Photoshoot with us!

These photos are courtesy of marcypennerphotography. She did a great job, even though we were freezing and well, complaining a little! I love these pictures!
This one is my favourite! Chelsea was "blowing" the dandelion, only her "blowing" always brings the object right to her mouth. So cute!

No time.

I still have no time. My reports are pretty much done, but this week I'm still crazy busy, preparing for the Remembrance Day assembly on Monday, then parent teacher conferences on Friday. I dispise parent teacher conferences. I always have the craziest stories after that day and I never know what to expect. I'm so nervous for them. It's probably my least favourite thing about teaching.

But, let's talk about more fun and exciting things. Chelsea. Gah - just love her more and more each day. She is officially a big girl, and although I miss the baby girl, she is so much fun at this stage. She talks non-stop and does the silliest things. Her eye teeth are popping through, so we deal with a lot of crying, but that should be done soon.

I have to go mark some spelling assignments, but I thought I'd leave you with a few of her newest things.

1. Holding Maggie. She is constantly chasing Maggie around, saying, "Up! up!" and of course, Maggie runs away. Every once in a while, Chelsea catches her and Maggie allows herself to be held. So cute! (And yes, my dog is wearing a hoodie. We had her groomed and all she would do was shake, so Chris bought her a sweater.) Oh and note that Chelsea's soother handle is tucked under her nose. That's the way she likes it and she'll repeatedly put it back if you change it.

2. Laying on the stairs. Not safe, not recommended, but it's her new thing. She'll just lay on the stair and giggle and giggle and giggle.

3. I saw this this morning, and it made my heart melt. Way to go, Chelsea!

4. Pretties. She LOVES wearing necklaces - many necklaces, all at the same time. She's a girlie girl!

Still here.

I'm still here. Barely. Trying to survive and keep up. Swamped with school stuff.

I'll be back soon... I hope.

Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground...

The sweetest little pumpkin that you ever saw.

Mmmm choc-o-lat-ay!

Before.

After.

I almost forget what she looks like without her mop of hair in her face!

Growin' up GP style... Part 2.

That's right. I own this. Many many moons ago, my mom thought it was important that I own a snowmobile jacket. It was a nice thought, if I ever snowmobiled. But I didn't and still don't. I'm not a winter sports kinda girl. If, and again I say, if I was the kind of girl who snowmobiled, I am NOT the kind of girl who wears a snowmobile jacket.



But yet, here I am wearing this jacket for a photo and posting that photo on the internet. See, this jacket (and the matching skipants) haven't fit for about 6 years. I've held onto it because my husband will wear it on occassion, if he goes snow mobiling. But today, while unpacking the winter clothes, the black and white checks called my name, begging to be worn once again. And so I did and posted about it for your enjoyment.



Ah yes. Growing up GP style.

Daddy's girl.

Chelsea has inherited her daddy's squint. This summer, I noticed that Chris's squint was particularly bad when we were outside. Always the same face, squinty eyes, with that weird, half-open smile thing going on...

Chelsea looks like this... alot.


Can anyone say, "Daddy's girl?"

Growin' up GP style

I didn't realize until I was grown and moved out, that some foods/meals that I grew up with weren't "normal" in everyone else's home.

Now I'm not just talking about little oddities, like ketchup on eggs. (Yum, by the way.) That's something that is at least not unheard of.

I'm talking about grilled cheese sandwiches. Yup. Just your regular ol' grilled cheese sandwiches, or so I thought. Anytime mom said we were getting grilled cheese, we knew what to expect. It was 2 slices of white bread with a thick layer of cheese whiz in the middle, buttered on the outsides, and roasted in the oven. The best part, however, is that on your plate, you would drizzle (or dunk) it with corn syrup. (We rarely had maple syrup; it was mostly corn syrup from what I remember). Yum. Grilled cheese with syrup. (My sister will back me up here.)

We also had mushroom soup on toast. Just make toast as per usual, butter it, cut it up into little peices, then pour enough warm mushroom soup over it to soak it all up. Again - yum, just not served in all households.

I'm sure there are more, (fried balogna and cheese slice sandwiches - with ketchup of course), that I could describe, but my grilled cheese is getting soggy in the syrup, so I gotta go.

Oh, and don't think that you are better than me! I know there's some weird quirks that you people have. My husband cooks pasta, opens a can of mushroom soup and mixes that together. I dated a guy from Winkler who insisted on putting salt on his watermelon slices. I've heard of people who can only eat apple pie with cheese, so I do know I'm not alone in my food oddities.

So tell me, what foods did you grow up with that you've since discovered aren't the norm. C'mon, nothing's going to beat grilled cheese and syrup.

not much.

I know, I know. I need to update.

Not sure what to say. Sitting on the edge, waiting for the house to sell. There's a few promising people and we've heard an offer may be coming in on Monday. Here's hoping.

Yeah. not really a lot to say at the moment.

Sorry I'm so boring.

The only time I'll talk about politics.

So yesterday we were over at the new house, standing in the backyard, talking to our new neighbours. We had seen the Conservative party representative walking door to door with a group of people, but thought they wouldn't come over because we were kinda hidden in the back yard. The three of us, Chris, our neighbour, and myself, had a quick little chat about this year's election, thinking we were safe from the door to door invasion.

We weren't.

The candidate pokes her head around and we chat for a few seconds about the house because she knows Chris and myself because of the school I work at. Then she says, "I'm just going door to door to see if I can count on your vote on Tuesday."

Now, it didn't occur to me to lie, but I didn't want to say whether or not I would be voting for her. I just think it's a personal thing and I don't like broadcasting my political beliefs because it is such a hot button issue for some people.

I paused for a second, shook her hand and said, "Yes, we will be voting on Tuesday."

I guess that wasn't what she was looking for because she turned and walked away. Chris and my neighbour laughed and my neighbour said, "I'm glad you said something, because I was about to say something rude!"

Chris afterwards said I was rude and should have lied.

What do you think?? Was I rude? Should I have lied?

Thankfulness.

Thankful for...
- my amazing husband. He wins all the awards I can give him.
- my healthy, happy, awesome little girl. Words cannot express the joy she brings.
- my friends. They rock. Period.
- my somewhat new found relationship with my sister. The past 2 years have been great!
- a new house soon with a huge kitchen.
- great co-workers that keep me going back to work... day after day.
- peanut butter.
- Jesus.
- good health - aside from my cold, I feel great. I just wish I could find more time to work out.
- slippers.
- A&W teen burgers on whole wheat buns.
- paycheques.
- long weekends! PTL!!
- smiles from my baby girl.
- a husband who orders pizza late at night and lets me eat only toppings.

Pizza's here. Gotta go. Have a great Thanksgiving weekend.

whoops.

I just realized I posted a cake to this blog instead of amandascreativecakes.blogspot.com

I would delete it, but you left such nice comments, I'll keep it on here. :D Feel free to comment again on the entry over on my other blog.

Calla Lily Wedding

This cake turned out awesome. I love this color of green!!

Big, big news in the H house...

Yup. We're moving again. This time, it's just down the street. For some reason this time, I'm a little apprehensive and I know I'm not looking forward to having our house "show-ready" all the time, but hopefully it'll sell soon.

Here's a glimpse of our new home!

The beautiful entrance....

The amazing, I repeat, amazing kitchen.

What feels like the world's largest pantry...

Yes, the kitchen is my favourite. I have a feeling many, many cakes will be created in that kitchen.

PS - anyone want to help me pack/move/clean?? lol

feeling swamped.

so much to do...

i'm finding school overwhelming right now and i'm quickly losing my desire to keep up. my classroom is a mess and my teaching is kinda chaotic right now. sept is over now, thank goodness, but that means reports are just around the corner. ack.

so busy. wish i had more time. i've had a few people email me, desperate for help, advice, recipes for South Beach Diet and i just wish i had more time to be a better mentor or support person. i know how hard the diet can be in the first few weeks and i want to help people be successful. i'm trying, i'm really trying.

i've got a big wedding cake this week to do. i had to turn down a birthday cake, which i hate doing, but i don't want to feel more swamped than i do right now. i'm excited about the wedding cake though. there's just something about being a part of someone's special day.

we put an offer in on a house. ack. not sure i am ready for this move. i like a lot of things about this house we're in now. if/when we move, it'll be our 5th house in 5 years. i remember when i got married, i said i wouldn't move often. ha ha.

ate a whole lot of Chinese food tonight with some great friend. I almost needed stretchy pants. so good, but so bad, all at the same time.

not sure what else to say. Chelsea is so much fun right now. i miss her like crazy during the day and then when i pick her up from daycare, she's pretty cranky towards me. not fun.

i'm going to bed early tonight. you should too.