How I am going to become a SAHM

For those non-mom types, SAHM = Stay at home mom.

I am desperately trying to figure out how I can stay home with Abby when my maternity leave is up.  The thought of leaving her with a stranger so I can make a few bucks is just about killing me.  It would be different if I thought I was going to make a significant financial contribution to our household budget, but by the time I pay for child care I will really only be making a few hundred dollars.  That of course is our grocery money and my spending money, but still!  ARGH!  Stupid debt load!

My ideas so far are to open my house up to babysitting and to get back into selling AVON.

Any ideas from the interwebs?

Rainy Day Fun

We were supposed to go to the fair yesterday.  It was 12 degrees and pouring rain.  Not fun!  So we had a day with Aunty indoors instead!  We went for lunch, then came back to our house and made all this!

The top picture is all the projects we made from Perler Beads (called Melt Beads in our house).  The bottom project is made from a sock puppet kit, but really you could make it yourself with pompoms, felt, and glue easily! 

We really made the best out of a rainy day and look forward to the next one now!

Our summer so far...

Here is a summary of our summer so far!

• We started summer off by going to the library and joining the summer reading club.  Everytime the kids go in to exchange books they get to roll the dice and move their little token around the board they get a free "something" (pencil, eraser, whistle).  It's great fun and encourages them to read over the summer!  Score! 
• We have gone to Grandma's a few times and visited but she is spending a lot of her summer at my Aunt's house in BC so not as much as I had planned.
• We have met my sister for brunch a bunch of times and gone shopping.
• We attended 2 beautiful weddings.
• We did a tour of the oldest standing building in Alberta and also saw a real tomb.  http://culture.alberta.ca/museums/historicsiteslisting/fatherlacombechapel/default.aspx
• We went to a Canada Day parade and my son was in the parade with his Karate group.
• We went to a rope climbing gym.  I watched, but it is amazing how fearless my kids can be!

The baby is growing like a weed!  She is 13 lbs already (at 12 weeks) and we are just completely in love with her!  She is giving me 7 hours of solid sleep a night so it might be time to transition her to her crib in her own room.  She is quickly outgrowing her bassinet!  I am sure she is in the bassinet more for me than for her now.

We still have lots planned for the rest of summer though! 

• Swimming lessons
• a Fair
• Farmer's Markets
• Fishing
• a possible trip to Vancouver Island
• And much much more!

I am still looking for healthy lunch and snack ideas!  :)  We can only eat KD so many times in a row before we get bored with it!

My Next Vehicle....

My next vehicle is going to have pleather seats for easy cleaning.

My next vehicle is going to have a huge trunk.

My next vehicle is going to have a plastic shield in between the driver and the passenger seats

My next vehicle is going to have a cup holder big enough for a large slurpee/pop/milk shake.

My next vehicle is going to have an auto clean button (like my stove).

My next vehicle is going to seat at least 7 people comfortably.

My next vehicle is going to be a silly putty free zone.

Seriously.

I spent Saturday cleaning out my car because we might be selling it.  In six years I have managed to spill more than one drink out of my cupholder because the cups were too big for the holder and wouldn't go in properly, including a strawberry milkshake that almost caused a divorce because of course it was my husband's fault the milkshake I bought him tipped over onto the floor.  I also had a full large iced tea spill in the same spot.  I don't know what was in the back seat but all the steam cleaning in the world couldn't get my cleaner to stop sucking up brown stuff.  And there is a lovely spot of silly putty that will not come out of the seat.  Some lucky to be alive child left it there on a hot day about 3 years ago and it melted in.  And don't even ask me what is sprayed across the ceiling! 

PS.  The big trunk is to put naughty kids in.  ;0)  Hahahaha I wish.