Friday, May 22, 2015

Bit Your Tongue?

The kids are always stealing some sort of device to "capture moments" - also known as "waste memory space". Yesterday, unbeknownst to me, Kenna videotaped Brooks on the tablet, throwing up peanuts and catching them in his mouth. I guess he'd done a bunch, and so she had him display the trick. Only this time - yes, he caught it - but bit his tongue afterwards.

The look on his face, and him holding his tongue was moments before he burst into tears. Kenna comforted him by assuring him we caught it all on tape (although she cut it off right before the waterworks started). We showed him the video - I thought he might get upset that we were laughing at him and not with him, as he is typically very sensitive about anything having to do with his non-existent pain threshold. Watching his own face and reaction totally cracked him up. He laughed so hard, and said, "we gotta put this on youtube!" LOL.

We showed Daddy, who also died laughing. So, be careful - catching peanuts means you might bite your tongue!
 

Monday, May 18, 2015

Kids and Cameras

Here are a few memories of Grandma's house, as captured by the camera thieves that are my children:-)

The trailer we all wish wasn't there:-)


Daddy, through a screen:-) Securing our cabinets for the long ride home


The balconies

Looking down from the third floor

Top floor






Meghan's old room

Brian's old room (I'll assume the doll house was a recent addition, haha:-)

The kitchen

The...house:-)

Kitchen



Stairs to the basement













New York Trip

New York! We took a last minute surprise trip up north this past weekend. The trip had a couple different purposes...

A few weeks ago Brian was having his daily conversation with his bestie, Josh - who said "Hey, my Dad's 60th is coming up, why don't you come?" To which Brian said "Hahaha, no". Just too far to drive for something like that...

But then we were able to buy a ton of really nice KraftMaid cabinets from Dad B's store (Lowes) for $160!! (A massive discount). The only "problem" with that is that we had to go get them (for our kitchen remodel at the Willow house). As Brian was coordinating with his Dad on the best time to get the cabinets, he realized the timing would coordinate perfectly with the party.

So we kept our whereabouts off of social media so that we could surprise Josh by being at the party for his Dad. We actually coordinated with his wife to pick him up from the train station, as he was coming in from NYC. That was a really great surprise. Those two have an incredible bond, and in so many ways are exactly the same, and yet in so many others completely different. (If you don't know who I'm talking about, you can see him in Brian's birthday video here)

I was actually not planning to go, and just sending Brian and the kids, but it worked out for me last minute, due to a kind friend graciously taking Sonny & May for me.

#HockeyHair and #TheGingerBeardMan - they'll always be the best of friends. And they're lucky they know me - because I am great at assigning hair-based hashtags, am I not? :-D

So, we kinda had to squish. Brian brought his work truck so we could bring back the cabinets...but it was definitely a tight ride.



So we drove all day Thursday, the party was on Friday, a brunch (party related) on Saturday, and then driving home on Sunday. It felt a lot busier than it sounds, somehow:-)

The party was great - It was a wonderful reflection on a life lived well, and a man who is well loved by all. The story of his life is one of those "this will never end well" types - But then, God. It's like David against Goliath. The probable outcomes are not in your favour. But you can never disregard the magnitude of what God can do with willing hearts.

Their family (minus Debbie, their Mom...she was talking too much and didn't make the pic:-) Tracey, Glory, Dana, Jaime, Bob, Keely, Hannah and Josh
They are a very musical bunch. Josh wrote and sang a song for our wedding, which was one of the most special things ever! So naturally, the party was full of great music! Both Glory and Josh wrote songs for their Dad. They are both amazing - and I'll link them here. Josh's song is called I'll Give You Me, and is set to pictures of their family. Glory's I taped live, and unfortunately my memory card was too full, and I wasn't able to catch the whole thing. It was so beautiful though. You can watch & listen - you won't regret it.

Josh's song

Glory's song

So while in the mountains we had a little outdoor fun. Usually, when we go there, on our way to Toronto, Brian is not with us - having him there is significantly more fun:-)

So Daddy took the kids on a hike, and they took a few pictures:-) Apparently they were talking non-stop, so they didn't get to see any animals
 The Catskill mountains are very beautiful!
 When they got back, I asked Grey if they saw anything - and he said "Yes! We saw a golf course in nature!" A miracle, really:-)
They ended their hike by coming out on the main road, and there is the back hole of a nearby golf course there.


These city kids are hilarious - lacking any and all experience with "the wild". They learned how to cross a creek for the first time in their lives this weekend.


Daddy brought us by Shinglekill Falls - he used to jump off the falls into the water below - actually quite a bit bigger of a drop than it appears in the pics! Scary!


Crossing the very cold creek water!
Brian has moved MANY times in his life time. This was one house he lived in, in Coxsackie. We drove by when on our way to the Dufek family brunch. He pointed out where he used to play baseball and hockey (he lived here from 12 to 15 yrs old approx, he said)

Brian was snuggling Grey into bed on Saturday night, and Grey told him "This house is very broken and old" Oh really? "It has cracks everywhere" Haha!! We love the beautiful post and beam - but I guess Grey wasn't as impressed:-)

We had fun on our quick trip! Here's a video that is mostly only of interest to the kids, but the first few mins are fun - riding the "Chickabumps" and getting attacked by a large goose!

Monday, May 11, 2015

DIY: How to make a Jamberry template

Well, I'm pretty much sold! I do love Jamberry! If you've never heard of it, it's basically a very sticky sticker you apply to your nails. They last for 1 to 2 weeks before needing to be removed - but they look great the whole time! No chips or anything! They are $15 per sheet (or 4 sheets for $45), and you get 4 manicures per sheet. (This is US cost, it costs more in Canada). This is definitely cheaper than paying for manicures, but more money than painting your nails with polish. The advantage though, over polish, is the fact that you don't have to keep on doing it day after day. The other advantage, as you apply them, is that you can do them one at time - and take a break and come back to it, with no drying time. That's a huge bonus for a mom, for sure! I've been using Jamberries for about 2 years now.

Anyway, they come precut on a sheet - to fit all nail sizes - in order to get 4 manicures from each sheet, I need to trim down some of the larger ones that don't fit my nails. I've found this awkward and somewhat difficult. I decided to come up with a better way.

If your nails do not fit their pre-cut sizes precisely, this is how you can trim your sheet, in a fairly timely manner. Making this set of templates probably took me 30 minutes beginning to end, but I'll never have to do it again, and will always be able to easily trim my sheets.
Clear packing tape. Stick it to your nail, and trace the shape/size of your nail

Keep them in order I have Pinky through Thumb. Stick the packing tape to a sheet of transparency paper. This is available from office supply stores, but I had some in my craft supplies.

I took my nails templates and lined them up over a Jamberry sheet and traced the whole thing

Cut them out. Leave one side longer and untrimmed, and round the other end precisely. I only needed 4, as two of my nails are exactly the same size.

Take some paper, cut it to fit the squared end, and label it for the finger, (either 1 - 5, or initials for Pinky, Index, Ring etc), and then peel off your packing tape from the transparency.

Stick some packing tape down on the paper. Apply it fitted neatly to the top of the template, and fold over. Cut off all excess tape. Do this for each of the 5 templates.

Punch a hole in the top of the paper size of the templates.

All done! 
Now I can quickly trace these templates onto a sheet of Jamberries, and trim the sheet up to fit my nails, so I have no waste on the sheet, and am able to get a full 4 set of nails!