Emily's Room

Emily's room before we moved in

Emily's room has come together very slowly. It's never been a priority for me, since she really only sleeps in it. Our upstairs is off limits to our kids as there are giant holes in the walls and floors, the occasion board with nails sticking out of it, and LOTS of dangerous tools.
Actually, Emily is old enough and knows enough that she would be okay upstairs on her own. But once Emily goes upstairs, you can guess which little boy cries and cries until he is allowed to follow her. So we've restricted access for now, and once our room and the new bathroom is finished, I'm sure they will both be thrilled to be able to play in their own rooms.
For a long time, her room stayed untouched.

The first time Emily saw her new room

But then (and this would only happen to Emily) she started having nightmares about swirling colours that would attack her. The colours she described were the same colours as the stars on the wall paper. If I wasn't Emily's mother and therefor know her psychotic tendencies, I would have never blamed the stars. But I grabbed the left over paint (thank you, Garrods!) and rolled over the stars. That night, the nightmares stopped. I know.......
Eventually I got around to painting the walls to match her bedding, and I took the shelves down with the intention of painting them white. After a few weeks of trying to find time to paint without my little monkeys trying to "help" me, I had them finished. AFTER all my time consuming work, Justin nonchalantly mentioned to me "you know, I could have picked up some white shelves at the hardware store. Those types of shelves are really cheap." I was a tiny bit irritated. Oh well.

Next came the letters, her most cherished princess poster, and just today, I put up a stick on mural to act as a head board. We do have one for her, it's just "one of those things" that never gets done. Emily is thrilled with the castle, since it goes along with her poster. I think it looks pretty cute, too.

close up of the castle

The finished product, for now. Eventually, she will get new carpet, and I would like to paint the bottom half of her walls an off-white, and put up a chair rail. But for now, I think it's okay.

CRUCK!!

As you might have heard, we are now the owners of a very large (to me, anyway) truck. This will be the vehicle that I drive with the kids. I'm a little nervous. I'm already anxiously thinking about the first time I have to gas in this monster. I'll be paranoid about parking it, and I'm thinking it will take about a year to fill up the tank :P

Saying goodbye to the Buick will be bittersweet. She has been nothing but faithful to us since we "bought" her from my grandma after my grandfather passed away in 2006. I have a lot of very fond memories of Mable.
My grandpa bought her brand new in 1997. As a 13 year old girl, I would sit waiting impatiently for the burgundy Buick to come around the corner of my parent's street, eagerly anticipating the arrival of my grandparents, who had driven from Ottawa.
My grandpa would pick me up from high school or drive me out to the farm in his car. Those trips meant a lot to me - talking quietly about life and friends to a man who seemed so boisterous and loud, but was really very soft and tender.
Since we have become the proud owners of trusty Mable, she has driven both of our children home from the hospital, gone on family trips, and we have 'lived life' depending on her to get help us on our journey.

I know, it's just a car. A car with a million scratches in the paint, some rust here and there, and lets not forget about the yellow cord holding her front fender together. She likes to drink oil and coolant at an outrageous pace, and nobody but the driver can put their windows down anymore. But I'm oddly sentimental about inanimate objects. (Remember this post about my old, ratty, gross beige shoes? Yah, I wore them to the grocery store yesterday!!) And I will be sad to see her go. We don't know what her fate is quite yet, but there is no point keeping her. Anyone looking for beat up, but still dependable car? She'll be a real deal ;)

However.
My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE the new truck. We all piled in last night and the kids sat on Justin's lap and they drove it up and down the driveway a few gazillion times. Jacob is obsessed. He stand at the kitchen window, his little finger smashed hard again the glass yelling at me "cruck! cruck! cruck!" We're all looking forward to getting it certified and on the road.

But if you see a gray Avalanche coming at you with a nervous looking blond girl behind the wheel, you might want to move out of the way!

A good day

Sometimes, Jacob wakes up early. Too early. Like before 6am early. And as I lay in my nice warm bed I grind my teeth together in protest of the early hour.

I'm not a morning person. Before I had Emily I would sleep until 9:30, 10:00am on the days that I didn't have to work. But having children has molded and shaped me into someone who doesn't mind early mornings, and if the clock says 7am before someone wakes me up, I'm a very, very happy mom.

However, 6am is too early. Not because I'd like to sleep, although I wouldn't complain to catch a few more zzz's, but I find it makes our day L O N G. Especially cold winter days where we stay home all day. What do you do on your long days at home??

BUT. And here's the big BUT.

Sometimes, Jacob wakes up early. (I already said that). But I sneak in his room, give him a bottle and sneak out. I know, I know. He's too old to have a bottle. But that's not the point of my story. We'll talk about that later. I give him a bottle, he drinks it, and then??? He falls goes back to bed!!! Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emily will still wake up around 7:30am, but that's a-okay with me. Jacob will then sleep until 8:30 or 9:00. And then, he won't need a morning nap and he will have a nice long afternoon nap. It's so wonderful, and I love it when it works out that way.

And guess what? Today is one of those days. It's 8:55am as a type, and he's not awake. Yet.
And when he does wake up he will be so happy and cheerful. And it will be a good day.

I hope you have a good day, too.

Oh YA? Well My dad is better than your dad....

When first fell in love with Justin I was a naive highschool student. I thought he was funny and sweet and cute. Will he be a great dad? wasn't one of my top priorities. It probably should have been, but what can I say? I was a hormonal teenager. Did I mention he was SUPER cute?

But boy did I ever "luck" out. I use the term loosely, since luck has nothing to do with it. God has given me an amazing man who has turned out to be an even more amazing father. Although I couldn't see past his dazzling smile and fancy fast car, God had my future mapped out. Justin is many things - a skilled electrician, a brave firefighter, a jack-of-all-trades, a loving husband, and the best dad ever.

Just ask my kids.

This is my morning routine with Jacob:

"mooooommy, moooooommy, mooooommy" I hear from Jacob's room. His voice sounds like something from a horror movie. Very dry and deep and irritated.
As soon as I open the door to his room he starts bouncy up and down in his crib, and in the sweetest voice you could ever imagine asks me "daddy? daddy? daddy?"
The injustice of it all.
We then go through the same story. "Sorry buddy, daddy's at work" "Truck?" Jacob will ask me. "Yes, in his truck." Jacob will then pout on the floor for few minutes and eventually move on. Usually the cat runs by and attacks his head. I may dislike little mitsy, but she's a GREAT distraction.

And according to Emily, her daddy is the smartest, strongest, most handsome person on the planet. A few things I've heard from her regarding her dad are:

"Mom, is the ice on the lake thick enough to skate on?"
"I'm not sure"
"I'll just ask my dad. He's way smarter than you."

"One day Jacob will grow up to be handsome. But probably not as handsome as daddy. My dad is preeeettty handsome."

After Jacob was walking through the house calling for his dad --
"Yeah, sorry Jake. But dad is at work. And he HAS to go to work because EVERYbody needs electricity." *by the way, this was said in a southern accent, making it even cuter.

After the trim around the edge of the car door was pulled down by a certain toddler...
"Don't worry mom. Dad will fix it. You know why? Because my dad can fix ANYTHING. See that house? (looking out her window) My dad could build that. See that tree? My dad could climb that. "

When the 4 of us get in the car:
"Dad, are you going to drive?"
"Yes."
"Oh good, you are much better at driving than my mom."

What a traitor, hey??? ;)

But I am so glad my kids feel this way about their dad. It's so heart warming to see the way Jacob greets Justin each day. He runs from the living room into the kitchen with his arms raised high in the air screaming "yay! yay! yay! yay!" It's so sweet.

We are all thankful for the man that God has given us. Only 4 more hours until he comes home....

*I CANNOT wait for summer!

LIfe..... According to Emily

Emily usually says at least one thing each day that causes me to burst out laughing. She has such an interesting mind.
Here are some of my favourites:

*She has a "thing" about bunny metaphors

"That's as sticky as a bunny covered in honey"
"That's as cold as a bunny riding on a polar bear holding an ice cube"
"That's a beautiful as a bunny that's dressed up like a princess"
"That smells as good as a bunny holding a bunch of flowers"
"That's as hot as a deep fried pogo dog"
"That's as funny as a clown without a circus" (referring to something that was not funny)
"Mom, you have pretty hair. I love the yellow, brown, and gray"
"Boy, I bet God gets pretty cold hands, holding the whole world all winter long"
"Sorry mom, but Jesus knows me better than you do because he made my soul"
"Mom, where does Pastor John sleep? I've never seen a bed at church?" (thinking Pastor John lives at church)

She has said countless more interesting and hilarious phrases, I just can't remember them all. I should quickly jot down all her sayings and through them in a memory box, I'm sure we'll cherish them even more in years to come.

Baby Liam

Meet baby Liam. He is adorably cute, with the most squeezable cheeks known to man. He came into this world with a bit of drama, but seems to have gotten it out of his system. His momma says hes a fairly content baby and is pretty quiet most of the time.... other than at 2am perhaps?






My kids love him... Emily especially is taken with him and talks about baby Liam ALL the time. But she also let me know that she's glad that he's Aidan's brother, and not her own brother. Because, she already has ONE brother. And that's enough. (According to Emily :)


A bit of purple or pink might have been a nice change for the VanMaanen colour scheme, but I think that they are doing such a great job raising their boys that God decided to give them one more. One more boy who will grow up to be a strong, godly man. Who will make an excellent husband and father. Congratulations, Stephen and Janet, on the birth of your third son.

The 'J' Team

Jacob and Jackson. Best friends. Double Trouble.

Originally, Jacob was a bit shy of Jackson, as Jackson is a rough and tumble type of guy, whereas Jacob is slightly more sensitive. But they've figured it out and now and have quite the time together.
I love that they get along so well, and sometimes I'm sure that they know what the other one is saying.....

playing with cars



yes, that is Jackson sucking on Jacob's soother, while it is still attached to Jacob.


Jackson : "Hey Jacob, check out this cool car-thing."


Jacob : "What does it do?? Lets investigate"

Both : "A digital display with buttons that beep?? Awesome."


They are such boys!

The news in Fingal

Here's what's been happening around our house this week:

1 - This is nothing new, in fact, I often find Emily sitting in this exact spot multiple times each day, playing on her favourite website, Boowa and Kwala. I don't mind too much. Each game is educational and when I'm busy with Jacob or household chores she usually sneaks onto the computer.

2 - The porch has been poured and the forms are off. It will have some finishing touches in the spring, and we might even get the roof up before the end of the year. For now, the kids LOVE running up and down the smooth concrete, and on a rainy day it's perfect for puddle jumping.
3- Jacob has found a new favourite way to bathe. Why sit up, when you can lay down? Each night he now lays around in the tub, usually humming 'twinkle twinkle', or picking things up with his feet and passing them to his hands.
And this is the result of laying down in bubbles....and being a goof, in general.4 - We found out Jacob LOVES leeks. Gross, right?? But he loves em. He walked around for about 20 minutes one night munching on a leek. Yuck. And his breath that night? Well, I'm glad he sleeps alone.

5- Emily is resourceful. This is how I found her colouring her Sunday school page. When I asked her what she was doing on the table, she said that the cat was attacking her feet (something that can be quite painful, I know!), so she climbed on the table and kept colouring. Smart.
And that's that. We also put our tree up today, but now that almost all the decorations are on the floor instead of on the tree, I'm too frustrated to blog about it. Maybe once I come up with a better plan on how to keep the cat out, and the toddler from touching, I'll post our tree. But don't hold your breath.

An Emily Update

Sometimes I feel that Jacob gets all the attention - the profile pictures, the small-talk conversation, and the last blog update was all about him. So... here's a little about his big sister.

Emily is now 3.5, but she's our "old soul". She uses phrases like "that's the cat's meow" and "good golly". She would rather drink milk or water over juice or coolaid.

She's very logical, and will obey her parents if she feels it's the right thing to do. Luckily, she is fairly well behaved and we don't have any unusual rules, so that works out okay. However, that leaves "because mom said so" out of our vocabulary, because she just won't accept it. If you reason it out to her why, say, it's not nice to hit your brother, or it's important to clean up the mess you made, then it's all good.

Emily asks ALOT of questions. Although this is very common for this age, Emily asks some pretty tricky ones. Like "why is that river, a river? how did it get there". The whole "because God made the earth and He wanted to put a river there" answer doesn't fly. She knows God created the earth and everything on it, but she wants to know how exactly that river was formed. Was it always there? etc etc etc. She makes me realize just how much I don't know!
She asks questions that we, as adults, know the answers to, but to articulate it to a child is incredibly hard. Like "what is a cloud made out of?" or "why do some eggs stay eggs, but other eggs turn into tiny chicks?"
By the end of each day my mind is exhausted.

Emily also has an incredible memory. Don't think you can tell her something and she'll ever forget you said it. This can be a blessing and a curse. Emily can write almost every letter in the alphabet, she knows all their sounds, and can count to 30. She can spell her name, her best friend's name, and about 5 other words, all from memory. Unfortunately, however, she can also remember the lyrics to a black eyed peas song that's playing in the superstore while we shop. She only has to hear it one time to pick it up.

Emily is the best of both worlds. She loves pink and purple, frilly dresses, and high heeled shoes. She also loves worms, dirt, and dump trucks. As long as she's not wearing her pink, frilly dress and high heeled shoes while playing in the dirt with worms, I'm happy.

Emily loves to cuddle and be affectionate. If I sit down for one minute, she is right beside me plastered to my side. She loves to do things together, even if it's just watching a movie. She loves to have books read to her and she loves to snuggle in bed after daddy goes to work in the morning. She wears her heart on her sleeve and can have her feelings hurt very easily.

Emily is not a good sleeper. Never has been, and probably never will be. She has slept through the night a handful of times since birth. She is still up 2 or 3 times each night, needing to go to the bathroom, wanting to be tucked in, or crying from a nightmare. I'm so very, very blessed that Jacob is a fantastic sleeper and usually sleeps 12 hours straight.

Emily came into our lives with a bang. My pregnancy was uncomfortable, her birth was horrible, her infancy was a nightmare, and her toddlers years a trial. She is still a handful, but is growing up into an intelligent, caring, empathetic young girl. We have 'grown up' conversations all the time, and she is quickly becoming my friend. She is a blessing from God, one that I am truly thankful for, and never take for granted.

little miss mitzi

We were a little hesitant to keep one of the kittens. We had a cat when we were first married, and she only lasted about 6 months before she went to live on my friend's farm. I don't like litter boxes, the smell of cat food, and someone in this house HATES hair on his clothes (and it's not Jacob). So when we found the kittens in our barn and knew Emily would die if we didn't keep one, we were a little stressed.

But, so far, so good. Justin devised a hole-in-the-wall system that lets the cat go in to the basement to use the litterbox, but keeps the kids out of the basement (and the smell out of the rest of the house). She eats only dry food, which is covered by an upside down diaper box with a hole in the side. Jacob hasn't figured out that there is food under the box and all he'd have to do is move it..... good thing he's cute, eh???

And the kids are LOVING the cat. She's their favourite play thing. Although Emily and Mitzi have a love/hate relationship (Mitzi loves Emily until Emily bothers her, and Emily loves Mitzi until she scratches her) but it's mostly love.
I don't mind when she curls up on my lap at night and purrs while I read or watch TV. And I even catch Justin playing with her and petting her sometimes (but don't tell him I told you ;)

Mitzi and Jacob share very similar interests. They both loves balls and things that move.I think she's going to fit in just fine.

How do YOU do this dishes??

crazy kittens

Our playroom seems suddenly smaller now that 6 kittens - yes, SIX kittens - are calling it home. We reluctantly decided to bring in the kittens so that they wouldn't freeze in the barn, and so that they would be a little more people friendly. There are only 5 kittens in this picture, since Mitsy was basking in the sun in the living room :)
They have been TEMPORARILY named: Mopsy, Flopsy, Pumpkin, Whiskers, and Sunshine. I'll let you guess who named them. We will NOT be keeping any of them. We only have three left to find homes for - so HURRY and claim your cat before they're all gone. Yah, right :)

Cheese!

Jacob LOVES to have his picture taken, and quickly picked up on the "cheese!" action. He doesn't say much, but what he does say is pretty funny :)
Hope this makes you smile

Before and After

Here is the official 'after' of our living room. The wall is gone, and so is the carpet. Some of the wood under the rug was painted, some of it was stained, and some, in the very middle of the room, was still completely natural. Apparently who ever stained to floor, way back when, decided to save some time and stain around their current area rug. So we had a nice 10X10 square in the middle of the room that we had to cover up with a piece of carpet that our dear friends donated to us :)
The difference is amazing, the room is so bright and so much bigger. We're planning on doing some furniture re-arranging as soon as we get a new TV that we can hang on the wall.
Hope you enjoy our pictures!
The "new" old floor in the dining room!

a sneak peek

Here is a quick "after" shot of our new living room. This was a hard picture to get, because during the day I'm shooting into the light from the windows, and at night it's far too dark. So on this gloomy morning I took a quick pic. Forgive the mess and the children. If you're wondering what they are looking at, the TV is now in the corner.

My husband and brother in law did a great job at taking down this wall. When I came home that evening the house was so clean you could barely tell antyhing occurred that day. Of course, plaster dust likes to linger, so I've been dusting everything everyday since then, but oh well. Eventually the dust will settle. We're thinking of pulling up the carpet sooner than later for the following reasons:

1- I now have a wall shaped bare patch in our carpet. This wouldn't be so bad if my littlest didn't think it was the greatest spot on earth. He likes to spray his apple juice on the wood to bring out any century old dirt and make a nice muddy mess. Yes, he's a boy.

2- My clumsy Emily has tripped on the carpet edge about, oh, a GAZILLION times.

3- We found out the the boards beneath the carpet have been previously stained, so we're hoping for the best :) If they're in super bad shape, we will paint the floor a dark brown until we are ready to dry wall.

And here's a good before/after shot:

House renovations

Here's what's been happening in our house lately:

I decided to re-paint the dining room. It was previously the same peachy colour as our living room, giving the dining room a very octogenarian feel. I wavered back and forth between sticking to my earth tone loving self and trying something new, like a pale blue-gray. But after the yellow-kitchen experiment I sided with old self and stuck with a rich olive green. It's practically the same colour as our old dining room on Gladstone, which I loved. And who likes change, right? :) Eventually the carpet will be torn out (who carpets a dining room - seriously. Someone without children I guess) and replaced with a walnut colour hard wood. The living room is next on the list for paint, but until the wall is down there's not much point in painting. I took these pictures just after setting the table quickly for thanksgiving dinner. I figured now was last chance to take some pictures before my house becomes a major construction zone on Monday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Looking from the kitchen towards the living room

Standing in the living room looking towards the kitchenThis is the wall that will only be standing for the next 2 days. Once it's removed we will be able to enjoy the view of our stairs and double front doors. We will also have more room for our furniture and achieve a brighter and more spacious feel.

A look back.

5 years ago today I was standing at the front of a blazing hot church, draped in yards of heavy fabric, holding the hand of an extremely over-heated male. I was also getting married.

June 25, 2005 was a scorcher - 30 degrees plus humidity. I thought I might die while we were standing in the sun taking our wedding photos. You would never guess from our pictures that we were sweating buckets. We must have had a good photographer ;) I waivered back and forth with regret about taking our pictures before the ceremony. I thought about how terrible I would look walking down the aisle - frizzy hair, streaked makeup, rosy (flaming red) cheeks. But then thought about enduring the steaming hot ceremony in church and then taking pictures - with frizzy hair, streaked makeup, and red cheeks. I figured our pictures had to last a life time, so it was better to get them over and done with.

Oh, and have I ever mentioned that when Justin is hot, Justin is GRUMPY?? This seems to be a trait that runs in the Pennings family. Although my sister in law recently told me that her husband has grown out of this behaviour. But I think Justin will always be affected by the heat. I, however, usually love being hot and can withstand high temperatures. But watching our wedding video, the looks on our faces???? Poor Pastor John. We both looked like we wanted his head on a platter. I remember trying to pay complete attention - after all, this was our wedding sermon! But I also remember staring up at Pastor John and realizing I couldn't see his face anymore. There was only a blackness that was creeping in around him. I knew the heat was barring down on me and could only pray to get through the rest of the ceremony without incident. Thank goodness we were seated - I'm sure if we'd been standing I would have ended up on the floor. But we were finally married (even though my wedding band wouldn't fit on my finger since it was so swollen from the heat!) and rushed to our air-conditioned car that would take us to our air-conditioned reception. During the ride to London Justin managed to sweat through his shirt, vest, and suit jacket. When he got out of the car there was a perfect back-shaped sweat stain left on the leather interior. Yuck.

I bet you can imagine what the first activity was when we finally reached our hotel that night.... that's right. Freezing cold showers for each of us. We had both suffered from heat stroke and barely wanted anything to do with the other. What a romantic start to married life! The next day we skipped breakfast due to our lack of appetite and popped ibuprofen every 4 hours.

But even though our married life together started off a little rough, I am SO glad I endured the heat. We have been through the thick and thin of it, hurt each other and helped each other. I respect him, adore him, admire him, and hopelessly love him. I no longer know myself apart from him. We have intertwined each of our self in the other. He is my provider, protector, confidant, advisor, and best friend. He is the un-conditionally loving father of my children. He is all that I could ever ask for.

Happy Anniversary, honey. Thank you taking the heat.