O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

We are headed to Kelowna tomorrow until the 28th so we decided not to get a tree this year. Instead, we made our own! It's amazing what some green bristol board, construction paper, tape, markers and hemp string can do ;)
This a tradition we have carried out a couple times now. It started one year when Jesse and I were really really broke and couldn't afford a tree until the 23rd of December. FYI, tree lots are non-existant on the 23rd! We were so heartbroken, especially since we have another tradition of having close friends over on Christmas Eve to decorate and share in the seasonal love. We decided to construct our own and each friend drew an ornament to tape to the tree. I still think it's the coolest damn thing ever, and I was so happy to share this tradition with my kids.

Dontcha just love the chorus of ponies revelling in the beauty at the base of the tree?!

Texture board

I made this texture board for my friend's 4.5 year old daughter. She has Septo-Optic Dysplasia(SOD) and along with SOD goes autism and sensory integration dysfunction(SID). Tactile boards like this help people with SID to process and integrate sensory experiences. This little girl has stolen my heart in a big way and I cried for half the time I made this board (out of love, not sadness!) I am so proud of how it turned out and I can't wait to give it to her! It was so easy to make. I took an old table leaf we had kickin' around and used WeldBond Glue to glue on carpet samples, a tile, a fleece square, polished rocks, tassles, rubber shelf liner, and strings of beads (the bead strings got screwed on). The carpet samples, polished rocks and fleece all cost me nothing. The tile was $0.29, the shelf liner was $6.97 (for the whole roll...I only used a little of it), the beads were $9.98 for two 12oz tubs and the tassles were $3. Oh, and the shoelace I used for the beads was $2.88. So the entire thing, with tax, cost me $24.51! It took me 1.5 hours from start to finish.

picture post!

I haven't posted pics in quite a while and I thought it was high time I did. Most of these are SOOC (straight out of the camera) so please excuse any blurriness or off-colourness. I'm too lazy tonight to do post-processing.
And, I know that I am a little biased...but DAMN my kids are adorable! Hehehe!

Just a rambly update post

The weather has been so beautiful here lately, which is a welcome change after the freezing cold weather we had in November. I can't even express how happy I am to be able to take my kids outside to run around. I'm sure my tenant who lives in the basement is equally happy that I can take my kids outside to run and jump and be orangutans.
We went to the Zoo on Tuesday with a couple friends from our homeschooling group and it was SO lovely. We didn't actually see any animals, though...we spent all our time playing on this big hay pile and in a maze that they have set up for ZooLights. Oh well, that's the beauty of passes to the zoo!

I am *thisclose* to being finished Biology100!!!!! Holy fuck I can't wait. I will soon be done with this course and I'll never have to do it ever again! Woowoo! My final exam is on Sunday. I took my midterm about 3 weeks ago but it still hasn't been graded. The paranoid side of me is scared that it got lost in the mail on it's way to Utah...I think I might die if that's the case. I have no idea what my school will even do if it gets lost....guess I should check that out.

My goal to get Midwives Assistant and Medical Terminology finished by the end of December was a pretty lofty one...I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen. I'm still going to try, but I think that a goal of finishing them by the end of January might be more feasible. That puts me slightly off-track of my major map, but c'est la vie. Full time school with 3 kids, a gibbled partner and life in general is just a little bit (ok a LOT) insane lol

Speaking of thisclose...I'm almost done my Christmas shopping. I have a couple more people to get small things for, but other than that I am done like dinner. hooray for that! We're going to have a Yule/Solstice celebration on the 21st before we leave on the 22nd to Kelowna. I am so happy Jesse finally agreed to do that...he wanted to cart all our family gifts to Kelowna to open on Christmas Day, then cart them back home. Uh, no thank you!

I suppose I should get off the net, put this boy sleeping in my arms to bed and crack the books...

Crunch Master 4000

Here's a fun little quiz that's right up my alley. I scored 195...apparently that makes me crunchier than Grape Nuts. LOL

How Crunchy Are You?

What'd you score?

G

G is for gardening. I wish I was better at gardening...I mostly suck at it, though. I am really good at keeping people alive, but plants are another story. I have this lofty dream of one day having a beautiful, bountiful organic garden full of delicious vegetables. Before I attain that, I think I need to be able to keep a cactus alive first.

G is for glasses. I've worn glasses since I was 8...thanks to my father for passing along his shitty eyesight lol I don't wear my glasses often anymore, I prefer my contacts because my glasses make my eyes all small looking.

G is for Gramma. My Gramma passed away 7 years ago and I miss her so. She was a bit overbearing and a bit delusional (she liked to embellish the truth sometimes) but she was so loving and accepting and absolutely wonderful. I miss her immensely and wish that she could see me now and meet my children. I know she would love them so much. Some of my fondest memories as a child are of baking raisin scones from scratch with her.

G is for goodnight! It's 1:36am...time for bed!

F

F is for Faeryn, my middle child! Her name means "from the faeries". She is my spit-fire, spunky, lovey-dovey kamikaze kid. My favourite word of hers right now is "toefood" (for tofu lol)...there is something hilarious about that word to me! Faeryn has taught me SO much about myself as a mother and as a woman, starting with my pregnancy with her and her birth. I am so in love with this kid. She tries my patience to the max and makes me crazy most days, but I wouldn't trade her for the world.

F is for Facebook. I don't think I mentioned it here, but I caved a couple months ago and actually signed up for the damn thing. I'm definetely not a facecrack addict like some people I know, but it has been interesting to catch up with people I haven't seen in many years!!

F is for f-stop. What a photography dork I am hehe! I love taking pictures and I love playing with my camera...I have learned SO much about full manual photography since getting my digi last year. My favourite f-stop on my cam (a Canon Rebel XTi) is 8.0.

F is for ferris wheel. I love the ferris wheel at carnivals. It's about the only ride I will go on. I'm a ride-wimp, what can I say?!

E

E is for eggplant, a veggie I learned to love. Many years ago I attempted making some dish with eggplant and it was nothing short of revolting. I decided that the eggplant deserved a do-over and I can now make a killer ratatouille. Yum :)

E is for eggs. One of my favourite things to eat. Eggs benedict...droooooooooool. It is not uncommon for me to be spotted eating fresh herb salad greens with a couple hardboiled eggs cut up over top, topped with balsamic vinegrette. I have been known to eat this as breakfast, lunch or dinner!

E is for El Paso...I hope to go there to catch babies sometime in the next year or so!

D

D is for daughters. I always wanted to have daughters of my own and I have been blessed with two beautiful, spunky, amazing daughters. They light up my life and make me want to be a better woman.

D is for doula. I've been a doula for 6 years! It all started when my friend C got pregnant. She asked me to be her labour coach since she was alone. Her mom teased me sometimes that I should be a doula because she had a friend who had been a doula. Then, when C went into labour, her nurses told me that I was really good at labour support and that I should look into becoming a doula. The last straw was while watching the Breakfast Show on TV. They had the local doula group on talking about doulas and I decided that it had knocked three times so I *had* to check it out. I called the TV station and got the contact info for the women doing the interview and the rest, as they say, is history :)

D is for daisies, my favourite flower! Gerbera daisies are my absolute fave, but any daisy will do, really. I love the simplicity of the plain old white petal'd, yellow centred daisies. I especially love that they grow all up and down the alley behind my house...beauty amongst the garbage bins.