what do you do...

when it is cold and rainy outside for the second day in a row? Well, you go to DLTK kids and print off some crafts. I chose toilet paper roll crafts after finding 9 rolls in the girls' rubbish.

Then you let them start colouring, cutting, pasting and taping to their little hearts' content.

See how cute they are. They're Dora and snowmen if you can't tell. =) The butterflies are drying since we did watercolours. for some reason they don't want to dry today. =)

Then, you let your children take your dining room chairs and hand crocheted blanket from your mom and make a circus tent.

Then after playing for an hour or so like that you send them off to bed for rest time. =)

Things we've made

Pizza

Hairbows (gonna make more when I get the right clips)

Tortillas-easy to do and SOOO much cheaper than buying them

Garland of Praise from Monica at the homespun heart

Mom's brownies

an apron for the summer apron swap at A Feathered Nest

Internationals

Go to this page and go to the end of the video. About 3:25:30 and they have an interview with the Aussie group. That's Hayley Hillyard right up the front holding the flag and Susan Sauvageot is on the left holding the flag. Jennie and Ben are to the far right. You don't see them often. They do scan all of them when they sing the national anthem. Not all the kids are from our school but most of the group is ours.

Catie's grocery list

• broccoli
• strawberries
• apples
• mandarins
• milk
• bananas
• grapes

hmmmm....I think she likes fruit!! =)

photo catch up

So I finally found another camera cord. It only took a minute to find it I guess I should have looked sooner. =) So today you get random photos we've taken over the last couple weeks.
Catie gets out her camera everytime I do. Here she is taking photos of Daddy, Grandpa and Uncle Jason working on the shed roof.
Emma walked into the main room today from the front room looking like this. I couldn't figure out why until I realized some workers were pouring cement across the road and looked like this. She and Catie had been watching them work.
mom, here's those Moses in the bulrushes plants we planted at the end of the laundry line. Josh is taking them out since they are hosting a lizard, several types of spiders and possibly white ants/termites.
He replanted a couple of bushes he moved. Catie and Emma were helping.
And so was Beka. Josh planted some of the moses in the bulrushes plants here. They are growing well again but the bush I think is going to die.

for Tanya

Here's Sam and Amanda's wedding cake I did.

two faced Monday

The bad

• Catie and Emma spent the first 8 hours or so vomiting
• Josh and I were up all night with them.
• Then I didn't feel well
• While I was laying down and Josh was taking a shower Catie started calling for me. Finally she said, Mama, your oven is smoking
• Beka accidentally turned on a stove burner and melted a plastic spatula
• It was my favourite spatula
• My house was engulfed in a black cloud of really smelly probably toxic smoke
• It still smells in the main room
• we had to go out for the day instead of having a day spent laying around watching movies and getting better.
• I got sick and went to bed at 6:00 pm

The good

• Beka didn't burn herself
• We have a ceramic stovetop making it much easier to clean up
• The girls are all better
• We have family in town so were able to take naps at Grandma's house
• our house didn't burn down
• Josh got dinner for the girls and put them to bed and took care of them when they fussed (Emma had a fever still)
• Josh has a job where they understand that he couldn't work yesterday.

Let's hope Tuesday is bit better for us. =)

the flu

well, the flu hit Catie and Emma last night just as Josh and I were heading to bed. I think I got about 45 minutes of sleep one time and the rest of the night was about 30 minutes at a time. So we have some grumpy sick kiddos and some grumpy tired parents and one very happy normal 2.5 year old. If you think of us today please pray! =)

THANKS!!!

Just wanted to give a little shout out to some people that have made my life easier:

• Whoever it was that invented water colour pencils. SO much easier than the paints
• Crayola or whoever it was that invented washable markers, crayons and paints
• the person who invented the clothes dryer--it rained all day
• the pest control guy for telling me it wasn't termites and not making me feel silly for thinking it was
• the creators of Boz
• washing machines--2 wet beds and the flu (no not the egyptian flu just the regular old run of the mill flu and it was Beka)
• the creators of MSN messenger so I can chat with Tanya and Mom
• Josh--he's a hard worker and doesn't care if the girls "help" him even if the job takes twice as long.
  
• Whoever decided that the county fair/show was a good reason for a public holiday

Have a great weekend! We're off to the missions dinner.

Happy Birthday Tasha

Just wanted to hop on and say a big Happy Birthday to the little sister that drove me crazy when we were little. But now I miss her and wish we lived closer. Must be one of those "don't appreciate what you have until you don't have it" things. Hope you have a wonderful birthday, Bosher. Love, Marna

p.s. be glad I don't have the picture I really wanted to use on my computer. Might have to scan it to use some other time. =)

In love

This time it's Josh who is in love. Surprisingly we can be a little picky about food in this household. We don't do canola or soy so we splash out more money on olive, rice bran or sunflower oil and margarine. We don't relish the idea of eating the bleach that you use on your clothes so we use organic unbleached flour and organic raw sugar. We prefer free range organic eggs or actually our favourite eggs are straight from Gwen's chickens. Well, Josh has been complaining for sometime about the fact that we drink "fake" milk. A couple months ago he met a lady that has dairy cows and struck up the conversation of how much he would love to buy "real" milk. Well, she showed up on Monday with 9 litres of non pasteurised, non homogenised milk and Josh LOVES it. (Of course she showed up Monday because I went grocery shopping on Saturday and bought 12 litres of fake milk.) Josh had some of the milk at dinner tonight and the girls asked to try it. It was funny. Catie thought it was delicious and tasted like cream. Emma reckons it tastes like sour cream (which she loves) and Beka said it was "tasty". So I guess from now on we will be buying mostly "real" milk and only I will be drinking the "fake" milk as the other stuff makes me sick. Just one more thing to tick off on our "weird relative list" i.e. Josh and Tamra, they're the ones that homeschool and don't vaccinate and buy milk with bacteria still in it. =) We know you love us!! We love you too.

Rooms with a purpose

I've been thinking about the rooms in my home. I read somewhere that you should think about each room and it's purpose. Well, that's fair enough but I haven't done that with all the rooms. However, I have done it with the front room and my bedroom. I tend to use my bedroom as the catch all for everything out of place in the rest of the house whenever someone shows up. Shove it all in the bedroom and shut the door. but then it stays there for awhile and my bedroom becomes this place that I hate. It's messy and I find it harder to sleep. And then as soon as I wake up I feel discouraged with how messy it is. So a couple of weeks ago (while Josh was putting the shed together the first day with the "help" of the girls) I totally cleaned my room. And then I redecorated a little. I moved my big tall dresser that was by Josh's side of the bed that he kept bumping his head and/or arm on and replaced it with a small dresser that was in the front room as a side table. That left a blank wall so I made a wreath to go on the wall. I took the mismatched picture frames off the shelf and remembered that I had some old green books and an old red bound book. So i put them and my favourite smelling candles and my one and only Willow tree figurine (hint hint) and voila...a nice bedroom. (don't look too close at the green books, I bought them off ebay and they are the old Happy Hollister books. not really books for an adult's bedroom but they look nice and were the right colour.) =) A couple days later I made a garland of praise that looks really nice too with dark green hearts and a green and brown ribbon. It hangs under the little shelf. I also had bought some candles and sconces from a Partylite party that Gwen held. They are a little small for the wall they're on (opposite the bed) so next party I'll buy one more. I LOVE the candle thingy hanging above the bed. I got it at Target for half price and wish I had bought two. It isn't centered over the bed because it is centered between the wall and the window and the bed can't be centered because of the side table. but we have to have a clock somewhere so that's life. I also added a rocker and footstool. I'd prefer a recliner but we don't have room. Anyway, I'm still working on the whole no kids allowed thing. They've recently decided they prefer showers to baths and our shower is twice as big as their's. And we also need to split Catie and Emma up for naptime so one of them always sleeps in our bed. But still, keeping the room tidy at all times (except Josh's side of the bed and I can't see that) and making it pretty has created a peaceful room that I just love walking into. I've been sleeping better and I feel peaceful and content in that room. All that's left is to repaint a deeper sage-y green colour. But I need to talk Josh into that. =)

That room gave me so much satisfaction that I turned to the other room with a specific purpose in my house--the front room. I have children in my home all day so my home will always look like children live in it. There's no hope for it and it really doesn't bother me. But I wanted a room that was nice and had no toys in it. So the front room is sort of a retreat room. The girls are definitely allowed in there but to read books or to play quietly. It's a nice room to have when friends come over as the children can play or watch a dvd and the adults can go in the front room and have a nice chat. Today I totally cleaned that room including the windows. They were disgusting but that's beside the point. I recently bought suede covers for the couch and chair. Our poor couch split all it's seams and has been without seat cushion covers for over a year now. But I was tired of using a sheet for the seat cushion covers and covering everything else up with throw pillows. I like the suede, it doesn't quite fit but I'm working on that too. I bought some cute fabric that has the Texas flag and bluebonnets on it. I'm trying to figure out how to make some throw pillow covers and a blanket with it. I also want to paint a little trio of birds over the door like this and I'm thinking about doing a little hedgehog along the baseboard somewhere. I'm slowly getting that room to look like the picture in my head but even while I do that it is a nice quiet place to read a book or have a conversation and when people come to the front door there aren't toys laying everywhere. It's also a great room for when we have Wednesday night Bible study although it's a little small.

Obviously other rooms in my house have specific purposes but they also have several purposes. My kitchen is definitely a work kitchen and very rare are the times when absolutely everything is put away and it is sparkling clean. Of course part of that is due to the fact that when I have a really clean kitchen it makes me want to bake something. =) This way I have two peaceful rooms in the house that stay fairly tidy all the time. The girls are slowly learning to tidy up on their own but a house with three children will always have toys and whatnot scattered around. And I will never have a house that looks like it came out of a magazine. But that's okay. Because the highest compliments I've ever received on my house are that my house is "comfy" and "homey" and "easy to be in." That to me is better than anything else.

US

Josh--shed is almost done, had to get up early this morning to go to CPR training, been going to work at 6 or 7 all week, loves spaghetti, doesn't like chicken and rice

Tamra--writing a unit study on curious george, doing some sewing, being a Maria von Trapp except my skirt is out of a sheet not a curtain, can't wait for the garage to be cleared out so I can decorate, loves chicken and rice

Catie--learning something new every day, writing a book about a little bear in a cave, being a great big sister, addicted to playschool, likes chicken and rice, LOVES spaghetti, pretends to like broccoli

Emma--growing out of all her skirts and pants, lengthwise, picked up a "hopgrasser" today, is a speed demon on her new red tricycle, loves spaghetti, LOVES vegetables, doesn't like chicken and rice

Beka--talks so much and so fast you can't understand her, has grown men not related to her under her spell, keeps changing her mind about potty training, is wearing Catie's shirt today, loves spaghetti, doesn't like chicken and rice and will clean out the vegetable bowl

ABC's of me

Accent: Depends on who you talk to. Aussies still ask how long I’ve lived here and Americans think I sound Aussie.

Book that I like: ummm…. How do I narrow that down? I’ve been reading books from my childhood—Little House on the Prairie series, Anne of Green Gables series, all the Little Women books, Happy Hollisters books, etc.

Chore I don’t care for: Laundry

Dog or Cat: Neither. If we have to have something it would be a dog. I’m allergic to cats

Essential Electronics: computer,

Favorite Cologne: Charlie-do they still sell the original, anything vanilla, CKOne

Gold or Silver: silver

Handbag I carry most often: Whatever is newest or fits the bill

Insomnia: not normally

Job Title: Domestic Diva

Kids: Three—5,4, 2.5

Living Arrangements: All 5 of us in a house we had built

Most Admirable Trait: ummm…let me get back to you on that one

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: ummm…I’m sure my siblings would say being a tattle tale

Overnight hospital stays: one for kidney stones, one after having my first baby

Phobias: yes, we’ll just leave it at that.

Quote: "You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." Franklin P Adams

Religion: I’m a Bible believing Baptist

Siblings: I am the second of 4

Time I wake up: too early

Unusual Talent or Skill: I have a really good memory, does that count? Although sometimes Mommy brain sets in

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Just one??? Brussel sprouts

Worst Habit: blogs

X-rays: I’ve had a couple I think. I have them somewhere.

Yummy Stuff: chocolate, chicken quesadillas, steak

Zoo Animal I Like Most: ummmm….I like giraffes

What are the ABC's of you?
* I got this from someone's blog that I don't remember. and I can't find it in my browser's history. =) Good memory, hey?

MIA

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. The cord to upload pictures from the camera is damaged so I have pictures but can't do anything with them.

The shed is mostly done. Josh, Floyd and Jason got the roof on finally. The roof has taken the most time of anything I think. Now there is just stuff like the doors to do. Josh works on it between coming home from work and dinner.

We happened to arrive at the library the other day just as story time was starting. The girls really enjoyed it and I think we'll make that a regular thing.

Life is pretty much the same as always. Laundry, cleaning, cooking, homeschooling, playing, etc. I've also been rearranging furniture and doing little home deco projects. I got some great fabric off ebay that I want to make a little throw quilt and pillows with. I have some other fabric to make more throw pillows too. Now to just take the step and cut the fabric. =)

Well, laundry calls. Josh says that he has another camera cord so I should have pictures soon. Have a great day!!

Happy Birthday Brandon

Yes, this is late. poor Brandon. His birthday was Sunday. I knew it and I totally meant to post this on time and then totally forgot it on Saturday. So, we hope you had an awesome birthday Brandon. You are growing into such a great young man. We wish we could be closer to you and get to see you more often. Lots and lots of love from your Aussie family.

Beka funny

While helping Daddy build his shed Beka was playing with the tape measure. I asked her how big she was. Her reply "little". =)

Catie was taking pictures of the shed progress because I was. She then took a picture of Beka. After taking the picture she told me "Beka's so cheesy!"

Catie/Bindi

So an imaginary friend has shown up at the Risser house. Catie says Bindi is her imaginary friend. So I guess maybe imaginary isn't the best word but you know what I mean. Anyway, today Catie decided to dress like Bindi. And says her name is Bindi today.
*picture of Bindi borrowed from tottvwatch.com

Thankful Thursday

1. The weather is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! Yes, I'm shouting
2. I got my new American passport
   
3. I got an email saying Catie's Aussie passport is in the mail. (haven't heard about mine yet, hmmmmm....)
4. I have a dryer (my high thread count sheets don't seem to like line drying. )
5. High thread count sheets (one set is 450 and one is 600. so nice.)
   
6. Washing machine (doing some serious laundry catch up)
7. I got to do something crafty yesterday for me
8. Did a fun butterfly craft today with the girls
9. Got to chat with Tanya (Hi Tanya)
10. chocolate ( need I say more?)
    

Calvin and Hobbes

Click on the picture to make it larger if you wish. So, the other day I went op shopping with all three girls. It actually went alright. That was the day I bribed them with lollies at Nana's Pantry. Anyway, I found these great sheets for $4. I plan on making lots of things with them, an apron, pj pants, skirts, dresses, etc. Where else can you buy that much fabric for $4. I should measure it all out and figure out how much I paid per metre. =) Still, that isn't what this post is about. I also found a Calvin and Hobbes book for $2. A little pricier than I would normally pay but Josh likes comics and I like Calvin and Hobbes and I like to have books on my bookshelf that the Sauvageot boys can read when they come over so I bought it. Well, I didn't count on the fact that even though Catie can't read she can enjoy comics. She has carried that book around with her since Saturday. She reads it every nap time and tries to read it in the dark after I've put her to bed. She talks about it constantly. During nap time I'll hear her giggling out loud. And for not being able to read she really gets what its all about. She asked me the other day why no one else saw Hobbes. And why does Calvin think he's real? So, I think it was totally worth my $2 as long as she doesn't turn into Calvin when she turns 6. And by the way, Josh and I both agree that there is no way that Calvin is 6. I have yet to meet a 6 year old that smart and believe me I've met alot of 6 year olds.

I also bought some DK rhyming phonics books. The stickers said 30 cents each so I grabbed all 4 that I found. Got up to the counter and they said all childrens books are 10 cents. BONUS!!

Wilson??

Any words of wisdom? What's that? You want me to help you move that? Oh, okay. I'm just going to take a quick picture first.

After pics

After an hour and a trip to the scrapbooking store this is what the old kitchen pic became.
Here's what the hallway looks like now. I just rearranged and added a few things.

A view from the bathroom. Kinda hard to get good pics of a long narrow hallway =)


Close up of the girls' silhouettes. I really like how these turned out. This is what I took the profile pics for the other day. I found the frames for $3 each. I had several nice papers to use but only two of each. Didn't have three of any so bought some at the scrapbooking store. You can't tell but the red is actually a deeper red than it looks and has little daisies drawn all over it. It goes Catie-top, Emma-middle and Beka-bottom.

Before Pics

This is what my hallway looked like earlier today. Yes, the pictures are horribly crooked. It just didn't look nice. And I liked the flower picture which I got to match my kitchen YEARS ago but was tired of it and it didn't really go with the new kitchen theme.

random pics and stuff

Went shopping at Nana's Pantry today. I told the girls it was because we needed buttermilk pancake mix and it's the only place in town to get the organic unbleached flour that I use. (does that make me sound like a hippy or something?) And I told them that I would let them each get a couple lollies from the bulk lolly section. but the reason I REALLY go to Nana's Pantry???

Yep, I go for the Dr. Pepper. =) They are one of the two places in town I can buy Dr. Pepper. Which is why I pay $2+ for it. By the way, I've opened that can and am drinking it right now. It is the only thing I've had to drink or eat this morning. Yep, Dr. Pepper for breakfast at 11:27 am. (so much for being the healthy hippy) =)

You might wonder what this is. This, my friends, is Josh's shed. Looks kinda small you say? well, here's picture of it and the slab it will go on.

Yes, it seems small to me too. Will be interesting to watch it go up on monday.

Does this mean I'm stupid? See that sudoku? It's extreme sudoku. As in 16x16 squares rather than 9x9. The page is covered in my scribbles, the back too. Heaps of smears from the crappy pencil eraser. How did it take, you ask? oh, not too long. Just 4.5 hours!! Seriously!! What a major waste of time. So frustrating. But it felt good when I finished. And it gave me something to blog about. =) Yeah, I need one of those addicted to blogging t-shirts.

Also, I should add to my list from the other day. I also made cupcakes for us, two cakes for the school conference, and changed two complete bedding sets (not just sheets but everything!) due to small children's bladders (and yes, the small could refer to both the child and the bladder).

Have a great weekend. We have missionaries speaking in church tomorrow, communion, choir and tomorrow night Grandpa (Floyd) is speaking. Should be a busy day. but Monday is a holiday so at least Josh will be home and more than likely putting up a shed.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my friend Saminda for Sunday and Shane on Monday. Hope your days are great!!

passport photo

I forgot that I didn't share Catie's passport photo. She wasn't allowed to smile so she didn't know what to do. Then they took about 15 photos trying to get it right. Finally this one turned out right. How grown up does she look? And how much does she look like my side of the family? =)

And, no, I am not going to torture you with my passport photos. They were taken after a hectic day of VBS and are HORRIBLE. But I figure that's what I look like after a day on an airplane so it doesn't matter, right?

Another week

Well, it's almost the end of the week. Josh has a conference on at school today and tomorrow so Saturday will end up like most of our other days this week.
What did we get done this week?

• about 10 loads of laundry
• cleaned two bathrooms (except the floor)
• vacuumed most the rooms in the house
  
• vacuumed the rug twice
• swept the floor almost every day
• got some schoolwork done
  
• watched a couple episodes of Firefly with Josh for our date night
• watched (probably too much) ABC kids
  
• played outside in the glorious fall weather
• went on a walk
• played with play-doh
• started some craft projects
• planned some homeschool stuff
• kept myself busy
• only had Josh bring dinner once and chocolate for me once =)
  
• planned out a post about a controversial subject and haven't decided if I'll post it yet.
  
• had a pretty good week in spite of the beginning.
• *edited to add these--got my applications in for my two passports and Catie's Aussie passport. Spent a total of $400 doing that!!! And we aren't even planning a trip anytime soon.
  

Walked outside to get the mail this morning. came in to sit back down at the computer (the other chair in the main room was occupied by Emma) and what do I see? Beka stole my chair while I was gone for 30 seconds. So I took her picture. she was too busy telling me to move so she could watch Playschool to look at me or smile. Although she was laughing when I came back in and found her there.

Anyway, have a good weekend.