Busy day

We went to Bruce's IATSE x-mas party on Grouse Mountain. (yes - Bruce is doing Mo-November!). Saw Santa. Braved a packed tram ride up the mountain then down again. Interestingly, I learned that Grouse will be open 24 hours a day during the Olympics so if you want to fight the bridge traffic, it'll be open (unlike Science World which will be closed all of Jan and Feb).

Then off to birthday party at Go Bananas! in Capilano Mall. DQ Ice cream cake. (Note: Hazel picked out that shirt to wear).

Exhausting but fun day.

Veggie plate

I could hardly contain the joy I felt inside, when Coco requested a "vegetable plate" in her bedroom. Then she wanted to listen to the Christmas music CD we took out of the library. THEN she invited Hazel to lay in bed with her to eat vegetables and listen to "Frosty the Snowman".

It was an amazing moment in my parenting life.

CHAOS

I have no idea why I feel the need to blog about my messy, chaotic house?! Sometimes it gets insanely messy. The worst is when I am so tired at the end of the day, that I can't be bothered to put away a few toys. Then the next days toys get dumped on the previous days toys. Here are a few photos from two days worth of play... then the Christmas decorations came out...

Pumpkin

We cut up our pumpkin, boiled it, then made this tastey loaf. It was time consuming. Thankfully I had helpers with the clean up. We are trying a Rachel Ray recipe for "Pumpkin Penne" (Thanks Ping!) next. But I'll probably stick to canned pumpkin after that.

Aquarium

Words can not express my love for the Vancouver Aquarium. It is a truly wonderful experience for children.

RAIN! RAIN! RAIN!

If I see one more Vancouverite wearing a Lululemon rain coat, I am going to buy shares in the company. Seriously. And I believe they are breaking into the tween market with a yoga store on 4th where Oquoquo used to be. Unfortunately most of the stuff is made in China.

Hazel says "Rain, rain,go away".

Coco says "Rain, rain, only come in the night time".

Lucky says "Where are all my friends who called to walk me at the beach on hot, sunny days. The beach is still fun on rainy days -unless you're toting 1 whiny 4 year old".

I say "Would someone please invent the self-cleaning gutter!" I'll have to talk to Bob across the street. He's a semi-retired engineer and might be up to the challenge.

Always exciting...

It is always exciting when a new store opens on Broadway or in the vicinity. We now have a No Frills (4th and Alma) and a Save-On_foods (16th at UBC). It has a hot food area. It is a bit of a drive (8 kms) but little traffic. I am so driving there another day for the ribs.

Hazel likes to say "Look at that".

Coco said "Mom, quit talking in that agitated voice". I am guilty of talking in a different voice when I really want to YELL at the kids to do something. Bravo to Coco for that big word.

Saw "Coco Avant Chanel". Great movie!

Ate a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked today - it was so good - but that is not what I am blogging about. I am raving about a child's art crayon called Djeco Pastel Gels. Love them Just discovered you can use water with them. Check out our art today...

New eating/craft area

Bruce built us this great bar height table. I just need to figure out a way to incorporate some storage.

rainy days

It is a bit of work getting the kids out for a walk every day - rain or shine - but it is worth it. Here are a few pics of us, braving the rain, to take Lucky for her walk.

Working on a poster to post to give Lippy, the cat away. I have 2 places to post it so far.

ADOPT ME... please.

Hello there. My name's Lippy and I'm a super sweet cat. Wanna adopt me? I'm a perfectly healthy fourteen year old cat. The thing is... things aren't working out in my current living situation. These small children chase me into corners and hug me too tightly. Don't even get me started on the big black dog. Let's just say the dog and I are not friends. She was here first. I only moved in because my person met this other person, fell in love and well, you know the rest of the story. Don't even get me started on babies.

What I'm looking for... quiet house or apartment. green space optional.

Let's talk... insert cel# here.

Did I mention I'm vaccinated and fixed and in perfectly good shape.

Save me from the children and dog, please. I'll bring heaps of joy to your life.

that day

Coco asked, "Is tomorrow that day people stay at home and don't know what to do?"

She was asking about Sunday.

Office clean up

When I can tear myself away from facebook, I am planning to clean my home office. Will post pics soon. It has seriously become a dumping ground for everything that won't fit in my 750 square feet main floor of house.

ACK ATTACK

Last night Hazel woke up at 3:30 am screaming "ack, ack". I suggested she go back to sleep. She continued demand "ack, ack, ack". This is Hazel's way of saying "snack" but she can't pronounce the "s" so well.

I got up and brought her some milk and stringy cheese. She ate and drank and then went back to sleep. She didn't wake up until 7:30 am which is great for her.

The previous night she awoke at 5:00 am.

Was talking to a friend and she said her whole day is focused on "filling them up and tiring them out". It is so true.

Come to think of it, Lucky may have eaten Hazel's arrow root cookie snack the night before the "ack" attack.

On a completely different note, Coco won't sleep in her room again because she is scared of owls.

this week...

so far this week has been pretty productive with checking items off the "list"...
1) washing machine finally got fixed!
2) tenants said they would stay until january
3) engergy audit scheduled for tomorrow
4) discovered that i could use magical powers to turn the CD player off. coco has been totally absorbed in a book on cd about cattle rustlers. she wouldn't get ready to go to gymnastics so i turned the power bar off. she thinks it is broken. tricky, i know but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. will have to rethink when she learns about electricity.
5) almost ready to book cuba after much research.

hope you had a good week too!

It is official...

I've become one of those bloggers. A fireworks show perhaps... I started with a bang and now. Nothing. Nada. I think about posts but then at the end of the day, I don't set aside the time to write them.

Here is what has been happening in my life lately...

1. My washing machine broke down and is waiting for a new part. This is a brand new machine under warranty. Bad luck I guess.

2. Fireplace needed a new thermastat. Apparently they only last 5 - 10 years.

3. Bruce is working LONG hours on some absurd movie called the A Team. We are lucky to see him 1 day a week.

4. The cat is half living outside and half living in the basement room. Does anyone want a cat? Seriously I want to find a new home for the cat.

5. I am half way through a painting class at Emily Carr. My 4 hours of "me" time every week.

6. Kids activities are going well. Skating, Art, Spanish, Gymnastics, Lyceum.

7. Lucky is well, Lucky. She gets us out of the house, rain or shine.

8. Wondering about a trip to someplace warm in Jan or Feb. At any rate, the house is rented out for 10 days over the Olympics so we have to go away for that portion.

9. About to start looking for a new basement tenant as the people are going to France. It is a lovely 1 bedroom near ish to UBC.

10. Got to run and get the kids ready for bedtime. Goodnight.

new bed

We got a great bed from Ikea for Coco's room. It has under bed storage and pulls out to make another single bed. Thanks mom! Bruce braved Ikea on a Sat to pivk it up and spent countless hours assembling it today. Three cheers for Bruce!

Whistler weekend

We had a super weekend at the Whistler Children's Art Festival. Unfortunately Bruce had to work... last minute schedule change. The girls and I stayed with friends and did the festival both Sat and Sun. Saw Charlotte Diamond. Coco was on stage shaking a maraca. Did many crafts and saw a wonderful circus act.

Also went swimming. Whistler has a wonderful pool. And to an outdoor water park. Again amazing.

It was a hot weekend.

Love love love the UBC Farmer's market

Every Saturday. It is like going to the country except it is only a 7 minute drive away. Seriously. We don't really even buy much. We see the chickens. We walk around. We eat bread and jam then go home. You can see from the pictures that it really is gorgeous. Here's the link.

Outdoor finger/feet painting... the best :-)

Another beautiful sunny Vancouver day. Set the girls up in the backyard with some finger painting which ended up being feet painting. See our tent in the background? 

Clean up was fun too when I filled the kitchen sinks with water. They loved the novelty.

I remember when Coco was a baby I always put her in the sink but I don't do that so much with Hazel.

Happy sunny summer to everyone out there.

I can't take it anymore!

Stop making such a mess guys. It is super annoying.