Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Winter is here and Christmas is just weeks away.  Where has the thime gone?  We finally had one day where the weather was managable (not super cold or windy like it has been) so I dressed the kids up and hoped to get the sidewalk and driveway shovelled.  I managed to get a little done, but it seemed like every time I shovelled snow off the sidewalk one of the kids was putting more snow back on!  A little conterproductive, but we had some fun anyway!

What's going on???

Ok, so I haven't been a very faithful blogger as of late.  I still owe you all some more photos from our BC trip that we took in August!  I'll get those up before Christmas, I promise!

Life has been pretty crazy these last few months.  I can hardly believe that it's already November.  I started my new job in the middle of Sept and life hasn't slowed down since.  I have been involved in our church teaching the preschool kids on Sunday mornings, helping with the Plan to Protect program as well we started this new Family Night on Thurs evenings and I am helping to coordinate it and run it!  It's been a lot of fun, but that added to my new job and two little ones, plus the hubby, life has been busy!  Phil's been doing great at work and he has been selected to go do some special training in a few weeks to be part of the Emergency Response Team at work!  It's a pretty exciting opportunity for him and he's pretty excited.  It will be two weeks of physical and intense training, but I know he'll do great.  He's a little bummed that he has to miss two weeks of hunting season as so far this year he hasn't had too much luck bringing anything home, but then most people in town haven't has a lot of luck either.

The kids are doing awesome!  Makayla started preschool at the end of October and has been loving it!  She comes home so happy and excited about what she is learning and the songs that they sing.  She's got two buddies from church who are also in her preschool class.  She will start gymnastics next week and I'm pretty sure she's going to love it.  Our town pool has been under construction for the last few months, so once they are up and running, we'll get the kids into some more swimming lessons.  They did two weeks over the summer and did awesome!

There's so much going on that some days we just can't keep up with the blog.  You can always find us on Facebook and my new addiction is Pinterest!  Hope all you bloggy readers out there are doing well and having a great start to the fall!!!  Cheers!

Family Vacay in August (Part 1)

 Lunch break in Blue River, BC

 At the Vancouver Aquarium

Watching the Dolphin Show!  

It was a hit.

 Being silly

 Just playing and enjoying the sun!

 At the Vancouver Night Market

 Lunch stop close to Fraser Lake in BC

 Just too cute!

 Enoying being out of the truck!

Christmas came early as we celebrated with my mom and dad 

and my brother and his girlfriend - Christmas in August!

 The Salmon Run in Terrace, BC

 Playing at the park

 Even Phil got in on the action!

 So cute!

 We promised Makayla beach time, so here it is

 Having a tea party with Grandma

Group shot!  I need to edit this picture a little!

These are just a few... I need to dig through another album to update some more, so stay tuned for Part 2!

Promises

I know I promised that the next post would be about our family vay-cay out to BC, but life just sorta picked up speed before we even got back and it really hasn't stopped since.

While on vacation I got the noble idea to apply for a few part time jobs here in town.  Didn't really think too much of it but knew that if I found something it would really help to pay the bills.  So I applied.  When we got home there was a message on our machine telling us that our tenants (we own a townhouse in Edmonton) were moving out at the end of Sept.  Makayla had preschool registration while we were gone and I had a friend fill in everything for us.  Just a few things on the go.  We were home for a few days, put the word out about our place (still no interest as of today) and then on the Tuesday that school started I got a call from the principal of the middle school where I had applied for a TA job calling asking for me to come in for an interview as soon as possible.  I went in the next morning and then got a call on Thursday with a job offer.  So then I started to scramble for childcare (as it's only needed a few days a month with Phil's shift work schedule).  Anyway, long story short, we found childcare, the kids are doing awesome and I've been at work for three days now.  And boy do the weekends fly by!

My job is as a TA for one of the grade 5 classes at the middle school here in town.  I work only in the mornings and so far so good.  Life has been a little crazy, but in the end all things work out!  It's been nice to get out of the house and enjoy some time with adults and other kids.  These next 9 months are going to fly by!

I'm also super involved with a few things at the church, so it's seems that when the kids are napping or sleeping, I'm packing up things for the sitters, prepping things for church, meal planning and just trying to stay on top of things!  It's been a pretty busy month of Sept and it's only the 18th!  I promise I will get a trip recap and some photos.  You can see them on Facebook if you're my friend!!!

Better late than never

Here are two of my new favorite websites for recipes!  They are both on facebook too... check it out:

Joy of Baking
Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Will have a full summary of our BC trip up soon!

Photos

If you wish to check out other photos... you can follow us on Flickr here and I'm also on Instagram with the user name of yeex4!  Come on check us out!

Time

Where does the time go?  I can't believe that it is the end of July.  Feels like we've been so busy and yet we've hardly had any summer.

We are in Edmonton for a friends wedding right now (well actually the wedding was yesterday).  We've been able to see a bunch of friends and reconnect and it feels good (SO good to see you guys again!!!).  I am always so encouraged after seeing people who you have worked with and grown close to see how they've matured and grown!  (*that sentence doesn't make any sense but I don't really want to sit and figure out how to fix it!)

Grande Cache hasn't seen too much summer weather and it's kind of been a bummer.  This past month Taylor started to walk.  It's been pretty exciting but all that attention has made Makayla feel a little left out.  She also became a big girl this past month and now goes to the bathroom - no more diapers!!!  Both kids had swimming lessons for two weeks and they enjoyed it a lot.  I on the other hand was exhausted as I took both of them swimming - Taylor in the morning and Makayla in the afternoon.  I'm glad my kids like the water.

We will be venturing out to the West Coast in a few weeks to see my family.  We are looking forward to a family vacation, but that will conclude our summer.  Can't believe it's almost gone... then hunting seasons starts!!!

I can walk now!!

At the park chillin' on a cool day

 Both of them have a little computer

(you can't see Taylor's very well though)

Someone taught the little turkey to make funny faces!!

Recipe of the month - Crepes

Haven't tried this yet but it's on my to-do...


Crepes

2 Large Eggs 

1 Cup Flour 

3/4 Cup Milk 

1/2 Cup Water 

1/2 Tsp Vanilla 

2 Tbsp Butter, melted 

Butter for sauteing 

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree. 

2. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight (this helps the bubbles to settle and the crepes not to tear). 

3. Grease a saute pan or crepe pan with butter. Pour in 2 tbsp of batter and swirl to cover the pan. 

4. Cook for 1 minutes, flip and continue to cook another 30 seconds or until just starting to become 

golden. 

5. Remove to a plate and continue to make remaining crepes. 

6. Spread with apple butter, almond butter, mashed bananas, fruit preserves or any other favorite 

filling. 

7. Roll into a cigar shape. 

8. Serve. 

Canada Day - belated Foto Friday

Yesterday we got to take in the Canada Day Parade (harade - as Makayla calls it) Grande Cache style!  This was my first ever parade (not including the ones in Disney!).  It was fun to see some friends and then to see the floats (they were more like pick up trucks hauling flat beds with things on it!).  We had a good time even though it was freezing out (some people were dressed in boots and winter jackets) and super windy.  Here's a few quick photos!

I'm not so good with the self portraits!

Watching the cars and "floats" go by

Picking up the candy they were throwing

Excited to see what was coming next

Taylor

Makayla got a flag and she was pretty excited about it

Wild Blue Yonder Rafting had a Pirate Ship -

by far the best of them all!

If you are looking for a great rafting trip, check them out

Wild Blue Yonder

(Feel free to stay with us if you choose to come and check it out!!!)

Recipe of the Month - Raisin Bread

The other day at the grocery store I noticed that a nice loaf or raisin bread was upwards of $6.  $6 - WHAT?  I know I can make it for cheaper than that and I have a bread maker at home, does it get any easier than that?  Phil hasn't been a big fan of the recipe that came with the bread maker, so I googled up some recipes and came across this one.  It's soft and moist and the kids even ate it up!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (for the bread maker)

Ingredients:  

1 cup milk 

3 tablespoons butter, softened 

1 egg 

1/4 cup brown sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

3 cups flour 

1 package yeast 

3/4 cup raisins 

Directions: 

Add all ingredients, except raisins, to the bread maker pan in the order listed (or as 

directed in your bread maker instructions). 

Set bread maker to the regular setting (I set mine to the sweet bread setting) and start. Add raisins when the beeper sounds to 

add additional ingredients. 

Another Belated Birthday Greeting

Makayla, Happy Third Birthday!  I can hardly believe that it's been three years already.  You are growing like a weed and we love you so much - although we could do without your tantrums!!  This last year has been amazing as we welcomed your brother into our family.  It is so much fun to watch the two of you together.  You speak so well and I love having conversations with you.  You know your colours, your numbers, you're starting to learn letters and I love that you speak Spanish!  I hope that we can continue to grow that in you (thanks to Dora the Explorer!).  This past week we started working on potty training and you have been a rock star!  We are excited to have you go to preschool in September and I look forward to this summer with you as we explore more outdoors and as we play with some friends!  You are a joy and we love you!!!  Can't wait to see what this next year holds!!!

Best birthday present - a helium Dora balloon!  It lasted for two weeks!!!

Epic Parenting Fail: thought I had enough batteries in the camera to get us through the day... take out the camera to take photos at dinner only to realize the battery was dead!  Had to use the blackberry to take a few photos!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Little Man!!!

Wow, where has the year gone?  I can hardly believe that our little guy has turned ONE!  Here's the link to his arrival but I realized that I never wrote any details about how he came into our lives (I did however mention that the second child does get a little left in the dust!).

So, one year ago (well actually a little more than that), Taylor Philip Yee joined our family on May 14, 2010.  His due date was May 21, 2010.  Phil was working in Grande Cache and was working his last set before he had a few weeks off.  He had just finished working a week of overnight shifts and slept for a few hours and then made the drive to Edmonton.  He was home in the afternoon of the 13th.  My mom was arriving on the 15th and so we knew we had lots of time!  I went to one of my final dr appointments that morning and found out that things were already underway.  I had been having contractions off and on for the past few days and after that appointment they totally picked up.  I knew that it was going to be soon, I just wasn't prepared for how soon.

We had a bunch of friends on stand by and some great people who had offered to help out even watching Makayla if this baby came before my mom got to town.  When Phil came home that afternoon I told him what was going on.  I had made plans to meet a friend for coffee, so I went out with her, all while crossing my legs and making sure this baby didn't come any sooner than we were ready for!  By dinner time that night I was starting to get a little uneasy, feeling that tonight just might be the night.  I remember tucking Makayla into bed that night thinking that things were about to be so different and I remember saying to her, "See you in the morning" (I was just NOT ready for this baby - Phil had just got home and my mom wasn't going to be there for another day, but I knew that I wasn't going to be seeing her in the morning).  As we were going to bed my contractions were five minutes apart and so we called the family down the street who babysat for Makayla very often.  We called them just to give them a heads up that we may be calling them sooner than later.  Around 3 am I woke up and had some crazy contractions.  I rolled over, told Phil to get up, it was time to go (I have never seen him move so fast!!).  He made the call to our friends and I puttered around trying to get myself ready to go.  By the time they arrived and I was ready to go it was getting close to 3:30 am.  We got to the hospital, checked in and got all hooked up.  I was in a waiting area with monitors and what not for a little while.  They moved me to a delivery room and things picked up.

The nurse was getting everything ready, the doctor was called and on the way and I was doing everything I could to not use any drugs.  I got some of that lovely gas that got me pretty loopy and poor Phil just wanted to sleep!  I was feeling the urge to push and told the nurse.  They checked me again, called the dr again and started to get things ready a little faster.  The doctor arrived, she broke my water and a few pushes later the little man was here!  6:33 am he arrived!  Weighed in at 8lbs 1oz.  And of course it's been love ever since!

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year now!  You've grown to be so big and such a fun little guy.  You are adventurous and daring.  You are determined and you let nothing stand in your way.  You want everything your big sister has, even if you can't have it.  You love to laugh and you LOVE to eat!  You are a great addition to our family and I feel complete!  We love you very much and can't imagine our life without you!  We can't wait to see what you will grow up to become!  Happy Birthday Little Man!

Sick

Ugh... we've been sick around here, hence the lack of blogging.  The kids have been out with fevers, vomit and diarrhea!  Good times.  What happened to the 24 hour flu?  My kids have had it for four days now.  Today was the first day that Makayla was almost her normal self.  And of course today I start to feel yucky.  Here's hoping we all get better soon.

The other reason for not posting much is that the weather has been great.  I've been out mowing the yard, pulling weeds and just enjoying some quiet time for myself with the littles are sleeping.  We bought some nice deck chairs and a fire pit.  I see us hanging outside a lot more in the next few months!  So glad the snow is gone and the weather is looking up.

Here's a sunset from the other night!

Recipe of the Month - Blueberry Coffee Cake

This looks good.  I just need to locate a few of the ingredients and then I'm going to give it a try!


Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients:

2 Cups Whole Grain Flour

1/4 cup Coconut Oil

3/4 cup Skim Milk

1 egg

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

3/4 cup Sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

2 cups Blueberries

Topping

1 tsp Cinnamon Ground

2 tbsp Sugars, Brown

1 tbsp All-purpose Flour

2 tbsp light butter

Directions:

Using a pastry blender, coconut oil into flour getting as many lumps out as you can.   Add baking powder and salt and stir until combined.  In a separate bowl lightly beat egg and combine with milk and vanilla.  Pour into flour mixture and stir--batter will be thick.  Carefully fold in blueberries.

Spray a fluted pan with non-stick cooking spray and transfer batter to pan.

Mix cinnamon, brown sugar and flour together and sprinkle over batter.  Finally, melt butter and drizzle over topping.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then flip onto a plate.  Place another plate over the coffeecake and flip again so that coffeecake is topping side up.   

Cut into 8 slices

Travelling with kids...

Why do we do it?  Oh, right!  Everybody wants to see the kids!!!  So we headed off to Toronto for two weeks at the beginning of May.  We drove the 4.5 hours to Edmonton and hopped a plane to Toronto.  Got in around 9:30pm EST and made our way to the hotel for the first night.  We got settled and got the kids down and had a restless sleep.  The kids didn't sleep on the 3.5 hour flight and the only slept about 45 minutes in the drive to the airport.  YIKES!  The kids woke up at the crack of dawn the next day - literally the crack of dawn (about 6 sometime EST).  YIKES!  We made it to Phil's sister's place where we set up camp for the next two weeks.  We visited with family, took it easy, went to High Park (such a neat and huge park in the city), went shopping, saw more family, celebrated Taylor's first birthday (that's right, my baby is now a year old), ate lots of really good food, visited with some friends, saw more family, got completely spoiled, had to buy more luggage to bring back all our lute, ate more food and got more spoiled!  We had a pretty good time!  The kids manged to squeeze in naps every day and went to bed at the same time every day.  I went in expecting the worst and actually had a really great time.  We had warm, humid weather the first week we were there and the second week it got cool and it rained.  I was bummed because I really wanted to take Makayla to the zoo and because of the weather we weren't able to go... I guess we'll have to take another trip to go back!!!

We did however get a little frustrated with the people of Toronto.  I had forgotten how busy the city was and just how much crazy traffic there is there.  I also forgot how humid it can get and boy it got hot (and to make matters worse, the guest suite that we stayed in was super hot and they just turned the building AC on this weekend!).  Oh well... can't win them all.

We were able to take the Subway for a few days and Makayla loved it!  She would have rode that all day if she could have.  We also got to take the bus and she loved that too.  The suite we stayed in was in an apartment complex that was located right outside the subway station.  From Phil's sister's place we could watch trains and buses come and go all day and she loved that too.  We were also able to see Lake Ontario and we could see boats - which she loved too!  It was so much fun watching her have such a great time.  She also loved hanging out with the family.  It was so awesome to see her interact with her aunt and uncle, her new baby cousin, her grandma and grandpa and great aunts.  It's so fun to watch your children interacting with family and to see the joy that everyone had - it made me smile.  We don't have the luxury of having family around so these times were really special and it just made me happy to be able to allow both our kids and Phil's family have some time to spend with them.

The trip home was pretty uneventful and the kids were awesome.  This time they both slept a little on the flight and on the drive home - catching up on all the lost sleep.  The hardest part of the plane ride was keeping Taylor still - still for 3.5 hours was not easy.  He's into everything and crawling everywhere so being stuck on a plane on mommy's lap was not his idea of a good time!  But he survived and we didn't cause too much of a ruckus on the airplane.

Now to prepare for our Vancouver trip in August!  Oh and you probably want to see a few photos, so here you go!