Christmas 2022

During the summer, my mom and I found a kitchen for the twins.  I feel like I have been impatiently awaiting Christmas since then!  I brought the kitchen over from Sarah's basement a few days before Christmas, and then finally the day arrived!!!

Billy spent a good chunk of time setting it up to look 'just right." = )

Emily set up William's display.  William was very excited about his locking box.  He was constnatnly 'stealing' the twins' lol boxes, the entire season.  For a while I thought it was just sibling jealousy, but then I'd find him with it, when they weren't even around to whine at him.  I decided that it was probably the locking feature that he liked so much.  When I set up the box, he got one of the keys, and I kept the other one, just in case it gets lost.  = )

And I sent Emily to bed before setting hers up, so that she could be surprised, at least a little. = )  They don't sell duolingo gift cards, so she just got a generic play gift card, but I printed a card with Duo (the owl) so that she would know for what I had invisioned it.

Alice got her Pusheen box, something she had had on her wishlist for a while.

The entire crew!

When the twins woke up, they were excited!!!

William loved his multi-colored darts, as well as his new guns.

The selling point of this kitchen:  it folds up flat!!!  It lives under the bunkbed in their room (and the food is kept in the tub pictured.)

The extent of our trash this year!  Of course, this doesn't include the packages in which things were delivered, but many things I bought used.  The left pile is the recycling, and the right pile is trash.  The bag in front goes into the bag recycling, which is a sperate collection.  Surprisingly, the bulk of the recycling was from an American Girl doll dog groomer set* that I scored at a yard sale!  I've already posted the pile of our used wrapping paper in this post, if you want to go see how much paper we would be trashing, were we not going to reuse it.

After a tasty Christmas meal, it was time to go shovel.  Our very kind neighbour plowed the driveways for us, so our only responsibility was the sidewalk (and stairs.)  It didn't take us long, so the kids were happy to play in the snow a bit afterwards.

Grace and Molly in their matching outfits from Aunt Haley & the Helterbrands.

Juliet in her matching pjs with Blaire from Aunt Haley & the Helterbrands.

I'm pretty sure this was a few weeks later, but Grace wanted to make a matching necklace to the one Juliet received for Christmas.  The button she picked out was on that Grandma Sondra had sent me a few years ago.

Our mail service, nationwide, has been getting slower and slower the past few years.  It's always been a little slow during the Christmas season, but it was wildly slow this year.  Brenda sent the kids' Christmas money on December 12th (or that was the postmark anyhow) but it didn't arrive until after Christmas.  When it did arrive, we set the tree back up, put on some lights, pulled out some bags and celebrated one more time! = )

I hope everyone's Christmas was a delightful as ours was this year.

later days

 *it's kind of a sad story, but the guy's ex-wife was a dog groomer, and he'd purchased it for her office.  The package was a little dusty, but had never been opened, so I got it for about 1/3 of list price.  The twins loved it, I wish I could go back and let him know. (But it was a yard sale and that would probably be really weird. lol)

edit 1-17-23: backdated for continuity.

Winding Down Spring Break I

I didn't make the time to blog yesterday, but I did knock out all kinds of to do list items.

The first unexpected task came about when my radio in the bathroom (that we run to remind us of the heater being run) was no longer charging my ipod, but it was still playing the music.  I tried a few things, messaged my sister who had me try a few things, but without success.  It was not the best way to start the day.

Next up was my coat.  I'd lost a button, and had been meaning to clean it.  I sat down with a full lint roller, a needle, thread, and scissors. I repaired the button, and went over and over my wool coat with the roller, but it still does not look as clean as I'd like.  Once I find one, I will try a lint brush and see if that make it look clean.

At this point, I'd put off any issues that my children had brought over, so it was time to help them with their tasks.

In the basement, the previous owners had left some outlet cover paper.  Since it was a free project, I flipped the fuses and got to work.  Before and after pictures.

The nightlight was my test piece to make sure the power was off before using the screwdriver near an outlet. = )

It didn't feel like an endless project, however, I don't love it.  It looks marginally better, but the sticker was not overly sticky, so the edges are pushing out along the edges.  Also, I don't think it will clean well.  If you catch the rag in just the wrong spot, it will rip the covering.  So, at some point, I'd like to get the actual metal covers that we had in our Houston home.

Also, we had four packages arrive yesterday, including liquid seaweed for my green lovelies, and some additional 3M hooks.

I had tired of having the measuring cups and spoons on hooks in my utensil drawer (and it'd be worse still to have them loose. )  So, the vertical space on my cabinet doors has simplified my storage. = )

The kids enjoyed playing in the boxes that delivered my goods, and would play together between rounds of roblox, wii games and videos on their tablets.

When Billy came home, he recommended using a toothbrush on my radio connection. It totally solved the problem! = )

**************

Today I was less ambitious, with only two things left on my list, and supplies to complete only one of them. lol.

Grace talked me in to spending 2.5 hours making waffles (since each pair has to cook for 15 minutes on my new, less loved waffle maker.)

While they were cooking,  I prepped ingredients for homemade oatmeal packets:

I make a double batch, while I have everything out.  And I use my super fancy Canadian* maple syrup to make the brown sugar. Billy approves, so it's worth the time to make it, especially since it is also cheaper than buying the packets.

My mom picked up the two ingredients that I needed for my final project, so if she swings by in the next 24 hours, I will be able to finish my to do list for the week!

So far, we've thoroughly enjoyed our break.  And this weekend in the Viking fest!

later days

*I actually know a real Canadian that sends it my way!  = )