My Weekend with Lib

This weekend Aidan had a soccer tournament in Edmonton for the Wolves Rep team he's on. Michael drove him down and Keira and I stayed at home. I was excited to spend some time with Keira and also to have some evenings to myself.

We started off Saturday by brushing our teeth together

Nice clean teeth!

Then we went outside to play. Keira is wearing Aidan's old jacket that my mom made for him, and his old size 4 snowpants. I'm so glad I found them because her other snowsuit was getting a little small for her.

The goal was to make a snowman...but it didn't work out too well. I haven't made a snowman in a really long time and the snow was not co-operating! It was nice and fluffy and wouldn't pack very well. So, we made a little snow lump. I put sticks in the side for arms, and then Keira stuck a couple more sticks in so maybe we made a snow alien!

After that she went down the slide a few times and I pushed her on the swing

She loved the swing!

After we came inside and got dried off, we went out shopping. First we went to Save On Foods to get some groceries, then we went to Fabricland and I got some cute material to make a new ironing board cover and then we went to Value Village to see what we could find. If you click on the picture you can see Keira's new black boots - super cute!

Muno came along too

We picked up some Quizno's for supper and headed home to watch another episode of Yo Gabba Gabba - well, actually, the same episode we watched on Friday night :) Must have been really good! After supper we had some twizzlers while we cleaned up the living room!

These are the pajamas I found for Keira at Value Village. I was just thinking to myself how expensive everything was and then I came across this Please Mum pajama set for $2.49 - yay!! They're about a size 5-6 and they fit her perfectly. Maybe she'll be 6ft when she's all done growing!!

They have this funny little thing on the arm cuff where you can stick your thumb through. I've seen this on adult jackets and sweaters but never on kids stuff before. Keira's thumb is too fat for the hole so she's not a fan, but I think it's funny.

Michael and Aidan are at the West Edmonton Mall waterpark right now, having an awesome time I'm sure. His team won both their games (by quite a bit) on Saturday, so they got to go to the gold medal game this morning and they won that as well! Aidan got to be in the net in the first half, but let in 3 goals so the score was 3-2. They pulled ahead in the second half with a final score of 4-3. I'm so happy for him that the weekend was a success - he got to do so many fun things, but winning the gold medal is the icing on the cake. They'll be home later tonight with surprises for me and Keira and all the stuff I asked Michael to get me from Ikea - I'm so excited!! Hopefully Michael took lots of pictures while they were gone, so stay tuned for those!

Boots

Now that we are nearing the end of winter, all the winter gear is on sale - and just in time! Last week Aidan showed me his foot sticking out of his winter boot where the stitching had come loose. It wasn't a big deal because this was the second winter he was wearing the boots and I was planning on buying him new boots anyways. So off we went to Walmart and found some $40 boots on sale for $9! Score!! They also had no stitching so hopefully they will survive at least one winter (dare I hope for two?) unscathed! While we were there I saw these cute little black boots in Keira's size. I have always wanted to get her some so of course I had to buy them. I also got Keira some size 10 boots for next year, but when I got home and checked her current boots, they're a size 10 already! So Keira and I went back to return the winter boots and got her some rain boots instead. The next day we found some size 11 winter boots at Value Village for her to save for next year. I can't believe how big her feet are! I think Aidan's rain boots from last year will still fit him which is good because I'm feeling a little over-run by boots: dressy boots, rain boots, winter boots ... and times two for both the kids means our shoe rack is super full right now!

Finally!

I know I've mentioned in previous posts that I've been trying to fill some spots in my dayhome and that things haven't been going so well. I've received emails and set up interviews but nothing really came of it until I got a call on Sunday from a mom who was going back to work that Tuesday. She needed care for her two boys, so we set up an interview on Monday and they started on Tuesday! I wasn't really sure what to expect since she hadn't brought her kids to the interview and the mom seemed kind of hyper, but the boys are really sweet. They're 5 and 3 and probably exactly what I'd wish for in kids I was looking after. What an answer to prayer!! The only downside is that they're both enrolled in preschool which means a lot of driving - but she pays me extra for that, so it's not really that bad.

I got paid today and I was so excited that I wanted to splurge a little bit because I felt rich but I had no idea what to buy! I've been in the mindset of 'don't spend! don't spend!' for the better part of a year, so any extras were cut out long ago. So this is what I did: I had to return a pair of boots to Walmart, so Keira and I headed out. I thought about stopping at Fabricland and buying something because that's been my one 'treat' even though I usually use the fabric to make stuff for my kids or for presents. Still fun to buy. We returned the boots and I bought new rain boots for Keira, a box of smarties for Keira, stickers for Keira and a tube of pringles for me. Then because it was late I skipped Fabricland and we went straight home to cuddle and watch an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. I couldn't think of anything else to buy!! What is wrong?!? Part of it is that I'm hampered by not wanting to buy something completely frivolous. I want to buy something that will still be useful - so there goes 75% of things I could splurge on. I was going to stop on the way home and buy a hamburger or something but somehow the car didn't take the right turns ... maybe we'll do something fun tomorrow.

Michael and Aidan are down in Edmonton this weekend for Aidan's Wolves Rep soccer tournament. I'm so excited for him because Michael's planning on taking him to the WEM waterpark and I'm sure he's going to have SO much fun! I took him out to buy some special treats for the trip down and he picked cinnamon hearts and dried pineapple, but what he really wanted was a pomegranate. I had been telling him at home that cinnamon is healthy (he's OBSESSED with what is and what isn't healthy) because it has lots of anti-oxidants in it, just like blueberries and pomegranates. I asked him if he wanted to bring some fruit down and he says 'I want to buy that thing that has the same thing as cinnamon' and I said 'Anti-oxidants?' and he agrees and I said 'Pomegranates?' and that's what he wanted. So funny! They were sold out which was probably a good thing because that would have been a messy snack in the van!

So since the boys are away I am trying to come up with something fun for me and Keira to do but the best I can come up with is that I have 2 grocery store mystery shops to do - how sad is that?!? There aren't any movies playing that she would be interested in, but maybe I'll take her out to lunch or dinner. Or do a spa night at home. She LOVES getting her nails done, rubbing cream on her hands, having her back scratched and putting on lip gloss. Whatever we do, I'm sure we'll have fun, she's such a silly little girl and so fun to be around!

Keira's Big Girl Room

The next thing to get rid of after taking the crib down and setting up the 'big girl' bed was the change table. We had an old dresser downstairs, so I moved it up, rearranged the room and took some pictures:

Lounging on her bed with all her little buddies. I think they multiply when I'm not looking!

This is where the change table used to be. I had the shelves in the corner, then the change table where the dresser is, and then a laundry basket where the shelves with Dora and Diego are. I like this set up much better, it's much easier to organize the books and bins of toys.

Keira got a Yo Gabba Gabba sticker/coloring book for Christmas and I let her put one sticker of each character on her change table. Of course we had to move the stickers to the dresser as well, and since it's old and not of much value, I let her put lots of stickers on :) Unfortunately they have proved too much of a temptation in the past couple days and the characters on the top drawer are now all ripped up ... not sure if I should replace them or just take them off. And now Aidan wants to put stickers on his dresser too :)

All the toys lined up ready to play with :)

Keira loves being in control of what she's listening to!

Admiring the circular indentation on the carpet

Strawberry Shortcake!!

Aidan chose to play Xbox for mini party tonight, so I set up Yo Gabba Gabba for Keira in her room. The little alcove behind the shutters is the perfect hiding spot for stuffed animals, pajamas during the day and mini dvd players!!

Afternoon Smoothies

Yay! Strawberry banana smoothie!

Ooooh, cold!

But soooooo yummy!

'There's a party in my tummy!'

Cheers!!

Pictures

Keira and me

The little Libbitt in an appropriate disguise

Another one of my super awesome freecycle finds was this Little Tikes table and chairs. We set it up in the living room and it's perfect for the kids to sit and color at

What a great picture, it's perfect!

Reading books nicely on the couch - Keira LOVES Clifford and calls him Kippa or Clippah

Funny face!

The best part about Christmas was having Auntie Amber and Uncle Jordan come to visit!

Keira can rope anyone into reading her a book!

Aidan in his new Christmas shirt from Auntie Rachel

Keira in her new Christmas skirt from Auntie Rachel.

I made Keira the tutu for Christmas and I think it looks great! I found the stripey material at Fabricland and made some leggings out of them and I really like how they turned out!

Since Keira's potty training is going so well I figured we should keep going and so I took the rail off the crib to turn it into a 'big girl' bed. It went pretty well, so then we brought up Keira's toddler bed. She was so excited about it she hopped right in to show me how she would sleep in it. So far it's been going pretty well ... and I'm happy to see the crib gone!

My latest project ... the square is called Milkmaid's star and is made up of 4 smaller square. It's supposed to be 10" square, but mine are turning out a bit smaller. So far I've got 24 of the small squares done and have almost all the pieces measured and cut for the rest of the 48 large squares that I've got planned. Once I've got some of the larger squares sewn together I'll post some more pictures

Random Thoughts

*Right before I had Keira and I finished my last day of work I was convinced that I would get so much done! Even with having a baby, once we had settled into a routine I would have SO much free time! I would be right on top of the dishes and cleaning the bathroom and planning healthy meals, plus I'd have time to do things like crafts with my kids! I even went so far as to buy a book of crafts from Amazon.ca! Now that I'm not working outside the home things are a lot different than I envisioned. I find it very difficult to make a schedule and stick to it (for example - assigning certain chores to certain days) which is weird because I like it when things are neat, tidy and organized. My whole mood shifts depending on if the house is clean or messy - though my standards have relaxed a lot since being married.

*My last bout of steady 'full time' work ended at the beginning of May. It's been 8 months since then and I'm amazed that I'm still looking for something ... but also that with all the uncertainty there have been opportunities for work - some shorter than others - and we're still here! God has definitely provided for us and for that I am truly thankful. Most recently I completed an assignment through Mayfair Personnel, a company that provides office staff for temporary or permanent positions. It worked out well because it was over the holidays and Michael wasn't working so he was able to stay home with the kids, eliminating the extra cost of childcare. Right now he's laid off again which is so frustrating! There are a couple of big jobs coming up, the only question is when they'll actually happen since they've been 'coming up' since fall!! And I'm talking with 3 people about childcare through ads on Kijiji.ca (love that site!) and hoping that one or two work out. I think it would be hilarious if I ended up with more kids than I could handle in my small dayhome - I would totally welcome that problem!

*I can't believe how fast Keira is growing up! Maybe it's because she's hit a couple milestones recently but she is definitely more of a preschooler now than a toddler. I am loving the fact that she is completely potty trained - except for night time. I'm still a little nervous when we go out, and bring a backpack with supplies, but if she wants to, she can hold it for hours!! We also set up her toddler bed last week and will be switching her change table to a dresser this next week. Plus with her expanding vocabulary and her physical size - a solid size 4, sometimes 5 in shirts and dresses - my baby is long gone!!

*I am slowly being sucked more and more into quilting. I had always tried to stay on the fringes of the whole scrapbooking craze because I knew although it was very cool it was also very time consuming and expensive. Somehow, though, this logic escaped me with quilting. It's true that with quilting you can make blankets or bags or pot holders or table runners or placemats - all of which have functional uses - but really, how many of those things do you really need?? Fabricland had a great sale over New Years weekend, and I had some Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket so I quickly found a square I liked and went and bought some material - not enough for the whole quilt and also no batting - because I hadn't planned it out properly! Also, the square I picked is made up of 4 smaller squares and is going to take literally a year to make ... measuring and drawing out the pieces in the most economic way, cutting them out, sewing them together and pressing seams, trimming the smaller squares, sewing them into the bigger squares and then trimming those ... and then finally sewing the big squares together. And that's only the front! Maybe by the time I'm almost done there will be another sale on batting :)

*One of the reasons I don't blog more often is because when I'm on the computer my kids go a little wild and drive me crazy ... like they're doing right now! Apparently even though I'm sitting at the computer, within eye sight, I'm deaf and blind and they can do whatever they want *sigh* I should probably go tidy up the kitchen with all that free time I have :)