Dreaming of summer days

This is just a quick update and a little skittish, sorry.

We never left the house today. You would have had to pay us.
Instead we pretended it was summer and hung out in summer clothes indoors.
Aaaahhh, pretend bliss.

I think we have reached the 'are we there yet?' stage with Kaitlyn.
As I made dinner tonight she asked me every few seconds, "mommy, ready now?"
"No Kailyn, not yet, I am just boiling the potatoes."
Kaitlyn, "Ready now??"
Me, "No, I still have to drain them."
Kaitlyn, "Why?"
Me, "Well, I am going to mash them so we have to drain them."
Kaitlyn, "Oh, ready now?"

This went on and on throughout the whole dinner making process, right up till it was time to eat.
What a fun stage. ;)

We played 'hair salon' on "Suzie baby."

Em and Phil came over to give me a break and a chance to clean. And I did, like a mad woman on speed!
The floors are even vaccumed and washed!

Ethan is feeling like his normal mischevious self again and I am so glad! For the first time in weeks he wasn't hanging on to my leg or my neck all day, though he still dished out a generouse amount of hugs and winks.

He sang a few songs and pounded a few keys.
I am so glad we are getting better around here, finally, maybe our fake summer day did the trick.
Now if you noticed the new banner, I know it is a day early, but I have a few ideas for my Feb banner so I decided I might just swap them out. This one was just a rough sketch done as a trial run, so that is why it isn't pretty or anything.

Chatter.....brrrrr........ch..ch...ch...aaaaaaaaa!

I hate winter.

Have you ever had the snot on the inside of your nose freeze?
In less than a minute of being outside?

Well I have, today.

I do not mean to be a downer but I am sooo sick of it and being cold.
Despite Dave plugging in his truck last night and running it at midnight it did not start this morning, not even a chug or spatter. Frozen solid.

Then again, it is -53 degrees C out there!

He ended up trying to start my truck and despite not being plugged in the beast fired up, it is a monster!

I was worried about going out, Ethan had had a fever since 11pm last night and it continued off and on throughout the night and continued today.
I was worried that his ear infection was coming back but his fingers were in his mouth more than his ears and after feeling around in there I figure he is cutting molars. He is miserable and spent the whole day in my arms.
If he is not better in the morning we will have to brave the cold and get to a doctor, poor little man.

After work Dave tried to get his truck running again with no luck and we ended up towing it to my parents garage.

Boy we miss our old double attached garage!
Old areas are nice in the summer, pretty and eclectic, but in the winter, just cold and drafty!

Now let me tell you towing a vehicle was a new experience for me. We bundled up the kids, I drove the Durango and Dave steered his truck. It was weird and stressful, yet kinda fun to get out and have an adventure.

We made it there without incident and pushed his truck into the garage. Turned on a few heaters, one huge kerosene one and a little electric and let it thaw for a few hours.

It is cold, so cold that when you go to slow down at a red light the vehicle doesn't really slow to a crawl, it just kinda abruptly halts.
The screen doors slam hard and wood doors stick really bad.
Ice is growing on the windows and man holes are steaming then freezing over.

Going out into this cold is crazy, frostbite only takes moments and your limbs go numb if you are not in layers.
My face is still a little tender. I had frostbite on my cheeks as a teen walking to school in weather like this and to go out in it again was like an instant refresher. My cheeks where numb and so was my butt and legs. My snot was frozen in my nose and the tears that leaked from my eyes froze too.
I should have worn thermals and a scarf!!
I cannot believe that Dave was out working in this all day. Mind you he didn't have to run any cable outside, it snaps in this brutal of temp, but still, he is tough!!

And it is supposed to be colder tomorrow!

Why do we live here????

Here is the ice on my parents front door....on the inside.

After getting home we cranked the heat and guzzled hot chocolate. Mmmmm, noting like bringing back the warmth like a hot cup of cocoa!

With sprinkles and whipped cream and .... berries, hmmmm.

Painting, baking and running from Snowzilla

Wonder were I have been?

Well I have been crazy busy, having fun! I have been in the mood to paint and once the kids are in bed head straight for my canvas and brushes. I would normally paint and blog but these offspring's of ours just do not sleep!

We put them down between 9 and midnight....Ethan is out around 9 but Kaitlyn is a night owl. So by the time she is asleep I am left with nearly no time to do anything.

I will reveal what I have been up to in a while, a few of the paintings are gifts for people so once they have received them I will post them.

Saturday morning we baked cup cakes for breakfast.....see me waving at you?

Getting in the mood for Valentines day.

I got my hair done....Friday. (for pic's of the whole wild ride click here)

A little excited about getting 'Cars' pull-ups. When she peed Kaitlyn exclaimed, "Mom, I peed in my car!"

We had the family over for dinner on Saturday night and Aunties and Uncles all got in on the painting.

Yesterday was not like today. Today is a blizzard and extremely cold. Yesterday however was melty and beautiful.

We hung out and played in the snow.




Can you tell there are a few characters in this family?

Check out the scene below.

Aaaaggghhhhhh, run for your life, the great dreaded snowzilla is coming and little snow men are falling victim to his twig teeth.

(Thank you Phil)

While we busied ourselves outside Dave took the alone time opportunity to work on our closet expansion project, yay!!


I have more painting to do and Phil and Em are here for the afternoon, so....I will be back :)

Chow!

Chugga-chugga me some goodness

A pictorial walk through my day. There were just too many good shots to choose from.(you will scroll forever!)

Our craft of the day....sorta. It happened at 1 AM last night. I had intended to paint since the kids went down early but just as I hit publish on the last post and got up to get my paints out, a little not so sleepy headed girl decided to wake up and hang out with me.

I went back online and found us a paper craft to do. Something, anything to do other than rock and watch Dora. I chose something I would enjoy and found the pattern here.


We cut circles.

20 of them. Kaitlyn busied herself cutting strips of paper into little pieces and exclaimed over and over, "hooray, lovely, oooo, beautiful, awwwww a piece for daddy."
She cut and cut and finally decided that all the little purple squares that she made were actually coins, hmmmm, ok. Can't say she's not creative.

We then folded and tape rolled them. I am way to impatient for glue.
It was a great trial run and it looks a little rough but I do not care, it happened in the middle of the night so I totally get a break on the perfection.
The next one will be perfect. ;-)


After being up till 2:30 AM with Kaitlyn and then up throughout the night with both kids this was soooo inviting at 9 this morning.
Actually I drank 5 cups before I felt normal and functional today.

We headed out of the house for a few hours. I knew I would crack being inside all day with little sleep and it ended up being a really great day.


Peek-a-boo mommy.


"Hey mom, I am melting your heart."

"Peek."

"I have no nose."

We picked up Em and Phil and headed to the library. We loooove books and love the library. Kaitlyn goes a little crazy with 'buying' the books and we usually end up with around 38 to take home.

Then again it takes us only a few days to get through them at 10 books a bedtime reading.


Em found a comfy spot and plugged herself in to her books on MP3.


Ethan found a lady to check out.


"Matching hats!"


Kaitlyn got lost in her books.


Ethan kept trying to escape the kids area despite our barricades.

And he did.

And headed straight for the stairs every time.

We also hit the mall. I got new furry gloves. Sweet huh?! (they were only $1.97......brand new, can't beat that!)


Ethan likes them too.

Kaitlyn is a very involved little girl. If mommy does it she does it and if mommy does something it is cool. I put her to work and she thinks it is fun, ha, ha (evil laugh) if she only knew!

In the pic above is my all time favourite ever scalloped potatoes in the making. The key ingredient to this hit is the dill, mmmmm, it makes it!

I got this recipe from an old friend and if she is reading this I thank her, we love it!

Here it is.

6 medium red potatoes, peeled and sliced.
2 cans mushroom soup
3/4 can water
garlic powder to taste
2 tsp to 1 tbsp dill. Whatever you feel like. I like almost 1 tbsp, but not quite. I find 1 tbsp to be a little much.
A couple rings of onion chopped
seasoning salt to taste
salt and pepper to taste
half a brick of old cheddar

Layer potatoes, mix the ingredients and pour some, layer again, pour more sauce, and layer once more and pour the rest over top. Bake covered for 1 1/2 hours at 4ooC then remove lid and brown for another 30 mins or till desired tenderness is reached.
Devour.


Multitasking.

Adding a little love to the mix.