Time to Elf Yourself

I love the elf yourself site, and with December just around the corner, it was time for us to suit up! No matter who the elves are, they can always put a smile on my face. This year the site has a choice of four songs and themes, so much fun, how to decide? You can even have five faces (instead of four, as in previous years).

Check out our elf family! Just clink on the link or copy and paste the link below and the wonderful internet should bring you to a barn with dancing Saysomsack elves!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/rM5yVnQrLL7DQ1VBVmtf


Merry Christmas

Thorold Santa Clause Parade

Every town/ city in the Niagara Region seems to have their own Santa Clause Parade, all this weekend. One could easily go to three or four parades if they wanted to. People here really seem to like parades.

Being a small community, Thorold's parade wasn't very exciting. However, I liked how it featured all the schools, small businesses, etc. It really had a community feel to it! To give you an idea of how close the parade was to our house, the picture below was taken from our driveway and the street that we were walking to was the main parade street (just 3 doors from our house).


Eagerly awaiting the parade. Sarah's second parade already.


David had too much fun collecting candy and then throwing it into the street when there was nothing happening. All the kids in the area would eye it up and one or two braves ones would make a run for it before their parents noticed. Then the happy child would shout with joy, "I got a candy, I got a candy." What a bad influence he can be, it was pretty funny though.



This is just to give you an idea of what is in a small town parade. The woman is pushing a stuffed santa that is at a spa getting a pedicure. She owns home business spa. yikes.

Josias is with Jesus

The last couple of days have been hard. Our dear and closest friends, Jon and Laura had their precious little baby. Josias was born stillborn, a couple of weeks before his due date.

Our hearts continue to ache for Jon and Laura. There really are no words at times like this. So we pray and we pray. May God give them a sense of peace, may they see his love in those around them and may you draw them closer together. May we also find peace in knowing that Josias is with Jesus, away from pain and any suffering.

Jon and Laura, you know that we love you both so much.

The Best Thing About Overalls...

Is the Buckles!

Jumping and Singing

Sarah loves jumping! With the colder weather we now keep the door to our entry way closed and now let her jump in the doorway between the kitchen and the livingroom hall. This is great since I am easily able to get a meal made or get the dishes cleaned up. Her cold is pretty much gone now, just a little runny nose.

So happy!

Sarah loves to jump while Keisha is in her dog bed. She purposfully will swing herself around and try to pet the dog.

Sarah couldn't help but sing along to the Christmas music playing in the background.

Flame Resistant Sleepwear?!?

Every couple of weeks I open up the next size bin of Sarah's clothes to see if there's anything new that will fit her. I have been doing my best to ensure that she gets to wear all those cute little garments that she got has gifts. So far I have been doing pretty good. I think that there will just be a few things that will be missed due to the wrong size for the season issue. However, I am layering tank tops over long sleeves, etc as well.


Anyways, as I am looking at sleepers I have often come across "flame resistant" on the tags. What does this really mean? Shouldn't we as parents be more concerned about not exposing our children to fire than choosing flame resistant sleepers, just in case? Or am I just naive since I have not been a parent for very long; is exposure to fire something that happens with babies? I have to admit that I find the whole idea of flame resistant clothing to actually be kind of funny, in a ridiculous kind of way. Sarah also has several sleepers that fit snuggly against the skin, as this is also a way to keep baby safe against flames? What do they think we're going to do, put her next to a fire and see what happens?


So I decided to check out the whole idea on the internet. Where else does one go to have their odd questions answered (I know I have too much times on my hands)? So apparently, all infant sleepwear (up to several years old), is chemically treated to be flame resistant. In 1987 under the Hazardous Products Act a law was passed that all children’s sleepwear must be flame resistant, who knew? So there it is. Our babies are safer from flames but are clothed with chemically treated fabrics.

Father Christmas

Yesterday we went to the mall to do a little shopping. I felt like I just needed to get out of the house and get a little air. We were amazed how Christmasy everything was. There were people singing Christmas songs in the food court, Christmas decorations and music. The Bay had a guy dressed up as Father Chrismas just outside the store. We had our camera with us (of course), and thought it would be great to get a photo of Sarah with him. This was David's idea of a free photo with Santa. Anyways, we were amazed that she didn't cry or play strange at all. Yahoo!

Appetizer Recipes

I love appetizers! Every so often David and I will eat a dinner that just consists of a variety of appetizers. A movie and appetizers, one of my favourite ways to do dinner!

This is the time of year that I make the most appetizers, well it was, before we moved to Ontario. We already missed hosting the Casino Party and now I look ahead to having no Christmas Party. Boo hoo! So I thought I would copy and paste some of my favourite appetizer recipes onto a post. Even if I can't enjoy making them this Christmas, perhaps you can. They're all super easy and can be prepared in advance. I love doing the prep work for a party, and after many years (9 in fact), I think I've pretty much got it to a science so that I can be a part of the party and not just be stuck in the kitchen. I find that homemade dips and appys are so much better than store bought as well. I always keep a can of artichokes, refried beans, diced green chilies, package of frozen spinach, chili powder and taco seasoning in the house. With these ingredients on hand I find that I can always make up an appy if someone drops by or we need to bring something out with us.

If you've been to our "parties" or just over for snacks these will all sound very familiar to you!

Cheese Ball

1 brick of cream cheese, softened
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp chopped green pepper
1 Tbsp chopped onion
11 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Chili powder
1/8 tsp salt

1. Mix all ingredients together and shape into a ball. I find it’s easiest to scoop ingredients onto a large piece of saran wrap, wrap up and then shape into a ball with hands, keeps your hands clean too!
2. Optional: roll in sesame seeds or finely chopped walnuts, wrap up. Refrigerate a minimum of 1-2 hours before serving (I like to make this the day before).
3. Serve with crackers

Pasadena Pinwheels

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese 250 g

2 Tbsp. mayonnaise

1 - 4 oz. can diced green chilies,drained

1 large tomato, seeded & chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. salt

flour tortillas (try using spinach and sundried tomato for Christmas)

Instructions:

1.Blend cream cheese and mayonnaise. Stir in remaining ingredients.
2. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Spread cheese mixture over each tortilla and roll up tightly. Trim ends (I like to eat these)
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.
5. Slice and place pinwheels flat on cookie sheet. Broil until lightly golden.
(The cream cheese mixture is also a tasty dip to serve with taco or corn chips)

Party Meatballs

Ingredients:
3 lbs Ground beef
12 oz can Evaporated Milk
1 cup Quick Oatmeal
1 cup find ground cracker crumbs or bread crumbs
2 Eggs
½ cup minced onion
½ tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Salt
½ tsp Pepper
2 Tbsp Chili Powders

Sauce
1 ½ cups Ketchup
1 cup Brown Sugar
¼ cup BBQ Sauce
½ tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Liquid Hickory Smoke (Optional)

Directions:
1. Mix together first set of ingredients and form into walnut sized meatballs. Place on wax paper lined cookie sheets and freeze. I make these well ahead of time and just pull them out of the freezer when I need them.Put the frozen meatballs into a roaster with lid. Cover with sauce and bake at 350 degree for 1 ½ hours. Add a little water occasionally and gently shake the roaster every ½ hour.

I LOVE Dips! So great with chips, crackers, bread! Sour cream, mayo, etc can all be subsituted for low fat, I find it doesn't really affect the flavour anyways.

Hot Artichoke Dip

1 can artichokes, chopped (not the marinated ones)
1 can chopped green chilies
1 large tomato (seeded and diced)
¾ cup parmesan cheese
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup Mayonnaise

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and pour into a shallow casserole dish or pie plate. Sprinkle extra parmesan cheese on top if desired. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Mexican Layer Dip

Ingredients:
3 Ripe Avocados (or already prepared guacamole)
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
½ Tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper

1 cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
35 g taco seasoning
Can of Refried Beans
1 bunch chopped green onions
3 medium seeded and chopped tomatoes
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
½ cup chopped pitted olives (optional)
1 bag of tortilla chips

Peel, pit and mash avocadoes with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spread refried beans on bottom of a large casserole dish. Top with avocado mixture or prepared guacamole.
In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, mayo and taco seasoning. Spread over avocado mix. Sprinkle with green onions, tomatoes, olives and grated cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.

*I buy taco seasoning in a large container from Costco. It only costs a few dollars and is great to use in dips, taco beef, soups, etc.
*For something different try cream cheese instead of sour cream and mayo

Spinach Dip

1 large Sourdough Round
(1 extra round or a large loaf of French bread for dipping)
1 package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 cup sour cream
1 cup Mayonnaise
½ cup chopped green onions
2 tsp Dill Weed
1 tsp Parsley Flakes
1 tsp Seasoning Salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Lemon Juice

1. Mix all ingredients together, refrigerate
2. Cut top of sourdough round off, cube bread. Cut and cube extra bread, placing in large sealable Ziploc bags. This makes it easy to fill up an almost empty plate when guests are over.
3. Pour spinach dip into bread. Can be served cold or heated in a 350 degree oven until hot and bubbly. If I heat it I like to shred some parmesan or mozzarella cheese over the top as well.
4.

*To make a spinach/ artichoke dip just add a can of chopped artichokes, and a ½ cup parmesan cheese

Happy cooking!

My Little Ponies

Today both Sarah and I are feeling sick. Oh the joys of runny noses, congestion, head pressure, etc. We were going to go out but now it looks like we'll just be relaxing at home together.

Yesterday while I was looking through our stuff to find our winter gear I came across a couple of bags of old toys from my childhood. My Little Ponies! Now these are not like the My Little Ponie of today, these are bigger, rounder looking little ponies. Now the My Little Ponies are slim and tall, I suppose that's how we're supposed to beIt's amazing how one little toy can bring back to many memories. They made me remember about my old friend Kristine C, and how we would often play ponies, Rainbow Bright, Strawberry Shortcake, etc in her basement. Oh, so many good times.

Sarah seemed to quite enjoy playing with the ponies. That's a couple more things for the toy basket!

The First Snow

Yesterday afternoon it started to snow and continued snowing until sometime during the night. It didn't snow a ton, but a good amount anyways. Sarah was feeling much better this morning, so by afternoon we decided it was time to bundle her up and let her experience snow for the first time. By the time we got outside quite a lot had melted already, it actually reminded me a lot of Abbotsford snow. It was quite impressive to see the roads (including side roads) all plowed by 8:30, probably earlier. Everyone had shoveled their driveways and cleared the sidewalks as well.

We had fun playing with our little girl, taking some photos (of course) and enjoying the snow.

Check out those two top teeth!

David was quick to let Sarah have her first taste of snow. She doesn't look impressed on the photo, but she did seem to enjoy it, until I told David that she had enough. After all, snow is pretty cold!



Our token family photo

Today Keisha is 6 years old!

View from our front porch

9 Years!

It’s hard to believe that David and I have been married for 9 years already. The time has gone by so fast, and yet I have so many wonderful memories and feel like we’ve been together for a long time. I always said that we were newlyweds until we had kids, so I suppose this is the first year that I will consider us an “old married couple.”

When we got married people would tell us how love grows and that as much as we loved each other then we could love each other so much more down the road. So true! I am happy to say that we are more in love with each other now than we ever were. It doesn’t mean that every day has been amazing; we’ve had ups and downs too. But our love has remained constant and we continue to cherish one another. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to experience life with someone that I love so dearly.

We were planning on spending the evening in Toronto at the Food and Wine Show. We even had a baby sitter set up for Sarah (thanks anyways Sawatsky family). However, with Sarah not being fully over being sick we decided it would be best to stay home. Which was a good idea, since now I don't feel well either. Oh well, maybe next year. So we're ordering in some pizza, curling up on the couch and watching a movie together.

*I'd post an old wedding photo, but we got married in the non digital age, so that would mean that I have to scan one, just too much work right now.

A Sick little girl

Last night Sarah woke up after only sleeping for about 45 minutes. This is strange since she normally doesn't wake up until between 6:30-7:30am. She didn't sound well so I picked her up, walked out of her room and she threw up. Poor girl! She woke up then at 7:45 and then every 45 minutes until midnight. I fed her a little at midnight and then put her down, and then she didn't wake until 7:30.

This morning she threw up two more times as well. So she seems to have an upset stomach as well as a runny nose. Today she's been sleeping lots but has remained happy and playful during her awake times. This is the first time that she has been sick, I suppose there's a first for everything.

So I had to add this photo. This is Sarah this morning, her first crusty snotty nose (it was David's idea to take the photo). Yes, we are indeed into documenting everything. As you can see, she's still a very happy girl, despite having a runny nose and a sore tummy.

Sarah watching herself be loud

*Make sure that you watch the first (previous) video clip before watching this one.

So, while I was waiting for the previous video clip to upload I set Sarah on my lap and turned the video on. She was ecstatic! She was squealing and throwing her arms into the air. David and I were laughing so hard! We both hadn't laughed that hard in awhile. So after the fifth time, David took the camera out and took a video of her watching herself on the computer. Here it is!

Our little loud one

Sarah loves the sound of her voice. She is always screeching, squealing, babbling and talking to herself, us and her toys. While this can be fun at home, it is quite the experience in restaurants, church, the mall, etc. Thankfully, these are always happy sounds and always seem to delight those around her. Since she is so loud much of the time I figured I should post a video clip.

On another note, I was thrilled to wake up to a slight layer of snow on the ground. It lightly snowed all day, just enough to look pretty outside. I guess I got the leaves cleaned up just in time.

Setting up the Christmas Tree

Being with the ones I love, eating mandarin oranges and Lindt chocolates, Sarah McLachlan Christmas music playing in the background, snow blowing outside and decorating the Christmas tree. Does life get much better than that? Life is good indeed.



This morning we tried out yet another church. We both enjoyed it but are still not sure of where we want to stay. I put Sarah in the nursery and she didn't cry at all! I was so pleased since she screamed in the nursery a couple of Sunday's ago and they had to come and get me. I am trying to expose her to different people and places so that she isn't so dependent on me. I do love it when I go to get her and she looks at me saying mom, mom, mom, mom. David isn't such a fan though. He knows how much I love it inside and just gives me the look (wishing she was saying dad, dad, dad). We are starting to think that "ba" means dad.

So here we are on a lazy Sunday afternoon with really nothing to do but decorate our tree and relax at home. We weren't going to get a Christmas tree since we head back to Abby on the 15th. I knew that we couldn't get a real tree but having no tree at all just seemed so sad to me. So I went on Kijiji asking for a Christmas tree for $20. Someone replied to my posting and we got what is actually a pretty good little tree. It's definitely no real tree, but it's better than nothing.

Every year we get a new ornament that is symbolic of that year (I started this the first year we were together, so we have 14 ornaments already!). We also have a collection of ornaments from the places that we have travelled to. Every year we enjoy looking at our collection and reminiscing about our years together and the places that we have been. So you could say that the ornaments are really just as important as the tree.

So here we are, Sarah's first Christmas, setting up our Christmas tree. I know it's kind of early, but since we head back to BC on the 15th of December I wanted to have it up to enjoy it as much as possible.

Sarah loved the lights and shiny ornaments. I love how this photo captures her sense of excitement!

Dinner with the Sawatskys

Yesterday evening we went to have dinner with Rebecca's (David's brother, Michael's girlfriend) aunt, uncle and cousins. They live about 12 minutes away and attend Vineland MB Church where we attended the last couple of Sundays. They have three sweet girls, Georgia, Ruby and Lucy and a dog names Angus. We had a great time getting to know their family. It was sweet to see how much they enjoyed watching and playing with Sarah. We have continued to be blessed by the kindness of others. What a treat to be invited out for dinner two Friday's in a row! The chili and brownies were awesome Rachel!

Ruby and Lucy playing with Sarah

Sarah loved the "Happy Apple" (one of Rebecca's old toys)

I Love you Leaf Man!

Our yard was covered in leaves!
Today has been a busy day, and it's only 3pm! This morning I had a girl named Karen and her baby Lily over that I met at the baby class I attended. It was wonderful to have someone to visit and chat with. She is kind and relaxed about life, I think we could become good friends.

We also had new windows installed in our house today. We previously had the old wooden window frames with a secondary window installed on the exterior. Our new windows have pretty white frames, are easy to open and best of all I can actually see out of them properly. Yahoo for new windows!

I put Sarah down for her nap about an hour ago and figured I should probably tackle the leaf situation. The weather is warm and beautiful today! Our neighbour Angela agreed to lend us her rake a couple of days ago, so I headed over to pick up the rake and tackle the job. I loved our tree with all the pretty leaves on it a couple of weeks ago, but now with all the leaves on the ground, not to mention all of our neighbours leaves, I'm not too sure. Thompson street ends right at the entrance of our driveways, and just like our old house, everything funnels into our driveway. We have been prewarned by our neighbours that we get the worst snow drifts on our driveways too... so much to look forward to!


Anyways, I had raked and stuffed 2 big bags, and 2 large compost bins when I noticed a small bulldozer (much bigger than a bobcat) driving up and down the roads scooping up leaves. This got me to thinking... why don't I just rake all the leaves onto the road? As he drove along the road I motioned to him my intentions, asking for permission. He slowed down and told me to go for it and that he would come back several times to pick them up while I raked. Yahoo! So I spent the next 20 minutes raking like a mad woman, just shoving it all onto the street. Not only did I not have to stuff it into bags, but I didn't have to figure out what to do with all of those bags. It was kind of funny to see neighbours going for walks stopping, smiling and laughing as I raked like crazy and the bulldozer just kept coming back for more. What a work out! Thank you leaf man you have made my day!

The forecast calls for snow this coming week... I think I'll let David do the shovelling.

Trash or Treasure

Every Thursday morning is garbage day for us. Regardless of stat holidays, the trucks continue to run and so garbage day is never bumped forward. I love it! The simple joys in life, I know.

Anyways, the whole garbage collection deal is much different here than in B.C. We can put out 2 garbage cans, unlimited compost (in a designated green bin or large brown paper bags) as well as unlimited recycling. However, recycling alternates weeks. One week is the blue bin for plastic and glass bottles, etc. And the following is the grey bin for newspaper and cardboard.

The other big difference that we have noticed is that people put whatever they don't want anymore at the side of the road. It is not at all uncommon to see mattresses, dressers, couch sets, old lawn mowers, etc stacked up on the curb.

Well you can probably see where this is going...every evening I take our dog Keisha for a walk before bed. The best night of all is Wednesday nights, when everything is put out on the curb ready for garbage day. Yesterday evening I spotted a set of 5 white lawn chairs and matching plastic table, a large dresser with 9 drawers, a microwave stand and several other odds and ends. The other week I saw two matching lamps. So you're probably wondering if I'm taking this stuff. I know that we're Menno's and "thrifty" but I just haven't built up the courage yet. Those perfectly good lawn chairs were just screaming for me to take them. But then what do I do? run down the road with the dog and my pile of chairs? No matter how I work it out in my mind I just feel too trashy. Even if I were to go back with the car I would just feel like a garbage collector (I know that's what I would be).

Perhaps one day, when an item is truly too amazing to pass up I will make off into the night with it and later write about my adventure with my trash or treasure. Keep you posted!

Aeropostal/ American Eagle Sale

This post is especially for Libby, since I know that she's someone who can appreciate a good shopping trip. I wish that you could have come with us!

Anyways, this afternoon David came home from school and picked me up to go to a clothing sale at a store called Dinamtite which is kind of like Liquidation World (yikes, I know). They were having a special sale on Aeropostal/ American Eagle clothes starting today. All the jackets and lined vests were $25. each and everything else was $10 an item. And lets just say that there were racks and racks of clothes, yahoo! Some of the clothes were missing a button (but all come with extra buttons inside anyways), some had a little mark on them (all came out in the wash) or a tiny tear and most were just fine. Not to mention that all of the clothes were new.

Behold all of our wonderful purchases!

David's stuff

My stuff

In total we spent $215.50 including tax

I added up the price tags and the amount came to $812.50 without tax!

Together we bought

4 Jeans (3 for David, 1 for me)

1 pair of Cords for me

1 Jacket for David
2 Lined Hoodies (2 for me, 1 for David)

1 Sweater (for me)

2 shirts (1 for each)

1 pair of shoes (for me)

2 single layer hoodies (for David)

It kind of makes me want to go back for more. However, after getting a couple of pairs of new jeans yesterday, a cozy green lined zip hoodie, and a lovely white winter coat ...I think that I'm good. All were on super sale! I love getting good deals!

On the topic of shopping and deals, I also got a new ski jacket today. Everyone here keeps warning us that it's about to get really cold and to be prepared, so I thought it was finally time to get a new ski jacket. I found one that I loved at West 49 for 160. but they were having a deal where they gave you $30. off if you brought in a used insulated jacket. So we stopped at MCC on the way to the mall where I bought a jacket for $3 to get my $30. off. So in the end I got my jacket and saved some money...that I spent on other clothes! Now all I need is winter gloves and possibly some new boots and I will be set.

Shopping in Vaughan

Yesterday we spent the day shopping in Vaughan, just north of Toronto. The best part of the outlet mall would have to be the huge Bass Pro Sport store. We had too much fun at the free rifle range and cross bow range.

They even had a whole Santa's workshop area. Santa was out when we were there, just a couple of elves were there.

There were real stuffed animals everywhere, crazy! This reindeer was right next to Santa's workshop.

A huge hockey store in the mall. I had to take this photo of goalie pads for my brothers. It's funny how everywhere we go I see things that remind me of our family and friends back home.

Not at the mall but cute anyways. I love watching her sit so proudly on her own. She is smiling and laughing so much more now, I feel like we are really starting to see her true personality come out. She also had her third tooth (her top left) cut through yesterday!