Dad's prized tomato plants. I get almost daily "bragging" pictures.
My parents have recently started growing their own tomatoes. These are plants that my sister started for them in styrofoam cups, and now the plants are huge! I am very jealous as the tomatoes that we get here are really not fit to eat. The one thing I love is fresh veggies for a salad, and always had tomatoes on hand at home. My question is, I know that you can grow tomatoes inside all year round. I'm wondering if it is now too late to start this, as winter is coming sooner than I want to think about and we get so little sun during this time. I don't want to invest in equipment such as lights for this, but am wondering if anyone else up here has grown their own veggies. We're heading into the city this weekend and if this is something that is not to late to start I'm going to get the stuff for. Also, I have been looking online at stick brooms. Because the roads up here are not paved, dust gets everywhere. I sweep at least 2-3 times a day and can't seem to keep ahead of the dust. A stick broom would certainly help keep the floor clean since Joey is still crawling, but I'm wondering if I would have any use for this during the winter. With the windows being closed, the dust won't be coming in (obviously) and since we're not back home there is no chance of salt being dragged through the house on shoes, since salt is not used up here. Is there anything I'm overlooking when it comes to winter up here? Can I really justify spending the money on a stick broom to use only for the next month? I'm also surfing around looking for sites for winter gear for us. A teacher that I was talking to told me about a site that deals in kids stuff, and most of it is in great condition but used. It's not YK Trader, but something similar. Anyone ever heard of it?
For anyone that has spent any time at my house, you have at one point or another tried a piece of Mom's homemade bread. More times than not if you have tried a piece, you have taken a loaf home. That is the one thing that I miss the most about home, as it's the one thing I never learned to make. This is a loaf of Connie's bread. Connie is David (the store manager's) wife. She is also a Newfoundlander and makes her bread from scratch. To be honest, in a taste test I don't know if I would be able to tell the difference between hers and mom's. Now that's good bread!
Guess who lost his 2nd tooth?
The Northern Store how carries dinkies from the movie Cars. Really cool dinkies. He's showing off a dinky of one of the "bad Hondas" from the beginning of the movie.
Mr. Independant will no longer let me feed him. This is him eating rice. Notice the red cheeks? Guess who's teething again? Maybe this time the damn tooth will come through!
Pudding makes for an interesting clean up, and a guaranteed bath afterwards!
When one spoon doesn't work, use 2!
I couldn't resist this picture. These people have been here for a week because I remember seeing it the last time we went to the city. It's lliterally on the side of the road. The licence plate on this car is Quebec. Enough said.
If you look closely, you'll see the big pile of dirt being pushed around. This is how resurfacing is done.
The road being resurfaced.
This is what the majority of the highway looks like. This is why the hour long drive feels so long.
If you look down the road, you'll see the "waves". This is what the highway is like, and feels really bumpy at 80-90 km/hr.
See where the dirt ends and the pavement starts? Within a week the dirt will start to look like the pavement. It's still rough, but not nearly as muddy and slippery in the rain.
Can you believe it's been 2 years already? Happy Anniversary guys. We miss you!
Only my hubby!
I took these for Jody, who, like me, loves Joey's feet! There are times I just love to sit and look at them, they are so different from mine and Colby's.
Shooting hoops with Daddy! He was able to make a few baskets himself!
I love this picture. I see why my kids are so photogenic!
My little man is getting bigger by the day!
Can you believe it's been 9 years??? Where does the time go?
I am really hoping someone can give me some advice. I don't normally use the blog for venting or complaining about issues we are having here. I like to use the blog for keeping everyone updated on how we are doing, and of course, putting lots of pictures of the kids. I am almost at the end of my rope with an ongoing struggle we are having with Colby. For all who know him personally, they will know exactly how fussy an eater he is. It's beyond maddening. I have done many google searches for advice with no luck. We have tried everything, and I mean EVERYTHING to get this child to eat. Colby has a very limited range of foods he will eat, and to get him to try anything new is beyond maddening. He wants to eat the same food over and over, which of course leads him to becoming sick of it. It's a bit of a challenge getting specific types of food up here, which has led to dinner time fights. We have tried everything under the sun to encourage this child to eat different foods. Rewards charts. Bribing. Threatening. Punishment. Forcing him to stay at the table until he's done. Not addressing it at all. The problem with this up here is that food is very expensive, and even though we have a food allowance, it's very upsetting to be throwing out food. We are now trying "tough love", which so far is very difficult. Colby is the strongest willed child I have ever met. He just doesn't care what we do. If he decides he doesn't want it, he just won't eat it, regardless of the consequences. We have taken things away such as his gameboy, playstation, allowing him to go outside, etc and none of it mattered. He is completly fine with going to bed hungry, or going to bed early. I'm truly at a loss. I don't watch a lot of TV throughout the daytime, but of all shows that stick in my head, Dr. Phil said something on one of his shows about fussy eaters that I keep thinking about. He said "kids will not starve to death, they will eat paintchips if need be, don't worry about them starving when using tough love". Colby needs to learn that when supper is cooked, that is the only option he has. I am the first to admit that I have been guilty of making supper for us, and something that I know Colby will eat for him. I am really tired of making 2 different meals for supper each night. I am now really seeing it because Joey refuses to eat jar baby food, and eats what Rob and I do. So now, supper time is something for Rob, Joey and I, and then something for Colby, which is silly. I would never make something that I know he doesn't like, but he has to learn that supper meals are not negotiable. There was never an option when I was growing up about supper, we ate whatever was made at supper time. I will admit, there were meals that I choked down that I refuse to eat now (fish sticks and canned spaghetti comes to mind) but, I ate it. It was either that or go hungry. How the hell do I do that? Colby tends to get very distressed when it comes to meal time, and I am trying to get him away from that. He has been getting up over the past week, and one of the first questions he has is what are we going to have for lunch and supper today? I know some of you are thinking "well, a great idea for that is to plan out meal time so he knows what he will be eating". Been there, done that. If he knows what I am planning, then he becomes more stressed out and will work himself up for the whole day about supper. I never wondered as a kid what we were having for supper and if I was going to like it. Supper was not a big deal. I need to get Colby to that point, I'm just not sure how to do it. I would love any suggestions anyone has. I'm out. I've surfed hours on the internet and have reverted to reading child books (something I HATE) for ideas, but none of them worked. Anyone have the number to Nanny 911?
I loved this woman. It's almost 30 degrees here but she's keeping her jacket firmly closed!
This is the shot that I've wanted to take since I moved here. I love looking at the faces of the elderly women when they smile, it lights up their face. This shot was taken with the zoom lens so she didn't know I was taking it. She was smiling at Colby talking to Joey in his stroller.
I went to Yellowknife yesterday to get some stuff for the store (that is another post all together) and I drove THIS truck. Ford F250. By far the biggest vehicle I have ever driven. I"M IN LOVE!
He finally kept a hat on! And yes to those who recognize it, this is Colby's hat!
The kids here love to jump off the bridge. The first time I saw this my heart nearly stopped. I found out from one of them that there is a 12 ft drop in the middle. The river doesn't look wide enough to support a jump from this height! This is the bridge that connects the Island we live on to the mainland.
This is the view of the Assembly from my doorstep, with the zoom lens.
Just some candids I took today at lunch time. For those of you wondering, I have not sold Colby to the locals. He is at a point in his life that he does not like to have his picture taken, so most of the pictures I try to take of him are of the palm of his hand. I am trying though!
