Playground Tour Begins

Today we had our first meet up for the 2009 "NLMOMS PLAYGROUND TOUR". We went to Victoria Park. The wind was a little cold, but all in all it was great to get out in the fresh air! All the kids had a blast and it was so difficult getting d to leave the park lol

Progress is sweet!

Last night we moved some of the bigger "toy" items into the nearly completed playroom. D was so excited this morning when he saw his train table in there. He was a great helper too! We transferred what I call "the collections" into the playroom today. So right now all trains, cars, dinosaurs and potato head items are in their new home. I made stickers to label the storage containers for the above items. D help decide what went into which container and then helped put the stickers in place. He proudly displayed them to dh when he got home. I'm hoping the stickers... and the "everything has a place/ home" motto will help to keep the playroom in some kind of livable form lol

Mom was asking if I had purged some of his toys. I haven't gotten to that yet, but hope to purge a little when I get into his toybox and the miscellaneous items tomorrow. The thing with d is he has been into the same few items for a long while now. When he goes to a store containing toys he wants to see the Thomas section and the Cars section lol So besides the occasional McDonald's toy and some other odds and ends from the dinosaur store (dollar store) there likely won't be much purging to do.

33 week check up

Had our 33 week check up today. DH got in a little hot water for forgetting about the appointment and not carrying his cellphone on him. Needless to say he has been reminded not to be leaving the cellphone in the jeep from here on in.

I was relieved to find out I only gained 3lbs. I seriously have been feeling huge and thought the gain would be more. Belly is measuring @ 36 weeks. So still looks to be another big boy! We have an ultrasound schedule for next week so will be interesting to see how big little Niko is measuring.

Vermicomposters

Well we are officially Vermicomposters! We went for a drive out to Bay Bulls today and picked up a lb of red worms from "Trouters Special Worm Farm". D is all excited about our "worker worms" as we have called them. He tried to name a few... but gave up when he realized just how many worms we have lol

Some greater starter information on this website:
http://www.wormcomposting.ca/getting-started/

Also the MUN Botanical Gardens is celebrating "International Compost Awareness Week" May 4th -10th with activities, lectures and programs all related to composting. They have a schedule of events posted here.

Let the Sunshine in...

It's a beautiful spring day here and it just got even better! Dh just ordered my Mother's Day / Birthday gift... a brand new 6x8 greenhouse. The very one pictured above. I can't wait to get it all set up! Hopefully it will get here by Mother's Day weekend. I am a little nervous about whether or not I will be able to use it to it's full potential this year... being due mid June and all. But I guess where there is a will there is a way! I love that dh is so supportive and has become such a fan of gardening. He really seems to have gotten into it too! :D Gonna take d out to enjoy the day for a bit and then do up my seed order :D

Happy Earth Day!

We did out annual clean up a day early (yesterday). D and I managed to pick up 4 bags of garbage. He was very proud and eager to show off our accomplishment (bags of trash) to his dad when he got home yesterday! I love how easily motivated he is!

This morning we are heading to the Geocenter they are having some Earth Day activities and best of all admission is free today!

Earth Day websites and resources fore kids

A few Earth Day websites for the kids to check out:

Canadian website has tons of resources and some contests
http://www.ecokids.ca

Lots and lots of stuff here...
http://holidays.kaboose.com/earth-day/

Lots of stuff here including print-ables:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/earth.html

Handy Mandy has a special episode has well as print-ables and activities.
http://tv.disney.go.com/playhouse/earthday/index.html

Sesame Street has lots of activities as well... they are calling it "Go Green Day"
http://www.sesamestreet.org/home


Share the Earth... (just talks about their Earth Day programing)
http://pbskids.org/video/

Another busy weekend

We had yet another busy weekend. All the furniture for the babies room is now put together and in place. I also picked up new blinds for both boys rooms but haven't had a chance to hung them yet. We are having a bit of trouble with the lady we ordered the wallpaper thingys from. But they are apparently on the way now... Needless to say her ebay rating from us will not be good.

We also have all the supplies we need to complete the playroom now. Dh is planning to try and put the laminate flooring down himself! I think he has developed the "do it myself" itch lol

On a small excursion on Saturday I took a little spill. We were at Signal Hill (D wanted to see the "castle" as he calls it) and I didn't see where the pavement ended and the gravel began. I fell on my knees and caught myself with my right arm. Damage done... I skinned my knees and it feels like I pulled a muscle in my upper right arm. I'm pretty stiff ... but I guess it could of been a whole lot worst!

Elmo Goes Green

Elmo Goes Green... figuratively and literally in the new Sesame Street DVD "Being Green: Elmo Goes "Green" to Help the Earth!". The dvd came out on April 7th just in time for Earth Day. I love how Sesame Street are pushing "Green Themes".




Watch as Elmo and Abby pitch in to help Mr. Earth (actor Paul Rudd in a hilariously large costume) host Sesame Street's first Earth-a-Thon. Mr. Earth teaches Elmo and Abby how "it can be easy being green" by recycling, re-using, and conserving water and energy. Abby, in her desire to help Elmo be more "green", accidentally turns him the color green and can't remember how to change him back! Lots of fun ensues as Abby is eventually able to poof Elmo red again. Elmo, Cookie Monster, Rosita and Telly join Mr. Earth in pledging to continue to do "green" things to help our planet because Earth Rocks!

Sesame Street also has a "Green Day" section with activities for the tots on their webpage here.

31 Week Check up

I love these "in and out" appointments. Baby Nik is still measuring a few weeks ahead and all is going splendidly!

Happy Easter!

Busy day here! Dylan woke totally excited... proclaiming it was Easter bucket in hand ready for the hunt! His new bike was a huge hit!

DH and I finished up the painting. 3rd coat of red, 2nd for yellow and 2nd for green. Hopefully only a few minor touch ups remain!

It was rainy here but we got to take d out on his new ride for a short while. He really did awesome! Took a while to get him using the foot break... nothing a bit of red light / green light couldn't fix!!!

Overall it was long but enjoyable day! Dh and I were talking and arrived at the conclusion that we deserve some sort of medal for the weekend we have had. 2 rooms painted, eggs painted, jello eggs made, cookies and cake baked, Easter bunny duties performed, and a trip to the movies too!

Monsters Vs Aliens

We took a well deserved break from painting and headed to the theater to check out "Monster vs Aliens" in 3D. Was a fun movie! This was Dylan's second movie (since the baby reel days) and he loved all the monsters! BOB being his favorite! He had to be reminded a few times to whisper and wasn't keen on wearing the 3d glasses the entire time... otherwise he did pretty good! For the adults ... a lot of our favorite acters did the voices and lots of stuff that goes well over the heads of kiddos!

http://www.kidsinmind.com has a great movie reviews for parents... including one for Monsters vs. Aliens. It is rated pg... but this is because of the sci fi factor. It really is a good family movie.

Painting Update

Second coat is on the nursery... woot! Feels good to have paint on the walls!

Had to get more paint for the playroom. It now has a first coat of yellow, and a second coat of blue and red. The blue and yellow were easy to paint... but the red and green are a bitch!

Painting Day 1

Well we've been at it all day! First coat is on the nursery and all the trim and doors are painted! The playroom has a first coat of the (as Dylan calls it) "Elmo Red", "Cookie Monster Blue" and the "Oscar Green". Doug had to patch part of the wall which is be painted "Big Bird Yellow". We are definitely gonna need some more paint for the playroom tomorrow! The new drywall is eating up the paint for these bright colors!

Paint and Paper Dragons

Well we finally picked out some paint for the nursery. Neither dh nor I are sold on the color. But it's mainly because it is a nutral color and we are accustom to painting very bright kids rooms. I think it would have been a lot easier if the animals for the wall had arrived :(

We also picked up our Quinny Buzz today :D Then went for a little drive to peek at the few small icebergs around. Dylan wanted to eat at a "chinese paper dragon restaurant" for supper so we went to the "Birds Nest" dh's first trip... the 2nd for d and I. Again it was a hit all the way around! Definitely my new favorite Chinese buffet in St. John's!

Move over octomom!!!

Saturday I came home to find the baby Kribs (Kribensis Cichlids) had finally arrived!!! It's amazing to watch how protective the parents are and how the babies follow them around. We have no idea how many there are.... but there are a lot! We've been trying to get their picture since Saturday but it's a near impossible feat! So I took a couple short video's. They don't start free swimming until 5-10 days of age. So I figure they are about 1.5 - 2 weeks old now.