Gibb Family Blog

Another first

2012-01-29T18:25:00.001-08:00

It's been a whole since we've had a child first in the house, well we got one tonight. Ella lost her first tooth! It was so loose, just needed a little tug from mom. She didn't even realize it was out - but when she did, she was in shock and wouldn't open her mouth for a good while. Now she's excited to go show off her hole at school !

iPhone!!!

2012-01-28T20:54:00.001-08:00

So blogger finally has an iPhone app. I live my iPhone, and that I can now blog from it! I may even blog more than FB!! I have all my photos on my phone do way earlier than before, forwarding them to the laptop, and doing posts from a finicky laptop with JavaScript issues!

Jett

2012-01-28T20:50:00.001-08:00

So jett lives his pull ups. He wears them at night still, but is 110%trained during the day. But he still lives to wear them over his Jamie's after he gets up. He is even changing in to them during the day! He doesn't pee in them, so I guess he just likes the "feel" of them, lol silly boy!

Keera's 6th Birthday!

2012-01-28T20:45:00.001-08:00

So our little Keera turned 6 today! I don't know why but 6 seems so much older/bigger than 5! We threw her a tinkerbell party. We made fairy wands, fairy headbands, played ring toss on to some potted flowers, and ate cupcakes- all to earn points to pieces of our treasure map. In the end we put the map together, followed the silly instructions (like doing jumping jacks, and climbing over furniture) and found the treasure (goodie bags)

It's been a While

2012-01-04T09:13:00.000-08:00

So it's a sign you haven't blogged in a while when I go to post, and it's all changed and different! I hate that (facebook!) So hopefully after I write this post I can save an publish it with out it getting deleted (another pet peeve).
So I don't really have anything in particular I was going to blog about, just realizing I love reading others blogs, and get so excited when there is something new to read (I really dont' read that many blogs) that maybe others feel the same and look forward to my mindless Mommie mumblings (ha ha I guess I got some rhyming skills for Christmas)
Sooooo.... what to tell you... ok only because they are at it right now.. Keera and Jett have a hate/hate relationship, man can they push each others buttons!! Jett's just getting to that younger brother bugging age, and Keera takes any little 'bug' to heart and it's a major break down. Uhg some days I think siblings are over rated. I do remember my brother and I going at it pretty good. Heck I bet ALL sibling recall at one time or another really having a hard time loving their siblings. But really SOMEDAYS... ahhhggggg. There are the occasions when they can play nice together, I hope those surface more often!

ok so I just deleted that whole paragraph up there, don't know how, but thank goodness I could it the back button and it came back, whew, that was a close call!! Hold on while I go "save" this .. ok we're good.

So I finally got that quilt done for my Mom this Christmas, turned out pretty good I think, she was quite happy with it. And of course I forgot to take a picture, but i'm sure she'll take one once she gets back to AZ and gets in on her bed. It feels good to have that project off my table (litterliy). I have a couple other ideas I want to get started on. I think I am done my baking phase and heading in to another sewing phase, which is a good thing! I just need my sewing space back. Right now we are in the process of developing the basement so I have the kitchen table, but that is a pain. Hopefully with in say... 2 weeks??? We'll see :)

So ya, we're doing our basement. I was just feeling the main floor of the house was getting too cramped, it was where we were doing all our living. We have a bonus room, but it's outside the kids rooms so we never really used it. But in prepping for drywall (meaning making room for drywall) we brought all the kids toys upstairs and re-arranged the couch and now.. I LOVE IT, we spend the day up here, it's so nice to have a change of space. We have a small (like 12-14") tv with dvd player we got free from our neighbours and some of the toys (others are in their rooms ) It's actually nice having a small tv as I find it doesn't become the focus of the room, it can be on but the kids often will play with their toys more than watch it. Where as if it's our huge what ever inch TV then it's like a magnet they get drawn in to. So i'm thinking the downstairs will be a bit more a grown up TV area with minimal to no toys (ya!) I have plans to make it a "modern western" theme.

Oh and something we are trying (2 days now) is from 6pm to 7pm no electronics (no tv, ipods, phones, computers ect) it's our family hour. 1st we do our chores (tidy toys, put away laundry if needed, cleaning aprox 20min) then we do a game of some sort. Mon night we did FHE so I taught a mini version of my lesson from Sunday and we made CTR shields. Last night we folded laundry then played a princess matching card game then read 3 stories. I am really enjoying it so far, and the hour actually goes really fast. We are defiantly a family who love their electronics so it's nice to shut them off for a bit and it's also feels good to have some quality time. We have never been great at FHE.. hopefully this will encourage a more consistent effort for it as well.

Well this has gotten pretty long, and well I feel like it's more just a blabbering of me than any specificity post. Oh well.

Skating..

2011-10-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

We took the kids skating for the first time tonight, and it was the first time in a loooong time for skating for mom and dad too! everyone did soo good! Keera took off amazing, I think her toe pics helped but she was loving it and fell lots but got up again no problem. She was off on her own just cruising around the rink, so proud of her.

Ella reall was excited to go, but we got her boy skates (just a fit issue) so she was trying to push off from her toes, and well that doesn't work! She managed to stay upright while holding the skate assist bar, but really was all over the place. She has such a great attitude though, she just kept at it. I think we will exchange her skates for figure skates, to giver her a helping hand. Jett also went, he was more hesitant, but wanted to go on the ice a few times, and tryed with the skate assiste, and was able to move a bit. I think he was really scared to fall, and now reading tonight, it's best to teach them how to fall, even do games like ring around the rosie (where they all fall down) so it's not a big deal. We kept it positive and every did great. We went home and washed the evening down with some good old hot chocolate!!

Why Hello There Stranger

2011-08-11T11:47:00.000-07:00

...is probably what you are thinking..

Yes we are here, and alive.. just busy.. with what I don't know. And also I had a monkey on my back.. I do annual birthparents update, usually due end of March, but I was late, then we moved, then the postal strike, then I was lazy, then lazy a bit more. But FINALLY got them done and in the mail so I can blog guilt free (instead of thinking, I SHOULD be working on the update.) That is sort of like my sewing right now. My Mom's Christmas present in 2009 (yes 2009) was a quilt for her place in AZ. As of today, Aug 11th, 2011 it is still not done and I have such guilt about it! Uhg. I do better with small to med. projects. It really would take maybe 1/2 a day if I sat down and just did it. But that time frame translated in to 'with kids' = like a cajillion years. So needless to say I have a bunch of think i'd like to get sewing but I have guilt every time I go to sew something other than the quilt. I've made the odd thing, but they are just sit down get'er done projects (= less than 1hr).

Anyways.. so the summer has been good, really pretty busy and has gone really fast which is good as I was quite scarred the beginning of the summer, having 3 kids all day, everyday. But it's been good. Despite no yard, despite rain really almost everyday (REALLY!). We've been busy with swim lessons, company, going to visit family, camping etc. Now we are down to the last 3 weeks (3 weeks today actually!!) and I think yikes we haven't done a bunch of stuff I thought we would!

But truth betold, I am already anticipating all the stuff I can do when the kids go back to school (snicker snicker). Tues and Thurs afternoons, from 12:45m-2:45pm I will be KID FREE, 1st time in well.. ever! It will be crazy. You know what else is crazy? I'm already feeling like "ekk, am I really ready for Ella to be gone all day, everyday.. really that means her teachers/friends will be spending more time with her than her parents (well me!) It's kinda a scary thought! Yes she drives me crazy and gets in to tons of stuff and drives me crazy (did I say that already?) It's scary as a parent to 'let go' and not be there for them, to watch over and feel comfort in that you are right there, or will be back in a couple hours. There is so much that goes on at school and even I can remember back to those scary/sad times that you have at school and to think she'll have those and I won't be there. Well is kinda sad and scary for ME! aHHH the joys of parent hood.

So plans for the fall? Painting the girls bunk bed, "the quilt", maybe trying to get in some exercise routine (that is a whoooooole other post)

Well just wanted to stop by and let you all know what was up with us.. so now you know. Peace out.

Birthday Day

2011-06-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

So today was the day... the day I turned (gulp) 38. Sounds soooo old to me (lets face it, it's getting up there!) So Ella did not have any school today due to kindergarten orientations for the next years (keera went yesterday) and I thought - uhg what am I going to do all day with the kids, and me, that is sorta fun.. Well I decided to just do lots of fun things with them to a) keep them busy, b) keep them happy c) get us out of the house d)keep them busy e)make the day go faster f) lessen the chance of fighting .. and well it worked!

So the day started at 5:15am (ha ha NOT planned) Ella and Keera were up this early, and I was NOT HAPPY! so we put Keera in Jay's closet and Ella back in her room and got a bit more sleep (and have decided to try Keera and Jett sharing a room). So first stop was Kidz Quarterz, in Sherwood park, basically a "Lets Play" place but 1/2 the price. Surprisingly we were the only ones there at 10am but then some more kids trickled in so they were able to have some fun times playing. We were there for about 1.5hrs and the off the door with a .05cent candy as bribery to leave.

We were going to go to Ikea for cheap hot dogs for lunch but then I thought, hey why don't we go surprise Daddy and have lunch with him! So we did and it was fun! We walked to Whyte ave and had lunch at subway where the kids got cute penguin bags with their meals. It was a little healthier than I had planned but I guess you gotta sacrifice sometimes. We got to tour Dad's office and meet some of his co-workers and boss. I ironically dressed Jett the same as Jay in a bright orange shirt (not that I dressed Jay, he did do that by himself this morning).

Then we were off again, off to a movie!! We went to south common and saw Rio, and kids bird movie. It was really cute! I was trying to be frugal Frannie and had planned on using gift certificates we got at Christmas for the kids and then it would just cost for me... but alas.. I went to the wrong theater.. and so there was no way in heck the kids would accept "opps can't go because it's going to cost an arm and a leg" so $60 unplanned dollars later... but the movie was really cute and the kids did amazing watching it (ie- no running all over the place, sat still the whole time) I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the fact they each had a full size bag of candy to much on.

So by this time it's about 3pm... hmmm Dad's not home till 5..heck we still have 2 hours to kill... where should we go... IKEA!! (free child care!!) We tried going 2 weekends ago, but it was full and the kids were quite disappointed, but they were able to get in this time! They were quite excited, and I enjoyed window shopping at Ikea for an hour by myself.

By this time Mom was pooped out so we headed home. Jayme brought supper home.. yummie donairs.. I was looking forward to it all day!

After super our family tradition on someones b-day is to go to DQ, so off we went. I had my favorite; a Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard and the kids had dipped cones (well Ella just wanted hers plain.. strange girl) and Jay had a peanut buster parfait.

And to end the evening.. I am off to have a massage!! Sorry no pics people, I know you are disappointed, but it's for your own health.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

End of May

2011-05-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

So Keera ended the day looking pretty ruff today.. not sure why, nothing particularly crazy happened. But still, pretty ruff looking and ready for a bath!

I was in the kitchen getting supper organized and when I can't be outside to supervise the kids, I close the garage door and they can still ride their bikes ect, when I went to check on them, this is what I found.. Keera trying to make a break for it on Daddies quad. She quite likes the quad and managed to get his heavy helmet on all by her self!

Jett felt his bike needed a few repairs and took to it himself. So cute! He was quite impressed with himself. I started worry a bit when the hammer came out...

Where is Ella you ask? As usually she is the front runner for "getting in to things" she was inside upstairs quietly watching tv. Yes, it is true!

The Kids

2011-05-29T18:10:00.000-07:00

Jayme snapped off a couple pics of the kids before we headed off to Church today. It was amazing to get a good picture of the three of them together!! The girls wanted and let me do their hair with the flat iron today. Keera wanted hers straight like Mommies (I had straightened mine today) and Ella wanted "curls" the best we could do with the new do is a cute flip, which she liked. she also like my jewelry. She choose to wear the pink tights, green dress and red necklace, much to my dismay (really I didn't care, she got dressed by herself, good enough for me!!)

Front of House

2011-05-18T18:39:00.001-07:00

So when I posted the pics of our new house.. I didn't include one of the outside... but here it is!

Kite Night

2011-05-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

So last night at Ella's school they had "kite night" where families could come and make kites. Jay went with the girls, Jett and I were waiting at the walk in clinic (he has a congested cough) so they made a kite and Ella was quite excited to fly it today. Surprisingly it worked really well. She ran up and down the street flying it! (love all the dirt we are surrounded with.. I'm praying for a dry summer, sorry!)

New Digs (for Jayme)

2011-05-16T15:58:00.001-07:00

Jayme is really loving his job and I am just so proud of him! He has amazing work ethic and commitment to the company and it is paying off for him. He has had a pretty big learning curve but already has things pretty well mastered and is above schedule on his assignments to date! I am so grateful for a hardworking husband and someone who takes pride in his work. He is a good provider and has stretched out of his comfort zone to provide a better home life for his family. Having him home every night at a pretty consistent time has been one the biggest ++'s in my mind. It saves my sanity each day knowing when he'll be home (to 'save' me, lol). Also to have him off Sundays is so wonderful as well, I know it will do nothing but benefit the family. The weekends go so fast now, we were use to having him for 4-5 days off at a time, but it's a small sacrifice for all the positives. Thank you Jayme for being a great provider, love you XOXO

Here is a pic of his office, and his dual computer screen's that he's quite proud of!

Go-Greem

2011-05-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

... that's what Jett calls ice cream. Yesterday we were cleaning the garage and the kids were riding up and down the sidewalk. Then we heard the sound... the sound of a "go-greem" truck. The kids were sooooo excited, so of course we had to buy some. It was a tuff decision but they all ended up choosing the same thing, a rug-rats themed ice cream, so $10.50 later for 4 ice creams, we took a break and enjoyed the surprise treat. We had limited seating but the scaffolding worked great. I'm sure it will be a familiar sound this summer... the go-greem truck.

Boy Style

2011-05-14T11:55:00.001-07:00

So since we've been potty training Jett, he started out sitting, moved to 'frog style' and now is experimenting with standing, he's just tall enough if he lifts the seat. So today after lunch he went pee, then he keep standing at the potty, facing me (back to the toilet) saying "poo-poo" "poo-poo" I kept saying yes, go poo, that's fine. But I didn't realize he was doing 'boy style' pooing, with the seat up and his but to the bowl, pooping in. Thank goodness it went in the toilet!!

Pics of the New Pad

2011-05-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

Had to throw in a pic of the kids :)

on the main floor looking to go downstairs

Looking from the ensuite to the master

Master ensuite, shower, tub and toilet

Master ensuite, tub and dual sinks

One of my favorite things.. my OWN closet!!!

Masterbed..room

windows in master bedroom, with bamboo shades

Jett's room, I did his curtains (sun was really brite so pic didn't turn out as well)

Upstairs bonus room, and stairs to the main floor

girls room ( i love how the curtains turned out, just three $5 panels from walmart!)

Other side of bonus room and hall to master

bonus room and the girls

Jett being grumpy on the stairs to upstairs

Kitchen and kitchen nook

from the great room looking to the front entry

Great room area

Fun Night!

2011-05-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

So I woke up at 2am to all the kids up, TV on, comp. on, lights on, just happy as can be. I was not happy, at all. Who know's how long they had been up. So get them all back in bed. 4am, same thing!! + lights on downstairs. So in reality they probably did not go back to sleep. Get them all back in bed, with STRICT instruction to stay there.. (ya right) 4:30am after a quick doze by me.. I hear something again, not so many lights on this time, actually only the girls, with the door close, open it and Jett's in there too, and the room is a DISASTER.. So not a happy Mom.. get Ella down in her bed, Jett in his and put Keera in my closet, as obviously they were not going to sleep together.. Finally they went to sleep. Actually Keera slept till 8:20am, Ella 8:35am and Jett was up when Keera got up so not sure when he was up. (they usually up 6-6:30 these days, which I'm not crazy about either)

So that was the exciting night at the Gibb household last night. If our neighbors where up I'm sure they wonder about the hours we keep!

Potty Trained!!!!

2011-05-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

I think I can say it now, with out jinxing things.. but Jett is potty trained!! We started more seriously a few weeks before we moved (dumb I know but he was just seeming ready) and besides the day we moved in (where he peeed on our brand new hardwood and our basement floor) he has not had any accidents! + he has been dry this whole time during naps too! (naps in his undies, night time with a pull up) we've noticed he's alot more dry in the morning as well. I can't believe we are done with diapers. Kinda sad, but defiantly happy about it!!
He's so cute the way he "goes" he likes to stand/squat on the toilet seat and pee, sorta frog like. He's just barely tall enough now and is starting to stand and pee, so cute!

Test

2011-05-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

Test

It's been Awhile

2011-03-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Let me explain... blogger does not work for some reason on our laptop, all I can do is read blogs, it won't let me post or comment, which is frustrating (I know it's some JavaScript problem but no clue how to fix it!)! So how am I posting this... well our laptops network quite/stopped/broke last night, so now I am FORCED to use this desktop. Which is ok I guess, as it means I can do a blog post!

So... what do I post about.. hmm it could be about us moving, trying to sell our house (we'll know next tues if the deal goes thru, but i've heard about a handful of peoples deals falling thru on the last day i'm so scared and every time I talk/tell people about it i feel i'm jinxing things- eeeek), house hunting in Edm (Beaumont actually), how much house we canNOT afford, and how depressing that is (re-doing our budget, we really need to do a cheaper morg. not that ours is high right now, but we always accumulate debt each year, and then use our tax return to pay it off, and every year this is so frustrating to me! We need to find a way to NOT get in debt (cheaper morg, less shopping, more accountable to our budget, maybe me working?) each year and then we could have a nice little chunk each year for extras. It seems like Jayme makes good money, but when do the budget it just doesn't stretch that far, and we have no car payments or loan payments! Everything is basically normal or standard for that. Every 2 weeks we only have $200 for 'everything else' ie car repairs, date nights, clothes, trips, extras, school trips/fee's, dentist overages, vehicle registrations, all that stuff that pops up. Uhg. I'm probably disclosing too much but what ever, this is what i'm stressed about and need to vent, lol!

So I got back from Hawaii a week ago tomorrow, and it was amazing, great weather, only 2 days of rain but I had burnt my face so bad it was fine to give it a rest. I had a blast hanging out with Andrea and Dad + Shelley. It was quite relaxing and nice to have a detour from my daily routine. Jayme did AWESOME back at home. So impressed. He never sounded stressed or mad when he called (we talked everyday) and never complained or said "I'm never doing this again" it was nice as I would have stressed if he was stressed. (Thanks sweetie) He showed the house 10times! Which meant packing up the kids (almost always during naps) and keeping the house tidy! He actually got TWO offers while I was a way. One was a really lowball, and they didn't like our counter of only 900 below asking. So it was dead after that, but the other one is good so far.. FINGERS CROSSED!

Oh and have I mentioned yet that possession on our house is April 29th.. so once the deal is firm, we'll have 5.5 weeks to find a house and move. Fun!

News....

2011-02-14T19:25:00.000-08:00

So the Gibb family has some news.....Jayme has accepted a job offer in Edmonton.. so we are moving. It's a really great opportunity for him, he will be a Corod Training Specialist.. basically training guys how to do what he's been doing for 15 years. It's a mostly office job (M-F 9am-5pm) he'll have weekends off (great for Church). There might be some traveling, and in the years to come would be more international. With Jayme being at the head office in Edm. there will be lots more opportunities for career growth. I"m excited to live in a city with a Temple as well!

I am so not looking forward the selling the house process (keeping it clean, if anyone knows me, this will be a HUGE challenge.) I also hope it doesn't take along time to sell (like our Calgary house, uhg). Jayme starts March 14th.. so he will then travel back and forth. It will be hard to have him gone during the week, but I look at it as it's only 5 days..
We are looking at the south east area of Edm. and not ruling out Sherwood park, Beaumount, Leduc.. It will be exciting to look for a new house, though I do love my house right now!!

I'm really sad to leave my friends here, I take a while to establish good friendships.. and now i'm starting over again. I truly hope to keep in touch with all my friends here! And now they have a place to stay/visit while in Edmonton! I feel so settled here in Lloyd, and I love the size of it, no traffic etc. I love love love our Branch.. so many good people :( - not sure how I'll fair in a ward.. guess we'll see.

So this news is bitter-sweet. Very excited to be closer to family (only 2.5h to Calgary) - but sad to leave so many wonderful people :(

Family Trip

2011-02-08T19:13:00.000-08:00

So in December you can buy a gift certificate for the fantasy land Hotel for $149 and book a theme room with it (regular $300-$350) so I bought one this year and we went this past Mon+Tues. I've been quite excited to go! I had hopes it would just be a fun time with the kids and a fun bonding time. It was!
We left about 10am and got to the Hotel/mall about 12:15 and went swimming right away. It was nice because it was a Monday afternoon so not crazy busy. The water park is pretty big, they only had about 1/2 the slides working, and the special kid slide area was totally closed, but still fun. Keera and Jett did not like the waves at first. When the waves first started up, they both went running to the 'shore' away from the waves. It took alot of coaxing to get them even to sit at the very edge and feel the water/waves. Ella, well she is another story, she is our little fish. She loved it. Ella and Daddy and Ella and I went on a few slides. Her and I did this one, that was totally enclosed and quite twisty.. I was honestly kinda scared to do it, as it makes me a bit clausterphobic, but I was brave. I was also nervous for Ella as they would not let us go together, but she really wanted to go. So I went first and it was a bit freaky! I could not fully sit up (too tall) and I didn't want to lie down so I kinda did this weird half sit/half lie down thing. Ella did awsome and we did it again!
I did the big 'toilet' slide. A slide that spits u in to this big toilet type thing and then dumps you in to this deep pool. I probably looked crazy going on it as I go all disoriented and was flayling all over the place and went in to the water shoulders first.
Jayme went on some slides, dispite his broken foot, but did ok. He had fun frolicking with Ella in the waves. We had fun and had lots of smiles and laughs.
We had a very expensive snack there and finished up around 3:30 and then went to check in to our room. The kids were crazy excited to see the room, we had the African room. It was pretty cool. After that we took the kids to build-a-bear and they each built a bear. Then we went for dinner at "Jungle Jim's" which was very kid friendlyso that was fun. Their menu's were maskes and they got cool cups and even got to pick a 'prize' from the treasure chest. We went back to the room and hung out and settle the kids to bed. Keera and Jett were no problem. Miss Ella was another story. But eventually we all got to sleep - though we had to do a bit of bed shuffling, lol! (Ella in bed with me, Keera to the top bunk and Jay on the bottom bunk!)

It was an early morning of 6:15am .. so the kids played in the tub for a while- LOVE it!

We had a great (included) breakfast at the Euro Cafe- really a great buffet breakfast! The kids loved all the fruit and the mini-fruit loop cerels!
We then went to Toy's R Us to spend the gift cards the kids got from Uncle Wes at Christmas.
Jett got 2 big metal trucks, Thomas Train sleeping bag, and The Car's movie. Keera got a tinker bell blanket, strawberry shortcake case+ dolls and a tinker bell paint set. Ella got (big surprize here) 2 sparkly bigger bouncy balls, a pink zuzie pet and a tunnel thing for her zuzies. The kids also got a barbie movie and a scoobiedo movie. They spent the gift cards + their birday $$. They were happy campers.
Drive home was good, Kept them quiet with Cheeto's and the new movies.

Happy Birthday Ella!!!

2011-02-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

So another birthday in the Gibb household.. Miss Ella turned 6 today. It seems crazy how fast the time goes, but I think any Mother thinks that! She had fun opening her presents this morning, she got some swimming fins/wings/floatie and a bunnie zuzie pet, some books from her brother and sister and a t-shirt and new dress. She was also excited to open all her birthday cards -she was quite possesive of her money this year, lol.

Valentines!

2011-02-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

So this is Ella's valentine for her school friends. Another copy-cat idea from my sil-KD (thanks!) took like 5min to make (thanks to picnik!) We found some cute valentine pencils with cute erasers on the ends to slide into her hand- looks so CUTE! She is quite excited to hand them out. They cost .60 cents each (could have been .0 cents each if I wanted to wait for 1h photo)

Where's Ella?

2011-02-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

Since Ella doesn't nap anymore, I try to get her to have 'quiet time' and watch a movie in our spare room. It's an old TV, with a VCR but works good most days to keep her quiet. This room is also my laundry/sorting room. If you keep up with me on Facebook, you know that I am NOT a fan of this chore. So currently this is what my laundry situation looks like. I had to laugh today as I pushed clothes away to make a tiny space for Ella to sit and watch her show, lol! I guess it's time I start folding, bleh.

Birthday Celebrations!

2011-01-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

Ella insistes on eating the bottom of the cone.. before she's done the top...

Keera lov'en the chocolate coating!

Mom + Ella (Jessie)

Daddie, Keera and Jett. (Do you think Keera's excited?lol)

Our family tradition, which we think started last year with Jett's b-day.. is to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream after dinner. The kids were quite excited to go!

Happy Birthday Keera!!!!

2011-01-28T13:41:00.001-08:00

So Miss Keera is 5 today!!! Crazy how fast time goes. She is quite happy it's her birthday and has asked me several times today "Mommie, tell me happy birthday" so then I have to say "Happy Birthday Keera" and she gets a big smile. She was telling everyone who would listen at the store today, that it was her birthday. She even shared a Dora sticker with a old, grungy looking man in line at the check out, just walked up and stuck it on his belly. He wasn't to impressed, but then agreed to keep it. My little social butterfly *eek*.

Keera has grown alot, though she is still little compaired to others her age. She will always be a peanut! She loves going to speech, though it hasn't made a huge change yet, it will come. She loves to give kisses and is super affectionate. She likes to have her quiet time and read books or play on her 'computre'. She is a great listener and loves to be around people. She's our Keera.

Happy Birthday!!!

Jessie

2011-01-28T07:35:00.000-08:00

Ella's school was having a 'dress as your favorite storybook character' today...

not sure if "jessie" from toy story falls in to this catagory.. but it's who she wanted to be. I was just going to have her wear her Jessie PJ"s but then took a look at Jessie and realized that her wardrobe would be pretty easy to duplicate, and it was!!

I just used an old pair of jeans, made the 'chaps', they are only attached at the top of her thighs and have elastics around the knee. I used an old white t-shirt and added the yellow, and hot glued the red rope (totally crappy job close up, lol!) I used some brown cordory for the belt and did a double yellow fabric with heat and bond for the buckle (and does up with velcro). The hat was the trickiest but still worked out ok'ish. I used red felt and a super stiff, stiffiner (from fabricland) in the middle of 2 felt peices for the brim, and just felt for the hat part. I poked holes with a sissor and threaded the white cording around. I should have made it a smidgen bigger as it just sits on her head, and doesn't really go on. Next time!

She was quite pleased with it, and really I was too for an afternoons worth of work!

Guess Who I am?

2011-01-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

bet you can't guess... he's SANTA. ho ho ho as he kept saying while wearing a panty liner on his face. He will LOVE this when he starts dating/ gets married.

Birthday Presents

2011-01-20T12:02:00.000-08:00

So with the kids starting to do the birthday party thing.. I wanted to try and do something different for them to give as gifts.. I saw this somewhere.. and I know my sil -KD has done versions of this as well- so cute.. i've done it a few times and finally remembered to take pictures!

What they are is a Cupcake/Sugar cookie kit. I make a personalized apron, and then just scrabook a box of cake mix, icing and sprinkles. I include flower cookie cutters for the cookie kits and cute cupcake liners for the cupcake kits! I love how they turn out. This time I also make cute little bags for them as well!! (it's for 2 sisters the girls are going to their party on saturday)

New Year's Eve 2010

2011-01-04T13:09:00.001-08:00

Smilie Keera in her new tinker bell jammies

A close up of Miss Ella

Jett and our 'spread' on the stool. We had pinapple chicken kebabs, shrimp, meatballs, dry ribs (biggest hit) veggies and pineapple on a stick for dessert, all complements of M&M meatshops. Yum!

Keera and Ella got their spots already.. we moved the spare bed in to the living room to watch Shrek. Jayme and I actually got to snuggle during our movies, and nice change then sitting at opposite ends of the couch. It was quite fun and the bed actually stayed there till Monday! Comfy!!

HIt by a Bus...

2010-12-17T07:18:00.001-08:00

That's exactly what I feel like this morning. Makes me reminisce and wonder how I was a mother to newborn babies. Uhg. Jett and Ella both woke up at 2:30am. Ella had a fever (prob. from her vaccinations done on thurs) and Jett, well who knows why he was awake. I'm guessing one was up first and I didn't hear them and they woke the the other up. This is the second time, since Jett was 10m old. That he's woken up in the night. He just never does. The girls don't either, unless they are sick, or if Ella had an accident. Ok getting off track a bit here. That happens when you are sleep deprived. So as I was saying they both were up at 2:30am.. so I had to take Jett up to Jayme so I could deal with Ella. I had to go dig thru our downstairs medicine cabinet for Tylenol, thank goodness we had a spare. Also had to root around in the messy basement for Jett's sippy cup as that is the only way I assume he'd go back to sleep with out a huge fight. But when I went downstairs, Keera's on her way up, crying. On the best of days it's a stretch to figure out what she's saying but add in the factors of middle of the night, and crying. Couldn't figure it out, but she seemed fine so I assume the others woke her. Get her tucked in and calmed down and back on the hunt for the sippy cup. Find it, Jay gets Jett back in bed, though he's not happy to be there. Ella talks us (me) in to sleeping in our bed. This RARELY happens but the cuddles are nice and she was so warm it was sleeping with a hot water bottle, I was toasty warm. Problem was everybody was pretty awake from all the commotion, and Jett was making it clear he did not want to be in bed. He banged on his door again at 3am and 3:30am then finally settled down. Last time I remember looking at the clock was at 4am. Then Jay's alarm goes off at 6:30am. I can't remember the last time he set his alarm... ahhhhhggggg. So of course that wakes Ella up and starts my day. Glad I don't have big plans today, just finishing up some baking, CLEANING, and working on my talk for Sunday.

It makes me appreciate the stage my kids are at, that they do sleep thru the night. Just one night of getting up in the middle of the night makes you remember how zombie like you feel when you are getting several times a night with babies! So glad I sleep trained them young'ish and that they are good sleepers!

as a side note, last night before I went to bed I was watching tv and then just started thinking about how good sleepers my kids are and how thankful I am for them sleeping thru the night, and how glad I was that they've never all gotten up in the night ect.(seriously!) then I thought, oh crap I gotta stop thinking this or i'm just asking for trouble. So yes I had a little chuckle to myself when I rolled over and saw the clock at 2:30am and heard at least 2 of my kids!

Cookie Contest

2010-12-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

So the past 3 years our local radio station has a cookie contest.. and I've entered and won... 2x :). So the competitor in me needs to win again. Not so much for the prize ($100 gift card at Sobey's) but for the title. I'm surprised at how competitive I feel. ha ha

It's been fun trying to figure out what to make and how to 'present' them. I played around with a Rollo cookie, a chocolate thumb print cookie with a marscapone cheese filling, and a nanaimo bar cookie. But the winner (in my mind) is a Turtle Cookie I came up with. It's a chocolate chip cookie base with pecans, chocolate and caramel pieces. I topped them with homemade caramel and chocolate dipped pecans and a sprinkle of sea salt. Unfortunately Jayme (my chief taste tester) and I have been coming off a head cold and our taste buds aren't up 100% yet. From what I can tell, they taste pretty good.

**update**
So I didn't win this year :( didn't even place.. oh well, there's always next year.

Sorry Jett...

2010-11-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry for traumatizing you buy zipping your unit in your jeans. Guess that's why little boys should not go commando.

...

2010-11-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

So yes, not a good idea underwear on "poop day" exp. if I'm upstairs busy with something... oh well. I can hope for only one poop today...

Diaper Free Day!!

2010-11-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

So days when we are home or going to be around for a little while, I do my best to remember to put Jett in big boy underwear. He loves wearing them, and usually will do 1-3hours no problem but then it's naps or we go out somewhere so I put a diaper on him and forget about it the rest of the day. Well today the only errand we had was an eye exam for both the girls. Jett had already stayed dry + peed in the potty all morning so I thought, eh, might as well try going out. I knew we wouldn't be gone too long. I brought a change of clothes just in case.. BUT he didn't need them! We were gone about 45min and dry no problem. I did put a diaper on right before naps, he slept 2.5h woke up, came downstairs for about 10min, the went to the washroom (he still had is diaper on.) this is the first time he's wanted to go pee, while wearing a diaper. So I take it off.. and DRY!! I was quite surprised. He sat on the pot and peed. It's now 7:30pm and he has been in undies all day and been dry! I guess we just run with it at this point. Though tomorrow might be interesting as it's probably "poop day" as he does every other day.

Operator?

2010-11-25T20:22:00.000-08:00

So I asked Ella to go downstairs and get the phone so I could call Jayme. I guess she figured she knew the # so she tried calling him.. She comes upstairs and says Mom there is someone on the phone.. I thought maybe she hit re-dial or something.. I get on the phone and I hear "Mama this is the operator, your daughter was playing with the phone" I was like "oh my gosh, so sorry", and she was totally fine with it. I get off the phone and sternly tell Ella "that was the operator, she was mad, you can't play with the phone".. she goes around the corner, and I hear a sheepish voice... "is she coming here?" I say no, your not in that kind of trouble.. but I think she got the message!

A Yummy Surprise!

2010-11-23T18:05:00.000-08:00

Some friends popped by and dropped off this crazy yummy cupcakes... don't they look scrumptious? Well they are/ were!! Such a nice surprise on a cold night. And perfect timing for my nightly shows! (nothing like watching Biggest Loser chowing on a calorie laddened cupcake :) )

Thanks guys!!

Dresser Make Over

2010-11-18T15:28:00.001-08:00

So we've been keeping our eye's out for dressers for the girls. We looked at new, but they are pricey, even for a basic one. So finally found a great on Kijiji; a 5 peice set for $80. Jay had to drive to Vermilion (30min) but I think it was worth it. It was a tall 4 drawer dresser, a long 9 drawer dresser, 2 night tables and a large mirro (have yet to do the mirror).

I was lazy and didn't want to tackly sanding everything so got a bondable primer and did 2 coats of it and then a white gloss spray paint over top. I accented with a dark pink, which I love! Hardware always seems to be the expensive part of a 'makeover' so I opted to spray the existing hardware, and I think this is my favorite part of the makeover, love how they turned out! Not sure how long they will last, might have needed a primer first, guess we'll see..

So in all, here is the break down:

dressers $80

primer $28

Brushes $6

spray paint $12

pink craft paint $0.94

Total for all pieces: $126.94 cheaper than even 1 dresser new! and way cuter than I could have bought!

I have a close up of the detail on top of the dresser. Not the work of a perfectionist, the work of a productionist :). Also a close up of the hardware. ( I have a hard time moving text and pictures around on blogger so sorry they are kinda all over the place, but I was losing patience!)

Knitting

2010-11-10T21:25:00.001-08:00

So a friend of mine got the bug in my ear about knitting.. and since then i've been thinking, "ya, I want to knit!" being impatient, I thought ohhh you tube might have something. (Youtube has a video on EVERYTHING) and I found a really great video, made it so easy! So been working on it tonight. I got one piece done, it's about 12-14" wide and 1.5" tall, and I'm going to roll it in to a flower accessory. Next piece is a scarf. Maybe for the girls or maybe a short accessory type one for me.

Here's a pic; notice the strategic planning to hide my double chin from the laptop camera :)

BOO!!!

2010-10-31T16:04:00.001-07:00

This year our Branch (Church) thru a Trunk or Treat (same concept of Halloween but we had it at the Church building and the kids went room to room getting candy). The kids had a blast. It was a fun night.

This year at our house we had Ella the green dragon (totally her choice), Keera a cute pink butterfly and Jett the pirate, the cutest pirate ever if I do say so! It was fun to be around for Halloween this year as the last 2 we've been away on holidays (Jayme and I).

Little Man

2010-10-28T18:33:00.001-07:00

Found this suit while shopping in the states.. $13 can you belive it??!!! Wish they had others in his size, but they didn't. He's growing up so fast!

Before November

2010-10-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

So I guess I should get a token October post in before it's November--ALREADY!

Time has flown by that's for sure. Ella is doing great at school, really loving it. We had parent teacher interviews last week. She is struggling in a few areas, we walked away thinking, Yikes didn't know you could 'fail' Kindergarten. She totally isn't but just defiantly has been a transition for her. And as the teacher pointed out, they've only been in school for 20 days so far.

Keera is really loving to color these days. She's actually a better color'er that Ella, I think it has to do with the patience thing. She also started speech therapy at the end of September. She has mild to moderate speech problems but the therapist thought a 6m course of therapy would get her back on track. She really enjoys going and does quite well. We've done "h" sounds and "F" sounds so far, she has the H down pat, but we're still working on the F sounds. I think she quite enjoys the time with out Ella, as she gets to 'be the boss' though Jett holds his own and does his fair share of being the "pesky younger brother".

Jett is still made about cars, trucks and trains. LOVES them. He has one in his hand 90% of the time. He play on his own quite contently if he has some cars. He often likes to "tow" things with the cars/trucks. Today it was a bun. He is really starting to talk more too, can get his point across with out much problem. He's also gone from calling me "ma" to Mommie, which I love. He does the same with Jay.. "da-deee".

We just got back from Calgary for thanksgiving and then we went to Jayme's parents where Jayme stayed with his Dad and the kids while I had a girls weekend with Jayme's Mom and Sisters. We drove to Salt Lake where his one sister Alisynn lives. We shopped, shopped, ate Mexican food, and shopped some more. It was a ton of fun! We also went to Temple Square and they had a miniature display of the Salt Lake Temple, and the interior! It was neat to see it in that perspective, and I'm sure answers some questions for those that have not been in a Temple, what they generally look like inside. They had a beautiful video to accompany it that generally explains what happens in each room. Defiantly worth the visit. I 'borrowed' this picture off my SIL's blog (thanks KD)

Jayme has been working as a supervisor since September. It's a temporary spot but we really hope it turns in to permanent (covering for a supervisor that has a ton of vacation days accumulated). This means that he goes to work about 7-8am (instead of 4:30-5am) and can take Ella to the bus stop in the mornings she goes to school (huge help!) sometimes he is home for lunch (never happened before) and is home for supper more than before, but sometimes does work a bit later. (but doesn't have the later nights like he would before). He is really enjoying it, as am I.

I'm just plugging away with the usual. Laundry, dishes, meals, cleaning ect. I'm still sitting about 58lbs lost.. haven't lost anything for a month (thanks to thanksgiving, girls weekend, and a lull in my motivation these days.) I"m trying to convince myself that I'm back in the game, and making a push to lose so more weight before Christmas. It is such a BATTLE. uhg. but I don't want to let go now.. got. to. keep. going.

Sorry there are not many pictures (I love blogs with pictures) but someone (Ella) dumped/spilt water on our laptop and it's in dry out mode till tomorrow. (it's where all our recent pics are).

Branch CampOut

2010-09-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

So we had our second anual branch campout, It was alot of fun. Not as many families came, but in my opinion all the right families were there :). The kids had SO much fun, just running around with everyone. As usual, my camera was the last thing on my mind, but I did snap a few pics on our way home.

To School We Go....

2010-09-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, I finally have a school aged child. Kinda hard for me to belive that my little Ella-Bella is off to kindergarden "all ready" though there have been many times in the past few years that I thought this day couldn't get here fast enough! Here are some shots of Ella's 1st day.

Ella coloring a picture for her teacher...

Ella all dressed in her back to school clothes...

Walking to the bus stop with Mom....

Waiting at the bus stop...

Here's the bus!!!! So excited to get on, she sat on the very front seat with the biggest smile on her face!

Gibb Family Reunion

2010-08-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

Jay doing the waterslide

My handsome little man!

Me and KD, the only sister in law brave enough to go down with me (this year :) )

Park Times

2010-08-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Keera and Jett playing ring around the rosie

Summer Times

2010-08-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

The girls all pretty'ed up (notice Keera's curly hair that has just happened this summer!)

Ella bella... not sure where we were going with her all cuted up...hmmm anyways..

Heading to Church..rare shot of all 3 clean and put together.

We took the side off Jett's crib to transition him to a 'big boy bed' and this was at nap time a few days later, we knew he was up playing for a while, then it was quiet, but saw his light was on so I snuck in and this is what I found, him curled up on his rocking chair...soooo cute!!! He was out!

Summer Camping at Old McDonald Farm

2010-08-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

Kids enjoying .25cent ride on the very old 'ride' (not sure what to call it)

We rented this bike g-cart for an hour. Jayme was done after 5min, it was alot of peddling to get us around, but fun! We had to go fast so the 'sketto's didn't get us, lol.

Miss Ella, snacking on... fresh baby carrots mmmm

Smilie Mr. Jett, who quite likes posing for the camera

Dinner (or waiting for it) they had concrete picnic tables, first time we'd seen that.

55

2010-07-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

55 and counting...

Ella, oh Ella..

2010-06-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

So this morning Ella was really wanting to go on a bike ride, at like 8am. I said we'll go for sure but Mom still has things to do, and I have to get dressed. She pointed out I was dressed (I was wearing a t-shirt I slept in, no bra and a cotton skirt) I said we'll yes it looked like i was dressed but I wasn't even wearing a bra, so no, I was not ready to go on a bike ride. So about 3-4min later Ella yells down to Jayme in the kitchen, from the door to our room "hey Dad, where's that thing that holds Mom's boobs?") Needless to say we both burst out laughing.. she can come up with some dosies!

No More...

2010-06-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

No more plus size shopping for me! I'm very proud to say I went to a "regular" store and tried on "regular" sizes and they fit!!! Well probably 5-10lbs before I can wear them in public but I can get them on and done up. It has been YEARS since I've been able to do this.

YEARS PEOPLE!!

I'm trying not to over run my family blog with weight loss stuff, but this was pretty monumental for me. + my Sister helped me pick out a couple new outfits that she assures me look good. I still have a hard time believing it. But I'll go with it :)

Bike Ride

2010-06-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

So Ella has mastered riding her bike. She basically self taught herself. She's quite independent and would get more frustrated if we tried to help here. So after a few weeks of just playing/practicing, she's mastered it.
She has reallllly wanted to go on a bike ride ever since. So today she talked me in to riding our bikes to the gym today. So I packed Keera and Jett in the bike carrier (a work out in it's self!) and got Ella organized, and off we went. She did really great. A few rules I forgot to go over before we headed out:
1) No stopping!! Don't just stop in the middle of riding. (I had her ride in front of me so I could watch her) her constant stopping drove me nuts! I don't know how many times I almost ran over her.
2) Don't look back at Mom. I assured her I would not run her over (as long as she pre-warned me before she stopped). She would always look back then get way off course ect.

She had a blast on the ride there, but was pretty tired on the way back. Complained about her legs hurting ect. She stopped and started I don't know how many times, I was about to lose it. I tried to convince her that it is more work to stop and start than just to ride continuously at a slow pace. I don't think I could have gone any slower on the ride home. Try starting and stopping while towing almost 80lbs!!

But all in all I was quite excited to have accomplished this. I was sad that I would be able to do much riding this summer because I can't tow 3 kids. But now that Miss Ella is getting the hang of it, we can do some shorter bike rides! I just need to whip her in to shape :)

40

2010-05-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

No, not turning 40 yet.. a few years to go for that, thank goodness. It's how much weight I'm down so far (since Nov) slowly but surely I guess.. was just glad to finally hit that marker.

Mini Dinner

2010-05-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

So our theme tonight was mini.. I found these cute mini (slider) hamburger buns and decided to make mini turkey burger sliders for dinner. They turned out so good, and it was a 3 out of 3 hit with the kids (which RARELY happens).

So to follow up we had mini ice cream cones for dessert. Yum!!

Don't Multi Task while the Kids Paint...

2010-05-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

So I was trying to rearange my closet after hubby put in some new shelves for me.. Ella REALLY wanted to paint.. and well I gave in.. so this is what happened between my "peeking" in on them. I think he likes to paint... but it's about a once a year event at our house.. and this is why.

Toys in the bed (don't worry clean)

2010-05-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

So does the title make you leary to read on? It's G-rated.. I promise..

We we wake up this morning and Jayme says he didn't have the best sleep last night... fast foward 20min (i'm up at this point making french toast, and he's just getting out of bed) and he comes down and shows me this.....

He had slept on a toy tractor tire all night.... the joys of children :)

Friday

2010-05-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

So I'm happy to report Jett made it thru yesterday with no injuries :)

I talked Jayme in to going swimming with the kids this morning. It was quite fun. Ella is such a fish, just LOVES the water. The other 2, eh. not so much. Jett likes it better than Keera. She's happy playing just at the waters edge. Jett is still at the no fear stage. Not wanting me to hold him he walks deeper and deeper in to the water. You'd think at some point he'd figure out that it's going above his head, but nope. Jay and Ella did a few runs on the water slide, which she always loves. She wasn't brave enough to go by her self, as she has in the past but it has been awhile since we've been swimming.

We also got the kids bikes out this week and adjusted seat heights ect. Jett LOVES his little red trike (Keera's from last year). As I speak he's toddling around our basement with it as I didn't want to deal with the fight of getting him off it to come inside, so we brought boy and bike in all in one shot. And he hasn't gotten off it. Hmmm should be interesting come bedtime.

Ella is starting to get the hang of riding her bike. It's actually kinda hard to 'teach' someone to ride, at least I find it its. When it's not blowing like a son-of a gun outside, Jay will take her to an empty parking lot for a few one on one lessons. She quite anxious to 'go for a bike ride Mom'.

Keera has yet to get on her Dora bike yet. She's happier pulling the wagon around.

Learning...

2010-05-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

So learned a few things today....

1)If a child falls, then gets ran over by a wagon, they forget about the pain of falling... and focus on on the bloody nose they got from the wagon. (Keera fell and before I could scoop her up Ella accidentally ran over her, giving her a bloody nose)

2)Cinnamon flavoring burns the skin. Ella was playing with a tiny bottle that had cinnamon flavoring in it. Of course she dropped it on our tile floor and it splashed on her leg. We didn't realize till after a few minutes that it was burning her leg. Weird.

I'm just waiting to see what the rest of the day holds for Jett...

Big Boy...

2010-05-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

No, he's not potty trained, I'm still tramatized from the girls, so not sure when i'll tackle Jett, but he loves wearing his 'big boy' ginch. And he looks so cute in them I can't hardly stand it!!

Kids....

2010-05-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

I love'em...

Shed / Play house

2010-05-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

So Jay has been very busy this past week building our shed and a play house for the kids, all in one. He's done a great job and I can't wait to paint it up all cute. I have light green, blue and purpleish colors. I have some cute ideas for it.
The inside pics aren't that great, you can't get a good perspective. Basically you walk in and 1/2 is full height and then a ladder up to a loft area over the other half. He put in 3 plexie glass windows which add alot of light. He also did a front porch with cute lattice railing. The kids absolutely love it!! They also loved helping Dad build it too.

More Ella-isms...

2010-04-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

So on Monday night we went to DQ after supper for Jayme's b-day. We all had our treats and were in our booth backing on to the area where people line up to order. There was a middle age guy come in and line up, he's right by us, and is kinda watching the kids, cause they are cute and all :). (but not in a creepy way).

So Ella turns and notices this guy glancing at us, turns around and says in a loud voice, gesturing to the man, "Mom, is this guy bugging us?"

I was so embarrassed, and so was this guy. I don't know to laugh or what. I loudly told Ella "No" and that was rude what she said. and the moment was over. but I still laugh and feel embarrassed. What are kids for eh?

Life Lately

2010-03-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

So I know, i'm a really bad blogger... sorry! I have a few things I like to do/update on the net (spark people, Facebook, another WL blog..) and this one sometimes (most times) gets bumped to the bottom of the list. I figure anybody who reads this, also reads FB so they know the general scoop around the Gibb household.

So Jayme broke his foot about 4 weeks ago, and has been off work since then. Normal this would be my dream, but he can't do anything! Most "honey-do" things require that he walk or be able to stand, which he can't do, yet. (we he can with crutches) What he can do is parent though so i've been a bit more free to get things done or can run just one kid to pre-school with out having to do up and undo 3 sets of car seats every time. I can grocery shop in peace, which is wonderful! But on the same hand we seem to be going thru alot more grocers these days! It's nice to have another adult around as well. I definitely enjoy that!

The girls are still loving pre-school and Ella can't wait for kindergarden. We picked up her registration form and she thought she could stay there and go to kindergarten that day.. sorry sweetie.. I've registered Keera for pre-school again next year, but just one day aweek again. The cost factor was a major deciding factor. I figure having Ella gone full days, every other day will help with the caos most days + I hope to still be going to the gym regularly as well and all the kids enjoy the child-minding there.

Jett just celebrated his second b-day. I find it hard to believe my 'baby' is 2 already. I am kinda understanding how the baby of the family always stays the baby. He's quite a little boy and just loves trucks, trains ect.

We're quite looking forward to the summer and doing some camping, enjoying sunshine ect. All those fun summer things.

Kid-isms

2010-02-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

Me: "Ella you are really pressing Mommies buttons this morning!!"
Ella: "What buttons mom, where are the buttons mom, I don't know where the buttons are mom"

Ella: "Mom where does milk come from?"
Me: "From cows"
Ella: "Cow's pee milk????"
Me: "ummm no."

Jett was trying out big boy undies this morning, and stayed dry for 1.5h. When he did finally pee (in his undies) it dribbled down in to his slipper. I got him all changed up, took the slippers off ect. A while later I go to use the washroom, and what do I find? His slippers in the garbage. Guess he didn't want to wear pee'd on slippers, lol (the slippers have now been washed)

After Keera watched a mini-pops type commercial, grabbed a laundry basket, flipped it over, got on it and started to shaker her th'ang and try and sing. "That's not my name" song (don't know what it's called)

After Ella was on the potty for a while "Nope the pooh's sleeping in my body still"

Ella singing I'm a Child of God..
"and parents kind of dear"
(should be "and parents kind and dear")

It's been one of those weeks that i'm trying to focus on the 'good things' :)

Opps...

2010-01-24T18:17:00.000-08:00

So, it's been awhile, what can I say, it was pre-Christmas, then Christmas, then New Years Eve, then January and Jay was gone for 2 weeks, and well.. those are my excuses. Oh and the fact that I have 3 kids at home also play a bit in to my stagnate posts.
So nothing really is new, the kids are growing and busy busy. I think Ella is really getting ready for school (to be away from Mom, lol) It will be good for her to be more busy. Keera and Jett are good/the same. He hasn't really started saying a whole lot of words, but I could probably count 10-15 that he can/has said. He's gotten 2 of his 2y molars, those few weeks were fun with Mr. grumpy pants :)

Jayme's been working lots, which is good, but hard on me. I have to keep remembering he's providing for our family, but still, a girl needs a break once in a while. Our cruise just less than 3months ago already seems like a distant, distant memory. Nothing big really planned in the near future. I have in my head we might watch for deals to Vegas in the fall, but it hinges on time off, price, someone to watch the kids etc.

I feel like this is kinda boring, sorry! My mind is shutting down, i'm tired and I think i'm going to veg in front of the tube and eat my chocolate bar.

Family Pics

2009-12-05T08:56:00.001-08:00

2009-09-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

My friend Jen did this on her blog a few days ago and I liked it.. and seems I haven't been a good blogger lately.. here goes..

Outside my window... I see our deck stairs and weeds..

I am thankful for.... my husband being home today! (goes back to work tomorrow)

I am praying ... that I can do my best in my calling as Relief Society Pres!

I am celebrating... Jett turning 18m today (and officially in nursery!) and my brother Wes's 35th birthday, happy birthday bro!

From the kitchen ...yikes.. lets not go there (it's actually not tooo bad today, but I am getting really tired of doing dishes day in day out, several times a day)

I am reading... nothing, well do blogs count?

I am hoping.... that Jett doesn't wake up tomorrow at 6:30am... AGAIN.

I am hearing .... Jett crying, and the Backyardigains

I am creating.... stuff for my first 'craft sale' next weekend.

Around the house and yard... again.. I'm not going to go there.. well the foyer is really nice as I finally broke down and cleaned/organized the closet and made a 'kid station' with coat rack, shoe rack and magnet board for pre-school crafts.

One of my favorite things.... is dreaming of my cruise in 30+ days

A few plans for the rest of the week ... prepping for the RS dinner on sat, sewing, crafting. Oh and the girls go to the dentist on wed. Ella's 2nd time and Keera's first.

Here is a picture... of the birthday boy's..

Before I hit the one month mark...

2009-09-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

...of time in between posts (bad blogger Lara, bad).. Why not a post? Hmm what could I post on ... hey what about back to 'school', that happened at the Gibb house this week! This is Ella's second year and Keera's first. Keera was sooo excited this morning, even had breakfast with her backpack beside her on the table! She went right in to the school and as soon as she saw the teachers and kids gave a big "HI" and a wave.. it was pretty cute. She had no hesitation when I left. She made an apple/worm craft and brought home her first library book.

Ella was gung ho also for school, and was pretty excited to see her teachers and school friends. I hope/assume there are kids from her last year class, I did recognize some Mom's so that's a good sign. So I will start the 'driving phase' of Motherhood.. bad thing is I think this last until Ella is old enough to drive, so only say...11.5 years. Ella goes 2x a week and Keera 1x, so 3 days a week we are driving to 'school'.

Cant' forget about our other child, Mr. Jett. He got his diaper 1/2 off today and was quite impressed with himself and I had to chase him to get it done up again. Then again outside, but this time I think it just came loose, as the Velcro was still done up, but the front part of the diaper slipped down, maybe from the weight of his 'business' (it was almost bath time, so I was not wanting to waste a clean diaper on 15min) again he thought this was quite funny. He's also funny in that he LOVES getting his ears cleaned! He was staying away from me (because I was calling him) and as soon as I showed him the q-tip... he came running to me. Funny Lad.

Questions...

2009-08-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

There have been a few questions as to where I got the iron on vinyl. I just got it at Fabricland in the same section/bin as the heat&bond (wonderunder) stuff. Sold by the role...

Camera Case Craft

2009-08-18T09:11:00.001-07:00

So I like I said in the post below that we bought a new camera.. and in hopes to help this one last, (and for an excuse to craft) I made a snazzy camera case and matching wrist strap! I just bought this fabric and I LOVE it.. and was excited to use it for a project. You can kinda tell, on the camera case it's self I used iron on vinyl to protect it a bit more from the elements. This is the first time I used iron on vinyl but it was really easy to work with and I am very please with how it turned out!

Picture Post

2009-08-17T15:23:00.001-07:00

Just some random pics... I think all are self explanitory... oh and we bought a new camera. Just a cheap point and shoot, but it works way better than our other one!

Alive

2009-08-17T12:01:00.001-07:00

Yes, we're alive! I can't believe I haven't posted since July 6th.. well... yes I can! We've been hear, there and everywhere it seems.. finally starting to have time/desire to blog again. I have some fun pics to post of some of the harvesting we did today in the garden. We've been quite successful with the garden, and Ella just loves it. And Keera and Jett like eating the peas.

Well... this is short, but I have kids to nap and bread, Cinnamon buns and Cinnamon bread to put in the oven.. pics soon!

Make'n Monie...

2009-07-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

So I do alterations/sewing on the side for a bit of play $$ or to do my teenie tiny part to our family finances... so I took on a wedding dress alteration. I was a bit nervous, but it turned out so well! I was quite excited! and the Bride was overjoyed at the results and that made it all the better. It was a strapless dress, and it was about 4-5" TOO SMALL! I was surprised some brides would put that pressure on them, needless to say, it didn't fit and needed alterations. She first suggested adding fabric to the sides, but that would have looked awful with all the bead work etc. So we came up with making the back into a corest/lace up style. and here are the pics!

BEFORE- zipper in back with faux covered button detail

AFTER- with loops added for lacing up

AFTER- with the modesty panel in (can be worn either way as this piece Velcros in our out

AFTER- showing how it would look laced up. The beauty of a lace up is that it will fit a variety of sizes and the bride doesn't have to worry about going up or down a few pounds before the wedding.

It really looked great on her! I wanted to take a pic of the dress on, but forget to ask.

Guess Who got a new Calling....

2009-06-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

you're so smart... right it was me! I'm excited and a bit nervous, but I've been called to be the Relief Society President!!! Kinda a shocker but I love change!

I know I haven't updated in a while.. .just been busy! We went to Calgary for a week (well me and the kids) and Jay went on a well deserved boys quad weekend. He had a blast and we had lots of fun in Calgary. We got to hit 2 birthday's while we were there... Auntie Andrea's and Cousin Liam's! Fun times.

We have a few fun things planned this summer, a branch camp out (next weekend) family reunion and family camping vacation (last 2 weeks of July) and I'm sure we'll find lots of other stuff to keep us entertained! Oh and big thing, we are getting Jett sealed to us in the Temple in July!!

Well time for me to relax on the couch and read all my new manuals etc.!!

Old

2009-06-02T18:17:00.001-07:00

I'm old... and even older today.
I don't like it.
Not even a little bit.
Bleh.

Ode to Keera

2009-05-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

So Keera loves any sort of hat, headband, tiara, barrets, really any sort of head gear. If she finds something around that can go on her head, she puts it on. So this was the look she was working today...

Another Successful Day at Being a Kid!

2009-05-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

So today was just one of those fun outside days. We grabbed some groceries first thing and got home around 10:30am and we were outside the rest of the day. I got Ella a new swim suit and of course she wanted to wear it, so I figured eh, why not. When Keera got up from her nap, she got her swim suit on too. So because they had their suits on, why not turn on the sprinklers... They (Ella) loved it. All the kids really love being outside and if we are outside they entertain them selves (for the most part). Jay got home early today (ya!) and started working on phase 3 of the pergola. He almost got done, and prob. would have if he didn't have so many interruptions (dentist, meals, helping a buddy move some furniture) well he could prob. be finishing it up right now but he's out shooting the breeze with the neighbours, which he loves to do. He works hard so I'll let him off easy tonight :) So I took ALOT of pics today, I'll do my best to not to upload too many.

Our 'waterslide'

Smilie Keera (yes her hats too small, she's got a big nogg'n)

If it was a football we'd have something here!

I get many of these 'treats' through out the day. Sometimes they are apple pies, sometimes blueberry, some times it's soup and sometimes it's cake.

Jayme's big helper. She LOVES helping her Dad.

I told her to 'model' and this is what I got...not too bad, as I don't think she's ever heard that word before, lol!

Action shot (arn't they all with Ella?)

Jett climbing over the wood. He always must climb over things than go around.

Jett's hang out spot while Jay was working.. untill he turned the saw on, Jett was not a fan of the saw.

I hope the girls look back and really love this picture. This is about the 10th shot of this as I had to MAKE Ella put her arm around her sister and she was not happy with me about it. (no naps i'm sure added to the anger) but I think it's such a cute picture! You'd also never guess from this pic they are less than a year apart in age!

Ella testing out Dad's work so far on the day bed. This cracked me up!

Keera trying it out too.

and we finish with Jett eating a mop. (this is for you Jen)

Ella the Photographer

2009-05-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

So Ella got a hold of my camera, and I just let her take some pics... her is a sample of her work. She had quite a few more of me, but she was NOT getting my best angle.

Pergola Curtains

2009-05-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

So I have a vision.... a vision of a beautiful pergola, flowie curtains, and me lying on a soft day bed with lots of pillows, Jayme rubbing my feet by a warm summer fire and I'm sipping on pina colada punch.

So we finished phase 2 today (phase 1 being build the pergola) Phase 2 was pergola curtains. They blow more than I thought they would, so have to weigh them down. Even the rocks Ella was putting on them weren't holding them down. We attached them with Velcro, so they are removable, and they do add to the shade factor which is nice!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2009-05-23T15:15:00.001-07:00

So pics from my first 'sproutings'. It's fun to see Ella so into it! She also really like watering the garden as well. Though you do have to watch her with a hose; she's learned too many tricks from her father! Keera, eh, she can take or leave the garden, but she really enjoyed planting it with Grandma!

Radishes

Lettuce

Peas

Fluke...

2009-05-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

It was a fluke that I had a camera right there, that she was singing and that she didn't stop once I started taping!! Sorry it's back-lit, but you can still hear her beautiful voice :) ...oh and sorry I don't know how to edit out Keera's bare bottom at the end, lol!

Diner...

2009-05-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

So a couple fun things at diner tonight.... I was at the sink, cooling the cauliflower and Jay was getting Ella to say the blessing on diner. I do the one eyed peek to see who's doing what (aka make sure nobodies eating) and what do I see.... my little man Jett sitting in his high chair with his arms folded participating in family prayer, it was so STINK'N CUTE!! It brought a tear to my eye, that he's that grown up already and that he's picked that up already. I have to admit we haven't even taught or done it with him, figuring he's too young. He showed us!

And also, I got good deal on breaded sole fillets today at superstore; 50% off (reg. $13.99 so $7 for 2 meals= $3.50 for a fish meal, pretty good!) anyways the girls were asking what was for diner, what i was making and we've learned we can't call it fish, so i was stalling/ignoring the question and Ella says "Mom it's like Chicken Nuggets!" So that's what we went with. Well wouldn't you know it was the first think off BOTH girls plates! I was quite excited. They've liked fish before when we've served it, but that was last summer (when I was on a more healthy kick) and really it's a crap shoot every day what they'll eat from one day to another. But I was just happy they ate a very healthy meal. Oh and they both gobbled up their cauliflower too, but Ella is a free that way. She LOVES broccoli and cauliflower.

So diner time went quite well tonight! and I'm off tomorrow to buy more Sole!

Potato Salad...

2009-05-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

So if you are a relative, on Jayme's side, then I'm sure the first thing you thought of when you read my title is Grandma Hough's potato salad; it's the BOMB.

So I thought I'd give it a go and make it for our Church potluck tomorrow. I feel like I'm pretty proficient in the kitchen so shouldn't be too hard... well. .. how many times have I called Grandma over the last 24hours? Seriously alot! I'm kinda a stickler for details in recipes and she gives recipes like I give them (a taste of my own medicine I guess). I'll have to give her credit. I never really knew how much effort went in to one of her big bowls of potato goodness. But now I know.

It might of helped if I didn't try to do a massive about, using 10lbs of potatoes and 14 eggs. And who knew that Super stores eggs would be so fresh that they would not peel!! What a pain. So sorry Lloyd branch if there are some shell's in your potato salad tomorrow. I ended up having to mix it all together in my big roasting pan, with my bare (gloved) hands! (If you watch Diners Drive-ins and Dives then you'll know this is actually how all the good places it do it :) ). Jayme did taste it and said it does seem pretty close. At that point I was just aiming for eatable.

So hats off to Grandma Hough and her potato salad...

Mail...

2009-05-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

So there was a nice little treat in my mail box yesterday! A package! Who doesn't like packages. Wasn't expecting one, so that made it better, AND then it was even addressed to ME, even BETTER! So what was it you ask.... it was a VERY cute apron and a very sweet card from my MIL (mother-in-law for those not up on the abbreviations). It was thanking me for doing their taxes (crazy easy). She already cleaned my house when she was here, that was thanks enough and really not an equal trade (I made out better on that one for sure, you should see how messy my house can get!). and then to get a cute 'hot house-wife' apron to boot, I'm a lucky gal. Thanks Sharon! You made my day. I'll have to post pics of the apron, it is really cute! Cute fabric and cute design. Jayme quite liked it too!

Gardening

2009-05-02T10:25:00.001-07:00

I am sooo NOT a gardener. AT. ALL. Not my forte. But I was out this morning pulling weeds from our garden spot. I am kinda excited to reap the rewards of a garden, but not so much in putting in the work. Also excited for the kids to experience growing a garden. They are growing 'rattlesnake' beans Right now, from an art class they went to a week and a half ago. The are just about to start coming up so that Will be exciting.

As for what we are planting, these I know for sure, raspberries, strawberries, lettuce, sweet peas (flowers), and prob. green/yellow beans. I want to do a herb section too for sure. Corn might be fun too. and maybe squash... ohhh we could maybe even try and do our own pumpkins! The kids would love that! OK, I am excited to have a garden, I'll admit it. But again, I don't want to do the work.

First... but not the last I'm sure..

2009-04-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

So Jett had his first big tumble today.
He fell down our deck stairs. He was playing Russian roulette and I was just getting off my seat, half stride there when he started his decent. It seriously seemed like it took him 5min to fall down the stairs, and I was chasing after him but just couldn't catch him, I could hear myself screaming at ever step he hit! He landed on soft grass, but still bouncing down wooden steps has got to HURT! I just yelled at the girls to get inside with me and for once they listen well.

Once I got him in side and assessed the situation, I felt he was fine. It didn't get to the ugly crying, which is good. After some cuddles and a drink from his bottle he was fine. He does have a bit of road rash on the side of his one eye, and not really a black eye, but a bruised/red/swollen one. I wonder what it will look like tomorrow. Yes I know I should have a pic, I will take one tomorrow. 20min after the incident he was roaming around, being himself. So all ended well. Until the next time the boy in him comes out.

ok Maybe get a tiny bit lonely...

2009-04-26T15:46:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I have at least one kid here, or else I think I'd be really lonely!

Saturday

2009-04-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

So been enjoying my time.. Jett had a big nap this morning 10am-12:15pm so we went out shopping afterwards.. I found a great deal on dish towels, 6 for $1.50 (that's only .25 each!!) and remembered this crafty thing I'd seen on a blog somewhere.. so here it is... baby shorts made out of a dish cloth... I'm pretty sure this will be the only time Jett with have them on. Expecially when Jayme comes home. he he he. Maybe they will fit on Keera's skinny but better :)

And.. this is what I am doing tonight....*ahhhhhh* ok I probably won't eat alll the mini eggs, but they were 75% off.. how can a girl turn that down? There was a whole basket full...but I restrained my self to the amount shown (well maybe i've eaten a bag or 2 already *grin*) (oh and I almost finished off the quilt underneath my treats. I just need to find big black buttons to put in the centre of each square and properly edge it and then another quilt is done! and this one matches one that I finished off in January (you can see a bit of it, Jett is laying on it in above photo)

5am vs. 6:30am

2009-04-25T08:04:00.001-07:00

I lucked out and got the 6:30am... unfortunately Jayme got stuck with 5am. YIKES! I would not be a happy camper! + the girls didn't get to bed till 11:30pm last night. Can we say early naps??? They were probably excited when they woke and found out they were sleeping beside each other, a first for them, and it confirmed our suspicions this will not work for another year or 3.

So you know what I am enjoying the most so far? the PEACE and QUIET. Oh how I've missed that. and also just the calm energy in the house when there isn't a 3 and 4 year old tearing thru the house, fighting over toys and yelling at the top of their lungs. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Well I'm off to stock up on microwave meals. I'm sticking to my guns. I'm not cooking. or baking. We need bread but I might break down and BUY some (haven't done that since I got my Bosch from Jayme for Christmas!)

ta ta for now....

A Different Kind of Weekend

2009-04-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

So we were to go to Calgary this weekend, but plans changed and now Jayme has taken the girls down south to visit Great Grandma+Grandpa and their cousins (whom Ella is CRAZY about). It was all kinda spur of the moment so I'm still in kind of shock that I have the next 2.75 days to myself (well me and my little man).

So one thing I decided was I was going to do as little cooking as possible. I went and got a sub for diner! Yum! I'll have to think what options I have for tomorrow as I don't want to eat to 'bad'. And I will need to go get some chocolate at some point tomorrow.

So I gave Jett I think his first alone bath tonight! He kept him self pretty amused. He likes playing with the tub drain and thus had very little water in the tub by the end of the bath. It was kinda good he was solo tonight in the bath as he POOPED in the tub tonight. Again a first for him. Lucky for Mom he's a marble pooper.. pretty easy to scoop and flush. (ahhh what we do as Mothers!)

Not sure what's on the plan for tomorrow. Maybe some sewing/crafting? Maybe some shopping? Maybe some napping? hmmm all sound so temping! We'll see how I feel in the morning. Oh and I TAPED Jett's blind to his wall in hopes of encouraging some sleep in time for me tomorrow. I'm sure not having Ella serenade the house with Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs will help with this.

Crafty Times...

2009-04-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

So been spending some evenings being 'crafty'....

1st is a new table cloth (really just a funky pc of fabric I really liked) and on top....

is just a pc of vinyl edged with elastic to stay on your table top. FANTASTIC if you have kids who are messy eaters (really, what kids aren't). You get keep the fancy, pretty look, but is functional in that it wipes up so easy!

Next was a tote...made from a fairly stiff outdoor canvas, but turned out cute! I passed this on to my MIL.

I love this next one! I call it my re-usable ziplock bag. I love ziplocks, and this functions the same, just a catch all bag, but you can easily see what's in side. These were crazy easy and inexpensive to make, REALLY. You can make what ever size to suit your needs.

Finally is this diaper clutch.. which I am smitten with, but it is spoken for as a gift, for my neighbour who is due May 1st with a little girl.

MIA

2009-04-17T18:32:00.001-07:00

So I know I've been mia.. guess that's what happens when you have 3 kids at home, at lots of company! We love that know that it's warming up the visitors start coming! We love company! I've also been ignoring my blog as I have another writing responsibility to get done, but have been procrastinating at it! Hopefully soon, then I can start blogging again :)
Until then, yes we are all still alive and well. :)

What I Learned as a Mother Today....

2009-03-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

that her daughter Keera has a tender heart.... my Mom's here visiting and she was checking on Ella who was playing outside (she LOVES outside, any time of year). She shut the door on her finger shutting it, not hard but enough that she said 'owe', I asked what happened, she told me. Unbenounced (sp?) to us, Keera was paying attention and goes up to Grandma "hug, hug" and gave Grandma a nice big hug on the legs, for getting her finger in the door. So sweet.

We're still alive...

2009-03-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

...but busy getting ready for company, and well just busy with the day to day live of 3 young kiddo's!

Auntie E and her two kiddo's and rumor has it Uncle Wes and Uncle Scott too are all headed this way this weekend. Also Auntie Robyn and Colt will swing by on Saturday as they are up this way at a rodeo this weekend. And then on Sunday my Mom is coming too for 5 days!! I love having company!! So for Jett's 1st birthday this weekend we'll have a very full house! Guess I'll have to think of something fun for this birthday, yikes!

Nothing too new or exciting, well just Jett's birthday, and well company, those are both pretty exciting things. Besides that not much new. Jett is just so busy and ALWAYS wants to be crawling the stairs. He can even breakthrough my make-shift gate on the stairs to our bedroom. Jay will whip something up next time he as some time off.

Well it is lunch time... and the kids are hungry so I shall run..

Only because it's been 4 days

2009-03-08T16:10:00.001-07:00

So trying not it go too long between posts... don't have much to say...hmmmm what's been going on with us...

Today: Church, I had a Primary Board Meeting after that went pretty well (I think/hope)
Yesterday: Jay was home for 1/2 the day then got called to work.. He and the girls went to pick up our trailer in the morning and take it back out to the Hollands
Friday: Play group at the church, which again was just Heather and I. But she's good company so that's ok. I had to hire her daughter to be a van babysitter so I could go do 2 quick errands and not have to drag all the kids in. Actually worked quite well.
Thursday: ummm can't remember that far back.

Well i'm off to make super!

5 Free Gifts

2009-03-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

So this is making it's rounds on the blog circuit and.. and I think it's a great idea.. I'm up for making random gifts for my random blogger readers!!

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you. My choice. Made especially for you.Of course there are some restrictions and limitations:~

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done sometime this year.
4. You have no clue what it will be... it may be a story. I may draw or paint something. I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows?
5. I reserve the right to do something "different".

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your own blog (if you have one, please feel free to comment even if you do not blog) and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!Oh! And be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

March...

2009-03-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

So people say it's March already, though I'm tending not to believe them. It can't be March already. It seems too soon. Also that would mean my little man is turning one this month. Time is certainly flying by at record speed!!

Ella is really turning in to miss-independence these days. She wants to do her cereal by herself, her juice, well really everything. She really likes to help with baking, and sometimes gets too exuberant with wanting to dump everything in at once.

Keera's been a bit sick lately, just a runny nose and she was 'grumpy sick' on Sunday. She sure loves her sleep. When she's sick we put her to bed early and she just sleeps and sleeps. There was one day about a week ago that she slept in till after 9am! and that's going to bed at 7pm. I can't imagine her during the teenage years! She'll never be awake.

Jett can't get enough with exploring. Tonight in about 2 seconds he was on the dishwasher, pulling out the rack and going for a knife! and I was beside him the whole time. He is busy busy. I don't remember Ella being this busy, but I remember that Ella was defiantly busy.

Well I'm off to settle in for the Bachelor Finally! Just wish I had some pop in the house...

What I Learned as a Mother today...

2009-02-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

That it's OK when your son plays with his sisters strollers... especially when he flips them overs, checks out the undercarriage and spins the wheels.

Realizing

2009-02-28T15:23:00.000-08:00

So I've realized that in less than 2 months we've gone from 3 kids in diapers to 1 kid in diapers. and from me getting up 2-3x a night with my little man, that I (and he) are now sleeping thru the night! Now... don't get me wrong.. these things didn't just magically happen, that would have been sooo nice. but not the case.

We've been fighting the potty training battle for over a year, with me starting with Ella right before we got Keera (Oct 2007) and several times thru out 2008. At Christmas I knew i'd have to give it another kick at the can in the new year sometime, and SOOO was not looking forward to it. Really I was dreading it. I didn't not have a plan, or know when I was going to start. I was kinda going to wait till March, when my Mom offered to come up and help me tag team train them. But Keera got a nasty diaperrash/sore early Jan. So it just started that I had to let it air out. and so she was neked and I had her sit on the potty repeatedly.. she would always pee when ever we had her sit on the potty. So at that point it was more me trained in telling her to go sit on the potty every hour or so. I think it was a few days of not wearing a diaper around the house that I realized she was kinda getting it and I might as well run with it. and get miss Ella on the wagon too. So we had neked girls at our house.. Keera definitely picked it up faster. For naps we just continued with diapers, then moved to panites with plastic pants and then to neked and/or panties. again Keera stayed dry way more than Ella. It's only been this past 2 weeks that Ella has been consistently dry during nap time . Nap time was also her biggest problem for accidents or purposely putting panties on to poop in them. We've tryed the past week or so of Keera just in PJ"s at night as she was staying dry but it's about 60/40 for her being wet/dry in the am, so we're just back to diapers at bed time.

For Jett we did sleep training (modifided cry it out) some time late January. He fought it more than Ella did at his age. but we survived. It took about a week and now he's doing good. Except for when he's teething.. or an ear infection.

So it gives me some satisfaction to look back at the changes we've had already in 2009. I really never thought i'd see the day when my girls would be potty trained (dare I say it?) or that Jett would sleep thru the night!