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.

Hello, my name is Jacob.....

I like to start each day early. I usually wake up at 5:45am, a time reserved for fishermen, crows, and of course, babies. But I wake up with a smile on my face and jibberish overflowing out of my tiny little mouth. I can only say dadadadada and babababa with the occasional mumumumum thrown into the mix, but I know what I'm saying.

I am extremely clumsy. On a daily basis I often fall over for no reason from the sitting position, laugh so hard that I choke, and dump full cups of water on my face in the bathtub. Hiccups are immanent each day along with multiple belches, and a few toots that can sometime smell so bad it makes my sister cry (but she's a little sensitive, if you ask me!).

I don't know how to crawl. I think it's over-rated. Instead, I am a world champion roller. If I see something I want I form a direct route in my head and start flipping around. My mom has found me wedged into tiny spaces and inside of the tv stand. Yep, I'm amazing.

My favourite places are the jolly jumper, the bathtub, and my mom's left hip. I'm a good eater and often eat two suppers. My favourite foods are bland baby oat cereal, pasta in tomato sauce, and yogurt. I'm not really into formula and will only drink it at night time or before my nap. I would rather have apple juice.

So far I've had 5 haircuts. I just had one yesterday - my mom's first time! Grandma Pennings is usually is my barber, but my mom did an okay job. She took way longer though.

I love my sister, most of the time. She likes to swing me in the jolly jumper, which is very exciting and fun until I bump into the door frame. She loves to tickle my feet, but I think she needs a few tickle lesson. Good thing it's not summer yet and I'm always wearing socks - she's a bit rough. I think she likes me too, but sometimes it's hard to tell. I often hear my mom speak very sternly to her after she takes away my toys, and tears always ensue.

I know my name and will always respond when someone says it. But I also respond to Jake, the Jakester, Jakereno, Jacobson, and Snake. The last one is compliments of my dad. I also always pay attention to the name Emily. Sometimes I might think it's my name, or if it's being called I know my sister will soon appear.

As my mom types out this blog post, I'm sitting on the floor playing with an old keyboard and eating saltine crackers. Each time I get fussy, my mom throws another cracker at me like I'm some type of zoo animals. Oh well, I'm happy.

My name is Jacob, and I am very loved by very many wonderful people. You might even be one of them ;)

Aww,,, isn't that cute??

These are not words commonly uttered by my husband's manly mouth. I glance down to the sleeping baby in my arms - who is very cute - but not unusually so. I glance over to Emily in the playroom who is happily pushing her doll in the swing. Again, this is cute, but completely normal.
"No, no, look," Justin says and points to his feet. Sitting there is a newly unpacked purchase from Canadian Tire.
"It's a baby air compressor. It's so cute.".
Right. Like I said, he's a manly man!

Jacob Hendrik

I'm a little past due for a birth announcement via blogger, so I'll skip ahead to a one month update instead!
Jacob is doing very well. He's up to 12lb 8oz from his original birth weight of 9lb 15oz and is already 23.5 inches long. He is a very happy baby and although he does have a bit of a temper we very rarely see it.
Emily is adjusting fairly well to having a brother. Although she can be a bit more defiant towards me, she has also become much more independent in the last month which is nice. So it's a good balance.
So far we've had two ultrasounds to keep an eye on an under developed left kidney. Today's ultrasound showed the same amount (a small amount) of urine backing up from the kidney but in almost all cases the kidneys will heal themselves in time. But we will keep going back for ultrasounds to keep an eye on it.
We are thoroughly enjoying having a new baby in the house - especially one as sweet as Jacob.

(pictures taken by Julianna Pennings)

I'm looking forward to....

• Not having to eat a million TUMS a day
• Sleeping on my stomach
• Shopping at stores that don't end with "maternity"
• Seeing my ankle bones again
• Having a normal body temperature
• A week without a doctor's appointment
• Being able to paint my toenails by sight and not touch
• Having a lap Emily can sit on
• Not waddling anymore

And of course.....

Holding my newborn son in my arms for the very first time. And it's all going to happen....

soon ;)

I am ready....

UPDATE:
You are all going to laugh at me, but I must confess that shortly after posting my last entry, our baby became nameless, once again. I'm so incredibly torn between the two "finalists". I like and dislike them both for different reasons. So as of right now my poor baby boy is still known as "Justin Jr." Wouldn't we shock everyone by actually naming him that???
But on a better note, I've used the last few days to complete even more tasks that will make life easier once 'JJ' is born.
I've:
-cut up a bunch of different veggies, vac-packed them, and put them in the freezer
-painted my toenails
-made up several little goodie bags for Emily to open while staying at my mom and dad's for a few days
-pre-purchased shower gifts, birthday gifts, and baby gifts so that I won't have to it with a newborn
-remembered that Justin probably wouldn't mind some toiletries and a change of clothes for the hospital and have packed them
-put everything by the front door that we need to take with us when this little guy decides it's time to show up.

Now all that's left to do is wait...


Original Post:
I have:
-my hospital bag packed
-extra batteries in the camera case
-the car seat installed in the back of the buick
-the baby bedding washed
-all the baby clothes washed
-the bassinet set up
-a new bathtub sling
-the "to-call" list with names and phone numbers
-all the towels washed, dried, and put away
- the house obsessively clean
- extra meat, bread, and cheese in the freezer
- extra dried good/canned goods in the cupboards
- the soothers sterilized
-my 'postpartum' clothes washed
-a NAME for this baby (finally!)
... now all I need is a little baby boy.

One week and counting.....

Life in the Country

Once upon a time, a young engaged couple decided to buy a red brick house in the city with the intention of "one day" moving to the country. The boy fervently believed this to be true. The girl? Not so much....
In case you haven't guessed, this is the story of how I - the city raised girl - became a country lovin' mama.
When we first purchased our house on Gladstone we both agreed it wasn't our 'forever' house. It was a starter house that we would raise our first child in. Justin had future plans to move to the country. I, on the other hand, had future plans to move to a cute little subdivision with a trendy name like 'Orchard Park', 'Shaw Valley', or 'Southgate Village'.
Well, after 4 years of happily living on Gladstone Ave our house began to shrink. Little did I know, as a newly married woman, that one little baby would need a swing, a bouncy chair, an exersaucer, a jolly jumper, and a bassinet. Or that one little toddler girl would require a play desk, a 'Little People' village, a rubbermaid tote of blocks, a princess tent, and enough books to fill a library. It was time to move. But where? I started looking on MLS at all the cute houses in my favourite little subdivisions. Instantly I compiled a list of 20 or more houses that I would be thrilled to live in. You know the type - half siding and half brick, a few miniature spruce and dwarf lilacs in the front yard, and an LED house number above the garage. You know - the type of house my husband hates. After wiring these houses for over 3 years at Pro Electric, Justin developed a severe dislike for these houses. I am still a fan of these perfect, no work required, family homes. And if you're reading this and currently live in one of these? I may still be a teeny weeny bit jealous.
So it was time to compromise. A house that was still in the city, all brick, a decent sized lot, and maybe needed a bit of work. After a few months of searching we found a house we both agreed on, made and offer, and put our own house up for sale. At the time I was sure this plan would work and started picking out room colours, window treatments, and bathroom fixtures. But alas, this was not to be. Our house did not sell in the allotted time and once we realized how drastically we would have to drop the price of our house in order to sell it in the dreadful market, we decided to take it off the market and build an addition. Perfect. A living room (playroom) and bathroom off of the kitchen. Exactly what I wanted.
But wait - this addition was going to cost somewhere in the area of $50,000. And our house value to jump approximately $20,000. Maybe this was not the best idea after all. So? We'd keep looking.
Then one fateful afternoon in April we decided to take Fingal Line out to Jusitn's mom and dad's house instead of our usual Hwy 3 route. As we are discussing the sad fact that finding a country lot is nearly impossible these days we see a "For Sale" sign in the distance. WAY in the distance. In FINGAL. Ugh. Justin slows the car as we drive by. A yellow brick house in the country. Of course. I sent up a prayer - 'please let this house be ridiculously expensive. Or already sold, that would be great'. As soon as we arrived at mom and dad's Justin logged onto MLS and found the house.
"It's only $189,000" he exclaimed.
"Great...." I said as I silently said goodbye to Shaw Valley in my head.
"It has 5 bedrooms!"he cried
"Perfect....." goodbye Lake Margaret Trail
"3.4 acres!!!!" he gleamed
"Wow......." and there goes Southgate Village.
In my head I thought 'it's gotta be sold'. If it was as good of a deal as my husband thought it was than it wouldn't be on the market anymore. Who knows how long it had been for sale. Maybe there were a few conditional offers on it. 'Should have gone to Myrtle Beach' I muttered to myself.
The next day we were off to look at the house. It lived up to my expectations - TOTAL renovation. Lots and lots of lathe and plaster. An outdated kitchen. Shag carpet. The works.
The drive home was very quiet.
"I know you hate the house" Justin said to me. "But it's perfect, and you'll love it. Please agree to buy it."
How could I resist? In the 4 years that I've been married to Justin there have been very few times (maybe none) that he hasn't known what is best for our family. I had to follow him. So we made an UN-conditional offer (a very scary thing to do), put our house back on the market and prayed. Of course, God being perfect in His timing, allowed our house to sell quickly and made all things well. Kinda.
As the closing dates approached I would lie awake at night worrying about how I would adjust to country life. What if I needed to run out the store at 7:30 at night? Where would Justin take Emily for her nightly walk? How will I live through all that plaster dust? And oh yes, lets not forget the baby boy due to arrive a month after we move in. After worrying each night I said a long prayer and went to sleep.
Well, it's been 3 weeks since we moved. I LOVE IT HERE! Although this house may be slightly uglier than our Gladstone house, I wouldn't move back. I may have shag carpet in the playroom, but I have a playroom! The office may be mint green, but we have an office! Justin may not be able to take Emily on her nightly walk, so instead she just plays on the 3.4 acres of land and with the dairy cows in our backyard. I have a huge pantry that I can stock with extra diapers, lunch supplies, and laundry detergent. (And Foodland is only a 7 minute drive away!) In the country, a fresh pot of coffee smells better, the stars shine brighter, and breeze blows cooler. I've even come to find the sound of the coyotes howling at the moon oddly soothing. We have a long way to go with renovations, and maybe once the plaster dust starts to fly I may be a bit grumpier. But if it means having the house of our dreams and the opportunity to raise our kids in this great setting then I'll learn to live with it.
I'll let you know when the dust settles.....

Home sweet Home

So of course, after I ramble on and on about renovations and painting the nursery we decide to forgo the entire plan and buy a new house. Well, new to us. Technically it's about 100 years old. The house has to be remodelled, top to bottom, but once we're through it will be our dream home. It's on Fingal Line, just past middlemarch - in the country. Somewhere I never thought I would live. The prospect has always appealed to me - summer evening at Justin's parent's house just can't be beat. But now that it's staring me in the face I'm slightly concerned that my city girl roots can't be broken. So I'm taking a leap of faith and letting my husband and my God lead the way.
The house sits on 3.4 acres with lots of big, mature trees. It's connected to city water which the owners paid in full at the time of connection so our taxes will be cheaper than what we are paying right now. It has replacement windows and the roof is in fairly decent shape. Once we get possession we'll be tearing down a few walls and putting some new ones up. All the flooring needs to be replaced as well. But it will be worth it. Now we just have to sell our current house in the next 90 days. Any takers????

Decisions, Decisions.

I need some help in the decorating department. I've never been good at choosing colours - hence my neutrally painted house. I can match a skirt to a shirt just fine, but wall colours are a different story.
I bought a crib bedding set off of Kijiji for Justin Jr. I just couldn't see re-using my set from Emily - poor guy would be sleeping amongst pink butterflies and daisies. I've been having incredible luck with Kijiji lately - this bedding set has never been used, (bought by a mom for her to-be-born granddaughter but rejected by the daughter since the bedding is quite boy-ish) but couldn't be returned due to being purchased in the States. So I swept in and bought some awesome bedding for a fraction of the price. Getting a good deal is so rewarding.
But I may not have thought this all the way through. I'm at a loss for decorating ideas. As you can see in the picture the bedding is sage green and has a French Toile design.
Here is the current nursery:
A bit girlie, I know! I'm hoping to leave the bottom half of the wall the same off-white that it is now. The picture shows the bedding with a tan wall, but I don't know how good that would look in real life, especially if I leave the chair rail up. So what do you think?
Oh, and I know - aren't we moving? The answer is probably not. We (Justin) have started drawing up plans for a family room and bathroom addition on the main floor off the kitchen. He used Chief Architect to put together the plans so that I can visually see how it would turn out - it looks awesome. As long as we get permission from the city then we'll probably be heading down that path. Part of the decision to take the house off the market is due to the total frustration of trying to sell . Each person who comes through LOVES our kitchen and HATES our 1 bathroom feature of the house. I'm okay with people not liking the one bathroom only thing - but come on. Read the MLS listing BEFORE you come. BEFORE I clean like a crazy woman. BEFORE I pack up my kid and get out of my house. The listing clearly states we have ONE bathroom. But enough ranting. We also really like our neighbourhood and our property. And an addition is cheaper. And I love my kitchen. And my central vacuum and new furnace & A/C, and my carpeted stairs, and my french doors. Man, why doesn't anyone want to buy this place? It's awesome ;)
So for now the plan is to stay put. But that's today's plan. Who knows what tomorrow's plan will be??

20 weeks.....

.....And getting a belly. Half way there!

And here are a few tidbits of information you may or may not know about our newest little guy:
- My official due date is Aug. 2 2009 DV
- I already have incredible heart burn - this kid better have lots of hair ;)
- I had a gut feeling this child was a boy and would have been shocked if I was told it was a girl, but then again I could have sworn Emily was a boy, and looked how that turned out!
- As of today this baby doesn't have a bedroom. The old nursery is home to our mammoth desk, Justin's guitars, and various HVAC computer components.
- This will grandchild number 12 for Justin's parents, and number 2 for my parents - just a small difference :)
- Our boy will be the first Pennings boy as Ryan, Jack, and Ethan are Slingerlands and VanDyks. But the girls will still out number the boys 2 to 1.
- Justin claims he would have been as excited to be having another girl, but I think there might be an tiny little part of him that jumps for joy when he thinks about having a son.
- When I was pregnant with Emily I used to pray "Lord,please keep this baby healthy and safe and make all things well for the rest of my pregnancy." For this baby I pray "Lord, please let this baby be a good sleeper and a happy, easy going baby." I of course pray for this baby's health, but it's funny how things change ;)
- We have already named this little boy, and if you ask Emily she'll tell you the baby's name is "Baby Rickie" after her much loved Uncle Rick. Although we also love Rick, I don't think we'll be naming our first born son after him!

Oh No! That's scawwey!

After an unusually troubling day for Emily I thought I would share with you the top 25 things Emily is afraid of in her life. She will tell me "Mommy, this scares me" or "Oh No! That's scary" but I sometimes wonder if she misuses the term when really she means 'I just don't like this.' Anyway, here are the top 25 - not necessarily in order but number one really is her number one fear!

1. Flies
2. Bees
3. Fuzz -- like from a sock. Very scary stuff.
4.Wind up toys
5. The theme song from Jaws
6. Uncle Matt -- I'm sure she will love you one day!
7. Babies, mostly infants
8. The dark
9. The church nursery
10. Any stranger
11. A crowded room
12. The bug portion of her Baby Einstein DVD
13. Being on my shoulders - Justin's shoulders is okay though!
14. Justin -first thing in the morning. She loves him the rest of the day.
15. Santa Claus
16. Dinosaur puppets
17. Being alone
18. Shoes - other than the only pair she wears everyday.
19. Her "Elefun" game that she loved for weeks but is now too scary to play
20. Cars coming towards us while I buckle her in her car seat
21. The bathtub drain
22. Dirty food
23. Snot
24.The shower head - when it drips in the tub while she's having a bath
25. French speaking women - when her Leap Frog Fridge toy is switched to the French side she is deathly afraid of it.

Some of these I think are normal two year old fears. But some of them are out of this world. I don't know where she gets it from but I'm hoping she'll grow out of it. I remember Caleb VD being afraid of chest hair, clouds, and growing up. And he turned out just fine (right, Taun!!). When she goes to bed each night I think she must be emotionally exhausted, poor monster.

And baby makes 4

For those of you who haven't heard the news.....
We are expecting our second child in August 2009 (which makes me 9 weeks pregnant at time of posting). Emily has a little bit of a jealous streak in her so it's something we'll have to work on in the coming months. So far this pregnancy has gone smoothly but is totally different from Emily's pregnancy -- maybe it's a boy?!
We'll keep you posted!

Not Me! Monday

This week when taking Emily to Family Flowers her favourite place on earth she did not get bitten by the world's oldest pony. This was not my fault since I was paying close attention to my daughter and not wrapped up in the cute little goat tongues. Eww... not literally! After immediately checking to see if my child still had all 10 fingers my first concern was obviously for Emily and not worrying over never being able to return to this free fun environment again. To make sure Emily was not permanently scarred by this experience I most definitely did not grab the pony's lips and make her fake say "I'm sorry" to Emily. That would the sign of an insane woman. Emily was not immensely pleased with this and did not say "I forgive you pony".

I did not make the over ruling decision this week to buy another potted Christmas tree. My husband was ecstatic when I Emily told him of our purchase and asked him to bring it in from the car --- it is amazing how much a little tree weighs. It will not live in our home until the spring when we Justin plants it outside. [We actually did do this last year and except for having a pine tree in the house for 8 months (undecorated, of course!) it worked out well.] I of course do this to save the environment and global warming and not because of my selfish desire for the maximum living space in my living room.

We did not eat out 5 times in 2 days this past week. Tim Horton, McDonalds, McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Pizza works. Oye. I'm certain I did not gain an extra 5 pounds because of it and was not jealous of my pregnant sister in law who can afford to do so at this time. And on such note, I am not getting extremely excited to meet her baby and find out if its a boy or a girl!

___________________________________________________________________
And on a sad note, we said goodbye to Papa Haveman this week. Although Ive only known him for a few short years I know he was a great man and had a deep love for his family. He will be fondly missed and remembered by all who knew him. Rest in Peace, dear papa.

My hero

Faster than a speeding bullet.

More powerful than a locomotive.

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Look! Up in the sky!It's a bird. It's a plane.

It's........... My husband!?


Yes, this is what you think it is.

A display of testosterone at it's best.

The result of a bet between a son-in-law and a father-in-law. And an easy $10 in our - ahem - his pocket.

Unfortunately for me, the proof he needs to be able to say "I can rip a phone book in half with my bare hands" whenever he wants. And let me tell you, it's often.

And lastly, the reason for a little girl to exclaim " OH NO! Daddy bwooked da book"

Never a dull moment.....

I never knew...

• I would start each day at 6am...
• I would find forks and spoons on my living room carpet...
• I would vacuum every day...
• I still needed my mom...
  
• I would blog in my head as I swept the kitchen floor...
• I would keep my bath tub so clean...
• I would choose my words so carefully...
• I would go to the mall, spend a small fortune and buy nothing for myself...
• I would decorate my living room with a bright orange slide...
• I would consider coffee with the girls my "big night out"...
• I would spend so much of my day in prayer...
  
• I would carry around a pack of crayons in my purse...
• I was a master play-doh sculptor...
• A Hug could mean the world ...
• God's blessings and grace the way I do now...
  

... Until I became a mom!

This list could go on forever - What are some things you "never knew" until you were a mom??

Not Me! Monday

I did not spend WAY too much time changing the layout of my blog. I am not a rapid-mouse clicker and did not hit the "okay" button when Blogger told me all my current gadgets would be deleted off my side bar when changing my template. Rapid-mouse clicking never caused me any problems working at the bank and clients never found it annoying that I had to fix mistakes that I shouldn't have made in the first place.

Now that I'm finished my blog make over I'm not regretting all the work I did to re-load my blog and then wonder if I really like the new virtual me. I don't want any feedback from my friends about the new blog (I did save my old one just in case --that's the truth!). I did not log onto Blogger tonight to blog about something totally different and then get side-tracked. I never get distracted half way through doing something.

I have not ALMOST cut Emily's hair every night this week. I do not lay awake at night wondering if I should cut it -- I have way more important things to worry about. Each morning I do not run my hands through her silky hair and contemplate a little trim to even out the length. The fact that I give the worst hair cuts in the world - sorry, Mary - does not deter me and make me wonder if I should get Justin's mom to do it for me. I also do not love how long it is and how sweet it smells each night as I sit on my bed carefully brushing out the tangles after her bath. I did not french braid it this week and the post pictures on facebook -- that would be way too over the top.

I was not labelled a 'table-wrecker' this week as I finished off our dining room table. I have never in the past put a hot casserole dish on top of it and turn the wood white, drag out the leaf from under our love seat (where else would you keep part of your dining room table -- remember how I love putting things in odd places? ) and scratch the finish with a nail sticking out from the underside of the furniture, and then this past week I did not use it as a laundry table, dip detergent on it without noticing which then ate the finish off the table. Nope, not me!

It is not almost my bedtime and yet I still have evening chores to do - I did not choose to blog over a) making Justin's lunch b)folding laundry c)making the bed just so we can sleep in it (Im so glad Im not alone in this! ) or d)put away the "air-dried" dishes in the sink. Because you, my faithful readers, are so much more important to me than any of my wifely duties :)

Oh, and I did not just realize that I missed the renewal of the vows for Jon and Kate plus 8 . I have not been looking forward to this episode, and I'm not a little bummed out. Because, you know, I have a life!!

Happy Halloween!

I am glad Halloween is almost over. I'm excited to see all the bleeding skulls and cackling witches put away for another 11 months. I'm not against Halloween per say, but sometimes it's just too much. For a holiday geared towards kids why does it have to be so disgusting and scary? And everywhere. On our evening walk down to the Court House we have to walk Emily in front of our neighbour's house that is decorated with ghosts, a Frankenstein monster and dead witches. She's not old enough to be frightened by them, but I cringe to think of the questions she'll be asking next year. For now, this is the conversation:
Emily -- "what's that?"
Mommy -- "a ghost"
Emily -- "what's that?" (She is apparently unsatisfied with my answer)
Daddy -- "what does a ghost say, Emily?" (try the distraction tactic)
Emily -- "baaaaaaa" (she thinks I said goat, not ghost.)
Mommy and Daddy -- "sure".
And that's where it ends. And perhaps I've never been offended by Halloween until now because of the fact that I now have a daughter old enough to understand. But I think that the fall has enough of God's own beauty that we don't need to try to spice it up. What's wrong with pumpkins, corn stalks, and gorgeous red and yellow leaves?
Don't get me wrong -- we are taking Emily trick or treating tomorrow night. Who doesn't love a cute bunny costume with an even cuter baby inside? And lets not forget about the free candy. But we'll go early to avoid the older (scarier) kids, and only go down Metcalf streets to all the 'posh' houses. Hopefully we'll only run into Superman and Tinkerbell.


Hopefully Emily will tolerate the bunny suit long enough to go out -- if not, we'll throw some face paint and some cat ears on her. Brown coat, brown cords? Done.

Another Not Me Monday!

Emily is always clean when Justin arrives home at the end of the day. When he arrives at 6:00pm she never has chocolate milk, alphagetti, or kraft dinner stains on her. And if she did, I would most certainly put an entirely new outfit on her. Who wants their kid looking like a mess for their father? Not me! After all, changing my daughter into new tights, dress, etc. in order to eat supper and go for a walk just makes perfect sense. And did I mention that I love doing laundry?

This is not what my little girl's room looks like. I mean, who would decorate a toddler's room with war planes and a bottle of whiskey? Not me! And don't you just love the poker room light? But since I'm such and awesome painter, I'll most definitely have it painted by the end of the week.

Whenever I go grocery shopping Emily never grabs something off a shelf and throws it in our cart while I'm busy reading the labels on the soup cans. (I can always find the soup I want upon first glance. I never have to search for it among the thousands of other varieties. Every time.) If she does do this, I always find out before we're at the check out counter and I'm unloading items onto the belt. When I find said item I would never discreetly put it in front of the Martha Stewart Living magazine. Nope, not me. I, of course, either hand it to the grumpy cashier and say "can you put this back? My daughter grabbed it when I wasn't paying attention to her", or I put it back on the shelf myself. Grocery shopping is such a delightful experience that I yearn to prolong it in any way I can.

This is not Emily's favourite place on Earth -- Family Flower's petting zoo. I don't love it because of it's great admission price (free) and the lovely flowers. I am not totally stoked about it being open all winter and walking through the aisles of beautiful poinsettias. I am not already in the Christmas Spirit.

Not Me Monday

I'm following in Taun's footsteps and trying out a NMM post. To find out more, visit http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ .

This week I did not miss my sister. Everyday. I could not tell you that there are 57 days until she comes home for Christmas. I have not already started planning various activities for us to do when she's home and I am not TOTALLY looking forward to making another pitiful looking gingerbread house with her.
I am not majorly bummed that her rotation placements, while still in Canada, are in places too far away to visit. What good does that do me? But I am also not looking on the bright side that Northern Ontario is a whole lot closer than Australia.

Emily did not ask to watch the "elephant jumping" video a million and ten times this week. To not show your kids this funny clip, do not click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK27aknWVI4
Be warned, that viewing this video may also make you want to blog about the number of times your kids did not ask to watch it. Emily did not get addicted to this video while at her cousin's house, and she did not learn that the elephant has a big bum from one of them :)

I did not ask Justin (repeatedly) if we could keep the stray cat. I most certainly did not let it in the house after Justin told me not to. I am too much of a submissive wife to defy my husband. Emily did not scream with delight as she chased it all over the house and we did not feed it the left over turkey from Thanksgiving. Oh, and Justin is aware of this.

This is not my first Not Me Monday post and I did not enjoy it. I definitely do not recommend you try it.

Saying Goodbye to a pair of old friends

I finally decided that it's time to replace my 5 year old, $4.50, Payless shoes. I will never throw them away, and will in fact continue to wear them (but perhaps only in the backyard). These shoes are a part of me. They have multiple war scars on them and I have "broken them in" perfectly. These shoes have the purple paint from my very first apartment on them. They also have the burgundy paint from my very first house. They carried me into the bridal salons to pick out my wedding dress, and carried me into the delivery room the night I had Emily. I wore them on the trip to Ottawa to bury my Grandfather, and wore them on the trip to Australia to visit my sister. They were also the only shoes that could stretch enough to fit me during the last few months of my pregnancy. I love these shoes. And I will probably never find a pair of shoes as comfortable.
I also like my new snazzy shoes that I just purchased yesterday. They are somewhat comfortable but they just aren't the same. I know I'll keep wearing the old ones, but the fact that I have bought new shoes to replace them can almost bring a tear to my eye (almost). But don't worry -- I'm sure you'll see me wearing these old, ratty, shoes - I'm not a fan of change!