Carolyn Ward

Nolan Pictures!

2012-01-30T19:44:00.001-06:00

Nolan's first photo - with big sister Madeline in the delivery room.
(She wasn't in there; she came in after.)

Nolan & Mom

First Bath! Mom & Dad tag teaming it - he wasn't too happy!

Love seeing them cuddle.

Awww...

Love this face.

Sunny day photo shoot in the laundry basket.

...and a profile shot.

Napping in the crib - he started sleeping nights in here at one week.

Just playing around with the camera.

Love this one.

Foot!

One week old.

"He's hugging me!"

Happiness

2012-01-27T16:39:00.003-06:00

The boy no longer fits newborn clothes. The one I managed to zip up this morning would not cooperate this afternoon after his bath. My one week old is in 3 month old clothes, and fills them out just fine. In other Nolan news, when I undressed him for his bath I discovered that his cord had fallen off - it was rather like a loose tooth before, hanging on by a thread.

We are looking forward to the weekend & having Daddy home to enjoy him with me. M has the day off school today, so got to start her weekend with him a bit early.

I am so thankful for the friends and family who have helped out, brought meals & muffins (what a perfect snack food!), and gave little (and big!) gifts. Right down to the 475 people who checked out the "Introducing Nolan" post - we are so thankful to have all of you in our lives.

Not every post from here on in will be a Nolan post, but he sure is the majority of my world right now. With friends bringing suppers all this week, I feel like it's a 'freebie' week - next week I will have to start to figure out what our new normal is. We won't have a regular routine, but I still need to wrap my head around what I want my priorities to be, and how I will plan to accomplish those things and the things that need doing around the house. Next week. I'm looking forward to that thought process, and find it interesting that our book club read for this month is The Happiness Project; it's full of ideas that are worth some thought and possibly habits to implement in my life.

Wishing you the happiness and contentment I am experiencing right now. I would love to hear what is bringing you joy today - leave a comment and let me know!

One Week Old!

2012-01-26T17:06:00.000-06:00

The public health nurse just left - she said Nolan is back up to his birth weight! 10 lbs 6 oz exactly today. He was a touch lighter when he was born; at the hospital they rounded down to 10 5; apparently the conversion from metric to imperial is not exact. He`s healthy and doing really well eating, sleeping and pooping. :)

I was awake at 5 am and was remembering a week ago waking up and knowing it was time - a whole week of amazing with this little boy. It`s been a week of getting used to a new normal, for sure - and a normal that will keep changing and being unpredictable for a while. That`s ok - we`re rolling with what he wants quite well, I think.

Mom and Dad stayed till Monday after supper - it was great to have them around, and especially for that transition to `regular`days with Sean at work and M at school. The last 3 days on my own have been great, though. He sleeps all morning, and I sleep as long as I can, then get in a bath and some breakfast. He wakes around noon for a good few hours up. Yesterday was fun with a bath, some floor time while I did some exercising, and a little photo shoot. I do have lots of pictures, but haven`t found the time to put them on the computer yet. I aim to get that done soon and have them up here to share, but sleep trumps most everything else, so I won`t promise when (even this post is taking me 3 tries at the computer!) Saturday when the family is home might be a good bet, if I don`t get to it before. Right now he`s laying awake and happy on the couch beside me. We did exercises again, put on some laundry and read a story; it`s been another good day.

We went on our first outing last night - left M home to do homework and went to Costco and the grocery store for a few things. Nolan slept the whole time, so it was uneventful that way - I wore some clothes I haven`t fit into for a long time, got some fresh air after being in the house all week, and got in more walking than I have in a while, so it was good for me.

I`m feeling not too bad physically - giving birth is definitely a traumatic experience on a body, but there is hope in sight that I may recover.

One night was a little tough - didn't get enough sleep going into it, I guess. The last couple have been good; last night Nolan was only up once! We went to bed before midnight, then he woke up at 2:30 and went back down at 5:30. I woke next to Sean's alarm going off, then later to M setting the timer for piano, which was good, because I do like to go down and check on her and make sure she's set for school. Nolan woke shortly after, enough to eat and wave at the bus to all M's friends, then go back to sleep. I also went back to sleep, but had to get up around 10:30 - I've got a nasty headache in the back of my neck that makes staying in bed tough. So I fit in my bath first thing while he's still asleep and now am eating my cheerios... If today is similar to yesterday, he'll wake up around 1 or 2 for a few hours.

Later - he woke a little earlier than I thought, we had a visit from the nurse, he ate, and there was still some good time in the day, so we went out to visit at work! Not bad for a first outing on our own. Other than I loaded up the car and then realized I forgot to put my contacts... And then when I reached into the back for my purse, to get my sunglasses, I elbowed the car seat pretty good... Minor glitches. :)

I think I leave it there for now and actually get this posted - watch for photos soon. Thanks for reading!!

Introducing Nolan

2012-01-20T20:30:00.001-06:00

After a relaxing and uneventful due date, the day after held lots of excitement.

Just after 5 am yesterday, January 19, my membranes ruptured and we collected ourselves to head back to the hospital. M was woken up and told, and got herself off to school on her own a couple of hours later. I hadn't noticed contractions while I was sleeping, but on the way to the hospital they were about 3 or 4 minutes apart, and felt like the real deal. In assessment they found we were still only 3 cm, but sent us off to L&D anyway, expecting it to progress because of the strength of the contractions. Progress they did, and at 9:29, Nolan Victor made his appearance and confirmed our ultrasound gender report of 'boy'! I won't go into labour details; I'll just say that the epidural I had hoped for (Hello, numb? Yes please!) did not happen due to an emergency c-section requiring the attention of the anesthesiologist at the necessary time, so I went with just nitrous oxide. Laughing gas. Ha ha ha.

So 4 1/2 hours from when we woke up to when he arrived - it wasn't too fast; I was glad it didn't last any longer. He is wonderful and amazing and has a nocturnal bent - sleeping lots in the day and being up lots at night - that hopefully will right itself in the next little while. We were sent home from the hospital this afternoon, and everyone is taking it easy. My parents are here for a few days (thanks for cooking supper and running M to youth tonight, Mom!), so we get to catch up on a little sleep. The big adventure coming up tonight is the little guy's first bath.

All four grandparents have got to meet him, as well as a few close friends. Madeline was pulled from school an hour after he was born and got to spend the day up at the hospital with us. I'll leave you with a few photos, and you can expect the boy to take up permanent residency in my updates here. Thanks all for your kind wishes and prayers; we are delighted with him and are all doing very well.

How do you 'due'?

2012-01-18T22:29:00.000-06:00

Today is our due date - thought I'd give you an update on how the week is going.

I imagined Monday would be a nice relaxing day at home, tidying, baking, napping... But from 4 am to 7 am I sat up timing contractions... Nothing major, but getting closer, so Sean stayed home from work and we got everything ready to go to the hospital if we needed to. Things kind of petered out, then came and went until we finally went to the hospital Tuesday afternoon, just to see where things were at.

It was early labour; we were 3 sonometers, but there was no change after 4 hours, so home we went. Today has been wonderfully relaxing - Sean went to work, and I cleaned, sewed, baked, had a friend over for coffee, went to a funeral, the library, got groceries, made supper...

That's where we're at. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

On another note, what I was sewing were more magic bags. My stash is down to zip & I have a request for more; figured I should get on that while I had an empty day or two. Here are the covers I have in stock if anyone's interested, or needs one to get through this cold snap:

Nursery Pictures

2012-01-16T13:50:00.000-06:00

As promised, here is a little tour of the baby's room. Sorry, no gender spoiler with the colors...

Standing in the doorway, to the right is the crib, a used-for-one-child unit from in the family. It's very nice & in great shape. Beside it you'll see the first of many boxes of diapers... we went out and renewed our long lost Costco membership mainly just for those.

The color on the wall is a mushroom brown - the same one we used in the kitchen.

Looking the other way, the 'buffet' dresser, painted a chocolate brown - the same color I used for the backs of the steps when we took off the carpet and did the hardwoods. So both colors we already have in the house and know we liked. The rocking chair is one that Madeline's grandpa Doug was rocked in as a baby by his mom, Great Grandma Olive. The afghan on the chair was knitted by my Granny Van Raes. There is a similar afghan in the crib, knitted by my Grandma Schneider. Nice to have touches from all of them in this room.

In the corner are the second base for the car seat; one is in my Escape already, and the car seat itself is downstairs with the hospital bag, ready to go. Beside it is a bath tub and a Snugli. On this side of the dresser is a diaper genie - one of the few 'must-purchase-before-baby-comes-home' items.

Looking from the window, you can see the closet organizer we got - should help with keeping all the stuff in order. The green matches the green of the crib sheet set that it's made up with - my favorite set from when M was crib-small.

And the final corner has the 'hutch' bookcase, also painted chocolate brown, and stocked with the few kids books that I saved for this possibility. The buffet and hutch set I believe was in my Granny's house, and then became my mom & dad's when they got married. It was painted a lovely late 60's green and stayed that way until just a couple of weeks ago. It has been in M's room as a dresser and bookcase for years, but with the bookcase on top of the dresser; she had a desk on the other wall.

So there you have it - the grand tour. The room has a decent blind, but needs curtains. It also needs some decals or artwork on the walls - it's looking pretty plain now. Plain but beautiful, and full of potential. Can't wait till the little one gets here and it becomes a room that belongs to someone with a name and personality. Any day now.

Week 39 Bellies

2012-01-11T22:11:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to post an up to the minute photo for you. Week 39! According to our ultrasound, our due date is January 12 - that's tomorrow. So, any time! This week, next week... who knows. Baby seems happy where it is for now; I will for sure keep you posted here.

Sean and Madeline wanted to get in on the action, too. Beautiful, aren't they??

2012 Goals or Resolutions?

2012-01-10T10:07:00.000-06:00

Do you have any new year traditions or routines as far as making plans or goals for the year?

In past I have chosen a word for the year. I have over the years set goals for the different areas of life (physical, mental, educational, professional, social, etc), but not usually as a new year's exercise.

I came across a list of questions to help you make some goals that I thought I'd share. She uses the categories of Personal Growth, Physical Health, Marriage & Family Life, Goals for Your Children, Money Matters, and Relationships Outside the Home. There are a lot of good questions to help direct you to what you can plan to do to make this a great year.

I have not thought through any goals myself... and I don't know if I will. It might not hurt, though, since my life will be very different this year. The one goal I have planned for? To lose 40 lbs. :)

Photos of the Basement

2012-01-09T19:29:00.001-06:00

We had a great Sunday relaxing at home yesterday. We played dice on the comfy clean new carpet in front of the fireplace... Nice to break in the basement and have some fun down there. They even had a good wrestle session.

My new space shares the end with the drums. Everything is put away (except for a few things on the other side of the basement); it's nice to be able to use it instead of organize it now.

And the view with the fireplace.

And here's a shot of the new piano, and M doing her daily practicing. Not as nice looking as a real, large, wooden instrument, but it sounds way better, fits better, and we're pleased with it. Now we have to find art or something to fill the big wall space above it.

Realized that I didn't have a current belly shot on here, so here you go. This was taken Dec. 23 - just over 36 weeks. I'm almost at 39 now, and baby feels like a full grown baby in there. I'm into the last week of work & everything is coming together there and at home. Just a few things to pick up and we're set.

Coming soon... nursery photos!

The jar is not half empty... it's all empty.

2012-01-06T22:58:00.001-06:00

Bubbles the fish is no more. It was a sad day when we gathered in the bathroom and M flushed him away. Early this week he came down from the upstairs room and was looking quite ill. We blamed it on M forgetting to feed him all week, but food and a clean home didn't help. We noticed a red lump on his back half that seemed to be weighing him down, and I guess it was terminal. Sad. The life expectancy of a betta fish is 2-3 years, and Bubbles made it to just over 3. He was a 'goodie bag' from a birthday party M went to in grade 4; none of the other girl's fishes lived out the year.

Now the good. She loves her new room. Recognize my old studio there? Nope? It underwent a pretty major transformation. She's now using an alarm to get up in the mornings on her own, too. Lots of new responsibility.

And an update on me... At 38 weeks & 2 days, it's getting close to baby time. I've gained 40 pounds!! I don't think having Christmas right at the end of this pregnancy helped with that. My feet and legs are swollen, too; I don't remember that from when I had M. Some nights I'm pretty uncomfortable, some nights I get sore hips, but most are fine & I generally only have to get up once. Can't complain about that! I didn't go into work today because I'll be in tomorrow to help take down all the Christmas decorations & will be on my feet for hours; I figured today I'd stay home and alternate getting things done with sitting on the couch with my feet up. It turned out to be a good productive day. I went through all the baby stuff in the storage room and pulled out all we have for newborns (crib sheets, towels, onesies...), made the crib, put everything in there from Christmas and other parts of the house where it's been starting to collect (car seat, bathtub, diaper genie...), and it's looking pretty good. I just need to pull out the old rocking chair from my storage room and then I'll take some photos for you. And it's the same mushroom brown as our kitchen, with dark chocolate brown furniture, so the colors aren't going to give anything away for you!

I've got my hospital bag half packed, and I've got one full week of work left. Lots of my duties were passed on this past week, so it's just wrapping up the last stuff that I've got left. Hope to get it all done before the babe arrives - it would be nice to have a day or two to sit with my feet up and rest before the pain and sleeplessness hits! Although that's what I'm doing pretty much every night anyway.

I used my new studio space to make some magic bags for an order I got, and also to work on my December album - I think I've added just about everything I'm going to for this year. I have some scrapbook pages in mind & would like to find time to putter around down there on those. Realized the other night though that if I'm down there after M's bedtime, it's a little light and noisy for her. Have to wait till she falls asleep, maybe. Or maybe she'll just have to get used to it. :) Did I mention I got a fireplace?? Sean bought me an awesome one for downstairs - it's going to be a pretty sweet place to hang out.

I think that's all for tonight... have a good one and I'll be back soon with a report on M's soccer tournament tomorrow, photos of the nursery and of the new piano... Cheers!

Homemade Christmas

2012-01-03T21:49:00.000-06:00

Thought I'd share some of the gifts I made for Christmas and where I found the ideas... maybe you'll get inspired for next year!

I already mentioned Flubber...

For some of the nephews I also made Reindeer Food

Reindeer Food

6 cups Rice Chex cereal

1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips - couldn't find, used white chocolate

1/3 cup coarsely chopped peppermint candy canes (14 miniatures)

1 - Crush candy canes in large ziplock bag

2 - Melt chips (plus 1/2 tsp oil) in microwave

3 - Stir all together

...and printed out some Paper Star Wars Characters for them to cut out, tape, and play with. (Found here.)

I made my brother's kids this tent (following the instructions I found here):

I made some stuff in the kitchen for the siblings - cookies in a jar and popcorn seasoning.

Cheese Lovers Popcorn Seasoning

1/4 cup cheddar cheese powder

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt & pepper to taste

Indian Popcorn Seasoning

1 tbsp curry powder

2 1/4 tsp ground tumeric

2 1/4 tsp ground ginger

tiny pinch cayenne pepper

Pizza Popcorn Seasoning

3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

3 tsp ground dried oregano

1 1/2 dried tomato powder

(The tomato powder is hard to find - I used a Knorr tomato vegetable soup mix and strained out the bits.)

I also made some family dinner conversation starter packages. I found questions in a couple of different places, put them in a word doc that I'll send you if you're interested, then cut them into little cards and put them in decorated old coffee and tea tins. I hope they have fun with those.

I also had fun making ornaments. I didn't take pictures of mine, but the inspiration came from these (all found on pinterest):

Another printable I sent to a couple of nieces was one to make this nativity set. You can find the downloads here for both the colored and color-yourself versions.

I think that's all I made - oh, except for an awesome photo book for Sean about his race car. That was a winner. All in all a very satisfactory gift giving Christmas!

Basement Renos

2011-12-30T00:07:00.000-06:00

To make room for the babe, my studio is moving out to the main part of the basement so M can move into that room and then we'll turn her room into the nursery. Here's how it's going so far:

First we packed up everything in the basement...

...ripped up the carpet, and the ugly end wall went, too.

Lots of the stuff ended up in my studio.

New carpet, new wall, and new cabinets & countertop!

Then we emptied the studio...


...into the basement that was oh so beautifully empty.

I'm busy finding new places for everything. Yesterday we bought and hung new cabinets over my desk, and today Sean painted M's room. It's moving quickly - we're grateful for holidays and feeling like we'll be ready in time. Got a car seat yesterday, too. :)

Flubber - the best gift ever?

2011-12-28T21:18:00.000-06:00

As usual, I found many of my gift ideas online - this one was no exception. I planned to make some for some of the younger nephews, and kept some for Madeline to play with. It was a hit at our place, at the Aitkens, in Grenfell with all the kids (M took her blob out there), and with the Friesens when they came. Maybe next year everyone will get some!

M helped make the first batch.

All the kids loved it - the little ones were really funny.

Cool...

We made another batch with the Friesens.

Silas' mad skills.

Six hands work better than two.

Can we get any more creative with it??

Here's the recipe for you (from this blog, via pinterest):

Flubber

Mixture 1:

1 ½ cups warm water 2 cups Elmer’s Glue
Food coloring

Mixture 2:
3 tsp Borax
1 cup warm water

Stir mixture 1 together in a bowl, and mixture 2 in another bowl. Make sure both are mixed well, then pour them together. There is no need to stir the mixture because it is the chemical reaction that actually makes the flubber, but you can if you want. It's kind of hard to resist. When it is in a glob, work it for 2-3 minutes. Initially it feels wet but it eventually dries up to the final product.

(If you live in Regina and want 3 tsp of Borax instead of buying the whole box, I'd be happy to share!)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T22:43:00.001-06:00

I've had lots to blog about in the last two weeks, but until all the gifts were opened, I couldn't spill the beans!

Christmas started last week, when Mom and Dad came for a quick visit.

All the gifts were finished and wrapped on Christmas Eve; some things I wanted to wait till the last minute to make. We went to church for the early service at 5:30 - M sang backup with some of the other youth for a song Pastor Jared wrote. You can hear & watch it here. We spent last week at work planning the lighting and making the chandelier you can see in that video. It turned out pretty nice. From there we went to Carla &; Larry`s for Josh`s birthday party. Here`s the birthday boy and their new puppy Sadie:

Christmas morning we woke up in our own home - second year in a row! We opened our stockings and gifts, then headed to church at 11.

Lunch was pretty low key, then Sean`s parents came for the afternoon - we visited and started a puzzle - classic Christmas fun. We went to the Aitken`s again for Christmas dinner and had a good time with the McCall clan.

Boxing day was the Ward family Christmas, so after a little boxing day shopping in the morning (Sean hit Golf Town early, then we went to Long & McQuade and picked up a piano!), we drove out to Grenfell where Kevin & Jen were hosting in their new place. Another good time and good dinner!

We got home about 10 minutes after the Friesen`s arrived, and had another Christmas with my side of the family. They stayed till noon today, then were on their way to Calgary to spend the holidays with Dave`s family.

And now the holidays are over, people wise. Sean worked today but has the rest of the week off; I am mostly off this week, too, and M is off till next Thursday. Lots of time to keep working on the house and getting ready for baby. Tomorrow marks week 37; only three weeks to go till we get to meet!

I`ll be back soon with photos of the house changes, and with details of the gifts I made. Hope you had a very merry Christmas and took time to remember the One we celebrate.

DIY: Passive Humidifier for a Piano

2011-12-16T21:09:00.001-06:00

This is a passive humidifier.

This is a passive humidifier in the context of our piano.

A passive humidifier is something you can make for free at home to keep your piano at the right humidity, which helps keep it in tune. Our piano tuner told me how years ago, and since I was reminded of it when I had to open up the piano top remove it before it went away yesterday, I thought I'd put a helpful little tutorial up here for you and your dry, going out of tuneinstrument.

1 - Collect 3 2L pop bottles. Cut the tops off.
2 - Get one wire hanger and cut the long piece free, leaving just the curve on the ends.
3 - Punch holes on each side of the pop bottles and thread the wire through.
4 - Get 3 strips of felt, long enough to hang over the wire and down 3/4 of the way to the bottom of the bottle. I used a few scrap pieces sewn together to make it a little thicker. These are your wicks.
5 - Fill the bottles with water; one almost to the top, one 3/4 full, and one half full. Every month or so check the levels and top up the lowest one.

There you go - simple as pie!

This is our barren living room. The piano was picked up yesterday, given away to whoever would take it off our hands, the same way we got it. We plan to get a smaller electric one that will fit in that spot better, and sound way better. Plus, it will be way easier to move if we ever need to do that. We will watch for boxing day sales and see if we can't find a good deal then. Madeline had her recital last night, and has a couple weeks off lessons, so not being able to practice will not be a hardship for her at all. While that spot is open it's a good chance to fix up the paint, put on the baseboards and the grate. So much work on this house...

And finally, this is M going through all the stuff that was in the piano bench. Lots of books and recital lists and broken pencils - enough to keep her entertained for a while!

A Family Portrait

2011-12-14T20:39:00.000-06:00

Sean's mom requested a photo this weekend of the three of us; she didn't have one and wanted to include one in her Christmas letter.

She didn't have one because there aren't any. Or very few...

So we took a few days but finally put this together for her. And for you. Enjoy!

Feeling a bit like Mary...

2011-12-12T13:47:00.000-06:00

Just wrote this on my work blog and thought I'd share here, too:

In some ways I'm feeling like Mary.

In the 'big uncomfortable can't wait to meet this little person' way.
In the 'God is amazing and I'm not sure where life is going, but I know He's in control' way.
In the 'I have great husband that I trust will hear God and lead us well' way.

In some ways, though, it's way different.

We usually travel at Christmas, but this year, being 'great with child' we are free to stay put.
My doctor and hospital and health care is here and ready whenever I need them.
This little one of ours was planned - no major surprise like Mary's baby. I suppose by the time she was this far along, she was used to the idea.
I imagine she got a lot more negative attention (being an unwed mother) as opposed to all the positive support I've felt the whole way through.

I wonder...

Was Jesus pushing up under her ribs, causing her to not sleep very well at night?
Would she have wondered about each movement like I do, trying to figure out if that's a foot or an elbow, and which way he's positioned?
When was 40 weeks for Mary? Was she perhaps due in January like me, but had Jesus early due to the travelling? Christmas marks 36 1/2 weeks for me - right in the 'any-time-now' zone.

Just a few thoughts as I experience a Christmas feeling in some ways like Mary must have.

More on the Wasps...

2011-12-10T22:49:00.001-06:00

So Sean woke up this morning thinking it would be a good day to tear off the ceiling in the corner of the basement and look for the wasp nest he was sure was there. It was just in this one lowered part of the room; not the whole thing.

Sure enough, as I showed you before, he found a nest. The shop vac made pretty quick work of it, and now the plan is to silicone the cracks (so the wasps can't crawl in through the insulation), then a layer of insulation (since they didn't do a good job of that when they built this!), and then put up drywall for a new ceiling. When he went down there tonight to do the sealing, this is what he found:

ANOTHER NEST! Over in the corner, and about three or four times larger! This one got foam wasp killer sprayed in it so we were sure the queen had no chance, then he lifted it down, wrapped it in a garbage bag and took it straight out to the dumpster. Wow. Crazy. But now there won't be any wasps in the house next year! Now he's going to have to check under the back deck - we're pretty sure there's one there, too.

Second Saturday: Wasps, a Marathon Birthday Party, Curling & Appies

2011-12-10T14:36:00.001-06:00

Sean & I both have vacation days left to use this year, so we took yesterday off together. We slept in (I got up to get M off to school, but then went back to sleep), did a little shopping, a little baking & had friends over for dessert last night. A great day - felt like Saturday. So today feels like a second Saturday - yay!

Madeline went to a birthday party last night at 5:30 - it ends Sunday morning. A two night sleepover party! We slept in again today, then picked her up for her swimming lessons & took her back to the party. Between getting up and picking her up, though, Sean thought it would be a good idea to tear down the ceiling in the basement. Just the low part where he thought the wasp's nest was... It got torn down pretty quick while I was eating my cheerios, and this is what he found:

So while we were out (dropping M off again, test driving a new truck just for fun) we picked up the stuff we need to seal that area up. That will make it warmer down there as well as the major perk of not having wasps in the house next year!! Plus we're getting new carpet next week, so it will be a much nicer space to spend time in next year. I don't think the moving plan will go ahead, so we will be here to enjoy it.

Sean is off curling now and I just had a nice visit with an old friend. Next on the agenda for our great Saturday is a supper of appetizers and maybe a movie while we munch. Sounds like a great plan to me. I hope your weekend is as nice and relaxing as ours has been!

The Tree

2011-12-06T14:44:00.001-06:00

Last week, Sean brought in the Christmas tree box in from the shed. On Friday, he set it up. We got a new one last year, thinner than the huge one we had before, which was great - a free hand me down - but that just didn't fit with the new furniture quite so well. When this one went up I thought it looked a little scrawnier than I remembered, but didn't say anything. Saturday we went to get the boxes of decorations from the basement, and what's this? A Christmas tree box in with the boxes of ornaments...

The one in the shed was my OLD one from years and years ago. Too funny. So Sean promptly took a photo, listed it on Used Regina, then took it down and put the right one up. We got out the snacks & egg nog, turned on the Christmas music station on the TV, and got it all decked out.

I did a great job last year of putting the ornaments away sorted by theme - do you do this too? I have lots of silver and blue stuff, which I think is my favorite, and a gold garland, red and gold apple ornaments, lots of stars, most of which are gold or white or crystal... I had a bag of musical instrument ornaments, one of angels, a small one of favorites that go on every year, regardless of the color theme of the tree, and another bag of all the 'others.' I got the silver and white tree skirt last year, so thought we'd do the blue and silver again - we'll have to find a silver topper, though. The gold star is too heavy, and well... gold! Maybe next year we'll do red and gold. The lights are multicolored, but I'd like to get a plain white set to alternate with.

The stockings are under the tree and I just wrapped a couple of gifts that are under there, too. I got out all the wrapping stuff and set up a little wrapping corner in my studio, so Sean and Madeline can do their own thing. I just printed off two sets of labels that I found on Pinterest & will cut those up and put them down there, too. I usually make my own, but this gives options for those in the family who don't. You can find them here and here.

How do you decide what goes on the tree if you have too many ornaments? Do you ever do theme trees? What are your favorite ornaments? I'd love to hear your stories.

Speaking this morning...

2011-12-06T09:09:00.001-06:00

... at the Ladies Coffee Connection at our church. Pray for me! :)

I'll be back later today with a story about our Christmas tree.

December

2011-12-01T19:40:00.001-06:00

December first today. Wow.

I pulled out our holiday album this morning and think I will add to it again this year. I have to figure out what kind of look 2011 will have & prep a bunch of tags so it's easy to throw in this year's additions. The first year I did it was 2009, and it was based on a free class from Big Picture Scrapbooking. Last year I cut big circles from kraft paper and added a bunch more stuff - it will be neat to look back over the years and see the things we did and the things that were important to us. Also, leaving room for next year's stuff puts a whole lot less pressure on me than if I had to finish a whole album. Unfinished is just fine...

Here's a few pages of it now - there are lots more that have less on them.

The photo from this year that will go on the December 1 page is this one:

Sorry, the quality control consisted of doing a quick frame up and then handing my camera off to a stranger. This morning was Warren's swearing in at the Legislative - good to be a part of that. From left to right, Colleen, a longtime family friend who used to work in Warren's office, girlfriend Theresa, Warren, Doug, Carla and Me.

M has tomorrow off school, and so, as she often does, is off to Grandpa Doug's for a sleepover tonight. She likes to visit with him, help him clean and likes to create stuff in his kitchen for them to eat. He likes her company, so we let her go pretty much whenever it works out. It's good all around.

Grateful on a Monday Morning

2011-11-28T09:42:00.001-06:00

I am a little tired this morning, but will pop in a workout video anyway, when I've finished here. Monday mornings are always a full-head-space time for me: planning the week's meals and shopping list, thinking of the week and our plans and what needs to be done when, doing cleaning and chores and fitting in work, too. I don't dislike Monday mornings, I just am aware that they take a different level of attention, and I'm feeling like a nap to start off the day wouldn't be a bad thing. I am thankful for this Monday morning.

I've been napping more lately... I think that's ok for being almost 33 weeks. I am thankful for this little active one inside me and look forward to our meeting!

Especially since things may get infinitely more crazy before baby comes in January. We are looking at the possibility of moving. Looking after our future and investing... we want to buy another place and keep this one to rent out. We already have people anxious to move in here, but we don't get to go look at places till tomorrow. There are two that are possibilities in our minds, but I am convinced that our God is big and powerful and on our side, so I am praying for a great house at a great price at the perfect time. I have my ideas of what those would be, but I am trusting in Him and in Sean and we'll keep you posted. I am thankful for potential and exciting times.

I have had better mornings lately getting M out the door - my attitude has improved as I've been more aware (thank you, small group) of what I am letting into my life and how that affects what comes out. I want to have a heart full of peace and joy, so when I tell M to get a move on in the mornings now, it's usually more patient and kind, sometimes joyful even - she likes her silly mom and if I can help her mood stay up, I will keep trying. Amazing how that makes so much sense and how little we think about it - My actions affect her actions. My words and tone of voice affect her words and tone of voice. My attitude affects her attitude. And until she learns to control those things on her own, I will keep trying to lift her up in all those ways. How easy it is to bring her down (and let her bring me down!) - but I am the adult! I am the parent! I am the one who's responsibility it is to be aware and intentional about my actions, words and attitudes. How else is she going to learn it? So I am thankful for a week of good mornings, and look forward to more as I keep working on me.

Have a great Monday! What are you thankful for?

I thought I'd link up with all the other grateful people over at A Holy Experience today...

DVD Player on the Dark Side

2011-11-26T20:26:00.001-06:00

Here is a little round up of the week...

Today Madeline and I spend much of the day at the church, decorating for Advent. It's a huge job, but a huge transformation, and there were quite a few youth out to help. I'll post pictures sometime if I remember to take some.

We also went to meet a little girl that M is going to babysit next week. Her first real 'other than family and small group' babysitting job. The family goes to our church and we will all be at the Christmas Banquet together - we also live quite close, so it's a great set up for them, and for her.

I'm in 'making' mode, but it's all for Christmas, so I can't show off anything yet! It has been nice to sit and relax and be productive at the same time.

I got a photo of 7 months, a few days late... I'm wearing the same clothes as in the 6 months shot so I can compare month to month.

Baby is still doing fine - moving differently now that there's less room. (S)he had the hiccups twice now - kind of a funny feeling. I've been feeling fine, but I do notice that I run out of steam sometimes. I had a few naps this week, including one on a pew at work! I weighed myself this morning and have gained 25 lbs so far. I gained 30 with M, I believe. We're getting closer all the time to having the house ready - Sean's been steadily picking away at the fixing up of stuff.

We went to Sean's work Christmas party last night - it was dinner and a show at the casino. They give you oodles of time between eating and when the show starts - they want you to go spend some money on the games is my guess. We did a walk through, and I find it just really sad. Yeah, some will win a bit here and there, but for the most part, it's just people throwing money away. The rest of the night - dinner and show and visiting with the co-workers - was not bad.

Madeline had pyjama day at school this week. She didn't have any slippers, and I remembered a couple pairs of 'Granny Slippers' I had stashed away, so I dug those out. This has been her every day since then:

'Granny Slippers' because they were knit by MY Granny. AKA Elf Slippers.


The other end of her - the frog eye covers are a recent and every night addition to her pj's. She uses them actually over her eyes all night long, and as a headband like this lots of other times.

The reason she's reading on the couch ( I just took those shots) is because our movie was a dud - AGAIN! We borrowed the Star Wars Trilogy a few weeks ago, watched Star Wars and The Empire Strikes back both two weekends ago, and watched the Return of the Jedi last Sunday night. We got half way through it when it started acting up and freezing, and we had to concede defeat. The next night at small group, we noticed our friends also had the set, so we borrowed theirs. Tonight we had enough time to watch the final half, only to have it zap out at the exact same spot!! Different discs, same player - is it unreasonable to think that the machine has it out for the Rebel Alliance? Maybe it's the Ewoks it doesn't like - it quit right between 'Speeder Bike Chase' and 'Leia Meets Wicket.' Sigh. Someday I hope we get to finish it - Madeline's classical education will not be complete if she doesn't know what an Ewok is!

That's our week & a little snapshot of our lives right now. Thanks for checking in!

Question: How much is the going rate for babysitters for you / your friends / in your area? We're curious, because M and I both thought $5/hour would be fine, but apparently some think that's slave labour wages!

What's your favorite Star Wars moment? (Each of the three times I've typed that, I've typed Star WARD.) Hmmm... maybe if baby's a girl??

Resources to Help You Pray

2011-11-21T10:04:00.001-06:00

Kat over at Inspired to Action has a list that I printed off this morning to help me pray with variety. Do you ever get stuck praying the same things over & over because your kids bug you in the same way over & over? I'm working on changing me in those areas that bug me, but I'm also aware that using another resource to help direct my prayers is useful.

Here is the Inspired to Action Prayer Calendar for Mothers The link is at the bottom of her post.

I went looking for this because of a new routine I have of praying for my husband. I found this list on See Jamie Blog, and keep it in my journal so each day I pray for Sean one thing on the list. It has a great variety, all Scriptural, and things I don't always think to pray for him. I thought having a list to pray for Madeline and the other children I try to keep in mind would be a helpful thing.

I hope that these resources are a help to you, too.
(I posted this this morning over on my Prayers for My Children Blog.)

What routines or methods do you use to remember what you want to be praying about? I've used lists and charts over the years and am always curious about how other people make it work for them. Thanks for leaving a comment!

Five Years Ago...

2011-11-18T10:04:00.001-06:00

A Baking Fail, A Mom Win and A Bunny Named Josiah

2011-11-17T09:20:00.001-06:00

It was more of a mom fail, really, if you saw my attitude and impatience during the whole thing.

My 12 year old came home yesterday with, "Oh, yeah, it's our potluck tomorrow - I have to take something from New Zealand." What? Sean & I had to go out to our hospital tour, so I had an hour that I could help, but no time to shop if we didn't already have the ingredients... She found a traditional meringue cake called Pavlova that I was skeptical about - to my mind, it looked not quite simple enough for her to pull off on a first try. But I told her to pull out all the ingredients and after supper we'd give it a shot. I just coached - she did it all herself. It may have been the bit of yolk in the egg whites, it may have been the blended too fine sugar, it may have been the imprecise measuring, but it ended up a nice flat meringue layer instead of a big glorious puff. This morning she broke it up into cookie size pieces and took the cool whip and kiwis to top it with... If worse comes to worse, she'll just cut up and serve the kiwis solo.

Part of what made this a stress was that she also asked if we could make something for her friend, J, who's mom was catering a wedding and would be busy in their kitchen and not able to help her make something for the potluck. They each did a report on a different country and had to bring food from that country for their potluck today. I didn't promise anything, but we found and printed out a recipe for Icelandic Pepper Cookies - "a recipe made in every home in Iceland at Christmas!" M's recipe used all the eggs, but on the way home from our outing, we stopped and I got some eggs and I made the dough - here's where the mom win comes in. I don't even know for sure if her friend ended up coming up with something, but on the chance that J would have to miss out on the potluck, I baked the pepper cookies. I was glad they had to be in the fridge overnight - I had more energy for baking this morning than I did last night. So this morning I baked them all up, and M got her stuff for plan A and plan B packed, and everyone's happy. We also had apologized to each other last night for our attitude fails, which was a good thing.

*****

Out my window at work this fall I've noticed a fair sized divot in the grass. Then I began to see a rabbit lying in it sporadically. This week, with the snow, he's been there quite a bit. I told Peggy (our secretary) on Tuesday that if he was back tomorrow, he was getting a name. And so yesterday, my friendly neighborhood bunny was christened Josiah. I chose that because I am currently reading through 2 Kings, and had just got to the end of a long list of king fails and up comes Josiah, a boy who became king at age 8. He was good and led his people in God's ways - even though he was small, he made a big difference. I thought Josiah would be a great name for my little bunny friend. I wonder if I'll see him today?

Now I'm off to do a third trimester workout video before I head to work. Have a great day!

Compassion Letters

2011-11-16T08:35:00.001-06:00

I'm a little late getting these sent, but I'm putting our Christmas cards in the mail today for our Compassion children. I wanted to put a little something in them, and I came up with these:

They're little paper ornaments made from yellow (Bazzill) paper from my scrap folder - I used a template to trace a star and cut it out. There is a silver glitter glue outline and I drew a little snowflake design with a blue gel pen. Then on the back I wrote parts of Matthew 2: 10&11, about the star & worshiping Jesus. I don't know if they decorate trees in Mexico or Ghana, but these can go anywhere if the do want to put them up.

Have you written to your sponsored children lately? We need to send a good proper letter and pictures soon. I think Madeline will add pictures she's colored and I want to cut some snowflakes to send. I think they'd like that.

Have a great Wednesday!

Saturday at the Shops

2011-11-12T17:30:00.001-06:00

The only thing on the agenda today was to buy M a new pair of dress shoes before church tomorrow.

We had a good sleep in, I made homemade corn chowder for lunch, which we had with ciabatta bread and spinach dip, then we hit the shops. No luck at the first one, but Payless was having a buy one, get one half off, so she ended up with new runners as well as the new dress shoes. Her runners were trashed, but not as crucial as the dress shoes. So, mission accomplished, and not too long into the afternoon, either. Paderno, the kitchen store was in the same building, so we had a look there for dishes to go with our brown set that we can't add to. They had a very limited selection of those, but lots of other fun stuff.

Since Thyme Maternity was in the same area, we popped in there to see if there were any decent sweaters on the clearance racks (no) and if there were any maternity winter jackets that I liked and were a decent price (no and no). Home Outfitters was in the same shopping complex as well, so we stopped there too, to check out new shower curtain options and price out curved rods... and walked out with the works, including a new soap dispenser and toothbrush holder.

Then, Sean had an "idea" and we ended up at La Macaron for drinks and treats. Mmm... And just down the strip from there was a mother and baby store. We just looked, but had fun looking! And no coats there, either - well, there were, and I tried them on, and even liked one, but it was way too pricy.

From there, we popped over to Visions where Sean dealt with some return issues he's been having - they promised to have it all cleared up this week, so that was a good stop. While they were there, I went next door to Fabricland. I didn't buy anything, but got some ideas. Then we all went next door the other way to a carpet place and got some samples and prices for carpet for the basement. Carpet for the basement was not in the immediate plans, but that may change. It would be amazing to have the whole basement renewed.

Then we came home. Sean installed our new shower rod and got the bathroom style cranked up a notch or 4, Madeline chucked her old shoes, and I made banana bread, inspired by the loaf pans at Paderno. A good outing all around, and some good satisfaction at home because of it.

Now we'll heat up some leftovers for supper and have a family movie night watching Star Wars. Good times. I hope your Saturday was as satisfying as ours has been!

Layouts

2011-11-11T10:59:00.001-06:00

So here, as promised, are the layouts I made at the retreat two weeks ago. We'll start with some oldies - this one has pictures from 2005, 2009 and this year. Cousins are awesome.

This one is a real oldie - 2004. I love this pic of these 4. So cute.

These shots are from last summer, and I just got around to putting them on a layout. A couple are from our South Dakota trip, a couple are on the golf course, and a couple are just during random drives.

This is one of those pages that take me back to the fun at that time. What a great day together. The background has a touch of red glimmer mist.

I've had this shots printed for a couple of years now & wasn't sure what to do with them. Nothing like a retreat to get stuff down on paper. Last line: "I love my zoom lens that lets me get shots like this without you noticing."

hee hee hee. I like this one. So simple, but great.

I'd planned this one for so long that I actually printed out 2 5x7's and 3 4x6's of this shot... The great chipboard pieces are called Tiddlybits, which I stained. I like the treble clef as the &.

From Katie's wedding on July 2 of this year. I can't get enough shots of us together. And I made it a 8 1/2 x 11 - threw it and the memories one above together in amidst the 12 x 12's.

Kinda basic - played with stuff I could find on the cricut.

This is an 8 x 8 for M's KBK album. I like the way it turned out.

And finally, another simple one from this summer - just a bunch of photos matted on white and stuck on a black background. Again, one that takes me back to that great day. Love the shot of Jess in there, even though it turned out a touch blurry. Silas falling in the lake will be one of those never-forgotten stories.

Hope you enjoyed! More to come as I finish up a few things.

Plans for the Baby Book

2011-11-10T19:00:00.000-06:00

I've had my eye on Project Life for a while, thinking that would be a good way to do baby's first year. I know I will have tons of photos and will want to put more in an album than I will scrapbook. I also know that I won't be doing a picture a day, exactly, but could still make use of that format.

While we were at the scrapbooking retreat, I found that We R Memory Keepers has a line of page protectors that are divided in different ways, in the style I like about the Project Life ones. Carla and Suzanne were also interested in them, so between us we bought a bunch of different styles (they come in packages of 10) and split them up so we each have a wider assortment of styles to choose from. I wasn't quite sold on the Project Life albums, either, and was thinking I would probably go with an American Crafts cloth 12x12 ring binder like the last couple I've used and liked. I can pick that up at Michaels with a 40% off coupon, so it will be reasonable. I did see a couple of other ones there that I liked, by Amanda Blu, but they are the post style and wouldn't fit a whole year, I don't think. If someone got me one of those, I would make it work, though - they are pretty cute. :) If you follow that link, the first and third ones are the ones I was eyeing.

At the retreat I also picked up some pages by Simple Stories - the ones in their baby line. They are meant to coordinate with the We R Memory Keepers divided page protectors, so have different shaped bits that you cup apart and put in the pages along with your photos. I think I will order some of the journaling cards from Project Life, and maybe some of their page protectors as well, and then I'll be all set. Except for the album, but I've got lots of time for that. (Ten weeks is lots of time, right??)

A Catch Up Post

2011-11-10T10:36:00.001-06:00

A morning with room to breathe and catch up. Lovely. High on my priority list is catching up with you, so let's jump right in!

The Scrapbooking Retreat was a nice weekend away with lots of pages accomplished, and hours spent with friends. I am photographing them right now and finishing up a few details on some of the pages as I go, and should have them posted for you today or tomorrow.

Baby is 30 weeks along and growing nicely. Ten more weeks only till we get to meet! I am still feeling fine, but am noticing that it is harder to bend over as easily. It is also time for wearing winter gear, and my jacket and coat, while still able to do up this week, will not last me all the way through. I am looking online for used ones, but may splurge on something new if I have to.

Madeline and I took a trip to Winnipeg last weekend and had a good time. Often when we go it's for a holiday and we spend most of the time with family, but this time I planned to fit in a few extra days and made plans with friends a month in advance - it was good to see Melanie and George and Jen and MaryAnn and catch up with them. One of Madeline's best friends from her class here moved to Winnipeg the same day that we drove out. They got to have a visit and a sleepover on Friday, after Nicole's first day at her new school. I know it helped M to see her again so soon, and hopefully it helped Nicole's transition, too. Then on Saturday night she had a sleepover at Granny and Papa's (or at my place, as she calls it) with Grace, a friend from church there - it's funny to think she has friends there other than her cousins, but it's good. The women's event that we actually made the trip for went well. I spoke twice during the day and think it was well received. I also sold my magic bags at a vendor table and made some good change, which was a nice extra.

A funny story from our trip - when we were packing up, my brother had just changed Z's diaper and made a crack about how back in the day he would have tried to hide it in our bags... The first snow of the season came as we were driving home, and didn't make the roads too bad, but did lengthen our 6 hour drive into 7. M was sleeping when we arrived, so I told her not to worry about unpacking, but to go straight to bed and look after her bags in the morning. Can you guess what she found in her bag as she unpacked, looking for something to wear to school? Yep - Z's dirty diaper, which had smelled up the entire thing. She of course had taken all her clothes with her and ended up wearing the same thing as the day before, since it was the only thing that didn't smell. It was all quite funny, really. Her comment? "Uncle Clayton, you stink!"

That's all for the moment, but watch for more posts coming soon!

What I Have Learned About Winter

2011-10-31T09:44:00.000-06:00

I am speaking this weekend at a Women's Wellness Day at my home church in Winnipeg. The theme is Winter Wonderland, and I get to speak about how to deal with and get through the winter seasons of life. Yes, there will be kleenex handy - I hope I can get through it without using a whole box. :)

I am sitting here this morning going over my notes, and I'm looking at something I wrote and shared in church as a living sermon illustration for a message on suffering. This was 5 years ago - 3 years after Neil passed away. I thought I would share it with you today, and for those of you who will be at the Women's Wellness Day, this might be a bit of a sneak peek.

What Have I Learned

...About Myself?

I have learnedthat I can do anything. It’s onlythrough God who gives me the strength, but he does, and I can.

I have learnedthat the faith I have held onto my whole life is real, and with every testingthat it faces it gets deeper.

I have learnedthat I am not in control of my own life, that God is, and that He knows whatHe’s doing. He’s got plans that I needto fit into, and He keeps shaping me through everything I go through so that Hecan use me for the next thing, and the next thing.

I have learnedthat my job is the same as it’s always been – to keep my eyes on Him and obey.

I have learnedthat God has plans for me. He hasdirected and shaped me, my whole life, for who I am now, and who I am going tobe. I had always thought that I would goto Bible College and get a degree, but I neverhad any real career goals (I still don’t!). I took what interested me and ended up with a BA in Christian Ministry,figuring whatever I did with my life, I would be involved in a church somewhereand could use that education. I haveused it in many ways, and now I even have a real job that is directly relatedto that training. I firmly believe thatGod gave me the interests He did because He sees the big picture, and knowswhere we will be and what He will want from us then.

I have learnedthat who I am did not end three years ago. Tragedy shapes and changes you, but it should not define you.

I have learnedthat relationships matter. I value myalone time, but God keeps telling me that I’m not allowed to be a hermit. I have to let people in to help me andminister to me, so that God can bless them, and I need to be involved withpeople so that I can minister to them and show God’s love.

…About Life,

I have learnedthat it’s ok not to understand the reasons behind things.

I have learnedthat everyone dies. That everyone willlose someone close to them. That griefand loss are a part of living. Thatdeath doesn’t have to be feared.

I have learnedthat there is always someone else who has gone through the same thing.

I have learnedthat you don’t have to have gone through the same thing to be able to comfortsomeone.

I have learnedthat death doesn’t define life – there will still be things to make you laugh.

I have learnedthat there is always balance between grief and joy, good circumstances and badcircumstances – sometimes we swing more one way or the other, but we never staythere.

And what have Ilearned about God?

I have learned that that our faith is foundedon something, someone, that is real and solid that can handle anything that weare asked to go through.

I have learnedthat He is faithful to what He has promised. He is unchanging and that meansreliable. We’ve heard His promises andthey don’t always get tested until we face something hard. But when you do, they prove to be solid.

I have learnedthat He comforts.

I have learned thatHe heals.

I have learnedthat He provides. I never once wonderedhow we’d make it.

I have learnedthat although we’ve been taught that He is invisible, if we open our eyes in anew way, we can see Him very clearly in His body. We the church are his body, and He has caredfor me in very real ways using His body – the church. Using you. I needed help with things around the house, and He did them, looking alot like some of the men in this room. Ineeded to eat, and He fed us from your kitchens. I needed hugs, and His arms felt a lot likeyours.

I have learnedthat He uses times of tragedy to build community. People are generous and sympathetic and thinkof something other then themselves – tragedies bring out the good inpeople. He also uses them to causepeople to think deeply about their own lives.

I have learnedthat he never gives you more than you can bear – He gives you the strength asyou need it.

I have learnedthat he is gentle. He gives you littlebits to deal with as you are able, and doesn’t expect you to go through it allat once. It’s aggravating in a way,because you think you’re doing so well, and then something else hits you, butit’s God’s way of spacing it out so you’re not overwhelmed. People say time heals, but God made time, andit’s one of the tools He uses as He helps you get through the next thing.

I have learnedthat God is patient. He knows that weare just human; He’s the One that made us the way we are.

Those are some ofthe things I have learned as I’ve experienced God’s sustaining grace.

A Note from the Trenches

2011-10-29T21:44:00.000-06:00

... or from a room full of scrapbookers and all their stuff!

We're out at the Mainstay Inn at Riverhurst SK and more than half done our weekend of non-stop scrapbooking. I've got 7 pages done and a couple of cards, and another 6 pages that need finishing touches at home. Watch for a post of those in a day or two... for now, it's back to work!

What are you doing with your weekend?

Dressing Up

2011-10-21T23:16:00.000-06:00

Wednesday was 'Neon Day' at M's school, so while we were at prenatal on Tuesday night, she went shopping with a friend and her mom for some bright stuff. The colored braid extensions, purple feather earrings and outrageous false eyelashes together with the yellow sweatshirt and bright blue sweatpants certainly fit the bill. They eyelashes only lasted until math class at 9:45 am, thankfully.

And tonight, she's off at a costume party. Dressed in an awesome minion costume. Here's a glimpse of the real things, in case you haven't seen the movie Despicable Me:

What a fun costume. I could only find overall shorts at Value Village, so she's wearing her jeans over top of the shorts - I hope it's not too noticeable. She picked the easy hairstyle, thankfully! Here's some more shots... She's such a ham.

Six Month Bump

2011-10-18T21:17:00.002-06:00

Happy now? Here's a couple of shots of the bump and some of my new clothes... The sweatshirt kind of reminds me of one I wore pretty much every day in junior high. (Remember that, Mom?)

Happy news from today - I'm going to the scrapbooking retreat next weekend! This is the same one I've gone on with the girls for the last two years, that I had planned on NOT going to this year for a number of reasons. It kept coming to mind, though, and the reasons for not going got less important, so today I checked into a few things and it's a go! Looking forward to hanging out with Carla, Suzanne, Holly, Kathy and Brandie all weekend. Now I have a week and a half to get pictures printed and some idea of what I want to work on.

This is what I accomplished at last year's retreat.

And these are from 2009.

One of these days I'll update the scrapbook on the sidebar there...

Simple Cards

2011-10-16T20:36:00.000-06:00

I got a new heart punch with my Michael's 40% off coupon... I've seen lots of cards / crafts that use little hearts and it's been in the back of my mind for a while to pick one up. These are punched from a paint chip (thank you, Home Depot!) and sewn onto a piece of cardstock, which I then inked and stuck to a card base. This one is going in Sean's lunch box tomorrow if I'm awake enough in the morning to remember to hide it in there after he packs his lunch.

I needed a congratulations card for a friend, and found a vase I had cut before in with the pack of colored card bases. I pulled out these flowers, added some green marker stems, a baker's twine bow, and voila - done.

I also needed to make a sympathy card - with the cards and flowers out, I got on a bit of a roll... Complimentary colored flowers with a simple message and line border, and voila - done!

And, while I had them out, I prepped a couple more. Now, the next time I need a card, I can add a Happy Birthday / Happy Anniversary / Congratulations or whatever, and voila - done!

The Ultimate Feast... Polished Off!

2011-10-15T22:06:00.000-06:00

... and now I look like I'm six months pregnant! Oh, wait, maybe that's because I AM six months pregnant. Twenty six and a half weeks, to be precise. I remember the first weeks of being pregnant - how every week seemed like a major milestone; now they run together and I don't remember exactly how far along I am. We're due January 18, so I'm going to call October 18 six months, November 18 (our 5th anniversary!) seven months, December 18 eight months, and January 18... don't know what I'll call January 18. Baby's birthday, maybe? That works.

The ultimate feast was at Red Lobster. We were heading for the Keg when Sean mentioned crab, so we turned the car around and ended up with an ultimate feast for each of us - lobster, snow crab legs and two kinds of shrimp. Plus Caesar salad and yummy buns to start. So good. And I ate so much. So happy. The reason, if we need one, was that I wanted to take Sean out to thank him for all the good work and hard work he puts in around the house. It might get done quicker if he wasn't such a perfectionist, but then he wouldn't get down to the studs and see the bad wiring that needs fixing... I feel safer now! Notice all the new outlets right at my counter top level... :) My next job is picking stain and paint colors.

Another reason to treat him to a great dinner was that this week I tried not to shop and just use up stuff in the freezer - it worked great, but there were a few not so inspiring meals in there. I was ready for something delicious, so I guessed he might feel the same way. Plus, M is out at the lake for a youth retreat this weekend, so we were child-free and date ready! (The little one I'm carrying got in the way physically - not much stomach space in there! - but doesn't really cramp our dates just yet.)

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I raked the yard today - half the yard. I like raking - being outside & doing something physical... I'm kinda glad it started to rain, though, because it gave me another excuse to go in. I was at my limit after half the front yard, sad to say. Can't quite do all that I used to. Guess M will have to finish the job tomorrow when she gets home.

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Congrats to Jess and Dave on 16 years of marriage - my sister and her husband have a great marriage and a great family and are a fantastic example to all who know them. Thanks, you guys!! Love you all.

Thankful for my Handiman!

2011-10-10T12:17:00.000-06:00

I put up photos recently of our bathroom reno; on Saturday, the man of the hour put a new back door on the house. What a hero. While he was doing that, I finished chopping down my caragana bushes that had grown into unruly trees, hoping that next spring I might get a nice new start to a hedge between us and the house to the west. We took a little trip to the dump to get rid of the old door, the branches and M's old box spring, and when we got back, Mr. Fixit fixed M's squeaky bed frame, too.

Today we went on a tour of the hardware stores and came home with some subfloor, another box of flooring, an 8 foot length of countertop, two base cabinets and some lighting... all for my NEW STUDIO. Did I mention that he's a hero? I would honestly have been content with just my desk and a couple of shelves, but no, I get a 7x8" corner. The base cabs and my desk are both unfinished, so I'll have to pick a stain color, and a paint for the outside bits, but oh, is it going to be nice.

Drums moved to the corner; my desk will go along that far wall.


Countertop, two cabinets, subfloor... oh, and a pile of magic bags!

I'll keep the pictures coming as we get to it. :)

Just Another Sunny Day

2011-10-04T17:29:00.000-06:00

A little bit of bad, but mostly all good today:

I found a dead bird on my porch. I heard a thump and though the mail had come (and that the letter carrier had slammed the lid harder than usual). Then later I heard the mail come and figured the first thump was a bird. It was - and when I went to get the mail, there was a perfectly beautiful (other than the lifeless factor) specimen. I used a plastic bag to gather it up without touching it and took it out back to the ferryman (aka the dumpster). I wondered, though, after, if the bird's family and friends will be looking for it - will they wonder where it's gone? Should I have left it there for a while so they would know and have closure? Hard to know how deep birdbrains go.

Tonight is our 5th pre-natal class. Half done. If you live in Regina and plan to have a baby sometime, I'd recommend taking those through the Y - Sally Elliot is educational and entertaining. Baby has been moving lots lately - it has been hugely fun to feel and watch, especially playing games with him/her. When we push in, (s)he nudges back in the same spot. We generally all hang out on the couch after supper and play with my belly. I made a trip out to Thyme this morning to do an exchange - I will be happy to have another pair of pants to wear! I have a coupon for there for next week (spend $100, get $50 off) - I'm looking forward to getting a pair of jeans and some t-shirts. Basic everyday stuff. I got a bag of maternity clothes from a friend, which has helped; if anyone else has an item or two to share to get me through the next three and a half months, I would be glad to borrow.

Today I went on auto pilot twice and made the wrong turn - on my way to get M for piano I turned to go to work. On my way to pick up M from piano, coming from a different direction, I turned to go to work. You'd think I missed it today or something! I took the day off, partly to use up the vacation days that I never end up taking, and partly so I could camp out at a coffee shop and write my talk for the Women's Wellness Day in Winnipeg on November 5. If you live in Winnipeg, call Maranatha Evangelical Free Church to get tickets for that. It sounds like a fun day, (don't worry, it's way more than just me talking), and it would be great to hang out with you!

We had our first small group last night. We enjoyed the group we were in last year, but because of scheduling changes, we ended up joining a group with some of our other friends. One couple we know quite well, one couple we know half of really well, and one couple has just been acquaintances till now. We are looking forward to hanging out with them this year.

You know what I am looking forward to?? Like, a LOT? Pumpkin pie. My own homemade pumpkin pie. I think I might make that tomorrow. I have pastry ready because I made Sean a birthday apple pie last week (it was so-so - I used ready made filling from the Bulk Barn and it's not near as good as my made from scratch pie, in my opinion), and I got all the ingredients, so now it's just a matter of getting it made. We've got two family dinners this week, and I'm taking the potatoes (the yummy make ahead cheesy ones) to Carla's, and a lazy perogie casserole to the Ward's. That means I can make a pie and we can eat it all ourselves. :)

Bathroom Renos

2011-09-28T10:00:00.001-06:00

Out with the old - a temporary home in the raspberries.

I love my handiman!

The toilet found a new temporary home in the tub!

Putting in the flooring.

Yay!

And with the new vanity / sink...

and fixtures!

Now all we have to do is pick out new towel racks & toilet paper holder & put those up. We also want to pick out a new shower curtain (and maybe get one of those curved rods?) and new towels. Haven't decided on a color yet, but we could use new ones, and we planned to get some to go with the 'new' bathroom.

Last Minute Birthday Gift

2011-09-23T23:56:00.001-06:00

You know how some people always have great gift ideas? Yeah, that's not me. I've had my moments of brilliance (like the year I made dress up clothes for every party she went to), but coming up with something for a party is more often painful.

Madeline is going to a birthday party tomorrow. Tonight I asked her if she had any idea for a gift, since right after supper she was going to youth group, then to sleep over & spend the day at Grandpa's while I am at the ladies thing at church, which of course ends in just enough time for me to pick her up to go to the party, leaving no time for shopping... And of course neither of us thought of it before the last minute... But she had a good idea just off the top of her head, so that saved the day.

"What about a origami $10?" she said. Nice. I can do that. $10 has always been our limit for what we spend on gifts - cheap, but if you get creative, you can still come up with something. Last year we were going to give money as a gift (less personal, and zero creative, but practical - I love getting money!) and I had a brilliant moment when I decided that I could origami it into something so it was still a cool gift, even though it was just cash.

And I, with no cash ever in my wallet, just happens to have a $10 bill today.

So here is my masterpiece:

I think folded this way it looks like a bad Hawaiian shirt. I'll have to try 'face in' for the next one. If you'd like to give it a try, this is where I found the tutorial.

And since we needed a card to give the gift in, and I don't know if she'll find stuff to make one at Grandpa's tomorrow, I raided my stash for a few that she can pick from. These were in my 'copy before I give them away' pile, so I did the smart thing and took photos. Now I can actually use them, and still make more, and I can share them with you, too. The cards are plain ol' white cardstock - I bought a ream of the stuff - and the patterned papers were in a pack of Japanese papers I got for Christmas last year.

Do you have any good standbys when it comes to birthday parties? I'd love for you to share them with the rest of us.

happy little cards

2011-09-23T21:48:00.000-06:00

I've had my eye on these little beauties for a while. They're from a company called Moo, and you can order a pack of 100 with 100 different images on them. I wanted to do something a little more professional for my magic bags than the homemade tags I've printed off till now, and so I finally ordered some. I got them made with the pack of digital scrapbooking paper I got for another project, from Tracy Ann Digital Art. there are 10 colors, so it came with 10 of each. I've been handing some out, but I have to remember to keep enough for attaching to the bags!!

This and That

2011-09-18T20:59:00.000-06:00

Highlights from the week:

* Book club was here on Thursday. It was fun to have all the girls together again and make our picks for the next year. Chocolate Zucchini Cake dominated the snack table. Baby Anna made her first book club appearance, which was a nice treat. M got to be down here with us for a while, too, which she loved.

* Going to Briercrest for the alumni basketball weekend. I went out Friday night and got to see a few of the girls I played with - I didn't play myself, but kept them company on the bench and we had a good visit staying up late in the hotel after. When I was pregnant with M, I played the whole time - think the season ended when I was 4 or 5 months. I figured since I am 5 months now and have not been playing the whole time, it would be smart to sit it out. I took a drive around town and a walk through all the buildings, checking out all my old routine places - boy, lots of memories. Lots of people came to mind... I remember so many of you and all the good times we had.

* Played in a golf tournament yesterday - I'm not sure this was a highlight, really, since I had lots of terrible shots, but the people part was good! Sean won the longest drive - 350 yards!

* Went to check out the new Lowe's store & came home with a new vanity / sink for our bathroom reno. Looking forward to redoing that room.

* I won Rider tickets - thanks Conexus Credit Union! There was a link to enter on the site where I do my online banking, and I won. Sweet. They are for the game this Saturday, and I'll be at the Women's Day at church, so Sean and his dad are going to go. It's Sean's birthday next week, so this can be an extra treat for his bday week.

* I started chopping down my Caragana bushes today - it was nice to spend the time outside, but also so nice to tackle that job. We've lived here 11 years and I've never done a thing to them (oh, my poor gardening skills...) They're still leafy up top, but bare and scraggly looking where we have to walk by everyday. I looked into pruning info this summer, and found that this is the time to do it, so I cut a bunch today and tried not to fill too many dumpsters out back - next week I'll finish them up.

* Mmm - Just pulled some cookies out of the oven. Gigantic chocolate chip ones. A treat for our lunches this week. I made amazingly rich peanut butter brownies for book club, too - so good. I will keep the recipe for this one, but will wait a good long time before I make them again. A little too good. Speaking of yum, we went out to Dessart tonight for ice cream. :) On the not sweet side, I'm trying a new crock pot beef stew recipe tomorrow. I have never found a great one, but I've decided this fall I will hunt till I get one that works for me.

* I spent some time this afternoon down in my studio going through stuff - another bunch of went out to the donate pile. I am going to have to put some serious thought into what I am doing with all my stuff. I don't have a crazy amount of scrapbooking or sewing stuff, but it's all in its proper place now, and I am going to have to figure out a new place for it all. My desk and one bookshelf would fit in the new space, but we may leave that bookcase for M - I think we'll have to start moving it all to see how much storage she needs and what I will need to get for my new spot.

What were some highlights of your week? What did you make? Bake? Who did you see?

Little Baby on the Way Book

2011-09-14T17:29:00.001-06:00

I took a free inspiration class over at Big Picture Classes called Words to Live By - the purpose was to get creativity flowing by doing a 6x6 page on a different word each day, led by each of their teachers. I did 10 of the 12 pages, and focused on this little one that's coming. It was fun to play around, and will be nice to have a little something to remember this time by.

A Weekend in Winnipeg

2011-09-11T21:41:00.001-06:00

We had a great time last weekend with the whole family. This is the first time most of them have seen me with my baby belly - it was fun to show that off.

Other than just seeing everyone, some highlights of the weekend were golfing with Sean, Dad & Dave, playing train dominoes till late into the night, and playing with little Zach.

I probably should address the football issue. You'll notice a lot of Bomber gear in these shots (including Si's blue & yellow braces!) - the Labour Day Classic is an annual game between our two city's football teams. They were 7-1 going into the game and Saskatchewan had a terrible season start and was at 1-7. Lots of swaggering going into it from the Winnipeg side, I understand, although I generally abstain from all things having to do with the rivalry between the two teams. So there we were, Sean watching the game with all the Bomber fan relatives - and the Riders win. That game, played in Regina, is always followed by the same teams playing in Winnipeg the next weekend. Apparently the Riders won again today... (sorry, guys!) Good thing they're both going back to their own divisions to play after this.

Can't wait to go back!

Update...

2011-09-10T16:42:00.000-06:00

Ten days since I posted last - I realized that yesterday and wondered why, then realized it might have something to do with this time of year...

Let me fill you in on what life is like around here these days:

Madeline started grade 7 (Tues, August 30)

And piano lessons started the same day.

My bump is growing.

Bought my first maternity clothes today.

The neighbor has the new fence finally up! Not finished yet, but it's progress.

We are going to perinatal classes once a week - some things are good to know, some of it feels like too much information... It is a fun date night, though!

We are on the hunt for a new piano. Ours is terrible and needs replacing; we do have a free one offered to us that we have to decide about.

We go back to two services at church this week; between that and getting a community newsletter out, I've been putting in longer than average days. Now that we've got this series up and running, it should go back to normal... Oh, except for the women's conference in two weeks. :) It's all good.

M got the teacher she wanted and all her friends are in her class, so she's a happy girl. We have to decide on swimming lessons and / or indoor soccer and get her registered, then we're in full swing for the year.

We took a little trip to Winnipeg last weekend for the long weekend - that will be another post coming soon with lots of pictures...

Next on the agenda around the house is the bathroom. We have to take out the toilet to put in the flooring, and the sink is cracked, so we have to replace either that or the whole vanity. We are also looking to update the medicine cabinet / mirror situation. There is a Lowe's store opening her right away, so we're in process of looking around at Rona & Home Depot to price out what they've got, then we'll check out the new store when it opens. Then, let the renos begin!

School Lunches

2011-08-31T09:40:00.000-06:00

Ah, school lunches... No, I'm strapped for ideas yet - it's only been two days! I am always open to hear what others are packing, though, so if you want to leave a comment with your great ideas, we'd all love to hear it.

Or do you have guidelines you want to share? I go with a main (often supper leftovers or a sandwich), fruit, vegetable, dairy (cheese string or yogurt), and usually one other (crackers, granola bar, rice krispy cake). I don't often send a drink, because they've got a water fountain handy (she keeps a water bottle at school to fill up), but once in a while I'll throw in a juice box or a crystal light or iced tea infusion to add some variety.

Do you send notes? I found some Printable Lunch Box Jokes you can send for a laugh. A little note tucked in a lunch is a wonderful treat to add some encouragement and a reminder of you in the middle of the day. One day this summer I was getting some food ready to take a lunch to work, and M packed it in my bag for me. Imagine my huge smile when I reached for some food and pulled out a scrap of paper with a happy face and "I love you, Mom" on it. It works both ways.

Happy lunching!

Inspiration

2011-08-30T09:19:00.000-06:00

"Inspire" literally means to "breathe in." It is about being filled with something from the outside that animates and enlivens us inside. Just as oxygen vitalizes our bodies, inspiration enlivens our souls. In the beginning, God breathed life into earth-matter and the first humans were created. Today, we can breathe in the Spirit and be filled. Body-soul inspiration ultimately comes from God. The deepest and longest-lasting inspiration comes from breathing in God himself, and breathing in the new things that God is doing in us and around us. - Sam Chaise

I've been thinking about inspiration lately. Partly because the latest Mosaic magazine (Canadian Baptist Ministries) has on the cover, "What Inspires You?" The quote above is from an article in it by CBM's General Secretary, and has stuck with me over the last weeks.

The other reason I've been thinking about inspiration is Pinterest. I've told you a bit about this... and after being on that site for a week or so now, I can say that it really is inspiring. I've seen all kinds of beautiful and fun things that I want to do or re-create. The problem becomes when browsing the site uses all the time you could be using for actually creating. I saw this quote on there:

"Thank you Pinterest for helping me feel creative even though I've really just been sitting at my computer for the last 3 hours."

I have been inspired to go downstairs to the studio and play more, but it is a balance. Doing takes more energy than thinking about doing. Doing really is better than simply collecting inspiration. Making memories, making crafts, making the effort to go out with people... those are the things that are long term inspiring, and the things that will inspire others.

Just a few thoughts. What is inspiring you today?

New Stuff in the Kitchen

2011-08-28T21:26:00.001-06:00

Once in a while I get a cookbook or food magazine out of the library, and copy recipes that look good. I have a binder where I keep all my collected recipes; it holds the ones that have become regulars, and these possibilities. At the beginning of last week, on menu making Monday, I flipped through to see if there was anything new I wanted to try, since I didn't want to get back to our default meal plans just yet (summer calls for different food than the regular year round recipes).

I found two that worked out great - Tuesday we had Feta Stuffed Chicken, which had a little bit of lite cream cheese mixed with tomato and basil feta in the middle - yummy! Then Friday I made Nacho Mac 'N' Cheese, which was actually really good. Taco seasoning was the main flavor, but it had a bit of pepper to give it some kick, too. Red pepper and corn gave it some color and nice texture mixed in with the ground beef and gemelli pasta. With two cups of cheese in it and some crushed tortilla chips for crunch on top, it was definitely one we'll make again.

Then Saturday, because I had unknowingly bought chicken breasts still on the bone, I simmered up some chicken vegetable soup with the bones. We normally have soup and bagels Sunday after church, so today we had the homemade stuff (which was good but not amazing - I'll add more seasoning next time), and homemade scones.

Yes, I did some baking too - the scones are amazing and it's been too long since I've made them. I also made a recipe for a Saturday morning treat that I found on Pinterest - it was not a healthy one, but oh so yummy. Cinnamon Roll Cake - I didn't even keep the recipe, since it's way too fattening to make again.

That's been my adventures in the kitchen this past week - let me know if you want any of the recipes.

What something new did you make in the kitchen this week?

Belly Shots & a New Addition to the Shop!

2011-08-23T16:06:00.001-06:00

A couple of shots of the little bump to show you - this first one I took last week, and the second one was on Sunday. I like that it's got my family in the background... Sean had golfed in the afternoon, and M and I got slurpees and walked around the lake, then watched a movie at home. When Sean got back we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and spent the rest of the day outside. Beautiful weather this week.

)( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )(

I found some canvas in my studio that I bought a while ago to make a gift. I used it all up and made some bags for the shop! Sturdy canvas bags that are perfect for library books or the beach: I have two of the green & blue available, and another pink & black that has vertical stripes. Only asking $8.

2011-08-21T12:47:00.001-06:00

Right after I said yesterday that I didn't think I would jump into Pinterest just yet, I did. I was looking around and thought I would bookmark something so I could put it on Pinterest when I did get it... so I just requested an invite, got it right away, and spent a relaxing night browsing. Feel free to come have a look at my boards here: pinterest.com/carolynward

Our Week & a Few Links

2011-08-20T14:47:00.000-06:00

Very actively playing Wii.

Today is an 'empty square' day - nothing on the calendar! We slept in, Sean made brunch, we played a little frisbee dog on the Wii all together, and now he's out trying out the new shaft on his driver at the driving range. We've kept the Wii going and later we'll head to the in-laws for supper. I'm trying to get behind the camera today as I'm a little behind in my class - gotta get playing there. It's a great day.

Our week has included:

Shopping for school supplies & school clothes
Sean switching cars around, putting the new one in the garage and taking the old one out to pasture at Sheldon's acreage
Madeline helping with VBS at church for Thursday and Friday
Sean getting 9 holes in with his brother
Schooling M in basketball at the school yard down the street
Date night - dinner out at Brown's Social House

Links:

I am a big fan of weekly planning;while I don't do too much other than Monday's weekly menu and groceries, I do have lists for cleaning and M's chores. Maybe once school starts we'll tidy those up and start to use them again. Summer is pretty relaxed. I bring this up because of a link on A Holy Experience today - a whole bunch of great printable planning helps. Go check it out and maybe find something that would work for you.

I have spent a couple nights this week downstairs playing & making stuff. Big Picture Classes, where I'm taking that camera class, has a free two week Festival of Ideas I signed up for, and I've actually made 4 of the 6 projects so far. 6x6 pages are so little and simple. I'm adapting it to a 'being pregnant' theme, so that adds to the fun. I'll post the finished product when I'm done. (You can sign up for this until the 27th if you want to join in!)

Pinterest. Have you checked this out yet? I've killed an hour or so looking around on this site. The link is to Elisha Snow's account - she's the one teaching the camera class I'm taking. I don't know if I want to request an invite or not - it seems like it would be a great way to keep track of all the cool ideas I see online, but since I don't spend that much time surfing and looking, or even all that much time on the computer, I don't think I'll jump into it just yet.

My Shop

2011-08-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

I've added a new page to this blog story - look up at the tags under the header - see it there? On the end?

My Shop.

I wanted to put a link on here somewhere to information about the magic bags I make, since they just keep selling, and I am happy to have the word spread. And since I'm usually making something for someone and tend to make in multiples, I often have goodies left over. I will list them there for your shopping enjoyment. At present, I just have the bags and a tie onesie listed there, but I am working on some canvas bags and should have those photographed and listed soon.

Come visit my shop!

Mass Production: Magic Bags

2011-08-14T22:31:00.001-06:00

My stash was getting low, so I picked up some new fabric last week, to have on hand if needed. A few days later, I got an order from Winnipeg. I'm sewing up a storm to have enough to take when we visit there next both for the order and to be able to leave a stash there, too.

Mass Production!

These are both so cute! (Green Owls / Monsters)

The Circle Collection - flaps open and ready for the insides. (Green/Blue, Purple, White/Pink)


Sale ready. (Dots, Pink Owls)

If you want any of these styles, let me know at followandlead (at) gmail (dot) com. I'm always bringing in new fabrics, but nothing stays around too long!

A Day at the Races

2011-08-14T14:39:00.002-06:00

Sean's not racing this year, but his brother got his Supra ready for it's first outing. We met Sheldon and Lynsey early in the morning yesterday for the drive out to Swift Current and had a good day together.

Linking up with these fun folks today, for the first of probably many!

Kayaking!

2011-08-09T20:33:00.000-06:00

This is what we did tonight on this beautiful sunny calm night. It was perfect.

Our little town has a lake at its center, with the Legislative Building and gardens and marina surrounding it, and a path that is possibly the most popular place in the city for walking, running, biking, and rollerblading. I've done all of those but skate - someday I'll do that, too. This is the second time we've rented kayaks at the marina, but we'll do it again before summer's out. I want to get M out there for her first time.

Spilling the Beans

2011-08-08T19:31:00.000-06:00

I think I felt it. I knew it would happen sometime this month, but these first few, you don't know if that's really what it is. There have been a few times over the weekend where I wondered if that's what I was feeling...

What am I talking about?

This little jumper:

Yes, it's true. I think I've finally told most people in person, so I can start filling you in on the details here now. I am at about 17 weeks, and due in the middle of January. We have been married 4 1/2 years now and finally came to a point where we decided that yes, this is the route we want to go - our family of 3 has been great, but all three of us agree that a new little one around will be something we will never regret.

This is the other reason it was time to go through the storage rooms and all that baby stuff - not just for the garage sale! I got rid of our old crib in the garage sale, but we've got a much newer one given to us already. We have a stroller, a high chair and a booster seat for the car - I think the only other big ticket item we'll need is the car seat. That and boy clothes if that's what it happens to be. Oh, and a change table, I guess, and a snuggly that Dad won't be embarrassed to be seen in, an RESP, maybe a new toy or two, and boxes and boxes of diapers! Other than that, babies don't need much, do they?

I really feel that for me, there is no greater job in this world than to raise up children who love God. I look forward to being Mom to one more.

I am very grateful to God for this amazing gift, and I am grateful that I get to share our news with you! Linking up today with all the others counting the ways they're thankful.

It's NOT the same as Hoarding!

2011-08-01T22:37:00.000-06:00

I've started collecting stuff from around the house, garage and shed for a garage sale this coming weekend. There are a few of us doing it together at a friend's, which should be a good time. I'm not really optimistic about making any money at it, but it will give me something to do while Sean is away golfing with the guys and M is away hanging out at Granny & Papa's.

The garage sale plus M being gone adds up to why this is a good week to empty, go through, and re-insulate the storage rooms off the sides of M's room. I have to admit that I wasn't prepared for the mountain of clothing I'd see when I opened the first door. We've lived in this house for 11 years now, and M has always been in that bedroom. At some point over the years, she's gotten into that storage area, dug around in the boxes of her baby & little girl clothes and gone exploring. Wow. Well, it all had to come out anyway... There are over a dozen boxes filled with all her baby stuff and clothes from newborn to maybe 4ish? So much. At first we kept it because we planned to have more, and then as those plans derailed, and got put on hold, we just never gave much thought to the boxes stacked in the awkward attic space.

These shots are from when I first emptied it out yesterday - I have made a bunch of progress and only have 4 or 5 boxes left to go through. Lots of feeling nostalgia - I just want to hug my little two year old in that outfit and have her reach up and play with my hair the way she did... Aw. Lots of cute memories. Also lots of "Ew - this is ugly - why would I have kept it in the first place since I most likely never put it on M?" Those are for the garage sale boxes. I'm about half and half keep and toss right now. Why is there a keep pile? Hmm... Maybe I'll post about that another day.

A few Layouts from Easter

2011-07-29T13:00:00.000-06:00

Dad and Madeline just left for Family Camp, and I'm left at home all alone, feeling sad. :(

They've wanted her to come out for a week or so this summer and we've been trying to figure out how to manage it with everybody's schedules. My dad is retired, so he got the short straw and drove all the way out here to pick her up. They're all going to family camp this weekend at Valley View, so she's going to join them there and then head back to Winnipeg for a visit. I'm glad she gets to go and sad I don't get to see everyone too, so I'm sitting her lonely in my house - for now. Sean will be home from work before I know it and we'll have the long weekend together. I'm going to work from home this afternoon, which should help pass the time quickly.

********

Here are a few layouts I've been fiddling away at for a while. As I was putting them in the book I realized that they're all from when we were in Winnipeg for Easter and birthdays. Always a rich source for photos.

Birthday # 12

2011-07-24T21:36:00.001-06:00

Twelve years ago I became a Mom. What a feeling - having a little one to love and care for... I should do it again. Hmmm... maybe that will be another post.

This one is about Madeline.

We got home from picking her up at camp about mid-afternoon yesterday, and spent the rest of the day getting ready for today's festivities. After church today we did some last minute prep, then sat back to wait for the girls.

I had decorated around her seat at the table last night so she'd have a nice surprise - this is her at lunch in her birthday outfit from Auntie Carla, and the bunting I sewed up last night.

When the girls arrived, we headed down the street to the park for a little photo shoot, and took the bunting along...

We headed home for a little water balloon fun in the front yard, then M opened her gifts. Thoughtful friends...

From there I put them to work! Here they are decorating cupcakes - they had a great time and came up with some real crazies. This was a great activity with this age. We had the family over for supper after, so they were decorating for both parties.

And finally one showing our happily full backyard - 26 people: the 3 of us, 2 grandpas, 4 aunts and 5 uncles, 8 cousins and one "almost family" family of four.

Note the bunting in the back... and there's some along the fence to the right as well. It may have been my favorite part of the whole day!! (Besides the people of course...!) Besides the cupcakes, the menu for supper was a yummy pulled beef on buns, marshmallow salad, bok choy salad, pasta salad, veggies and dip, and chips and pop.

Oh, and the one I almost forgot - Jello Slices. This was a good one. I saw a link that showed these great colorful treats (check it out quick and then come back so you'll know what I'm talking about). I had a bunch of grapefruit to use up (the recipe called for oranges, but I figured these would work). I made purple, orange and green, not all six, and they turned out looking so impressive! I forgot them in the fridge till after a number of our guests (and the smaller kids that I actually made them for) had left, but all who were left were game to take one and try...

I played a good joke and didn't even know it - the grapefruit flavored the jello and the jello was STRONG and TART...! It was awesome and funny and I might never live it down, but it was worth it. I still have half in my fridge and am wondering who else might I get to try?

All in all, a good day. M is downstairs watching a movie with the one we are letting sleep over, and we are just about ready to crash.

My baby is 12, and we celebrated well.

Date Week

2011-07-21T23:08:00.001-06:00

With M off at camp this week, Sean and I are enjoying date week. I'm not sure when 4 nights has been long enough to call a week, but it will have to do. (For the record, I like when camp starts Sunday and ends Saturday. Drop off at 5 on a Monday? Hello? He's working so I have to take them myself - what kind of a start to date week is that?)

Monday was a a great night for visiting at camp, but not so much for the dates...

Tuesday we went out for dessert with a couple from church that we have enjoyed getting to know there, but have never gone out with. It was a great night.

Wednesday's plans changed when it was too windy to go kayaking. : ( We went for coffee instead, and browsed at SportMart. We were looking for running clothes for me, since I got a little overheated when I went Tuesday morning, but didn't find much (the overheating may have had more to do with the fact that it was already up in the 20's at 8 am than that I was wearing a cotton t-shirt...). After checking out the whole store, I was back at the front and saw a rack with a "Spring Coat Sale" tag on it. It didn't even register to me that in Jasper I found a jacket I really liked but couldn't afford and checked every store we saw for it until I saw that glimpse of green on the rack - IT WAS THERE! And on sale at a half decent price! Woo Hoo - I am grateful for the nice find.

Tonight we went golfing together. Sean golfs pretty much every week. This was my first time all year. There's a group from church that goes every Thursday, so we joined them and ended up in a foursome with the church secretary and her husband and had a great time. Nice to see Peggy outside work, too! (Although she hosted us girls who work at the church for lunch on Tuesday and put on an amazing spread in her gorgeous yard... that was pretty awesome, too.)

Tomorrow night we're having a friend over for supper and then are going mini golfing together. It should be a hoot. A great date week. Have I mentioned that I have a wonderful husband?

Date ideas, anyone?? Please share your everyday dates and the special ones - I always love to hear new ideas.

The Camp Blanket

2011-07-19T10:26:00.001-06:00

When M was four, we happened to be flying standby and ended up in first class. "Mom, this is WAY better than the last plane we were on!" she said, in our row right in front of coach. She milked it, too; whenever a flight attendant walked by, she asked for more snacks or a drink - and as the grand finale, on our way out, she asked if she could keep the blanket. She got a yes, and we now have an Air Canada blanket in our linen closet. When she started getting badges in Sparks (the youngest Girl Guides) and for swimming lessons, I thought I would sew them on her blanket and it could be a camp blanket for her.

Eight years later, it has six Sparks badges (on the pink strip), a sash full of Brownie badges (lower right), a sash full of Girl Guides badges (on the left, added just before camp yesterday), and a whole assortment of badges and iron-ons from different Guiding activities.. The patch in the middle is off a pair of jeans she wore long ago, and the upper right holds her swimming badges.

It's been fun to see this develop over the last eight years; I wonder what will come in the next years to fill in the gaps?

Do you have any special way that you've kept your kid's special mementos?

Off to Camp!

2011-07-18T22:26:00.000-06:00

Camp started today. M's friend T has gone with her for the last number of years and this year was no exception. I took the two of them early so we could geocache on the way, but alas, it has been a while and I forgot that I needed to upload the caches to my handheld gps, so that ended up not working out so well for us. (I have all the ones around home in there, so haven't had to add specific ones for a while.)

So we got to the camp nice and early and I got some pictures to share with you instead.

With the flooding and the altered beachfront, the swimming area is now between this new dock, and the old one, which is now over by where the slide was. A decent sized area for them. They wanted to dip their feet in (and at 40* out, I was wishing I had brought my suit for a jump in the lake, too!) and I was happy to pull out the camera and capture this. There was a new water trampoline that had them excited, as well as four new double kayaks that I'd love to take out someday.

Trying to catch minnows.

Found a couple of dead crayfish on the beach which they carried around until they fell apart.

It was good to be out there and see a bunch of good friends. A great day.

Home Again

2011-07-14T22:44:00.000-06:00

I started choosing photos to post and the list got way too long, so I posted them on facebook instead; follow this link to see them.

The pictures are all from Jasper, but we spend a day and a half in Edmonton on the way there, and came back via Banff so we could see more of the mountains.

We had a great time seeing awesome sights, and although slightly sunnier and dryer and warmer would have been nice, the weather didn't stop us from much.

Holiday-ing: Less Tech, More Book

2011-07-08T23:00:00.002-06:00

As my friend Cara Luft just tweeted about taking time off and heading west for a break: "Closing up the laptop and reading books."

We are taking our holidays from Wednesday to Wednesday this year, which makes for two lovely two day work weeks. Add that to a short week for Canada Day, and July is a beautiful month.

You haven't heard from me in the last few days partly because we were on the road, and partly because I ended up with 3 massive books from the library - love road trips. I began World Without End by Ken Follet last Saturday heading out to Airdrie, and finally finished it today in Jasper. 1025 pages. Small writing. If you want my opinion of it, just click on the What I'm Reading link above. I started keeping track for you a month ago, so all of my June reads are there, and this will be #1 for July. One down, two to go.

Take a break and enjoy a good book. And a holiday, for that matter!

I Promised Pictures

2011-07-04T22:02:00.000-06:00

Madeline had asked her Uncle Larry if he could take her up for a plane ride for her birthday. I got a message earlier last week from him saying he had a plane booked for Friday and Saturday mornings & would she like to go? Well, Happy Canada Day to M!

Mathew went along for his 2nd time up with Dad.

The Intrepid Three!

Flygirl. She loved it.

So that was Friday morning - Friday afternoon and evening were Jenn's wedding, and Saturday was Katie's. I didn't take any photos at Jenn's - too many people and too far away. At Katie's though, I pulled out the camera and played around with my manual settings, getting ready for the photography class I'm taking. I have a lot to learn! I got a few good ones, though.

Katie & Nick - and Nick's Grandfather officiated.

Blues & Greens - the decorating was fabulous.

Holly & David, our traveling buddies!

Dancing with Dad.

The girls we went to see!

Wild Wedding Whirlwind Weekend!

2011-07-03T22:56:00.000-06:00

Just like last year, our only two weddings of the year fell on the same weekend. Only this time, they were in two different provinces!

Jenn Brace (now Armstrong) married Craig on Friday in a beautiful (and purple!) extravaganza. We ducked out of the reception at 10:30 along with Holly and David to hit the road to Alberta. Making it to Medicine Hat in the middle of the night, we got about 4 hours sleep, then drove the rest of the way to Airdrie in the morning. We got there in enough time for lunch and a change in BP's restrooms into our wedding duds. Katie McIntyre (now Kadun) married Nick in another great day.

Tomorrow I'll have more for you, and pictures, but we need some sleep after all that driving! Here's one to leave you with:

things that made me happy this week

2011-06-30T22:31:00.000-06:00

Tuesday
- Taking M out for ice cream to celebrate finishing grade 6.
- Walking by the lake, enjoying the beautiful weather, seeing 4 pelicans.

Wednesday
- Washing my Escape (with one bucket of water!)
- A heavenly hot night with no wind and no bugs and hours on the deck with a good book.

Thursday
- Extreme Pitas for lunch for me & the girl.
- Walking out of the restaurant to see my Escape shining beautifully clean in the sun.
- Watching Women's World Cup Soccer.

Last weekend was full of great things (celebrations & visits with friends / family, Red Lobster, Bonfire at a friend's place, Girl Guide camp, an afternoon nap, church picnic at the camp & Sean rocking in the baseball game...), and this weekend promises to be another great one, celebrating weddings with friends.

I really love summer.

Blog Launch

2011-06-29T19:04:00.001-06:00

Post # 401!

Seems like an appropriate time to make a blog announcement.

Like any parent, I pray for my kid. I pray for little things, for big things, for the problems I'm having with her (or with myself that's keeping me from dealing properly with her). For the last number of years, I've been writing down some of those prayers. Writing prayers, like journaling, helps me slow my thoughts and think about what I'm saying; it helps me pray better. I've wondered for a while what to do with those prayers, and if they could be used somehow to help other parents pray for their kids by providing some inspiration, some ideas.

This last year or so I've made a habit of sitting on the couch by the front window when M leaves the house for school. She catches the bus just out of sight down the road, so I sit there and read my Bible and write in my journal and watch for the bus, so I know she's on her way safely. I've been using that as my trigger to pray, too. I stop whatever I'm doing and pray for her when I see her bus going by. It's been a great reminder.

School ended yesterday; today was the first day of summer vacation. I'm so glad summer is here (especially today's 31 degrees!), but as of today, no school bus as a prayer trigger. So as of today, I am launching a new blog. It's been in the works for a week or so now, and I'd like to offer it to you! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll be posting a prayer for our children - I'd love it if you prayed along with me for the kids in your life. The address is: http://prayersformychildren.blogspot.com/ or you can get there with the link below.

As The Bus Goes By

Rain Woes

2011-06-23T21:26:00.000-06:00

We do not have water in our basement, our jobs are not affected by the floods, and I am thankful for those things, but seriously, I think all this water has had an impact on everyone in some way.

Madeline has probably been the most put out by it, although Sean's golf lessons have been postponed twice. We were pleased that we did not lose one soccer night to the rain during the regular season; the tournament at the end was cancelled because of it, though. Then of M's whole week of field trips, 4 of 5 days were changed. Monday they did go to the outdoor pool and park, and it didn't rain till the evening. Tuesday they were to go to Wascana Park for National Aboriginal Day celebrations and ended up not going because of the wet. Then their three day camping trip got cancelled because they roads into Circle Square were all flooded. That was a sad one. They got a carnival afternoon yesterday and a trip to the mini golf and movie place today to try to make up for some of it.

I mowed the lawn tonight and even though it hasn't rained in a while, it's still wet. Pretty small deal compared to my friend's parents who farm and seeded 1% of their land this year. Crazy.

How have you been impacted by the wet this spring?

Our Compassion Story

2011-06-20T23:59:00.000-06:00

Our story starts in 2000, when Neil and I decided to sponsor a child. Madeline had been born the year before, and we expanded our family to include a girl in Mexico, too. We picked Mexico thinking that it might be the most likely place for us to get to if we were ever to visit our Compassion child. This is Lucina when she first became ours, and the latest picture:

Fast forward to 2004. Neil had been gone one year, and Madeline and I decided to sponsor another child. This is Maria:

One year later, in late 2005, Maria and her family moved out of the area of the project she had been a part of, so Compassion sent us Roberto:

In early 2007, when Sean and I were newly married, Compassion had to shut down the project that Lucina was a part of. She had been ours for 7 years! You can see from the pictures above (the first and last of 4 that we got) how much she grew in that time. We sponsored Abigail next:

Only one year later (early 2008), Abigail's parents pulled her out of the program. We decided not to take another child at that time, so just had Roberto. Later that year, Roberto's parents moved, and Compassion sent us Damian:

In April of this year, I was browsing through the kids on the Compassion site. The author of one of the blogs I read is a Compassion Advocate, and mentioned once that she looks through the unsponsored kids and prays for them every week. So that's what I was doing (since I had to log on to update my email address anyway) and I started punching in our birthdays... Well there was only one child that had the same birthday as Madeline, and she was a girl, and she was even born the same year. A twin! And she had a cute name, too: Salomey Coffie. I went into the other room and jokingly told Sean that I found a way for us to spend some money, and told him about Salomey. He reminded me that when we didn't take another child after Abigail left, we said we would again someday when money was less tight, and that it wasn't, so why not? That's how Salomey came to join our family. We haven't heard from her yet, but I've got some stuff for both her and Damian ready to go in the mail today. Salomey is a break from our Mexican habit, too; she's from Ghana:

So that's our long complicated Compassion story. I've found that although we haven't had many long term relationships with most of our kids, we have had a chance to get to know more than just one or two. In most of the cases, too, someone from the project has written to us to let us know why they have left and to thank us for our involvement - that's a nice touch and wrap up, I think. We love getting letters in the mail, and now that M is old enough, she can write her own, too, instead of just sending along pictures. I hope she and Salomey develop a neat friendship.

**********

This is a re-post - I wrote this initially in May 2009. Over two years later, and we still have both Damian and Salomey, and one neat thing we've discovered is that the project in Ghana sends quite a few more letters than the ones in Mexico. We've had lots of correspondence from Salomey, which is really nice. I think we're due to send some more letters soon...

If you're a sponsor, why don't you take 10 minutes this week and write? Leave me a comment & we'll celebrate that together.

If you're not a sponsor, why don't you check out the Compassion button on the side, and have a look? It really is one of the greatest ways to spend part of your paycheque.

Rainbows, Blog Changes and Camera Classes

2011-06-18T22:05:00.000-06:00

I wanted to do something together tonight so I was running through a list... we could play a game, have a tickle fight, go for a walk in the rain... the last one got a nod, and I figured why not. Sean wanted to join us, so the three of us put on our rain jackets & I grabbed the camera (because you just never know!) and we hit the street. As soon as we got to the end of the walk, I saw why Someone had planted the idea in my head - a double rainbow & the bottom one was super bright. Awesome.

I love those curls that pop out when the humidity gets up there.

Foiled! Our intent was to walk down to the mailbox and mail M's camp registration form. Because of the strike, it was locked up with a 'temporarily out of service' notice. It was well worth it to get out of the house, though. The rain was beautiful, not too hard and it wasn't windy at all.

You might notice some changes around here - not so many that you can't tell you're at the right blog, but I've had some fun playing around with my look this week. One new thing that they've added since I last messed around is the email option - right at the top you can add your email and get my posts emailed to you as soon as I publish one. I haven't tried it out yet myself, but I know there are a few blogs that I get emailed to me, and I quite like it.

I've signed up for a camera class at Big Picture Classes, called Mastering Manual Mode. It's an 8 week course that runs from the end of July to the end of September. Part of that is a busy time, but lots of photo opportunities in that time frame, too! I've been wanting to take a class for a while, and this one looks like it is going to be exactly what I've been looking for. I dug out my camera manual and got a recommended book out of the library and am all gung-ho to do some pre-work to make the most of it.

What are you planning to learn over the summer?

Garden Tour

2011-06-16T10:22:00.000-06:00

I would like to have a beautiful yard, but I do not have a green thumb. It usually falls somewhere in the realm that there are things growing & I'm satisfied, but with ugly spots. This year we made a change or two because the front should be getting leveled at some point this spring. These bricks came from the work we did in the front two summers ago, and replaced the rotten wood ties that were there. Some fresh dirt, and new plants at the edges & it's a nice refresh. The ones growing in the middle are some perennials that I tried to replant. They are up but not flowered yet.

Some of the new plants we bought. I want to put in more perennials; if anyone lives close and has some to share, I'd be a very happy recipient!

The planters on the front deck.

Probably the most fun flower of the bunch.

This is the front of the house that we have done nothing with; it's full of purple jump ups! I'm thrilled - there's nothing quite like color where you didn't expect it. I'll try to move them to the back before we dig this all up.

And a close up.

May your day have bits of unexpected color in it!

Books

2011-06-09T23:11:00.002-06:00

I just got home from our last book club of the year. Lisa hosted a fabulous garden party and the girls brought a wonderful selection of appies and sweets. The photo above is of the Melon and Procuitto with Balsamic Vinegar and Mint that I took - thanks, Christine for the photo! We discussed our last book (The Chosen by Chaim Potok) and did a book exchange. I ended up with Nicholas Sparks' The Guardian; some of the others that were given were Gone With the Wind, The Book of Awesome, Sarah's Key, and Memoirs of a Geisha.

In talking about always being on the hunt for new books or authors and good reads, one of the girls asked if I listed what I read on here. I have thought about it before, and think I will add a page up top with what I'm reading. Hope you find it a source of good ideas! And I hope I don't find that it reveals I read too much fluff...

2011-06-07T21:43:00.001-06:00

Friday night M and I went out to the camp along with the board and core staff to meet our potential new director. We stayed overnight and helped with the work day on the Saturday - this shot was after breakfast and before the work started. I'm pleased that she jumped in with the staff girls and did some good work. She was happy to get in a little zipline action; she wanted to go up the climbing wall, too, but some things will have to wait for summer.

Sean came out for the afternoon, too, and reinforced all the picnic tables, and prepped a few new ones to be built this summer. My big job was to roam the property with Holly and find good spots for their geocaching skill.

This was our view out the back door this morning. That one tree has beautiful what blossoms for one or two weeks each spring, and the rain brought down a petal carpet for the deck.

Ten Ways to Support Your Camp

2011-06-02T22:39:00.001-06:00

Camp has always been an important part of my life, from when I first went as a child until now. I believe in the work they do, and while I am not as involved now as when I lived out at camp all summer, there are always ways to support the ministry of camping. Here are a few I came up with - maybe you can add to the list.

1. Join the board.
If you've got extra time year round, there are all types who are needed on camp boards. Organized types, handy types, mechanical types, creative types... there would be a place for you.

2. Sew costumes.
Or help out with whatever specifics needs come up. We had a fun sewing bee a few weeks ago sewing Narnia tunics and cloaks for this summer.

3. Get a list of the staff and pray for them by name.
Start early and pray for preparation details, for the staff selection and the campers to come. Pray through the summer; maybe your camp sends out a prayer request email.

4. Take out cookies for the staff lounge.
Working at camp is an awesome job, but it is also one of the most draining. Finding a made with love treat on your break time is a huge encouragement.

5. Write the director an encouraging note.
Encouragement is usually needed and always welcome. Who doesn't love getting mail? And when it's sent just to be uplifting, even better.

6. Volunteer to cook or nurse or do maintenance or speak for a week.
Camps need these volunteers to run; you might find it to be the best week of your summer.

7. Go out to a work day.
Even a few hours can make a difference, and there are usually jobs that anyone can do. We're heading out to one this weekend, and I expect the kid to be in there getting things done - it's pretty special for a kid to go to camp knowing they helped with some of the behind the scenes stuff.

8. Be on the planning committee for a fundraiser.
If you're asked to be involved in a special project, try and make the time for it.

9. Sponsor a child to go.
You can do this through your church, if it's a denominational camp, or through the camp itself; if it's KBK / KLC, you can sponsor the staff who will be doing a walk-a-thon next weekend to raise money for camper sponsorships.

10. Spread the word.
Send camp brochures to school with your kid to send home with their friends. Add a note for their parents with the week your kid is going and your number if they want to know more about it.

What are some other ways to support a camp?

Speed... An Acceptable Drug For Young People

2011-05-29T20:26:00.000-06:00

The card game Speed, that is. My almost 12 year old and I have been playing this lots lately - maybe there's someone in your life this could be quality time with.

To play Speed, deal out two piles of seven cards and place them on the sides of the table. Split the deck so each of you has 19 in a pile in front of you. Take three cards from that pile to hold in your hand. At the same time, each of you take the top card from the side pile at your right and turn it over into the middle. From the cards in your hand, play onto the middle two piles one card higher or lower than the card showing (if we turn over a 5 and a 10, for example, we could lay down either a 4 or 6 or 9 or J). When you've played a card, replenish your hand from the pile in front of you. The object is to finish your pile first. If you get through the side piles (you flip one over from them when you are both out of plays), turn the center pile over to become the new outside pile.

Enjoy!

Monthly Menu

2011-05-24T22:51:00.000-06:00

Ever since Sean & I have been married, I've used a monthly menu plan. (I've posted a sample before.) There were some years it was more on the back shelf, but because it's a great tool and makes my life easier, I've been pretty faithful at using it. I've got four weeks laid out, and just cycle through them. Monday is my grocery day, so I pull out the list, adapt the week's menu to suit our week, and make my shopping list from that.

When setting up the plan, I kept in mind a balanced diet, our weekly schedule (piano after school Tuesdays means a shorter prep time, Friday can be a meal that's not great for leftovers), and food likes and dislikes. I plan for six days - the last W means weekend, which for us is usually flexible; as long as I've got the fixings for one meal on hand, we're good.

Where there are two meals listed, I alternate and make one one month and the other the next. I often switch up which chicken meal I make, too. I have the Company's Coming Chicken Cookbook and like lots of the recipes in there.

Week One
M - Spaghetti
T - BBQ Steaks / Shepherd's Pie
W - Honey Baked Chicken
T - Lazy Perogie Casserole
F - Fish in Brown Butter
W - Burgers

Week Two
M - Tortellini Alfredo
T - Hamburger Helper / Meatballs
W - Parmesan Chicken
T - Lasagna
F - Tacos
W - Stirfry

Week Three
M - Van Raes Mac & Cheese / Penne Rose
T - Perogies & Sausages
W - Chinese Chicken
T - Hamburger Casserole / Canelloni
F - Fish Sticks & Fries
W - Frozen Pizza

Week Four
M - Roast Beef
T - Sloppy Joes / Hot Beef Sandwiches
W - Any Chicken Recipe
T - Chicken Lasagna
F - Pork Chops / Mexican Fish / Experiment with Something New
W - Chicken Fingers & Fries

Do you use a menu plan? What are some of your family favorites or standbys?

Do You Have A Suzanne?

2011-05-21T20:21:00.000-06:00

You know how some people are social and love people and always like to have people around? That's not me. I know that we were created to be social beings and that we were meant to function better in community, and I'm not saying I'm exempt - but I enjoy my own company, I always have lots of things I want to do and read, and it takes a whole lot of alone time before I'm seeking out company. (Except for my husband, for whom I am sometimes needy. But that's a whole different post that probably will never get written.)

I do have friends, and I enjoy getting together with them. We are in a small group, and have really enjoyed hanging with those people Saturday nights this past year. I'm in a book club, too, and count those girls among my closest friends.

But today I want to tell you about a new friendship. A friendship that I am so thankful for, and that I would wish for each of you.

One day a few months back, a casual friend of mine (someone I saw at church and was in book club with), asked about the possibility of getting together on a regular basis... I'm not sure she knew exactly what she was looking for, but someone to talk with about some of the deeper parts of life and to have honest conversation with was sort of the gist of it.

We began to get together once every two weeks, and over the span of the last few months, she has transformed into one of the first people I would call if there was something serious going on in my life. The friendship has deepened quickly and so genuinely that it's hard to believe it's only been such a short time.

What makes a friend like this? For one, I think that the openness on both our parts has allowed us to trust and feel comfortable with one another. I heard an expression once, I forget where, about putting your friendship for sale - not making the other person invest much to get anywhere with you, but making it easy for them to get inside. We both came at it with an openness, and risked the vulnerability that comes with sharing much.

Another thing that goes along with this is intentionality. We get together every other Wednesday - we put it in our calendars and plan to spend time together. We also are intentional about what we talk about - we catch up, of course, and tell our stories, but we also (and this is a third thing) are accountable to each other.

One of the first things we did was talk about our goals - for all the different areas of our lives, both short term and long term. This is a great exercise for anyone to do, but for us it provided that understanding of what we valued and were working for in our lives, and laid the groundwork for setting new goals each time we get together. Sometimes they are more specific than others - sometimes life gets a little full and just getting through it well is enough of a goal for the next two weeks. I keep my book with both our goals with my Bible and journal, and some mornings I pull it out - it reminds me what things I was going to work on, and it reminds me to pray for her and the things she was wanting to build into her life.

Our time together isn't forced, and we don't aim to solve one another's problems; sharing our own experiences and offering suggestions as we work through issues that come up sure is a help, though. Whether it's spirituality, mothering, managing money, or relationships with our husbands or others, nothing is off limits, and everything is safe.

If you don't have a friend like this, I highly recommend you start scanning your acquaintances for someone who might fit the bill for you. It's a rich relationship, and I am grateful for the day she asked.

counting up thankfuls

2011-05-16T21:54:00.000-06:00

I've mentioned before that one of the books I have with me when I spend time with my Lord in the mornings is a Gratitude Journal. I've written about my motivation to start one, on a summer road trip. And I've mentioned the book One Thousand Gifts and directed you over to Ann's website to find some wonderful encouragement.

One thing I haven't done - until today - is list here what I am thankful for, and link it to Ann's weekly gratitude post. This is what I wrote today in my Gratitude Journal today, and because I was inspired to start numbering them (to 1000 and beyond), these are # 345 - 349:

A thoughtful gift from a thoughtful friend.
Following an impulse and finding it blesses others and me as well.
Wedding showers and joyful times.
Sunshine on the deck and painted toenails.
No wind walks with Sean.

And this will take you to all my posts marked Thankful.

Attack of the Squirrels!

2011-05-15T21:40:00.001-06:00

Or, Signs of Spring.

Here are a few shots from the backyard yesterday - you'll want to stay tuned right till the end for the squirrel bit.

Trees are starting to green...

Flowers are starting to sprout...

Birds are in the grass, searching for food...

And Sean's in the garage. Taking apart and putting together.

On this particular spring Saturday, I was out at a costume sewing bee for the camp, and when I got home, these two had bought some paint and were about to begin a bird house & feeder paint job.

While taking down the duplex, a squirrel surprised Sean by jumping out of the building in his hands! (He managed to stay on the ladder, happily.)

About 20 minutes later, back comes the squirrel with four of his family members, to check out his houseless home. They were stealthy on the way in, slinking along the branches nose to tail, then when they got to the tree they were chattering - I don't speak squirrel, but it sounded pretty ticked off to me.

I was ready for an attack.

After assessing the situation, however, they made their way over the neighbor's roof to another tree perch. I'm still keeping my eyes open, though!

No bird (squirrel) house here, but can you see all five in this picture?

Leftover Soup

2011-05-14T01:02:00.000-06:00

I made some homemade vegetable soup a month or so ago, and along with what the recipe called for, I threw in the leftover veggies that were in the fridge. It was a yummy soup (a P90X recipe), and it inspired me - so for the last while I've been saving those last bits of veggies, chicken and rice that were not going to get eaten as leftovers, and threw them in the freezer. I even saved some 'veggie broth' - the nice green liquid leftover from cooking broccoli.

The other night I felt motivated and I simmered some chicken stock with celery, onion and carrot for an hour, then added all my thawed soup fixin's. It ended up a little thick, but I just added a bit of water, and it made a great lunch for Madeline and I three times this week!

I meant to take a photo for you, but ate it all up before I remembered...

So my questions for you are: Do you ever make leftover soup? Everything but the kitchen sink soup? Any tips on ratio of liquid to leftovers? How do you season it? (I used a bit of salt and some fresh ground pepper.) Thanks!

Layouts

2011-05-11T21:43:00.000-06:00

May is National Scrapbooking Month, and May 7 was National Scrapbooking Day. A bunch of my hardcore scrappy friends and I spent a 12 hour marathon at the church working with all our pretty paper and goodies. I'm happy I've got a few pages to show for it. Some were mostly done before, and I just had to complete them. A few others just need some finishing touches and then I'll post them, too.

Can't Judge a Pepper by its Skin

2011-05-06T11:25:00.002-06:00

I was looking forward to eating all the fresh veggies I brought home the other day.

This red pepper, especially... yummy!

So sad...

I grabbed the camera so I could take some pictures to illustrate the obvious moral here - don't judge by outside looks; they may not match what's on the inside!

I showed M the pictures when she got home, how nice it looked and how disappointed I was, and her first comment was - "Just like some people!" Glad she knows that lesson!

Books.

2011-05-03T23:08:00.000-06:00

We went to Medicine Hat on the weekend (picking up and dropping off car parts) and had a nice mini vacation. We stayed in a hotel, went water sliding, bought clothes for all of us, bought Sean's Father's Day present a little early, and had hours in the car to read.

So Friday I hit the library for some good lit, and came away after picking up two off the "Hot New Reads" stand. Our public library has a system for getting the newest books into as many hands as possible - they offer them as seven day loans, as opposed to the usual three weeks. Saturday I finished the first, and tonight I polished off the second. Sigh. I hate finishing a good book. Here they are, recommended by me:

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I'd give this one 4 out of 5. A scenario that seems unthinkable, and how it changes life for Jack and his mom. Worth a read.

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This one gets a 4 out of 5 as well, although I think I did like it better than Room. I love learning history through fiction, and this was a great one for that.

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Thanks, Emma and Kathryn for coming along on our road trip this weekend - it was wonderful to spend so many good hours with you!

What have you read recently that you'd recommend?

We're the Green Team.

2011-05-03T22:19:00.002-06:00

No, not that green, the other green. The most memorable part of last night, our first game of the season, was that two of our players hooked up with the other team, and the coach, who didn't have his team list with him, didn't catch it.... So they had 5 subs and we had one. For the second half. I think we're all sorted now, and should have more players tomorrow.

And I told them we were the green team. That ended up being so very helpful.

We know the other coach because his son was on our team last year - this year he volunteered to help and ended up coaching, just like what happened to me 2 years ago. I do think it's pretty sad that of all the kids playing, only three teams had people actually volunteer to coach. The rest end up getting roped in.

What is your funniest experience with a kid's sports team?

PS - We're the darker, "Irish" green.

Things that Matter

2011-04-28T09:09:00.000-06:00

I like to blog about all kinds of things, but when I can pass on things that matter, things that might help you in your day, in your life, in your seeking for God and his Kingdom; those are the posts I am happiest to write.

So today I thought I'd share a few sites that are inspiring, helpful and encouraging. May you find some gems within them that will make the kingdom come richer in your life today.

A Holy Experience - Ann Voskamp writes heartwrenchingly beautiful words, honest words that acknowledge struggles, but always end up facing the Father and offering hope. She lives and writes a thankful life. I've written about her before and recommended her book; I get daily emails with her blog updates, and they are one of the few things in my inbox that I read faithfully. I've been meaning for a while now to blog about her Ten Point Manifesto for Joyful Parenting - I printed it off and need to get into the habit of reading it every morning!

Inspired to Action - the introduction that Kat writes about this blog says "Inspired To Action is dedicated to practically helping moms develop the habits and skills they need to effectively manage their homes and raise children who are prepared to change the world." She's got an ebook called Maximize Your Mornings that's worth a read, and if you're into twitter, they've got a morning community to help you start your day off right.

(in)courage - those first two are individual blogs; (in)courage is a site with a number of contributers. Many are authors themselves, but (in)courage is a community, and all the members are able to write for it. Check this one out - I'm betting you'll find encouragement of some sort here!

May you be blessed and encouraged and strengthened today.

2011-04-25T15:07:00.000-06:00

What a great family.

For more photos of the family and our Easter and birthday weekend in Winnipeg, clicking here will take you to the album on facebook. (Click on the first one to see them all large.)

Sorry for neglecting you, Dad.

2011-04-22T23:30:00.000-06:00

(sitting in my parents living room, Dad watching hockey, me on my laptop)

Dad: What are you looking up?

Me: Nothing. Just reading blogs.

Dad: You haven't been blogging much lately. I understood when you were working out, but now that you're not...

Me: We only took a break for a week - we're back at it.

Dad: You should have written that - how were we supposed to know?

**********

Sorry, folks. Apparently I've been leaving you in the dark. P90X update - Sean's bout with BPPV was minor and short lived, thankfully, so we've been back at it for a couple of weeks. Three weeks left! I did take the disc and workout in my hotel last weekend, but we also left them at home this weekend and are just skipping them completely. In the ultimate compliment, my mom said my shoulders are looking like the boys' - my wiry nephews. Made me laugh.

In other thoughts, here's a thread from the blogs I was reading that resonates with me. It's along the lines of what and how we think of ourselves. Seth Godin had a post last week called Turning the habit of self-criticism upside down. Why do we put ourselves in the best light possible when dealing with teams and bosses, but beat ourselves up in our own heads about all kinds of things? He suggests taking responsibility for the things we 'learned from' at work, and, what struck me was be more supportive of yourself.

In the same vein, my friend Jackie has been posting lately about making changes in her life - she wrote a post about how thinking about the things you are working towards is far more effective than the black hole of focusing on the negative things you are trying to move away from.

Focus on what I want to be & where I want to go. Be supportive of myself & encourage myself that I can do it. Life ends up being so much more positive... these are reminders I need again and again.

good things come in threes

2011-04-17T00:46:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday, Madeline had her Battle of the Books. BotB is where teams from a bunch of schools have to read the same 10 books from January to April, then compete to see who knows them most thoroughly. Her team did very well - 5th out of about 20. To make this event even more fun, they had a bunch of door prizes for the kids. M won one of them - a nice bag full of goodies.

They also had two door prizes for spectators, and I won one of them! Hooray for great books - I got one that I just finished reading and really enjoyed, and I already have plans for it... just don't tell my book club - they might all fight over my offering knowing I'm bringing the Hunger Games to our year end book swap!

This weekend I went to Saskatoon for a writer's conference. They had door prizes, and I won again. They had lots, and I think just about everybody took something home. But still, I came away with something that I will actually use in my house.

Along with my registration, I send in an entry to the writing contest; a short work of prose, 2 pages, that included 4 specific words. They announced the winners after lunch; I came in second. Yay! I even made a bit of cash for that.

So there's my run of three - it's been a good week!

10 000 Hours

2011-04-13T09:45:00.001-06:00

I experienced a parenting fail again this morning. A parenting fail is where the kid goes out the door to school and she doesn't have a smile on her face and on this side of the door, I'm thinking, "Why? Why do I lack patience? Why do I frustrate her and why do I let her frustrate me? When will I learn???"

This happens too often for my liking, but thankfully, not as often as it used to. And the negative effects didn't even last too long, amazingly, because I remembered something I read recently. It was the "when will I learn" question that did it - that gave me the answer. 10 000 Hours. That's the answer. If you want to be good at something (like managing mornings with children??), it takes lots of practice and hard work.

I read this quote in Michael Hyatt's post on Why Real Creativity Requires Significant Work: "In his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the “10,000-Hour Rule.” The basic idea is that success in any field is, to a large extent, the result of practicing a specific task for 10,000 hours—or more." That has stuck with me all week, and rather than being a downer and causing me to think that I'll never get there, it has proven to be a motivation. Keep trying, keep practicing. Yes, I'll fail, but then I get a clean slate to try again. To keep working on it, whatever the 'it' of the moment is.

I hope this encourages you. Lots of what we do in life is hard work - keep at it. Keep working hard at the things that are worth doing well...

I felt like myself.

2011-04-09T21:47:00.001-06:00

Yesterday morning I went with a handful of other women to serve at the Chili for Children program. We had a fun time getting to know each other over setting up and chopping veggies, walking over to the second location and finding a hobbit door... None of these women had been to C4C before, and they were all quite impressed with the people who ran the show, the children that they were able to serve, and excited about the possibilities of doing this again.

Last night I went out on the Love Lives Here bus with 13 great people from church. The bus hits the streets of North Central and the Core, offering warmth, food and drink and Jesus' love to anyone who needed it - there were a good number of 'divine appointments' and our crew got exposed to a whole range of what the crew sees on a regular basis. None of these friends had been on the bus before, and by the end of the evening their eyes had been opened to a whole new side of life in our city; a side where spiritual forces do very real battle, where prayers and our availability and Jesus' name are powerful weapons. Many of these friends are interested in going back; all were grateful for the experience.

These were two of the projects offered through our Westhill Serves weekend, and having just been to three of them (our whole small group went out to paint at the camp today), I am fully content that the reasons we put on this event is sound, and was met in a very successful way. We do it because serving is one of the three main purposes of our church (Love God, Love Others, Serve the World), to give opportunities for people to serve, and to expose them to new ways to serve.

I was also struck by something else. Feeding hungry inner city children is great, and I'm glad there is a group who does that; it's not my thing. Loving on the street workers and gang members is important, and I'm so glad to know this bus is out on our streets while I'm safe in bed. It, however, is not my thing either. My thing - my thing - is getting other Christians to go and serve there with me - my thing is taking people to places they have not been, exposing them to what more there is in life and faith. I want to see Christians 'get it' - to know how they can live an abundant life, fully loving and serving, fully experiencing all that God has for them. I'm thankful for the chance I had to go on those projects yesterday; I'm trusting that the friends I took along were changed by God because of their experiences.

Sometimes I forget, in the details, that this is the part that fills me.

I'm thankful for this reminder of who I am meant to be.

On Hold

2011-04-04T09:53:00.001-06:00

Our P90X workouts have been put on hold.

All those downward dogs and other movements and positions have given Sean a case of BPPV - Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. He's got a good case of the dizzies, and we're going to take a break for a week to let that sort itself out, then get back to in. Hopefully it will be gone before then. We went in to the clinic Thursday after the second morning of waking up to the room spinning; he's got an appointment with our doctor this Thursday, so we'll see where it's at then.

We did just take our two month photos, and there are definitely some changes from our day one shots. I'm trusting the short break doesn't get us too far off track.

Hmm... maybe since I'm not working out right now, I should go find some chocolate to eat instead...

Stuff & Materialism

2011-04-03T14:30:00.002-06:00

I hate waste. I don't like when I have to throw out leftovers; I'm uncomfortable with starting the shower or the vehicle early to warm it up. (Yes, my ride came with a command start: yes, I sometimes use it.) I don't buy a lot of clothes, and even at the grocery store, I usually only buy what's on my list. Only the stuff we need.

My main reasoning for this is a sense of justice and awareness of what life is like around the world. We in North America are consumers. We take and eat and use and buy and throw away and replace, and think nothing of it. It's normal. It's sad.

I got a new phone this week. My old one was not dead yet, and I was fine to keep it longer, but we went to the store just to browse... The latest, greatest was on sale *free!* (because the other company just had a $0 promotion); they even threw in a $100 gift card. How could we pass that up? (And it was only on for one more day!) So I got it.

I'm not opposed to getting stuff. There is a time and a place for all kinds of different things. But needs vs. wants comes into play, as well as the questions of where was it made and with what and by who, and were they paid enough?

I write about this because I have a need to sort out my thoughts on the subject, and maybe to see if anyone else thinks this way. Partly, too, it's to encourage more people to think this way. Do you need that item? Does all your money go to stuff, or are you spending any of what you have to make life a little easier for those who don't have what they need, let alone what they want?

Some things to consider. As for me, I will enjoy my new Blackberry Torch in its shiny blue case, but I will also stay aware of those in the world around me who don't have, and do what I can.