A New Year = New Start

Wow, blogger was playing with my post, I've been in three times to edit it now... Anyhoo... Christmas Eve, our tree....

Christmas Eve, my FIL and boys enjoying Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur

Cameron on Christmas morning...

Caleb on Christmas morning...

And Tasha, so excited on Christmas morning...NOT

Then we had Dani and Todd for New Years....here is where Caleb spent a lot of time :-)

The "boys" playing on the Wii... And here is my ort jar on January 2nd (because I forgot to dump it ...oops)

And my BRAND NEW start for 2010 - Ink Circles Kaleidoscope which I started in the morning of January 1st. Here is a picture as of last nights (Jan 3rd) stitching...

So I'm back at work today...no stitching all day in my jammies anymore...until the weekend.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and New Years and I wish you nothing but great things for 2010.

A quiet day...

After all the crazy times around Christmas, the kids and I are home alone, enjoying some quiet time and time with the new toys! Christmas Eve was lovely, my inlaws were over and my MIL and I took the boys to the kids advent at church for 4pm and arrived home to a wonderful salmon supper prepared by FIL and DH. Then on to our tradition on new jammies and a new movie for the evening. Boys in jammies and we watched Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaur (well, they watched, I stitched). Then inlaws headed for home and the boys vibrated their way to their beds. Christmas morning started around 6:30am (not bad for a 7 and 3 year old in the house) with excitement that "SANTA CAME!!!!" and the gift opening that followed. Brunch on Christmas Day at the inlaws was lovely, gutbusting filling but very tasty and the rest of the day was spent just chatting and enjoying everyones company. The kids all received new movies so the DVD player was setup in the bedroom and the four kids (aged 13/9/7/3) took turns watching their movies and napping. For the first time since DH and I have been together we were able to come home on Christmas night, normally my Aunt or Mom have dinner on Christmas day but they changed the plans this year which we were fine with. So home to sleep and then up on Boxing Day and headed to my parents. Late lunch with my family and a sleepover. The morning of the 27th was just like Christmas all over again for my kids, with my parents and brother and sister-in-law in the morning. We opted to go out last night for Greek - which was FABULOUS and then home again. Today DH is playing in a couple of games of hockey with his workmates and then they are going out celebrating - he plans to stay in town at his friends so it is just the boys and I today. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and we are looking forward to ringing in the New Year with Dani and Todd again. All the best to your house from ours for 2010!

My 100th post!

Hard to believe that in 9 months I’ve created 100 entries here. Thank you to everyone the reads and enjoys the entries even if you don’t post comments (*wink to Anna). I was debating all day as to what I was going to post about for this special entry and decided to post about what I always post about, my boys, stitching and cooking/baking. Oh if you were interested, here is "The First Post" I did.

Cameron is off for his spring break and already; three days in I’m ready to ship him off…to anywhere. Actually, I got smart and stock piled some cheap toys from the dollar store to keep him happy and at the moment he is playing with his Play-Doh for the first time in about 6 months. I took it away from him because he refused to pick it up when he was done, so this time he has promised me he will at least help clean up or it will disappear again.

Caleb is the ever-happy boy (or cheeky monkey as we call him). Growing by leaps and bounds each and every day. Currently he is trying to master how to drink from a bottle as well as how to stand holding anything so he will soon be walking/running and wrecking havoc on our lives…look out big brother, your toys are no longer safe!

Stitching, I have been doing some of that! I finished the three Lizzie Kate freebies and created a border around them as suggested by Kali, got them done and given to my MIL…without a picture taken! Oh well, my FIL has agreed to create a frame for the piece so I will be sure to take a picture once it is hanging on the wall of their home. And as of 3pm Saturday, March 10th I have completed ALL OF THE BACKSTITCH on the Apache Wedding Blessing!

HAPPY DANCE! Now I have to add the verse, wash and press it and then figure out how to ship it out to my friends in British Columbia. I’m also sending along the $$$ for them to have it framed out there to match the décor of their new home. Then it is on to the Happily Ever After piece for my brother and his wife-to-be who are tying the knot in less than 4 months! I received the fabric (Spring Garden, Silkweaver) and the threads are on order from Stitching Bits and Bobs. I’m still working on my Housework Whenever project and I think I have to get the wolves some light of day as well before my DH asks me again when that (not so) little project should be done. And of course there are countless others that I would like to sink my needle into. Cooking/baking…well we have been eating but I have been freelancing our meals without using a recipe. This has been a staple for the last few nights as I got broccoli for the basement bargain price of $0.66 a bunch! Broccoli Cauliflower Salad 1 head broccoli, cup up in bite sized pieces ½ head of cauliflower, cup up in bite sized pieces ½ red onion, diced ½ cup grated sharp cheddar ½ cup crumbled cooked bacon (I cheat and use the pre-cooked from the supermarket) Mix together in a large bowl. Then mix together well or shake in shaker the following: ¾ cup salad dressing (ie Miracle Whip) ¼ cup cream 3 tablespoons sugar salt & pepper to taste Mix everything together and serve immediately…the leftovers go mushy.

Anyway, hope everyone is well at your home and I look forward to the next 100 posts!

A funny Valentine's story

Yesterday was Happy Hearts Day and Cameron had a blast at school. Lots of cards, candy and even a party with cake. So he was VERY fired up when he got home off the bus. While he played and talked to Caleb non-stop for two hours, I decided that I should at least make him and Daddy something for V-day...so I scratched real hard (meaning I used a boxed cake mix) and made them the following from Mommy to them.

FUNNY STORY

Cameron decided that he wanted to call his Nanna and Nanny and wish them a Happy Valentine's Day. Works for me so off we go to the phone...now here is where the funny story starts. We called my inlaws first and my FIL was out shovelling snow so he talked to my MIL, wished her a happy v-day and then asked to speak to FIL. MIL told Cameron that when Poppa was back in from shovelling that she would have him call Cameron back. Cameron said "That's okay, I'll just wait" and then he proceeded to sit down with the phone for almost three minutes before I could talk him into hanging up and waiting for Poppa to call back! It was a riot! But it gets better...while we were waiting for Poppa B to call back we decided that we should call my parents and wish them a happy v-day as well. Poppy N answers the phone and Cameron had a chat with him. He tells Poppy that he, Daddy and Caleb bought me a new "thing" for my necklace for v-day...and then Cameron starts crying...and saying..."nothing Poppy, nothing". Well I have no idea what my Dad asked him but he looked at me with BIG teary eyes and says "You don't love me, you didn't get me anything for Valentine's Day....boo hoo hoo..". My heart broke into about a million pieces at that moment.

I told him to go look on the stove (which is where the cupcakes were) while I talked to my Dad. He comes back into the livingroom still crying and proceeded to tell me the funniest thing..."You got me a rusty old pot for Valentine's." He had gone downstairs and looked on top of the wood burning stove where there is a rusty old pot full of water to boil off into the air. I just about fell on the floor I was laughing so hard! So it was a Valentine's Day to remember. And my FIL did call him back so all was right in Cameron's world again.

The Christmas present

I thought I would share with everyone the beautiful quilt that Curt and I were given this past Christmas for our bed. My Mother & Father-in-law created this for us and we think it is absolutely beautiful. It is a king sized quilt but fits our queen sized bed perfectly. I have no need for a bed skirt or anything as this drapes nicely to the floor. I’m hoping to find a couple of decent sized “country” themed patterns to stitch for the head of our bed as the wall looks pretty bare.