Catch up

New year, new post. Its been a busy couple of weeks, to catch you up:

We had a great, but too short winter break. Its so different now that K is in school. I was SO looking forward to the two weeks off, but it flew by.  Christmas with my family, quick trip to visit other friends and family, back home where K went and tried skiing for the first time (which btw he LOVED!), New Year's with friends and that was it for James' week off. Whew.

The last week off of school went by quickly, but by Wednesday I was ready to ship the boys back to school!

K got glasses: he looks so BIG now.

L attempted to knock a tooth out. Funny how every time I leave someone with the kidlets they try to lose teeth. For L, she had only just had her top two cut through that week. Nana came to watch her while I volunteered at K's school. L was crawling around in the kitchen with her soother in her mouth. She took a little spill and somehow managed to scrape up the inside of her gums, so much so that her entire front tooth is exposed. Took her to the dentist who said it should all be fine, but good grief. My kids and their teeth!

C is doing his usual random stuff. He's still clumsy as ever- actually took him to the E.N.T. to see if there was some inner ear stuff going on to account for his inability to stay upright, turns out he's just a clutz. (I think that's the official diagnosis).

So there you go, December in a nut shell.  How were your holidays?

Bananas

Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows

Looking for a cute, quick and kid friendly snack? Here's a sweet one K and I whipped up yesterday. It took all of 5 minutes, looked adorable, and best of all, he did it all himself.

Following the 'cake pop' craze, we opted for marshmallows instead. And we didn't have lollipop sticks, but cocktail straws worked great. Anyways, here's what you need :)

Ingredients:

Large Marshmallows (we used Jet-Puffs)
Chocolate chips
Heavy Cream
Sprinkles

Basically, you make a chocolate ganache (you can find an easy tutorial here, but essentially you just heat the cream, pour it over the chocolate until it melts and then stir it up, easy peasy)

You put a cocktail straw through each of the marshmallows, dip them in the chocolate ganache, and then dip them in the sprinkles.

We used a blob of playdough at the bottom of a cup to stand them up.

And voila! Couldn't be easier!

The kids gobbled them up over the afternoon (pretty sure mom and dad dipped in too).

Enjoy!

All Grown Up

Today is K's first all-in, everyone's-there, riding-the-bus day of school.

Considering we kept him back the extra year (his birthday is at the end of December so technically we could have started last year) it is amazing how fast it crept up on me.

And I really am happy for him. I'm happy that he's excited. I'm happy that he's starting to become his own little person, with his own experiences and his own ideas. We did preschool; this isn't entirely new, but it still feels different. This morning I put my baby on a bus and let him out in the big scary world.

No tears though. Not from me and definitely not from him.

Another first in the book. First time on the school bus.

Now, what to do for the next 3 hours?

Just Like Dad

Just a quickie post while K is in school.

So, just to preface this post, I am aware that I should not be leaving C unattended with markers for any reason whatsoever. Clearly I do not learn!

Either way though...this cracked me up.

"Look Mom, I'n a mustache just like Daddy!"

PSA: A Dishwasher Alert

For years I have been suffering in silence. I truly felt I was alone. But after several revealing conversations with other moms it would seem I was wrong. And so today, gentlemen, it is you that I am speaking to. Today, I'm blowing the lid off this thing.

This fellows, is my kitchen. It comes equipped with the standard equipment.

I'm sure you recognize the fridge, I know my husband has established a certain level of intimacy with this particular piece of equipment. Its where food comes from (and in some cases, such as mine, it comes with an amazing capacity to replenish itself automatically at least once a week...or perhaps that's another post). Marvellous isn't it?

yikes...please excuse the finger prints, good lord!

This is the microwave. Again, I'm sure no surprises here. Its the primary reheating tool in our house. I think James would say this is his only tool for cooking.

Perhaps some of you are also proficient with the stove, and oven. I won't go into detail.

This is the sink. It is a purveyor of water. It helps with filling pots, rinsing items, washing hands, and, on occasion, is useful for hand-washing large dishes or hard to clean cooking residue.

But this, THIS is the dishwasher. It revolutionized the 1970's homemakers world. It is extremely efficient at cleaning dishes, glasses, sometimes I even throw in toys or other 'washable' items. It has numerous functions, cycles, fancy stuff I've never used. It in essence serves to replace the need for hand-washing dishes.  Wikipedia has a tonne of information about the history and mechanics of dishwashers. It is truly a wonder of modern science. The only thing it doesn't do, is load the dishes itself.

So tell me then, dear husbands of the world, why is it that you still insist on placing your dirty dishes directly above the dishwasher, in that obsolete sink?

I mean, seriously James, its right there!

Catching up

So its SEPTEMBER!! Yikes, where did summer go. I really think I need to consider living somewhere that summer lasts more than 2 months!

In a perfect world, I would be on a beach in Hawaii soaking in the warm sun and splashing in the ocean waters 365 days a year. That would be my paradise. However, James hates the isolation of being on an island and would much prefer a day in the mountains than a day on the beach, so for now we are planting roots here.

Speaking of planting roots.

We've been busy busy busy. Ok, I'm lying, James has been a busy boy.

11 pallets of sod, I think I ended up helping lay maybe one, and the other 10 were all on him. He was exhausted, but we are super happy to finally have something other than dirt and rocks for the boys to play with. (That being said, they still chose to play in a dirt pile, but they at least had options!)

Today half of my trees arrive, including not one but two apple trees!! Poor James will be trading his sod knife for a shovel this weekend. What a trooper.

What else have we been up to?

We've been putting out fires

Growing Teeth

Losing Teeth

Digging

Creating art

Playing

Going until we drop

and just trying to suck up those last few moments of summer.