Weekend Rewind

Hello winter... it looks like it has actually arrived now and I know I don't actually have a right to complain, you won't see me celebrating it!

Friday night was pretty low key, after Noah was in bed I decided to watch the movie Sisters. I surprised to see a good copy of it on my android box. The movie was alright. with a few twists I was not expecting!

Saturday was gloomy and overcast with rain off and on, but in positive temps, so it melted a lot of snow before we got dumped on last night. M and I decided that this would be the day we went to make adult decisions and purchase a new toaster, dish set and panini press. M's Mom volunteered to baby sit, so it was just M and I and believe it or not, we came back almost empty handed... we did by a new griddle. Can I just say that for the price of toasters these days, I would expect the toaster to bake or butter the bread too! We had lunch at the farm and then came home for Noah's nap time. M started up the smoker and put on a pork roast and I worked on laundry.

Around 4:00, our neighbour was able to come over and help M swap the couches, moving the big one from the basement back upstairs and the brown one back downstairs. He refused to let me help, but we were able to clean the floors under the couch and what not, so that made me happy. Can I just say how much I missed this couch!! Happy prego over here in comfort now!

Dinner turned out great and M went on and on about how good the roast was - it was super moist and tender, but a bit spicy for me.

Saturday night we decided to do a little date night, but just before that was about to start, I realized I forgot to take a picture of Noah! He literally has at least one photo a day for his whole life and I couldn't let it slide with not getting one, so I snuck upstairs and snapped a pic!

After that we headed out to the hot tub, as the weather was perfect and mild for it and M had the temp turned down for me so that it was safe for me and the baby. It was such an amazing 15 minutes just relaxing and feeling weightless!

After that I made some homemade chocolate milk shakes and a match of dominos.

Sadly M won. But it was fun date night in and I was in bed by just after 11:00.

Yesterday morning started off rainy, which was fine with me since I had made a to-do list for us to complete. We are all caught up on laundry washed, folded and put away! Not only that, but we moved the washer and dryer out to clean behind them - not sure why I was soo focused on this task, but I was and I feel soo good knowing it is done! Let the crazy nesting begin?

Noah thought he would try on M's boots which were thigh high on him! Silly kid!

For lunch we had homemade waffles with berries and yogurt.

Noah was super tired come nap time, but I soaked in a few snuggles first! Check out these tired eyes:

We wanted to get in our work out while Noah was napping, but first we tackled a little DIY project for the nursery - the lampshade, which we screwed up, but I am hoping to salvage that project in one way or another this week.

Up next was our work out, which Noah woke up during the middle of it and was super grumpy! Luckily we were able to get it finished, but we did not get around to cleaning the fridge out.

We put away laundry and then headed to the farm for our family dinner. Noah absolutely loves having ice cream with Grandpa! I love that it is their special thing and he gets so excited about it!

Luckily we didn't have far to go when it came to coming home because the roads were not pretty and it was pretty much a full on snow storm.

Luckily today we are just heading down to play group this morning and then have a nice quiet day ahead!

New Years Week+End Rewind

Since I have jam-packed this week with a catch up of posts, I will recap our New Years weekend and what has gone down this week today for you. 

M worked until about 3 PM on New Years Eve. On Wednesday last week Noah was having a rough day and to make matters worse, we couldn't find his pacifier in bed, so to bed he went without out it and surprisingly he didn't seem to care! However we have since learned there are repercussions to him not having it which include 30 minute naps and early wake ups in the morning!! So needless to say on New Years Eve, Noah was not up late, but we tried our best to make the best of his early evening with a special tub celebration! He wasn't too sure at first, but then loved it once he saw it was a light in the water and it changed colors!

Once the little guy was in bed, M and I tidied up a bit and I watched the movie The Intern on the box. It was really good!!! M was working on his new smoker and then played some xbox games I'm sure! I went to bed around 11:30, but stayed up in bed and watched the ball drop with M. I was asleep shortly after! 

New Years Day was super laid back in comfy clothes all day long! We really just spent the day as a family, which was nice and low key! We also attempted our first family selfie of the year... I won't tell you how many shots we had to take to get this mediocre one, but it's us. Gracie is only looking because we said who's here and Noah is yelling Grandpa - meanwhile Grandpa is nowhere near being home..

After Noah went tthe bed, I conned M into playing Dice Poker wth me and sure en go I started the year out with a win!! 

Saturday morning M had to run and do a job for a farmer, so he dressed Noah up in his coveralls and off they went, giving me the morning to work on laundry and some other things around the house! 

Saturday late afternoon we had some friends over with thier 3 boys for dinner. M was itching to try out his smoker, so we did up steaks, and roasted potatoes on it and then did green beans and a Cesar salad as well as a fresh loaf of bread we made. J & S brought dessert which included this delicious cheese cake with fruit and cupcakes for the kids. Check out my new dessert plates!! Not that you can see, but they say "have your cake and eat it too".

They left just before we started Noah's bedtime routine, but it was a nice afternoon/evening and dinner was pretty great! 

Sunday morning we baked bran raisin muffins for breakfast, as well as put on another loaf of bread! We worked up in Noah's room hanging shelves and got his laundry put away. 

I ran into town to get some groceries, which was crazy busy - no wonder I don't grocery shop on weekends if it can be helped. 

When Noah went down for his nap, I decided to tackle a little DIY project for book shelves in his room, since I was struggling with finding the right baskets. I had b get this fabric months ago, not sure what I would use it for and then I realized it was perfect for Noah's room. Our theme is Noah's favorite things, so you can expect to see baseball, trucks, tractors, dogs, outdoorsy stuff, boating, etc. I know it sounds crazy, but it's really coming together! 

I'm really proud of how these turned out. I'm not the best sewer, so when they ended up the same size as each other, I was really impressed! I will say the only downfall is the amount of books they hold. I thought it would hold more. So are trying to figure out a way to remedy this. But here they are:

M's parents came over for dinner and of course Noah loved playing with Grandpa! We have to try to get in as much time this month with them before they head south! 

After they left I decided to bake some banana muffins too!! 

Monday was back to work for M. I got the call from the dentist informing me I would need to see the dental surgeon. I ended up with an appointment Tuesday to see the surgeon.

It wasn't the best news, it's still gotta come out sooner than later, but it all has to be cleared by my OB next week. Booking the procedure was super tricky for this month, as we have a lot on the go and are trying to plan vacation for February. But we found a potential date that would give me a week recovery, so once it's all cleared by my OB, we are good to go with that. 

I will say Noah has been a champ this week with his behaviour. He is back to normal, apparently our rough week last week has resulted in a little boy with working listening ears, that and we are past Christmas haha. 

Wednesday night we had dinner at the farm, set up their box, and fit bit and then I worked with my MIL to learn how to do the books and payroll while they were gone. It feels nice to have something to focus on aside from maintaining the family home and Noah! 

Last night was the first night of the 21 day fix for myself and second night for M. I'm hoping to get in 4/5 workouts a week if I can, but even if I get 3 in I'm happy. 

DIY Seasonal Barn Board Display

Nothing like having a little Pinterest Party with your girlfriend one evening and making a seasonal barn board display for outside.

Luckily I have an endless supply to barn boards over at the farm, so getting a rustic board was not a problem, we didn't need a 7 foot long board, so I had M cut one board in half.

Supplies Needed:

- barn board

- palm sander with sand paper

- black paint

- stencils (printed our own with paper)

- pencil or marker for tracing

- paint brushes

First we took the boards outside and gave them a quick sand with a palm sander, since they are real barn boards and were rather rough.

J printed out letters for us to cut out and then trace onto the boards

We just used a black acrylic craft paint and filled in the letters on the board we traced out.

We decided to freehand some Halloween art - which if I'm being honest, I blew my spider web and hate it, but it will do for now until I figure out a way to fix it.

here is my finished board:

and both of our boards finished:

In December, we decided we would do the other side of our boards for Christmas!!

This side of my board was definitely rougher, but still not to bad to work with!

We bought Santa hats from the dollar store to help dress them up a bit

I really like the way this side of the board turned out at least! It does suck that I couldn't get a picture of the board dry, as we had gotten a lot of rain, but you get the idea! I don't have a picture of J's board.

Overall the project was pretty easy, fun and didn't require a lot of time. I think we had each side done within 2 hours!

{ Weekend Rewind }

This past weekend was super busy, just as I expect every weekend coming up through December to be!! But it was fun none the less!

Friday night I went over to J's to get our Christmas boards done. I have yet to post about our Halloween boards, but now that our Christmas ones are done too (on the same board just back and front), I should probably get that post ready!! Here is a sneak peek of my board. I will hopefully get the planter ready outside and snap a pic soon as well!!

 

Saturday morning Noah stuck to the trend of waking up around 6:30 AM... not my thing... and luckily Daddy was home to deal this weekend! Although I ended up being awake the whole time, I rested in bed as long as I could until M had to go to work for a few hours to survey! So in the mean time Noah and  I got some laundry done, Noah had a quick morning nap and I showered during that time. We had to run onto town to drop off my Christmas Swap gift to my sister, so my partner (Anna) could pick it up from her place (yay for close swap partners to save on shipping)

 

When M got home just after lunch, he put Noah down for a nap and I got my Christmas baking done for the village moms cookie swap. 7.25 dozen cookies made, I only needed 5.5 for the swap, so I did make some extra, but I think I will make maybe 2 more batches of freezer dough! I ended up over buying on my supplies, not realizing that 3 batches made that many!

 

Noah had a monster nap, which honestly, he really needs! This poor kid is behind on sleep and I am not sure if its the new bedroom transition or teething causing the problem, but he is just not sleeping the same! So when he woke up from nap time we let him try his very first homemade cookie! He wasn't too sure, but was super excited and ended up devouring it! Look at his little smile:

 

Saturday night M and I had the fireman's Christmas party, so M's parents came over to babysit and took Noah out for dinner while we got ready! 

 Noah enjoyed his night with Grandma and Grandpa and even went to bed like a champ!! We enjoyed our little night out and were constantly joking about the last time I was pregnant and going to this party, we didn't make it because I fractured my ankle and ended up in the ER. Yes, I am being overly cautious now with this pregnancy and praying my bones hold up this time!

Sunday morning Noah was up at 6:40 again. I managed a real sleep in until 9 AM and felt great! Today was the day we Christmasified the house! So we brought up the tree and bins and this little guy was already getting excited!

 

We had to change the room around, so that took some time, but we managed to get the tree up before nap time and we even enjoyed a little buffet lunch, which Noah surprised us with doing so well with!

We decorated the house with the decor while Noah was napping, put up the train track system on the tree and I got the garland on the tree.

 

Noah had to measure the tree apparently!

 

I will say seeing Gracie laying by the tree made me miss Lily like crazy. I ended up in tears before I knew it remembering just how much Lily enjoyed Christmas - it was her favorite holiday!! 

 

Noah only napped for an hour and then we decided we would head into town, we had some shingles to return and a few gifts to pick up! We are soo close to being done Christmas shopping, with just a few people left on our list to buy for!

We decided to pick up pizza for dinner and invited M's parents over to help decorate the tree! Noah wasn't too interested in putting ornaments on, and really just wanted the train to keep going around! Train obsessed!!

The finished product:

 

Today I am happy to report Noah slept in until 7:45, which is soo much better for this mama!! We are just about to head off to play group and hopefully have a nice low-key day!! 

Summer Fun Recap 2015

This summer was filled with fun, so just to be able to recap what all went down this summer, I have been compiling a list of what all we did, so I won't forget!!

- zoo trips!! (4 to be exact)

- trip to the cottage in Grand Bend

- quad rides - Noah knows how to start them now! 

- I ran my first 5K!!! It was slow, but an awesome start. I was only a few weeks in before I had to stop because I was pregnant (Drs reccomendation), but I look forward to picking it back up when I am able to post baby. 

- shopping

- beach trip 

- boating and seadooing

- built a deck and stairs up to the pool

- we visited the butterfly conservatory

- swimming in the pool and the lake

- we visited my Grandma's old house where I had a ton of memories. I loved seeing Noah in the same yard and house where I had so much fun!

- backhoe and tractor rides

- bbq'd and had play dates with friends and family

- we celebrated birthdays and anniversary's

- fireworks

- campfires - granted Noah has been sleeping during these for safety reasons
- splash pad (2)

(Yes Noah is in there... Covered in water...)

- RTVing

- flying on an airplane (2)

- visiting cousin Jenna's in Saskatchewan 

- sleeping in a camper for the first time

- horse back riding

- we went to the farm show
- we said goodbye to our Lily girl!! Miss her like crazy every single day!

 - we took family photos

- becoming a BIG brother!

 - seeing the baby and his/her heart beating!! Soo special!!

It was a busy summer to say the least, but it was awesome and one I don't think we will forget!! Traveling alone with your toddler in the earliest weeks of your pregnancy with a busy toddler to say the least was very exhausting, but it was an opportunity we couldn't out on and it was already booked before we found out we were expecting. We found out the week before we left! 

But it was a great summer, we had lots of fun with friends and family and created lots of memories!! Noah did awesome with swimming and is just like his mom and dad - a water rat! He doesn't want to get out!!  Having our Brantford Zoo pass was a nice thing to have this summer as we managed to at least get the cost of the pass in, plus one extra trip I think. Our last trip there was definitely our best, as Noah was really interested in all the animals!! 

Backhoe, tractor, RTVing, and quad rides will never get old with this little guy!! I'm sure we did more, but that at least sums up the biggest events that took place!!!