Chicken n' Waffles

Castle's costume was a big hit at Barnyard Bash.

 He was most definitely the tastiest kid of all.

 He had plenty of fun with all the activities that involved water.

 And his favourite of the evening was the petting zoo. Unfortunately it was outside and too dark for me to capture.

 There were goats, a miniature donkey, and rabbits.

It was the best Barnyard Bash yet! Great job everyone! Thank you for all of your hard work.

Sneak Peak

Hi friends, here's a sneak peak of what's to come on Wednesday:

We will be going to a halloween alternative event called Barnyard Bash, hosted by our awesome church. We heard that this year there will be a live petting zoo in the mix. Oh boy! 

I Spy Table

At our local library, there's an I Spy Table.

 When ever we go, he spends more time at the I Spy Table than flipping through books.

 He loves I Spy books, and this is a book coming to life. He always wants to open the table to touch all the objects.

I do too. :)

2 more months!

Are you ready? It's coming.

I'm so excited! Yes I am one of those crazy people in Canada who decorate for Christmas on November 1. Gotta drag it out, because, as the song goes, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

The Potty Training Diaries

I'm not going to lie, I have been dreading it. It being a little thing called potty training. Castle is 2.3 years old and it seemed like a good time to start. He's talking, responding, knows what the potty is, sits in it occasionally... he's ready, right?

WRONG!

Why is there a bucket of LEGO sitting in disinfecting solution? Because he peed in it. And why is the pile of laundry reaching the ceiling? Because he went through every single pair of pants, shorts, jammy pants, swim shorts, and other weird fitting/looking bottom we could find.

We did the no diaper intense juice drinking camp out by the bathroom method. It started off okay but then slowly it got worst. Some methods call for putting your child on the potty every 15 minutes regardless if they need to go or not, well we didn't even make it to 15 minutes because he was having accidents every 5 minutes. He did do a few pee pees in the potty but he did not enjoy the experience. Eventually after 1.5 days he was so frustrated and cried whenever he needed to go, which was quite frequent. We noticed that physically he couldn't hold it in, and that's when we pulled the plug on the whole operation. He's not ready yet, maybe in a few months, or a year.

P.s. Any helpful tips on this subject matter welcomed!

Stained Wood Boxes

We bought a couple of these boxes from Ikea to go in the bottom of our new vanity.

Photo from Ikea

They were the wrong colour, but we bought them anyway, because they were unfinished. Which meant, CRAFT PROJECT!

I totally made this up as I go, because instead of buying wood stain, I made some using diluted acrylic paint. We wanted a weathered driftwood look, and driftwood is really just wood that's been around dirt and water for a long time. So I figured I'll make some grey icky looking water to slap on the wood and see how it goes.

I did a few test patches on the inside of one of the panels. The true colour comes out after it dries, because wood looks much darker when it's wet.

I love how the stain brings the out the grain in the wood. Tip: do not let the paint puddle, keep dragging your brush to prevent blobs of uneven paint.

 This was my favourite panel, look at the patterns in the wood, so pretty.

After the panels dried we assembled the boxes. Another tip: assemble before they completely dry. We did one after it was completely dried and it was much harder to assemble than the one that was partially dry, because the wood had warped a bit with all the moisture. More new bathroom photos to come, there are a few more things we need to get done before the big reveal.

I Have Nothing to Wear!

We had a wedding to go to, and I was hoping that one of my many party dresses could contain this 24 week pregnant belly of mine.

Because we haven't been home due to the whole bathroom thing (see previous post), I waited until the last minute to try on dresses in my closet. Most of them I couldn't even get on, in the end only one really worked, but it was a short dress made of super thin silk which meant I would have been freezing in this mid October rain. (Oh yeah, it finally started to rain pour cats and dogs in Vancouver.)

 I have NOTHING to wear! What to do what to do? I have seen these what seems to be super easy tutorials online for the 'infinity dress' last year, and have always wanted to make one. Well here's my chance!

The only problem... ...I had only one afternoon to accomplish the task. 

Challenge accepted!

So on the day that we moved back home, on the day that I said hello to my sewing machine again, the day before the wedding, I made a dress! And as promised by the tutorials, it only took 2-3 hours to complete. And one other great thing, I only spent $12 on fabric.

I love this dress, it's super comfortable, and I can wear it again after baby. I may make some more in different lengths and colours.

Anxious

It's been over a month, but finally, our bathroom reno is almost done. We get to move back home soon. :) I'm anxious to get back, back to normal.

I'm not sure why I expect contractors to read our minds, but I'm always surprised when they don't. For example, our vanity. It wasn't installed centred to the wall. It was slightly off to one side, just enough to bug us. So they had to fix that. And the tile around the tub, the two end walls don't match. Why? Why?! We are going to let that one go, it's not that noticeable. We weren't there to make sure the last wall was done properly, they did the first two just fine, we thought they would simply align the tiles the same way. It's not our dream home, I keep saying to myself.

A nap is a good idea right about now.

A Swing Inside

I'm contemplating a swing inside. Is that crazy?

Source: skonahem.com via Hazel on Pinterest

It would be fun, right?

Source: lafactoriaplastica.com via Hazel on Pinterest

Or will it be annoying and in the way?

Source: pinterest.com via Hazel on Pinterest

Would the novelty wear off after a week?

Source: blogs.babble.com via Hazel on Pinterest

The better question would be where to put it?

Source: mechantdesign.blogspot.com via Hazel on Pinterest

Would you consider it?

Source: remodelista.com via Hazel on Pinterest

Source: designdazzle.blogspot.ca via Hazel on Pinterest

Source: livingblog.marthastewart.com via Hazel on Pinterest

(p.s. I am aware of the safety aspect, but what's the difference between supervising your child inside as oppose to outside? None, if you are actually there watching them.)

We must have done something good

What did we citizens of Vancouver ever do to deserve this?

Endless sunshine!

It's October... ...this is unheard of.

 Everyday is a perfect day to explore.

Give a girl a camera, a curious toddler, a sunny day, and this is what you get.

 Photo bomb!

Enjoy! :)

A Legg Up dot com!

After waiting a few years, aleggup.com was finally released by it's previous owners and into our hot little blogging hands.

So from now on, you can find us at www.aleggup.com! Woohoo!