure what we did the rest of the day but I'm sure if was fun!

Fun with Gannie

Isla trying to bottle feed the little runt sheep....

Alisdair has gone off to England to shoot deer and Auntie Emily is in Dublin, which left Isla and Mum and the dogs to make our own fun this weekend. Isla is the VERY proud new owner of a "big girl bed" and we've struggled to take naps for the past three days. She does however like to go to bed at night and today she should be VERY tired.

We got up this morning and dutifully cleaned the upstairs, got water out to the turkeys and Cassie (it was very cold last night and their water all froze up), showered and made it to Grannie's by 10:30. Isla insisted on seeing the lambies and Grannie has had a texal father for her sheep this year and the babies are much larger than previous lambs and very cute with white faces. They are sturdy little sheep and took great interest in Isla. They sucked on her fingers and tried to eat Grannie's jacket. Isla thought it was WONDEFUL.

Grannie took us out in her new red "Gannie Hot Rod" to Gargunnock House to see snowdrops ( It wasn't that impressive of a place, but Isla adores doing anything with Grannie so we had a great time.) Then we went to Dobbie's to see the fish and have some lunch. We came back to Grannie's and she and Grannie went to bottle feed a little lamb who isn't looking so good and of course, play with the texal crosses. She insisted on getting in the pen with them and trying to get them to play with her by yelling "here sheepies"...she didn't understand why she started a stampede!

Then it was a trip down to see the chickens, and then to walk the dogs and jump in all the puddles (iced or not). Gannie does have the BEST puddles! We topped off the afternoon by having a cup of tea with Grannie and Isla was thrilled she got her very own mug full of milk (and a tablespoon of tea--although she insisted she wanted "milk and sugar"--we've perhaps been in Scotland too long and she is around too many people who drink tea). We made it home just in time (with enough daylight) to run our dogs around the games park and had a girls dinner of cereal (daddy never approves of such things)...We'd brought Isla's Baby Jogger pram back from Grannie's and Isla discovered she could stand in it while mum went really fast trying to keep an eye on the three dogs to keep them away from other dogs and from bringing back frozen dead rabbits. Not very safe, but it meant we got the walk done, Isla didn't whine that she wanted to walk and we made it home before our hands were frozen (it was very sunny but very cold today)

We had a lovely bath time and Isla is happy in her new bed, fast asleep! All that fresh air should knock her out. I'll post some picture of the rest of our adventure and her new bed tomorrow, along with Emily's Dublin adventures.

Everyone needs an Auntie Emily!

Fish at Butterfly world....much less scary than butterflies! (notice the curls in the back of her head!!!! :)
Off for another outing with her baby, pram and sheep backpack...no trip to the post office in town is complete without baby!
Isla and Auntie Emily--cuddles!!
Isla tracing Neighbour Anne's hands on her water mat she got from Grannie for Christmas.
Toilet training....well, trying...
Being "helpful" walking the terriers.
Emily discovered the view from the upstairs.
A scary self-portrait taken by Isla....
Auntie Emily wearing Isla's bee hat at the playpark.
Isla, her bee backpack and the swivel chairs...a BIG hit
Isla in front of Dunblane Cathedral. She recognised it once they made it down the hill and yelled "church! singing! Gannie!" Emily felt compelled to take her in while they were waiting for class to start.
Fun in the sun at the local games park. Auntie Emily has been amazed (as have we) by the spate of good weather we've been enjoying. It's not all that warm, but the sun's been out almost all week and we've had minimal rain.
Isla and TIC TACS! (you can get her to do anything with the promise of TicTacs or Chapstick--note the Chapstick holder on her trousers)

So, another week with Auntie Emily around and it's SO nice having her around. She cooks, she cleans, she babysits, she's fanatical about washing dishes, she scoops dog poo, she vacuums, she dusts, she irons, she sings with Isla, she walks dogs, she chases Charlie when she runs away...she's AMAZING!!!! and we sure appreciate having her here. Our house has never been so well kept....and she assures me she's getting her paper done as well as some job hunting. She and Alisdair are also having fun watching the Olympics. We've taught her about the red button on BBC and how you can watch sports 24/7 without commercials....that might have been a bad idea :)

She's also VERY patient with Isla who doesn't let her out of her site "Auntie em-LEE, where are you???" "what'chu doing?"

Plus, Auntie Emily has a digital camera that she has let Isla take control of, so we have some very funny pictures, taken through the eyes of a 23 month old..
So far we have taken Emily to Edinburgh to see "The Sound of Music," she and Isla are working on mastering the public transport system and taking busses to Stirling, Auchterarder and Dunblane, she and Isla have hit the playpark in town and Emily is off to Ireland this weekend to fulfill her dream of going to Dublin. We also took Emily to Butterfly World, IKEA and Costco in Edinburgh. Isla HATED Butterfly World, however that probably had something to do with a VERY large butterfly landing on her sleeve. That was too much for her. She enjoyed the snakes and the fish

Isla and Emily ventured off to baby sign language class on Wednesday in Dunblane and hit some local sites as well as going out for lunch. Isla was especially impressed with the swivel chairs.

We've also taken her to church. She loves singing, trying to lead music, meeting "Baby Jesus (not really, but it was a baby and in her book any baby at church is Jesus)" and the fact there is a sink that is her size. In the middle of the meeting this morning she informed mum she was "stinky"...but it was really a ploy to go use the mini-sink!!

We're still trying to potty train Isla...and having some success. She's more interested however in walking the dogs, feeding the fish, playing in any water she can find and looking for random money in the house to put in her bear bank.

Unfortunately Isla has developed a bit of a cold, so we've found a humidifier to put in her room which she thinks is great fun and slightly makes up for the fact that we've "lost" the latest binki that she found...

A few more pictures

Since Charlie is Isla's best friend she got to try on the pearls as well! Every morning Charlie meets Isla at the bottom of the stairs and Isla gives her a big hug!

Everybody was kung fu fighting... Right before this she had her sunglasses on as well but by the time I got the camera out the sunglasses had fallen off.

Staying hydrated! Notice the chapstick connected to her snowsuit. Did I mention she LOVES chapstick.

Can I have it?

Isla and her Pearls; very fashionable in another Grannie Ella creation.

Isla was very excited to get on the "Fast Bus"

At the Bus stop with her "Busy Bee Backpack"; she was checking out all of the snow she could potentially eat.

Cleaning the slide in her Fish Hat

Making a Snow Angel

Isla has been enjoying the week with Emily, also known as Em-lee, Em-a-lee, or Auntie Em-lee. Monday was spent figuring out how everything things works; from walking the dogs to getting Isla ready for the day. Tuesday it snowed and so Emily took it upon herself to teach Isla how to make a snow angel. Isla wasn't too keen on the idea but did enjoy "cleaning" her slide outside (aka wiping off all of the snow). Tuesday night we (Em, Kenna and Isla) all went to the "Poo-LA" (pool at Gleneagles). Isla is fearless and likes to jump into the pool, pull herself along the railings in the deep end and LOVES filling her mouth with water and spitting it at people. On Wednesday Isla and Emily walked to Baxters and bought candy. Isla loves candy and chapstick! That afternoon Isla and Emily took the bus to Bridge of Allan to meet up with Kenna. Isla loved the bus and all of the kids on their way home from school thought she was very cute. Wednesday night Isla hung out with Grannie and Daddy for the night as Emily and Kenna went to see the Sound of Music in Edinburgh.
Thursday Isla went to the University( to check out early enrollment options)tee hee, and hung out with Kenna for the day. Friday and Saturday were spent cleaning and hanging out arond the house. Overall, it was a pretty good week.

Isla loves the phrase "Can I have it?" "Can I have a juice?" "Can I have a chapstick?" "Can I have soap?" (hence the title). Today we took Emily to church in Perth. Isla came away with a few "gems"...1. she loved that there was a sink her size in the toilets. 2. She informed daddy when she got home that at church we "shut our eyes" and sing. 3. "Baby Jesus was at church" (There was a man trying to juggle his kids so Kenna volunteered to hold the 2 month old, Diego, and Isla thought this was WONDERFUL. She "petted" him and thought it was funny he chewed on his hands.)

And best news of all...we've fixed the Grandma tape!!!! For three nights we've had a crying tragedy on our hands as "Grandma gone away" (the tape wouldn't work), but with Alisdair back from Germany (a trade show), we put daddy on the case and he decided it was the tape recorder, not the tape. So, "monkeys jumping on the bed," "wheels on the bus" and "chapel doors" are all back to our night time routine...PHEW! We do have Grandma working on an emergency back up though after that almost tragedy. Isla just kept asking "Where Grandma gone?"

Also, for some reason we decided to spell today....Isla repeated her name I-S-L-A, but Troup was a big funnier. We spelled it for her, she repeated it, but then added T-R-O-U- doggie Pee.....which might just be a reflection of her life with the dogs around right now....slightly funny really..:)