Nathan

See?? I told you that he scoots around a lot. This is what I found when I came to get him out of bed the other day. He was NOT HAPPY!! But I still took a minute to take his picture. I am a blogger after all. =)

p.s. YAY!!

pic taken on Steve's phone at HJ's

didn't have to pay fines at the library and arrived at school (to drop some stuff off for Josh) in time to go to lunch (Hungry Jack's) with Josh and the S's.

We're here

we're just a little quiet this week. It's been a bit of an "off" week for us. We're trying to figure out a routine and get some sleep. Except for Emma's cold we're all healthy. Had a bit of a health scare/worry earlier this week but it turned out to be fine. The nurse at the chemist weighed Nathan. He's now over 5 kgs. She thinks he should be gaining a little bit more a week but seriously?? have you seen the boy?? he's growing like a weed!! Just long and lean like his daddy. I'll try to take some pics of the kids in the next day or so and post them. Grandma Sauvageot is asking for some on facebook too. =)

We're off to the library this morning. I thought the books were due next week but apparently they were due on Tuesday. I hardly know what day it is anymore let alone try to remember 3 weeks later when the books are due. =)

Yesterday I got mostly caught up on laundry, made dinner and tripled it so I can put two in the freezer, did schoolwork, took the girls to school and spent time with Beka in the afternoon, cleaned the kitchen. But the rest of the house looks bad. Can't do it all!! so today we have the library, schoolwork, house cleaning and finish off the laundry. If dinner doesn't get made then pizza or Hungry Jack's it is. That's life!!

I did take the time during naptime on Wednesday to get started on a Christmas present. That's the picture at the top of the post. Can you guess what it's going to be?? or what it used to be?? Hopefully it turns out and I'll be able to show you a cute little inexpensive gift.

Chores and Banks

yes, that is chocolate on Beka's face at 9:30 in the morning. =)

We bought these banks for the girls a few months back. We were going to give them for Christmas but have recently instituted a more "formal" list of chores for the girls so decided to use the banks now. At the moment they have to do these chores listed every morning and night without being told. We also have chores that they can do to collect extra money. For now we will just give the girls a set amount of money for the daily chores. We'll split it into 3 coins so they can put one in each section of the bank. We haven't decided what to do about the extra money as far as splitting it between the 3 sections of the bank. As they get older we'll teach them about tithe, giving, saving, buying etc.

long

This is Beka in her bed in Mom's dining room in 2006. She was somewhere between 6 and 9 months. But my point is this...Nathan, who is two months old today and still sleeping in bed with Daddy at this moment, is wearing these jammies right now!! They are big in the tummy area but the sleeves only come to his wrists and the legs only come to his ankles.

Sunday

I don't have much time as I need to finish the bulletin and get the house tidy for visitors after church. But here's a quick wrap up of the last week and a bit.

• In the last month all 3 girls had strep--sore throat, fever, rash, loss of appetite.
  
• Catie got the sore throat again last weekend and while we were at camp and didn't eat much all week.
• She finally felt better the last day of camp--Thursday.
• She also got two boils--one in her inner thigh and one on her knee. Poor thing. Apparently Josh used to get lots of them when he was young.
  
• Emma woke up Friday with the left side of her neck REALLY swollen. We headed to the doctor and he wasn't sure if she has strep again or glandular fever(mono). So she had to get a throat culture and a blood test. We'll get those results on Monday. For the moment she is on a stronger antibiotic than last time.
  
• The antibiotic has to be given 4 times a day on an empty stomach--half an hour before food and/or two hours after food. This makes it very difficult. I've started giving it to her about half an hour before we eat breakfast and lunch then again in the late afternoon and then wake her up to take the last dose at least two hours after dinner.
• Beka had a rash on her face this week at camp. While we were sitting at the doctor's office on Friday I noticed it was also on her palms and soles. The doctor thinks she has Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.
  
• Nathan has been very fussy this week. Several times I've been holding him and he feels very warm. Doctor said as long as he is still feeding really well (he is) there's nothing to do.
• We've seen the doctor more times this year than we have in our entire lives I think.
• Camp was fine. Catie and Emma really enjoyed it. Even though Catie didn't want to eat much she played all the games and joined all the activities. Emma did really well, especially considering she was younger than anyone else (except Beka, Emily and Nathan). Beka joined in most of the activities as well. The ones she didn't join in were our choice and not hers. She would have done everything if she could.
  
• Nathan is growing like a weed. And he is all boy. He's charming the girls with his smiles, burping like a pro and making all those "charming" body noises. He's pretty funny with those body noises/functions. For instance, last Sunday he hadn't pooped in a couple days. One of the older ladies offered to hold him all through church but he was going to need to eat so I said no. About 10 minutes later I was really glad I said no. Josh was holding him and he started grunting. Then you could hear explosive poo. Josh and I got the giggles. After I was sure he was done I took him out to change and feed him. Well, he had pooped through his nappy, through his cute little John Deere outfit Grammy made him and through the blanket!! Well, I had only grabbed my little wipes and nappy holder so didn't have any clothes to change him into. And I used up every single wipe I had cleaning him up. Of course he hates to have his nappy changed and was hungry so he was screaming the whole time too. I just had to laugh. =)

I'll try to update with some pictures later this week. We just need to get some sort of routine again!! =)

Camp

Well, we are off to school camp this week. We're going to Tin Can Bay with the HBCA 1st - 3rd grade classes. The girls will be included in the activities with the kids. My big job is pool supervision in the afternoon. We leave in about 2 hours so I'm off to finish tidying the house and getting ready to go.

Have a look at this. Lots of ideas. You could have them make a book of your blog. I think it would be fun to have a yearly book of my blog as sort of a memory book since my scrapbooks are sitting collecting dust. =) I'm also looking at making a book for each of the girls for Christmas this year. Beka especially will be excited because I have no pictures in her photo album yet. (bad mama=( )

Better go. Nathan is crying and the house calls to me =) See you this weekend.

Friday

• It took me 3 tries before I spelled Friday correctly in the title (and 2 more times in this sentence)
• Nathan ate at 6:45pm then went to sleep at 8pm and slept until 1:45am!! Then after eating he slept until 5:30am.
• Emma didn't sleep well and is a major GROUCH today.
• Beka woke up several times as well and is also a GROUCH today.
• Hence, we have declared today to be Curious George Day. We started with the Curious George movie and are reading some of the books and doing some activity pages and crafts related to Curious George.
• Catie decided to colour her stick puppets any colour she wanted and instead of "the man with the yellow hat" he is the "yellow man with the hat".
• Both times I wrote hat I actually spelled hate first. what's up with my typing today??
• The girls made a "theatre" for their stick puppets. (That would be Beka showing it off.)
• My computer was hijacked in the middle of this post and we've spent the last hour playing curious george games on the computer.
  
• now we are going to have lunch and then quiet time. Hopefully Beka and Emma join Nathan ASLEEP!!
  

This morning

this little pirate puked all over me and had a REALLY messy nappy but you know what?? He slept from 10:30pm to 4am last night so I don't care about the mess. =)

this is her "that sun is bright and CHEESE!!" face

Emma looks so cute in her little split skirt. I didn't realize what she was doing with her face until I put it on the computer. She started laughing when she saw the picture.

the girls did their own hair this morning.

doing schoolwork, wearing Ben's old HBCA shirt ready for going in to the school this afternoon.

working on map skills

mad

Nathan hates to have his clothes off. And when he gets really mad he screams, holds his breath and turns purple. Maybe his hair is going to be red?? =) We also have to be careful where we lay him because he scoots himself forwards. I took a little video of him doing this. And two minutes later he was completely off the blanket.

Ahhhhhh....

CHOOOOO!!!!!

Review

• Nathan had his 6 week checkup. He has gained almost 1 kg. So he is now 4.7kg/10.34lbs. He grew 5.5 cms so is now 57.5cm/22.6in long. Everything is fine, which I knew. =)
• We are concerned (a little) about Beka's hearing so are in the process of making a hearing appointment for her.
• I get to spend Thursday afternoons with just Beka and Nathan this term.
• Catie is joining the HBCA grade 1 class for some literacy and an Australian theme unit on Thursday afternoons.
• Emma is joining the HBCA Prep class for show-and-tell and writing practice on Thursday afternoons.
• Last Thursday was the first day for this. They really enjoyed it.
• Josh and I are attending a new Bible study group. It is for the young marrieds in our church. Thursday night was the first night. I think it will be really good.
• Everything above was written on Thursday or Friday. Now it is Monday morning. I was hoping to get some photos of the girls to add to the post but it hasn't happened so I'm just going to post it with Nathan's picture.
  
• One of the ladies from church graciously offered her home as our Young Marrieds meeting place. Such a lovely home. AND she had the exact paint colour I've been looking for on her walls!!
• Dulux Buff It--now I won't forget what it's called. We're gonna paint, we're gonna paint, we're gonna paint, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah!! Sorry, I'm in a weird mood this morning.
• Josh's parents are away this week so we get to feed the chickens and gather the eggs. The girls are very excited about this job. I, on the other hand, am more excited about the eggs than the feeding/gathering part. =)
• Can't think of anything else to write. Things are pretty much the same as always around here. We're off to do a bit of shopping this morning. We need sugar which means a trip to Nana's Pantry (gee, isn't that too bad? =) ), Nathan has grown out of all his long sleepers and we don't have any in the next size up so we need to go to Big W or Target too. And of course, groceries. Hopefully, it all gets done smoothly.
  
• Actually, I've found that shopping with 4 isn't much worse than 3. Although that will probably change as Nathan gets older. =)
• Have a great week!!
  

Chicken & Gravy with Homemade Noodles

I found this recipe a couple weeks ago. Just so you know, several bloggers have foodie tuesdays where they provide a link list for recipes. Always interesting to look I reckon. Here's two--Tempt my Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday. Anyway, made this recipe from Stolen Moments Cooking last week and we loved it. My variations are in red.

Chicken & Gravy with Homemade Noodles

• 4 c. chicken stock *
  
• 1 – 2 lb. chicken breasts or thighs**
• 1/2 lb. baby carrots
• 2 t. dill***
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. black pepper
• 1 batch homemade egg noodles

1. In a large sauce pan or stock pot****, combine chicken stock, chicken, carrots and seasoning. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.

2. Add cut noodles to pot. Return to a boil and let boil until noodles are desired tenderness, about 7-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the noodles. The broth will thicken as the noodles cook until it is a gravy consistency.

3. Shred or dice cooled chicken and return to pot. Stir to combine and continue cooking until heated through. Serve immediately, or refrigerate and warm on the stove before serving.

*I used more like 7
**I used 2 breast pieces
***I don't like dill and we don't have any in the house so I used Italian seasoning instead.
****I used the crock pot/slow cooker.

Now I really need to learn to make noodles. I used one package out of the freezer that Mom made for me. We all really liked this and for you in America it would make a perfect fall dinner. But I think we might be eating it year round.

food for...well...food

no deep thoughts here. =) As I was looking through the fridge, freezer and pantry at 5:05 Monday afternoon... speaking of Monday afternoon I just wanted to say that I am writing this on Monday evening because I am all about pre-scheduling posts, I can do several at a time when I have time and Mom -and everyone else- gets posts in a semi-regular fashion. I'm happy, Mom's happy, it's all good!!...anyway, back to Monday and going through the kitchen trying to figure out what to cook, I decided to use one of my stand by recipes and thought I'd share it here. My first stand-by recipe is spaghetti. It's super easy using cooked meat out of the freezer and boiling my water in the jug as I pre-heat my pot. Dinner in less than 15 minutes. But we had spaghetti on Saturday night for Beka's birthday dinner. And I can't handle spaghetti more than once a week and around here we definitely have it that often.

But I digress (again!)...Chicken over Rice is my second stand-by recipe. I use cooked chicken from the freezer and more often than not I make it in the crockpot. If I do that then I put it in at lunch or just after the girls lay down for rest time. Otherwise, like Monday night, I put it in the oven. And I LOVE my Tupperware rice cooker. Rice in 15 minutes!! so easy. Anyway, here's the recipe

2 cooked chicken breasts
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of celery soup
1/2 to 1 can of water
shredded cheese (optional...a handful or so)
minced onion (I just sprinkle it in...maybe 1 TBS)
curry powder (optional...1tsp or so...make it to your liking)
sour cream (I just use a big spoonful...maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup??)
Ritz crackers

Cut up the chicken into small pieces. combine all the ingredients except the crackers in a oven proof dish. Crush the crackers over the top and cook in a medium oven for 1/2 an hour. Serve over rice.

Super easy. I don't use the crackers when I make it in the crock pot/slow cooker. It is soupy. I use more water when I cook it in the oven then when I use the slow cooker as the slow cooker tends to make it soupier than the oven.

I'll have another chicken recipe tomorrow. It's a new one that we tried last week and we all loved it.

Nathan smiles

Beka's birthday

Okay, I had the slideshow on here and I edited it and now Blogger won't let me put it back on. Frustrating. Oh well, go HERE for a slideshow of pictures from Beka's birthday.

When the sugar rush is over...

We all fall down.

We're hoping for a quiet evening as we recuperate from Beka's "small" birthday celebration. Pics to come tomorrow.

Happy 4th Birthday, Beka Jane!!

October 4, 2005

1st Birthday, 2006

2nd birthday, 2007

3rd birthday, 2008

one of my favourite pictures of her

birthday shirt

take some stained and/or hand me down shirts in sizes for all 3 girls. Add some scissors, scrap fabric, "wonder under", and the iron and sewing machine. After about an hour of time you have fun new shirts that the girls think are wonderful.

And all because you wanted to make a birthday shirt for the birthday girl. just remember if you make it 4 days before her birthday she will ask you every single day if she can wear it. Can't wait until tomorrow when I can say "yes!!"

*disclaimer--her shirt looks much dingier and dirty in this photo than it does in real life. =)

Growing like a weed

Nathan has outgrown-lengthwise-these two outfits!! He has his six week check up on Wednesday so I'll update his weight and length after that.

Beka's bed

Beka got a new bed. Well, new to her anyway. Josh took two beds that the S's were throwing out and combined them to get a sturdy bed with no headboard. And then we painted it pink!! Beka loves having a bed.