Self-medicating

Life with a husband in gradschool, toddler twins and a little baby is hard. But there are a couple things I've discovered that help:




"The rich, intense flavour of our dark chocolate is balanced with the sunburnt sweetness of organic roasted currants and the toasted, nutty crunch of organic chopped hazelnuts."



"Chock full of toasty pecans, fresh rosemary and dark and juicy Thompson raisins, you won’t be able to get enough of these tastebud-tantalizing crisps! Amazing on their own, these crisps are even more fabulous when paired with soft cheeses like Brie, St Andre, Cambozola and Boursin."

Both are new discoveries since moving to the coast (or the "Raincoast" - euphemistic isn't it, trying to gloss over the months of endless grey we are embarking on). Both are not cheap. But compared to some people's habits they're pennies.

We are all in various stages of a cold. The kids and I are on our way out and Lance is on his way in. I hate being sick. The worst is over for the majority of us so that is good.

Today it's sunny and hopefully after naptime (and hopefully after actually NAPPING) we'll get outside and try to soak it up and save it for a rainy month.

hope you are well.

Aimee

ps. got out to the Vancouver farmers market today. Lance's eyebrows went WAY up when he saw the amount of carrots and apples I came home with. Guaranteed we'll eat them all in the two weeks between now and the next market. We can't seem to get enough of sweet carrots (Forstbauer Farm carrots) and crisp new apples.

Good News

The kids have been very into the Christmas story lately. We got a new book about Christmas. Their favorite parts are the journey to Bethlehem - which they recently re-enacted while riding horses on a merry-go-round at the mall, "We're going to Befeham, it's far away". They are also enamored with the shepherd and angel portion of the story. Here's a peak into today.

EVA: I don't have good news
MAMA: I do, Jesus is born
EVA: Where can I find him
MAMA: In a stable lying in a manger
EVA (leaning over baby Anders): He's here. (then in a whisper) we knelted down quietly and looked at the baby
ELIJAH: He's in a MANGER!

mama begins changing Anders' diaper

EVA: Jesus did a poop

then, while Anders/Jesus is being changed, and mama is already mentally drafting this post Eva full on punches Jesus in the head. angry mama and screaming baby soon follow. oh dear.

today

Beary Beary

I'm not the only mama around here. Eva is quite the mama too. Here she is wearing Beary Beary in her very own sling - made by grandma Kathy.

This new template is done by the same girl who did my last two. I wish I had done the drawing myself isn't it great? I'm still setting things and up and a couple links every so often. I don't get much extended computer time these days.

We've been having trouble with the older two kids waking up at night ever since Anders was born. This has been very frustrating. We expected the newborn to be waking up at night, but not the previously fine sleeping toddlers. Well the past couple of nights have been good. Neither two year old needed parental attention and the baby nursed a couple times, but that's easy since he's in bed with us. In fact, the last two nights I did not even leave bed. That is a luxury I have not had in almost a year. I didn't even get up to pee like was the case during the entirety of pregnancy.

Anders smiles now and it is a real treat.

This morning after I got in the car to head to church Elijah said to me, "you a little bit crabby mama?". I don't know how he could have known. Lance had buckled all the kids in and I was running around gathering up a few last things and I was crabby but thought I was over it when I got to the van. Somehow he picked up on some residual crabbiness. So I had to be honest, "Yes, I'm a little bit crabby". Perceptive children we have. Yikes.

Okay off to bed.

working on it

Hi folks. Just getting this new template up and running. links will appear soon. don't worry, i haven't cut you off!

aware

Eva is very aware of people's emotions. She just looked across the table at her brother Elijah and asked,

"Are you a grump?"

he said no, but she was right. He is a grump right now.

We are off to the park. Thank goodness.

Musical Extravaganza Tonight!!!

Okay, so late notice, but that is so like me (I forgot to mention in the last post that the train costumes were made so at the last minute that the blue one was quite dry when we left the house).

Tonight Lance is playing as part of a CD release show for our friend Jeremy's newest CD. Lance will play a short set of his songs and then accompany Eisenhauer (Jeremy's band) on trombone. Friends Sheree Plett and Jonathan Anderson will also be playing some of their music.

A perfect show for a fall night. The music will be thoughtful, melodic, melancholic yet hope infused, and very beautiful.

Mom and dad are taking care of the kids for the day - whoohoo! So Anders and I get to go to the show.

It's $10
Tonight
Doors open at 6:30, show at 7:10
at Pacific Theatre (12th Ave and Hemlock St, Vancouver)

see you there!?

I don't do halloween...

but do actions speak louder than words?

I won't detail the story that lead to the following costumes. Needless to say my dedication to creativity and frugality and support of my husband and desire to bring joy to my kids resulted in some quick internet searching followed by some super fast constructing and painting.

here they are:






the kids, despite having not napped - AGAIN - had a great time. While we were walking the streets begging strangers for candy a fellow beggar commented that Eva was a little engine that could. I said "Yeah, and he's the little engine that wouldn't" Elijah wouldn't wear the Thomas train even though he liked it very much. I suspected this would happen and is partly why I was all about creating costumes from items we had around the house instead of spending $25 and then having it sit at home. Well Thomas didn't sit at home, he came along - toted by our good sport of a friend Nelson. His wife Terri also helped the evening be a blast by staying home with Anders and handing out our candy so I could go along for my FIRST trick-or-treating experience and be with my kids.

How was it... i liked carving a pumpkin and eating the roasted seeds Lance made. it was fun to see my daughter decked out in my homemade James costume and to see how other people enjoyed our kids. It was neat to be out and about in the neighbor and seeing people. I enjoyed recognizing people that walk by our house daily. I loved getting to see the guys from a nearby group home. They were pretty excited to help give out candy. I liked having supper with our friends and then hanging out after.

But... it still confirmed all that I don't like about Halloween. In no particular order...

SUGAR - too much. I don't like my kids to have candy in that quantity and I don't like handing it out for other kids to gorge on. It is not healthy. And the way our napless sugar filled boy was wandering around like he was on drugs was enough of a confirmation about that.

CREEPYNESS - I am very sensitive to gruesome visuals and concerned for my children's eyes and ears. We don't make a big deal about something being scary, mostly we refer to skeletons and the like as "funny guys". We did skip one house last night because it had a super creepy soundtrack playing. I think sounds can be scarier than gravestones and bones.

STRANGERS - i am shy. I don't like knocking on stranger's houses. Asking for something just adds to the awkwardness

Okay enough about that.

Oh, one more thing, what are we going to do with all this candy?

Hope you're doing well. Now, on to the next season - one I LOVE

ADVENT!!!