Taking a Break

That's right, I'm going to take a break. I've been wasting a lot of time on the computer lately. I just browse wonderfully crafty websites to get ideas and inspiration. So tomorrow I'm not going on the computer at all. Who knows what I'll do with all the time. Maybe I'll even find the pedal to my sewing machine! If I don't find it tomorrow I'm probably going to buy a new machine. I just want a really basic inexpensive one. Any suggestions would be great. I just figure when I pay for a new pedal and getting this old thing serviced, I'm almost spending the amount of a new machine anyways.





I realized that Owen was getting gypped in the picture department. Here's one when he's just waking up, and another where he's thinking "what the heck is that silver thing, and where my momma?" And I stripped Dean and Annettes crab apple tree to make crab apple jelly, yum! I got this scale from my Grandma, I love it!
Our "LTG" groups started tonight. I'm pretty excited to just go deep with these girls and get to know God in a real way. I feel like this fall is a new beginning, a fresh start for our church group. Things have been pretty quiet and relaxed this summer. We are all excited to just get going, to get out there and love people.

Oh and my hubby bought me flowers today. I like him. A lot.

Real Life

I can take criticism. Someone pointed out that by reading my blog people will hate me. Ok, fine. That someone read aloud certain sentences in a VERY mocking tone. So I thought I would devote this post to them and others that may feel the same way. I never wanted to portray myself as perfect, if people came to that conclusion well then hey. Haa ha. No seriously though, I'm normal and to prove it here's my house on a typical day.







Laundry everywhere. A blanket for a window covering. Dishes, diapers, and dirt. Yup, that's my life. So don't fall into the trap of believing that I, or others, are amazing 'n all that. Even though I canned a lot doesn't mean I'm super wife/mom. Quite the contrary actually. My house, kids, and hubby were a little neglected during these last two weeks.
In other news, the potty training is going MUCH better than last week. No poop on the floor, yay! Also, my cousin and family are moving here today from B.C. I'm SO excited about this (and not just because they have cute kids). Owen is loving his baby mash, and slept through the night again last night, yay! Lot's of 'yay's' today. Oh perhaps the most exciting 'yay' of all: I got fabric in the mail today!! I'm making a quilt for Katelyn. I have to take a class 'cause I have no clue what I'm doing and I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to sewing. I'm still waiting for a bit more fabric, some inspiration, and a pattern. Then I'll get started. We'll see if this is a project that actually gets finished:-)




P.S. Does anyone know how to unexport my blog to facebook? Right now every time I update here it gets sent to facebook, but I want to undo that and can't figure out how. Stupid Facebook.

So Close

I'm nearly done my crazy canning kick. I've been canning for 8 days. I have one flat of tomatoes and less than a box of peaches to go.

Today I made jam. Every few minutes I sneak to the fridge and take another spoon full, YUM!! I desperately need to be done this craziness. I have a headache and my muscles ache and I have zero train of thought, not to mention my poor neglected kids. I'm trying to potty train Katelyn in the midst of all of this. And of course Owen decided to start eating solid foods this week too. The best part about that is that I get to sit down for 20 minutes three times a day:-) To answer my question about thawing from my last post: I keep about three days worth of food in the fridge. For each meal I put a bit in a bowl, which I then put in another bowl of hot hot water and leave it for a few minutes. Like a double boiler kinda, only... never mind you get the point.
Did I mention that I'm trying TRYING trying to potty train Katelyn? She just pooped on the floor. Yup, that's my big girl. Seriously!!! I was not impressed. I need to just take the time to work with her on this. She's so smart and she could be ready. I just need to teach her better. I posted a funny video on youtube. My name on there is hollhil. If you just type hollhil into the search line you can see all my videos. Anyways, watch and enjoy.
Ok, Owens done eating, breaks over. Two posts in one week yay! I'll try to keep it up!

I Love Autumn

I love autumn, but why does it have to be so busy!?! I always say how much I want to be a farmer, and I do, but I can't imagine all the work that would come with it. I already feel so busy. This morning I slipped my bare feet into my rubber boots and stepped into the deliciously crisp fall air. Mmm, I'm not ready for summer to be over, but nothing compares to that wonderful feeling of cool air. It's been so cold here already I've been covering my garden for weeks now! As soon as I get the chance I plan to just bring everything in and call it quits. I'm hoping my tomatoes will still have the chance to ripen a bit though. We were in the Okanagan last week for holidays. We love love love going and hope to go every year. In saying that though we really need to enjoy summer here more, it goes by so fast. I was away a lot this summer. I spent a week in Calgary with the girl friends. Then I flew down to San Diego for a super long weekend to visit my sister. Then Okanagan for a week with the fam. So I really felt the summer go by fast. Next summer I'm sticking close to home, my garden, and some good camping spots. Anyways, we brought back tons of fruits and veggies and I'm still dealing with them! I've been canning every day for a week now. I only have a bit more salsa and some jam left, then I'm done yay! It's been fun though, and so satisfying filling our shelves for the winter. To me there's nothing quite like it. Having a meal on the table and knowing that I ordered the seeds, planted them, nurtured them, harvested, and then prepared the meal. I just can't wait until I can grow everything instead of depending on the farmers markets etc.
Other things that have been occupying my mind? Fabrics. Glorious, beautiful, and oh so addictive! I've been dreaming up so many projects. I'm going to take a quilting class, and from there the possibilities are endless! Last year it was knitting, now it's quilting. I'll definitely be posting pictures as I go along.
I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, I really need to get to bed. Owen has been waking up early. He's showing signs of being ready for solids. I wanted to hold off as long as possible. I HATE this stage of mashed food. I do big batches and freeze it in ice cube trays. I hate thawing it, does anyone have suggestions? It takes forever. (p.s. I don't use microwaves, it's a long story) Anyways, I'm not looking forward to this stage. Maybe I can teach Katelyn how to feed him, ha ha that'd be even messier than it already is. I gave him banana mash today and he loved it. I'll probably make rice mash for him this week. When Katelyn started solids I ground brown rice in my coffee grinder and then cooked that for about 15 minutes. Mix it with some mommy milk, and the consistency and taste were pretty ok, I mean for a baby. Ok, you can tell I'm getting tired, sorry for the rambling. Goodnight.
P.S. Could I just complain about blogger for a sec? Why do they make it so hard to arrange your photos within your text? I wanted three pictures lined up side by side. Tomatoes in the field, tomatoes in a box in my sunny kitchen, and the canned tomatoes. I added them and then they end up all over the place and look retarded. Wouldn't it be easier if you could just click and drag them wherever you want? Argg

Some Videos

New Nephew, David James

Tim and Aria had their baby last night yipee! He was about 10 days early. He was 7 lbs 5 oz and I think 20 inches long. I went to see him this morning and heres the pictures especially for the proud grandparents, Larry and Judy.

Videos

Just to let you all know that I uploaded some videos onto youtube. Search using hollhil, Katelyn Hildebrant, or Owen Hildebrant and you should find them. Theres three new ones, enjoy. I love my kids. They let me sleep 'till 9:30 today!! We've been putting Katelyn to bed late 'cause theres so much to do during summer. Owen still gets up twice in the night, but is only up 30 to 40 min each time. Life is good for a mom who sleeps:-) Life is good. God is good. We've been learning and trusting. Ciao for now

More Owen Pics

Hello hello, I know it seems like it's been forever, but that's only because you all want updates on the cutest little boy. He's doing good. Babies don't sleep as much as you might think. I was so spoiled for the first three weeks of his life and now I'm facing up to real life. Tuesday was the worst. We felt like we were getting colds and Katelyn was still getting over a cold. Owen started getting gassy and we didn't get ANY sleep monday night. All this combined made for a very hard day. Today I feel a little more adjusted. I still wear sweat pants a lot and sleep whenever I can. Someday I might be normal again. Although I am still addicted to puzzles on line, how lame! Of all the things I can do with my time, that's the least appealing, and yet.... somehow, it's just so tempting. That and chocolate, which I've also been spending too much time with. Ok, I'm making supper (not really, just warming up leftovers that someone else made us). So heres the pictures!
Update: sorry about the picture link not working, my facebook albums are private now. If you want to see them and aren't on facebook let me know.

Baby Owen!

Here he is! Owen James born March 25th at 1:05pm. He was 6lbs9oz 20"long. Everything went great. We're all doing very well. He's such a content baby. I'm feeling great, although at this moment I'm really tired, so I'll be off to bed now, ciao!

So Many Changes

We sold our house! We're having a baby in hopefully less than 23 days! I have a sudden ounce of motivation! All very big news in my life. Now I'll expand on those.
Matthew just recently finished a house around the corner which we will be moving into. Then he'll start building the house right next door to us, so that's what will keep us busy for the next however long. We don't have to move until May 2nd, which is really good considering the baby is due April 5th!
I'm feeling so excited and as ready as I'll ever feel for this baby. Matthews parents are coming for Easter (very end of March) so wouldn't it be cool if number 9 came to see them a bit early? In Matthews words, this baby is already very much a part of the fam. Katelyn understands pretty well whats going on, which is good considering her age 'n all. I've been making a bassinet (which I started when I was pregnant with Katelyn and never finished) I'll post pics when it's done. Getting stuff like this done makes the baby feel so much more real (for Katelyn especially).
I've been done work for a few weeks now. Definitly keeping busy though. Made hundreds of perogies last week. Katelyn is SO fun right now. She's talking so much and just really fun to watch. I love seeing the world through her eyes, just watching her connect ideas and thoughts. Funny funny. She basically pretends to be me. Right now she has her teddy "eating lunch" in the highchair while she sweeps the floor, which is one of her favorite things to do. She also likes to play in her kitchen and play with her dolls. So you see, it's pretty much what I do all day, just a smaller version of it. She's still a good sleeper, which I need as I've been SO tired! And now I'm off to make some supper. And that about sums it up! I'll keep you posted on this baby, can't wait!

Pictures and Christmas update

Hi everyone. I'm assuming that I'm saying hi to Ryan, Linds, Matthews parents, Erin, Auntie Deb and.... yea I think that's it (unless this is still imported to facebook and people read it there, in that case hundreds could be reading eek!). But I love you guys! I'm so happy you still check in once in awhile. I've talked to most of you recently so you know what's new, but I'll do a little diddy anyways just in case theres some mystery readers.
Christmas was, well it was good. I wouldn't say it was amazing or the best, but it was fun. We were at my parents for the week before Christmas until the 26th. I love being able to have Katelyn around people that love her so much. I always get sad to take her away again. She learned so many new words while we were down there. She hasn't said "smile" since we've been back, does that worry anyone? I guess it's just because the camera was out so often. Speaking of which heres some pictures. It was nice to see friends again, eat so much good food, show Katelyn off, and hang with the fam. It was also nice to get home again and just get back to our little life here. I'm back to work next week (I've only worked 3 days since Christmas, how do I have such an awsome job?) and Matthew has also started working full time now. He'll just finish the house we're building in his spare time. It's for sale if anyone of you is interested in moving up here:-) We're thinking of putting our house up for sale too and we'll just sell whichever one goes first. So we could be moving around the corner, but we'll most likely be staying here. We've been totally cleaning and organizing our basement since being home. I love how motivated Matthew is with stuff like that. If only he was into scrapbooking, he could really get me going:-) It's nice to be able to use the space down there. We're taking the night to chill before our busy work week. So we'll talk to you all soon, hope you're all doing well! Oh one more thing, my last day of work is Feb 22 yay! I can't wait, although I do love my job for some reasons. Ciao

Pictures

I'm trying to post a picture link again for new pics. Apparently it didn't work last time, so try those again too.

Halloween Pictures

Random Stuff and Ultrasound

Life Recently

Hope it works!

Cute idea

Ok, please don't think less of me, but.... today I watched the Martha Stewart show. It's true, but I can honestly say it was the only channel we had, the only other one we have was for some reason not working, and it's the View which isn't much better I agree. So why did I turn the T.V. on? I don't know, but I found a really cute idea, so cute it needs to be shared. I know Shari will love it 'cause we're crazy knitters. They use a knitting machine (cheaters) and then felt it in the washer, I didn't even know you could do that, so cool!


She makes lots of different animals into backpacks or pillows, so cute! She knits them using wool yard and then turns them into felt and adds the little finishing touches. They have the template on Marthas site, but I couldn't get it to come up. I also went to the original site to look at what else they have. Enjoy, I did. Ciao

touque or thong?

Oh Linds, you'll love this. I'm looking for a touque pattern for my bro and found this instead!



Does that beat the old patterns you found at your parents? Hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing!

This is a true test to see who still reads this blog. Is it indeed just Linds as I had thought, or will I get comments from Grandma and Mom-in-law, yipee! Love you all!

The Best Thing Ever
FOUND by Sam in New York, New York
It was the first nice day of spring so I decided to go to Central Park. I found a nice plot of grass to lay down on and eventually fell asleep. When I awoke this was folded up behind my head.

Linds you totally got me addicted to the found web site I saw this on there today, it was SO SWEET!

For the non facebookers

New Pictures
My froggy

theres some links for some updated photos, I hope it works! I feel bad neglecting the people who don't have facebook! Sorry guys!

I kinda updated on our life last time, it was a sorry excuse for an update. But really things are just in a nice groove and theres not much to talk about. I still feel like I want to hibernate. I'm just holding back from getting the Christmas decorations out. I'll wait a couple more weeks. I am using my Christmas mug already (eggnog in the coffee every morning) Oh and don't judge me for drinking coffee while I'm pregnant 'cause I refuse to be judged on that. I tried, I really did. I choose to believe that it's good for the baby. And of course listening to Christmas music:-) Oh and my Christmas list is complete and reveiwed and edited and expanded and revised. I'm ready. Except for the cards. I've been working all week trying to find a simple layout for nice Christmas cards and I just don't like anything I do. I have a friend who throws stuff together in a few minutes that always looks so amazing. I should break into her house and steal her cards for ideas, or maybe I could just ask. Or maybe we could trade brains for awhile.
Ok, that's enough rambling for one day. I'm getting a bump, I have no clothes that fit, it's more frustrating than it seems it should be. Even my sweat pants are tight, what the heck, it's my tummy that's supposed to grow not my butt! Waahhh!!!

I took these last week. I gave her a haircut on Corryns request, hee he. I've been trying to put pics on facebook, but it's not working for some reason. I've been wanting to just write an update on life lately, I guess it's that time again. Life is moving into winter and it certainly feels like it. I feel like we're getting ready to hibernate. Getting canning, cleaning, cooking done. I love the feeling of getting lots done, and I've been getting LOTS done the past few weeks. I love winter. It's so cozy. I love eggnog, and Christmas and soup and pumpkins and mittens, and ice skating, and sleds. Not to say we have all of that already, but I'm looking forward to it, and I've been having fun prepping for it all.
I've been reading good books lately too. Right now I'm reading "The Omnivours Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. I highly recommend anyone to read it. I learned more in 50 pages than I learned in three years of high school. I know I wasn't the best student, but what I'm saying is, he writes in such a clear way, even I can understand.
I don't know what else is up, just life, and it's good. I actually really don't like writing without knowing who is reading. The fact that this gets imported onto facebook means LOTS of people could be reading. I just don't want to sound superficial. Does that make sense? Kinda sad I guess. But it's been nice connecting to people lately, and I guess I'll just leave it at that.

Summer Update

I really want to put summer pictures on here but our internet never works, so you'll all have to be patient. We've had a fun summer though. Lots of good weekend trips, picking berries etc. The last two weeks we spent, oh just about everywhere. We were in Oregon for a week. A couple of days were spent at the beach with all of Matthews siblings and families. It was just wonderful to see everyone again and get all these little cousins together! Then we were in B.C for a week just relaxing, hiking, and baking in the sun. It was so good to see good friends again and some family. The pictures are coming soon and are a lot more exciting, just thought I'd let you know we're still here, just kinda boring I guess. Actually not boring enough which is why I haven't been on the computer at all. I'm working again which gives me some computer time, but still no pictures. Ciao

More on Walking

Just a quick note to say that there is a youtube video of some of Katelyns first steps. Just go to www.youtube.com and search for Walking Wonder or Katelyn Hildebrant and it should come up in the list. I was talking to my mom on the phone while recording, fun times. This was just the funniest thing in the world to me and I realized that that is just part of being a parent. Enjoy!

Walking Wonder

Our little girl took her first official steps today! Don't make fun of how many pictures I posted, I'm a first time mom and this is seriously the hight light of my life! We knew it was coming, she's been very steady standing up for awhile, and could lunge towards us for a few days. Today she just woke up from her nap, stood up on the deck and walked towards nothing. Then she kept doing it! So exciting! I love that as a mom these things truly are the most amazing things in the world! She also dumped an entire box of crackers upside down, and of course this was thee most hilarious thing I'd ever seen. I love that about being a parent. It's 1am and I just can't sleep! It's frustrating. My mind is just racing. I'm getting the going back to work jitters. I'm analyzing everything. Trying to imagine exactly what it will be like and just how terrible it will be. But if I think like that then of course it will be terrible. But like everything else I have to remember that God is in control and that's why anything is possible. If I did it on my strength alone I would be a weepy mess in the corner. It's a miracle!
I'm gonna try to fall asleep again, I'm pretty sure I had regular coffee tonight thinking it was decaf, oh well at least I got this done!