Winding down for summer

It's hard to believe that it's still technically the spring. Most people are probably gearing up for summer and planning vacations and such, but it's a little different around here. We've had quite a few weekends away in the late spring (Toronto, Windsor, the cottage, camping), and I've probably got about one more in me before I need to start staying close to home. I'm trying to be careful not to promise the girls anything about trips to the park or splash pad, because we don't know what life will be like once there's a newborn in the mix.

It's equally surprising to me that D's first year of school is drawing to a close. It seemed to go by really quickly, even with the long, drawn-out winter and many days of trudging to and from the bus stop. I'm amazed at how much she's learned this year; at Christmas, I was helping her write cards to her teachers with connect-the-dots, and by Valentine's Day, she could write each of her classmates' names! Her numbers are coming along, and counting and all that. I'm probably most excited about her increased use of French; that's something I was never able to enforce, but she is so pleased to be able to communicate, even minimally, in another language. She's quite looking forward to attending play group again in the summer (again, no promises post-baby!).

Most of all, I've been pleasantly surprised by how fast this pregnancy has sped by, despite how inappropriately early I found out about Sesame. Of course, by this point, I'm getting rather uncomfortable, but I'm trying to relax and enjoy the last few weeks of having two kids on the outside, as it were. As we settle into summer, I'm very excited to meet this new little person and savour what will likely be my last newborn. Consequently, I've got some knitting to finish up, because who knows where I'll find the time once we've got three little ones under the age of 4!

Dress for thing 1, finished in May

Dress for thing 2, finished in June

Some of my favourite people

Stains begone!

M wore her current favourite dress to play group today, and in the thirty seconds that it took me to sign us in, she had managed to get blue paint on it. Just after spinning around and proudly announcing to Madame Cathy that her papa got her the dress for Christmas. D's had a few instances of getting paint on her clothes, usually just t-shirts, and I've never been able to get it out. M probably wouldn't care if her pink dress kept its new blue abstract design (the orange is from her mac and cheese lunch), but I wanted to see if I could make it look as good as new.

After a brief search, I decided to try out simple household items as stain removers, and if necessary I'd move on to some kind of bleach. My search results turned up encouraging phrases like "since tempera paints are dye-based, stains are notoriously difficult to remove", and brand names like Tide, Oxy-clean, and Shout, so I didn't have high hopes for my first efforts. I'm not the best at removing stains, and my general policy is to throw it in the wash right away and hang it in the sun to dry. This works well enough, and the girls aren't too bothered by the odd mark.

 I filled the sink with cold water and a generous splash of vinegar, then wet the stain with a bit of plain water and rubbed some baking soda in, making a paste. Into the sink it went, and it soaked there for an hour or two. I went in to check on it and was delighted to see this:

The paint actually came off! And with minimal effort.

In these years of having small children, I suspect there will be an ongoing theme of stain removal from clothing and other fabrics. I've been experimenting with this ever since I learned that bananas, avocados, cherries, and sweet potato can cause irreversible damage to cherished outfits. And in the event that I can't remove a given stain from an article of clothing, I'll have to learn not to get attached to material things, no pun intended. For today, I count this a small victory and one more idea to add to my bag of tricks.

Inclement weather two-in-one activity

How disappointed we were with the weather today! Cold, gray, threatening to rain. Even yesterday was a bit cold for the park, although we went anyway. Today, that was not an option. Hubby did have to work, but not until late in the morning, so I had a long, lovely bath before my day really got started. He got the girls a fancy breakfast of crepes, which they top only with granulated sugar. Weirdos.

I had just over an hour til lunch, so I set the girls up with two of their favourite activities, which go rather nicely together. First, painting:

 I dole out a small amount of paint (keeping dark colours minimal for M; as you can see, she goes straight to mixing), and give them giant colouring pages or white paper, sponges and paintbrushes, smocks. This will keep them happy for up to half an hour, depending on how many papers they get.

While they are painting, I clear the countertop areas around the sink, and fill each sink with warm soapy water. When the girls finish, we pop all the sponges and paintbrushes (and plates, if I don't use paper ones) in the sink, along with some measuring cups and spoons. If I have enough presence of mind, I put a big towel on the floor under their chairs, and hang a dishtowel on the back of one chair. This will occupy them for quite a length of time, and takes care of the worst of the clean-up.

Whether it's super hot or cool and rainy this summer following Sesame's arrival, this is likely a combination of activities I'll use often. I could see it working best for times when I need to sit and nurse, and the girls need something to keep them from going stir-crazy. Poor kids, there probably won't be as many park outings as they'd like. We'll do what we can.

So simple, a child can do it!

I've been thinking about the kinds of life-changing events that are based on choices we make, and how different those events can look. Take a marriage, for instance; typically, you take several months (or weeks, or years, depending on the engagement) ironing out the details of the wedding day, choosing what you're going to wear, how you're going to celebrate, etc. After the wedding, there is so much to get used to: moving in and setting up a house or apartment, living with this new spouse, figuring out how to mesh what each of you considers normal, deciding who will take on what responsibilities, and so on. For a baby, planned or not, it's quite different. You get as prepared as you can, but unless you're having a C-section, you don't actually know the day your child will arrive. And afterwards, it's even more of an adjustment than marriage, because you are entirely responsible for a tiny helpless creature, and if you're the one who gave birth to it, your body is also recovering.

Our darling girl D made a life-changing decision last night. It's something we've been praying for ever since she was born. Unlike a wedding or a birth, there aren't any material gifts that come along with it, but the intangible reward is eternal. On her own, she asked how she could put her trust in Jesus. I talked with her about it, to make sure she understood what she was doing. She knows that she is a sinner, and that her wrong actions, words, attitudes, separate her from God who is so holy that he can't be around sin. She understands that God's people used to sacrifice animals to say sorry for their sins, but that Jesus was the perfect and final sacrifice, because he came and lived a perfect, sinless life and died a sacrificial death to pay the penalty for our sins. And now, anyone who believes that he died and rose again, can live to please God on earth, and go to heaven when they die. So it was that last night, she prayed and asked Jesus to be her Saviour.

Hubby and I are overjoyed that she has made this decision at such a young age. Appropriately, it was on Palm Sunday, when the crowds shouted Hosanna (save us now) to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem for the Passover. It was also a child dedication Sunday at church, when families present their children and the church pledges with them to bring them up in the knowledge of the Lord, praying that they will accept Christ as soon as they are able to understand. D's own dedication was almost exactly four years ago. Praise God for providing salvation for sinners, and for making it simple enough for a child to grasp!

D's dedication day, May 2010

Marching right along

Not surprisingly, we aren't going anywhere for March break. Hubby's work and school schedule are starting to get hectic, and the weather has only just turned mild, so it's a great week for a staycation. I had a number of things in mind that I wanted to do with D off school this week, and the girls have been really enjoying themselves! Here's what we've gotten up to.

Friday: Playdate with a friend of D's from school, who conveniently has a sister the same age as M (and was actually in M's swimming class, which wrapped up on Thursday). They played indoors and outdoors a bit after lunch, and M fell asleep in the car on the 10-minute drive home!

Saturday: Amazing day. My family will laugh their heads off over this, as I was never a big fan of downhill skiing. After not being able to ski up at my parents' cottage in February, I was keen to get D out at least once this year. There's a ski hill only half an hour from our house, and kids under 6 are free, so we went with my dad on Saturday morning. It went incredibly well. Both girls ended up skiing, I think, close to 10 runs. Last year D made it down the hill twice, it was so cold. On Saturday, it was just above zero, which was perfect for all of us to be outdoors. We did have to get rentals, so that took awhile. It was so worth it to see how much they loved skiing! We went inside for hot chocolate and snacks, and I was expecting them to be pretty much done. My dad asked D if she wanted to go back out, and she did! And to our surprise, so did M! That was lucky, because that was when the ski hill's mascots came out, and M got to hug and high five them, and ride up behind them on the magic carpet. On D's last run, she skiied down next to my dad, holding his hand. I cheered and took video of almost every run.

Once we got home and had lunch, everyone went down for naps. Hubby was kind and allowed me some extra sleep by taking the girls down to play in the basement after they woke up. So then I could be kind and make black bean quinoa burgers with honey oat buns and sweet potato fries for dinner. I had already started the elaborate two-hour prep when Hubby came upstairs to ask what I was making. When I told him, he said that was exactly what he was going to ask for! Despite the long prep and cooking time, it's one of our favourite meals. Surprising for a picky eater.

Sunday: Hubby stayed home for the day to work on one of his courses; the girls and I went to church, then met up with my parents and drove to a local horse farm where they had a buffet breakfast and sleigh rides! They only run this on Sundays from February til Easter, and again the weather was perfect.We went back to my parents' for the afternoon and stayed for a lovely steak dinner. The girls were so delighted to have Grandma home! And of course to see Grandpa again.

Today: We took our sweet time getting up and ready for the day, and the girls even slept in a bit! That was due to the time change, I think, or maybe the later bedtimes recently. We had baking powder biscuits and kiwis for breakfast, and headed out to a nearby mall for their free March break kids' program. The girls decorated paper Egyptian necklaces and bracelets with markers, glue, and sequins, ate fortune cookies, and D participated in the group yoga exercises. They're doing different activities every day this week, but this was the only morning we could have made it, so I'm glad we did. After quiet time, we'll be going over to my parents' again, this time for a sleepover! Our March break is off to a solid start.

Getting started

Magic carpet selfie

D collapses from exhaustion/silliness; M assumes a judgy expression

Aaaaand she's out

Happy Shrove Tuesday!

I am usually an enthusiastic participant when it comes to Shrove Tuesday, although I don't follow it up by observing Lent. I mostly enjoy the breakfast-for-dinner aspect, and the proximity to Easter and spring. (Do we still get spring in this part of the country? It seems unlikely at this point in time, but that may be the daily walks to the bus stop talking. I so preferred hibernating!)

My lucky mom remains in Toronto with the new grandson, who we met this weekend and is absolutely perfect and gorgeous and gaining weight at an unbelievable speed and didn't pee on me once during the three diaper changes I administered. So, tonight we will feast with my dad. The usual spread includes fruit salad, sausages, orange juice and pancakes (plain or blueberry). Gourmande that I am, I wanted to eat pancakes more than once today, so we had Smitten Kitchen's carrot cake pancakes for lunch! They took a little while to cook, but were they ever worth it. I then made the mistake of perusing her site a bit longer, and now have several cravings to add to the growing list.

That's cream cheese icing, and a little bit of maple syrup for dipping. I may have eaten a cookie for dessert. No one will be surprised if I birth another giant baby.

The other thing I appreciated about today was that, for the first time since she started school, I did not have to pack a snack for D today. (I know, I know, I haven't even had to pack daily lunches yet!) They had pancakes at school. I love the Catholic board!

Another recent special event at school was Crazy Hair Day, which D explained could also be Pretty Hair Day, and she asked me to curl her hair. By the time she got off the bus, the curls had settled into waves. In case you're wondering, she does dress herself.

Year of No New Yarn 2.0

To recap, here's the yarn I started out with:

And here's what I have today:

Plus this. (The Wool-Ease was purchased for me, the beige was a gift, and the gold and navy were bought in January. All legit.)

Now, let's see what that yarn turned into. Starting with big things.

Sweaters:

 Mum-in-law's mohair sweater, finished in January.

 My Blackberry cardigan, finished in April.

Hubby's Old-Man Cardy, finished this week.

M's Delilah dress, finished in September.

D's Kindergarten cardigan, finished in July

D's Whirligig Shrug, finished in May

Mom's Tangled Ribs, finished in May (despite appearances here; my mom wears it a lot, just never when I have a camera around)

Socks:

Mom's Jaywalkers, finished in January

Diana's Striped socks (pre-washing and blocking, hence the distorted look), finished in May

Now, some smaller accessories:

Rachel's Fingerless gloves (above, finished in February for her birthday) and a braided headband to match (below, finished in August). 

Gryffindor hat for baby Griffin, finished in April

Lucas' football hat, finished in February

 

Hubby's Koolhaas hat, finished in March.

 

D's bow headband, finished in October

 

Cottage dolls, finished in July, moved to their new home a few weeks ago.

 

Then there was that bunch of finishing I did for the late Frances. I didn't manage to take before and after pictures for everything, but here's what it typically looked like:

In all, there were five things I finished. That green dress at the bottom was the trickiest; there was only one sleeve knit, so I had to figure out the gauge and the pattern and replicate it.

 

 

 

I sewed a bit this year, or gave the illusion of doing so. Here are tutus I made for the girls, which are now quite ratty, but looked splendid when they were freshly finished.

 

I made two of these bow-tie onesies, one for a cousin and one for a friend. I guess I should add one for my new nephew!

Not pictured in the knitting roundup: 

-two sets of Aviatrix hats and bootees (one in gray, one in green)

-two Baby Sophisticates (one in Hudson Bay colours, one in pink)

-two pairs of gray fingerless gloves with pullover caps (one for Hubby, one for my brother)

-a beard hat

-Hubby's black socks

-a pair of fingerless pullover gloves and eternity scarf for my crafty gift exchange recipient, Sarah 

-two cabled hats (a red one for a little guy named Zach, and a purple one for me)

I'm pretty sure I knit more this year than I did in 2010, on my last year of no yarn. And that was when I only had D to look after! I'm very pleased with what I was able to accomplish, and with the bit of space I've gained from condensing the yarn stash. I have plans for some of what's left, including sending some off to the thrift store. I figure if I've had it for more than two years and I haven't made something of it, I'm not likely to.

The very first things for which I bought yarn in 2014 have been baby sweaters, and that trend will definitely continue. I have my nephew to consider, and my own baby, as well as about half a dozen others that are due this year. My next yarn ban will have to wait for a couple of years, I think!