Zabava!

To all who read this Meagre blog: You are invited to our end of the year dancing celebration on Saturday May 8! Abby is very excited, because it means she will not have to wear the squeezy headband, and Mina also gets to dance and "dress like a flower".

On an aside note, would it be improper if I had the bishop announce once and for all in sacrament meeting that: "No, Sister Nixon is not pregnant. She has merely gained 6 pounds, which puts her at a much healthier weight than her previous all time high of 98. So go and concentrate on your own extra 50 or so and mind your own freaking business. Let us pray."

What we did for Easter.

Hi all. I can't figure out how to arrange pictures in the right order with text... That is the cake, of delicious raspberry goodness that P and I made for Easter desert. It was V. yummy! (Patience, I stole that "V" thing from you. I hope you don't mind.)
Here is Abby, getting her make up done. Very fancy. Nothing makes this girl happier than some girl time with an Auntie.
Here are the girls, and their surrogate parents for the weekend at the zoo. Abby was not interested in having her picture taken at this time. And, I should have cropped out that stranger. oh well.

We had a very fun time visiting P and D over Easter. The egg hunt in the apartment was really fun, Mina was so excited about finding eggs in her shoes! Thank you for having us! The girls are amassing a feather collection to tickle Uncle Dan with for next time....

Guest Blogger!

Introducing my new guest blogger! Here is the very first post by Abigael! Mar. 21 2010

Hi! I just cut my hair. I get to go to my friend's birthday party!It's at Lets Play.

Well, thank you Abigael, for joining Meagre Offerings today. How fancy of me to have a Guest Bloger! Mina is a bit to young to blog as of yet. If she could, she would write: " I'm hungry. But I don't like any of the things you are suggesting to eat. All I want is a peanut butter and jam sandwich. I'm a robot."

Tuesday's Trials

Well, it is Tuesday. A terrific day to :

• be attacked by your babysitter's dog. (I am okay, other than being bruised and sore.) But he tore a hole in my NEW FAVOURITE hoodie. And now I am rather terrified of him. My new babysitter starts in April! YAY! (decision unrelated to dog incident).
  
• discover that someone tried to break in to my car. Silver lining, the damage is not big, I think someone came by while the jerk was getting started. So I might become the next annoying person with a sensitive car alarm that goes off every time someone walks by. Sorry. Jerks.
• finish antibiotics. Discover that at least part of my ear/sinus/head infection must not be bacterial because my head still feels like there is a wrecking ball swinging back and forth inside of it. Although my ear does feel better, and the roof of my mouth is no longer numb.
  

Ponder excess weight.
PROS

• My cups overfloweth. Rather nicely I must say. Keith agrees.
• It is much healthier to be more than 100 lbs.
  
• It is good to have a couple of those extra lbs for the lean times of crohn's which overcome me.

CONS

• My pants do not button comfortably. Which reminds me of the extra lbs every minute of every day and that is what makes me feel fat.
• Today there was a slight jiggle when I drove over a pot hole. Not a nice feeling.
• I can no longer get away with eating a bakers dozen of sugar cookies with thick buttercream frosting. This is very sad, and I think about those cookies daily. I think this is what my sisters meant when they would talk about the evils of butter all day long. Now I understand, and I apologize for having being annoyed at the time about it.
  

Solutions

• I think the best thing to do is to buy a couple of new pairs of pants.
  

PS: I like bullet lists. They make me feel justified in using poor grammar.

Keeping Promises

Abby's first Ukrainian Dancing performance was a couple of weeks ago. It was at a seniors home, and many of the residents were asleep in their wheelchairs. Cute story about 2 of the ladies who live there. They are the best of friends, do everything together, hold eachother up when they walk down the halls, eat together in the dining room, do crafts together. One speaks only Portugese, the other only Ukrainian. Neither can understand a word the other says! They were very happy sitting together, watching the kids.

In this dance school, you rent the costumes - and just have to pay for cleaning at the end of the year. No more mom's having to figure out how to make them! Sweet. They actually buy the costumes directly from a village in the old country. 3 of Abby's primary classmates are in her dance class. Abby will be having an end of the year thing too - I'll give you dates soon. Mina will dance at that one too. (her class just does the one performance.)

Well, I tried to upload the video, but it is just to darn slow. I tried! So Instead I will instruct you on how to dress like a 3 year old.

1: Put on a brightly coloured shirt. Backwards. (Certainly do not choose the shirt that your mum hunted for at the mall for 3 hours that matches the skort she made you.)
2: Ignore the fact that it is still winter time. Put on the cute Diego skort your mum made you. (because the Thomas the Train one is dirty.)
3: Add a pair of purple fairy socks. The skatey ones that you can skate with on the floor. (All socks must be skatey, or do not even bother buying them. Even though the rubber grips would be so helpful for a girl who falls down as much as this one does.)
4: You must always wear a hat. Actually, a toque. Every day and all day, it must be on. Otherwise your hair gets in your face and causes endless tantrums and gets food in it.
5: Cover the big scrapes on your knees with special Diego bandaids. (Hey - they match the skort!) The scrapes are because you were not wearing tights, leggings, pants or snowpants when you went running down the sidewalk, with your winter boots on the wrong feet, and fell. Hard. In front of the gorcery store, with big tears running down your cheeks, and blood running down your shins.

Before I was a parent, I decided I would never give in to buying licensed things for my kids. I would not become a part of the marketing machine that is taking over the world and brainwashing all of our children. blah blah blah. Everything was going to be gender neutral, with no recognizable trade-marked images on them. Ha. It makes this girl so very happy to have Thomas or Diego on her shirt, you'd think she had died and gone to heaven. With Abby, all she needs is a horse and she is the same way.

Wednesday

Well hello there.

I have sick children. Ear infections, colds and whatnot. We have not slept well for a week, waking up all night long for Mina's horrible coughs, and then her sad sad cries. "Mummy I am so so sad. My tummy hurts and I have snotties." Her ears started bugging her last night. I think her head was really stuffed up. She was really tired and delirious, I think. "Why is the house floating? Why are there flies all over the wall?' I am not sure that she needs the antibiotics that Papa so kindly called in for her though, as her ears are not as bad as last night. But I must say, the codeine put her out like a light last night, she slept all night long, with no coughing fits at all. Blessed blessed codeine. Sadly though, she is not well enough for me to go to the gym today. And it would probably be bad parenting to drug her up so I could exercise. Perhaps today will be a yoga on TV day. Painting the kitchen ceiling could be a good workout too...

Tonight is Abby's first Ukrainian dance performance. She will be dancing at a seniors nursing home. I promise to post some pictures! My blog is so void of colour I really must pick up my camera again. It is just that sometimes, having a camera in hand all the time makes me feel so separate from what is going on. Like I am watching, not participating.

For my birthday, I got an little mini IPOD. So e mail me your favourite running playlists! I also received some very awesome olympic gear. I heart the winter olympics. Go Canada!

Some Wednesday things

Today I learned that Pretzels + Nutella = Bliss. I don't buy nutella, but dad gave me a jar last summer, and it was close to expiry. So in the spirit of good food storage and rotation, and not throwing away perfectly good food, considering Haiti, I am eating it.

We also learned (a few days ago) that our cat will live another day. At least. She is not at deaths door. She will probably continue to crap on the floor for many more moons. But the good news is that she has stopped vomiting. Therefore, our basement reno ( laminate flooring) will remain a distant dream. The bathroom however, is coming along nicely.

I have also learned that exercising really DOES feel good! I always thought that my sisters (and others) were crazy liars. Sorry. I even like getting all sweaty at the gym, and feeling my heart pumping. And Keith says that my face does not get all red, like I told him it would. (but then, he may have said that just to be supportive and loving, which he is.) And I did not fall down over my step in class this week. Also, there is a class I really love which is a cross between ballet and yoga. So 3 cheers for the gym!

Close your Eyes

You are going to have to close your eyes. And imagine for a minute. Because I did not bring my camera with me, so cannot share with you the funny pictures. And a still picture just would not do anyway.

Ukrainian dancing class. Parent viewing day. A group of 3 and 4 year olds, little Mina among them. She is the smallest, and the youngest by about 6 months. They are all lined up, as straight as possible for 3 and 4 yr olds.

Except for Mina, who stand apart, facing the wrong way.

The teacher asks the children to imagine a ball, right in front of their feet. And tells the children to kick the ball "one, two, one two", and do the "kick kick" step. So the children kick their balls, one two, one two.

Except for Mina, whose ball has rolled across the gym. She follows after it, picks it up and throws it in the air. Then it starts to bounce, and so she hops around in a circle, like her ball.

The other children are doing "kick kick" in unison.

Mina's ball has once again rolled away.

Now it is time for the "stomp" step. (It is Ukrainian dancing after all, not ballet!) The teacher asks the children to imagine a bug on the floor, and to stomp on it. Which the children do happily, it is fun to stomp on bugs.

Except for Mina, who does the initial stomp, then sits down, and removes the bug from the bottom of her dancing slipper, walks to the corner of the gym, and puts it down on the floor. then tries to find more bugs on the floor.

And when it is time to "draw a line on the floor to hop over", Miss Mina sits down, drawing a line that turns into a letter M, and then finishes writing the "INA".

I think that perhaps she is not going to be a dancer. Her dancing teacher says that "Mina makes me sweat! She is very, um.... Artistic". (But not in a danc-ey sort of way.)

So Keith and I, sitting on the bench, tried very hard not to pee our pants laughing.

Unexpected

Well, I just did something shocking and unexpected.





















I joined a gym.
Because I want to be fit.
I want to run, and refuse to do it in the cold winter, which is 3/4 of the year here.
Because I have no room in my 750 square foot house for a treadmill.
Because my brand new running shoes are gathering dust while waiting for better weather.
Because they have Thomas the Train stuff in the gym's daycare.
Because I want an excuse to buy and ipod and listen to Roxette really loudly.

Saturday

Well, the sunbeams last week did not shine. The other teacher (there are too many kids for one class) did not show up. So guess who got to "teach" not 6, but 12 Sunbeams? Me. And, I did not bring enough supplies for 12 kids, so 1/2 of my plans were not useable. Disaster. And, I fed one of them something she was allergic too. Even better. My approach this week is to adhere to a strict schedule. And also bring dairy/egg/nut free candy.

In other news,

• Today I primed the walls of the new bathroom. Very exciting. I am quite happy that I redid the lifting seam, as that wall looks very nice now.
• Keith has a job! It seems to be a good fit. We are working on how to arrange my work/childcare with his new schedule. I am cultivating a friendship with a teenager who I see in the AM while we are waiting for the bus. I hope that she might be interested in watching the girls on days that Keith has to work late.
• Tonight we are going to IKEA for dinner. A fun field trip for the girls, because now Mina and Abby can both play in Smalland, and Keith and I can browse towel racks, mirrors, and the as-is asile at our leisure. One of the other good things about not having a baby in the family.
  
• On the same topic, today was swimming lessons, and for the first time, I did not have to go in the water with them!

(am I maybe, perhaps trying too hard to convince myself that we don't need another baby?) It's just that I am noticing all of these little life changes which tell me that our family has entered a new stage. It is certainly food for thought.

A nothing post

Well folk, this is a nothing post. Or maybe not. Who knows. Sometimes it feels like I have nothing to say, and I should just do a duty post, because all of my sisters have new posts up.

I have not finished my basement bathroom yet. One of my tape seams was lifting. I tried to stick it down with more mud, but that looked just awful. So I finally just ripped it out, and started again. So, It will be another 3 day cycle of sanding and mudding before I can prime and paint. Thanks to youtube, I learned that fixing the seam is really not a big deal, and I was over sanding. Youtube is great for stuff like that! I was trying to watch the reno shows on HGTV to find out what I was doing wrong, but they never show the boring and tedious ins and outs of tapping and mudding drywall. (Really - all of those HGTV marathons I may have watched over Christmas break were research, not lazy procrastination! ha ha)

My friend just found out she is pregnant. I am very happy and excited for her. But the strange (for me) thing is that I was not jelous or wishing it was me. I was more jelous of the fact that she had a moose walk by her front window yesterday, not of the pregnancy. Just kind of strange to me, because usually that kind of news paints me very green with envy.

In other news, my new primary job is the Sunbeams. Last week was a disaster. They are used to nursery where they get to play and eat. I actually have to control them and teach them. For 2 hours. I really hope today goes better than last week. I woke up to horrible dreams about loosing some of them when I took them for a potty break. I think this week I shall bring candy for them. And if their parents have a problem with that, then they can have my job of teaching 6 sunbeams and try to do it without bribery. I hope that I can become a better Sunbeam teacher. If you have any tips, please share. My new idea for this week, courtesy of some LDS website, is to bring them "primary pets" (beanie babies from the thrift store) that they have to hold and keep quiet during the combined primary time. Our lesson today is about how our bodies are like HF's body. So we will be tracing our body shape and colouring it, reading a book about body parts, and playing with Mr Potato Head. And the candy. Church is now at 9AM! YAY! So, I better get going.

just need to say

...that it makes me really sad when my sisters do not return my phone calls. For days or weeks. Very sad indeed. It's because I can't text, isn't it? I feel so uncool. sigh.

Christmas!

Today is the Christmas season, as Mina likes to say. We are having lots of fun doing festive things. So far, we had made no less than 12 batches of cookies, most of which have already been eaten or shared. I did freeze a container full to bring to mom's house, but even that stash is getting nibbled on. By me. I have also eaten a box of Toffiffee's, almost by myself, and am working on another. I think I need to control myself, as my pants feel too tight. Auntie Patience has come to visit, and we took her to our ward's Christmas party, which ROCKED! It was so well done and so much fun. (when was the last time you head that about a ward Christmas party?) Patience also took the girls shopping to pick out gifts for Keith and I. I am not sure how much fun it was for Patience (busy mall, 1 week until Christmas, 2 excited kids.) But I enjoyed getting books at the Library while I waited for them. I am very happy that they did not want to sit on santa, as I have issues with that. Okay, I'll tell you my issues.

• Santa is really a stranger. I don't want my kids talking to, taking candy from, or sitting on the lap of a stranger. Oh whispering secrets in his ear.
  
• He touches hundreds of kids a day. Think of all the H1N1 living on those white gloves.
  
• It could be a stewie underneath that fat suit. Nuff said.
• While I do carry on the santa tradition, gifts, stockings, etc., I hate having to add more lies to the story "he is just a helper. He is here until Christmas Eve when he goes back to the N pole. He is magic and can be everywhere at once. Abby is very smart, as most 6 yr olds are, and would question me until kingdom come trying to get an answer and I'd have to make it all up on the spot. And, I'd probably mess it up and ruin the magic of it all. Oh the therapy.
• Line ups. Being that physically close to a bunch of stressed out parents and sticky kids who are not my own. Not fun.
• Paying 20 bucks for a commemerative photo.
  

We have also made home made Christmas cards, sang many songs (Mina's Jingle Bells version is really cute), and today was my CTR 5 Christmas party. Five 5 yr olds came over and we crafted and had lunch. I did feel bad about asking Keith to hide his coffee though. I was going to post pics, but am not sure about putting other peoples children on the net. So just imagine them here. There has been much playing outside, as we have a lot of fresh snow, more falling even as I type. And Mina is old enough that I do not have to go out with them anymore. Hooray for me, I get to be warm. I finished typing up the Christmas recipes, I have finished my course at G Macewan. I think my next extra curricular activity will be a stained glass class.

Keith has some time off. Well, he is looking for a job actually. So if you are a plumbing company in Edmonton, give us a call. In the mean time, he is building equity in the form of a basement bathroom. We are very excited about it! One b-room is not enough. And the new one will be much better than what was there before. Just ask Nunu what a pit it used to be. So, while is does suck that Keith currently is not employed, he is using this time to build a bathroom and it will be much appreciated by all. (I don't want to say "unemployed" because that makes him sound like a pogey bum, and he is being anything BUT lazy!)

So Merry Christmas All!

Bread!

I am becoming good at making bread! 3 successful weeks in a row! Thanks mom, for the hands on lesson this summer. She taught me how to knead the dough properly by hand. I was using my kitchenaid before, and as much as I love the kitchenaid, for me, it always wrecked my bread. But when I knead it by hand, voila - perfection! Plus, I love the way you can feel the flour and stuff coming together and changing consistency. Being only 5 feet tall, I need to stand on a stool, so that I am at proper kneeding height. I think that helps the bread too. I still like to sit in front of the oven and watch the bread bake. I remember having a little stool for that when I was little.

Remember when we were little and mom was baking bread, and would always make us be quite and not run around when it was baking or rising? Because it would "fall"? Well, I think she only said that for some much needed peace and quiet. My kids were loud and jumping around the kitchen the whole time, and the bread did not fall. Not even a bit. So, I think mom Just said that to keep us quiet. Maybe that is why she made bread so much, so that we would not be crazy all the time... Good strategy mom, we all won with that one. Bread for us, and 2 hours of peace and quiet for you.

2 posts in 1 week!

How unusual. Usually it is one a month! My children have the swine flu. Poor babies. They are very sick. Abby is heartbroken about missing her school play today. While I am of course concerned about them, part of me wants to make curly piggy tails and pin them on to their jammie pants. But I should probably not make light of a situation. I get in trouble that way sometimes.

Photo Updates

Here are the Halloween costumes: a Mermaid, and Mavis the train. 100% home made!
This was a really foggy morning at our bus stop.
Hmm. I think I posted this one already. oops.
A better look at the Mermaid! I am so pleased with how it turned out!
Patience and Dan came and we went to the greenhouse/cornmaze. It was really a fun time! I think we will make it a Halloween tradition.
Here we are in the corn maze. Dan was the navigator, he was tall enough to see over the corn!
Aunite Bunny was up a while ago - there is always lots of crafting happening when she is here. She and Abby added wings to the horses.

Weird Wednesday

For lack of a better title, Wednesday begins with a W, as does Weird, and today is, you guessed it, Wednesday. Although nothing weird has happened. I did get to go for lunch with my mom, on her way to Coronation street. She was so cute, she was vibrating with excitement. While we were out I bumped into a former patient of mine, one of my favourite people ever, Norma. Her husband just died and she was very sad. And in the middle of this serious and sad conversation, she asked me if she could make some new puppet mittens for my girls, as the last ones she made must be too small by now. She is such a sweet sweet lady, and I am so happy to have met up with her today. I think that is the best part of my job, people like Norma. Tonight I start my class at Grant MacEwan, and I found out that the U of A is considering a midwifery program. Very hopeful! Hopefully within 3 or 4 years, I can just do that, instead of settling for LD Nursing.

End of Summer Top 5

Well, summer is officially almost over. There are yellow leaves on the trees already, we are busy thinking about back to school shopping, bussing schedules, and what to be for Halloween. My top 5 summer 2009 highlights are:

Seattle Sister Extravaganza: How fun to get together will all of the girls! We must do this at LEAST once every 2 years. Thank you for inspiring me to learn to run. My first goal is to do a 5K in summer of 2010. I have only gone out running a few times so far, as summer scheduling has been all over the place. But once we are into a good fall routine it will be much easier to keep up with it.

Colfax Cousin Camp: Letting the cousins play and get to know each other is priceless. It was so fun to hang out at Betina's beautiful home for a week. I hope that all of our kids - the unborn future ones included, will become good friends.

Disney Family Reunion: Of course Disneyland is the perfect place for a huge family reunion. They just know how to take care of families! Thank you Dad for the awesome holiday, everyone had so much fun. I finally got a chance to do the Indiana Jones ride, and scared myself silly on the Malibu Screamer.

Potty Training, Mina Style: Step one - put on panties. Step two - Throw away diapers. Mission complete. She rocks!

Tooth Fairy Visits: Abby lost 2 teeth this summer, one at Disneyland! She is growing up so much. I love this great girl!


PS: I discovered today that I have a lot of jam in my fridge.

• ED Smith triple berry
• Bonne Maman mixed fruit
• Smuckers Strawberry
• Smuckers seedless Raspberry
• Plum Jam
• Apricot Jam

That seems like a lot, but I keep trying new recipes, and they all need some specific jam.

On the topic of recipes... I am collecting the Christmas recipes this year. So please send me no less than 3 yummy recipes that you have been loving in 2009. Please have this to me by November 15th. Thank you, I will send out a e mail as well. And reminder e mails too.

About Mina

Two things about Mina this week...

I wish I could say that she is always well behaved, and would never think of running away from her family in public. However, that is not my daughter. She loves to run away, and sometimes just gets distracted and goes her own way. So, I have made a harness for her, to use while in Disneyland. Yes, I admit that I am going to tie my child to a leash. Please do not judge me, I am not a bad parent! Besides, she really likes it, and pretends to be a puppy.

Also, she has foiled my potty training "plans". I was going to think about doing it once Abby was back in school, but yesterday, she made the choice to start. She has been very successful so far! I am worried about DLand though, and the airplane ride. I am going to have to bring so many more clothes now. Sheesh! But I will not complain about it, because she is not showing the same difficulties that Abby did.

Colfax Cousin Camp!

This one is from the Appaloosa Horse Museum. It was a big highlight of Abby's holiday. They have a contest where you can buy a ticket and the prize is a real live Appaloosa horse! I am so happy that Abby did not see the poster about that, or she would have choose a ticket for the draw as her souvenir instead of the stuffed horse we brought home.
Mom loves having her picture taken, especially in front of tourist landmarks, like the World's Biggest Truck. Abby, not so much.
Here we are at the WSU Creamery eating ice cream. We were too late for the cheese making demonstration, but did get to buy a can of really yummy cheese to take home for Keith. I love ice cream. I think next time we should go more often to the creamery, so that I can try more of the yummy flavours!
Here are 2 kissing cousins. Sortly after this, Mina gave Ivy a hug, and Ivy fell backwards and rolled down the little slope behind her. Very cute.
2 Cow-girl cousins. The horse is Danny, and the girls had a really fun time with him. They even got to use the reins and direct him where to go. Pretty cool!

My only regret about this trip is that I did not bring a camera on the boat with us, when Betina's friend took us tubing. But it was really hot out, and therefore I was feeling like poop. So I did not even think about bringing it. I wish I had pictures of Eden and Abby together on the tube, and especially of mom after she was dunked upside-down under the water. Mina even took a turn on the tube, and she cried when her turn was over. She is such an adventurous little two-two!

Thank you Betina for showing us such a good time. We all really enjoyed ourselves and had a great trip. The girls are already asking when we can come again!