ten on tuesday

1. We've all been sick for way too long. No need to feel sorry for us, I've got that part taken care of :)

2. Caleb's talking is really taking off. My favourite words of his

snack (nack)

Matt

Cale (Cay-el)

chocolate (chawquat)

please (peeeeze)

3. Probably not a coincidence, but Caleb's totally into reading books lately. His favourites:

anything Curious George

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? (he loves the teacher)

Baby Einstein Book of Words

4. Matthew is learning about nursery rhymes at school this week. Today at lunch he recited:

There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead,

And when she was good,

She was very, very good,

But when she was bad....

I don't remember the word, mom.

5. His fingernails were also all black. Something to do with a craft involving blackbirds (sing a song of sixpence..., I'm guessing)

6. Did I mention that we are starting to go a bit crazy from being stuck in the house for such a long time (due to weather and sickies)?

7. Hug or headlock? What do you think?

8. We did actually venture out of the house for awhile yesterday afternoon. It was, after all, the very first family day. We went to the museum.

9. Fun in the dinosaur sandpit at the museum. And pretending to sleep on a bison fur.

10. Back to work for me today (I missed all last week) My class missed me and it was good to be back :)

hello, friend

Wishing you a very Happy Valentine's Day.

(these were my cards for the card swap-I'm still waiting for mine to arrive...)

february showers

No rain showers here in February, but we did have a baby shower on the weekend for baby Maya. It was so much fun for this mommy of boys to go crazy with the pink theme.

The guests of honour:

The decor:

Thank you so much for coming to visit us, Faye and Maya. We had a great time (sorry you got sick). We love you :)

love at first sight

Actually, "love at first sight" may be inaccurate because I know we loved her before we saw her. But once we saw her, we fell in love all over again :)

Matthew thinks we should move to another country, like Calgary, so he can be Maya's big brother. He loves to hold her, read to her, help change her diaper, look at her. He just loves being around her. He can't get enough of her. It's so sweet. Caleb likes to share all his toys with Maya. Seriously, e v e r y single toy at the same time. He treats her so gently and strokes her hair. It's so nice to see his softer side. But he will definitely remind you that he is his mommy's "baybeee".

queen of hearts

So, next week I get to be the helper in Matthew's preschool class again. His teacher mentioned to me that she will be reading The Queen of Hearts to the class. She thought it might be fun if I brought some tarts for snack (the helper brings snack for everyone). Doesn't that sound like fun? I think his teacher is so awesome!

When we were driving home from school, Matthew said,

"Mom, there's just one problem. I don't really like tarts."

I told him that he could try a tart and he might like it. And besides, I will bring some other snacks too.

"Mom, there's just one more problem..."

Yes?

"You don't know how to make tarts."

Ha! I laughed so hard! He's right. Hee hee.

Wish me luck!

PS Do you think the queen of hearts sleeps on a king size bed?

fit for a king

This weekend revolved mostly around the purchase of our new king size bed!

- I found a great deal on some Martha Stewart bedding (king size, of course).
- We moved our old bed into Caleb's room and we took down his crib.
- Caleb had some difficulty getting used to the big bed in his room and stayed up until 11 PM last night.
- We moved his change table to his closet (to use for storage), so then I cleaned out the boys' closets.
- I hurt my back lifting the mattress.
- Our bed is so huge. After kissing Rick goodnight, I told him, "I'll just be over there at the west end of our bed" Hee hee.
- And of course, we slept on our new king size bed :)

In other (non bed related) news:
- We need groceries really badly, but it's cold and snowy out so I don't feel like going this morning. Besides Caleb stayed up late and I really don't want to take a grouch grocery shopping.
- Caleb's latest word is "ha-pee" (happy). He's so cute.
- We stayed for the pancake breakfast after mass yesterday. Yummm. The boys had fun running around the church basement with their little friends.
- Matthew woke up this morning and immediately told Rick "4 more days until Maya comes". How cool that he can subtract a day from yesterday's 5 more days.
- I'm planning a baby shower for Faye this weekend. Any cool shower ideas? (you could also email them to me so Faye doesn't read them)

Have a great week!

ten for today :)

10. It's been 12 days since I last nursed Caleb. We quit cold turkey (can you quit nursing cold turkey or is that just smoking?)

9. He has asked to nurse every morning until yesterday when he woke up and asked for "chawkit" (chocolate milk).

8. Only 8 more days until Faye and Baby Maya come for a visit.

7. I've signed Caleb and myself up for a Book Babies library class on Thursdays while Matthew is at preschool. It'll be fun to do something together, just the two of us.

6. I am anxiously awaiting one of the fancy shops in town's big 70% off sale. I'm pretty sure I'm on their email list to be notified, but I have a fear that I won't get it or I'll get there and everything will be gone. (it's kid's stuff)

5. A brand new YMCA just opened up very very close to our house. Rick is already a member and works out downtown regularly. He's at the new place right now, checking it out. We're considering getting a family membership.

4. I bought the boys a bunch of new shirts and sweatpants at Old Navy last weekend (such a great sale!) The Old Navy sweats are perfect for attaching the notes that Matthew likes me to write him for preschool and attach to his drawstring.

3. Matthew says he doesn't need me to write him a note for preschool anymore! (good thing I stocked up on sweatpants, huh?)

2. Yesterday, Caleb said "I love you" to me. (his first time and it actually sounded more like "wa wuv woo", but we all knew what he meant)

1. I'm in a heart-themed card swap. Here's a sneak peek at my card. Everybody's doing a sneak peek, so I just had to...

ick

ick!
we've been sick!
icky sick!
(even Rick!)

hee hee!

But not Caleb (thankfully).

Rick thought I should post a photo of my sick self, but it really wasn't pretty.

I'm happy to say that we're nearly all better and have been amusing ourselves by watching excessive amounts of children's television. We have also played more than one game of "nap".

I look forward to catching up on everything that I missed while I was gone :)

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!