Checkin' In

It's the end of February and we are now getting winter. Honestly, I'm thoroughly enjoying the days upon days of beautiful falling snow. I think it's been almost all week where we've had snowfall. The view out my living room window is just getting prettier and prettier. Let's get into what's new:

(my view - lovely winter snow, my dolly looking for her friend to visit, a warm cup of tea... barefoot and pregnant)

• Our lives got suddenly insanely busy this week. This is unusual for us. We typically like time margin in our lives to make room for the unexpected and often those times are the sweetest. I also tend to not handle constant busyness very well. Having said all that, we felt like we needed to add a five week commitment to our schedule. David and I are facilitating the Love & Respect DVD conference again at our church. We feel so strongly about this marriage course that when we were invited to participate, we didn't want to say no. We're very blessed that one of David's co-workers and his girlfriend are attending along with half a dozen couples from church and even a young single lady. We are expecting God to do great things again!
• I hosted a tea tasting this week. I am not a tea expert, by any stretch, but I have a fairly large tea collection that often intimidates people and thought I'd share my love of tea. We steeped four types of teas for the "official" tasting then each lady was invited to select any tea from my collection to try. It was a late night, as I felt I needed to put the children to bed first and start a little later to let other mothers do the same, but I enjoyed the company immensely! Two ladies brought me lovely gifts, which was incredibly thoughtful, unexpected and thoroughly enjoyed. Patty~Jean brought me a lovely fruit and chocolate basket and included some of her amazing home-made deodorant.... love, love, love! Kelly brought me a stunning glass tea infuser thermos with a sample of her current favourite tea. I'll have to get that name for you, because I have forgotten it's name. I do know that she got it from the local David's Tea shop, which she has highly recommended. Jenni, graciously came early to help me set-up, she even took out my garbage... now that's true friendship! Love you, ladies and all the ladies who came!

• Here's the little rating card I made for the tasting. Nothing complicated or formal, just a fun little thing to rate the teas.

• I am continually blessed by the community of people we've been blessed with here in Winnipeg. I love seeing God's love in action! Our Ladies Morning Out group hosted a mini shower/blessing for the newest baby in our group. Our Housegroup (Bible study group) went bowling together last week and we had a blast. I can hardly wait for church on Sunday mornings and ladies retreat next month... these beautiful people have become very dear to me.
• And speaking of Winnipeg.... have you seen this video? Love it!

• Slowly getting settled into our new home. Here's some pictures of Abigail's room which is finally set up, though not completely decorated. I want to make her some matching curtains and bedding and possibly even a canopy for her bed. She's very proud of her new room, though.

(it seemed a shame to use the balloons for a party then get rid of them, so we moved them into her bedroom)

• Malachi is still surrounded by boxes in his room, but we're getting there.
• 25 weeks pregnant and I've already gained half of the recommended weight gain. Yikes! I need to be careful with my sugars again. Feeling pretty good, aside from tired (though that's a very familiar feeling).
• All of my creative efforts are currently going into the fundraiser for ladies retreat. I'm not sure I'll get to any sewing today as I have a mountain of laundry to get to, but we'll see how it goes. Thankful that David and I have tonight to spend together. It's been a busy and long week. Hope you have a great weekend plans and enjoy them!
• I'll leave you with a snapshot into my days....

Fundraising

Our church's ladies retreat is coming quickly and I'm very excited about it! Some of us ladies are hosting a fundraiser on March 11. It's primarily a bake sale, but since I don't really bake, I'm contributing handmade goods. I figured a great item to focus on is the notebook covers that I've made in the past. They're a great little thing for note taking and not too difficult to put together. I am hoping to have 8-10 made for the sale on the 11th. Here's the first few I've made:

 this one I sold to our ladies ministry leader - I will be making more as it got a great response when I showed it to the committee.

I am loving this one! Inspired by a button art I saw on Pinterest and adapted for this. I think it's sweet. I will be making more like this one, maybe in different colours.

Each notebook cover will have a notebook included and priced at $15. Here's hoping that they're a hit!

Oh, and here's the flyer I designed to advertise:

(as always, click to enlarge)

Signs - a Cute Valentine

Found this on Design Mom - LOVE it!

Checkin' In

Happy (almost) Valentine's Day. David and I have the pleasure of having a sitter for Friday and so, we'll postpone our celebration until then. I am really looking forward to a date with my Love! Let's get to our list for today...

• We finally celebrated Abby's birthday. We made rainbow cupcakes

(inspired from Pinterest)...

Source: ourbestbites.com via Coralee on Pinterest

• and a rainbow balloon banner

(inspired by Design Mom, tutorial here)

Source: designmom.com via Coralee on Pinterest

• Abby and I made some Valentine art

 (also inspired from Pinterest no specific link to show you, there's lots)

• There's been some great Valentine clothing online, too. I had to do these for the littles. Abby's dress tutorial found here. Inspiration for Malachi's shirt found here.

• I have a problem of putting tiny little holes in the bottom of my t-shirts, this was cleverly disguised with reverse applique hearts - pretty appropriate for a maternity Valentines shirt. Sorry, not modelled for you, perhaps after I get a haircut and some pants that fit me properly. Grrr! Why do all maternity stores assume that all pregnant women are the same shape and size?!

• I've enjoyed some creative time this week. It felt good to be sewing again, though I do find it a challenge to be interrupted constantly by my children. I am task oriented and would like to start and finish a task without interruptions, but I am learning to accept this for now. It's part of being a mom.
• My David told me this week he has already made reservations for our anniversary date in August. I am so impressed by how much thought he's already put into this special occassion. I can't wait to try out this restaurant!
• We are slowly settling in. This week's goal, to get our children in separate bedrooms. Malachi still gets up in the night and it's time for some sleep training. I would also like to get some pictures up on the walls. Abby has stopped asking when we're moving into our new home, so I guess that's a good sign.
• I have some green shoots from my Hyacinth bulbs! Hopefully, we'll see flowers before the end of the month. 

• Abby and I had some good fights last week and I realized that we need to go on a TV/movie fast. Abby hasn't watched anything for 6 days and I've already noticed that she is beginning to listen better and play better again. It's also helped my mama guilt level go down. *sigh* Maybe I'll get this parenting thing figured out yet. 
• Well, I have "Mt. Washmore"(party dishes) to take care of in the kitchen. Better get to it.

Inspiration from Pinterest

Inspired by this on Pinterest:

Source: lilsugar.com via Coralee on Pinterest

I came up with this for Abigail's birthday:

(click to enlarge)

 

Checkin' In From the New House!!!

Phew! I feel like I'm just now catching my breath. Here's my check in for now:

• My Abigail turned 3 years old! We had a mini celebration on her special day, but planned to have a party for her in our new home. She did get a special cupcake (for breakfast) and she got to open her present from Grandma and Grandpa... a Jessie doll to add to her Toy Story collection.

• We've moved! There were some hiccups and so, we're still settling in, but I'm so happy to be here! I wake up in the morning thinking to myself "I get to live here!". I love it! Our door is on the right and opens to the stairs to go up to our home. We occupy the entire top floor. Oh, and random fact for you, it's been a really looooong time since I haven't had shared wall neighbours. I have a window in every room of my house! Woo hoo!

• Last week, three days in a row, we woke up to hoar frost. We have these great trees out front of the house and I'm captivated by our pretty street view. No more crazy traffic like we had in our old apartment. We were often awakened by accidents on the corner of Panet and Reenders, not to mention the constant sirens. 

• For the first few days, we didn't have the children's toys accessible, I gave up fighting and just let the littles play in the cupboard. They're "locked" now with elastics, but it was a good distraction for awhile.

• Both of our littles have been sick. Ugh! Abigail was in emergency one night and then Malachi in the doctor's office the next day. My children are amazing in public and waited so patiently (for the most part - though it got so late they both hit a bit of meltdown). Here they are watching Río on the iPad. Soooo thankful for the iPad these days! Both are recovering, though Malachi still sounds terrible.

• Abby has been fascinated with pictures lately and often asks for her picture to be taken. Here she is with her kitchen in our new kitchen. The sink is still packed somewhere.

• I was pleasantly surprised by this delivery on Saturday. My David pre-ordered flowers to come to our new home for me. Such a timely blessing during an especially trying week. Aren't they gorgeous?! They also came with chocolates. My man knows how to bless me! Can you believe the guys at work gave him a hard time for sending flowers 9 days away from Valentines Day?! It's obvious why they aren't married!

• House tour will be posted, when I feel more settled. We had to post pone Abigail's party another week because of sickness and honestly, that just gives me more time to get my house in order. I had hoped to decorate and there was no way it was going to be done last week.