long time no post!!!

its been a busy summer, but i think this week was the craziest and its not over yet!! I have been trying to paint the kitchen cupboards white, and spent as much spare time as possible working on that durning Tabitha's naps. on thursday, I called the junk removal people so that we could get rid of a slowly getting bigger pile of yard waste by the side of the house. well, wouldn't you know, 6 baby kittens had made their home in that pile! we kept them in a kennel that we just happened to have for the night and tried to feed them but they were still pretty little so I don't think they were quite weaned yet. i dropped them off at the humaine society the next morning after dealing with a sobbing chloe who wanted to keep on of them despite the fleas and that their Daddy is allergic to cats. then matthew's parents are coming tomorrow night for 4 days so i've also been busy getting ready for that only to get a phone call from my neighbor who is all panicked because both their cats have tapeworms and fleas...so I spent this morning at the vets with her and then I took the kids to the annual cornfest which is very close by. we decided to drive anyway even though it was only a few km's. its a good thing too, because chloe actually won a HUGE teddy bear playing one of those hard games where you throw the baseball into a jar which only has a big enough opening for the ball.!! the thing is almost as big as her and a little bit bigger than amber! Tabitha looks tiny next to it LOL. Tabitha went on her first kiddy ride today and it was fun to watch the expressions on her face. speaking of Tabitha, she's had a few more appointments and all the specialists agree there isn't anything wrong with her, she's just lacking in confidence. her talking has come a long way and she is standing by herself now with increasing frequency. I've been practicing sight words with amber, and she has 23 of them memorized already!! That's really about it, and its time to get back to work,..company coming tomorrow after all....

i can't think of a good title for this post

It's been a cooler summer than usual, which for us means no blistering thirty degree weather, but it also means the pool isn't as warm as usual and i'm afraid i've become a wimp and don't like going in the pool unless its eighty degrees. i've been busy keeping the kids busy, and i have a long list of therapy things to do with both Amber and Tabitha now. Tabitha's language is atleast a year behind, and her motor skills are delayed too, but the other day she stood by herself for the first time!! she seems more brave with daddy than with me. We're actually looking into sending her to a toddler program 3 mornings a week at the montessori school nearby, in hopes that it will help her to bridge some of those gaps. I've kind of come to the conclusion that at the moment, everything else has to take a number, and my main focus has to be the kids in order to give them the best chance possible to catch up and succeed at school and life. I guess that's why I haven'te been on here much...that and the computer's been acting up...

happy father's day!

So I've been keeping myself pretty busy! last week of school already, and chloe got to be an elephant in the grade 3 play called it's a jungle out there. every year at victoria school they put on a play at the end of the year by the grade 3's since it's their last year at the school. next year she will be in AV Graham. Amber has made it through her first year of kindergarten, and Tabitha is still NOT walking!! As you can see by the pictures, my garden is doing very well. Amber has become addicted to fresh peas from the garden and can be seen sneaking more of the plant! The best news is that matt will finally be working in windsor, even though it means making less money. Atleast now we know we're not moving. For daddy's day, we had a picnic outside and made a cake. The girls made sure to spoil daddy with lots of hugs and cuddles. Amber made a cute rock and a card that says you rock! chloe decrated a little treasure box and gave him a picture frame from school. I'm finally ready to start trying to run every morning. I've been trying to convince myself for a while now, but always with excuses. I've grown irritated with the excess poundage that i've allowed to stick around. I think with all the stress of wondering whether or not we were moving, chloe's last year of victoria coming to an end, etc etc, I just kept putting it off. No longer!!!!

my creations

I finally finished making the cushions to go with the furniture and the home made curtains. So here are the pictures of my made-over living room. Oh and the other picture is of chloe with her piano playing at the talent show. I have been keeping myself very busy. Tabitha has had her hearing test and I am happy to report her hearing is just fine. Still don't know what's happening with the job situation. appearantly they like to drag things out as long as possible so it might be a while before we know about the "promotion" if it happens or not.

Life's Embarrassing Moments....

So before I get into the embarrassing moment sega, I am very excited to report that I have new living room furniture!! I've been happily sewing away making new curtains and cushions, and when I am finished I will be posting the pictures of the end product!! OK, now too the embarrassing bit... On sunday we had the High Counsel visit, and he was giving a talk on the importance of being reverant during sacrament meeting and coming spiritually prepared. Well, he just finished talking about how irreverent cell phones were when my cell phone started ringing!!! I frantically tried to find it and turn it off, but my bag had so many pockets...so I ended up exiting as quickly as possible. 99% of the time I either don't bring it or make sure its turned off, but the one time that I forget.....and the person who was calling? responding to an add i placed on kijiji to get rid of some extra rocks!! the few people who actually know my cell phone number would never call me on sunday, they all know better, talk about timing!!!! Quite a few people snickering at that one let me tell you!!!! I seriously wouldn't mind moving up north now...

pictures

I know these pictures are pretty similar to the ones on facebook but I promised I'd post them so here they are. Since I'm on here I had a great mother's day. At church the teachers recorded what the kids liked about their moms on a little keepsake momento. I laughed when I read Amber's, she said she likes my feet!!!! I got some very very cute homemade things from the girls this year and chloe kept freaking out if I even tried to go in the kitchen~! she has banned me from doing any work today~~!!! The talks at church were very very good today too. Chloe made sure I had breakfast in bed and lots of love and cuddles. Daddy has been keeping up with the dishes and changing all of Tabitha's diapers :) The youth speaker today was the daughter of the counsellor who assigns the talks...usually in our ward there is a tradition of good naturedly poking fun at the one in charge of assigning talks and trying to avoid him. Well since she was his daughter it was too funny when she got up and said she tried to avoid brother caulbeck, but it didn't work out so well!! She had some interesting information on how mother's day started and that the person who started it actually wished she hadn't and got arrested for protesting the commercilization of mothers day. She felt that cards were a lazy way and that heart felt letters were better. it was cute because she said I'm glad that this lady started mothers day, even though she got arrested for it later!!! I'm still patiently (or atleast making an effort at patience anyway) waiting for my seeds to start sprouting. I still feel like I"m just watering piles of dirt...but hopefully soon I'll see little suprises pop up through the soil Atleast my peas and spinach are doing very very well, and my corn too. I don't mean to write such long posts, but somehow I get carried away.....

A Quick Update pictures will follow on sunday, and a video clip if i can figure out how!

Wow, I've been outside more often then in, but today its raining so I'm trying to catch up a bit on stuff! Chloe has achievement girls and we have to leave in a bit but I can atleast do the writing portion for now, and sometime between now and sunday I will add the pictures and videos. When matthew went to Toronto, the hotel that the conference was at had valet parking,..and since he was driving his POS 1995 NEON that has paint chipping off everywhere, he was pretty embarrassed. They all had to wait for their cars at the end of the conference and he was hoping he would be the last one so nobody would notice but they pulled it up behind a wall and asked who owned the white neon so he was saved! He says he plans on having a different car next time!!! Also, his elevator got stuck after eating a big meal at the restaurant and he was stuck in there for over an hour..they had the fire department there and everything. He says it got pretty hot in there, but his main concern was trying not to break wind since he had just eaten such a big meal LOL!!!!Chloe did a little line dance performance at her school all decked out in cowboy clothes and I have a video, if I can figure out how to download it on here. Amber has gotten her first birthday party invitation!! I've been outside digging, shovelling, weeding, planting, watering etc. I bought myself a wheelbarrel and the second time it was used the valve broke off the tire tube!! Well, of course i couldn't find the receipt, so I hoped for the best and took the tube back to the store hoping to replace it. The clerk said i needed to bring the whole tire...so i sighed and left and came back the next day with the whole tire. well this time it was a different clerk, who told me I had to bring the whole damn wheelbarrel!! GRRRRRR so, I went back got it and then got a different clerk who said that they could have just replaced the tube !!!@$#@#$@#$@#$@#$@#%#$%# She apologized for all the trouble I went through and told me there are a lot of knew people in her department. This all happened at RONA incase you are wondering where I had all this trouble. Matthew informed me just before the weekend that he applied for a job in northern ontario. Appearantly if he got it we would have to move to Sudbury. I originally though Missassauga, but nope, sudbury...anyway he decided that he will turn down the job even if he actually got it, because it would be hard to sell the house in this economy and moving is never easy or convienient for a host of reasons. Oh and my last little bit of news, I Have blossoms on my apple tree~!!!!!!!! I'm so so so so so excited about that!!!ok, i'm done now, but I promise some pictures before the end of the week!!!!

Time Flies when you're having fun !!

Ok, I have been totally blog negligent latley but the weather has been sooooo nice! today it was 26 and I think i spent more time outside than inside. My garden in the back has a scary amount of roots and weeds in it and I am getting a huge pile of mushroom compost delivered on monday to spread all over front and back gardens, so i've been hacking away at weeds desperatley trying to get as much as possible done before then!!! I had a great birthday even though hubby was MIA a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a while came over and hung out. we ate pizza and caught up. then my best friend and conviently my nieghbor too came over with her 12 year old step daughter and we hung out in the hot tub playing a tame version of truth or dare after the kiddies were all in bed. I've had some successes and failures with my garden attempts, and have been journalling along the way so that I learn from my mistakes. so far nothing too exciting to take pictures of though as its all beginning stage stuff. Tabitha failed her phone screen test for hearing, and now has to get another hearing test. she is 18 months but reminds me more of a 12 month old in all of her development including her motor skills. So I'm not sure what's up with her but we're about to go on another adventure and find out~! her hearing test is at the end of the month and then we go from there. Amber is doing great at school! she has come a long way! and Chloe, she is also doing great especially in all the areas of communication and being a good friend. (parent teacher interviews were today so...)I still want to try to post every week, but wow, when the good weather comes i spend so little time up here on the computer!!!!anyhoo, That's all for now!!!!

hope your easter was better than mine...

It seems i picked a wrong time to start back on dieting,..easter brunch at the church was delish! they had cherry cheescake,..so i couldn't help indulging myself in a piece. Its a good thing we enjoyed our good friday because Tabitha got sick with a tummy bug and spent sunday and monday throwing up. Then, Amber and Chloe decided to join in the party this morning instead of going back to school. On wednesday, we got a call from the infant hearing program. They autimatically keep tabs on Tabitha because of a family history of hearing loss. They were doing a phone screen to see how Tabitha was doing. They ask questions to get an idea of how she's responding to noise, and talking etc. Well, she failed the test. So, now we have to take her in at the end of may for a hearing test and see what's up. They are also setting her up with another program called Talk to Me to have her assessed by a speech and language pathologist. That's not to mention the fact that she is almost 18 months and still not walking. Amber's speech and language pathologist wants her to get a neral phsychology test done because they thing she has problems processing commands and questions, but Matthew and I aren't completley convinced of this because she seems to only want to do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it. The poor girl is having a rough time. First, she gets a tummy bug in January, then last month, she found my birth control pills and took 3 of them :( she spend a whole night throwing up...and now only weeks later she has another tummy bug compliments of Tabitha. Tabitha is feeling better today I think its been nearly 24 hours since she's thrown up, but she still is on a crackers and pedialite pops diet for now. Oh, and Chloe who is in grade 3, came home telling me the most disgusting jokes that her classmates are rehearsing at school. I was pretty suprised that it started that early. I explained to her those kind of jokes were not appropriate and we have begun the process of explaining to her all about the changes her body will go through and as soon as I find a good book at the library that will be extended to the birds and the bees. The look on her face was pretty funny when explaining all about the joys of the menstrual cycle. In more happy news my corn seems to be doing really really well and i am looking forward to transplanting them outside. I was hoping to be able to celebrate my birthday tomorrow with the family since matthew has to be gone to Toronto all weekend from thursday til sunday, my birthday being on friday. But it looks like any festivities will have to wait until next week. Anyway spring is here and the rain doesn't last forever so as they say in the book of mormon "And it came to pass"

Welcom April!

I think my cough has finally disappeared! I've officially decided I need to get back on track with my weight management, and have weighed myself in. Sadly, I gained about 8 pounds this winter. I suppose that's not too far off track, and I should be grateful it wasn't more than that. So my starting spot is offically 155 pounds and I'm holding myself accountable by posting my progress on here. I'm pretty sure all the soil preperations I'm undertaking for my gardening endeavors will burn some nice calories and my neighbor and I have a plan where we will watch eachother's kids while we go get a walk/run in during the week. Today, Amber said she hates Tabitha,..again. I thought sisters were supposed to love eachother? I have no idea my only sister being 10 years older than me, my main experience is in the brother department. i've been having some success with starting my seeds indoors. I actually think many of them germinated much quicker than typical thanks to my professional greenhouse system. but, some are taking the regular amount of time, and at first, I thought there was something wrong, until i re-read the seed packages and realized I still have a week to go before they start to root. I threw my chives out before reading all this, and realized that was dumb. I guess I need to be more patient. just like people, seeds grow differently and need different amounts of water and sun soil to thrive. I realize today just how impatient I can be and that some things can't be rushed.

so ends March

I haven't really taken anymore pictures as I've been just trying to make a futile attempt at catching up on housework and getter the garden ready while still sick with a nasty viral infection. We managed to make it through church. Again I can't help wondering do we really need church to be 3 whole hours long??? I have a strong testimony of the principles of the gospel, but sometimes I really get to wondering about all these meetings, and activities and etc etc. How much of it is really necessary? anyway, I really am not feeling that great so I'm going to go to bed early tonight. hopefully by next sunday I'll have completley recovered and have more exciting things to share.

more pictures from women at the well

here are some more pictures to go with my previous post

March update

So here's my tardy update. As I was not feeling well, I didn't do much of anything on sunday, but now i am trying to catch up on the ever piling up work that I ignored for the first half of the week. I spent all of march break working on the decorations for the big RS party called Women at the Well. I had to completely put any other tasks on back burner, and was very relieved that help came when I sorely needed it. Well the party went over really well. the food was great, and well i'm biased on the decorations, but the visiting RS stake presidency annoyed me a bit when she commented on everything except for the decorations during her toast. Well, whatever, I was very happy with what i managed to accomplish, so what she thinks doesn't really matter that much after all. I wish i could comment on the program but i didn't really hear it very well, but based on what everyone else was saying they all liked and enjoyed it. I took lots of pictures, and here are a few of them, more to come in a little while. right now though, I have a cranky 5 year old who doesn't seem to understand how difficult it is to type with her hanging on my arms....

no puppy afterall

so,..the puppy plans fell through, although I can't say I'm overly disappointed. I guess there won't be any pictures until sunday now. but there are lots of things going on this week so I'm sure to have my camera out.!!! I'm changing the subject here to something somewhat related...The truth is even though I want to be done having kids I keep having this nagging feeling that I'm not. It is annoying the hell out of me as I am perfectly happy with our three girls. And that's partly why we t hought on the puppy,...all done with the kids have a puppy now. Its not that I plan to get pregnant anytime soon or anything like that. I don't feel like now is at all the right time, its just that I get the feeling that a few years down the road there is more to come. How do you even explain the feeling? I so want to be done but yet deep down I don't feel like I am. Anyway I'm actually relieved that we're not getting a puppy even though he was very cute.

Weekly Update

so I've made a decision that I'm going to try and blog on sundays as my day is crazy busy during the week. I am not going to be babysitting anymore, but its march break, and we've decided to give dog owning a try again. Tomorrow we will be adding a little yorkie poo to our family. So, the reason for no pictures today is I am going to quick post some pictures tomorrow after we've picked up our little bundle of joy. So far it looks like his name is going to be Max but that's not written in stone. This is going to be also a busy week because i've got to finish up all my art/decoration projects by friday night...although I've made a desperate plea for help to the RS sisters today at church. I should have plenty of pictures to post soon though as there is lots going on this week/weekend!!!

What A Weekend!

So I started thinking on thursday that maybe the gods weren't against me afterall, when i got a message that amber's hearing aid appointment needed to be pushed back due to a mix up. so now, I have plenty of time to get her to the dr and get the form signed. then, friday it was so warm and inviting out that I couldn't resist doing some gardening. I have plenty of prep work ahead of me so I try and take advantage! well, I pulled a weed out and it came out too fast and poked me in the eye. My eye hurt like hell all day long so by the time matthew came home from work at 8:30 I had made babysitting arrangements so that I could get to the hospital and check my eye out. we waited for just over 4 and a half hours. I had scratched the cornea but nothing was stuck in it thank goodness. that kind of messed up my whole weekend though because it didn't feel better until sunday morning. The kids had a blast outside though. little Tabitha is addicted to the great outdoors and throws tantrums when its time to go inside. I spend sunday making up gardening plans. I must admit my plans are ambitious, but I know i won't get it all accomplished in one season.

the gods are against me!

I apologize in advance for this being another pictureless post!! Yesterday was actually a good day! I took Emilie and Tabitha to the park since it was sunny and above 0. I went to the Library too. I found some amazing gardening books and have been devouring them. One of them is called Fresh Food from small places and is actually available at chapters to buy (i went there this morning) I gotta tell you I am sorely tempted to buy it I LOVE the book. I am stoked about all the possiblities for vegies and other edibles!! IT actually has instructions for a DIY self watering container using the big storage containers from a department store and a few other cheap supplies. I am going to try to make a couple and don't worry Lesley, I'll take pictures of it when it's done!!! As for the title to my post, I went out this morning to go to my DR who is temporarily doing walk in clinic so no need to make an appointment right? I was going to get the form signed that Matthew graciously looked for and found (the one that I need for AMber's appointment tomorrow to get her new hearing aid) Well, the doctor is on vacation this week and the clinic is closed!! I suppose I could have gone to a different walk in clinic, but I'm attached to my family doctor now and perish the thought of going somewhere else. Anyway, since I was out I decided to go to the book store, which wasn't open yet...grr a morning of disappointments. I ended up chatting with a lady who was just trying to pass time by going to the book store because she was planning on going to Little Soles and take advantage of the closing out sale. appearantly not opening stores until ten is popular in Tecumseh... So I ended up going to a small department store near the shoe store to pass time until ten. they had seeds on sale for 39 cents so I picked up a whole bunch. then I went to the shoe store. I spent 90$ there on 3 very good quality pairs of shoes for chloe, to hopefully pass on to amber and tabitha. (i've once before gotten shoes there, and they are very well made and hold up well) Tabitha LOVES being out and about and every time we tried to leave a store she kicked up a fuss!! By that time it was only an hour to kill before picking up Emilie so i headed back to the book store where Tabitha happily crawled around looking at all the colors. I ordered the book carrots love tomatoes!! I'm so excited about that book too!! Anyway I need to stop rambling!! Chloe should be home from school soon, and i haven't done a lick of housework!!!

Terrific Tuesday!

It's tuesday already! well after spending the morning doing housework, I picked up Emilie at noon. She is the 5 year old I babysitt. After feeding everyone lunch I got my camera out. Today we decided to see how tall we could build a tower with blocks. I made a roast chicken and roasted potatoes for supper and I got it all done before picking up Ella at the bus who is Emilie's sister. then after supper, while waiting for the girls mom to pick them up we played with balloons. As usual everyone had lots of fun. Tabitha's already in bed all tuckered out from a busy day of playing.

Ramblings

I really need to start taking my camera with me more often so that I have some pictures to post on here. Today was a typical monday. I get up with the kids and make sure they all are ready to go. Then I drop Chloe off at school and take Amber to Speech. Right after that, I drop her off at school. After that I took a trip to CHS (Canadian Hearing Society) because I have a new hearing aid on order for Amber, but in order to get the government to pay for some of it, I have to have my family Dr sign a form. Well, my form seems to have disappeared, so I thought maybe I could quick get another one before the appointment on Friday. I wasn't so lucky though. her audiologist is away until friday and the form has to be signed by the audiologist before its signed by the family dr. Hopefully it will turn up otherwise Friday is going to be a fun day...After that I went to my neigbors house for our daily hot chocolate. Her name is NAncy and she has a little girl named Rachel who is 2. We actually just painted for a while too which was kind of relaxing. Then Tabitha got cranky so I got her home and ready for her nap. I tried to rest for a while but my mind was going going going. I was formulating this idea for getting the kids to help with the chores more often, and I ended up getting out paper and pen and making up a new reward system, which I'm happy to report is going super well! Today, Chloe unloaded the dishwasher twice, dusted, cleaned her room, and practiced her piano!! Amber saw her getting stickers and wanted one too, so soon, she was washing all the mirror doors on the closets! (I'll have to redo those, but she really put in a good effort!!) Amber was so proud of herself for getting a sticker too! By the time all that was over with it was supper time and piano lessons. Chloe did awesome! she is really starting to catch on!! On the way home from piano lessons, amber was practicing her writing and doing an excellent job in writing her name! It was so cute to see how excited Chloe was about this. she immediatley decided she needed to give Amber writing lessons!! After getting Tabitha to bed, I peeked in on their activites and saw that chloe had done a whole alphabet in dashes for amber to trace, and Amber was happily obliging. The cutest thing about amber's writing is her "E's" which have far too many sticks on them. After a day like today I feel so incredibly lucky to be a mom. I really enjoyed my kids today! Well now, it is time to get those darling children of mine off to bed! I promise to start using my camera more tomorrow!!!!!!

PA Day

So, here in ontario its a PA day. originally I was supposed to be babysitting for the day, but unexpectedley I was let off the hook. So, early this morning I called Latchkey and sent Chloe and Amber off for the day so that I could get my groceries and a bit of a break. after being out all morning I had a relaxing afternoon, and by three it was too quiet so I went and picked Amber up. Chloe is actually going on a sleepover tonight and as she's been begging for a sleepover for a long time now, she is over the moon! Me and amber headed to blockbuster with Tabitha in tow and rented some movies. We watched the return of peter pan and Aladdin and the King of Thieves. Amber thouroughly enjoyed our little movie night, and by the time the movies were done it was Tabitha's bedtime. I've actually been fighting a cold and not feeling so great so today was a good change of pace. yesterday, before all the rain started I got to surveyying my back yard to see what the winter damage was and I came accross my onion plants that I had put in the garden just for fun in the summer to see what would happen. I actually thought they had died in the summer and was suprised to see fresh shoots and some thriving onions!! I thought i took a picture of it but realized my memory card was not in the camera,..stupid me. so I have no exciting pictures at the moment. Anyway, that's it for now, I need to go rest as I'm really starting to feel a cold coming on.

My Masterpiece!

Inspired by the upcoming RS anniversary program that we are doing called Women at the Well, I have begun making some mock stained glass windows using tissue paper and glue and please not this picture was drawn by yours truly! I have 3 more to make. we are going to put them up on the wall to decorate with. I have also been busy making a well out of pop cans which will be paper mached and painted.

Another Busy Day

So, its wednesday again and Matthew had the day off, but I didn't. It was nice enough to take Tabitha for a little walk though, and we both enjoyed some fresh air. I spent the afternoon babysitting, then I dropped my kids off to be babysat so that I could get some visiting teaching done. That was pretty fun we get up to some really good conversations when out visiting teaching. I tell you getting that break from kids was divine! I have actually finished a really cool piece of artwork and was going to take a picture of it tonight to post, but as it's getting late I think I will do it tomorrow...famous last words eh! So Lesley my most wonderful sister in law was kind enough to spruce up my background for me. and of course since she knows my password I have to be careful to say only good things hehe! That's ok I only have good things to say about her, I am lucky to have her in my life. Anyway it is getting late and I have a few things left to do before calling it a night so I PROMISE to post that art picture tomorrow! and maybe even some new ones of the kids

Wrapping up the day Feb 24

Today was a busy day. I meant to take my camera with me to the RS social tonight and I totally forgot. After giving one of the girls a ride home that I babysitt, I got everyone ready and dropped them off to the neighbors and was able to have a kid free night chatting and knitting with the ladies. there were 5 of us all together and I also brought newspapers to cut up because I have some pretty nifty art decoration ideas on the go to decorate for our upcoming RS anniversary party. Anyway its getting late tomorrow will be another day.

This Is My Final Attempt!

So I've been pretty pitiful at blogging. I can't even remember the name of my other blog so here I am starting all over again! I suppose the next thing to do would be post some pictures on here but since chloe is just arriving home from school I'll hold off on that. I have to go soon and pick up one of the girls I babysitt. So my first entry will be pitiful I'm afraid. Til next time Keep Safe and Have Fun!