Amazing TED Talk by Brene Brown on Finding Joy

Tubing

Over the holidays we went tubing at Sunridge. It was super fun. Especially considering that our winter is so mild that we can't tobaggan anywhere else because there is no snow. The NZ rellies had a good time too. I have to admit I was nervous the first time (well really, every time) I went down. You sure get going pretty fast. Even more so if you are tethered to another tube (more weight = extra speed). There was an age limit of 7 and older. We thought we would sneak Jack in as he is going to be 7 in just a few weeks; however there is also a height restriction of 48 inches and there was no budging even though Jack was about 47. So Darrel took him for his first skiing experience. He was a natural and really enjoyed it.

Aidan and Bryn prepare for takeoff.

The long way down. (The river looks awfully close in this picture!)

Lara and I.

Jack and Darrel -Jack's first time skiing.

Christmas Photos

I took some Christmas photos of the kids last Sunday. the candy canes were the bribe for taking a cute photo with everyone smiling but I think I like it better than the more posed one. Eric's joy, Jack's intense licking, Julie already biting pieces as fast as she can. (She had that thing all gone about 30 seconds later!)

Christmasy Goodness

Okay, I had plans for a posher looking mantle. But it hasn't happened. And really that's fine. Figuring out how to decorate a whole new house for the holidays is a lot of work I'm discovering. Once you've been in a house for a few years you have special places for things. But this year I'm creating the special places -and some of them aren't totally awesome yet. But anywho, here's where it's at. I plan on making some canvases modge podged with scrapbook paper to hang by the wreath. I even bought the canvases a couple of weeks ago when Michael's had a sale. Now just to make them! Once I get hangers for the stockings they will adorn the space as well obviously. I love my little nativities, they make me happy and joyful at this time of year.

Taking these photos reminded me how much I enjoy photographing details. I can't wait to have enough money saved up for a true macro lens. That would be soooo fun!

And of course, the Christmas season means that the beloved Santa train makes an appearance. (Along with a cow and random other Fisher Price little people from the Airport, Noah's Ark and Happy Birthday sets -really everyone should be able to share in the joy of the holidays!) Lavonne's family gave this to us when Jack was about 2 and Eric six months. After Christmas I pack it away in a box with the Christmas things so that it remains a special toy. Jack (at almost 7) was ecstatic when I brought it out on Monday. I love that, the little details that = Christmas for them. It also strikes me in these photos just how big and grown up Julie looks. sniff sniff. How she's crossing her one leg over the other and balancing on her hand, such a big kid pose. And just that she is entertaining herself. She was chattering away while playing -telling Santa and the elves what to do, making train whistle sounds.

Mischief

Tonight I sent the boys upstairs to get undressed for bath time. My final admonishment to them was to put their clothes in their laundry basket. I was delayed in going upstairs to run the bath, and probably a good 6-7 minutes passed, all the while shrieks of laughter were coming from upstairs. Upon arriving to the door of their room I discovered the ceiling fan running full speed and Jack is flinging clothing into it. With wild excitement in his eyes Eric proclaimed, "Mom, we throw the pants up, and the fan FLINGS them around the room and we get them in the laundry hamper!" From the amount of ceiling stipple that was knocked off and now on the floor one could surmise that there'd been more than a few attempts to perfect their technique. Seriously how do boys come up with this stuff? I blame Darrel and his genetic imprinting. :)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Misheard Lyrics Religious Personages
On the way to church on Sunday Julie started chatting about the "Holy Goat". And then proceeded to declare, "No, not a goat, it a puppy! A pretty pretty puppy."

Okey dokey then. Clearly we receive a parenting fail this week in the category of basic religious training. :)

Home Matters

Okay, here's some of the things we've been doing at our house:

A couple weeks back I found some stools for the kitchen island on Kijiji. When I went to pick them up I spied these leather couches that were also for sale. They were a pretty good deal and I knew they would look great so I snatched them up. The rug is supposed to be for Julie's room but it still has that new plastic-y smell and we are worried that it kills brain cells if we shut her bedroom door at night, so for now it has a home in the family room. Darrel and I both love the fireplace in this house. It wasn't something that was on our wish list but now that we have it we are really enjoying it. In the almost three months we've been in this house we have done nothing with the mantel. I have scads of Christmas mantle ideas tagged on pintrest, pretty excited to have a mantle to actually decorate.

Since we moved in we've been in the process of building an island in the kitchen. Last weekend we put a temporary particle board countertop on it and realized that at 4 feet by 8 feet it was just too big in the space. It fit but it looked like we'd parked a boat in our kitchen. Soooo, after a stroke of  5 am brilliance from Darrel we took the back half of the island, the narrower set of cupboards, and put them on the end wall in the dining room.

As it turns out they fit that wall to the cm, it's a little bit crazy. Sometimes even without planning Darrel and I end up rocking the project/reno world. :)  There's no counter top on it yet, that piece on the left is actually the cover panel that is waiting to be installed.  I'm pretty excited about it, now I have an additional holiday decorating space!!! A mantle and a side board. Be still my heart.

When Karly was visiting we were doing some pintrest browsing and found these ultra cool vinyl rub ons for the laundry room. An acquaintance from university days has her own vinyl lettering company has her own company so I asked her to make a set for me (and one for Karly, it makes me smile to think of our matchy matchy laundry rooms!) This afternoon I got out Darrel's level and set up where I was going to put them. I waited until Darrel got home from a Home Depot run to rub them onto the wall -and a good thing. He reminded me that one of the projects on my list was to build pedestals for the washer and dryer so that you can fit a laundry basket underneath. Which would have put my awesome sign behind the dryer. Not so awesome. Good thing I have him to keep me on track sometimes!

So after a bit of trial and error this is what I came up with. Awesome eh?! Sandra (my friend -who's business is called Vinyl Blurbs, and you can find it on facebook) says in her little letter that goes out with your order to watch out because decorating with vinyl lettering is addicting! I already agree! I am scheming of all the little decor things I want to do with vinyl lettering.

And finally, the little people had a fun game of Hide and Go Seek tonight after supper. They are pretty cute these three!
Jack counting:

At various points they all hid in this cupboard. (See what I mean about that row of cabinets fitting on that wall. Crazy eh?!

And there you have it. Busy times here at our house.

And finally, on this Remembrance Day I am extremely grateful for those of my grandparents generation who fought for freedom and liberty. Particularly I am grateful to my Mother's father who decided to move his family to Canada after WWII. I love this country and I am filled with profound gratitude for the sacrifices they made in order for their posterity to live here.

Staying Organized

 

I broke down this year and bought one of those Mom sized calendar systems at Costco. Best Thing Ever! I've often had a family calendar but it was never big enough, and it didn't have the snazzy stickers. I love having enough room to write EVERYTHING on it, down to the extreme minutia of our lives. Take for instance library day. Last year I often forgot library day for kindergarten, and then poor Jack was the kid who couldn't pick out a new book because he didn't bring last week's book back. But no more! Now it's on the calendar, so I don't forget.   I'm sure Eric would have been happy had we forgotten all about immunization night on the 21st, but now he and Julie are all caught up, (those 18 month shots were only eight months late for Julie!) What do you use to keep organized?

Conference Weekend

Lots of good stuff going on around here this weekend. First, I bought a kitchenaid mixer on Friday. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek! I've been wanting one for a long while now and The Bay had them on sale for 50% off this weekend. Crazy, I know! So a girl from work and I went on our break and each bought one. We didn't think it through too much, and ended up walking about 6 blocks with the big heavy boxes...not the smartest move, but perhaps then we worked off the baking we were planning for the weekend! My first thing I made was banana bread. It was so heavenly having a heavy duty mixer to do this. Loved it!

It was conference this weekend. In between Sunday afternoon sessions the boys played moon sand. It's a little like having a beach in your dining room and sand gets everywhere, but truth be told it's easier to cleanup than playdough. For those who are still waiting for new house pictures, check out the dining room walls. That's all I got for now though. sorry. Waiting for a day when tons of boxes are out of rooms, then I'll go around and photograph everything.

To go along with Conference: conference words. The kids listen for particular words and when they hear them they can pick a candy out of a jar. Of course we pick oft used words, like temple, Jesus and prayer. Let's just say our kids have had enough sugar to last them beyond Halloween. :) A little crazy, but they actually caught a lot, so if it worked then great!

Fall

Poor, sad neglected little blog, it's been over two months since I posted! In the craziness of me starting back at work full time, moving to a new house, setting up the new house, and generally just adjusting to our busy lives, my blog has been one of those things that has fallen by the way side. :(

But, here's to new beginnings and getting back to routine. Tonight friends of ours came over to visit and we went to a park to take their family pictures. I wanted to get a few of our kids at the same time. It was a bit of a gong show, eight kids running everywhere. By the time we finished up our friends' photos, my kids (Julie in particular) were kinda dirty since it had rained a couple of hours earlier. But I managed to get a few cute shots. The photo of Jack kind of amazes me, he looks so old and grown up. sniff sniff. I want my kids to get older, but I don't. I think they should all stay around 7. A little more independent, a little sassy, but generally still loving and cute and innocent. I definitely want to remember this stage of our family. Julie is getting a little less challenging and things are fun around here, for the most part. hehehe