Currently

Linking up with Randalin and Lindsey today for Currently.  But first, just want to wish all my American friends a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

This week’s words are watching, reminding, searching, waiting and regretting.

Watching – The Radio City Christmas Spectacular on repeat.  Nora is OBSESSED with it.  We watch it at least once a day.  And she practices her kick lines and her v arms.  I don’t have the heart to tell her that she probably will never be tall enough to be a Rockette lol.

Reminding – I have to keep reminding myself that Christmas is coming up soon and I still have A LOT of things left to do.  Also, I have to make cookies for two separate events next week that I have to keep telling myself I need to make lol.

Searching – for the perfect Christmas present for Paul and for Annika.  What do you get a little girl who has everything she wants/needs?  Annika doesn’t need any new toys, or clothes… so I feel bad that we don’t really have much for her yet.

Waiting – for December 1^st to hit so we can start reading our Christmas books every night!!  We are doing a book advent calendar this year and I’m SO excited for it. Also, waiting for December 6^th for my monthly girls trip to the States!  I need more bagels lol.

Regretting – not buying more bagels at Panera at the beginning of the month. I’m totally buying two dozen this time.  They are so delicious and I was SO sad when I ate the last one yesterday.

Next week’s themes are loving, wishing, moving, riding, needing.  Y’all should link up – it’s a good time!

SWW

Linking up for So What Wednesday!

So what.....

- if I'm blogging from my iPad in bed while everyone else is fast asleep? It's been a long day and this is the first chance I've had.

- if I'm super excited to do some online shopping for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we don't really do Black Friday up here in Canada. Well, they pretend they do but the sales really aren't that great at all.

- my seven month old still sleeps in our bedroom. It's the perk of our super small military house. Our girls share a room - when Annika wakes up twice a night to feed, it also wakes Nora up. It's easier on me right now to just keep Annika in our room.

- if I'm ecstatically happy that Paul finishes his faking portion of the course early and was home on Tuesday night. Not everyone is home yet but I am so very thankful that he is. Two kids that are two and under sure are a handful by yourself. Bravo to all those moms out there who do it alone for much longer periods of time.

- if I sometimes ignore FaceTime and Skype calls. Sometimes I just don't feel like dealing with people.

- if I have to make at least 8 dozen cookies by Tuesday night and another 5 dozen for Thursday. Ummm what was I thinking?????

Happy Wednesday y'all!!!

Halloween

Well it's better late than never to get some posts up, right??  So here's a picture heavy Halloween post for you.  Nora decided earlier this year that she wanted to be "Punz" aka Rapunzel from Tangled.  When we were down in Georgia at the beginning of October we actually found the Rapunzel dress at the Cabbage Patch and then I found the wig on sale at Target.  Match made in heaven.  She still wears her dress and her Punz hair on a regular basis lol.  I love how much she loves to dress up.

At the PSP Military Family Halloween Party - with the kitty cat - fixing her hair lol.

The next three pictures are the progression of her seeing her boyfriend Owen lol.

LOOK MOM!

HE'S RIGHT THERE!!

Our little Kitty Annika on Halloween - I bought her costume at Costco on clearance for $4.00 three days before Halloween.  Best. Purchase. Ever.

Trick or Treating with our neighbors - Rapunzel, an Owl, and a Unicorn

And the girls with Annika in Daddy's arms.  For once, it was gorgeous on Halloween here, not too cold, AND NO SNOW!!  I remember having to wear a snowsuit under my costume growing up here.

All this candy collecting made the little kitty cat fall asleep lol.

Rapunzel walking down the street

Nora showing her friend her Ghost flashlight, bought that on clearance too, it lights up with flashing lights if you hold down the button.  Ghost now goes to bed with Nora every night.

Walking up to someone's house.  I love how long that wig really is.

After our outdoor trick or treating, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for hot chocolate and treats but we stopped off at one of the local malls first.  They had indoor trick or treating at most stores and they had a really cool haunted pirate ship area set up.  Nora had a blast going there too.  But I think her fave part of the night was seeing how much candy she got.  Or it may have been the ghost marshmallows Grandma put in her hot chocolate lol.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Snowfall

Winter has descended upon us here in Canada. It's hard to believe how cold it can get and how quickly it can change from one season to the next here. One week ago, it was beautiful outside - today we have approximately 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and it's -14c but feels like -23c (7F feels like -9F). And the forecast for the next week is sunny and COLD. I do like that about living here, it may get really really really cold in the winter but at least it's often sunny.

The only downfall to the snow we received yesterday is that my snow shoveler is away lol. I miss Paul a lot when he is away on training but it's days like this when I need him that I realize how much he does for us. I am so very blessed right now though, to be living in the same city and province as my parents (not a common occurrence for a military family). My Dad came over this afternoon because I asked if he would come watch the girls while I shovelled - instead, he shovelled for me and he also did my neighbours yard too. I dressed Nora up in her snowsuit for the first time this year and let her go play outside while Grandpa was shovelling. She had an absolute blast and Grandpa even taught her how to make snow angels. It was soooo cute! Here's hoping there isn't another big snowfall before Paul comes back home lol.










- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A random smattering of sorts.

So it's just us girls again for the week, Paul left to head back to flight school yesterday evening.  It makes for a fairly quiet house (and no one to help with the dishes or screaming babies) but it's nice though lol.  I've noticed our grocery bill has dropped significantly since he left.  I've been busy making to-do lists to get ready for Christmas, lots of shopping, making budgets, and oh so many more things. 

Does anyone else have a Pinterest problem?  I do.  I will openly admit it.  I pin so many things that I think are cool and I want to try... but then I DON'T DO THEM.  WHY???? My goal is to do at least one Pinterest project per week until Christmas.  My Christmas board is overflowing.

Have you heard of Circum News?  I'm not sure if it's super legit or not... I haven't read anything saying it isn't but it seems too good to be true.  But let me tell you about it - it's a website where you read their articles and get paid to read them.  I'm up to $75.  You can cash out your payment to paypal at $100 (although I saw somewhere but haven't been able to find it again that it was upped to $350).  It doesn't take much of your time but I thought it would be a cool thing to do.  I read about it from Caitlin over at The Pearl and the Pilot.  If you're interested - click on my link and start reading :)  http://circumnews.com/p4389

We're considering signing up for the Disney movie club again.  I puffy heart love Disney movies, and now I can get The Little Mermaid, and Brave.  So it makes me really want to sign up.

I have an issue with spelling.  Not that I'm a bad speller, but that it drives me crazy when people can't spell.  Now I'm not a grammar crazy person like my Father is - BUT here is my pet peeve of the day.  If you have a Facebook business page (or even a personal page) and you are promoting your products.  Don't spell surely as surly.  It does not mean the same thing.  This person has also had many spelling errors in the past so it frustrates me to no end.  Oh well, not everyone was a super speller in school lol.

That ends my random smattering of a Monday post.  Hope y'all have a great week!! 

Terrible Two's and Teething

Terrible Two’s and Teething

This is my life right now.  Nora is now almost two and a half and we are reaching what some might call the “terrible two’s”.  Now I’m not so sure that’s quite where we are at because on a regular basis she is the sweetest kid around.  But we seem to have picked up some bad habits along the way… I’m pretty sure I know exactly who and where they come from but I’m not going to point any fingers quite yet – plus I know she probably teaches other children not so great things too, like picking her nose lol.  She has started to grab toys from Annika and get angry with her – my sister says this is just a big sister thing, but I don’t remember Danie doing that to me when I was younger lol.  So I’m hoping that this will pass.  Also I’m hoping that the “mommy mommy mommy” phase will pass too.  Anytime I drop her off at dance class or at playgroup, she clings to me and cries when I leave the room, which is SO unlike her but this has been happening since we got back from our vacation, it’s so weird. 

Annika is now 6.5 months old and crawling.  Nothing in my house is safe anymore, she has figured out how to break one of our lights, pull toys out of the shelf and take books off the bookcase, oh and of course, she has found Bella’s food and water dish.  I’m proud that she’s on the go already but I wish my little lady would stay little just a little bit longer.  She is also teething.  Man oh man, I thought Nora was bad, Annika is worse.  Sleeping through the night is now a thing of the past – insert sad face here.  I’m lucky if I got 2 hours in row this week, but let’s face it, you can’t get too angry because the poor little thing has a mouthful of teeth trying to pop through, I know how much my mouth hurts when I have tooth pains.

We have survived week 1 of Daddy being away at flight school – and he had his first flight on Friday and had a blast – he’s doing the ACSO training – basically a navigator, for those of you who are somewhat new to my blog.  We are blessed because he is able to come home on the weekends so Nora and Daddy are out shopping together right now while Mommy is making dinner – and blogging lol - and Annika is finally sleeping lol.  Hope y’all have a wonderful weekend wherever you may be!!

Currently!

Linking up with Randalin and Lindsey again for Currently

This week’s words were: wishing, typing, moving, thinking, laughing

Wishing:  I am wishing that the next three weeks will go by quickly and easily.  Paul is on course right now and away.  So I am left with two little ladies all on my own.  I know I can do it, but with the holidays so close and so many “events” happening, it would be nice to have him here with us.

Typing:  Blog posts that I’m trying to schedule in advance (not totally working out yet but I’m getting there).  And emails.  So many emails to return this week.

Moving:  Towels from the closet upstairs to the one downstairs.  And moving a ton of stuff in our basement, we had a new furnace installed on Tuesday so I had to make sure there was 10 foot radius around their work area.  It is installed (and working fabulously) so now I’m trying to reorganize and get things back in place down there.

Thinking:  About WAY too much to even have time to write it all down.  But at this exact moment, I’m thinking about how I really want a cookie but I don’t want to go downstairs to get it and that it’s really too late to be eating one so I should just drink my water instead.

Laughing:  About how Nora spilled the beans about Paul’s Christmas present.  She and I talk about what we do during the day.  We went to the bookstore to buy a book for him.  We skyped tonight and he asked what she did today – she said “shop, book for Daddy”.  BUSTED.  Oh well, he doesn’t know what book I bought him.  All I can say is I can’t wait to see his face when he opens it on Christmas Day.  I scored major awesome wife points with it.

See you all next week!!

So What Wednesday

This week I am saying - So What....

- if my daughter is walking around without pants on. We're potty training and she didn't want to wear her pants.

- if I hate Target in Canada. I know, I know, hear me out though. I will go to Target in the states everyday if I could. Unfortunately, in Canada, it's more expensive, they don't have the same things, and they don't even take Amex. Really???

- if I'm single parenting it for the next 3 weeks. I'll survive. Right?!?!? We made it through one day and one night with no major issues lol.

- if I'm the best wife ever. I bought Paul's Christmas present this morning. And he has NO idea about it. And I'm so excited about this present. He's going to be shocked. And I can't give anymore hints because sometimes he reads this. And I can't tweet about it. But people - this is HUGE!!!

- if I'm almost done all of my Christmas shopping. I only have a few things to pick up and only two people that I have to brainstorm gifts for.

- I forgot to write some posts earlier this week. I had big plans to keep up. Then life got in the way. Oh well. There's always next week lol.

Say "Hello"

Linking up with the lovely Laura over at The Every Day Joys for Say Hello!

Sooooo….. HELLO!!!

Here are “The Questions” we were asked to answer:

1. What is your morning routine?

         Well, I usually wake up at about 5:30am with Annika for her first feeding of the day, and then we snuggle back into bed until about 7:30am when Nora wakes up and is either already in the bed with me or she crawls into bed with me.  Nora and I head downstairs while Annika keeps snoozing and we have breakfast together.  Nora usually eats berries, cereal and toast.  I have a bagel and either an Iced Tea or a can of Cherry Coke lol. Then I shower (depending on whether or not Annika is still sleeping lol) and get dressed.

2. Are you on Instagram? What is your username? Who are 3 of your fave IGer’s?

         I am on Instagram.  My name is kareneanne.  3 faves?? Oh that’s so hard!!  I love lots of people – but I’d have to go with one of my real life pal’s Brynne (brynne_d),  Chantal from Scattered Seashells (cshels) and Laura from The Every Day Joys (theeverydayjoys) (cuz their kids are just so stinkin’ cute!!!)

3.  Please tell us 1-3 of your daily “must read” bloggers.

         I follow so many on my bloglovin feed but I do have my favourites:

1.     Mrs.K and Captain J – LOVE her blog

2.    ScatteredSeashells – I’m so excited for their big move and I need to hear all the details lol

3.     Chambanachik – she’s cool 

4. Tell us a little bit about you and your family:

         Well, I’m married to a RCAF future ACSO (don’t ask what it stands for – I can never remember the proper term – he will be a navigator), Paul.  We have been married for almost 2 years now but together for 5 years.  We have two daughters – Nora who is almost 2 ½ years old and Annika who is 6 months old.  We also have a labradoodle, Bella who is 3 years old (and is more like a puppy than a grown up dog lol).  We just moved back to my hometown and I am LOVING living near my parents right now (hello – built in babysitting!!).  I am currently still on maternity leave (we get a full year in Canada) but after that is up in March I plan on being a SAHM.  I also sell Stampin’ Up! in my spare time and I LOVE to craft.

5.  What are your favourite holiday traditions?

         My current fave is how we open one present on Christmas Eve and it’s always a pair of pj’s.  We did that in my family growing up and I’m so excited that we are passing that down to our girls.  I also absolutely love the holidays so I’m pretty excited for Christmas this year.  And Nora loves it – every time we see a Christmas tree when we are out shopping she squeals.  It’s awesome.

6.  Tell us one random fact about you.

         I am a candy addict.  I love candy.  Especially Laffy Taffy.  It’s bad people.  Bad.  We bought candy down in the States last week so I could feed my addiction lol.  Also, I puffy heart designing logos and things like that but I don’t think I’m good at it so I get other people to do all of my designs for me lol.

So thanks for stopping by!!  Hope to see you all again soon!!

Currently

Linking up with Randalin of Harvesting Kale and Lindsey from Ot & Et for Thursday’s edition of Currently.

This week’s words were craving, waiting, remembering, liking, and cooking.

Craving – I have been craving Cherry Coke.  I have an unhealthy obsession with it lol.  Unfortunately it is not available in Canada.  Fortunately I went on a shopping trip with two of my girlfriends last Friday and bought two cases.  And by cases I mean I now have 48 cans of Cherry Coke in my basement.  See I told you it was unhealthy.

Waiting – Patiently waiting to start decorating our house for Christmas.  I made Paul a promise 4 years ago when we started living together that I wouldn’t decorate until after November 11 to focus on Remembrance Day instead.  For my American friends, it’s kind of like Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day wrapped into one. 

Remembering – A lot of stuff this week.  Remembering all of those who sacrificed their lives so we could live a life of freedom.  November always makes me slow down to pause and reflect on life a little bit more.  Also, on the road trip last week we talked a bit about high school days.  I had some great girlfriends back then, and I miss them and the fun times we had.  Also remembering a lovely lovely lady who I knew for the time I was in Kingston, Victoria Thomas.  She lost her battle with cancer in October, she was probably one of the strongest faith filled women I have met in my lifetime (other than my own mother I think).  She prayed for anyone and everyone and shared with everyone how much she loved Jesus and God and I only hope that I can be a light like her in this world.  She will definitely be missed and remembered for the rest of my life.

Liking – that both of my children are napping at the same time right now.  I’m sure that one of them will wake up shortly but still, half an hour of no crying or needing to tend to anyone is really nice lol.

Cooking – A lot.  I did some baking yesterday for the MFRC’s Coffee Break this morning (MFRC – Military Family Resource Centre), I made yellow ribbon cookies for the launch of the Yellow Ribbon Gala ticket sales today.  Also, we made a meal plan for the month of November.  And we are pretty much sticking to it.  It’s been awesome.  Also, has anyone out there tried the Campbell’s Skillet Sauces?  They are AH-mazing.  We had one last night and everyone ate it.  Even picky Nora did lol.

I’m looking forward to linking up again next week.  I’m REALLY trying to get back into blogging on a more regular basis.  This naptime has helped today lol.