Ramblings of a Stay-at-Home Mom

So in continuation with the house renovations... In 2012, we finally decided to do some renovations to the front of the house. Namely the siding, windows and outside doors were to be done. Luckily we have a friend who does outside house work and was willing to help us rip off all the old siding. We're estimating that the siding on the house was the original siding, as it was wood siding. And it was starting to rot in some places. So it had to go. And besides, we needed to rip off the old siding in order to replace the windows. Win-win! Once the siding was off, the new windows and doors were installed. And then we had to wait until June 2013 in order to finish the siding. Everything else kind of ate into our budget. And once again, we are very lucky and fortunate to have one of Keith's brothers willing to help us with the siding. He's worked for a siding company before, so he knows what he's doing. And they got it done in 2 days! And guess what?? It looks like I have a B

I guess I've never really blogged about all the house renovations we've done since we've bought the place 4 years ago. Well, to start off, about 6-8 trees came off the property. 5 along in the front yard. There were two evergreen literally planted right next to each other, right next to the driveway, and they were starting to overtake some of the driveway. If we parked two cars there, one behind the other, you couldn't really see the second car because the branches of the tress blocked it. So they came down shortly after we bought the place in 2009, along with a couple other trees that were getting into the power lines and completely dead. GONE. Fast forward to 2012. There was a big stone deck in the back yard, but it was done improperly and starting to buckle. Turns out that they used sand underneath and didn't pack it down properly, hence the buckling. And since it was a complete eyesore, we decided to take it down. Keith did majority of the work as I was looking

Welcome to Project Life 2013 - Week 29 (July 14-20)  It was a bit crazy this week, so not lots of journaling, but some really awesome photos and memories!  Title card is from Project Life Baby Girl (didn't use it in Violet's album), with stickles in Lavender and my writing. Also included a grocery shopping receipt from Sobey's of my $150 grocery bill. Oops. Love the photo of the flower, the sunset and the clean kitchen! Summer Journal card is from Snap Studio. My biggest nephew turned 5 this week. Almost cried. He's getting so big and going to Kindergarten in the fall. The "You Are" sign I found somewhere on Pinterest I believe. And the one of shopping at IKEA? That photo is actually from our trip there in April, but Keith decided to have some photo editing it. Had to include it.

Welcome to Project Life 2013 - Week 28 (July 7-13)!  Again, not really a whole lot this week. Lots of photos, not a whole lot of writing. Which is still fine. Our life is getting documented, and that's all that matters.  The title card is from Project Life Baby Girl (it was left over after working on Violet's album). The Week 28 stickers are from a set that I got from the local dollar store. The date stickers are from Basic Grey. Filler card is from Snap Studio . The heart frame around Violet is from A Vegas Girl . The "Love this" on the park photo is from A Vegas Girl. The "love this" on the photo with Keith and Violet was done in A Beautiful Mess app. Everyday moments journal card is from Back to Paper .

    Violet having random fun on video

Welcome to Project Life 2013 - Week 27 (June 30 - July 6)!   Not much happened this week. It was the long weekend, so me and Keith had a Date Night while Violet was at my Dad's for the night. More playing at the Splash Park (yes, it's a weekly thing), lunch with Daddy at his work (deer steak and Caesar salad) and lots of snuggles as Violet got a fever from this heat wave that we have here.   Title card is from A Little Grace and Mercy's June Freebies . Digital alphas on there are Island of Misfit Toys.     Hello Date Night card is from Project Life Honey Kit . Stickers are from Basic Grey with my writing. AWESOME MOVIE!! I also have a klutz for a nephew.   Hello Week card is from A Little Grace and Mercy's June Freebies . Font is Catholic Schoolgirls.

Welcome to Project Life 2013 - Week 26 (June 23-29)! Not a lot went on this week. Just the usual of lots of family time, play dates at the Splash Park. Also got my Meme's secret recipe for her meat pie and a trip to the hospital for Violet. Title page is from the Project Life Honey Kit with the font Brick by Boring Brick. The filler card and the card with Violet's drawing is from Sn@p Studio . Hello Redhead is done in Stickles True Blue . The week's activities card is from Project Life Cherry Kit with my writing on there. Violet's hospital bracelet is on the back of a photo. I swear my kid is a clutz. The two bottom cards are from Project Life Cinnamon Kit .

So I've decided to start Violet on potty training. She'll be 2 in October, and I figured with it being summertime, why not? So far, so good. She is still wearing her diaper as we have mostly carpet in the house, but she has been saying "Pee!!" when she has to go. And when I ask her if she has to go potty, she goes to the bathroom. She also knows how to wipe herself without my help. Progress, right? I'll be picking up some training diapers today and then she'll wear them during the day and diapers at night. And hopefully she'll be trained by her birthday in October. Slow but steady progress, right?

I've recently found out that Steinbach has a Splash Park that is free for everyone 9-11am, Monday-Friday. As Violet is now old enough to enjoy these types of things, I figured that this summer would be a good time to bring her there. We started going 2 weeks ago (the day after our beach disaster) just so that she can get used to playing in the water. We arrived there shortly after 9 and it took her 30-45 minutes to be OK with playing in the water. I'd walk around with her in there, let her touch all the water. She'd want to go down to play a bit and then back in my arms, rinse, repeat. After the 30-45 minutes, Violet wanted down and she was fine for the remainder of the time there. She didn't go near any of the big kid sprays, stayed mostly in the little kid area, but she LOVED it. She actually threw a fit when we had to leave. We've been back at least once a week with this stupid heat that we've been having. And she's enjoyed it every single time. When we w

Welcome to Day in the Life for July 1, 2013. Yes I know. This is supposed to be on the last day of the month, but we were busy yesterday and with me working, I totally forgot. So here it is. Happy Canada Day!! Literally the time we got our butts out of bed. Violet spent the night at my Dad's place. Observations: 1) I didn't really write anything down. I have it all in my journal as part of my daily journaling, but that's it. I think it took some stress off the project to not take notes and just take more intentional photos throughout the day. 2) I shared some of the photos on my Instagram account with the hashtag #dayinthelife