The Schroeders' Dandy Life

New blog! Update your bookmarks.

2011-03-26T22:45:00.001-06:00

We've decided that the "envirostudent" blog address may be a little dated, so we're changing things up. This has become mostly a photo blog, so we're going to give Tumblr a try. Come visit us and post your comments at our new blog:

www.fuzzypicklecheese.com

Snowman

2011-03-01T23:24:00.001-07:00

Building her first snowman, with Grandma.

Where we live, generally it's too cold, too windy, or the snow is too dry to have much fun in the snow. :) Paisley loved the mild temperatures so she could go out and play.

Skating with the Hurricanes

2011-02-14T06:00:00.001-07:00

Remember Paisley's first time skating? We propped her up on the Lethbridge Hurricanes' bench for a photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdschroeder/4165359958)

Yesterday was the Hurricanes' family skate, so we got another bench shot, this time posing with Hurricane defenceman Reid Jackson. It's not as fun an angle on the shot, but there were a lot more people milling about this time.

Paisley's Valentine's Outfit

2011-02-13T19:20:00.001-07:00

Paisley asked me for a new skirt for heart day. One she could twirl in. So I took her to the fabric store, and we picked out some fabric. Of course I procrastinated til the night before, but I got it done in time for her v-day party with her friends:

Paisley's first card

2011-01-22T12:16:00.001-07:00

Paisley loves crafting... usually I set her up in my craft room with markers and her stamps and lots of paper... (we go through A LOT of paper at our house).

This morning I was making a card for her friend who's turning 2 (party this afternoon) and she decided she wanted to make Libby a card too. I'm impressed with her card making skills. I only helped her with a bit of writing, and a bit of glueing.

We did get a fat lip in the process though.

Paisley's Room

2011-01-05T19:49:00.001-07:00

I totally keep forgetting to take pictures of Paisley's room. She loves her room.. and asks every night if she gets to sleep under the tree. :) Here's a few shots of her room.. still have a few things I need to finish in it (her quilt, some canvas paintings, a button bouquet and a bird... a birdhouse with no bird is just wrong.. so I'm told).

Here you can see the tree, and the grass that goes the perimeter of the room:

Here you can see some of the flowers.. I think there was 18 or 19 in total:

Close up of the tree, and the birdhouse, and the carving in the tree:

Close up of some of the flowers:

A few of her friends:

A majority of the time she has her table set, and a whole bunch of friends sitting around it... constantly have tea and deserts with her stuffed animals and princess dolls.

Sneak Peek

2010-12-21T01:01:00.001-07:00

Since I've shut down Barefoot Creations for the holidays, I've had all this wonderful free time! I've been baking like crazy, my house is actually STAYING clean, and I'm finding time for other projects! When you consider I spend 6-12 hours/day on Barefoot Creations stuff, it's a huge amount of time I have, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the break.

With the baby on the way, I gave Paisley a choice between staying in her room.. or moving to the room across the hall (a little smaller). She didn't hesitate and said the baby can have her room, and she'll have the other room. :) She even started hauling her stuff over there (but I had to tell her "not yet").

Since she's so eager, I thought I'd get on prepping it for her. I decided I was going to paint an accent wall in it before she moved in... so I set out to do that on Sunday. But once I started, I decided to paint all the walls. Then Sunday night I decided I wanted to paint a very small mural, just below he built in bookcase. I got a little carried away..... here's a sneak peek:

I'm REALLY enjoying this project. I forgot how much I loved painting, drawing, etc. I miss art... sewing, papercrafting and crocheting have become my arts.. but I miss the other parts of it.

I painted for 5 hours tonight, got A LOT more done than I thought I would.... and I just kept adding more and more. There's a few more things I'd like to add tomorrow, plus a little more detail.

I will take more pictures once Paisley is moved into her room.... which won't be til after Christmas.

I'll finish painting tomorrow night, and then we have guests coming on Wednesday until after Christmas. Then she can move in there. She's going to be so excited!

Hi, I have an announcement...

2010-12-18T09:53:00.001-07:00

On July 4th

I'm going to be a big sister!

Saltine Toffee

2010-12-17T09:35:00.001-07:00

This is one everyone knows.. but I've had a few requests for it this year. It's an old old recipe.

Saltine Crackers

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

..................

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line cookie tray (jelly roll type... with edges) with tin foil, and spray with non-stick spray

Lay the bottom of the tray with saltine crackers... closely together, as few gaps as possible.

Melt butter and sugar together over medium heat on the stovetop.

When mixture comes to a rolling boil let boil for 2 minutes, stirring.

Pour mixture over crackers.

Bake in oven for 10 minutes (it will bubble up all nicely)

Remove from oven... let stand for 2 minutes.. then sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Spread the chocolate evenly over the top as they melt.

Sprinkle peanuts, or crushed up saltines on the top.

Put pan in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Break it up and enjoy!

(I might try to get a picture of these as well).

Cappuccino Crinkles

2010-12-17T09:26:00.001-07:00

This was a new recipe this year... and I think it's a winner:

1/3 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup cocoa

1 Tbsp instant coffee crystals

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

2 egg whites

1/3 low fat vanilla yogurt

1.5 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

................

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter on high speed for 30 secs.

Add brown sugar, cocoa and coffee, baking soda, cinnamon.

Beat until combined.

Beat in eggs and yogurt until combined.

Mix in as much flour as you can with the mixer (might have to do the rest by hand.... my mixer managed to mix it all though).

Place sugar in small bowl.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls, roll in sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, til edges are firm. Cool on cooling rack.

Makes about 32 cookies.

Recipe from 100 Best Cookie Recipes 2009

I may get around to posting a picture of these...

Christmas Baking

2010-12-14T00:15:00.001-07:00

Following the gingerbread house on Saturday, we decided to do a little Christmas baking. Paisley was anxious to help.

Her job: roll the cookies in crushed candy cane and place them on the trays.

At one point she combined several balls of dough to make a GIANT cookie.

... and then made a snowman.

Once all that was done, we watched the cookies bake.

We're saving some for friends and family, but we also sampled them (including Paisley's giant cookie).

Tamara will share the recipe for these cookies in the next few days.

Gingerbread House Building and Decorating

2010-12-12T20:00:00.001-07:00

We decided this year was the year to start making gingerbread houses. :) Paisley's really into helping with baking and decorating (and building and fixing), and pretty much everything. She's also very into posing and saying "CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE"

She was very good about using the candies as building materials rather than eating them, too. We snacked on leftovers when construction was complete.

Skating party

2010-12-05T23:12:00.001-07:00

Today was the annual U of L skating party at the Enmax Centre. This was our second year going; you may remember seeing photos of Paisley crying while skating, sitting, and visiting Santa last year.

Plenty more smiles this year. I'm convinced it's the skates:

We continue to work on the finer points of skating:

She's showing improvement with her balance and comfort on the ice every week. Of course it always ends up with "carry me ... go fast":

No crying for Santa this time around, but she was still pretty tentative:

And for good measure, Tamara took a nice photo of Mark and I, the CanesCast guys, at centre ice by the Hurricanes logos:

Date Pinwheel Cookies

2010-11-29T10:12:00.001-07:00

A family favourite at Christmas is Date Pinwheels. We all love them, and they're great to keep in the fridge, and slice and bake as you need them!!

Date Pinwheels

Date Filling:

Combine in a saucepan

2 cups chopped dates

2/3 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup water

Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens to spreading consistency. Stir constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Chill.

Cookie Dough:

Cream thoroughly

1 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar

Add

2 well beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Beat until light and fluffy.

Blend or sift together

2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Add dry ingredient to the creamed mixture and combine thoroughly. CHill dough until firm.

Divide chilled dough into three balls. Roll each to a 8 x 12 inch rectangle. Spread with date filling. Beginning at the narrow edge o each, roll up like jelly rolls. Wrap securely in waxed paper. Chill overnight or until needed.

To bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice off desired number of cookies, making each about 1;4 inch thick. (tip: roll the cookie roll as you cut, to avoid a flattened side) Place on greased baking sheets and bake in oven for 10-12 minutes.

Wrap remaining cookie dough and return to fridge. Because of date filling, all cookies should be baked within a week or 10 days, but you can throw the rolls in the freezer, and pull them out later (great for prepping well before Christmas, just pull out of freezer, and put in fridge for the week of Christmas).

Dressing up

2010-11-09T15:30:00.001-07:00

Paisley loves to play dress up. I think it's probably daily that she wears her tutu, as well as various hats, etc. One day about 2 months ago, I left Paisley playing downstairs while I was cleaning the bathrooms... about 10 minutes later she came up to find me, and asked me to put her wings on....

I came down about 5 minutes later to her declaring "I'm a FAIRY OWL PRINCESS, mommy!" As she was running around "flying." She cracks me up.

What happened during nap?

2010-11-05T00:03:00.001-06:00

A while ago (well 2 months ago), I went into Paisley's room after nap time to get her up, and found this on the floor:

I didn't think anything of it, got her up, and got her changed... then I noticed a that her butterfly pillow was a little deflated (ok, half deflated):

Looking around I didn't see anything.... so I asked her where the insides of the butterfly were....

She very proudly and eagerly ran to her play kitchen and opened 2 of the cabinets:

OH MY!

At least she told me where it was. I have yet to stitch it back up, and it remains in the basement... but oh my.

Usually she's not much of a mischief maker, only the rare occasion.

Seems lately that she is eager to give nap up. I send her for nap right after lunch, and she just plays up in her room for a couple hours. At least it's down time for her and me.... but it makes for a very cranky dinner hour :(

The couple times I've put on a show for her while I cook dinner after a no-nap afternoon, is when she crashes on the couch (almost unheard of for her). I usually let her help with dinner though.

Just too tuckered out

2010-11-04T10:42:00.001-06:00

Pirate Paisley

2010-11-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

Paisley got to go trick-or-treating for the first time this year (last year she got to collect some candy at the Hurricanes game, though). She dressed up as a pirate and we went up and town our street.

Pre-loading her bag with snap peas :)

The consensus: she makes a very cute pirate.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T06:00:00.000-06:00

We spent the day before Halloween carving up those pumpkins we picked up at the corn maze last week.

Paisley helped Mommy with cleaning out the pumpkins and separating the seeds. Mmmmmm, those will be tasty later on.

Then we got busy with the carving. Even Paisley's little pumpkin was turned into a jack-o-lantern.

She wanted it to be a happy jack-o-lantern.

We didn't go overboard with decorations this year, but along with the wreath and leaves, it does look seasonal and inviting.

Here's the whole pumpkin family. Mommy and Paisley made traditional jack-o-lanterns, while Daddy made a Drupal one. We even decorated some Veggie Tale gourds.

Ready for Tea

2010-10-30T09:18:00.001-06:00

Friends

2010-10-28T09:48:00.001-06:00

While in the BC Lower Mainland post-Mexico, Paisley and I took a road trip to visit some friends just south of the border. I've known Katie for almost 2 years now, via an online community, but this is the first time we actually met IRL (in real life).

We had such a blast.

Our girls were instant friends:

And Katie and I really enjoyed our visit:

And little Luke was adorable, and such a content little guy:

It was a great day! We went shopping at Joann's (so jealous of all my US friends), and Katie had picked me up some crafty stuff before the trip, and even let me ship an order to her :). We left a couple gifts behind too...

Corn Maze and Pumpkin Farm

2010-10-26T12:46:00.001-06:00

When we were in the BC Lower Mainland, following our Mexico trip, Dara and James took us to a pumpkin patch. Paisley loved it... and has been talking about pumpkin patches ever since. I let her choose 2 small pumpkins while we were there... one for her and one for Grandma

I've noticed that no grocery stores seem to be stocking pumpkins this year... so we found a farm that has a cornmaze and pumpkins, and thought we'd get our larger pumpkins.

There was a petting zoo.. but Paisley wouldn't go near any of the fences:

Then we did the mini hay bale maze:

Then into the large corn maze. We let Paisley lead for the first bit.

The goal was to reach the tower:

Paisley got a little tired of walking:

Rosy cheeks and bright nose:

They don't let you go right in the pumpkin patch.. we had to choose our pumpkins from the mounds of them in the barn.

I picked one, Josh picked one, and Paisley picked another one:

Then at the check out, they said it was 3 for $1, so we got a couple gourds too.

Pumpkin carving on Saturday!

Paisley at the park

2010-10-25T11:19:00.001-06:00

Another video of Paisley. This one's been on Vimeo for a while, so you may have already seen it, but I don't think we've posted it here yet.

Watch on Vimeo.com

Mexico

2010-10-24T08:49:00.001-06:00

Today is just all my other photos from the trip... not much written.

More beach:

Matt won her over by playing the sand with her...

Paisley's scared of the water:

More around the resort:

Towel sculptures:

Paisley got a tutu from Auntie Melissa:

And Paisley sleeping.. a sight I hadn't seen much in her life, since she always needs to be alone in order to go to sleep. Never wanted to miss anything. Of course since the trip, we've had the opposite problem :(

Chopsticks

2010-10-22T10:14:00.001-06:00

Paisley is very determined and independent. We picked up take-out from Edo last weekend, and she adamantly refused offers of help or a fork: she had to feed herself with the chopsticks. Cuteness and hilarity ensued.

Watch on Vimeo.com

FOOD!

2010-10-20T23:18:00.001-06:00

Yes food.. there was food and lots of it...

The resort had it's main buffet, up near the lobby. So lots of selection... didn't take any photos there... except grandma snapped some photos of some fruit art:

There was new carvings every day! :) This is where we ate most of our meals... breakfast for sure... some dinners.. some lunches.

Then, by the beach there was a creperie... mmm crepes... we did that for lunch a couple days.... (no photos.. sorry)... then we realized there was a buffet grill near the beach as well... at well that had more selection and was a little more filling... so that became our main lunch spot.

There was also 3 other restaurants. Upon checking in, they gave us 3 coupons for these restaurants... good for your room #.

Restaurant #1 - Mexican!!

You saw a couple pictures of us there yesterday... but here is a few more to round it out.

It was a fun atmosphere, and the food was very good. Josh even said he had the BEST steak of his life there. Yup... steak.. at a mexican restaurant.... excellent Margaritas too! Paisley even got her own... "special" margarita (double tequilla ;))

Restaurant #2 - Italian

The food was good.. quieter atmosphere.

Restaurant #3 - Steak House

Food... meh.. not that great... actually a few "worst steaks" comments. Outdoor seating only.

And then the coffee bar... which was just the lobby bar. Good wet cappucinos.... Grandma and Grandpa had them most mornings before going in for breakfast, and Matt and Melissa, carried theirs in for breakfast. I enjoyed a few, but later in the day. :)

When you're on the resort, the only thing remotely scheduled (although very little.. wide ranges of times to go) is meals. I felt like we were living around food. Lots of fresh fruit all the time and LOTS of choices. :)

YAY!

2010-10-20T00:57:00.001-06:00

Ok.. now blogging became easier again. Since we got back from our trip, my iPhoto wasn't syncing properly with my Flickr, which is what my blogging program uses for my photos. Way easier that way. For the last few posts I've had to manually upload the photos, one by one, resizing them as I went. Which is a tedious task.. I'd get one uploading (and it'd take a whlie), so I would walk away and do something else... forgetting... so I was uploading 1 photo every few hours.. hehe. Now it will be swoosh, and I can finish the trip photos.. and tackle the rest of the "since the trip" photos (and a few batches from before we went even).

Ok.. back the trip..... where was I? Right.. we talked about Paisley and the beach. She keeps asking me "we go to the beach?" about every 2nd morning still.

How about some "who was there" shots.. family pics, and lots of awkward family poses...

The anniversary couple.... (Grandma and Grandpa)

We're in Mexico!

A couple night-time family shots

Some out and about photos:

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandpa and Auntie Melissa

Posing on the beach:

Our family

Auntie Melissa and "Uncle" Matt

Grandpa and Grandma

Uncle Matt??? No photo of Uncle Matt Y by himself

(Maybe a good point to say that Paisley has 2 Uncles... and an honorary "Uncle". All are names Matt.... Matt Y, Matt S, and Matt O... she'll be very confused one day..)

Everyone:

OK... it felt VERY cheesy doing the last shot... but so worth it!

Oh.. this is a great one... loitering outside the washrooms...

Uncle Matt and Grandma:

Grandma, Grandpa and Paisley:

That's all I have for posed photos for today... but guess what? I'll do another post tomorrow... that's right!

2 posts in 2 days... Most definitely!
3 posts in 3 days.... probably
4 posts in 4 days... I'll try
5 posts in 5 days.... I'll maybe try.

Keep you waiting long enough?

2010-10-11T17:49:00.001-06:00

Life has been hectic this week, so I haven't had a chance to do more blogging.

For my parents 40th wedding anniversary, all of us kids (Melissa, Matt and I) decided we would suprise them with a trip to the Caribbean. But due to schedules, etc, we postponed it til this fall (They're anniversary was last December).

We flew as a family from Vancouver to Cancun, and caught a shuttle to our resort near Playa del Carmen. It was wonderful! It was also so nice for the whole family to be together.

The resort had a gorgeous beach, and a lovely pool. Paisley thoroughly enjoyed both.

Today's pictures will just have to be pool and beach ones, since there are just SO many cute ones!

Paisley's opinion of the beach:

We went on a trip

2010-10-07T11:52:00.001-06:00

Yup, that's right, a trip.....

Here's Paisley and Daddy at YVR (Vancouver Airport). It was a 2 day drive to get there even. We did get to do some visiting with some good friends in Revelstoke on the way though.

I'm still compiling pictures, but I'll do a few days of blog posts about the trip. Maybe even write more, since lately I've mostly been just slapping photos up here.

See her cute little squirrel shirt? I made it... :) It was a trial for some upccoming projects. She was quite upset that I made a squirrel instead of a robot though.... she really wanted a robot shirt.

First Face Painting

2010-08-24T16:28:00.001-06:00

This morning we went to the "big" Whoop Up Days Parade. Paisley's first parade, in fact. Gotta say.. it was TOO long for the quality of it. But overall it was good. The streets were filled.

We lost lamb for a couple hours (and if you know Paisley.. you know that is a tragedy)... but we found lamb on the walk back (someone had found him and set him on a window ledge)... There's a reason that lamb doesn't normally go on outings with us.

We also went to a fundraising BBQ at the Galt. So we ate, and Paisley got her face painted for the first time! :) She got to watch Molly getting it done first.. then she sat still for it :)

Paisley

2010-08-22T11:00:00.001-06:00

So apparently I don't take many pictures anymore...

But here is more pictures of Paisley... I was trying to get her to model a new hat we are releasing (it's a touch too big for her).

Started first thing in the morning... still had some pj's on

It's more fun to pull the hat over her eyes:

So we tried again... without the bow (got a couple winners... aside from the princess shirt):

Oh boy:

So we tried again.. when she was dress for the day:

And in the end... decided to let her friend model this particular hat.

Baby girls

2010-08-02T20:15:00.001-06:00

Kathryn had her precious little baby girls pretty much right on schedule and boy are they sweet.

Paisley and I went to visit and brought them a couple of diaper cakes that a few of us moms in the playgroup went together on buying/making. :) I love doing diaper cakes.

Look at the precious babes... Paisley was NEVER that small:

Here are the cakes:

In the cakes was:
1 pkg of size 1 diapers
1 pkg of newborn diapers
4 extra large receiving blankets
6 wash cloths
2 rattles
4 soothers
2 soother clips
2 large flower clips
2 crochet headbands
2 lovies
1 baby powder
1 baby shampoo
1 baby lotion
2 onesies
2 sets of itty bitty hair clips

all tied up with ribbons

Paisley's first rodeo

2010-07-28T21:43:00.001-06:00

Paisley went to her first rodeo on Canada Day. :) She enjoyed it... but only lasted a little over an hour:

Little Party Girl

2010-07-24T22:33:00.001-06:00

I keep forgetting to post other party pictures (still on the camera in my purse). So here is a few pictures of Cashlin's Birthday, the weekend after Paisley's party:

Reluctant Model

2010-07-16T14:39:00.001-06:00

I often try to get Paisley to model a product here or there... so I tried with some hats.... yeah... first she doesn't stop moving... so you have to try to keep her in front of the backdrop (not few of these are in nicely in front of it), and she makes faces.. constantly. But it's very amusing when you see it as a series.... even though most aren't useable for posting on Etsy. Warning.. this is very picture heavy:

This first photo is titled "Blue Steel" Haha.... if you don't get that... watch Zoolander

Girl of a million faces.

Best Friends... Worst Enemies

2010-07-02T22:03:00.001-06:00

Paisley and Joel are best buds... get excited when they get to go see each other.. play well.... for the first little bit. But they love sitting together...

But they also are worst enemies... they will fight with each other, unlike they do with any other kid. We describe it as a sibling relationship... maybe from my several months of watching Joel during the day... who knows. They do tend to bully each other though and very possessive with their possessions.

Usually it's more friends than enemies.. but we do have to break up quite a few scraps over the course of a couple hour play date.

Paisley's Makeshift Sandbox

2010-06-28T15:37:00.001-06:00

What was Paisley doing for a good chunk of the patio building?

Playing in a makeshift sandbox (wheelbarrow) with discard chunks of patio stones with Grandma:

There was a lot of sand left over at the end of the day, so Grandma and Grandpa bought her a real (closeable) sand box for the yard.

Patio

2010-06-27T13:21:00.001-06:00

We built a patio this weekend! We were planning on completing it the couple days before Paisley's birthday party, but it got rained out.

Josh's parent came down to help us get it done, and my dad shovelled a lot of the dirt out of the way. So it went fairly quickly.

It looks fantastic! So thanks to both sets of parents on their help!

And finished:

Paisley's Garden Tea Party

2010-06-24T09:57:00.001-06:00

Finally able to upload a few birthday photos.

The theme was a garden tea party... lots of pink purple and green.

The party:

Testing out a few of her gifts:

It was fun! But we've since had tea parties at least 10 times a day.

Party Season

2010-06-14T07:01:00.001-06:00

Since all the kids in the playgroup are born within a couple month span... it's crazy party season again.

Saturday we went to Raylee's birthday party:

The kids had lots of fun playing in her yard:

\

(Kathryn's 36 weeks with twins right now)

And most of all jumping on the trampoline:

(Raylee was asking "You okay, Paisley?")

Course there was presents too... and Paisley thought it would be a good idea to help...

LOTS of pics... hope that satisfies you til next weekend. It's going to be a busy week!

Paisley turns 2 TOMORROW! But we're both sick, so we have to postpone her party a few days. But I'll take her for her 2 yr check up, and then on Wednesday, we get to pick up Grandma and Grandpa at the airport! :)

YAY!

2010-06-02T19:13:00.001-06:00

I finally got around to making iPhoto, Mars Edit, Flickr all talk to each other on my partition of Josh's computer... so now blogging is easier, and I should be able to get more posts up.

Paisley loves bedtime... she makes it a game to get her pj's on, but then she tucks in and sleeps well. I saw something that I thought might make it less of a fight to get Pj's on... Matching pj's!!!

Not only is she thrilled that it's a night dress..... but now Monkey has matching pj's. She very willingly let us take pictures of them in their pj's.... Night #2 in her night dress... guess mommy will be sewing up a bunch of night dresses (and probably matching ones for monkey).

She seems so much older in these pictures...

I'll be posting a few pictures from the last couple weeks after this post... just wanted to post a current picture post first :)

White Spot

2010-05-22T22:44:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago, we took Paisley to White Spot for her first ever Pirate Pack. I remember getting them as a kid.

She thought it was fun... but liked the ice cream the best.

I must add that Josh has never seen a pirate pack before... sheltered Alberta people ;)

Hockey. Hockey.

2010-05-13T23:08:00.003-06:00

How well I've taught her. Paisley and I are in the playoff spirit these days. The Flames may be a month into the golf season, but Montreal making a run is almost as good as if Calgary was doing it. As we drew on the sidewalk today, she recognized the logo and responded with, "hockey, hockey." That's my girl :-)

Long silence

2010-05-12T11:04:00.003-06:00

I have an excuse... really... see my laptop, and a hot beverage met.... and the laptop stopped working. You never know how much you rely on your computer doing lots for you, then when it stops. I relied on my computer to remember everything for me... including my login info for blogger. Hehe... I finally managed to figure out what e-mail address it was connected to, and was able to reset the password... but oh my.

I know you're here for photos... so I'll start with one....

Don't argue with a girl and her shoes:

Now this may seem extreme... but I'd say greater than half were hand me down from Paisley's friend Molly. The rest have accumulated for a while. They are all size 6 (her current size), with a few 7's. My rule when buying shoes is buy the largest size possible, that will stay on her feet and not hinder her running/walking. So several size 6's, she's been wearing since she started on size 4's. I didn't realize how many pairs fit her currently until I was putting all the hand me down shoes with the others. It came to 32 pairs in total. She still fits a couple pairs of 5's, but I didn't include them.

In other news, we're gearing up for the summer, and thinking ahead to yard work and such that needs to be done. I just finished taking a mini break from my business (only sold ready made items for a couple months) and am now kicking it in high gear again. I took a break to get some things done around the house, and I did get a good chunk of organizing done. But now I need to up my sales again...which means working whenever I can again. I think by setting certain days of the week that I ship, I can balance house and work....

Plans for the yard this year include paving stones, raised beds, and planting a tree. We're debating between either a maple or an apple tree. Taking suggestions. We want it to provide some shade. I think we've decided not to plant lawn in the backyard.... or if we do, it will just be a small patch. Need to take some measurments and do a sketch/plan up. We might get the fence done this year, but we are kind of waiting for the neighbours to bring up the topic. If we can put it off one year, that would be nice (because of the expense).

One bonus to no lawn in the back... we only have a small patch of lawn in the front, and we won't need to buy a mower. We have a push rotary mower that will work for that much lawn.

Enough rambling.

More pictures to come soon, just need to get my blogging program set up on this computer to make it easier again. Josh has kindly let me make an account on his MacBook....

Mmmm Whip Cream

2010-04-27T22:24:00.001-06:00

I don't think Paisley shares my hatred of whip cream. Auntie Patricia gave her a beater when we visited last month.... and the pictures show just how she liked them:

Getting Better

2010-04-24T21:43:00.001-06:00

Paisley's getting better at guitar... she's starting to strum...

Some light reading....

2010-04-23T10:31:00.001-06:00

Easter Sunday Dinner

2010-04-14T23:36:00.000-06:00

We had Molly and her parents over for Easter dinner. The girls are always so cute together. Lots of giggling and chasing...

I wish I had put Paisley back in her Easter dress for dinner..

Easter Morning

2010-04-13T23:28:00.001-06:00

We did a mini Easter Egg hunt for Paisley on Easter Sunday. :) 5 eggs. 4 had playdoh in them and one had M&M's... she had fun looking (they were hidden very obviously... and we directed her a bit). :) Next year will be a little more fun.

Joel's 2!

2010-04-10T12:00:00.000-06:00

We attended Joel's 2nd birthday over Easter weekend. If you noticed in the background of yesterday's post, that's where she was.

Lots of friends were there, and it was a busy and loud house... but everyone had a good time! :)

The Birthday Boy:

In their party dresses:

Paisley took this picture of the party-goers:

Helping open gifts:

The beautiful Molly also in her party dress:

Annelise in her party dress:

Libby, sporting some Barefoot Creations Itty Bitty Clips (Annelise, and Raylee were also wearing them that day!)

Another one of Paisley's photos:

Pretty Girl

2010-04-09T12:30:00.000-06:00

Paisley wearing the dress daddy chose for her:

Where oh where have we been?

2010-04-08T11:59:00.001-06:00

We've been to London to visit the Queen.

Well... no... we did go traveling though.

We went down to Vancouver to see my parents new house, go to a wedding, and a memorial :). It was nice that all of us siblings could be there at one time.

First day we were there, we got to have a play date with my cousin's kids. 2 of them are very close in age to Paisley, so they had lots of fun.

The next day we went to my great aunt's memorial. I was so pleased I was able to attend, as Aunt Lil did so much for my grandpa when he was nearing the end. She was a beautiful woman. I didn't get to sit through the whole service, because of Paisley, but it was good to be there, and remember with others that loved her. (Paisley liked that there was a playground there at the church)

The next week was a blur, because pretty much everyone in the house got a stomach bug. Paisley first, then me, then mom (Grandma Y).

But we were better in time for me to go to my friend Jen's wedding. She was beautiful, and I"m so happy for her! It was a beautiful ceremony. Sean you better take good care of her! ;)

That evening we were able to get together with pretty much the entire Kanwischer family. So that was great to see everyone on that side of the family as well. Paisley loved playing with my cousin Dara the whole time :). (Didn't bring my camera :( )

The rest of the trip included going to the wavepool, visiting my grandma (Great Grandma Y), visiting with Auntie Melissa and Uncle Matt, stealing Jen from her new husband for dinner, and hiking Grandma and Grandpa's mountain. Yes, Paisley climbed up all by herself!

There's a quick summary of what we've been up to. I have more posts coming about other things... just been so busy since we've been home!

Chores

2010-03-16T09:48:00.001-06:00

Paisley helps with chores....

She dusts for me, she vacuums for me (although her vacuum doesn't have much suction), she picks up her toys when asked (most of the time), she loves unloading the dishwasher, and she washes dishes:

You'd think our house would stay clean.... but no. She's also good at trashing the house just like other toddlers. I can't tell you how many snacks are ground into the carpet, spilled food, painting with diaper cream and all those other regular messes.... but when I focus her abundance of energy on helping, it works out quite well. :) And there's ALWAYS an abundance of energy.

Finger Painting!

2010-03-15T16:12:00.001-06:00

We finger painted for the first time this afternoon! What fun!

Still not sure about it:

Loving it:

Contemplating whether she should taste it:

And yup.. tasting it.

Asking for a refill on paint "More?"

Cleanup is almost as much fun:

And the final piece of art, hung on the fridge:

Another repeat outfit

2010-03-12T13:58:00.001-07:00

Here's another outfit from my childhood that Paisley wears. Although she's just starting to outgrow it. So cute

She now "smiles" for the camera:

I found a picture of me in this outfit:

The heads

2010-03-05T15:41:00.001-07:00

I have 4 styrofoam heads for my Barefoot Creations. And Paisley loves them. She always seems to get her hands on them, no matter where I put them!

She just carries them around and chatters away at them, like they're her friends:

She makes them get a work out too:

Sometimes they just veg out on the throw pillows:

Oh, and she also likes to dig through the recyclables and carry around bottles. :)

Playing at the Park

2010-03-03T13:17:00.001-07:00

After the hockey game on Sunday we took Paisley to the playground... lots of other people were out then too.

Paisley and daddy were sporting their Team Canada jersey's.

Playing in the rocks is lots of fun... who knew?

Paisley at the Park

2010-03-02T23:54:00.001-07:00

Paisley loves sliding, especially when she can do it by herself:

She then decided that she wanted to go down the BIG slide.... oh boy!

Entering the Era of Paisley-isms

2010-02-13T08:32:00.001-07:00

So I think we'll begin the blogging of Paisley-ism from here on out. Almost everything is in phrases now and a lot of it is quite funny. I have a couple from this week.

Paisley's got the tradition of taking her boots and socks off in the car, whenever we go ANYWHERE! Even if it's just a 1 min drive.
The other day when Josh went to get her from the back seat she sad "Uh oh, daddy, the sock fell off!"

Another one has been building for a few days. Paisley starts taking her pj's off once I come in her room, and am pulling out her clothes for the day (thankfully she's not doing it BEFORE I enter the room anymore... that got messy sometimes). She has begun to call any and all snaps on clothing "A Pull-It"

She's too funny. Lots of laughs ahead... and probably more Paisley-isms to post.

Vacation

2010-02-08T15:12:00.001-07:00

For those of you that are keen observers... you may have noticed the last batch of photos were not at home.

Here's proof... there's Grandpa:

Although, I bet Josh would really like it if we bought a pool table.

That's right... we were on vacation! :) We spent the week out in Fairmont with Josh's family. Paisley had lots of fun, and was such a happy girl! We even got Josh in the hotsprings..... not once... but TWICE! Crazy!

We're back home now, and back to work for both of us. I have a craft show in a couple weeks... so I'm working on building up inventory. Hopefully it's a successful sale!

Hat

2010-02-03T15:58:00.001-07:00

My cousin Dara made a hat and mitten set for Paisley when she was just wee little. I pulled it out the other day and it fits perfectly now! :) So cute!

Making muffins

2010-01-29T09:31:00.001-07:00

I made muffins the other day, so I got Paisley to help, and Josh helped her. They mashed the bananas for me :)

2010-01-25T21:27:00.001-07:00

Paisley got this dress from a friend of mine in the UK when she was born. It finally fits her! :) SO she wore it to Libby's 1st birthday. It's a gorgeous dress.

Learning Guitar

2010-01-22T18:36:00.001-07:00

Sesame Street

2010-01-09T21:31:00.001-07:00

The only show Paisley will actually watch... and only for a few minutes.

Here's her and daddy watching while I finish up dinner.

Paisley

2010-01-08T20:02:00.001-07:00

One of the gifts Paisley got for Christmas was a doll stroller...she loves it, she runs all over the house with it.

She always check on baby, to make sure she's doing ok

Takes her out, and talks to her:

And then..... moves on to something else:

Poor Lu Lu.

More Christmas

2009-12-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

Paisley's photo shoot in her dress:

Christmas

2009-12-27T23:55:00.001-07:00

Going to post one big post today, as I'm going to be busy with business work for a week or so. :)

Trying on all her stocking stuffers

Unwrapping gifts:

Doing her new puzzle with Grandpa

Her new John Deere Tractor Train

The family:

Playing with her new John Deere Barn Band:

Looking for more gifts:

New hockey stick from daddy (and new jersey for G & G):

New doll:

Now book:

Tuckered out Daddy:

Actually, going to do this in 2 posts... you'll have to wait til tomorrow for the rest :) Pre-scheduling.

Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours!

2009-12-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

Dressing up like Daddy.

2009-12-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

Nanaimo Bars

2009-12-22T13:44:00.001-07:00

This morning I made Peppermint Nanaimo Bars for Christmas. I do every year, although we had a mishap with them as well (in continuation of yesterday's baking with a toddler post). This morning we were making Nanaimo Bars, and Paisley fell off her stool just as I was pouring in the peppermint extract. So now they're VERY strong peppermint nanaimo bars.

Several people asked for the recipe, so here we go:

Nanaimo Bars (mom's recipe - shhh, I didn't ask permission)

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbsp Cocoa
1 egg
2 cups crushed graham crackers
1 cup fine coconut

2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup margarine
3 tbsp custard powder
4 Tbsp milk

4 squares semi-sweet chocolate
1 Tbsp butter

1. Mix and melt over hot water: 1/2 cup margarine, sugar, cocoa and egg.
2. Add graham cracker crumbs and coconut
3. Pack into a greased 8 x 10 pan, cool 15 minutes
4.Cream 1/4 cup margarine, icing sugar and custard powder until smooth
5. Add milk 1 Tbsp at a time
6. Spread over first layer and let sit 15 min
7. Melt chocolate and butter over hot water
8. Spread over top, Cool and refrigerate

That's the recipe for standard nanaimo bars.

Peppermint Variety
At christmas I swap the middle layer out for peppermint icing (icing sugar, 1/4 cup margarine, milk, green food colouring and peppermint extract)

I've also done:

Cherry Variety
Swap middle layer for cherry icing (cherry flavouring, red food colouring)

Orange Vatiety
Swap middle layer for orange icing (orange flavouring, orange food colouring)..... also adding some orange rind to the base layer is yummy.

Basically you can flavour them anything that goes with chocolate and coconut.

Enjoy! Super yummy.

Where's Paisley?

2009-12-21T17:18:00.001-07:00

Where's Paisley??

THERE SHE IS!!

She loves that game.

One thing that has really changed this year, is baking. Paisley always wants to help, which is just fine! We have fun. But the timing of things is off.

So far in our Christmas baking,we've created
- black bottomed Peanut Butter Blossoms
- pink Peppermint Rice Krispies Squares (added candy canes too early)
- abandoned the Brown Sugar Cookies part way through the process (were left in the fridge for a full week, instead of 30 minutes).

Baking with a toddler is a fine art.

At least our Peppermint Bark turned out.

Nap time is getting shorter too.... not enough to get much done anymore.

Tonight I'm making the cinnamon buns for Boxing Day breakfast. Might swap the raisins for the little Christmas fruit bits (not sure what they're called.... but you know what I mean... right?). I think that would be festive and yummy.

Still have plans to make:

Peppermint Nanaimo Bars
Date Pinwheels
and one other undecided.

Playdate

2009-12-18T21:11:00.001-07:00

Paisley had a playdate with Cashlin this morning:

They had lots of fun together. I don't think they've played together since summer, so it was nice to see him and his mom again.

All caught up!

2009-12-15T14:29:00.001-07:00

I'm caught up on orders! Now I just have personal Christmas presents, and Christmas cards to do! :) Will have it all done by Friday, then I can work on organizing the house a little more (it's been busy since I reopened my shop on August 21st, haven't even been able to hang any pictures). I'm looking forward to getting the house set up now!

Yesterday and today Paisley and I made Peppermint Bark! :) First time ever. Paisley enjoyed dumping the bags of chocolate chips on the pan for me, and went crazy for candy canes. She's a super active girl, with a little sugar, she just goes WILD!

Here's the recipe we used. I found it HERE:

Peppermint Bark Recipe

* 24 ounces white chocolate chips

* 24 ounces milk chocolate chips

* 1 teaspoon peppermint extract

* 20 candy canes

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

2. Pour the milk chocolate chips onto the pan and spread them around. Bake for a couple of minutes until they look a bit melted. Then take the pan from the oven and spread the chocolate around with a spatula. Put the pan in the refrigerator to cool and harden for about 30 minutes.

3. Next open the candy canes, place them on a cookie sheet under a clean dishtowel and crush them with a hammer (this part is fun for kids). Sort the larger candy cane pieces from the candy cane dust.

4. Melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler (I used a smaller pan in a bigger pan), stirring constantly. Add the peppermint extract and stir in the candy cane dust which will color your chocolate a light shade of pink. Let it cool a bit, then pour it over the top of your milk chocolate layer.

5. Sprinkle with candy cane pieces and press them down gently so that they stick.

6. Refrigerate for several hours, shake off the excess candy pieces, then break the bark into chunks. Best kept refrigerated.

Haven't tasted them yet, but they're being packaged away for now.

Started!

2009-12-12T01:21:00.001-07:00

I finally started my Christmas baking!!

Anyone who's friends with me on Facebook, Twitter, or chat regularly with me on online forums, know that I have been suffering the last month or so from some pretty severe insomnia (only 1 night with more than 5 hours of sleep in more than 4 or 5 weeks now).

I've come around to using that time for productivity lately..... so this morning, at 1 am, I started my christmas baking. Yup. It's chilling in the fridge right now.

Today's recipe is a new one! I don't know who linked me this recipe, but it's been open in my browser for more than a week now.

The recipe can be found HERE at Reader's Digest.

Brown Sugar Chocolate Shortbread Dipped in White Chocolate

Ingredients

1 cup (250 mL) salted butter

¾ cup (175 mL) brown sugar

1¾ cup (425 mL) all-purpose flour

½ cup (125 mL) cocoa

Topping:

8 oz (250 g) chopped white chocolate, melted

1. Cream butter and sugar together until light, about 5 minutes. Sift flour with cocoa.

2. Beat into butter mixture. Divide dough into four square pieces. Wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

3. Roll out one piece of dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 squares of about 2 in (5 cm) each. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Arrange cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. (Cookies will not spread too much, if at all, as they bake.)

4. Bake in a preheated 275°F (140°C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven then, after 15 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack.

5. Melt chocolate in a 2-cup (500-mL) measuring cup. Dip cookies in the chocolate on the diagonal so that half are covered from one corner to another in white chocolate. Allow excess white chocolate to drain off and arrange cookies on rack. Refrigerate until set.

Makes 48 cookies

I'll post to let you know my review on them once they're baked (later today). One sample (for each of us), then in the deep freeze to prevent over indulgence.

On a somewhat related note... I started a weight loss challenge with some friends to keep us in check over the holidays. We started last week, so yesterday was our first weigh in. I LOST 7 POUNDS IN 1 WEEK!!! Go me!

First time skating

2009-12-06T21:18:00.001-07:00

Paisley got to go skating for the first time this afternoon at the U of L Christmas skating party.

Turns out she was pretty good on the ice, but there was a fair bit of crying.

It was all worth it for the food, though.

And my favourite photo of the day. It would've been better if she had her Hurricanes jersey on, but this is still pretty adorable.

Hopefully with a few more times out on the ice she'll be more comfortable and enjoy it more.

Missed one

2009-11-27T00:35:00.001-07:00

I missed a picture in the last post. Isn't she sweet?

Playgroup

2009-11-25T01:59:00.001-07:00

Here's a few photos from playgroup last Friday:

No Smiles

2009-11-21T23:06:00.001-07:00

Picture Perfect

2009-11-20T08:56:00.001-07:00

She's actually starting to pose for pictures again! No running away from the camera.

Here she is in her hat w/ flower clip, like the ones we've started selling. :)

I know...

2009-11-13T12:19:00.001-07:00

Have been working a lot lately, and not taking many pictures (plus the fact neither of us could find our cameras for a while).

Picture for today:

She just runs... she loves that it's christmassy in the house. :) She points and says "Ooooooo"

Tomorrow I have my first craft show ever. Been working hard at prepping, and I hope it is successful. I posted on the Barefoot Creations some pics of some of the products I've been working on.. lots more will be there, as Heather has been working like crazy too, just didn't have them here to photograph. Craft Show Prep

After tomorrow, and my long list of custom orders to finish next week, I hopefully will get back to posting regularly, and getting the house set up a little more.

We hung our first picture on the wall this week! Crazy! Guess we're staying ;).

Little Ladybug

2009-10-30T20:47:00.001-06:00

Paisley was feeling a lot better today.. so we went to the playgroup Halloween party.

She was a lady bug:

Molly was a pirate... in an awesome costume made by her grandma:

Joel was a monster:

Annalise was a ladybug too!:

But they were all cute together:

The ladybugs wouldn't sit side by side though :

Amanda made lots of yummy food, and I brought cupcakes:

Snotty Girl

2009-10-26T09:28:00.001-06:00

Everyone here is getting a little sick, but Josh and Paisley have the worst of it... snotty and tired and cranky.

Paisley in Candy Corn Dress

2009-10-25T11:41:00.001-06:00

Paisley wore the candy cane dress to playgroup on Friday. I tried to get a cute shot before she left, but she got mad at me for trying to take a picture (and you wonder why there's not as many pictures posted anymore).

Once there, her and Joel buddied up for a few minutes:

And lots of hugs for Raylee:

Apple Picking

2009-10-23T20:16:00.001-06:00

Apple picking with friends in Revelstoke

Video Chatting

2009-10-22T06:45:00.001-06:00

Paisley now video chats with Grandma and Grandpa Y! At first she didn't get it, but after a bit, she thought it was a hoot! Especially once Grandma sang the giddy up song!

Paisley at the Park

2009-10-14T15:37:00.001-06:00

The last couple weeks have been quite busy.

Last week Paisley and I went out to Revelstoke to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Paisley enjoyed playing at the park, since she could climb up the steps and go down the slide by herself.

Our trip was slightly shortened in order to return to Alberta for a funeral.

But I'm back home now, and hopefully can continue blogging again...

Change

2009-10-03T21:57:00.001-06:00

How did she go from this:

To this: ???????

I'm surprised how much Paisley has changed in the last 15 months in appearance. Some features remain the same, but so many changes (I know... she's growing up). So I was looking at photos side by side and decided to do a monthly photo post. I have my favorite (some cases 2 favorites) picture from each month. I chose the picture closest to the 15th of every month. See the change?

0 Months:

1 Month:

2 Months:

3 Months:

4 Months:

5 Months:

6 Months:

7 Months:

8 Months:

9 Months:

10 Months:

11 Months:

12 Months:

13 Months:

14 Months:

15 Months:

Astronaut Paisley

2009-10-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

Commanding officer:

Close to "Live Long and Prosper":

I picked up this outfit at one of the used stores for $2.50.. I couldn't pass it up! :)

Hehe... she put the drum on her head herself :)

Caught in the Act

2009-10-01T11:03:00.001-06:00

I went and put Joel down for a nap... came back, and caught Paisley in the act:

Yup, she blew her nose on every wet wipe.

Lacking

2009-09-28T16:31:00.001-06:00

I need to take more pictures.

I only have 4 more days with Joel.... his mom has decided to stay home with him. So Friday is my last day looking after him.

I do look forward to going swimming, to the library, and keeping up with my errands again. Life has just been too busy, and I hope it slows down just a touch next week, when I have only 1 child again.

In 1.5 months I have my first craft show, so I need to build up my inventroy for that. This coming weekend is a big Alberta-wide sale, and I'm hoping to get a few more things listed for that. I'll post more info on the sale closer to the weekend. More than 50 online shops are involved, and it is a great chance to do some Christmas shopping! :) Make it a handmade holiday!

PB&J

2009-09-22T11:15:00.001-06:00

Her first peanut butter and jam sandwich. She ate it all!

Computer Time

2009-09-18T23:06:00.001-06:00

Almost impossible to keep Paisley away from our computers. If it's open, she's gotta be there. Now that she can climb to pretty well every surface on the main floor, there's no stopping her.

Oh, and she knows a lot of shortcut commands that I haven't figured out yet.....

Chocolatey Smooch

2009-09-17T22:28:00.001-06:00

Muah!

Happy Girl

2009-09-17T08:38:00.001-06:00

My camera finally reunited with my memory card yesterday. I think Paisley missed the camera.

YAY!

2009-09-09T23:02:00.001-06:00

No picture today. My camera and my memory card haven't reunited again since the last photo dump. :)

But.....

Check it out:

I created a Treasury!!

I really enjoyed creating it, so I hope you will take the time to check it out. It's a few of my favorite snowy blue items on Etsy!

Have a look at it, click around at the items, some really neat, and very pretty things!

Toes!

2009-09-08T22:38:00.001-06:00

We have matching toes. She was so fascinated with mine, I did a single coat on hers during lunch! She was pleased.

I think I'm going to have a girly girl. She's already learned to twirl, and we even backed cookies together. She's always wanting to be in the kitchen with mommy.

Still got those cheeks!

2009-09-07T20:52:00.001-06:00

Picture of the Day

2009-09-05T23:14:00.001-06:00

From the landing, the kids can see out the front of the house. This day they spent quite a bit of time there, as the landscapers were out there working.

Paisley photo of the day!

2009-09-04T08:08:00.001-06:00