sooo....

perogy mess (sour cream)

soooo.... i've given notice to one dayhome family. i didn't give a deadline but just told them to start looking for care elsewhere and explained why. it went much better than i could have thought. i also found someone who wants to do the morning half of the day, and i can still do after school so i presented that. this would be ideal because honestly, i don't want to see this kid go :( it makes me sad and i know my kids will be heartbroken.... ugh. my stomach hurts. :(

house

some of you asked some questions about our new house... our builder is maple isle homes -- a very small, custom home builder. we are very happy with everything, even though we had some bumps in the road to begin with. it's a nice, small company -- the owner also lives on our street, as well as the site super dude, framer, the site super's daughter... it's a close little community. it has been great! they can't run away from us if we do have issues LOL!

and yes, we are done unpacking. totally. we were done last week on sunday/monday. moved in on saturday. we even have 1 picture hung! (i have to still decide on WHERE to put the rest) in case you forgot, my husband is OCD and cannot have things out of place for long. therefore, our unpacking goes FAST. plus, we have done this a few times before ;) this was the first time we hired movers and it still was a TON of work and we also ended up paying them a small fortune... it was nice to have extra muscles and a truck but still.....

ramblings...

so the basement is almost done. the electrical is done, the framing is done, the drywall is done.... we were not planning to mud/tape/paint however we are now considering it. it would have to be done FAST like this week and it would have to be affordable. so we'll see. carpet is being put in either friday or monday....

i am having a dilemma with my dayhome.... now that we have moved, i have to walk the before & after school child to the bus in the morning. this REALLY REALLY sux. i have been packing up 5 kids, most in pj's and driving down the street to the bus stop. it's not working. before, a neighbor walked him but now we aren't close to them. i'm really hating it. when it's nicer, we can walk but even then it's just a pain!! the after school part is fine because i pick him up. it's not a big deal as i'm usually out picking up my own kids from school. sooooooooo financially i don't "need" him and i could let him go... however i know they are counting on me and i just hate giving families notice. i am stuck on what i should do. any advice???? should i cut out some stress and just give notice? or suck it up and work until the end of the school year, and then give notice. i don't think i can keep him for the summer. i have 2 new kids starting in the summer and they will require walking the bus too next fall, however i will have to be up and have the kids dressed anyway as they will be going mornings next year. aaaaaahhhhh help!????

blah!

indoor playground

we went to the indoor playground on friday. kids always love it there. emerson is now able to enjoy the indoor playgrounds so it's fun to go for everyone!

my little walker... she is getting better every day! more confident! she has also totally slimmed down and can actually wear pants that button up! my other kids couldn't wear regular jeans, etc. due to chubbiness!!! emerson is my skinny one! hehe

emerson with her buddy (my dayhome girl!)

kai and emmy

emerson sometimes like to be the pushy one of the two...

see????? that's ok, today she was put in her place when mackenzie's sister who is 1 month YOUNGER than emerson bit her on the forhead and left marks! oops :(

family day

i am not sure why one paragraph is underlined so ignore that???

we went to the terwillegar towne family day activities again this year, second year we have gone. it was great! kipp stayed back at home to unpack/set up the house. last year he stayed back because emerson was sick and i remember i took her to the ER that night (last year) and they admitted her. i am happy to report she is healthy this family day!!

anyway, the community puts on some family day stuff. sleigh ride with horses, parachute games, hot dogs, hot chocolate, skating, sledding, etc. it was fun! we ran into friends mackenzie and taya and their mommy & daddy and then our new neighbors were there as well. we also saw a lot of friends we see at the park in the summer, but never really see over the winter. it's neat to see the kids growing up!

hallie and mackenzie

a view of the lake and the skating on family day

kipp thought this pic was hilarious! i was taking a pic of my friend anne, mackenzie's mom... and the background is pretty EW

birthdays birthdays!

birthdays! woah! we attended an awesome bday party last week for our good friend, keith! he turned 4 years old! we also were at a bday party today for simon who turned 3 yrs old. he is our new neighbor! next week we have 3 more bday parties to attend. wow!! here are some pictures....

birthday boy keith eating his cupcake!
my son being a pig with some chocolate
birthday boy eating lunch... mmmm chicken hot dogs!
the wonderful and yummy bday cake! there was a big cake and then 24 cupcakes, from a local company who also delivers! they were sooo good! (buttercream... so i'm sure horrible for my waistline too!)


this is not from the bday, but a random pic of kai using my old camera. the kids have taken it over.... (except i use it still for movies)

emerson at the party


the kids making the party craft... that i actually did for them (shhh....) only because it was a bit complicated for little fingers...

the pics...

some people have been hounding me to post pics so fine! here ya go! you still have to visit!!!

den - computer desk side

hallie's room

kai's room

view into hallie's room

emerson's very first bedroom

master bedroom
master bedroom

den toy shelf/chair
stairs/foyer
view from front door


kitchen

mudroom
mudroom

great room
great room
kitchen from great room

pictures!

i took some pics of the new place.... i'm in love! all of us are loving it! anyway, i'm not sure if i should post some pics or you may never come to visit me.... i'm going to go shower and i'll be back and i'm sure i'll upload some ;)

we are now in possession of the new house!!!!

we got the keys today, earlier than expected although with playschool and stuff, we didn't really go over there until 5pm anyway! it's soooooo nice to be in! it's already so much bigger, i can feel the space. or maybe that is because it's empty LOL -- that could be it!!

so the electrician came tonight to plan out the basement work, he will come back tomorrow to complete the work.

the painter came tonight to paint the kids' rooms. he has a lot of work ahead of him! he's over there now until early morning i imagine...

i brought over 1 van load of stuff tonight... pictures, smaller boxes... i put some away but it just seems like so much work so i am back at the old house, parked on the computer for a while. tomorrow will be work day. movers come at 9am, telus comes at 8am! aaaahhhh!! we have couches coming tomorrow too, but i have no idea on what time!

sooooooooo when are you all coming to visit?? i'll take some pics once we're "in" and post them!

last night was playschool registration. i went at 5:30pm and it started at 7pm. i was 6th in line, and by 6pm there were at least 25 people in line. and this is only current member registration, not even public registration!!! it was krazy! but i got kai into the class i wanted to for next fall, which is all that matters. he'll be going mon/wed/fri mornings. hallie will be going to morning kindergarten. it will be a completely new schedule for us but i think it will work out well!

anyway, take care and i'll be back once we're up and running with internet over at the new place. *should* be tomorrow but you never know....

had big plans...

i had big plans for tonight, to pack some stuff, organize... but i went to upload a video of emerson walking. it was super short. so then i got into this huge long video edit and made a little vid of the kids from the past 6 months or so... take a peek. Em's walking is at the end. it's just under 3 minutes. nothing special, just some cute and HAPPY kids :)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IoC7Lp3Ok5o

steps!

emerson is finally taking some steps here and there! she isn't too stable yet, but she can take a few in a row... and today she was doing them on her own, without me coaching.... she just took off! awwwwwwwww she is growing up! and i have some serious baby itch!!! i'll try to get some video of the steps up, just things have been insanely busy this week!

it's one of those weeks where i feel every single minute is scheduled for something or another! today we had swimming, then my dad worked my playschool duty day at hallie's request... tomorrow i drop kai at school, go meet my dad to pick out paint colors for the kids' rooms, then back to pick up kai, then to a bday party, then to pick up after school kid who gets out at noon thrusdays, back to bday party.... then i have to be at playschool registration 1.5 hrs before it even starts! and this is not even public registration! insane! it's nice having the kids go to such a highly desired school, but the wait to register is just krazy. most of the time, the public doesn't make it in unless they get in off the wait list. alumni fills the school up so fast. my kids LOVE it there!

ok gotta run, thought i'd update about my not so little girl! what a bittersweet milestone....

she is 16.5 months old and taking her first steps.......

getting into trouble...

emerson and her hair getting into trouble under the bathroom sink....

WHO did she get her hair from????!!!!