Painted Cookies

I’d been promising the kids that we would do something ‘fun’ today, but I didn’t want to go out in all the snow we’ve got so I had to come up with something quick!  I found an idea on Pinterest on how to paint cookies with evaporated milk and food coloring, so we went for it! 

The kids wanted aprons on, so we made do with the only two aprons we own (guess what the next project will be?!).  They helped make the sugar cookie dough and then we got down to cutting out shapes.  Ben was determined that he needed Christmas trees (probably because of all the snow outside) and Emma wanted hearts.  We also did boys and girls.

Once the cookie dough was cut into shapes, the fun began!  They had so much fun painting the cookies (and I didn’t have to ice them afterwards… bonus!)

 

I had as much fun as they did decorating the cookies, and then in to the oven they went to bake! 

I could have baked them just a touch longer, but they turned out great!  We will definitely be doing this activity again.  I just have to find more cookie cutters other than our Christmas themed ones!

Trains!

For Family Home Evening, Lennard decided to pull out his train set.  Ben was thrilled when he discovered that daddy had trains!  Emma was interested…until it took a while to get set up and working and then she was ‘bored’.  The neatest thing about this train set is that it used to be my father-in-laws when he was a child.  He told me that his Grandpa Nichols had given it to him.  Too cool to know that three generations of Nichols boys have played with these trains now!

Ben really got into it and was so excited when the locomotive finally started making its way around the track.  It didn’t work very well and Lennard is going to try to clean it all up and see if it will work any better, but it was enough for Ben to enjoy.  He figured out how the tracks went together and took great pride in helping daddy fix them.

Here are a couple of the cars, there are others too, but I just didn’t take pictures of all of them.

I love seeing his concentration in this picture.  He managed to get all the cars on the tracks pretty well by himself.  What a smart boy (and a proud dad moment!)

Store Room Reno’s

Last week I asked Lennard if we had enough MDF to make a shelf to go over our freezer.  From there (like usual with us) the idea sort of took off.  The wall wasn’t finished behind the freezer, so Lennard suggested that we go buy a couple sheets of OSB and cover the walls quick and then put the shelf up.  I was good with that idea, so we started out pulling out the freezer and can rotator and got a couple sheets of OSB up.  Then all kinds of ideas started popping up.

We decided to pull out our shelving units that we’d bought from Costco and put them in our ‘Cave’ (storage area under the kitchen).  Once they were pulled out then we were able to finish off the wall.  Then we decided to open up the window again that has been boarded up for quite a few years.  It’s nice to have natural light in that room again!  We then tried the Shelf Reliance in a couple different locations and decided where it would fit best.  We got the freezer moved to under the window and then built shelves for the other wall.  We initially thought about building heavier duty shelves, but in cleaning up we found a bunch of brackets for adjustable shelving and just decided to through them up so we could get everything put away and organized. 

They turned out great and we have everything put away and even the #10 cans inventoried!  I love being able to see what we have (and don’t have) quickly.  I am very happy with what we’ve managed to get accomplished today.  The kids were amazing and thankfully the weather cooperated and they played outside most of the time.  Gotta love having a productive day… though I could definitely use a hot tub now!

Last week – two sheets of OSB up. 

This morning.  Window opened up.

The rest of the OSB up, the freezer moved and can rotator in place.

The final product!  Love!  I didn’t take a picture around the corner, but all the shelving in the back is now strictly #10 can storage, water and emergency food items.

My Little Princess

There are moments when I look at this face and wonder how I got to be so incredibly lucky to be her mom.  Love you, Emma. 

Boys and Girls

I couldn’t not share these pictures.  I have laughed all afternoon about these two.  Ben came to me with his tool belt and most of his tools and wanted to be ‘Bob the Builder’.  I helped him get everything situated just right and then he had to have his work gloves on.  I asked him if he would show me his muscles, and this is the pose I got.  I might just have to print and frame it… it’s so HIM!  Then I turned around to head back in to the house and found Emma daintily putting on her lip gloss!  Yup… nothing like the whole boy/girl smacking you in the face! 

To be completely honest… though these pictures may show the world’s view of a typical boy/girl, we can often find Emma with all the tools strapped around her waist and Ben pushing a stroller around with a baby doll.  I’m glad that they are comfortable in their own skins.  Love these two kids!

Mommy’s Hair Salon

Every time I have cut Ben’s hair I have made a big deal about telling Emma that we don’t cut her hair… only at a hair salon.  I’ve had this fear that one day she would find scissors and cut her own hair.  Knock on wood – she’s never tried (yet… I’ve probably jinxed myself now).  Well, this morning, after I cut Ben’s hair, we decided that it was time for Emma to get her hair cut.  It’s the first time I’ve ever cut her hair and I was just a touch nervous.  I have since learned that I need new scissors, but thankfully Emma’s hair has enough natural curl that you can’t tell until you really look.  I think it was an okay job for a first time anyways!

 

This was the before shot.  She was quite concerned that I was cutting her hair and kept saying, “But you said we only do hair at a hair salon!”  I told her we were at mommy’s hair salon and that it was okay!

This was the first chop… Yikes!

  

Here’s the after… (please don’t look to close!)  It looks better now that it’s dried and curly, but I didn’t get a picture yet.  I’ll try to take one tomorrow when we get her ready for church.

Dramatic Moments… and a Night Out!

When Emma decides she wants something… watch out!  She can be a tad dramatic… She decided that she wanted Ben to pick up her doll for her, but he didn’t want to.  It turned into an all out temper tantrum where she was within inches of picking  up her doll, but wouldn’t move so she could reach it.  It was actually quite entertaining watching her flop around while Ben just shook his head and walked off.  Once she finally gave up, moved slightly, and picked up her doll, she was completely happy!  Crazy girl!

We had an appointment at the bank this afternoon to go over our investments and do some financial planning.  We knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring the kids, so we asked my parents if they would babysit for us.  They were going to be going in to Lethbridge so they told me they’d call and let me know if they would be available or not.  Just before 3:00 they called and said that they’d been delayed at the airport and that they would be going in to Lethbridge and that they would just take the kids with them.  The kids were more than excited to get to go with Grandma and Grandpa!  They picked them up about 3:20 and we had our appointment at 4:00.  We didn’t get out until 5:15… and another appointment set up for next week!

Since the kids were gone (and neither of us wanted to cook dinner), we headed down to Athen’s for something to eat.  It was so enjoyable just being by ourselves!  We got a few other errands done and then I got Lennard’s hair cut too before the kids got home.  They were so wired and talking a mile a minute that it took us a while to get them calmed down enough to go to bed.  It’s nice to know that they loved every minute of their time with grandma and grandpa!

Cheap Entertainment

After a long day of being cooped up inside because of the insane winds (gusts up to 138 km/hr), the kids found a way to entertain themselves.  I was getting dinner ready when Lennard called for me to come and bring my camera. Whenever he does that I know I'm in for some 'fun'.  This was the scene when I rounded the corner into the bathroom.  Both kids sitting on the counter with their feet in the sink... turning straight cold water on them!  At least we've told them enough not to touch the hot that I didn't worry about them hurting themselves with the hot water.  They had such a blast that we just left them there!  

Frozen

We took the kids to their very first movie in a theatre today.  About a month or so ago, we were driving past the theatre and I pointed out Lennard’s work truck out front.  I said something about it being in front of the movie theatre and Emma asked, “What’s a movie theatre?”  I hadn’t realized until then that we really hadn’t taken them to the movies!  I think Emma went with us once when she was a tiny baby, but she slept in her car seat the entire time. 

They were excited to get their own bag of popcorn, though Emma took one bite and then wouldn’t eat much after that.  We had woken Ben up from a nap to go to the movie, so he hadn’t even had lunch (oops!).  He loved the popcorn!  We watched the movie, Frozen.  It was excellent.  I really enjoyed it.  The kids did pretty good.  They were up and down a bit, but the entire theatre was full of kids, so it wasn’t a big deal.  Emma had a couple meltdowns, but she managed to make it through the movie.  As soon as we got home she ended up falling asleep on the couch.  It’s been a good day.  Completely crazy wind (80 km/hr gusting to 120), but thankfully we haven’t had to be outside much.

Another Year Older…

I’m not sure why this birthday has been hard for me… but it has!  I felt ‘old’ today.  Not exactly the best way to feel on a day that is supposed to be special.  About half way through the morning I ended up giving myself a pep talk about how blessed I am and that I needed to be a Pollyanna and ‘look for the good’.  Even though I still had moments of ‘blah’, the rest of the day was much better.

I was so touched when one of my good friends offered to take the kids for the morning.  She brought me a box of chocolates, a very thoughtful card (that made my day) and took the kids from 9:30 to 1:30!  And even though I felt guilty for not cleaning and getting stuff done while the kids were gone… I sat and read a book!  It was great!

My parents invited us out for dinner (I didn’t have to cook!) and we had a delicious meal of breaded steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, buns, etc.  SO delicious!  We had cheesecake for dessert and the kids had a blast singing Happy Birthday to me and then Ben blew out the candles for me.  Thankfully they only put 4 on the cake, so that helped!

The rest of the evening I spent at the church for a Relief Society activity.  The best part of the entire evening wasn’t all the classes (sorry!), but getting the chance to visit and laugh with so many different sisters in our ward.  I love our ward! 

It’s been a bit of a roller coaster day, but in the end I can say that even though I feel ‘old’ I am blessed to be where I am in my life.  I have a wonderful life.

A Sunbeam!

It was Benny’s first day of Sunbeams today!  I had a hard time believing that both of our kids are now in Primary.  Ben was so proud to be in with the ‘big’ kids and he sat so nice and reverent through the entire Sharing Time/Singing Time.  I was very impressed.

Emma is in CTR 4 now and did amazing as well.  The last few weeks she’s had a few meltdowns wanting to be with me, but she didn’t even try to come sit with me today! 

Being Primary President definitely has its perks.  I love being able to see their excitement throughout Primary and all that they are learning. 

True Canadians

Emma and Ben are definitely true Canadians.  They LOVE playing outside in the snow.  Any chance they get they jump at it.  Lennard was clearing the driveway this morning and the kids decided they needed to ‘help’!  Lennard brought out the t-ball set that my parents gave Ben for Christmas and they played all morning!  Ben has a good swing going, while Emma is definitely still learning.  It was hilarious watching them trying to get to the ball and then pick it up with their gloves on.  I’m glad that Lennard was out with them the entire time… I enjoy my warm home a little too much!

New “Toy”

After finding out that our oven wasn’t working properly (on Emma’s birthday), I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new oven.  We’d ordered it on the 27th, so it’s been a long couple of weeks trying to make dinner without a reliable oven.  I never realized how much I use my oven! 

 
                           OLD                                                                   NEW

The roads were horrible, but we made the trek in to Lethbridge.  It was a nice break from the house… especially since both kids fell asleep within 5 minutes from leaving home and slept until after we’d picked up the stove and fueled up!  So nice! 

We were grateful for a wonderful neighbor to help us bring the oven in to the house. (Thanks, Madison!)  The kids were jumping around and yelling about their new oven… and then had a blast playing with the box it came in!  I was more than excited to see the old range pulled out and the new one slid into it’s place.  I love it!  I love having such a huge window in it and be able to see everything that will be cooking.  I also like that there are three racks… and yes – I will be trying out the convection bake with all three racks of cookies very soon!

We definitely hadn’t planned on buying a new oven, but thankfully we had enough saved up from extra jobs and gifts (electrical, babysitting, and Christmas gifts) that we’ve been able to pay for it outright.  I love not having to go in to more debt!  What a blessing. 

2014 Resolutions

At the start of a new year I always wonder what the next 365 days will bring and what I can do to make it better than the past year.  There is always room for improvement… always! 

One of the projects that I decided to work on this year is called Project Life.  It’s a basic scrapbooking system that I’ve tried in the past, but this year I’m going to do it digitally and (ideally) have it ready to be printed in a hard cover book at the end of the year.  I’m excited to capture our everyday craziness and have a record of what we’ve done each day. 

As I was working on this title page, I found this quote about happiness and it made me stop and think that THAT is what I want to focus on this year.  To just be happy with what we have and not wish our lives away.  It’s way too easy to say things like, “When the kids are this old, we can do this…” or “When we build a deck, the backyard will be so much better.” or “If the weather would improve, we could go camping.”  The list can go on and on if we allow it too instead of looking at where we are and what we have and being grateful for it.  I love the stage the kids are right this very moment.  I may not enjoy the temper tantrums, but I am going to try to remember that it’s because they are growing and learning and healthy children!  We may not have a deck in the backyard, but we have a wonderfully huge backyard that the kids can run and play in without us having to worry about where they are!  The weather may not be pleasant right now… but we live in Canada!  I am proud to be a Canadian and sometimes I just have to be able to put up with the cold and be thankful for my warm, secure home and safe neighborhood.

I am looking forward to the adventures that we will have as a family this year!