Weekend Report

Claire opening her pre xmas gift from great grandma

Friday the girls and I hung out at home doing our normal routine.  We went to Kyle's grandma's for dinner to celebrate Kyle's mom's birthday.  We ordered Chinese food from our favourite place, Wok House, on McGregor.  Everything was delicious as usual.  Kyle's grandma picked up a yummy banana Jeanne's Cake.   Claire was so happy to sing grandma Happy Birthday and blow out the candles with her.  She was also excited to give grandma her birthday gift.  Claire put her crafting skills to good use by making grandma a colourful birthday card with pretty paper and markers.  Kyle's grandma bought each of the girls a thoughtful early Christmas gift, xmas pjs, an xmas chocolate calendar and stickers.  Claire wanted to use the stickers right away.  It was a fun evening hanging out with everyone and the girls loved playing with their cousins Evan and Emily. 

Everyone colouring together

Claire learning how to use a stencil and Abby is about to eat paper

Singing Happy Birthday to Grandma

Saturday was a busy day.  My parents came over around 9 am to help us move and pack more things in the POD.  My mom and I got things packed up in the kitchen while my dad and Kyle took apart our bed frame  They put the bed frame and Claire's dresser in the POD.  We spent all morning packing and organizing.  I find it takes twice as long as you think to pack up things in the house.  It's tricky trying to fit odd shaped things into boxes and making sure you've used up all the space that you can in a box but at the same time not making it too heavy.  My dad and I went to pick up pitas for lunch.  Erica came at lunch time to pick up Claire for a sleepover.  Erica and Derrick were looking forward to having Claire over.  For the rest of the day Kyle and I packed up the rest of the girls bedrooms.  We were able to get lots of stuff packed and ready to go.  

Lots to pack

Only a few empty boxes left

Sunday morning Kyle and I finished packing up our bedroom.  We used our suitcases to pack up clothes.  We left our clothes in the closet on the hangers and then put garbage bags over the clothes.  Then when we get into the new house we can just hang them back up and remove the garbage bags.  After I ate lunch Abby and I drove to my parents place.  Kyle headed off to the Jets game later on in the afternoon.  I feed Abby lunch there and set up her stuff for a nap at their house.  She went down for a nap so well, she cried for 5 minutes and slept for over 2 hours.  I was invited to a baby shower, so after putting Abby down for her nap I drove to the shower in Charleswood.  It was nice to get out and see my friends.  There were delicious snacks at the shower, including a yummy chocolate peanut butter square.  I love anything with chocolate and peanut butter!  On the way back to my parents I decided to take a peek at the house since it was on the way.  I wasn't able to get the key to go inside but I looked through the windows to see the front entrance tile was laid.  I was also able to see the temporary garage door that was on.  The scratch coat was complete on the outside of the house.  I'm getting excited to see it all complete and when we can move in officially on December 5th.  

I love it!

My friend Erica had sent me a 50% off coupon for The Gap.  I have been wanting to buy Claire a new winter jacket, the Prima Puff.  It's warm without the puff.  It will be great for the carseat because it will be easy to strap her in.  Plus it's super cute!  I took Claire to the Gap in St. Vital mall to have her try it on to determine what size she needed.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the exact one I wanted in size 3.  Instead I bought a long sleeve grey t-shirt and a pair of blue and white floral shorts for Claire and got both for only $7.  I decided to take Claire to Santa's Village in the mall.  I wanted Claire to get use to the idea of us going to see Santa soon for pictures.  She was more interested in seeing the reindeer.  Later in the evening I ordered the jacket online using the 50% coupon.  What an amazing deal!  My dad made a delicious dinner, sweet and sour ribs, rice and salad.  My grandma was able to come to my parents place for dinner, she always enjoys visiting the girls.  It was a fantastic way to end the weekend! 

Claire saying hello to the reindeer

Great Grandma and Abby

Grandma making music with Claire

Claire was excited to see the Christmas tree all decorated

Interview with Claire

Just for fun I did a little interview with Claire, my 2 1/2 year old daughter. 

I would often do interviews with my students in class to complete one on one assessment or just to get to know them better.  

I loved listening to Claire's honest answers.  She made me giggle!

Here is my interview with Claire…

What is your first name?   Claire

What is you last name? I don't know

When is your birthday?  October 14th... oh April 17th (I said twenty…) then she said 25th

What is your favourite colour? red

What is your favourite breakfast food? eggs and toast

What is your favourite dinner food? pasta

What is your favourite toy to play with? soccer ball

What is your favourite book to read? 10 Trick or Treaters

Playing with Abby's table

Hanging out with daddy

Abby and Claire before bed

Who is your best friend? Mommy (she may have been bias because of the interviewer)

What is your favourite outfit to wear?  clothes, socks, t-shirt and pants

What is your favourite holiday? Trick or treating 

Where would you like to go on a trip? Vancouver

What is your favourite animal? Kangaroo

What is your favourite song? ABC's

What does love mean?  say sorry that's what it means

What is your sister's name? Abby 

What do you love about Abby? Abby plays with me

What is your dogs name? Makena

What do you love about Makena? Makena does tricks

What do you love about Daddy? Daddy does puzzles with me and he's a great team with me

What do you love about Mommy? Mommy plays with me too

What do you want to be when you get older? I'm going skating when I'm four

And when I'm six I go to my birthday

What do you want to be when you're an adult? be careful (not sure what she means, but it was cute)

Playing her Halloween matching game

Having a snack

Ready for winter

November Weekend

Celebrating Erica's 25th Birthday!!

Thursday Kyle stayed home from work.  He arrived home Wednesday night from Niagara Falls.  Kyle and Claire made waffles together, whole wheat pecan waffles.  Delicious!!  Once Abby woke up we had to get the girls passport photos taken, so we headed to Walmart.  Abby was not co-operating for her photo, she kept sticking her togue out or would have her mouth open.  She must have taken 20 photos before one worked.  Claire did great, she usually doesn't smile for photos so that worked perfect.  I headed to the house to meet the rep for Hunter Douglas to go over possible window treatments while the girls went down for their afternoon naps.  The Hunter Douglas rep measured all the windows and showed me different colours in the Duette blinds.  I chose a grey/brown for the main floor and a white/beige for the second floor.  All the bedrooms will have black out blinds so I won't have to put garbage bags over the girls windows, lol! I also met with Maric's carpenter who designs and builds all of their closet organizers.  I went over what we would like in our walk in closet, mudroom, front hall closet and girls bedrooms.  He is going to forward the sketches to me later this week of what he comes up with, I'm excited to see what they look like.

The colour of blinds for the main floor

Our kitchen cabinets

The mudroom

 Kyle and I were able to go for a date night Thursday, Yay!!!  We were able to get my sister and mom to babysit the girls.  Kyle and I went out for dinner, we made reservations at Peasant Cookery in the Exchange.  We had heard about it from friends but had never gone before, it was great!  The atmosphere was romantic with dark lighting and glowing candle light.  We ate their warm beet salad, I had the Berkshire pork with mac and cheese and Kyle had the age cheddar gnocchi.  Everything was fabulous!  I will also tell you I treated myself to a nice glass of white wine, since I wouldn't need to feed Abby until 1:30 am I thought why not! 

We quickly walked over to the MTS Centre, we were going to watch the Jets vs. the Pittsburg Penguins.  I always enjoy going to see the Jets but I love any excuse to see Sidney Crosby play hockey, he is talented hockey player.  The Jets lost in a shoot out to Pittsburg but it was an intense game and so much fun to watch.  Overall, it was a nice date night and I can't wait to do it again.

Opening face off

Crosby scoring the winning shoot out goal

Friday was fun, my friends Angela and Erica came over with their little girls for a play date.  Claire loved to talk to both Lily and Allegra.  It's always great getting together with the girls to chat and catch up on everything.  After the girls went down for their naps I was able to get a workout in on the treadmill and do some strength training as well.  I got a good sweat on!  Once the girls woke up they played while I was able to get dinner ready.  I made marinated chicken drumsticks with mexican quinoa.  After dinner we Face-timed with Keith and Elena from Vancouver.  They had their first baby, Alicia on Oct 23 so it was the first time we were able to meet her.  She's a cutie!  We can't wait to meet up with them in Hawaii in January.  

Saturday was a quiet day for us.  We didn't make a lot of plans just so we could enjoy time together as a family.  Kyle wanted to take Claire and Makena to the dog park in the morning while Abby was napping.  I stayed home and put laundry away and went through my clothes to get rid of things I didn't need before we have to move.  After lunch Kyle's dad and brother and my dad were coming at 12:30 to help move all the patio furniture and play house to the new house.  They were going to store all of it in the new shed that was built attached to the house in the back.  I got more cleaning and organizing done around the house while the girls were sleeping.

Packing up Claire's clothes and shoes

Yesterday Kyle took Claire out to Stonewall to watch Evan play hockey.  I stayed back with Abby so she could have her morning nap.  We were having my family over for dinner to celebrate my sister's birthday.  Kyle prepped lasagna for dinner once the girls went down for their naps.  Dinner was delicious!  My parents brought a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for my sister's birthday cake.  Claire kept saying "Let's Party!"  She was excited to sing Happy Birthday to Erica and blow out the candles.

Make a wish!

Gorgeous smile and crazy hair!

Everyone enjoying their cake!

Claire helping open Erica's gifts

Erica opening Claire's homemade card

The many faces of Abby

Halloween

Halloween is one of my favourite celebrations other than Christmas.  I love the colours orange and black, candy, chocolate, pumpkins and costumes.  I loved trick or treating as a kid and now I love to watch all the little ones come to the door in their costumes. 

To celebrate Halloween Claire and I made some white chocolate Halloween bark.  I found the idea on Pinterest.  It's fun and super easy to make.  After it was done cooling in the freezer we broke into pieces and packaged it in cute halloween bags for her friends.  We headed to a friends house for a play date with all of Claire little friends.  We dressed up the kiddies and tried to take everyone's photo together.  It was a lot harder than we thought to get all six in a photo together.  

Claire making the tags for the Halloween treats

Abby and Henry (Superman)

Abby (skunk), Lily (strawberry), Allegra (Snow White)

After the girls woke up from their naps we carved two little pumpkins we bought from the pumpkin patch.  I bought a carving set from Walmart with two knives, a scoop, marker and stencils.  It was the best $6 I spent, the knives work so well to easily make the right shapes and spare your fingers.  Claire loved using the big scoop to take out all the pumpkin guts and seeds.  As I carved the pumpkin she stirred the seeds in the bowl saying she was making soup.  I'm a bad mom and didn't take any photos of our finished pumpkins or any during the actually carving part.  We had fun making our pumpkins into a bat and cat (even though Kyle was questioning weather it was a cat) 

In the morning I had put a whole chicken into the slow cooker to cook all day with potatoes, onions and garlic.  This way at dinner time we could have a quick supper before going out to trick or treat with the girls.  We ate fairly early, around 5.  Kyle arrived home early at 4:45, so that was really nice.  I also made a side dish from Pinterest I now love, parmesan zucchini with corn.  It's delicious! 

Selfie with mommy

Kyle took both girls out trick or treating.  We got them bundled up with their costumes and warm gear underneath.  Abby dressed up as a skunk.  Claire was a pink princess.  Kyle dressed up as Waldo from Where's Waldo?  I dressed up as a witch.  (It's fitting right?)  We also dressed Makena up in a cute costume I found at Target, Rufferee.  Kyle took the girls to one of the bays on our street and they got lots of candy.  He said they loved it.  Claire had been practicing her halloween chant, "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something go to eat."  We taught her that one.  Claire got scared once when a guy dressed up as the Joker answered the door and she started to cry.  He apologized and had his wife give Claire candy instead.  

Getting ready to go out trick or treating

Excited or what?!?

Makena as a Rufferee

Greyson (Blue Monster) and Claire

I stayed back at the house and handed out candy.  I love seeing all the little ones in their costumes.  I also take tally every year of how many kids we get (it's the teacher in me). Last year we had 235 kids and this year we had 294.  I guess there are a lot of young families that live in our neighbourhood now.  I'm glad I went out and bought extra candy because we would have ran out with the two boxes we had from Costco.  I'm also generous because I like to give each kid two candies, one candy and one chocolate bar.  The girls then went to Kyle's grandma's to show her their costumes.  She spoiled them with gifts. 

The girls slept really well that night.  They were pooped.  I saved some of Claire's candy for her but then quickly gave the rest away so it wasn't calling to me from inside the pantry over the weekend.  I have no will power when it comes to candy or chocolate.