Pumpkin Patch

I'd love to say that our recent outing to the local pumpkin patch had everything to do with my Project: Happiness October resolutions... (it wasn't - well, I guess not technically, but I'm still counting it, as I'm failing miserably at this month's resolutions and I need to put a gold star up somewhere, y'know?). But the pumpkin patch trip in mid-October is our family tradition. It started waaaaay back when Miss Madds was only a teeny tiny year old, and I picked the coldest, drizzliest day of the month to rouse the Hubs up off the couch and head out to get our pumpkin. It was a grumpy start, but we all had such fun that day, 4 years ago, that it's now the Hubs that is bugging for us to go by the first weekend of October. And a tradition was born...

This year Katie did more than snooze in the baby carrier... she was all, "LOOKIT THIS STUFF! ZZZZOMG THIS! AND THIS! AND DID YOU KNOW THERE WAS A SANDBOX!?!?"

She would not.stop.moving from the moment we got there.

"Bowling" game with Daddy

Umm... dangerous spot for my toddler to be watching her big sister "bowling". 

There was a train. It was good fun.

She wanted to be just like her big sister - whatelseisnew.

Dirt. Yay, dirt.

Don't forget about the corn maze. Madds led us through to the end without one wrong turn. Methinks she's smart like Mommy.

Of course there was a tractor to drive...

And oh yeah, the pumpkin...

We had a great time and had great weather for it - so thank you Mother Nature, for letting us enjoy 2+ hours out in the crisp fall sun!

xxoo.S

Where do I even begin?

I hate when I have to do a massive catch-up post after being away for so long (away from here, not away on holiday - because, oy, that wouldn't be something I'd whine about). It's annoying and boring. But, I do have that OCD drive to actually "document our lives" and all ... so here goes:

THIS is why I've been so quiet of late. We are living through renovation hell. Notice, if you will, the two different wall colours going on. The grey on the right is the "new" paint colour. The horrible peach/beige on the left is old, and going (eventually - it's hard to make progress when you're painting in one hour segments). The basic builder's oak railing? Currently sanded within an inch of it's life and awaiting the next step - which is a dark stain on the handrail and white paint on the spindles. Our stairway has been a debacle for going on 30+ days. I think the hubs is ready to kill me - and yet, I don't see him grabbing any sandpaper to help get the job done, so he can bite me.

Add to that, our basement is currently being framed and there's hardwood going in on the main floor any day now. Yes, we decided to make almost every floor of our home unlivable whilst on mat leave, home with 2 kids. We are SO smart. Just promise me, when all is said and done, and I post my after pics you'll tell me how lovely everything looks and how worth it, it was. Because that's the mantra that just keeps running through my head right now to keep my sanity in check.

In other news...

• Maddie had her kindergarten orientation where she met her teacher and got a goody bag and pretty much proved to me that she was growing up whether I liked it or not so I decided to try and embrace it and stopped referring to her as "my toddler". Her therapist 20 years from now thanks me for this concession.

She wasn't the only red-head in her kindergarten class - but she was the cutest!

• Our dog Seamus has decided, with all the banging of the renos and the chaos that comes with a crawling baby, he would rather try his luck elsewhere ... so his new trick is to BOLT out the front door whenever someone opens it. Which, when you're hosting various workers and tradespeople in your home, is often. Which also means, my neighbours are now well-acquainted with my pj wardrobe (yes, I'm wearing pj's while strangers traipse in and out of my house - who gets dressed before noon on mat leave? am I right??), and Seamus may have given me about 8 heart attacks just last week by crossing the road during the 9am school rush. Dog for sale.. anyone want a dog?

Puppy dog eyes don't work with me - Imma gonna kick his ass.

• We got blessed with gorgeous weather this weekend - which meant outdoor play. Katie is a master crawler now and just bombs all over the yard looking for more dog toys to chew on. Mmmmm, orange road hockey ball covered in dirt - you are so delicious! I love our backyard in the summer. It's not big, but we've kitted it out enough that it's fun for the kiddies. And now... more photos...

Watching Daddy get the pool ready

Katie's first pool experience. Unlike Maddie, there were no tears - and we call her a grump!?

What IS it with babies + sunglasses?

SO flippin' cute!

xxoo.S

Content

Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age...or maybe it was the two glasses of wine with dinner - but I had the urge to share: I am content. More than that - right now, in this exact moment in this sliver of time, I'm feel lucky. Fortunate. Just...happy.

Is that really effing annoying to write? Are you reading this rolling your eyes and snorting with disdain? If so, I'm sorry... because there's more...


We spent the weekend building a playset. This big cedar swingset / fort / slide / picnic table. It is, in a word, effing AWESOME. And fits so perfectly in the back corner of our backyard it's almost hard to imagine that it was never there.

Except for the sore arms. And backs. And just pure body exhaustion that comes from two full days of hard graft. But it's a good tired. A "job-well-done" kind of tired.

And I can already foresee hours upon hours of happy playtime for my girls. And that? Is one of the reasons I'm so content.

And thank you to Gramma and Grandpa Vallier for visiting this weekend and helping us get the monstrosity up. We couldn't have done it without your help.

My girls are happy.

And so am I.

Happy Sunday,

xxoo.S

Hippity Hop

Easter came for two little girls this year. While Katie (obviously) didn't participate in the egg hunt this year - she loved watching Maddie (her favourite past-time anyways) and I had visions for next year's Easter already. Maddie got her "little Rapunzel" she so desperately pined for this past month. Katie got a new ball for the backyard and some Crayola baby markers to call her own.

The Easter Bunny even set a tea party to create more ambiance! What a clever bunny!

 My childhood dollhouse has a little balcony on one side - from which "little Rapunzel" hung her hair all morning.

Matching dresses and white cardis - I love Easter. Also - say hi to a random Seamus pic - we took several "family" pictures before I thought about including the poor little scruff.

Hope your weekend was just as enjoyable!

xxoo.S

She survived

Katiebear that is - she survived. Go Hubs at keeping daughter #2 alive and well and (relatively) happy for 24 hours! And a big shout out to the MIL for playing wingman and helping out - I know he couldn't have done it without you!

The highs? When she was happy, she was very very happy... she played, she smiled, she flirted. The lows? She refused every.single.bottle. Apparently they tried hot, they tried cold, they tried cold with ice. It was served in 4 different types of bottles (including the "just like breast!" Tommee Tippee bottle I picked up the day before I left - guess what Tommee? You're not just like breast and Katie HATES you!).

The kid hates bottles. This is definitely a "chalk one up for the parenting fail" column ... we were lazy in early months and she's stubborn.

Instead she ate A LOT of cereal. Cereal all day. Cereal before naps. Cereal at 12:30am when she woke up looking for some comfort.

And how did she repay all these efforts? By sleeping thru until 7am. Yay them. They got more sleep than I did. Stupid hard uncomfortable hotel mattress...

And so experiment in MommaFreedom worked. You can in fact leave a 6 month old with 2 very capable adults for full 24 hours. She will survive and you don't (necessarily) have to drink your way through coping with the guilt.

But the cosmos tasted oh so good...

xxoo.S

PS - I'd post a recap of my weekend with the ladies - but really, all you need is a nutshell: Spa=relaxation. Shopping=FUN. Drinking/Laughing/Primping in hotel room=hilarious. Dinner in private room=delicious and fancyschmancy. Dancing=lame as fuck (not because we're old, but because the DJ was horrible).

But didn't we all look purty?

Christmas in the Village

Santa apparently came to Brooklin last night - we went to join in the celebrations... except it was bloody freezing and Santa was expected to come "later"... which no one seemed to know exactly what time that was.

So we took our free Tim Horton's hot chocolate and left...

xxoo.S

No YOU'RE a princess...

Halloween afternoon was (as always) a rush of pumpkin-carving / dinner-making / final-costume-touch-up-making. I've already promised myself that next year will be an "order pizza for dinner + get Timmies for the walk" kind of night.

Maddie loved the pumpkin carving even less this year than she did last year..

This is called "look of disgust".

Her princess outfit - before it got covered up with her winter jacket. Oh Canada!

The traditional shot of her walking with Daddy

This house deserved it's own photo - see that scary freaky lady on the right? She's an animatronic scary zombie witch who pops out every few minutes. Yikes...

BFF L with her little one (who is keeping one eye on the scary zombie witch)

The LOOT!

And in case you're wondering what little K is up to...

Well, guess who learned to bounce! this weekend?

xxoo.S

Wordless Wednesday - the pumpkin patch

At Linton's Family Fun Farm...

xxoo.S

The Babysitter

She came. She sat. She conquered.

We had been preparing Maddie all day on Saturday for the fact that Gabrielle was coming to hang out at dinner time. That Mommy and Daddy were going out and taking Baby Katie with us. And therefore, it would be Gabrielle who did bath-time, story-time + bed-time with her.

I had no hopes that all of this prep-work would stick. In fact, I fully expected to have a nightmarish, leg-clinging toddler on my hands when it actually came time to go.

Oh how wrong I was! She (meaning Maddie) was awesome - totally took it in stride and informed Gabrielle of all the above facts. "You gonna give me a bath, then read me books, and then put me to bed!"


So it would seem we have found a babysitter. Woot.

xxoo.S

PS - our night out was fabulous - thank you R&V for the great dinner invite!

Picnic

Sorry for the silence - we've been away, visiting family for a week. I usually bring my laptop along, but living in the land of no wireless networks, renders it a bit useless. 'Twas a busy week, with lots of fun, lots of visits and lots of challenges (a whole 'nother blog post).

So for the weekend, we laid low a bit. Painted our nails. Made juice pops. Went for walks. Played in the pool. Had picnics.  Enjoyed the BBQ with good friends. Caught up on Big Brother.

And now I'm home with the girls on my own for the first time today. A little nervous - but Katie is rounding out on the 2nd hour of a nap in her crib and Maddie is begging me to come outside and PLAY MOMMY!

So that's what I'm gonna do...

xxoo.S

Weekend wisdom

I think I can honestly say, this is the first weekend of "two" where I didn't feel stressed out the entire time. Clearly the key to toddlers is to get them the 'eff out of the house. So that's what we did - both mornings.

Saturday was a standard random Ikea visit. You see - I'm not sure if you've noticed or not - but I'm a touch crazy. Which sometimes manifests itself in random proclamations of things THAT WE MUST BUY. BECAUSE WE NEED THEM. DESPERATELY!!! OH HOW HAVE WE LIVED LIFE THIS FAR WITHOUT THIS MUCH NEEDED ITEM??!?!?!

Enter: my insistence that we visit Ikea. On a Saturday morning. To buy a step stool. A small, two-tiered step-stool that was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for Maddie to be able to wash her hands (because she's a shorty and all kids stools are about 1 inch too low for her to really get in there at the sink. You know what I mean?). Clearly this was a necessity.

I'm still not entirely certain how or why the Hubs agreed to this (looking back now) ridonkulous request. Saturday morning? Ikea? Yes, I'm an idiot.

But off we went - battling crowds. Looking through the children's section, then through the kitchen section, then through the dining section (every Ikea personnel we asked about said stool seemed to think it was in a different area of the store). Turns out there were NONE on display, but according to their handy-dandy inventory count - there were 2 in the warehouse. So down to self-serve we went. And looked. And yes - just as you may have suspected, 2 in inventory at Ikea means ZERO on the shelf. So two hours later, stomachs full of nasty Ikea food (seriously - my first time eating there - it's bad. Like, REALLY. BAD.), we left the store empty handed...

Hubs told me he was certain he had earned a lot of "points" that morning...


However - that managed to kill a full weekend morning. And guess who thinks Ikea rocks the large one? Because she can run around like a deranged monkey, play on random couches and underneath random tables and essentially be the bane of every other shoppers existence? Miss Madds of course. Ikea is like a playground to her - and she was d.o.w.n.

Since our Saturday road trip went so swimmingly, I made the suggestion that we try to do something Sunday morning as well. So to the Zoo we went. Getting there just past 9am we beat the crowds, beat the heat and managed to do all the "interesting" animals before lunch time. We hightailed it out of there just as the crowds closed in, threatening to send Hubs into ultra-moody-mode, and even managed to grab lunch at home instead of succumbing to a $12 hotdog.

I'd love to share pictures of our first full-family-attended trip to the zoo, but someone forgot the camera in the car and we didn't realize it until we were about a mile away from the entrance. That someone may have forfeited some of his "points" from Saturday on that move.

So that's that - we kept our sanity this weekend by simply not being at home. Doing stuff entertains your cranky toddler. Imagine that...

xxoo.S

Who needs a son...

The Hubs and Maddie hit a milestone this past weekend - on Sunday morning he took her up to the lake for their first Maddie/Daddy shore-fishing experience.

He gave her his ice fishing rod - because (to quote): "Well, it's kind of the right size, and she doesn't have her own Princess rod just yet."

Clearly, I see a shopping trip for a fishing rod in our near future. Bass Pro, here we come...

Oh - and what fishing trip is complete without a quick sidetrack to the nearby park?

All told - they had a great time. Maddie loves fishing and the Hubs thinks she's "a natural". I see a few more trips up to the lake this summer.

And no, they didn't catch anything. But I don't think that dampened any of the fun.

xxoo.S

One week old

Only a week old, and already Katie is her own little person. She looks less scrunched, less red, less comatose. She looks more and more like me as a baby girl. She has my chin and my lips. Definitely has my eyebrows and my toes. And yet, with all these differences, she still looks remarkably like Miss Maddie did as a newborn too. My girls.

We call Katie our little squeaker. She is the loudest sleeper I have ever heard. Snorts and snuffs. Squeaks and squeals. It's amazing she doesn't wake herself up.

Tonight we leave for our first road trip to Kingston to visit family for the long weekend. I feel brave and I feel stupid. I remember my first trip down to visit the grandparents when Maddie was almost a month old and I hated it. It took over 4 hours (on what should be a 2 hour drive) because she needed to eat twice and cried so much I kept pulling over and trying to make her more comfortable. I remember thinking I would *never*ever* do another trip with such a young baby again.

Make me proud with your sleepiness Katie...

xxoo.S

Berry exciting

Our weekend consisted of NO PLANS... This is how Hubs and I kept reminding each other all week of just how the weekend would be.

"And remember - we're not making any PLANS this weekend, right? Just sticking around home?"

Yes, after a week of sickness (me and Dr. Google think it was likely bronchitis that slapped me and Maddie down for the count almost all week - gotta love those "must run its course" virus-type illnesses - perfectly timed as always), and our sad-kitty-news, not to mention a previous couple of weekends of busy-busy-travel, we wanted one of those weekends where we were committed to No One for Nuthin'.

Luckily we both stuck to our word - and the weekend of NO PLANS fell into place. Of course NO PLANS doesn't mean that we veg'd out the entire time. Nope - it was the first (of many I'm sure) yardwork weekends. Which sounds a little strenuous for a bronchitis-ridden pregnant woman, right? Not to worry - I very much put on my "foreman" hat and "helped" by "making suggestions" mostly.

Well, except for the weeding - that's where I got to get down and dirty. Because I love my weeding tool. And swearing like a sailor at the millions of dastardly dandelions that dare inhabit my lawn. Nothing like getting caught saying, "I've got you now motherfucker!" as you pull up one of those 7-headed Medusa-style dandelions (long root intact - score!), right at the same moment that a new mother and her 3 month old stroll past.

Yup, I'm the classiest neighbour you'll ever find up here in the boondocks... Wanna be friends?

And while I was wreaking havoc on the weeds, the Hubs did the whole top soil/grass seed thing to try and make our front lawn a little less the "embarrassment of the street". It was Rona's $1 black earth sale this weekend, so we decided to go for it and top-dress the entire lawn instead of the patch-jobs we did last year.

As the Hubs said, "This better make a difference, or I'm ready to just give up."

Also on the agenda for the weekend was buying and planting several hydrangea shrubs (1/2 price at Sheridan Nursery - we got the deals I tell you!) and some raspberry + blueberry bushes in the backyard.  Here's hoping we get to enjoy the "fruits" of our labour before the summer is out! Erm.... punny...

I'd love to show you some pics of our efforts - but someone still hasn't gotten around to making it down to the nearest camera shop to test drive some new models, because someone was sick as a freaking dog all week and someone else doesn't think camera-shopping/research falls under his umbrella of responsibilities.

So, just imagine a lush green, weedless lawn, with large flowering beautiful shrubbery and big thick berry bushes with branches literally dripping in fat, juicy fruits.  And that's... not what anything looks like right now.

Except in my mind...

xxoo.S

Kid-free

With the Hubs away on a weekend fishing trip (it's opening season of Pickerel and he has strict instructions not to return home empty-handed!), we decided it would be a great weekend for Maddie to go visit her grandparents while I stayed home. It's meant to be a relaxing weekend for me, but of course I made a list within minutes of these plans falling together, of all the things I want to get accomplished.

I love my lists.

Except at the end of the weekend when I look and see only 1 or 2 things crossed off.

But I'd say as long as one of those items crossed off is "paint the effing nursery" then I will have gotten my job done. Because aren't you tired of listening to me talk about how I need to paint my nursery... how it's going to get done THIS weekend... how I MUST make sure we finish it that week?  Yes, me too.

Well, I'm happy to report the first coat is up. The blue coat. And it's.... bright. (This is a nice way of saying that a Caribbean sea snuck in the nursery window and threw up all over the walls).

I was going for "tiffany box blue" ... something in the realm of light turquoise-blue and less "baby-boy-boring-nursery-blue".

Well. I succeeded in it not being boring.

Am hoping that just the first coat is drying so dark because I am painting over a putrid peachy-beige colour (that inhabits almost every wall in our entire house, and will get painted over in the next year because h.a.t.e.). So maybe the dark base is making the first coat seem a little..... bright?

And yes - I realize you usually use a primer in these cases - but all these fancy new paints have "primers built in" - so you think you're saving yourself a step.


All said, I fear I may be having colour-remorse. We'll see - I don't think I can make a decision until the second coat is up and the wainscoting is painted white.

Would love to show a pic of what I mean, but we have well and truly lost our camera. I've search high and low and I think it's been left behind somewhere or another. Which sucks, as for a point-and-shoot that was over 5 years old, it really was a fabulous camera (Panasonic Lumix). BUT this means since we're in the market to buy a new camera now, that I'm looking at all the fancy DSLR models. Because, why not, right? Welcome any suggestions!

xxoo.S

We were ready for you long weekend!

With the in-laws confirmed as built-in helpers and babysitters, we made the commitment - this weekend was:

BIG. GIRL. BEDROOM. WEEKEND.

Oh that's right - it needs the caps.

We took advantage of the outrageously gorgeous weather and painted up a storm in the garage. With the door up. As people walked by, looking on suspiciously, at an enormously pregnant woman painting a dresser.

It's low VOC paint people! I am safe! I am thoughtful of my little unborn sprog! I promise! 

I didn't really yell this at them. But I wanted to. Oh how I wanted to...

So... drumroll please... it's done. The deed is done. She slept in her big girl bed for a nap and all of last night. She doesn't seem to understand yet that she is fully able to escape the bed, should she wish to do so, at any time. AND THAT'S FINE BY US!

We caught the entire "unveiling" on video for all eternity, and if I ever find some spare time, I will post that - because the squeal of delight she gave upon entering the room was flippin' fantastic. And made it ALL worth while. As did her repeating "you turned it over" with a massive smile on her face, while she opened and closed every drawer of the dresser about 50 million times. For the record - "turned it over" means (we think) you changed over my room. Not that we literally turned shit upside down. Because, duh - clearly that's not what she meant. (That's totally what I thought she meant at first, and I was all - no, everything is it's right place. Oh, you don't mean literally? Right - I'madumbass.)

It still needs some art on the walls - but I need to figure that out. And get some paint to cover up the patching of a few holes. And find a bed skirt, because who thinks about a bed skirt in all the planning? But here's the pics anyways...

Zee fancy white iron bed that I covet and wish I could be 10 years old again for... 

thank you Costco!

My childhood dresser, that was someone else's before it was mine. 

It has been blue, pink, white, stripped + varnished, and now painted again. 

With new hardware. Dontcha just love the lil pink glass knobs?

Her reading "nook". Again - can I tell you how jealous I am of her room? 

Because dude. I want a reading nook.

The infamous chandelier for the closet. 

Adorable, perfectly sized, and matches the dresser hardware perfectly.

She likes it.

xxoo.S

The weekend - in a nutshell

Craft caterpillars made out of egg cartons were painted.
Cinderella was watched.
Tea parties were had.
Easter cookies were cut out and iced and eaten.
Playdoh spaghetti and other various "worms or snakes" were created.
Vacuums "chased" little girls.
Parents took naptime too.

The perfect at-home, wet weekend.

xxoo.S

The hard graft weekend

After spending a week in Kingston, away for the March break visiting Grandma & Grandpa V, our little Miss M was lovingly returned to us Friday afternoon.

We celebrated by zipping out to a Raptor's game and leaving her with the Grandparents for the evening, yet again.

Oh Maddie - we love you. But we also loved our platinum seats (although the game was less than loved - they took a bad beating).

That's okay - we had vowed to stick close to home for the rest of the weekend. And stick we did - in the garage. Cutting mitre joints out of the tiniest mouldings you ever did see. I shouldn't say "we" as I left the cutting and measuring up to the Hubs and his dad. I did join them at Home Depot to buy supplies. And I had done all the measuring for the room weeks ago. So I feel like I did my part. And Hubs got to play with his saw. And learn stuff. And hang out with his dad.


But I did help with the installation and the mudding and sanding. The result is looking fairly spectacular (if we do say so ourselves) even without the paint or any furniture.

For the record - wainscoting (or really "trick-the-eye-mouldings-in-the-shape-of-proper-wainscoting") is not impossible or even all that tough. But it IS time-consuming. Like several evenings of measuring and leveling and drawing out all those boxes on the walls. Then many hours measuring and cutting and measuring and cutting. And more hours spent gluing and mudding and sanding. But the results we are more than happy with.

Now our focus is back on Miss Maddie's room. Her "big girl" room. We have the bedding. We have the bed. We have (some of) the furniture painted. Now we just wait for the knobs to arrive through customs. And paint a few frames for some wall hangings. And then it's set up time.

Once she gets settled into her room and doesn't miss her crib anymore, then progress will begin again on the nursery.  Since she was already calling the nursery (while we were working in this weekend), "Maddie's big room", I'm pretty sure we should make sure she loves her room first to avoid any pre-emptive jealousy.

And what's not to love? As of this weekend her walk-in closet features a newly installed pink crystal chandelier (another project checked off with help from Grandpa). I would show you pictures, but let's wait until we actually have things set up for you to see it in all it's glory.

And last but not least, we are also proud owners of a functional doorbell once again.

As exhausting as "project" weekends are - don't you love that fulfilled feeling of accomplishment when you collapse onto the sofa on the Sunday night?

xxoo.S

You can say it - she's adorable

That face that you see - it is Maddie's way of nicely showing disgust at me trying to get her to help me remove the pumpkin guts. Yeah, she wasn't down with that at all...

Maddie, on Halloween night, dressed as a little bug, with her buddy, Cole the Lionheart.

Note the impulse makeup craftily created from some of Mommy's lipgloss. Try not to note the spaghetti sauce stain that I couldn't get out of her only pair of pink leggings.

Wing shot!

xxoo.S