Cute Like Me Giveaway!

Hey Everyone!

Go check out the Cute Like Me blog for a chance to win 1 0f 2 super cute scrabble tile necklaces. Be sure to spread the word for more chances to win! You have until Friday the 13th to enter. Good luck!

Yeah, John Passed the first test!!

So we finally heard back yesterday from the RCMP. John wrote the first test in December and we were anxious to hear back, we were pretty sure he passed, but we wanted to know so that we could start the next step. We really want this to work out, and want to get in as soon as possible!

Well, we got the letter and they referred him to a weblink with all the forms that he has to complete. Holy cow, there is a lot of info that they want! He needs a whole bunch of references, job info, past addresses. Basically a history of everything for the past 10 years. And since we've moved around a tonne, it may take a while to complete, but they set a deadline. It has to be done in 21 days! Yikes! He also has to get ready for the PARE. It's the physical test - it's basically an obstacle course that he has to complete in a certain time. He's doing that on February 26th. Fun, fun.

Anywho. We decided that that was reason enough to not make supper. We got Joey's Only because we had a 2 for 1 coupon. It wasn't as good as it normally is, but it still hit the spot...and no making supper!

Well, I should go feed some kids breakfast.

If you didn't notice, I'm getting a little addicted to this whole blogging thing, so I'll probably be posting more often now. Sorry....just kidding....hopefully it's not too boring!

Twin Stroller Giveaway

This stroller is awesome...and I want to win it! It has loads of fun features...dual reclining seats, extendable sunshades, and comes in great colours. I love it. Check it out

Hopefully Canadians can win too!

Seeking new template

So, as you can see I've changed my template. I don't really like it, but it was one of the best I could find. Does anyone know of good sites for blog templates? I want to change mine soon!

Kids at Play!

Lately I've been in search of places to take the kids where they can run around and get out of the house. I found out about a play area at the Market Mall. They had covered, heated parking too, so we didn't even have to drag our coats around in the mall. We went to a couple stores and then to "Kids at Play". They have a bunch of squishy plastic toys for kids to climb and slide on. It was fun to watch them run around. Hadley had a blast, and I didn't have to watch her too closely because I knew she would be all right. The boys though....I had to watch a little closer. They kept running in the opposite direction. Well, I guess they don't really "run" yet, they just walk as fast as they can. Luckily the area was gated and there was only one exit. It was interesting to see how differently Brian and Elijah play. Elijah was much more interested in the puzzle toys on the walls. Brian kept wanting to climb up everything, but he was a little to small to climb up most things(and they were all slippery), so I would have to lift him up, and then he would slide down and then want to do it again. Elijah liked to climb up things too...but not repeatedly...thank goodness! I think I had the most kids there though. You have to be under 42" to play, so I guess most people don't have 3 kids under that height. There was another mom there with 3 though. She had a 3 yr. old boy, and 15 month old twin girls. Just opposite of us. Weird.

It was a fun day, but Elijah hasn't had a nap, and Brian only slept a bit in the car, so I might be regretting this decision in about an hour...oh well!

How to "distress" a bench

I made this deacon's bench in Grade 9. It was in pretty rough shape so I decided to paint it. Because it was already dented and scratched I thought it would work well to "distress" it. I called my sis-in-law Heidi to figure out how to do it. It was quite easy and a lot of fun. I started after I got the kids to bed and cleaned up, so I didn't finish until about 2am, but it's done!
Here's the steps I used to make it:
1. I rubbed liquid sandpaper all over the bench. It cleaned and supposedly roughed it up, but it still seemed pretty smooth so I sandpapered it a little more.
2. I painted it apple red with latex paint and let it dry for about an hourish.
3. I sanded all the edges and sanded a few areas on the wood to make it look more antique-y.
4. I rubbed walnut stain all over with a rag and let it dry for a couple hours.
5. I put just one layer of clear varathane on (it could probably use more)
6. All done!

Here's the finished product! It looks better in real life.

Hadley took these pictures of the couches we got, so I thought I'd put them on. We are getting reimbursed for them. I found them on Kijiji for $850, but we ended up getting the set for $750. They are black leather. I love them!

Hadley turned 3!

We moved to Calgary on Hadley's birthday. John is installing alarms for a security company. His brother Dan is the manager here. We'll be in Calgary until John gets into the RCMP. He takes the first test on Monday. Anyway.

Hadley's birthday was kind of crazy. We packed up on the 6th and drove through the night and got to Stirling at about 11am. We stayed there for a bit then went to Raymond and spent the night at my parents'. We left for Calgary Monday morning after breakfast. Hadley was so excited that it was her birthday, so we felt like we had to throw some kind of party together. We quickly unloaded the trailer and van while the kids were at Dan and Nicole's. Dan helped us unload too. I quickly found our swimsuits and we went swimming with Dan and Nicole and their 4 girls (they have twins to0). It was a lot of fun, but since we haven't been swimming in a year, Hadley was a little nervous. They had fun kid waterslides, but we practically had to force Hadley to go on it. She liked it, but wouldn't go again.
I took Elijah down the waterslide and he was like this for the rest of the time - sad.

We went back to Dan and Nicole's after and had a DQ cake. Hadley wanted a "princess cake", luckily they had some there! The girls were a little excited about the cake. Hence the purple faces BEFORE we even blew out candles.

Hadley loved getting presents too! Here she is with her loot.

Christmas Fun

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hillyer Look-alike Meter

I found this little fun thing on my cousin-in-law's blog. It seems that the picture you choose has a lot to do with it. The first picture of Hadley was 5% more like me but it wasn't the best picture (obviously).

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Geneology software - Ancestory

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Genealogy software - Family reunion

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

I don't know how the twins look equally like us but look so different....hmmm. Maybe our genes got split up equally and oppositely....I'm not sure how that works exactly.

Silly things people say

So my sister Jodie commented on her blog about comments people make to her while shopping with her 3 kids, so I thought I'd follow suit.

With twins we get a lot of comments, but mostly stares. The other day at Costco we got a lot of funny comments. Well, I just remember 2 actually.

1. A lady (probably in her 50's) said that she had twins too, and we chatted for a bit then when she was leaving said "You're not going to stay that skinny forever!". I thought that was a weird thing to say. Nothing like moral support!

2. The boys were wearing dark green matching outfits. A lady said "Are they both boys?" I thought about saying, "no, I just like them to dress the same", but maybe that's actually what she was thinking.

Ok, so maybe those comments aren't that silly. What I like the most about people commenting on the twins is when they say something like "oh they're so cute!", and Hadley says "look at me! I'm cute too!".

That's all.