Just another day

Most days at home with the kids are pretty standard, not a lot exciting happens. Now that winter has started to set in and we're indoors more there's also less to do. This also means less photos, at least interesting ones. Here's few pics of the kids just hanging around.
Calvin playing with remote controls.

Reading a book in the living room.

Tickled Pink Gifts for Girls

My talented sister in law, Sharalee, recently started her own business. I'm so excited to see her doing what she loves and just going for it! The name of her business is Tickled Pink Gifts for Girls, the items that she sells would be great gifts for others or just for yourself (Christmas is coming). She creates tutu's, jewlery, infant feet/ hand casting frames, etc.

She is currently having a giveaway on her facebook page for any custom (size, colour) tutu. All you have to do is post the link to her page on your own Facebook status. If you don't have facebook you could enter by emailing some friends about the contest and her page.

Here's the page link, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abbotsford-BC/Tickled-Pink-Gifts-for-Girls/172019676156878#!/pages/Abbotsford-BC/Tickled-Pink-Gifts-for-Girls/172019676156878

She has a gallery of lots of items on her page. She also does custom orders, therefore if you have something in mind I would encourage you to contact her and she can set something up for you. She lives in Abbotsford, BC but can ship anywhere. Payment is taken at the time the order is placed through paypal. Her email address is sharaleevoth@yahoo.ca. Check it out!!

When we wake up in the morning we brush our teeth...

Our kids LOVE brushing their teeth, thanks to the battery operated Dora and Diego toothbrushes. Well, Calvin doesn't realy care about his toothbrush being Diego, but Sarah sure loves her Dora brush. Sarah brushes here teeth 3-4 times a day! I take a turn and then she finishes the job. Good oral care at our house!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

The kids loved decorating the Christmas tree (even though we now have the most unattractive tree around). Sarah would carefully take each ornament out of the tissue paper and carefully place it on the tree. Such a serious job.

A typical ornament cluster on the tree.

11 Years...wow!

On Saturday we celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary, wow has the time ever gone by fast! We got a baby sitter on Friday evening and headed out to Toronto to enjoy the Gourmet Food and Wine show. We had a great evening out being together (without kids) and enjoying great food and drink. David got the tickets for free from a prof at school, so that was also a bonus.

The rest of the weekend was busier than we're used to. I had 3 family photo sesssions and 1 newborn session, as well as lots of card orders. The photography thing is just kind of happening. It's a wonderful way for me to practice and have more photos to use in my designs. I also really enjoy it. I feel like it's been pretty busy up until now, and I know that the busy time hasn't even really started. The next couple of weeks are bound to be very interesting. I've already had more Christmas orders than I had all of the 2009 Christmas season. This is all fantastic and encouraging in so many ways. Thank goodness my sister in law Anna arrives in a week and half!

David had to work Sunday morning, ughh.. We were able to squeeze in a few shopping trips and even got the windows covered for winter. It was an enjoyable and yet productive weekend.

Little Buddy

When Sarah wakes up her first response to Calvin is always, "hi little buddy." So cute! At first I was afraid that she may not actually know his name, but she often refers to him as Calvin or brother. Phew!

Here are a couple of pics of little buddy in his monkey hat. It's still a little big, but he'll grow into it soon enough. The monkey hat is hand made by a woman called Lori, she has an online/ home business called Citefuzz (out of Quebec). I connected with her through some networking/ cross advertising for my photo card business. Lori does wonderful work; beautiful designs and handiwork. She has four kids of her own and business is booming! Therefore the current shipping time is 1-2 months, yikes! I felt like I waited forever for Calvin's hat to arrive. I was just relieved that it came in the end and is just as cute as the pics.

Free Photobook

I used to be an avid scrapbooker and then life got busy and then we had kids...and well no time for scrapbooking. I've become a big fan of photobooks. I love how I can upload photos directly onto the website. There's no mess, no printing, no cutting, etc. In the end I've found that ordering a photo book is actually cheaper than scrapbooking as well, bonus! I've only ever used Shutterfly and Picaboo (both are great), but I know there are many other photo book printing companies out there.

This deal is for a FREE 7x9 softcover photo book from Shoppers Drug Mart. I just finished mine and haven't received it yet, so I'm not sure how great the quality is. However, since it doesn't cost anything, just some time, it's a great opportunity to find out. Since you pick up the book from a local Shoppers Drug Mart of your choice there also isn't any shipping fees. I didn't love the interface on the website, so it took a little longer than usual, but it wasn't bad. The photo upload time is pretty long, so I would suggest setting up all your pics for upload (you can do lots at once) and then walking away to do something else (multi task). Expect to spend about an hour putting your book together. Unless you just want it to be a whole bunch of random pics, no text or customizations. I love it when some pages are entirely a photo, this can be done by clicking the photo and "setting as background."

Here's the link, http://www1.shoppersdrugmart.ca/en/Shoppers-Optimum/All-Optimum-Offers/Free-photobook.aspx. Have fun!

Let me know if you have any questions/ issues.

2 for 1 Starbucks

Here's a great deal I have to share, from November 18th – 21st at Starbucks from 2-5 pm you can get a buy 1 get 1 free Holiday drink. Drinks Include:Caramel Brulee Latte, Peppermint Mocha, Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, Peppermint Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latte, Caramel Brulee Frappuccino blended beverage, Peppermint Mocha Frappaccino blended beverage. *FREE beverage must be of equal or lesser value! Enjoy!

A Night at the Great Wolf Lodge

On Sunday we went for a mini vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls. We went with 2 families from our life group. The lodge has an amazing water park with several pools, waterslides for all ages, etc. The kids loved the water and rides. We all had a wonderful time!

Sarah, Mason and Noah.

Since I didn't bring our camera right into the water park I pulled a few images off the web.

Hanging out in the hotel room. Both kids did great. Calvin was a big fan of the kleenex box.

It was the perfect time to get away for a night and enjoy some family time. Sometimes you only need to go 10 minutes down the road for a holiday!

A Glamorous Job?!?

Crush time is finally over at the winery but that doesn't mean that David's been working any less. He starts early and finishes late, often coming home between 7-9pm. He's worked 85-100+ hours per 2 week pay period since the beginning of June. Most of the time he's just been getting 1 day weekends as well. This means that he's pretty exhausted.

Recently, I can't help but feel like a single parent most days as well. All meal times, bath times, bed times, etc. No break. The kids have been sick this past week and Sarah has suddenly decided that she doesn't want a nap and is fighting bed time as well. Good times. Since the time change the kids have been getting up early as well. This past week I've been up with Calvin between 5 and 6am. Since he just likes roaming around first thing, I've been sending off card hours in the early hours. For three days in a row there was no time in the day where both were sleeping as well as both in bed before 9:30 pm. This is a drastic change from the usual 2-4 hour nap overlap and 7pm bedtime. The timing was terrible with David's long hours and the busy Christmas season starting up for me.

I'm hoping that it was just an off week and all will go back to normal next week. Here's hoping that things improve.

The kids enjoy running around the winery. Thank goodness there's not much for them to get into.

Photo Christmas Cards

All of the 2010 Christmas/ holiday card designs are up. Looking forward to a great season! Feel free to visit my website at www.dolcettodesigns.com to see all of the designs, order, etc.

The Girl Loves Hats

At one point it seemed impossible to keep a hat on Sarah. These days she wears her hats outside and inside. She insists on putting them on herself the way that she wants to wear them. I think she looks pretty cute!

We love Treats!

I figured I better take a photo of all the "treats" before to many of them were eaten. The kids got an overflowing large bag of treats this year. Not a lot of kids trick of treat in our neighbourhood so most houses gave several items.

Yesterday wasn't exactly the best day for being a mom. I was so ready for nap time by the afternoon. Thank goodness both kids had long naps at the same time. When they woke up I decided to dump the bag of "treats" on the floor and all enjoy a little chips and chocolate. We all seemed to be a little happier after that.

Trick or Treat

Last night we had a wondeful time trick or treating with the kids. Calvin didn't last long and Sarah ended up getting pretty tired but still wanted to go to houses. The desire to get more candy was strong, ha ha. The kids were the tortoise and the hare. Sadly, it was almost impossible to get photos of them, let along together. Oh well, you get the idea. We couldn't believe how much candy they got! Pics to come.