Today was Trinity and my library program. We had a pretty good time – Trinity is rather shy and likes to just sit in my lap and look on from there but she did her swaying and smiling during songs and stories. There was one blot on the 30 min. though, one little boy was rather over the top. Now keep in mind this is Fun for ONES (ages 1- under 2). There was one little boy there who was only 10 months (cute little chubby cheeked thing) butt the rest were right around Trinity’s age. There was two little boys who were a bit wild, one whose mom was sitting next to me who was rather diligent about him NOT getting too out of hand. The other… well his mom sat there with this vacant smile on her face while her son ran amok. He smacked into or hit or something (I missed the event but saw the little darling crying) a little girl who was sitting across from us. The mom did not even get up! I don’t know that she even said sorry! Then he sat on the excited little boy when he had fallen over, the mom next to me got up to heave him off and then set her son right. He then bugged the mom who was crawling after her little boy and finally grabbed and drug over the happy little boy and SAT on him!! This got the mom off her tush and the librarian to ask her quietly (during the song) to leave! ACK! I just don’t understand, why didn’t she stop him? Why did she just sit there? He could have hurt someone.

So other than that little boy it was fun… they had a parachute though Trinity wanted just to watch and lots of lovely songs.

So today was Zander’s turn to head out with Daddy… they went out to Walmart, Staples and the post office and a bank or two. He was a real sweetheart and asked that they bring home a slurpee to share! So all 3 boys got a lovely treat to end their day with!

Proud Errand Runner (Zander)

Gavin has started his own major bead project – his name! Slow going as he is often distracted but he is determined to do his whole name.

Working on His Name (Gavin)

I am quite happy with how my fall tree turned out. I plan on doing up some more leaves and acorns to put around the top of the clay pot. I want to pick up ANOTHER clay pot and do a winter tree with snowflakes… I misjudged how big this pot is and didn’t pick one up at Dollarama today thinking they were all just too big. The boys are very impressed by our fall tree and only managed to tip it over once today.

Finished Fall Tree

I am very excited – Chibi Bunny and Love are finally up for sale… I am hoping our freebies will be fixed tonight and a new freebie section added – freebies for beginners! So be sure to check them out – just click PATTERNS at the top of this page! I accept Paypal and as always am open for commission! Right now I am working on a cupcake… I am going to have my first go at using beads in one of our designs. It is pretty close to life sized so a bit slow going but I am excited to see how it looks finished.

Today I sold another one of my Kijiji adds. I finally got rid of the Gap footless sleeper that I had listed since September. I finally had to relist everything – which has the advantage of moving them to the front of the pages but while people are looking – still no more sales.

Tonight I have ornaments to sort and presents to wrap… I am planning on putting up the tree this Saturday so I want to get the bulk of the gifts done to go under since we put the play-yard around it as a safety measure. I got the boys to all sign a piece of paper I am going to copy to put in our cards and of course stitching to do as always! Finishing items is weighing heavily on my mind right now!

What an Arm Full! (Gavin missing)

With this being the last week in November we are continuing the “finishing” trend. The boys have ornaments to make and gifts to decide on and since we do a bit of mailing to the states and abroad (ouch the postage!) all that needs to be determined in the very near future.

The boys had a great start to their day – due to the H&W sale on flats of strawberries not only did they get bananas in their cereal and milk but the berries too! What a treat! I am debating the cost and complexity of making strawberry tarts this week as a super special treat. It is going to take some hunting on the internet to see what recipes I can come up with I think.

Nom Nom Nom

Zander finished a rather major project today out of Perler beads and with minimum assistance from any adults! The picture was in the little idea magazine that comes with the tray of beads. He made what he is calling a “pushing truck”. It took about 3 days worth of work but what a great result!

Zander's Creation!

Our trip outside the house was quite lucrative. We stopped at our photographer’s house and nabbed out of their mailbox our photo cd. I am very happy with the pictures. While Trinity was not at her best we got more than a few of the boys as well as of Ken and myself. All in all worth the 25.00. I look forward to when Ken has to fulfil his promise and have Morris do my maternity pictures (part of the deal is that with baby #5 I get honest to goodness proper maternity photos… after all that SHOULD be the last one).

Zander, Emanuel and Gavin

Daddy's Little Girl

8 1/2 yrs Married!

I made a quick drop in at the local thread store to get the threads to replace the missing in post birthday card. Ken is mailing that off tomorrow. I wish I could have had more time BUT this Saturday is their 25th anniversary sale so I am thinking we will go over before the puppet show at the library and take a peek around. Maybe pick up something special to stitch onto a Christmas gift?

My newest stitching completion – Chibi Bunny with his tiny orange carrot! The next in the Chibi series – a DRAGON! Chibi Bunny SHOULD be up for purchase (pattern wise) late tomorrow.

Chibi Bunny!

So not the most exciting of days BUT the patterns are coming along nicely now. I should be starting a commission tomorrow and then there are the Chibi Dragon AND a cupcake to work on. Ken has figured out most of the issues with the site so updating should be MUCH easier… So keep checking back!

Momentary Pretty

What a busy weekend! We started out with driving down to where my mom lives – normally an hour away we spent half the drive going 50 km/hr and NOT getting passed! Snow and ice on the roads until we hit the main highway… the boys were very impressed at how slowly Daddy was going! Once we got there fun was definitely had by all! Ken napped in the basement for a nice chunk of the time and my mom and I took Trinity downtown to do some shopping. I got myself a slightly smaller magnetic ring to go over the one I have on my left thumb to better keep it on when my thumb is NOT swollen. My mom picked up a weeping Buddha…

After we did our little bit of shopping and woke Ken up we headed over to Mom and Mike’s cabin. A definite work in progress but wonderful location and lots of nice features… there is talk of adding a septic tank and getting a functioning bathroom in as well! The current outhouse has a huge window in the door!! Odd!

The Cabin! (the door there opens to the "basement" of sorts)

Main Seating Area

My mom also taught me how to make a pillow with a cross stitch in the centre. I watched carefully and am hoping I can reproduce it myself with some of the pieces I have already made! This piece is a commission so I won’t post pictures just yet but I am very happy with how it turned out! I also scavenged through her fabric and patterns and got a couple ideas of things to make next! I am so going to have to invest in some stuffing!

Talk about a REAL completion – my mom finished off Aidan’s stocking for me, I now have it in my hands COMPLETE! I am so pleased!!! I cannot wait to get together the cash to ship it down south to the little boy it was made for!

Front of Stocking

Back of Stocking

So now with my new box of supplies and things from my mom’s house I am looking forward to a craft filled week. I have to get the boys’ ornaments prepped and sorted for giving, do something with my dissected teddy bear parts AND maybe even make each of our 4 kids and my nephew a stuffy!

Of course after we got home from our day trip we had our weekly gaming night with Chris and Chris. Since (he) Chris has a night job starting tomorrow and is looking at imminent surgery it is probably going to be our last for a while! Bah! But we had fun and they treated us to Edo Japan food.. mmm.

We lucked out as Chris and Chris were also free THIS afternoon so that we could all go back to the John Walter museum and see how they make stew on the wood burning stove (oh and some more scones).

Gavin in the Wood Pile

The interpretors were so nice and the weather perfect. The boys spent most of their time running in the snow and playing in the woodpile (suggestion of one of the interpretors). Trinity was all over the place giggling and running and falling down in the snow. It certainly didn’t bother her!

Running Baby!

The stew was absolutely delicious, on top of the normal things (beef, potatoes, carrots, onions) they also added home made sauerkraut. It was not overwhelming but added an amazing kick to the stew! I would love to give it a go but I am not sure Ken would be too enthused! Chris and Chris went into the 1901 house for a tour as well. I think we all had a great time. I am a little sad – they are not open from Jan-Mar which is a huge chunk. Though it IS rather cold around here then.

Mmm Stew (Gavin red)

In the morning the twins went off  to Sunday School and came back with adorable advent wreaths made out of playdoh. They are a little garbled on what you use them for and how they work though Zander was VERY clear that you COULD touch the candles when they are NOT lit.

Advent Wreaths!

We had our weekly run to H&W though Ken went in without us – another 8lbs of strawberries for 8.00. So I will be busy tomorrow cutting and prepping a large chunk of those for freezing. This Christmas I am determined to have some strawberry featured dishes. I am debating making the chocolate candy cane cake I made years ago by a Kraft recipe. I found it again online.

I am excited about the pattern page – we have added our first in a line of Chibis – a penguin… right now I am working on a bunny. Whispers of a panda and even a dragon to come! The mind reels with ideas sometimes! Hopefully by tomorrow I will have another couple up for sale and our freebies sorted out. So check back!

The mountain of laundry that calls me to fold it and the unknown response of the MP has us a bit unhinged for tomorrow. I would LIKE to go to a HLSA gathering at a park in town but we may have to head to the government office… I also have a card to resend since the post lost the original which means a trip to the local thread store and the pressing need to both pick up our photo cd from the photographer AND envelopes for my Christmas cards… there simply is not enough time in the day is there? Oh well all we can do is give it a go!

Loving the Puppy! (Zander)

I am so proud of both the girls - Trinity for getting up the courage to go near and Harley for being so patient!