Oot an' Aboot

We braved the cold, dark, dreary winter weather this evening... Ok so it wasn't actually that bad :) It was a cool, crisp evening and although it does get dark early these days (I think around 5:00??) the kids were hyper and we needed to get out! So without further ado, we got out the winter clothes, bundled em up and sent them outdoors! :) Aiden loved the idea of being free to roam around in some fresh territory but that quickly ended when we strapped him into the Chariot for a walk around town. Anyhow it was a good stroll and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it once we got walking. Attie decided to be like Mommy this week while colouring. "Mommy!! I'm wearing lips!!! Look, look!!!" she hollared, with a big purple grin:) She has a little tube of Bob the Builder chapstick and calls it "lips". We went to our friends' birthday party for their Son last weekend. Atalie has been good friends with Zack since we moved here two years ago. Infact, they are more like siblings than friends - through thick and thin;) They are NEVER shy around one another, as you can see here! Hehe... so stikin cute! I'm not sure what this next picture is really of...? I think she was posing for a photo b/c Aiden had been getting alot of attention during that moment and she was more than ready to steal the spotlight;)

This little piggy...

When Aiden tastes something he really likes he just keeps on stuffin' it in. In this case we have perogies, mennonite sausage and broccoli. His mouth appears to be full but - he goes for more. And manages to stuff it in somehow, somewhere... Success!!!! Then there's Atalie:) She doesn't get dirty. Don't know how but she always manages to avoid it.

"I wanted to speak directly to you but you were afraid of the fire. God is raising up a generation of people who won't be afraid of the fire..."

Have I done this before??? I don't recall having posted a music video before... nope. Well here's the first. I was thumbing through my list of friends' and familys' blogs when I came across this Christian artist. I have my standard albums and artists that I listen to but I think that living where I do has secluded me somewhat (ya think?) from many things. Good Christian (lemme emphasize GOOD) music is one of those things. This guys name is Jason Upton and the song is called Burning. I'm guessing most everyone has heard of him except for me so perhaps you've heard this song, or another version of it, already. I really appreciate his sincerity and willingness/ability to pour out his heart with his voice. This song touched me b/c I've been thinking alot lately about my kids and the generation to come and all that they'll face. They've been on my heart in a special way and I can relate deeply to this song, particularily the first 35 seconds. Insanely Powerful! The rest of the video is basically elaborating on those first 60 seconds. One comment I really liked which followed this video was this, "Instead of being bothered by the repetition embrace it and let it resinate on the inside of you into the depths of your very being and allow God to speak to you and to change you through the ministry of this gifted mans music...be set free...be changed...encounter the love of God! BLESSINGS & MUCH LOVE! " Go and have a listen. There's not much to see in the video other than his face so you can continue reading while listening if possible... whatever. I've got lots more to say on this yet. I had a heart's cry before I was married and thinking about having kids. I knew that God was beginning, or rather continuing in a magnified sense, a generation of warriors: Children unafraid of what lays ahead and within. I've since had a growing desire to know this for myself and live/teach it for/to my kids. If I close my eyes and try to visualize what my heart is feeling, it looks a bit like a child staring out into a world of chaos, not a whole lot different from the one we're in now, and seeing empty hearts which he/she craves to reach. I see fearless eyes glowing with love and radiance b/c the Holy Spirit is so very alive and willing to work anywhere they step and to anyone they speak to. I see some of their friends and strangers accepting this love and I see others rejecting it. I see them looking past the issues seen by eyes and heard with ears, and instead into broken hearts. I see them crying for the hearts of their friends, be they homosexuals, christians, mormons, muslims, or whatever. I see my kids facing our challenges with more intensity yet more power and less fear. I sense my own will being tugged at in giving my children up to God for His will, not mine. I will gladly give them to Him b/c I trust Him and I know his will is perfect... though seldom easy. His love is perfect. Saying is always easier than doing. Yet it seems essential to say something aloud before being able to do it.

Curtains and Cookies

The final look. Woohoo! It's great to walk around the house at night w/o wondering who can all see you at that moment.....aaaaah:) Attie and I had a girlie day yesterday:) I didn't have the little girl whom I usually babysit b/c she was sick last night (nothing I did!!) so it was a nice day to spend just Atalie and I (and Aiden, but he slept alot in the morning). We whipped up a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, then decided to officially ring in the wintery season, which was quickly covering the ground in a flurry outside, by making hot chocolate... which of course was followed with a small bowl of popcorn and a movie (Curious George - a unanimous decision).

Faux Kevin

I had to do Kevin too. He's gonna die when he sees this after work. haha!!! For a quick link and explaination look at the next post titled "Faux Kendra". Regular Kevin (isn't he handsome?!) Baby Kevin - the first baby with an ability to grow facial hair! hahaha!!! Child Kevin Manga Cartoon Kevin Feminine Kevin El Greco Kevin Afro-caribean Kevin

Faux Kendra

Ok so I got these lovely little bitty's from a Face Transformer Experiment by University of St. Andrews. I stole the idea from Natasha's blog ~ my curiosity got the best of me... or not. Haha! Regular me. East Asian me. Old me. Modigliani me. Masculine me. BY FAR THE SCARIEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN! A personal favorite...Afro-caribean me. BY FAR THE MOST HILARIOUS THING I'V EVER SEEN:) ha!!

Price Efficient and Private!

We debated again and again as to whether or not we'd drive the long way home for a trip past Ikea on Monday. Last minute, as we were driving past the turnoff to Calgary on Hwy 3, Kevin decides to make a quick exit. He'd say it was all my doing, but my last words were, "I'd like to go of course, but I don't want to make that decision if you don't want to go. You choose." Our purpose for the journey was to look for window coverings which might be cheaper than the ones we found at Home Depot, and to look at bunk beds for the kids. We've been having a heck of a time trying to find window coverings which actually fit our windows in the front of the house. They're about 72" wide and Home Depot is the only store which caries non-custom blinds that big... unless we were to temporarily go with ordinary plastic venetians. However, considering we have nice new wood window jams, we (meaning Kevin) would prefer to put up slightly better quality blinds which we don't have to take down after quick wear and tear, leaving unecessary holes in the jams. We wanted wood/faux wood blinds in a venetian style. Anyways, to sum up this story, we decided that we'd better go for cost-efficiency for the meantime. This lead us to curtains. We spent about half as much as we would have for the wood blinds at Home Depot and b/c they look quite natural/neutral, I think we'll be able to keep them even if/when we can afford wood blinds. Yay! I haven't gotten to hemming the curtains in the door frames right now so the final photo will have to wait another day or so:) Another deal we found while browsing around Ikea was a loft bunk for Atalie!! We wanted a loft so that we could put the crib underneath it for Aiden to sleep in. I felt bad for him sleeping in his playpen every night. He still fits alright but was getting a little big for it and it has no cushion whatsoever. Not really bed material and we needed a new solution. All the loft bunks we'd seen up until this point were around $400 or more. Ikea was only $50 under this mark so we thought we'd leave the bed for another purchase b/c we couldn't afford that much at the time. As we rounded the corner to the "As Is" isle, I prayed that we would find a deal on a loft bunk for Attie. Low and Behold!!! There, right before our eyes stood ONE loft bunk for sale, at $125 off!! WOOHOO!!!! So we began disassembling (which felt a bit backwards) and took it to the checkout an hour later. The next day I couldn't wait for Kevin to come home and help me so I took the initiative to set it up by myself (not easy, wouldn't recommend it). The bed looks gargantuous!!! However, it's somehow still a huge space saver for a play area and I was even able to move our old TV in there so they can watch movies upstairs now. Atalie in her new bed. She had a perma-grin all day! Aiden's new bed (thanks to Atalie).

Family Photos

We all met at the Lethbridge Lodge for some pictures on Saturday. It was a great learning experience for me! The kids did GREAT and we managed to get a shot where all 32 eyes were open ...even though Aiden was looking down:) I now know to bring stepping stools along (I just got a couple stackables which will work great next time). A couple folding bar stools would be ideal as well. We used the Lodge's stools, with permission of course, instead. An extra hand to hold a reflector, would have also been ideal! Future purchases. A person really needs a large vehicle for all this stuff! Whoda thunk? We didn't take a family photo for ourselves b/c 1) we just took family pics in the fall and 2) Aiden missed his naps and was officially at his limit for pictures that day! Indian Battle Park after pictures and before dinner. A MUCH needed break for the kids before telling them to sit still again! Atalie and Papa walk to the park ~ priceless:)

Everything and inbetween.

Well, I'm done my cleanse. No more lemons, no more laxatives! I'm also eternally grateful not to have to drink saltwater anymore!!!!!!! For the first couple days after I'd cringe at first taste of anything salty. Not anymore of course. I'm pretty much back to normal eating habits. Before the cleanse I was making quite an effort to balance the amount of sugar in my diet and trying to replace a few large portions with more small portions throughout the day. So that habit has continued and I find I'm eating about 1/2 - 2/3 of what I used to at meal times. So that's good, as long as I keep it up! So far I've only gained 1/2 lb back and stayed there the whole week. Wooohoo:) We're all excited about the weekend coming up:) We're heading to Lethbridge to spend time with Kevin's entire family. Not that it's ginormous or anything;) but it's been years since we've all been together at the same time. So it should be fun:) I'm taking the family photo on Saturday and then we're heading out for Chinese food afterwards. ...which reminds me, I gotta look into getting a remote for my camera. Christmas feels as though it is literally just around the corner! And I'm very excited about that!!!! I've got a good start on collecting addresses for cards and letters, put in my order for our family C-mas card with an online photo developer and we're making plans for who will visit who and when. We hope to see most our family this Christmas, and maybe even some friends for my birthday or New Years. I can't wait to dig out the tree - or cut down a real one, if we're daring enough to allow Aiden the opportunity to drag the needles all over the house. A real tree seems a bit wasteful, although I enjoy it SO much more than a fake tree. The live ones make the house smell and feel alive at Christmas don't they? Our only issue with any sort of tree is where to place it. We've considered both corners on the NE side of the house, by the fireplace, in which case we'd have to be diligent about watering it in the extreme heat. We've also considered the NW corner of the house, which would mean we'd have to move the table into the centre of the room and that's a bit goofy. Hmmmm.... maybe we should just plunk it right square in the middle of the house:) The vaulted ceiling would allow for a real whopper! But that wouldn't be rediculous at all;) Anyway, I'm getting a good handle on all our gifts already. We're making most of them to save a bit of money, which is scarce since kevin's been in school the last month and a half. But I'm excited about these gifts! I want to keep them for myself;) We (ok, I) hope to stop in Calgary on the way home on Monday so we can pick up a couple things from Ikea and maybe Toys R Us to find a couple C-mas gifts for the kids. Does anybody have suggestions as to where we can find gifts for kids? We really want to get something for Aiden to climb on and through (like a tunnel/tent that used to be at Ikea - or those plastic playgrounds for toddlers) but don't want to pay over $100. Hard to find... As for the kids these days, there's a few new little traits poking their heads into their worlds;) Atalie comes up with the funniest comments. A couple of times she's asked me to do something which I either couldn't at the moment, or just wasn't going to do. Once while eating lunch she said, "Mommy I have an owie on my toe! You kiss it better!?" I said, "No hunny. Mommy doesn't want to kiss your toe while eating lunch. That's yucky." She replied, "Daddy would do it." What??!!! Where did that come from? She used it again later when she asked me to make an elephant out of playdough and I said that it would be pretty difficult with such a small amount of playdough. What a goof. Aiden has been teething like crazy since the weekend. The first night we noticed was when we were staying at our friends' place overnight for a birthday party. Perfect timing. He's been pretty grouchy these last few days and when he can't figure out what he wants he'll collapse on the floor and cry into his hands. Poor little guy! Tylenol works sometimes but not always. Aiden is also at the stage where he tries so hard to tell you what he wants with his actions but gets frusterated with his inability to just say it. There've been a few meltdowns lately. The two of them get along quite well however, unless Atalie feels Aiden is doing something he shouldn't and she tries to enforce the proper action. Otherwise they chase each other around the house giggling and screeching for hours:) So that's the week so far. I probably won't post again until after the coming weekend, seeing as how I've a bit of prep to do for then and can't see anything new and post-worthy happening between now and then. I'll likely have some pics to look forward to posting though. yeah:)