she's here!

Maia Claire arrived this morning at 3am in her parents bed while her brothers slept blissfully unaware of the events unfolding around them. 7lbs, 2oz, dark hair and squawking, we now have a girl in our midst.

Happy, healthy and slightly sleep deprived, we are all doing well.

snow

We got snow the beginning of November. It is still here. My youngest didn't remember snow from last year as 1) there wasn't much and 2) he didn't experience it hands on because he was too little. So the first real snowfall was a bit of a shocker for him. To his credit though, he has gone from feeling like this about the snow:



Sort of having fun but not quite sure what to make of it all.



Liking the whole shovelling thing but not liking the mitt thing.

To feeling like this:



Loving every minute outside, eating snow and sliding down the hill on his belly, head first.

Which is a good thing. The snow will be here for another 4-ish months.

arts & crafts

My oldest must be growing up. Lately the resounding refrain is "Mom, can we do a craft?". I never thought I'd hear those words come out of his mouth...this is my boy that loves all things that go. Things that "do". The one that has the attention span of about 2 minutes for colouring and all things crafty.

Not anymore.

We played bingo at James' Christmas party (with a real bingo machine, cards & dabbers - it was actually kinda fun) and brought home some of the bingo dabbers for the boys to play with. I figured it would be another short-lived venture but to my surprise he quite enjoyed making pictures with the bingo dabbers. Unfortunately, they are somewhat limiting when it comes to creativity...or, looking at it another way, fortunately they hide my deficiencies when it comes to painting/drawing. Nevermind that we only have 3 colours to work with.

My creative attempts with bingo dabbers.

Lane's picture (L), my picture of grass, as requested by Lane (R)

But the now oft-repeated refrain has forced this mommy to dig into the archives and come up with crafts that we can do with supplies on hand in the theme demanded of the almost-4-year-old child.

Lane's butterfly and Christmas tree.

So when my child requested a butterfly craft, the first thing that I thought of was to make tissue paper "stained glass" creations. A bit of work for me but a lot of fun gluing tissue paper for my boy.

Avery & Mom's butterfly.

Lane's soccer ball.

And, as always, it is an adventure.

it's all about the bunk

Bunk bed, that is.

The boys are sleeping in bunk beds. Lane has been sleeping in his bed frame for a while but we weren't quite ready to let Avery get into a "big boy bed". Well, the time has come and we are slowly adjusting. Actually, it is going pretty good...for now. Avery is pretty good about staying in bed. Here's hoping it lasts.

Lane LOVES climbing up and down his ladder. And he loves that he can see out his window. And he loves that he sleeps "up". Really, he just loves his bunk bed.

And now they can both lay in bed and gaze at the machines hanging on their wall:

The "Backhoe Quilt" is finished and up on the wall. The boys' bedroom feels quite snug and homey now!

leaves

It's October and fall is officially here. The leaves are all pretty much off the trees, we count every "nice" day as a treat, the sweaters are out and I have the urge to stock the pantry.

This weekend was a "nice" weekend. Temperatures that still allow a person to work outside during the day, along with sun and no rain or wind. A perfect day for us procrastinating sorts of people to get all the yard stuff done and finally go through all our junk in the garage like we've been talking about for the last 4 months. Also a perfect day for little people to discover the fun of leaves.

Also a perfect day for the big people to remember how much fun leaves can be - no matter the age.

Snippets from the last couple months

So I've finally taken the time to go through the small amount of pictures we have from the last couple of months. Unfortunately when life gets busy blogging goes to the bottom of the list...especially when I haven't taken very many pictures. But we do have a few and they are just too cute not to share:

Driving motorcycles. Gotta wear a helmet and gloves. The youngest one has to make the guttural "bbbbvvvvvrrrrrrmmmmmm" sound. Can you hear it?

I had a hankering for pumpkin pie a few weeks ago. My boys had a hankering to play. We compromised.

And everybody was a winner.

Driving dad's truck is the new favorite pastime.

They had better take advantage because we just don't know how much longer it is going to last...

Driving, driving, driving.

Doing dishes is still a fun time; however, it doesn't always work out well to share the same sink...

But they don't mind sharing the same laundry basket/tunnel.

Boys will be boys.

Decluttering, perhaps to your benefit

With another move looming, I've decided it's time to go through some of my "stuff". I'm not a hoarder by any means, but there is a certain pack rat syndrome that I seem to have inherited from my grandfather. You know, I might just need that some day!

Moving often before I was married certainly curbed the tendency but living in a house for 4 1/2 years brought the tendency back to life. As my family and I face the prospect of moving fairly often again, it is time to scale back a bit.

In light of this phenomenon, I am posting pictures of a couple of pieces I have sewn, in hopes that one of you might find a use for them (they'd make great gifts and, you know, Christmas is coming). They need a new home as there is nothing wrong with them, and it is a shame for them to stay hidden in a box. Unfortunately, I am not giving them away, but selling them for a nominal fee in hopes that I can recover some of the cost of the fabric.

Without further ado, here ya go:

Baby receiving blanket - $15
Flannel front, cotton back; approximately 1 metre square

Baby receiving blanket - $15
Flannel middle square, cotton outside border and back; approximately 1 metre square

Ladybug/denim handbag - $10
It was used for a short time as a diaper bag with my oldest; it is washed but the denim bled through a bit into the front pocket. It has padded straps so it won't dig into your shoulder. The inside is open to allow more space for stashing all those essentials.

Orange/denim handbag - $15
It was used for a short time as a diaper bag with my oldest; it is clean and ready to go. It has padded straps so it won't dig into your shoulder. The inside is open to allow more space for stashing all those essentials.

If you are interested in any of these items, please leave a comment or contact me at jamesandjoelle@gmail.com. I'm willing to ship them anywhere in North America!