As promised

This is the dining room (or lack of a dining room before)and after.

And the living room. Don't you just love the previous purple wall. It nicely matched the purple toilet and bathtub in the bathroom. Yikes.

Notice the difference in the fan to the Awesome light fixture!

So there ya have it. I forgot to take a picture of the kids room with Cadens bed in it, but I'll probably wait until Avery's crib is in there and its all done.

Its obviously not done yet. No curtains, decorations and in some places, the baseboards are still missing. But its coming.

coming soon...

Check back later tonight for a few before and after photo's of our new house.

In the mean time, did you know its only 1 month and 1 day until my baby turns 1? I know, crazy!

Recap

I was doing so good with blogging, and then nothing for so long. I'm sorry.

But I've been busy. With what you ask? PAINTING MY HOUSE!!!

It's done. Took my mom and I 6 days for a total of 24 hours each. I also had a good friend help prime the house, and my MIL came for 1 day.

I Love It!! Betcha can't wait to see it. Soon you will, I promise.

The flooring guy finished today. I can't comment on how it looks cause I haven't gone to see it. I was gonna go. But then stuff happened and it got too close to the kids' bed time and I couldn't. Its killing me. I can't wait for tomorrow to come.

Whats left? All the trim. Which will (start) happening this saturday. Which means I will go to my house and as they finish a room, I will move stuff into it and make it a room. I can hardly wait. I will finally be able to put these together.

I've already told Rob that the dining room is the first order of business so I can get these babies up. I didn't want to put them together until they could go into the dining room. They take up more room put together. Now I can remove them from there box in all their beauty.

The bathroom also needs to be put together. Let me just say that I love, love, love my bathroom color. It looks fantastic. Its called Aqua bay and it is gorgeous. Might be my favorite in the whole house. Now that the flooring is done, the toilet needs to go on and the vanity needs to be put in. Also, the tub surround needs to be glued in.

The light fixture in the dining room and above the island needs to be put up. The entrance one is in and its beautiful. On that note, the island also needs to be put in.

We also need to finish the dry wall in the basement. At least I think so. I'm waiting to hear back from MSTW on that one. However, we were waiting for the upstairs to be done so we can move oh so much stuff from the basement, upstairs. That way the drywalling will go quicker.

I sold these yesterday.

They are coming this weekend to pick them up. That'll make an entire corner of my basement empty. Awesome. Plus the money doesn't hurt. At all. Its amazing how quickly you can use up ALL the money you got for renovations. One thing after another.

Won't she be cute??!!

I bought this dress online this week. Its going to be Avery's Christmas dress. I just love it. Hope it looks good on her and fits properly.

Premium or Unleaded?

Oh boy. This ones a doozy.

Rob quit his job.

He has been working at Loewen Auto for about a year. His boss is not great. He knew that at the end of this month he'd be out of a job, because Loewen Auto is sold.

He was offered a job at Janzens Pontiac, but turned it down. (more on that later)

Well, last Monday morning, his boss tells him that Friday is now the last day. (4 days later) He had upped the sale date.


Throughout the last few months, Abe has been very dishonest about alot of things. He tells one employee one thing, and others different things. Then if they confront him he denies one or the other. Rob was promised a raise 2 months ago. He never got it.


Rob was worried that Abe would end up selling his tools with the business, or saying that some were his. Thats just the kind of guy he has turned out to be. So Monday night, Rob got a bunch of buddies together, and they removed absolutely everything of Robs from the shop from his tool box, to tires, to a filing cabinet. He told his boss he was done.


So now where is he at? Fas Gas. Yup, my husband is now a gas jockey. Don't get me wrong, someone has to do it. But it shouldn't be a 34 year old married guy with 2 kids and a new house to pay for right? I mean really, his wage has been almost cut in half. Yikes.


Why doesn't he find a different job? Here's the thing. The guy who owns fas gas is building a new mechanics shop. Hopefully, in 3 months it'll be running. Rob is going to work at that shop, when it's ready, where he'll also be able to continue his car sales.
Therefore, he didn't really think it was fair to take the job at Janzen's, when he knew he'd be done there in a few months.

Matt (fas gas) is also letting Rob park 2 of his cars on the lot for free. He currently has 8. (I'm driving one, he drives one, 2 at fas gas and 4 parked on our yard) He is still operating his business, TAC Auto.


All in all, this worries me a little bit. I mean, our mortgage just went up and his wage just went down...way down. Not to mention that in 1 more month my mat leave is done. Oh boy. Lots of praying is happening, let me tell ya.

"I broke it"

Those are the 3 words I heard first thing this morning. Caden was in bed with me, since he was up at 7:30 and I didn't feel like getting out of bed yet. He decided to play with my phone. It was dark in the room, other than the light of the phone. Then I hear it "I broke it". I knew right away what had happened. I was mad. I love this phone. I mean really really love this phone. It's better than any phone I've ever had. Now I have to go buy a new one. And no, I'm not gonna sign a new contract so that I get the phone for free because I am on an awesome contract. The 9.99 contract. Its been over for a year now, but I just can't sign a new contract to pay $10/month more. I don't think its worth it. Maybe, just maybe I can find one for around $100. Would that be asking too much. It wouldn't be as big a deal, except that we don't have a home phone. Rob and I both just have our cell phones.
Oh, who am I kidding. It'd still be a big deal. I NEED my cell phone. I text wayyyyy too much. ;-)

Anyhow, off I go to the wonderful MTS store to find the cheapest phone. Grrrrr. Not how I wanted to start my day.

Friends

I have been blessed with amazing friends. I am part of a group of girls (10) who have been friends since high school, and remain close. We actually still get together once a week, on Wednesdays. Girls night. We've been doing this since we graduated high school 9 years ago.
We used to go camping, but that has changed in the last few years because of some with kids. ( I think). We do however, still do a girls Christmas every year. This is last year. (I am exactly 1 month from having Avery here, hence the belly). We started off with our Christmas function being a night at a hotel in Winnipeg, and going to Celebrations. It has since grown into a full weekend event, in Grand Forks. Its been wonderful. Its always a great weekend. Sometimes there is only 5 of us, sometimes there is 8. This year, looks like all 10 can make it. I look forward to this weekend starting the Monday of the one we get back from.
I realize not all of my friends are like me. I need time away from my kids. A weekend away is the perfect thing. And who better to spend it with then amazing friends.
We do alot of shopping. A LOT!! From Christmas gifts, to clothes for ourselves and our kids. (6 of us have kids, 2 are expecting) This year for the first time, I will be able to go to the house decor section of my favorite stores. A section that I've never entered, as I knew I didn't have a house to put things in. I Can't Wait!
I am blessed. I am lucky. I have amazing friends. I am blessed.

In other news...

Baby girl is teething...something fierce. She needs to chew on everything. She's ornery (sp) and gets super mad super fast. Its kinda funny. She did pop out 3 teeth a week and a half ago so that brings her count up to 6. All 4 front ones, and the top and bottom left. I'm sure I'm wrong but it almost seems like the next one will be either an eye tooth or a molar. Just based on how she's acting. Anyway, I never gave Caden anything for teething until his eye teeth when he got a little tylenol. He never needed it. Avery is different. It must hurt her more. Well I've heard a few people talk about these teething tablets that you buy at the health food store. I figured I'd give them a try, although i'm not usually an herbal person. I was surprised at how tiny they are. And they dissolve instantly in your mouth. (yes i tried one, had to make sure i could give it to Avery without her spitting it out) There would be no time for spitting it out. Not sure if it does anything for her but I'll keep giving them to her. They are not cheap. Almost $10 for 125 tablets. Yes, that sounds like a lot of pcs but you can give 3 tablets 4 times a day. Thats only 10 days worth then.

We'll see how it goes. Hopefully a few more teeth can make there way through soon.

Gonna win it.

As you may know, we do not let our kids watch a lot of tv. In fact, until about a year ago, we didn't even have the tv on when Caden was awake. Its just something that we believe in very strongly. I don't want my kids to be asking to stay inside to watch tv when they should be outside, exersizing their minds.
In the last year however, I've been trying to get Caden into a little bit of tv. At the time it was because he was getting up at 6am. Now it would be nice just for a little big of down time. I've found that the only thing he'll watch for any length of time (maybe 10 minutes) is Tractor Tom. So I've bought him 4 dvd's.

I'd really like to get him into other videos as well, however I'm pretty particular about what I'll let him watch.
Well, over at Glimpse they have introduced us to a new tv/video series about race cars. I think its something Caden would absolutely love as he is very into fast cars. (thanks to his dad) I'm hoping to win a copy of the first season, but if I don't, I just may have to head out and buy it.

Lets go!

The house is coming along. Slowly but surely. The taper was suppose to start today, although i don't know if he did. I'm hoping/praying that he finishes this week because I am organizing things to paint all next week. Trying to get sitters lined up for every day. Yikes. I was hoping that my kids would just be able to go to my in laws for the week, but that doesn't seem to be working out. It'll work for Caden to be there for a day or 2, but not Avery. That girl is trouble. Not to mention that I don't exactly want her crawling around the house. It is filthy.

I'm gonna try to get them into day care for 1 day. Fingers crossed that everything works out so that we can get the house painted as quickly as possible.

After that, we do flooring and then trim. Then the fun begins. I can't even put into words how excited I am to arrange rooms. To bring all the things up from downstairs and put them in their room. To decorate. To put all these ideas I have in my head, into reality. I can hardly wait.

I don't even know if i'll remember how to have my own house anymore. We've been living at my parents house now for almost 4 months. Yikes. It'll be like we just got married, only we have 2 kids along for the ride.

Caden is so excited to move home. Every time I take him with me to the house, I don't see him the whole time. He's inside, he's outside, he plays. With all the toys he hasn't had for so long. And he's soooo good when we're home. I think it'll be a pretty easy few weeks when we move home because he'll be so good. I hope anyway.

I'm also looking forward to Grandma's house being Grandma's house again, and not his house. I know my mom is too. Normally, Caden wants to do everything with my mom. If she's going to town for something, he wants to go with. However, in the last couple of weeks he doesn't go with anymore. He wants to stay home with me. It'll be nice.

I'm gonna leave you with a picture of the cabinets we are trying to sell. My entire kitchen/dining room was cabinets. There was no room for a table so we took all of them out of the dining room.

Rehearsing

This little boy is going to sunday school for the first time tomorrow and he is sooooo excited. We have been practicing a few songs. Jesus loves me, Alive Alive and Fishers of men. ( I'm not sure what songs they all sing in sunday school but these are the ones that came to me). For the last 3 days, he's been singing alive alive all the time. Today we got it on video. I love it.

How we roll

From the garden, to the freezer

19 bags at 2 cups each should get us through the winter.

Camping...

she is cute...and dirty

she practiced standing

he took his sister down the slide, over and over again.
he enjoyed staying up wayyyyy past his bedtime, to enjoy a fire
we had a birthday party for Grandma (on the 2nd) and Daddy (on the 5th)

he got an owie, and a scooby doo bandaid

he went hunting for fire wood in the bush

he went for a spin

he showed off how incredibly handsome he is

she hitched a ride on daddy's shoulders

he got super good at riding his bike, even ramping over curbs

she went for walks

she ate...and ate....and ate

he played with trucks

New do

I apologize for taking so long to post this. A few of you have been asking so here's the after hair cut picture. Nothing special. Just shorter with bangs to hide the baby bangs.

More free samples

heinz formula

nestle formula

bounce/tide samples

John Frieda hair samples

Change of plans

First of all, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for your comments on my last post. After a lot of research, reading many many reviews on both machines, and of course, the fact that this mixer was also on sale at Canadian Tire, I decided to go with this beauty right here.It has a bigger bowl for one. (5.5qt instead of 5qt). And from what I am hearing from you guys, you find that your bowl is too small to do big batches of stuff. It also has a 800watt motor instead of a 475watt motor like the Kitchen aid has. Hey, more power is always better right?

I am going to the states tomorrow until Sunday so I'll look there and see what they have. But if I remember correctly, I've looked at every store (Kohls, JC Penney, Target etc) and they just do not carry Cuisinart.

Can't wait to start mixing and baking. And now my Christmas list has been started with the attachments. (pasta maker and food processor)

A day for Caden

Today we are taking this boy
here, if it gets as hot as its supposed to get (fun mountain)
Here, if it stays cooler,
or here if we get the thundershowers they are forcasting (childrens museum)
Avery is staying home with my parents so its just the 3 of us. Right now Caden is golfing with my Dad, and once he's home, we're off.
At the end of the day, we're gonna go out for a nice supper and then head home. Can't wait.

Opinions

This is what I'm thinking of getting. What do you have, and what do you think of it? I'm deciding between a kitchen aid and a cuisinart.
Canadian Tire has this one on sale this week for $350.
Suggestions?

Catching up/Help please***updated

I was way behind. You can see that the last picture entered of Avery is her 3 month pic. She's now 9 1/2. Yikes. So, what looked like this, this morning....
now looks like this.

Feels good to be caught up on 1 thing. (I won't even tell you how far behind I am on her scrap book) Plus, hasn't she gotten soooo much cuter. I love to be able to see it like this. I'll be honest. I'm not a baby fan. I rarely think they are cute, including my own. I mean seriously, look at her 1 month pic, compared to, oh lets say even her 5 month pic. What a difference.

Here's where the 'help please' portion of this post comes in. As many of you regular readers know, I've recently started making hair clips. Now what I need, is a place to keep all of Avery's. I don't wanna just stuff them away in a drawer, I want them displayed. Which brings me to this ribbon.

I just got it today. Now I need some ideas on a cute clip holder. Anyone made one? I'm thinking maybe attaching it to some sort of hanger type thing so that it either hangs down, or has something holding it down on the bottom. Here's a few I found that I like.

I don't know. Help!!

Secondly, I need a button. How???

And lastly, I've posted this on FB, but I'm gonna ask here too. Where is a good place to get pictures developed. I have been going to Wal mart. I'm fine with them when it comes to just every day pictures. But when I make cards for my kids, and send it to them, its ALWAYS cropped off. I make my card to be 4 x 6. I go in, crop it so it looks perfect, and it still comes out uneven with parts cut off. Its soooo frustrating. I make milestone cards for my kids often, and its such an ordeal. I have to go back and forth to wal mart and then home to alter the card so many times and I'm done with it. Plus with Christmas coming, I also make Christmas cards for a bunch of people and I don't wanna do so much running around.

I use the adobe photoshop program. Anyone have any help for me?