hilarity

I know its hard to believe but I am not always the cheerful and chipper person that you imagine.  There are many a day that  I really need something to make me laugh or I may not make it through.  I currently have 2 goto laugh inducers that work WITHOUT FAIL!

1.

Source: ffffound.com via Krista on Pinterest

2.  I have watched this video of the Countess and her camel without class a million times and NEVER get tired of it....NEVER.



I hope these make you smile....and maybe even laugh out loud.

weekending

This weekend we::

BAKED...

and ate our Amish Friendship Bread....YUM!

STARTED...

this year's advent calendar (a post about this to come)

WATCHED...

the movie, The Dolphin: story of a dreamer.  It was clearly too scary for the kids.  I found them cuddled together on the back of the couch.

FINISHED...

these cute little birds.  They are to be given to a friend to be made into a mobile for her babe on the way.  Pattern here

GATHERED...

with friends to watch the Flamborough Santa Parade....it was SO much fun!

ADMIRED...

the heart and passion these two put into their dance moves with every musical float that passed by us

CHEERED

like crazy when Santa came by us on his VERY illuminated float.  Ava was so perplexed by the fact that Santa would not be leaving presents tonight.  "If he is already here why doesn't he just leave them NOW"  oh dear Ava...you have so much to learn about the way men organize and prioritize!

STITCHED...

this adorable custom baby set.  It includes Diaper Bum pants (with a panel sewn into the back to accommodate chunky diapers), co-ordinating bib and warm blanket ALL...

in this hand embroidered, monogrammed and re-useable fabric envelope!

It looks like we had a busy weekend but a lot of it was spent doing TONS of laundry, cleaning the kitchen a thousand times and eating way way too many PC chips (delish!)

I'm thankful for.....

Happy Thanksgiving to all of those celebrating today.  In honour of your holiday I thought I would write a little giving thanks post.

I'm thankful for....

...pictures forgotten on the phone

...crisp afternoons spent at the park bridging the EVER so dreaded gap between the end of school and dinner

...ava becoming so very brave at the playground

...a winter coat I got for anthony last year that he is clearly going to be wearing until he is 20!

... a nice big pot of 0pt soup at the ready

....a million huge bags of fabric graciously gifted to me by a friend that included such beauties as this piece and many many like it!

...boxes of seedless clementines from far off countries (locavores look away)

... a little girl who LOVES homework

...the pig who gave his life for us to eat WELL this winter 

...afternoons spent crafting and peacefully co-exsisiting (@ opposite ends of the table of course)

... a shoe situation that went from this

.... to this

to FINALLY this!!!!!

I am aware that I have A LOT to be thankful for but am also painfully aware that i don't say thank you enough.

Soooo, Thank you to everyone who reads and enjoys this little blog of mine.  I love hearing from you and am so very appreciate ALL of your comments and support! 

always a production

Little Miss Muffin

Sat on her tuffin

eating her courage away

along came a spider and scared her

and she really ran away

                         -ava-

Check out my newest guest post here about making this shadow puppet theatre.  

why?

why is it that I bring my camera with me to most big events but NEVER take any pictures?  Is this a common affliction or am I the only one?  My sister had a big party to celebrate her marriage Saturday night (No, not a wedding) and I only took TWO pictures, and those were taken before the party even started.

pignolata

my sister's manicure in action

Although these two pictures clearly indicate a rockin' party I wish I had captured just a little bit more of the evening.  I really wish I had documented the number of movember 'stashes wandering around the house... the pride a man has in growing hair on his face is quite unbelievable to me!

On the positive side of things......

 My children looked completely adorbs and I in fact DID remember to snap some pics of them before going to the party.  Yes, I did finish the dress and it turned out to perfection!

Ava clearly fancies herself a model!

In case you are interested in recreating this look... I used this Butterick vintage pattern for the dress and this very easy tutorial for the t-shirt flower.  I am thinking of making a few of these dresses in size 6 and putting them up in my etsy shop... we shall see!

squish

We have been neglecting a lot around here lately... sleep, well balanced meals, raking leaves, putting away laundry , brushing a little 5 year olds knotty knotty hair, our manners and oh so much more.  One thing that you will not see on this list is tending to our friendship bread starter.  It has consistently made the "to do" list for the last 4 days....that is a record for any responsibility in this house! It has gone a little something like this.....

squish

squish

squish

add flour, milk and sugar

The kids must recognize that this type of follow through is odd for us because this morning Ava was heard saying "I can't believe we are still doing this!"  Wow...note to self.... the kids really are paying attention.

Totally unrelated::

Ava is finding her creative voice and I AM LOVING IT!  I am finding pictures like this one all over the house and can not resist saving each and every one of them.  This particular piece is her version of the ENTIRE cast of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.  I feel like Buck in the lower right corner is especially accurate.

Ava's french education is certainly rubbing off on all of us but most adorably our little Anthony is picking up some key words.   Bar none the best is how he randomly and most gently makes eye contact, kisses your hand and says (in a garbled fashion) "bonjour mes amis".  I will never tire of this!

wish me luck....i am going to attempt to make this dress for Ava for a party on Saturday. Hopefully there will be a picture of her wearing it....hopefully!

are you my friend?

My sister came over tonight (amidst chaos) for a visit, and brought us this bag of friendship bread starter.  She brought along with her the instructions on how to turn this bag of mush into enough dough for 3 loaves of bread in 10 days.  The idea is that at the end of the 10 days you divide the dough into 3 cups.... keep one and give 2 away.  We are all very excited (except Anthony who declared the idea "BO-WING") to babysit this starter for the next 10 days and then pass on some.

To help us keep organized (which I am not) I wrote our daily friendship bread instructions on our calendar so that the kids could follow along and help care for this bag of mush ... Anthony also declared this "Bo-wing"....I'm hoping his attitude changes soon!
 
If you are looking to start a friendship bread the instructions are here.

If you are looking to prove yourself as my friend or just get a cup of my starter leave a comment and I will get some to you.

the good old days

I so miss this!!!  Communication pre texting

Source: heyjenrenee.com via Rachel on Pinterest

{this moment}...a big THANK YOU!

Joining amanda and friends in "this moment"...capturing a moment from the week that I want to cherish and hold onto.   Have a great weekend.

Source: google.com via Naomi on Pinterest

I love being a guest!

Did you know that I'm also blogging over @ Bunchland?  Check out my latest post on DIY shadow puppets.  We spend a lot of time making and playing with these puppets in our house.

Give them a try...I would love to see your creations!

what i'm dreaming of RIGHT NOW!

I WANT THIS MACHINE! It takes scrap paper and turns them INSTANTLY into pencils.








'nuf said

Source: ecofriend.org via Christine on Pinterest

{this moment}

It has been a VERY good week!

Joining amanda and friends in "this moment"...capturing a moment from the week that I want to cherish and hold onto.   Have a great weekend!

Adorbs for a worthy cause

Happy Movember everyone!  I'm going to try and convince Sri to shave off his moustache today and start fresh for the month of November....I'm guessing it is going to take a lot of convincing.  If I were a betting woman though, I would bet that my little Anthony is going to be able to grow a moustache like this one in grade 8!

If you can grow a moustache or know someone who can, sign up HERE to help raise money and awareness for men's health issues.