Walkin' on Sunshine!

Project 365 - Day 273

Delivered my 'Mario' cupcakes this evening to the wedding rehearsal dinner and they were well received! Yay!

Its been a crazy week, from 150 cupcakes to bake and ice, to finishing the church directory to the regular parenting adventures... makes for one tired momma! Xander has been keeping me on my toes, as he discovered how to climb the kitchen stool... great. Now I have to watch what I leave on the counter. Sigh... at least he was pleased with himself.

On Wednesday I had to zip into Richmond and so Stella picked up Ariel from school. They had a fun time and hit the bakery for a treat... even one for Xander who was thrilled, can you tell?

Ariel has been loving school and has been starting to come home with art projects and stories of new things learned at school. Its funny when I look at her lately she seems so grown up... and then she does things that just make me laugh. Tonight when I took the kids up for their bath the room smelt like urine... as in accident. The carpet by the toilet was soaked and I asked what happened to which she replied that she tried peeing standing up like boys do. I wanted to laugh... but I knew I had to be calm and simply stated only boys had the 'equipment' for that. Ah Ariel, this is one for the books.

In gardening news, Ariel's little sunflower plant she grew from a seed bloomed this week! It was an exciting moment for her and she had to have a picture with it. We had to have her stand on her picnic table to get her up high enough. Wow!

Xander decided with turning 13 months, that he would try walking again, this time it seems to be sticking! He tried at 12 months, doing little walks and yet would go back to crawling. I finally gave up trying to encourage him, which is usually when they decide to do it right? Haha. So my little man is quite pleased and toddles like a little drunk all over the house... only one fall down the stairs thus far, ugh, and I hope its the last.

Managed to get a little bit of video of Xander's walking on his own.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This morning I took the kids and went out to Maria's to see the proofs from our session we had a few weeks ago. We narrowed the best ones down and I look forward to getting our new family picture hanging in our living room! So excited!!! If you want to see them, click here for the slide show.

Well I am happy its Friday tomorrow, our Thanksgiving dinner is Saturday since we can all be together on the actual weekend, so it spreads out the turkey hehe. Gonna try a new recipe, a potato and bacon tort. Oooh. Also I am going to Jo's baby shower on Sunday, so that will be fun! Time for bed and Ken should be home soon. Woot.

Chickens in Love

Project 365 - Day 272

Usually my little chicken salt and pepper shakers sit apart on my stove, but I felt like they needed some time together today. Hee.

Sunflower

Project 365 - Day 271

I was taking a picture of Ariel's sunflower she grew and discovered a little friend sitting on the petal afterwards. Surprise!

I heart Squash!

Project 365 - Day 270

Yummy... I can't believe I hated this vegetable growing up. Squash, I am sorry I was so mean to you in my younger years, you rock my world. BFF! Hee

Sweet Cuppin' Cakes

Project 365 - Day 269

This is my work this week... 143 mini cupcakes! Wish me luck!

Art

Project 365 - Day 268

My girl's first painting of the school year... apparently its me at the quiche store. Lol.

Sometimes We Stumble

Project 365 - Day 267

Wow, only 100 more picture to go... better make them good eh? Today is a little peak at the cake I did tonight. Yep, BINGO cake! Yay!

So today was rough... real rough. It was filled with little moments that stressed me out, and added all together pretty much had me in tears by lunch time. I think the craziness of the week didn't help, but then it was lots of little things that just kinda snowballed. First off I got Ariel to school after a rough start. I didn't get up as early as I wanted to, missed my shower and felt gross. Got her to school and Xander is just fussy today no matter where we go. Stopped at the post office to mail some fabric to Trudy I picked up the day before and while there my little boy decides calling 911 was in order. He hangs up only to have them call back and sheepishly I had to say 'the baby did it, sorry.' If that wasn't bad enough, he had already done it once earlier this week!!! Ugh, Ariel never touched the phone, so this is new territory for me and I just felt bad.

The last time I called 911 was when my mom collapsed in front of me, so it had me rather shaky and overwhelmed. While in the post office after hanging up I hear the sirens outside. I felt my legs quiver like they were going to buckle. Oh gosh please don't be coming. The post office girl who knows me well and had pity on me ran to see where the emergency people were headed. She came back to say they went past... but looked like they were going over by my house. Never did find out if they were there for me or someone else in the area... sigh. Stress!!! I had to head over to the Telus store to get them to help me with my cel phone because Xander also managed to do something else that I couldn't fix... good thing he is cute eh?

So I dash back to pick up Ariel only to find out they are going the full time today because they are the older group... um, not sure how I missed that memo, but wasn't the only ones as several parents were sitting around rather confused too. Oh well... no problem, until I realized Ariel's eye exam was at 1120 and her class got out at 1115. Crud! Basically ran with the kids once class was let out, and thank heavens the place is so close.

Did the pre-exam and Ariel did fantastic. Then we had to wait 10 minutes for the doctor to come... that is when it all went bananas. Xander was just wanting to get into everything, Ariel didn't want to share the toys, both ended up crying and Mommy was ready to join them. Sigh. Doctor finally came, looked slightly cheesed the kids were so loud, and I felt bad again. The rest of the exam was great, Ariel doesn't need glasses and we will come back again next year... perhaps with only one kid, note to self.

Left the doctor's office with Xander screaming again because he had to go back to the stroller. Decided I was frazzled and would get a $5 pizza to cheer us up, yes I know I shouldn't use food to make myself feel better... but today I don't really care. The hot and ready pizzas 'SURPRISE' weren't ready! Ugh. So again more waiting with cranky kids. I had the gull to ask for free crazy bread for waiting, and got some, so win for me! Came home and we all devoured the pizza, including Xander who is a pizza man!

The kids both crashed after lunch, Ariel to have her tv time and Xander to nap. I was happy to start feeling more myself and felt the tension lifting finally. I made up a yummy chicken and apple dish for dinner, iced the cake for the order tomorrow and even worked on Xander's baby book - hoping to have it updated once the weekend is over. I finally got my shower, right before bed and am enjoying the quiet of a sleeping house before heading to bed myself. Was a rough day, not one I want to repeat soon, but I guess we all have them.

Shoes

Project 365 - Day 266

While at the mall today we found these darling shoes for Ariel. Perfect for the holidays and frankly she wasn't letting me leave without them. Gotta love the bling eh? My girl the fashionista!

Endless

Project 365 - Day 265

Some days the world is fulled with endless possibilities.... the sky today was simply breathtaking.

Piece of Heaven

Project 365 - Day 264

Oh my goodness, tonight I had a little piece of heaven. Friend of mine posted this on facebook and I had to try it. I was in love, so yummy, so perfect for fall weather!

Yorkshire Stew

1/4 cup flour
2lbs of stewing beef
1 thinly sliced onion
2 tsp cooking oil
6 sliced mushrooms
1 can of Condensed beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp crushed dried rosemary
1/4 tsp tarragon
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 carrots cut into 1 inch pieces

Yorkshire Pudding
2 large eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter

Put flour into a ziploc bag, add the stewing beef and shake to coat the beef. Brown beef in a 425 oven, on a greased baking sheet, for about 10 mins.

Saute onion in cooking oil in a large pot until soft. Add mushrooms and saute for 3 or 4 mins.Add next 8 ingredients. Stir well. Add beef. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add carrots and continue to cook for 1 more hour.

Yorkshire Pudding part....
Beat eggs in a bowl until they are frothy. Stir in the milk and blend well. Add the flour and salt and whisk until smooth.

Place butter in a 2 quart casserole dish (I used one slightly larger and not round, still works). Heat in a 400 oven for a couple of minutes until melted. Remove from the oven. Immediately pour Yorkshire pudding mixture in. Using a slotted spoon, carefully place stew in the center of batter to within 1 inch of the edges. Reserve the gravy. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Reheat gravy. Pour hot gravy over the finished stew and serve immediately.

(The Yorkshire pudding cooks up the sides of the casserole dish but doesn't cover the top of the stew. )

Other news, ballet started up again and Ariel was so eager to go. She was so cute asking if someone could watch her class so that she would know what to do when she wanted to practice at home, aw!

Yesterday Ariel got to go to a birthday party at Go Bananas. She had a blast and I got to get some errands done. Yay! Then we got invited back for dinner when they came back, so a nice evening all around.

On Sunday we had our pictures done with Maria, and I can't wait to see them!!! The rain held off until the last picture was taken and 'bam' it started. Very thankful indeed as our calendar is too full to reschedule these days. A fine balance of crazy right now, but its all good.

In Xander news, he said 2 new words! CAR and GO... so we know that he is indeed all boy. His jargon every so often makes more sense and resembles words. He points to anything that interests him and usually says 'dis' or 'dah' as if he is saying 'whats that?' His love of cars is amazing and its the only time he gets super emotional is when I won't let him 'drive' at the steering wheel. He loves the shopping carts at the grocery store with the steering wheels too, haha.

Finally... Glee was back on tonight. I had the kids bathed and in bed before the show started at 8pm... and then we couldn't find the remote! Sooo in the end I still missed the opening after tearing the clean living room apart. Ugh. Not cool! I think we need a beeper on it as Xander likes it has his new toy.

Black, White and Red all over...

Project 365 - Day 263

Not a newspaper... just a big ol' pile of fabric for Halloween costumes!

Bento Fun

Project 365 - Day 262



As I mentioned earlier in the summer, I wanted to start doing 'bento' inspired snacks and lunches for Ariel. The idea that healthy food can be fun not to mention the idea behind doing bento boxes is showing love through art of food totally hooked me. So for snack today the princess has a mini sandwich of cheese and some cucumbers and blueberries. Was fast and fun, yay!

On another note, I don't know the last time I actually watched the Simpsons, but for some reason we did last night and this was the opening. Ariel and I love this song so when I showed her the video she made me play it several times. Haha, pretty clever.



In other news, I got an order for mini cupcakes... 143 of them! They will be creating a character once put together for a wedding rehearsal dinner. Hehe, So tune in on the 30th to see what it is... trust me, its too cool!

Yay!

Guess what we finally were able to film tonight.... Xander walking!!! He has been getting more and more confident and taking more steps on his own. He still prefers to crawl or cruise along furniture but it won't be long till he is running after Ariel. Also included is Xander showing off how he can go down the stairs now too.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

One Crazy Week

Project 365 - Day 261

After the rain is always a blue sky. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that. A tad stressed but its all good. Been a little crazy this week with everything from Ariel's pre-school, a cake order and 'Imagine That' stuff.

A few vents... I am sooooooooooooo over this 'gradual entry' stuff at Ariel's school. All 3 of her classes were only an hour long, which basically means I get nothing done during that time. Comparing it too our old pre-school, they really didn't have any gradual entry, only that you could stay with your child if they needed you. Not only is this week's classes only an hour, next week they are all only 1.5 hours... meaning its not till week 3 that she is going her full time. Sigh... makes for some tricky scheduling. Ariel is wise to these short times too, as she asks each day if will be another 'little class'. Regardless, my little girl is loving her new friends and teachers. She is eager to share her stories... sort of. She tends to forget unless I ask questions to jog her memory.

I have been working hard on getting our 'Imagine That' stuff together and to the printers, website stuff updated and facebook page going. Its a lot on top of the regular family stuff. One day I worked several hours and then at 9pm had to bake cake for an order I had to ice the next day. Ack! Thankfully it was another bee hive cake, so I could do it pretty fast after doing one before.

Then on top of that, I had a dentist and hair appointment the same day! Thankfully Stella came to sit with the kids. Yay! I am happy to report another great dentist visit, and my hair is awesome! Yes, no more summer blonde, instead some fall red and chestnut. It was nice to have a moment to myself too.

Friday came and we had a crazy day of school, coffee party and then delivering posters and brochures for 'Imagine That' to all the local churches and schools. Our big registration day is next Saturday, eek! Scrambling to get things in order before then, as I also have a cake order for that day! So things aren't settling down anytime soon.

Birthday Party Season

Project 356 - Day 260

Ariel has been invited to 2 parties in the next few days... it has begun.

Busy

Project 365 - Day 259

Hey, very busy doing 'Imagine That' stuff, will post soon!

Spider Web

Project 365 - Day 258

Pretty webs in the fall!

In A Haze

Project 365 - Day 257

We awoke to this beautiful fog out out along the water. A true sign of fall... ooh! I took this when Brenda and I went out for a walk to discuss stuff for Imagine That. Speaking of which, we are rolling right along! The website is all updated and we are headed towards our registration date of Sept 25th, so we hope we have a good turn out. Will let you know how it goes... but until then, I have been working solid all day trying to catch up on everything now that the internet is back. Since I was doing that all day between managing the kids, I now am baking the cakes I need to decorate tomorrow as I have a pick up on Thursday. Sigh... its a little crazy.

Yay for School!

Project 365 - Day 256


So look at that speed! Oooh, internet service, huzzah!

Yes, its finally fixed! Our internet issues are over... oh I am so happy. Turns out it was a power issue, they added a booster and poof! Issues resolved... no more early wake ups to work, yay!

Since it was down a lot has happened around here. First off on Friday Ariel had her first real hair cut! I took her last 'before' picture and we headed off to the salon to meet with my stylist. Ariel loved getting her hair washed in the fancy sink although the lady next to her getting foils kinda concerned her. Haha.

About 2-3 inches was taken off, I have some clippings saved to prove it. Ariel watched intensely as her hair was cut, making sure it wouldn't be short.


Xander in the meantime was schmoozing with the other stylists showing off his hair. He was interesting in finding some hair products... since we know he needs them. Eventually he got his bangs cut too as an added bonus. Now the boy can see again, yay!


Upon finishing her hair, Ariel got is braided beautifully! I wish I can learn to do this because I love it! She did too, can you tell?

Side note, I love this hat on Mr Man! Hee.

On Saturday Ken was at the animation festival so I took the kids to Carter's birthday party myself. We all had a great time especially at the park, Xander was totally digging it. Meltdowns did occur at the end, but understandable with a long morning of play and rests needed by both munchkins! It is harder to get 2 crying kids out vs one! That evening we went and got happy meals for dinner since I was bagged and it was nice, not to mention thrilled a nugget loving girl.

Sunday was church and Ariel's first day of Sunday school for the year! She was dressed so cute, Ken's mom loved this outfit when we chatted early on skype.

Not to be outdone by the new little man who is just as fashionable! Xander is sporting what we are calling the 'Mr Shue' outfit! Does he not remind you of Mr Shue on Glee? Haha.

Sunday we had a quiet afternoon at home doing some laundry while we watched some of the 9/11 specials on tv. It really is different watching those when you have visited New York in person. Especially to walk steps from where it all happened.

I went to bed early watching the MTV music awards only to fall asleep, haha. What was up with the meat dress Lady Gaga? All I could think was, ew! Xander... well turns out he like Justin Bieber... or maybe he is plotting his take over as the next pop star from Canada... lol.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Then this morning was the big day! I got up early to get ready, gather all the forms and cheques I needed to bring. Got Ariel up and dressed, hair done and did the same for Xander. We got out the door and took our time walking to school. Ariel was a tad confused at first, I think forgetting she was going to a new place this year. It was for a moment like she was not happy, but soon was eager to get there and see some friends.

When we walked in the first people we saw was Ariel's friend from ballet class! She was so excited and so the girls will see each other 4 times a week as they are in the same ballet group again too. Soon all the other kids started to arrive, lots of them! Such a change from our class of 10 last year, we are double that here. Takes a moment to get use to.

Came in and Ariel found her name tag and went right to playing. Of course she went to cut and glue first. She sat happily creating a big sticky mess smiling away. Haha.

Then after a quick wash up was at the sand table, although she wasn't pleased she couldn't make a sand castle because it wasn't wet sand. She made her way to almost every station and was in pure happiness. She was eager to clean up the room for circle time (strange how its fun to clean up at school and not at home ... hmm) Ariel loved the new song she learned about the monkeys and the crocodile and sang it at dinner for Daddy.

I got a friend to snap a quick picture of Ariel and I together, although Ariel was a tad embarrassed, haha. My big girl, I can't believe how fast she is growing up! Sniff!

After class we hit the bookstore so I could get the newest book I need for book club. We are reading A Reliable Wife by Rick Goolrick, which I am looking forward to. Then got some new boots for me and then a cookie for the troops after a good first day at school. Xander enjoyed his first 'bakery' cookie. Mommy's big boy, sniff. Why are these kids growing up so fast?!

Well, with the internet back up that means I can get my work finally done. Lots to do in the next 24 hours... hoping I can get on top of it... might be an early morning tomorrow.

One More Sleep

Project 365 -Day 255

The clothes are laid out for tomorrow morning... Ariel's first day of preschool for this year! We have been eagerly waiting for this day... Ariel especially!

Oh look I have internet at the moment... who knows how long it will last so I will make the most of it. Sigh! Looking forward to the repair guy coming tomorrow afternoon and maybe I'll get some answers finally. Its been 'stressful' to say the least, mostly because I am in a time crunch with getting work things done. Not to mention its almost been like its on a weird timer. The internet would be working early morning and then roughly about 2pm daily (yes DAILY!) it would stop.

All this week I was forcing myself up early at 530am so I could get my work, email etc done and the lack of sleep was taking its toll. After coming home from a birthday party with the kids I saw it was off again and grabbed the phone to call customer service yet again... this time was different though. I started yelling... yes, I lost my cool. Badly! Although, I will say I keep apologizing while I did saying it wasn't the service person's fault but that I had enough and was really angry. I basically ended up hanging up and collapsing into a pile of tears on the floor. It was more than the stupid internet not working, it was the early mornings, the long days alone as Ken was at the animation festival all week and cranky Ariel who wanted to be at school. Mommy had a meltdown.

Ariel hugged me and said 'don't cry, your my mother!' Haha, I hugged her, got her a snack and let her watch a movie, then got Xander to sleep and had a good talk with Kara after I texted her that I was a crazy person. I felt better and had a quiet time with a slice of cake... hmm cake.

Look for a big blog tomorrow (internet willing) about Ariel's first day of school, her haircut and our weekend fun! Yay!

9/11

Project 365 - Day 256

After going to New York this summer one thing I wanted to see was Ground Zero... it was huge and it really put the size of this attack in perspective. I remember that day, waking up to the news of a burning building in NY, watching the footage all day at work and then Ken coming home stunned and scared for his friends that he had living there. Its one of those 'remember where you were' moments.... I pray for those that died that day.

Pumpkin Party

Project 365 - Day 253

Finally got around to decorating for fall, yay! My little family of pumpkins grew by one, the little glass one is from our trip to Michigan.

Snails

Project 365 - Day 252

While at the quilt today I happened to notice this little guy on the shelf... did you know they had 'fabric snails'? This type of snail I could live with. Hee.

The Internet Can Eat My Shorts!

Project 365 - Day 251

So our internet is being a royal pain in the bottom.... its really beginning to get on my nerves, especially since I have lots of work to do for Imagine That, mainly the website and emailing people... well gosh that isn't working. In the past few days its been on half days - early in the morning and then off by early afternoon... the guy isn't coming to look at it till Monday, booooo. So expect some 'early' posts if any for the next little bit. Blah! Bart Simpson had it right, eat my shorts Internet!

A question for You?

Project 365 - Day 250

A tisket, a tasket a little tiny basket... hehe, sorry. Ariel and I picked this little basket up at the dollar store for her Halloween costume this year... any ideas of what she is going to be?

FernGully

Project 365 - Day 249

So we finally saw Avatar today. Yeah, I know, old news, but when it was first out Ken was busy writing his book and had no time for going out to movies. So on this rainy holiday Monday, we dropped the kids off with Grandpa and went out to see the blue creatures everyone talked about months ago. It was fun, and I will be honest it was an enjoyable film... however, its a total rip off of FernGully. Seriously, I was laughing it was so much like it, and then I realized it was a lot like Dances with Wolves too. Oh well, everything is really a rip off of something else, but we had fun. The glasses gave me a bit of a headache, a reason I really dislike 3d movies in general, but it was nice to have an afternoon with hubby and plus we had gift certificates, woot!

Tomorrow is the beginning of school for everyone... except us! Boo!!! Ariel starts next week and we are counting the days, she is eager to go and so is mommy! Haha. She needs her 'special' time with kids her age, she misses it and although we have had a wonderful summer its time for routine! So while everyone is going to class, we will be setting up our fall decor and counting the days till we can start too!

Oops

Totally forgot to add Xander's slide show to the last post... so here ya go! Oh, and the opening bit if you don't get it is a part from Superman... Ken has wanted to do that since we found out we were having a son... yep we are nerds!

Xander's 1st Year from Jay Priebe on Vimeo.

Turtle Party!

Project 365 - Day 248

My big find this weekend, sweet corn! We have had it several nights now, yummy!!!

So last night was the big birthday party and it went so well and was so much fun! Everyone who came had a wonderful time and Xander stayed awake and happy the whole time, woo hoo! First off here is the invitation I made. My friend at Precision Graphics printed these out as a gift to Xander. So special and they are adorable! I recreated the plaid pattern from his shorts for the detail on the sides for a classy look.

1st birthdays are usually about 'us' really, lets face it, haha. The babies have no idea what is going on really and so we did what we did with Ariel, lots of friends and good food. Nothing beats that! The appetizers were a hit, lots of turtles however I could sneak it in. Hehe. The turtle bread and turtle from the mini watermelon were cute touches.

The funniest thing Xander did at his party was starting to crawl away from the group and I called after him saying 'hey where are you going' to which he turned around and waved bye bye! Haha, too cute!

Our favors and big treat for our guests was ordering personalized Jones soda. We got 3 flavors in green, blue and brown to match our colors. A huge hit with everyone!


Not to mention a hit with the birthday boy himself!


When we first started talking about a turtle party for Xander Dad had mentioned having the chocolate turtles... oh yeah, they were there! Haha. Thanks for coming, take a turtle!


Dinner was served, a delicious turkey dinner as we head into fall. Yummy! Nothing beats a turkey bun with stuffing and gravy... drool.

Then came Xander's first story! Click HERE to see it.

Here are the cakes, the big one and the smash cake! The figures on the big cake were part of a broken mobile I kept hoping to reuse. The topper on Xander's little cake was made by my friend Katie. She made it so once he was done being on the cake that he had a turtle to sit on top of. (Pictured above with the chocolate turtles)

Xander wasn't so sure about the cake. In face he poked it, tasted the icing but that was about it. He wasn't that into it, but then he isn't much for sweets, he is more into salts... aka his love for potato chips, haha.

Our little guy got spoiled and as I thought, Ariel did have a hard time when it came to the gifts. Its the first time only Xander got presents so she did want to open things and play with them first. Ah the joys of 2 kids! We got her helping which helped, but it doesn't help that she is still overtired from the time change... still can't believe we just got home 4 days prior. Gack!

Some of the gifts Xander got were clothes, wooden toys, fun cars, firehouse play-set, airplane and books. A very special gift was from Stella and Jack, a beautiful quilt! Stella had worked on this in secret from me, although I remember seeing the pattern in a magazine and falling in love with it. So beautiful and will be great in his room.

Then came the big box from Grandpa and Rita... and like on the Price is Right... it was a NEW CAR! Yes, it was the coolest car I have ever seen, and Xander was in love... in fact I think we all were in love with this one. Wow, so cool, I never seen anything like it before. He got it locally too! Wow!!!


We said good bye and packed up to come home. We were all so tired we hit the hay early. Then this morning we got to go to church, something we have missed the past few weeks while being away. Looking forward to the new things we are going to be involved with this year in the children's ministry. Yay!

Tomorrow is a holiday and I think I am going to see Avatar with Ken on the Imax screen. Frankly the movie itself does not interest me, I hate 3d movies but its an afternoon break date for us and I will take it. Haha.