Getting to know you- Christmas Edition.

Saw this on Pam's blog and thought I would play along.

 

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. But I hate all the mess with the wrapping paper afterwards/
 
2. Real tree or artificial?   I would prefer a real tree. But they are super messy.  We have an artificial tree, that gets decorated with tons of stuff the kids make.
 
3. When do you put up the tree? Anytime after Dec 1st.

 
4. When do you take the tree down?  Usually boxing day or sometime that week.
 

5. Do you like eggnog?  NO!!  hate it, don't like milk mixed in drinks... Just plain milk
 
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I can remember barbies, the barbie van and a gameboy
 

7. Do you have a nativity scene?  No.

 

8. Hardest person to buy for?  Nathan my son he only like computer games.  He's 6.
 
9. Easiest person to buy for?   Faith, she's getting into all the girly stuff 
 
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  dollar store stuff, it was before there really was a "dollar store"
 
11. Mail or email Christmas cards?   Mail cards, I like to put them around the house.  Can't really hang up an e-mail
 

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?  How the Grinch stole Christmas.
 
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?   Early December although we started end of November this year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?   Yes, I believe in re gifting.  Just make sure you remove any gift tags

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?  Anything chocolate

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?  Colored!!!   it's not christmas without colored lights..
 

17. Favorite Christmas song? not sure?  we wish you a merry christmas, jingle bells
 

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  Not really, we visit Dustin's family in Brandon, but that's not really on Christmas.
 

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?  Yes!  I just have to sing the song lol
 

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.
 

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?  Kids get to open one present christmas eve
 

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?  That everything is thrown in your face.  If you don't get the "right" gift then christmas is ruined.
 

23. What I love most about Christmas?  All the colors and being with the family.  It's a great time to remember why you love them.

December 12-12-12

 Nathan turned 6 in November.  He didn't want a kids party, he wanted to go too the movies.  We saw wreck-it Ralph.  Good movie by the way!  He loves skylanders.  So I made him skylanders cupcakes for school and a portal of power.  He loved it and was so excited to eat it.

 I've been obsessed with pinterest for a while now.  I found something similar on there and thought I could make one for my family.  So I painted the wood white.  Then let the kids paint their own snowmen.  I gave them some direct as I didn't want the whole thing covered in paint.  It still "had" to look like a snowman.  This is what we came up with.

Lego is always a big thing in our house.  Faith made this, the lego people are sitting in their living room around their christmas tree.  Super cute!

Wordless Wednesday

Fun Weekend

So we went to the Penner Scarecrow Forest on Saturday.  It's near Steinbach.  I thought it was fun.  I had some doubts that my kids would enjoy it.  But really there are few things my kids don't enjoy.  My camera battery didn't charge properly, so I barely got any pictures.  They have a pumpkin farm there and ziplines.  I think the zipline was the BIGGEST hit.  Payton LOVED it.  She kept wanting to go again and again.  Nathan doesn't like heights, but he went up as well.  The look on his face was priceless.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

I would recommend taking your children.  http://www.pennerpumpkins.com/

Check out their link.  There is alittle bit of everything for everyone.

My Babies

My babies turned 8 on Sunday.

They had fun, we went to a movie, just the three of us.  Daddy took them to the co-op and let them pick any candy they like.  They both wore their "birthday girl/boy" ribbons all day.  We ate food they like so it was french toast at lunch and tacos at supper.  All in all I think it was a great day and they had fun.

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

I love photo books.  I got this idea from my friend who did one for her son.  To see hers go here http://one-little-woman.blogspot.ca/2012/08/photo-book.html 

I thought it was really cool and creative.  I'm not doing one for every one of my children.  So I thought I would do a whole family one. These were taken this year; besides a few select ones; This is of our year and the wonderful things we've done as a family.  I might have to make one very year now.  It was so fun coming up with ideas for each letter of the Alphabet.

Summer Pics

A boy and his dog... Nathan was suppose to be sleeping

 

 

thought it was cool looking

Freezie anyone?

Come on kids go down the new slip and slide it will be fun and I'll get some good pictures.  Looks like fun doesn't it? 

Kids: Mommy can we get the new pool out; I want the new pool out; it's going to be so much fun!  Me: Fine I'll get the pool out.  

20 minutes later they are all in the house and I'm stuck draining the pool for 30 minutes.  Yeah that was fun!

Summer, Summer, Summer.... yuck? (edited)

Well what an interesting summer it's been.  With Dustin gone most of June and July and my not working, it's been a tough summer.

There's been some good parts thrown in there and lots of pj days.  But over all it's been a really bad summer for me.  Dealing with a household all on my own, making breakfast, lunch and dinner; cleaning; doing laundry; finding things for the kids to do.  It's hard and I don't envy single parents at all.   I didn't have any breaks from the kids and I was SUPER grumpy.  I don't have family close by to help and Dustin's family is useless.  It's like the kids knew what to say and do just to make me more grumpy; I know you're all surprised by that lol.

Good friends, best friends are suppose to be with you through thick and thin..... or so the saying goes.  This summer I lost my best friend (figuratively) she's still here, just not here.  If that makes sense.  I got kicked in the teeth (again figuratively) out of no wheres.  Being yelled at from friends hurts. Just because I don't act or deal with things the same way you do, doesn't mean every thing I do is a slap in your face.  I was there for you, through everything life had to offer you and I get nothing in return; not even patience to deal with it; in my own way.  It hurts, hurts almost as much as being replaced (easily replaced).  Maybe on my end I thought there was more there?? more to the relationship then there really was??

This summer kinda sucks, trying to pick up some fun days with the kids when I can.  Cause really summer is about the kids and not me.  Payton is wanting to go back to school so bad.  Every day she asks do we have school tomorrow?  Clayton wishes summer would go on and on forever.

Only 3 more weeks left and hopefully life goes back to normal around here.

Zoo

We went to the zoo on saturday with the Manitoba Families of Multiples.  It was one of those come when you can, stay as long as you want kinda things.  So we saw a few people we know, but I was there with the kids by myself.

I must say the Winnipeg Zoo has put alot of work into their displays.  Some still had empty cages.  But they had picture opportunities with different animals.   We saw the tigers, bald eagles and a few other animals at feeding time.  The kids thought it was great.

I remember years ago being pregnant with P & C and going to the zoo.  They had the bird aerial display.  Well they had it again on saturday.  Payton thought it was the greatest thing and keeps talking about it.  One of the birds flew within reaching distance of her.

But boy oh boy was it hot.  There was no relief at all.  No wind, no coolness anywhere.  We managed and I think I got some good pictures.

 Nathan swimming with the dolphins

 butterfly garden

 waiting for lunch, it was so hot in there!

 waiting for the bird show

 Pretty bird

Payton's favorite bird the Falcon

That's it for now... off to enjoy my few days with Dustin till he leaves again.

Monday

We went to the beach in St. Malo on monday.  The kids love this beach.  I went to dollarama and bought them some mask to use.  The water is filled with minnows.  This time the girls were doing handstands and flips in the water.  Clayton on the other hand just wanted to play in the sand.  Nathan did alittle bit of everything, but he wanted to float on the water floaty and have me chase him lol.

Nathan digging a hole

Faith building her sand town

Payton got to help her

 My poor Clayton, can this kid get any skinnier??  He hates it.

I had a fun day and actually got to just sit and watch them for a bit.

Photo Contest

So Posterjack is having a photo contest.  http://www.facebook.com/#!/posterjack
on their facebook account.  So I thought I would play along.  It's actually making people think outside the box and get really creative.  Tomorrow's challenge a joke... how to photograph a joke???  Well I have some idea's we'll see if they work out or not.  Here are some of the ones I've submitted so far.

This one is for Canada Day

 This one is for clouds

 This one is for feet.  I actually really enjoyed doing this one.  It pays "sometimes" to have lots of children lol

That's it I'll have more soon, as it's summer and we are going to enjoy this summer to the fullest!

Bet you can't guess what we did this morning?

Kinda Obsessed

I think pinterest is a black whole...  I spent hours looking at stuff.  I can't help it.  Everything is so easy to find and lots of things are easy to make.  Things I never would have thought of.

Ignore the bad quality photos, but I made some vest today and just had to share.  The best part about them is no sewing!  http://wobisobi.blogspot.ca/2011/05/t-vest-re-styled.html here is where I found the tutorial.  She's had very detailed; with pictures; tutorials.  Love them.  going to have to try some of the other stuff.

Another Pinterest Post

I came across this http://alphamom.com/family-fun/crafts/milk-jug-decorative-window-crafts/ and thought that is super cute and the kids will love it.  The only thing is waiting for the milk jugs to be empty! 
So here is what the kids came up with.

 Our milk jugs have a circle on the longest sides.  So we made faces with them

 I know the window looks dirty, but it's really a plant behind it!

Look what Payton came up with on her own.  It's the sun.  She's so creative.


All you need is
-milk jugs, cut (try to get as much surface space as possible)
-sharpies (markers)
-beads
-1 punch hole punch
-wire for the butterflies body
-string or suction cups (I couldn't find the suction cups, so I taped them)
-your imagination!

Crafty- crafty-crafy.

My girls and I have making bracelets and rings and all kinda things this week.  Since I bought a hot glue gun we might as well use it!


This necklace I made, it's crazy long and you can wear it as a bracelet as well.

 two rings... I love toes!  but I can't stand store bought ones cause they keep turning over.  I've had this ones on since saturday and I've had not problems with them.

my ankle bracelet.  I really like the white in there, I think it just really makes it look nice.

I'll have to get pictures of the girls wearing their stuff and post them.  It's fun to watch them come up with some great ideas.  Even Nathan made a bracelet.

I got the beads and the elastic at the dollar store.  I had to get the bracelet connectors at walmart.  Super easy to make!

Pinterest

So I have been going on Pinterest lately.  Thanks to another blog that I read (thanks Pam!).  I thought lets check this out and see what it's all about.  I have a bunch of boards and pins, there is alot there I think; I'll do that with the kids.  Yellow is one of my favorite colors and I came across this sunflower http://thecreativeimperative.blogspot.ca/2011/07/sunflowery-wreath.html and thought well I can do that.  I did a few things different.  I don't think I made the leaves big enough and I filled in some empty spaces with cut triangles.  I did not fill the center with coffee beans only because I don't have any.  But I really like the way it turned out, and it makes my yucky brown door nice and bright.

what you need for this project

- yellow paper plate

-yellow, orange and brown felt

-hot glue gun ( I got mine at the dollar store)

-string

I think it's super cheery and it makes me smile when I see it.

I wonder what else I can find on pinterest?

Spring and Summer

 So, spring has sprung.  Although some parts of Canada got snow this week. My kids decided to decorate the front and back sidewalk.  It looks so pretty!  My house is the most colorful house on my street.  Although don't look at the house it's self because it's a really ugly color.  But my garden looks pretty.

This is one part of the garden.  I don't care for the plants here (they were there when we bought the house).  But I didn't take a picture of the other side.  Yes I love cheap garden decorations.

 

 We got rain last week, so now the kids have to go out and decorate the sidewalk again.... although this time I really hope they don't smash the big chalk!

Kidney Stones

It's been a year!  One year since I suffered from my last kidney stone.  It doesn't feel like it's been that long.  Let me tell you, my kidneys still "speak" to me when I don't drink enough water, or have to pee.  Every day I'm reminded that I had them, every day they are on my mind.

Having kidney stones is one of the worst pain you will ever have in your life.  It's even over childbirth.  I know some of you are going to think I'm crazy, but with labour you get a break in between the pain.  With kidney stones there is no break, there is no lessening of the pain.  It is a constant pain in the back.

The doctor said I'm more then likely to make them again.  With someone who's had multiple ones, your body will make them again.  He said drink lots of water, don't eat spinach, cranberry juice, alot of nuts and berries ie in cereal, dark chocolate or kale.  Some of those things I don't eat at all, some probably more then I should.  It's interested to see what foods effect your body.

Anyways I don't have to go back for 2 more years.  Hopefully I don't make any in the meantime.

Manitoba Families of Multiples

It's the Annual MBFOM Spring Sale and

IT'S SATURDAY!!! April 21st 

Open to the public from 10:30-1:30 - please SHARE this event with your friends!!!

RIVER EAST ARENA

1410 Rothesay St, Winnipeg, MB R2G 1V5

Why should you go?
- Admission is FREE!!!
- There will be everything you need for your baby to your tween - clothes, shoes, books, toys, large baby gear like playpens, strollers, high chairs and too much to list here!

We Have a new website http://www.mbfom.ca/

 

Spring Time

Spring came early this year. Out for a walk/bike ride with the kids. It's so nice to get outside, without having to bundle up. Soon it will be shorts and beaches kinda weather can't wait!

Visit

So my dad and his wife came for a visit. Last time my dad saw my kids, Faith was 6 months old. She's almost 11 so 10 years.

I think they had a great time. My boys literally would not stay off his lap. Dad and Sueanne spoiled them. We went to the dollar store and they let the kids pick out whatever they wanted. Boy did we come home with a TON of stuff. But really it's all stuff they are stilling playing with.

I, of course had to take the obligatory family pictures. We have more then enough of these pictures with Dustin's family.


Here is all of us

I just really liked this picture. Payton HATES walking anywhere and talked grampie into carrying her.

My cute little family

All in all I think the week went great. We spent 4 days in Shilo with my brother and his family. If you have grandparents around your kids, love them and thank them for all they do for you. You have no idea how much it means to me to be able to have them here and have them shower my kids with love and affection. My kids lapped up the affection; along with my dogs, (you think they don't get any affection at all by the way they behaved!)

Can't wait for another visit, I know my kids are missing them already.