12.10.13

Tonight the kids wrote letters to Santa.  Paige's is eerily accurate (she actually coloured in the "naughty" checkbox first, and then the nice one as an afterthought). With some prompting, she asked for a purse (good, because I bought her one), a dolly (good, because I bought her one), and pjs (yup, those too).  Wyatt initially asked for a toy train, which totally threw me off because a)he's never called them "toy" trains before, and b)he's been asking for a specific street sweeper toy from the Wishbook.  I'm thinking the toy train thing was suggested to him for his school letter to Santa.  Anyway, his list includes the aforementioned street sweeper (good, because I bought it for him), and an Easy Bake Oven (yup, that too).
I'm done my Christmas shopping, no real surprise there.  I've been dragging my feet about wrapping the gifts though, I have 3 bins of Lego to deal with (2 for my niece and nephew), and they are difficult to wrap.  Even trying to find a gift bag that is wide enough has proven impossible! Might just slap a bow on it and hide it at the back of the pile.

12.08.13

Not much to update, but here's a couple pictures.  We've been continuing with our "Barkley Christmas Countdown", but the last few activities have involved donating/giving, so no pictures.  Today's "to-do" was making snowflakes.  Kind of a useless activity for kids (at least a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 year old who struggles with fine motor skills, including using scissors...). They still had a good time with it, even though Paige's use of the (SAFETY) scissors kept Josh on the edge of his seat. ;)

12.04.13

I'm having a hard time keeping track of the days while I've been off this week. I'm going to go in for a bit tomorrow just to try to stay in the swing of things.
And Friday I get to volunteer in Wyatt's class!  Very exciting.  I hope. ;)
Tonight we made FOAM gingerbread men.  Hello!  Way better idea than the real ones!  No mess, no eating dough, no Paige jamming her fingers into every single cookie on the sheet waiting to go into the oven.
Our elf has been up to some mischief again...much easier this year with a pre-made list.  Wyatt is not easily fooled though, when I did the cookie set up on the 2nd day, he said, "But YOU and the elf did that, right?"

Was trying to show Wyatt how the flash works on the camera.  Of course it didn't go off.

Gingerbread people!

Making some hot chocolate.

A Grumpy Cat masterpiece.

12.03.13

Last night we made gingerbread cookies.  That was a lesson in futility. Wyatt was a good help, Paige was...um...well, Paige was Paige.  They had fun decorating them though.

Unfortunately, a migraine hit just as I started decorating the cookies.  I got about a dozen done, and apparently threw out the ones that weren't decorated.  It was one of the worst migraines I've ever had, and took a lot of meds to even take the edge off.  Of course, around 11:30, Josh reminded me that we hadn't done anything with the Elf.  I set him up quickly (had to get up to get an ice pack anyway) and took the picture this morning.  Thankfully, I had made a list of 25 ideas for the Elf, so I didn't have to conjure up something mid-migraine.

12.01.13

It's December! The countdown is on.
Instead of a chocolate advent calendar, this year we (I) created a list of 25 things to do during the month.  Some are fun things, like checking out the Christmas lights display at the Red River Ex, and then some are more to focus on giving, like bringing treats to the animals at the Humane Society. I'm really looking forward to it!
Today our Elf on the Shelf returned (he brought breakfast again!) and we decorated the tree.  I'm still getting used to my new camera, and all of my pictures with Wyatt were blurred or his eyes were closed. :/

11.24.13

The last few weeks have been very...trying.  Wyatt has hit the terrible twos - but at age 5. I'm sure there's a catchy slogan for it that doesn't involve the "f' word, but I'm coming up with nothing. Sundays (the evenings in particular) seem to be the worst.  I keep thinking that we need to plan activities during this time so that we're not sitting at home waiting for a bomb to go off, but we live in Morden.  Exactly what activity am I going to do with my children after 6pm on a Sunday night?  It's pitch black, and already we're dealing with windchills of up to -35.  There's only so much to do inside our house.
Paige hasn't exactly been a walk in the park, but she seems easier to talk down off the ledge.
And that's what's new over here. :/
Well, that and I bought myself a new camera - a Canon Rebel T3.  I have a lot of learning to do with it, as I've never used a DSLR before.  I was playing around yesterday and this afternoon while the kids were happy and not plotting new ways to drive me to an early grave.

Never mind Josh's back end appearance, he was setting up a race track for the kids.  Regardless, I'm still a huge fan of this camera and can't wait to get some great pictures at Christmas. :)

11.03.13

Whoops!  Poor, neglected blog.
Really, not much is going on.  Paige is doing great at daycare.  Wyatt seems to really enjoy school and daycare, but has had the usual run ins with not so nice kids.  Nothing that really seems to hold him back though, even though we've gone through pink eye, the flu and a stomach bug, he was still begging to go to school every day.

The kids dressed up for Halloween!  Wyatt was so excited to be a construction worker.

The kids and their Barkley cousins.

Giggles at Grandpa and Grandma S.'s workplace in between family pictures.

A 2nd attempt at family pictures with TLP Photography. I actually like it!

Monkey.

Just celebrated 10 years with this guy at the end of October!

Handsome guy.