Sick, Sick, Sick!

I don’t recall ever having a month quite like this one.

The month started with us all having a really, really bad cold.  Our toddler ended up with an ear infection and I ended up with a sinus infection.  Not even a week later, we had the stomach flu come to our house.  It was almost a week before we could eat normally again.  Now, we have been hit again by a flu bug.  Fever, aches, chills, headache, coughing, congestion… it’s awful!  So far our toddler has not been hit with it and I hope that she manages to avoid it.

My kids have missed so much school and so many of their activities.

I am hoping for a healthy March filled with sunshine.

I hope you have all been managing to stay well.

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Simple Pleasures

I went into my 7-year-old’s room today and found her little white board propped up against the wall.

I love the simple things she wrote.  Most of all, I love the one that says “be happy”.  That makes my heart feel so good.

I wish you all a fun and fancy weekend filled with happiness… and more fun than fun!

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Pink Shirt Day… and Snow!

 

Today, in Canada, it is Pink Shirt Day. It is a day to wear pink to say no to bullying. If you’ve never heard the story behind Pink Shirt Day before, you really ought to hear it. It is one of the most touching and inspiring stories out there. Here is an excerpt from the Pink Shirt Day website ~

“David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenage friends organized a high-school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied…[They] took a stand against bullying when they protested against the harassment of a new Grade 9 student by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school.

‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’

So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag.

As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled.

The bullies were never heard from again.”

Today people all over Canada will be wearing pink shirts (and more!) to take a stand against bullying. These young boys taught us a great lesson in how we don’t have to sit back and watch someone be bullied.

My girls should be at school today proudly wearing their pink shirts…. but they’re not. We woke up to snow this morning and it is still snowing. We don’t often have a lot of snow where we are and so it is a real treat when we get enough to play in. The schools are open today. Most families live within walking distance. We do. But when there is snow outside (about 5 inches before school even started) that is begging to be made into snowmen, and the snow is still coming down, and your children look at you with those sweet little eyes and they ask you if they can have a snow day and play in the snow all day… well, how could I say no?!?!

We will be playing outside, drinking hot cocoa, baking some cookies and playing outside some more.

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Toddler Tuesday?

My youngest daughter is now 1 1/2 years old. I forgot how busy they get at this age and am finding myself needing to plan activities for her now to fill up her days and keep her out of trouble.

Since I will be spending a fair amount of time planning and implementing toddler friendly activities, I thought perhaps I could try starting a Toddler Tuesday post on here.

This week, I grabbed her water and sand table from the  backyard, gave it a good scrub and filled one side with rice. It has been such a huge hit with her! I love that such simple things amuse toddlers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to try this at home and don’t have a sand table, it is easily done in any large container.  I have in the past used large Rubbermaid storage containers (the ones with the shorter sides), you could use a roasting pan, or anything else you can find to hold a large bag of rice.

Here is the container I had used on a couple of occasions before.  It is just a cupcake holder, so not super big.

For toys, you can use shovels, or measuring spoons and small snack size Tupperware containers.  Plastic animals are great fun to play with in the rice.  It is also a lot of fun to busy a few small (but safe) toys in the rice and let your toddler find them.

Don’t worry too much if your toddler decides to taste the rice – it’s non-toxic.  I just tell my daughter that it’s not for eating, but is ‘play rice’.   And yes, I do have to tell her 100 times or more.

This is also a great activity for preschoolers.  Actually even my two oldest girls, who are 7 and 9, love to play in the rice!

 

 

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A Summer Dress on a Winter Day

This past weekend, while the kids slept in (a miracle!), I was able to get a little sewing done.

I decided to make the One Hour Sundress from over at From An Igloo.  I had this great red Hawaiian themed fabric that had been passed on to me and I thought this would be a great project for this fabric.

Here is the result ~

I think it turned out great!  This was so easy to make.  The hardest part was figuring out all the measurements for cutting the pieces, but even that wasn’t hard!

This will be a great dress for my 9-year-old this summer and I think it will be quite comfy for her too.  I wonder how something similar would look in adult size? I think in an adult version there should be some more shape added – perhaps under the bust?

 

 

 

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Psst… Guess What?!

My wish for sun came true!  It is only about 5 degrees celsius outside, but it is sunny!  Can you guess what I did today?  I washed my sheets so that I could hang them on the line!!!  Yippee!  I also put the quilts and pillows outside to air them.  Don’t you love that fresh-off-the-line smell?!

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Songs For My Baby

As some of you may recall, we only just got over a nasty cold a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, good health did not last long.  This past week we have been blasted with a stomach flu and it hit us all.  Yesterday was baby’s turn and I did all I could to comfort the poor little sweetie.  We cuddled and nursed (she was refusing all other liquids).  We read stories.  We watched the same episodes of Blues Clues over and over again.  By early evening, she was tired and bored with Blue (so was I!), so we sat at the computer, snuggled in the chair with a blanket and decided to see if there was anything interesting over at www.youtube.com.

We found Elmo’s Song (which she loves, and today was even singing), watched videos with pictures of puppies, and then did a search for some of her favourite songs.

She really enjoyed this version of Incy Wincy Spider – one of her very favourite songs right now.

There was another version of Incy Wincy Spider which we also liked and we found all the songs and nursery rhymes by this particular contributor (Myvoxsongs) to be really enjoyable.   They have a simple guitar background and I think it is the simplicity of them that makes them so nice to listen to.  Here is their version of Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Myvoxsongs also has a website where you can see more of their stuff.  I haven’t gotten a chance to take a good look at it yet, but I hope to do so soon. You can find the website here.

Finally, it was almost time for bed and we found this beautiful version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Great graphics and oh-so-soothing.

It seems that the contributor of this video (TheGiggleBellies) has many other videos as well as a website where you can buy their DVD.  I have yet to check out the website, but you can find it here.

I hope you enjoy these videos and that you have a little one in your life that you can share them with.   My youngest daughter is currently 19 months old.

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Hurry Up Spring!

I don’t know about you, but I am ready for Spring!  We really can’t complain too much here as the rest of the country has had a huge amount of snowfall this year and we have had next to nothing.  What we have had is rain, rain, wind, rain and yes, even more rain.  Although temperatures have been above zero, it has still been too cold to spend a great deal of time outdoors.

Typically I spend February outside weeding my gardens and fertilizing them and by March I start planting them.  It is a bit risky planting in March (as May is the traditional time due to frost), but I do usually manage to get a few plants in by the end of March.  I haven’t even started my weeding yet.

As I sat folding laundry this morning, I found myself wondering how much longer it will be before I can hang my laundry on the line again.  The diapers could use a good sun bleaching, the quilts and pillows could use a good airing and who doesn’t love the smell of sheets fresh off the line?!

I just love Spring!

 

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Valentine’s Wishes

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope your day is filled with the people you love and wonderful moments.

These Valentine’s pillows were a huge hit at our house.   Not only was it great for my kids who got to read about all the kinds of things we love about them, it has also been a great reminder to us about these things too.  Sometimes we get so caught up in life, and all the challenges we have with our children, that we forget about all the good things they do and the good people they are.  I’ve got great kids and I feel so blessed to have them in my life.

Today I am celebrating my 35th birthday.  I still can’t quite figure out how I moved so quickly from 25 to 35, and yet here I am.   I think this is the first birthday I have had that’s been a little hard to swallow.  I guess since I had my first daughter at 25, I have been so busy watching my children grow and change, that I kind of forgot that I was getting older too.

There are pluses and minuses to having a Valentine’s birthday.  It was great when I was a kid.  Everyone was always able to come to my party.  It was a great way for parents to get their couple time in!  Now, as an adult, my friends are generally all busy celebrating with their significant others.  I love celebrating with just my family though.  One of my favourite things to do on my birthday is to do something nice for someone else.  I love that my birthday is on a day that we celebrate our love for others.  Some people wonder if I feel cheated out of Valentine’s Day and for a time I kind of did.   That didn’t last long though.  I have grown to love having a birthday on Valentine’s Day.

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“Spread love everywhere you go:

first of all in your own house.

Give love to your children, to your wife or husband,

to a next door neighbor…

Let no one ever come to you without leaving

better and happier.

Be the living expression of God’s kindness;

kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes,

kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.”

-Mother Theresa

 

 

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DMK Coat – Finished!

Well, it took a ridiculously long time to pull out the buttonhole stitching, but I got it done.  I was tempted to put the coat away and leave it there for a while, but instead I decided to get it done.

The next button hole I tried worked (thank goodness!) and I even got enough time to sew on the buttons before my princess woke from her nap.

I have a button-holer for my machine that is to make things simple.   I thought it was a bit funny how one side of the button hole was sewn more closely than the other though?

I think perhaps I am button-challenged.  I thought this would be the easy part, but they didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped.  It is something very minor though and the coat still looks great!

I think my princess grew this past week as the coat fit even tighter than before.  I will have to make some opportunities for her to wear it!

 

(pattern is DMK Stylish Double Breasted Coat)

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