HI THAT IS ME. YOU ARE WELCOME.

Lets jump right in shall we? I haven’t been here because I’ve been busy growing things. These things, to be specific.

(Please admire my horrific at the park self-portrait. It’s pretty awesome.)

Want a closer look? SURE.

In case you aren’t sure that would be two whole babies in there. At the same time. Both at once.

CRAZY. And also wonderful and awesome and amazing. We couldn’t be more thrilled. We’ve had a kind of complicated pregnancy history so to have two healthy babies that appear to be completely fine and growing fine is nothing short of miraculous. It is going to be AWESOME.

We learned a few weeks ago that the twins (fraternal) are both girls, which is also REALLY fun – we like girls. Poor Sam is going to be surrounded by women, but as a good friend pointed out, he’s going to be an awesome husband one day! He’ll be fine I’m sure .

So as you can imagine there’s been a lot of fallout from the whole two babies at once thing – mostly the rather stark realization that our three bedroom townhouse is *probably* not going to cut it with 4 children. So we have found another house and are working on selling ours and will hopefully move at the end of June. Our babies are technically due Sept 8, but based on my history and the fact that twins generally come early anyway we’re expecting to deliver them around 36 weeks – so maybe the second week of August. But we’re going to watch and see what happens. Hopefully we can keep them in there that long and things will be good.

I am finally feeling better and able to function a little bit, and I have a ton of projects lined up in my head that I want to work on….but the practicalities of staging a house and packing and all the rest of it are making it hard to actually get anywhere with that. But I’ll try! In the meantime I’ll check in here a little more often (though it will probably be a little more “life stuff” and a little less sewing for the next while….but then, HELLO – two little girls to sew for!).

Feel free to check in periodically and remind me that I can totally handle this – I’m probably going to need the reassurance! But I really do think it’s going to be great fun.

Thanks for being patient the last few months – I’ve missed this space!!

OH HEY – you know what? I did sew something. A dress. For a wombat. Anika’s class mascot. Obviously.

We had a lovely (if mildly crazy) holiday this year – we were at my parents’ house with my sister, brother, and grandfather (as well as my parents and Connor the dog), which made for a full house – especially at a time of year when “outside” doesn’t act as the additional rooms in quite the same way.

But it worked – we had a great time.
We sat down for dinner the night we arrived only to discover that Anika, Shannon and I had managed to fully Embrace The Stripes.

We are awesome. Obviously. Also, and apropos of nothing, I ALMOST bought the sweater Shannon is wearing when I was in Boston and then I didn’t. And now I am sad. (But it is great on her).

Sam has met my grandfather before, a couple of times, but when you are two the frame of reference for things you remember are pretty short. Nevertheless he decided Grandad was just fine pretty quickly – and ended up seeking him out and asking to snuggle with him and read “tories!”

The slippers, by the way, are Sam’s current favourite thing. I bought them in a moment of weakness at the grocery store while I was trying to entertain the kids until Anika’s prescription was ready – best $4 I ever spent. He insists on wearing them, even inside his sleep sack at night. It’s pretty funny – and also, don’t try to tell him they are penguin slippers. They are DUCKS thankyouverymuch.

Christmas Eve I surprised the kids with one of the few things I managed to make this Christmas – Christmas jammies (made from Melly’s Holiday Pajamas).

These are really lovely – the instructions are pretty simple to follow and the kids LOVED them. They fit them beautifully – I made them each a size down (based on age) – so Sam’s are 18 months and Anika’s are a 5. But they fit them both perfectly. I worried that Ani’s are maybe a touch short but after seeing them on her non-stop for the last 2 weeks I really think they are perfect. They might not last next year but that’s ok!

The piping is definitely my favourite part of these pjs – I messed it up a little around the collar in one place (grrrr) – I just couldn’t quite figure out how to pull it out of the way and have it join neatly. But I’ll try again – this pattern is definitely a keeper.

I find the fabric for Sam’s pjs absolutely hilarious. He was with me when we were picking out flannel and for some reason FIXATED on this Christmas colored OWL fabric. Those are tons and tons of tiny little owls. He, of course, is convinced that they are penguins – but whatever; he loves them. (And I do mean LOVES). I had like 8 other choices all picked out for him – “Hey Sam, polar bears!” – but no deal. The owl/penguins were what he wanted. I think he looks from a distance like he’s wearing a smoking jacket or something – it’s pretty adorable.

This next picture would be the part where my father told Anika she could be the official ice-cream tester for Christmas dinner.

Nuff said I think.

And of course there was the obligatory reading of the Night Before Christmas and the Polar Express with Gran before bed.

Next year I’ll make Gran some matching jammies too.

It was a special Christmas for sure – the kids are at really fun ages.

I’ll leave you with one last shot – Sammo, finally old enough to not be in bed by the time we are eating Christmas dinner. He got to join the party and was SO proud of himself it was ridiculous. Note Junior Asparagus perched carefully beside his bowl, watching him eat.

Hope you all had wonderful holidays too!

Very sorry. It’s just that….well, life. And other things. I started a small business. (I’m now an Independent Consultant for Arbonne. The products are awesome. It’s a fun mental game to see what I can do with this. Also? Taking a lot of time. But that’s par for the course I guess.)

So I’m breaking my radio silence with a brief Sam story.

Sam is….very very VERY “two” these days. Extra two. With a side order of tantrum. It’s….trying. But he’s also really fun and pretty articulate for his age, which means we’re treated to a lot of discourse on just about anything. He seems to have accents for particular words that pretty much slay us – he doesn’t pronounce his “ings” properly, preferring instead to adopt the more southern “ins” for the end of words.

For example, I picked him up from school the other day and he had a gash on his cheek. I said “Sam, what happened?” He said “I was wunnin’ in the cyassyoom. Miss Yisa says NO NO Sam. No wunnin’. We wun outside.” (Clearly he also has trouble with L’s and R’s at this stage in the game.)

He also adopts wonderful turns of phrase that are all his own – one of my favourites is “Last mornin’.” It’s like when you say “Last night I did X” only for Sam it’s “Last mornin’.” So I’ll say “Hey Sammo, where’s your ball?” And he’ll say “Um. I don’t know. I was playin’ with it last mornin’.”

It’s completely adorable. Where was I going with this? Oh right.

So the other day, one of us left the door to the pantry ajar and Sam wandered in. We generally try to keep it closed so as not to risk any craziness with food allergy boy – but we were in the kitchen at the time and didn’t really worry much about it.

We left him for a minute or so, hearing some rustlings, and then finally said “Sam, what are you doing in there?” and opened the door.

He was standing in the middle, clutching a package of those Welch’s fruit snacks, which for some unknown reason we just call “fruit things” in our house. They are those gummy fruit snacky things.

I said sternly, “Sam, you need to put those away. We aren’t having fruit things right now.” He says, completely outraged that I might be thinking the worst of him “I just singin’ a song!!” and then…he burst into song. I didn’t get it recorded because I’m not that fast with the cell phone (darn it!) but it went something like this:

“Boot thiiiiiings……boot thiiiings. BOOT THIIIIIIINGS. Boot thiiiiiings.”

(F’s are also hit and miss.)

(Sorry for crappy phone pictures – there wasn’t a lot of time to grab the DSLR).

While he’s singing he is swaying gently on the spot looking completely earnest and for all the world like a Christmas caroler in a Normal Rockwell painting (less creepy, but no less earnest).

Then he turned around, put the “Boot things” back in the box, looked back at us and said “I all done.”

I seriously fear for when this kid has things he REALLY wants to be covering up.

In other news, this was Miss Anika’s letter to Santa:

She’s working on her writing and I am working on not correcting her at every pass so you know – it is what it is for the moment. (Her reading is coming along amazingly well though, so you know). I especially enjoy the picture of her and Santa at the bottom. And apparently the Lego years are upon us.

She turns 6 on Thursday. I don’t want to talk about it. (But I probably will. A lot. Because you know what we promised her waaaay back when she was like 2? That she could have earrings when she turned 6. Guess what we’re doing at 5pm on Thursday?? Hold me.)

For those keeping score at home, I HAVE in fact been sewing. Christmas presents mostly. Stay tuned for some pictures.

It’s late this year, because HER sister is NOT AWESOME.

Shannon’s had a fairly changerous (what? It’s a word) year this year – but she remains completely spectacular (and with great shoes) at all times. She’s in new digs (also amazing) and is generally kicking ass.

Plus of course she lets me play with her hair, even when it’s short.

Anika continues to pretty much hero worship her….as she should.

Sam adores her too – he insists on doing things like calling her to sing the entire Veggie Tales theme song to her. Over Skype. Of course.

With any crazy life churn comes a certain amount of insecurity and soul searching. Shannon is great because she isn’t afraid to tackle these things head on….but even so I think ALL of you should leave comments here telling her how incredibly great she is – everyone needs reminding once in awhile. Even if you don’t know her – tell her she’s got great hair . (Morton girls appreciate shallow compliments every bit as much as deep ones. Thank you, the management).

Here’s to bigger and brighter things this year Shannon – it’s going to be amazing!

I look at things like this whole “NaNoBloPo” month (one post a day for a month) and I think “gee….that must be an interesting experiment and really get the creative juices going, but also? HAH. No.”

I actually think that I would maybe stand a chance if it happened to be in, say, February or March – a month that is suitably drab with nothing really pressing at the end of it (like, say Christmas!) but November? Uh…no.
Life continues apace here in the Bhat-Cave. I keep wanting to sew more – I have patterns printed and cut out for at least four things, and I am desperately wanting to buy this pattern and make it (you can make it with different sleeves and as a tunic length as well, and seriously it looks just DELIGHTFUL)…but I need to knock a few things off the to-do list first and I just keep running out of minutes.

I did get a chance to do another pattern test recently, for the lovely Petite Kids Boutique. This time it was the Ella Dress!

This is a really fun dress – it’s designed to be a sundress (and it’s adorable that way too) – but because the back is tied the way it it, you can adjust it to easily accommodate a long sleeve t-shirt underneath it (definitely important when it’s November and you live here!).

The dress is adorable and REALLY easy to sew. The skirt is full and bouncy and all kinds of fun.

As usual the attention to detail in these patterns is great – it really walks you through how to produce a great finished product.

I’d asked Anika to put a long sleeve shirt on underneath it before we headed to the farm to take pictures. I neglected to notice that she put a shirt with really bright owls on the front of it though. Whoops. Oh well – she was delighted with the whole thing.

Check it out – it’s a really fun dress!!

Once upon a time beautiful Lisa and Steven invited us to their wedding. It was awesome. Wonderful celebration and wonderful couple. All good.

But you see, these lovely people had decided to use goldfish in vases as their centerpieces. Which, cool! Do you know how amusing it is for kids at a wedding when there are goldfish on the table?? Pretty darn great.

Then we won the centerpiece. But in fairness to us, I’m pretty sure that even if we HADN’T won, we would have been leaving with a goldfish. Sam pretty much charmed the table when he announced that the fish’s name was David. (Me – Really Sam? David? Sam – Yes. David. Okay then!).

In the car Anika announced that she REALLY wanted to name the fish Star. We laughed and were like “Great! Lets call the fish Star of David. Funny! Hurrah!” Then we got home and when the kids woke up the next morning they both simultaneously (and apparently without any discussion) started calling the fish Goldie. I stopped trying to “help” at that point – it wasn’t like the fish was going to fetch; he didn’t NEED to know his name. It’s fine.

So we got home and we had this.

That’s right – a fish in a vase. We talked about needing to get him a bigger bowl pretty quickly. After all if we were going to DO this fish thing, we needed to be Responsible Pet Owners.

So I took the kids to a fish store nearby. I thought it would be fun! We’d talk to someone knowledgeable, pick up a bowl, pick up some fish food – heck, maybe go hog wild and pick up another fish to keep David/Star/Goldie company!

Instead, what happened was I met what MIGHT be the world’s only Goldfish Activist. I’m sure he was a nice man and perfectly reasonable in all other walks of life….but in this one? Notsomuch.

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi! Hello! I need some help. You see, yesterday we won a goldfish at a wedding – he was the centerpiece. And since he’s only in a small vase right now we think we need to find a bigger bowl for him, and probably some food. Can you help us?

Him: Oh no.

Me: No?

Him: No. You cannot keep a goldfish in a bowl. Goldfish can live for 20-30 years and can grow up to two feet in length. You cannot possibly keep a goldfish in a bowl.

Me: Are you serious?

Him: Oh yes. Not in a bowl. No. You could maaayyyybeee get away with a 10 gallon tank for the first couple of months (looking at me as if I’ve just suggested keeping Sam in a shoebox until he is 8). But after that you would FOR SURE need at LEAST a 30 gallon tank.

Me: Dude…I live in a townhouse. I didn’t even especially WANT a fish. I have NOWHERE to put a 10 gallon tank let alone a 30 gallon! (Thinking to myself…these things cost 17 cents!!! You sell them to people to FEED TO THEIR PREDATOR FISH!)

We left. We did not get food or a bowl. We just left and I came home and talked to Brandon and was all very emotional and “but what do we DOOOO?” about the whole thing really.

We concluded that we needed to go somewhere where perhaps they were a little less…fish centric. More reasonable about dealing with people. So I resolved to go to Petsmart later in the day.

A little later in the afternoon I looked in on Goldie and thought “Awwww….that’s cute! He’s making a bubble nest!” Then I thought about it and realized that I’m pretty sure that goldfish don’t MAKE bubble nests.

I googled, and learned that nope, goldfish do NOT make bubble nests. They DO, however, gasp desperately for air when in a too small vase. WHOOPS. Off to the second pet store.

I actually met a semi-reasonable human at this store. She had the attitude that was more “Look, if you came in here and told me that you wanted a pet you could keep in a bowl I would not tell you to get a goldfish. However you already HAVE the fish. Lets find something you can manage.”

So I procured a bowl, some bowl cleaner stuff, some goldfish food, and some rocks and a pink castle (Anika was with me). I set Goldie up in his new digs.

And you know what? It was kind of awesome! The kids loved talking to him; I liked watching him swim while I worked at the kitchen table – nice right?? All good!

And it was good for….lets see….three days? Ish? I THOUGHT Goldie was just fine and happy. But then we came down for breakfast one morning and Goldie was lying on his side on the rocks. Ani said “Oh look! Goldie’s lying down!”

Cue discussion about how pets die sometimes. And how when the little gills are not moving AT ALL there is probably not a lot of point taking the fish to the vet. Burial at sea for Goldie.

And now…NOW. Now I have a $45 goldfish bowl, rocks, food, and bowl cleaner. And no fish. I’m pretty sure we’re going to end up with a beta in there soon. I liked having the fish around and it was pretty fun for the kids. So perhaps we’ll try it.

Does anyone know if Betas can eat the goldfish pellet food stuff? Because I used like four of those pellets out of about a zillion. And I have NO plans to get another goldfish any time soon (because I do not WAAANT a 30 gallon tank.)

But I can now say we have owned a pet. Short lived…but we owned a pet. So long Goldie, and thanks for all the…oh nevermind.

If you haven’t seen it before, there are some AWESOME patterns available there – just gorgeous. Definitely worth checking out! You can find her on Facebook or on Etsy.

Can I tell you how much fun I had making these pants?? They are GREAT. They are SO cute, and they have a really great funky vibe to them. I really really like the finished product.

Anika told me she really likes pink and black together these days, so for hers I got some black twill and used hot pink buttons, thread, and contrast fabric for the cuffs.

I made her a Size 5, which fit her perfectly – if anything it was a little big in the waist, but that’s pretty typical for my kids. The length of the 5 was dead on for her though – maybe even a little too perfect? If I was making them again I might consider lengthening them just slightly. But they are great for right now!

(That’s if she agrees to wear them of course. Girl is SO BEYOND STUBBORN when it comes to her clothes – OY).

I made Sam’s out of black denim. I used the black and white seersucker as the lining fabric and orange topstitching.

I made the Size 2 for him, and they are definitely too big. Rolled up they fit him like pants rather than crops. But again, that’s Sam – he’s not a big guy; he’s starting to reach a point where he kind of fits into his “age” for clothes but pants are still hit and miss. He has a bunch of 12-18 month pairs that fit him beautifully except that they are too short. He has some Size 2′s that he can’t keep up. The boy is a mystery to me really – but I love these pants so much that I might make him a second pair in the size down until he grows into the next ones!

I can’t recommend this pattern more. The attention to detail is AMAZING and each step is so clearly laid out. The finished product is professional looking and so well constructed – they really are fantastic. The pants are sized from 12m to 8 years, and they work for both boys and girls which is like CRAZY bonus for me! And I’m willing to bet that based on the cut of the pants you could extend the pattern beyond 8 years just by lengthening a bit. DEFINITELY worth a try.

They are great fun – if you’re in the market for a good pants pattern, check this out for sure!

Apparently in wrestling all of this to the ground I’ve lost my bloggy voice. I have a lot of things I want to share though so I’m going to try to catch up a bit!

I’ll start slow and share some pictures from the last few weeks. It’s been pretty fun!

Sam still firmly loves all things animal.

He’s also very proud of his new medic alert “dacet!” which you can see in this picture. It has giraffes on it. He’s delighted.

Sam and I have made some trips out to the farm lately (Canadian Agriculture Museum to be precise). It’s got so that pretty much every day he asks me “Go see Sosies? Tows? Sheeps? Chicken?”

Totally amused by the ducks playing in the water bucket.

Admiring the rabbit with his friend Ava, who very thoughtfully colour-coordinated with Sam.

Angela gets full credit for this picture because she had to hold both kids up so they could reach!

We’ve been trying hard to enjoy the last few nice, warmish days of the year by heading to the park when we can….it’s getting cold fast!

Sam’s pants are a bit of a teaser – I’ll share a post about those in the coming days!

We’ve also been trying to find time to spend with some of the really close friends we don’t get to see as much. Anika and Maliah are in different schools now (booo)….

….and Karan went back to work so Sam’s almost daily playdates with Aidan are not happening so much anymore. Fortunately Sam’s mornings at Montessori are with A so he does get to see him a little bit…but it’s not the same, for sure.

Last weekend Brandon went on a hiking/camping trip so I took the kids to go visit Upper Canada Village.

We had a really great day – I had never been there but what a fun place to go!!! It was beautiful with the leaves, and Anika in particular LOVED seeing all of the old houses and hearing about life in the 1800s.

The interiors of the houses were a little lost on Sam – he’s a bit young to understand that he really can’t touch things, and he can’t really follow when the people were trying to explain quilting or chair making in the 1800s. But he loved being outside, and would happily sit on the porches while we went in and had a look.

He was also delighted to find out that there was a working farm at one side of the village, complete with not only “tows”….

….but also 5 little piglets who were happily running around and would let the kids pet them and feed them chunks of lettuce!

Probably Sam’s favourite part of the trip! Anika, bless her, liked the dressmakers and was THRILLED to tell them that she knew how to sew too. She also was really interested in the doctor’s house and grasped right away how people would have bartered for services.

It really has been a lovely fall so far, if busy. We wrapped things up this weekend by attending a lovely wedding for some friends’ of ours, Lisa and Stephen. They totally deserve their own post though, so I’ll share more about them and their special day really soon. But here’s one shot of Anika, doing the flower girl thing!

I am hoping to share more in the coming weeks….stay tuned!

I know! I feel like such a grown up! Brandon and I were sitting in our hotel this morning before breakfast, doing some math. We figured out that in our marriage we have:
* lived in 4 houses (our apartment in Waltham MA, Kerri’s mom’s place on Laurier when we first moved to Ottawa, Alta Vista towers, and now here).
* had 3 children (Anika, Oliver, & Sam)
* had 4 cars (a volkswagon jetta, a 1999 Rav 4, a 2006 Rav 4, and my minivan rocketship)
* lived in two cities (Boston and Ottawa)
* spent time in four countries (Canada, the US, Fiji, and France)

We got distracted at that point, talking about other places we’d like to go and things we’d like to do. But there are some fun things there – a lot of awesome memories connected to all of those things.

The good stuff isn’t the only thing that makes our marriage great though.

We’ve been through some tough stuff together too. We lost Brandon’s mom way too soon. We lost Oliver way too soon.

But fortunately our marriage isn’t defined by the bad things either.

Our marriage works because we are committed to each other; to our families; to God.

We are willing to change and to evolve together.

We are willing to talk about the hard things, and laugh at pretty much everything.

Is it perfect? No. But there’s not a step of the last 10 years I would do any differently.

Love this guy.

(And not just because he planned a totally secret anniversary overnight getaway – in which he arranged for the kids to be looked after, took us for 3 hours of spa treatments (!!), took us to an awesome hotel and to a lovely dinner (!!!!!), and then gave me some gorgeous earrings (!!!!!!!!!!). I am feeling like the luckiest girl in the world at the moment! And for those who are concerned, this was last night. I didn’t stop to blog .

Here’s to the next 10!

Yeah, me neither. But look, I finally finished it!!

I really really love this sweater. I love how it knit up; I love how it looks on – it’s going to be so useful for the fall. I’m really delighted with it.

I also still completely adore the colour….it’s just perfect.

I find I really go through seasons with knitting – much more so than with sewing. I generally try to do my sewing in the afternoons, when the boy is napping, and keep the evenings more for knitting….but that totally does not work when I have a deadline I’m working towards, or when I get all fired up about a project (never happens; don’t know what you’re talking about. Ahem.).

But as soon as fall starts to kick in I absolutely start itching to knit – there is nothing in the world more exciting than a “new” knitting project to start – I really love it. So being able to block this sweater and have it done just as the weather is starting to turn….the timing is perfect. By about Thanksgiving the timing will be exactly right to cast on my next project. Can’t wait!!!

In the meantime I’m totally going to enjoy this one. I love it

For those who care about such things, this pattern is Narragansett by Thea Coleman. I knit the size 34 but I have a really tight tension so I knew the finished product was going to be closer to a 32-33 post blocking (which is true! And also totally why you should swatch). I made a few small modifications – I did an extra inch or so on the armscye to get it to fit me properly, and I also made the sleeves 12″ from the armhole instead of the suggested 8  – I tried it at 8 initially and the sleeves hit right in the crook of my elbow and looked funny. Maybe I have long arms?? No idea. But anyway, that modification worked fine for me, and I think looks pretty close to the original. Totally make one – it’s fun; just interesting enough; and quick (despite the fact that it took me more than 6 months to complete. Am slow.).