Green Works Laundry Detergent Report

It's been a few weeks since I received the laundry detergent and cleaners from Chlorox and Matchstick. Therefore it's time for me to report on the product. I have to say that I was actually pleasantly surprised with this product. In past experience, I have not been very impressed with the "green" cleaners that I have tried. This is a product that I think I will actually buy once my free bottle is gone. I guess the advertising worked on me.

Here's my thoughts on the laundry detergent...
-You don't need a lot of the detergent, a little goes a long way
-Great fresh scent without being overpowering. Even David loves the mild yet fresh scent on his clothes (and he's pretty picky when it comes to these kinds of things)
-Great cleaning power. So far I've only had two VERY poopy sleepers that I had to rewash with stain remover, not bad. I don't know what laundry detergent can get that nasty stuff out. Everything else has come out clean!

Last Cuddles with Oma...at least for now

My beautiful mom with two of her darling grandchildren.

For the longest time my mom would ask us kids when she could expect grandchildren and we would always say not for a long time; however once we all started they would most likely just keep coming. Well, within 18 months she got three grandchildren and has one more on the way. We're excited that Andy and Sharalee are expecting their second child sometime in the spring (April/ May ish).

I love the above photo, such a natural precious moment. Amazingly, we seem to be getting these sweet cuddles each morning and evening. At the end of the day there seems to be nothing better than cuddling on the couch with the little ones. The other evening, after a not so fun car ride to the airport, the four of us cuddled on the couch and watched the Polar Express. I'm trying to fully take in and enjoy each sweet moment, as I know these moments are fleeting.

Baby Calvin seems to be growing and changing with each passing day. I am continually amazed how much I see my brother Andy in him. With Sarah I could easily see David, however this is not the case with Calvin. My mom was also surprised how much she saw my brothers in him.

Cuddles with Calvin. I think my mom looks amazing on this photo; we sure did have a wonderful time with her! She's already missed...

Each day Calvin seems to be awake longer and is becoming much more alert. He continues to be very content. We're still waiting for longer sleep stretches, so far we've had one 4 hour stretch. However, he does sleep well in his bed and when he does wake I feed him and he easily goes right back to sleep, so it's not that bad. We're also still being blessed with Sarah having two naps a day. Amazingly, both kids seem to be sleeping at the same times, so I'm able to have naps, keep the house tidy and get some work done on the computer. We're feeling pretty blessed.

Michael and Rebecca are staying with us for the weekend; we're looking forward to spending lots of time with them.

Fun with Family at the Falls

On Sunday afternoon we all headed out to the falls, as Michael has never been. We had a good time just walking around, checking out the sites and spending time together.

Sarah enjoyed walking in the leaves with auntie Rebecca

Sarah and my mom. We've been loving having my mom around and I know she's been having a pretty good time with the kids (us too).

After our falls outing we went to Tony Romas for all you can eat ribs. Eating at a restaurant with Sarah is not the easiest and more enjoyable experience, thank goodness for the extra help.

The newlyweds
Our growing family, our first meal at a restaurant with Calvin

If...

If Michael was really overweight...

If I was a midget...

If my mom was a midget...

If Rebecca was really short or if she stood beside a really tall person...

Trick or Treat

Our Halloween Card, The Princess and the Pea

Our little bear Calvin

Checking out the Halloween decorations next door

Trick or Treat!

Sorting out the goods, not bad for 6 houses (we just went to the neighbours that we knew)

She got a special little Panda bear from our next door neighbour Angela

Showing Oma her treats

Hope you had a great Halloween!

I was surprised how much fun we had, Sarah loved the experience!

Precious Baby Boy

When Sarah goes to sleep, mommy and the camera come out to play! I thought I would post a few photos of our darling baby boy. We are so in love with this little guy already. Things are going well as we adjust to life with two kids; it's amazing how much busier everything is! Wow, one simple trip to the grocery store or mall seems to be such a big deal. We're so thankful that Calvin is such a content little baby. As with most babies, all he seems to do is eat, sleep and poop; we're getting used to the differences in changing a boy's diaper. Yesterday Calvin went through 5 sleepers, at least a couple of those were due to our lack of preparation...ha ha.


Is he not just too cute?!? It's funny how originally David and I thought Calvin looked a lot like Sarah, but with each passing day, look and photo we agree that he actually looks quite different and not as Asian as we thought he would. Once again, David is surprised how genetics seem to be working out in our family, they are definitely "mixed" kids.

We have been feeling the love of others through food the last couple of days. Our church life group has been amazing in coordinating meals for us. Wow, each dinner time seems like a Christmas surprise! Even Sarah has been loving the awesome variety and foody goodness! Yesterday we had two meals plus a variety of baked goods, apple crisps, etc. Since I am also part of a women's Bible study group through a different local church we seem to be getting double blessed! We're told that the meals will keep coming throughout the week, awesome! Even though we are so far away from the majority of our family and friends we continue to feel the kindness and generosity of others in incredible ways. God is so faithful to show his goodness.

We have also been blessed with a couple of sets of hand me down boy clothes to use. All of the couples in our life group have boys so there seems to be an abundance of boys clothes. My cousin Kristy also dropped off a couple of bags of Kaleb's baby clothes that we are able to use. So amazing!

It's a Boy!

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of Calvin Peter Saysomsack!

Calvin was born Thursday, October 22 at 9:24 am. Weighing 8 lbs 0 oz, and measuring 19.5 inches long. Here we are 4 hours after Calvin was born. Both him and I are doing great and glad to be home.

I've posted more photos on facebook if you're on there, if not, many more will make their way onto our blog in the days ahead. Thank you all for your best wishes, prayers and congratulations!

A Sunday Afternoon in Fall

Yesterday afternoon we headed out the pumpkin patch and then for a nice drive along the Niagara Parkway (along the falls). We plan to do this while my mom is out, but wanted to make sure it would happen, just in case baby comes at around that time. The above photo was taken at the same place we took Sarah's photo last year. Wow, what a difference a year makes! She certainly wasn't able to sit for long this year.

A very curious little girl, having to check everything out.

Me and my little pumpkin...not so little anymore.

Taking a stroll. Some people told me I looked 6m pregnant, yahoo, all baby belly. Yesterday was my first due date. Today I have a doctor's appointment so we'll he what he says. I don't feel like labour is anytime soon, but you never know.

I love how Sarah likes to hold our hand/ fingers when we are in public places (at least most of the time).

Having fun playing with daddy!

After our stop at the pumpkin patch we drove by the falls and noticed this beautiful rainbow over the water.

Sarah looking out over the gorge on the Niagara parkway.

The fall colours aren't quite at the peak of beauty yet, perhaps they'll hold off a little longer until mom, Michael and Rebecca come to visit...less than two weeks now!

Free Green Works Laundry Detergent

Yahoo for free goodies! This morning the Fedex man came to drop off this great assortment of free goodies from the lovely people at Matchstick. Remember that post I wrote a little while back about being one of 50 people "Influencers" in Canada to be selected? Well here are the goods! I got one 30 load bottle of Green Works laundry detergent, one bottle of all purpose cleaner, a tote, delicates bag, 30 full load samples and 30 full value coupons for Green Works laundry detergent to hand out. Not too bad!

I look forward to trying out the goods and letting you know what I think of the stuff in the days ahead. It will also be fun to hand out all the free coupons. With baby on the way, lots of free detergent sounds like a great gift, not to mention the perfect time to try a new product. We'll see how good this stuff really works.

I love little things like this that brighten my day. Still no baby. David thinks I need to be posting daily so that people know what's going on/ or not going on. We'll see what kind of posts I can come up with.

Huge Book Sale...fun, fun!

This afternoon we went to the Book Depot's fill a box sale, which happens four time a year. There is a huge warehouse full of every different kind of book and you can fill a box for $30.00. All of the books are new, some have an imperfection, mark, etc. David and I had both been looking forward to the sale for quite some time, so we were pretty excited. It was a little overwelming due to the sheer quantity of books and how they were just stacked on tables; but it was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Sarah happily sat in the cart looking at books and playing the musical books over and over again. I thought it was pretty cute how she set up the books so that she could look at several at once. Once we got home we realized there were several kids books in our box that we didn't put there. Sarah would often pick up a book and throw it in the box, so we know where those came from.

While we were browsing around I couldn't help but think of our "reader" friends and wished they could have joined us. Rachel, Dan, Matt, Libby, mom, you would have loved this sale!

I was excited to get three different slow cooker cook books, something that I've wanted to get for quite some time. They worked out to about 75 cents each so I was pretty thrilled. I love using the crock pot. And with fall here and baby on the way, I look forward to putting my crock pot to very good use in the months ahead.

Thanksgiving at Balls Falls

Yesterday we went to Balls Falls in Jordan (about 15 min away). Every Thanksgiving there is a large festival/ craft show at the conservation centre. There were lots of vendors selling handicrafts, art, ceramics, etc. It was nice to have something different to do for the afternoon.

The Main area is kind of like Burnaby Village and/ or Fort Langley. There's an old chuch, mill, homstead, etc.

Sarah loves giving kisses, and we love receiving them! She's just too cute.

Always so happy! We have so... much to be thankful for! We feel so blessed to have Sarah and can hardly imagine having another in just a couple of weeks.

Looking out at the waterfall

The leaves are just starting to get really pretty here. In about a week or so the trees should be at their most beautiful fall look. We're looking forward to going for a couple of drives to enjoy the scenery.

Little monkey girl