Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet Auden!

Auden, lover of glitter glue, cat food, wii-motes and biggest fan of big sister, Aoife. We love you happy guy!

Remembering Scotland, 2005. Was it really so long ago since we were there? I guess having two children in the interim will do that. Must find a way back there soon.

Hospital

After an almost 8 hour wait in emergency on Friday, A. using what she calls the 'smoke mask' for her breathing. A chest x-ray later (to rule out possibility of pneumonia) and some other testing and she is diagnosed with asthma. 

                                  My brave little exhausted girl, ready to head home. 

A. is doing much better after the Ventolin mask and Prednisone which were obviously needed to get her breathing back on track. Now we'll be looking into preventive measures such as removing triggers from her diet so we can prevent the use of these drugs in future.

On a happier note, here are big A and little A when we visited the Science Centre a couple weeks ago. Little A. loved this light display that was triggered by your heart rate when touching the attached metal bar--he cried every time we took him away from it!

Happy Birthday to my Lovely Aunt!

Wishing my wonderful, lovely Aunt Sue a very happy birthday today! It is a milestone birthday, but shhh, I won't let on which one!

My aunt is the type of aunt everyone would love to have: she is very kind and caring and is interested to know what's going on in your life in a way that a parent would. She is fun-loving, extremely generous, has always been young at heart (and thus, so much fun). She is always there for me whenever I need her,which is the most valuable thing I think an aunt can do. And, she puts on the most amazing family Christmas party year after year. She is sort of like the glue that holds our family together and we all love her to pieces!

Here is Aunt Sue at left, with my equally lovely Aunt Val at right..aren't they sweet!

Oh, and did I nearly forget to mention that we are birthday twins? Well, we are! And I couldn't be happier to share my birthday with such a lovely aunt!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Sue! With many happy returns.
xoxoxo

A Year In Review

A year that was marred by illness, the brightest point was the birth of our little boy, Auden. 

Here is a pictorial year in review, a year in which we didn't do much but survive and experience some happy family moments.. under the circumstances, a pretty successful year!

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2013!

Better Than Salt Dough :: Ornaments to Make::

I came across this alternative to traditional salt dough via Pinterest and I'm so glad I did! The resulting dough made from cornstarch, baking soda and water is just lovely to work with. Very smooth and pliable and not grainy like regular salt dough--perfect for making ornaments.

Aoife and I made tons of ornaments from this clay--about 32 for her class at school, each with the child's first initial in the centre and a bunch more for family and friends.

To Make:

In a saucepan, mix together..

1/2 c. cornstarch
1 c. baking soda
3/4 c. water

Heat over medium heat while stirring constantly. Once it starts getting gluey and thick like mashed potatoes, remove from heat and put into a bowl to cool with a damp cloth covering it (so it doesn't dry out). Once cool, remove from bowl and knead a few times on a flat surface dusted with cornstarch. And voila! Your 'better than salt dough' clay is ready to use.

Dust a rolling pin with a little cornstarch and roll out to about 1/4" thickness and use cookie cutters and stamps to make ornaments.

Bake at 175 F for about an hour (thicker will need more time, or if your oven is ancient like ours..will also need more time).

I also did a coat of Mod Podge at the end to make the surface a bit more smooth/polished.

Click here for the original post that I found via Pinterest. Many thanks to Woodside Kitchen for sharing this!

Sorry about the light on this one--it was taken at 3am, the light was not so good!

::Tomorrow::

Making a last minute little girl's Christmas sweater from an out-dated X-Large men's sweater. 

A. needed something holiday-ish to wear to her Christmas Concert today so I got to work refashioning an old sweater for her. Fortunately, she loved the result!

Quick Token Gift :: Birthday Pin ::

I made this little birthday pin for my niece who is turning 5 on Christmas Day. I like to try to include a little handmade item with my niece and nephew's gifts if I can since they are far away in England and it gives a bit of a personal touch on their special day since I can't be there in person. A little pin like this is perfect to send in the post since it's pretty flat and it's also quick to make up.