Mostly Riley

Aahh, Riley is such a funny little boy. He's so smart and grown up, which is cute (and frustrating at times). Tuesday night was his last night of soccer. He loves going to soccer and had missed it the previous 2 weeks because of rain. It did rain a bit on Tuesday but luckily they still held soccer. Grampie, Bridget and I all went too so Grampie and I could take some pictures (I guess I get this picture taking thing honestly enough). All the kids are just too cute in their little soccer shirts. Here, the younger kids each play with a parent. So, they do one on one soccer drills instead of having a pack of 3 year olds all chase one ball....it's nice and I'm sure they learn more that way. When it started to rain. Bridget and I went to hang out in the car. Grampie soon joined us. Well, at the end of soccer practice, Riley comes back to the car shirtless and with a medal, heehee. I was pretty sure they were going to get a medal, but forgot they'd have to give back their shirts :) It was just too priceless a sight. And, even more exciting for Riley since the Olympics just ended and he actually knows what medals are. Kevin said that they each got a little baggie with a Fundy soccer pin, a couple of fruit leathers, and a medal. When Riley found the medal I guess he was pretty surprised and said, "I was so good that I got a medal?!" How cute is that. Well, he's still wearing it :) And thankfully, he does share with Kieran once in awhile, much to his delight. It's all about the medals in the Winchester house nowadays!


Riley in his "ready" position. They actually had professional pictures taken at one point which we didn't have done. I think it's crazy that they now do pictures for EVERYTHING a kid does and really, I take enough pictures that I don't need professional ones too. This is pretty much the exact position they had them stand in for the professional one and really, I think my pic is just as good! Better even because I like my angle :) The only thing I might change is Riley's blue mouth (he had just had blueberry grunt at Grammie's house, lol), but I guess that's part of being a kid.


Bridget enjoying the game before we got rained out :)

Oh, another Riley story from earlier that day. Heehee, I'm horrible but I still laugh when I think about it. If you know Riley, you know how he can't be still, he just can't! And he's always squirming or climbing. Well, he was going up the stairs and was hanging on the railing and he got his knee stuck in it! It's kind of hard to explain...when you come in our front door there are stairs going down and stairs going up and stairs going down, so he got stuck kind of hanging over the ones that go down. I thought it would be no problem to get him out so I ran to finish what I was doing (ok...he was crying a bit, but really, they cry a lot! So, I didn't think too much of it). Then I tried to get him out and couldn't. Ok, then he really started freaking out. He thought I was going to leave him there forever. Actually, I think the biggest fear was that he was going to miss soccer. A couple of phone calls to Daddy, a lot of crying and screaming, much laughing on Mommy's part (ok...I knew he wasn't hurt and that I WASN'T going to leave him there forever...I'm sorry, I might be horrible, but I found it amusing) and we got him out. I had to bend his knee more and pull up on him. Thankfully, Kieran was running back and forth keeping Bridget happy. Through his sobs after I got him out, he told me he would NEVER do that again. He was pretty freaked. Hopefully, he learned a lesson. He also said he was going to tell his coach what happened (which, yes, he did. Though, he tells his coach...and everybody...everything! He's kind of a chatterbox....wonder where he gets that (as I notice this post getting longer and longer)). But he got out and got to soccer, so we're all good! Hey, Uncle Scott....bring back memories of Florida...heeheehee.

Ok, one last Riley funny that Daddy told me this morning. Kevin always sings the boys songs from the radio (i.e. the country station) before bed. I tell you, I don't think he knows ONE real bedtime song (there are a few I have banned..."cleaning my gun" is one that I can think of off the top of my head, lol). Anyway, I digress...shocking. Kevin sings a song to them called "Birmingham" and told me this morning that Riley thinks it's called "Burning Ham" (ok...I'm LOL as I type that). "Daddy, can I have the Burning Ham song?"

I'll end with a sketch that I posted on Paws last night for the one hour sketch challenge. Had to throw something scrappy in here....


And here's the LO that it's based on....


Ok...I'm done, for those of you who made it to the end! Yay, Thursday...I can see the weekend!!

Another milestone, another LO

Yes, I know, my life is not that exciting. Kids and scrapbooking, it's all I have, LOL! Bridget tried cereal for the first time on Sunday and seemed to take to it pretty well. I don't think she goes after it with the same enthusiasm that the boys used to (especially Riley), but she seems to like it and it seems to agree with her, so we're all good. Here are a few pics of her experience:


This is the anticipation!


Mmmmm....


More, Mommy!!


All done...time for the hose!!

So, that was our fun for Sunday :) She's growing so fast! I think I see a second tooth almost broken through too!

We had the reveal of our sketch DT LOs yesterday at Paws so I can finally share this LO. I am really pleased with it, which is good since that sun too forever to stitch :)


We had a fun playdate yesterday with our American friends :) A good friend was here with her little girls...they seem so calm compared to my crazy boys, lol! It was nice to have a chat with a grown up.

I think Riley has his last soccer practice tonight. The last two were cancelled because of rain so he'll be happy to go tonight. The school will start and swimming...hard to believe we're already so busy when our kids are so young! Guess it will never end. Sigh...I need a nap!

Well, off to watch Super Why with the kids (love, love that show!). Happy Tuesday!!

A milestone and a LO

Bridget is growing like a weed! You know, one of the really pretty kind...like a daisy or a buttercup!! She is a great joy to this family and is one of the most pleasant babies around :) And she hit another milestone today...a tooth!! It's barely poking through, but I can feel it. I'm sure this is earlier than the boys had theirs. She is just growing too quickly. I told Kevin I was going to push it back in because it was too soon (please don't call social services...I was only joking...kind of). I think we're going to start her on cereal this weekend. She's a big girl and she's really grabbing for our food now. I think she'll go right from cereal to pizza with the way she wants to eat!!

I finished a LO last night of two of my gorgeous nieces :) I just love this picture of them and am extremely happy with the way the LO turned out! Thanks to Cindy for the great sketch. This was a Wednesday night challenge over on the BB at Paws!


Can I also just say that I ventured out to Indigo and Michaels today with all 3 of my children. Yes, I am brave (or is that...insane??). To my delight they were very well behaved (Indigo rocks with lots of toys to keep them busy). I picked up a couple of Christmas gifts (yes, I am on the ball..only a little over 4 months!!) and a birthday gift. And now...they are ALL napping!! Yes, I am wonder woman today, LOL!

I am currently typing without one of my shift keys. Bridget ripped it off this morning. It has actually come off many times before so it was an easy task. But it is very annoying so I think this post is done :) Happy Friday!!

My Energizer Bunny

Riley has had a fever since late yesterday, but that never seems to get him down. The only way I even know he's sick is that he's hot to the touch and he sleeps without a fight. But when he's awake he's still playing fine and he certainly still has an appetite (I think he eats more than I do). I suppose, maybe he is slightly less active than normal, but certainly not like most kids would be. His temp was 102.5 this morning and he was still up and about...amazing. I would be miserable. Kieran has a cough too. I'm just hoping that Bridget, Kevin and I stay healthy (we all suffer when mama gets sick!!).

Here's my most recent LO that I did for last weeks sketch for the sketch DT at Paws. I feel like I may have gone a bit overboard with the Archaic BG papers, but it is what it is :) And it took me forever to sew those buttons on and almost killed my fingers (I was sewing through a lot of paper!). All in all, I'm happy with the outcome and I love the pic of Riley.


I finished a LO today for this weeks sketch, but I can't show it just yet :) I love how it turned out though!

Oh, and a fun picture. One of these things is not like the other, can you guess what? (Think haircut ;) ).


And, hey, does anyone read this blog? I honestly have no idea (ok, I know Mom and Dad do, LOL), so feel free to leave a comment and let me know :)

A new week...finally!

Let's hope this week is better than last week! I seriously wasn't sure I was going to make it...with all the biting and the peeing everywhere, losing phone and internet, being without a van one day. Ok, I don't want to think about it anymore. Thankfully, I got to have a couple of breaks. Went to see Mamma Mia with a scrapping friend. What a fabulous movie...even better than I had hoped (but poor Pierce can't carry a tune in a bucket, LOL). And last night we got to have supper with friends from university that I haven't seen in a long time. It was nice to just sit and chat and catch up. Thanks to mom and dad for babysitting and sorry the baby cried a lot :(

Can I just say that I love the Olympics? Yes, I like to watch the coverage, but the even better part is how I can use competition to my advantage, heehee. I have decided to make everything (from cleaning to getting into booster seats in the van) a competition with the boys. And, a lot of the time, it works. Riley rushes to do whatever I ask so he can get the gold medal (and usually he does), Kieran is happy to get silver (he just likes to be Canada). Poor Bridget has a bucket full of bronze, haha. We should have had one more kid so one could come in "Canadian", as we have started to call fourth place in our house :) This advantage might be ending soon though...the other day Riley said he didn't want to clean because he had enough gold medals, LOL. That kid is too smart for his own good sometimes!

I haven't uploaded any pics in awhile so no new ones for right now. I'm working on this week's sketch challenge...almost done so I should be able to post that a bit later. Hope everyone has a good week (especially me!!).

This one's for Uncle Adam :)

The boys love talking about Uncle Adam and how's he's "hunting pirates"! He is serving aboard the HMCS Ville de Quebec in the Arabian Sea escorting UN food ships into Somalia. Without military escorts, the food ships often fall prey to pirates, and thus Adam's work is extremely important - we are all very proud of him!

Hoping for a better Tuesday!

Yesterday was ROUGH in our house. Riley bit Kieran twice and peed his pants twice and Kieran peed his pants once :( Plus just the "boys being boys" thing of fighting. All that combined with the fact that I got very little sleep the day before made for a pretty rough day, so I'm praying today is better. I suppose there were some bright spots though. Bridget had two long naps (which apparently just results in her getting up more at night....so still trying to decide if that's good or not). I won a blog giveaway on Kathy Thompson's blog (one of the fun new decor elements from Stampin' Up) and my most recent LO that I did for the POS Sketch DT was accepted into the Basic Grey gallery! So, all was not lost because I did have those happy spots in my day.

So, today will be a better day...I've already decided! Riley has playschool so I'll take the other two to get groceries (yes, I know, not always the best plan, but it needs to be done!). And I definitely need to buy more night lights for this house. The boys' burnt out the other day so last night we had to leave the bathroom light on. I find it very hard to sleep with bright lights on so I definitely need to go buy night lights. I'll get one for the bathroom too in the hopes that Riley might actually use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Kieran is now going to bed in underwear and Riley still wears a pullup (I feel like he will wear it to university....some university students are pretty lazy. Maybe Pampers should make pullups and market them to teenagers).

So, Happy Tuesday to you all! Here's my LO that made it into the Basic Grey gallery!

Do I have time to blog???

The answer is NO!! Haha :) So, just a few quick snippets of my life this week:

Bridget has found her feet and finds them very interesting. She would like to eat them, but most of the time can't quite get them to her mouth. She also rolled back to front on Monday (or was it Sunday??...)

Kieran and Riley were singing the alphabet song with Alpha Pig on Super Why the other day and it was just too cute!

I got my hair cut today...probably a couple of inches or so, so now it's pretty short. I'm loving the short cut...so much faster!

Riley finally learned how to pump a swing. I thought it would never happen. Actually, he was doing it on the double swing so he was swinging himself AND Kieran! Yay!! So nice since it's hard to push them both with a baby in arms. Too bad they weren't as good in the sandbox. That always, always ends with sand in someone's eyes. We had to shower them before they had supper last night they were so covered in sand. Although, Riley thought it was funny to eat supper in a towel. Kieran, on the other hand, was not as impressed (my want clothes).

Really looking forward to the weekend and hoping for lots of sun! Planning on getting some scrapping done too...at the very least the sketch I have due on Sunday :)

Oh, and here's the LO I was working on from last weekend. Hope you all have a great one!

Busy, busy Tuesday

I'm exhausted! I took Riley to playschool this morning, then crazily took my other two kids to the grocery store. It was all good until we were going through the checkout and Bridget cried the whole time. She was so tired the poor thing (though the checkout lady insisted on telling me all the other things that could be wrong with her..."oh, look, she's hungry...probably wet too"....Thanks, lady!). Poor baby also cried all the way home. Then I had to carry groceries upstairs and put them away while carrying her. Needless to say, I made many, many trips up and down stairs. Then....Kieran decided he had to pee on the potty. I abandoned putting away groceries (all refrigerated stuff was away anyway), put him on the potty and went to change Bridget. When Kieran was ready to wash his hands he was saying he needed a cloth to wipe the stool (he had peed on it when he was on the potty...he likes to put his feet on it). So, then I cleaned up pee, changed a baby and was back out the door to get Riley. Then home for lunch and finally naps. Phew!!!

Then we had a very fun, but very sticky afternoon making Rice Krispie squares. You know the commericals where making Rice Krispie squares is all blissful and clean...yeah, not in my house!! I swear I have Rice Krispies from one end of my hosue to the other. The boys were eating them off their clothes. But at least it keeps them busy for awhile. Oh, I neglected to mention that they aren't actually squares, but those molds that you get in the cereal boxes...boats and flowers today :) So, we actually have to dig into the bowl and make shapes. This also involves a lot of spraying their hands with cooking spray which they take great delight in :) Simple things! Here are some pics after the process!

Some scrappy goodness

I just found out that one of my LOs got LOTD at POS (ok...for you non-scrappy types, that's Layout of the Day at Paws On Scrapbooking, heehee). Too fun! It's one of my fave LOs...check it out http://www.pawsonscrapbooking.com/store/

I'm still working on that LO from the weekend...I need new tape for my label maker so it won't get done until at least tomorrow night. But, we did have our sketch reveal today for the new sketch team. We all did an awesome sketch by the oh, so talented Cindy Stevens (love, love her work!). Here's my LO

It was fun to scrap an old pic of Riley! Makes me realize how much he does look like Bridget :) I'm totally looking forward to doing next week's sketch!! :)

Here we go...again

Ok, I'm going to try this blog thing again :) I've tried in the past to keep one going and failed miserably. And I'm sure some of you remember my frequent baby updates (with Riley) and my not so frequent baby updates (with Kieran) and, oh yeah...did you even know I had a third baby? I'm not sure anyone got emailed with any information about Bridget but word about her existence seems to have spread so I guess I'm ok!

I hope for this blog to be a place to keep people up to date with fun (and probably not so fun) things the kids are up to, everyday musings by me (because I know you're all so interested in what goes on in my brain) and scrappy goodness for those who are interested.

For those who don't know, I've recently become a member of the newly formed Paws On Scrapbooking sketch design team. I'm so excited to be working with so many talented gals creating sketches each month. I love designing the sketch and doing the sketches the other ladies provide. So, so much fun! One of my sketches was also a weekend challenge at POS.

I'm currently working on the LO to go along with this and I hope to post it shortly. Sketching is so fun and addictive. And, best of all, I can do it while I nurse a baby on my lap. I definitely can't work on a LO while nursing so sketching allows me to still scrap and be creative while I'm tending to the baby (which is often :) ).

For those who haven't seen them lately, the kids are growing like weeds. They are so adorable (and yes, frustrating at times) and bring so much joy to our lives. Check out the pics and see for yourself! Riley is learning more and more everyday. Sometimes it seems like I should be sending him to high school instead of preschool. Kieran is mischievous as always, but his sweet smile and dimple often get him out of trouble. He's almost potty trained which we are thrilled about (there will be a day without diapers!). Bridget is sleeping well for a Winchester baby. She's smiley and beautiful. She can roll over now, but doesn't do it often and is trying to sit up already. I suppose she's eager to be able to play with her brothers (they adore her, btw).

I must get back to our lazy Sunday, but I do intend to keep this blog updated as much as I can (yes, with all that spare time I have).