daybook...Monday

After a busy weekend we enjoyed a relaxing Monday~ both boys were given Sunday School Christmas pressies and built/played with them for most of the day. I had no qualms about allowing them to open up this present as it really started the week nicely for us...that and the fact that every other SS student was also opening them up! 

On the menu...    

Breakfast: smorgasboard. Little soy milk this morning so I had toast, the boys also had boiled egg with toast and Miss Fiona had Koala Crisp with a bit of soy milk on it. Lots of coffee for me (in bed late and up early) with juice for the boys. (left over from the weekend....they were so excited!)

Lunch: soybutter and jam sandwiches, orange sections, salad for the boys. I actually had a slice of toast and salad with orange sections, seed mix (sesame,sunflower and soy nuts) and tomatoes. Yum. 

Snack: "snack mix"~ mix of cheerios, shreddies, raisins, craisins, banana chips, chocolate chips, cheddar bunnies and mini pretzels with water and the last of the Kit Kat Crunchy bar that they each got the night before. 

Dinner:  Roast beef sandwiches, tomato or butternut squash soup and salad. Juice Spritzers to drink. Fiona had the squash soup with rice pasta and apple.  

Outside my window:  we've had lots of rain over the past week and Monday saw the last of it. It started to clear up in the afternon and the temperature fell. Now we're sitting at about 5C with it expected to fall lower overnight. Had to scrape the van windows today! 

We spent a lot of the day busy and while we built/played and crafted, we listened to the  FOTF Radio Theatre version of Prince Caspian. Wow. So well done and C and I were glued to the Cd player! He's a pretty intense personality so I was glad we chose to listen to it before trying to view any of the DVDs that are out there. He enjoyed it so much he was ready to move on to the next one but I think we'll take a few days before we get it out. Lots of fun seeing it from his perspective.

Fiona had a crazy early nap (10-11:15) and then was exhausted by nightfall which was all to the good as I was out to Costco. (didn't go on Sat). I've paid for it today by having her burst into tears every time I say the word "going". Oh the drama! 

Boys have Christmas brain and are soooo excited! I'm trying to keep them busy so we don't fight all week long :o) Take care!

 

daybook...friday edition

Busy past week with both G and I sick last weekend with a nasty cold, a spill in the garage that's taken us ages to figure out what it is (turns out it was a very old leaking container of paint thinner...bleugh) and last week of school parties and coffee times for us Mums. I  had the excitement of having an order placed by my Mum and stepdad (they live in Manitoba... so far away from us) get cancelled by the online store they used. This was C's big pressie from them so it means I have to do a bit of running around trying to find locally what they wanted to purchase for him.  So far, I've been to three different places and nothing yet but I have a few shops left to try.  The cancellation happened this past Wednesday which hasn't left me a lot of time.

On the menu....

Breakfast: smorgasboard as per usual. Fridays,  Steve has a breakfast Bible Study so he doesn't eat with us but the boys and I had toast, I had a bowl of Koala Crisp and so did Fiona. Coffee for me (and extra as Steve didn't have his usual 1/2 cup!) and milk or soy milk for the rest of them.

Lunch: Only a 1/2 day for Crispin so he was home and we had a late lunch after stopping at the library  to pick up an obscene amount of holds for the next week!

Lunch was soybutter and jam sandwiches with sliced apple. Hot chocolate for the boys and water all round.

Dinner: Steve was out at a work function so Crispin and I worked together (yes, really!) and made alphabet vegetable soup. These w/w alphabet pasta shapes I found have really been useful! Simmered boy cut baby potatoes and carrots in stock with onion, peas and yam. A dash of marinara seasoning. We served these with homemade biscuits (sconeish type things) and a salad for me as well. (I love my salad!) 

At dinner I announced that it was pyjama party night which was greeted with wild abandon on the part of the boys (they know that means movie!) so after dinner we all got into our PJ's, popped popcorn and turned on The Polar Express. Boys enjoyed the movie (especially G who doesn't remember watching it yet) and Fiona enjoyed the hot chocolate scene with the singing. She loves any kind of music and boogies away wherever she is when she hears it. I had the task of keeping her away from the screen and from eating bits of the Playmobil version of Rome that's set up in the family room right now. (C's on a Rome and Romans kick right now and has set up a model of parts of Rome downstairs...complete with Colesseum and wild animals!)          
  
Got stuff to do today~ Costco...bleugh, take back leaking container of paint thinner to the toxic waste depot, coddle sick boy as C now has the nasty cold and prep for hosting a games night and potluck tonight. I'm making a huge batch of Hawaiian Chili as this group has a tendency to show up without RSVPing....oh yeah, and then they bring chips or pop!! We went to dessert only last year as it was too frustrating to do dinner regularly. I'll provide mixed salad greens and salad makings too. That way, anything else that shows up is just bonus.  

On my way now to get a second cup of coffee! I'll leave you with a pic of Fiona in her gorgeous jim jams from Steve's aunt. They came with a matching teddy. :o)

 

island daybook...wednesday

New daybook style...I'll give it a whirl on this weepy and grumpy Thursday. No,I'm not grumpy but Greg and Fiona sure are!

on the menu...

Breakfast: always a bit of a smorgasboard here as we have several different rising times. Toast with butter and jam for Crispin and Greg, cheerios for Fiona, and I scoffed a slice of bread with just jam as we were heading to the stroller. Coffee for me (lots) and hot chocolate for C

Lunch: homemade alphaghetti for Greg and I (take cooked w/w alphabet pasta, some pasta sauce and grated cheese and mix all together....yum) with sliced apple. Fiona had a rice cake with sliced apple on the side and soy milk to drink

Snack:  Voortman's cookies with organic grapes and hot chocolate. (C's on a bit of a hot chocolate kick right now)

Dinner: italian chicken, rice, baked sweet potatoes and braising greens. This went over quite well except for the braising greens which I love but everyone else just pushed around on their plates! Italian chicken is just baked with pasta sauce poured over it....does turn out yummy though. Fiona had rice and sweet potato and leftover broccoli. She ate the rice and the broccoli but apparently the sweet potato is going the way of the yam. (sigh...this child doesn't like so many vegetables!)

Outside my window: cold out there right now. We had a high of -1C and a tiny skiff of snow that didn't last. We walked up to school in the morning and our hands were freezing...even the winter gloves we all had made very little difference.

The little ones and I spent part of the day running around trying to find boots for a hamper we're doing to no avail. The ones I like (rain boot style with liners and rated to -20) are all sold out and so I ended up going out in the evening to finish up. There was a fair amount of coughing going on in Greg's general direction and by evening it was apparant that he was quite unwell. Cue the hot apple juice and humidifier to help with the throat congestion and an at home day today. 

It's pick up time already! I'll try and get back to this tomorrow....maybe I can post semi-regularly this way.   

Vintage Saturday

Hello! I'm sitting at the computer late on a Friday night waiting for the baby to wake up so I can go to bed (she's due to wake soon so I don't want to be super groggy when she does wake!). We're in the midst of Advent preparations here but I wanted to share some pics with you of a little bit of "vintage" we've been seeing in our house. 

This dress is vintage. It came from a lovely elderly lady at our church. She gave it to me and said "I hope you can use it." Size wise, it should be fine for Fiona for next spring/summer. At the time, I had a quick look at it, loved the colour and pattern adn thanked her very much. When I got home and got it out I found it was new with tags....but here's the outside of the tag!

  

Ok, so it looked vintage but looks can be deceiving. Here's the inside of the tag.

  

Any guesses as to the year?? I'm thinking 60's or perhaps 50's?? What ever it is, the fabric and styling are gorgeous!

Here's our next vintage item and something I get out every year at this season...

Sorry for the glaring pic~ this is a Good Housekeeping issue from 1955 that my grandmother gave me the first Christmas we were married. I love reading the recipes and articles and especially the advertisments....so interesting to think back to that time. 

And the last vintage item today....   

This was my "baby" and she was my aunt's baby before that. She lived on a shelf for a long time before Fiona came along. Once Fiona could reach up and pull her down, she did and she absolutely adores her! She kisses Baby's face and chews on her fingers. (other teeth marks there show that my aunt and I did the same!) I don't think I even thought that Fiona would ever be interested in a very vintage dollie but she loves her to bits. The dress Baby is wearing is a replica of one my Mum made me when I was about 3...a favourite. 

I have had little time on the computer these days~ someone (G) is up by 5:30 am and Fiona now wakes up by 6:00 so my quiet time in the morning is pretty much non-existent! However, I have hope that the new daybook style will eventually become part of our life here! I can't believe it is December already. Our plan for the weekend is to put up Christmas decorations....oh yeah and replace the faucet that came off in my hand yesterday! (never a dull moment!) Hope to be back soon! 

     

staying.home

Well hello!

I know...you thought I had moved to the far north with no internet connection! Or perhaps gone on a "screen" fast?? Or given over my entire day to raising chickens?? Well, no (and no and no!). I have, however, been incredibly overwhelmed with life. Not overwhelmed in a bad, crying all day long kind of day but just caught up in the real life on this side of the computer screen. I do hope to start journaling using a daybook style (thank you Kara and Sadie for your encouragement in this!) so that I don't find it so hard to sit down and type something reasonably understandable in the short space of time that's alloted me! 

We've taken to staying home...a lot. Our autumn started off with 2 colds back to back and then progressed to one injured leg and ribcage (Crispin...don't ask how!) which meant bed rest for a week and once he was back to school for a bit, a mild gastro bug which again laid him up for close to 4 days.Thankfully, we haven't had anything more serious. 

One of the reasons I've been staying home a lot more is that our area is a hotbed for the H1N1 virus. I think the last statistic I heard was 25% of the population is sick with it. We are considered to be (right now) the H1N1 capital of Canada. Once it started hitting hard, I decided that I would not take my kids into the grocery store or really, shopping anywhere. I have had to go with them a few times but we wash well or hand sanitize right away afterwards. Fiona and I go sometimes with her in the stroller but it means her hands aren't everywhere touching everything!! I'm not trying to paranoid but if I can minimize the amount of time the kids are out and about in crowds, the better.

Been busy doing a few things....baking bread again with the Bosch mixer which has been wildly popular with my family. Making Playdoh in the oven. And , oh yeah, This! 

Yes, that's a home tie dyed shirt for Fiona. I was given a fab second hand shirt with lots of chocolate stains on the front of it....the giver collects stuff for missionary work but because of the stains, this wasn't suitable. She offered it to me and I thought I'd try getting the stains out. Nothing worked. I hated to throw away a perfectly good shirt so I was thrilled when I found a post on dyeing with tissue paper at Alicia's blog....Magical Childhood.

A Magical Childhood

it was fast and easy....everyone helped, even Fiona! After a wash the colour has softened a lot and best of all, you can't see the stains!! 

I'm going to make cookie dough for after school snack. I hope to be back later in the week with the new format. take care!   

Meet Ginger

Meet Ginger~ the newest addition to our stuffy collection. Ginger was a gift to Fiona from my SIL and her family (Hi J!) J is one of those people who always chooses gifts that really appeal to the recipient and Ginger has not failed in that regard! She quickly became Fiona's constant companion....going everywhere with her except when she sleeps. She's about the same size too which I think is part of the appeal. A picture of them below....



Fiona likes to love Ginger up and drag her around by her tail. The rest of us enjoy this little playmate as she is the closest thing to a cat we're likely to have for a while. Steve and I aren't ready yet to get another cat.... the wound is still too fresh.

Fiona has taken to books now (other than as a source of nourishment!) and I've actually set up some basket "Fiona stations" throughout the house for her. I find she does better with small flat baskets rather than the large Rubbermaid bins that Steve favours. So I've spread out her toys and books into a few baskets and she happily goes from one to the other. She's into strewing now so the whole upstairs is often covered in Fiona mess but the boys and I help her put away at the end of the day.


She's still not sleeping much in the day~ she traded 2 one hour naps for 1 one hour nap lately which really puts a cramp in my style but we continue to persevere with her. Any suggestions (apart from drugs!)?? If she sleeps after 2 she's awake until 10 so I've had to scrap the late afternoon nap as I need my evenings!

Otherwise.....doing OK but short of time most of the time. Missing the cat. Had two colds go through our house already this autumn. Mostly OK.

I'm on my way....short computer time this morning! Speak soon!

Birthday Number One-Redux

Here we are on Fiona's actual birthday out at the summer cabin~
I made a dairy free cake and made her a wheat free/dairy free cupcake.
Which she absolutely loved...we might have another Greg on our hands!

Love this picture of our beautiful one year old!

And just a week and a bit after Fiona's birthday, the boys are off to school and preschool for the first time.
C is in Grade 4....isn't it amazing! I love the "I've done this all before" smile.

And Greg on his first day of preschool....he was so excited and remains so!

We're noticing autumn on her way and enjoying the cooler mornings and days. We're back in the usual getting up at 6 routine, G and I have made a pact to start doing circle time at home on Tuesday and Thursday and I'm slowly weaning the boys off watching Shaun the Sheep every day! (Which they absolutely love!!)
I'll be back soon....off to make lunches before we get going for the day!

Birthday Number One! A photo story...

We had a small coffee and cake birthday with our neighbours. Just spur of the moment and a local grocers gives away first birthday cakes for free (believe it or not!) and we wanted to celebrate a year of knowing Miss Fiona with the people who see her week in and week out. She wasn't sure *what* to think!

Watched everyone singing....

Looked at the cake....

And decided this was a moment for "raspberry noises"!
She's so funny (and cute)....more posts to come :)
Happy Birthday Fiona Grace!

oh how I love to be beside the seaside...

Snapshots from one of our days at the cabin...



Baby getting ready to go down to the beach

Busy boy on the sand (sorry for the blurry pic)

Baby girl on the sand in the shade...she likes the feel of sand in her toes.

Boys enjoying the tide being out...but not the sticky sand.

Squishing the gooey-ducks and trying not to get squirted!

Running away from wildly squirting clams!!

Tide pool hunting for crabs

Warming up in sleeping bags back on the cabin's porch.... getting ready f0r bed.


Today has been full of much bickering and arguing and a grumpy Mummy (cause of the bickering!) but, we endeavor to make this afternoon better!

Speak soon!

Heat Wave

Hello! We've had temps ranging in the 30's (which for those of you who think in Imperial is the mid eighties to high nineties) and high humidity so it has been HOT! Keep in mind too that in this part of Canada, we don't do A/C as a matter of course....it's available but not many have an A/C unit in their homes. (we don't).

I've had to get creative with our meals and just in general as we've all been limp rags with little interest in doing anything (except Fiona who has been on and off grumpy and crying). Here are a few tips to get you through a heat wave courtesy of the Wellburns!

1) Sleep downstairs (if you have one).

We are thankful to have a bedroom (C's) and a futon downstairs so we've been camping out there and it has been *far* better sleeping for everyone. We have friends who don't have the luxury of bedrooms down so they've been camping out in their living room on air mattresses.

2) Eat "ovenless" and "rangeless" meals

I haven't been able to completely follow this plan but I did keep the amount of oven turning on to a minimum (grilled kebabs one night, pasta salad another night, a farmhouse salad a third... and lots and lots of salads in general)

3) Forget about bedtime

We don't bother trying to get the boys to bed at their usual bedtime when it is this hot....two nights this week, we've gone out for ice cream to somewhere Air Conditioned. The boys have been sleeping around 10:30 and getting up late. It isn't ideal but it is working and really, there's no point fighting about bedtime in the heat!

4) Go shopping

well at least window shopping! to the mall, the grocery store....anywhere you know will have A/C. take a snack (or buy a snack) and just hang out for as long as the grumpy baby will let you. Fiona has had two of her best sleeps this week in the mall. I don't rush the boys~ we just hang out and browse (this was especially popular at Toys R Us and the book store)

5) Eat freezies and hang out in the bath tub

We've been eating lots of frozen goodies...freezies, popsicles, ice cream and

This Yummy stuff! a lot. (thanks Dreena!) Everyone has a bath or a shower in the afternoon....no excuses! The little ones have a long cool bath and Crispin and I shower and it helps so much.

We've changed up our outside time to after 5 to minimize time in the hot sun and the blinds are pemanently closed until cooler weather comes again. It is working OK and thankfully we are in the midst of a cooling trend so we'll see more seasonal temps in the next few days. (which I'm sure will mean all of us suddenly put on sweatshirts and long pants for a while!)

We were away on holiday at the cabin for a week....it was lovely weather but included two of us suffering from a gastro bug. Crispin was almost over his by the time we went but I spent almost two whole days in bed. Thankfully, we were on holiday so Steve just had to take the kids and bring Fiona to me when she needed to nurse. It wasn't ideal (who wants to be sick at the seaside??) but it was nice to not have the scramble for Steve of trying to stay home.

I'll include pics next time.....my computer time in grinding to a complete halt!! (grumpy and stuffed up baby)

yikes...does that calendar say July??!

I realized the other day that it was actually July!
It has been forever! I'll give you an update about all of us. Let's see...who shall we start with??



OK, we'll start with C. He's been busy biking, playing and just generally relaxing after the rigors of Grade 3. We've already had our yearly dose of summer flu~ Crispin pushes himself so hard that he almost always comes down with a bug in early July. Usually, it is a week or more of lying comatose on the couch but this year it was only about 4 days. He attended a bike camp all last week and loved it. He's glad to have respite from Maths and some time to pursue other fun interests (like photography...see below!) Fiona loves having him home and it will be quite the adjustment for us again in September. Apparently, taking pictures of your Bionicles is good fun on a cool July afternoon!





Greg is enjoying summer too...he loves having his big brother home all day (although the bickering can be a bit much at times). He's busy perfecting the art of lower case letters (both recognition and writing them...he finds the ones with hooks a bit tricky), drawing pirate maps and is, at present, probably listening to another recitation of "Uncle Pete's Pirate Adventure". He's especially loving the fact that Daddy is taking every Friday off all summer so we have extended weekends. (need I say that I am also ecstatic about this!!)

Here's Greg on his Trail a Bike . He loves being able to go on bike rides with Steve and Crispin. This year he's actually learning to pedal along with Steve. (this is both good and bad I'm told!) They all did a fundraising ride for Cancer Research together....lots of fun. Greg especially enjoyed the bouncy castle and cookies at the end.

Miss Fiona. She's a busy, paper eating, furniture cruising, kinda smiling baby. We have lots of hand waving, some babbling and even what we would say are some words. " a ba"= A bath (favourite place!) "da" = the all important Daddy "oon"= spoon. Solids wise....she's moving in the right direction but oh man, she does not like certain textures!! So far both potato and sweet potato are high on the "yuck, don't try and feed that to me again!" list and I imagine that squash might also be there too. Not sure why she'll happily down paper products (ah, our little book eater!) but refuses food!

A little light Star Wars chewing...um, reading... anyone??

And Miss Kitty Ears herself...she loves brushing her teeth! Oh yeah, and me...don't mind the crazy hair. I'm do for a cut again and the ends are getting a bit unruly...even with the blow dryer!

The boys and Steve went tent camping last weekend. The boys had a great time....Steve not so much! Here are some pics from the weekend...last pic courtesy of Crispin! (we think we need to get him an inexpensive digital camera...he loves taking pics)

I'm off now...it's close to 9 am and I have a nine year old finally awake but the baby is still having her morning nap (and the four year old has been playing downstairs for a while). Speak soon!