messy eater

I don't even remember what she was eating here. Likely some sort of Christmas/NewYears leftovers. Rice? And Turkey? Either way, it was clearly more fun to throw it around and rub it in her hair than actually get much in her mouth.

These were taken January 2nd with a wide angle lens I rented over the holidays. Was fun to play with something new.

toddler skin-as-canvas body art

When I do art projects with the boys, I like to have them work on the same piece several times, many days apart. Not so much if they're working on plain paper, but if I buy the boys real canvases to paint on, I don't like to see a whole bunch of white when they're through.

Thus, the multiple sittings.

Yesterday morning, I striped Andrew down (because I KNOW HIM) and we brought out a few previously worked on canvases in various degrees of doneness.

We painted with cars and trucks, marbles (I didn't get any pictures of this as I was trying to keep the paint-covered marbles inside the cardboard edges I'd taped to the canvas), plastic forks, and fingers. And paint brushes, of course. Boring paint brushes.

He really loved driving around the canvases with the trucks and crashing them into each other. I think a larger canvas would've worked a bit better, but he loved it regardless.

This canvas had been painted first with watercolours, then was given the truck treatment.

crash!

Then Andrew discovered a much more satisfying canvas... a more organic canvas. One that moved and bent and breathed and giggled.

After a few minutes of body painting, he also discovered that he actually doesn't really like being covered in paint...

Wanna guess if it'll stop him from painting himself next time??

trains and my youngest two

My current youngest two, that is...

The countdown is on.

27 days until my due date.

27 days to come up with a name.

(These pictures give you a much better look at Andrew's haircut. I think it's pretty cute and not-completely-uneven considering I did it myself. 


Next I think Simon needs a little trim...)

(If I get around to it, this post will link back to these Wordless Wednesday parties.)

will you still like me...

If I'm blogging/tweeting/Facebook-ing FROM BOGOTA, COLOMBIA??

We're still a bit in a daze, but it appears that we will be moving to Colombia... and SOON! I have a trip already planned to head back west to see my family in August until early September (which I'm glad to have already booked because as it sits it's going to be such a crazy month that I'd easily have talked myself out of it if we didn't already have tickets). Because of the urgent nature of this post, Peter may have to leave before we even get back and we'll follow once we get back to Gatineau. I still don't know how it's all going to work out and my head is spinning thinking of everything we have to do to get ready to move (what to do with the house, the van, what to take and what to put in storage, etc, etc, ETC).

Hopefully we'll maintain our sanity through it all.

And hopefully you'll stick around for the ride!

bits and pieces

Last night we took Liam and Simon to see Toy Story 3. It was only Simon's second movie in a theatre (the first being "How to Train Your Dragon"), and it was both boys' first 3D movie experience. To say they enjoyed it would be an understatement (except for the part where the toys are facing a fiery death in the bellies of the landfill... although Liam assures us that he knew they'd be okay). 

Simon loves the three little green aliens and can often be heard repeating the word "Da-ddeeeeeee" in the same kind of creepy monotone they use. It's funny though.

Less funny (or more funny depending on if you're me or Peter) is when he shouts, "GET OUT OF MY BUTT!" For those who haven't seen the movie, it's a line spoken by Mr Potato Head (you know how they open up to store all their accessories?) near the end of the movie. Of course my kid had to latch on to that particular sound bite.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Because of the recent smokin' hot, 100+ degree, swimsuit/pool weather I decided earlier this week to do some not-as-routine-as-it-should-be swimsuit/pool-type hair removal-type maintenance. You follow? Good. So with six kids here this week, personal care time has been at a total premium and thus my need for speed and efficiency... and my unfortunate decision to use a new razor. 

Being an adult woman, and having been at this type of grooming for a few years now, you'd think I'd know better. You'd think I'd know how my skin -that sensitive skin- would react to a new razor. But no. I was blinded by the shiny packaging and the promise of a sharp, exacting blade.

(sigh)

I don't know if it is all the blade's fault or some combination of heat, humidity, and the friction caused by the elastic on certain unmentionables... All I know is what I have now is not so swimsuit/pool ready. Not so pretty. 

And this is certainly one "area" of my life (double entendre) that I will not be photographing.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

There was so much that we did in May, June, and now the beginning of July that I haven't blogged... not even Liam's birthday! I might just have to accept the fact that I don't have enough time to type out a long/thoughtful/funny/sentimental/informative post for every moment of our lives. Pictures alone might have to do. 

So expect some picture heavy, light-on-words posts in the near future.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

As I type this, Peter is likely on the phone for a final interview/conversation/question period for a new job that will mean some huge, HUGE changes around here. Like uprooting-our-whole-family-and-home-and-moving-to-another-continent kind of huge. 

When this opportunity came up, it kind of freaked me out, but seemed like the chances of Peter being offered the job were relatively remote. When, after the interview, it appeared that his chances might be better than we thought, we started reading up on the country in questions and became more and more intrigued and excited. Now if he doesn't get it we'll be a bit disappointed.

Not too disappointed though. Or at

We love our friends here and our life and our new life-changing deck (that I've alluded too, but still need to properly photograph).

Now Peter just needs to wrap up the conversation AND CALL ME ALREADY!

(They'd better not just be sitting there talking about soccer and the World Cup final... speaking of which, what a boring game, eh? Neither Spain nor the Netherlands seemed good enough to be there. Super anti-climatic end to the tournament. *yawn*)

Ugh, so much to blog about from the last few weeks.

But I'm going to be lazy and take the easy route and blog pictures I already have uploaded to Flickr. These are from yet another puddle jumping session with the boys. I already blogged the mosaic of Simon showing off his muscles, but here are the rest.

Another mosaic,

far right, second from the bottom is my favourite

And what's this?? A picture of Liam ACTUALLY SMILING?! (I won't tell you what I threatened him with to get this picture...)

But, like all good things, the fun had to come to an end. 

There were tears.

But it was nothing a few kisses and some encouragement to "show Nana your muscles" couldn't solve.

Mother's Day weekend {a recap}

It was a buuuuusy weekend! But a good weekend, too. 

I spent most of Friday making marshmallow fondant, baking a cake (four actually) and making two batches of rice crispy treats (one regular and one dairy-free). I finished just in time to leave the kitchen in a total mess and head out to pick Peter up from work, after which I dropped the boys at home and rushed to photograph a maternity session. Peter fed the boys, then some good friends picked Liam up to take him to Chevaliers du Roi at our church. After the session, I was at home long enough to nurse Andrew,download my pictures (I'm always nervous that something will happen to my camera/memory card before I get a chance to transfer the images to my computer!) and thank Peter for cleaning up after me, before driving out the the church to pick up Liam and his friend, Mattias.

The next morning, we had to drive Peter in to Ottawa to help a friend move apartments. While he was gone, I finished the cake I was decorating for the birthday of a very special four year old girl that was to take place later that afternoon. The boys were completely engrossed in Discovery Channel amazingly well-behaved, giving me the time needed to finish all of the final touches to the birthday cake (more on that later... it deserves its own post!). Just before 1 o'clock, we headed out to pick up daddy, dropped him and the baby off at home (where he once again cleaned the disaster I'd left in the kitchen), then Liam and Simon and I headed to our friends' house.

After three hours of AllPrincessesAllTheTime, we headed home just in time for Peter to grab the keys and jump in the van to head out in search of the necessary groceries for the Mother's Day meal he'd planned for the next day. That night, pictures were edited, hockey was watched, and much-needed sleep was mostly enjoyed by all.

Sunday morning -Mother's Day- Simon and Liam quietly snuck into our room to wake Peter up. The amazing thing is that I didn't even stir. Normally, one of them can sneeze, into a pillow, behind two closed doors and under the sound of two fans running, AND I'LL STILL HEAR IT. But due to the fact that a) they were actually quiet, and b) I was dead exhausted, I slept right through it. When Andrew woke me I woke some time later, I sent him toddling out of the room... and went back to bed. A COMPLETELY SELFLESS ACT since I figured something must be up and didn't want to ruin it for the boys.

Not long after they came bounding into the room, singing Happy Mother's Day to the tune of Happy Birthday, waving hand-drawn cards and bearing breakfast in bed. I even managed to eat my breakfast without spilling any food on me, despite the three kids jumping on the bed.

After church -were I received five gerbera daisies and some cookies decorated just for me- we packed the kids into the van with the intention of heading home for lunch.

Instead, we found ourselves at McDonald's.

On Mother's Day.

I can hear Peter protesting even as I type this, so I'll quickly continue the story...

Several weeks ago, there'd been some talk on Twitter about Ottawa area flea markets and ever since, I'd been wanting to go check some out. The problem is that most are only open on Sundays which left me with two options: 1) go by myself, leaving the kids at home... which Peter may not like, or 2) drag everyone along with me... which Peter may not like.

Enter Mother's Day.

A DAY ALL ABOUT ME.

So on our drive home from church I had the AWESOME IDEA (right Peter? right??) to use my it's-my-special-day card and suggest that what I'd like to do -on this my special day- was to head out to some flea markets. But last minute ideas like that don't leave much room for preparedness.

Thus we found ourselves with five hungry stomach and a 45 minute drive ahead of us. And so we found ourselves at McDonald's.

But it was worth it.

We got a cool, retro pink Pyrex butter dish, a Bobbey Twins book for me to read with Liam, some wooden buttons that I need to finish a project, and several Lego base plates like this vintage space one and some similar to these below, and a much needed wheelbarrow.

I think we paid $6.50 for four base plates, 2 of which are really raised/3D. Pretty cool and well worth the trip, according to the boys.

When we got home and unloaded our bounty, I played Wii with the boys while Peter made supper. And what a supper it was! Tortellini with grilled chicken and veggies in a roasted red pepper alfredo sauce, greek salad, garlic bread and wine. Yum.

As soon as I was done eating, I packed up and headed to my second maternity session of the weekend, returning to find a (once again) clean kitchen, boys in bed, and a tired Peter watching hockey in the basement. We finished the night with a bowl of ice cream and a movie.

A girly movie.

Cause it was my special day.

To sum it all up, I was spoiled, got my way all day long, and felt very special and very loved. A big thank you to my awesome husband and my sweet little boys... the reasons I get to celebrate Mother's Day.

* * * * * * * * * *

I'd be remiss to blog about Mother's Day without mentioned my own amazing mom and mother-in-law... but this post is already long and, since they'll both be here in the next few weeks, I promise to tell you all how wonderful they are then! Love you both!

a new obsession

I first saw this idea over a year ago over at Sassy Monkey Reads. She'd posted an amazing picture of a weekend project she'd just completed (click to go see for yourself). I was delighted with the end result, but never really considered a similar undertaking. 

It seemed waaaay too contrary my Type A personality way of organizing and arranging things... 

But it looked so pretty! 

No, I told myself, I'd never be able to find anything... 

My kids would wreck it...

But... soooo pretty!

Then, not surprising, I did nothing. But I never forgot that picture. And last week when I decided to do a search on Flickr for "rainbow books", the same smile spread across my face. As I spent the better part of 30 minutes clicking through image after image of books arranged by colour, it became impossible to resist. I mean, just look at these:

1. Camdyn's colorful bookshelf!, 2. New library, 3. Rainbow, 4. Bedroom book rainbow, 5. Rainbow of Books (Explore #93)., 6. Rainbow Books

Amazing, right? So. Much. Better. So much better than books arranged by author or subject or simply by height *yawn*. I think every room can be improved with the presence of a rainbow. The colours are so bright and fun and cheerful. Dewey Decimal who??

At first, I wasn't sure we had enough colourful books to even make a rainbow. There was a lot of white and pale yellow, not much pink or purple (not surprising) and lots of blue (also not surprising). What did surprise me is that we only have one (one!) orange book*. I mean really orange. ORANGE IS MY FAVOURITE COLOUR. 

Speaking of colour, sorry about these pictures... A good reminder before my photo session this afternoon TO ALWAYS CHECK MY SETTINGS BEFORE SHOOTING. Ah well, these pictures will do for now. I'll take some more after we paint the walls grey and the shelf itself white. The antique dresser next to the shelf will also be getting a fresh coat of paint.

(Yes, that lamp shade is broken (thanks boys). And yes, those are knitting needles** sticking up out of those lovely alabaster... vases? jars? candle holders?... lovely nonetheless. Peter's parents bring them to us from Egypt.) 

So. What do you think? Peter thinks I'm a bit crazy, but thankfully he's used to it/me by now. I happen to love it. I smile every time I look at the bookshelf (and can't wait to tackle the big shelf in our bedroom and the two full shelves in the boys room).

* It's George Orwell's Animal Farm. That tiny one right in the middle of the top shelf, between Ewan McGregor's Long Way Down and Ayittey's Africa in Chaos.

** I taught myself to knit over Lent! I've actually made some things too! Another post I haven't gotten around to writing yet...

(I'm working on a page to show where this post is linked to. I'll be back! Promise! My kids need lunch now though... how annoying. *wink*)

when green smoothies are NOT so good

Yesterday, Andrea from A Peak inside the Fishbowl (AKA @missfish) linked to a post at Fed Up With Lunch about how to help our kids learn healthy eating habits from a young age. One of tips given was to drink green smoothies.

Although I haven't written about them recently (HERE are some old posts), green smoothies continue to be part of our routine and meal plan. Peter, who at first was reluctant to try (to the point of refusing them for the first few weeks of my green smoothie experiment about 18 months ago), is now by far the biggest consumer. He fills up an 18 oz bottle of smoothie to take to work for his morning break (I'd like to say he does this daily, but it (and by "it" I mean my making them) seems to go in spurts... every day solid for a few weeks, then I get lazy or we run out of some ingredient).

Simon and Liam happily drink them or eat them as popsicles (which we'll be doing more and more as the weather warms up), and even Andrew's eyes light up at the sight of his sippy cup full of smoothie.

Andrew, in fact, loves anything green. When it's time to eat, he'll predictably pick out the green things to eat first: peas, asparagus, broccoli, spinach, celery, avocado... If it's green, he'll eat it first.

Take last night for example...

He'd been super fussy while I was getting supper ready, but we figured it was because he was hungry. When it came time to eat, however, all we could coax into him were a few bites of sausage, some avocado, a spear of asparagus, a small stick of celery, a dozen frozen peas, and however much green smoothie he drank from his cup. Sausage excepted, do you see what these things have in common? Green avocado, green asparagus, green celery, green peas... GREEN smoothie? That's right, class, they're all green.

And mixed together, they make for a shockingly green coloured vomit. 

Yes, you read that right.

He continued to fuss after supper, so I laid down with him IN OUR BED to nurse him to sleep, thinking that would help settle him down. I should've known something was amiss when he would hardly nurse, even after eating so little for supper. Thankfully, he made a few telltale gagging noises before the main event and I was able to quickly swing him up and over AND AWAY FROM THE BED just in time. 

(I was also very thankful for easy-clean laminate flooring in our bedroom and not the off white berber we've had in other homes.)

After the tweet from Andrea yesterday, there were quite a few local moms who were talking about green smoothies on twitter last night. I was all set to jump on after the boys were in bed and Peter was snuggly tucked in downstairs watching playoff hockey and tweet about the numerous benefits of green smoothies, when I instead found myself on hands and knees cleaning up green smoothie.

But even that experience isn't enough to deter me from making -and loving- them!

sugarbush 2010

Last week, after seeing Dani's pictures on flickr of her trip to the Log Farm Sugarbush, I made a last minute decision to head out with the boys. I decided around 8:30am and hoped to be out there by 9:30ish to beat the rush. We didn't actually get there til almost 11am, because we were waiting on some friends who we invited (also last minute) but it was so much more fun to have this pile of kids along (their moms are pretty good company too!). Since we have so many friends who do school at home, there's always a good chance of finding someone to share our extra-curricular activities with.

Notice whose kids are NOT smiling nicely for the picture? Yeah. They're mine.

After a yummy breakfast of pancakes (I'd thought ahead a brought a couple GF ones for Simon and Andrew), sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, juice, coffee, hot chocolate and loads of fresh fruit (that I'd cut up and brought cause I'm super mom), we headed out in search of the farm and the sugar maples. It was a bit of a hike through a wooded area (around puddles, through mud and over a little bridge) and then across a big field, but it gave the kids the chance to burn off the gallons of pure maple syrup they'd consumed at breakfast. And run they did.

See?

Notice the grey sky in the picture above? That'll change.

The Log Farm was built in the 1850s and several of the original buildings remain. The main house/cabin is set up with period furniture, tools and "appliances". Apparently the parents had nine children, however I believe several of them died very young. There was also a neat "summer kitchen" which I think is a FABULOUS idea.

I think I could possibly photograph old buildings all day long. So full of texture and depth. LOVE. IT. And see what I meant about the sky? It was such an amazing day to be out. Just beautiful.

The farm is also residence to a couple completely oblivious to children friendly potbellied pigs, a goat, sheep and cows, a pony and some nimble chickens and roosters.

See the rooster? See those kids chasing the rooster? Yeah. They're mine.

For the record, they never did catch the rooster, who was obviously used to being chased and was more than able to evade his pursuers. He had a major advantage over all the little chicken-hunters in their squelchy, mud-covered rubber boots.

The pigs stayed much more stationary and all the kids enjoyed getting right up close to them.

See the pot belly??

Did I mention the mud yet? Cause letmetellyou THERE. WAS. MUD. It was quite a while before we even found enough dry ground to let the babies out to walk a bit. Poor guys. Kids running everywhere, screaming, laughing, chasing chickens, and them strapped in their strollers.

Do I see a new header image??

More old buildings. More blue sky. (le sigh) Did a little faux HDR on this image? Thoughts? Too much?

All of the kids went nuts over the pony and their ability to feed him hay (after a brief discussion over the difference between hay and straw and what a pony will and will not find appetizing). We might've even snuck him a few apple slices that were left over from breakfast. Shhhhh. I even managed to get a picture with all eight kids in it! No easy feat.

Andrew was particularly amazed. I have some cute video of him trying to feed the pony... but -let's face it- I'm not likely to get it uploaded any time soon. If I ever do, I'll post it here. Don't hold your breath.

Simon and Liam checking out the calf, who eventually came around to be fawned over.

Can I take a moment here to ask other moms-of-boys... WHAT IS IT ABOUT BOYS AND STICKS? I know you can poke stuff and hit stuff, pretend that they're swords, use them as walking sticks... I get it. I do. I guess I've just never been quite so passionately enamoured with a skinny piece of wood as this child. Of mine.

(Even as I'm writing this, he's standing over my shoulder saying, "That was a great stick. (heavy sigh) If we ever go back, I'm going to find it and bring it home with me.")

On our trek out to the sugar maples, we waded through more mud, around more puddles, and over another bridge. And we met the goat. But don't let this picture of Alexis and the goat fool you. That was THE ONLY PATCH OF DRY GROUND in the whole place. Promise. This is NOT INDICATIVE of   what we walked and pushed/pulled/dragged/carried the strollers through all day.

But it was all worth it to arrive at the end of the trail and be greeted by this...

mmmmm, maple taffy!

After collecting the sap, boiling it down into maple syrup and then boiling it down to that thick, golden, sludgy-looking deliciousness pictured above, they pour it onto snow to chill, sticking in popsicle sticks and rolling the taffy before it's completely set. 

Guess who was first in line?

licking his stick clean 

Does Liam sort of look like an albino in the picture to the left? 

Obviously I'm still adjusting to the shaved head...

I love the two pictures in the middle row taken just after Andrew's first taste 

when he's realizing how super good this weird brown stuff on a stick really is.

Remi, sitting with his beautiful ma tante Kim, was as equally pleased with his taffy.

After eating two or three sticks each, the kids picked up aluminum buckets and headed out to collect sap from collector buckets hung on the maple trees scattered throughout the forest. The fellow manning the sap station warned us that the kids wouldn't find full buckets, but the quantity they collect DID. NOT. MATTER. They had an absolute blast running through the trees from tree to tree and finding an ounce here and an ounce there. 

These are what they were after...

I like this picture...

and this one too.

See how much fun they had? I even let Andrew out of the stroller to toddle through the trees. There was such a thick carpet of leaves on the ground that, even with his many falls and trips over tree roots, he still loved it. LOVED. IT.

Simon spilled more sap than the actually collected (it's tricky trying to keep up with older kids while carrying a bucket that's almost half your size through a forest full of hidden tree roots), but that didn't seem to affect his enthusiasm.

My kids have cute friends, eh?

La belle Jade with her bucket of sap, and then with her 

mom (my friend Kim) and brother, Timothy.

After sufficiently filling their buckets with sap, each child got to empty theirs into a large tub where it was filtered and then boiled down into pure maple syrup. Aunt Jemima's got nothin' on this stuff. We've been using maple syrup as our primary sweetener for the better part of a year now, and I can hardly stomach table syrup anymore. Yes it's more expensive BUT IT'S AMAZING.

Look! I even managed to get into a picture!

After once again braving the boot-sucking, mud-filled trail back to the farm, the kids humoured me and let me take a picture of them and their muddy boots (and knees, in Simon's case... bum too, but it's not pictured).

If you're going to visit a sugarbush, this is the way to do it. Tasty maple-syrup-smothered food, gorgeous weather, amazing friends, lots of running around and fresh air, and actually getting to be part of the sap collection process. A huge thank you to Dani for the heads up on this one. My boys will never forget it.

(If I counted right, there are 89 pictures in this post?! Too much?? It is a bit of overkill, eh... Sorry. I couldn't help myself.)