I'm still here!

Last summer I downloaded the blogger app onto my iPhone and loved how easy it was to post pictures and updates. And then I got a new phone at the end of October and that was the end of my blogging for two months. Haha. Oops! I blame the silly Samsung that I'm using now. Everything seems more cumbersome on this stinkin' phone. I'm used to it now but not sold on it. Anyway... I've finally figured out the blogging app and have enough patience stored up to try to type an entire post on here! Wish me luck! If it works, it might happen again before 2 months go by!

 

So what's new?  Let's see if I can figure out adding pictures so I can show you what we've been up to!

Vacuuming.

Pumpkin carving.

(post Halloween... though Levi didn't mind!)

Oh yeah, we've been working on a little something behind the scenes...except it's June not July. 

Hunting and butchering.

 (white tail deer)

Painting.

Christmas concerting at our church.

Baking cookies where everyone can watch and help - on the floor.

Opening Christmas gifts.

And stockings. 

Progress report at 13-14 weeks.

Reading books.

Learning how to play Guess Who.

(Levi is SO good at it!)

It has been a fun couple months. A good end to what had been a bit of a stressful year. Most of this year had a "trying to conceive" undercurrent,  which is both exciting and frustrating at the same time. After the first baby was so long in coming, I find that each month of subsequent trying is especially hard. Questions of "Will it happen?" and "How long will it take this time?" take over quite quickly into the process and it's fairly discouraging as other people are getting pregnant right away and we're left trying and trying. BUT... we are blessed to have two and another on the way! That's three more pregnancies than I once thought I'd have. So we are rejoicing and singing and oh so excited! 

Business-wise, I had a busy January-March and August-November this year. (This is crocheting I'm talking about, Uniquely Me Design.) I sell both through facebook/trade shows (which is mostly local) and Etsy (world-wide). Since having Kayden, these have been my first two "busy seasons" and I'm finding that I just don't enjoy the filling of orders as much as I used to. I love when people are interested in what I make and want to support me...but when it comes to actually making the items, the passion just isn't there anymore.  Add to that some direct competition in town (despite knowing that it's just business, I put a lot of myself into my creations and am taking it really personally when I see people ordering from someone else) and I'm finding most of the fun is just gone for me. I just don't think it's worth the stress it's been this year so I think it's time to just let it go. That said, I still LOVE making things for people I know and love so if you are ever interested in something, please ask me about making it for you! I don't mind and love to see people enjoying things I've made! Just buy me the yarn and I'll make things for you! And don't worry, I'll let you know if I just don't have time ;)

Christmas was fun this year. Levi is at an age now (4) where he got really excited counting down to Christmas and Christmas morning was highly anticipated! Kayden was still fairly oblivious to the coming holiday, though she got right into the unwrapping and playing with new toys/reading new books once it arrived. We spent some time with Nathan's parents and brother and with my family. Lots of good times, celebrating God and family, and making memories.

Random little fact that has nothing to do with anything but is a tiny bit fun and exciting for me: tonight I made what Nathan has dubbed "homesteaders stew." It's venison stew made from the deer Nathan shot this fall, and onions, potatoes, carrots and peas from my garden. It was amazing, though the kids didn't love it (boo!). But how great that everything came from the land? I could get used to this!

Halloween 2014

Costumes were kinda last minute today.  Levi wanted to be Santa for Halloween because he thought it would be funny. We even made a nice, fuzzy beard for him.  But at the last minute he changed his mind and we had to scramble for something different, literally as we were about to walk out the door for trick-or-treating.

While we were out, Levi didn't utter a word.  He was silent the entire time.  Kayden was so nice to give her "thanks" and "bye!" and "see ya!"'s. I wonder if she will end up being the talker of the two?  Cause at home, Levi has always done more talking, even from a young age.  But when we're out, Kayden is definitely the less shy one!

Levi ended up dressing up as a chef...though whenever anyone asked him if he was a chef, he just shook his head. So...who knows. :) Maybe he was actually dressed up as something else in his mind that we didn't know about.

Kayden's costume was just as last minute because I had put together the chef costume for her but then Levi decided to wear it instead.  So I had to run downstairs and find her something and thankfully she let me dress her up, no complaints! She was a cowgirl and actually wore her hat while we were out, though refused to wear it for the picture.  We were loving the tickle trunk today that Auntie Ia and Auntie Carrie put together for Levi a couple years ago. The chef attire was sewn for Levi by Auntie Carrie but the Santa hat and cowgirl costume were both from the tickle trunk. It's a gift that keeps on giving!

A tasty lunch of...my words

Kids always have a way of making us eat our words, don't they? Remember how I mentioned that Levi was giving us a run for our money? That he was just being difficult and stubborn and strong-willed? Guess who has been an absolute delight since then?  This kid:

He has been agreeable. He has been helpful. He has been polite. He has been kind to his sister. It hasn't been PERFECT behaviour, but I'd say it's about as close as a four year old can come. 

Maybe something just had to give. Maybe there's always a calm after the storm. Maybe we wore him down and he figured it wasn't worth the fight. Maybe he had a couple restful nights of sleep. Maybe I'm just feeling more patient, which makes him act out less, which makes me even more patient, and him act out even less. Maybe it's the fact that I finally feel a bit more caught up on orders and have a bit more time/energy for the kids. Maybe it's all of you who were praying after the last post. Who knows. I don't really care what the reason is. All I know is life has been so much more pleasant these last few days. I feel like he's back to his "normal" self now. Happier. More kind. And much more fun to be around! 

I absolutely love this boy and guess what?? I actually really LIKE him too!

"Mom, I don't really like white (President's Choice) apple juice..."

Quilts!

I've finally finished the kids' baby blanket quilts! Kayden was attached to her flannel receiving blankets and I was tired of it (cause they were being dragged all over the house) so I finally decided to make her blankets into a quilt. A quilt that would stay in her bed at all times. And wen Levi saw Kayden's, naturally he wanted one too. So I dug up his old receiving blankets and made him a quilt too. I did most of the stitching back in summer and the kids have been using them. I had a hard time finding the right colour for Kayden's binding but I finally got my hands on a pink fabric that was close enough and finished the binding today! It was the cutest...she was sitting on my lap while I was sewing and kept putting her head down on the blanket while I was stitching, rubbing her face in it and saying "soft." I blame the parts of the binding that aren't completely stitched down on that pulling and tugging... yeah, right. I'm usually just not careful enough the first time around when I sew and end up having to fix and redo. Oh well. The odd time it works out the first time, I do it in less time because I cut corners ;) Worth the extra work every other time? Probably not. Sigh. 

Levi's quilt. 

Kayden's quilt. 

These are beautifully heavy quilts. I bought nice, dense blankets from mcc for the insides. I bleached them and washed them and it was perfect "stuffing" to make the nice and warm and heavy. Now I want one...!

Random facts and pictures, because sometimes random is fun.

Levi rushed outside this morning when he saw that it was snowing, declaring, "I'm going outside to EAT SNOW!" Then from outside I hear, "Mama! It's snow storming out here!" He then cried multiple times throughout the day when he saw that the snow wasn't staying on the ground. Just wait, my boy...you will have plenty of snow and will know what a real "snow storm" is all too soon. 

I busted out the long johns this morning. I wear them basically all winter. Levi did ask, though, what I put on my knees. Haha

Kayden has been learning new words and phrases every day. My favourite lately is, "Wow! What's that?!" which is usually referring to something she sees in a book. I also love how she says "bye!" so readily, even when she's just leaving a room or going for a nap :)

Yay pony tail! Hehe. Cutest :)

I'm going to have been married for 10 years in May. How is that even possible? Seems like just yesterday we were engaged and saying, "time is going so slow right now! But before we know it, we will be married and celebrating our 10 year anniversary." Uh. Yeah. 

Favourite. 

More favourite. 

Levi has been a difficult 4 year old so far, just like he was a difficult 3 year old and difficult 2 year old. He can be SO delightful. But he also spends a fair amount of time throwing angry fits, making his sister cry, and just doing things he knows he's not supposed to do (or more often refusing to do things he has been asked to do). It's tricky and I usually feel like I'm a failure as a mom. But I see how Kayden is responding to the same parenting and am realizing that he's just a strong-willed/spirited/whatever-you-want-to-call-it child. And not even the worst in the spectrum of strong-willed children because really he has entire days that are good. But so many days are just hard. Everything feels like a fight on those days. And a fight we're losing because he is just.so.stubborn. I love him to bits. And/but he certainly inspires me to seek God's parenting wisdom!

Kids holding toothbrushes from the public health nurse. Kayden in the middle of potty training so no pants. Sorry. Believe it or not, this picture was not posed. Stuff like this just happens when Kayden is around and Levi copies :)

Levi was telling me about Santa today and I was trying to convince him that there is no real Santa. We've never talked about Santa, and certainly never tried to make him believe, but he is convinced that Santa is real. Haha. So...I wonder what Christmas will bring this year. Oh, and he also wants to dress up as Santa for Halloween because he thinks it would be funny to have Santa at Halloween :)

This is what Sunday afternoons are good for :)

My little farmer girl. This pic is from months ago but I don't think I ever shared it. What a cutie :)

Potty Training - day 3

I've always known that all kids are different. But the longer I have two kids, the more I just keep realizing what that actually looks like!

When I potty trained Levi, he was basically done with accidents by after his afternoon nap on day one. Day two was just spent practicing the new skill and by day 3 he was more-or-less accident free!

Here we are on day 3 with Kayden. She is a few weeks younger than Levi was when I trained him, but it is a completely different experience with her...and I'm sure it would have been even if I'd waited a couple weeks until they were exactly the same age!

Day 1 with Kayden saw the progress of not even noticing that something was happening when she had an accident at the beginning of the day to walking to the bathroom after the accident. She also learned the word "potty." Cute.

Day 2 started out rough because I was SO tired and Levi was tired of so much attention going to Kayden and not to him.  The day evened out behaviour-wise - yay! But as far as potty training went, we were in exactly the same place at the end of the day as at the beginning. There were some successes on the potty but they were no more intentional than the accidents on the floor. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time and distracted enough to just "let it happen." Of course we cheered and danced when she peed on the potty, but more often than not it was dribble on floor-->go to potty-->nothing-->dribble on floor-->go to potty-->nothing. (Continue trend until bladder is empty...)

Day 3 has been more of the same. There is just no bladder control. It's like she doesn't understand which muscle controls that action. Except that she has become quite good at stopping herself and going to the bathroom after an accident. But she can't make herself finish on the potty. The only time she pees on the potty is when she gets distracted and it just happens. So after a few accidents this morning and the realization that it wasn't going anywhere, I got out the diapers. I am confident that she won't refuse potty training next time because we got the diapers out this time - that's just not her personality. If we had gotten out the diapers again after packing them away with Levi (if he hadn't caught on so quickly), he would have been more likely to want to get the diapers out every time he got tired of peeing on the potty. But I think Kayden, in about 6-8 weeks, will be much more physically ready to be trained.

In the meanwhile, I am treating her diapers like panties, pulling them up and down instead of laying her down to change her (unless there's a big mess, of course!). I'm taking her pee before nap and bed...and throughout the day. I'll be doing my best to keep her in a dry diaper so she realizes how uncomfortable a wet diaper is. And I'll keep asking her to tell me when she needs to pee. I just couldn't handle any more messes on the floor with no progress to be seen! It truly is all about knowing your kid and following their cues. And if you're not sure, there's no harm in giving something a try and then backing off and giving it more time once you see the results. I'm glad I tried it. I'm excited to try again!

Potty Training - day 2

Yesterday was an excellent day of potty training. We mostly had accidents, but after supper there was a great success...well, maybe not great but enough to enourage me! 

Throughout the course of yesterday, Kayden went from being completely oblivious (not even noticing that she was standing in a puddle the first time) to, at the end of the day, saying "uh-oh" when she had an accident and heading for the toilet by herself. She also says "potty" now :) 

The second day of training this time around has just been exhausting. I didn't have a great night sleep (one unsettled kid at 1am and early morning) so I'm tired. And Levi is feeling the lack of attention on him and extra attention on Kayden, which is hard on him - and therefore hard on me. And Kayden seems to be in the same place as yesterday (uh-oh's after the fact and not much happening on the potty). All that makes me wish I hadn't started yesterday.  I could be enjoying a beautiful 20*C day at home with no plans but instead I'm inside following around my toddler, reminding her to tell me when she needs to go, and trying to distract her from her many "side?" (outside?) requests. I won't lie, I have thought about just pulling out the diapers and trying again in December. But...but. What will make day 2 more fun next time around? 

So I'm sticking with it. Yesterday was fun and exciting. Today feels like drudgery. Hopefully we will see some big progress by tonight so that tomorrow we can be a bit more back to routine. Oh the joys of potty training. Now you know, even I, who started out excited, have bad days in the midst of training. Here's hoping it pays off!

Confession: I may or may not have put my babe in the tub for a little bit of a potty training break just now. It's been a long morning :)

Potty Training - Kid 2

For those of you who don't want to hear about potty training, this post (and possibly the next couple) won't be for you. Now you can't say you weren't warned :)

First off, I just want to set a few things straight. I have heard people bash the idea of potty training early ("early" being pre-24 months) and the moms who do it. They say that the moms do it to show off. They say that the moms just want to make themselves and/or their kids look smarter...more advanced...more accomplished. Well, if this is you, listen closely: 

I am potty training my 20 month old because I did it with my son and it worked. Amazingly.

I am potty training now because right now she doesn't have an attitude that I know will be huge(r) while she's two and three. 

I'm potty training now because she hasn't learned to say "no!" and be completely uncooperative yet.

I'm potty training now because she still wants to help, to do everything to please me, and to work for my praise. 

I'm potty training now because I enjoy the potty training process and, frankly, I just couldn't wait to get started!

So, it was kind of a spur of the moment decision to start today. I haven't had a chunk of 3 uninterrupted days at home for months. I have been waiting for a window of opportunity to open up. This morning, Kayden really didn't want a diaper on so I mentally checked the next few days and realized that I have time! I told her that we were going to pack up her diapers and say bye-bye to them and only pee on the potty now. 

Levi took the box of diapers downstairs for us and Kayden kept saying "bye! Stairs..." all morning. I spent the morning reminding her to tell me when she needed to go and I feel like we've made some progress! The first time she had an accident, I took her to the potty and sat her on it and she was so tense/upset at being put on the potty. She didn't like it AT ALL. But by the end of the morning we had made 6 trips to the bathroom (yes, I'm pumping juice boxes through her like mad to make for lots of "teachable moments"!) and she was actually happy to sit there and "finish," then clean up the accident with me. 

She's down for a nap now. I use some cloth diaper liners/soakers inside her panties for sleeping to save her entire bed from needing to be washed a couple times a day/night. I call it her "night-night panties" so she doesn't feel like she's wearing a diaper. With Levi, this is all I needed to do for night-time training and within a month he was waking up dry. Crossing my fingers for the same luck this time because I have no idea how to go about night time training if it doesn't come naturally!  

So that's been the morning! It's actually kind of fun...it's an excuse to do absolutely no housework and pay undivided attention to the kids all.day.long!  It is usually tiring to do that because I have a list of things that also need to be done around the house. (I find it exhausting to feel like I'm constantly being pulled in two different directions) But when a day is set aside for a specific purpose, I don't know. I guess it just gives me extra energy to play! Here's hoping that a couple days from now we can say that we're officially diaper-free!!

P.s - if you want to read more about the 3 day potty training method that I'm using, just google it and you should be able to find some info on it. I know there's an ebook to purchase but you may find the gyst of it and maybe a few pointers anyway. Or you can keep following along here and ask me any questions you may have. I don't have all the answers but I have used it once before (though it was 2+ years ago already!). 

Busy, busy, dreadfully busy...

You know what I'm realizing?  That the busier that I am, the more I enjoy my days at home with no plans. I treasure those days. What felt like the norm all last winter and summer, has turned into the exception this fall. Appointments, commitments, routine...suddenly it all leaves little time for just me and the kids at home. But oh are those days lovely when they happen!

Right now the kids are having a "play bath" so I have a few minutes to myself. There is nowhere to rush off to this morning. Not much that needs to be done besides a few loads of laundry and perhaps some floor washing. Oh, and the animals need to be fed...maybe I should do that right now before I forget again! Be right back...

"Chores" for me consist of feeding and watering the cats, dog, and rabbits. The cats and dog are fed on the deck so that's easy. The rabbits are in a cage on our yard so I go out there each morning and drag it to a fresh patch of grass for them to eat that day. I wish it was a consistent way to keep our grass cut, but the cage is only 4x8 and the lawn is brown when they're done with it. So we've got a bunch of ugly brown rectangles on our lawn. At least they fill in nicely!  And I mean REALLY nicely!

Whenever I have a chance to be in our house with nothing on the agenda, my mind often turns to renos. We have been slowly making this place ours by putting our own touches on it. So far we have painted (walls, doors, trim) the bedrooms and dining/living room. We have a big family room addition that wa built into the house which I think will be our next project. I'm the kind of person who just wants to go when something is on the to-do list. Just start. Rip up flooring or paint trim or SOMETHING!  But we have bigger plans for that room so I'll have to hold back. For now. 

So a few hours have now passed since I started this post and you know how I said that when something is on the to do list, I am fairly impulsive and would rather just do it NOW?  Well, potty training has commenced. Another post on that is sure to come...!

The downside to country living

I love living in the country.

Buying this acreage last fall was a dream come true for us. 

It is quiet. 

It is private. 

It is beautiful and the possibilities are endless!

But there is one aspect of living out here that I wish I could trade in. See, there is a park in town. 

And at that park are friends. 

Friends for myself and friends for my kids. 

We have trees to climb and buildings to explore and animals to play with...but we often do these things alone. 

I'm usually ok with being alone. I love the quiet. I am not someone who wants to be with people all the time...which is probably why I didn't frequent the park when we lived in town. I felt like I was constantly surrounded by people while living in town so often stuck to our own house/yard for playtime. 

But now that I have all the alone time I need (believe me, it's glorious!), I am more often finding that I have the energy to be social. 

We have had more people over to our house for meals in the past 11 months since we moved out here than in the two years we lived in town. 

So when I drive through town and notice friends at the park, I am left feeling lonely. It would be nice to just be able to walk down the street every morning with the kids and play at the park. It would be nice to have play dates that I could walk to instead of getting in the vehicle every time. 

But I'm sure I will adjust. This is not something that outweighs all of the positives of living out here. I'll just have to make a point (and an extra gas allowance in the budget) for being with people. 

What do you think? What would be your pros and cons of living in the country?

Here are some pics from recently, because I did promise them afterall. 

Kiddos finding the kitties (notice the yarn on the bench beside me...work is never far away these days!)

Haha. Balloon in the pjs is always good for some laughs :)

We visited my brother and sister-in-law over my birthday weekend. They stayed with the kids while we went to a wedding and took them to a park. They know the way to my kids' hearts!

Quick, creepy drive-by shot of our first house in Manitoba. It's always nice to drive through our old neighbourhood and see our first house :)

Levi got some new piece for his Ikea train tracks and chose to play with them instead of having night snack when we got home (that's huge for him!). 

Levi's favourite new game: jr monopoly

Lately - a boring update

Sadly, I have no pictures for you today.  I know, bummer.  My kids are the cutest and that's the real reason anyone "reads" this blog.  My apologies.  :)

So what have we been up to lately? 

Well, my business has been keeping me quite busy for the past 6 weeks or so.  Orders started picking up in early August and have been coming in steadily since. I am shipping across the states and Canada and even had an order from Ireland this month!  It's fun to know that my creations are going out across the world and are being enjoyed.  My favourite orders by far, though, are the ones made for people I know. Nothing beats making something for a friend and then being able to see it being used and loved.  So anyway, I don't do much else in the evening at at naptimes besides work these days and I've thought a bit about sending the kids to childcare one day a week just so I can keep up.  We'll see if I need to do that once the trade and craft shows come and the Christmas rush is upon us.  While it is busy, I still SO enjoy what I do.  It's lovely that a hobby has been able to provide a little extra cash for our family while still being able to stay home with the kids full time.

We also made a trip to Manitoba to see some family and friends and attend the wedding of a former youth of ours from our days living there!  There is NEVER enough time to see everyone I would like to see while we're there, but it was good to catch up with a few people at the wedding and have a couple days with my brother and sister-in-law.  The kids had a chance to get to know their uncle and auntie all over again as we left them at my brother's house while we went to the wedding. I wish I could have introduced our kids to the friends we saw at the wedding but it was so nice to just be able to visit and stay late (we were almost the last ones to leave!) without little people pulling on our arms and asking when it was time to go. 

My garden has been thriving and also slow to ripen completely.  I have harvested all of the corn and squash, and peas have been done for a month already.  But I have yet to dig the potatoes, onions, and carrots. Most of my peppers aren't even ready yet and my tomatoes are all still green.  Is that normal??  Should I be bringing in the tomatoes to ripen inside?  I'm guessing the peppers just need to do their thing on the plant or freeze trying.  I've got 11 jars of salsa already canned, though, so if I don't get more, while disappointing, it wouldn't be the end of the world.  I have a bunch of peas, corn, raspberries and strawberries in the freezer, squash in cold storage, and potatoes, onions and carrots to come. Have I mentioned that I love having a large garden??  There's nothing quite like being self-sufficient in that area of life :)  Perhaps one day we'll be able to add to that self-sufficiency with a few animals like pigs and chickens...hmm.

The kids are doing well.  Levi is nearing his fourth birthday.  He is not looking forward to it whatsoever.  I took him along when Kayden had her 18  month immunizations and didn't realize that we would be booking his 4 year immunizations while we were there.  He saw her crying and, naturally, doesn't want anything to do with needles now.  Poor kid. I keep telling him that he will get to do many exciting things while he's four but to him, four means needles. He's requested blue cake with chocolate icing so maybe I can deliver that and at least get him to enjoy his birthday, even if it means that shots are coming :) 

Kayden is 19 months old and has left the baby days behind.  At the beginning of summer, she was 16 months old and still feeling very much like a baby to us.  She wasn't walking, talking, crawling, pulling herself up, rolling over...nothing.  If I laid her down somewhere, that's where she lay!  If I sat her somewhere, that's where she sat.  Over the summer, she has learned to walk, pull herself up, crawl, talk, get off of beds/etc, climb (in this order). She has moved from the highest crib setting at the beginning of summer (the one for newborns!) to a toddler bed as of last week. High chair to her own stool at the table. Next on the list is potty training. I'm hoping to have her trained by Christmas so we'll see if that happens. It's not that there's a rush, but training Levi early (21 months) worked so well that I'm going to give it a shot with her before her real, 2 year old stubbornness sets in.  

I have so very much enjoyed our first summer on the acreage.  It has been a lot more work than living in town, but it feels so good to be able to get outside every day and accomplish something.  I found that in town I would run out of things to do in our yard and end up just sitting while the kids played.  It feels good to always have a garden to weed or a tree to trim or grass to mow.  Physical work is so rewarding. Plus, it keeps me in shape. Now that we've had a few cooler days of being inside more, I'm noticing the numbers on the scale creeping up and the love handles developing.  Need to keep moving! I might find myself shoveling snow by hand this winter just to keep fit (and warm!).  Well, I don't know about that last one. We'll see how desperate I get...

I think that's about it that's new with us.  I'll try to have more pictures for next time cause let's face it...pictures make every post more interesting!  But alas, I just haven't been taking many lately. Thanks for reading! 

Oh, and I don't mean to advertise, but if you don't know what "business" I'm talking about and want to see what I've been up to, you can check out my etsy shop HERE and my fb page HERE!

Cloud dough

When I was a new parent, I was like all new parents...I wasn't afraid of a little extra work on my part for the sake of my child's happiness. In simple terms: I was all for messy games.

Enter, cloud dough:

Why do the things my children enjoy most have to require the most cleanup afterward??

This particular activity promised "easy cleanup" (which was irrelevant to me two years ago when I first made this stuff) but boy is that wrong. This activity may require the most cleanup out of everything, except maybe puddle jumping. This stuff gets everywhere!  Table, floor, and toys that enter the scene need to be washed, clothes need to be washed, kids bathed. This is the full deal, people. And while it wasn't daunting the first time or two, now with two kids and supper to make, orders to make and ship, and laundry to fold...it feels like a lot of extra work.

But look at this face (my look of concentration was passed down to her, apparently!)...

How can I say no?!

On days like today when the kids have been so incredibly good, and Levi finds the cloud dough and asks ever so nicely if he can play with it, I don't have the heart to say no. And when Kayden sees what Levi is doing, playing with pom-poms and pipe cleaners suddenly isn't good enough and she wants in on the action too. So here I am, with a mixture of flour and baby oil spread out all over my dining room table and two kids, who will need to be bathed yet before supper. But they are happy and so I'm happy. Today the mess just doesn't matter and I smile as I see the focus on those little faces as they scoop and dump and make a mess. Because before I know it, they'll be all grown up and in school and I'll miss the days when I had little mess-makers to spend my days with. 

So enjoy the coud dough today, my children, for tomorrow we clean. 

Cloud Dough:

Mix equal parts flour and baby oil (or coconut oil?)

This stuff keeps for years, as long as you don't use an oil that goes rancid such as olive or veggie. Whether you want it to last that long, though, is another question completely ;)

GAK

We made gak today. If you have never made gak, you definitely should! Whether or not you have kids. Make some. It's cool :)

Here's the recipe:

If you can't read it, let me know. 

Basically you make a glue/water mixture (equal parts of each) and you also make a borax/water mixture (1tsp borax/1cup water) and you mix them with lots of stirring and you eventually get a slimy, slippery, oober-fun substance known as gak!

Mix mix mix.

And then you let your kids play and sit back as they're entertained for going on 45 minutes!  Love it!  It's a bit of a mess as it sticks to clothes and stains (if you've used food colouring) and little bits of it tend to end up everywhere but I'm game for a little cleanup some days if it means I have some happy kids :) (notice I said "some days!"). 

Oh, and a random sidenote...Levi loves saying the word "gak" and says "gak" as many times as he possibly can. For instance: "mom I like gak! I'm going to make my gak even gak-ier!" In fact, I just heard him say it 3 times in the last 30 seconds while typing this. Oh, and there it was again!  Gak!

Corn harvest 2014

Today was the day, apparently. I don't know if it's the "right" time to harvest corn in Saskatchewan. Or if it's typical to harvest all in one day or to pick a few each day as they seem ready. I grew up with a mom who was always gardening, and we kids were often involved in the process...but when I was 12, I wasn't exactly taking note of the time of year we picked corn or if we did it all in one day or not. So now that I have my own garden, I find myself flying by the seat of my pants a little (what an odd expression!) and asking my mom questions when I'm just really not sure!

But in any case, today was corn day. I went out to the garden this morning just to see what was ready and ended up pulling up half my corn!  I must say, it does make it more difficult to harvest when your corn decides to take a nap halfway through the growing season. 

 It is also more tricky when your mammoth squash plants use your corn as a climbing apparatus. Not only did I plant my corn rows too close together so I could barely fit down the rows (not normally a huge issue for me!) but now I also have vines as thick as my wrist criss-crossing back and forth between the rows of corn, coming as high as my chest, with the occasional squash hanging here and there. So maybe it's a good thing my corn fell in the wind...this way I can pick my corn like blueberries and not have to worry about making it to the middle of the patch!

I have two great little helpers who are usually with me in the garden. 

They can usually entertain themselves pretty well while I'm working. It was especially easy while the raspberries were at their peak!  I would just set Kayden down next to a bush and she would make her way around, eating as she went!  (Boiling water gets out raspberry stains, by the way) By the time she had made it around a bush, I was usually finished what I was doing and we were all still happy. During the really hot days in summer, we would take the truck to the garden for no other reason but to have some shade for the kids. It worked well because it was a treat for them to play in there and they were out of the sun. Win-win :) 

For my birthday, I got a wheelbarrow from my parents. We've made a few trips with that too :)

We've worked out the easiest way to travel via wheel arrow: Levi and his heavy 28 lbs in front over the wheel and Kayden's 19.5 lbs behind him.  I tried to have them side by side at first but by the time we reached the garden, my left arm would be dying while my right arm was not feeling anything so...this works much better!

This is how much corn I picked today:

When we got back to the house, the kids BOTH helped me shuck/husk it!  I have to say, there are few things cuter than having your 19 month old helping you shuck/husk corn!  And my 3 year old was pretty adorable helping too. I didn't even have I ask them to help. They just got right to work. I was all ready for lunch and they just kept working so I figured I wouldn't discourage their work ethic!

After that, we cooked some corn and had some for lunch!  Well, truth be told, Kayden couldn't quite wait for the cooking part so she enjoyed her first cob raw. But once it was cooked, we all dove in and enjoyed the fruits of our labour. Yum!

Now I just need to decide how I'm going to process this corn!  I'm not a huge fan of frozen corn but without a pressure canner, I can't can it. I've done some creamed corn already this year so do I just make more?  Or do I try some frozen corn and see if it's alright? Or do we just eat corn on the cob morning, noon and night until it's gone? Yes, I think we might do that. Mmm...