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 :)

Christmas Tree

We finally put up our tree today. I just haven't felt very Christmas-y lately and so I haven't been in a rush to put the tree up or do cards or any of the stuff that usually I have done by Dec 1st! Aidan started asking about the tree so I promised him we'd do it soon but if it wasn't for him it would probably still be in the bin downstairs!! Maybe next year things will be a little more settled and I'll have time for the Christmas Spirit :)

Once the tree was set up they put their new ornaments from their Aunt on the tree. I should have taken a picture of just the ornaments, they are really cute!

They were very pleased with the ornaments - they're wooden blocks and Keira's has a K on it, Aidan's an A - and then little felt arms and legs with a wooden face and a little elf cap. They had a great time decorating the tree but I think they thought it was a race! I'm glad there were only 2 of them because I was kept really busy trying to make sure they each had an ornament to put up as well as protecting the delicate ornaments and making sure nothing got smushed or broken or eaten. I have this one ornament and it looks exactly like a heart of jujubes with a little teddybear hanging from the point of the heart. In fact it is so lifelike that until he was old enough to understand, Aidan would constantly try to eat it. And now Keira is trying to eat it. She kept saying 'Candy!' while looking at the tree today!

Afterwards I got my little elves to put all the presents under the tree

They always look way more impressive under the tree. I didn't think we had all that many, but the tree is full - and I am so thankful for that!

Michael said the tree needed lights so I figured I'd decorate the kids while I waited for him to finish what he was doing and put the lights up.

This just makes me laugh!

So does this. I'm sure she had NO idea what was going on!!

See - her expression says "I have no idea what you did to me mom, and why would you then want to take a picture?!"

They are growing up so fast. Keira is potty training, in a booster seat, and loves to have tea and marmalade toast for breakfast.

Aidan is determined to grow his hair as long as his Uncle Luke's. Uncle Luke has hair down to his butt, so Aidan's got a long road ahead of him! His behavior at school is now mostly limited to the usual grade 1 stuff - butting in line, not listening etc - for while I am very thankful for. He is learning to read and write and lately has taken to writing sums (1+1=2, 6+6=12 etc) out on his little notepad in his room. He is so inquisitive and I like explaining things to him - like the components of what we eat (carbohydrates, protein, fat, sugar) and what they do for our body.

Potty Training and Other Adventures

It's always hard to know when to start potty training. Some kids are ready earlier than others and even if they are ready, it's a difficult process. We've had the potty in the bathroom for awhile but Keira has been really resistant to the idea of actually using it. She actually started saying 'NooooOOO thank-you!' when we'd ask her if she had to pee. Then one day when I was telling her that she should be using the potty and wearing underwear she actually said to me "No uh-wah! Dee-pa!" and I knew the time had come. When you can articulate that you are more comfortable in diapers and would prefer not to wear underwear, the time has definitely come. The challenge was to get her to do something on the potty. The girl can hold it for hours and hours! So this was my clever idea:

I sat her down on her potty in front of the tv with her own pop. I figured the tv would keep her sitting in one place (on the potty) and the pop would work it's way through her system and sooner or later ... but most likely sooner ... something would happen and then we could make a big deal out of it. My plan worked great until she sat on the couch and repeated her new trick - totally forgot the towel!

She has been doing SO well. A couple days later we made a special trip to Wal Mart to get her some Disney Princess underwear which she is thrilled with. She knows all the names and loves picking out which princess to wear. Right now she is good to go at home - knows when she needs to sit down and does her thing - but we're still working on learning what to do when we're out and about or at a friend's house. I think she's doing really really well since she's only 2 and almost 5 months and I am really enjoying backing off the diapers - especially since usually she manages to stay dry during nap and bed time!

In November Michael had his 2nd annual Grey Cup Kegger and was excited to wear his new BC Lions apron while cooking up wings. Unfortunately his team did not make it to the game but he was very thankful that the Roughriders did not take home the cup.

We had about 29 people here throughout the afternoon/evening and it went really well. The kids had a blast, got to stay up late and were tired and grumpy the next day :)

And really, what's a kegger without someone falling asleep / passing out and getting written

on?!? Aidan thought this was hilarious that Mike wouldn't wake up and thought someone else's suggestion that we draw pictures on him was the best idea ever. And once Michael wrote something we couldn't very well say no to Aidan. So he wrote his name on Mike's arm and then crossed it out. Apparently now it was 'invisible'. Just like on our bathroom wall and the back wall of his closet.

Can you tell I'm at loose ends and just looking for more sewing projects? Aidan's flame hat wasn't covering his ears so I decided to use the leftover house coat material and make him one with ear flaps. It turned out super good but I think I need a new mitten pattern because they keep on turning out super skinny. Hopefully they will work for Aidan's hands!

And then I remembered that Keira's hat is a little small so I made her one too. The beige polarfleece is just SO thick and soft, I wish I had enough to make myself a hat too!

Aidan had his Christmas Festival at school this past week and I took the kids down for an hour. They got their faces painted - Aidan got a snowflake on one side and a snowman on the other ...

... and Keira got a star on one side and a snowflake on the other. She wasn't too sure about it!

They threw balls through hoops

and glooped icing onto already-super-sugary gingerbread man cookies

But I think the highlight was the mini-golf set up in the library. Aidan was actually able to hit his ball and make his way through the course, only needing help with the last hole

I really loved watching Keira try to hit the ball and completely miss every time! We hit the ball together and she had a great time