Continuing our veggie garden!

So yesterday snowed, what the heck mother nature? BUT, today was nice again and so we all got back outside to continue preparing our garden. We're making sure we're ready to plant for the end of May. Below are pictures of what happened today.
We started off with a layer of newspapers, 2 sheets thick.
Put a layer of mulch on top of that about to hold down the newspaper and add some nutrients to our soil.
Then some dead leaves on top of that about 2 inches
And then put about 4 inches of triple mix for the top layer

We have a huge compost bucket but the stuff in there is not yet ready to use, so tomorrow we will be going to buy a truck load of compost from the dump and adding that to the soil and then tilling it all to make a nice nutrient-rich soil for our veggies!

PS. I need some tips on good ways to start some herbs indoor in small potting plants and putting them in thewindows. We have; Thyme, Parsley, Sage, and Chives. Any advice/tips would be great appreciated!

10 Rainy Day Activities!

Being stuck inside is such a drag, especially with a toddler who's bursting with energy! So here's a list of some activities we do to keep occupied and have fun!

1. Wake up in the morning and go for a car ride in our PJS so that we can listen to and watch the rain. Adalyn especially loves when there's a flash of lightning, she cheers "cool light!" and I think it's thrilling even as an adult!

2. Put on a favourite cd (in our case Adalyn's is "One Direction") and have a dance-fest in the living room.

3.Take a nap. Falling asleep listening to the rain is actually one of the most peaceful naps you can have IMO.

4. Bath painting! I got the idea from this blog; http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/08/contained-body-painting-in-bath.html Seriously, genius. The whole mess is contained and it's easy clean-up! Couldn't resist the urge to post pics!

Supplies needed:
-a bathtub (of course)
 -non toxic, washable paint (I used crayola 3D sidewalk paint and it washed off the tub without any issues)
-paint brushes
-container for the paint
-a big sheet of blank paper or board (OR if you can find bath paint you can paint directly on the walls!)

5. Make Jello and cut out shapes using cookie cutters. These were devoured too quickly to take any pictures haha.

6. Grab the pots and pans out of the cupboards and have a drumming session.

7. Have some fun and let them take pictures with the digital camera. (Not recommend if you have an extremely expensive DSLR lol) She decided half my leg and our messy entrance was going to be her first photo shoot!

8. Paint toe nails!

9. Get out the colouring books and markers and colour at the table. I LOVE colouring lol!  Sitting down and colouring with your kids can be a really great bonding and relaxing experience.

10. Make necklaces out of string and fruit loops. I just so happen to be an avid crocheter and have about a million rolls of yarn handy for this. If you don't, the Dollar Tree sells rolls for $1.00! PS I cannot guarantee these won't be eaten by little mouths almost immediately after being assembled and put on (as the photographic evidence suggests)

And now this exhausted and very pregnant momma needs a coffee or her bed.


Cheers :)

Starting the Garden!

Now that the weather has been nice enough for the ground to thaw out, we've been able to start our veggie garden!

First week of work has involved quite a bit of digging, even Adalyn stepped up to help!

Starting the Journey of Living as a Multi-Unit Family.

So I have decided to start blogging about our lifestyle changes and the journey it has become. I hope this blog will inspire others to think outside the "social standard" box for lifestyle and living arrangements, and that it will give some insight into what it's like.

 Back in November just after finding out I was pregnant again, we started spending many nights with my parents in discussion and prayer about all living together. I'm not exactly sure who's heart it was called on first, it might have been all of us at the same time, but my husband and I decided to put our house up for sale and start "community living" with my entire family, sisters include. We went from living in a house of three to a house of eight, not including mine and my sisters baby that are both due this summer. Crazy, right? Wrong. Many people don't understand or agree with the lifestyle we've chosen to live and that's okay. Many people think we were forced into this situation but it's the complete opposite. We CHOSE to start living this way of our own free will, even when everything was perfectly fine in our life and we were living comfortable as a single-unit family. As I said, our hearts were stirring and we didn't know why, but we could not shake the feeling that this was how God was calling us to start living, we knew it was something we should do. We got this confirmation with our house selling almost immediately (but that's a whole other story and blog post on how God totally took control of the wheel and made our decision for us) and sitting down with everyone to discuss the idea of us all moving in together and everyone going, "heck, yes!"

We made decisions based on what would be best for everyone involved. Moving back into my parents house was an adjustment for everyone, my little toddler included. When we first started living as a multi-unit family we had no idea how or where to start. It was challenging figuring out who was responsible for what and why, but over the months we slowly started to get the hang of things. We had to learn how to live and function together, from simple things to bathroom times and meal planning or more complex things like sharing of household bills. Even with all the challenges, it has still been one of the most rewarding decisions we've made. We help and lean on one another emotionally, financially, and even for the mundane things like chores. Everyone is responsible and has to help out with everything. There is no "I" involved with decision making, everyone gets a say and we all make decisions and come to conclusions together. We've had affirmation that we're doing the right thing over and over again. From talking to other families that are doing it and it's working, to meeting strangers in different places that have decided to live as a multi-family unit, too. We know and hear of so many people that are doing what we are doing or that are thinking about it, and we would like to encourage those people and let them know they are NOT crazy! It isn't for everyone, and I don't think that the whole world  should live this way (that would be pretty cool though!) but it has been the right decision for us.  It's still very much a learning process and I'm sure we will continue to face challenges and learning curves throughout the entire journey.

I think that's where I'm going to stop for today... I could write a book on just the beginning of this. There are so many more aspects involved to what we are doing; including a whole new way of frugally living and sharing our passions and hobbies with one another. As we approach the arrival of two babies this summer I am certain there will be more challenges and barriers to overcome, but we know one thing for sure; we will not face them alone, we always have each other  I cannot wait to share our stories and ideas with all of you. In the meantime if you have questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section of the blog.

Until my next post,

Cheers.