Archive | October 2009

Baking, Bracelets and Cross Stitching

Well the long wait is over for the boys – tomorrow we head a little over an hour away to spend an overnighter with Grandma Anna, Mike and Harley! That knowledge led to a hectic and unfocused Thursday! The boys spent some time on numbers, beading and playing with paper dominoes I had printed off the computer with a Halloween theme. They are most proud of their finished Halloween themed bracelets!

Orange, Green and Black!

Orange, Green and Black!

Trinity is doing quite well after her shots, a little tired and cranky and a small bump at the injection site on one arm but otherwise fine! Thank goodness!!!

So Big Climbing Everywhere!

So Big Climbing Everywhere!

I have gotten in my baking time with apple loaf and applesauce muffins. Ken and Ted made the promised double batch of sugar cookies though with the help of my cousin David and Fydo many cookies worth of dough have been sacrificed to feed the hungry masses. Oh and of course a few cooked ones went the same way. Add to that a loaf or two of bread from the bread maker and the house smells divine!

Ted and Fydo!

Ted and Fydo!

Sewing has actually been rather productive today – I finished my newest Ada Inspired. Crazy in Cantonese. I am very pleased with the smile though if I do it again I may mix the lovely yellow blending filament with a darker DMC floss. Hopefully this weekend I will have a couple more projects to focus on.

Crazy in Cantonese

Crazy in Cantonese

In the meantime I have started the beading on my Santa. Time consuming but the effect is absolutely lovely!

Beading Stage!

Beading Stage!

I am planning on getting to work finishing Nathan’s dragon gift (I will post a picture AFTER Christmas sadly). I picked up the beautiful blending filament I was missing – Confetti Gold – 045. As much as they are a pain to work with I LOVE  the look of metallics!

So tonight I have to work on tidying my threads and prepping my patterns for travel… just overnight but with 4 kids, a hubby and an addiction like cross stitching – well it is a bit of work! Can’t say I hate it though with the friends we have, the beloved extended family, my babies and my soul mate… I may be short in material riches but spiritual, emotional and psychological… I am blessed!

Apparently in THIS Hat He Looks JUST Like Daddy in His Mind!

Apparently in THIS Hat He Looks JUST Like Daddy in His Mind!

This entry was posted on 29/10/2009, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Booster Shots and Halloween Costumes!

So in the wake of the H1N1 vaccine debate the time has come for Trinity to get her last dosage of boosters (the 18 month ones). While not offered  the H1N1, the nurse did bring up that she had the flu vaccine if we desired where I quickly responded NO THANK YOU! I am sure many of you are aware of the mess that occurred when we had our first try of  that flu vaccine. It was not explained to us until AFTER we injected our twins with the concoction BUT this vaccine (and the H1N1) are made up in an egg solution… not made OF any egg parts but made in – this equates it to the chocolate bars that say they are made where nuts are… and with our twins (at the time) dramatic and scary reaction to eggs… well it was not pretty. We have never had a season since with the boys so sick! This combined with a horrible reaction my Grandma Reinsch’s sister had to the same vaccine and I am more than willing to deal with the flu instead! Thankfully Trinity is in at least a decent mood now that she has had her boosters… her weight, height and head circumference are all good (we had a bit of a weight issue with her from 6-9 months) so no concerns there.

Playing After Her Shots

Playing After Her Shots

After the public health appointment we headed BACK to the thread store (yay!) where I spent a little over my 10.00 of saved pennies and got myself a very special treat – two sheets of brown perforated paper… I am brainstorming ideas now to make up my very own pattern. Something Christmas themed for our tree!

Two Nice Big Sheets!

Two Nice Big Sheets!

I got some amazing mail today – a package from a sweet lady who has been reading my blog and chatting with me full of teaching supplies! AND a pattern book for stockings! Oh and a tatting shuttle! So, once I am caught up with the stitching and the designing and Christmas I am going hunting on YouTube for vidoes on learning to tat! Thank you so much!!! The boys can’t wait to see what will come out of the the green box!

Thank You So Much!

Thank You So Much!

I am onto my next stitch – the third in a series I am calling Ada Inspired… This one is the Cantonese for crazy with a cunning little face Ken designed. I am hoping to get a hold of her soon and get some more sayings… I just love how they turn out!

A Good Start!

A Good Start!

We got the outer covers of the P is for Pumpkin lapbooks done. The boys are planning on taking them to Grandma Anna’s on Friday to show off properly!

Front Cover

Front Cover

Back Cover

Back Cover

The most time was spent by the boys simply cutting out their finger puppets, Zander especially was painstaking about it. This is definitely an activity filled unit for the boys – hand puppets, finger puppets and tomorrow paper dolls with Halloween costumes!

All this excitement about Halloween gave me the opportunity to dress the kids up in their costumes to take pictures. Trinity was NOT impressed by Zander’s zebra – it scared her! Though she loved Gavin’s monkey enough to poke him in the eye trying to pull on his nose and attempted to pull the trunk off of Emanuel who was not sure he WANTED to wear his! It took some coercing but I think I got some cute pictures! And there is always Halloween to give it a go! Enjoy!

Our Very Own Zebra (Zander) and Monkey

Our Very Own Zebra (Zander) and Monkey

Elly's Cousin Perhaps?

Elly's Cousin Perhaps?

Strawberry Girl!

Strawberry Girl!

Strawberry and Monkey

Strawberry and Monkey

My 4 darlings! (Gavin right)

My 4 darlings! (Gavin right)


This entry was posted on 28/10/2009, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Mental Health Day

Well it was long in coming but inevitable… today just didn’t work out for me! Started rather rotten and went downhill from there. Though I have to admit to occasional silver lining I will NOT admit to the day being anything but horrid on a whole.

My morning got off on the wrong foot entirely due to the over ambitious rearranging Ken had started last night. In fact, it had not progressed much beyond what I saw when I went to bed. Chaos was definitely the word for my living room and to an extent the kitchen. Now not a horrible thing, with a very active 1 1/2 yr old it can be devastating. It climaxed with the little darling finally managing the climb into Ken’s computer chair to smack at the keys. Cute but potentially disastrous.

So Proud of Herself!

So Proud of Herself!

After removing her little hands from Ken’s keys my attention was turned to the 3 other darlings – although more devils at that point! Total lack of focus and in their play in the basement lots of bickering. Just what a mother DOESN’T want to hear!

Of course everything had to be put on hold at this point so that we could make the trek to the south side of the city to check the Michaels over there for Perler beads while combining a couple more errands. That was when I noticed the decided lack of a pattern awaiting me on my desk. Which led to stress filled and tired tears.

Thankfully the trip to the south end was not nearly so traumatic. Our problems with the bank are tentatively resolved though I need to send my marriage certificate to the corporate to get my married name on my student loan accounts. And at the stores we got some lovely finds.

I do love Dollarama – 1.00 for Halloween socks – lovely, soft ones.

Soooo Soft!

Soooo Soft!

And of course a treat for each of the boys!Which, when we got home, led to the other two wanting ZANDER’S choice…

A Dollar a Piece! (Gavin left)

A Dollar a Piece! (Gavin left)

Thankfully, not too long after we got home Ken finished the last bits of the pattern I was waiting on. I am very pleased! It is the first of a series I am going to call Holly Originals as they are based on my sister in law’s art. This is the cat from her comic based on biographical happenings in her life, and family stories from a friend (those haven’t been posted yet). I will warn you – lots of mature content, though I am marketing the OHC kitty (based off the family pet) as a child friendly kitty, the goings on around him are not always. She has a great blog that has links to everything she does including the webcomic that my brother writes and she illustrates. So if you are not offended by a bit of mature content be sure to check her out! She also has an Etsy store with some of her paintings and art from the comics! The first stitch of this pattern is going to be added to a bit to be given to my sister in law, but I will have below version minus the words and purple nose on my pattern page for sale for 3.00. So feel free to head over to that portion of my site and check him out!

OHC Kitty!

OHC Kitty!

I do believe the rest of my evening will be spent sorting out the beads a bit. I should have enough of the right colours now to finish off my gingerbread house, though I am a little concerned about the pastel yellow. I did not see any off hand in the new bucket, but am hoping there are enough hiding here and there to make do.

My goal for tomorrow – have the Halloween stuff ready for the boys to dig into and just feel good about my family, my life and myself… The world around us is not always treating us the way I would like but we are persevering – oh and I got some terrific new – Our friend Chris (he) has been hired on permanently at the job he has been working at as a welder!! Yippee!

YAY CHRIS!

YAY CHRIS!