Must get to the BBQ

So as you have seen in this previous post...   it has snowed a TON!  That wasn't even the total accumulation of snow we have gotten since then.  Needless to say I thought our BBQ was LOST FOREVER (ok maybe just till spring).  But of course, me being pregnant, I started really wanting a nice medium rare steak with Montreal Steak Spice, that only Ian can make right!!!!!!

It pursuit of this goal ;) I planned a steak night on our weekly meal plan (created by my dear friend Rhonda).

side note - I have been using this meal plan for many months now (a year maybe?) and I love it.  I had made a set of 'regular use' plans that I would rotate through but I found I would rather make a new menu every week that applied to our schedule and included regular new menu items.

Steak night is TONIGHT!!!!! and I did remember the trouble of the buried BBQ in advance.  I trudged through the untouched knee/waist deep snow in my backyard just to get to the deck.  It was so nice out but I decked out in full snow gear to avoid getting wet from the deep snow.

DISCLAIMER:  Ian advised against me shovelling in 'my condition' but I wanted to try and said I would do what I can!  Ian DOES NOT make his pregnant wife shovel a meter of snow.  He is wonderful and kind and has shovelled 99% of the snow all winter.

I made pretty good progress... it actually cheesed me off that I couldn't finish it all.  In the midst of this snow hauling I looked up at my neighbours deck and was shocked to see not a single spot of snow on it..... NONE... crazy.  They must have kept up with the snowfall so they could BBQ all winter long too :)  So this is what has been done and I am leaving the rest for Ian to finish before he fires up the grill.  Hopefully he can handle it ;)

oh and now we can escape out our back-door in case of emergency.  I am pretty much a hero :)

Late Christmas

I finally got around to getting Hailey a gift with the $ my grandparents sent her for Christmas.  I picked up a doll playpen and a bottle for her baby's that makes sucking noises.  So far she is having more fun playing in the play pen and 'drinking' the bottle then her dolls are!!!!

Thank you Oldefar and Oldemor for the gift :)

It's A........

BABY!!!  We are so excited to be having a baby.  So glad it isn't a horse... that would hurt ;)

Okay, fine... I will tell you what it is....  It's A B..........

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isackson baby girl #2 and we are thrilled!  I was hoping for a little sister for Hailey.  I grew up with 4 sisters and I think they are pretty special and I wanted that for Hailey (well maybe not 4)!  I hope they will grow to love each other and be good friends!  We aren't worried about a son yet as there will be more baby(ies) to come.  At least we hope so.

This is the halfway mark so only 20 more weeks till I get to hold my brand new daughter.  It is so special to know what is growing inside me.  I think it creates a stronger bond as I am able to identify who (if not what) she is.  I will advocate for finding out the gender early any day.... what a sweet surprise.

Tupperware and a Label Maker

My favourite 'tools'!  If anyone broke into my house they would know exactly where to find everything.... of course that would be assuming that they want bins and bins of infant clothing and sentimental memories :)

This order is slightly 'deranged' as my husband has taken a few containers to use as a paint table/ moved things around.  I love that I have 5 empty bins ready to be organized and filled.

Oh the order

Here is my neat and tidy pantry from my clean up last week!  I am trying to tackle a new organization project each week as I follow this blog.

 

I have always been an organized person.  It has become more challenging as my family and our home grows each year but I like the challenge.  It gives me things to do on these crazy cold snow days that leave me stuck inside for DAYS!

I've also attached some recent pictures of our crazy girl!  She is more of a toddler everyday.  It leaves me wondering what I am really 'in for' in the coming years?  Mostly, I am sure, a lot of fun :)

This is supposed to be her 'pretty' smile :)

Water table fun

 I was feeling brave (and not too tired) last week so I pulled out the water table for Hailey to play in.  Of course it was a hit!  She hasn't used it since last fall probably (mainly because it is way easier to clean up outside than inside).  I need to make use of this more often.  What other items have you put in water tables for kids to play with?  I have done pasta noodles and rice.

 

Storage room

I have been informed by Ian that I have not blogged about our awesome storage room that was built back in the fall!  I have more incentive now to write about it as the whole project is almost complete.  We had neglected to paint the wall/new door ever since it was built but now Ian is gung ho into the project and it should be finished by this weekend.  Here are some pictures of the progress we have made up until now.  I will include a finished picture when it is done... and then another one once we get our new carpet put in that will make the basement like a brand new home!  I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself... the only dilemma is whether to get a second vehicle first... or the carpet.  I am torn but leaning toward the 2nd vehicle due to my cabin fever ;)

 

 Useless wasted space in our basement that we used to build the storage room

awesome wall/door installed by Ian and his Dad

super awesome shelving built by Ian (with a smidge of help from me)

SO much room

We kept our old fridge and had a perfect spot for it inside the storage room

Wall is primed and ready for the wall paint

shelving is beginning to fill with food

 still need to clear out the tools in there :)

I am super excited about this project!!!!!  Is that sad?  I just organized our kitchen pantry and moved more items down to the storage room.  Now I have so much space in the kitchen as well!

The belly....

So funny how the second time round you aren't as obsessed with tracking the progress of your pregnancy.  Today was the first photo taken of the belly.  At week 19 it has put me very far behind on my pregnancy photo journal.  I hope the baby won't hate me when it's older for the neglect ;)

Next week we find out the babies gender.... SO EXCITED.  Now I can label 'it' a 'he' or 'she'!  We'll tell family first but then the public will know :)

Snowed in

Well not literally (at least I don't think so, I haven't tried to leave) but I CANNOT believe the amount of snow outside right now.  Admittedly I have had my blinds closed for FAR too long but I could not believe what has added up in our backyard since we left on Christmas holidays.

See for yourself!

that stack of snow on top of the post is probably 3 feet high

No we have not been in our backyard all winter.  It is so crisp and clean with no footprints.  Hailey has a hard enough time moving around in her snowsuit, let alone in deep snow, so we play on the driveway!

I guess we aren't BBQing until Spring.... dang it.  I should have shovelled the deck before it got so crazy.

This is the window in our kitchen... and this window is probably 10 inches off the ground (deck level).  At least up to my waist here.  

I'm pretty sure we can't even open our back door but we don't need to so we are okay.  I'll call for help if we get stuck out the front too ;)

Helping Daddy

Gosh, I can not get over how cute it is that Hailey always wants to help and is so interested in how things work.  This week she helped Daddy put the dishwasher back in after he had fixed it.  She was so fascinated with what Ian was doing and said over and over 'see...see' (I want to see) and manoeuvred around so she had a good view.  Then Daddy let her use the tools!

Such a proud Daddy (and mommy)

Today she watched Daddy from her playpen while he sanded and prepped our storage room wall for painting.

Play room

I finally decided to make use of our empty bedroom upstairs! 

When we first moved it was an office, then a guest room but both of those were eventually moved to the basement. 

In 5 mths it will be Hailey's 'big girl' room, once the baby comes, but since it has not been in use it has become the 'dumping ground'.  I put a bunch of Hailey's baby stuff in there, a collection of items for a future garage sale, empty boxes and other random junk that I really just didn't want to put away properly.  In the mean time my living room has become overrun with toys... so why not clean up the room and get my living room back!

(sorry no pics of the pre-mess)

Now my living room is 'kid-free' (though looks grotesquely empty) and I can lock Hailey in a room to play with her toys ;) (kidding, but also not).  We moved our old t.v. in there with a dvd player so she can watch movies.  The bad thing is that Hailey mostly goes in there, sits in her chair and looks at the tv waiting for me to put something on.  She says 'show? show?' over and over.  It is pretty cute.  I cave if I have stuff to do that needs her out of the way (shower, sweeping the floor, unloading the dishwasher) but most recently I am trying to get her to play more.  I guess I have to re-teach my tv-a-holic how to play!  Curse those 6 weeks of illness that forced me to put her in front of the tube.  I have forever ruined her ;)  Just kidding.

So here are some pics of the temporary play space and my empty living room.

*side note, if the door is closed and Hailey wants out she just politely knocks and waits for me to let her out.  I love her!

once I put all her toys (from upstairs) in here it didn't seem like very much at all!

* the back corner doesn't have anything in it.  It is a long skinny room.  A funny shape and it will be difficult to figure out her new bedroom set up.  Still excited to do it though.  Just waiting for the spring to show life.  I don't want to do everything so soon that I have nothing let to do in these 5 mths as we wait for baby.

where can you get non-slip mats to go under carpets?  It slides around all the time.

the glass cupboard on the right?  what are those called?

someday that keyboard will be replaced with a beautiful black, shiny grand piano.... someday ;)

I'd like to add a nice espresso coloured 9 cube shelf with baskets, along with matching coffee/side tables.  I think it will help fill the space nicely.  Also contemplating whether to paint my grandmother's (what is the name of those glass door cupboards?).  It is an heirloom and in pretty good shape, but do I keep it 'old school' or give it an upgrade?  I am keeping it either way.... it just might move to some 'less conspicuous' location if it stays 'as is'.