dotCA off to a great start for 2010

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Great new talent ... all Canadian.

A conversation with a small boy.

(Earlier today, we came up with the idea of giving all my son's diapers to a baby for my son's birthday -- since he'll be 3 and a 'big boy'. He was totally on board, 3 hours ago.)

Just now, the little guy & I were chatting, and he asked me to retrieve an out of reach toy.

Me: I can get that if you tell me what you're going to with your diapers on your birthday.

Small boy: I can't tell you.

Me: Why can't you tell me?

Small boy: It's a surprise.

Right. I have a feeling the surprise is going to be that he's changed his mind.

Craft supplies & ideas

Now that we're in week two of providing home child care, my meager supply of craft items is quickly being used up.

I've got construction paper, tp & paper towel tubes, some empty kleenex boxes. I've got lots of little photos cut out from magazines, lots of scraps of fabric. There's also empty thread spools.

We've got crayons, glue, pencil crayons.

I've got a laminating machine to make things like these stained glass projects. But we need more ideas ... things that are fun, suited to a wide range of ages (1-4 year olds), and that don't use any expensive materials.

A year of Christmas ...

I know, I know, it just ended ...



If you aren't sick of Christmas yet, and you want to get your crafting finished before the 24th of December next year ... check out what we're working on at Sewing Mamas - A year of Christmas



Here's a preview of some great tutorials that have been gathered up to help us get a head start on Holiday Decorating for 2010 -- January's theme. Each month has a theme to focus the sewing efforts.



I can't wait to see how many of us can finish this!



STOCKINGS

1. Stockings with rick rack

2. Stockings from quilts,

3. Stocking tute

4. Rick rack flowers

5. Button wreaths

Dare I say I'll write more?

It seems to be a theme. I post for a few days/weeks, then turn into slacker blogger. But I genuinely intend to post more often! I have a few bloggy ideas in my mind. I hope to post more often going forward. I've been having a great time participating in a '12 days of Christmas' swap over at the Hyenacart.com forums. It's been so fun to open a gift each of the past ten days. I'm just waiting on the last two to arrive in the mail. Finn has been very excitedly opening his advent calendar each day since the first ... it's a winter forest scene from Playmobil. Each day offers an animal or tree or other forest prop, and I believe tomorrow's door will reveal a jolly elf dressed in red. The best part is -- I think I can stash this away for next year and get two years of use from it. Maybe I'll make a decision on a sewn one by Christmas 2011 ... I keep changing my plan, so I haven't started one yet. How are your Christmas preparations coming? We're nearly done -- two gifts left to wrap that Finn picked out this morning, one load of laundry to do so we all have clean clothes to wear to our many family events (Christmas Eve church, brunch on 25th, dinner on 25th, dinner on 26th), and Dave is picking up the last 4 items on the grocery list right now. It's only 2:45 on teh 23rd! I think tomorrow is going to be the first lazy 24th we've had in a few years. Hope to be back soon .... if not ...

Merry Christmas to All!

Not Go Sport!

Finn's been very interested in basketball lately, don't know why. On a recent trip to the local Once Upon A Child shop, he spotted this lovely little basketball net - more suited perhaps to the crawling ages.

The little net speaks, and at the end of it's program, says "Way to go, sport". Well, Finn just doesn't get it, and every time, tells it "No Go Sport!".

He's quite insistent that we need to take pictures of him playing basketball, so hopefully I'll have some of those to share soon.

Photos from two canoe trips

One sunny trip, one rainy trip.

There's a moose mama & baby in there somewhere, you'll have to watch them all. One trip was August 9th, and one was September 5th.

Our first trip we had a couple hours of rain, and generally damp camping. The second trip was hot and sunny, great summer weather on Labour Day Weekend. A friend came with us, and you can see her portaging the canoe on one of the short portages. Finn carried his own 5lb pack over a total of 31 portages over the 2 trips, the longest was 1275 meters.

Fun Stuff

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Go to Widdly Tinks and make shadow people for your family too!

Or Penguins ...

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

What good is a post without photos?

It's not a very good post. You're right. But, I have miles of photos to organize, edit, resize ... before they can be posted here or shared.

We've been camping twice since my last message, once to Algonquin where Finn tackled the portages - up to 1275m - carrying his own little pack. We've celebrated 2 grandparents' birthdays. I've sewn a great deal, for Finn's fall wardrobe, some baby carriers, both gifts and sold ones. I think I even have a new favourite.

We've also been getting Finn ready to go to preschool. He's had a few practice visits, and will start going on his own one morning a week just after Labour Day.

Photos coming soon. Really. :)

Be bigger Monday.

That's what Finn told me today. Along with 'go to school in 'tember'.

He's certain that he's not big enough today to use the potty, but that on Monday he'll be bigger and he'll use it. We'll see how that goes. But in preparation, I made him a cute little pair of training pants from great pattern a friend mentioned to me. I'll add a link & a photo tomorrow or Monday, but if you want to have a look for the pattern before then just search for Ladder Hill Design, and the pattern is for the Tinkle Time Trainer.

He's also quite excited to be going to school in September. This week we'll have our test visit to the preschool in preparation for a once weekly class that begins after Labour Day. He'll be the youngest in the group, as he'll just be 2 1/2, and that is the earliest they can go. I'm sure he'll enjoy it, it'll be just like another play date with a bit of structure. I'm looking forward to having 2 hours a week to see clients, ride my horse, maybe meet a friend for coffee now and then.

Happy Civic Holiday, enjoy the long weekend!

The literal interpretations of a two year old.

Mama: "Finn, I've got the WonderPets song stuck in my head"

Finn: messed up mama's hair "Open up hair, get out of it"

Mama: "No Finn, it's not really INSIDE my head, you can't get it out like that"

Finn: now pulling mama's hair "Open it! Not stuck get out!"

And, just so it can be stuck in your head too ... Click Here ... (get a good giggle from the 'no copyright infringement intended, even though the images and sound totally belong to NickJr.')

Sewing Mama S.W.A.P. Contest

Almost forgot ... I received 3rd place in the Adult S.W.A.P. (Sew with a plan) contest on Sewing Mamas!

I did most of the sewing for this 6 week contest in 3 weeks due to our vacation timing. I finished the last item on a loaner machine as my beloved Emerald was in for service - warranty work. She never did get repaired and was replaced within hours of the techs at Husqvarna seeing her. The new one is lovely, sounds a bit nicer and the needle up buttons works!

April 29th? Really. Sorry about that.

Ok, I'm a slacker. Blogging just doesn't get priority these days (months?!)

May ... what did we do in May? I'm not sure ... but I'm certain it was a good time!

Oh, right ... sister-in-law's birthday, mother's day, a long weekend with no plans ... that was May. Then, our vacation - we drove out to New Brunswick and camped all over the province, and returned home to June.

Some other photos from May - I wore a sari to church for Mother's Day - a friend from Singapore was having her son's baby dedication & several of us wore them to help her feel at home as none of her family could make it.

June is over. I have no idea how that happened. The month did wrap up with some great news - my sister had a baby - he's lovely and we're all enjoying having a fresh baby in the extended family.

July started off nicely - a BBQ with friends to get things rolling and celebrate Canada Day.

Now ... you know I'll try to post more frequently as summer progresses. We've got 4 more camping trips planned before snow flies, so there should be lots of photos!

The Mealplan. Um. Yeah. Not so much.

Well, it started well ...

Breakfasts ONE - Good Morning Muffins TWO - Blueberry Bran Muffins THREE - Smoothie FOUR - Raisen Toast <--so successful, I had this twice! FIVE - Toast with Nutella SIX - Pancakes with Blueberries <-- they had this without me on Saturday!

Lunches ONE - yummy veg bagel sandwich TWO - cheese quesadillas and guacamole THREE - Bagel Melts (used leftover chili) FOUR - Fried Egg Sandwich FIVE - Leftover Lasagna SIX - Leftover chili

Dinners ONE - Lasagna (but I did make it this week! TWO - Curried Cauliflower,Chickpeas & Naan THREE - Roasted Veg Chowder (making this tonight) FOUR - Fajitas FIVE - Chili SIX - Spagetti

So, too many dinners on my plan. We had leftovers of chili (we might still have leftover chili), leftovers of indian food & leftover pizza from the night our friends brought dinner.

I think my new plan will be to start over on Monday next week, and only plan 4 dinners and 5 breakfasts. Lunch will sort itself out without extravagant planning, and I'm sure leftovers, invitations or restaurants will take care of the other 3 dinners.

Afternoon at the park & continued meal plan success!

Used up my random, unplanned lunch today - my mother-in-law invited Finn & I for lunch.

After our lunch, we all went to a park near her home, Finn walked 90% of the way there, and rode home in the stroller. He had a great time, swinging, climbing, sliding, running, riding ... all the fun things you can do in the park when you're two.

Ode to the zipper foot.

Ok, well it's not an ode, because I can't write in any sort of poetic manner. I love my zipper foot though.

Here is my lovely zipper foot.

Emily found it for me and it makes zippers so easy! There's still the odd bit of user error, but at least I don't blame them on having the wrong tools for the job. Last night I put in 6 zippers, and they all look lovely.

Day Two - Meal Plan Success Continues

Today, toast w/ nutella for breakfast, leftover chili, smothered in sourcream, cheese & green onions, for (very late) lunch. Dinner turned out to be the spare unplanned one, as friends brought over pizza. It was great to visit with them, and luckily it all got arranged just as I was pulling the cutting board out & turning on the oven to start dinner. Easy enough to undo!

Also today - a playdate with Finn's little friend (I even got to play Rockband on the Wii ... I'm not that good), before that we went for a 5km run.

Some photos from our day (oh! and yesterday's beautiful sandwich as well!)

Finn wants you all to know that 'Garg made it' ... his little blue bowl that is. Finn is very careful with it and always carries it with two hands!

Day One - Meal Plan Success!

Ok, we did it (or rather, I did it). Cinnamon Toast for Breakfast, that beautiful bagel sandwich for lunch, and chili for dinner.

Also got quite a bit of sewing finished for the sale this coming weekend. Details will be on www.shopbabygo.ca in the morning some time, as I need to look up the address/time in my inbox on the other computer.

A project almost guaranteed to fail.

I'm going to make a menu plan. I'm even going to post it here. You can all just watch and see if I can stick to it!

Now, I'm not going to assign days to meals, I know I can't stick to that! But, I'm going to list 7 dinners, 7 lunches, 7 breakfasts. Starting tomorrow morning, I'm going to attempt to work through the 21 options You didn't really think I could do it, did you? Well, neither did I. So, I'm changing plans, 6 of each meal! That gives me one random, spontaneous, oops we're not home, or maybe we'll go out, or you know, something comes up and we get an invite out ... :)

Breakfasts ONE - Good Morning Muffins TWO - Blueberry Bran Muffins THREE - Smoothie FOUR - Raisen Toast FIVE - Toast with Nutella SIX - Pancakes with Blueberries

Lunches ONE - yummy veg bagel sandwich TWO - cheese quesadillas and guacamole THREE - Bagel Melts (use leftover fajita toppings) FOUR - Fried Egg Sandwich FIVE - Leftover Lasagna SIX - Leftover chili

Dinners ONE - Lasagna TWO - Curried Cauliflower,Chickpeas & Naan THREE - Roasted Veg Chowder FOUR - Fajitas FIVE - Chili SIX - Spagetti

Speaking of dinner, do you call it dinner, or supper? That meal you eat in the evening?

Today's Reading: Mo Willems

Today Finn & I are reading 'Things that go' and 'Knuffle Bunny', along with a whole lot of other books!

I'm not reading any grown up books, as I'm saving all my not-yet-read books for an upcoming roadtrip.