Valentine's Day

Valentines...

Courtesy of Pixar and friends, via the local Dollar Store.

All of my Pinterest street cred is revoked, I know.

At Home

I have come down with the Norwalk virus.  When asked yesterday how I knew what it was, well, I answered that some things you just know.  You 'just know' that the pregnancy test is going to be positive.  You 'just know' you didn't put enough yeast in that bread.  You 'just know' you aren't going to get that job.  And frankly, you 'just know' that you have the Norwalk virus.  The signs are, um, fairly hard to miss.

Anyway, because of this, I've turned into the world's laziest person.  I'm feeding the children cookies as a meal option.  And I'm being as contrary as I can be - my morning included a hot bath in a dark bathroom with the window wide open to let the cold air in, which was my solution to feeling both hot and cold at the same time.  Strangely, it worked well.

So, in the spirit of random contrariness, welcome to everything I've been thinking about while cloistered in the bathroom or groaning in pain in bed since yesterday afternoon.

I finally managed to get a decent picture of Caterpillar.  He lived a short life with us, sadly.  I'm not sure what happened at the end but he had clearly lost the use of a few legs and when I went to check on him next he had passed away.  So, thus ends our experience with attempting to rescue a February caterpillar.

Samuel and I spent some time this week working with buttons.  Sorting them into piles, arranging them by colour, etc.  He loved it, and it's an activity I'll definately pull out again.  The only problem is that he can only play with them when Clara isn't awake.

In other news, we're 'growing' carrot tops in our kitchen.

And Samuel and David's birdhouse, which they have carefully nailed and glued together using a kit we purchased (their very first father and son woodworking project) has been painted.  All that's left is attaching the chain to hang it by and filling with seed.

Last week's big exciting task was this ^ one.  Shampooing the carpets.  Well, actually all I managed was our bedroom, the hallway upstairs and a quick run over the livingroom.  But all the weird 'diaper changes that didn't go as planned' and cat vomit and blue freezie marks are no more.  This makes me feel like such a productive housekeeper.

Random Wintery Pictures...



Clara and Samuel on the way home from church.



Playing with the fish eye effect on my camera.

I had a horrific nightmare last night that I somehow felt I needed to get a job, and so I got one at Sears.  And halfway through the first day I realized I didn't want to work at Sears, and then went through a crisis about whether or not to quit.  I'd tell you more but it doesn't get much more interesting than that.  Although there were bad guys.

Somehow that nightmare has worried me all day.  Other things I've worried about included:  I can't find my mailbox key.  Samuel threw up last night and maybe he's getting sick.  I don't spend enough quality time with my children.  I haven't washed my hair in two days and people are going to start to tell soon.  Maybe I should go back to school.  The compost bin that has frozen solid instead of decomposing like the composting website said it would.  There are tire tracks and footprints outside my house that must have happened since I got up but no one knocked on my door - who was it?

I think the worrying has to do with my plummeting blood sugar levels.  I get dizzy when I turn my head to look at something.  My mother's helper is coming tonight and I am going to get her to play with Clara upstairs while I take Samuel to the basement and do some laundry.  We can talk and I'll feel better about having spent quality time with him while in the coolest part of the house so my body stops feeling like it's on fire.  And my helper and Clara love each other so they'll be fine upstairs.  Plus the excessive vomit laundry will be kept at a dull roar, so that's good.

What I Wore Sunday

Not the mostest flattering of photos, but with the day we had, there was no room for retakes.  Let's just say that if Samuel was graded on church and small group performace, he would have recieved a big fat F.

So I'll give you a description of what we're wearing, since, you know, you can't really see.

Clara is wearing a cute little red fleece dress (that! is! an! 18! month! size!) that I bought at the thrift store for around $1, black and white polka dot leggings that were hand me downs from a friend, and a pair of Robeez with tulips on them; a $2 find on the local buy 'n sell site.

Samuel is wearing a blue and red striped shirt - also a hand me down, and a pair of beige cords that I think I picked up at a second hand store quite some time ago.

And me.  I have on black dress pants, a dark green sweater and a white tank top, all second hand.  And a string of freshwater pearls, a gift from my father when I was 12.

After Preschool Cookies

If you have small cookie-hungry children in the house, you're going to want to take note of this recipe, because it's going to save your behind many times at around 4pm, just before supper, when hungry bellies are gurgling and the toddlers are set on perma-whine.

Here you go:  Gluten free, refined sugar free, grain free and dairy free (but not, by any means, flavour free) After Preschool Cookies.

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup grated unsweetened coconut
1 egg

Steam your sweet potato cubes until nice and soft.  Then drain the water from your steaming pot and place it back on the burner with the heat turned off.  Mash the sweet potatoes in the hot pot until nice and fluffy.  I used a hand mixture for this. The extra heat helps get rid of moisture and 'dry out' the potatoes.  You don't want a wet cookie.

Mix potatoes together with spices, raisins and coconut until well blended.  Beat in egg at the end.  Spoon by 1 Tbsp amounts onto a greased cookie sheet and bake 5-10 minutes (the bottoms should be brown, but not dark) in a 350 F oven.

Note:  The cookies won't rise or flatten in the oven, so make sure your batter is in the shape you want your cookies to end up in.  I flatten my cookies slightly.



I don't know why the raisins show up as green, because they are not.  :-)  My camera is clearly not all that functional.



What I Wore Sunday

Back and bettah than evah.

Alrighty then, here's the gang (minus the husband - who was actually home this Sunday!  Hallelujah, praise the Lord can I get a big Amen from the crowd?)

And he took the photos, too, so my camera isn't balanced precariously on the upstairs steps and all of us squooshed into a corner.  Today, I give you my front door, and three happy church-goers.

The babes are wearing clothes, which are from...somewhere.  Anyway.

I am wearing something I threw together at the last moment, which annoyed me to no end since I had actually picked out a Sunday outfit last Monday!  And then forgot what it was!  And then spent time I didn't have to spend trying on stuff this morning and annoying my husband with questions like "Ok, seriously, this necklace or THIS necklace?" 

Blah blah.  Here yous go:

Sweater:  Beautiful cashmere/wool turtleneck that I adore and I think came from my grandmother.
Skirt:  Thrift store.
Tights:  You can't see them.  They're black.  From Walmart.
Necklace:  Sterling silver cross from my aunt.

Go check out the other well-dressed ladies.

Caterpillar

Please welcome the newest addition to our family.

Caterpillar the Caterpillar (we're very keen on original names).

We found him on the way home from the grocery store.  Considering he's a fully grown very much alive caterpillar on February 1st in bitterly cold New Brunswick weather (and the two drops from a great height he survived on the trip home) I'd say he has a good chance of survival in his nice and cozy spaghetti sauce jar.

Samuel, needless to say, is absolutely riveted.

I, on the other hand, have spent the past hour trying to talk myself down off the ledge of "what if this caterpillar is some kind of rare TOXIC caterpillar that is going to excrete toxins onto all of us and especially me of course.  And then somehow I will absorb the toxins and pass them to Clara when she's nursing and she'll die.  And I'll die, which goes without saying, but first I will break out in a horrific rash and go to the hospital in anaphylactic shock and no one will be able to figure out what is causing it because WHO EXPECTS A TOXIC CATERPILLAR IN FEBRUARY??"

Homeschool Preschool Weekly Wrap Up

I promised more pictures this week, and here you go.

Media

We watched some educational videos this week, which I'd like to share with you in case you also need your child to stop clinging to you and go sit on the sofa for 15 minutes oh my gosh I can't breathe.

First up:

Terrible, terrible cover aside, this is a great movie.  It was filmed in 1996, but despite this the cinematography is breath taking.  A close up look at the world of insects set to a very very minimal dialogue and some classical music.  Samuel was riveted.

Next:

So, I haven't seen anything else in the Disney nature series, but this one was certainly a hit with Samuel.  He asked 'what's that?' dozens of times.  The visuals were amazing.

Service Projects

On Wednesday we snuck over to an elderly neighbour's house and sanded her steps and walkway without her knowing.  Although I knew Samuel's idea of 'spreading the sand' consisted of little piles, I still tried to let him do a lot of it in hopes that he would be involved more in the project.  We really need to do more of these service-type activities.


Other notes

Samuel missed both days of preschool this past week.  The first time because of a scheduling conflict with my weekly Bible study and the second because of our never-ending illness.  On the other hand, I have finally made contact with a homeschooling group in town!  They have gym nights once a week, host parties and meet ups and do field trips together.  I'm really excited to get added to their email list and try and get some more outings into our schedule.

We're also making some headway in the potty learning department again.  Oh, please let this be it.