this weekend, we...

ate:
- leftover birthday pizza
- store bought chicken pot pie
- homemade pizza (made by grandma D)
- more birthday cake

swept up:
- cracker crumbs
- actually, I think I still need to sweep more up

washed:
- our troubles away at the spa :)

visited:
- Grandma R (for a sleepover)
- Grandma & Grandpa D. for a family birthday party

watched:
- Cars
- Apprentice LA
- Without a Trace (but only the last half hour)

played:
- with cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's
- outside for just a bit because it's cold
- with Grandma at the sleepover

prayed for:
- daddy's car
- Caleb to sleep all night (he's been doing really well)
- cousins

And just for the record, we don't live in an igloo, this is the fort in our backyard.

not so happy birthday

Poor Rick, it's his birthday today and he's had a bit of car trouble. It's 10:00 PM and he's out in the freezing cold getting his car either boosted or maybe towed. It wouldn't start after work and he tried boosting it. And then, he got a ride home from a friend, ate some birthday pizza and went back with our other car to try again. No luck. He returned home for cake with both sets of grandparents. And as I said before is now back there again.

Oh, and by the way, when I say freezing cold. I mean F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G cold. It is currently -32 Celsius, but with the wind chill, it actually feels like -43 Celsius. Let me convert that for you, -32 C is -25.6 Fahrenheit and so it actually feels like -43 C which is MINUS 45 Fahrenheit. Really. I'm not kidding or exaggerating to make you feel sorry for me. But don't feel sorry for me, feel sorry for Rick. It's his birthday.

And here are a couple pictures, just in case Chrissy should happen to pop by ;)

Matthew thought Rick would like a train cake. He was right :)

In other news, last night Matthew had his first skating lesson and he wowed us all by skating all by himself. He did really well and here's a little video. (sorry for the shaky camera-Caleb was on my lap)



Also, tomorrow night, Rick and I are off on a little getaway to the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa in Moose Jaw. We are really looking forward to it and hopefully our car will co-operate. Thanks to Grandma R. for watching the boys while we go.

this weekend, we...

ate:
- jam bread (Matt)
- hot dog (pronounced haw daw by Cale)
- Asian beef noodles (the grownups)

swept up:
- playdoh bits from under the kitchen table

washed:
- blueberry juice from Caleb's fingers

visited:
- Grandpa R. and Uncle Mark (for waffles and lego)
- Grandma and Grandpa D. (gingerbread men and little people)
- Baby Maya (via webcam, again)

watched:
- Madagascar
- Elmo has two
- Without a Trace
- Brothers and Sisters

played:
- tinker toys
- outside (I'll have to post a photo of our snow fort)
- hockey

prayed for:
- Baby Maya
- Uncle Mark to feel better (coughing)
- our family

And look! A new picture of Faye and Maya!

more skating

We went skating again tonight! Matthew has gotten so much better and we don't even know how. Unless he snuck out of the house and practiced. He had a blast (still pushing the chair) chasing Rick and Caleb around the ice. He laughed and giggled and could go pretty fast too. We were impressed. When we went in the little shack to warm up, there was a boy who had gotten hurt playing hockey on the big rink. Ouch. Not too sure if we want hockey boys; they get hurt :(

And here's a layout with a photo from last year. I sure loved those soft, fuzzy red pj's. You can't tell, but you can probably guess, they're footie pj's.

sneak peek

Tonight we had a sneak peek at our sweet baby cousin (niece), Maya on the webcam. She slept through the whole thing :) Matthew thought she was so sweet and when he prayed tonight, he thanked God for Maya. Caleb just kept repeating "BAAABY", which is absolutely correct. She really looks so much like her mommy did when she was a baby. She's amazing!

Here's a layout for today. I know I skipped a few days, but I'm scrapbooking so much more than I usually do and that's what's important.

a fun-filled day

This morning we dropped Grandma off at the airport. She's off to visit sweet baby Maya. It would have been so much fun to go inside the airport and look around, but we went to a cool music program at the library. This was the description:

Kids! Bring your best singin’ voices, squirming limbs, and wiggling bodies to the first monumental music fest of the year. Melinda, her guitar, and her bag of tricks will get the younger crowd leaping out of their shoes, making music, noise, and having fun!

How could we resist? The boys had lots of fun! Caleb got a bit tired near the end. But Matthew was singing and wiggling and participating like crazy. So fun to see him get involved in things.

And then tonight we took them skating (sorry no skating pics, the camera's with grandma) and they were in such great moods. Matthew still falls all over the place, but we got a chair for him to push around the ice and he definitely improved. Caleb just got pulled around in the toboggan. But even he wanted to get out and walk around and watch the big kids play hockey. It was such a nice night to be skating outside.

And here's a quick layout I did tonight. I have an 8.5 X 8.5 album that I put some of my favourite photos in. Here's an older Christmas photo from 2003, Matthew's 1st Christmas. Look at those cheeks!

What a blessing

Maya Isabelle was born at 2:40am on December 31st! Her weight was 8 lbs, 7 ounces.
Mom, Dad and Maya celebrated the new year together from the hospital last night.

Faye had a long labour, but now both mom and baby are doing well. We expect everybody to be home by today or tomorrow. Congratulations, Faye and Andrew! And welcome Baby Maya! Your cousins are so excited to meet you. Hugs and kisses.

(Congratulations to Marie, who won the baby pool!)

fussy eaters

A quiet day at home.
Talked on the phone.
Matthew played outside with daddy.
Mommy and Caleb napped.
I made a new pesto pasta salad.
Went over to friends' for supper.
The boys are so fussy they didn't eat.
Until we got home.

It's funny because on the way there, we discussed how to socially handle if you don't like something that someone serves you. Because I think we may encounter this situation a few more times. We said you could say things like:
"I'll just try a little bit, thank you."
"I'm not sure if I like it, but I'll try it."
"I don't really like it, but thank you."

Matthew was practicing some of these sayings in the car. And then he said:
"And then I can just spit it out, right?"


And I scrapbooked again :D

Here's my layout for today.

gotta run!

Gotta run! But here's my layout for today.

Don't forget about the baby pool. It's not too late (as far as I know).

he got the note!

Jenny asked if a certain pink engine made it here in time for Christmas. Well it did!

It was so cute, because the new engine was the last present in his stocking and as he was opening it he was talking about how he didn't get Rosie. He was saying that Santa must not have gotten his note. He wasn't even that disappointed. He was joking around and saying that maybe the Easter Bunny got his note, by mistake.

And then...



And thank you, Jenny L. ;)

Here's my layout for today. I'm not too crazy about it. But hey, there's always tomorrow!

a few Christmas photos

Here are a few pictures from Christmas time. These first two were taken about a week before Christmas (when everyone was still healthy) Those are tinker toys that Matthew is holding (not some sort of strange Christmas tradition)And here they are on Christmas morning. Caleb was really not feeling well at all. Poor little guy.


Another layout using photos from last Christmas. And don't worry, you didn't miss anything. I don't have another kid named Henry. That's Matthew, with Henry the train (and Thomas too, actually)

:)

ten on tuesday

1. Merry Christmas (I know I'm a day late, but I really hope you had a lovely Christmas)

2. Poor Caleb has just been so sick this week. It's really not very fun to be so sick at Christmas time. But he maintained a positive attitude through everything.

3. Caleb and I ended up staying home for Christmas dinner (instead of going to Rick's parent's). But my mom brought over some of her leftover dinner for me. Thanks Mom :)

4. The funniest quote heard around our house:

"We may have to build an extra level on our house, just for all the new Little People sets we have" (said in all seriousness by my husband)

5. The sweetest quote heard around our house:
"You are the best person that God could give to me" (said by my sweetie pie, Matthew just before bed last night)

6. Caleb has moved on to two syllable words like,
Melmo (Elmo)
Tanta (Santa)

7. Please forgive me for not finishing up the photo a day before Christmas. It was just getting too tricky to take photos and post them everyday, with my Christmas concert and school party and sick kids.

8. Let me make it up to you by trying to post a layout of the day for the twelve days after Christmas. But I'm not making any promises (I don't think I made any promises the first time, did I?) It felt good to scrapbook again. I also finally posted my last two layouts for the scraplift challenge. I finished those quite awhile ago, but was waiting to post. But here's my layout for today:9. By the way, that's a photo from last Christmas. I don't think I scrapbooked any photos from last Christmas yet. Yikes!

10. Happy Boxing Day! I still don't believe that you don't call it Boxing Day there. I think you should start :)

Twelve days until Christmas (Day 6)

Christmas concert day! Just imagine 16 sweet little Kindergarten students wearing these hats and singing. They were so cute! The baby pool is still on too! :)

Twelve days until Christmas (day 6)

Okay, so this technically isn't a photo, it's a scan. And there's more than one. But it's quite Christmassy and I'm just such a proud mommy. This story was invented by Matthew (age 3 1/2). I wrote down exactly what he said. He also chose all the images from old Christmas cards.

My favourite parts are when they were all at the "North end" (instead of the North Pole) and when the mom yells so loud that the house falls down.

Twelve days until Christmas (days 8 and 7)

Sorry for the delay in photos (sick kid).

This one is from Monday. Our Christmas tree :) We had so much fun decorating it this year and I'm really liking all the red balls (I bought them on sale after last Christmas) I have quite a collection of ornaments (especially teacher ones).

And for today, here's one of my favourite decorations. A little photo of Matthew that I hung up on his first Christmas. He's grown up so much (but he hasn't outgrown getting sick every year around Christmas)
The baby pool is still on!

Twelve days until Christmas (day 9)

What kind of cookies do you think are inside our cookie jar?

Chocolate chip, homemade oreos, pilsbury snowman cookies... yum, yum.

(the baby pool is still below)

Twelve days until Christmas (day 10)

I'm a little late, but I really did take this photo on Saturday.
Joy was born on Christmas morn.

If you're looking for some fun, check out the baby pool!

Twelve days until Christmas (day 11)

Lite-Brite, makin' things with light.
Outtasite, makin' things with Lite Brite

Matthew's new favourite toy (that used to belong to me). First Grandma brought over Uncle Mark's old Tinker Toys and now it's the Lite Brite. So much fun, but we have to take a picture of each one before we start a new one so we can remember the old one. This morning, it was a house. And the skier is almost done.

Don't forget about the baby pool. See you tomorrow!

Twelve days until Christmas (day 12)

I'm going to give this photo a day until Christmas thing a try (inspired by Marie, Susie and Missy). This lovely bow was sewn by my mother. It hangs on my door every year and makes me feel so Christmassy every time I go through the front door (which will be a bit more often since our garage door is broken again) You can't really see, because I ran outside to quickly take this picture and I didn't have my jacket or shoes on, but there are some little bells on there too.

Don't forget to enter the baby pool for Faye :) See you tomorrow!

fun! fun! fun! a baby pool

My sister, Faye is having a baby! Everyone is so excited for her and we want to share that fun and excitement with you. Here comes the fun part...

It's a baby pool.

All you have to do is guess the baby's:

• sex
• birthdate
• weight

and post it here in the comments for a chance to win a super duper Canadian prize package*.

Rules and Regulations:

The player with the highest score wins the pool. Each player starts with 1000 points.

Wrong sex: -15 points

Wrong date: -1 point per day

Wrong weight: -0.5 points per ounce

In the event of a tie, the player with the highest score who entered their guess first will be declared the winner.

BONUS QUESTION: Guess the baby's name, just for fun!

No purchase necessary :)

Here are some facts and a photo which may or may not help in making an educated guess. Her due date is January 7, 2007. Here is a recent photo of her, for those of you who can tell something by the way she is carrying the baby. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them here and we'll try to answer them. (would you like her to spin her wedding ring over her belly and tell you what happens?)

*special thanks to Mrs. R. (our mom) for sponsoring this event :)

This is all for fun, so what do you have to lose? C'mon play along with us!

ps. If you're a lurker, now would be a great time to introduce yourself :)

how to go on a twinkle tour

Tonight was our annual twinkle tour. In case you have never been on a twinkle tour, this is how you do it:

• put boys in their pajamas (in case they fall asleep, which they didn't)
• bundle everyone up and load them up in the car
• start playing some Christmas music on the cd player (we like Raffi)
• drive around the neighbourhood looking at pretty Christmas lights and decorations
• offer kids drinks and snacks (Matthew doesn't like hot chocolate so we call chocolate milk cold chocolate in situations like this)
• keep looking out the window at Christmas lights, big blow up Santas, penguins wearing santa hats and lit up reindeer
• say "bye bye" as you pass them
• sing "deck the halls, fa-la-la-la" as requested by your three year old
• come home and put boys to sleep

And that's how you can have your very own twinkle tour. You should try it sometime. It's fun!

off the naughty list

Well, Jenny L. is now officially on Santa's "nice" list. I checked out the link she found for me and ended up ordering Rosie online. She'll cost a bit more and hopefully she'll get here on time. But if not, Santa could always leave a note about how he ran out of pink paint at the workshop and Rosie could be delivered a bit later...

Thanks Jenny (and Katy too)

santa's helper

Santa needs your help, if you happen to be going to Toys R Us in the next few days.

A little boy that I know (who has been very good all year) asked Santa for Rosie, a new engine from Thomas and friends.

Rosie is feisty, fun and very free spirited. Rosie is a tomboy tank engine, despite the fact that she's pink! (yes, my little boy wants a pink engine)

She is apparently exclusive to Toys R Us (in Canada, anyway) and is not in our store or available online anymore. If you could help Santa out, he would gladly pay any shipping costs and definitely take your name off the "naughty" list and put you on the "nice" one.

My husband thinks we should start "managing expectations" (which basically means have him think of something else that he wants instead and make him forget he ever met Rosie). I'm also keeping my eye on e-bay, but I don't have too much experience in that area.

ten on tuesday

1. The garage door is fixed. Hooray! When the guy was here fixing it Matthew made me open the door so he could see his face. Just curious, I guess.

2. It's not quite so cold anymore. But that's just my opinion. YOU might think it was freezing cold if you were here. Depends on how tough you are.

3. Tonight we all bundled up and went outside to play. It was 7PM and very dark, but we had so much fun. Toboggan ride in the backyard, snow angels and hot chocolate to warm up afterwards.

4. I had a nice long chat on the phone with my little sister who is having a baby soon and I'm so, so, SO excited for her!

5. Everyday that Matthew goes to preschool I need to write him a note telling him that I love him and that I'll pick him up at 11:15. He now needs his note to be attached to the drawstring on his sweatpants so that he can see it at all times during school. But at least he doesn't cry when I drop him off. :)

6. Caleb is talking more and more and is amazing us with how smart he is. (insert proud mommy face) He calls all letters "A", but when he sees letters he'll say "A, A" and then go get some magnetic letters off the fridge. He quite enjoys the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

7. We have a library book that we can't find. Have you seen it anywhere? We'll just keep looking, I guess. Good thing I don't have to pay late fees on children's books.

8. My Christmas shopping is getting done a little bit at a time. Today I ran to Toys R Us after work to pick up a few things. How is your shopping coming along?

9. We are so blessed to be having some really nice Advent prayer times together as a family each night. We light the candle on the Advent wreath and pray together as a family. It's been really nice.

10. Matthew is not really very good at blowing out the Advent candle. He's such a silly guy. The only way we can get him to blow it out is if he accidentally coughs on it! Hee hee.

time for an update

Hi!
It's time for a quick update:

• I had parent-teacher interviews this week at school.
• I was the helper at Matthew's preschool. His teacher is so awesome!
• It's very cold here.
• Our garage door won't go up or down so we have to park outside (in the very cold weather)
• My class went to the museum yesterday.
• We've just started to do some Christmas decorating around our house.
• I love my new Advent wreath and Caleb is doing a good job of just looking at it (not touching it or pulling out the candles)
• When it's really cold, fashion goes out the window and I find myself loving these big clunky boots.
• Matthew loves to shovel. A few times this week, he went to help shovel right after waking up in the morning (and was wearing his pj's under his snowsuit!).

Stay warm, everyone!

saying goodbye

When I was saying goodbye before I went to work, this afternoon, Matthew got sad. I asked why he was sad and he said,

" I love you too much."

i always tell them...

if you have a brother, you'll always have a friend.



(cozy sweaters made with love by Great Auntie Anne-Marie)

ten on tuesday {the caleb edition}

Ten things about Caleb on this Tuesday morning

1. He is in the middle of a "language explosion" and learning new words everyday.

2. His two new words this morning 1) pear 2) backpack.

3. He is totally in love with Sesame Street and particularly the dvd What's the Name of that Song (which we all refer to as "La dee da dee da")

4. He has begun throwing little temper tantrums.

5. He loves wearing silly hats around the house, but is not too crazy about wearing his toque outside.

6. (I'm almost afraid to write this because I don't want to jinx it) He is sleeping through the night almost every night.

7. He likes to play trucks and cars. When he plays trains with Matthew, his favourite train is Percy (we had to buy an extra one to avoid conflicts)

8. It is pretty much the cutest thing ever to see him hug his big brother.

9. He is the same age that Matthew was at his birth(20 months).

10. He is getting to be such a big boy, but is still a snuggler, a hugger, a kisser and a mommy's boy (and a daddy's boy, grandma's boy and grandpa's boy too!)

Some silly hat pictures:

ten on tuesday

1. I got my hair cut and colored today and everyone keeps telling me how dark it is. I hope I don't look too "goth". Nobody likes a goth kindergarten teacher.

2. Caleb's favourite word is bum.

3. I bought a beautiful new coat last week.

4. Matthew went back to preschool today (after being sick last week). They are learning about dinosaurs this week.

5. We haven't been sleeping too well lately.

6. I cleaned off my scrapbooking table on Saturday and it's already messy again.

7. It's kind of nice out today.

8. I have a meeting during noon hour tomorrow.

9. I also have a meeting after school tomorrow.

10. We need to go lamp shopping and mattress shopping on Friday. What kind of lamps are "in style"? How do you buy a good mattress?

best friend

This is Matthew's best friend, Simon.

I just love this picture, because it really shows how much Matthew likes his little buddy. I love the big smile and Simon's red hair.

(ps. He drew it on the back of 12X12 scrapbook paper, so I had to photo stitch the scan together-it's huge and it looks so cute on our fridge!)

"sick" or treat

The boys were sick on Halloween. Actually, they're still sick, but the big news is that they were sick yesterday for Halloween. Matthew stayed home from preschool with a nasty cough and Caleb is coughing and sneezing all over the place. Thankfully, Matthew was not too upset about missing the Halloween party at his preschool. He was content to stay at home and make Halloween drawings and construction paper "costumes".

And of course they went trick or treating.

Before I tell you about that, let me show you the picture that I took from my car on my way home from work.

Yes, that's snow. It stopped snowing when it was time to trick or treat. But it was still cold.

Here's my silly little clown. Recognize the costume? ;)

And here's the little tiger.

Can you see the winter jacket under there? For him, it was all about the candies.

And did I dress up for Halloween? Of course, I did. Did you?

(obviously, I couldn't wear my Snow White costume outside in the snow)