Budding Photographer

A little bit little and a little bit big likes to take (and by take, I mean steal) my iPhone and use it to snap pictures. These lovelies were taken at my paper pal Al's home last week during a pizza playdate.

The pictures include; a) her feet b) a TV screen shot of Justin Bieber c) air guitar to Justin Bieber d) baby feet and e) Justin Bieber's biggest fan! 

Truly hilarious....I am always amused by her perspective of the world!

And I must say she truly captured the essence of a mompreneur power meeting with this picture.

What is a MOMPRENEUR you ask?
"A female business owner who is actively balancing the role of mom and the role of entrepreneur".

This is a paper by paperdolls power meeting at an Ikea kids table in the playroom!!
With 6 kids {6 and under}, this is often how we get things done... way to go Little bit little and a little bit big!

Chuzzle Champion

I have a secret obsession... Chuzzle! Chuzzle is the best computer game ever invented! Basically, you have to match at least three coloured fuzzy balls. Sounds silly, but it is a great brain teaser and simply put... ADDICTIVE! I am currently the Classic and Speed Chuzzle internet Champion. The proof is pictured here....I play under Biggest Boy's name because until now I have never admitted to anyone my guilty pleasure!!

As you can see, the kids come by their computer playing obsession honestly. Even our 22 month old knows how to use a mouse.....

WARNING - This game is highly addictive and will consume hours (maybe even days) of your free time!!
Consider yourself warned!

"Thank God for weekends!"

On school days my morning routine is to walk the kids to the school doors where they drop off their backpacks and then head to the school yard to play. I then take a shortcut through the school to drop Littlest Boy off at the daycare. Often I will stay with him after the school bell rings and as such will overhear O Canada followed by the Principal's morning prayer. This past Friday our principal said "we thank God for weekends". Amen to that Mr. Zondervan! What a great weekend we had....our cousins visited from Ottawa and fun was had by all!

tunnels, forts and computer games....

princess tea parties.... 

A wagon, a hill and three determined children!

                  1. Struggling to pull Littlest Cuz up the hill

                  2. A helping hand from Uncle D

                  3. Single handedly pulling Big Cuz up the hill

(she may be vertically challenged but she is definitely mighty!)

Also, Biggest Boy had his skating assessments today for hockey. He is definitely not a "sporty boy" and would much rather be at home in front of the computer. It took a lot of encouragement for us to get him on the ice and half way through he was complaining about being tired...being hungry...needing to go to the bathroom...wanting to go home...however, as he was leaving he saw a friend from his old daycare in the next time block and enthusiastically said, "Daddy, can I come back next week??" Stay tuned as to whether or not hockey "sticks"?!?

FYI - Click on any blog picture to see it full size.

Ballet Beauties

A Little bit little and a little bit big started ballet and jazz lessons again this morning. She is pictured here with Best Bud and yes, even on her tippy toes she is still a good 6 inches shorter! Perhaps I should change her blog name to Vertically Challenged! Love the leg warmers Best Bud....

Parents are not normally allowed to watch the classes but today they had the blinds open.....the girls were little hams and I'm sure this is the explanation for why they are closed most days.

Leaving the dance studio, happy as pie and asking how many sleeps till next Saturday! It was great to see our dance friends (and Mommy's) today.

Cupcake Culprits

Mini cupcakes are probably our favourite treat in the Bohay household. A little bit little and a little bit big and littlest boy decided to help themselves to several when Mommy and Daddy were a little distracted....

 THE EVIDENCE:

An empty tray of cupcakes and wrappers!





      

THE HOW:

A conveniently placed kitchen chair and two clever children!

Mmmmm...tastes even better when you work so hard to get them!

"Hi Linda"

My good friend Linda came over this past weekend to hang out with us for an afternoon. The kids love Linda and we always look forward to her visits. The littlest boy kept repeating over and over, "Hi Linda, hi Linda" and would not stop until she answered back. He has a limited vocabulary and is always impressed with himself when he masters names.

My mother and father in law are called Baba and Gido and while Baba came easily he just learned to say Gido. Now it is all we hear but his voice is like music to our ears...literally! Enter proud Momma for a moment...littlest boy has remarkable manners...he cannot say thank you so his version is "mmmm Momma" (interpreted thank you Momma). God, I love that kid!

We had lots of fun at the park, followed by a delicious dinner (provided by my paper pal Al-she gets that while I do have strengths, the kitchen is definitely not one of them!) and authentic Italian Gelato at La Paloma. Thanks for a great day Linda....come back soon! And thanks Alison for the yummy salmon and chicken patina!

I'm the King of the World!

Hold on!

Littlest Boy's favourite thing at the park...throwing wood chips! This is the lovely mess he created on the nice new swing turf....

Despite the cooler weather, Biggest Boy thought it would be fun to soak himself in the splash pad. Afterwards he exclaimed, "Mommy did you bring a towel? I think I'm wet"!

Bitter Sweet

While starting at the new school was exciting it also meant we had to say goodbye to our beloved friends and teachers at our former daycare. We have been at the centre for more than five years and they watched us grow into a family of five. All of the teachers have directly or indirectly had a role in caring for our children so we wanted to give a little something to everyone to say thank you. This is what we came up with....a little bit little and a little bit big helped with all of the measuring for the cookies.....

homebaked chocolate chip cookies and hand lotion

closeup of thank you card

closeup of card tucked into cookie box

For the two SK teachers and the Sr. Preschool teacher we also handpainted pottery. I took biggest boy and a little bit little and a little bit big to Bisque it (a local paint your own pottery store) and had them use their finger and thumb prints to create a garden scene on a flower pot. We wrote, Teacher's name, thank you for helping me grow on the pot brim and the kids also added their own signature. I think they turned out pretty well, what do you think?

We will miss you Barbara, Mary and Patricia! Hope you like your pots! 

Also, my good friend and paper by paperdolls business partner's son really likes my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so we made a batch for him and another little boy who shares the same name as biggest boy and delivered them the night before school started. Everyone loves these cookies so I will share the recipe with you.....

BEST EVER OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar 

1/3 cup softened butter

1/3 cup shorteneing

2 eggs

2 cups rolled oats

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt

Hershey's chocolate chips (we always put in lots!)

Beat sugar, butter and shortening until well mixed, stir in eggs and mix well. Stir in remaining ingredients, mix well. Drop from a heaping tablespoon onto baking sheets. Bake at 375F for 10-12 mins or until golden brown. Makes approx. 2 dozen cookies.

              

TIPS

1. Use a small ice cream scoop to drop the cookies onto the baking sheets, this ensures they are all the same size and cook evenly.

2. I always use a silpat mat.

3. Take the cookies out of the oven when they seem slightly undercooked.....trust me they will be soft and perfect!

Cookies packaged up and ready for delivery with a note that says
"Have fun on your first day of school!"

And we did not forget about our new school teachers'. The kids brought apple shaped hand sanitizer on the first day with a card that said, "If I can help in any way this year, please do not hesitate to contact me {I included my contact numbers}. Until then maybe this will come in "handy". Have a great year!"

See below....

First Day Of School

It's hard to believe but our children started school this Tuesday. Our oldest, affectionately known as the biggest boy started Grade 1, and the middle child entered Junior Kindergarten. Our daughter likes to say she is, "a little bit little and a little bit big", so that is how I shall refer to her from now on. Our baby, littlest boy also had his first day in the new daycare program. I must say for convenience sake you cannot beat having three children in the same centre!  I think the uniforms make them look so grown up. When we arrived at school a liitle bit little and a little bit big said,  "Look Mommy, that girl is wearing the same dress as me!".

Leaving home

The pictures above are of the children arriving at school and entering school for the very first time. They were uber excited!

Littlest boy walking to his new daycare

Don't let the little monkey's smile fool you....as soon as we arrived at the daycare doors he wailed, literally. I left in tears but they assured me he settled quickly and even went on to have a great day.

Blog Beginnings

My bosom buddy and crafting soul mate Kristie asked me to work my design magic and spruce up her blog OCD-Obsessive Crafting Disorder  (I just LOVE that name). In the end I had so much fun designing her blog that I thought I would give a go at designing my own....and the result....the bohay chronicles.

FYI - you should check out her blog, OCD is amazing, lots of great tutorials for fellow crafters, witty writing and pictures displayed like eye candy. I just love it! She has already received lots of recognition too and truly is an inspiration to us all..... love you Kristie!