Looking for a suite in Whitehorse...

Hey folks in Whitehorse!!

I am trying to plan out where I am going to stay when I head in to pop out baby Skeletor. The government will pay us $75 a day during our time in there. Not much at all. I am trying to find a kid friendly place to stay for anywhere between 2-4 weeks depending on the arrival of Skeletor.

The dates would be approximately March 30th to April 17th.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

Thanks!

Packing Shirt and Amouti Pictures

All of the women in Kugluktuk carried their babies/kids in packing shirts and then had their parkas over top. Not many women there wore amouti's. They are definitely a more Eastern Nunavut parka. But I get the best of both worlds! Hunter loves being in both.

Since the new baby is set to arrive in the next 16'ish weeks I figured it was time to make a new packing shirt. Mine was a little worn so I cut it up to make a new pattern. It turned out great! So the baby rides on your back, bum down and legs out to the side. There is a nice little spot to hold their head in place too. I started packing Hunter when he was about 3 weeks old. I was really impressed with the results! Although, I think next time I am going to change the shape around the arms a bit, but that should be easy.

Packing shirt from the front. You just tie it under your boobs and it stays firmly in place!


Packing shirt from the side. I have my cabbage patch kid in there! I look hilarious with it on since my tummy is getting bigger by the day.


And this is an odd shot, but I wanted everyone to see the kid in there. So Matt stood on a chair and pulled the packing shirt out a bit. I think you get the idea.


Tonight we were heading over to a friends house for yet another supper out! (5 suppers out in the last week!). It was only around the block so Hunter got a nice little ride in the amouti. So far not a real issue to pack him even with being pregnant. Now he does only weight 24lbs, so it is pretty easy. I can't go very far though or I start to feel it in my abdomen. And I should be nice to Skeletor!


And this is a great shot of the two of us!

The rest of the Christmas pictures

Hunter and Dave the neighbour reading the new truck book that Dave and his wife Diana gave him.


Holy fark I have had way to much rum and eggnog this morning:


What da hell! So many presents mama!


Our little Mozart at work:


This piano was quite the hit:


Hunter had to bring a dinky car to supper with him:


The Went family!

Best customer service ever!

For Christmas Matt got me an aerogarden. I have wanted one for a while now, and we had to get my folks to buy it down in Dawson Creek since they were always sold out over in Whitehorse.


Today I set up my aerogarden dreaming about the lettuce and herbs I will be growing in my kitchen this winter. All is going good. Seed pods are in, water is up, nutrients are added, lights are on... oops a light goes out. Okay, we switch the lights to see if one just burnt out. Nope. Looks like one side of the hood isn't working right. Damn.

So in the box was a sheet saying to not call the store that it was purchased at. Instead I am directed to call another number. I got through the usual "push this number to get this option" crap. Well it is going to be a while, but they give you the option to leave your phone number and they will call you back. Right on! Why doesn't every place give you this option. I figured they were closed for the holidays, but nope! About 4 hours later I get a call. Definitely American! Holy doodle what an accent. And if you can believe this, she was a helpful, friendly, even knew where the Yukon was American. I was shocked. Even more shocking was that they are going to send me an entire hood replacement at no cost. Non whatsoever, not even shipping! I said I would ship my hood back to them, but nope. She said just toss it. She is even going to send me new seeds since she was worried the one light that is working might not be good enough for the herbs I had just planted. I thanked her and she apologized that it might be a few weeks before it would arrive. No problem here! I don't mind!

That was definitely the best customer service I think I have ever had. Easy, friendly, no hassle, and free! Thanks Aerogarden customer service lady!

What to do with turkey leftovers!

In Faro there is a cooking group and they invite the public down to taste. Here is what they made last week and it was delicious.


Bombay Turkey

1/4 c butter
2-3 tsp curry powder
1/2 c chopped onion
3 tbsp flour
1/4 ts salt
dash of pepper
1 1/2 c chicken broth
2 c diced cooked turkey

Melt butter in medium skillet. Add curry heat 2-3 minutes. Add ion and cook until tender but not brown. Blend in flour, salt and pepper until well-combined. Add broth all at once. Cook and stir mixture until comes to a boil. Cook 2 minutes longer. Add turkey, mix well and bring mixture back to boiling. Serve over left over mashed potatoes, rice or pasta!

Yum!

Christmas!

Christmas morning started out with the best present of Hunter sleeping in until 7am! Hurray! The boy was in awe of his stocking that had about 8 dinky cars in it. He would have been content with just that. Then out to the tree. Oh was that exciting! The neighbours came over to watch him open his presents and his Nannie and Poppie in Cape Breton watched him via webcam. He unwrapped the first present which is a little crocodile piano and the second of a little John Deere front end loader and from there on he didn't much care about anything else.

We were all thoroughly spoiled rotten. Our folks went together and got us a 1hp meat grinder, a massive dehydrator, jerky shooter and some other meat making paraphernalia. We had sold all of that stuff when we left Nunavut, so we are all set again.

Here are a few pictures. The neighbours took pictures for us this morning and will be burning a disc for us later. So of course more pictures will follow!

Matt prepping the tree:


Santa was definitely here:


The boy checking out the goods:


Talking to Nannie and Poppie on the webcam:


Daddy trying to coax Hunter into his new ball tent. This toy rocks!!!


And then we could not get him out of it:



MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY TODAY!



ps. Cuz Heather! Please write me at kara underscore went at hotmail dot com. I need your mailing address!!

A very relaxing holiday!

So far this is shaping up to be the most relaxing Christmas we have had in a long time! We are going to be busy though, but I don't have to do any cooking this year!

So today, Christmas Eve, we have a staff party this afternoon. Then two families have asked us to stop in for visiting and snacks. Tonight we finish wrapping presents and get them under the tree.

Tomorrow I am cooking the same breakfast my mom always makes. It is delicious! You fry up mushrooms and onions, add hard boiled eggs, canned salmon, smoked salmon and whipping cream. Then you serve that over toast. Oh my is it every wonderful! Our neighbours across the street are coming over to watch Hunter open his presents and join us for breakfast. Then we have a nap planned, more visiting, and then across the street for turkey supper! Yummy!

And on Boxing Day I am sure more visiting and we have been invited out for another supper with friends.

Never a dull moment over Christmas in Faro!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

First set of adult booties!!

I have been harassed for months now to make the venture into booties for adults. I finally gave it a shot over the weekend and finished them up today. For my first shot I think they turned our really well!

Let me know what you think folks!! The only part that is missing is the tie that will run through the tops. I will finish that part tomorrow. Once they are received as a Christmas present I will get a picture of them actually on a person. Gosh I hope they fit!!

The Sun

While most other Yukoners are writing about the lack of the sun, we are enjoying it at Christmas for the first time in three years. Others are writing about their lack of energy, depression, and the seemingly endless dark. Us on the other hand are full of energy, happy and so excited to see that sun come up over the mountains everyday. With the cold we are having, the sky is completely clear and no matter where I look the sights are amazing. Well other than one neighbours backyard that has a lot of junk in it!!

Moving to the Yukon was the best move we have made. We have now lived in all three territories and can say that this is the easy north. It is the perfect place to raise a family, work, and still be able to enjoy life. We are very content.

Belly at 23 and a half weeks

Since I have been getting so many requests to see my growing baby belly here it is!! I feel huge this pregnancy. I am up 2lbs, which means I am still down 5lbs from when I got pregnant. Because of my weight I am not supposed to gain any weight during my pregnancy. I don't watch what I eat at all, other than trying not to consume too much crap. Skeletor must be taking it all in and then some since the tummy is growing quickly.

Skeletor is practicing to be on the Canadian Olympic Gymnastics team for about 2027 or thereabouts. I don't remember Hunter moving and kicking this much at all. Skeletor is always on the move and giving me the boot.

So here I am with around 16 weeks left to go:

For Baby Ezri

Little baby Ezri is still tucked away in her moms tummy. But that hasn't stopped her mommy from working to make sure her little feet will be warm when she heads back up to Cape Dorset.

Here is what she had me make for the little girl that will be arriving soon:

What to do on a cold day....

So what is a little boy to do when it is -40C outside?

Sit inside and eat watermelon!!

I have a live parasite!

Oh wait- maybe it is just a fetus!

Baby kicked this morning while I had my hand resting on my tummy and I sure did feel it. I have to admit that pregnancy does creep me out. There is a little parasite in there living off of me. And of course I always get those images from the Alien movie that don't help. Sorry, I am not one of those awwwww I can feel the baby move and I am so in love blah blah blah. Of course I love little Skeletor, but I am totally creeped out by having something growing in me. I guess it is better than a tapeworm or liver fluke though! :)

17 weeks or so before I get to see what the little parasite looks like!

Pancakes and Kitty Crack

We have pancakes at least once a week. The boy loves them and then will snack on the leftovers all day and the next.

Here is our favorite recipe:

1 1/3c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/4c milk
3 tbsp oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Super delicious pancakes!!

Here is Hunter this morning enjoying his pancakes and cantaloupe:



And now nothing to do with pancakes. Our cats are addicted to Temptations, otherwise known as kitty crack. Last night they found the bag that I had forgotten to put away in the cupboard. Then destroyed it, ate every last pieces and then licked it clean for good measure.

Nooooo!!!

We left the Arctic just under a year ago for the warm south of the Yukon..... yaaahh right!


Today in Faro it is -38C.

Today in Kugluktuk it is -23C.

But at least we have the sun :)

Santa!

Santa came to Faro today! And every kid aged 12 and under even got a present from the jolly fellow. Hunter wasn't too impressed with Santa, but he did like getting a present. That is until he saw the other toys the bigger boys had. There were soccer balls and building blocks, but the one item that Hunter was in love with were remote controlled trucks! Gosh he wanted to take one of those home so bad. Poor kid! He got this (creepy) Backyardigans (we have never seen the show, but the box said this is what it is) penguin thing. You touch his wing and it skates around the floor a bit and sings (a horrible irritating) tune. So far he isn't too sure about it!

After Santa we came home and decorated the tree. All of my pretty and breakable ornaments are all boxes up and I will probably see them when he is 10 or so. Hunter loved crawling under it; I guess it makes a great hiding spot!

Trying to run from Santa!


He liked the present though!


Trying it with mom, but still no fun:


Trying for a family photo:


Of course he wanted everyone elses presents:


Checking out all the loot!


Helping dad put up the angel:


Hanging the ornaments:


What a great hiding spot!


Big smiles!

Hunter first run in with the law....

Today was hilarious. Hunter and I went to the RCMP open house (mainly for the food which was amazing). The boy was being his usual adorable self. He was visiting with everyone, eating the great food and being goofy.

He ended up running into the cleaning room and slamming the door behind him. Well there is no door handle on the cleaning room. So there is my boy locked inside. Soooo funny! We are talking to him and he was talking back. I kept telling him to mop the floor while he was in there! It didn't seem to faze him a bit. It took a few gadgets, but in the end he was let free after only a few minutes.

So yet another reason we won't be winning parent of the year award!!

Potluck Fun

The best part of small communities has to be the potlucks. Tonight Hunter and I went to the rec centre and had a wonderful time! My boy is such a social butterfly, just like his mama. He spent the whole evening running around, visiting with half of town, chasing/being chased by other kids, and of course eating heaps of wonderful food. I bet there was about 70 people, or maybe more. And oh the food was soooo good!

The boy was seriously a riot to watch tonight. He stopped in at each table, said his hellos, stole some food and then went on his way. At one point I was visiting a bit too long and lost track of him. I found him half way up a set of stairs being watched by another boy probably around 8 or 9. The kid was so cute- said he was keeping an eye on him to make sure he wouldn't fall! I love small communities where everyone keeps an eye out on your kids.

And My New Car!!

I forgot something! I got a new car this week!! It is awesome. Red, shiny, goes fast... when pushed by a toddler. hehehe Super smart me won a prize after guess the birth weight of little Halia the gorgeous daughter of Fawn and Michael. I harassed Michael and said my prize should be a new vehicle. I guess I forgot to be specific about the size of the car!

And even better than the car, I got to see the gorgeous Halia in person. I stopped in and got to see her napping. I got to peek in at Jade too, but she was snug as a bug in a rug and I couldn't see much of her through her blankets!

That was definitely the highlight of my Whitehorse trip!

The rest of the week.

On Saturday we dropped my mom off at the airport at 6am. Only the boy was bright eyed and bushy tailed at that hour. We spent the next couple of hours playing with him in the truck and Starbucks waiting for the stores to open. Later we learned that SuperStore opened at 6am that day. Bummer, instead I went there at 2pm and discovered shopping chaos and unfriendly Whitehorsians.

Most of the stores were busy on Saturday and I was really shocked at how rude many of the people were. There is no need to be mean to your poor teller or to glare at me when I accidentally hit your shopping cart with mine. People need to lighten up a little. I had two little old ladies that were super cute though. I ran into superstore to get change to get a cart, then I ran out to get it. On my way in, these two ladies had just walked in and were surprised to see no carts inside the store. They lit up with glee when they saw me walking in thinking I was returning my cart. They were just so cute I traded them my cart for their loonie and went back out and got another. They smiled at me on every aisle of the store!

I was so happy to leave the city. I am really not a big town kind of gal. Nothing there really does it for me at all. After a few hours I feel overwhelmed with the pace of life there and look forward to returning home to Faro. But after this trip I went to Carmacks instead! Matt has been working there for the last couple of weeks and we spent two nights there visiting. Hunter was so happy to have daddy time and did not want anything to do with me at all. So a great break for me.

On Monday afternoon I drove back to Faro. About 45 minutes from town the wind started to pick up. You could see the snow blowing off the mountains. There was so much of it that it looked like clouds and eventually blocked out the moon!! The gusts of wind hitting my truck felt like I was going to go off the road. The next 24 hours were extremely windy, although nothing like some places that were getting gusts close to 100km. Ours were only topping out at 45km, but it just wouldn't let up! And to boot, my window in the bedroom is frozen open a bit and the howling of the wind was loud! I didn't get much sleep at all.

Yesterday and today was spent addressing the gazillion Christmas cards I have to send out and tidying up the house. My neighbour brought in my fake Christmas tree for me and I have it set up in the corner. Still have to fluff the thing out. I really wanted a real tree this year after having a fake one up north for the last 3 years. But Matt figured we would just be pulling the kitties out of it and the boy would eat the needles. So a fake one from Canadian Tire is in my house. For fake though, it looks pretty damn good. And pre-lit too. I seem to be having a few issues with the lights though. One section won't go on and another keeps going on and off every few minutes. Ah well.

So that is it! Nothing exciting happening here at all.

Oh. The evil white kitty barfed in my sewing room. The worst part was she also decided to yak a little into my thread container. I think she would make a really nice set of mittens.

Oh Shit. Grandma came to visit.

My mom was just up for a quick visit to see the boy. And of course I was able to put her to work a little too. She did up a lot of my Christmas baking for me, made me 2 more pairs of maternity pants, organized my freezer and a few other odds and ends. The only thing she refused to do was get up at 5am with Hunter. Too bad, I could have used more sleep! It was a nice visit and we shipped her back to Dawson Creek early Saturday morning. Hunter was slow to warm up to her, but once she introduced him to nanaimo bars, it was all good.

And the oh shit part of the post? Well, within the first 24 hours of arriving my mother had persuaded my oh so innocent boy to stop saying uh oh after dropping things or doing something bad, etc with OH SHIT! Joy. Grandparents are evil beings.

Here is my son eating butter. Yep, butter.


Helping Grandma cut up mushrooms for supper. I had no clue my kid liked raw mushrooms until then.


Hunter helping to measure the sugar...


Getting some mommy time in:


Reading with Grandma:


Attacking poor mommy who just wanted to be lazy:


So my goofy boy was standing on a stool and started shaking one leg and then the other. We were laughing at him wondering what he was doing... that is until his diaper fell off! And then he scuttled up the step stool onto the table (of course with a dirty bum) to go over and take a seat. At first he was sitting on the window ledge with his little package hanging out. What a riot. Granny got to clean that mess up.


Wearing his new jersey and hat thanks to Grandpa Hunter. Sorry Deiss!


For some reason he drug the George Foreman Grill out of the cupboard, opened it up, and sat on it. What a nut.

Off to the City!

We are off to Whitehorse this morning. My mom has been here all week and leaves tomorrow. I will be staying in Carmacks for a few days to visit with Matt. When I get back next week I will post up all of the entertaining pictures of Hunter with his Granny.

The city should be retarded busy this weekend. I don't mind going into town, but I would much prefer to be out here in Faro. I hate the busy running around and all the people. Definitely a small town kind of girl! Saturday shopping at Walmart and Canadian Tire should be interesting...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Happy 33rd Birthday to the best husband and daddy out there!! We love you and can't wait to see you this weekend!

love Kara, Hunter and Skeletor

We moved south for this?

Temperature in Kugluktuk tonight: -12C
Temperature in Faro tonight: -21C

What the hell??