Monkey Time

*** WARNING***

*** if you refer to me as mom or auntie you are NOT ALLOWED to read this!!!***

In addition to my regular Christmas shopping, I decided to make sock monkeys for my kids and my niece and nephews because they really are just so cute-- the monkeys AND the kids. Although sometimes the kids become monkeys too... 

I need to make 6 sock monkeys in total.  No big deal... how hard could it be?  Well, turns out that making a sock monkey is not all that difficult-- finding the time to do all that hand sewing when the kids aren't around has proved to be a little tricky!  I've got 4 done... 2 left to go...

Guess I should probably quit monkeying around and get to work.

No more monkey business for me.

I need to get this done before I go bananas...

My New Light

Well what do you know... the new light fixture in my entryway was featured on the Barn Light Electric Blog today!  They also put this picture in the website customer photo gallery-- you should take a look at some of the other pictures-- I was particularly loving the kitchen/dining room lights-- very cool.

I will admit... I most definitely did giggle a little when I saw my house on their blog this morning :)  Go on over to Barn Light Electric's site and check it out!

My entryway is practically famous :)

Christmas-y

Things have been getting a little more Christmas-y around here.  I hadn't gotten around to taking a picture of our tree yet this year... so tonight was the night!  I'm still learning how to use my camera-- I was trying to take a picture that would give the lights a little extra twinkle...

With a one year old in the house this year, I decided to put away my glass ornaments.  Instead of my pretty glass ones, I picked up a big box of glittery pinecones and some felt snowflakes and moose from Canadian Tire.  Caleb was a fan.

Today was baking day.  I have a whole lot of butter and chocolate in this house-- it's time to do some baking.  Since Eme can't have any buttery chocolate-y goodness, I made her a batch of Raspberry Banana muffins.

But these chocolate almond toffee squares were for me :)

Today was also gingerbread house building day.  I took the easy approach and used graham crackers.  Super easy-- super fun.  All I had to do was make icing...

And buy a whole lot of candy.  I tried to find the prettiest ones.

And here is my master gingerbread house builder.  He did an exceptional job of candy placement.

Although I had to laugh when he insisted on using the candy canes as downspouts on one of the houses.  He was so concerned about where the water would go when it started to rain.  I guess practicality won over aesthetics today...

To paint or not to paint... that is the question

I had 10 minutes to kill before picking Caleb up from preschool this morning-- so I stopped by the thrift store on my way over for a quick little look-see... and lo and behold I found this awesome lamp base.

It's gonna need a shade... but as I sit here staring at it I can't decide if I should leave it blue... or paint it white!  The white high gloss spray paint that I used on Eme's ceramic owl worked so great... that I'm tempted to whip it out again.  Do you think it could look as great as the lamps in this picture?

 Milk and Honey Home

Maybe.  I'm tempted.  To paint or not to paint... that is the question!

It's Rhino Time

When I spied this white Rhino in Home Sense this morning... I just couldn't resist.

I may be slightly obsessed with animal decor accessories.  But it really doesn't get much cuter than this in a four year old boy's room.  And the best thing is-- it's not glass or metal but is made of a hard plastic... this means that it doesn't have to live on the top shelf.

I'm pretty sure Caleb's going to ask if he can take it to bed with him during nap time... because he was just as excited as I was about the rhino when we found it in the store.

There were lots of other cool animals too-- elephants, deer, lions, and giraffes... go get em!

Cuteness overload

We've been doing a little babysitting over the past few days-- and I'm pretty sure there is nothing cuter than a bunch of kids running around in flannel pj's... especially when they are a few of my favorite kiddos :)  We've done some fun stuff... like watching the Grinch...

Snuggling all together for bedtime stories...

Last night I gave the kids some sugar cookies, a couple of bags of icing, and a whole lot of sprinkles and let the go nuts.  And go nuts they did.  

Let's just say there was a sprinkle catastrophe of epic proportions in my dining room.  And as I was running out the door this morning I glanced in the mirror to discover hard crusty green icing in my hair.

But it sure was fun.

And of course... I joined them in the cookie decorating.  I couldn't help myself.  And the kids said that my cookies were the "most beautiful cookies ever."

That really means "Auntie... I would like another icing covered sugar cookie to eat before bed please."  And being the sucker that I am-- I gave them cookies... of course.  Because that's what Aunties do :)

My son the mathematician

A few weeks ago Doug was off to work earlier than usual one day.  In the wee hours of the morning-- while it was still very very dark and very very early-- Caleb crawls into my bed.  As he snuggles in beside me he whispers in my ear: "Can we do some hard math right now Mommy?".  Seriously?

The kid does not get his interest in math from his momma... that is for sure.  But he LOVES math.  He loves to do " hard math"-- which is really just basic addition and subtraction :)  We've been working on Caleb's math skills and he is loving every minute of it.  I finally broke down and bought him some flash cards the other day and we've been doing a little hard math around here ever since...

A few days ago the kids found a set of poker chips-- don't know where they managed to find them... but find them they did.  And these chips have been ALL over my house.  Poker chips in the kitchen, the bedrooms, in our beds, under the couch, in the bathroom... you know how it goes.  Well today I decided to redeem those blasted poker chips and use them for good... we're using them for math!

I needed an activity to keep Caleb busy this morning so I grabbed a big piece of paper and divided it up into 10 squares that were labeled 10, 20, 30... you get the idea.  Then I had Caleb count out the chips and put 10 in each square so that he could work on his 10's counting skills.  He's usually pretty good at counting to 100 but like most 4 year olds he still needed a bit of practice :)

He seriously thought it was the best game ever.  So did I :)

And finally-- 100!  Math ROCKS!

Then we used the chips to help him solve some of the more difficult addition problems on his flash cards.  He can rattle off most single digit addition problems but when it comes to the double digits he has trouble.  And yes he IS only 4 :)  But, when I showed him how he could use the poker chips to help him figure out the problems he was doing amazing!

I love it that my kid loves math :)  And thankfully he's still only learning basic math-- because if he keeps developing his math skills at this rate his Daddy is going to have to take over!

So Much Better

A long long time ago I posted a rant about the light fixtures in my house.  Ever so slowly, I'm replacing them with ones that I love.  Finally, FINALLY, I found the perfect pendant for my entryway. 

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I love that it's casual, relaxed, and fun.  I love that it's different from what other people have in their houses.  I love that it projects the light down to the front door not out into the living room and hall.  And... I love that the white finish allows it to blend into the decor so that you don't always see it from the living room.  I stumbled upon Barn Light Electric and fell in love.  Not only with this light fixture-- but pretty much everything on the site.  There were several pendants that would have worked but in the end I decided to go for the Barn Light 16" Deep Bowl Vented Pendant.  They had dozens of different finishes to choose from-- I chose white-- of course :)

I felt like I was taking a bit of a risk ordering a light fixture from an online store-- what the box arrived and it was all wrong?  But, the risk definitely paid off this time around.  I'm thinking that I'll be doing a little more shopping on Barn Light Electric's site in the future.  Go check it out!

And... how about a before picture?  Just because it's nasty :)

Thank goodness those curtains are gone!!

The Advent Countdown is On...

Okay, so please tell me that I'm not the only one who woke up shocked to discover that it was December 1st.  Wow... the Christmas countdown is on... time for an Advent Calendar!

  

A few days ago I was sitting around trying to figure out what to do... what to make... what would be cheap and easy... and I suddenly it came to me-- picture frame... twine... clothes pins.  All things I had around the house.  I jumped off the couch and started racing around to gather my supplies.  I'm pretty sure Doug had thought I'd lost my mind, but soon he got the vision and stepped in to help out.  In the end I think it ended up looking pretty great.  This frame used to be a chalkboard-- so I popped out the chalkboard portion and tacked five lengths of twine along the back.

I really wanted to use vintage looking tags-- but I didn't have any.  So instead I cut some cream colored cardstock into the shape of tags.

Then I used a dollar store number stencil out of Caleb's crafting supplies to number the tags.  I traced them out with pencil and filled them in with a black sharpie.

In the end the clothes pins I had lying around the house were too big-- so I picked up some mini ones at Michael's.  They were the perfect size.

Each day Caleb (& Eme) get to take the appropriate number off of the frame.  On the back of each number is a Christmas-y activity that our family will do together.  Some activities will be big and awesome-- some will be small and easy to accomplish with minimal effort on my part.

I decided that I reserve the right to only commit the daily activity to the card on the night before... I have a list of things we want to do-- but I'm not committing until I know what each day is going to look like.  But Caleb doesn't need to know that... of course :)

I've got a list of activities started... some of these items will be done more than once, some we may not do at all, and I will probably add other things to list as the days go on.  Here's what I've got so far...

Eat some candy canes

Drink hot chocolate with marshmallows—of course J

Go for a drive and find the best Christmas lights in town

Go visit the nativity

Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn and pajamas

Read a portion of the Christmas story from the Bible

Go see Santa in the Mall and admire him from afar (my kids would be way too terrified to sit on his lap-- that I know for sure!!)

Decorate Christmas cookies

Have a Christmas orange

Make a gingerbread house

Make Christmas cards

Decorate the Christmas tree

Do a little Christmas shopping

Make a Christmas Craft

Make snowflakes

Sing some Christmas carols
Read the Grinch that Stole Christmas-- and then watch the movie

Go Skating (I will watch from the sidelines with my bad knee)

Have a Christmas Music Dance Party

And that is our Advent Calendar.  Our activity for tonight is-- eat candy canes... I figured we should start out small and work our way on to the bigger items.  I don't want to set the bar too high right off the bat :) 

Are you doing an Advent Calendar this year?  Any other suggestions of fun activities I could add to my list?

It's sofa slipcover wash day...

... which means that it's also fort, mountain, and tunnel building day.

They really should be napping right now... but this is really too much fun... 

(and when I say fun I was thinking about fort building... not laundry :)

And....

slipcover wash day has now inspired curtain wash day.

And then window washing day.

Apparently, all it takes is a little sunshine and warm weather to feel inspired.
That and a little coke. :)

For the Kids

A long long time ago I showed you the little bronze owl I scooped up at Home Sense for $4.99.  I didn't love the color so over the weekend I spray painted it a high gloss white.  I can't believe how cute it looks in Eme's room...

Moving right along...

My niece and two nephews were at our house for dinner over the weekend and I didn't have enough little chairs to fit around our little kids table.  Since then, I've been wondering where I could find two more little chairs so that all four kids can sit and eat at the little table.  Well, as Eme and I were out and about this morning doing a little shopping while Caleb was at preschool I spotted these...

(sidenote-- Caleb wakes up every morning and makes his own bed (kind of)... don't know how that happened but I'm definitely encouraging it :)  And... he even places the throw pillow at the head of the bed.  Attaboy.)

These vintage-y chairs were $4.00 each at one of the thrift stores in town.  They are so insanely cute.  Caleb also immediately fell in love with the chairs.  He personally carried them from the car, up the stairs, and into the house.  He sat on the red one for lunch and even offered his assistance in cleaning them up.  Caleb wants them to live in his room... But I think Eme's partial to the yellow one :)

I just love a good find :)

Tis the season

It's time to let the Christmas festivities start in our house.  This week?  Baking.  Caleb and I have been baking up a storm.  Sugar cookies, muffins, and yesterday-- gingerbread.  My favorite.  I used this recipe.  It is hands down the BEST gingerbread recipe I've ever tried.  And the instructional videos help too :)

So last night I somehow got it into my head that I should pipe and flood these cookies instead of just smearing on the icing-- my more typical approach to icing cookies.  So I got to work... and somewhere along the way I managed to convince Doug to help me.  At one point he looks at me and says, "who really has time to do this anyways?"  I start laughing.  "Obviously me."

As time consuming as it was-- they sure look pretty-- if I do say so myself!

So... now that we've got the cookies... I think it's time to pull out the decorations...  tis the season!!

Pre Christmas Toy Clean Up

As promised-- here are the new shelves I purchased via craigslist for $50 over the weekend.  They have become the new home to the kids toys in the downstairs family room.  I was previously using an Ikea Expedit storage unit for the toys but didn't like the fact that I couldn't fit some of the bigger toys into the cubes.  These shelves solve that problem!  And, since it's getting close to Christmas I sorted through the kids toys, organized them, and did a little purge of some of the ones they don't need.  And I officially moved ALL of the living room toys down to the basement.  They didn't play with them upstairs... and they were driving me crazy.  So, other than the cars and trucks in Caleb's room and a small stack of books-- all our toys are on those shelves!

So as of last night this room is pretty much bare-- except for the shelves.  We decided to try and sell our old couches since they were too big and bulky for the family room.  I put an ad on craigslist and had people calling immediately.  Within 24 hours someone had already come to pick them up.  Now... I guess it's time to do a little couch shopping :)

Why I love craigslist so much...

I've loved these white lack Ikea bookshelves forever.

They are simple and stylish.

They are also very functional.

You can put pretty stuff on them... or pile a whole lot of junk onto them!

You can also put a couple together for a custom bookcase look...

But best of all-- they're cheap.  Especially when you find two of them on craigslist for $50 bucks... $50 for a PAIR!  And since they are now discontinued at Ikea-- you better believe I snatched those babies up!  It was probably one of the highlights of my weekend.

And that-- my friends-- is why I love craigslist so, so, much.

Pictures to come.

(all images via pinterest)

Not Everyone Loves a Snow Day

We woke up to snow this morning.  This is pretty much the most exciting thing ever... EVER... for Caleb as we do not often get snow around here.  I ended up digging through all of the closets in a panic this morning-- searching for mitts and snow pants-- knowing that the kids would be playing outside at preschool this morning.

During our drive home after preschool the conversation went something like this:

Caleb:  Mom, do they have snow in Saskatchewan?

Me:  Yup.  A lot of snow.

Caleb:  Well, do they have snow in Quebec?

Me:  Um, yeah probably.  (they do... right?)

Caleb:  How about BC?

Me.  Of course.  Just look outside.

Caleb:  Do they have snow in Lynden?  Oh, I mean London!

Me:  Yeah, I definitely don't know if they have snow there.  London is pretty far away.

Caleb:  Yeah.  It's probably even farther than Disneyland.  Do they have snow in Disneyland?

Then we arrived at home.  Thank goodness!  Caleb and I decided that we should probably have a late lunch and keep playing in the snow.

Emerson however, was not impressed.  Turns out that postponing lunch and sitting in a stroller while Caleb played in the snow was not her idea of a fun time.

She was pretty bored.

She was determined to not have a good time.

And finally refused to even look at the camera-- let alone smile.

Well-- turns out that all she wanted was lunch.

Hooray for broccoli!  I love broccoli more than snow!!