Friday, October 31, 2008

Quote of the Day 60

Mama is telling Dada lunchtime how it takes forever to get BigE out of the shower after swimming. Meaning they're not home for super until unusually late.

BigE "Yeah a shower warms me up as much as hot chocolate"

There you have it

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Boo!

This year's pumpkins carved by BigE and Dada




Not a bad test with the lights off in kitchen and a flash light shoved inside.

Our designs came from a book we bought by Home Logic Halloween. (Note four free pumpkin patterns)

Big Cousin's Birthday

It took a little while to get the pictures off the camera but without further ado is Jakie's Birthday pictures. BigE was excited for Jakie all day long.

Nothing like going out for your birthday without the obligatory stupid giant hat and sing along. Ughhh



And here is Jakie with Peanut.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Nanaimo Bars

Yet another recipe after Moist Cookies.

BASE
1/ 2 CUP MARGARINE OR BUTTER (ROOM TEMPERATURE)
1 /4 CUP BROWN SUGAR
1 TSP. VANILLA
1 EGG

Put the above ingredients in a double boiler and cook until a custard like consistency.

COMBINE
3 TBLSP. COCOA
2 CUPS GRAHAM WAFTER CRUMBS
1 CUP COCONUT
1 /2 CUP NUTS (OPTIONAL)

Now add the mixture from the double boiler into these ingredients and mix well. Press into a 6x12 inch greased pan.

SECOND OR MIDDLE LAYER
CREAM TOGETHER
1/4 CUP MARGARINE OR BUTTER (ROOM TEMPERATURE)
2 CUPS ICING SUGAR
2 TBLSP. CUSTARD POWDER
ADD 3 TBLSP. MILK
Or just enough to get mixture together in an icing sugar consistency to spread. If more milk is needed just add very small amounts at a time.

Spread second layer over base.

TOP
MELT 5 OR 6 OZ SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS WITH 2 TBLSP OR MARGARINE OR CHRISCO and spread over the bottom layer. Chill in fridge and cut when just a little cool.

A Little Smile

Peanut is really enjoying the bouncy chair the last few days. (I hope to get some video up on that pretty soon.) But we have a pic with a little trace of a smile as she's enjoying the dangling toys.

Pumpkin Patch 08

Another fall has come and we've taken another trip to the pumpkin patch. BigE was there last week with the class. This weekend we went with some friends. In my favorite picture I almost caught the perfect shot of a pumpkins last moments. Alas the photo is a little blurry.

Tractor crushing pumpkin

At least the tractor was able to give us the traditional ride into the patch. This year it didn't stop to let us off into the corn maze first so we picked some pumpkins and stashed them on the side of the road.

After finding some pumpkins we took a trip through the corn maze. The kids did a pretty good job leading the group.
corn maze

We finished the maze on the other end from where we started. The kids were so confident they went in one row and walked the whole length of the maze. Straight down the row of planted corn. But they felt like they'd done the whole maze by themselves.

With a little help we get the kids into the BOO! sign.
BigE and Peanut go boo!


Peanut enjoying her first trip. First traces of a smile. Something about the flash scares it away.
A little Peanut smile


BigE got a ride in the little green wagon with his buddies. Dada had to pull them up the hill in that thing. (We decided not to wait for the tractor ride)
BigE going for a cart ride with the buddies


Then there was some play time on the cart, bails of straw, and piles of pumpkins
BigE with the buddies

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Family Photo

Pulled this out of the Pumpkin patch visit. Thought it would be nice just to post the photo of the family.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wondering What Our Weather Is

From the Government's WeatherOffice.gc.ca Ottawa Average Weather Info.

E.g.
Average daily temperature
Nov 1'c
Dec -7'c
Jan -10.8'c

Average daily min temperature
Nov -2.8'c
Dec -11'c
Jan -15'c

No Smiley Face Picture

Peanut just won't oblige us with a smiley face with the camera shoved in her face. We've past the six week mark and we're starting to see those smiles. Especially in the morning. But getting a picture is another matter. Perhaps she's been conditioned "Smile" -> "Camera" -> "Bright Light in my eyes" -> "Pain" -> No smiling.

Stay tuned.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Moist Cookies

The often asked for receipe. NO BAKING - Only stirring arm needed

Start with:
1 CUP PEANUT BUTTER ( 8 TBL SPS)
1/ 2 CUP MARGARINE (ROOM TEMPERATURE)

Mix peanut butter and margarine thoroughly.

Now add:
1 CUP ICING SUGAR
And mix together.

Then add:
1 CUP COCONUT (If you want you can add just add 1/2 cup of the coconut now.)

Next add 2 generous cups of Rice Crispies and mix thoroughly. If you only added 1/2 of the coconut add the rest now.

Place mixture in a greased 8 inch square pan and chill.

TOPPING
(I use the microwave to melt the topping ingredients)

1 / 8 BAR PARO WAX (I use Crisco shortening instead - approximately 1 to 2 TBL spoons depending on the amount of chocolate chips used)

6 OZ SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS (If you want a more chocolately tasting top you can up the amount.)

Spread on top of cookie mixture and chill in the fridge.

For best cutting results score the chocolate after it has has a chance to set but not harden. Then let the cookies chill.



.

Pictures from BigE

Another round of interesting photos from the junior artist

Mama sleeping


His little baby sister

His bucket of marbles

His hockey gear

Quick self protrait

And finally a fresh shot of his little baby sister from this morning

Monday, October 20, 2008

Take that Nappy!

Believing Global Warming is a pile of hooey makes this even funnier

Blow to image of ‘green’ reusable nappy Times Online:

A government report that found old-fashioned reusable nappies damage the environment more than disposables has been hushed up because ministers are embarrassed by its findings.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Astronaut Helmet

Last year we had the astronaut custom but needed a helmet. Rather then order some $50 thing off amazon (and get it over the border) we figured it was best to just make one. So Astronaut Costume Helmet Edition and Astronaut Costume were born.

I've had several emails from random surfers who have stumbled across our posts. So here is the most common info.

First the basic shape is accomplished by inflating a balloon to slightly bigger then your child's head. If you need something other then the basic oval shape you can layer plastic grocery bags (if you can still get them) or crumpled up newspaper to adjust the basic shape.

Once you have the basic shape you apply as many layers of paper mache as needed to get a good strong shape. Some recipes for paper mache glue / paste:

Keep layering. Once your shape has some strength you can pop the balloon to remove it from the inside of the helmet.

Keep applying layers until you think your helmet has the strength needed.

Quote of the Day 59

Mama "How was school"

BigE "Good. We had a surprise teacher today"

He really meant supply teacher. A.k.a. Substitute teacher. Then again maybe it was a surprise.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Escape to Canada?

Funnies in case McCain pulls off the hail mary pass


h/t Small Dead Animals

The Parachute

At some point BigE had gotten interested in parachutes. Not sure where. But the other day he was interested in using a grocery bag as a parachute. A classic moment in childhood*. BigE figured that one grocery bag would do. Off he went to jump off the small play structure. It didn't quite work as he'd hoped. But it did look cute.

I then went to explain how one bag wasn't going to do the trick. He was confident that the bag was the same size as him and that would do it. I explained how much bigger a parachute is than the person using it. Like all good thinkers, his response was "I'll use two bags"


Note the safety with the bike helmet!

Ready, Set ...


GO!

So sadly it didn't work. Or atleast not as well as BigE had hoped. But I didn't really want to push things and encourage him to make a bigger parachute.


* Until greenies ban the plastic bag and it ends after this generation

Friday, October 10, 2008

Hockey Videos

From the first practice I finally have the videos up.

Here we have the hockey crouch stance.


Sadly we didn't grab a clip of BigE doing a pretty good jump on the ice.

Here we have some BigE during sharks and minnows


A little longer clip from sharks and minnows

Thanks Nanny Barb

for the giraffe winter hat


BigE wrote back to you right away and we dropped the letter in the mailbox.

Dada did have to help the address as I explained that from BigE and to Nanny was probably not enough info for the mail man to deliver the mail.

Nanny and Poppy's Visit

Well the visit ended today. In classic fashion we have very pictures of poppy. I think his identity is hidden yet again.


We took a trip to a park downtown. After Peanut popped her pants and then demaned a feeding we didn't get very far. We did make extensive use of the benches.



To keep everyone entertained we did play a little Red light Green light. BigE pulled out a win over Nanny


Dada is appealling his loss to the international committee after the judge was caught cheering on the other competitor during the race.

Along the way back to the car we passed the Art Gallery. And for the record this was probably as close as I've ever been to going in there. (Does Larry the Cable Guy count as culture?)

BigE thought it was very cool to be under the big giant spider

Thursday, October 9, 2008

The First Hocky Practice

Last weekend was our first hockey practice. BigE is now officially in Initiation hockey. We've been working hard to get his skating going. This time last year was when his swimming had a break through. Followed by gymnastics and then soccer. I was hoping to get his skating to the point where it was average. So we did a bunch of extra public skating sessions.

Here he is wall his gear on and his big cousin Jakie's hockey jersey.



One thing we hadn't gotten done was getting BigE used to skating with hockey gear on. Unfortunately I was sick and very busy on Thursday so I didn't get an extra skate in. But I must say BigE took it all in stride.

Here's Poppy Doug reacting in disgust to the uniform choice.


One ice shot.


All in all it went quite well. BigE was put in a group of six and he confidently went off and did all the drills. It wasn't till the second last setup that he found dada.

I think the skating went well enough that we were put in group 2 which I think is the ok skaters. There were some kids that could really fly. At least we made it to the 51st percentile.

There are a couple of videos to come but the uploading is slowwwww.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Do Not Call List

Just a reminder that the Do Not Call List run by the CRTC is up.

FAQ is here. It will improve things but it is balanced so don't expect miracles. Specifically read this FAQ entry

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Putting One of them to Sleep

Nanny and Poppy have arrived. BigE is very happy to see them and show off his baby sister. Now we have an extra set of hands.


Although by the end of ttis snuggle we might have had to put two people to bed

Carp Fair 2008 Part Duex

Forgot to mention how much Peanut enjoyed the fair. Four hours of: