The literal interpretations of a two year old.

Mama: "Finn, I've got the WonderPets song stuck in my head"

Finn: messed up mama's hair "Open up hair, get out of it"

Mama: "No Finn, it's not really INSIDE my head, you can't get it out like that"

Finn: now pulling mama's hair "Open it! Not stuck get out!"

And, just so it can be stuck in your head too ... Click Here ... (get a good giggle from the 'no copyright infringement intended, even though the images and sound totally belong to NickJr.')

Sewing Mama S.W.A.P. Contest

Almost forgot ... I received 3rd place in the Adult S.W.A.P. (Sew with a plan) contest on Sewing Mamas!

I did most of the sewing for this 6 week contest in 3 weeks due to our vacation timing. I finished the last item on a loaner machine as my beloved Emerald was in for service - warranty work. She never did get repaired and was replaced within hours of the techs at Husqvarna seeing her. The new one is lovely, sounds a bit nicer and the needle up buttons works!

April 29th? Really. Sorry about that.

Ok, I'm a slacker. Blogging just doesn't get priority these days (months?!)

May ... what did we do in May? I'm not sure ... but I'm certain it was a good time!

Oh, right ... sister-in-law's birthday, mother's day, a long weekend with no plans ... that was May. Then, our vacation - we drove out to New Brunswick and camped all over the province, and returned home to June.

Some other photos from May - I wore a sari to church for Mother's Day - a friend from Singapore was having her son's baby dedication & several of us wore them to help her feel at home as none of her family could make it.

June is over. I have no idea how that happened. The month did wrap up with some great news - my sister had a baby - he's lovely and we're all enjoying having a fresh baby in the extended family.

July started off nicely - a BBQ with friends to get things rolling and celebrate Canada Day.

Now ... you know I'll try to post more frequently as summer progresses. We've got 4 more camping trips planned before snow flies, so there should be lots of photos!

The Mealplan. Um. Yeah. Not so much.

Well, it started well ...

Breakfasts ONE - Good Morning Muffins TWO - Blueberry Bran Muffins THREE - Smoothie FOUR - Raisen Toast <--so successful, I had this twice! FIVE - Toast with Nutella SIX - Pancakes with Blueberries <-- they had this without me on Saturday!

Lunches ONE - yummy veg bagel sandwich TWO - cheese quesadillas and guacamole THREE - Bagel Melts (used leftover chili) FOUR - Fried Egg Sandwich FIVE - Leftover Lasagna SIX - Leftover chili

Dinners ONE - Lasagna (but I did make it this week! TWO - Curried Cauliflower,Chickpeas & Naan THREE - Roasted Veg Chowder (making this tonight) FOUR - Fajitas FIVE - Chili SIX - Spagetti

So, too many dinners on my plan. We had leftovers of chili (we might still have leftover chili), leftovers of indian food & leftover pizza from the night our friends brought dinner.

I think my new plan will be to start over on Monday next week, and only plan 4 dinners and 5 breakfasts. Lunch will sort itself out without extravagant planning, and I'm sure leftovers, invitations or restaurants will take care of the other 3 dinners.

Afternoon at the park & continued meal plan success!

Used up my random, unplanned lunch today - my mother-in-law invited Finn & I for lunch.

After our lunch, we all went to a park near her home, Finn walked 90% of the way there, and rode home in the stroller. He had a great time, swinging, climbing, sliding, running, riding ... all the fun things you can do in the park when you're two.

Ode to the zipper foot.

Ok, well it's not an ode, because I can't write in any sort of poetic manner. I love my zipper foot though.

Here is my lovely zipper foot.

Emily found it for me and it makes zippers so easy! There's still the odd bit of user error, but at least I don't blame them on having the wrong tools for the job. Last night I put in 6 zippers, and they all look lovely.

Day Two - Meal Plan Success Continues

Today, toast w/ nutella for breakfast, leftover chili, smothered in sourcream, cheese & green onions, for (very late) lunch. Dinner turned out to be the spare unplanned one, as friends brought over pizza. It was great to visit with them, and luckily it all got arranged just as I was pulling the cutting board out & turning on the oven to start dinner. Easy enough to undo!

Also today - a playdate with Finn's little friend (I even got to play Rockband on the Wii ... I'm not that good), before that we went for a 5km run.

Some photos from our day (oh! and yesterday's beautiful sandwich as well!)

Finn wants you all to know that 'Garg made it' ... his little blue bowl that is. Finn is very careful with it and always carries it with two hands!

Day One - Meal Plan Success!

Ok, we did it (or rather, I did it). Cinnamon Toast for Breakfast, that beautiful bagel sandwich for lunch, and chili for dinner.

Also got quite a bit of sewing finished for the sale this coming weekend. Details will be on www.shopbabygo.ca in the morning some time, as I need to look up the address/time in my inbox on the other computer.

A project almost guaranteed to fail.

I'm going to make a menu plan. I'm even going to post it here. You can all just watch and see if I can stick to it!

Now, I'm not going to assign days to meals, I know I can't stick to that! But, I'm going to list 7 dinners, 7 lunches, 7 breakfasts. Starting tomorrow morning, I'm going to attempt to work through the 21 options You didn't really think I could do it, did you? Well, neither did I. So, I'm changing plans, 6 of each meal! That gives me one random, spontaneous, oops we're not home, or maybe we'll go out, or you know, something comes up and we get an invite out ... :)

Breakfasts ONE - Good Morning Muffins TWO - Blueberry Bran Muffins THREE - Smoothie FOUR - Raisen Toast FIVE - Toast with Nutella SIX - Pancakes with Blueberries

Lunches ONE - yummy veg bagel sandwich TWO - cheese quesadillas and guacamole THREE - Bagel Melts (use leftover fajita toppings) FOUR - Fried Egg Sandwich FIVE - Leftover Lasagna SIX - Leftover chili

Dinners ONE - Lasagna TWO - Curried Cauliflower,Chickpeas & Naan THREE - Roasted Veg Chowder FOUR - Fajitas FIVE - Chili SIX - Spagetti

Speaking of dinner, do you call it dinner, or supper? That meal you eat in the evening?

Today's Reading: Mo Willems

Today Finn & I are reading 'Things that go' and 'Knuffle Bunny', along with a whole lot of other books!

I'm not reading any grown up books, as I'm saving all my not-yet-read books for an upcoming roadtrip.

Going to try to stick a blogroll on here ...

Let's see how badly I can mess this one up! (Matthew -- if you're reading, I could probably use your help!)

Denny Oofing at Deer

I love toddler-speak. It's such fun to translate!

Today, while watching the deer in the field across the street, Finn announced to me that "Denny oofing at deer". I was lost. Totally. I know Denny is Penny - our dog. At deer was pretty clear. But oofing? What is oofing? After several repetitions, it clicked.

Offing = woofing = barking. And he's absolutely right. Penny would have been barking at the deer if she had seen them.

The deer have been here each evening for a week or so, generally six of them. Tonight there are only three - but it's still early. Perhaps I'll get a photo to share soon.

Potty Time.

The boy child is soon (hopefully) going to be ready for some potty training. And that means - underwear!

Here's the first batch ... more are cut out, and will be sewn up as time allows.



These are a great use of scraps!

75 Yards Sewn.

In February, I sewed about 75 yards of fabric! I far exceeded my goals, and I bought no fabric.

Here is a before/after comparison of my fabric shelves.

Bottom two shelves, flannels, fleeces, decor weights, quilting fabric.

And now ...

Cotton Wovens, Solid Knits, Solid Tech Fabrics





Last shelves are the printed knit fabrics, with the bulky knits up on top of the bookcase.





It's not as dramatic a difference as I'd thought!

Still Sewing, Sewing, Sewing ...

More clothing for the small boy, as well as a sleeping bag, and a couple gifts I won't be showing here!

Sewing Trains

This is probably the first time I planned a mix & match bit of sewing. A couple shirts and a couple pants for Finn. There's a couple more tops in the planning to go with this train mix.

Trims, Lace & Ribbon

I am very fortunate to have a friend who knows just where the holes are in my sewing collections! She was given a massive amount of trims, ribbons and lace from a gentleman who's wife had passed away. She skimmed off what she thought she could use, and passed the rest along to me. Finn & I spent a good part of our morning sorting and rolling, and this is what we ended up with.

I think this little yellow bit is my favourite, and there is just enough to trim a 25"square blanket. I'll tuck it away for the next time I need a baby boy gift.