End of Baseball Season!

Last night was the last game of the world series where my hubby's team won yet another world series. At least they won and baseball season is done and we can focus on more important things like.. renovations!

Jeff has managed to work on renovations that are baseball time friendly. The last of the old flooring in our closet has been taken out and the new flooring is now in! Our closet is currently sitting in the spare room and I look forward to the closet organizer being put together and our clothes back in our closet.

My brother has offered his time and muscles to help us move the fish tank downstairs this weekend! While I don't usually jump up and down at having to move it, it means that it's the last hurdle to starting the baby room!

Trim has also been ordered and should get delivered today! Yippie! I can't wait to paint them and get them up! Bit by bit the main floor is almost done.. so close I can feel it!

Halloween Fun

This year - Afton was into Halloween more as anything that involves candy, she is all over!! Jeff took her out around our block and claimed she wasn't into it. She was all over her costume and loved to look at herself in the mirror.

She thought because she had a big lady bug belly, she should have big lady bug cheeks. After some trick n drinking by the grown ups (old tradition), Afton and I went out again and did some more trick or treating and I had to BEGG her to stop as mommy was cold! She had fun going to houses we knew and meeting new people that would always give the little lady bug a handful of candy.


Thanks to all the company that day that came for a drink, coloring and a visit! We were lucky to get two mini guests in a mouse and a pumpkin, sooo cute!


Thank you to everyone who stopped in!! Excuse me while I start eating all my kids candy.. those little chocolate bars are not a good thing to have in our house.

pumpkin carving

This year, Afton is old enough to get the basics of the tradition of pumpkin carving. I LOVE decorating pumpkins and have forced my love on my family.

Afton was so excited to help me pick out a pumpkin and bring it home, but then wasn't too sure about sticking her hand in it to clean out it's guts. She was all about putting a candle in it though!

Start Them Young

This weekend, it was finally nice again so I decided to tackle the sanding of the closet doors. Afton was helping Jeff around the house but decided that she wanted to help since I was doing her doors.

Yes, my child is learning how to use tools! She was a good helper, as we sanded the doors then gave them a wash to get rid of the dust and a first coat of paint. She's at the age where she thinks all the renovation are fun and I can always use the extra help!

We'll see how she feels about renovations in a few years.

Baby Room Ideas

This is the general idea I have for this baby room. I purchased the new bedding months ago (ok, I was excited to be pregnant and HAD to get something!!!)

The rest I will add to the room once the new paint and flooring are done. This baby room has a different feel than Afton's. Maybe a bit more grown up in some areas? More fun in others? Either way, I have learned that it's really me that spends most of the time in this room so I'm adjusting some things as I've learned from experience what worked for me and what didn't.

I am trying not to bug the hubby too much on the baby room but I am so excited to get that room set up!

Bedroom Walls take shape!

Jeff has been working hard on getting the basement bedroom walls up on his week off. Yes, what says a vacation like building walls in the basement? Can't you see his joy in the task?

The office is ready for it's new lights and the bedroom walls are taking shape! It's exciting to adjust the basement to be able to hold our growing family. I'm all for moving the kids down there once they are a bit older!

Adding the second bedroom downstairs does take some room away from the pool table area but we both think it's well worth it!

I am so excited to get the office moved into it's new location as the baby room will be the old office and it still needs the new flooring put in.. and I am so excited to start decorating that room I can hardly stand it!

Great Customer Service is noticed

Yesterday I returned once again to our electrical store to pick up the stair lights and more pot lights for the basement. The basement lighting will get some additions as 3 lights in the whole living room side isn't going to be enough once we make this our primary living room.

I have been going to Gescan for all of my lighting needs now since my local electrician suggested I go there to check prices.

Gescan is a big electrical store with a focus on trades people, not really your walk in small time customer but I have to say, these guys run a top notch store when it comes to customer service! Every time I go in, they help me through all my needs (dimers, wire, bulbs, fixtures, etc) and always treat me like I'm an important customer.

Nex to me will be contractors buying tens of thousands dollars worth of supplies and me with my small list of items and yet I feel like I'm important.

This time, the boys have gotton to know my picky ways so well, that when picking out new lighting for the home office, they went so far to show and explain different types of bulbs to me. As I work from home and long hours, the type of light I will have is very important, and I appreciate all they do to educate me without belitteling me.

If you're renovating - it's worth a drive over to see the boys of Gescan - tell t hem I sent you!

Address:	3115 Faithfull Avenue, S7K 8H4

Phone:	306-931-0077

No they did not ask or know i'm giving them a kuddos, I just think it's well deserved!

Office Renovations

Renovations have started on the office. Yesterday the hubby cleaned up another truck load of garbage and took down the old shelves that were in this room.

Thanks to his determination, for the first time since purchasing the home, we can park BOTH vehicles in the garage!! Just in time for winter!

The Computer room used to be a storage room/shop so there were many items in small jars in this room but we saved what was good and threw out the unneeded.

Now on to making adjustments so this room can take the power sucking needs of my office. Hubs has opened the wall backing the stairs so we can run new power to this wall for a white board and stair lights.

My sister in law put recessed stair lights in her home and I think they are a wonderful idea!


I want to put in some more pot lights in the office as well to keep things bright! It's good to see progress.

thanksgiving

I love my family. We are big, loud and sing off key but we love each other none the less. This thanksgiving, the whole family was there. My brother and his three children, ours with our daughter, and my other brother with his new addition.

My parents house once felt big and roomy, however with all the kids, spouses and grandkids - it felt suddenly small.

The food was flowing and a fun game it to watch how long it takes us all to serve ourselves and then how long it takes for the first person to clear their plate. Hours and Hours or prep and cooking results in 7 minutes for all 21 adults to serve themselves and 9 minutes for the first adult to be finished plate number one. No, we don't body check each other or race around the kitchen like crazy people. We all sit and pass dishes around, but the food always look so good that we eat like it's the first food we've seen in years!!

It was wonderful and filled us all up! My daughter was so full that by the monday morning brunch, she looked at me and asked

Grandma's just cooking breakfast right? I don't have to eat lunch too?

You know we are all full when my bottomless pit of a daughter is so full she can't fit in another meal.

more renovations- with a deadline!

Renovations on the house are slowly coming along. Jeff is taking next week off to get started on the downstairs as we are adding two more bedrooms down there and building a linen closet for the bathroom. I say "We" as in I say where the walls should go and he does all the work.

The computer room will also get some much needed attention so new lighting and flooring can go in there. The computer room has become very important as the upstairs bedroom is the last to be updated and has a time deadline.

The 3rd bedroom upstairs will be the bedroom for this little one due to join our family in February.

(click to view larger)

I have hit 'nesting' stage and can't wait to get the room setup!! New bedding has been bought (organic cotton just incase this baby is as sensitive as Afton), curtains and of course I want to paint.. again....


Our last ultrasound showed the baby weighing (almost) 1lb and has feet measuring 3.3cm. The rest of the details I don't remember as I was just so happy to get a good ultrasound! Jeff and I are excited to expand our family again and while I am finding I am dragging by butt around trying to work and take care of a toddler, I am also finding this pregnancy going by quicker. They say the second one goes that way....

The baby is now strong enough that Jeff can now feel kicks although not strong enough for me to show Afton yet. She talks about her baby almost every day and I am sure is wondering if this baby is ever going to come.

For those of you wondering, no we do not know the sex of the baby. If you are a betting person, I am caring low and the baby has a low heartbeat. Read into the old wives tales as you may, however I also carried Afton low.

Birthday Thank you

Big thank you to my babes that invited over my family to help me celebrate another year. It's such a nice treat to be so close to family so that they can pop on over and help us eat too much, drink too much, talk too loud and sing off key.

Afton helped my open presents and blow out the candles. She asks at every birthday, when is here birthday? She is waiting and waiting as each birthday party goes by.

I also had the extra special treat of having my good friend fly in from Kelowna to visit and get a good visit in. Thanks babes for coming down and staying with us!

NHL in Saskatoon

Last Sunday Mike and I were off to see the last game of NY Islanders training camp against Gust's beloved Oilers. We had great seats thanks to our lovely wives. The game was pretty good, lots of young guys trying to earn spots with the bug club.

Tavaras played and setup a nice goal halfway thru the game and it seemed like alot of the people came out to try and get a glimpse of the future NHL superstar that he is projected to be. In the end the oil lost 3-1 as they never seemed to get in sync.

We were fortunate enough to see big Steve McIntyre pound the be-jesus out of some poor rook on the islanders. The guy can barely skate... but wow can he chuck knuckles.

Anyways after the game we took a cab to Shark club for a beer and Gust ran into a few of the Islander players that he's served the night before at the Tusq. Two of the guys that I recognized were Jon Sim and Trent Hunter. It was a good night out and we both weren't feeling any pain by the time we got home.

easy on the eyes, easy on the ears!

Last night, thanks to the watchful eyes of Trina, we snagged ourselves $20 tickets to keith urban. Not only was it a nice surprise to have an extra girls night out this week, but the fact that Keith may have put on one of the best shows I have ever seen, makes working this am tolerable.

Keith sounded good but played the guitar even better and sure knows how to put on a show for the fans. His stage went from end to end so the people on the sides got a great view of him and he even left the stage twice to move around the floor.

Once to the very back of the floor, standing on a little tiny stage for 3 1/2 songs then latter, climbing up on the seats to the side to sing another song.

The fans around him were allowed to grab, touch and scream and the body guards pretty much let anything go.

He was touring for his latest record but played all of his big hits, coming out for an encore and thanked the fans for spending their money in tight times to come see him. Yes, it was a fun fun night and I sit here drinking my coffee and water trying to get rid of my headache and still playing some keith urban on my itunes!

Feeling Better?

It's amazing the power of medicine. While Afton is not a fan of taking all of the many different kinds of medicine, it's clear to me that it's working and FAST!!

I have been home to nurse my little girl back to health and quickly found out that it's hard to keep a little girl inside all day as we are used to going out to play, swing, and walk on our home days.

I have a stockpile of crafts for afton that includes, crayons, markers, finger paint, colored paper, coloring books, pipe cleaners, glue, stickers, sparkles, play-doh...well you get the point. All of these options were used up by around lunch time and she was begging to go outside.

I decided to then take my little girl for a drive to the lake as I wanted to snoop around at the beach one last time and it was such a nice day...

After a few hours of playing in the hot sun, Afton started coughing again so it was time to go home. I bought her an ice cream fudgesicle for being such a good girl and figured the worse thing that could happen is the backseat of the car would be covered in chocolate and ice cream.

From the backseat, about half way home... I hear this happy little voice...

Look mommmy!

yup, she must be feeling better.

away from our computer

Our little family is out of service for a while as I have a sick hubby and a little girl with pnenomia. I'll be back to posting once we all have some sleep, soup and some meds in us.