Crafting through a Minion Uprising

My minions have been keeping me busy, Little Miss minion in particular.  At three, she definitely has a mind of her own and has since the moment she started showing personality. She is spunky, adventurous, exasperating and hilarious. She has insatiable curiousity, and rarely gets into the same troublemaking situation twice. She goes and goes and goes.  Some days I have the mental fortitude to remember that on the other side of this phase, these qualities will serve her well, she will be an amazing and autonomous human being. But most days it is all I can do to keep myself from dressing her in goggles and blue overalls.  In one particular moment of weakness,  I turned the super fun game of "Simon Says" into the slightly less fun version known as "Yes, Mom." Touch your nose - YES, MOM! Stand on one foot - YES, MOM! I think there could be a market niche for this game. Obedient children, no snippy backtalk? YES, PLEASE!

Sh%t My Kids Ruined: Kitchen Chair Edition

I was once a non-parent. It wasn't even that long ago in the grand scheme of things, only seven years. We were newlyweds, regulars at the neighborhood pub and on a first name basis with Tom, the bartender. Everything we owned fit in two VW Jetta's and we regularly packed our belongings into the trunks and left town to follow the next flying contract.

There are many different types of people with as many perfectly valid reasons for not being parents. In the years before we started our little family, I was firmly planted in the "baby fever but husband not on board" group. We had decided that we weren't ready to start a family but that it could definitely be in our near future. We bought our first home, had plans on staying in one place for the next few years and were feeling like grown ups for the first time since we'd gotten married. It was at this point that we became slightly delusional.

Fall is here, and it brought back Pumpkin Spice!

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall, 2013. Fall absolutely rocks my socks. Almost as much as ...

...this Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake. The recipe is here at Sprinkle Bakes.  Really. Eat this. Thank me later. I take no responsibility for the damage done to your waistline as a result of this post. If you top this with espresso whip cream your guests will beg you to keep the recipe a secret. 

***Do not feed to the toddler who is already up past his bedtime. Espresso and babies don't mix, I know you are shocked. Be warned. ***

Weekend Work in Progress

There is something about fall and school being back in session that makes me really appreciate lazy weekends. Caleb just started Grade 1 this year and as much as he loves school, it has been a huge wakeup call. Driving home last week, our chatter went like this:

"Mom, can we go to drop-in gymnastics on Friday?" 

"No, you have school."

"Well, when can we go again?"

"Hmm...in approximately 12 years. Sorry buddy." 

For a kid who heads outside to ride his bike before breakfast, who would choose to eat every meal in his "sniper den" and smells like a combination of cut grass, fresh air and dirty dog, this 5 days/week school is a bit hard to swallow. I have let bed times slide a little bit while the days are still long because we are heading straight into a long, cold, Northern Alberta winter. Our noisy chaotic, kid filled street will be a barren wasteland until March...ish. When I asked the kids what they wanted to do this weekend, it was unanimous. Ride our bikes. Such simple pleasures. Why ever would I run myself ragged trying to plan and schedule when all they want, all they need, is to play outside.

A Boy and His Dog

12 years ago I bought my dad a puppy for Father's day. I taught her all the tricks she knew, hiked mountains and swam in glacier creeks with her. She loved to pull me on rollerblades but hated coming along while we were cliff jumping. She was convinced that it wasn't safe and would howl and cry every time I jumped. I loved that dog and when she lived with us for a year, she was Caleb's best friend. My babies curled up in the warmth of her fur.

My name is Julie, and I am an addict...

I left for church this morning without even a few sips of cold coffee. Some days I kid myself into thinking that I am not truly a caffeine addict, that I can function just fine without it. It was abundantly clear today, that I can not.

Learn to Crochet

I was maybe 13 years old when my Grandma tried to teach me to knit. It didn't take. I had much better things to do with my time like attempting to record the latest song from my radio onto cassette. It was all about perfect timing. You finally had everything set up, radio close enough to the cassette recorder but not too close, you pushed record at just the right moment and then... the DJ would interrupt with something not nearly interesting enough to justify screwing up your mix tape!  Kids these days have no clue how rough we had it!

Twenty years later I am feeling pretty confident that I can figure out this crochet thing. I opened up Google and started my search for any website that would get me started.