Hats, Sickies and Dragonfly Dreams

Cailin has had a cold now for over a month. It got worse, and she developed a bad cough. I phoned and luckily got both kids in to see the doc right away. Cailin has a throat/lung infection and Carter has a bad throat infection. Thank goodness his ears were okay. Poor Carter doesn't say much when he's sick, and he's been super snuggly.

They are both on antibiotics, and a different kind for each. Cailin is still quite sick, but Carter seems to be on the mend. She missed a week of preschool and I hope she can go next week.

I woke up feeling quite sick myself yesterday morning. I hope we can all get better soon now.

The weather is turning. It's been too cold to go for runs outside so I've been using the indoor walking track. Proud to say I've been jogging my 5 kms without stopping or walking. At times it's very slow jogging, but I'm getting faster in general.

I took Cailin with me the last time, and we had a riot running around, having races and drinking out of the fountain. Then we went to the indoor playground (and we were the only ones there!) and shot a few hoops in the toddler basketball area in the court. We had a really fun afternoon.

My hat business has really taken off in the last while. I'm working on a couple huge orders and there's still more coming everyday. I'm finding it very exciting to work with customers and on new items.

I also have big news! A local gift shop in Beaverlodge is now selling my hats. It's called Dragonfly Dreams, and they now proudly carry items by Sock Monkey Hats & More. I am so excited to see my hats on display there! They want me to bring in new items as soon as possible too. Coming soon - Beaver hats! I'm going to need more brown yarn....

In other news, Bailey has an ear infection again. Poor dog. As soon as I got the drops out, she ran for the hills. She also seems to be on the mend.

Ryan and Cailin cleaned up the yard and put all the toys away for winter. That's always such a sad part of the year. But we are excited for Halloween, and Cailin is beyond excited for Christmas. She keeps telling us Santa is going to bring her a red train and a big toy for Buddy.

Pictures: I'm writing this on my phone, so the pictures all go to the bottom and I'm not sure there's a way to change that.

Anyhoo, one is me with my haircut. One is the panda bear hat I made for a customer, I think it's the cutest hat I've ever made. One is Cailin "showering" in the bathroom sink.

Then the one where the kids were chasing a spider around in the tub. They were both totally enthralled by it and there was lots of giggling. At one point Cailin had enough. "I squishet with the shampoo and stuffed it down the drain, mommy." She's going to be a hunter someday I think.

Birthdays and Thanksgivings

On Saturday we went to two birthday parties and had Thanksgiving dinner with some cool relatives - cousins of my dad's, but we grew up calling them uncle and auntie.

Carter slept through most of the first party, but as it was just across the street it was pretty easy to go grab him when when he woke up. He played around the other kids and had a good time. Cailin had a blast with the balloons of course. She gets along with Hayden (the birthday boy) really well and they had fun, especially playing with his new toys.

I made the cake and cupcakes for this party and didn't get a picture of the finished product for some reason. I will have to get one emailed to me. The cake was a hilly scene with blacktop and a fire engine on top. The cupcakes were made in ice cream cones and looked just like chocolate soft serve. Cherry cake with chocolate icing makes a great kids' cake, and I'll be using that tasty combo again in the future.

So after a delicious hot dog and some messy cake, I herded the kids home and got them cleaned up for party number two. We were fashionably late getting there, but Cailin didn't waste any time, chasing her cousin's Yorkie Willow around in the backyard and making friends with the other kids immediately. I can't believe what a difference going to preschool has made. She is no longer shy around other kids.

We had a wonderful time. Cailin and her cousin Alex (short for Alexandra, the birthday girl) got to know each other a bit and started playing. They are both three now. I can't believe how fast they are growing up!

We had a quick jaunt to the park after turkey dinner (which was fabulous) and the girls had a blast. Alex loves the swings and Cailin loves the slide. When we got back, Carter was being a pooper, trying to play on the stairs. He had a good time too, and snuggled with uncle Randy and auntie Bonny.

Eventually both kids tired out and fell asleep, an unprecedented event in our (short succinct) travels. So we got in a nice long visit while they snoozed. We all had so much fun, can't wait to visit and have another play date soon.

On Sunday we got a big bag of potatoes and headed out to the farm to see Nana and Papa.

Ryan and Papa winterized our trailer (booooo!) and Nana burned leaves and yard waste while Cailin cruised around in the police car and Carter crawled all over the yard.

Papa made deep fried pickles, potatoes and turkey for dinner. Deep fried pickles are delicious! I had no idea how good they are, or how extremely addicting. The potatoes turned out like restaurant style potatoes and were also delicious. Deep fried turkey is also very tasty so we had a great meal.

Cailin slept through dinner, then got up and wreaked havoc on the household until what I assume was a very late hour. She talked Papa into letting her stay over.

Carter chatted to us all the way home and took forever to fall asleep too. He had a fun time too.

Another Thanksgiving weekend is drawing to a close. I'm so thankful for my husband, our children, our health and wealth, and our families, near and far, blood-related or not. We love all of you.

Gym Photos and Stuff

I absolutely love this picture of Carter from his first birthday party.  He ate a TON of cake.  GG kept sneaking over and removing great big hunks of it from his tray when he wasn't looking.  Just so he didn't get a bellyache.  He also had recently had a haircut.  I can't believe he'll be fourteen months tomorrow.  He's getting to be such a big boy!

Last Tuesday I woke up and decided it was time to cut my hair.  I'd been thinking about it for a few weeks and it was time to do it.  I always grow it out to about this length (middle of my back) and end up getting it all cut off.  Why? Well, it grows super fast so I don't worry about it too much.  It took three years to grow it from a pixie cut to the middle of my back.  Also, it was way too heavy and giving me headaches all the time from being pulled back into a bun or ponytail.  Not conducive to being in the pool and working out.  I called my hairdresser and she had one spot left, so off I went.  I donated my pony tail to the Cancer Society.

It gave me a start to see my hair all chopped off like that!  I picked up that pony tail and it was really heavy.  I'm so happy to think that maybe a little girl will be wearing a wig made of it.  I got a reverse bob kind of cut - much like Kelli's.  I'm loving it, though my natural curl really has a mind of it's own in the back.  Well, like they say - 'party in the back'.  Although I'm sure they're referring to mullets.  Hmm.  At any rate, I will post a picture of my new 'do when I get one I like.  I also booked the kids appointments for this week.  Cailin was, and continues to be really put out by my new hair.  She was horrified initially, and keeps asking me when I'm going to wear my old hair again.  I told her a little girl who is very sick and doesn't have any hair is wearing it.  She figures that's nice, but she should give it back soon.

This morning we had to run out of the house quick to get their haircuts.  Cailin got her bangs and hair trimmed up all nice, and Carter got his hair trimmed all over (looks just like the above photo).  They were both so good.  Cailin got up in the chair and sat by herself for her haircut.  So did Carter!  I was surprised when my hairdresser said to put him up there by himself, but he enjoyed it.  Don't worry, I hung onto him for safety!  He said it tickled around his ears, but he doesn't mind the clippers or haircut in the least.  Cailin demanded a sucker and we were on our way.  Not too bad, considering she was up well past midnight last night (they are both fighting a head cold at the moment.  Carter prefers to sleep through his cold, Cailin likes to be awake through hers).

The gymnastics club hires a photographer to come around and take pictures of the kids in action.  I was so excited to see Cailin's pictures, and I wasn't disappointed.  For the slightly inflated price of $93, I got a picture CD of her enjoying two separate sessions.  Naturally, one was the day her father dressed her and she had rubbed a great mass of toothpaste in her hair as 'hair gel'.  Heh.  The other session she dressed herself.

This kid is a prodigy on the trampoline.  She is light years ahead of the other kids in her class, and jumps so high it's borderline scary for her poor mother who's not supposed to be watching (but perhaps sneaks in and hides behind a pole to watch anyway).

The uneven bars are also a favorite.  She jumps to grab the bar and swings her little heart out, then lets go and lands it every time.

I am so proud of my gorgeous girl.  She barely let out a whimper when I dropped her off in class today.    She's really enjoying preschool in the classroom, and of course she's always loved the gymnastics part.

While she's at school, I take Carter and head over to the multiplex part of the building.  We go to the walking track with our fancy new jogging stroller, have lunch and go to the indoor playground.  He is tolerant of the walking track, and had a snooze today.  Lunch is always fun with him, he talks and laughs and smiles at people.  Sometimes we play on the basketball court if there's toddler play time.  He loves to crawl in the big open space!

Today I managed to jog the entire 5km on the walking track.  Some of it was really slow jogging, but it was jogging nonetheless!  I love my iPhone with all the running/health/calorie counting apps I have on it.  What a great tool in this weight loss effort.  I can chart my progress and see how fast/slow I was going during my run.  I did 101km in September!

Things are getting super busy with my home business.  I decided to let my website expire, and won't be renewing it.  It's a shame to lose the ability for my customers to pay by credit card, but I found the website too hard to keep updated.  It required constant care and attention to keep current and I simply don't want to spare the time I could be using to make the items (or dinner, or play with the kids etc.) on maintaining it.  So far it's been a huge relief to be 'rid of it' and I'm not missing it at all.

I'm now making diaper cakes, and have added rag quilts to my items that I'm selling.  Also going to be doing a ton of mittens this year, I can tell.  And earwarmers!  I'm extremely happy being able to work out of my home, and this year I'm making it manageable with the kids' schedule.  I will only be taking so many orders before Christmas and that will help a lot.

Speaking of Christmas.  Cailin and I decorated the house for Halloween yesterday.  She is super excited to go trick-or-treating this year.  Hopefully Carter is walking by then, he'll have a great time too!