Scrapbooking Ideas Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com
Scrapbooking Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com
Scrapbooking Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com
Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Merry Christmas from our home to yours xoxo
Scrapbooking Ideas Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com
Scrapbooking Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com
Scrapbooking Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com
Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com
Magic Reindeer Food
MAGIC REINDEER FOOD
Sprinkle on the lawn at night,
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
This will guide them to your home!
RECIPE FOR MAGIC REINDEER FOOD #1
Colored crystal sugar (cake decorating sugar)
Dried apple slices
Nutmeg
Cinnamon sticks
Cloves
Put ingredients together in a bowl and mix.
On Christmas Eve, sprinkle on your lawn to help Santa's reindeer find your house.
RECIPE FOR MAGIC REINDEER FOOD #2
Mix bird seed, dry oatmeal or cereal (such as cheerios, rice krispies, or grape nuts flakes), and red or green colored sugar crystals
*This is a treasured tradition each year in our home... And the extra wonderful thing is that we usually see some hoove-prints in the snow on Christmas morning! Glad to know that Santa's team can have a little treat at our home too! xoxo
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Time for a little update....
Well, I do believe that it is indeed time for a little update around here!
To be honest, as much as I often have a hundred things to say, I don't have a lot of free moments in order to do so!
Things have been a little hairy around here lately.
Our poor Victoria has had a cough lately, but has been able to carry on normally. Friday after school she delivered some food baskets with her teacher and came home for a minute to pick up her tray of Christmas goodies and present for her friend's gift exchange and headed out the door to one of her dear friend's house for their Christmas party. We were to pick her up at the usual 10pm. At 8:40pm she phoned and requested to come straight home. Kevin immediately went to pick her up and the minute she came in she had that high fever look to her. I can always tell if she is fevered by her eyes. My poor girl. We got her straight to bed and took her temperature and it was 102.8 She was miserable. She complained of aches and pain and we sympathized with her and assumed she had some nasty flu bug. Saturday she was so very ill, aches, pains, cough, high fever and she told me that her right upper side was especially hurting. She stayed in bed and despite being so incredibly ill she was trying hard to study. Poor kid could literally hardly stand the discomfort and was still worried about doing well on her English & French (Monday) and History (Tuesday) exams. We explained that if she was this ill, she wouldn't be there and we would work it out... Well, she gave in to the pain and couldn't even sleep really. She was too uncomfortable despite the pain and fever meds. Sunday morning her temp. returned to normal between doses. But would rise. However, by late morning the pain was only worsening. My poor girl. I felt so badly for her. We took it as a good sign that the fever had come down, but quickly realised that there was something major when she literally couldn't stand the pain. The excruciating, kind of pain she really couldn't breathe through, escalated very quickly. She had had pain and discomfort, but by noon, this had her crying and was really out of control. We quickly got her bundled (it is COLD here) and I stayed home with the little girls and Kevin took her to the hospital. She waited about 40 minutes in the jam packed waiting room (we were thinking we'd be there many many hours) and once the triage nurse assessed her she was brought directly in back to the doctor. Poor Victoria.... I hated not being there so very much.... They ran a lot of blood work and gave her a needle for the pain. And they ordered a chest xray which showed that she has pneumonia in her right lung. She has been written out of school until January 3rd (the usual school holidays so she won't be missing...) and has been given two medications to take and the order of bed rest for a week. I felt so sorry for her. Thankfully the injection had taken the sharp pain away from her and kept her comfortable. She is home now, and the school and teachers were very understanding. She is feeling better today as the pain is lessening. So, this brings up Christmas..... Do we travel? Travelling means being in the car for 2.5 hours until we reach my folks house... They insist that they are not worried about us spreading germs. But still. Thankfully after being on the antibiotic for 24 hours, apparently you are no longer contagious? She insists that assuming she is much better by then, that she really wants to go! Apart from being at my folks house (where she has a bedroom to rest in) and the next day at Kevin's parents house for the afternoon, we would be taking it easy. We will judge it when it is closer. Can you believe there are only 3 more sleeps until Christmas morning?!!!!!!
I had to see my doc yesterday as I felt safer having my lungs sounded out before the holidays and especially given that Tori has pneumonia and I am still feeling heavy chested. I had this heavy cold, sore throat, heavy chested feeling develop in China. I know it was brought on with the pollution etc... Anyway, despite everything going very smoothly transition wise, I am still not 100 %. My doc said my lungs thankfully were clear. She did a throat swab to check for strep. I will hear news on that tomorrow. She gave me a prescription that hopefully I won't have to fill as I could quite possibly be allergic to it! Yikes! I am allergic to all of the alternatives. Lucky me. She told me that I am quite run down. Naturally! And that apart from getting as much rest as possible etc.. (that isn't working out) I am to take two inhalers for the next month. Starting with one as I might not need the 2nd or it may cause heart palpitations which I don't want! So, I forced myself to take one last night and this morning. So far, I am still alive. Seriously, I should not be kidding! But I beyond hate taking things and it brings me such stress and anxiety. During my life, on the rare occasions when I didn't have a choice about taking something, I reacted to it. Not fun! Anyway, sorry for the rant. Just filling you in on why it has been quiet on the blog front! :) Don't get me wrong, I am doing everything I need to, and feel pretty ok, just basically run down. I am fine, but will be happy to be rid of the heavy chested feeling.
Now on a much happier note... We have been home just over 2 weeks and things are settling in nicely. Adjusting Hannah into our routines and the other way around is coming along. The first few days of no sleep and jet lag had me feeling like my house would never be clean again! Now, I seem to be able to juggle everything/everyone a little easier. Hannah has been sleeping well but two nights ago had me up with her for a little over 2 hours. Not sure what that was about so it has me always half listening as I sleep! She was also a bit cranky the next day so perhaps something was working on her too... Not sure.... Today she is Smiley Pants again! On a whole, she isn't thrilled about being in her playpen and lets us know it! She definitely can shout when she wants something (great lungs) and most of the time we jump to her commands! Within reason of course, but they are usually pretty reasonable:) She still has her sunny shining spirit! What a smile she has... It makes her whole face glow! No she isn't Rudolph! Who is a very popular character in our house these days I might add!
Mara-Grace is VERY excited that there are only 3 more sleeps! Tomorrow we will make our Reindeer Food to sprinkle on the snow on Christmas Eve. She has a rocking horse which she has brought into the kitchen and she has hooked it up to another ride on pony (Hannah's) and she has taken a crafty decorative reindeer who used to be in our kitchen, and she plays endlessly. These are her team of reindeer! She even got out some tin cookie cutters and hung them on their handles/ears. Antlers? She rocks on her horse... ummm reindeer and she yells "Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen.......... To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, now dash away, dash away, dash away all" Oh my how she ADORES this! OK, so do I :) She is a lot like her Mama!!!! I am so excited!
Another thrilling moment this week was when Mara-Grace received a response to her letter from Santa!!!! She has had me read it over and over... On the phone to Granny and Daddy and then so many times since! I love the magic of this time of year. Last night we drove around our neighborhood (alwasy making sure Hannah wasn't falling asleep) to see the Christmas lights!!!! So magical!
At mass on Sunday, I sat there and thought to myself how very blessed we are. (Victoria stayed home and now I have such guilt about leaving her alone. It was shortly after we got home that she really was out of her mind in agony.) I sat there and it washed over me again how thankful I am for our family. We have been given the gift of three girls and I couldn't give more praise for these miracles. On a side note, Hannah Faith sat in mass again this week and was so well behaved. She is so easy going. Except, I guess this week she was a little more comfortable, and maybe it was because we sat directly in front of the choir loft rather than in our usual seats, but EVERY time the guitarist would begin playing and singing, Hannah would begin to dance and wait for it......SING! She sings and sings and sings when she hears music. And I do mean loudly. She wasn't being fussy or anything other than loudly joyful at mass! Her face was lit by her smile and her little body dancing (I noted to the actual rhythm too!) and out of her mouth she sang so joyfully in her baby language! EVERY song! And she would start and stop in perfect timing too! What was I to do? I was a little embarrassed maybe as she was loudly participating, and yet I was so proud of her and so thankful she was there in my arms....
We have indeed been so blessed. Much love from our home to yours.
To be honest, as much as I often have a hundred things to say, I don't have a lot of free moments in order to do so!
Things have been a little hairy around here lately.
Our poor Victoria has had a cough lately, but has been able to carry on normally. Friday after school she delivered some food baskets with her teacher and came home for a minute to pick up her tray of Christmas goodies and present for her friend's gift exchange and headed out the door to one of her dear friend's house for their Christmas party. We were to pick her up at the usual 10pm. At 8:40pm she phoned and requested to come straight home. Kevin immediately went to pick her up and the minute she came in she had that high fever look to her. I can always tell if she is fevered by her eyes. My poor girl. We got her straight to bed and took her temperature and it was 102.8 She was miserable. She complained of aches and pain and we sympathized with her and assumed she had some nasty flu bug. Saturday she was so very ill, aches, pains, cough, high fever and she told me that her right upper side was especially hurting. She stayed in bed and despite being so incredibly ill she was trying hard to study. Poor kid could literally hardly stand the discomfort and was still worried about doing well on her English & French (Monday) and History (Tuesday) exams. We explained that if she was this ill, she wouldn't be there and we would work it out... Well, she gave in to the pain and couldn't even sleep really. She was too uncomfortable despite the pain and fever meds. Sunday morning her temp. returned to normal between doses. But would rise. However, by late morning the pain was only worsening. My poor girl. I felt so badly for her. We took it as a good sign that the fever had come down, but quickly realised that there was something major when she literally couldn't stand the pain. The excruciating, kind of pain she really couldn't breathe through, escalated very quickly. She had had pain and discomfort, but by noon, this had her crying and was really out of control. We quickly got her bundled (it is COLD here) and I stayed home with the little girls and Kevin took her to the hospital. She waited about 40 minutes in the jam packed waiting room (we were thinking we'd be there many many hours) and once the triage nurse assessed her she was brought directly in back to the doctor. Poor Victoria.... I hated not being there so very much.... They ran a lot of blood work and gave her a needle for the pain. And they ordered a chest xray which showed that she has pneumonia in her right lung. She has been written out of school until January 3rd (the usual school holidays so she won't be missing...) and has been given two medications to take and the order of bed rest for a week. I felt so sorry for her. Thankfully the injection had taken the sharp pain away from her and kept her comfortable. She is home now, and the school and teachers were very understanding. She is feeling better today as the pain is lessening. So, this brings up Christmas..... Do we travel? Travelling means being in the car for 2.5 hours until we reach my folks house... They insist that they are not worried about us spreading germs. But still. Thankfully after being on the antibiotic for 24 hours, apparently you are no longer contagious? She insists that assuming she is much better by then, that she really wants to go! Apart from being at my folks house (where she has a bedroom to rest in) and the next day at Kevin's parents house for the afternoon, we would be taking it easy. We will judge it when it is closer. Can you believe there are only 3 more sleeps until Christmas morning?!!!!!!
I had to see my doc yesterday as I felt safer having my lungs sounded out before the holidays and especially given that Tori has pneumonia and I am still feeling heavy chested. I had this heavy cold, sore throat, heavy chested feeling develop in China. I know it was brought on with the pollution etc... Anyway, despite everything going very smoothly transition wise, I am still not 100 %. My doc said my lungs thankfully were clear. She did a throat swab to check for strep. I will hear news on that tomorrow. She gave me a prescription that hopefully I won't have to fill as I could quite possibly be allergic to it! Yikes! I am allergic to all of the alternatives. Lucky me. She told me that I am quite run down. Naturally! And that apart from getting as much rest as possible etc.. (that isn't working out) I am to take two inhalers for the next month. Starting with one as I might not need the 2nd or it may cause heart palpitations which I don't want! So, I forced myself to take one last night and this morning. So far, I am still alive. Seriously, I should not be kidding! But I beyond hate taking things and it brings me such stress and anxiety. During my life, on the rare occasions when I didn't have a choice about taking something, I reacted to it. Not fun! Anyway, sorry for the rant. Just filling you in on why it has been quiet on the blog front! :) Don't get me wrong, I am doing everything I need to, and feel pretty ok, just basically run down. I am fine, but will be happy to be rid of the heavy chested feeling.
Now on a much happier note... We have been home just over 2 weeks and things are settling in nicely. Adjusting Hannah into our routines and the other way around is coming along. The first few days of no sleep and jet lag had me feeling like my house would never be clean again! Now, I seem to be able to juggle everything/everyone a little easier. Hannah has been sleeping well but two nights ago had me up with her for a little over 2 hours. Not sure what that was about so it has me always half listening as I sleep! She was also a bit cranky the next day so perhaps something was working on her too... Not sure.... Today she is Smiley Pants again! On a whole, she isn't thrilled about being in her playpen and lets us know it! She definitely can shout when she wants something (great lungs) and most of the time we jump to her commands! Within reason of course, but they are usually pretty reasonable:) She still has her sunny shining spirit! What a smile she has... It makes her whole face glow! No she isn't Rudolph! Who is a very popular character in our house these days I might add!
Mara-Grace is VERY excited that there are only 3 more sleeps! Tomorrow we will make our Reindeer Food to sprinkle on the snow on Christmas Eve. She has a rocking horse which she has brought into the kitchen and she has hooked it up to another ride on pony (Hannah's) and she has taken a crafty decorative reindeer who used to be in our kitchen, and she plays endlessly. These are her team of reindeer! She even got out some tin cookie cutters and hung them on their handles/ears. Antlers? She rocks on her horse... ummm reindeer and she yells "Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen.......... To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, now dash away, dash away, dash away all" Oh my how she ADORES this! OK, so do I :) She is a lot like her Mama!!!! I am so excited!
Another thrilling moment this week was when Mara-Grace received a response to her letter from Santa!!!! She has had me read it over and over... On the phone to Granny and Daddy and then so many times since! I love the magic of this time of year. Last night we drove around our neighborhood (alwasy making sure Hannah wasn't falling asleep) to see the Christmas lights!!!! So magical!
At mass on Sunday, I sat there and thought to myself how very blessed we are. (Victoria stayed home and now I have such guilt about leaving her alone. It was shortly after we got home that she really was out of her mind in agony.) I sat there and it washed over me again how thankful I am for our family. We have been given the gift of three girls and I couldn't give more praise for these miracles. On a side note, Hannah Faith sat in mass again this week and was so well behaved. She is so easy going. Except, I guess this week she was a little more comfortable, and maybe it was because we sat directly in front of the choir loft rather than in our usual seats, but EVERY time the guitarist would begin playing and singing, Hannah would begin to dance and wait for it......SING! She sings and sings and sings when she hears music. And I do mean loudly. She wasn't being fussy or anything other than loudly joyful at mass! Her face was lit by her smile and her little body dancing (I noted to the actual rhythm too!) and out of her mouth she sang so joyfully in her baby language! EVERY song! And she would start and stop in perfect timing too! What was I to do? I was a little embarrassed maybe as she was loudly participating, and yet I was so proud of her and so thankful she was there in my arms....
We have indeed been so blessed. Much love from our home to yours.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Welcome!!!!!
Now that Hannah Faith is home at last, we have decided to combine both of our separate blogs. So, here we are! I do hope that you continue to follow our journey. We have just ordered a hard covered book with all of our blog posts and comments from our journey to Hannah, and once we receive this, we will do the same for Mara's blog.
We have been home over a week now and are very happy to report that we have all settled in to our new routine really well. Despite all of the changes in our little one's life, Hannah has adjusted well to life at home with her new family. We all adore her and it has been wonderful witnessing our girls getting to know one another. Mara-Grace has taken on the role of big sister with great pride! She adores her baby sister and hasn't had any real issues as of yet.
We are so fortunate that Hannah and our family has had a smooth transition. I feel so very blessed and am so thankful.
I have HUGE news today! Hannah took her first step to me when I let go of her hands this morning! We had been putting away some clothes in her bedroom and she was pulling herself up to standing and then walking while holding on to things (crib, dresser, chair etc.). Then I took her hand and she started walking a little. I let go for about 3 seconds and she took two steps to me. She was so proud of her herself- so was I. Poor Mara was in the washroom when the milestone happened:) I am sure a repeat will soon be following!
Thank you for your continued support and kind messages. We are so fortunate. xoxoxo
We have been home over a week now and are very happy to report that we have all settled in to our new routine really well. Despite all of the changes in our little one's life, Hannah has adjusted well to life at home with her new family. We all adore her and it has been wonderful witnessing our girls getting to know one another. Mara-Grace has taken on the role of big sister with great pride! She adores her baby sister and hasn't had any real issues as of yet.
We are so fortunate that Hannah and our family has had a smooth transition. I feel so very blessed and am so thankful.
I have HUGE news today! Hannah took her first step to me when I let go of her hands this morning! We had been putting away some clothes in her bedroom and she was pulling herself up to standing and then walking while holding on to things (crib, dresser, chair etc.). Then I took her hand and she started walking a little. I let go for about 3 seconds and she took two steps to me. She was so proud of her herself- so was I. Poor Mara was in the washroom when the milestone happened:) I am sure a repeat will soon be following!
Thank you for your continued support and kind messages. We are so fortunate. xoxoxo
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