Diet Pop

No, this isn't about soda, it's about music. My dad is a musician and plays the acoustic and electric guitars along with the banjo. I spent many fun summer nights at his band rehearsals. And one of my earliest memories is singing with my mom while the car radio pumped out Barry Manilow's, "I Can't Smile Without You." However, in 4th grade I came into my own with a little crush...

...no, I think full-fledged love affair is more like it with Duran Duran! Oh my goodness, are they not the prettiest boys ever? My mom let me plaster my bedroom walls with their posters from Bop magazine (before she wall-papered it) and I had dreams of marrying John Taylor. That year for Halloween my Aunts Debbi and Connie dressed me up as Cyndi Lauper. I looked fabulous with my orange spray-painted hair, green & purple checkerboard eye shadow, and way too many bracelets.

In high school a lot of my friends liked New Kids on the Block, but they made me laugh. I liked the "cool" stuff- Depeche Mode, U2, and now my dreams were of David Gahan!

In college I finally got a CD player (yes, I'm a luddite) and the first CD I bought myself was of The Ocean Blue (it's still one of my faves). I spoiled myself with a new CD a month. I reconnected with the great ones from the 80's- The Cure, The Smiths, but the girls were my favorite- Indigo Girls, Sarah, Fiona, Tori, Shawn, Natalie, Lisa. Yes, I did go to Lilith Fair- twice!

I always considered my music tastes to be of the alternative variety, and now I've discovered I have an appetite for Pop. Gasp! I blame High School Musical and my kids. But I can't help it, I find myself singing along with Miley, Taylor, and even the freaky Lady Gaga. And "I Gotta Feeling" you love the Black-Eyed Peas too! I mentioned before that I'm a luddite and have yet to enter the world that is MP3. It's ok though, I'm looking forward to Christmas and to find what new CDs Santa stuffed our stockings with!

Sweet Testimony

For the last Sunday in October we were treated with the Primary Presentation at Church. This year's theme was: My Eternal Family. All of the kids did great with their parts. My kids both memorized theirs, but Kaleb got a little nervous and ended up reading his. Noe read the first word, then stopped, looked up and recited the entire 4th Article of Faith from memory. Way to go kids! I'm so proud of you both. The singing is always my favorite though and they did 2 songs in sign language this year. One of the new songs they learned this year was also entitled "My Eternal Family," and I really want to live these words each day:

I am a builder working each day to build my family.
And I will do the best I can to serve them lovingly.
I am a builder growing so tall and learning ev'ry day
to speak with kindness in my home, to help at work and play.
My Heavenly Father sent me here and He knows I can be
Strong and righteous as I build my eternal family.

I am a builder building a home, I seek the Lord in prayer.
And as I try to live God's word I feel the Spirit there.
I am a builder serving the Lord and following His plan
To help my fam'ly come back home and live with Him again.
My Heavenly Father sent me here and He knows I can be
Strong and righteous as I build my eternal family.

I also want to mention a beautiful experience that happened at the beginning of September. For the first Sunday of each month we have a Fast and Testimony meeting. We are asked to fast for 2 meals and then donate the monetary value of those meals to those less fortunate. We also share our testimonies during Sacrament meeting when we feel the Spirit to do so. Noe's best friend, Emma was sitting 2 rows in front of us. She turned around and whispered to Noe, "do you want to go up with me?" Noe looked at me with the expression, "what do I do?" I told her she could go up if she wanted to, but she didn't have to if she didn't feel like it. She told me she wanted to, then she walked up to Emma's row. The girls held hands walking up the aisle, then sat next to each other waiting for their turn. When Noe got up to speak, this was the sweet testimony she gave:

My name is Noe. I love Jesus Christ. I know all He teaches is true.

She then sat down (whoops, she forgot to say Amen, but it was still precious) and waited while Emma gave her own beautiful testimony. Then the girls walked hand in hand back to their seats in the congregation. I was so proud of them both and really touched by their powerful faith. I too LOVE Jesus Christ. And I KNOW all He teaches is true! If you're interested in learning about our beliefs, please visit http://www.mormon.org/. YOU are a child of God!

Lil' Happy Dance!

This morning when I stepped on the scale I saw that I lost my 20th pound since moving to Canada and am finally back down to my pre-pregnancy weight- wahoo!! Unfortunately, I still have 30 pounds to get to my target weight. I haven't done any drastic dieting or exercising, just running stairs from the basement to the main floor and upstairs cleaning up after my messy family, nursing my baby, and trying to eat healthier foods in smaller portions. Not only do I want to lose weight, I want to be healthier overall. Hopefully, these lifestyle changes can do that. I'm scared I'll plateu though and then give up and gain weight again. Being a yo-yo is not so fun. But for the moment I'm celebrating my small victory!

Deja BOO!

Halloween was pretty low-key this year compared to years past, but we still had a fun time! Our festivities didn't really start until the week before when I finally found our decorations to unpack. We had our few from Taiwan and a few more that had been in storage, including this little boy & girl. It was so cute because all week Gavin would call them Chachi and Noe after his beloved older brother and sister.


On Friday the kids had a small celebration at school. I made these little jack-o-lantern cupcakes for them, but they have a little boy in their class with severe allergies (I swear Ottawa is the allergy capitol of the world). Their teacher asked each student to bring in a special treat for themselves, but they wouldn't be allowed to share. I think it's kind of sad. They had a costume parade that the little boys and I went to, but it was a little chaotic followed by a visit from the fire department as a fog machine in the community center at the other end of the building set off the smoke detector. Gavin enjoyed seeing the firetruck though.


The kids brought home these darling ghosts they made,

and these darling suckers from their teacher.

That night we also went over to the Martin's house. The kids decorated Halloween sugar cookies and made cards to give to someone special. We also stayed for dinner. I felt so bad though, because Gavin got sick during dinner (for a total of 3 times at their house, once in the car home, and 4 more times at our house-poor guy!) Sorry Martin's!

Saturday morning, Noe went to a birthday party. Afterwards we carved all of our jack-o-lanterns. I drew a bunch of different eyes, noses, and mouths then we took turns picking what we wanted. I LOVE the results. No two are the same and they show each of our personalities. Can you tell whose is whose? (4 on bottom L to R: Jen, Kaleb, Noe, Gavin; 2 on top: Teague and Len). We put 2 on each side of our garage and the other 4 lined our sidewalk up to the front door. It was finally time to get the candy ready for our trick-or-treaters and to get ourselves into costume. You might recognize these.

Kaleb, the muscle-man ninja

Noe, the beautiful princess

Gavin, the race-car driver

Teague, the cutest punkin!

Len, the scholarly priest

Jen, the queen (of course- tee hee!)

I had so much fun playing dress-up with Noe. She was so excited I let her wear one of my fancy necklaces and dangly earrings. When she saw the pictures she said, "I look even prettier than I thought." What a little stink, but she's right!

I must have taken a dozen of these trying to get them all to smile and look at the camera at the same time. This was as good as it got. Love them!

Gavin and Teague stayed home with Daddy to help pass out candy, while I took Kaleb and Noe on their first door-to-door outing. It was fun going around the neighborhood with some of their friends from school.

The kids were thrilled with their loot. Not bad for about an hour's work! The most popular item they received was chips! They also got some good candy (although I think we gave out the best: Twix, Reese, Snickers, Starburst, just to name a few), and some toys too. I never would have thought to give out play-doh for Halloween, how fun!

To settle down before bed we watched our Charlie Brown Halloween shows. After the kids were in bed, Len and I watched Sleepy Hollow. Gotta love Halloween!

An Ox, a Moose, and...

AKH! Who I am assuming is Alisha Karn Horvath. If not, who are you my friend? Anyway, YOU are the lucky winner of my little give-away. Soon you'll receive a cute little Ox figurine in commemoration of the year and some Canadian Moose Droppings. Don't worry they're delicious (they're chocolate coated almonds). Originally I was going to get some authentic maple syrup, but then I saw the cute Moose and the syrup just couldn't compare. Please

e-mail me your new address again (my address box is still unorganized and I can't find where I wrote it down), and I will get this out in the mail to you ASAP!

Thanks to all the rest of you who participated. I enjoyed learning about your favorite traditions, and I hope you win next time! For those of you who didn't enter, why not? Trust me the chocolate covered almonds are GOO-OOD (pronounced with 2 syllables).

Over the hump!

Yep, my Mr. Sweet Cheeks is 6 months old and on his way to his first birthday. The only thing is I want him to stay a baby longer. Isn't he cute? He's so sweet too. Love him!

It's that time again...

for a GIVE-AWAY!! Yep, today is my 2nd anniversary of blogging (and seriously, the time has flown.) Anyway, I want to give away a couple of little souvenirs- one from Taiwan and one from Canada. To enter, just leave me a comment telling me about your favorite holiday tradition. I'll pick the winner next Friday at noon (eastern time). When I announce the winner, I'll also post a picture of the gifts, until then it will be a surprise!

Traditions

Last week we had a long weekend and went on our 4th annual (well the years we've lived in Ottawa) nature walk along Aviation Parkway. I'll get more to that in a minute.
Friday, the kids were off school, but Len had to work. It seems my kids misbehave when they're all home and daddy's not (or maybe I can handle it better when I have a help mate). Anyway, I admit I was dreading it, and that made me really sad. So on Thursday, I had made some plans to keep us all happy and entertained: bake cookies, play board games, read stories, dance to music, go to the park, and maybe even go shopping for snowsuits. Friday morning arrived and it was POURING down rain. I told the kids that we were all going to do a quick tidy of the house, then we'd get started on our day of fun. It wasn't 2 minutes before all He** broke loose and Kaleb and Noe were screaming at each other over (is it ever anything really important). This is when I lose it. Yes, being the adult I need to stay calm to show them how to properly deal with their emotions, but I'm not perfect either, so away I start yelling too. After the ordeal was over of course I felt terrible and sad for the rest of the day. We did end up making cookies, then we all watched "Annie" together. We missed out on our Ward Family Fun Night, but I just wasn't up to it (all the kids were coughing and had yucky noses too), so we'll just have to make it up next month. I'm reminded by a quote from Pearl S. Buck, "Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together." So I guess I'm normal- tee hee.
On Saturday the big kids played with a classmate and her brothers who live across the street, while the rest of us shopped till we dropped! I think we went to 7 stores. The major purchase was for the snowsuits, boots, and gloves (you can't get away with just coats here- and we had our first flurries 2 days ago- yikes!)
On Sunday we all went to church and afterwards had our Canadian Thanksgiving celebration. Since we'll be doing it again next month we changed it up a bit. We had chicken breasts, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, and of course our green bean and sweet potato casseroles. We finished it off with a yummy (store bought) apple cranberry caramel crisp served ala mode- delish. We also watched our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving specials, so hopefully next month we'll be able to stay awake for Miracle on 34th Street.
Now Monday was technically Thanksgiving, but I have only met one Canadian who had the feast on the Monday while growing up. Everyone else I know has it on the Sunday and some on the Saturday. Since we already had our feast, we drove down Rockcliff Parkway and then took a nice stroll through the tree tunnel that is also known as Aviation Pathway. I love this tradition of ours and hope to do it every year we live here. Now on to the pictures- enjoy!

We noticed these bright red leaves from far back, but when we approached them we discovered they were spray painted, what the?

Kaleb loved his red, yellow, and green maple leaf, while Noe adored her hot pink one.

I love this family of mine. Even though I do scold, I also kiss lots and lots!

I hope my Canadian friends had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope my American friends had a nice Columbus day, and I hope all my friends are having a warm fall!

Truth or Myth?

Did you ever hear that Mormons have horns?

Truth, but ain't he a cute little devil?

Did you ever hear that nursing babies won't take a binky?

Myth, happy day! he took it for me today (but let's see how long it lasts.)

Did you ever hear that twins are turkeys?

One little,


Two little,

Twin little turkey-kins.

Truth, they are turkeys or at least silly geese!

Did you ever hear that Jen was washing laundry today?

Truth! In between loads of washing, drying, folding, and putting away I got to ignore the settling in for a bit and spend time on my favorite, but recently neglected hobby- blogging. Let's hope this trend will continue weekly!

Form and Function

I am not a utilitarian person. I like things to be practical and beautiful. So when we needed to get a new alarm clock, this little old-fashioned number won me over. In the store it looked so bright and shiny in it's little box. However, after I got it home and got it wound up it became my new nemesis. It's little tick-tock is not so little. I feel like Donald Duck in that old cartoon. Every night I have to tuck it in to the bathroom or our closet and close the door tight and I can still hear it. In the morning when it goes off, it sounds like our house is going to crash in it is SO loud! Now I'm wondering how long our little relationship is going to last with our daily and nightly dance on and off the nightstand, or if I'm ready to trade him in for this year's model.


We really enjoyed living in Ottawa before and are happy that it is our "home base" in between postings. However, there were 2 things I was not looking forward to with our move. 1- the 6+ months of snow and 2- how milk is sold here. Ontario seems to be a pretty "green" place and I admire everyone's efforts with recycling and composting, etc. But the milk is ridiculous! It's sold in these big 4L bags that have 3 smaller bags inside. You then put one of the smaller bags into a plastic jug and snip the tip to pour. It is such a pain in the neck when you run out in the middle of pouring milk on your cereal. I just don't get it. Yes, it saves on packaging, but you can't recycle the plastic bags. The gallon-size plastic milk jugs that I'm used to CAN be, but you can not find those here. You can find the cardboard milk cartons, but they are literally twice as expensive. If people are that concerned for the environment maybe we should go back to milk bottles that we just wash and reuse!

Now that I've vented here are some things I am loving! We went through a jillion can openers while in Taiwan, they were just not good quality. After being fed up for 4 years we finally purchased the Starfrit opener and it is so lovely. I hope to keep him around for a long time.

And this little beauty is my new Black & Decker steamer. Since I now wear the "family chef" hat (thanks Len for wearing it for most of the past 12 years) I needed a new tool to help me make quick and healthy meals. This guy has 3 stackable baskets that can make your entire meal in one go. Step 1- fill basket with chicken breasts. Step 2- stack 2nd basket on top and fill with broccoli. Step 3- stack final basket on and fill with rice and cover with lid. Step 4- fill base with water and turn on. Step 5- 30 minutes later enjoy a healthy, moist, tasty meal! Where have you been all my life? I'm so glad I've found you now!

Fall Colors

Lovin' the fall colors and warm, soft clothes.

Lovin' the snugglin' to ward off the cold!

Corn Roast in Cumberland

Our ward had its annual corn roast at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum. When we visited before 4 years ago the buildings were closed. This year we got to tour them and I was mesmerized by the life and times of those who lived yesteryear.


The previous picture is the back of the General Store and here is the front.


Another shot, inside. Do you recognize some of the brand names? Campbell's, Kraft, Jell-o, and Post Grape Nuts!

Our crew having fun exploring.

The smallest house on the premises. I wonder how many people used to live inside that one room?

This house was much larger with a living room and dining room at the front of the house; the kitchen and mother-in-law's bedroom at the back; and three more small bedrooms upstairs. Then I learned that the family had like 14 children. Those bedrooms were tiny, I don't know how they all fit to sleep!

The old gas station.

The gazebo surrounded by a rainbow in bloom.

Gavin playing with the scarecrow.

Lil' smilin' eyes- I see you!

The old schoolhouse with the British flag inside. Is this school really older than Canada?

Time to learn.

Time to play.

I love old white churches. Inside there was a needlepoint of a really pretty prayer about remembering our heritage. I am grateful for those who paved the way for me to enjoy the wonderful lifestyle I do today.

I think this was the first house built in Orleans back in the day. It was deceptively small inside, but still pretty.

I have a picture of Kaleb & Noe posing here 4 years ago, and now here are my 4 kiddos.

Silly and sweet. I sure love 'em!

This house was sold in a kit from a mail-order catalog. I wish building a house now-a-days was so easy.

Check out the punched-tin ceiling.

The museum is a living experience complete with gardens to harvest (which Leonard helped with that morning at the service project.)

There is also all the livestock you can imagine- cows, pigs, goats, mules, horses, chickens, turkeys, ducks. The kids loved all the animals!

Whenever I get sentimental about the good ol' days and wished I could have lived back then, I see this and think, "I'd rather have my flushing toilet, thank you very much."

But I still like to let my imagination travel to distant places.