Halloween - trick or treating

Will and Maddy loved trick or treating kept saying can we go to another house. I was pleased they remembered to say thank you.

Ready to go trick or treating

Maddy's haul

Will's haul - one happy ninja turtle

This is what Abigail got to eat:

And here is what she thought of trick or treating:

Happy Halloween!

Halloween part 1

A ninja turtle (Donatello), Hello Kitty, and a leopard.

And a skeleton.

Fun with friends:

A spooky lunch

Worm juice.

Spiders (Mac and cheese baked in muffin tin then put on plate with cucumber legs) and mummy dogs (hot dogs with crescent rolls wrapped around them).

Carving Pumpkins

Each pumpkin is a person:

Abigail, Madelyn, Daddy, William, Grandma, Mommy.

Meal Plan Oct 26-Nov 2

I found the meal plan last week a huge time saver and help. I was not scrambling around trying to figure out what to make for any meals. So here goes week 2:

Sunday:

Lunch - waffles and breakfast sausage

Supper - homemade pizza

Monday:

Lunch - chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese

Supper - leftover pizza

Tuesday:

Lunch- chicken nuggets and smiley fries

Supper - chili and buns (hopefully homemade if I get them made on this day)

Wednesday:

Lunch - leftover chili

Supper - hamburger helper

Thursday

Lunch: Mummy dogs and brains (coloured spagetti)

Supper: chicken breast and leftover brains

Friday:

Lunch - leftovers from week

Supper - roast and mashed potatoes

Saturday:

Lunch: hot beef sandwiches and fries

Supper: tacos

Eat It

I am going to eat it.....

White Stuff

I wish I could have had the same sense of excitement when it was snowing today. Comments from the kids included:

- but it's not even Halloween how can it snow.

- that's a lot of snow that means Christmas is coming soon.

- can we have a snow ball fight?

- where is my shovel so I can shovel snow.

I am sure this snow will melt but the kids sure did enjoy playing in it this am. Probably because it was not too cold and the snow is not too deep so they can still get around easy and it sticks together good ideal for playing!

Bambi

Taking a kid skating for the first time is kind of like Bambi walking on ice.

Madelyn was able to stand on the ice solo and took a few steps unassisted but she was mostly like Bambi on ice relying on Mom to hold her up. There were no tears though and she says she wants to go back so that is good.  Mom may have some sore muscles tomorrow though.

Meal Planning

I am going to try a couple weeks of meal plannig to see if it simplifies my life. Basically I am tired of trying to figure out what to eat every night. So here we go:

Sunday: 

   Lunch - homemade mushroom soup and grilled cheese

    Supper - pork chops and pasta

Monday

    Lunch- leftovers from weekend

    Supper - s&s meatballs with leftover rice and pasta

Tuesday

    Lunch - ham sandwiches

    Supper - pick something up on way home from gymnastics

Wednesday 

   Lunch - pancakes and sausage

   Supper - fish and chips

Thursday 

    Lunch- eggs and toast, leftover sausage

    Supper - lasagna 

Friday

    Lunch - sandwiches and pork and beans

    Supper - minute steak and rice

Saturday

    Lunch - leftovers from week

    Supper - burgers 

Now to see if I am able to follow this and if it actually simplifies my life.....

Nap types

Let's visit the different nap types. A third child definitely has to learn to be flexible with their nap styles. 

1. Car nap- typically short in length on the way to or from an event/errand although may be lengthy in the event of a road trip. Typically disrupted by the vehicle stopping or older siblings making noise or poking baby.  Best achieved at speeds above 60km/hr, so yes if you are hoping for this nap take Ring Road. On rare occasion will continue upon stopping and removing bucket from the car.

2. Carrier nap- typically short in length and utilized when everyone needs to get outside as the big kids are bouncing off the walls and need to burn energy. Most often utilized in the evening as a tool to get just enough of a nap in to get baby through to bed time. 

3. Crib nap- attempted daily after lunch. The only "scheduled" nap. 

4. Boob nap- is when baby falls asleep nursing but everytime you try to move wakes up. So you allow baby to continue nursing while they sleep. Often utilized in the evening to get baby through to bed time, or anytime baby is exceptionally grumpy.

5. Carry me nap- when all other tactics fail and someone walks around carrying baby until baby finally crashes, usually in the most awkward position for the person holding baby. As soon as you try to switch the way you are holding baby or sit down she will wake up.

6. Stroller nap- utilized on walks or at the mall. Typically short in nature because once you stop almost a guarantee that baby will wake.

Yes we utilize all nap styles. My personal favourites are crip nap as it allows me to do something productive while baby naps and the carrier nap as we get fresh air and get to "snuggle" baby.

I should add there is another type of nap called the hold me nap. Generally utilized for a first child, occasionally for a second child and rarely for a third child. This is when baby peacefully fall asleep with adult and you settle in for the long haul and hold/ rock baby until they wake. The advantage of this nap is that when baby stirs you simply shhh and bit and pat bum and they typically stay asleep. However, Murphy law is that once you settle in for one of these naps almost guaranteed you will have to pee 10 minutes in and can't truly enjoy the baby snuggles.

Hope you get to enjoy your next nap, where ever it may be!

Thumbs Up

Madelyn has finally mastered thumbs up. She is very proud of herself. Until I had kids I never realized how difficult thumbs up is to master. I think Will was about the same age when he mastered this skill as well. She still has to really think about it when doing thumbs up but she is so happy to have mastered this new skill. Next Will wants to teach her to whistle!

Sauce Buns

On the way out to the farm Madelyn said maybe Grandma will make us sauce buns. Imagine how excited she was when we arrived to warm sauce buns. How long does it take a 4 year old and 2 year old to eat a pan full of sauce buns. I'll give you a hint about as long as it takes Grandma to change a baby's diaper. Yes the two of them are almost the whole pan, I think Grandma, Chris and I each got 2. To say the least neither child was over hungry for supper.

Sugar cookies

One of our favorite cookies to make are sugar cookies. You get to roll, cut, and decorate them!

And a picture of cuteness! 

Skating

Will has been asking to play hockey so we made a deal, skating lessons this year and then once he can skate good, then hockey next year.  I was not sure how skating was going to go today as he kept saying he did not know of he wanted to go, what if he fell etc. etc. we assured Will that he would fall but he just had to get up and try, try again. When we finally got to the rink he was excited. Much to my surprise he stepped onto the ice like he had been skating for years. He made it all the way across the rink all alone. Yes, he fell a few times but got right back up! He did all the activities and was very excited when his lesson was over. He can't wait to go back and skate again. Guess we better start looking for hockey equipment for next year:)

Practicing at home

Ready to go!

Making his way out!

Pumpkin Hollow

Each year we try and make it out to Pumpkin Hollow. We were not sure if we would make it this year. With Chris work travel, trying to make it out to the farms to combine and a few cool days it was no looking hopeful. However it was beautiful today so we made the trip out this morning. We always go first thing in the morning as it tends to get super busy in the afternoon and plus the girls need their naps. We arrived right at 10 when it opened and left about noon and yes it was getting busy!

Since it was so nice we decided to have one last wiener roast of the year!

Complete with glo sticks once it got dark.

A great fall day! Hopefully weather stays nice for a few more weeks!

Fall Leaves

Nothing is better then playing in a big pile of leaves!