Never watch Extreme Couponing

I introduced my Mom to the show Extreme Couponing.

We were out of toilet paper. Extra foods had a really good sale… like .33cents a roll- well we bought some….

Angry Pumpkins

We did our pumpkins finally.

Mommy is not the best person with a knife and craving. So we painted instead….. yes I know kinda silly but maybe we will carve one with Daddy this weekend.
So knowing what the pumpkins would look like if I just … anywho I had a game plan.

We did ANGRY BIRD PUMPKINS

K painted hers red and A did hers blue- obviously. K was happy about doing the red "mad bird" and A only does the color blue right now. Blue cups, plates, socks, crayons, bows, shirts oh and her favorite thing to do- tease her sister that her eyes are blue like Brothers and uncle Marks… and K's aren't. Oh it makes K SOO mad..

We were waiting for the paint to dry.. so we painted our fingernails- the best K calls it finger-noolish. Anyway so we painted away, and the girls decided they wanted a stamp on their fingers… well Mommy doesn't own a finger-noolish stamper. So we decided they would write to Santa, closer to Christmas, and ask for one.

K had a better idea, she suggested "Mommy lets build a kite, do a really really really long rope and maybe Santa will pick it up." Oh- where does she get these things?!?

Thanks Pintrest for the idea-  when you become a Pintrest Addict… you HAVE to actually do some of the pins- otherwise you really are wasting your time. (wink wink)

Being REPORTED

Ok.

Now that you see what happened..

I stopped at the police station yesterday to CLARIFY if it is illegal or just frowned upon.

The Constable said

"In High River there is no by-law stating we cannot leave a child unattended in a vehicle, SOME towns do have a by-law prohibiting leaving your children in the vehicle. 

HOWEVER if you are reported- the police do have to follow up…. regardless of the circumstances.

They also have to file each complaint in a Database and the follow up call with the suspect. 

To which I said/ almost yelled…. So if I get reported again then what? Because I find it safer to leave my children in the vehicle to pick up my other child from pre-school- rather then crossing 2 roads with a car seat and 2 children…And I know for a FACT I am not the only mother who leaves her children in the car for a few mins here and there!!

Then he goes… 

Oh of course not… I do it too.

Pause- at this point I felt like screaming "THEN WHY AM I IN THE STUPID DATA BASE FOR DOING IT"

He continues..

If you do get reported again, you will get another phone call and entered in the database a second time. If the police feel you are endangering your children they will call Social Services and you will get a visit. But once again it depends of the instance and what-not.

I say.

pretty much use your sound judgement and as good parent concerning these matters.

Constable…

Well if you do get reported numerous times, and the police feel that you are constantly and consistently - for long periods of time- leaving children unattended you might have a problem.

So..

From what I understand. 

Go ahead people leave your children in the car… it is not illegal, 

but hope to hell and back that some NOSEY, INTERFERING, CRANKY, HORRIBLE, MOTHER-OF-THE-YEAR-WANNABE person

doesn't report you. 

Ok People now what?

Do I leave my children in the van while I run in to pick up K? 

Do I ask the school if they have a policy against it?

Or do I bow to some interfering persons opinions and NEVER leave them alone again??

BTW: When I went into the Police Station I left my kids in the car.

-Added later-

Newspapers

How do you bake cookies, do apples, clean the kitchen and make dinner with 3 little children?

You let them play with newspapers. Lots of Newspapers.
First they carefully spread them all over the living room floor.

Then they smooshed them all into a pile, hide in the pile, then jump out and yell peek-a-boo at Brother Bear

These are those days

There's a calendar hanging in the kitchen,
Today I'm taking it down I'm tired of living
Like tomorrow can't get here fast enough
Took a while but I'm finally learning
To make the most of each moment I'm given
Instead of waiting on better days to come
No more wishing my life away


Chorus
These are those days,
This is my life,
The time is now to get things right
I won't look ahead,
I won't look back
I'm gonna live,
I'm gonna laugh
Well I won't let another second waste,
These are those days

Awesome song by Aaron Lines!

Making the most of Todays Moments…

• This morning we sang Book of Mormon Stories over 36 times while drying another batch of apple slices. K's Primary Presentation is coming up on Sunday and she is LOVING the actions in that song. In fact she keeps telling me she wants to get it right, especially the end part "in this land if we live right-eouc-ly."
• Putting Laundry away today, A was helping. Yes it took me twice as long to get it done, and she almost fell on brother twice, but she enjoyed "helping" every minute.
• Read stories while putting brother to sleeps works best if K holds the Book and turns the pages
• For Lunch A runs into the kitchen and pulls out the mustard and then to the cupboard for the toaster. She had toast with mustard and butter for lunch. Then spent a s-l-o-w 20 mins eating it…. enjoying every single bit
• The Brave Little Toaster was enjoyable for both girls
• Little Brother is learning to sit, he will sit for a few seconds with a toy.

Did you save your Carcass??

I figure it is time for another "In my Kitchen" post.

So I got that gluten free Cookbook a couple weeks ago and I am finally getting around to making something from the new cookbook!!

Meet the yummyness of Turkey and Wild Rice Soup.

Start by making your Turkey broth. Take your Turkey Carcass- ok I have to stop… can I say every time I think this word, write it or say it, my 9 year self, deep inside me, giggles uncontrollably. ok… back to the Turkey Carcass (pa ha ha ha). Chop up the Carcass, stick it in the crock pot and add whole onion, carrots, celery (I added a apple as well) and cover with 8 cups of water.
Turn your slow cooker on low for 8 hours and let sit.

*We actually but the carcass in the freezer after our Thanksgiving Dinner. We were so sick of Turkey that we waited a couple weeks before our next bird dinner.

After you have make your broth  pour through a strainer (catching the broth!!), pick out the veggies and bones…. chuck um away. Keep the meat and broth and add them back into the crock pot.

Insert Heather moment.. I totally tossed everything but the broth in the garbage can.. for a split second I got distracted by my Dr Pepper can on the counter, and the meat went bye bye.  Shoot. Dang it. Bummer. CRAP. Luckily I had some chopped up cooked Chicken in the fridge so I just added that.. 


Ok now to the actual soup part. Add into the meat broth: chopped carrots, onion, celery and 2/3 cup wild rice ( I used regular rice). Then 1tsp sage and 2 TBS Balsamic Vinegar and then the best part…. 2 big handfuls of Baby Spinach  . Oh ya… its alot. But it will cook down to yummy-ness.

So Thank you to Stephanie for trying 365 meals in a crock pot!

TURKEY Meat would have been nice… but you win some you lose some..


We really really really liked this meal, in fact we made a note- every time we cook a Turkey- this soup will be following..

Bow storage.

SO we got to the Bow Overload point.

The 11x13 frame was packed and even more were scattered through the bathroom/house!

So we rooted around the house looking for a alternate solution and wala!

And then on top off having copious amounts of bows.. I made more!! 

Today I don't feel like doing anything

Theme Song of the day:

Today I don't feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Dont feel like picking up my phone, So leave a message at the tone
'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything.

Pretty much sums it up.
Why do I feel that way…. cause I have been going nonstop regardless of what I feel!
Thats ok it keeps me chipper!
 here's just a few-

Cinnamon Pancakes...

Holy Smokes…

Stop making your regular pancakes right now.

No joke.

Why would you make regular when you can make- these?

Recipe Girl

I made them the other day for Dinner. We had the Missionaries over for dinner and did the whole Big Breakfast thing.

These were a huge huge hit.

* Although… hmmm funny little note… My mom and I were both making them and I started making the icing- melting the cream cheese and butter together- and Little Brother woke up and needed to feed, so Mom took over making the sauce. She thought I was done and I thought she was adding the icing sugar… well turns out the icing sugar never did get added to the icing.

But the Pancakes were sooo tasty (the icing just wasn't very sweet *it just tasted a little odd*)
But other then that… :)

Ohhh-mmmmm come to me and my plate of perfect Breakfastness.

BTW I did not use her pancake recipe- I just used the Costco Pancake mix and then used her general measurements for the Cinnamon Sugar mix and the Cream Cheese Icing sauce.

Kayben

Its Fall!

Our weekends are pretty much packed. Justin comes home Friday night late and we GO GO GO on Saturday. So when I was planning last weekend- I knew I wanted to do a corn maze or something of the like. 2009 we did the Corn Maze in South Calgary and it was good, just not very toddler/preschool friendly.

This year we did Kayben Farms and it was fabulous! It's north-east of Okotoks and has lots of things for the younger kids.

It was pretty busy, we parked in overflow parking… which means we got to ride the hay ride to the site!! It was a good thing too- one less line-up to wait in!

 BTW- I am not the only one to every done it… but it is SOO frustrating charging your camera batteries then leaving them at home!! So we get to remember our day with iphotos!

They had this huge air trampoline thing, it was like a tarp stretched and blown up with air. The girls loved it, it was a little too bouncy for the girls to stand for long with out help…

A huge orange tent with balls inside to play with.

The pumpkin patch were we had a slight minor meltdown… the girls wanted to paint the pumpkins but Mom and Dad tried to convince them we wanted to carve um'.

Peddle carts were great…. Daddy was super kind and pushed the girls up the hill then ran down the hill-  leaning over in the awkward position trying to help steer without running into the bushes and making the girls feel like they were doing it themselves.. fun times.

The super large ship/jungle gum thing… of witch A wouldn't go without help. Thats ok, the day will come when she doesn't want to be carried or held or hold my hand cause she's scared. It can be frustrating at times but she is sooo cute.

As always little A was terrified of the animals… shocker eh?

Good day with the kids… although sometimes they make Justin and I feel like this.

Point of View

True Story- told by Mario the Security Officer.


Hi, I'm Mario. I am a simple guy, all about the ladies, fast cars and action. I like to chat up the Ladies, lift things up and put them down and drink Budweiser with my buddies watching a ruff and tuff sports game.
In my spare time I work as a Security Officer paroling South Center Commons in Calgary. I'm always on the look out for a little suspense and action, although what happened last night around 11:30 p.m. wasn't exactly what I had in mind.


There I was, doing my normal rounds, I had just checked on Ikea and was rounding the corner to check on The Gap outlet store and Michaels, and thats where I saw the car. 


A white car, black tinted windows left running with its lights on… but no one in sight. 


Hmmm… I quickly flipped my lights on and spun into a stall beside it. Flicked on my flashlight and looked in the passenger front window. Nothing.


I am reaching for my radio as I notice a figure crawling over the drivers seat from the back. The figure is struggling with their shirt.


I tense.


The passenger door opens and my ears are assaulted with the sound of a screaming infant, and out stumbles, almost falls and younger woman, looking frazzled and exhausted. 


"Um, Hi.. Sorry. I am just nursing my baby, and the child locks are on the back door - so I couldn't get out…. sorry.. But I'm almost done." She turns around and gets quickly back into the car.


Oh…… awkward silence.


"Ok then Miss. Good night" I can feel my checks grow warm as I realize how silly I looked flashing my light in her car and flipping around like a lunatic into the stall next to her. 
On top of it all she said "nursing"-how embarrassing.


I drive slowly away to continue my rounds.

Cast

Security Officer Mario…….. Security Officer name unknown

White Car…….. Grandpa Drew's Car

Screaming Infant……. Little Brother

Younger Woman……… Me, Heather

Yup true story.

I've been driving to pick up Justin from Edmonton abut 3 or 4 times now… and this incident takes the cake.

Are you Asleep?

Am I the only parent that teases their kids for enjoyment??

On other note:
Sometimes you just have to F.I.N.D. the humor in situations.
A is potty trained- for the most part. She is still have accidents sometimes, but she is wearing panties during nap time. Today she pooped in her panties during her nap… Mommy was a little annoyed but- while I was bathing her… I gave her a little bar of soap to clean with while I did the clothing… Next thing I hear her screaming- I go in(from the washing machine) and she is SCREAMING in frustration: she cant catch the little bar of soap in the water… it was too small and kept getting away from her tiny hands.
Oh that brought a smile to my face...

Preschool

So we missed the ball…

School starts in September- but due to circumstances K is starting October 13.
And she is SOOO excited!!

I can't believe I have a child in Preschool!

She is attending Spitz Elementary School in Mrs. Herr's class. Monday, Wednesday,  and Thursday afternoons from 12:15 to 3:15.

I took her into class today, helped her hang up her backpack, put her indoor shoes on and talk to her teacher.- then I got in the Van and cried all the way home.

Reason we dropped the ball: well the shortish version. In Raymond cut off is September 1st, her Birthday is September 21… and I was not worried at all. I was super busy, play dates, parent preschool, family, busy calling, just busy in general. K would be fine waiting another year, then we moved to High River, we became- not so busy. Little Miss became something she has never been- extremely constantly bored. So we considered enrolling her in Preschool and it ended there- Mommy wasn't quite ready. Then I had a friend step in and check if her child's Preschool class had a opening… and they did. So, no thanks to me, she started Preschool this year- just a little late.

I love you K and I know this will be the best thing for you right now.

Thank you's

Went to the passport office Wednesday morning-

Thank you to the security officer for helping K out of the bathroom- the door was soo heavy.


Thank you to the middle aged gentleman for stopping A from walking out of the passport office, as I was running with Brother trying to catch her.

Thank you to the women sitting behind us for being overly kind even after having a chair shoved repeatedly into her knees.

Thank you to the other women sitting beside us who let A wash her chair with a wet wipe 3 times.

Thank you to the man behind the counter who spoke loud enough for me to hear him over my screaming 4 month old.

Thank you to the second registry office taking my photo for listening to me tell K 35 times to give crying Brother his soother.

Thank you to the lady behind the counter (second time) for taking pity on me and accepting my 2 photo even when she should have sent me back for a third time.

Neil L Anderson

Thank you to other security officer who asked if all three were mine and then told me how adorable they were and fantastic I was for such a huge undertaking.


Life is good.

Thanksgiving

I know it would be really nice to start this post with a list of things to be Thankful for this year…. but I'm not really the mushy type- at least not today.But I do want to say I am very grateful for the supportive people in my life.

We had a great weekend.. a weekend to full and busy for me to remember to take any pictures.

Crap..

We celebrated with the Moxley's on Saturday and had a great time seeing cousins!
Monday was the Chipman celebration with a 30lb. turkey.

I did get a few photos (on my phone), photos of Brother Bear being scared by his 1-week-younger-girl cousin.

Right after the last photo Brother burst into this panicked/scared crying fit. Poor little Brother.
Scared by a women… I can only say it will not be the last time.

New Christmas Countdown

Last year the girls had a blast doing the Christmas Countdown.
So of course we must do it again!

Just slightly different…
Maw ha ha ha
er.

All year I have been collecting Christmas books- we are going to open 1 a day (starting December 1 until Christmas eve), read it then do a Christmas craft/baking/project or outing!

Shhh… They are hiding in the storage room!!  I have got 17 books… i only need 7 more!

Any suggestions for a Book Title or over the top fantastic craft?

This is going to be great.
Boo ya!

Minis

Daddy is home for 4 whole days!
YEAH!!!

A much needed break from our not-so-perfect life of stress!

We kicked off our first day with erronds, potty troubles, fake teeth and Mini Pumpkins!