Introducing…

This is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.  I show glimpses of my life/family but I don’t think I’ve ever done a feature on my hubby.... what to call him, what to call him?? He has been affectionately referred to as “the hubby”, but at home I call him Paul and the kids call him daddy.  Maybe from now on we should just refer to him as mr. duckyhouse?!

I wanted to share a few of his accomplishments because I am truly proud of him and I think this overachiever needs some recognition and wife appreciation.

First there was the book, available for purchase here

Then the fundraisers:

next the CD, available for purchase here

And now the Video below, the whole family had fun with the video!

Mr.duckyhouse packs a lot of living in a short amount of time. You can find more about him at www.paulvieira.info

paper weight

Good morning you Monday faithfuls!  How was your weekend?  Mine was fairly uneventful, boring in fact.  I spent 3 days Friday, Saturday and Sunday dealing with the administrative mess that I had been avoiding for quite some time now. Piles of paper were shuffled from one filing drawer to another, it wasn't pretty.  It wasn't just me either, seems the hubby had been suffering from the same trouble.  (I really am astonished at how much paper just collects especially when most of my bills are paper free!)  

Not the best way to spend the weekend so to compensate for the lack of sewing going on around here I found my pencil crayons and gave into the paper in a more creative way during an evening movie.  Even if I can't get to the fabric, I am always thinking about it.  What do you think?  Would it make a nice sampler?

the perks

of living with a lake in your backyard during the months of January and February.

I was more than a bit nervous when the hubby decided he was going to make a rink on the pond this year.  My fears held him at bay last year but not this time.  As soon as it was cold enough, he was outdoors with the shovel and hose making a glossy rink to keep the B-meister in skating happiness.

Of course this madness drove us to the local sports store gathering gear for the occasion.  Some of us haven't managed to put on skates in 16 + years, ahem.  I blame it on the last decade of baby growing.  Umm, yeah that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

At the heart of it I'm really all about summer and mostly think winter is better spent indoors.  This ideal worked until the kids got bigger and longed for some outdoor living even in the coldest of months.  And so out we go.  In our snow pants.  Skates.  For a twirl around the pond.  Surprisingly, I find I quite like it!

And though we still have yet to find a suitable pair for the youngests of our crew.  They make their fun their own way. 

winter scenes

One of my girlies was down with fever yesterday.  I’m not sure what is going on in this house but over the past few weeks each one of my kidlets take their turn being feverish and wiped out.  It lasts about 24 hours, then they wake up fine the next day.  Miss J is the last one to succumb to the symptoms and I’m hoping it is just a kid thing if you know what I mean.

I was planning to work on the cabinets until Miss A realized she was a playmate short for the day.  She compelled me with those big brown eyes to color and keep her company.  It’s so rare to just spend time one on one when you have twins that you take it when you can get it.  After the coloring our attention turned to paper cutting, practicing the scissors is a good skill when you are 5.  While Miss A cut away I availed myself of the exacto knife.  I couldn’t resist making a little winter scene.  I had to make do with construction paper, my box of acid free paper is currently in storage.  Miss A let me happily create but she did dictate that a certain white rabbit should be in the picture.  This little exercise really got the wheels turning about a diorama...of course I should wait until the office is set up before I distract myself with more creative projects....patience is a virture, right?

inevitable

Not exactly my favorite way to spend the day but necessary, we are back to the renovation reality.  Have I mentioned how much I would really like this business to be over with?  Last year I was studiously working on the kitchen cupboards but got completely burnt out from it that I had to just walk away.  It resulted in us living in a kitchen, without cupboard doors for a year and a half.  Crazy right?  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but ultimately I was only prolonging the inevitable.

Working on the kitchen has been extrememly challenging, not just the logistics of working around the four kids, but oh the mess. During the early days of the renovation I thought the drywall dust was never going to end.  Things are better now and I am currently working in an area of the house which will be my future studio space, just off the laundry room.  You can imagine that my motivation for finishing the cupboards may be a little selfish.  I can't wait until we can start carving out a creative zone for lil' o' me.   Oh the dreaming that has been going on for that little space.  I really should put Ikea's phone number in my speed dial for ordering day.  But let's snap back to the cupboard doors. I am making progress, it consists of some painting, sanding, sanding, painting...repeat and then more sanding.  Yup, that sums it up.     Yesterday I finished the final sanding of the upper doors, they are ready for the aging process, I'll explain that in another post.   I should be done soon, only about a year later than our original plan, c'est la vie...sigh. 

newness

Thank you everyone who took the time to comment or email me on our
recent loss, it's been rough but we have found comfort in each other
and in the goodness of who grandpa was.

It's been a whirl wind of activity over the past little while.  I wasn't planning on being so absent over the month of December but in hindsight life goes that way I suppose.  I'm just happy to be with you all now and so, better late then never, Happy New Year!  Am I the only one who can't believe how quickly last year passed? 
Someone pinch me please.  My brain isn't quite caught up either, I keep
writing 2009 on cheques and bills.

I'll be spending the remainder of January just easing into this new year which means no new year resolutions for me, I've never been very good at that sort of thing anything.  The implications always feel apologetic, as if something needs to change.  Instead I want to appreciate all of life's experiences, the good and bad, and work through them as they come, with grace.

That doesn't mean we don't have our rituals.  It seems as the holidays crash upon us that I am doing less and less baking for our family during the month of December.  Just as well, holiday sweets are endless everywhere you go.  And then January arrives with her endless days of cold and newness; what better way to kick off the year than with some home baked goodness?

Gingerbread is a big love of ours, yum.  Did I say that loud enough?  YUM!  Bring out the cookie cutters and the kids are more than willing to participate, which makes the baking both fun and uber chaotic.  How could it be any other way?  It's all good. 

I'm sure in the days ahead there will be a few more moments like these in our cozy kitchen.  I do have quite a few cookie monsters you know.  How about you?  How have you eased into the new year?