Going Green

I realized something yesterday, as I was bagging my grocery's in reusable bags. I realized that I am slowly going green. I never thought that I would actually start doing this, or that I was actually starting to go green. But it got me thinking though, I'm taking reusable bags to the store as I mentioned above, I'm using cloth diapers and chemical free detergent, trying to stay more with green products for cleaning, I started making all my own bread, I'm trying to buy less prepackaged foods and using fruit and veggies more for snacks, and I'm contemplating making my own granola.

Now I must say I didn't start doing any of this with the planet in mind. I started this things for more selfish reasons. 

My reasons being, 

I like to shop at the Superstore because the grocery's are much cheaper there. They charge 5 cents a plastic bag, so I thought why not take reusable bags. 5 cents is going to add up after a while.

I started using cloth diapers because, I was going to be spending a fortune in diapers with 2 babies in diapers, and they both have sensitive skin so the cloth helps that as well especially here in dry Calgary. 

I started using chemical free detergent because I am using cloth diapers, and the boys have sensitive skin.

I started wanting to use more green products so I don't have to be as careful when I'm cleaning around the babies

I started making my own bread, 1. to save money and 2. we like the way it tastes. :)

Buying more fresh fruits and veggies in attempt to make my family healthier.... so far me and Judah are enjoying it.

Making my own granola, well I haven't been able to find our favorite kind in Canada so I thought why not try making it. Mind you I have not made any yet, I'm just contemplating it. There are only so many hours in  day.

I'm not by any means totally green or crunchy as some people call it. But I'm just slowly making changes and enjoying it so far. 

Although Daniel is not to sure that he likes what Canada is doing to me... :)

Simple tasks... not so simple anymore

There are a lot of things I'm learning with being a mom of 2 boys 1 and under and also recently getting a puppy. And just being a mom period!

First of all I knew that being a stay at home mom is work. I just didn't realize it would be so much more work than when I actually went to work. Before I had babies, most of the day got spent at work and then I felt like I had a big load of things to do when I got home. Cook dinner, clean up dinner, throw in laundry(or go to the laundromat, so glad I don't have to do that anymore), and whatever other things we had going on in the evening. Then you try to get to bed so you can do it all over again. Life then was much more predictable. When at work I would work hard and be busy. But usually had some time to sit and chat. I had a lunch break that was uninterrupted, and at least at my last job I did a lot of sitting with it being mostly a desk job. Now I feel like I'm running from when I get up till I go to bed. Also before babies, I knew that if I went to bed at this time I would have till this time to sleep. Now its very unpredictable how much sleep I will actually get at night. Most of the time its pretty good. But you just never know, when Judah will wake up with an ear infection, Asher will have gas. Or any other reason that might pop up. 

During the day we change quite a few pairs of clothes, between Judah's messy eating and Asher's blowouts and drool. Preparing meals and cleaning up meals. Finding random messes, now that Judah is everywhere and so is the dog. (Asher's not mobile yet, thank goodness! :) Give him a few months.) Laundry! Oh so much Laundry! I have never had such big piles to fold! Gone are the days when I would just do a couple loads a week. Also so many diapers to change and to wash! Not looking forward to when Asher starts eating solids. :) And meals interrupted, sometimes I do miss just being able to sit down and eat a meal. Without trying to nurse baby while eating or figure out what Judah is yelling about that is not right, or not on his plate.

Leaving the house oh boy. That is a big chore. You really can't just grab your purse and keys anymore. First I need to make sure the diaper bag is stocked for the right outing. Then its suiting up the boys. Shoes, coat, hat for Judah. Snow suit, blanket for Asher. And oh please don't have a poopy diaper we need to change during this ritual. Then I have to get myself ready. And everyone into car seats and belted in the car. This takes 20 min if everything goes smoothly. And we just pray we don't have major set backs. Like Judah deciding Asher needs to wake up from his nap in the car seat and then Asher decides that he is terribly hungry. Thankfully I have Daniel with me to a lot of the places that we go to. But if I'm by myself, lugging the heavy baby seat out of the car getting Judah and holding his hand while we walk to wherever we are going with baby seat on other arm is a big task. That's if Judah is behaving with where we are going. Sometimes I lug Judah on one arm, baby seat on the other. I hope I'm getting buff from this! 

I'm learning so much though, like the importance of my role as a mom in teaching them about Jesus, God, faith. Having patience like I have never known. Trying to be consistent. I know I hear this from every parent but now I'm really learning what it is to be consistent. 

It is so wonderful though, having children. I am so blessed that God has enabled us with the privlege for me to stay home with them. Its the hardest but most fulfilling job I have ever had. I love the smiles and the laughter and watching them learn, and grow. I love folding tiny baby clothes. I love when Judah looks and me with a huge smile having cookie smeared all over his face. I love reading to them and having Judah point at every animal he see's in his books. I love hearing Asher's laugh and when he looks up and smiles. I love watching Asher wiggle all around on the ground. He is so busy. I love watching Judah dance and hearing him trying to sing his one note song. I love bath time even though it can go forever!! There are so many other things that I love I really can't think of them all! And I know that someday I will look back and miss these days so much. I really am enjoying them, when I'm not feeling totally crazy. And even though I feel crazy right now with just two. I don't think we are quite done yet.

 Just wanted to put up some cute pics of the family!

Judah is totally obsessed with the giant corn pops box! Takes it everywhere around the house.

Convention

So this past weekend our family got to go to the CLB(Canadian Lutheran Brethren) Convention in Edmonton. All in all it was a great weekend! But it has taken me all day to recuperate.

It was a really great time getting to see the leaders in the CLB. I have met quite a few from the US side of things. But this time I got to see who we will be working with in the future now that we are in Canada. And since Daniel spent most of his growing up years in Canada, I got to meet a lot of people that he grew up with. It was really great being able to put some faces to the names. And apparently the Stenbergs made quite an impression up here. A good one of course. :) 

The hardest part of the weekend which was also quite a large part of the weekend, was that there was really nothing for the little ones to do during the sessions. I think we are trying to pave the way, for it to be easier to for families with younger children to go to these things in the future. The kids really did very great, with having to sit through all the sessions. But I was a bit stressed with trying to keep Judah from screaming when he couldn't get what he wanted. Which happens too often. lol I wasn't sure how we were going to make it through the banquet dinner when we sat down with all the glass dishes and immediately Judah pulled on the table cloth. But he was stopped before the dishes went tumbling off. And right after dinner we had our speaker in the same room. During that time Judah decided that he really did want the rest of his dinner that he had pitched on the floor and started eating that up in front of everyone. I just had to laugh at that point. 

One neat thing we did on Saturday morning, Kim, the pastors wife from Birch Hills, Mandy and I went to a coffee shop that has a play area in the middle for the kids. I've never been to a place like that before. So we got to do some visiting and the kids had fun playing. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my time hanging out with the women and getting a feel for the CLB. (And getting out of the house). I'm so thankful we all got to go up!

Happy 6 year anniversary!

So life has been pretty busy the last few days really. 

We have been waiting for a long time to receive our tax return. With that it has given us a lot of time to think about what we wanted to do with it. What we should buy how much to save all that. I have been in the process of researching vehicles and dogs. 

I will expound on the dog part. Most of you know we lost our dear Belle right before we had to move. That was really hard. I was really hoping to not have to jump into training a puppy for a very long time. I really don't enjoy the puppy stage very much. The chewing the potty training, all that is not really worth it to me to have them little and cute. I'm fine with them growing up and then I can trust them to not destroy my house. I was really missing Belle, and Kaiser was not quite the same. He was depressed, and even more high maintenance. So I started looking into dogs, I did a lot of research on a bunch of different breeds trying to figure out what would be best for our family. We decided to go with a West Highland Terrier. When I was looking into getting one I found out they were very expensive in Calgary, CKC registered and all that. Well we were not going to pay 1000 for a dog right now. So I found some in the boondocks 2 1/2 hours away(poor Daniel), for a third the price. So we drove down on Saturday and picked our puppy up. I think we bought our puppy from Cruella Deville. We met her in the bigger town that was a little closer to us which was nice. We had lunch at one of our favorite places in Canada A&W and she met us there. She was with her husband and they drove up in her new black sedan, she had black fur around the collar of her coat and was smoking a cigarette. Anyway, I think she was a nice lady. But her whole lot made me chuckle. So now we have our little Tula. She is a sweet dog but a puppy none the less. But I'm very happy to have her. And Kaiser has been enjoying her for the most part. He was so excited when we brought her home. 

Yesterday we bought a Mini Van. I guess I am now officially a soccer mom! Originally we wanted an SUV but the more I looked into the practicality of them with having two kids in car seats and then if we do have another baby, it would have been hard. That was another thing I spent a bit of time researching them as well. As most of you know, when we bought the Jetta we bought a bad year. We didn't know that at the time. But we sure do now! So I didn't want a repeat experience. The Honda Odyssey's and the Toyota Sienna's have the best reviews. But since we are sticking with the Dave Ramsey way, we bought a 2002 Dodge Caravan. I am really happy with it so far. I think it will be great for our family. We will be able to take other people, and it will be fun to road trip in! The pic I have above is not the actual one, but I didn't want to go through the work of pulling it out of the garage in the cold to take a picture. But this is what it looks like.

And finally, Daniel was able to get his tv that he has been waiting for I don't remember.

So now we are working on being able to drive legally in Canada. Getting all the paperwork we need from the states so that we can get insurance and drivers licenses up here. I'm looking forward to when all of the immigration stuff is done!! 

Tomorrow is our 6 year anniversary, and we have a lot to celebrate. Although, Daniel is still trying to get used to the fact that he owns  mini-van now. ;)

We are feeling very blessed and thankful for God meeting all of our needs and more.  

Mini Van or SUV?!?

Mini Van or SUV, oh the debate.

We have been thinking about getting a second larger vehicle since we found out Asher was on the way. Now that Asher is here and our car hates the snow and seems to get smaller and smaller and smaller with the boys getting bigger we are really feeling the crunch.

Its looking like we will be able to get something in another month or so. Praise the Lord!

So now we have to decide what to get. The top of my list would be a Honda Pilot, but since 40k doesn't seem to be in the budget that car is out of the running. We are looking at an older mini van or  SUV with a third row seat. Besides the cool factor of an SUV(I'm not feeling to worried about being cool these days, I suppose that's what having a couple kids does to you) we like that fact that it would be great in snow and would be able to tow something, also the kind we are looking at the 3 row folds down when we need to put more back in the trunk. But it does look like it will be a bit harder with hauling little ones in and out, and they take a  little bit more gas.

A van would be much easier access to the kids and the third row seat when we have others ride with us. But we are not sure how great they are in the snow. Although there seems to be a lot of  vans up here, so it can't be to bad. But the church is on top of a hill and Daniel would like to still get into work when it snows.

Or we could just go with a 15 passenger van, get the towing power, 4 wheel drive, and space for the 12 boys we are going to have.... Just kidding! 

Anyway, if you have any suggestions or comments let me know!

Snow Snow Snow

After much thought and deliberation, I have decided not to learn how to drive around this city until it warms up... so June. June I will get behind the wheel and figure out how the roads work around here. Sorry to all of those who are visiting before June hoping to be able to leave the house while Daniel is at work.

On Friday it got very cold and we got our first douse of fresh snow here. It is absolutely beautiful. Judah just kept looking out the window and pointing for us to look at all the snow, the guys out shoveling and the guys out with snow blowers. We had to tell Judah we needed to stop looking so we wouldn't look like creepy neighbors. We didn't actually decide to venture out until Sunday when we went to church. We got very bundled up(the high that day I believe was around 0 F.)It was very slick and lots of snow still on the roads. They don't believe in ruining the roads, cars, and environment with salt like Buffalo did. So there is nothing to melt the snow and ice they just plow(some) and put gravel on it. At least that is all I can tell. Out car was definitely slipping around in it. Also when the sun comes out it is so bright! Its so hard to see. It reflects of all the snow and ice, I'm going to have to get Daniel some sunglasses. Anyway our church is on top of a hill (it has a very pretty view of the city), so we were very worried about getting up it. With good reason. We got about half way up before the car started going backwards when Daniel tried to get it to go. We had people flying past us. But one of the guys from church stopped to help. He drove while Daniel pushed and one of the young adults from church came running down the hill to help Daniel push too. He told us you kinda have to get a running start at that hill. Apparently we aren't the first ones to get stuck. Makes me feel a bit better. I'm so thankful for all the help. We were able to get the rest of the way up.We barely made it for Daniel to do scripture and prayer. I guess we are going to have to get winter tires or all season tires, and our second car will have to be more snow equipped.  

It is suppose to warm up tomorrow to above freezing, we are looking forward to that.