done and done

85 friends
475 perogies
12 or more liters of wine
650 dollars raised for families who need it this holiday season
memories and lessons learned for out children about sharing and giving - priceless.

with thanks to MasterCard commercials for the inspiration.

Giveaway

There are as usuall to many things to say and not enough to say them so instead I am going to give things away because that seems easier than trying to type a post. This is going to be dead easy... you totally can play and all you have to do is leave a comment.

What am I giving away, a copy of Wounded Children, Healing Homes.

I can not say enough good things about this book. I wish that I had it before I started this journey, after I was matched withthe boys but before they moved in would of been perfect. I  would have learned a lot and been more prepared for what was to come. Everyone who works with kids should read this book. I would tell you more but I lent my copy to the school because they need to read it. When I get it back I will review it properly.

So leave a comment on this post and you will be entered to win. Leave a  comment and become a follower and you will get 2 entries. If you already are follower than you already have one extra entry just let me know in your comment.

I will draw a name on Monday so you have until mindnight on Sunday April 25th to enter. I will post the winner on Monday and they have till Friday to reply, then I will draw another name.

I also just realised as I typed this up that I was going to make buy a bunch of heartline bracelets based on comments a long time ago and then baby Lily died and life got busy and I FORGOT! So I will also buy 4 braclets from Corey and send those out as well. Although they are small they mean a lot.

So leave a comment and you can win the book or a bracelet. 1 book, 4 braclelets and all you need to do is leave a comment and follow me if you want 2 entries.


PS - no one is giving me anything for doing this... I just am because it is a great book and Heartline is a great charity and Corey rocks too.

come on, just one little minute

Please take a minute and scroll down to Monday's post and leave a comment, then go post the link to Corey's braclet page on your blog or facebook page. She has already made one donation to heartline and the more she sells the more they get.
I know you are out there, so let today be the day you stop lurking so I can give more money to charity.

Monday Moments for a cause.

Monday Moments this week has a goal, the goal is to get you to leave a comment and post a link.

• Corey is selling some amazing bracelets to support Heartline ministries in Haiti
• We need to buy these bracelets to support the amazing work that they are doing there.
• We are amazing people and we need to get the word out to all of our friends to go and buy these bracelets. If knitters ( who are amazing as well) can raise 1 million dollars we can get the word out and sell bracelets at 5 bucks a pop.
• I know that kids love getting stuff in the mail. I want to send stuff to your kids. Keep reading and see how.

So what you need to do is leave a comment on this post that you will post the link to Corey’s bracelets on your blog or facebook page. I am going to use the honour system here, if you said that you will do it I am going to trust you. Each time you post the link to Corey’s page you will get one entry into a draw for one of Corey’s bracelets for yourself or someone else who you want to have it sent to like your kids. For every 5 people that comment I will I buy one bracelet for a randomly drawn commenter. Make sense

Here it is again,

1. Link to Corey’s bracelet page on your blog or facebook page

2. Leave a comment here telling me you have done it. 1 link = 1 entry.

3. I will buy bracelets based on the number of comments left. 5 comments = 1 bracelet sent to a randomly drawn commenter or a person of their choice, like their kid. The more people who get this out message out there the more bracelets I will buy and give away.

4. If you feel so bold as to share the link to Corey’s bracelets in other ways, like via email or a poster at church/school/temple let me know and I will give you another entry as well.

5. Spread the word, Corey needs to sell these bracelets and we need to spread the word that the world can not forget about Haiti.

All clear… I hope so, I know you are lurking out there, this a great reason to delurk and leave a comment!

and

I meant to tell you about Megan ( if you didn't already hear) who is having a raffle and first prize is a week in a condo in Florida... oh I so need a trip to a warm beach. So go buy and ticket and send some pennies to folks who need them in Haiti and the DRC

there are things.

There are things that I could blog about, there is stuff going and there have been some Stellar Moments around here but it all seems kind of pointless considering the drama in my life pales in comparison to that of so many other in Haiti and around the world. So instead of whining I will encourage you to do something, donate money, time or supplies to an organzation who is collecting and be thankful that we have roofs over our heads and enough to eat tonight.

take a minute

and go visit Heartline Runners, when you are moved by what they are doing take a minute and send them some pennies, they are great people doing great work and Corey is one of them!

summer 09

(Click on the collage to make bigger)

As you can see it has been a long and boring summer and there was no fun had by anyone big, small, with shells or with wings. There are also a few pictures in there of our summer reno project ( before, during and almost finished) which was a huge task and a strain on the monkeys patience but one that they are excited about none the less. I must now be off to deal with the back to school stress that is cuasing all sorts of interesting moments around here.

so... ummm.... yeah...

I am still alive, lots of reasons for not posting but most of them have to do with the chaos that has been being a parent in the summer. We are busy! Here's a quick play by play -


- had the rest of a great westcoast vacation complete with mice in my parents bathroom, bon ton cake and trying to wrangle 7 cousins from 0 to 12 into pictures and make them all smile at the same time


- home to a happy hubby and a few days to get back into the routine - very important around here

- Calvin's 9th birthday, boys, water, fruit, cake balloons - need I say more

- 3 days of running summer camp at the university in the city, (which took 3 days to set up for and 1 day to clean up).

- lots of days hanging out at home, breaking up arguing children, playing at the local splash pad.

- strawberry picking x2, freezing, eating making jam... yummy jam

- My birthday, always a good day.

- the garden, which actually sucks up tons of my free time

Today we are off to the lake because it is actually nice and we friends with cottages, we have other plans to do the same thing next week! I have lots of posts in my head about what has been up with the boys these past few weeks but I have to find time to get them out of my head and into the computer.

Did you know that on Friday the boys will of been here for a year, amazing. It is causing all sorts of stress in their little worlds but we are working on it.

random wed - on wed - how novel.

• I'm tired
• We gave one of the dogs away last week. Bella was a sweet girl but if I has known that we were getting boys I never would of kept her last spring when I was selling the rest of the litter. I miss her but it is better and by all accounts she is doing great and happily chasing her new Papa all over the place.
• The boys are having a really hard time with the fact that she left, they are not saying it but showing us with all sorts of brilliant and exhausting ( for me) behaviour.
• I should be making dinner.
• It is really windy today and I keep having to fix the clothes on the line
• Much of the vegetable garden is in, my room can almost stop being a greenhouse.
• I am going to away ( without my boys) next week to do some training to help provide some much needed post adoption support in my county. I am excited.
• We are leaving for Victoria in 18 days - boys are excited - I get exhausted just thinking about them contained in a plane for 6 hours. There is no amount of coffee that can give me the energy I will need that day.
• I am looking very forward to being near my ocean for awhile, I miss my ocean when we are apart and yes it is my ocean, the rest of you can share it if you like but it is mine.
• There has been some knitting on a Tomten jacket I started last summer but I picked up other needles to knit the sleeves and the gauge is looser, I am trying to decide whether to frog the sleeve or just live with it loose.
• I have also been knitting finger puppets and socks that I have also been knitting since last summer.
• I want to be knitting a shawl or something else just for ME!
• JoVE is dangerously close to actually moving here to my end of the world and I am excited to have her around the corner in country terms
• Other fabulous women are planning on moving this way this fall and that really excites me as well.
• School is almost done which excites and terrifies me at the same time. I am done with lunches and homeowrk and teachers.
• It is my nephews 7th birthday today, when did that happen, isn't he still just a little.
• The boys keep harassing me and calling me so I guess that means I really should move on to making something to feed them. THe fresh air diet doesn't seem to be filling up their tummies.
• I got a fabulous mothers day gift from this etsy shop, it's really cute, I also have some of her earrings that say knit and purl. She's local and that makes it even better.
• I'll be back later when my children have been fed a few meals

PS - I mailed my boys someI love you cards this week, it was reallly cute to see their faces when they figured out that I had sent them mail. It wasn't my idea but I'll take the credit.