What a GREAT Day!!

It was such a beautiful sunny day today that after lunch and nap times we headed out for a Sunday drive. I snapped some photos and we went down roads we've never been on before. The kids were great and we decided that since we had a gift certificate, we'd go to Pizza Delight for supper.

We had a great server named Kate who was the best! When my lasagna was going to come out later than Marko's order she offered us a free desert! And when our garlic fingers came out without the bacon she got us a second order for free! When they didn't have honey for Sean's chicken nuggets she brought out little dishes of nearly every other sauce they had so he would have something to dip his nuggets in. Sean and Emma-Lyn did great. Sean even shared his toys with some other children he met in the little play room.

Yesterday on the other hand had been quite different. Sean got up in the morning and just wasn't himself. He looked pretty pale and he was all sorts of snuggly, which just isn't him. He is much more of a go, go, go guy. I thought something was up but didn't pay much mind just carried on. I got him his breakfast which he didn't eat much of, but he did down 2 and a half glasses of milk in less than 20 minutes. Afterwards he just wanted to sit with me and then out of no where he just threw up all over my lap. When it seemed it was going to keep up for awhile, I quickly ran him to the bathroom.

He felt much better afterwards but the odd thing was that his lips remained a fairly bluish colour for most of the day. He is back to his old self today and seems no worse for wear, so we're all pretty pleased about that.

Emma-Lyn in her big girl car seat. She's also in a booster seat at the table now...She is growing up soo fast!
Sean is now in a booster seat in the car! He too is just growing up so fast!

Charlottetown Harbour.

Tea Hill

Tea Hill again.

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Honestly, I just don't know where I'd be if it weren't for the help of my friends. So often they call just when I need them, they show up just when I need them, they send stuff just when I need it! :)

You all remember the last time I locked myself and the kids out of the house right? (Don't worry, I haven't done it again.) Well, one of my friends decided that enough was enough and it was time for an intervention. Something had to be done to help me remember to bring my keys with me whenever I went out. My best friend from high school was just that person...Here she is:
Nice chapeau no? Anyways, this is Crystal, she reads the ol' blog and apparently would like it very much if I would stop locking myself out! So she took matters into her own hands, bought me a University of Western Ontario lanyard (basically a long loop that goes round your neck that you can attach stuff to.)

Now she did this all unbeknown to me. Now this is where things got interesting...'Cause one day out of blue, I got a call from Connelly Financial Services asking to verify my street address. (This happened in the middle of our whole car escapade and trying to work things out with insurance so I thought that it had something to do with that) When I called Connelly back they just mentioned that one of their clerks had received a package of mine and wanted to bring it to me. Good enough, so I verified my address and was anxiously anticipating this mysterious package. Two days passed and still no package, so I called Connelly again and got to talk to my next door neighbour, turns out he was the clerk and was just so busy that he couldn't run the package over but if I wanted to, I could slip over to the house and his wife would be there to let me have the package. (He also admitted to opening the package before realizing that it wasn't for him...)

All of this is all well and good. Sean was up and Emma-Lyn was napping so he and I ran over to the neighbours to get the package! The wife was just about to head out the door herself and quickly grabbed the package and gave it to me with a chuckle and apologized for opening it. Sean and I quickly ran back home and I finally got to open my package...Instantly I recognized Crystal's handwriting and wondered what she could have mailed to me...thankfully she wrote a couple clues on the back of the envelope... She said something along the lines of" "Here's something so you won't lock yourself out again, the kids might try to strangle you with it..."
I can only imagine what my neighbours were thinking when they read that part!! I pulled out the lanyard and just started to laugh, a little embarrassed laugh but still a laugh...Thanks again, Crystal! I have it on my key chain and think of you whenever I head out!! :)

Let Her Eat Cake!!

Eating Cake from lauraperic on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday to Emma-Lyn

Birthday Cake Time!! from lauraperic on Vimeo.

My Little Ol' Blog Has Won Another Award!!

Amazing what you learn when you pop over to a friend's blog! My good friend Kim has honoured me with the following award:

Isn't that just the cutest?! Kim is the mother of three wonderful boys and you can learn all about them at Kim's blog, Five's A Party Thank you so much Kim! I would like to give this award to two of my good friends. First to Melissa MacKay, because I miss her and her daughter and am ever so thankful that she updates her blog and I can get my MacKay fix! You can visit her and her family at Menita's Mommy's Musings And I'd also like to give this award to Bonnie MacDonald since she has taken up the blogging torch once again and I'd like to encourage her! She has a whole new look to her blog and plans on posting once a week. Why don't you pop on over and take a look, her blog is called A Moment in Time

I have a couple of videos I took from Emma-Lyn's birthday that I'm trying to get uploaded...not sure when that will get done.

Oh, and Crystal in case you're wondering..I will be posting your story soon...I haven't forgotten :)

Just Some Random Party Shots...Oh and One Photo of Our New Car

Sean and Abby were ever so happy when Brian arrived! It was time to tackle Brian Mountain in whatever means possible!

"Did I come in a box like this too?!!"

"Hmmm, now just how do I get this thing to work anyways?!"

"There had better be Smarties in here somewhere or I'm gonna make a mess in my diaper like never before!!"

And this would be our new car! We are so happy to be back in our own Civic and have everything cleared up with insurance and what not.

And if they weren't climbing on him, they were sitting on him!

And then it was Bonnie's turn to be sat and played on!

Good times!!

Isn't Hannah just ultra-adorable?! I just LOVE her smile!

The Party!

What a day we had! Emma-Lyn woke up to find presents waiting for her in the living room. Both she and Sean loved playing with her new toy. She liked her new outfits, but especially loved her Smarties!! (Sean also enjoyed sharing these with her!)

That afternoon Bonnie and the girls dropped over and we had a lovely visit! We invited the MacDonalds to come with us to McDonalds which was the best idea I had all day. The kids LOVED it and I think the parents had a mighty fine time too! Emma-Lyn got right into her cake as you'll see in the pictures. While she didn't hold her piece of cake to her mouth for a solid minute like her brother, she did make a pretty fine mess all over her face...and the table...and the floor...I was so thankful to be at McDonalds and not have to worry about getting everything cleaned up!

Sean and Abby had a really great time climbing and sliding in the Playplace. They just wanted to keep on going and going and going. All of the kiddos did amazing at the restaurant. I was really pleased with how well Sean handled himself. No fussing at all and even once we got home he was doing great. Needless to say as soon as his little head hit the pillow he was off to dreamland!

So, yeah my baby girl isn't really a baby anymore...*sniff* Must be time for another one!! LOL (yes, that is a joke)



Me and my big girl.

Emma-Lyn with her favourite treat!

My little Russian princess. Emma-Lyn got this outfit from Grammie Peric over the summer but it didn't really fit but now it fits beautifully. There is a headress that goes with it but there was just no getting that on her head no how!

CAKE TIME!!

Oh yeah, that's the good stuff!!

My Baby Girl is ONE!!!

Where did the time go?! I just love this little girl and can hardly believe how much she has changed in just one year. It's remarkable just to go back through the pictures to see how her personalty has really blossomed through the year. She is just such a little sweet heart! I couldn't imagine our little family without her. Sean loves her and is really enjoying her now that she can kinda play with him.

She has been such an easy baby even from the beginning. She would eat and sleep and not even poop for the most part (just so you know, girly is making up for lost time in that department!!!) I love getting down on her level because as soon as she sees you she'll make a bee line for you and pretty much melt into your arms. (I LOVE IT!!) She loves to take Sean's toys from him just to see what he'll do about it. She LOVES Smarties!! She babbles a LOT and is saying a lot of Mom, Mom and Da Da. So sweet. She has four teeth all trying to come in at the same time which is making things interesting to say the least. When Sean is running around the apartment, she does her best to keep up with him and when she can't, she'll stay in one spot and just squeal as he goes by. She loves to be held and will sit and play with a toy in your lap. She does NOT love or even really tolerate all that well having her nose wiped!! I love to pick her up and hold her close just to smell her, she just smells so sweet...unless of course she's just pooped and then she doesn't smell quite so good. She has a very mischevious little smile! (especially when she's snitching Smarties!!) She is a squealer, she loves to squeal in delight, in dissatisfaction, for any reason at all, really. She's just so tiny! And those eyes, they're so big and so blue!

Oooh, I could go on and on and on...but the bottom line is this, she is the most precious little baby girl in the world to me. I love her so very much!

Here she is just minutes old.

How adorable is this?!

Love those big blue eyes!

What a ham!! Taking after her brother already!

Sweet, sweet baby girl.

For her birthday, we're going to open presents in the morning and then for supper we're going out to McDonalds. Sean is looking forward to playing in the playarea! And then we heading home for some yummy cake!

I Made My Own Laundry Detergent!!

Ooooh, the exciting life I lead eh? Making my own laundry detergent and all. It's a thing that my mom got me on to. She had been making the stuff for us and lugging it over here on visits. Then she realized that it would be good if I did the making part myself :) So on my birthday or thereabouts they gave us the present of a 5 gallon bucket filled with the ingredients I'd need to make my own soap. Also they sent along some more of their own homemade soap.

We're just at the tailend of that soap so the other day I thought I'd give it a go! Sean was thrilled. He wanted to help ever so badly. He stayed by my side as I melted my soap on the stove. He accompanied me to the bathroom where I filled my 5 gallon bucket up to the 3 gallon mark with hot water. And as he gazed at the quickly filling bucket, he muttered, "Gramma Hope sure will be pleased your putting stuff in her bucket!" I grined and thought, oh yes, Gramma Hope will be ever so pleased about that! :)

So just in case you too would like to start making your own laundry detergent, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

sm. bar of Ivory or Sunlight Soap
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax

Method:

1. Shave soap into slivers

2. Put in saucepan with 5 cups water bring just to a boil, stir until all is melted

3. Pour 3 gallons hot water into a 5 gallon container

4. Pour melted soap mixture into 5 gallon container, stir well

5. Add 1/2 cup washing soda, stir until dissolved

6. Add 1 cup Borax, stir until dissolved

7. Let stand overnight, will gel when cool. Will be lumpy and watery

8. Use 1/2 cup per load

**Cost to make batch 79 cents (enough for 110 loads) Cost per load less than a penny!!**

The Power of the Puppet

So do you remember this sweet picture of Sean?
This is Sean holding up his Frosty the Snowman puppet. When I bought this puppet, I just thought it was cute and that Sean would like it. I did not think that this would have such a big effect on Sean. Did I mention that I only paid a dollar for this toy?!!

He LOVES Mr. Snowman. I put Mr.Snowman on my hand, use a silly voice and voila you have a totally enthralled 3 year old. Now, I remember loving puppets as a kid. I especially loved it when my sister would play puppets with me. She had the best voices and made everything funny and silly, which is exactly how a little sister would want it!

I don't even have to be silly with Mr. Snowman and Sean responds with enthusiasm. He loves to tickle and be tickled by Frosty. He tells Frosty everything he's doing and wants to know everything about Frosty...like where he lives, which just happens to be under one of our end tables. And of course he wants to take Frosty everywhere. And Frosty has some pretty great powers, sometimes he's just the thing to get Sean motivated to put his shoes on, or clean up his toys or brush his teeth! I LOVE Frosty too!!

New Year's Eve Fun!

Okay, so good times on New Year's Eve!! Our good friends, Mike and Nancy hosted our gang's celebration festivities! There were games, lots of food, some singing and some fighting. I mean what is a good New Year's Eve party without a little fighting?!!

My favourite part was playing Catch Phrase. It's a fast paced word game that keeps you on your toes. For one of my turns I got the word SCARE (your goal is to get your team to guess your word) So I leaned over to Penny and basically screamed "BLAH" at her...yep that scared her alright! She was scared and laughing all at the same time. My team guessed my word correctly and then it was Penny's turn. She was still trying to compose herself after her hilarious fright.

The fighting was also fun. It was boxing on the Wii. I have one shot that I dearly love, since it really captures the intensity of the game. Bonnie was going all out to beat the snot out of Jennie...good times.

After people tuckered themselves out on Boxing, Mike set up Rockband and a few of strutted our stuff playing the guitar, or the drums or singing... It was great. I tried out the drums and the guitar. I wanted to do well on the drums...but I pretty much stank. I did okay on the guitar and really enjoyed it, so that was good!

By now it was getting pretty late, we had rung in the new year and the blizzard was making it's presence known so we decided then to hightail it home before it got too bad. The storm lasted the night and dumped a heapinsfull of snow on us. They kept the plows off the road until the wind died down. We were going to visit with Jennie's family for dinner but there was no way anyone was going anywhere! So we stayed in and enjoyed a quiet New Year's day. Sean helped me take down all the Christmas decorations. I love putting them up early and taking them down early too!

I have a couple other fun stories about the kids but I'm going to keep them for another post. Here are a couple pics from New Year's Eve.


Here are all the girls! From the back Lto R are: Beth Robertson (Bonnie's sister), Bonnie MacDonald, Jennie MacKinnon, Me. Front L to R are: Penny Carew and Nancy Thomas.

Marko and Troy letting out their inner Rock Star!!

And this is Penny, the one I scared the snot out of...:)

And Bonnie going all out to knock Jennie out...While Bonnie had all kinds of effort, concentration and heaps of enthusiasm, Jennie would take her down in the end. Good Match girls!!