ocean.

steph’s shot.

incrediblehusband’s shot (he’s good, eh?)

to better things,

steph

 

ferry.

the ferry.

about to sail back home after a weekend on the island.

loving the sun.

(the only 15 minutes both ferry rides where we weren’t fogged in).

loving the sun!

 

to better things,

steph

 

christmas wrap-up.

christmas involved:

pie baking.

crazy amounts of snow.

hair long enough for a first ponytail.  and all the flipping of said hair.

reading the christmas story. a magical christmas eve.

my childhood dollhouse- renovated and regifted to toddlergirl.  (who gasped and clutched her hands to her heart upon seeing it).

incrediblehusband’s 30 birthday. (aka: christmas day). a wireless remote for my camera.  testing it out- fun!

playdoh cookie making with grandpa.

wii fun.

and a wintery drive to visit our friends.

to better things,

steph

snow. snow. snow.

serious snowman building.

 snow angel. toddlergirl & daddy.

starting a snow fight.

 family photo… toddlergirl runs away and laughs!

Christmas 2008 House Tour.

My friend, Shawna  encouraged us to post a  photo tour of  how we decorate our home for the holidays- which is a great idea!  I’m a little late in getting it posted, but here it is…

front entry way

(with garland made from leftover bits from the bottom of our 9 foot tree and a bazillion strong staples).  cost: tree bits=free, ornaments=$1.97 at walmart.

the hallway. 

the nativity set (a gift from the emerge c&c group)

my candle houses (a gift brought back from my parents when they were in lithuania)

 

toddlergirl’s nativity set.  because i think it’s important to have some ornaments kids can play with.

cost:  about $6 at the dollar store.

dining room.  (i must admit, i’m somewhat minimalist).

advent candles in centre of table.  cost: about $2 ikea, glass candle holders (wedding gift), kid dancing in left hand side of photo with a headband… priceless.

my edible decor.  i love decorating with what i’m already buying and using.  this week it’s green apples, limes and avocados.  next week- who knows?  maybe pomegranates and mandarins.

i believe anything in volume (lots) and repetition (lots of the same) can look beautiful.  for example: take 5-6 unwrapped white ivory, soap, put them in a huge apothecary jar in the bathroom and you have usable decor!  i even use cheerios and fruit loops in large, old fashioned glass jars in the kitchen as part of my decor.

dining room refurbished now-sideboard.

glass vase with red & silver balls (about $10), bright red vase (gift), black pedestal candle ($3 on sale at superstore), silver twig wreath ($12 superstore), assortment of white dishes (about $20 total on sale at homesense), real fruit (about $8)

cabinet in living room/dining room (which makes a handsome and handy liquor cabinet/table linens storage).

twig tree ($12 on sale at a grower’s nursery), reusable advent calendar (gift), jar with tealights (about $6) – which is super handy when needing to replenish candles throughout the house.  glass vase with red & silver ornaments ($20)

stockings.  we have a total of 4 (in creams & chocolate colors) and i hope to have them monogrammed with our initials for next year, once all members of our family have arrived

cost= $12 each stocking from superstore.  and they are well-made, quilted material.  we bought the matching chocolate brown tree skirt from superstore as well for $29. (i love superstore’s product design & merchandising lately!)

 

the tree.  each year i have visions of changing colour schemes, but i just can’t seem to do it!  i have to have a bright, cheerful red and crisp white with bits of silver here and there in order for it to be christmas-y.  we have a collection of incrediblehusband’s decorations from growing up (although the garfield ornament gets hung near the back of the tree- orange and black don’t match the rest!)  now we’ve carried on this tradition with toddlergirl.  she gets a new ornament every year- something to signify that year and what about it was special. 

cost:  real tree, 9 feet tall, blue spruce, smells great ($50 at home depot)

thanks for coming on a tour of our home at christmas! 

to better things,

steph

the tree.

 tree arrival.

tree. up.

breakfast at de dutch. our family tradition before decorating.

tree. decorate. 

tree. done!

5 things i’m loving right now: christmas edition.

1.  DRINKING (the hot variety):  celestial seasonings candy cane lane tea.  the name sounds a little over the top, but this tea is so good!  (and i’m a true coffee drinker).  peppermint, vanilla, orange peel, cinnamon, and hints of  blackberry- you can’t go wrong.   my mother was on a quest to stock up with this tea a couple of years ago (just after christmas) and i thought, “how good can it be really?”  if you’re a peppermint fan, it’s that good; really.

2.  more DRINKING (the cold beverage):  POM pomegranate juice.  if you like tart drinks- this stuff is delicious.  and being pregnant and all- the wine intake is very limited- so i’ve taken to drinking this with all sort of mocktail concoctions.  my favourite is pomegranate juice, pineapple juice, orange juice and a bit of gingerale.  this stuff is loaded with potassium and antioxidants- so it’s good for you too.

3.  LISTENING:  enya; and winter came.  her music is hauntingly beautiful.  “o come, o come emmanuel,”  is top of my playlist lately.

4.  EATING:  nonni’s biscotti.  specifically the “caramel latte” version.  goes especially well with above mentioned tea.

5.  DECORATING:  our nine foot christmas tree!  seriously… nine feet.  our ceilings are vaulted- and it was incrediblehusband’s goal to have this feat of tree-dom.  a photo to come soon. 

 

to better things,

steph

real zebras.

real zebras at the zoo.

we decided to get a family membership this summer and we’ve been making use of it.

more zebras.

a sleepy lion.

giraffe.

cute monkey.

the real monkey is starred.  the other monkey is also starred. incrediblehusband would run around the cage and the monkey would keep up with him running laps as well.  yes, that’s the stroller speeding along and incrediblehusband in mid-run.

 making friends with the marmoset.

fake zebras.

my dad had the idea to take us all to kinsmen park while we were in saskatoon.  it was a childhood memory revisited for me as my parents used to take us there as kids.  pretty much nothing has changed in 25 years…  (except the ticket price from 25 cents to a whole $1). 

toddlergirl loved the merry-go-round!

 it was hard to say goodbye.

pacifier detox: day 1.

toddlergirl has used a pacifier.  binky. soother. suckie.  whatever you may call it.  contraption of plastic crap.  for too long.  we’ve known this for awhile.  the time had come.  today was soother intervention.

we have known for sometime it had become a problem.  awhile back we made the rules for the soother “only at nap time/bedtime/or cuddling.”  toddlergirl was onto us and we’d see her with the soother mid-day.  we would ask for her to relinquish it.  she would jump into the nearest person’s lap and announce loudly that she “was cuddling!!”  “i’m cuddling!  i’m going to go to sleep!!!”  11am?  no way. 

the last three days our soother addict was showing signs of serious trouble.  incrediblehusband and i chatted.  a gradual moving away from the soother was not going to work.  it’s cold turkey with this kid.  she is rather stubborn, defiant, difficult, er… i mean strong minded, confident and creative.  so when you’re going to go to battle with this girl, you’d better be really  ready if you mean business.

the intervention began this morning after she woke up happy.  “soothers are for babies.  you’re a big girl.  let’s name all the big girl things you can do now…”  we realized that a reward would need to be given for giving up all the soothers.  (we have a collection of about 10 soothers).  toddlergirl agreed.  she would give up soothers for a special big girl toy.  we bought a fisher price set at costco and upon arrival at home (before any toy cellophane was ripped away), toddlergirl and i walked hand in hand through the house on a soother hunt.  ziploc bag ready to collect, we went on a search that was reminiscent to an easter egg hunt gone bad.  a sandwich bag full of little pacifiers was waved a special goodbye and daddy took it far and away.  gone.  for good. 

big girl toy was a hit.  she played with it for three hours solid.  when it was nap time there were many protests for a soother. raging. screaming. kicking. flailing. red faced tantruming.  i (amazingly) remained calm.  i treated her like the soother addict she is/was.  a lot of reassuring that it was certainly “hard to give it up”, but that she was doing “such a good job.”   in the end, the nap was forgotten about.  “no soother for her, then hmpf!  no nap either!” 

bedtime.  soother protests again. but she had made a deal with us (we shook hands in costco). and nighttime was met with minimal protests.  there was painful crying and salty tears of sadness, but she still had her rainbow dolly to cuddle with. 

the amazing thing was she fell asleep without the soother.  day 1.  done. 

mommy and daddy are feeling pretty happy.   of course, tomorrow is another day.

to better things,

steph

toddlergirl & rainbow dolly.