Growing Up

After feeling absolutely rotten and having zero energy for the last week, I'm finally starting to return closer to normal (whatever that is).  All because of a very helpful, little pill - but I'll take whatever help I can find at this point.  Sooooo thankful to Adam for looking after me, Em and the house while I've been out of commission. 

I'm still not feeling great, but can at least get up from bed or the couch and get a few things done around the house before I have to rest again.  That's a good start.

Not much has happened around here the last while, as you might imagine.  We did manage to celebrate Emily's birthday last week. I was having a reasonable good day that day, and managed to make a pretty basic b-day cake, and went out to dinner with friends. Emily wanted to decorate her own cake too, so I gave her the tops I cut off her cake and she had a blast decorating it... and eating the frosting and sprinkles, while she worked.

Adam decided to take the day off work, so Em had someone to play with all her new toys with.  And she certainly wasn't lacking in new toys, lol. :)  She's very excited to be 3 - she thinks that was the milestone she needed to reach in order to be "big".  She's still talking up a storm, constantly.  Our own little chatterbox!

Other than that, we now have a pile of snow and very cold temps (-30C this morning, without the windchill).  Makes me very thankful for a nice warm fire on days like this. 

That's all there is to report for now.  I'm sure I'll have some exciting news to report later this week. :)

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Gearing Up For Christmas

Yesterday, I did a little Christmas decorating around our house.  Our Christmas town is now topping our tv cabinet,

various snowmen are scattered throughout our house, Mr. Moose is occupying his corner of the living room,

and Emily's taken to playing with our little Nativity scene.

We have yet to put up the Christmas tree, but it's starting to feel a lot more like Christmas around here.  No snow, currently.  I'm just fine with that.  I'm sure it'll all change by the end of the weekend. 

Other than that, we're all still a little sick... Emily most of all.  Last night was filled with a lot of coughing.  But she really is a trooper when she's sick - it certainly doesn't slow her down much.  I think she's over the worst of it, but only time will tell. 

Not much else is new.  Adam spent part of the day again yesterday out chopping and splitting some more firewood, which I then got to cart and load into our woodshed.  I also tackled a bit of our garage, organizing some things and loading up my van with a bunch of stuff to bring to our storage locker - mostly camping stuff.  Bringing that to storage is on the agenda for today.

Well, it's time for breakfast so I gotta go! :)

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger 

Another Year Older

Despite getting sick with a brutal sore throat and congested head that started on Friday, I still managed to have a pretty good weekend.  My secret to fighting off the common cold quickly is filling my system with as much water as it'll hold - and it really seems to make a big difference. I was noticeably improved Sunday morning.  Which was good, seeing as how it was Adam's birthday and I had a busy day scheduled.  We were up well before the crack of dawn thanks to daylight savings and the fact that we had been prepping Emily to go to bed earlier for a few nights, in anticipation of the time change.  She went to bed earlier, but also woke up MUCH earlier too.  I guess that gave us plenty of time to get ready for Sunday school & church.  Here's Em all dressed and ready to go! :)

After a quick lunch at home, I managed to sneak away to the Farmer's Market while Em was down for a much needed nap.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much excitement at the market - a lot of the same old stuff.  A quick tour of the hall and I left virtually empty-handed, except for a small Pampered Chef purchase. 

Home again, and I was gearing up to start baking Adam's birthday cake when he informed me that he didn't really need a cake.  Maybe he saw something in my still sick, exhausted expression and took pity on me.  I was really prepared to start whipping up a storm in the kitchen, but this was a nice break.  I felt a little bad that he wouldn't have a special dessert, so I decided instead to make him a quick batch of homemade peanut butter cookies.  His favourite and a rare treat, since no one else in the house eats them and they don't get made often.  He seemed pleased with my birthday compromise. :)

After a yummy dinner, and Emily was settled in bed for the night, we cozied into our couches to read our books - it was lovely!  All in all, a busy but good day. 

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

My Little Doctor

I realize that Halloween was a few days ago already.  I just haven't had the time to post anything since.  I've promised a few pictures of Emily dressed up as a doctor for Halloween. 

She had a BLAST this year, going trick or treating.  We went out for about an hour and a half and visited 3 neighbours in our subdivision, by the light of the fading sun and the benefit of our flashlights.  After that we hopped in the truck and took the short drive to one of our neighbouring subdivisions for another 3 houses.  People seemed delighted to see Emily (there are not a lot of young kids around here) and she was happy to yell "trick or treat" and say "thank you".  I was very impressed when she started telling everyone (all by herself) "Happy Halloween and have a good night".  :)  It was a beautiful night, a little chilly by the time we called it quits, but the stars were twinkling brightly in the sky and I had an overjoyed child holding my hand while we walked in the dark... how does it get any better than that?

Emily woke up the next morning, where her first words out were asking to go out trick or treating again.  This has been the first year she really got the fun of Halloween and it was a bit difficult for her to understand that it only happens for one night a year. 

Not much else is new.  We've gone to (and been a little disappointed in) our moms & tots group this past week.  I'm having a tough time seeing the benefits when Emily doesn't want to participate in anything and many of the other kids are unruly and tantrum prone.  Still a debate in my mind whether or not we'll continue to go...

Tomorrow, we have a bit of a busy day.  We're supposed to be having a contractor out tomorrow morning to look at our house and give us an idea about the renos we want to get done.  Adam and I are contemplating either minor renos (gut the bathroom, redo a bunch of flooring, and reface our fireplace in stone) or major renos (all those listed above plus moving our fireplace's location, as well as building a bedroom and a half bath in our current family room).  After our hopefully quick meeting with our contractor in the morning, we have to drive 55 minutes away to Wetaskiwin, for family pictures.

Sunday brings Adam's birthday, so with Sunday school and church, the local Christmas craft fair that I hope to attend, baking a cake and making a special b-day dinner, I'm anticipating a rather busy day. 

The only other excitement we've had lately was a porcupine that wandered onto our deck last night.

He seemed to get rather confused about how to get off, since he was too big to fit between the posts.  I felt bad for him, because for over 10 minutes he just wandered back and forth, along the rails, trying to squeeze through all the openings.  But this was no small porcupine.  Finally, he realized that there was an actual deck there too that he could walk on, and as I cheered him on from inside the house, he meandered to the stairs and found his way out.  I'm sure he was terribly frightened by it all.  We seem to be attracting all sorts of animals lately.  Even the deer have ventured back on the deck, recently, to nibble at the dead perennials that I hadn't yet trimmed back.

And are, as I type this, eating the Halloween pumpkins on the front lawn.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Feeling Like A Homebody

Today brought another day of subzero temps and a few slight flurries.  I've got the furnace cranked up to stay warm as our fireplace is not yet operational for the season.  We had A LOT of wasps come down our chimney, into our fireplace, this past summer.  I'm a little paranoid that they've made a hive in our chimney which will surely catch fire and burn our house down... if we don't clean our chimney out first.  Adam's been tasked with that job this year, but like most things, keeps getting put off.  Now we have wet snow on our metal roof - a broken neck in the making.  Sooo... we have to wait until it warms up and melts the snow, so Adam can climb on our roof and clean our chimney.  Kind of ironic... we need it to warm up before we can start a fire in our fireplace, to heat our house.  Hmmm....

This morning we ventured out of the house, much to my chagrin, and headed to Moms & Tots.  I'm not sure it was worth it today.  The stories, songs and such were Halloween based, a little boring and did not seem to capture Emily's attention. We arrived, and she was oddly shy with everyone.  She didn't want to sing, do any actions, or really play with anyone.  Remind me again why I go?? ;)  After a short few minutes playing with the parachute (which Emily was finding rather enjoyable) and while cleaning up all the "popcorn" (aka plastic balls) that popped all over the room, Em slipped on the parachute lying on the floor.  She fell flat on her back and bumped her head on the hard floor.  Crying, snuggles, reassuring everyone that she was more scared than hurt, and an incident report later, all was good again.  But after everything, I was glad to be home again, and I think so was Emily.

This afternoon, I scrapbooked while she had her rest.  I finished a layout I've been working on. 

The next while will be spent tidying the house and figuring out what to make for dinner.... hmmm.... homemade pizza, perhaps.  Yumm.

Stay warm!

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Layout Pictures

Here are the layout pictures that I couldn't get loaded on my last post.

Not much else is new today.  Adam decided to work from home today, which also means he has free time to play with Emily.  That has allowed me to accomplish a few odds and ends around the house.  No more snow today, but our snow from yesterday is slow to melt. 

That's about all to report.

 

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The blanket of snow everywhere this morning was a bit of a shock to my system.  I was expecting maybe a few flurries overnight, but thought that they would maybe melt on contact and the morning would reveal a nice green lawn still.  I was wrong.  I suppose it's only fitting, seeing as how today marks exactly two months until Christmas.  I would have been happy to wait a little longer for the white stuff, but according to the forecast, I don't think it'll last long before it starts to melt later this week.  Emily was very excited by all the snow, but has already asked me when summer will be.  Hmm... could be a long winter. ;)

Not much else is new in our neck of the woods. Our moms and tots and gym were cancelled last week due to staffing issues, so I actually felt like I had a few moments to spare last week.  Is it wrong of me to be hoping for more cancellations again this week???



We started our Sunday school program at church yesterday - a bit of a delay as we needed to fill a few more teacher positions and waited on some materials.  Everyone was together for a kickoff Sunday - puppets, singing, and the first time I've ever been given popcorn (and the permission to eat it freely during the church service).  Emily was also quite taken with the popcorn in church idea. 


Other than that, I've managed to complete a few more scrapbooking layouts.  I'll have to post the layout pics in my next blog, because my upload time for pictures is BRUTAL right now - too many people using my satellite signal, I guess.  I leave you with just a couple photos of my little lovely...


Emily as the "mustache man" during craft time at home.



 

I picked a broken flower off my potted mums at dinner one night and put it in Em's hair.



That's it for now. 

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Basking in the Sunshine

I see that it's been awhile since I've last posted... again! My good intentions to maintain a consistent blogging schedule inevitably go awry. This time it was interrupted by a last minute trip to visit family in Saskatchewan. Adam, my dh, had to go for a work meeting, and me and Em tagged along for the ride. What was originally just supposed to be a 4 day trip ended up turning into a week... somehow our stays at my sister's house always end up being prolonged... too much fun. :) It was great to get away - and the weather was beautiful while we were there. Coming home was a mixed blessing, since I had a mountain of month-end paperwork waiting for me. **sigh**

After playing catch-up, life took over. Our weekly schedule was pretty busy for awhile there... kids gym, moms & tots twice a week, groceries, church... I was leaving the house 5 days a week. Busy. A little too busy. Thankfully, this week our moms & tots was cancelled (for the next few weeks), due to staffing issues. I feel like I have a bit more breathing room now. Not that it was really all that beneficial for Emily right now anyways, seeing as how we were always the only people at Thursday's group. I keep hoping that more kids will come from around this area, so that she'll have someone to play with nearby. As of yet, that hasn't happened. It's really starting to make me rethink this whole living out in the "remote" countryside thing, a bit.

The weather the last week or two has been really beautiful. The fall colours this year were absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately, now most of that colour has fallen to the grass below, but it was nice while it lasted. It's been pleasantly warm and dare I say, hot, the last few days. We've been trying to spend lots of time outdoors, soaking up as much sunshine before winter sets in. Emily's really taken to her swing set a lot more lately. She's outgrown her baby swing (has for awhile now) and has moved on to the big swing. She can sit on it properly and swing a little bit on her own, but prefers to swing on her tummy instead most of the time.

She's also become much more adventurous in regards to her slide. For most of the summer she wouldn't go down her big slide more than once or twice, and always having to hold onto someones hand to do it. She was often even unsure about going down her baby slide unassisted. One thing for sure, she is not a very brave, adventurous child. I wish she were a little more rough and tumble and not always worried about getting hurt. We're trying to encourage her to be bold and take some chances... and she is improving. She's able to climb up the big steps of her slide all by herself (while I hold my breath) and slide down all by herself - a monumental moment in our household! She now goes down the slide 20 times a day, all by herself. :)

Em's also blossomed and matured in other ways, the last two months or so. Overnight she went from talking a few words at a time, to complete sentences. It makes life a lot easier, but sometimes I wish she had a pause button. It can get a little tiresome answering the same questions a 100 times a day. But she's also lots of fun, too. She gets jokes and games and sarcasm a lot more now, so it's fun to play with her. She's got a great imagination and it's fun to sit back and listen to the conversations she has with her toys as she plays. She loves to sing, and is starting to sing actual songs more rather than just "la la la LAAA" (she gets progressively louder and louder and LOUDER, until I need to step in and put a cap on it). Here's a couple of her belting out a little ditty...

Other than that, I've managed to complete a few more scrapbook layouts the last few days. My scraproom is not entirely set up yet, but it's functional and I'm enjoying the space. It's been very nice to get back into the craft. I apologize for the terrible pictures - the carpet is very distracting... I'd retake the pics, but it's taken me nearly 3 hours just to upload all these pictures to my blog this time. :(

I've also learned how to crochet... something I picked up from a do-it-yourself book and the guidance of my 12 year old niece, while in SK. I've only made flowers, little sleeping bags for Emily's Playmobil people and am currently working on two blankets for her babies. It's slow going, since I only crochet at night, and often times forget. My goal is to get the two blankets done for her birthday... about a month away.

That's about all for now.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Say Hello To My Little Friend

We seemed to have attracted a rather unwanted visitor to our house this last week.  A big, bum-waddling skunk!  We spotted him around our garage about a week ago, and shooed him off.  We were hoping he was just passing through - apparently that is not the case.  He's found all the birdseed that falls from the feeders at the base of one of our trees and seems to find it all rather appetizing. :(  And Mr. Skunk is becoming rather bold.  Two nights ago, at about 3am, he wandered on our deck, stood up and started scratching at the outside of our garden doors!!  Adam rattled the handle on the door to scare him away.  It scared him and Adam says that he turned around and looked like he was spraying our door.  But there was no scent.  So either it was all just for show, or Mr. Skunk is not mature enough to spray, yet.  He's pretty big, so I'm thinking it's only a matter of time.  Last night, we took turns shooting him with our pellet gun (our only line of defense).  It seemed to scare him away, only a few feet, and only for a few minutes.  He always seemed to return to the base of that tree.  Today, I'm placing a call into our County's office to see if they'll come out and trap him.  If not, we'll be speaking with some neighbours who have guns a little more substantial than our little air riffle, to eliminate the pest.  Considering he seems to show up around dusk - it really is like he's keeping us prisoner in our own home at night.

But it's daylight once again, and so we are free to venture out of the house.  After some gloomy, rainy and yes, SNOWY weather this last week, we are in for some dry, sunny conditions for the next week or so.  Gonna soak it all up while I can.  Today marks the start of me and Emily going to a new season of Moms & Tots.  There's been some "adjustment" of the program and this morning we'll be trying out a new location.  I'm just praying that she won't be the only kid there.  She sooo desperately wants a little friend.  She keeps talking, rather excitedly, about Winnie the Pooh & friends coming over to play this winter.  What does a parent say to that??  I can't crush her excitement by telling her that they're just pretend and won't be coming.  So, instead, I've been saying "we'll have to wait and see - Pooh is pretty busy" (I feel like such a bad mom, lying like that).  A real friend would be much better, I think.  It's difficult, because I'm very particular about the kinds of kids I want her to spend time with, and the selection around here is already very limited.

On to other news... I've done a little scrapbooking.  I've completed one layout.  This one's from Christmas 2009 - still playing catch-up with a number of photos. 

It's not my favourite layout - I seem to have a more difficult time working on Christmas themed pages.  I did do some fun things on it, however.  I flocked the edges of my main photo, to look like snow.  I also finally broke out my Slice again and gave it a go.  I think having things set up a little more out in the open will help me to remember to use everything a little more.  I'm hoping...

Well, it's time for breakfast and then off we go for a morning of playtime, stories and crafts. :)

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

My Garden's End

This was the view of my front yard at 9am this morning.  A hard frost last night left all my flowers and what remained of my garden to wilt and wither.  Emily awoke this morning, exclaiming very excitedly, "SNOW!!!"  I had to disappoint her by telling her it was just frost - thankfully. Today is a sunny day - a rarity the last few weeks - and is supposed to top out at 10C.  So after Emily's quiet time, we're headed outside to pull up plants and clean up the garden.  Not sure how many sunny days we have left in store.

I had another morning spent tackling the chaos of my house.  I doesn't look like I accomplished much as I never even completed one room - just a little of this room and a little of that room.  But, I'm loving how spacious my living room looks again now that all of Em's toys have been relocated to her own room.

My scrap room is slowly taking shape - might be able to start crafting again in a few more days! :)  You never really realize how many supplies you have until you start pulling things out of closets and relocating them.  Hmmm... might be time to downsize some of my scrapbooking items... but what to part with???

I'm off to tackle a few more things before the timer beeps. :)

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

A Girl At Play

This is what I saw the other morning - Emily lining up all her little animals.  Going to the zoo, the lake, or to the trampoline (which in this case is a couch cushion) - it's always fun to watch.  She's got such a great imagination and I'm so thankful for that - it seems to be becoming more and more rare in kids these days.  It is very interesting to hear the conversations she has with her toys.  Makes you wonder what else is going on in that little head of hers.  This is the new little Playmobil set she got yesterday, that she's playing with right now.  She's very fond of the little baby and stroller.

I did manage to accomplish all the painting of her room yesterday, and it appears to be dry, so today is the start of moving in!  She's SUPER excited!  I am too.  Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll have my new scrapbooking room all set up and ready to go. :)

Lots to do today, so I must run. 

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Painting Day

Today is painting day... finally!  After a number of days spent prepping the walls (filling 1000 holes, sanding, priming, etc) I'm finally painting!  Yesterday, I repainted all the trim and closet doors, just to freshen them up.  Today, I'm tackling the walls.  Three walls done (first coat), one wall left.  It's taking a LONG time to dry today with all the rain.  I'm hoping to get the second coat all done today so that we can move Emily into her new room tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to getting my house organized again. :)  I'm very pleased with the light blue colour we picked... Emily wanted blue and I picked the shade.

Emily is also officially outgrown her nap now.  Sad, I know.  I've been very fortunate, from what I hear, to have been given this long. Now she has a half an hour "rest" on her bed after lunch.  The door to her room is left open and she can keep her eyes open... something she states everytime... the timer is set and she gets freedom when it beeps.  It's kind of funny, because about a week ago, when she woke up from her nap (too early), she was miserable and I told her she needed to lie down again until she was in a good mood.  Now every morning when she wakes up she calls to me "Emmy in good mood" to get her out of bed, instead of "all done".  Too cute.  She certainly picks up on EVERY little thing one says.

Well, I suppose I should get back to painting.  I imagine there's only a few short minutes left on that timer before Em's rest is over.

I leave you with one of Emily's favourite new looks.  She always says to me, "mommy like scowl?".

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Lovely Labour Day Weekend

We had a great weekend in our house.  On Saturday we spent the morning at a country fair nearby, where we witnessed mutton busting, log sawing competitions, various horse events and Emily spent lots of time in the petting zoo. For a rather cool and drizzling day, there was an impressive turnout of people. An annual outing for us perhaps.

On Sunday afternoon we took advantage of some nicer weather and once again raided the garden for some fresh peas, which Emily enjoyed on the deck.

Monday brought a trip into Edmonton to visit the Valley Zoo.  The much anticipated zoo trip.  The drive up (almost 2 hours with the "detour" (aka getting lost) that we took) gave me a glimpse into what might be of our future vacations with Emily.  This was the first time that she's asked us, repeatedly, if we were "at zoo yet?"  You know it's going to be a long drive when you hear it for the first time within 5 minutes of leaving home, lol.  Threatening to be a rainy, miserable day, we packed up all the rain gear and warm clothes and set off to find us some wildlife.  It turned out to be a perfect day.  The sun came out.  It warmed up, and not a single drop of rain fell the entire time at the zoo.  It was definitely much more exciting for Emily this time - the first time we took her she was 1.5 years old and was more interested in the landscaping rocks and water fountain than the animals.  She was excited to see Lucy, the elephant, who was out for a walk on the zoo grounds. She looks scared in this picture, but she wasn't... that was just her attempt to look at the camera for me... she kept getting distracted by Lucy eating grass with her trunk.

She got to pet a little python, which to my surprise, she really enjoyed.  There were monkeys, ducks, arctic wolves, owls, zebras and many other animals to keep her interested. 

Emily was excited to pick grass to feed to the zebras, who were too far out of reach to feed.  But that didn't stop her from throwing grass into their exhibit.

Unfortunately, the flamingo exhibit was under construction or something, and they were not on display.  Despite that, a good time was had by all.  We look forward to our next zoo adventure.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger