Thankful Thursdays

Thankful for...

1. Shadows.  It means there is SUNSHINE and the kids also love playing Shadow Tag (aka trying to stomp on the head of my shadow).

2.  Signs of Spring.  Oh sooooo ready for it!! Please let this sunshine last.  I don't care about the crazy, wild allergies, just keep the sunshine going!

3.  Bath time.  It makes the sometimes crazy 5-7 pm go a whole lot easier.  These kids LOVE their bath time.

4.  Finding a solution within our home.  Kai needed to dress up for Dr. Seuss day and I didn't want to go out to buy anything (just time and money I didn't want to spend).  He was Mr. Brown and I just used a cowboy hat, a balloon, and a cocoon I knit years ago (for photography) and voila.  Mr. Brown.

5.  A good bargain on pants for Koen next year.  Six pairs of great condition,  name brand jeans/pants for $12 (second hand).  These will definitely last him through kindergarten.  Kai doesn't have enough to pass down any more so I do need to buy new ones for Koen.

6. Easy dinners.  Costco's super kale salad with roast chicken and mangoes. 

7.  Hours of the boys being entertained on their own.  They play many things with their stuffies.  Usually its `Amazing  Race' but they also did `The Price Is Right' this week.

8. Our double stroller.  We bought this second hand when Koen was little so it's about 5 years old and going strong.  We use it all the time still with just Nya in it and then we fill it up with groceries.  It's been so great for us!

9. Unconditional Love.  We are all loved unconditionally by God.  Gary also loves me unconditionally and our kids know this love too.  It bothered me when we got married and Gary told me that he made the decision to love me forever (which makes it sound like there is no feeling involved) but I know no matter what, whether I'm nice or mean,  he loves me the same.

10.  Koen's heart. He is so sweet. If he hears that someone is sick, he asks that we pray for them immediately.  When his friend Thomas was sick, he said, `I'm so sad that Thomas is sick, I just love him so much.'.  I shared this on facebook a I thought it was funny but it also speaks about his heart:

Koen: Mom, one day we have to help Nya find a husband.

Me: What kind of husband should we look for?

Koen: One with lots of ketchup at his house.  She loves ketchup.  Oh, and someone who makes sure she doesn't climb the ladder on the bunk bed.

I hope you are having a good week!  I'm trying to get life and work all caught up before Spring Break. Any plans for the break?

Love, Louise

Just Say No....To Your Kids

Ok, so a whole lotta you are going to be thinking, `Uh, we don't get our kid whatever they want' or `I do not struggle with this at all' or something along those lines.  I know it seems like common knowledge what I'm going to say but it's something we've really had to deal with in our family a lot more recently.  It's easy to say `No, we're not buying Lucky Charms, they are full of sugar!' when we are at the grocery store, but it's another thing when they ask day in and out about a specific toy.

Delay of Gratification.  Our boys are learning this now...not just the idea of it but the term as well.  I think.  It's what we are working on, anyway, in regards to toys.  I find that as my boys get older, what their friends have, and what the television shows them, becomes so much more important.  It started off simple enough as their desires came from their true love of what they saw or read about around them.  For Kai, he loved diggers, then dinosaurs, then Lego, and this came naturally from what he liked after exposure to these things in our home and neighbourhood.  We would go see diggers, we got digger books, we inherited a plastic digger...all very simple.  Koen has always loved Cars and has played with them daily for two years, it is amazing.

Then came school friends and commercials on the television.  Suddenly, when Kai was in grade one, they were SO INTO POKEMON AND THEY WOULD LOVE THEM FOREVER IF WE GOT THEM SOME.   Well, in the past, they really truly did love what we got them and we really got our money's worth and they took care of their toys so maybe we could invest in some Pokemon.  We got them (from garage sales, Gary's students, Target), they loved them, they thanked us (it felt nice!) and then, well, that didn't last long.

{You don't really play Pokemon with Cars but Koen does.  I do have to say that Koen learned all his numbers up to 100 because of Pokemon}

Then came OH MY GOODNESS, BEYBLADES ARE THE COOLEST THINGS IN THE WORLD AND EVERYONE BATTLES THEM AT SCHOOL AND I WILL LOVE THEM FOREVER AND PLAY WITH THEM EVERYDAY.  After dealing with their fading love for Pokemon, I was a little hesitant but with a 50% off sale AND a coupon from the cereal box, we got a whole arena and whatever those specific Beyblades are called for about 25% of the original cost (which is still a crazy amount for some plastic).  This was two months ago.  They play with them once a week now.  Terrible.

So, the past month has been the talk that OKAY, THIS IS THE LAST TIME I WILL LOVE SOMETHING.  I WILL NEVER PLAY WITH ANYTHING ELSE AGAIN. I LOVE SKYLANDERS SO MUCH AND THEY ARE SO COOL AND KOEN AND I WILL TALK ABOUT THEM ALL NIGHT LONG EVERY NIGHT BECAUSE WE WANT THE SKYLANDERS SWAP FORCE.   Imagine this conversation every single day.

And what did we say?  NO.  It feels mean but it feels so good.  Do I get everything I want?  No way.  That's a good thing too.   I remember growing up how much I wanted a Cabbage Patch Doll. I waited an entire year for one and do you know how much I loved her? Wow. A lot. I treated her like gold (although I don't know where she is now:).  We actually said to the boys, `We have bought you a lot of toys, like the Beyblades, and you don't play with them very much at all anymore.  We will not buy you Skylanders now, but we will wait until your birthday which is 7 months from now.  If you still really want it, you can sell some of your other toys and use your birthday money to buy them.'. 

Do you know what they said?  `Okay!'  Instead, they printed up some Skylanders off the computer, they coloured them, and they played with them.  They sold a few toys already to start saving.  They still ask about it but they know that we will talk about it again seriously in August.

I see it so often these days,  kids whose parents struggle with boundaries and just give, give, give.  I'm not saying we are awesome because we are too lenient sometimes too.   How will the kids learn to appreciate all they have? How will they truly learn to work for what they want?  Parents often give because it feels good to make your kids happy (for that moment and I KNOW how good that feels).  I really encourage us all not to get caught up thinking about their present happiness but instead, think about the long term and how by saying `no' to them (and explaining why), they really will be able to say `no' to whatever impulses come their way.

I hope I don't sound too preachy...I just really think that things are way more out of control than they ever have been.  Set your boundaries and they will appreciate it in the long run!

What do you think?  Have your kids been SO CRAZY about something and then suddenly it wasn't so great anymore?  Do you have any tricks to see if your kids really and truly will love something?  If you don't have kids, what were rules that your parents had for you?

I hope you have a good weekend!

Love, Louise

Thankful Thursdays

**I know I don't need to say it because 90% of people probably don't care but it totally drives me nuts that I have to post iPhone photos.  I use my phone during the week when I see something I'm thankful for and therefore, that's what you get.  If I was Louise of 10 Years Ago, I would put in the extra hour to get great photos of everything I'm thankful for with our DSLR, but alas, the Louise of Now is a little more relaxed.  A little.**

Thankful For...
1. Bacon. Sorry, vegetarians :(  Gary made BLT's with guacamole and I love bacon. And guacamole. And him.

2. A Special Cup.  Growing up, I was one of five kids.  My mom bought some tupperware cups and the order went darkest to lightest for oldest to youngest.  This was the cup that I used and now Kai uses.  It's got to be almost 30 years old.  See, I am such a sucker for sentimental things.  

3. Salad with fruit (in the winter).  We love our mangoes and strawberries!  Koen's favourite part of our trip to SE Asia was the mangoes.  

4.  An anonymous donation to our Disneyland Fund.  The trip will cost us about $3500.00 as we are probably going to drive and also do the Grand Canyon at the same time.  My hope is to fund raise about $500 :)  Really it's about the kids participating so that they can have a better understanding of how expensive trips are and how they can contribute.

5. Sleeping Kids.  Need I say more?!!!  My dad used to take pictures like this of us.  Except, he was mean.  If we woke up, he would tell us it was time to go to school.

6. Butter chicken and Naan bread.  I broiled the bread on our pizza stone which worked well.  I'm definitely thankful for food all the time :)  

7.  Nerdy kids who love a little lesson on lichen while we explore the forest.

8. A brand new school building for our kids.  Kai moved into the new building this week and it is AMAZING.  Each room is packed with a delicious amount of natural light and each class upstairs has a huge outdoor balcony space (Kai's class will be doing composting and who knows what else).  I know a school is so much more than a building, but wow, it is gorgeous. And practical.  It is a full community effort as the school building depends on donations and fundraising.  Love it.

9.  Ponies and Tea Parties.  I'm loving the new twist on our home that Nya brings.  We watched `Tangled' as a family and I loved it.  Gary was laughing at me, but seriously, it felt soooooooo good to watch something that wasn't cars, airplanes, transformers, star wars etc.  

10.  Comments.  Seriously.  Thank you to all those that comment. I don't do this to get comments but the nerd in me loves that we can all learn from each other.  I love gaining perspective from other people's experiences and the educator in me hopes that something at some time will be informative.  

I do have a Talk Nerdy To Me facebook page to let you know when I update in case you are interested :)  

I hope you had a great week so far.  Mine's sitting at about 76% so I can't complain :)  What about yours?

Love, Louise

Feminine Products. Yup.

Okay, this is a topic that is definitely not interesting to most males.  I'm serious.  I know there are only a few men who read this, and they are all the type who love to educate themselves but, well, this might not be a category you want to delve in.  Dad, for sure stop reading now.

Gary, who is on board with discussing most things with me, does not care about feminine hygiene products.  This doesn't mean I haven't told him all about it (numerous times, it's so exciting!)  Many of my friends are not super cool with the products I'm going to mention either (aka don't want to use them) BUT if it encourages one person to try, I want to share it here.

Before you read, exhale.  Don't make a quick decision to dislike the products.  Remember people have been using cloth handkerchiefs, cloth breast pads and cloth diapers for years and years.  Okay, here we go.  Remember....open mind!

Last year I heard about, and purchased, a Diva Cup.  They are pricey (about $30-40) and you can order them online or find them at your local Nature's Fare and other similar stores.    There are other menstrual cups out there as well, this is just the kind that I use.

Why would I use this?  There are many reasons why someone would want to use it, but these are mine:

1.  It is environmentally friendly.  I have a heavy flow which means I would go through many tampons and pads which creates so much waste.  This Diva Cup is reusable, and you only need one for 10 YEARS.  Just rinse out after each use and voila, good to go again!

2. It can hold 3 times more than a tampon.  I can go 12 hours without having to worry about leakage.  I will be honest that on a heavy flow day, I do change it  more often during the day but that is still way better than with tampons and this has saved me through the nights.  If you are a person who has to deal with their period at night, then get one.

3.  Saves money.  I don't ever have to send Gary to the store for tampons ever again.  I used to have to wear pads and tampons, now just the cup and a cloth panty liner.

Other great reasons; you can use it on light flow days because it does not dry you out like a tampon, if you are concerned about the amount of blood loss during your period you can actually measure it as it has the volume etched in it (I found this interesting as it definitely confirmed I have a much heavier than average flow),  you can use it swimming like a tampon, you do not feel it when it is in, and it is very easy to clean.

What are the disadvantages?

1.  It is expensive initially. It pays for itself within a year.

2. I wouldn't use this in a public washroom.  You need a sink to be able to clean it.  It is recommended  to use a peri/water bottle to clean it in a bathroom stall but I'm not about to carry one with me everywhere.  Usually this isn't a problem though as most people are not away from a private bathroom for more than 12 hours.

3.  It is difficult to figure out at first.  It took me about 3 cycles to really get it.  I would highly recommend watching YouTube videos on how to insert and remove it.  You really don't want to hurt yourself :)  They do come in 2 sizes as well.

Okay, so the "fun" doesn't stop there.  There can be minor leakage or the possibility of overflow with the Diva Cup.  This is sometimes just residual fluid from changing it if that makes sense.  Or, what about at the very end of your period when you want to just use a panty liner? What do I do? I recently purchased `Mama Kloth'. I got three cloth bamboo panty liners and dry bag.  Again, some people might be weirded out by using reuseable panty liners but because it's just used as a backup for me, they aren't messy at all.   If people use cloth diapers and cloth breast pads, why not panty liners/pads?  Just rinse with cold water after being used and stick in the washing machine.

{Photo from babysteals.com}

Hopefully I didn't gross you out; I personally get more grossed out with the word "panty."

I don't know how to end this but if you made it all the way through, high-five to you!  Not sure if you feel comfortable commenting but I dare you :)

Have a great week.
Love, Louise

Thankful Thursdays

Thankful for...
1. Being able to sell kids clothes at Once Upon A Child.  It is a lot harder to sell used clothes online now as there are just so many sites out there.  It isn't worth my time to post individual items anymore and although I donate some, I do need to make some money to buy them more.  I brought a bin of clothes there and they took about 40% of the items I had and I got $36.  Awesome.

2.  Special pieces of jewelry from my mom.  She bought us several big items when we were younger.  My sapphire ring when I turned 18 years old and my gold plated Seiko watch when I graduated.  I think I will do something like that for my kids.  Kai may have said he'd keep his Lego watch and ask for a phone instead when he graduates :)

3.  Sibling Love. Melts my heart.

4.  Stickers.  I love moo.com and if you've ever thought of getting nice business cards or stickers, please do so through this link :)  You'll get 10% off your order.  I have their business cards as I love the rounded corners and thick material. 

5.  Sunshine + snow.  Great, great combo.  It's so nice and warm out there, I will be sad to see the snow go.  Sort of.

6.  Fudge.  So easy to make.  Made some for book club but it got postponed due to the snow....guess I'll just have to eat it! PS How many of you have ruined baking by using your iPhone for recipes and getting sidetracked while online?????

7. Deals.  I've given up on ever buying second hand shoes for the boys.  Now, I buy them through Sears as they have their KidVantage program.  If these shoes don't make it while one of the boys can still wear them, I can get them replaced.  I got them on Clearance and then an additional 30% off. 

8.  Smoothies.  I think I've said this one before but it's such a great way for me to get more fruit and veggies in my diet.  I have Temporal Mandibular Junction Dysfunction (TMJ) and therefore cannot eat a lot of fruits and veggies (I need softer food) so this works really well.

9.  Nail polish!!  I just started being `fun' about 3 months ago.  I bought about 30 new OPI nailpolishes for $12 off of the Bidding Wars Site.  I put on a new colour each week and it makes me feel good.  I'm not a big makeup and hair person but for some reason, I really love wearing nailpolish.  I think now that I have more energy (aka Nya sleeping!!!) I can spend more time and energy on myself.  

10. A husband who tries to watch `The Bachelor' with me.  I usually watch with my friend Leah but the snow kept us apart.  I could do a whole post on how absolutely terrible the show is (and especially this season) but won't do it now.  It's terrible. 

11.  BONUS ONE: Snow tires!!!  I wish we had invested in them a long time ago.  I remember when I was 9 months pregnant with Koen, we did not have snow tires.  We could not make it out of our alley on Christmas day to go to the Chapmans.

I hope you are having a good week!!

What is one thing you are thankful for?!! 

Love, Louise

What is YOUR Social Media Preference?

{Sleeping Babe.  I think she must dream of ketchup and slides and shoes.}

I recently started using Instagram (which is where I got that picture of Nya from).  I don't know that I'm using it the right way yet but it's a whole new world there.  I usually just post a picture there and then also on facebook at the same time.  I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to use some hashtags in there but haven't delved into that yet.  Such a novice :)  

My question for you is the following:

If you had to put the following social networking sites in order of your love for them, what would your order be?

TWITTER

BLOGS

 P INTEREST

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

This is my order from greatest love to least;

1. Blogs

2. Facebook

3. Instagram

4. Pinterest

5. Twitter 

My reasoning?  I love the authenticity, depth, and learning from blogs.  I love the messaging, staying in touch with friends and family near and far, and free advertising (for GC Photography) on facebook.  I love the beauty of Instagram but lack the depth.  I love the inspiration on Pinterest but rarely do anything with it.  I love the witty comments on twitter (I'm not witty which is why I don't use it but I do have an account).

Okay, so I'm curious...which ones do you spend most of your time on? What's your order?  Did I miss out on some big ones? Maybe You Tube?

PS This is going around on facebook right now...

How Much Is Your Hydro Bill?

Being that I add up all of our utilities for the year for our business taxes, I'm aware of how much we spend on everything and I always try to reduce our usage to save money.   We spend an average of $1.80/day on our hdyro bill.  Our heat is set to 19 C in the day at 18 in the night but our kids rooms are set to 15 C which use baseboard electric heat.  Our room is set at 10 C :) We try to keep lights and computers off.  Is it worth it? Well, I don't know.  We probably save about $0.50-$1 a day...is that worth it? Well, that's about $20/month.

I love seeing how much we use each day (laundry days cost us an extra $1).  I also love comparing to neighbours with similar houses and give myself a little high five for being consistently under their usage :)

(Light blue is our usage, dark blue is for our neighbours)

(I love seeing how much we use each day.)

I just signed up for `Team Power Smart'.  If you reduce your usage by 10% over 12 months, they give you $75 (plus, just think of your bill being reduced by about 10% each month).  I'm not sure how much more we can save but I will try!   Here is our usage, for home size, number of occupants and type of heating.  Pretty good! 

Have you ever checked out your daily usage?   Do you know how much you spend on average per day?  Anyone going to join `Team Power Smart' and try to reduce their usage by 10% this year? 

Hope you are having a good day!

Love, Louise

**PS Added later: Did you know the two greatest energy suckers in your home are water heating and home heating?  There are some great tips here to figure out how to reduce them.   We always wash our clothes in cold water and replace our furnace filter :)**

**PS Added later: I didn't know earlier but both our furnace AND hot water tank are gas which obviously affects the numbers.  This would add an additional $1 (summer)-$2 (winter)/day.   I think I can still compare with the neighbours though as our houses were all built by the same developers.   I've now lowered our nighttime temperature to 17 C, maybe we'll go lower?  What is your nighttime temperature?**

Snow!

This weekend was relaxing.  

Friday we went to the Chapman's for a birthday get together.  They have get togethers about once a month for birthdays, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mothers Day, Fathers Day etc.  I'm thankful my family doesn't do it as well as it would be way too busy for my liking.  I like ample time for our family of 5, but at the same time, value our kids knowing their extended family.  The kids have fun but we pay for it the next day due to too much sugar and staying up too late.  Next time, we will leave earlier as it's totally not worth it to push Nya past her bedtime (she also did not nap that day).  Their kids are all way older so we are always the first ones leaving.  

We got up at 5 am on Saturday to watch the Men's Gold Medal hockey game (PVRed the first hour).  The women's game was way  more exciting and intense for me.  Kai went to a birthday party and it was just a really low key day.  

I also did our business taxes so it's nice to have that out of the way!  They are trickier than personal taxes but I've been doing them for about 5 years so I'm used to it now.   It's crazy how little we make after seeing all our business expenses year after year...I don't know how long we will continue with GC Photography. Our business insurance alone is $700/year.  I am hoping to go back to teaching part time once all the kids are in school although that is still years away.  Maybe I'll go back sooner if I can get a great position.

{May be my first win!  Please note my nail polish, loving this colour although really, I'm just a bit obsessed with purple}

We have had non stop snow since Saturday which is kind of fun!  The kids went tobogganing and we had Ani and Izzy over for a bit and they joined them.  I thought that today would be a snow day for sure, but nope!  

{Kai Bear had impetigo and we didn't know as none of my kids have had it before.  Bad, bad mommy.  I'm usually uber cautious about my kids not spreading any infections and keeping them home.  He is on antibiotics now (oral and topical) and it healed up soooo quickly.  If you ever see blisters around your kids mouth, go to a doctor to get treated immediately!!  Parenting lesson of the day.  Yuck.}

{Poor Koen, this is his smile.}

Well, Nya is refusing to nap so my break is a short one today.  I guess the downfall of a potty trained toddler is that she keeps calling for me saying she has to poop. This is the second time in an hour....

Hope you had a great weekend  and got to enjoy the snow a bit.

Love, Louise

PS I used to update a blog for my dad when he jet skied up to Alaska.  He will be starting on a new adventure soon and is taking the reigns on updating himself.  So, the grammar won't be pretty (sorry dad) but the photos will be.  You can check him out on the link on the side for Jack's Adventures.  

Thankful Thursdays

Thankful for....

1.  Being able to celebrate my oma's 86th birthday with family. She came out from Alberta and us local grandkids had a small party with her.  Her late husband, Louis, is who I am named after.  He died about a month before I was born.  My name was originally going to be Patricia Joy but then they named me Patricia Louise.  Yes, I go by my middle name.  Patricia is my other Oma's name.   I love my extended family!

2.  Butter chicken and naan bread.  Next time, we will order 10 naan breads I think. Sooooooo good.  Sorry, not a very appetizing picture, I had no time to think, just had to eat!!

3.  Google.  I'm a firm believer in trying to answer all of your kids questions (well, along with guiding them to try to figure it out for themselves)  and as smart as I think I am....

4.  The patience to bake with Nya this morning.  By the way, great cookies!  Recipe recommended by my sister, Jackie.  Giant Ginger Cookies.  Full of butter and sugar but a yummy change from the regular chocolate chip cookies!

5.  Our leather couches.  We were given this couch as a wedding present from 5 couples that are very special to us (all of Gary's groomsmen and their wives).  It is so practical and I would recommend that anyone with kids have leather couches....so great for any spills.  I would say we spend more time on this couch together as a family than anywhere else in our home.  So many cuddles and stories.

6.  Awesome neighbours.  We've gotten a few free things from them and this week Nya scored a dollhouse!

7. Looking forward to future trips.  The plan is for Disneyland next year but Kai would love to do something a little more cultural so we are rethinking where we will go. As a family we would love to go to South America and Africa but we will need to save for about 4 years for each trip.  I wanted a `cheaper' trip that would still be something really fun to look forward to.  I LOVE planning for trips.  Our bottle fund is not longer going towards Menchies, we Menchie-ed ourselves out on groupons.  It is now our trip fund!

8. A way to make a little extra money.  I'm babysitting my nieces for just 3 hours a week while Maria works.  I'm not a person who would ever want to have a daycare but 3 hours a week is just perfect!  My sisters and I do free child watching for each other for dates and appointments, but for work, we pay each other.  As a side note, I am going to be looking for childcare for Nya just one or two days a week starting in September.  I would love it to be someone that I know and someone in the Clayton area...please send me an email if this is something you may be interested in.

9.  Nya's smile.  I love a good smile!!  I really thought I would marry someone who was super smiley but, well, when he does smile he really means it, I guess :)

10. Being able to attend Koen's preschool activities.  On Valentine's Day, they danced with their partners and then he did the Danish Dance and Kid's Polka with me.  Very sweet.  I have cuter pictures but didn't want other kids faces in it :)

I keep thinking that I am going to run out of things to be thankful for!  I know that sounds strange maybe but I've done about 200 so far.  I really hope that I continue to do this.  It really does make me reflect on my week and all I have to be thankful for.

Have a great rest of the week!  Almost the weekend...

Love, Louise