The Tall and the Short of things

Every morning my kids have the same routine (mostly Emily, but Jacob usually just mimics his sister...)
They wake up and come downstairs and they get to watch one show while still in their pj's. You see, Emily needs time - a lot of time - to "wake up". She hates to be rushed in the morning and as long as she is left alone for about half an hour, she's fine. Then we do breakfast and the kids get dressed and Emily gets her hair done.
I don't mind this routine. It gives me time to have a coffee, do any cleaning up that wasn't totally finished the night before, get dressed, etc.

Well. On Monday, our TV broke. It won't turn on anymore. It is still under warranty, so it's really not a big deal. The TV repair man is coming on Friday. So a week without TV. No big deal. It will be good for all of us.

Wrong. Poor Emily. Her life was turned upside down. No show in the morning? No time to herself? Tuesday morning was NOT a pretty sight.

But there was NO way I was going to haul our old HUGE TV into the living room and hook it up. It is way too heavy and way too monstrous. (I know what you're thinking - can it be any bigger than the other TV in this picture? The answer is yes. It's not wider, but it's an oldie, and so it is DEEEEEEEP.)
So this is the compromise. A tiny little TV dating back to my university days. Won by my sister at the local Shoppers Drug Mart.

But the kids don't seem to care. Curious George looks about the same on a teeny tiny screen as he does swinging across our plasma..... :)

After the Storm...

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.


It POURED this morning. We had all the lights on during the day because the sky was so black. I thought it would be a good day for baking and catching up on my least favourite chores. Which we did. But then, all of sudden the clouds disappeared and the sun shone down warming up our dull day.

Emily quickly noticed the change in weather and ran to our electronic thermostat in the dining room. "Mom! It's warm out. And sunny. Can we PLEASE go outside? It rained ALL day, which means.... PUDDLES!"
Ugh. Puddles. I, personally, am not a huge fan. But my kids love them and you're only a kid once. So, we put on our rain boots and headed into the backyard.
My children also received big bubble tubes lately, from a Grandma who shall remain nameless, and so they were also eager to try them out.

I have to admit, we had a pretty good time. The sunshine was such a blessing, making us all so cheerful and co-operative.
And it's true. The best part about rain is the puddles.
But the worst part of rain? Is ALSO the puddles.... example:
Even manly-man Jacob did NOT like falling in the muddy water. This was his face afterwards:
But he cheered up quickly with the promise of some trampoline fun.

"Come on in, Mom. It's fun....."
Taking a break :)

What did you do on your cold, cold wet day??

Spring beauty

These beautiful daffodils were growing in our ditch. I don't know exactly how many stems I cut, but there are hundreds more. Once our porch is a little closer to completion (all the heavy construction finished) we will dig them up and transplant them to our new garden which will run along the length of the porch. But for now, I will continue to cut them and bring them in. They make the perfect Easter dinner centerpiece.

Two Little Monkies

Or maybe I should say wolf pups.

These cousins had great fun today while Clara was visiting with us. They ran around howling and Clara yelling "scawwy woof! scawwy woof!"

They are great friends.

The Sound of Music

We finally got a piano.

Emily has been taking piano lessons for about 2 months now and is already at a stage where she needs a piano at home in order to practice.

Both Justin and I wanted to have a piano in the house anyway. Even though neither of us can play, we both think a piano makes a home much more "homey". Having a piano in the house really makes me wish I knew how to play. It's never too late to learn, right? Maybe I'll get some initiative and either learn online, or really get out of my comfort zone and take lessons.

But for now I hear the sweet (?) melodies composed by my two littles. Emily can play a few very simple songs and likes to make up her own songs, too. Jacob just bangs his little "old man hands" on the keys and laughs when he plays really low notes.

We think the piano looks at home here. It needs to be tuned, but we want to wait a while until it acclimatizes to our house. Anyone know a good piano tuner?

pickles and pop

For those of you non-facebookers out there...

Jacob LOVES pickles. This picture may make it seem as though he hates them. But he will eat as many as you give him. It's just that first bite..... wowzers!! But let me assure you, he ate that whole pickle and then two or three more :)

And if you're wondering why his shirt is so wet??? Well, he also loves.....
POP. Yes, pop is bad - very bad - for children. But when Jacob sees a pop can he gets SO excited! "Pop! Pop! Pop!" He shouts. And sometimes ya just gotta give the people what they want.... And hey, it's only Fresca ;)

the kitchen.

WAY before - in all it's carpeted-flowered glory.


A little before - the hideous yellow. It doesn't look too bad in these pictures... I guess you have to be accosted by the ugliness day after day to truly come to despise it.


And finally... now. I LOVE this colour. It changes with the amount of natural light in the room. It's the perfect blend of gray, green, and a light brown.

My baby......

...is growing up, and really isn't a "baby" anymore. But he still gets to be the youngest family member until Aunt Bethany has her baby in September. Then he'll really have to grow up. Although Jacob doesn't have much of a problem getting older. It's his mommy who wants to slow down the process :)

Spring has Sprung.... hopefully!

Could spring actually be around the corner? We hope so, and here's some proof! Even though there's still snow on the ground, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to pull on our galoshes, rain coats, and get outdoors! Poor Jacob fell twice - and in two of our deepest puddles, no less. Good thing we have extra rainboots from Aunt Megan!!

After starring at their swings all winter long, they finally got to put them to use!

Their most favourite activity?? Wadding through our monstrous puddles!

Climbing a tree - or at least attempting to ;)

Our.... bed????room

I don't usually like to post in-between renovation pictures. They are always really messy, a little embarrassing, and hard to understand (to me, anyway)!
But... I speak often of our "loft", so I thought I'd give you a visual to accompany my crazy stories. It's been lovingly given this nickname because we don't a have door, and our one wall is open to the stairs and therefore, living room. We don't usually take people up to our loft when showing them our home, because it is usually really messy, a bit embarrassing, and hard to understand ;)
Please forgive the mess - it's almost impossible to keep up with the dust! And hopefully you will be able to make out what is "going on" in terms of the new bathroom.


Standing in Emily's room looking into our bedroom:
The view from my bed. Behind the dresser are the stairs.
Here's the plastic ceiling:
And this will be the bathroom. The jut-out will be the shower.
The new hallway will run from the corner banister of the stairs to the front right 2X4 you see above. The bathroom will be at the end of the hall.
I'm very anxious to have the bathroom usable, if not finished. As you probably noticed, we have a potty upstairs so that I don't have to take Emily downstairs when she has to go the bathroom EVERY night. I know... gross, right??

Hope you enjoyed the "tour"!

sneak peek

I was hoping that if I went out and actually bought a new paint colour for my kitchen, I would be too impatient to wait and just start painting. Because waiting for the "right" time - a time when I wouldn't be interrupted by either of my children - will NEVER happen.

Well, I was right. I couldn't resist. I LOVE opening a brand new gallon of paint. There's none of that sticky, gooey gunk in the rim of the can, no drips down the outside label. And it's full to the top with the glorious colour you chose.

So it will be a slow going project - a wall here, a coat there. But it will get done. And it will look fantastic.

With the wonderful help of Sandra VanMaanen, I chose "camouflage". I've only painted one small wall, and it still needs another coat, but I already love, love, love it.

Goodbye nasty, anxiety inducing yellow. Hello soft, inviting, calming, relaxing, neutral camouflage :)

Here's a sneak peek:

the actual finished project might be a while coming. But doesn't it look better already????

10 things I've learned about DIY renos

1. You will ALWAYS go over budget. Even if you're a bargain hunter. Maybe you'll find the perfect sink on kijiji for $100 less than your "budget". Maybe the carpet you wanted is miraculously on blow-out right now and you save 50%. But then, (especially when you have to budget for a huge project - like, say, an entire house) you find out you need a new roof. That, say, will cost ten thousand dollars. Suddenly the couple hundred dollars you've saved doesn't seem so great.

2. Your renovation will ALWAYS take longer than originally anticipated. Especially when renovating a century home. " Expect the unexpected" is Justin's motto. You never know what you're going to find when you pull up a floor, or take down a wall. This can cover anything from a couple extra days to a couple extra years.

3. Anything is "liveable". Right now when I lay in bed I look through our thin plastic ceiling and watch the bats fly around the attic. I just think of it as having the pleasure of sleeping out in nature while having the luxury of my comfy bed.

4. The little things will drive you crazy, but the big things will go un-noticed. For example, I am itching to buy curtains for our living room. I dream about the fabric and pattern I want. The sheer "used-to-be-white" curtains that hang on our windows drive me insane. I can't WAIT to replace them. BUT - I am currently sitting in a disgustingly green room. Actually, according to my sister (who is a licensed medical doctor) the walls are the exact colour of gangrene. I don't even notice them anymore. Gangrene Green - sounds nice, doesn't it? Maybe Ben Moore should come out with a new shade.......

5. Plaster dust is my mortal enemy. Enough said.

6. Any tool that is labeled "Featherlite" is a huge, HEAVY lie.

7. Each room has the ability to morph into another room. When we lived on Gladstone, our dining room became the temporary kitchen while our kitchen was gutted down to the studs. Our living room then became our living/dining room.
In our current house, we sleep in the "loft" which is the amalgamation of 2 bedrooms, a linen closet, and a hallway. There is a framed up bathroom in one corner, and when I'm not looking up at the bats, I look directly at my children's doors. Privacy doesn't exist in our house.
Also, our playroom acts as a laundry room, and our "washing machine room" is also our only coat and boot closet. (Our washer and dryer are in two different rooms. See #3).

8. My kitchen sink is invaluable. You just can't live without a kitchen sink and still be considered sane. Especially when you don't have a main floor bathroom. I had to live for 5 months without a kitchen sink. I nearly lost my mind. Perhaps I did. I also had a newborn baby, so I'm sure that didn't help. But, I bet you've never noticed how often you use you sink. Not only for washing dishes, but for draining pasta, potatoes, vegetables, etc. For dumping out the last of your soup broth, or cereal milk. Washing fruit, or say, YOUR HANDS!!! Having a kitchen sink is VERY important. Perhaps I might even say, it really is the only thing that negates lesson #3. We ended up moving to my parents house until our kitchen was a bit more "kitchenish".

9. "How is your house coming along?" will be the first question most of your aunt, uncles, and people at church, will ask you. Which is just fine. But be prepared to answer the question a million times.

10. My husband continues to amaze me. I feel like one of my kids when I say "there's nothing that Justin can't do". But I'm serious. There has yet to be a project that Justin hasn't been able to complete. Lately, he installed a 1200 pound beam to replace a load bearing wall, ALL BY HIMSELF. Well, I moved the ladder for him a couple of times. He's amazingly talented. And strong. And I'm very thankful for him.

patiently waiting for spring.

a new spring dress came in the mail yesterday. she HAD to wear it. And she wore it all day.
So maybe we're IMpatiently waiting for spring. Either way, we're waiting.

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.