Overheard

Alden: "mom are we going to a public library?"
M: "yes"
A: "Do they have public movies?"
M: "All movies are public."
Dad:" Alden do you know what public means?"
A: "No"
D: "Public means anyone can use it."
A: "Do they have public car transporters?"
D: "No"
A: "Hey mom, look we're coming up to a public swimming pool!"

Last night during Family Home Evening about love Dad asked a question about love.
Dad: "Is there anyone we aren't supposed to love?"
Lucy: "We aren't supposed to love strangers."
Alden: (said while pointing his hand at her like a gun) "Lucy, that's totally right!"

i love recording what my kids say. It's so funny.
And i love using it on scrapbook pages...











and one of Eli

Confession time

Lately I feel like I just can't pull myself together.

I hold myself to pretty high expectations sometimes. In quite a few areas.
And sometimes I really miss the mark and I am left worrying and frustrated with not getting as much done as I think I should be.

Some things that should be getting done haven't been.
And some things that don't HAVE to be done, have been.
But lots of things I WANT to be done aren't done at all.

As much as I want the attitude "it's okay, I'll try again tomorrow and do better" that doesn't come so naturally to me. I'm more of the "should have, could have but didn't, oh why didn't I" kinda gal.

So if I haven't gotten around to a few things I was supposed to do for you, please accept my apologizes. I seem to have a million things on the go currently.

And yet I am only thinking about finding a house and moving. I found a house, but someone else bought it. So in two weeks at Easter, we'll go down (reg will be DONE med school by then (CRAZY!)) and try and find a house.

I want to find a house we love. And I don't want to be crammed into a small place. I'm not expecting my dream house at all. But I want to get somewhere that all of us can fit comfortably for 2 years. With a kitchen I love. Since it's true what Lindsay says that I live in the kitchen.

I don't ever want to be a demanding wife. You know those marriages where the wife wears the pants (you all know someone, and if you don't YOU'RE probably it ;) ) or where the husband totally does. With me and Reg we try and get a healthy balance where we both have a leg in. I try to not push what I want onto my husband. But I don't want to be my mom, who has done without LOTS of things cause she didn't want to nag or sound demanding. Another area where I lack I guess.

Man I guess this is all confession time eh?

On that note, I have two bags of fuzzy peaches, a pack of rolo's and one fruit and nut chocolate bar hiding in my underwear drawer. :)

Random Thoughts on Wednesday

1. I love taking pictures in people's homes. Spending time with them and enjoying the feeling they've already got going on.

Add in a super cute boy and a nice home and it adds to the experience. :)
There are lots more on my photo blog of this cute little man.

2. I made this cake for my book club.

and it was super good. I'll try and post the recipe on Everyday Meals early next week.

3. I think those few warm days of spring was just a TEASE. I soooo am ready for birds and green grass and outdoor photo shoots. We did make it the park one day and the next it snowed 6 inches. Silly Alberta weather!



4. I don't know if I've mentioned lately how much I love buying little girls clothes. It's terrible. You get a sense of the cute blazer I got Lucy (but she wasn't into cooperating for a real photo) but it is SO cute. I just love it.


5. I'm off to Southern Alberta today to go house shopping tomorrow. We've been working on getting pre approved so I can find one and just do it. Wish me luck! :)

What have you been up to?

AKA

the cute photo of the day is Eli.

also called
mr. magoo
sweetheart
little man
shorty
grabby grabberson
Jr
sugar
trouble
love.

Lie to me baby

Last night at 4:30 am (I guess I should say this morning) I told a lie.
I have been into Eli's room about 3 times, one of which lasted 30 minutes.
(He's not feeling well.)
Lucy had woken up screaming, just as I had gotten back into bed from Eli.
Regan usually responds to the older two (since they rarely get up).
He went in and she told him there was something touched her while she was sleeping.
A bug apparently. It was sitting on her bed. To calm her down, he turned on the light, showed her there was nothing there and then snuggled with her for a few minutes before leaving her to go back to sleep.
20 minutes later I was just leaving Eli's room again. And I notice Lucy's light on.
So I open the door and ask her what she is doing.
She says she has to pee. And I take her to the bathroom.
When I take her back to bed, she tells me that her and her babies (she apparently has "tons of kids" future octo-mom?) are going to cry when I leave.
I ask why.
She says cause something is sitting on her bed.
(at this point I am thinking reading the book Nightmare in my closet was a bad idea before bed)
I turn on the light again and show her nothing is there.
She tells me she's going to cry because "a bug touched her, that's why dad came in here."
I said "I know, dad stepped on it and killed it."
She responds "well what kind was it?"
I guess... "a spider?"
She responds "oh good. good night."

So was it worth it...... um totally.

A friend from out east told me that she used to tell her kids that you weren't allowed to go on wet grass in the morning. As in, it's against the law. Her kids would ask to go outside first thing. And she didn't have a fenced yard and she didn't want to go outside at 7:30 am to watch her kids play. She wanted to hang out in her pjs.

We had a dog that I thought had run away for years (I mean years), I learned after I was married that he died another way. My dad just shrugged his shoulders when I asked.

My oldest brother thought for years that if you shot grouse a certain way they would always land at your feet.

According to a survey in the March Redbook parents more than 84% of parents admit to lying to their kids at least once a month.

I've heard of kids who were told elves or some other thing would come at night and take all the toys away if they didn't clean them up...

How about you?
Ever told a lie to your kids?
Or been told one?
Or do you think truth no matter what....Even if it's 4:30am and you have only slept about 2 hours?

Speaking the little sick guy....


I find him like this about 20 times a day. (well maybe not 20.... but a lot!)


The first thing he does when you set him down is crawl over to the couch, walk along it and over to the piano and start to play.

Scrappy Share

One of the things I love to use on my scrapbook pages is my sewing machine.
If you use a denim needle it slides through paper like butter.
I love it because....
it adds so much texture
it is a pretty inexpensive embellishment (if you already have a machine)
you can color code it to any page (the dollar store has TONS of different colors of thread)
you can use it to hold things down.


This page is from the March 2009 Scraptivity kit seen here.
And my 8x12 print is from Costco.

Lethbridge here we come

I just read the news (I've been checking regan's school email constantly to see where we are going) and it's official, we are moving to Lethbridge!

And I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy. :)

And since a post is no fun without photos.... here are some cute babies I am currently editing....


(more of them on my photo blog)

RAS

well it's match day.
and it's official.

We matched to the Rural Alberta South Residency Program.
It was our first choice.
And we are super duper excited about the whole thing.

It means
1. we will be moving out of the city.
2. we will be moving to either Lethbridge or Medicine Hat.
3. we will be pushing hard for Lethbridge.
4. we will be moving out of the city.
5. pretty soon you can call Regan - Dr. Steed, and he'll even answer you.

:)
ps did I mention it means we'll be moving out of the city?

Today I am

worrying about how much the van is going to cost to get fixed.

exhausted from another night of bad sleep by Eli.

pondering my talk topic for an upcoming talk in church

watching more kids.

designing logos for my brothers' business

wanting to spend time scrapbooking

wishing the house I liked hadn't sold yet

waiting for monday when we find out where we are moving too for residency

sick and tired of cold weather


editing photos from this shoot.



what about you... what are you up to?

8 Months

Eli at 8 months:

• going to bed at 7pm and getting up at 6:30 - 7am (he didn't get the memo that we sleep in around here)
• started getting up at 3am for some milk for the past few weeks
• is crawling everywhere
• climbed up to our first landing all by himself yesterday (and really FAST too!)
• loves to walk around the furniture (cruising)

• loves being tossed onto the couch (he laughs so hard when we do this!)
• is constantly pushing himself to learn more, try more, etc
• frequently stands up holding onto something, grabs something in his hands and then just lets go of whatever he was holding on to (making himself fall)

• frequently hurts himself (see previous one)
• wants to go into Alden's or Lucy's room - all the time

• thinks the kids jumping is so funny
• is eating everything except eggs, honey and peanut butter

• can drink from a cup (he loves cow's milk)
• cries when I leave the room (or if he hears my voice in another room
• can sit without support
• can "rake" a small toy toward him on the floor and pick it up.
• can get into a sitting position from her stomach.
• looks for dropped objects.
• gets upset when I take something away or when I walk out of the room
• can wave the queen wave
• LOVES to sit at the piano and bang on the keys
• is super hard at church now that he gets around
• loves to read books
• is pretty much always standing up in his bed when I go in to get him
• loves to eat crackers and those little freeze dried star shaped things
• is getting really hard to take a picture of since he keeps crawling away......
• really is such a sweet heart!

• seen here with his three boy cousins all born within 6 months of each other

I found this

laying outside Alden's door yesterday when his friend Sam was over to play.
Can you figure out what he means??


No girls. No 3 year old's, no 1 year old's and no moms (check out the belly on me in that top picture..... seems I need to lose a little weight..... (Lucy drew the x on the 5 to get back at him.... )
No, its' Not the nicest, but quite creative on this part!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do love getting into the Canadian Scrapbooker. It's a great magazine and I've been excited every time it's happened! You should check out all the Canadian Talent in it!

oh and Adrienne, you've won the magazine (which works well since I have some girlie scrapbooking stuff I've been meaning to mail you since you had your little one) so I'll pop them all the in mail together. BUT email me your address again just to make sure at steedr(at)gmail(dot)com

Lots of comments on that one... I should offer to give stuff away more often!
There will be more stuff to give away soon. Including a photo session!
And perhaps something sewn or made....
:)

Scrappy Share

The new Spring issue of Canadian Scrapbooker is out now.
(I got mine in the mail today.)
















I've got two different pages in it.
This one from a past Scraptivity kit.


And this one.


Which I made download-able tags for the magazine... but they didn't put them up anyway for people to access.... so if you are interested here they are.... a photo frame and three pages of tags for journaling.




(if you click on them they'll take you to flickr and then you can click to see the large size the click on download large size - it's at the top left of the page.)

I'd LOVE to see anything you create with them.... so link me up if you do!

Along the same line.... I have one in the upcoming Summer issue and it's a page about Regan.... and he's not THAT excited that a page about him will be in a magazine. :) It kind of reminds me of when we were first married I was working at a newspaper and I had to make all this advertising for a wedding show. And I happened to have a picture of a handsome groom on my desk at work and I totally used him in all the ads..... and didn't tell him til it was done. A few people noticed him in the big posters and made comments about him modeling.... :) hahahaha. The things he puts up with cause he loves me. :)

AND since I have two copies of the Spring issue I'd love to give it away.
Just leave a comment if you want to be in the draw for the magazine. :)

These three

One, on Saturday night wile the babysitter was putting Lucy to bed, went into his room put on his pjs, shut the door, off the light and put himself to bed. He is in school, learning about his letters and learning sight words. He has a growing testimony of Heavenly Father and of Jesus Christ. He is in love with Lego.

One is still wearing pull ups every day. She will go pee if she wears underwear but not poo - so we get to clean up a mess once or twice a day. But once you put her in pull ups she won't use the toilet at all. She loves my little ponies and littlest pet shop. She loves to tell you how it is.

One has just learned to crawl and is already cruising around the furniture. He stands up in his crib and cries or just makes noise. He is seriously grabby already and finding all kinds of bits of Lego and mini ponies that are just the perfect size for eating.

These three fill my days and my nights with all kinds of things. But especially love.

we've been busy.....

spending time together.


enjoying the mountains in Banff







celebrated birthdays
including grandma's (who turned 86)

spending time with cousins and aunts and uncles on both sides of the family

Someone is crawling now and since he's crawling apparently thinks that he can climb on stuff too...


visited with grandma & grandpa davis


and grandma & grandpa steed

enjoying just having regan around.

It was a great vacation and now he is on to Surgery.
Which is supposed to be bad for not being home.
But we'll see how it goes. :)

I've got quite a few ideas for upcoming blog ideas. Even some give away's on both my photo blog AND my regular blog. so stay tuned!

AWOL

We're off enjoying Regan's time off together.
We'll be back next week.

In the Craft Room: Valentine's Day Kids Craft #2

We got this idea from our friends the Pillings.

We have this out for a while leading up Valentine's Day and the family rights (or draws) little love notes to each other. Then we will read them all together on Valentine's Day.
It's a refurbished cheerio box. But anything will do. :)
Lucy helped me make this. (That could be why the polka dot paper is actually crocked.... but oh well. :)

In the Craft Room: Valentine's Day Kids Craft #1

And easy peasy one.
Using red pipe cleaners to make a heart garland.
You form a circle with them, squish it in half and the push down the top and a heart appears. :) Then link them together with little pieces of another pipe cleaner you cut up. Clear as mud?
I must confess two things.
1. it would look way cuter on a fireplace. But we don't have one of those. So the window it is!
2. My kids made about 4 hearts and then starting making all kinds of other shapes. Like lasso's and other such things. And Eli was trying to eat them... so I may have finished it myself.

I didn't get to the tradition one last night.
Regan had other ideas for FHE so we did that instead. (On goals)

And isn't this boy just the cutest?

In the Craft Room: Valentine's Day and Scrapbooking

1. I wanted to say that I fixed my rss feed thing. I have had a few people tell me that can't get it to work for this blog or my photo blog. BUT I fixed it. After much struggling with it, I just redid the whole thing. Which I should have done to begin with, But whatever. It's working. So NOW you can subscribe and know when I post. I mean since I am such a strong part of your life. I know. It's okay.

2. Valentine's Day is coming up. And it's actually one of my very favorite holidays. Not because I get stuff. But Regan is always so kind to me. So that is just an extra bonus. It comes from when I was a kid. My dad is not one of those gushy men. In fact my little sister and I often wrapped his presents and on occasion even picked them out and bought them for my mom from him. He's not one to announce his affection or shower you with gifts. And that's okay. That's just how he is.
Except for Valentine's day for Kelly and me. His little girls. I remember the first year I realized that my dad had actually bought me the little box of chocolates and miracle of all miracles, wrote in it himself. It was this great special day. And each year my dad would get little teddy bears or a mug filled with chocolate kisses. And get them just for Kelly and me. His two girls. I can not express how much it always meant to me. And still means to me.

It made me think that Valentine's Day is for kids. (Not that I don't thoroughly enjoy realizing when I was married to Regan that it's for the momma too!) Regan has indulged me and now carries on this tradition by getting something special for Lucy each year. (But I did qualify it when I have explained it to him that he is allowed to get me something too...)

I get in the V-Day mood. We always decorate hearts with the kids. It's a tradition around here. This year I am implementing a new idea that I saw a few years ago at our good friends, the Pilling's home. Tonight at FHE. I'll take a picture and show you tomorrow.

And each day we are going to do a V-Day kid friendly cheap lovely dovey craft. Which I'll post each day for you too. It'll be a regular love fest.

3. I've been posting my favorite photos I've take over 2008 on my photo blog here. Right now it's babies and kiddos. Next up families.

4.. And since it's been a few days since the last scrapbooking share... here are some pages.
These two are from the new Feb 09 S! kit.



And lots using paper my lovely friend Mary send me when Eli was born. I've used every last scrap of it. And some of them are using more photos my other lovely friend Heather took for me.




And one using paper that my OTHER lovely friend (and Heather's mom) Crystal sent me.

Carseats and Superpowers

A: "Hey mom, did you know I have sweet skills?"
M: "No, I didn't"
A: "well I do, sweet feet and arm skills."


Questions you asked yesterday....

And for the car seats.
Lucy's three tickets
1. Shoulder straps were not tight enough - he could fit in three fingers
2. the seat belt holding in her car seat wasn't tight enough (you are supposed to kneel on the seat and then buckle it in - he did it to show me....)
3. the top anchor wasn't hooked into the seat
Alden's
1. He had slipped the car seat from off his shoulder (I am always telling him not to do that.... but he does anyways)
Eli's:
1. Shoulder straps were not tight enough - he could fit in two and a half fingers
2. the seat belt holding in his car seat wasn't tight enough

You are only supposed to be able to fit in two fingers, not three and certainly not two and a half.....

Regan is applying in BC and Saskatchewan and Alberta. Mostly rural places but some urban too. Our first choice is Rural Alberta South based out of Lethbridge. But we'll see what happens. He is off to Vancouver tomorrow night for the BC ones.

And then we get to have some time with him for 10 days.
Which we are badly in need of.