Potties..

Angela has been potty trained for a while now and doesn't really ever have accidents. If she does it's because she's either too excited and preoccupied to go or my fault for not taking her when I know she has to!

Anyhow, this week she had a few accidents as she was busy playing with friends, etc and was too excited to tell me she had to go. Today she went to Toronto with Jamie and when they got home we went down to a conservation area to feed the little chickadees. Jamie said she'd probably need to go pee and I wanted to go too since we'd be walking for a while and off we went. Well.......... It was a latrine. Oh my gosh, disgusting, I know. This is what happened.

A: Mommy, what's that?
M: That's the potty!
A: *scrunches her nose* S'gross
M: Well, we have to go pee!
A: I don't have to pee.
M: We're just going to try to make sure, ok?
A: I don't want to try.
I put her on the potty.
A: Whoa, hold me mommy!
M: I got you, don't worry! Try to go pee!
A: No. I don't want to.
M: Come on Ange. You go pee and then mommy will and we'll go find gramma and grampa and feed the birds!
A: No! I'm not going pee.
M: Ok.....

lol I wouldn't have gone pee on it either, but with a toddler it's a desperate time and so the latrine was definitely a desperate measure! My child is a diva, I know. At least she was nice enough to let me put her on it! Oh heck, I love flushing toilets.

♪ We are a happy family! ♪

Happy February!

I can't believe we are already a month into the New Year. Remember when we were little and it seemed like time dragged on fffffffoooooooooooorrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrr?! Now it goes by so quickly!!

This will also be the month of birth! lol I am still in denial that we are having another baby. It just can't be real. We don't have a vehicle that fits our kids (legally).... We have a little house.... We already have 2 kids!! lol I get a little anxiety thinking of going into labour again, but I've been doing hypnobirthing and it's done wonders! I am so relaxed that I fall asleep every time I do my breathing exercises! Haha

I get all excited when I fold her sweet little baby clothes and think of how much I love little babies! I hope she's little in weight so that I can enjoy her tininess that much longer! Audrey was so big she didn't wear half of the newborn clothes we had!

Angela is very excited for a new baby and Audrey doesn't really understand. We babysat Maxi Trax the other day for a little bit and Audrey did not like having me take care of another baby!!! lol She's going to be a terrible big sister for the first couple days. I can already see it! (Hopefully, I can write a post-baby blog about what a great big sister she is. lol)

So, so far this year has been wonderful. We have pressed on with every day life and are doing well with keeping our family goals! It is amazing to see how the Lord has answered our prayers and provided us with opportunities to fulfill our goals.

We are still recovering from Jamie doing his MBA and it was a good trial run at not having him around all the time since the poor guy commutes 3 hours a day so the girls don't get to see a lot of him. He's also in the bishopric, so they really only have Saturdays with him. We've started doing mommy-daughter and daddy-daughter dates, so once a month we'll take one of the girls out on their own and go for ice cream or something like that. Angela is now obsessed with the "Ice Cream Shop". lol

I have been doing lots of... Cleaning, organizing, planning, sewing, painting and decorating! It's been busy. I did our bathroom, and I painted the hallway up the stairs. It's nice not to have half a painted wall that stopped at the banister. lol Now of course all the painting needs to be finished and touched up, etc. I'm really good at starting projects, and not so good at 100% completion! lol That is one of my goals this time around. I have some sewing projects I want to do, but of course I need to finish the projects I've started!

Anyhoo - I have so much to do and I'm just sitting here browsing the internet and bloggin'. My goodness I'm a time waster some days!

I love my family. <3

Teeth!

Why is it that before a dentist visit people are "extra" diligent in flossing and brushing?! lol We don't want them to know that we didn't really do what we were supposed to! 

And why is it that when you are determined to do things properly and with more effect something goes wrong!? 

Combine these two and you have what happened to me on Saturday. :)

I had my dentist appointment coming up on Feb. 1st and made sure that I was doing everything to get my teeth ready! 

Well.... I forgot one thing. I love hard candy and now that it's coming close to Valentine's Day, I love cinnamon hearts! But I cannot suck on them, I chew everything! 

I woke up from a nap and popped a couple into my mouth to help me wake up and get dinner going. After eating dinner, we were sitting at the table chatting and I felt something sharp! 

A chunk of my back molar came out. From the cinnamon hearts! 

I luckily got an appointment for Tuesday and I am grateful that I didn't have to endure anything truly painful. The dentist had this magical little compound that he just put on the tooth and voila! 

Needless to say, it was a little reminder that I do not want to be wearing dentures by 30! 

Did I eat more cinnamon hearts today?..... Yes. But they'll be gone soon! 

Product Review: Point 'n Paint

OK - After watching the infomercials for the Point 'n Paint, I was interested! I have the top floor of the house to paint and this would definitely look like something that will help out with the task!

pointnpaint.com

Here is what the P 'n P claims to do:

• Paint an entire room in less than one hour
  
• Get perfect results every time
  
• No more paint prepping, runs or brush strokes (No taping)
  
• No more up and down ladders
• Glide along mouldings
• Zip around corners
• Paint circles around fixtures

Now, to make sure I was doing this right, I read the directions, set everything all up and watched the guy do it on the commercial.

Ask me how it went.. Come on. Ask! 

It was less than desirable let's say. Firstly, I didn't lug the ladder up from the basement because I had a pole, so I didn't need it according to the commercial! 

I got the paint going and the brush is so big that the paint leaks all over the edges of the tray and onto the floor! Good thing I *did* get out a sheet. OK, no problem, let's move on.... I put the brush on the wall attached to the pole and the brush rotates around in circles... It does not go up and down or sideways! Only in circles.

No more up and down ladders.... FAIL. I go to the basement and get the ladder. 

No more prepping, runs or brush strokes.... FAIL. There were runs as it tells you to push down on the brush and sometimes it would squish paint out. Brush strokes, there were. Still are! I would do the first coat using the Point 'n Paint, but I would not do the top coat because there are tons of marks. It was also very difficult to maneuver the pointer over the first coat of paint. The first coat was dry, I waited a few hours in between coats, but it was incredibly difficult. Also, it says you can wash and reuse the brush. I did this as well since it was the same colour so why waste 2 brushes, and I listened for the clicks to make sure it was in place, and it clicked several times so I figured it was secure. However.... It fell off 3 times as I was painting. There was paint all over the floor. Good thing it's water based! Terribly messy.

Glide along mouldings... Yes. BUT...... not to the edge. 

Zip around corners.... FAIL. If you do the first side and move to the next, the edge of the applicator will scrape the fresh paint that you just did.

Paint circles around fixtures... Pass.

Paint an entire room in less than an hour.... Pass. However, it was my bathroom, so I don't think it would do a regular room in an hour. 

All in all, I am not impressed but I would use it again for the first coat of paint because of how fast it "can" go, but I would also need to tape the borders and use a ladder.

I would not recommend it to my friends to go out and buy though! 

That went by quickly!

It has been a while - I kept thinking "What can I blog about?"... But with all the busy-ness that is our life, I couldn't think of a single thing when the opportunity arose to blog!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their families and friends! We had a very busy time!

I hosted my 3rd Annual Cookie Exchange. It was FANTASTIC! We had such a great cookies!!! Everyone brought 14 dozen cookies and we all left with different kinds! It really does help get the baking done for the season. Unless of course your husband loves them and eats all of one kind..... Not that it happened here or anything. ;)

We went to London at the beginning of the month for a day with our friend the Williams! It was so fun to see Angela playing with Kaite and they were having fun together! She doesn't really have little friends around here to play with so that was a real treat. She woke up the next morning and said, "Can we go play with my friends now?" Jamie had a good afternoon discussing "hot" topics with Zach and Mary and I did what we always love to do.... Cook. We made rolls (her rolls and bread are the BEST I've ever had.) and helped the kids decorate a gingerbread house. We also made hot chocolate with sweet potato puree for a little kick of healthy. It was super good too!

While there for the evening, we got to go to the London 1st Ward Christmas party and see some old friends! It was a really great trip and the weather was amazing!

We had a lovely Christmas Eve hosted by my aunt at her house. It is so nice to be with all the family at this time of year!

Unfortunately, while I remembered to pack double sets of clothing for the girls, in case of any accidents... I didn't think to pack clothes for us! Let me explain.... My aunt has a boston terrier and Angela is terrified of him. So, she was being carried around and played with by my little sister Ciara who is 10. She loooves Ciara! But, the poor girl is little and had to put Ange down for a break! Ange saw the dog, and she was so scared she peed...... Everywhere. Jamie picked her up and ran to the bathroom because he thought she was done, but she wasn't and it trailed all behind him. Big. Mess. So, while we could change the kids clothes, we couldn't change Jamie's and he was soaked to the skin down the left side of his body. Gross? Yes. So that ended our night early at 9pm!

The girls came home and hung up their stockings by the bed, put out cookies and milk (chocolate milk!!) and carrots for the reindeer. They got to open 1 present and say "Merry Christmas" to Jamie's mom and then off to bed! Angela was very excited for Santa to come!

We set up all the gifts and went to bed! The kids slept in until 8 (we wake up most mornings at 7 to drive Jamie to the train so it was a nice sleep in!) and Angela came running in with her stocking! It was so cute. The presents were opened and all was well until the girls started to want each other's things. And then the morning ended in screaming. :D What else can you expect?!

We went to mom's to give everyone their gifts and spent a little time with them. Angela got "Tinkaboo" from Britt and she looooves it.

We came home and made our turkey dinner and had my family over for a fun night! We also played Pictionary and really wish I'd taken pictures of some of the drawings! They were great.

I'm so grateful for all the wonderful family we have that spoiled our kids! We are so blessed and grateful for this wonderful time of year that makes everything seem so special and life so bright!

Best wishes for 2010 to all of you!

Painting.....

Before Jamie went off to Ivey, we were painting the house. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of starting projects and not finishing them.... Well. I painted the main floor (with help from Jamie and my parents) and we have a high ceiling going up the flight of stairs so there's no way I could do it. And at the time I was 6 or 7 months pregnant with Audrey. So. I painted to the banister and stopped. lol Now when we do paint that part, I will have to paint the whole wall along that side, which is fine because I love the paint!

Now, the problem I have is that no matter how many different types of painters tape I use, they all LEAK! I even go along the edge with my nails to make sure it's stuck down to the ground.

So tonight I painted some of the baseboards because they still had the browny paint on them from last year and oh my heck... When I ripped it all up, almost the whole way around there is paint that leaked under the edge. I am so frustrated! Luckily it's the tile, so I can just wait for it to dry and then scratch it off.

What the heck do I do in the future!?!

On another note, we are all doing well. The girls and I are healed of the 3 week cold we had! So annoying, but gratefully Jamie didn't get it. Poor guy had to sleep on the couch for a few nights!

We bought an H2O Mop as well! We have stains on the carpet like crazy. I take full responsibility for letting the girls eat their food anywhere they want... Eek! Anyhow, we spent a bit of time on one patch of bad marks where Angela had fallen over with a cup of juice and because of the impact of the fall the sippy-ness of the cup didn't work and it squirted out everywhere!! This morning I gave it a little vacuum and it was lovely! The marks are almost gone!! Quite amazing I think for something that uses no chemicals and only steam! And we did part of the tiles last night, and it took off marks that I couldn't get off on my own! So awesome.

Other than the usual, we are keeping busy with the Christmas season! Lots of planning in order! We put up the tree today and Angela was so excited to help. Audrey came down the stairs and just stood there staring. She did say "Wow" as well. So cute!

We have some new friends who moved in to the area and they came over today to play. Angela is so loud, the poor girls were probably scared for the first while!! But they had lots of fun and I'm so glad the girls love to play and their mom is wonderful too!

Well, I need to figure out how to make a big Christmas bow so I'm off to learn!!

Lessons learned: This week - Macaroni

Angela LOVES macaroni. (AKA Kraft Dinner) But, when you don't find it on sale for $0.67 a box like I did *this* week, it runs for a dollar more and I'm not always willing to pay for it now that it only lasts 1 meal with Angela and Audrey eating it as opposed to the 2 or 3 when it was only Angela. So, while I was getting some treats at Bulk Barn (Best place ever. Love it.) I saw a container of Mac and Cheese powder. I thought, this is excellent. It's KD sauce and I can buy my own macaroni and make it for cheaper!!!!

Now, in the past, I have learned that there are just certain things that you do not try to replace. Like using "no name" shortening instead of Tenderflake or Crisco... FAIL. Do not do it. When we go shopping together and I say "I wonder if I can use "such and such" instead..." Jamie usually says, "Don't do it. Just pay for it or you will regret it." And at least half the time he's right. (It's probably more, but we'll just give him the 50% so I feel better!)

Anyhow, I thought for sure the cheese sauce would be fine!! I bought "ABC" pasta's and Ange and I journeyed home to prepare our new delicious meal..........

Well. I made it. I tasted it. I hated it.

I gave it to Ange thinking she won't care and she took 1 bite and spat it out and said "Mommy, it's 'isgusting." LOL I laughed so hard. So I failed at the processed cheese powder and luckily found some KD on sale for this week to make up for the failed event.

There are just some things you cannot replace!!