This, That, And The Other Thing

A bit of an update on the house and life in general. We are enjoying a bit of a 'day in' since the roads are a little slick with recent ice and snow fall. I decided it would be a great opportunity to upload photos, write a blog update, and maybe get my Christmas cards done!

I don't have any recently house photos unfortunately. The guys have been working on the house almost every day (even through last weekend) and I feel weird snapping pictures while they are mucking about on the roof or having coffee out front of the place.

At any rate, the shingles are getting done. Last time I checked, they were almost done, and I hope they finished yesterday because last night something very odd started to fall from the sky. It was like rain drops, except frozen. Nothing like snow, or hail, but literally rain drops that frozen solid on the way down. All of the school buses in the county were cancelled today, although most schools remained open.





Speaking of school, today I got to observe Lincoln in class for an hour. It's part of the parent-teacher interview process for the younger children. Parents are given the chance to spend some time in class watching how their child is doing, and then a very short feedback session is scheduled with the teacher in the following weeks.

Lincoln was SO excited that I was going to be in his class today. His teacher said he was just about beside himself all morning. I really enjoyed getting to watch him in class. They learned a new letter and did an activity while I was there and I was very impressed with both him and the teacher. He sure has good listening skills, although I think I was distracting for him because he had a bit of a hard time paying attention to the teacher while he was smiling and waving at me.

His teacher told me that she just loves Lincoln and that he is always so polite and sincere. She remarked that his writing (especially his name) and his coloring skills have vastly improved since the beginning of the year. He certainly is better at staying inside of the lines and his printing is really coming along. All in all, very good.

We've also had much excitement around here with Sydnie, who is finally totally potty trained. At the beginning of the week we ran out of diapers, and so I just told her "We don't have any diapers, I guess you'll just have to wear your big girl underwear" and she hasn't had a single accident since then. She doesn't even wear pull-ups at night or anything. We're very proud of her, and she's really good about letting us know when she has to go. Hooray! No more changing of diapers for me :)

5 years and 20,000 diapers later...

This week we have been gearing up for Christmas. Since all of our Christmas decorations are in storage, we decided this year was as good as any to buy a new tree. Jay took yesterday, today, and tomorrow off of work to get the Christmas shopping and preparations done.

Perhaps we have the tree up a bit early, but I figure the kids love it and I'd rather have it up early instead of late.

Sydnie even got a tiny tree of her very own:



Our New Tree







The kids are getting very excited for Christmas, and they were really pleased to see snow on the ground this morning. It's amusing how thrilled they are to be able to wear their winter boots.

Hmmmm... I thought I had more to say, but it seems I've either forgotten or I'm less wordy than usual. I hope everyone is having a good Thursday, and hopefully I'll have more updates over the weekend or early next week.

Really, We've Seen Enough Now

Since there is no real progress on the house to report, and the kids and adults of the household are all well and fine, I thought I would dazzle you with another of my food posts.

Oh the excitement. I can feel how thrilled you are to read that!

In an effort to try new things, I picked up a couple of pepper squash the other day, to have with supper. Right on the label for said squash I found some simple instructions for cooking it that sounded appetizing enough:

"Cut in half, scoop out seeds, fill with brown sugar and butter, bake until tender"

Well, ok, they were a little more detailed than that, but you get the idea.

I present to you now, a photo series about the squash. I know, there is no end to my coolness.









They certainly looked delicious. Sadly, that's about the best part of the story. Jay and I each had a half, and the more of it one ate, the worse it seemed to taste. Perhaps because once you get beyond the part that is saturated in butter and sugar, it just tastes like...squash.

Not our favorite thing, by any means, but it was good to try it at any rate. Squash is cheap so I didn't feel especially bad about not liking it.

Unlike the dragon fruit.

Lincoln had picked out this bright pink, fabulous looking fruit on a trip to the grocery store. I've had it before, and it's really not the tastiest thing in the world, but it's not terrible either. It tastes very much like a really mild melon. Think honeydew, but with next to no flavour. I had a feeling the children would not like it one bit, but I did say they could pick out whatever they wanted.

Since no food post is complete without photos, here we go.







After cutting it up, I was not the least bit surprised that both kids rejected it with horror after their first taste. Since I didn't want to waste it, nor did I want to eat the whole thing myself, I decided to attempt to salvage the fruit and make it more appealing to the minions.

Since even squash tastes good with butter and brown sugar, I decided to try that with the dragon fruit. I mean, it couldn't possibly taste any more boring.



After caramelizing it in a pan with the butter and sugar, the kids were more than happy to eat the remaining fruit, so at least it wasn't wasted.

On our last grocery store tour Sydnie got her starfruit and Lincoln wanted some of those really miniature bananas, so I'll inflict those experiences on you sometime in the near future.

House Plans? Finally?

Ok, we're going to try this out :) I managed to save all of the house plans as images, but in doing so, the quality was decreased somewhat. Still, the names of each room is legible, as long as you view each plan in the largest size.

So, what you need to do is click on each of the smaller images below. They will open up larger in a new window. Above the image should be a small grey magnifying glass that says "All Sizes" beside it. Click on that, and you will then be able to select the Original Size option (again, it's above the image).

Basement Floor Plan



Main Floor Plan



Second Floor Plan



Loft/Master Suite Floor Plan



Let me know if you have any trouble with them. Hopefully this helps everyone to visualize it all better.

Who Lives In A Pineapple Under The Sea?

Many good updates today! Time to grab a cup of coffee and get down to writing it all.

On the weekend we stopped by the new house to take some inside photos and show the kids around. They were sure excited, and ran through each room asking "What is this going to be?" over and over.

Mac and Wesley and their parents moved into their new house a couple of doors down from us. The kids can hardly wait for us to move too so that we can all be neighbours again.

I took some photos of the inside of the main floor (there aren't any stairs yet, so no basement/upstairs pictures). I will try to explain what each photo is of:

Jay's Future Office



The Kitchen



Main Floor Bathroom



Living Room



Dining Room, 'Library Area' and Front Door



From The Front Door, Looking In Towards The Dining Room, Kitchen, And Living Room



Back Yard



Sydnie And Daddy, Checking It Out



Lincoln And Sydnie Approved!




We got a letter last week informing us that our new closing date has been set for January 31st. I guess that's better than the end of February, but we remain unimpressed with Reid Homes overall. I certainly would not recommend anyone else build with them.

That aside, we are looking forward to moving in eventually. We don't plan to move in immediately after we close on the house. Since we will have to pay rent for February anyway, I plan to get as much of the painting done as possible before we have to start hauling in furniture. Yes, I am crazy, and I plan to do quite a bit of interior painting myself again.

The kids both want their rooms to be painted similarly to the old place, so I am going to do that. Also, our room will be black again (we got quite attached to that color in the last place) and the bathrooms are going to have to be painted as well. The painter just uses that cheap construction-grade matte paint that cannot be washed or wiped of spots. If we want to upgrade the finish to sometime just slightly less crappy, it'll cost us 25 cents per square foot. Not money I am willing to spend when I can do it myself, especially since I actually quite enjoy painting.

The painter is still going to be painting the whole house with a grey color that I will leave on the walls in the basement, hallways, closets, etc. That way if I don't get everything done before moving day, there will still be something on the walls at any rate.

Jay and I really enjoyed a few hours out on Saturday night! The babysitter (Shay) was great. The kids were still up when we left and she had no trouble putting them to bed. Jay and I went to this little pub called The Penny Whistle and had a pint of beer and some nachos. They serve pub food and Indian food of all things. It was really tasty, and apparently on Thursday nights they have a curry buffet, so we are going to see about try that sometime soon. We had a really good time, and talked a lot about our plans for the new house. Being kid-free for just a few hours was wonderful.

We were really impressed with the sitter, and the kids adore her. Sydnie was upset in the morning that Shay had gone home, so I don't worry about leaving them as much. Clearly both Lincoln and Sydnie like having her over (they hardly even cared when Jay and I left) and she does a great job playing with them and listening to all their stories. How fortunate for us to have found her!

Yesterday we took the kids to see Bee Movie after lunch. They sure enjoyed that, and so did we. They both behaved so well and sat through the entire movie without having to go to the bathroom or making any noise. What a cute movie! Now that they are old enough to get into movies more we are hoping to take them to the theater once in a while for a treat. There aren't always good kids movies out, so I doubt it'll be too often, but it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Especially now that the weather is cooler and they don't want to be outside as much.

Jay has a couple of days off coming up here later in the month and we plan to do all of our Christmas shopping then. With the Canadian dollar being so good, we were thinking of driving down to Buffalo, NY to do some shopping. Apparently they have outlet malls there like you wouldn't believe! It's only a little over and hours drive to get down there, so it might be a fun day trip.

Speaking of Christmas shopping, I wanted to mention a few things in regards to gift giving when it comes to the kids. I know we've already talked about it with pretty much everyone, but now that we have to fly back and forth, we cannot possibly handle the amount of stuff that the kids usually receive. I really hate to restrict what people can buy for them, but realistically, we'll have to leave some of it behind or spend money to ship it out here if everyone gives them a lot of bulky gifts.

So, we are requesting politely that everyone try to keep it to something small, and then if you want to give something additional, a gift card would be ideal. They both need clothes (long pants, sweaters, long sleeved shirts) and Lincoln especially likes having new clothes for school.

Lincoln wears size 5, or even size 6, or else youth small. He really likes all superheros and Transformers stuff. Sydnie just started wearing size 4, and she really likes anything with horses, puppies, kitties, or butterflies on it.

Books are ok as well, if you don't want to give clothes. Also gift cards from pretty much anywhere are fantastic, especially if they can put it towards stuff for their new rooms (they are both getting new beds and will need new bedding, pictures for their walls, etc). Since the move has been difficult for them, we are letting them choose as much of their own stuff as possible (they both picked out their own paint colors already).

I really hope that doesn't seem too restrictive, however, with the luggage limits and all the stuff we have to bring just to visit everyone for 10 days, we just can't haul much back with us.

The birthday party that Lincoln went to on Saturday was a lot of fun. He didn't want to roller skate because there was a huge play area in the Rollerama, which kept all the kids well entertained. The owners of the Rollerama (which is in Cambridge, another city near to us) are building one here in Guelph as well. It's just like an old roller rink. They have special nights where they play music from the 60's and 70's as well, which I think is really neat. Jay and I are thinking we will all have to go as a family sometime in the spring. I might have to go by myself a few times to learn how to roller skate though, or I'll be falling over more than the kids, HA HA.

Lincoln is already talking about plans for his birthday party next summer. I am just hoping they get the sod in before then so that we can have something in the back yard. Honestly, I'm not holding out much hope, but you never know. If not, we can throw a party in the house, since we'll have the big basement and such.

We hope everyone had a good weekend! Keep your fingers crossed that they get the shingles on the house this week. I'll post another update if there is more progress.

Actual Conversation (Act 3)

Apparently, saying:

"Lincoln, I don't want to hear any more about Hot Wheels for the rest of the day!"

actually means:

"PLEASE TALK ABOUT NOTHING BUT HOT WHEELS FOR THE NEXT 45 MINUTES, UNTIL MY EARS START TO BLEED!!!"

Whatever You Do! Don't!

I promised more updates on the house! They are getting ready to shingle, but it snowed here all day so they had to postpone. However, the doors and windows are in, so you can take a look below. As always, click images to see them full-sized.





Jay figures that one the shingles are on, it'll be 6-8 weeks before we move in. So, hopefully mid-January if they keep up the pace.

Today we had our first snowfall (as you can see in the photos) but it didn't really hang around. By the time Jay got home from work he couldn't even tell that it had snowed.

I took a few photos at the gym the other day (no, NOT the locker rooms, ha ha) so that you can see what our Childminding Room looks like.











Lincoln is enjoying school. He's doing really well with his numbers, and we're still working on learning his letters (identifying them by sight and knowing what sounds they make). I also got his school picture order form this week. He looks so cute! We ordered a larger package so that everyone who wants a photo can have one.

Recently, in order to help them behave at the grocery store, I've started letting them each pick out an item from the produce section that they have never tried before. During the last trip, Sydnie picked out a pomegranate, and Lincoln picked out a dragon fruit. They really enjoy this little 'tradition' of ours, and Sydnie informs me that her next choice is going to be a star fruit.

The other day I cut the pomegranate open and cleaned out all the seeds into a bowl for them. They were fascinated by it, which was quite adorable. You'd think Christmas had arrived, they were so excited. I didn't really expect them to like it so much, but they ate the entire bowl full.

I think it's good to encourage them to try new things, food-wise. Letting them pick the items themselves makes it more appealing because it's not like us forcing them to eat something they aren't sure about.

They wanted me to take a picture of it, and so I did.



This weekend we are having the sitter over for a few hours on Saturday evening. I am having her come at the time when the kids go to bed so that I can show her their routine in case we ever have her watch them at a time she will have to put them to bed. She'll stay after they are sleeping so that Jay and I can go to a movie, or to the pub for wings and beer. I'm looking forward to that.

Lincoln also has his first classmate Birthday Party to go to on Saturday. A girl from his class sent home an invitation last week, and he said he wanted to go. The party is being held at Rollerama, which could be interesting. If Lincoln ends up on roller skates, I will take pictures to show everyone.

We booked our flights this week, for our trip out in Dec/Jan. I'll write out our itinerary closer to the date, so that people who are able to visit us, can coordinate times/places.

Hopefully everyone had a good week!

Beneath A Shelter Built By Many Hands

More pictures of the house! I'm starting to feel a little more optimistic that we'll actually be in before the end of February. Click on the images to see them full-sized.








Now that they are actually working on it again, I will post more regular updates of the progress.

A couple of weeks ago I taught myself how to crochet. It's nice to have a hobby that I can take with me to the gym (when I am volunteering there, sometimes it's really slow and I have lots of opportunity to crochet) or while watching the kids, etc.

I've made two projects thus far, basically to experiment and get some practice in before I attempt anything more difficult. Sydnie and Lincoln have already requested that I make them hats, so those are next on the list.

So Spooooooooky!

I promised Halloween photos! Here they are :) Lincoln went as Spiderman, and Sydnie went as a kitty. They both had a blast, and got so much candy that we had to stop at home and unload half-way through our walk in the neighbourhood.

We had quite a few kids at our house. Seems that the row of townhouses is a popular stretch. We had just over 60 kids (Jay kept count) which was actually a nice change from Airdrie where we only got 10-15. A lot of the kids commented on our pumpkin, which we had lit up with a red glowstick inside (much safer than a candle). They seemed to like that a lot. Usually I light my pumpkins with a string of mini lights tucked inside, but all of our Christmas stuff is in storage.

Luckily, everyone was done Trick Or Treating when the rain hit. Our pumpkins looked really neat in the rain, glowing away on the steps. Those glowsticks last a long time.

I have updates to post on the house as well, so check back for those after the weekend.