Labor Day Weekend

We really put the word Labor in this weekend and actually managed to get quite a bit done! September weekends are really busy for us, so that means making use of the time we can!

Thursday I finished painting the front door and I am so incredibly in love with it! You only get a half picture of it, because it's really hard to photograph because of the shadows on the front porch, but you will see how it looks! 

Friday I continued the search for my old baptism dress. I searched high and low and have been for weeks. I had no recollection of getting it from my sister, but she couldn't find it either, so that meant I needed to go through a lot of bins. I am the first to admit that I am not organized, so this really wasn't a bad thing, but I was beginning to lose sleep over not finding it. 

The boys worked outside and we decided that we would order a new pool liner because the patches M put in the pool didn't solve the problem. We would have been more diligent in looking had it been installed right in the first place, however because of the crazy rain storm we got during installation, the sand has settled too much and we really just need to redo it, just a little sooner than we planned. So I ordered that and a winter pool cover and we will tackle that job next weekend. 

The gardens were weeded, the grass was cut, holes were filled with dirt in preparation to be seeded,
the boys finished the new front step and inside I worked on laundry, vacuuming, the kitchen, and searching for the baptism dress, along with sorting through hand-me-downs for Emilya. 

All the while we found some fun. Emilya has been a teething monster this weekend, so that has made things a bit tricky since she was super clingy, so a lot of baby wearing was done and snuggling! 

My sister came over with the kids to play for a bit since Noah had been begging to play with them.

 

 

That evening we tried Em on rice cereal too. She has been showing signs she's been ready for a while and we were close enough to 5 months (when I started Noah) and she seemed to enjoy it! 

 

  

We had the kobota home, so we went for a family kobota ride and ended up seeing our friends out for a walk, so we stopped for a quick chat while these two played for a bit:

 

Saturday it was more searching! It was lots of teething:

 

 

And snuggling:

 

And this guy playing outside! They took the kobota home and brought his truck home! But most importantly, Noah learned how to pedal his trike right before supper! I am not sure who was more excited, him or us? We have been practicing and trying to learn it ALL summer! We would get soo close and then nothing! So this really felt like a bit accomplishment! So we got out his new bike as a reward for learning, however pedalling it is quite different, so we will have to learn on it all over again (different angle) but not until we go helmet shopping! 

 

 

Sunday morning you bet there was more searching... I was beginning to run out of places to look and it was really starting to  get me down!

We played outside, and got ready for our dinner party with our friends! 

 

Noah washed his truck up:

 

We had a picnic lunch in the living room with Peppa and George:

 

I managed to get just about all the windows washed. We had our friends coming over for an end of summer BBQ that M smoked some ribs for. The kids all had fun playing, we had fun talking and supper was yummy! It was really just a great time and end to summer!! Crazy to look at how different our dinner parties are now!! 

 

 

 

Our parties of 6 are now parties of 12! 

Monday I decided to head down to the basement and continue my search down there. I managed to empty 5 totes to good will - stuff we hadn't touched since we moved here. It was a great feeling, however I still didn't find the dress!! Emma's baptism is at the end of this month and I wouldn't be devastated if she wasn't able to wear my dress! 

 

Well sure enough, my Mom phoned and she found it! No one knows why she ended up with it, but I cried happy tears and facetimed her to see it with my own eyes!! I felt such a relief! It also means that I am not completely losing my mind and opened my eyes to just how unorganized we are and made me want to get cracking! Let's just say a never ended to-do list was made with jobs big and small! 

M and Noah headed outside to work on sanding the front porch. We decided we will buy a new screen door, as the one we have is from our old house and has seen better days! Noah went back and forth between helping and driving his truck. My Dad came by to drop back off his camping stuff and visit for a bit before he headed back to Windsor. 

 

Noah had to show my Dad just how great his truck was and helped him drive some of his gear to the shop for him. He also loaded up his trike. 

Emilya turned 5 months!! She is also loving the jumperoo!! 

 

Stay tuned for her 5 month update soon and I will likely do an update on Noah soon too now that he is 2.5!! I feel like he has changed so much in the last 6 months! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!! 

September

Is it just me or did August literally zoom on by?? As much as I love summer, I really do enjoy fall! It's that time of the year where the windows can be open, the evenings get cooler, baseball wraps up, new fall activities start up!

I've been working on the kids clothes and making sure we are set for fall and winter, but yet still have stuff for our winter vacay! Did I mention we booked our trip already? Emilya's first winter vacay will be the same as Noah's! We are heading to St. Martin!! And we will be there for Noah's birthday this year! 

This post is going to be pretty random, just FYI. 

I started painting the front door yesterday, hence no blog post because I was getting sh*t done while I could! Right now I am writing this while Noah is playing up in his bed and Em is still sleeping! I'm hoping I can get the second coat on while Noah watches his daily Peppa Pig like yesterday. I was going to show you the door because it looks soo amazing after just one coat, but the lighting was crap and you couldn't see it and of course I forgot to take a pic last night! 

The last two nights I have been on my own as M has been trying to get in all his make-up ball games. I am definetely getting better at the solo bedtime routine. Monday night was better than last night. We are also working on getting the kids to bed earlier! I find if Noah is in bed at 8, he sleeps better and sleeps in longer in the morning. However Emilya is also needing 8 PM, so we might move her up to 7:45 PM, because getting 2 kids in bed at the same time (especially on your own) is a trick. 

I took Noah grocery shopping last minute last night and it made me miss shopping with him! Believe it or not, we were in and out of 2 stores in 30 minutes! That's a record! It was really just a great experience with no toddler issues! Considering how crazy he was yesterday, it could have gone really bad! He was jumping off everything at home! 

Let's talk insta-stories! I love them! I love being able to save little clips of our days, especially of the kids interacting together! These are thier memories and mine too!! I have snapchat, I had it before it was "cool" but I can't figure it out and I hate that yon can only watch the video for so little time. 

Let's talk vlogging- video blogging. I have started watching a few different families on YouTube and I love it! They are usually just little clips out of people's lives - like reality TV, but with families and it has given me some fun ideas to do with the kids! I like it because they are real families doing everyday things and I can relate! Do you watch any vlogs? 

Emilya is teething up a storm, but in all honesty she is taking it like a champ! The biggest thing we notice is that she isn't as crazy smiley as normal. She is pretty much the happiest baby EVER on the daily and now we actually have to work for a smile! She's not sleeping as well, and her mouth is literally like a faucet! I will take all the extra cuddles lately too. 

I hit the jackpot with $15 jeans from Old Navy! The fit is perfect and I really love them - so much so I bought them in black, dark denim and medium denim! I wasn't going to buy jeans for this stage of post-pregnancy, but even with working out, the weight isn't just falling off and as much as I want to see it go, it's a slow process, so I may as well try to feel as comfortable as I can. 

Wow this post is long. I guess I will wrap it up! Hope everyone has a great day! We have a fun 4-day weekend ahead! I will hopefully get a post up tomorrow too, but of course no promises! Life has just been too much fun! 

Weekend Rewind

Happy Monday friends!! What a happy Monday? Well it's a Happy Birthday to me Monday - we will see what the day has in store for me. In the meantime we will rewind the weekend:

Friday night M burnt our burgers to a crisp! I thought Noah was just saying "FIRE" but the BBQ was legit on fire! Guess M will have to clean the BBQ! We ended up having grilled cheese for supper... M had baseball, so I was on solo bedtime duty. It didn't not go down well at all. At one point they were both screaming. Emilya isn't napping well at all with her new teeth coming in! She is definitely getting a bottom tooth (it's poked through already), but I am convinced that it won't be long before the one beside it comes up. This is soo crazy to me, becaus Noah didn't get teeth until 9 months!! 

I did end up getting both kids down and by 9 PM! So it was half a mommy win! I decided to rent a pay-per-view since Bell offered me a free one. I chose Mother's Day, since the cast was loaded with big actresses like Jennifer Anniston, Julia Roberts, etc. It was alright, maybe I just expected better because of the fully loaded cast. I was glad I didn't pay $6 for it! But I will say the renting process was super easy! 

Saturday morning M and Noah went to the farm to get the pressure washer and the backhoe. They
had a small job to do in the morning. While they did that, Em and I worked upstairs for a bit. I took an inventory of Noah's wardrobe and I think I bought the wrong sizes for fall! Let's just say Noah has a whole bunch of 4T clothes... Like I won't buy another thing in that size and not so much in 3T... - the size that fits. Oops!! I will go through his drawers and get a better idea on the situation and see just what he needs. 

When the boys got back, Em was napping, so I went outside and quickly came up with a new plan for the front porch! We need to repaint the porch and the one side of the railing was actually rotting. So, I decided that I would like an opening to come off the side of the porch instead of walking around to the front. So M ripped off that part of the railing and will have to fix up the posts and build a new step going up to it! I think it will look great! I got started with power washing. I always wondered why
people cleaned thier driveways, etc. but this made a night and day difference! Our house was filthy! I've got a lot of painting coming up in the nearest future, after we give everything a light sanding. But our screen door (wooden), rocking chair, front porch, garage door trim, and front door all need some paint and we will reseal the front porch deck. 

The day literally flew by with M and I taking turns watching the kids as we tackled various jobs around the house, with power washing being mine, his was cutting the lawn, working on the pool, and working on the deck railing. I managed to get just over half of the house and porch power washed before we decided to make a run into Home Depot. Emilya screamed the whole time - over tired for sure, but we got everything we needed except sand paper! 

We grabbed Swiss Chalet for dinner and headed home to eat! This kid was spun!! So we played for a bit before bedtime! 

Pretty sure I went to bed early! 

Sunday morning we just had some good old fashioned family time! Playing, waffle breakfast and then we planned out the day, as we still had a list of things to accomplish! 

 

 

I finished power washing the house, with a few breaks to hang out with these two. 

 

 

Check out the difference... 

 

M and Noah went into town to pick up my birthday cake (ice cream cake - my request) and brought home lunch. After lunch the kids napped. While they napped I finished the power washing and got my work out in! I missed two days... Technically one if you count one of the missed days as a rest day! Sometimes life just gets to busy, although I am sure I made it up for it on the days I missed! 

M went swimming to try and find the hole in our liner and was successful!! Then he headed to ball!!

When the kids woke up we headed down to the ball park just as M was finishing his ball game! So we played at the park for a bit instead!! 

 

We came home, had a spaghetti supper and then went back outside to work on the new step for the front porch! Best little helper around: 

 

 

Next thing we knew, it was bedtime!! 

Today we are hanging around home and then heading to the farm for my birthday dinner and ice cream cake! 

Weekend Rewind

Phew, that weekend literally flew on on by! Wow, can't believe it is Monday!

Friday night M's ball game ended up getting cancelled, so had Friday evening to prep the yard for the clean up, get all the equipment here, bath Gracie, etc. and then get the kids to bed! 

Saturday morning we had about 6 guys here to help at 9 AM with cleaning up the tree limbs. We rented a chipper and mulched as much of it as we could. 

Miss Emilya has been super clingy this weekend, not sure if she just sensed the commotion going on around her, but she insisted on being held all weekend. Oh darn... Baby snuggles are no fun at all! I did manage to wear her for about an hour or so while I vacuumed the pool and treated it on Saturday morning. 

Noah was a champ all weekend with listening ears and he just wanted to help out in any way he could, so we let him and he was soo happy! 

After lunch on Saturday Noah and M went for a swim in the chilly pool, but then it was naptime. It's about that time that my allergies began to suck big time, my lavender oil was not working, nor was Benedryl. Apparently chipping that tree just put soo much pollen and dust in the air that I was a mess and only went down hill from there. Even the clingy baby was becoming too much for me. I ran into town to pick up supper and then had M take over for a bit so I could just rest my painful and swollen eyes. 

We were soo grateful for all the help we had on Saturday, it really made a big messy job go a lot quicker. 

Sunday was more yard clean up the boys, while I vouched to stay inside and work on laundry. I still didn't feel great, but sleep did help. 

Noah stayed with Daddy all day outside pretty much, aside from a monster nap. So we are pretty much in clean up mode for the rest of the month and THEN we will be able to sit back and enjoy the rest of the summer we hope! 

Sunday night we ripped the carpet out on the stairs going to the basement - ugh soo gross! I've anted it gone since we moved in and yesterday we had the new carpet installed and it is soo nice and plush. We are really happy with it! 

Before:

After: 

Today Miss Emilya and I are having a day together while Noah goes to hang out with Grandma. Emilya has her 2 month shots today and I have a feeling she is NOT going to like it! She is a bit dramatic over the slightest things, so something I would agree with hurting, just might put her over the top. M's Mom offered to keep Noah until after his nap this afternoon so I could have some time with Emilya and I just thought how great that would be, especially considering how clingy she has been! Wish us luck!