Family day again

December 26th was our family Christmas today, we were missing two families though. But we had a great day! Here are a few photos from the day. Had a nice talk with gwanire too, thank to FaceTime for free!

Now that I can blog so easily I might just do this more often. :)

Christmas 2012

A morning and afternoon spent with my mom and dad. It was a very nice quiet day, relaxed which is exactly what we needed!

Was fantastic to eat great breakfast, and even open gifts from across the sea!

Missed our other side of the family so much today though :(

Vinj bought me and iPad!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh! And I am typing on it at the moment, using a blogger app, which is just awesome!

Photo Post from February

We have had a mostly good month of February. Here are some of the photos from our time here in Wetaskiwin this week. We have had a few comments about posting things that have been going well for us, lots of blessings, and people caring for us. We just want to make it clear this has NEVRE been to brag or flaunt our lives.... pretty opposite actually, it's to shout out our praise to a Loving God, and a GREAT community of people around us that CARE for us, even down to very small details. Despite a very tite budget while vinj studies, we are coming out ok every month, nothing due to our genius... but rather to peoples love for each other. Below are a few of seth and taliahs new friends, they love these girls. And Seth has already asked if he is going to be marrying Naomi :)

Naomi and Grace, two of the kids great friends. Doing crafts as usual. 

The Phil and Teds Lobster high chair. I did not want one of the HUGE plastic high chairs that take up so much room, so I found this online and bought it for chawezi. It fits a two year old too actually, and fold down to very small to take around with you. Really am loving this. 

Our cutie Pie!

Taliah practicing with her scissors. 

This was Family Day, a provicial holiday in Alberta, a day to take time to be with your family. We took the kids swimming, vinj stayed out with chawezi, he says swimming if for when it's really hot outside, not when its freezing :) 

One of those mornings Taliah comes into our room straight from bed. 

Taliah was cold! :) This was the day we got 2 feet of snow.  And were out shoveling our walk, and the churches walk. 

Cold and snowy!

Seth was a trooper! HE shoveled the walk with vinj the whole time, such a good boy!

We are at Parent Link here, love our play group here, Monday nights and Wednesday mornings. 

Parent Link is a great place, funded by the government and local businesses, a play you go for FREE to meet other parents and let your kids PLAY. We go for 3 hours at a time. I'ts great to meet other moms from all walks of life, and have hear alot of great stories already. Lots of dads go monday evening with their kids, so vinj is going to start going MOndays... I think he is really going to enjoy that as well.

Play Group 

Play group 

Play group

Play group 

This is chawezi bed, we had to leave our play pen in Zambia, so had no bed for chawezi, he has been sleeping in the swing. AND we got this for an awesome deal, $80! 

This is an awesome product that works wonders on Taliah and Seths hair, so happy to have found something, it's an oil and works great. If you have curly hair check it out! 

Here is our "under the sea" picture!

We do crafts like I said most days, and here is two days of it, we made different animal habitats, with LOTS of help from Elizabeth. I had fun too : )

Here is our "Africa" Picture, I especially like the crocodile trying to get the bird. 

New decoration, less than $10 for everything. 

Vinj and I Found these mugs which are truly NO SPILL. finally something SAFE for having around kids, AND we SAVE on coffee because it keeps the drinks warm for 4 to 5 hours.

I am not a huge make up girl, but I do like it. I have had this brown stuff for years... same with the lipstick. Taliah has now figured it out, and sneaks into our bathroom and gets into the makeup :S So here is my stuff mostly gone from falling on the floor, and the lip stick is.... um... well you can see : ) 

HELLO! haha

These past 10 days have been kinda crazy in different ways. I went back and saw every single night we have had people over... people people people! We LOVE EM! One of my Favorite moments of the week was JOSH, one of our awesome young friends came over SUPER excited to show us his first car. a TOYOTA YARIS, he has worked HARD, and saved with amazing discipline for this car, and we are so proud of him, he took me around the church parking lot doing donuts : ) 

Today

Me and my girl, just after bath, and before bed. 

Seth doesn't smile for pictures anymore, it's the stick your tongue out thing now..... 

 Vinjelu and I had a really awesome date last night. Our favorite dates are at home....Vinj helped Andrew and Candice with some moving, and said I should have the kids in bed when he came home. So I dressed "up" , make-up hair and everything : ) I even painted my nails. And I put the kids to bed... BUT they could not get to sleep, so I finally let them get up again and run until vinj got home at 9... I lit candles all along the ledge in the basement, baked brownies, and vinj brought that yummy grape juice fermented stuff  (heehee), it was good. We watched a movie and hung out, it was nice. And still got to bed by midnight, so not too bad! And it cost us about $12.00 in all!


I got the kids up this morning with the goal of having them fed and out the door by 10am to go to parent Link center, where it is free play from 9am-2pm. We got out the door at 11am instead :) It is a good work out pushing the stroller and carrying a 17 pound baby on me for a 30 minute walk there and a 30 minute walk back. So it's good all around. It was really nice sitting and chatting with moms and having all the great toys around for the kids to play, and the best part is it's FREE... Love that.

I found this on Pintrest... I want to do a family photo like this, as soon as we can get organized for it. I like it.

On Monday night I went out for coffee with my friend Angie, WITHOUT chawezi, first time going out without him for more then an hour, and it was really great! THANX vinj! : )

I have been watching a show I happened upon called "Drop Dead Diva", for the most part a decent show that encourages human and equal rights... and descent like I said. So has been nice to watch a few episodes here and there.

Sorry nothing to fabulous for today... I am reading a book called "Crazy Love"

And am missing my Zambian friends like crazy.....

I have been changing what I eat (like alot of women, I want to loose some of my fluff...) And to my surprise a plate full of veggies wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I enjoyed them, it might not be as hard as I thought to stick to it. And peppers are SO YUMMY! One thing I do not want to give up is .... da da da....
 COFFEE
not.going.to.happen.
At least not now... maybe when I am not sleep deprived anymore, and thats going to be in... hmmm... 3 years maybe, so we can come back to that later.

Love to all my readers, you da best! 

A day in the life of a stay at home mom!

I will one of these days make a YouTube video of this. But no time for now.

Ok so here is a day in our lives right now...

it starts at 4am or so when Chawezi most likely will wake up and cry, and I will eventually go get him form his room and feed him. Then I was try and get back to sleep for a few more hours.

Alarm goes off at 7am... this is for vinj, and he doesn't have a choice weather he should get up or not, he has too. But then there's me, the stay at home mom... it goes off - and my mind floods with options...
1. Get up, work out, have a fresh coffee while reading a good book, listen to MY MUSIC in peace, SHOWER, all before the kids wake up.....  OR.... sleep... The first options are SO MUCH BETTER for me... and it's amazing what a difference an hour makes in ones morning. See I have the advantage of my kids sleeping in until 9am, or sometimes longer!  And when I choose sleep, I always regret it, because having alone time in the morning is (lets face it) AMAZING! So I start my day with one of those options, almost never eating in the morning (not a good habit) I just drink my coffee....

Around 9-9:30 kids wake up. Depending on how stricked I feel, they eat breakfast. Eating some days is a battle in this home... seriously, it involves tears, time outs, more tears, gagging.... all to get one egg in each of their tummies! And then other days it's a breeze and they both just eat... so it's touch and go and I am THANKFUL for the good days! From 10-11:30 we do "School" ... I have lots of preschool work books and crafts, so we do work pages, cutting, pasting, tracing, folding, colouring, and we have story time where I read at least 5 books to the kids. (I am one of those moms that already worries about how soon my kids will read and if they will really "get it", lame I know... but take me as I am) So the main way I have been reading kids get the first skills for reading is by being read to. So thats my amazing strategy :) heehee.  even though our days don't always go the same, we almost always do the hour and a half of creative time. the kids love it, and it's so good for them. AND if I am lucky, Chawezi will be down for his morning nap at this time. If not he sits in his car seat on the table while we craft away.

At this point the kids have asked if they can watch "Word World" (I HIGHLY recommend this show, it has a few seasons, and is SO creative, it's a spelling show with animals, and their stories.. very cute, and education, which all parents love) Or the usual DORA or DIEGO ... So until lunch they are allowed to go down and watch one of the approved shows. At this point I usually check kijiji if we have an add up, skim a few blogs, and facebook, then it's lunch time, I will normally clean something at this time too, and it ends up being sweep the floor, wash floor, put laundry in... etc. I am trying to do cheap but healthy lunches... it's actually not that easy when you are feeding kids that eat like mice.... and want chicken strips all the time. So I have started making SOUP, veggies mix together basically, and they like it. So that is a WIN, and a good suggestion from my sister Lana, who got the idea from a friend Vanessa- who we all know is an expert at saving money, (I mean the women knows how much it costs her to have a bath... seriously!)

After lunch (which can be an ordeal just like breakfast.....) I am being more stricted about eating though because seth for some reason has lost 3 kgs in the last 3 months? Plus we all know kids, right after not eacting their lunch they are asking for snacks 10 minutes later right! I start to asses Taliah.... is she tired enough for a nap.... and then the thoughts come into the mind... i taliah goes down (and hopefully chawezi too) it would be so quiet and I could get more cleaning done in peace, BUT if she goes down will she go to bed and fall asleep tonight.... big debate right! :) So lately she has been napping maybe 3 times a week. She is growing out of it. But since she doesn't always nap, this turns into about 4 to 5 "time outs" in the afternoon, from fighting with seth...

Vinj is either in a meeting, or studying most of this time...

Lately friends have been stopping by in the afternoon, which is great! But also usually means I don't make supper on time, and vinj complains : ) (not really.. but kind of) I gotta get better at the whole supper thing. Not to inspiring when no one in the house is big on eating.

the evening depends on the day, some times it's music practice and we all go over to the church, or it's small group and everyone comes to our house, or we just laze around, some times it's a spontanious dace party in the living room (especially after the kids bath and the are running around naked) or it's a family movie night.

Kids bed time every day is.....
Bath
Pajamas
Bed
Stories
Prayer
Sippy cups
and good night. they go to bed really well. We dont usually hear form them again, unless they have to go pee :)

The vinj goes and studies and I sometimes sit and wish I was studying, I do kinda what i feel like then, of corse I have chawezi totally awake at this time, so I play with him, watch something on netflicks, read, clean, bake, resently I have been listening to sermons on youtube alot, I don't know why but I don't go to bed, I don't like to without vinj, so most nights have been going to bed around 1am or 2 am.

And then the day starts again, and the whole debate when the alarm goes off the next morning... day in and day out.

Now that it is getting a little warmer out, we are going to start going for walks in the afternoon. And I look forward to getting the kids outside! And my self too!

30 day shred- I AM SORE!

So, yesterday I started the 30 Day shred by Jillian Michaels. In my opinion she has been a super jerk to people, but has also helped alot of people too. AND she created a 30 minute work out, which works so much better for moms! Anyway, I woke up SO SORE I didn't think the work out was too hard, but my body hurts pretty bad! I was like how am I going to do it again today! But I did, and yes I am sore still! So anyone know when it stops hurting : ) haha. Also anytime we are out for food away from home (where there are healthy choices) I am just getting a regular salad... I am NOT a salad person, but surprisingly, I LIKE IT : ) while I watch vinj down a big bacon swiss burger.... oh well. I feel like this year is the year I get in the shape I have "wanted" to for a while. I will post a picture if I find any difference at the end of the 30 day shred.

Me and chawezi after the 30 day shred

Also, I love being in a city! We got three visitors yesterday just pretty much out of the blue. It's nice to be loved. (Josh we love it when you stop by!)

Random thought, I miss Toby, Vinjelus brother! Funny story just for Toby, Seth and Taliah were looking at a photo of you we have from our namibia holiday, Taliah said "uncle toby!" seth said "no thats daddy!  Uncle toby has a black small truck car, with a tire on the back!" (since you were standing by a blue car, I guess it made you vinjelu)  Anyway Taliah was insistent it was you, and Seth insisted you didn't have hair like that and you don't drive a blue car : )

Unbelievable provision.... and what's with the red necks geez!

I have a list seriously 20 things long of people blessing us with different things, and our needs being met just in the nick of time... it is amazing, and strikes me every time.

If you have been reading my blog you will know my kids have been very sick for 10 days now. I mentioned to my mom when we went out for a tylenol run AGAIN, coming out costing $57 for infant and toddler medication... plus the puffers, and antibiotics... I told mom it has come to around $200 for all this medication! An expense we were not expecting, but took on as best we could. On Sunday a couple handed vinj an envelope, inside it said, God had spoken to them about giving us $200 to help with the inevitable cost of medication during sickness. I was so shocked, how could God be thinking about us to that extent, not all that, but we got the same amount we spent almost to the penny. Monday morning we got our government of alberta child health cards, so we are now covered for all those expenses, and God covered our butts before that : )

Also during our sickness we had three meals provided for us, which was a huge blessing, we used them each for two meals last week. Now for the weather to get a little less nippy so I can walk over and give all those dishes back.

Another majour development in our lives in a NEW VEHICLE! We have owned 5 vehicles in our marriage.

 1. 1985 Mustang, rode awaesome, cost way too much in repares.
2. 1992 toyota Corolla, AWESOME car, sold it for $800! Made money on it!
3. Ford Windstar, first car ever given to us for FREE! Was an awesome ride   for a year.Untill we left for Zambia.
4. 1994 Toyota Ipsum, GREAT car we have in Zamibia, sold it for $4000 when we left. Which made it possibl for us to buy our next car.
5. 2003, Saturn VUE, I LOVE this car, but it is too small for our family now, and especially- if and when we have another little one we would absolutely not fit. It is for sale right now.

And for our newsest addition. A Honda Pilot, 8 seater SUV, 2WD. It is the base model, but is enough luxery for us! Now here is another crazy God story.... vinj was talking to a friend about us selling our car and looking for something with more seats. And since they had more then three kids he was asking his advice about a car. He was asking vinj how we were going to finances it and things, we said we would only be buying something for how ever much we get for our car. 

He encouraged vinj to get something with warranty, in his experience older, second hand, can crap out on you and cause alot more expense. ANWAY... long story short he called vinj and told him he and his wife wanted to be the bank for us, they would buy the car outright for us and we would just own them, with NO INTEREST. (ok so really, who does that! Family dosn't even do that!) we were very shocked and it took us a little while to think it over. They told us they really wanted to do it for us, now this is a family with kids of their own already.... We took their offer and started looking for a reliable car that will last us with all the kilometers we put on our vehicles. 

We ended up really loving the Honda Pilot. Our pastor has one and so we have had opportunity to sit in it, and look inside with the space and things. It is an eight seater (which means, I can in theory have three more kids : ) heehee, we will see how many kids I can get out of vinj, who seems a little more reluctant for the big family we both wanted to start with :) 

Now this is where RED NECKS come in, forgive me brothers.... BUT seriously. We got so much flack for buying our car from.... WAIT FOR IT... ANOTHER PROVINCE!!!! oooooooo scarey! 

I mean it's not like we were ordering it from Japan to be shipped to vancouver! We could have done that too! We found a GREAT deal in vancouver, where we would save thousands buying from there. So vinj and our friend flew out there tuesday morning, bought the car, and started driving home, they will be home this afternoon. We got a car, and vinj and his buddy got a little adventure out of it too :) 

Yes we accounted for the gas it would take to come back

Yes we know we need an out of province inspection

Yes we checked out if the warranty works out here at alberta Honda dealerships

Yes we added up all the expenses and car cost against a pilot here. 

Thanx dad for all your advice and looking beyond alberta. 

ANYWAY, just waiting for vinj to come with the addition to our family. 

Also for all you pintrest addics, I checked it out since I had time with no husband home, it's pretty cool for sure! Have found some great ideas. I LOVE how people are started to get back into HOME MADE STUFF! It is awesome. Could be the death of wal-mart type stores : ) haha.