book club!

I was going to post about this a while ago and forgot.  I am now part of a book club!  For our first book we read the Peach Keeper, by Sarah Addison Allen.  I was the host, I made peach shaped cake pops and oatmeal cookies with coffee icing (this was a recipe that went along with the book).  The cookies were good, but I was not a fan of the icing, but maybe it was because I made the coffee and my coffee skills have been seriously lacking lately.  I usually have a headache after drinking coffee I've made.  Anyway, I am very excited to be part of a book club!

st. patrick's day- day home

I'm really not very good at this blogging thing...This picture has nothing to do with St. Patrick's day, but how funny is she~ Kayla loves to dress up!

 Digging for gold coins in the green mess!

A little leprechuan came to the day home and left a trail of clues to lead the kids to the end of the rainbow! My 5 year old was not very tricked but still had fun!

Almost every theme we do I am able to find matching foam shapes that go with it.  First I hid the shapes around the playroom a couple times for the kids to find, then I tape the shapes to the floor and they can jump accross them.  Last we decorate the shapes. 

 We made a rainbow cake! The boys mixed the colors up then we layed the colors in a bundt cake pan.  Normally we make cake from scratch (there's more things to pour and measure that way and they taste better!) but this time we just used a mix and some food dye.

 Before it went in the oven.....

 Our bowls. I just liked the picture.

 I taped wax paper to the table, gave each of the boys a straw and a spoon full of green water.  They then raced their water across their paper squares by blowing it with a straw.  This activity was more successful then I thought it would be and I will do it again for the younger kids.  I just used a washable marker to dye the water so I wouldn't end up with a green table.

 Blake!

This is the pathetic rainbow the boys were led to.  I didn't want to do it too early uncase they wanted to play outside and it was windy out so it twisted up alot. 

 Our special party snack!  We were supposed to have green grapes too but I forgot and bought purples ones instead so they are not in the picture.  We had lime sherbet with a little bit of sprite. 

Another St. Patrick's day activity, green shaving cream painting!  The kids definately liked it, but they are not really pictures you can keep, the shaving cream is pretty messy when it dries.

family room project

so i'm finally trying to settle into our house! i have put my own nails in the walls (so far we've just hung things on the nails the previous owners left behind) anyway! a few of the pictures are not quite straight...opps! and i'd like to get some vinal lettering for a couple spots (under our wedding picture) and we have another large print we'd like to frame like the one in the middle but that frame is from ikea and would involve a trip to calgary, but here's how it looks so far!! and the pictures are at funny angles to try and hide the not quite straight ones and the fact that i didn't tidy up the family room before taking the pictures!

project bathrooms

well, now that i have my pla submitted! i can think about blogging again....

anyway! when we moved into our new house (not so new anymore, it's been a year and a half) the whole house was painted very nautral with plain white bathrooms. after having a house with a different color in everyone (painted by us) i decided to try and keep this one more toned down, but who doesn't love a fun bathroom! so i picked out a color that i thought would work for our master bath and for the kids bath. side note, i LOVE having my own bathroom! when we moved in i filled the drawers and cupboards, there isn't that many, with my own stuff. when nic asked where his stuff was supposed to go i said 'aren't you going to use the downstairs bathroom?' in my defense, he did in the old house, it was his bathroom and i very rarely used it. so anyway, back to the color, those little paint chips really don't seem as bright or dramatic then the color on a whole wall....so brighter then i had planned but i think it works.

 So i decided to go with an owl theme for the kids bathroom, however currently the only owl related thing is my paintings, and those are definately not my best work (especially if you look real close). i did also buy a little owl shaped timer, not because i expect my 2 & 4 year old to time them selves as they brush, just because i could not find anything owl related. but it very quickly disappeared from the bathroom.  i did find a very cool tree with owls toothbrush holder that would go perfectly but it's only available at target on line. maybe one day i'll get it. oh and the picture by the sink was painted by my sister karin, who is becoming a very impressive artist! back to the owl painting, i would like to add another red or orange owl to the top picture. maybe one day!

and my (i mine our) bathroom! I got the pictures on clearance at winners, and you can't totally tell from the picture but there is bright blue accents in the bird pics that match perfectly with the wall color.

now for the next project! Blakes room. nic mentions here and there that one day he'd like to move (not really supporting this...) but anyway, after all the time i spent working on kayla's room i decided i should make blake's movable. so i'm going to paint 3 long canvas' for his walls. and because i'm cheap i will be buying them one at a time with a coupon at micheals so it may be a while before i have all the canvas and paint! especially since the first canvas purchase actually took 2 trips after we accidently shoplifted a very large canvas! not sure how the lady at the check out missed it, but i assumed she rung it up with the rest of my purchase. this is what happens when you shop with children....but i did go back and pay for it, which was slightly embarressing and the other girl was surprised and confussed 'are you sure you didn't pay for it?'

a few days late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE!

My baby is now 4! I can't believe how fast he is growing and how much I love him!  Blake is a quirky kid who always makes me laugh, he loves reading books....

 He enjoys dressing up, hats, shoes and of course his dragon or shark costume.  Blake likes music, and enjoys dancing to HIS songs.

 Blake loves crafts but he doesn't often draw, this is a T-rex he made that i love!

 Again with the dress up. 

 Blake LOVES dinosaurs!  I have bought zoo passes the last few years and Blake loves going.  We always have to go through the dino exhibit, although i don't know how much he actually sees of it.  He's always so excited about it that he runs through it so fast.  Blake is sitting beside me as i type, informing me that this is a trycertops with 3 horns. (i can't spell dino names..) he also knows t-rex and anklyosaurs.

 Halloween crafts!

 Blake currently does not like getting his photo taken.  If you looked through my camera you might think i had a favorite, but i don't! Kayla is just always so willing to get her picture taken and Blake is NOT.

Blake loves his Daddy, and spends alot of time helping him, in the garage, and outside.

 Again with the dress up!  Blake loves puzzles, i think he is very skilled for his age.  Blake can do 50 piece puzzles with no assistance at all.  He has done a 150 piece puzzle with very little help as well. 

 Every once in a while Blake decides he wants his picture taken, he poses and then wants to see it right away.

 Again with the posing.

I can't figure out how to rotate this picture, but it was SO cute, Blake was reading Koda a book.  Blake loves books before bed but now has started reading a couple too (instead of me reading them all).

Blake wanted lightening mcqueen cupcakes for his birthday.

Blake is very loveable with his mommy and daddy, (he is fairly selective about giving out hugs and kisses to other people).  Every night before bed Blake needs a hug, kiss and a big noses. And of course he needs a big hug and kiss from Daddy before he leaves to work. He always asks me to put my arm around him while we sit on the couch and read books.  And has now started asking for a hug, kiss and noses before school.  He also asks me to sing little bunny foo foo before bed too, he picks one of his bedtime stuffies that i use to bounce around and then bop on his head which he thinks is hilarious!
Blake is in school again this year, we have tried a new preschool and he seems happy there.  He seems to really like teacher Anna.  Blake now has his friend Bella in his class, their teacher says the 2 are inseperable.  Friends are very important to Blake, he still talks about Beth often and loves the day home boys coming and often asks for them on the weekend, although he plays so much rougher with boys they still play pretty well together.
Blake is growing and learning, he is starting to learn his letters, he knows what letter everyone in the day homes name starts with.  This morning he was practising making letters out of his cheerios on the table.
Blake can be very theatrical when he plays, and he is SO loud!  His dinosaurs and bad guys roar and talk in deep voices.  I love sitting and listening when he is playing with his toys.  I've noticed his toys usually have good manners; 'oh thank you, oh it's no problem your welcome.' 'hi, how are you, my name is buzz.'
I think Blake is a pretty amazing kid, he always makes me laugh, and my heart felts every night when he says 'good night mom, i love you!'  Or when he says 'mom, i need a hug and a kiss'.  I am excited to see him grow and change but i also want to stay right where we are for a while longer. 

Happy Birthday my 4 year old! (yes 4, he may have told some people, including his teachers, that he is 5, apparently he wants to start kindergarten and he was told he needed to be 5.....)

Snow! Day home

For a week in November our theme was snow!
We read several snow books-discovered a book called 'making grizzle grow' which was a big hit!
For the first few days of snow week there was no snow, so i filled the water table with cotton balls and mitts. 

later we used the cotton balls for a snow college.  When it did snow I put real snow in the water table.

we made snowflake orniments, I used the glue gun and put dots of glue where the boys instructed me to and they placed the popsicle sticks, then they used this fancy textured snow paint to decorate.

the kids made their paper snowmen melt.
a few activities planned we weren't able to do because of the lack of snow, we did do some melting and freezing experiments with snow and ice.  And i tried to have the boys make paper cut out snowflakes, they did enjoy cutting but there was just a pile of little bits of paper in the end. 

thank you!

I read my blog again this morning, and not only did I notice the few bits that really don't make any sense; I realized I forgot one my favorite Kayla things....Thank you mama!

When Kayla first started saying 'thank you' she only said it to me, 'thank you mama'.  Now she says thank you to everyone, all the time. If Kayla is given something she will often say thank you to everyone in the room, 'thank you mama, thank you dada, thank you blake'.  I just think her thank you's are the sweetest thing and they always make me smile.

Oh and another quirk that is like her mommy, as a baby I always did a role call, listing Erin, Daddy, Mommy and Mira, and my mom would tell me where everyone was, Kayla does this too!  Kayla is always asking where the day home boys are (she says all their names very well) she calls for Daddy, Mama, Blake and she wants you to acknowledge her or she will keep repeating your name over and over.  Now that I'm not distracted by a very lame Christmas movie I could write forever about Kayla (when she wants your attention she says 'look! look, mama!)

 Kayla always looks a little worried when she does her cheesy smile.