January Re-Cap

A January Project - mid completion - reading nook!

I would be remiss if I didn't continue on with the trend of my monthly blog posts summarizing the month.

January was full of:

Sickness. Since December we've been battling non-stop sickness in our household. Friends invited us away for a weekend at a ski resort. At the last minute they couldn't make it due to a health issue but couldn't cancel on such short notice and told us to go without them anyway. We spent our family weekend away, all but one of us (the likely culprit who started the chain of sickness the weekend prior) battling a nasty stomach bug at different points throughout the weekend. There was only minimal time spent enjoying amenities. It was all sorts of terrible but on the plus side, I can check winter family vacation off our 2016 goals list.

Activity. Between skating once/week in addition to extra time gearing up for a competition at the end of the month (we won a medal!) and learning to snowboard, I was out at least 2-3 times/week doing fairly rigorous physical activity. I haven't been so active (nor felt so in shape) since I was in my early teens. I'm really loving it. 4 of us, minus a sweet baby, were also able to sneak away for an evening at the ski hill. So awesome! Can't wait until next year when we can get Noah on skis. Our oldest son has also been enjoying Improv lessons!

Relaxation. There was a bit of a lull at work which was so nice. We also made some library trips. I swapped off taking each of the older boys. I've been consistently reading before bed most nights. I'm a non-fiction lover for the most part but I'm trying to force myself to pick up some fiction too. At one point, I had a whole week without any evening commitments aside from one evening of snowboarding lessons and it was nice. We ate good healthy dinners and got to bed in good time.

Giving our home attention. We splurged and made a number of changes around our house. Moved furniture, bought some new furniture, sorted and hung pictures. This is going to be a priority in February too. Once the nice weather comes, our weekends are mostly spent away so winter is the perfect time to make changes at home.

Career development. I met another milestone on my path to certification in my field of work. I should be fully certified by this summer. I'm just waiting on confirmation of eligibility to write my final professional exam - hopefully this Spring. I was able to meet with my boss in early January to discuss 2016 work plan goals and professional development goals. This month I also got back into using LinkedIn which I hadn't really used much in the past and have been growing my connections there.

Competition dressing room selfie! Loving being involved in sports again! 

3 brothers fort building on a dreary winter day

Organizing the gift wrapping bin

Basement lighting + iPhone = poor photo but the gift wrapping supplies are slightly more organized 

Do you reuse gift bags? Do you have a storage system for them?

I started saving gift bags/wrapping after my very first baby shower. I'm pretty sure I have enough baby themed gift bags to last me every baby shower I ever have to attend and then some. After Christmas a couple of years later I found a wrapping paper Rubbermaid container on sale. Fast forward a few more years and my bin looked like this (minus the two smaller bins to the left):

My bin was so disorganized that I found myself stopping off at the store a couple times in the last few months out of "convenience" to grab gift wrap. With the boys' birthdays coming up and my nesting instinct in full swing, organizing my gift wrapping supplies was the perfect 30 minute project to make me feel like I got something big accomplished.

First step was roaming around my basement in search of unused/underused storage containers since part of my organizational problem stemmed from the fact that I had more supplies than what fit in the bin. Once I found a few other bins, I gave them a wash in the laundry tub and was ready to sort. Some of the really well used bags went in the garbage.

I now have an entire medium sized bin dedicated to gift bags, a small container with tissue paper,  a smaller bin with tape and some small rolls of ribbon, and a fairly neat stack of unused cards and cards to repurpose all in one spot. I even found a bag of balloons which will come in handy for the boys' birthday party in a couple of months.

I also reuse cards and recycle them into gift tags or other little projects. Extreme? It actually saves a bunch of time and money. Now I have no excuses to buy more gift wrapping supplies!

Upping the Curb Appeal

Last summer we built a deck in our back yard.

I'm all about doing renovations where the kids won't beat them up..too badly. So we set out to give our exterior a little face lift. DH got to work as soon as I brought some materials home so I couldn't get a decent before shot but the first one is with just the doorbell and part of the numbering replaced.

The (somewhat) Before:

The After:

- Tarnished gold house numbers replaced ($18) - $6 a piece for stainless ones to match our door hardware
- Crappy door bell replaced ($8) - new one even has a "fancy" light up button
- 2 new outdoor light fixtures ($34) - noticed the price was higher for the black fixtures than the white at Home Depot and asked the guy and sure enough he marked them down for me
- Paint for front door, garage doors, and trim ($50). Had a couple brushes and a roller kicking around.

Sorry the photos are only of the front door. The garage looks great too but the front entrance really looks much better now.

Of course taking down the Christmas lights in April is something you can always do absolutely free and will greatly help in this department.

Breakfasts and breakfast dinners

In our house sometimes we have breakfast food for breakfast and sometimes we have breakfast food for dinner. Sometimes even for lunch.

Some time ago.. I used to be pretty high strung and particular. I let a lot of little silly things bother me like when my stuff broke or things didn't go my way. I'd dwell on it. After the first baby came along, I found my attitude dramatically changed. At first, I was very into instructing DH on the particulars of how to care for the baby. We'd both get frustrated. I'd commiserate with friends of mine who were just like me.  They would declare that their husbands too weren't hard wired the same for looking after the house or kids and just couldn't do things the way they did it. I started to notice a pattern after a bit. While I was still having the same arguments with my own husband, complaints from others dwindled. My friends had thrown in the towel and decided to just take on all the "work" themselves. I had to make one of two decisions.. follow suit and stop complaining or just stop complaining.

I opted for the second choice. No way did I want to have to cook the meals every night just because DH isn't as creative as I am in the meal department or do all the laundry because I think that I fold more neatly. Nor did I want to have to put the toddler and the baby to bed just because the toddler liked my bedtime routine of 2 books better than DH's 1 book (he's not a reader). It was taking so much effort to micromanage that I was miserable even when the tasks were getting done in the way I wanted them to. I was resentful that I was doing the majority of the "work" while DH got to have "fun" with the kids. I don't love cleaning.  I don't love doing everyones laundry on my weekends off. And I don't particularly like coming home to hungry kids after work and starting dinner late just because I like the way I make a meal. So... I let DH do half of it and I don't complain if we have to eat grilled cheese and pizza because it is his night to cook or the laundry isn't perfectly folded. I just shut up because at least I didn't have to do it and in the end, everyone is happy, healthy, and safe. Bonus: my new motherhood "meh!" attitude has meant that I no longer have many complaints at all when the girls complain about the tolls of being an overworked mother and wife. DH and I split most of the household tasks pretty evenly these days (lately he has been doing more with the house and the kids because of my schoolwork) but only because I let him do things and don't complain about it.

Also, being more easygoing has meant that I tend to see the humour or the bright side of things a lot more. Imagine my surprise the other night when I mentioned I wasn't feeling well and DH offered to pick up groceries if I gave him the list. I was so happy with a) the offer and b) when he told me that he had picked everything up on the list and then some for less than the budget I given him. Of course letting go a little bit means that on a Sunday night when you're preparing the ingredients for quiche and realize that you don't have pie shells because it turns out DH didn't get EVERYTHING on the list then you might need to get a little more creative. We just made loaded scrambled eggs and grilled cheese with bacon and avocado instead. The boys probably liked it better than the quiche anyway.

 After going through a big phase of decluttering and getting rid of unnecessary small kitchen appliances, I was a bit disheartened to end up with a waffle maker in our family Christmas swap. But you know the old saying, if life hands you lemons make lemonade. Life handed us a waffle maker so waffles we made. This particular waffle maker came with sticks so you could make waffle sticks for dipping (pictured above). It wasn't too much of a pain to clean and I just used the store bought Presidents Choice Organic Pancake Mix. Looks like a much healthier alternative to the store bought freezer waffles the boys have been eating lately. I could even make a double batch on weekends and freeze the waffles to make our very own toaster waffles.

A new appliance - yes this is a post about being frugal and saving money

Of course our dishwasher would kick the can on the week where I declare we are tightening the belt and committing to pay off our $64,000 in debt over the next 4.5 years. When we moved into our new house, we brought along our fridge from our old house (the one kitchen appliance we had needed to upgrade from the hand me downs we received). Our new house came with the kitchen appliances so we inherited a newer gas stove and a dishwasher that we assume is as old as the house (10 years). We gave the surplus fridge to our in-laws for their cottage to replace a 1950’s fridge. Below is a pic of our inherited dishwasher ready to go for scrap. 

Over the past month DH and I have been talking about how upgrading the dishwasher would be nice but isn’t really a priority. The original owners did not opt for the kitchen upgrade so we have a very generic but functional kitchen. Our counter top is hideous by my standards. Not just the horrible green colour, it has a gouge out of it in the corner. Who knows why the previous owners did this. There is also some “gunk” build up that just cannot be cleaned fully around the sink. Thus my first priority for this kitchen would be a new counter top. However, as fate would have it... we were forced to get a new dishwasher instead.

 I was completely pumped and feeling very mustachian when my hubby called to say that he had fixed the dishwasher’s electrical component problem, only to find when I got home that the seal had also rotted off which meant that water from the load poured out all over the floor. GAH. Remembering a post I had read recently about Mr. Money Moustache picking up decent used appliances for his rental house off of Craigslist, I suggested to DH that we go that route first so he got down to business searching for a used dishwasher on Kijiji (similar to Craigslist). Score. We were able to find one for $80 which is much newer than our 10 year old dishwasher. The sellers were getting rid of it because they had bought a whole set of new appliances for a kitchen renovation. $420 adverted (the average cost of a dishwasher is $500 around here). I know you can get one for about half that price. I know this because we bought one for our old house for $250. It worked fine but was mighty loud. Just another one of those lifestyle trade-offs I guess. I am happy to say our new “friend” is quieter than our last dishwasher and MUCH quieter than our $250 generic brand first dishwasher. It even has a time delay which will come in handy since we have time of use electricity pricing. *Note the lovely green counter top :o) 

Finding an equitable balance in the home

Man does this post from Feeding the Soil ever resonate with me. Finding an equitable balance in the home sure is tough, especially when one person is "working" in the home. In my particular situation, I have found the hubby is much more willing to take on a larger share of the domestic tasks when I am not at home 100% of the time. I have also learned that in order for me to avoid feelings of resentment towards domestic tasks/child rearing, I need to spend some time "working" - or in my case doing coursework - outside the home.

This is a topic that I'm always curious to hear about how others divide the tasks in their households. Do other women find that they end up doing the lion's share of the domestic chores as well as raising the children as SAHMs? Does being a SAHM mean working around the clock and always being on call for nighttime feedings, pee accidents, and middle of the night sickness episodes?

When DH and I got married we had to take a preparation course in order to get married in the church. We learned that the #1 cause of all fights in the household in marriages is over the division of household tasks. In this day and age where household roles are not so cut and dry along gender lines, running a household sure is complicated.

Rainy Days

On rainy days we spend our time...

• baking - cut out cookies are a hit as cookie cutters are fun


• constructing elaborate structures for marble runs


• visiting the library (this afternoon we will try to find some books on being a "big brother")


• gently tossing a ball to eachother


• catch is the latest and greatest new game


• sometimes settling on the couch for some Caillou or Thomas


• building and re-building Mr.Potatohead

I'm enjoying these last few days with my little boy before he becomes my big boy. The midwives think baby might arrive in the next 2 weeks. We'll see. Some slight nesting has been going on here.. hospital bag packed, all essential supplies purchased...also..we are signing the paperwork to list our house tomorrow evening!

The Big Brother of Almost 3!

I used to use this blog space as almost a journal to keep track of B's development. I now realize that I have been lacking a "journal-type" post as of late.

At almost 3 (end of April)

My "little" guy is really growing up..

- He is pretty darn near fully potty trained (FINALLY) we still have the occasional accident at school during playtime but none at home and a usually dry sleep

- On that note - has graduated to the next class up at Montessori with the "big kids". He absolutely loves it and never looks back at me anymore when I drop him off

- Very concerned about what is right and what is wrong and often tells us. He also provides constant reminders/prompts to mommy and daddy such as "are you driving the speed limit?"

- Extremely excited to be a big brother and calls his impending sibling "my baby"

- Enjoys sleeping in his new big boy bedroom in a bunkbed - still goes to bed between 7-7:30 and wakes up somewhere between 5:30 (YES 5:30) and 6:30 no fail..every morning. Although I'd rather him be an early riser than late to go down. It does also make the school drop offs much easier since he has a little while to wake up before we leave the house

- A big "helper". Loves to help daddy do almost anything..especially things that involve a hammer

- Also likes to stick things (small pieces of crayon) in his ear which we recently discovered after visiting the doctor for another issue

- Favourite activities include: Swimming Lessons with Grandma, colouring with crayons, watching Caillou, reading (this kid tries to sneak books in his bed when he is supposed to be sleeping - we have to remove the books from the bedroom)

- Favourite foods: Will eat nearly anything you put in front of him..veggies too except sweet potato and squash although we're working on it. Yogurt, fruit of any sort, cheerios, peanut butter and crackers or toast, spaghetti, pizza, and McDonalds fries seem to be hits these days.

In other news.. Baby #2 is doing well. Extremely active and my earlier placenta location issues seem to be resolving themselves nicely so yay for a likely uncomplicated birth. I have started taking pre-natal yoga which is awesome and I only have 3 weeks left of work. Oh yeah and a potential move is on the horizon.

Toys, Toys, Toys

One of the bloggers I read regularly recently featured a series of posts on "How We Do It" - I thought it was a great idea since everyone does things differently in their homes, it is nice to see different ways of running house without having someone tell you this is how it ought to be done. I decided to talk about toys since a number of visitors always comment on our house being rather "unconsumed" by kid paraphernalia. Maybe you're one of those people who cannot walk into a room in their house without seeing a number of toys either organized or strewn across the floor. At our house this is it....

Might I first say that our house is less than 1200 sq. feet which is "small" by today's starter home standards. We also don't have many closets or dedicated storage space and well since the rooms are small, sometimes it is difficult to fit in an extra piece of furniture to house toys.

Reasons why this system works for us:

• Aforementioned small house/lack of storage situation


• I don't like to dust - yet have bad allergies (dilemma) - and cleaning toys is pretty much last on my list of priorities - less toys means less toys to harbour bacteria and germs and ultimately less toys to clean


• Everything has its place and everything is easily seen. Before we had a toy bucket and only the items at the top were played with


• Toys don't end up in many rooms usually just the living room, adjoining hallway and kitchen and are always close to their "homes" when it comes time to clean up


• Less toys means less mess to clean up and since we always enforce a tidy prior to afternoon nap and bedtime, having fewer toys means a more manageable clean up for a 2 1/2 year old with a little bit of help from mom or dad if he's lucky


• The toys that are actually played with are limited to a wooden Thomas the Train Set (limited to as much track will fit in the small pink bucket), Mega Blocks (we had to buy an additional smaller bag - a $2 find at Value Village), about 1/2 bucket of Hot Wheels Cars (to drive on the train track - naturally), and occasionally the wooden puzzles and wooden tool set when mom and dad are around

I know many families have a toy room - we just don't have the additional space to have a dedicated toy room and since B likes to have us nearby while he plays, the living room is the natural play room of choice. Also..see ablove comment on not liking to clean.
What about they boy's bedroom? No toys there. There is a basket at the end of the bed which contains books for our nightly story - some of these books end up on the shelf in the living room from time to time.

I might have lied just a bit.. we do have a second small shelving unit for toys in the basement. When things aren't getting played with we rotate them up.

Other notes... the toy selection is going to go down even further 6 months from now as some space will need to be allocated for baby #2 as well! Also, we have bought very few toys for B. Most have been given to us second hand from families and friends. Since B has never seemed bored with what he has, we've never felt the need to go out and buy more toys. Also, many of our friends have rooms full of toys and their children only play with a few and make a mess with the rest.

How do others manage toys??

On Decluttering

Photo Credit: Miss Minimalist

Lately I have felt a real need to declutter my life. I'm beginning to feel trapped in my belongings. This desire has come along with my graduate school aspirations to do ethnographic research which would mean living in another place for a period of time. Consequently, I wouldn't be able to bring all the stuff I (we - husband included - although he has far less "stuff" than I) have accumulated over the past 6 years in various apartments and our current house.

Also, with a new babe coming this Spring. It only seems fitting to do some "spring cleaning" while sorting through all of B's old stuff in storage and since moving him into his Big Boy room. It also feels like I have so much more time on my hands since taking a leave from school this Winter.

It feels nice to let things go - freeing really. This weekend I sold our old dining room hutch which was taking up space amongst our new furniture, along with a mantel clock we've had kicking around but sadly no mantel to place it on. Although I loved the hutch - I felt no remorse when it went out the door.

I keep telling myself - only the essentials but alas it is a process. I'm very into this website on the topic.

Spring is indeed on its way..

What a BEAUTIFUL Saturday.

The past couple days we've had some real teething issues with Brendan. Consequently, he has been really needy. Hopefully some teeth will poke through soon!

Finally some good weather to get outside. This morning I sowed some of my seeds. I had to replant. I neglected my plants and unfortunately they did not make it. This time I will be more of a responsible gardener hehe.

This afternoon we jumped into the car and headed over to Heber Down. A local conservation area - our favourite around here. When we got there there was only 3 other cars. By the time we left, the lot was almost full! Even Jake got to run off his leash for a while. We had a good time.

Here is a picture of our new front loaders. I totally love them. Only problem is.. do natural detergents come HE compatible? I've been using one that isn't. However, apparently it can wreck your machine not using the HE stuff!