august twenty

Sean had 2 subs at daycare today. One of his teachers is still on her vacation, and his other teacher had to go pick up her son from coming home from sleep away camp. One sub has been in his classroom for a bit now, replacing his teacher on vacation. The other sub I'd never seen her before. Sean didn't have a good day at school today, and I'm certain it's because of all the subs in his classroom. Threw him off his game. He apparently was fine until nap time, but then he refused to nap during nap time, and once nap time was over he pushed a kid in his class to try to take away the kid's stuffed monkey. The kid ended up needing an ice pack for his elbow. Oy. I'm really just hoping that it's just an "off" day. I really can't wait for the terrible two's to be over. (But am not sure I'm looking forward to what 3 and 4 have to bring either. Can we just move on to 5?)

After Mack got up from his morning nap and my cleaning lady left, I picked up my mother and we headed out to run a few errands. I picked up some yummy sock yarn for the sock club (for one of the upcoming months), that I had missed the delivery for. I wish I could keep all the skeins for myself, it's just so freakin' yummy and delicious!

Next I ran into the city to a store called Fiori. I wanted to pick up something for my friend who has breast cancer. (Speaking of which, I need to finish knitting the hat I started for her. I kind of got side tracked from that project). I got what I needed and I was on my merry way. The chick working there tried to sell me a bunch of other stuff, and was a little too friendly, but nice regardless. Neat shop, though, the incense that they were burning in there really turned me off.

I picked up some gift items that I needed on our way back to the west island. We have some upcoming things that I want to give gifts for/need to give gifts for. We have a friend of Jamie's whose wife just gave birth to a baby boy, my neighbor had a baby girl, and I want to give her a small gift, we have a 3 year old's birthday party the weekend after this one, and we have a birthday party this Saturday for one of Mack's friends. Also, I found a few shirts for my nephew's 7th birthday this fall. (Wow, I cannot believe he's turning 7. That's just insane. Feels like he was born just yesterday).

Tonight I made a taco dinner. We haven't had tacos in forever, and they were just yummy. Super healthy too. Whole wheat taco shells, extra lean ground beef, tomatoes, cheese, low fat sour cream, onions. Yum! Love it. (Jamie adds salsa to his, but I like my tacos without).

Sean was dysfunctional since he got home from daycare due to his lack of nap, so I was able to put the kids to bed early tonight. We chilled tonight and watched Big Brother and an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels after Jamie got home from an errand he ran this evening.

I started another test knit tonight, another one of my own designs. I just love doing it. It allows me to be creative, and I just love what I end up coming up with. I love seeing people's finished objects on Ravelry of my designs. It's a pretty neat feeling.

I gave in tonight and got two things that I really wanted. Knitpicks new Zephyr tips and 9" circular 2.75mm Hiya's. I've used 12" Addi's for socks before, (I believe I have them in 3.0mm size, which I only use to knit socks for Jamie), but I think the 9" will be smoother to knit with for socks. I saw some yesterday and just had to get some.

Even though I cannot show you my new test knit, I can show you my latest published design. I present to you, Jubilee:

august nineteen:: 61 weeks old

Mack is 61 weeks old today.

This morning when I dropped off Sean at daycare I chatted with another mom. Her daughter is 2 days younger than Sean. Her daughter is moving up from Sean's old class next week to his new class. They're slowly moving up the older kids to make room for the babies that are starting in September. I'm so disappointed that it's not Mack starting in that class. That he has to wait for 18 months old and then wait for a spot to be available. Trust me, starting mid-November, a month before he turns 18 months old, I'll be working my magic for that spot for him.

I stopped by Acura this morning and had them fix the fuse for my A/C adaptor outlet. It blew a fuse and I can't have the DVD player in the back seat not working. Glad they were able to fix it right away. I also had them de-activate my car starter. I don't need it until winter and there seems to be something not working 100% with it, as it's automatically locking my doors a few seconds after I turn off the ignition. By the time I have stepped one foot out of the car, the car locks. I can't even open the back door for any of the kids. The car doesn't allow me that much time. It's darn annoying. So for now, until my next car check-up at the dealership (which is schedule in a couple of weeks shortly before my lease is up), I'm going to have it looked at properly. (I think I'm keeping my car, since I love it, but it's not 100% set in stone yet). (My car lease is up on my 4th Blogaversary - I got my car the day I started this blog).

This morning I stopped by my cousin Jenn's house to bring her something and I showed her my broken glasses. Yes, the arm snapped off while I was in Mississauga, while they were on my face. Very odd. The arm didn't even snap in half. The entire arm came off. Jenn called her dad, and my glasses are from 2004. Parts are no longer available. (It's the front I'd need, since the arms are in 100% condition). Pooey. They're my fave pair of glasses. So, I'll be crazy gluing/super gluing them back together. For now, it's the only option. I honestly think I have some good enough crazy glue at home, or super glue, whatever you want to call it, that would work wonderfully. Jenn's husband mentioned some other fancy glue, but I'll only go with that if my first attempt doesn't work. There's no harm in trying, since I can't get replacement parts. Crossing my fingers it works... they're really my fave pair. And not even "out dated" since they're from 2004. Still in style, if you ask me! Because they're funky of course.

I went to Ariadne today. I got to play around with Rachael's Nikon camera (helping out with a photoshoot while there - which was a lot of fun) and I'm totally obsessed now with wanting a Nikon. I think I'm 150% serious now about selling my Canon Rebel XT. I've had it now for 3 and a half years (got it Feb 7th, 2006) and I think it's about time to upgrade.

I think Mack is teething. He's drooling like mad.

Mack puts the phone to his ear now and says "HI". It's sooo cute. He's been doing it for a little now, finally caught a photo of it! I just love his expression in this photo.

Of course, I did some stash enhancement at Ariadne today. Since I didn't get any yarn on my trip to Mississauga, I indulged on some yarn that I've been eying for a while at Ariadne.

2 Skeins of Projekt B Worsted in Teal

3 Skeins of Projekt B Worsted in Purple

1 Skein of Projekt B Superwash Sock in Red

1 Skein of Projekt B Superwash Sock in Charcoal

1 Skein of Projekt B Superwash Baby Suri Alpaca in Purple

1 Skein of Projekt B Superwash Baby Suri Alpaca in Green

I enjoyed some Tasty Foods for lunch (my fave green pepper whole wheat pizza). It's one of the only things I really truly miss from living in the city. I really miss ordering from there! The one place in the west island that delivers whole wheat pizza - it just doesn't compare.

Mack took a late nap today, sleeping on the way home from being out. There was no transferring him into his crib though, once we got home. Those days are over. Once he's up he's up. Toddler nap all the way. No more baby in him. He's growing up to fast. It's so sad.

Tonight Jamie had a friend over, so I just chilled and watched some TV. I decided I am going to sell my Canon Rebel to get a Nikon DSLR, I just need to figure out who I am going to sell it to - sent some messages to a few people whom had inquired, and need to figure out (and research) which DSLR to get. Do you shoot Nikon? If so, what do you use? What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it?

august eighteen

After dropping off Sean at daycare and Mack at my parents house, I headed out to work. Today I wore a new pair of simple earrings that I made myself. Love them. I got these neat posts at Michaels over the weekend and wanted to try them out. I put it with some wood beads, and voila, a great new pair of earrings.

On my way home from work I stopped into UPS. I think the girl there is starting to know me, as this time, when I dropped off the "ready to go" packages for work (my office job), she said "Ready to go?"... She knows it! If it was us paying for the shipping, we wouldn't be using UPS, but that's the method that the company we're shipping defective goods back to wants to use.

After UPS I picked up Sean from daycare and then Mack from my mom's house. Fed them dinner, so I could leave to go to knit night. I always make sure that the kids are fed or are in the middle of being fed before I leave. Jaime sometimes gets in late from work, when I have to walk out the door. I tried feeding Mackenzie the pasta tonight, (Pasta I dont let him feed himself, as it gets really messy) and he wouldn't take it from me. Though, when Jamie tried to feed him, he ate. Very weird. Considering he's a mommy's boy.

Had a great time at our mini knit night tonight. Never a silent moment. Love it. Look forward to it each week. I worked on my test knit and finished it tonight. I'll post pictures of it in a day or so. Stay tuned for them! Fastest knit ever. I love that.

Thought I'd share with you some recent stash enhancement:

St-Denis Nordique in 5820 Blue Eggshell for Vintage Button Gloves by Ysolda Teague

St-Denis Nordique in 5860 Balsam for Green Mountain Shawl by Veronik Avery

St-Denis Nordique yarn is available right now through my shop as special order.

august seventeen :: 14 months old

Mackenzie is 14 months old today.

We left Mississauga at around 9:30 am this morning. Jamie wanted an early start on driving. He once again did all the driving home - what a great husband he was. That allowed me to work on my knitting all the way home. I am now working on a test knit for one of my designs. I honestly thing I will be able to finish it tomorrow. The quickest test knit I've ever done. Yesterday I did the ribbing and today I started the leg, turned the heel, shaped the gusset and started working on the foot. Super fast. I love it. And the pattern is coming out very nicely. I'm loving it.

We ended up meeting up with my in-laws, sister-in-law and nephew at a rest stop just before Kingston, Ontario. Didn't realize they left just after us. We had lunch there (actually everyone but me had lunch there as there was nothing for me to eat there), so we ended up stopping in Gananoque, Ontario for me to pick up something for lunch. What a cute little town. I really want to go back again and see what neat things that town has to offer. The entrance to the town, off the highway reads "The gateway to the Thousand Islands"... I definitely want to come back and see what that little town has to offer. I told Jamie that I want to take the kids sometime to the Thousand Island for a vacation. I've heard wonderful things about the area. And apparently there is a lot of things to do there.

Upon getting home I noticed 2 chairs on our front walkway. My grandmother was getting rid of them and my mother thought they would look nice in front of our house. We didn't have any chairs there, so thank you! Eventually I'd like to get a wooden bench and then I'm sure these chairs would be wonderful in the backyard or something.

Ah, it's good to be back home. I missed our bed. I missed the cat. I missed my own bathroom. I missed my space. Vacation is always fun, but it's always nice to come home.

Want to get a free SpillyJane pattern? You have until Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 1PM EST to email her or comment on her blog post here, to receive her Heart of December sock pattern. I've already secured my copy! What a great deal. Her patterns sell for 6$ USD. Her patterns rock. Go on - check it out! Score yourself a free pattern! It's worth it!

august sixteen :: 137 weeks old

Sean is 137 Weeks old today. Picture taken with a frog at Rainforest Cafe at lunch.

This morning we were all well rested, and we headed on our way to Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is literally around the corner from Marineland, so it was another hour drive there. We found parking in a lot, and walked the length of the falls. I love my new family picture, of the 4 of us.
Since I had my Clapotis finished, I had to take a picture of it in front of the Falls. These are actually the American Falls. The Canadian, ones, the Horseshoe, is right next to it.
And of course, if Clapotis got a picture in front of the falls, I had to give Ishbel her spotlight too, right? I just happened to have it in my backpack...

Above is a design that I've started working on for a pattern I'm designing. It's being modeled in front of the Canadian Falls, which is called the Horseshoe.

Jamie checking out the falls, his first time there.

(I've seen the falls 3 times, once in 1989 with my family, and twice in the late 1990's, once with an ex boyfriend who was my boyfriend at the time and once with a friend of mine and my cousin who lives in St. Catherines, Ontario).

After visiting the falls, we headed over to Clifton Hill. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. The meal was a complete disaster. My meal, as well as my nephew's meal came after everyone else at the table had finished eating. My side salad never came. The waiter says I never ordered one. Well, then does he not remember me asking him to name every dressing that they have to offer and then asking for the Balsamic Vinaigrette on the side? And the fact that he told me that the side salad was so-and-so price on the menu because I'm ordering a meal. Sean's meal never even ever came... by the time that the waitor came around to ask us if everything was alright after bringing my meal finally (and my nephews), we cancelled his pizza that he'd ordered. He'd eaten 2 of Mack's 3 mini hot dogs (the size of them, 1 was really enough for Mack) and he's gotten fries from everyone's meals. He no longer even needed that pizza. My father-in-law called over the manager and explained to them what happened, and we ended up getting 50% off of our bill (though they still charged us for Sean's pizza - even though it was cancelled - at that point my father-in-law just wanted to pay the bill and get out of there).

Since I posted a picture of Sean for his 137th week shot at the beginning of this post, here's Mackie too with the cute frog at the Rainforest Cafe.

After the hour drive back, I put Mack down for a nap and went into the pool for a bit with my sister-in-law, nephew & Sean. It was nice just to sit and talk by the pool once we got out - but it was very difficult to get my little fish Sean out of the pool. Also yesterday, he was impossible to drag out of the pool.

Between Friday and today, I'm red as a tomato. I never "tan"... I fry! It doesn't hurt, but it looks really really really bad.

Pretty flower from my step-brother-in-law's garden. Love the color.

august fifteen

Mack slept through the night last night. And slept in this morning. That's the Mack I know. This made me happy as I got good sleep, which was well needed. I really hope that his disastrous night last night was teething related and nothing more. I still feel absolutely tired, but I won't be able to recover fully from those lost hours of sleep.

I got enough sleep last night that I had a dream that I can remember. I had a dream that I was at a Habs Poker Tournament and I was sitting two seats away from Saku Koivu. Also there, that I remember in my dream was Alex Kovalev and Mike Komisarek... Oh, I almost had to check my camera when I woke up to see if I got any photographs with them, because I took pictures with them in my dream and it seemed SO real. I sometimes have dreams like that, where your dream is so real you actually think you were really there.... Oh, how I would love to actually go to a Habs poker tournment... That would be awesome.

Today we hung around the pool. We decided to stay in today at my step-brother-in-law's house as his wife is leaving tomorrow on a business trip and we wanted to spend some time with her before she left. I finished my Clapotis while sitting by the pool today.

This is the 2nd or 3rd time I've ever seen Jamie in a pool since we've been together. I can think of 1 time he came swimming at my parents house - but that was ONE time. I honestly cannot think of another time he was in the water.

Sean thought his cousin's goggles were really neat.

I took Mackie into the water after his nap this afternoon. At first he freaked out. I'm wondering if it's the same reason he freaked out in the bath? I comforted him and he eventually calmed down but it took some time. This wasn't good. I hope I can figure out what is causing him to freak out. The water today wasn't cold at all. It was bath warm, really. Very odd. Once he was calm though, he really clung to me. I think this is a cue that I really need to get him back into swimming lessons and back into the water on a regular basis now that his eczema is not bad anymore.

Caught a neat shot of Jamie diving into the pool.

And a neat one of my step-brother-in-law diving into the pool as well.

We brought our very first pepper from our garden to Mississauga with us, and we cut it up tonight for the salad with dinner. It was delicious. I can't tell you how much better with words, a fresh item from the garden is, than store bought. It just doesn't compare. Grown with love.

Clapotis! Needs to be blocked, but it's done!

Specs:
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert (My Ravelry Project)
For: Myself
Yarn: Mirasol Hacho in Peacock Ripple (302)
Needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Size: One Size
Timeline: June 13th, 2009 - August 15th, 2009
Modifications: Followed pattern as published. (Though goofing in one part, that I had to tink afterwards, but that's a different story for another day)....
Opinion: It was super easy to knit and the pattern was very easy to memorize. It's a lengthy knit though, and considering this is my 2nd Clapotis knit, I don't think I will knit this one again.
Too many other patterns that I want to knit first.
Though, I definitely recommend everyone to knit it at least once.

After an early supper tonight, I went out with my sister-in-law to Michaels. The first one we got to, was closing in 5 minutes. Their website said 9pm. Apparently head office is aware of this and hasn't done anything to change the website (yet). She gave us directions to the next closest Michaels, which was open until 9pm, and we headed on our way. My sister-in-law was floored by Michaels. She had never been to one before. She was wondering why no one ever had introduced her to this store before. We definitely need a Michaels in Quebec, but I doubt we'll ever get one, unfortunately. I picked up a few things, and so did she. It was really nice hanging out with her and catching up just one-on-one.

august fourteen

Last night Mackenzie decided that he didn't want to sleep. We maybe got 30 minutes of sleep the entire night. Mack cried the entire evening. I am not even sure how Sean slept through it all. I'm completely baffled on that one, since all four of us were sharing the basement and were literally sleeping next to each other. Sean was on the twin size blow up matress on the floor, Jamie & I on the fouton bed next to him, and Mack was supposed to be in his pack'n'play on the floor, but ended up on the double size fouton bed with Jamie and I, we both took turns trying to calm him down. Not sure what was up, but I'm hoping it was just teething. And praying he sleeps through the night tonight. Jamie says if he doesn't tonight, we're packing up the car and heading home on the spot. That he cannot take another night like last night in someone else's home (even if it is his step-brother's home).

I finally managed to get Mack to sleep on me for about 2 hours from 6:30 am until 8:30 am on the couch in the living room while everyone ate their breakfast, etc in the room attached. I maybe got 2 and half hours of sleep the entire night.

On very little sleep, we packed up the kids, packed up the car and headed to Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

We got there just before a show was about to start, and waited for a good 20 minutes. Boy those 20 minutes were long with 2 young kids!

Mack entertained us. Cute as always.

I love his gorgeous blue eyes.

The show finally started.

The dolphins were very entertaining.

After the show we went to pet and feed Beluga Whales. Sean got to go first.

And then it was my turn. Her name is Jubilee.
She was much less slippery than I expected her touch to be.

Mack then took a quick nap.

I took Sean on his very first ride ever. It went high up and spun in circles. I was trying to keep myself from getting sick, but had to keep yelling out encouraging things like "YEY" "GO SEAN!" "WOOHOO", so that he'd stay positive. My sister-in-law was 2 carts in front of us, and saw Sean's face and wasn't sure if he was white as a ghost or just shocked. In the end he said he had a good time, but I'm almost certain he peed in his diaper.

Then the big boys wanted to go on The Scremer. It went high up and then dropped. Back up, and then dropped again, and then one more time back up and dropped again. I stayed at the bottom with both my kids and my in-laws and worked on Clapotis. They were gone a good 30-45 minutes. I had to stop knitting though when Sean decided he wanted to get na.ked right there at the bottom of the entrance to the ride. He literally took off all his clothes and diaper too. (Though he needed a diaper change, so that was done at the same time). Silly kid. Undressing in public. Has your child done this?? Is this normal for a two and a half year old to want to run around... au naturel? He's been going through a phase of wanting to get undressed and dressed by himself. We encourage it 100%. And he's pretty good at both dressing and undressing himself. Though, I don't really encourage him to do this in public.... at an amusement park nonetheless...

Mackie enjoying some chill time under a tree.

Today I got to enjoy my first ice cream in over 6 months. It was freakin' delicious. I'd been wanting a soft vanilla for a while, but was saving it for my vacation. Yum!

Marineland was fun, and we headed back to my step-brother-in-law & his wife's house for supper. It was an hour's drive back to Mississauga. Jamie was keen to drive both ways today, so I got more knitting done in the car... Clapotis is coming along great. I should have a finished object maybe tomorrow! I can't wait to finish it already.

Had a great day today at Marineland. Worked on my tan, and being in the sun all day today I'm ready to crash. Running on no sleep practically. Crossing my fingers that Mack sleeps through the night tonight.