Checking In

It's been awhile since my last check in post and in some ways it feels like nothing has happened and at the same time, so much. Let's see how this goes.

• The biggest and most notable thing going on is that my dad is sick. I haven't said anything directly about it online as my dad has serious opinions about social media, but my mom has released my sister and I to share. In part so that we can ask for prayer and support. My dad doesn't realize the extent that social media is a part of our lives and just how much prayer and support we receive through our loving friends and family. I probably still won't bare it all here, but I would appreciate your prayers mostly for my Dad's spiritual health, but of course, also his physical health. If you're reading this and you know my dad, send him a note, please. He could use the encouragement. Thank you. UPDATE: We were able to talk to daddy on the phone and he told David that he accepted Jesus and made peach with God. He's ready to be in His presence!!!! This is a huge answer to over 40 collective years of praying. Weeks ago Abby told my dad in a video that he needs to know Jesus so that he could go to heaven when he dies. Dad told mom to tell Abby and to say thank you. We are so happy!
• In happy news, I have a beautiful new niece. Lucy Ellen Woodward was born on Wednesday, November 19, 2014. I've seen a couple of pictures and she is so adorable with a very full head of hair. I can't wait to hold her and smother her with kisses!! Congratulations, Crystal and Matt and welcome, Lucy!
• Bethlehem LIVE! 2014 begins soon. David and I are scheduled to be tour guides together, I just need to work out childcare. All our babysitters participate in BL. I'm a little nervous this year. It's kinda funny, but sometimes I feel more introverted than ever. If you're in the Winnipeg area you need to check it out because it's amazing!

BL 2010 (baby Malachi played the role of Jesus)

• Bible Journaling... who knew?! I am loving this so much and I am excited to possibly fill several Bibles to give to each of my children or maybe grandchildren, someday. I am connecting with God's Word in a new way and I love it. For more details check out Shanna's blog. If you're interested in seeing what's going on in my Bible you can follow me on Instagram.

• I've signed up to join a Documented Faith 2015. Bible Journaling has inspired me to try my hand at incorporating art into more of my daily life. I've never considered myself and artist just thought I was creative. After trying new forms of art in my Bible and for my pen pals, I might be changing my mind. I feel like a whole new creative world has just opened up to me and it's exciting. I've even begun crafting along side my littles and letting them explore more mediums and surprisingly, I'm enjoying it. That's definitely new.
• In October I signed up for a snail mail project swap and the dear lady who got my name sent me the most amazing letter/package and we've agreed to continue to write. The details she puts into my mail  are stunning and I'm so blessed by her creativity and willingness to take the time. I'm also writing a friend who moved up north. It's fun seeing her creative side, I knew it was there but didn't get to see a lot of it outside of her amazing cakes. Donna is a great cook and makes stunning cakes. It's been great fun writing and receiving letters again. 

My first package from Anne Marie (from Netherlands)

Pretty mail from Donna (from the Pas

• I've recently been commissioned for a little sewing job. The results are pretty satisfying.

Disclaimer: there are legal issues with  re-covering a car seat - please do your research.

• I have a long list of sewing projects to do, not to mention some crochet. I am never at a loss as to what to do!
• I know, I've shared this everywhere, but it's sweet. Someone had a birthday (he now shares it with cousin Lucy). Malachi has an announcement.

• I posted this on Facebook, but it's too funny not to share here... it's so true of me.

• Lastly, I picked up a cheap set of 6 watercolour pencils from the dollar store and I'm having so much fun experimenting. I don't know any rules and so I'm just playing around, but eeps! I love it.

watercolour pencil with marker doodles

We are entering a busy season full of great tradition, I'll try to check in again, soon. For more frequent updates, check out my Instagram. 

Crafting Continues In the Rush of Life

I've made some choices in order to maintain sanity in our house. Mostly right now that means I lay down on the couch for 1-1.5 hours a day to rest during family quiet time and that means that my poor neglected blog has been left alone for some time. I am 7 weeks away from baby number 4 and I am tired. This doesn't mean that I have been idle in all areas of my life. David and I have begun and even finished some of our Christmas crafting, and I've been crocheting up a storm (well, for me anyway). My David has had a nice long weekend and been so generous with our family time, so today, I got a morning nap and get to spend quiet time here with you. Here's a little update on what we've been busy making. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you may have seen a few sneak peeks.

It started with some painting. Abby will be getting a thrifted jewelry box, painted and filled with handmade jewelry. I used this jewelry box for a while, but most of my necklaces are too long for it to work all that well. It will be a great size for Abby. I should mention that my David did most of the painting. I've had so much fun crafting with my husband!

Then we painted dowels for the all three littles' dance ribbon wands. They love dancing and our church has some nice ribbon wands, but we thought custom ones would be nice for our littles. We made two identical ones for each little, one for home and one for church. I will make drawstring bags for storage and transport. We used this tutorial here.

I also whipped up two scarves. My David and I love iconic Canadiana things, but the budget doesn't always allow that kind of indulgences. For example I love the Hudson's Bay Co. signature five point blanket stripes. The blankets themselves are super expensive, but to our dismay and surprise so were their scarves. We're talking $55 for a scarf!!!! Well, after a long visit at Michael's Arts & Crafts in their yarn department, we found the colours we were happy with and I got to work. David's scarf needed to be warm and functional, not just fashionable. He's not really an accessory kind of guy, so I settled on a tighter crochet stitch (HDC) with a small hook. This meant it took quite awhile and the middle section was quite long and boring. In the end, it turned out nice and cozy. Blocking made all the difference to the final project and just in case you were on the other side of the you-can't-block-acrylic-yarn fence, I am here to tell you that you can and it makes a huge difference. I looked it up on YouTube and I'm super happy with the results. I then made a quick (read loose stitch with large hook) infinity scarf for myself. I have plenty of warm scarves and was interested in another accessory more than a-keep-me-warm-on-the-coldest-days kind of scarf. It turns out to be quite warm anyway and it's cute.

I've also picked up my afghan that I started last fall and have made some progress. No promises as to when I'll finish, but I'm enjoying where it's going and I have hope that it will finish nicer than I expected due to my new found blocking knowledge.

I am now working on Malachi's birthday present which will be a super hero doll inspired by these, but re-worked with my own pattern. He will also get a matching cape, mask and wrist cuffs. His favourite thing to do these days is to dress up as Superman. He doesn't even really know who Superman is, but it's so cute! If you want to see him in action, here's a link to a cute video.

I have other handmade Christmas presents in mind. We'll visit those another day. In the meantime, it's been nice to stop in and say "hello". I've missed this space.

Is the Fog Lifting?

Well, this week I will be hitting my second trimester and yesterday was as bad as any day I've had during this pregnancy so far. Still, I am clinging to the hope that the fog is, in fact, lifting. There is so much I want to tell you and yet much I am not ready to say. For now, I can say that I've been really enjoying my littles lately. Despite the fact that it's been very quiet and slow days, their little personalities are beginning to show through so clearly and I like them. I really like them.

During this fog, we celebrated (quietly) our Micah's first birthday. I can hardly believe he's one already. I know all the mom's say that, but it's true even so. In case you're wondering, I think Micah might just be our strongest willed little yet. While this is a bit tiresome, it makes me laugh, too.

I received my birthday present in the mail. David's family sent me some birthday money and I ordered my fourth ring in my family ring stack. I chose this style of ring so that I could add as I needed to and sure enough, I'll need another by the new year. Michelle, from Olive Bungalow, has always done a nice job and I am really happy with how they all "fit" together.

I found out a whole bunch of people have been keeping a wonderful secret. When I have details to share, I'll fill you in with a nice, long, wonderful story. I am so blessed! I'll give you a little hint: We'll be able to get our entire family out and about by the time our newest little joins the family.

We have our first appointment with our midwife today. There is a shortage of midwives in Manitoba, so I am so thankful that Gisele agreed to take us again. I don't know if baby is old enough for us to hear their heartbeat yet, but that's my favourite part... I'm hoping we get a little listen today.

I've been especially enjoying the "little" things. The way the sun sets and the cool breeze hits our front steps, makes it a lovely place to sit in the evening. I hope to do so more often.

Introducing Baby Micah

...and our first summer list check-in 2012!

You may recall that "have a baby" did make our summer list and what a great way to start the summer! We are pleased to introduce to you

Micah Daniel Gingras

Born June 1, 2012 at 3:20 am

Weighing 8 lbs. 6 oz

Measuring 21½"

Our littlest 'little' started his journey into this world packing quite a punch (I'll share his birth story some other time), but we are so glad he's finally here!

So, here's a quick check-in on that list:

• Have a baby (check!)

• Finger Painting - Abigail covered this one during one of Malachi's naptimes. I'm not sure I'm ready to loose him into that world of mess, but Abigail certainly enjoyed herself.

• Sidewalk chalk - another great naptime. Poor Malachi doesn't know what he misses or maybe Abigail doesn't know what she's missing (I know I'd rather be napping)

• Go to Half Moon Drive In (okay, so this wasn't on the list, but it should have been!) We love the drive to Lockport and it makes a nice morning to lunch time family adventure. I love their onion rings!!!

Checkin' In

Well, we're only 2.5 weeks away from baby Micah's expected arrival. This is by far the fastest, busiest and most pleasant pregnancy I've experienced. I am quite tired these days and the heat gets to me pretty quick, but we're almost there. I even think baby 'dropped' last night, though I'm second guessing that this morning. Anyway, let's get to it!

• Mother's Day! It was a great day. David took us out on family adventures to the Forks, which included a boat tour (the river air was sooooo refreshing!), a visit to the candy train and a visit with a horse. Then we picked up KFC on the way home that we ate in the yard (read: no dishes or kitchen to clean up). It was a delightful day! I didn't bring the camera... aw, nuts! I asked David to take a picture with the littles yesterday to make up for it. I love my bare topped littles!

• 37.5 weeks and I asked David to take some belly shots. I don't really have any for Micah's baby book. We took a couple with the intention of taking more later in the day, but never got to it, so here's what we've got for now. If baby surprises us early, then at least I have these. I'm squinting pretty good, but oh well. Ugh! I need a haircut!

• Oh, and those are my new glasses (click on picture to enlarge). I lost my glasses out of my bag last Saturday. I was wearing my new prescription sunglasses and the case must have fallen out...grrr! That was a rough day. David was so great about it and kept telling me to let it go, it's not the end of the world. Well, I ordered a new pair from Zenni Optical for $28.50 (included shipping) and they arrived at 1:00 pm on Tuesday! That's still crazy to me considering they come from China! I still haven't received my ring that I ordered a month ago from the states.

• We got a jump on our summer list yesterday (we haven't even made one for this year yet, but fly a kite was on last year's list and we never got to it). So, we got a kite and took it out. Abigail insisted we sing "Let's Go Fly A Kite" from Mary Poppins - her lyrics are very cute. I tried to take a video of her singing, but it was so windy that you can't really hear her. Best $3.50 spent.

• David freed me up to take the afternoon to myself yesterday. I went to the mall and bought Micah a sleeper to come home from the hospital in. Then I went for a half leg wax and a pedicure here. Two spa services that are extremely helpful when you can barely see your toes, let alone reach them. I am such a cheapskate though, and feel rather bad about how much it cost. I do love my pretty toes and I feel a little bit more ready for Micah to make his arrival.

• Got to go on a date last night - so great! I love date nights. We went to go see the Avengers (we get our movie tickets through airmiles - anyone else do that?). This is the second time we've seen the Avengers, but the first time, we were so close to the screen (read: full theatre) that we could barely see the action. Anyway, it was fun to go out with my David!
• Today is "Mt. Washmore" (aka laundry) day. I have at least 4 loads to do. I wash my linens every few weeks and this is the week.
• Crazy warm weather here in Winnipeg! 29 degrees for the last two days! It's been amazing and the best news... we're not cooking inside our house! We haven't even turned on the air conditioner yet!!! Such a huge thing after the last four summers in our old oven, I mean apartment.
• I made myself a packing list for the hospital. I'm a list girl, in case you didn't know. It really occurred to me how soon Micah could come and so now I'm in get ready mode. Feeling a bit better prepared (getting my laundry caught up will help, too).

 

A New Year - Checkin' In

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and have many good things to look forward to this new year. We spent a very busy 2 weeks in Alberta visiting family and some friends. We're all adjusting back into routines and getting ready for all that's ahead. So, let's get to it!

• Here's some Christmas gift designs that I made this year. I don't have finished product pictures, but I have the digital files. I did custom name signs on canvas. Including one for us.

• Custom t-shirts (again no final pics, but here are the designs). Top: for Steven, a Millwright apprentice. Middle: for Jasmin, his girlfriend. Bottom: for Crystal, soon to be graduated from nursing school. These are a only a few of the shirts I designed.

• The little's got their kitchen when we got home from Alberta. Friends of ours delivered it for us and was a great surprise. The littles received all kinds of dishes and play food for Christmas and they are well set up. I just have to work on creative toy storage solutions now.

• Here's a Christmas card that I did in barter. It was based on a design that Twila found and liked (that makes it so much easier on me).

• Have I told you all that we're moving at the end of this month? That is perhaps the biggest current news. We've been offered an upper duplex to rent. 3 bedrooms, people! That's just the beginning of the good news. I'll likely post more about our new home after we've moved in. This is my first move with children and so I'm sure it'll be a bit of a challenge to get packed this time.
• Oh, funny story: Abigail and Malachi both giggled the entire take-off on our flight to Alberta. I couldn't help laughing myself. They traveled really well, though I can't imagine how we'd do it with a third little. We'll cross that bridge when the time comes.

• I told my David last night, that although I am more tired than usual, I sometimes forget that I'm pregnant. Is that weird? Though I think I might have felt the baby moving today. I think my mind is just more occupied right now. We're 18 weeks in, now.
• David left Computer Trends so we could go on our trip. The company hired him back and he starts next week. We have mixed emotions about that. Mostly I'm grateful for God's provision through the position, but we had hoped for something else to be available. Malachi has become quite attached to his Papa and Abigail has always struggled with David working, so I'm sure it's going to be quite the adjustment for us... again.
• I'm sure there's much more to share, but I'm tired. (Our children are sick and we didn't sleep to well last night). I hope not to leave this little blog so lonely for so long again, but bare with me as we prepare to move. 

Checkin' In

Well, it's been a little quiet on this little blog. I don't have a lot of news this week, but let's get to it!

• I'm enjoying one of these right now.
• I am nine weeks into my pregnancy and just now starting to feel somewhat human again. Still tired, but a lot less nauseous. Good news!

(so funny... worth sharing again)

• November 4th and no snow. Can hardly believe it. I'm ready for it (don't hate me for loving God's beauty). It would help me feel more motivated to get to my Christmas projects, not to mention our first snowfall tradition of ordering chinese take-out... yum.

(lights on our tree through special effect glasses-2008)

• I'm in the midst of planning the last minute details for David's birthday. It's going to be great fun and I hope to have some pics to share next week. This year's theme...

• The little's play kitchen still isn't finished. There have been a few minor glitches that have slowed us down a little. David would like a good couple of hours to finish out the last few details, so hopefully soon! I have some details to work on, myself. The reveal is going to be amazing! We're having friends deliver it to our home while we are away in Alberta so that it will be here for the children to find it when we get home. It'll be a great surprise.
• Malachi had to have another Mag3 renal scan this week. It went better, but still hard to bare as a mother. We'll get the results in two weeks.
• So many things to look forward to: 2 days until David's birthday and party, 9 days until the Ladies Ministry Christmas Banquet, 15 days until Malachi's 1st birthday, 18 days until his party and our first midwife appointment, 34 days until Bethlehem LIVE!, 40 days until we leave for Alberta, 51 days until Christmas.