What a Week!

This week was a little different for us.

Paige was home every day with the boys as her play was over, which made our afternoons so much less stressful as we weren't travelling back and forth multiple times a day.

I also babysat three days this week: Tuesday was my friend's two kiddos while she had a doctors appointment, Wednesday was my honorary nieces, and Saturday was our friend's little boy while they had a conference all day. It was sooo nice getting my little kid fix in!

Building houses on Tuesday with some littles!

There were a lot of random and fun things thrown into our week as well:

We had a beautiful sunset one night...

My shipment of The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse Book 3 The Wrong Direction came in...

I started photographing newly made jewelry with a new set up for my Etsy store...

Ryan and I played Rummy....

...lots and lots of Rummy (he was home sick on Thursday)...

The boys got their summer hair cuts, leaving a small hair creature on the floor....

I got to see Nate's art work on display at school...

Each letter of his name is made up of a different animal!

I got bit by the one toothed vampire (routine blood work, nothing to worry about!)...

we started working on prepping our garden beds for the year...

and Mason looooved having little kids in the house all week! Yes, he chose to lay in the pile of toys rather than the clear spot on the rug!!!! Such a silly pupper.

This next week should be a little different as well. I have a doctor's appointment, the kids have their spring concert, I'm volunteering in Ry's class, I'm helping at the library in preparation for our open house Saturday, and then other normal activities/house projects fit in as well.

What have you been up to this past week? What are you looking forward to this upcoming week?

Spring Break Fun

I know it seems like we all worked ourselves to the bone this past week on house projects, but we did manage to sneak some fun into our days as well!

There was bike riding...

helping each other play Minecraft...

card games...

reading the proof copy of The Wrong Direction (Book 3 in The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse series)...

dress up...

a spa party...

so pretty after our kale or avocado mask!

and tiny animal crackers...

as well as other fun adventures not photographed, like the kids spending the night at their grandparent's with their cousins, or other things like Easter or our trip to the museum that will come in separate posts :)


What fun things have you been up to lately?

Two Weeks?!?

Has it really been over two weeks since my last post???

Eek.

If you haven't guessed, we've been busy:

- We went over to Pete's sister's house and helped her and her hubby tear up their backyard and reseed it. It's going to be perfect for my niece to play in when it grows!

- Pete and I had a movie date with our friends. We went over to their house for brunch and we finished up the Lord of the Rings trilogy with 'Return of the King' (extended version, aka 4+ hours of movie!). It was so much fun hanging out with a group of our friends eating waaayyy too much good food!

- My nephew was here for four days and three nights! It was lots of fun...but weird having to worry about changing diapers regularly again.

- The stomach bug invaded our family. Again. Paige was sick with it starting a week ago yesterday, and had a fever until Tuesday night, so she didn't go back to school until Thursday last week. I had a touch of the bug Tuesday night, but was fine by Wednesday at lunch time. Nate got sick on the bus coming home on Wednesday, and is still exhausted, but his stomach's been fine since Friday morning. Ryan got it Thursday night, was fine by lunch time on Friday, and then came down with it again yesterday afternoon. Ugh. Thankfully Pete hasn't gotten it, but he wasn't looking too good this morning. He thinks it's just his allergies making him feel off, but we'll see when he gets home this afternoon.

- Pete and I had a movie date Friday night. I felt like a terrible mom, going out and having a date while my kids were recovering from being sick, but they were in very capable hands at my in-law's house (my father in law is a nurse). The kids were fine the whole time, so that helped me not feel too guilty! We went to the drive in to see Iron Man 3 with our friends Stephen and Vanessa, Pete's brother Derrick, and our pastor and his wife. We didn't have time for mini-golf during this visit, but I got some much needed one on one girl time with Vanessa while we waited for the movie to begin. The movie was awesome; if you like super hero movies, go see it!!!! It was better than the second movie; although part of it was disappointing, I think it was at least as good as the first one. On the way home from the theater, we found a truck flipped over in a ditch. I called 911 and Pete and Stephen helped break the two people out of the truck as their doors were stuck. They were fine, just bumps and bruises. We were thankful we were there to help until the police and fire department showed up.

- On Saturday we had our church's monthly prayer breakfast. Pete and I met up with his dad and the kids and helped cook. Nate and I ended up leaving during breakfast as he wanted to come home and sleep, and Pete, Paigey and Ry met up with us here later after helping do some yard work. I went over to a friend's house to help her paint for a few hours, and then after coming home we spent time outside working on the yard and playing.

So that's what we've been up to lately. We haven't made any of the decisions that are still hanging heavily over our heads, but we should hopefully have some answers in the next couple weeks. I still have to do Ryan's birthday party post, and then I should be almost up to date with things. Here's hoping life will settle down enough that I can post at least twice a week :)


What have you been up to lately?

Recap of Vacation

Last week was Spring Break for Pete and the kids.

We had some projects to accomplish, places to go, and things to do.

But Mommy got sick. And slept. A lot.

It was just a nasty head cold; I think I caught it because Ryan had a cold on top of his spring allergies, so he was up a lot over a few nights (anywhere from 2 - 12 times a night!).

Sleep deprivation + a sick kid = Sick Mommy.

I was sleeping 10 or so hours a night, then getting a 2-3 hour nap in for a few days. I don't remember the last time I had been so tired!

I felt bad that I put a damper on some of our plans, but then the weather didn't cooperate too well either.

Here's what we did do over our week together:

- Took inventory of what needed to be done this spring/summer in our side yard, and got started on the projects:

Berry patch, three garden beds, and our apple trees
before we started to work

- We redid our veggie garden plan for this year. We're now able to fit what was in our three beds into two of our beds, freeing up the third bed for transplanting our raspberries into part and then planting our blackberry bushes that we ordered in the other part of the bed.

- Ryan fell asleep on Daddy:

Love this :)

- We celebrated Easter:

So much for a pretty picture!

- I had a PLUS (it's our school's PTA/PTO) meeting at Tim Horton's on Tuesday. Luckily I was feeling well enough to go. It was nice to get out of pajamas and hang out with some other adults over coffee and put finishing details on some of the awesome things we'll be doing for Teacher Appreciation week in May :)

- I had some much needed Mommy and Ryan time; he was thrown off having everyone home, so he asked if I could play with him in his room, just the two of us. How could I refuse?

We built a train track together

- I worked at the library for a four hour shift on Wednesday. I LOVE libraries. I feel like I've grown up in one; my mom used to volunteer and then work in the elementary school's library when I was in school, then when I was in high school I began volunteering there as well. In college I worked at their library, and I think it's one of the best jobs I've ever had. Working at a library again, even just for an afternoon, recharged my batteries and I can't wait to fill in again next time I'm needed :)

- We celebrated a birthday!!!! We now have a three year old in the house :)

- We went to the aquarium for Ry's birthday:
 

The penguins are one of their favorites

- We went to our church's annual chicken barbecue and auction. The barbecue raises money for our youth group; they support a child through Compassion, and this helps them provide for their child's needs throughout the year. The auction raises money for short term missions that some of our church's members go on throughout the year. The auction raised about $5400, and was a blast, as always! The theme for the auction is always "bid high, bid often". It is rare to get a good deal on something; food items (cheese cakes, pies, cream puffs) usually go for $50+; cheesecakes tend to go upwards of $100! The only things we walked away with this year were an Almond Joy cheesecake (Pete always makes sure I win that!), an all in one seed started for basil and parsley (my basil didn't survive the winter, and my herb garden doesn't have parsley), and a raccoon hat and mitten set for Ryan.

- We had Ryan's birthday party:

Ryan and his Grandpa opening gifts

Things that didn't get done:

- Our playroom didn't get painted. However, Pete and I did plan out what's getting painted what color, where we need trim still, and I did rip up the carpeting from the stairs. The stairs are actually in better condition than we thought, so we get to save money there. Yay!

Before...

....and after!

- We wanted to go over to Pete's parent's house to shoot pistols; we've submitted our pistol permits and are waiting to receive them. We're in the market for a pistol, but as I've never shot anything but a BB gun, we want to see what we like and would be interested in purchasing. We can do this at another time, but we were hoping to shoot then go shopping over break.

- I didn't get any organizing done in the basement. Not even 5 minutes worth. Oh well!

All in all, we got a lot done. I always make these huge long lists of things do do over vacations, and get disappointed when not everything gets done. But the important things were taken care of: we spent time as a family :)


What have you been up to lately?

Yay for Productivity!

This week not only did I have energy to get things done, but I had the time, patience and ambition to get the projects accomplished as well! Because I was busy doing things around here, I haven't had time to blog much...as usual....

Here's what I did (some things with help):

On Tuesday, preschool was cancelled and I had no babysitting kids during the day. Amazing! Ryan and I went and did some much needed grocery shopping, and when I got home, I couldn't fit everything into our baking cupboard:

So messy!

I couldn't take the cupboard looking like this anymore (I could barely find things without being attacked by something else!), so I emptied it all out, got rid of some very outdated things (sugar sprinkles from when I was still living at my parent's house? Eek!) or things that had gone bad (rock hard marshmallows), and put some things in better containers:

So much better!

Now I can bake and not have to search for a long time for anything...and I can see what we have (who really needs 7 things of baking powder???)

On Wednesday, I had no babysitting kids during the day again (wow!). So I tackled our master bedroom closet...

...ugh...

It doesn't help that in the picture I still had baby things out from Monday.

Man, I'm lazy.

But anyway, we have a nice sized closet, but it tends to get filled with things that have no other place to go: pictures than needed to be hung up somewhere, a box of things for Pete to go through, items to be put on Craigslist, etc. etc. etc.)

I pulled everything out of the closet that was on the shelf or the floor and sorted through it all; most of it is either in new places or waiting to go down to the basement. I got rid of some of my clothes and made an shopping list for some clothes to replace what I got rid of.

I also took down the closet curtain; it's actually a shower curtain that matches our room, but isn't quite big enough to fit across the whole door. I bought another one, so I'm going to cut them down to fit better, rehang them, and then use the scraps to either make a cushion for the chest at the end of our bed or a couple throw pillows for the bed.

Here's the end result:

Much better, don't you think? The brown baskets help, I think. They now hold off season shoes, mending, and gifts for upcoming events. I found them at the grocery store for less than $5 a piece, and they're nice and big, too! Gotta love clearance items :)

Today, Pete helped me do a project for the boys:

Yay for bunk beds!

I think they like their beds bunked!

What a silly face!

Ryan, who usually we usually play "bedtime whack-a-mole" with put himself down for a nap and then slept almost 3 hours! It also helps we've been up multiple times the past two nights as spring is coming, aka his allergies are awful and he's having trouble breathing.

My monkey boy!

Paigey's been struggling this past week trying to figure out what she was going to do for Ry's birthday next week. She wanted to make him something, but couldn't decide on anything. I was working on a birthday project for Ryan yesterday, and came across some Lightning McQueen fabric we had on hand for him. I showed Paigey, and we decided to have her make a pillow for him! It was her first sewing lesson, and she did a great job!

So proud of her creation for Ryan!

She did most of the cutting, all the measuring, and helped me run the fabric through the sewing machine. Her next project is recovering some of her old pillows to match her blue room, and she can't wait!

I've also been trying out a ton of new breakfast recipes. A huge thanks to all of you who sent me recipes; feel free to keep them coming if you think of anything else! I'll do a post soon with what we've tried so far and our reviews on them.

What have you been up to this week?

Random Highlights From Our Week

Here's a random recap of our week!

I've been suffering from a head cold the past couple weeks. I took a nap on our love seat, and woke up to this:

My kids put all their favorite things on me to help me feel better! I have a stuffed Nemo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Bob the tomato, Violet (a unicorn), and Francesco Bernoulli, as well as Nate's green silky blanket and a few books. I felt so loved :)

Once a month, Nate's kindergarten class has a family project based around the month's theme. For January, they were doing winter things, so each family had to design their own snowman picture using the snowman template. Here's ours:

We cut out our snowman template, and put it on a piece of cereal box wrapped in snowflake wrapping paper; we also cut out a pine tree and a snow covered ground out of construction paper. We painted the template with snow paint, then used coal from our coal stove for the eyes, smile, and buttons. The scarf is actual fabric, and the hat, hat decorations, nose, and arms are also construction paper. We have so much fun brainstorming as a family and doing these projects together!!!

On Wednesday I was supposed to have jury duty, but ended up getting excused. It worked out well, as Ryan woke up in the middle of his nap screaming due to a nightmare. I snuggled him, and he fell asleep on me for an hour and a half!!!

Nate's making me feel old....he has his first loose tooth! On Thursday and Friday, he was saying his front gums and teeth felt funny. I wasn't quite sure what was causing it, it only seemed to bother him while he ate. Saturday, he wakes me up saying his tooth is loose, and indeed it is! So I made him this:

It's a monster tooth pillow! His tooth will go in the mouth part, which is actually a pillow. It hangs from his bed, so it's easy access for the tooth fairy, and will hopefully keep the tooth from getting lost :)

I opened up my laptop today and discovered my desktop picture had been changed:

It says "APPRECIATE! Even the Daleks think you're swell! (Of course they are still going to exterminate you, but let's not focus on the details) Happy Valentine's Day!"

Pete had been on my computer earlier for some school work, and found a valentine for me. For those of you who don't know what a Dalek is, it's from Doctor Who :)

Other randomness:

• Nate aced all his mid-year assessments for school!
• Paigey shovelled the porch and front side walk for me after school on Thursday on her way in from the bus...without being asked!
• I guest posted on I Choose Joy about cutting back your budget
• Pete and I had a stay at home date night - we watched National Treasure 2, he made me stuffed mushrooms, and we had chips and dip, too :)
• My easel broke, which is pretty upsetting for an artist (or maybe just me, I don't know). It was 10 years old, so it lived a good life. When I went to price out a new one, I found one that I'd been wanting for a few years on sale with free shipping!!! It'll hold big canvases (which my old one didn't do very well), yet still be small enough I can take it outside onto our deck to paint if I want. I can't wait until it arrives in a week!
• My best friend's sister and her husband's new son arrived on Thursday! This is their third son, and super exciting time for them. Please pray for them that the adoption process continues to go smoothly!

What were the highlights of your week?