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!