Responsible Spending

In these financial times, we could all take a tip from Seth Green.  Really, how often do you see famous Hollywood actors being this responsible with their money?

 

Happy Friday!!!

Sunday Outing

We were invited to spend Sunday afternoon with some friends, to celebrate Miss Geesje’s birthday.  If there’s cake involved, you don’t have to ask me twice, and the kids are quite likely to agree.

We had a great time out at their farm.  Asher got to drive the tractor, or steer it at least.  It was a good thing Mr. Harrie was in control of the pedals, or they might have a few less buildings than they did before our visit!


After lunch we went on a walk around some of the fields.  Asher really enjoyed being given free reign to run around since we didn’t have to worry about traffic.

    Mr. Harrie demonstrated to Asher the proper way to use a walking stick, though I think he could have benefitted from a taller one…

 
There are certain benefits of farm living that I wish my kids could experience.  Thankfully, God has given us great friends who let us have fun carefree days like this.

Social Experiment

Kotex has come out with some new products & as a way to promote them, they have made some very interesting commercials.  Here are two examples of social experiments they did:

 

 

 

And here’s their response to the typical women’s hygiene ads:

 

They definitely are memorable, do they make you want to buy their product?

Twenties Girl –review

It was mentioned to Sophie Kinsella at one time, that she should write a ghost story.  She thought about it for awhile & decided to do so.  Had I known before I got this book that it would be centred around a ghost, I probably would have never gotten it, even though I’m a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella.  Well, I am very glad that my friend April sent me this book, because Twenties Girl, true to Sophie Kinsella’s form, delivered intrigue, suspense, romance & humour.

The story revolves around Lara, a young woman who seems to be stuck in a bit of a slump.  She can’t get over her boyfriend who suddenly broke up with her without warning months ago.  The new business she recently started with a friend has been left for her to run whilst her friend takes a very extended holiday.  And Lara feels she has to keep all this secret from her parents because she’s just not sure they would know how to deal with it.

When Lara’s little known Great-Aunt Sadie dies at the age of 105, Lara dutifully goes to the memorial service, and is embarrassed that none of the family really know what to say since none of them made any effort to know her when she was living.

At the service, Sadie appears before Lara & won’t leave her alone until she promises to help her find a necklace which has gone missing.  It might sound a bit hokey, and as far a ghost stories go, I’m not a fan, but this book is just another example of why Sophie Kinsella is such a popular writer.

20 Questions

The other day we were driving by some farms & Asher pointed one out & said, “That’s where Willem lives!”

 

We asked, “Do you mean MISTER Willem?”

 

“No, just Willem!” he replied.  (Having multiple people of various ages with the same name has caused us some confusion before.  We now refer to three of our friends as “Miss Julie,” “Different Miss Julie,” and “Different, Different Miss Julie.”)

 

So I told him, “Well, Mister Willem lives on a farm, but not that farm; and your friend Willem doesn’t have a farm, he just lives on a yard.”

 

Asher thought for a moment & then asked, “Where does he sleep?”

 

“Well, he sleeps at his house,” I said.

 

I knew where this was going, but I had to wait for Asher to say it anyway.  I wasn’t disappointed.  “But Willem just lives on a yard, and if he doesn’t have a house, he doesn’t have a bed to sleep in.”

 

So, we explained, “Willem has a house on the yard that he lives in, but he doesn’t live on a farm like MISTER Willem does.”

 

You could just see the gears spinning in his head before he asked, “Who’s Mr. Willem?”

 

“Mr. Willem is Miss Angela’s husband,” we said.

 

“Oh, well, where does he live?” Asher asked.

 

About this time we got to our destination & were given a bit of a reprieve from all the questions when he suddenly exclaimed, “Look, there’s a PARK!!!”

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Asher: “I have Chancery’s book, I have the cow, the world is MINE!”

 

Asher: “What?  You want me to give Chancery her book?”

 

 

Chancery: “Thank you for giving the book back.”

 

 

Asher: “Sure, but I’m keeping the cow.”

 

Chancery: “That’s a pretty nice cow you have there…”

 

Asher": “Forget it, I already gave you the book.”

 

Chancery: “Please, oh please, can’t I have the cow?”

 

Asher: “Nope, I don’t know what has happened to it!”

Chancery: “It’s the strangest thing!”

Alot

A friend sent me this link last week, & I thought it was too good not to share.  I myself, have taken issue with reading something that’s not grammatically correct.   Though I can’t say that I take it as far as this guy does.

Happy Friday!

Consequences

Asher decided to tip a full basket of toys out the other morning & I told him that he needed to get it all cleaned up.  He pretended to work at it for awhile, playing with most of the toys rather than putting them away.

 

After a few minutes he asked me for help & when I told him that it was his responsibility because he had decided to dump them out, he turned to Chancery instead & appealed to her, “Please, Chancery, can you help me clean up these toys?  It’s a big job and it’s very boring.  Can you please help me?”

 

Surprisingly she said “No!”

Gasp!

At snack time Asher suddenly exclaimed loudly, “Look, Mum!  She’s drooling!”

 

I said, “That’s ok, Chancery’s just trying to eat her snack.”

 

“No!” said Asher, “it’s going to be gross & yucky if she drools all over the place!”

 

If that’s the thing we get most worked up about, I think we’re doing ok.

Twinkle, Twinkle

Chancery likes to sing, and her favourite song at the moment is “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.  However, sometimes she gets a bit stuck like a little broken record goes on & on with, “How I wonder what you are.  How I wonder what you are…  How I wonder what you are.”

 

Unfortunately, most of the time when I get out the camera to catch her in the act, she stops & says, “Cheesies!”  After many unsuccessful attempts, I proudly present, Chancery singing “Twinkle, Twinkle”!

 

Banana Art

At lunch yesterday the kids were eating some banana.  I gave Chancery a chunk & she quickly gnawed away at it until it was only about 1/2 and inch tall.  She set it down on her plate & said, “Potty!”

 

I didn’t really know what she was talking about, so I didn’t really acknowledge her.  Apparently my response was less than satisfactory.  Chancery then announced, “Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!  Chancery made a potty!”

 

Indeed, it did look much like a child’s potty chair.  However, I was just trying to get the kids to eat their fruit.  After that she refused to eat anymore.  Maybe she felt she just couldn’t top a masterpiece like that.

Sunday Pictures

Asher - 3.5 years

Chancery - 1.5 years

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Chancery: “Asher, today I’m going to teach you how to be a ballerina… or is it ‘ballerino’ if you’re a boy?”

 

Chancery: “I guess it doesn’t matter too much.  Anyway, stand like so, with your heels together.”

 

Chancery: “I guess that’s close enough, then we’re going to kick up one leg.”

 

Asher: “Like this, Chancery?”

 

Chancery: “Sure, and when you get good like me, you can kick it WAY up, like this!”

Meetings

With PChad having his office in the house, the main reason he leaves is to go to meetings.  The kids have caught on to this trend & Chancery decided to turn it into a sort of game.

She put her hoodie up & declared that she was off to a meeting.  After she walked around the halls for awhile she came back to tell me, “All done meeting!”

 

Eggplant Parmesan

Fake Eggplant Parmesan

I never know how to cook Eggplant, so I never buy it, but when McMommy posted this recipe awhile ago, I figured I’d give it a shot… AND IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!  But, just so you know, it doesn’t reheat well, so I’d advise just making enough for your meal & not necessarily doing the whole eggplant.

 
1 eggplant, peeled and sliced into rounds (not too thin but not too thick)
2 eggs, beaten
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Spaghetti sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 
Drizzle of olive oil all over a baking tray.  Dip the eggplant slices in the egg, then the bread crumbs.  Give it a good breading on both sides. Then lay them on the baking tray. Repeat for all remaining slices (do not overlap...make sure they are all a single layer) and then put in oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Flip slices, add another drizzle of olive oil if needed, and then bake for another 10 minutes. (They will come out nice and crispy this way!)
After they are done, drizzle some spaghetti sauce over and around them.  Then sprinkle some mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top. Also give it a nice sprinkling of dried basil. Bake for another 20 minutes or so, until cheese is nice and melted and golden brown.  Enjoy!

The Moment Between –Review

It took me awhile to get into this book, and by awhile, I mean six chapters.  If I was the type of person who could stop reading books once I started them, I’m pretty sure I never would have finished the book, but by chapter nine I had come around & decided it was a pretty good read.

It’s the story of Abigail, a woman who grew up having to act as a mother to her bi-polar sister.  Her father clearly favoured her sister to her, and that has influenced much of the way she lives.  When tragedy strikes, Abigail flees to Canada and finds hope in an unlikely source.

If you have the tenacity to stick through the first few chapters, I’d recommend this book, but if you don’t have a whole lot of time to devote to reading, then I’d say you could pass this one by.

Affirmative

Chancery has decided to answer questions with “Yeah” rather than “Yes” lately, and PChad & I have been trying really hard to correct that habit of hers.  Of course, that makes us more conscious of all the times WE say “Yeah” as well.

 

So, we ask her a question, she answers, “Yeah!” we ask her to say “yes” instead, & on it goes.

 

Of late, she has decided this can become a fun game.  When we ask her to say “yes,” she instead started answering, “Yes, SIR!”  I tried telling her that I’m not a sir, but she just got more determined that this was a funny answer.

 

Better yet, a few days ago instead of saying, “Yes, Sir,” she began to answer with, “Yes, in the army!”  We were a bit puzzled until we heard Asher singing, “I’m in the Lord’s Army…” later that night.

 

Watching a child’s sense of humour develop is a wonderful thing.

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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The Hokey-Pokey, an instruction manual in pictures…

Asher: “You put your left foot in…”

Asher: “No, that’s the wrong leg, Chancery.”

Asher: “Where are you going, Chancery?”

Chancery: “I’m just putting my whole self in!”

Asher: “You put your whole self out…”

Asher: “You do the Hokey-Pokey…”

Asher: “And THAT is what it’s all about!”

Asher: “Woo!!!”

Drowning Man

Drowning really is no laughing matter, but now everytime I see someone write “lol” I see this little man struggling to stay afloat.

Big Foot

We have started using the deck now that the weather has turned nice, which means that our shoes get left by the back door from time to time.  Chancery has found this to be dreadfully entertaining!

She calls out, “Mummy’s shoes, Mummy’s shoes!” whenever she finds them, & gets very upset if we put them away in the back entrance!

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

We’ve had a few nice days & decided it was time to take the bicycles out of storage.  Asher overheard us & asked, “Whose bike do I get to ride on?”

I told him, “I think your seat is on my bike.”

Asher: “I want to ride on Daddy’s bike because I love him!”

Me: “Well, what about me?”

Asher: “Yes, I love you too, but you’re not my most best favourite.”

At least he does love me.

Saturday Easter Fun

Saturday we had some friends over for an Easter egg hunt.  PChad & one of the other dads hid all the eggs, & of course left a few in quite obvious places.

 

The five children eagerly raced out to find the eggs, but the older 4 seemed oblivious to the ones placed in the middle of the lawn.  Chancery had quite a fun time stumbling upon those that the others had left behind.

 

After the hunt was over, we lined the kids up for a group photo.

Asher must have had something really good in his egg to have gotten everyone’s attention!

The Easter bunny was quite generous this year!

 

Asher & Chancery had so much fun that they asked to have another egg hunt on Monday…

so we did, sans candy…

 

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Trying to capture the kids in the “…eeese!” part of “Cheese!” can be somewhat trying sometimes…

Asher: “Ch…”

Chancery : “…eese!”

Asher: “…eese!”

but Chancery has her eyes closed…

Chancery: “Oh sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

Asher: “…”

Chancery: “…eese!”

VICTORY!!

Good Friday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Chancery: “Mum, I have to admit, I’m not entirely comfortable with this today.”

Asher: “I would really like to have that red car of hers.”

   Chancery: “You see?  He’s always eyeing my stuff.  I think I’ll put some space between us.”