Way back when

Let's go back to valentine's day (has it really been that long.. wow... let's just say Big, Long, Important-for-the-rest-of-my-future-as-a-social-worker(hopefully) Papers!)
Thanks for the stickers in the mail claire! Corrina put them all over her, and papers, and teddies... it was very fun!

And of course how can you have valentines day without sugar free whole wheat hearty pancakes! To make hearts, or any shapes for that matter, you dribble batter off a teaspoon into the skillet in the shape you want your cake to be, then fill it in carefully with batter! In other words, make an outline.. that's it!My mom came to visit and I didn't take enough photos with my camera because I was using hers to take them all. Ops. But this one is really nice.. Can it be, am I actualy shorter than my very short mother (yes, I measure in at a whooping 5'2")???? The funny thing was that my mom didn't know she was short. We had a whole conversation about how she thought she was average.. Hate to break it to ya mom, but, well, we're short!

So, does anyone remember when I eagerly sewed this for Corrina???? She was, just under one, and it was HUGE on her.. ha ha ha, i tried. Well, I am so excited that it finally fits! Maybe I will try the sewing things again this summer!Corrina had her "First Hair Cut"... but it was really only a bang cut, so i'm not sure if that counts... But we did put the hair in an envelope!



She looks much better now that she isn't pushing little wispy bangs out of her eyes all day long!

We are still loving our house, and finally have only about 5 more essential boxes to unpack.. there are loads in the basement that we will pick away at, but that will take years! Our next biggest task is to continue to make our house energy smart, and winter proof.. just haven't made it to that darn hardware store yet this week! We were in a minor car accident.. rearended... but that has taken up most of our time. Our car is written off, we are just awaiting our settlement, and praying that it will be something decent. We will negotiate for more if its not suitable, but we just want the process to work out well. Both dave and I have funny backs (corrina was there too and it hardly phased her!) which are taking time to heal, not to mention the numerous chiro appointments (no worries mark, corrina is seeing the chiro too!). But, we love our Chiro Doc so it's nice to see her, and I always feel much better aftewards. Actualy, sitting here at the computer desk is just killing my back, so I am going to sign off now!

First Hair do's!

Corrina let us put elastics in her hair, so here we have FIRST PIG TAILS, and FIRST PONY TAIL! I am so excited because it is so darn cute!



I made a little video of one area of our house....

I have been trying to get a good video of Corrina chatting, but I she stops babbling when the camera comes out.. oh well!
And a kitchen picture for you to view...The second one is really badly lit, but you get the idea! I still need cupboard handles, but those are coming soon! I love having a place ontop of the cabinets to store fun things.. like the fondue pot and apple pot! Corrina sometimes plays at her kitchen while I am making things.. mostly she sits at the mini-island cart and eats! ha ha!

This is the 'other' side of the kitchen, not nicely unpacked yet. We are going to build a shelving unit around the desk and up the wall, and paint everything the same as the cabinets. that will take some time though! For now, this will do!

I did something so idiotic the other night... Corrina wanted to help sweep, so I thought I would give her something to sweep up. I dumped a handful of rice on the floor, which she happily played with for a bit, but before I knew it she grabbed the rice container and dumped the rest on the floor! After she flicked it all over the house with her hands and feet, kicking and giggling, we grabbed her tea set and played with it, scooping it into cups and pots! Actually, in the end it made for a rather fun activity!

Dave was home with COrrina, playing the night away. She got into a few things.. I'll let you see for yourself.
I'd like to know what she is thinking from time to time!
This is Corrina playing in her corner of the unpainted living room! This is a rather badly lit picture, but you get the idea!

Well, that is all for now. Hope you enjoyed!

Here

I am indeed writing this post from my new house! This is exciting, yet also very odd for me. I feel like I am going through house-culture shock. Chris and Mary just left this morning and I miss them already. It was so great to have them here both to help and visit with! They worked so very hard to help us get things in order and do some tough jobs. Thanks for your hard work guys! Now it is just quiet, and there are sooooo many boxes to unpack, yet I don't want to even start because i just feel lonely.
Despite all that, I am going to work on the kitchen some more. It is set up, but the majority of the floor space has been given to boxes full of tools and random things that keep coming through the door. I am doing away with them this afternoon, and then, if I have time, I will work on our bedroom.
Corrina is enjoying her new space and has been napping and sleeping just fine at night. She likes to go up the stairs and play in all the different rooms. She has sort of found her toys but is more interested in visiting the cats in the basement and chasing them around boxes and getting stuck in precarious places! All in all she is adjusting just fine!
I am not used to having my own washer/dryer and I keep forgetting to take the laundry out... as well I am convinced that I am going to have to start washing dishes again.. its just a feeling of habit; when I formulate my afternoon lists I always start with dishes, and I am still doing it.. only now it is load the washer.. much quicker!
Dave has hardly had a moment to sit and enjoy his new house because he has been busy coming and going between home and work. When he is home there are little projects to be done and not really time to play or sit or unpack. I plan on suggesting that we just stay IN tonight and enjoy some time together (in otherwords... you play with Corrina while I try to get some things put away!)
I have the camera sitting right in front of me... with pictures, but I can't find the transfer cord. So, I give you my girl scout promise that I will post some as soon as I find that very important cord.

Painted... er... painting

Happy Second Birthday dear sweet, crazy, assertive, adorable, smiley, joyful Corrina! We love you!





Wow, I hate painting prep! Dave and I had a full day to spend time painting, but we hardly got any paint to board at all.. one coat on the cabinets.. that was it! Luckily a friend babysat (thanks bre) so we were able to get back to the house and do the second coat, plus a little of the walls.

Look how different the place looks, ya know, besides the lack of cabinet doors and the blue tape!


The color we choose in the end is called Cup of Cocoa, but Behr paint, and the cabinets are Swiss Coffee...both very kitcheney names! So far it seems that the color will work well with this odd tile!
This is all we have done so far, with so much more to go. I don't think we will get anything more than the kitchen done before we move in, but at least that will be out of the way!
I'm off to get some school stuff out of the way so I can party with a two year old! Yippy!

New House overload

We move so very soon, which tickles me pink, and orange, and green too! I truly am excited now that we have passed the "make a million phone calls a day" stage, and the "you want how much money by when?" phase. Everything is in order, except the colors that our new house will be.
I am lost in a mad world of inspiration! We went to a Color your World store today and found some colors we like for the kitchen, but then I came home and saw another color I liked. What is a girl to do! I find it hard to pull it all together, and very hard to find the links for the colors I wish I could show you.

I also spotted Dave looking at this website, which then got my mind going even more... How would these look in the hallway, or the bedroom, or the kitchen?
Or maybe this one... I think this one is truly my favorite.

I am trying to decide what I want my house to feel like. I have loved having a green living room, because it feels fresh all year long, coordinates with spring, fall, and especially Christmas without really feeling specific to any season. But then something comes over me and I start thinking I want an uber neutral house... but then I think I might regret not having green... oh dear me.
I want our house to feel warm, and cozy, to feel homey and trendy, and unique and beautiful. Maybe I am asking too much of a paint color, what do you think?

S' about time

that we show off a few photos of our new house! It is a 3 bedroom, about 100 years old but completely redone, in a good location! It hardly needs any work at all, which we like because we don't have the time right now! The back yard is a good sized, plus the basement is clean, dry and drywalled, so we will do what we can with it!

Front, with little fenced area. The front window is the living room of course. The kitchen is an extension, the full width of the house on the back!

Back... sides are fenced, but we will need to add the back fence. The window and door go into the large kitchen!

Kitchen... the neat part is that this is only one side of the kitchen because it is eat in... however, there is also a dinning area, so I am going to make a great computer/home organization/mudroom area on the other side. We are going to paint out the cabinets and go for a bright, modern country style kitchen. We bought our appliances and the place will look homey once we are all moved in! I love the two windows, and the double sink.. not that we will need it since we bought a dishwasher (whoo hoo... i can't imagine how many hours that will add onto my day.. not to mention my afternoon dishwashing session is history!)

Living room and entry way, a view from standing in the dinning area. The space is a lot bigger than this photo shows it to be!

And this picture is a view of the dinning space, taken from the living room. You can see through to the kitchen and the back door of the house as well! The stairs to the basement are to the far left, behind the wall, good layout!
And this last photo is Corrina at her second implant activation, a few weeks ago. We were on the news (did you see us?), and Corrina did great. She was a little scared by the new ear becuse the first side has such refined hearing now that what she was getting in the second ear didn't sound like what she was used to. It looks like she is sleeping, but she is just going into a little shell, with her eyes closed, and rocking. She was the one who was actualy doing all the rocking, propelling me back and forth for about 45 mins. We coaxed her out of her shell with fun toys once we thought she could handle it. She did fine, and within 2 days had adjusted to having two ears. She is coming along great, localizing sound (that is, turning to us when we call her name, instead of scanning the room to find the source of sound) and she is able to hear sounds at a farther distance!

Corrina loves this elephant towel and spends a lot of afterbath time running around being an elephant (which she also has an action and sound for!)

Choral Chaos!

It's time once again for our annual Toy Show! I count about 60! How many can you name?

First 'winter' post

Guess what I'm not doing right now (besides that fact that I just realized i need to take cookies out of the oven this second.. .why am I still typing and not taking things out.. brb) I'M NOT STUDYING! I am done school school school... just finished today today today! I feel good. I feel good to have worked hard and accomplished great grades, I feel good to have applied myself and truly learned very important skills and techniques. I just need practice now... anyone want to volunteer themselves and their problems to my listening ear for an hour?
Here is Corrina, making some toast!


I couldn't believe the state of our house this past week, with very busy Church activities, studying and bad colds we really let things get messy! But, with a small amount of time the house is back in place, the tree is glowing and the candles on my pretend mantle are flickering brightly. My oven is fulfilling it's destiny to be hot, my flour, sugar, and butter are being scorched until lightly browned, and my camera is loading photos beside me, all in an effort to bring you this wintry post!

We thought Corrina might be interested in helping with tree set up.. she had her times I guess, but mostly just wanted to play with her toys, without a tree obstructing them (sorry that I take such idiotic videos and talk the whole time.. note that Corrina is copying dave very specifically, can you see it?):


This second video is ridiculous and has some Corrina bum in it, but you can hear her making a few sounds! Don't feel bad if you laugh at how dumb this video is:


My pseudo-mantle is warming our living room and waiting for presents! I just added the buttons a few days ago, because what is any decoration without buttons!


We love our tree. We decided that when we went on holidays we would pick up ornaments to remind us of the place we have been. Here is Arizona


And Here is Newfoundland (colorful row houses.. they're famous for them.. we bought three ornaments so we could hang them in a row!)


Here is the whole deal:


I love the colors of Christmas time, or the colors I choose to love and decorate with at Christmas time: red and white. What better way to enjoy them than in my tummy. For a few years I have made this recipe, but found this recipe on another blog I read (thanks K)! It was the oatmeal that attracted me to it, and lack of nuts, so I changed recipes (if you know me, you know that I am not one for tradition and I seek change in life like a Santa seeks milk and cookies... no wait.. not just once a year.. that's a bad metaphor), uhm, like toddlers seek chocking hazards.. all the time! Don't those colors make you happy?

We also made some 'window pane' sugar cookies a week ago. Yummy and pretty!


In other words, Gilmore Girls seven is on it's way home from the store with Dave... I can't wait! What a perfect way to celebrate being all done classes for a few weeks!

General update

In 13 days Corrina will have her second implant activated. The surgery went great and we were at our host home in Newfoundland by that afternoon. We were all pretty tired, but not getting enough night time sleep, so Corrina was taking incredible naps, like 4 hours, and still getting to bed at 8pm. Worse than the surgery was the flu that we all caught, one after another, so we at least could help to take care of each other. Dave was sick the day after surgery, corrina was sick the night after day was sick all day. Poor guy just wanted to sleep but I needed him to help me with the messy mouth baby. She was dunked in the tub (at someone else's house none the less) 3 times that night, screaming each time. When Corrina is fluish sick she throws up and then just wants to play. She really didn't see the need to have a bath! So we played a little to be sure she wasn't going to be sick again, which she was, 3 more times.... Sunday we were all feeling better, but I became sick on Monday night, the short short night before our flight. Dave and I slept TWO hours that night. The plane ride back home was difficult, to say the least. Boy were we happy to land! How wonderful!
Here is a picture of Corrina and I at the harbour on a typical cloudy day. I had just bought the toque and mitts, which I LOVE. They are warm and beautiful. Sadly, I have lost the toque already, and I can't find the same one online. I am so disappointed in myself... the first matching set I have had in years and years and I lose the hat. Anyway...


Since we have been back I have mainly been working on finishing off my last major paper for the semester. I just turned it in two days ago, with a whooping 30 page finish! Eeeeekkkk.
This our Church puts on a Christmas pageant... the same one for about 25 years. Last year Corrina was baby Jesus, when she wasn't crying! This year we are going on as Citizen's, or crowd as I like to think of the role! We are on stage 3 times and between our acts Corrina crys at the stage door to go on again. She loves the lights, and copies the gestures of the other people on stage. At the rehearsal, when we weren't on stage Corrina was standing at the stage door crying and crying to go back on! I think she will be enrolled in some Drama classes in the near future! We there are a total of 4 shows to do this weekend so Corrina will get her share of being in the spotlight. Hope she doesn't upstage Jesus!
The pageant itself consists more of story telling and pantomime to a beautiful choir. We do not have any lines to memorize, just some basic acting and gesturing. The cast are all from the Church and many of them have done it for years! Actualy, one of the guys in our small group, 20 something, was Jesus when he was first born! The girls all look forward to playing Mary when they are teenagers from the time they are like 5 and playing little angels! It's all about hierarchy! Somehow, between all this pageant stuff, I have to find time to study for two exams and hit a few parties. BUSY!
Off to the books I got, but not before a few more photos...

To back track, this is dave and I with our Masks at the masquerade ball! And then one without! I really like wearing this dress... I just need more places to wear it.. and the necklace too. Someone invite me to something fancy!

I have some Christmas-y photos to post, but I figured I had better spread things out a little.

Dare to compare

 don't have oodles of time to post about Newfoundland right now, but I will later this week.  But I do have something fun and assuming to post about, quickly.  Last night Dave and I went to my school's Christmas banquet and ball.  It was alot of fun actually, and we won a $100 gift card to the Keg!  Definitely worth the ticket price (which was cheap!).  I just upload the photos so I could put one on facebook for another class mate, and I came across our very first Christmas banquet photo together.  I think we had been dating for about 1.5 months, and this was the first formal event we attended together.  So, here we have it, our first banquet and our most recent banquet... dare to compare: