Friday, December 05, 2008

What I am Thankful For

Well B asked on her blog what we are all thankful for, so here goes.

Top of my list at this exact moment are Caramel Correttos ;)

I am always grateful for my parents and siblings. My brother who babysat the kids on his day off this week without hesitating a single moment when I needed emergency babysitting NOW so I could go to work, my sister who even before she had children would visit all the time and take trips with us, and now comes with her son Deklen, my children love them and talk about them constantly, and my parents who love my kids almost as much as I do. And sneak them Kinder Eggs when I am not looking (what, you thought they wouldn't tell ? LOL!) And grateful that my parents did such a good job (accident? luck?) with all us kids that we are close and can depend on each other like no one else can. And knowing that my own children will learn by our example and know that no matter what, not just their own parents are their shelter and rock in life, but they have an entire "village" that loves them :) , makes my heart glad daily.

Oh, and the fact that my parents are watching the kids in January so Mike and I can get away for a weekend makes me kinda like them.

And every, single Friday evening, there is always this moment when I sit back and think of how grateful I am that I got through the week. That I fufilled my responsibilities at work, The Princess and I spent our Thursday at Mr K's school and I got my volunteer hours in, that we managed to have clean clothes and groceries in the house, and lately, its been one fieldtrip/playdate a week as well which means that they are getting out for some super fun. Notice I don't mention that my house is clean, cause, yah, that would mean I go without sleep and clean at night, because there are only so many daytime hours in a day!

On that note I am grateful my position at work is almost done and I can go back to casual until the position I want is up.

I am grateful that I live in a city where my schooling or unschooling choices are AMAZING!

I am grateful that my new year is going to be such a NEW year literally for us, with changes made for the better of our family.

And these are literally what I think of daily, things are incredibly busy, I honestly can't remember ever having so much going on in my life. I think the word non-stop applies to our life right now. So I am always thinking of the grateful side of things because if I don't, it would be waaay to easy to start complaining and then never stop!

Oooh and I am soo thankful for my new jeans that I bought with the giftcard I won at the Telus party!

So tag, your turn, what are you grateful for?

6 Down, 1 To Go..

I officially have ONE triop left. I think I opened my big blogging mouth too soon, because I fed them yesterday before leaving for school with K, then came home to 5 dead triops.

THEN last night, I think the bigger one ate the smaller one because I don't even have a corpse!

EEeew LOL. Science rocks.


AHA! I Remember!

Thanks to Amanda who has me blogging at 7 in the morning. LOL. Since of course things drive me absolutely crazy until I remember them, I had to remember what I bought last year by Melissa and Doug and where the heck it was made LOL! I guess I didn't post then because they were presents...

So if you are looking for safe(r) gifts for babies, and are still boycotting made in China, these are Made in Vietnam, and I also remember that all over the front of the package there was information about the safe wood used and the non toxic dyes used as well, since these are for 12 months and up. There were all sorts of other ones too, pandas and frogs and fish, that were made in Vietnam, you just have to look. I remember last Christmas consisting of standing in aisles reading boxes and packages in the store.

Also, this stacker made me very happy to be able to buy those same girls as well, ( a few months later when shopping with Kandice) a safe(r) wooden version of those classic plastic rings (that I wouldn't trust at all anymore, shudder) also made in Vietnam.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Healthy Toys

I definitely don't have the time to be as prolific at posting as I was last year, and this year has been made easy by mainly buying Playmobil and Lego (made in Malta/Germany/not China and as safe as you can expect)

This website, Healthy Toys , is a wealth of information. I probably posted it last year as well, but they have tested even more toys throughout the year.

I was glad to see the puzzles I bought (Melissa and Doug) for a couple toddler who might chew them ;) were safe. Most of Melissa and Doug toys that I looked at (there are quite a few) are safe, which makes me happy to trust the brand a bit more.

Have a look, I always find it interesting.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

More Aquasaurs

They are getting MUCH bigger now, but we have 7 !! of them that are almost an inch long already...and I think they were supposed to start eating each other before that point! Seriously, only 1-2 are supposed to make it to adulthood, so we are waiting to see what happens. Oh, and we also have 2 waterbug creatures in there as well, and they aren't being eaten either.

MUCH cooler than sea monkeys! We watched one molt today as well, and there is a pile of exoskeletons at the bottom of the container, like a cool creepy graveyard almost. Tons of entertainment!